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Vaccination passports ‘will be here by summer’
Britons dreaming of a beach holiday in the Mediterranean can start planning the trip after EU leaders agreed last night to introduce vaccine passports by the summer. “Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,” Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, told reporters after an EU virtual summit. “This will make travelling within the EU possible and could pave the way for further travel from third countries into the EU.” However, she said that it could take three months for the European Commission to set up the technology for such documents, meaning the scheme may not be ready by the time the British government expects overseas travel for non-essential purposes to begin on 17 May. The Times, February 26

Paris govt calls for three-week lockdown
The Paris city government has called for a full three-week lockdown to bring infections back under control, but the central government said on Friday it was sceptical about whether the plan would work. Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy Paris mayor, said the city preferred a complete lockdown, arguing the strategy would ultimately pay off since it could allow the possibility of “reopening everything” after three weeks. A nationwide 6pm-6am curfew is in force and cafés and restaurants are closed in the capital. “We can’t be forced to live in a semi-prison for months,” Grégoire told France Info radio. “We now have to take courageous decisions.” The cities of Nice in the south and Dunkirk in the north are subject to weekend lockdowns after a rapid rise of coronavirus cases from new, highly infectious variants of the virus. Gabriel Attal, central government spokesman, said the Paris proposal would be studied. But he added: “I hear very few scientists saying you can crush the virus in three weeks … In Germany they announced a three-week confinement in December, and they still have it.” Financial Times, February 26

PM to lead new committee on Union
Boris Johnson will lead a new cabinet committee on the Union after a month of tumult in the government’s efforts to combat Scottish nationalism. Downing Street said that the prime minister would chair regular meetings of a “Union strategy committee”, less than a week after his handpicked chief of the Downing Street Union unit quit a fortnight after his appointment. Oliver Lewis, a former head of research at Vote Leave who was Dominic Cummings’s most senior remaining ally in No 10, left Downing Street last Friday amid claims that he had been accused by the prime minister and his fiancée of briefing against Michael Gove … Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, said that the new committee was a “very good news story” and a “step-up” on the previous arrangement. The Times, February 26

Shamima Begum cannot return to UK to fight for citizenship, court rules
Shamima Begum, who fled Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in Syria, has failed to restore her British citizenship after the supreme court ruled on Friday that she had lost her case. The judgment from the UK’s highest court is a critical – and controversial – test case of the UK’s policy to strip the citizenship of Britons who went to join Isis and are being detained by Syrian Kurdish groups without trial. Lord Reed, the president of the court, said its judges had decided unanimously to rule in favour of the home secretary and against Begum on all counts before it, meaning that the 21-year-old will not be able to re-enter the UK to fight her case in person and will not have her citizenship restored while she is being detained in Syria. “The supreme court unanimously allows the home secretary’s appeals and dismisses Miss Begun’s cross appeal,” Reed said. The Guardian, February 26

Sunak’s tax raid on pensioners
Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for a new “stealth tax” on wealthy pensioners as he seeks to repair Britain’s finances after the pandemic, The Times has learnt. The chancellor is expected to announce in his budget next week that the lifetime allowance, the amount people can build up in their pension pot before incurring punitive tax charges, will be frozen for the rest of this parliament at just over £1 million. The freeze means more people risk being dragged over the threshold and could face a 25 per cent levy on any additional income from their pension pot. The charge rises to 55 per cent if they choose to draw down a lump sum. The additional charge would mean about 10,000 people with larger pensions would pay more than £22,000 extra in tax by 2024. Analysts believe the measure could be worth £250 million a year to the Treasury. The move will also affect the 1.2 million people who are projected to exceed the threshold by the time they start drawing down income. The Times, February 26

US launches air strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria
The US has carried out air strikes against Iran-linked militia groups in eastern Syria in retaliation for recent attacks on American and coalition personnel in Iraq. The military action on Thursday was the first ordered by President Joe Biden since taking office and was described by John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, as a proportionate response. “At President Biden’s direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted air strikes against infrastructure utilised by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” Kirby said in a statement. He added that the US strikes had “destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups”. Financial Times, February 26

Amazon rainforest plots sold via Facebook ads
Parts of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest are being illegally sold on Facebook, the BBC has discovered. The protected areas include national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples. Some of the plots listed via Facebook’s classified ads service are as large as 1,000 football pitches. Facebook said it was “ready to work with local authorities”, but indicated it would not take independent action of its own to halt the trade. “Our commerce policies require buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations,” the Californian tech firm added. The leader of one of the indigenous communities affected has urged the tech firm to do more. And campaigners have claimed Brazil’s government is unwilling to halt the sales. “The land invaders feel very empowered to the point that they are not ashamed of going on Facebook to make illegal land deals,” Ivaneide Bandeira, head of environmental NGO Kanindé, said. BBC news, February 26

