Babak Belurs

Rabu, 22 Januari 2020

Coronavirus: UK to monitor flights from China as precaution - BBC News

The UK is to begin monitoring flights arriving from China, as part of a series of precautionary measures after the spread of a new coronavirus.

The measures, to be announced by the health secretary later, will apply to flights from Wuhan to London Heathrow.

Aircraft will land in an isolated part of Terminal 4, before being met by a health team, a government source said.

Public Health England has upgraded the risk from very low to low, the transport secretary said.

Chinese authorities have advised people to stop travel into and out of Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak.

They also admitted the country is now at the "most critical stage" of prevention and control.

So far, there have been 440 confirmed cases and nine people have died.

Most cases have been in Wuhan and Chinese authorities believe the virus originated from a seafood market that "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals".

However it has also spread to other Chinese cities and a handful of cases have been identified abroad, including in Japan and the US. There have been no cases in Britain.

On Tuesday, authorities in China confirmed for the first time that human-to-human transmission of the virus had taken place.

Health team at airport

In its most recent update on Monday, Public Health England said the risk to the UK population was "very low" while the risk to travellers to Wuhan was "low".

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told BBC Radio 5live that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be announcing a package of precautionary measures later.

"The flights that come in from the affected region will now be given extra attention," Mr Shapps said.

According to a government source, the "port measures" will include:

A health team to meet each direct flight from Wuhan to London Heathrow
Passengers on flights will hear an announcement and be given a leaflet to encourage them to report if they are ill
Aircraft will land in an isolated area of Heathrow Terminal 4 that "better lends itself to any health contingencies"

There are currently three direct flights a week from Wuhan to London Heathrow.

Mr Shapps said it was important to "stay ahead of the issue" and monitor the situation very carefully.

Professor Calum Semple, an expert in outbreak medicine at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, said it could be difficult to spot passengers infected with the virus because it takes about five days for symptoms to appear and during this initial period someone could seem completely healthy.

He told the BBC that these symptoms, which include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, can also be difficult to differentiate from seasonal flu.

It comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) will also consider on Wednesday whether to declare an international public health emergency over the virus - as it did with swine flu and Ebola.

Authorities in several countries, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan have stepped up screening of air passengers from Wuhan.

US authorities last week announced similar measures at airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. They have now announced plans to introduce similar measures at airports in Chicago and Atlanta this week.

What we know so far about the Chinese coronavirus

This type of coronavirus is a new strain that hasn't been seen in humans before, which means doctors still have lots to learn about it.

The first human cases were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. There have not been any other suspected human cases reported prior to this.

The incubation period (how long it takes for symptoms to appear after catching the infection) is days, rather than weeks.

It is not yet known how or when the virus became infectious to people. Experts believe the first cases were transmitted by an animal.

Other coronaviruses, such as Sars and Mers, came from civet cats and camels respectively.

At the moment, there is no vaccine that can protect people against it, but researchers are looking to develop one.

The UK's expected measures do not appear to include a medical screening of passengers at the airport for signs of the virus, as the UK did in 2014 following the Ebola outbreak.

Then, screening involved taking people's temperatures to check whether they have a fever and asking several questions to assess their risk.

New China virus 'could mutate and spread further'

China - which is stepping up containment measures - has still not been able to confirm the exact source of the virus.

But the country's National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin said there was evidence that the disease was "mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract".

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2020-01-22 09:33:01Z
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Coronavirus: UK 'to monitor flights from China' as precaution - BBC News

The UK is expected to begin monitoring flights arriving from China, as part of a series of precautionary measures after the spread of a new coronavirus.

The measures, set to be announced later, will apply to flights from Wuhan to London Heathrow.

According to government sources, Public Health England will upgrade the risk to the UK population from very low to low.

Chinese authorities have advised people to stop travel into and out of Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak.

They also admitted the country is now at the "most critical stage" of prevention and control.

So far, there have been 440 confirmed cases and nine people have died.

