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Israel steps up battle against communal violence
Israeli security forces struggled to quell worsening communal violence in its cities as the military stepped up its assault in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas. Jews and minority Israeli Arabs clashed in several Israeli towns overnight as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to subdue riots with “a lot of force”. The worst domestic unrest in years escalated with a soldier beaten in Jaffa, a police officer shot in Lod and another synagogue set on fire, according to Israeli media. Outbreaks of mob violence were reported around the country as large groups of Israeli Arabs and Jewish men defied curfews. The brawls between Israeli citizens came as the military added tanks and artillery to its five-day air campaign against Hamas. The military operation has killed 119 Palestinians, including 50 women and children, according to health officials in Gaza. “We are dealing with a campaign on two fronts – in Gaza [and] in Israel’s cities,” Netanyahu said late on Thursday. An Israeli military spokesperson told reporters early on Friday that ground troops had moved into Gaza, but later clarified that none had entered the impoverished territory of 2m. Financial Times, May 14

Vaccination race to hold back Indian strain
Ten million people could have their second doses of coronavirus vaccines brought forward as the government attempts to stop a faster spreading Indian variant from delaying the end of restrictions. Cases of the variant have more than doubled in a week and Boris Johnson said yesterday that he was “anxious” about the threat posed by the strain to the route out of lockdown. Indoor mixing will go ahead as planned on Monday despite calls yesterday from scientists and Dominic Cummings for it to be postponed. But modelling for Sage has concluded that if the variant is much more than 30 per cent more transmissible than the Kent strain it would be a big risk not to delay the final easing of restrictions next month. The Times, May 14

Calls for post-Covid ‘revolution’ in air quality
Dozens of the world’s top experts in how diseases spread have called for big improvements to the air in buildings. They say current rules on ventilation are failing to stop infections, including Covid-19. The problem is likened to the health crisis caused by contaminated water in Britain’s cities in the 1800s. The appeal comes amid growing evidence that the coronavirus is often transmitted via infectious aerosols in crowded indoor spaces. Writing in the journal Science, the scientists and engineers say that while governments have regulations on the safety of food, sanitation and drinking water, there’s far less emphasis on pathogens in the air. They say that’s partly because it’s easier to identify a single water pipe or package of food that might be the cause of an outbreak than to track down an airborne source. They also say that building designers have for decades focused on keeping people at a comfortable temperature or on saving energy. Now, the article argues, there’s evidence from studies of cases in restaurants, ships and schools that respiratory infections can be passed through the air. BBC news, May 14

Longer gap between Pfizer jabs boosts antibody response in elderly
Extending the interval between doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine from three to 12 weeks strengthens the antibody response in elderly people, according to a UK study. The researchers at Birmingham university, working in collaboration with Public Health England, said their findings vindicated the UK government’s controversial decision in December to wait 12 weeks between first and second doses rather than the 21 days recommended by Pfizer’s clinical trials. “The advice to prioritise first doses, so as to provide a greater public health impact and save more lives, was considered quite bold at the time but the data shows that it has paid off,” said Gayatri Amirthalingam, a PHE epidemiologist and co-author of the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. The study involved 172 people aged 80-99, who each received two shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Of the group, 73 had a 12-week interval between doses and 99 a three-week interval. Peak levels of neutralising antibodies, reached 2-3 weeks after the second jab, were 3.5 times higher on average in the group with the extended gap. Financial Times, May 14

EU citizens arriving in UK being locked up and expelled
EU citizens are being sent to immigration removal centres and held in airport detention rooms as the UK government’s “hostile environment” policy falls on them after Brexit, according to campaigners and travellers interviewed by the Guardian. Europeans with job interviews are among those being denied entry and locked up. They have spoken of being subjected to the traumatic and humiliating experience of expulsion, despite Home Office rules that explicitly allow non-visa holders to attend interviews. Confusion about whether EU citizens can explore the UK job market and then go home with an offer in order to apply for a work visa has added to the growing number of detentions. In other cases, visitors are clearly breaking rules, such as those now barring EU citizens from taking up unpaid internships. At least a dozen European citizens – mostly young women – were detained and expelled at Gatwick airport alone over 48 hours last week, two female Spanish detainees told the Guardian … Other countries whose citizens have been held at a UK airport or detention centre include Italy, France, Bulgaria and Greece. The Guardian, May 13

Tougher laws to make fake news a crime
Spreading fake news on behalf of a hostile state like Russia or China could become a crime under government plans to overhaul the Official Secrets Act. Priti Patel, the home secretary, has published proposals to create a number of new offences to modernise Britain’s “outdated” laws to combat evolving threats. The changes would also increase prison sentences for breaches of the Official Secrets Act. Currently only espionage carries the maximum 14-year sentence, with all other offences, including the leaking of official secrets, carrying only a two-year limit. Sabotage, economic espionage and foreign interference are threats that need to be countered by creating new standalone offences, say the proposals. The Times, May 14