Airbus reveals planes sold in last two years will emit over 1bn tonnes of CO2
Planes sold by Airbus in 2019 and 2020 will produce well over 1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide during their lifetimes, according to landmark first estimates of the aerospace manufacturer’s emissions. Airbus sold a record 863 planes in 2019, which would translate to 740m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over a 22-year period, according to figures seen by the Guardian. It sold 566 planes last year, for which lifetime emissions would be 440m tonnes. The figures highlight the scale of the challenge of decarbonisation for the plane-making duopoly of Airbus and its US rival Boeing. Aviation accounts for about 1.9 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but its share is expected to rise rapidly after coronavirus restrictions ease and as more people in poorer nations are able to afford to fly. The emissions intensity of Airbus products fell from 66.6g of CO2 equivalent per passenger-kilometre in 2019 to 63.5g in 2020. Airbus said this reflected more efficient planes even as the pandemic caused sales to fall. The Guardian, February 26

Amazon to be forced to recycle electrical goods
Amazon and other online retailers will be forced to fund collection of old electronic equipment from homes and ensure it is recycled rather than sent to incinerators or landfill under plans being considered by the government. Ministers are responding to concerns raised by the Commons environmental audit committee that online retailers and marketplaces such as Amazon have been “dodging their environmental responsibilities for the products they sell”. The average Briton discards more electrical equipment than their counterpart in any other country but Norway, according to a United Nations report. Thousands of tonnes of valuable metals in this equipment, including gold, tungsten, lithium and cobalt, are wasted because it is often not recycled. Larger retailers with physical shops have been obliged since last month to take back an old item when a consumer buys a new similar item … However, online retailers and marketplaces are not required to collect old items … The government has now signalled that it intends to extend the obligation to online sellers following a review being carried out into the regulations. The Times, February 26

Schools told to work out their own GCSE and A-level exam grades
Widespread grade inflation is expected in GCSEs and A-levels this summer after ministers decided that results would be awarded by schools. Experts said the plans risked jeopardising the credibility of the qualifications and could lead to soaring grades with little consistency. They also warned of an avalanche of appeals as families in England will have far fewer restrictions on challenges than usual. The details are being announced today by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary. University applicants will have priority for appeals and places will be held open “within reason”. Results day will be brought forward to the week of August 9, giving teenagers a bigger window to question their results. The system will be generous, according to government sources. Ministers are determined not to use an algorithm to moderate results after an outcry last year, when some pupils were downgraded because of the past performance of their school. The Times, February 25

Covid tests and masks not compulsory at English schools
It will not be compulsory for school pupils to take Covid tests twice a week, nor wear face coverings in class, the schools minister Nick Gibb has confirmed. But Gibb said he hoped most students would wear masks and volunteer to take tests twice a week in school, before being given home testing kits. In interviews on Thursday, Gibb also said that while this summer’s exams had been scrapped, teachers would have to show evidence for the grades they gave, as part of checks against grade inflation. The Guardian, February 25

J&J vaccine: FDA finds the single-shot jab safe
US regulators have found the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective. It paves the way for it to become the third Covid-19 vaccine to be authorised in the US, possibly within days. The vaccine would be a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer. Trials found it prevented serious illness but was 66 per cent effective overall when moderate cases were included. The company has agreed to provide the US with 100 million doses by the end of June. The UK, EU and Canada have also ordered doses and 500 million doses have also been ordered through the Covax scheme to supply poorer nations. BBC news, February 25

Tory rebels and Labour ready to block corporation tax rise
MPs could vote down plans to increase corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent amid opposition from Tory rebels and Labour, a senior minister has said. Rishi Sunak is expected to use his budget next week to announce a “pathway” to increase corporation tax over the course of the current parliament. It had been thought that he was looking to raise it to 23 per cent. However, The Times has been told that officials are considering going as high as 25 per cent. Sunak’s US counterpart, Janet Yellen, said recently that corporation tax in the US might rise from 21 per cent to 28 per cent. This would mean that the UK could still claim to have the lowest level of corporation tax in the G7 group of developed nations. The first increase is likely to be in the autumn budget, with subsequent rises. However, there is significant opposition to the move among Tory backbenchers and in cabinet. Mark Spencer, the chief whip, has told Tory MPs that the government will consider any revolt over the budget equivalent to a vote of confidence against the prime minister. It raises the prospect of Tory MPs being stripped of the whip if they rebel. The Times, February 25

Cities vie for northern base of new Treasury HQ
Newcastle and Leeds are among the main northern conurbations to make the final shortlist to become the site of the Treasury’s new economic campus – seen by chancellor Rishi Sunak as a big part of the government’s levelling up agenda. Treasury North is set to be the crowning piece of the government’s plans to move 22,000 civil servants out of London by the end of the decade. The campus will initially house 750 officials from several ministries, including the departments for business and transport. According to individuals with knowledge of the discussions, Sunak’s shortlist for the campus has narrowed to the well-connected cities of Newcastle and Leeds, versus Bradford in West Yorkshire, or the Teesside town of Darlington. The Treasury is also finalising £180m of funding for new “carbon capture and storage” schemes in far-flung sites which will capture CO2 emissions to tackle climate change with a project on Teeside likely to be chosen. Financial Times, February 25