The UK’s foreign travel rules will be reviewed by the government later amid a desperate plea from the industry, which estimates 195,000 travel jobs have been lost during the pandemic or are at risk. Cabin crew, pilots, travel agents and airport staff were among within the travel industry protesting against the restrictions imposed due to coronavirus on Wednesday. Under the government’s traffic light system countries are classed as green, amber or red. Each has different rules about quarantine and Covid tests. With green list countries there is quarantine-free travel however travellers have to pay for tests. But there are only 11 destinations - including Gibraltar and Australia - on that list.
The travel industry is calling for this list to be widened and for an exemption to quarantine for fully-vaccinated people visiting amber countries. The vast majority of countries fall within the amber category, including popular holiday destinations such as Spain and Portugal. The government reviews which countries are on which list every three weeks, with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps facing MPs later this morning. "If you've been double vaccinated then of course we need to look at what the science says,” he says. But if the rules change in line with the travel industry’s demands there could be another hurdle. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested all EU countries should make British travellers quarantine on arrival to slow the spread of the Delta variant.

Around two million people may have had long Covid, according to a survey. The emerging phenomenon, which is not yet fully understood and does not have universally-agreed definition, covers a broad range of symptoms. After the initial coronavirus infection, long-lasting symptoms include fatigue, coughs, chest pain, headaches and muscle pain. The React study involving half a million adults in England found a third of people felt unwell for 12 weeks or more, tiredness was one of the most common symptoms and long-term problems were more common in women, and with increasing age. "Long Covid is still poorly understood but we hope through our research that we can contribute to better identification and management of this condition,” says Prof Paul Elliott, director of the React programme at Imperial College London. The NHS has opened more than 80 long Covid assessment services across England and the government has provided £50m for research.

"I am traumatised," said Britney Spears. "I deserve to have a life, I've worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two to three-year break." The US pop star said those words in a rare public testimony as she spoke out against her conservatorship which she called "abusive" at a hearing in Los Angeles. Speaking remotely she told the court her father, Jamie Spears, controlled her "100,000%". He was granted control over his 39-year-old daughter's personal and business affairs in 2008 after the star was hospitalised amid concerns over her mental health. She wants it to end “without being evaluated", saying the court-ordered conservatorship will not allow her to marry her boyfriend and have a baby. She claimed her conservator has stopped her from having a contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD) removed so she could get pregnant. She is seeking to permanently install Jodi Montgomery, a care professional, into the role instead of reinstating her father. Jamie Spears stepped down temporarily in 2019 because of health reasons and his lawyer said: "He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain."

The Daily Mail leads on one of its journalists being on board HMS Defender which was shadowed by Russian aircraft and ships as it sailed near Crimea. The reporter has given an account of what happened and the paper goes on to describe it as the "most alarming escalation" of UK-Russian tensions since the Salisbury poisonings. This story and pictures of the British warship appear in a few of the papers including the Times which quotes a defence source as saying: "We chose that route and are free to choose it again." Other stories making the headlines include a police officer being convicted of killing ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson. The Guardian reports on Wednesday’s verdict in which Benjamin Monk was found guilty of manslaughter. The former Aston Villa striker's family called the verdict a "watershed moment" in the campaign against the use of excessive force by police, says the Metro. Read the newspaper review in full here.

In a masterstroke, Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch can be seen in its entirety for the first time in more than 300 years. Artificial intelligence (AI) mimicked the Dutch artist’s style centuries after his work was trimmed on all sides to fit between two doors in Amsterdam town hall. Take a look.
If you think that’s clever how about this? Birds have the intelligence to migrate long distances over land and sea. But how do they do it? A chemical in the eye sensitive to magnetism could be the answer. It seems birds can sense the Earth’s magnetic field with an in-built "living compass".
And finally, when coronavirus turned the world upside down many businesses started diversifying to survive. Find out how couture fashion houses pivoted to athleisure to stay afloat in a switch that may last.

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