Most cases have been in Wuhan but the virus has also spread to other Chinese cities.

A handful of cases have also been identified abroad, including in Japan and the United States. There have been no cases in Britain.

On Tuesday, authorities in China confirmed for the first time that human-to-human transmission of the virus had taken place.

Health team at airport

In its most recent update on Monday, the UK government said the risk to the population was "very low" while the risk to travellers to Wuhan was "low".

The situation was "under constant review", it said.

A government source has now told the BBC that Public Health England and the chief medical officer are expected to increase the risk level to the population to "low".

And on Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock is also expected to put in place a series of "port measures" as a precaution which include:

A health team to meet each direct flight from Wuhan to London Heathrow
Passengers on flights will hear an announcement and be given a leaflet to encourage them to report if they are ill
Aircraft will land in an isolated area of Heathrow Terminal 4 that "better lends itself to any health contingencies"

There are currently three direct flights a week from Wuhan to London Heathrow.

It comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) will also consider on Wednesday whether to declare an international public health emergency over the virus - as it did with swine flu and Ebola.

Authorities in several countries, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan have stepped up screening of air passengers from Wuhan.

The UK's expected measures do not appear to include a medical screening of passengers at the airport for signs of the virus, as the UK did in 2014 following the Ebola outbreak.

Then, screening involved taking people's temperatures to check whether they have a fever and asking several questions to assess their risk.

New China virus 'could mutate and spread further'

China - which is stepping up containment measures - has still not been able to confirm the exact source of the virus.

But the country's National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin said there was evidence that the disease was "mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract".

A National Health Commission official admitted that the country was now at the "most critical stage" of prevention and control.

What we know so far about the Chinese coronavirus

This type of coronavirus is a new strain that hasn't been seen in humans before, which means doctors still have lots to learn about it.

The first human cases were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. There have not been any other suspected human cases reported prior to this.

The incubation period (how long it takes for symptoms to appear after catching the infection) is days, rather than weeks.

It is not yet known how or when the virus became infectious to people. Experts believe the first cases were transmitted by an animal.

Other coronaviruses, such as Sars and Mers, came from civet cats and camels respectively.

At the moment, there is no vaccine that can protect people against it, but researchers are looking to develop one.

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2020-01-22 07:18:44Z
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Selasa, 21 Januari 2020

UK begins testing unsupervised autonomous transport pods - Engadget

The Titanic will be protected by a treaty between US and UK - CNN

(CNN) — The underwater ruins of the RMS Titanic will now have the protection of an international treaty.

The United States and the United Kingdom have both passed legislation allowing them the power to grant or deny licenses to enter the hulls of the wreckage and remove artifacts found outside, according to a statement from the British Department for Transport and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani.

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

"Lying two and a half miles below the ocean surface, the RMS Titanic is the subject of the most documented maritime tragedy in history," Ghani said in Belfast Tuesday, according to the statement. "This momentous agreement with the United States to preserve the wreck means it will be treated with the sensitivity and respect owed to the final resting place of more than 1,500 lives."

The UK signed the treaty to protect the Titanic, which is about 370 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, Canada, in 2003. But the treaty is only coming into force now, as the US didn't ratify it until the end of 2019, the statement said.

The ratification of the treaty marks a step forward in an effort of multiple countries to protect the ship, the statement said.

The Titanic was deemed an "unsinkable ship" and was the largest passenger ship afloat in 1912. But on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in April, the ship struck an iceberg and sank. Of the 2,223 passengers and crew on board, only 706 survived, according to the US Senate report on the disaster.

Divers visited the wreckage in August for the first time in 14 years. Images they captured show the ship being swallowed up by the ocean floor and ravaged by metal-eating bacteria.

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2020-01-21 08:13:40Z
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Senin, 20 Januari 2020

Sterling slips as businesses fret over hard Brexit warnings from UK finance minister - CNBC

Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid leaves 10 Downing Street in central London after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting on 29 October, 2019 in London, England.

NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Sterling dipped sharply against all of its main trading peers on Monday, as traders reacted to weekend Brexit comments from U.K. Finance Minister Sajid Javid.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday, the chancellor warned U.K. businesses that the government would remain committed to as hard a Brexit as possible and that it would not seek regulatory alignment with Brussels.

"There will not be alignment, we will not be a rule-taker, we will not be in the single market and we will not be in the customs union — and we will do this by the end of the year," Javid said.

As markets woke Monday, sterling slipped by around 0.2% versus the greenback and 0.3% versus the euro. The pound has been losing value of late as poor economic data has taken the shine off the strong Conservative Party election win in December.

In a note Monday, Societe Generale's Kit Juckes said many traders were still backing the pound, despite also pricing in a 70% chance that the Bank of England will cut rates later this month.

"With so many longs, and unemployment data tomorrow and PMI (purchasing managers' index) on Friday, sterling remains on the back foot, sterling is vulnerable," said Juckes.

The U.K. will leave the EU by the end of January where it will enter a transition period during which a new trading relationship with the EU will be settled.

The largest body representing the interests of U.K. businesses is the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Following Javid's comment that there will be no regulatory alignment with the EU after Brexit, BCC co-Executive Director Claire Walker said the government must be careful not to drive employers away from Britain.

"Our business communities have differing views but are prepared to be pragmatic about coming changes to regulation. Uncertainty around the extent of divergence risks firms moving their production elsewhere," said Walker in a statement Saturday.

The BCC is also calling on the government to provide additional support to help firms adapt to new rules.

The auto industry is a big employer in the U.K. but heavily dependent on the smooth transport of parts and completed cars between the EU mainland and the U.K.

In an email to CNBC Monday, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Mike Hawes, said that additional regulations could "add billions" to the cost of developing cars in Britain for sale in Europe.

"It is important, therefore, that we have early sight of the details of the government's ambitions so we can evaluate any impact on our competitiveness and the future of volume manufacturing in the U.K.," he added.

Now watch: U.K. economy almost at "full capacity"

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2020-01-20 12:52:00Z
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UK-Africa summit: Wooing Africa after Brexit - BBC News

After Brexit, the UK wants to boost business trade with Africa, but as a major UK-Africa business summit starts in London, Matthew Davies asks if there really will be new opportunities for the continent.

Trade is tricky. Trade agreements are trickier. Trade negotiations to get those agreements are exponentially more complicated.

And the road that the Brexit can has been kicked down for so long is rapidly running out.

Once the UK leaves the European Union at the end of January, it has 11 months to come up with a trade deal with the European Union to avoid reverting to WTO rules.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Leave supporters have always expounded the virtues of being outside the EU, including the ability to negotiate its own trade deals on its own terms for the benefits of its own citizens.

Being part of a big gang has its advantages and disadvantages.

Yes, you have to make compromises and adapt your goals to match commonly-agreed policies. But you also get the power of the bloc behind you in trade negotiations.

Where does this leave Africa?

The UK's International Development Secretary, Alok Sharma, is, as one would expect, very optimistic saying that Britain's relations with Africa will be "turbo-charged", with trade, business and investment deals being struck left, right and centre.

The UK government seems to be taking it seriously.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit can be seen as evidence of that but any potential change in actual trade conditions is some way off. Possibly years.

What changes when Britain exits the EU?

Mostly, nothing changes at the end of January.

There will be much political posturing and speech making, but the UK will still be a member of the EU Customs Union and Single Market until the end of the year.

There is a provision for it to extend that by a further two years, but that would seem to be ruled out by Prime Minister Johnson.

That means trade relations between the UK and Africa stay the same for 2020, conducted under the EU's various existing deals with the continent.

What about after 2020?

Beyond the 2020 horizon, trade arrangements between many African countries and a fully-Brexited UK are also set to remain the same under a number of "continuity agreements".

These basically say that the trade conditions (tariffs, quotas, standards and so on) remain the same as they are currently between a number of African countries and trading blocs and the EU.

