Portugal has moved from the UK's travel green list to its amber list - but what happens now for those who've booked a holiday there?
And with no further countries being moved from amber to green in a review of the government's traffic light system, we take a look at the options available to anyone still desperate for a summer break.
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about travel this summer, and what changes to restrictions mean for your holidays.
If my holiday destination is moved from the green list to the amber list, am I still allowed to travel?
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Yes, you are still allowed to travel to that destination, but you will have to quarantine at home for 10 days upon your return to the UK, and pay for two COVID-19 tests.
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Will my package holiday be automatically cancelled if the destination is moved from green to amber?
No, not necessarily. Even if the Department for Transport decides that a country should be placed in a different risk category, a tour operator will only be forced to cancel your holiday if the Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to that destination. In that case, you will be fully refunded within two weeks.
If the Foreign Office doesn't advise against travel but you don't feel comfortable going, then speak to your tour operator. They should allow you to postpone your trip.
Will I get a refund from my airline if I have booked tickets independently?
No, you're not entitled to a refund if your destination is moved from green to amber and you have booked your flights independently.
Fortunately, most airlines are offering customers the ability to change the dates of their flights if their destination gets moved to amber, although you may have to pay a fee to do so.
What happens if my destination has been moved from amber to red before I travel?
All trips to red list countries will be cancelled immediately, with a full refund given for package holidays.
If I am on holiday in a country that is about to be added to the amber list, should I try to fly back early?
If you have booked your flights independently, you may be able to fly back earlier to avoid quarantining. If you are booked on a package holiday, it is unlikely you will be able to change your flights.
If I am in an amber list country, and it gets moved to a red list country, what happens?
If you are a British citizen or a resident of the UK, you will be able to return home but you will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days, costing you £1,750.
Hopes of a summer holiday abroad have been dashed, with no new countries added to the UK's green travel list and Portugal moved to amber.
No further countries are being moved from the amber to green status in a review of the government's travel traffic light system, Sky News understands.
There were hopes some Greek and Spanish islands, and Malta could have been added to the green list in the first review of the system since it came into play three weeks ago.
Portugal was the only major holiday destination on the 12 country green list, meaning tourists could return to the UK without having to quarantine.
People arriving in the UK from amber list countries have to take two post-arrival tests on day two and day eight after arriving and self-isolate at home for 10 days, although they can reduce that time if they take an additional negative test on day five.
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Those returning from green locations are not required to self-isolate but they must take one post-arrival coronavirus test.
Ahead of the list announcement, health secretary Matt Hancock warned: "We have got to follow the data and of course, I understand why people want to travel but we've got to make sure we keep this country safe, especially because the vaccine programme is going so well.
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"We have seen hospitalisations and deaths come right down and we have to got to protect the progress we have made here at home, whilst allowing for travel where it is safe.
Each country is assessed based on a range of factors, including what proportion of a population is vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents pushed on Thursday for a quick vote to end his record-setting rule, racing to head off what is expected to be a frantic effort by the premier and his allies to derail the newly announced coalition.
The new phase of political warfare began just hours after opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner Naftali Bennett – an ideological odd couple – declared late on Wednesday night they reached a deal to form a new government.
The announcement triggered a complex process likely to stretch over the next week, giving Netanyahu time to try to pressure coalition members ideologically aligned with him to quit the group.
With the threat of possible jail time hanging over him in his ongoing trial on corruption charges, the 71-year-old is unlikely to allow his record 12 straight years to end without a messy fight, analysts warned.
On Thursday, the master political operator was already on Twitter seeking to play on any last-minute misgivings among right-wing lawmakers about allying with the left against him.
“All lawmakers who were elected with votes from the right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government,” Netanyahu said.
Should last-minute defections scupper the “change” alliance, Israel would likely have to hold yet another election, the fifth in just over two years.
“Opening the champagne right now is a bit hasty,” said Tamar Hermann, a political scientist at the Israel Democracy Institute.
‘Betraying right-wing values’
The question is whether the coalition of 61 votes would hold together through a vote of the 120-member Knesset – and who would preside over that vote?