Cameron defends his lobbying of ministers
David Cameron has defended his lobbying of UK ministers and officials on behalf of Greensill Capital, insisting it was to benefit the economy rather than preserve the value of his share options in the company. The former prime minister, giving his first public comments about Greensill since it collapsed in March, refused to say how much money he was on track to earn from the supply-chain finance company before it went into administration. Industry figures have told the FT that Cameron had shares worth close to 1 per cent of the value of Greensill. The company was at one point valued at $7bn. But Cameron told the House of Commons Treasury select committee that suggestions of a potential windfall for him from Greensill were “completely absurd”. He declined to say what the actual figure was but said he had share options and was paid a “generous amount, far more than I earned as prime minister”. Financial Times, May 13

Global shortage of computer chips could last two years, says IBM boss
The shortage of computer chips plaguing industries around the world and helping to fuel inflation could last another two years, the boss of IBM has said. With the global car industry estimated to lose $110bn this year thanks to the chip shortage, IBM’s president, Jim Whitehurst, told the BBC on Friday that the tech industry was struggling to keep up with demand brought on by the reopening of the world economy. Some factories were forced to close when the pandemic first struck in 2020. The backlog in production was compounded by soaring demand for chips from a boom in sales of laptops, game consoles and mobile phones as people were forced into lockdown. The Guardian, May 14

US fuel pipeline ‘paid hackers $5m in ransom’
A major US fuel pipeline has reportedly paid cyber-criminal gang DarkSide nearly $5m (£3.6m) in ransom, following a cyber-attack. Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware cyber-attack over the weekend and took its service down for five days, causing supplies to tighten across the US. CNN, the New York Times, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal all reported a ransom was paid, citing sources. Colonial said on Thursday that it would not comment on the issue. On Friday, Japanese consumer tech giant Toshiba said its European division in France had been hit by the same cyber-criminal gang. BBC news, May 14

Developers who fail to build new homes face ‘use it or lose it’ tax
Developers will face new “use it or lose it” taxes for failing to build homes on land that already has planning permission amid concerns that more than 1.1 million have been left unbuilt in the past 10 years. Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, is considering the levy as the government oversees the biggest shake-up of the planning system for 70 years. About 2.8 million homes have been given the green light for construction since 2010-11, but only 1.6 million have been built, according to analysis by the Local Government Association. Critics have claimed that such “land banking” has artificially kept house prices high and deprived first-time buyers of the chance to get on the property ladder. Housebuilders have rejected this analysis. The Times, May 14

Johnson’s three-front strategy for Covid inquiry
Boris Johnson will mount a three-pronged defence as he seeks to counter claims by Dominic Cummings and other critics that his delays in implementing lockdowns cost thousands of lives, The Times has been told. The prime minister yesterday announced plans for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic that will begin next spring. Downing Street said he would give evidence under oath if requested. Aides are understood to have been gathering emails and documents for more than six months to support the prime minister’s case. He announced the inquiry amid mounting concern in government about an appearance by Cummings, the prime minister’s former senior adviser, before MPs on May 26. The Times, May 13

NHS to receive £160m to tackle backlog of care
Tens of thousands of patients will get quicker access to diagnostic tests and surgery under a new £160m NHS initiative to identify ways of tackling the vast backlog of care that built up because of Covid. Hospitals will use the money to buy mobile CT and MRI scanning trucks, put on extra surgery in evenings and at weekends, and look after patients at home in “virtual wards”. The move comes days after Downing Street made clear that reducing patients’ waiting times for hospital treatment would be a “critical priority” for the government for the next few years. Boris Johnson underlined their importance in Tuesday’s Queen’s speech and stressed the need for people with so far undiagnosed conditions, including cancer, to visit their GP and seek treatment. The Guardian, May 13

UK trial points to mixed vaccines raising risk of side-effects
Mixing Covid-19 vaccines increases the risk of unpleasant, short-term side-effects such as fatigue and fever, according to a UK trial in which people received different jabs for their first and second doses. Preliminary results from the study run by Oxford university, published in The Lancet, showed a downside to vaccine mixing that the researchers had not expected, although the adverse reactions were short-lived. Mixed dosing is under consideration in several parts of the world, either because of safety concerns about the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab or to help spin out scarce supplies. “The results from this study suggest that mixed dose schedules could result in an increase in work absences the day after immunisation,” said Matthew Snape, chief investigator on the trial, adding that it could be particularly important for planning the vaccination of healthcare workers. Financial Times, May 13

NHS Covid legacy – long waits and lives at risk
Covid has left a toxic legacy for the NHS, with hospitals facing a huge backlog, putting lives at risk, patient groups and staff are warning. An in-depth analysis by BBC News has found: waiting lists have ballooned at some hospitals in England, with more than one out of every 10 patients in a quarter of trusts left at least a year without treatment. Major disruption to cancer services, with some hospitals struggling to treat half of their patients within the target time of two months. Concern growing for 45,000 “missing cancer patients”, after drops in GP referrals and screening services across the UK. BBC news, May 13