For example, in September last year, the UK initiated an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) - which is made up of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and eSwatini - and Mozambique.

UK's top African trading partners (2016)

Trade volume $bn

It is designed to keep things as they are under the current trade relationship that the southern African nations have with the EU.

It mirrors the agreement that the EU already has with Sacu.

According to Britain's International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, the agreement "will allow businesses to keep trading after Brexit without any additional barriers".

UK's top trading partners (2018)

Trade volume $bn

And that seems to be the UK's approach - keep the same conditions in place that already exist between the UK and African countries under EU deals. Worldwide, the UK has in place about 40 such "continuity" deals, covering some 70 countries.

The UK has been allowed to strike these deals with countries that already have similar agreements with the EU.

Why not change the trading arrangement?

Part of the reason of doing it this way is that it allows the UK to negotiate new arrangements with those who do not have an existing trade deal with the EU. The big one here is the United States.

Sounds simple, but it's not.

At least, not in the longer term because of the uncertainty that is still very much part of post-Brexit picture.

The "continuity agreements" will eventually run out. That's when the real opportunities and challenges for African states will emerge.

Can African countries get a better deal from the UK?

Outside the big EU gang, the UK, technically, has less negotiating clout.

That could mean that the African countries that trade with the UK may be able to squeeze out slightly more preferential terms in negotiations. Perhaps.

As mentioned earlier, trade negotiations are complex and require time and resources.

With the starting gun fired at the end of January, the UK's trade negotiating efforts will have to be prioritised.

Will the UK focus on Africa?

The lion's share of the UK's effort will be aimed at getting the best deal possible with the EU, its closest and, by far, its biggest trading partner.

Beyond that, deals with the likes of the US, China, South Korea and Australia will be prioritised, which means that African countries will be quite far down the list.

But it is also a question of volume and value. For example, South Africa is the sub-Saharan African country that does the most trade with the European Union.

Minerals, cars and agricultural products are exported into EU and of that total 18% end up in the UK.

But some agricultural products are subject to quotas.

Could the UK drop those quotas?

In theory, the UK could allow greater access to the British market than it does under the current arrangement, something which, for example, South African wine makers could take advantage of.

But equally, their French counterparts could lean on their government to lean on Brussels negotiators to get their exported wine into the UK under more preferential terms than those from South Africa.

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In truth, it is impossible to tell what could happen, but this does point to the complexities of over-arching trade negotiations.

Uncertainty remains a factor, despite the efforts being made to counter it.

Razia Khan from Standard Chartered Bank says: "In the short-term, greater uncertainty will weigh on prospects, although this has been mitigated to some extent by the UK's offer of an extension of trade agreements for two years, in order to deal with this uncertainty."

Could Brexit effect other aspects of the African economy?

Of course, the Brexit effect goes beyond trade.

This may be seen if the UK falls into a recession after Brexit. That would hit places like South Africa hard.

The UN calculates that the UK is South Africa's eighth-largest import and export market in global terms.

If the UK's economy gets a recessionary cold, South Africa's could get flu.

And given South Africa's powerhouse status as regards other African economies, that would not bode well.

What about Kenya's flower growers?

Brexit could also require new infrastructure in the UK to deal with certain imports.

Flowers are one of Kenya's biggest exports and foreign currency earners. The industry is also a major employer, providing 100,000 people with direct work and around two million indirectly.

At the moment, Kenya's flowers enter the EU through the massive market in Amsterdam.

From there 18% of them end up in the UK. But what happens after Brexit?

Zero-tariff arrangements can still be place under a continuity agreement, but there could be physical problems.

The Kenya Flower Council has pointed out that the infrastructure for flying flowers directly to the UK is not as developed as the Nairobi-Amsterdam route.

In other words, there could be an impact.

What should business people be looking at?

As far as African companies are concerned, the post-Brexit world will depend very much on the nature of their business with both the EU and the UK.