Netanyahu has accused the former allies who joined the incoming coalition of betraying right-wing values. His supporters have demonstrated and launched vicious social media campaigns, repeating the message Netanyahu has been sending over the past week as the new coalition coalesced.
One factor working in Netanyahu’s favour: the parliament speaker is an ally who could use his position to delay the vote and give Netanyahu more time to sabotage the coalition.
The prime minister and his allies called a meeting later Thursday to plot their next steps, and it was unclear whether his opponents could name a new parliament speaker to preside over a Knesset vote required to confirm the new government.
If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahu’s record-setting, divisive 12-year rule.
Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, is to serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years – though it is far from certain their fragile coalition will last that long.
Historic deal
The historic deal also includes the small United Arab List, which would make it the first party of Palestinian citizens of Israel ever to be part of a governing coalition in Israel.
United Arab List’s leader Mansour Abbas, 47, has cast aside differences with prime minister-hopeful Bennett, an advocate of annexing most of the occupied West Bank.
A dentist by profession, Abbas said he hopes to improve conditions for Arab citizens who complain of discrimination and government neglect.
“We decided to join the government in order to change the balance of political forces in the country,” he said in a message to supporters after signing the coalition agreement.
Abbas’s party said the agreement includes the allocation of more than 53 billion shekels ($16bn) to improve infrastructure and combat violent crime in Arab towns.
It also includes provisions freezing demolition of homes built without permits in Arab villages and granting official status to Bedouin towns in the Negev desert, a stronghold for support, the party said.
“I say here clearly and frankly: when the very establishment of this government is based on our support … we will be able to influence it and accomplish great things for our Arab society,” Abbas said.
On Twitter, Netanyahu – who once drew accusations of racism by urging his supporters to get out and vote because “Arabs are flocking to the polls in droves” – highlighted the new alliance’s links with Abbas.
Netanyahu posted an old video clip of Bennett saying Abbas “visited terrorist murderers in jail” after a 1992 attack in which Arab citizens of Israel killed three soldiers.
A spokesman for the United Arab List did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Low-hanging fruit’
Netanyahu – desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges – is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.
Political analysts widely expected Netanyahu to try to pick off what one described as “low-hanging fruit”, seizing upon members of Yamina – Bennett’s party – who are unhappy about joining forces with Palestinian and left-wing lawmakers.
Tamar Zandberg, a Meretz legislator, acknowledged the difficulties in getting the alliance her party joined off the ground.
“The coalition’s test … is to be sworn in. That won’t be without rough patches and problems,” she said on Army Radio on Thursday.
Netanyahu, who has yet to respond to Lapid’s announcement, controls 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, almost twice as many as Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, and he is allied with at least three other religious and nationalist parties.
A source involved in the coalition talks said the proposed new government will try to retain consensus by avoiding hot-button ideological issues such as whether to annex or cede occupied West Bank territory that Palestinians want for a state.
Bennet has said the creation of an independent Palestine would be suicide for Israel. He made annexation of parts of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 war a major feature of his political platform, but following through on that with the broad new coalition looks to be politically unfeasible.
And any renewed violence in the Gaza Strip, after a ceasefire ended 11 days of Israel intensively bombing the besieged enclave in retaliation for rocket fire from there, could shake the broad alliance.
Naftali Bennett, left, and Yair Lapid are the leading figures in the new coalition [Ammar Awad/Amir Cohen/Reuters]
‘Return sanity’
During his tenure as prime minister, Netanyahu has often been a polarising figure at home and abroad.
He has said a Bennett-Lapid coalition would endanger Israel’s security – an allusion to efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear programme and managing the Palestinian issue.
Lapid, a centrist who campaigned under a pledge to “return sanity” to Israel, was given the task of forming a government after Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of an inconclusive March election.
Netanyahu’s rivals have cited the criminal charges against him as the main reason why Israel needs a new leader, arguing he might use a new term to legislate immunity to shield himself.
“This government … will respect its opponents and do all it can to unite and connect all parts of Israeli society,” Lapid said on Twitter.
The new government, if it is sworn in, will face considerable challenges. As well as Iran and the moribund peace process with the Palestinians, it also faces a war crimes probe by the International Criminal Court and economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic.
Bennett has said its members would have to compromise on such ideological issues in order to get the country back on track.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents are pushing for a quick vote to end his record-setting rule, racing to head off what is expected to be a frantic push by the premier and his allies to derail the newly announced coalition.
The new phase of political warfare began just hours after opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner Naftali Bennett – an ideological odd couple – declared late on Wednesday night that they had reached a deal to form a new government.
The announcement triggered a complex process likely to stretch over the next week, giving Netanyahu time to try to pressure coalition members ideologically aligned with him to quit the group.
With the threat of possible jail time hanging over him in his ongoing trial on corruption charges, the 71-year-old is unlikely to allow his record 12 straight years to end without a messy fight, analysts warned.
On Thursday, the master political operator was already on Twitter seeking to play on any last-minute misgivings among right-wing lawmakers about allying with the left against him.
“All lawmakers who were elected with votes from the right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government,” he said.
Should last-minute defections scupper the “change” alliance, Israel would likely have to hold yet another election, the fifth in just over two years.
“Opening the champagne right now is a bit hasty,” said Tamar Hermann, a political scientist at the Israel Democracy Institute.
‘Betraying right-wing values’
Now the question is whether the coalition of 61 votes would hold together through a vote of the 120-member Knesset – and who would preside over that vote?
Netanyahu has accused the former allies who joined the incoming coalition of betraying right-wing values. His supporters have demonstrated and launched vicious social media campaigns, repeating the message Netanyahu has been sending over the past week as the new coalition coalesced.
One factor working in Netanyahu’s favour: the parliament speaker is an ally who could use his position to delay the vote and give Netanyahu more time to sabotage the coalition.
The prime minister and his allies called a meeting later Thursday to plot their next steps, and it was unclear whether his opponents could name a new parliament speaker to preside over a Knesset vote required to confirm the new government
Historic deal
If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahu’s record-setting, divisive 12-year rule.
Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, is to serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years – though it is far from certain their fragile coalition will last that long.
The historic deal also includes the small United Arab List, which would make it the first party of Palestinian citizens of Israel ever to be part of a governing coalition in Israel.
Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.
Political analysts widely expected Netanyahu to try to pick off what one described as “low-hanging fruit”, seizing upon members of Yamina – Bennett’s party – who are unhappy about joining forces with Palestinian and left-wing lawmakers.
Tamar Zandberg, a Meretz legislator, acknowledged the difficulties in getting the alliance her party joined off the ground.
“The coalition’s test … is to be sworn in. That won’t be without rough patches and problems,” she said on Army Radio on Thursday.
Netanyahu, who has yet to respond to Lapid’s announcement, controls 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, almost twice as many as Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, and he is allied with at least three other religious and nationalist parties.
A source involved in the coalition talks said the proposed new government will try to retain consensus by avoiding hot-button ideological issues such as whether to annex or cede occupied West Bank territory that Palestinians want for a state.
Bennet has said the creation of an independent Palestine would be suicide for Israel. He made annexation of parts of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 war a major feature of his political platform, but following through on that with the broad new coalition looks to be politically unfeasible.
And any renewed violence in the Gaza Strip, after a ceasefire ended 11 days of Israel intensively bombing the besieged enclave in retaliation for rocket fire from there, could shake the broad alliance.
Naftali Bennett, left, and Yair Lapid are the leading figures in the new coalition [Ammar Awad/Amir Cohen/Reuters]
‘Return sanity’
During his tenure as prime minister, Netanyahu has often been a polarising figure at home and abroad.
He has said a Bennett-Lapid coalition would endanger Israel’s security – an allusion to efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear programme and managing the Palestinian issue.
Lapid, a centrist who campaigned under a pledge to “return sanity” to Israel, was given the task of forming a government after Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of an inconclusive March election.
Netanyahu’s rivals have cited the criminal charges against him as the main reason why Israel needs a new leader, arguing he might use a new term to legislate immunity to shield himself.
“This government … will respect its opponents and do all it can to unite and connect all parts of Israeli society,” Lapid said on Twitter.
The new government, if it is sworn in, will face considerable challenges. As well as Iran and the moribund peace process with the Palestinians, it also faces a war crimes probe by the International Criminal Court and economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic.