"Companies that depend heavily on EU-related preferences in the UK market need to keep a watchful eye on developments in Europe; and on negotiations between the UK and their own country on future arrangements," says Matthew Stern at DNA Economics in Pretoria.

"If all goes to plan, these preferences will be maintained, but any slippage from either party could be costly for certain firms."

As African politicians and business leaders gather in London for the UK-Africa Investment Summit, uncertainty remains.

It may be mitigated to some degree by the continuity agreements, but somewhere down the line, new negotiations are likely to happen.

Uncertainty is the enemy of investment. And behind the handshakes and smiles at the summit, it will be at least one of the elephants in the room.

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2020-01-20 12:00:44Z
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UK-born children of migrants 'feel more discriminated against' than foreign migrants - BBC News

People born in Britain to migrant parents are more likely to feel discriminated against than migrants who are new to the UK, research suggests.

Evidence from two 2018 surveys points to ethnicity being at the root of any perceived discrimination rather than a person's status as a migrant.

Among immigrants, more than 70% say Britain is welcoming and 90% believe migrants can make it if they work hard.

But more non-EU migrants feel they face prejudice than those from Europe.

The University of Oxford's Migration Observatory briefing, Migrants and Discrimination in the UK, is based on data accrued in the European Social Survey and the UK longevity household study (40,000 households) in 2018.

Amongst predominantly white migrants from the EU, only 8% say they feel they are discriminated against in Britain, while those from outside the EU are more than twice as likely to say they were part of a group that is discriminated against, at 19%.

For second generation migrants, born in Britain, the sense of being discriminated against increases to 30%.

Dr Marina Fernandez-Reino, researcher at the Migration Observatory and author of the briefing, described the reasons behind the perceived hostility as "complex".

"Some UK-born minorities actually have worse outcomes than migrants, such as higher unemployment," she said.

"Research also suggests that children of migrants, who were born and raised here, have higher expectations and so are more sensitive to inequalities or unequal treatment they encounter.

"By contrast, people who migrated here may compare their experience to life in their country of origin and feel that they have benefited from moving - even if they still face some disadvantages."

Oxford Migration Observatory research on attitudes to immigration finds more than a third of British people would want no Nigerians or Pakistanis to come to the UK, but just one in 10 would want to stop those from culturally close countries, such as Australia.

EU migrants have traditionally reported fewer experiences of discrimination than those born outside the EU.

However, there was a spike in the number of EU migrants who reported experiencing discrimination around the time of the EU referendum in 2016 - more than double the levels seen in 2010-12 or later, in 2018.

In addition, data for 2016-2018 shows EU migrants in the UK were more likely to feel that they faced discrimination (14%) than EU migrants in other EU countries (9%).

By contrast, the perception of discrimination among non-EU migrants was slightly lower in the UK than in the rest of the EU.

The latest data suggest attitudes to immigration in the UK have softened again since 2016.

"The increase in EU migrants' perceptions of discrimination around the time of the referendum is likely associated with the public debate in that period," said Dr Fernandez Reino.

"EU migration was one of the top issues on the UK political agenda in the run-up to the 2016 vote, but has received less attention since."

BBC Briefing is a mini-series of downloadable in-depth guides to the big issues in the news, with input from academics, researchers and journalists. It is the BBC's response to audiences demanding better explanation of the facts behind the headlines.

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2020-01-20 08:08:27Z
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Rabu, 22 Januari 2020

Health team at airport

What we know so far about the Chinese coronavirus

Health team at airport

What we know so far about the Chinese coronavirus

Selasa, 21 Januari 2020

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Senin, 20 Januari 2020

Now watch: U.K. economy almost at "full capacity"

Where does this leave Africa?

What changes when Britain exits the EU?

What about after 2020?

UK's top African trading partners (2016)

UK's top trading partners (2018)

Why not change the trading arrangement?

Can African countries get a better deal from the UK?

Will the UK focus on Africa?

Could the UK drop those quotas?

Could Brexit effect other aspects of the African economy?

What about Kenya's flower growers?

What should business people be looking at?