Bennett has said its members would have to compromise on such ideological issues in order to get the country back on track.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has informed the country’s president that he can form a coalition government, a move that would bring an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years in power.
Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, was tasked with forming a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu again failed to put together his own coalition following Israel’s fourth election in less than two years.
In a statement shared on Twitter on Wednesday, Lapid said he had informed Rivlin of the deal.
“This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn’t. It will do everything to unite Israeli society,” he said shortly before a midnight deadline (21:00 GMT).
Congratulations to you @yairlapid and to the heads of the parties on your agreement to form a government. We expect the Knesset will convene as soon as possible to ratify the government, as required.
Lapid, a former TV presenter and a secular centrist, won the crucial support of hardline religious-nationalist Naftali Bennett, a tech multi-millionaire who has held a number of government portfolios including the defence ministry, on Sunday.
Under the coalition agreement, Bennett and Lapid would rotate the role of prime minister, with Bennett taking up the post for the first two years and Lapid the final two.
The agreement still needs to be voted on in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, where it requires majority support before the government can be sworn in. The vote is expected to be held within seven to 12 days.
Israel’s latest political drama adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office – accusations he denies.
After losing the job of prime minister, he will not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity and will lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.
Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats in the March 23 election, but he was unable to form a majority with his natural allies. Crucially, Bennett’s far-right party – allied with Netanyahu – refused to join forces with the United Arab List, a party that emerged as a kingmaker of sorts.
Unlikely allies unite
The coalition would consist of a patchwork of ideologically opposed parties and would include a party that represents Palestinian citizens of Israel for the first time in Israeli history.
Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab List, signed on to the coalition less than two hours before Wednesday’s deadline was set to expire.
“We promised that we would be the last ones to agree and sign the document. This is what we did. We understand that all the other parties have joined the process. We have seen that all the other parties have signed the document,” Abbas said.
Deals were also clinched with the centrist Blue and White party, led by Benny Gantz, who would remain defence minister in the new cabinet; the left-wing Meretz and centre-left Labour parties, as well as with former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.
Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from West Jerusalem, said there were questions about how long the new government would remain united.
“It is an alliance between eight parties that go from the left to the far right, with advocates of illegal settlement activity and expansion, to proponents of the two-state solution, so [these are] people who don’t really have anything in common except the desire to oust Netanyahu,” she said.
“That’s the glue of this coalition – how long that glue can keep them together is what a lot of Israelis are wondering.”
Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister, welcomed the announcement but warned difficulties may lie ahead. “The situation in which eight medium and small parties are forming a coalition has never happened before. It will not be easy. Netanyahu is still around,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We should cross our fingers and hope that this government will not only oust Netanyahu, but it will also be able to perform and to be sustainable,” Beilin said.
Netanyahu, in power for the past 12 years, has sought to discredit Bennett and other rightists negotiating with Lapid, saying they were endangering Israel’s security.
A chemical-laden container ship that has been on fire for almost two weeks has started to sink off the coast of Sri Lanka, sparking fears of a serious environmental disaster.
Efforts to move the feeder vessel MV X-Press Pearl into deeper water failed on Wednesday, prompting the Singaporean operator to shift its focus to mitigating environmental damage as the risk of a potential oil spill heightened.
The ship has already caused one of the worst marine environmental disasters in Sri Lanka’s history, with chemicals from incinerated containers entering surrounding waters and plastic pellets washing ashore on sandy beaches near Negombo.
X-Press Feeders, the operator, told the Financial Times that it had called in Itopf, an NGO that responds to oil and chemical spills, and Oil Spill Response, a British group specialising in managing oil spills, as the fallout from the vessel’s plight threatens to escalate.
Associated Press reported Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Capt Indika de Silva saying the ship could cause severe pollution if it sank at its current location.
The ship had about 350 tonnes of bunker fuel onboard but it is still unclear how much was burnt off during the fire and whether a certain volume could be pumped out of its tanks.
“The ship’s aft portion is now touching bottom at a depth of 21 metres,” said X-Press Feeders in a statement, while the bow is likely to gradually sink down with smoke rising out of two cargo holds.
Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority has drawn up a plan in case there is an oil spill, according to Kanchana Wijesekera, the country’s fisheries minister. Physical barriers would be deployed to slow the spread and skimmer ships would be used to help disperse any oil slick.
The fire began on May 20 when the ship, which was carrying 1,486 containers, was anchored off Colombo waiting to enter the port.
Sri Lankan officials believe the conflagration was caused by chemicals the newly built vessel was carrying, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, which can be used to make fertilisers and explosives.
The Department of Fisheries has suspended vessels from entering from the Negombo Lagoon and halted fishing activity from Panadura and Negombo.
Sri Lanka’s navy and India’s coastguard have been supporting efforts to extinguish the fire and limit pollution resulting from the vessel sinking.
A 25-strong firefighting team and crew were evacuated from the ship after a second explosion last week. One of the crew later tested positive for Covid-19. A local court has imposed a ban preventing the ship’s captain, chief engineer and assistant engineer from leaving the country.
Chemical, plastics and oil spills “erode the resiliency of marine ecosystems” and threaten the livelihoods of those who depend on the ocean for food and their livelihoods, said John Mimikakis, oceans programme vice-president for Asia at the Environmental Defense Fund.
The disaster illustrated “a glaring global environmental justice issue that exists in the world today: developing countries have contributed relatively little to fossil fuels demand or climate change, yet they bear the heavy consequences of both,” he added.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has informed the president that he can form a coalition government, in a move that would bring an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years in power.
In a statement on Twitter on Wednesday, Lapid said he had informed Rivlin of the deal. “This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn’t. It will do everything to unite Israeli society,” he said in a statement issued shortly before a midnight deadline (21:00 GMT).
Congratulations to you @yairlapid and to the heads of the parties on your agreement to form a government. We expect the Knesset will convene as soon as possible to ratify the government, as required.
Lapid, a former TV presenter and a secular centrist, won the crucial support of hardline religious-nationalist Naftali Bennett, a tech multi-millionaire who has held a number of government portfolios including the defence ministry, on Sunday.
Under the coalition agreement, Bennett and Lapid would rotate the role of prime minister, with Bennett serving the first two years and Lapid the final two.
The agreement still needs to be voted on in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, where it requires majority support before the government can be sworn in. The vote is expected to be held within seven to 12 days.
Israel’s latest political drama adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office – accusations he denies.
After losing the job of prime minister, he will not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity and will lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.
Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats in the March 23 election, but he was unable to form a majority with his natural allies. Crucially, Bennett’s far-right party – allied with Netanyahu – refused to join forces with the United Arab List, a party that emerged as a kingmaker of sorts.
Unlikely allies unite
The coalition would consist of a patchwork of ideologically opposed parties and would include a party that represents Palestinian citizens of Israel for the first time in Israeli history.
Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab List, signed on to the coalition with less than two hours before Wednesday’s deadline.
“We promised that we would be the last ones to agree and sign the document. This is what we did. We understand that all the other parties have joined the process. We have seen that all the other parties have signed the document,” Abbas said.
Deals were also clinched with the centrist Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz, who would remain defence minister in the new cabinet, the left-wing Meretz and centre-left Labour parties as well as with former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.
Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from West Jerusalem, said there were questions about how long the new government would remain united.
“It is an alliance between eight parties that go from the left to the far right, with advocates of illegal settlement activity and expansion to proponents of the two-state solution, so [these are] people who don’t really have anything in common except the desire to oust Netanyahu,” she said. “That’s the glue of this coalition – how long that glue can keep them together is what a lot of Israelis are wondering.”
Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister, welcomed the announcement but warned difficulties may lie ahead.
“The situation in which eight medium and small parties are forming a coalition has never happened before. It will not be easy. Netanyahu is still around,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We should cross our fingers and hope that this government will not only oust Netanyahu, but it will also be able to perform and to be sustainable,” Beilin said.
Netanyahu, in power for the past 12 years, has sought to discredit Bennett and other rightists negotiating with Lapid, saying they were endangering Israel’s security.
Naftali Bennett, left, and Yair Lapid are the leading figures in the new coalition [Ammar Awad/Amir Cohen/Reuters]
