Britain quarantines travellers from Spain in sudden blow to Europe's revival
Britain abruptly imposed a two-week quarantine on all travellers arriving from Spain after a surge of coronavirus cases, a dramatic and sudden reversal on Saturday to the opening of the European continent to tourism after months of lockdown.
The quarantine requirement was due to take effect from midnight (7am on Sunday, Singapore time), making it impossible for travellers to avoid it by rushing home.
The British foreign ministry also announced it was recommending against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, a move likely to prompt tour operators to cancel package holidays and trigger claims against insurers.
Britain's government urged employers to be "understanding" towards staff who are unable to return to their place of work for two weeks after they return from holiday.
Highest-ever temperature recorded in Norwegian Arctic archipelago
Norway's Arctic archipelago Svalbard on Saturday recorded its highest-ever temperature, the country's meteorological institute reported.
According to scientific study, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as for the rest of the planet.
For the second day in a row, the archipelago registered 21.2 deg C in the afternoon, just under the 21.3 degrees recorded in 1979, meteorologist Kristen Gislefoss told AFP. Later in the afternoon, however, at around 6pm local time, it recorded 21.7 degrees, setting a new all-time record.
Lack of childcare found 'destroying' British mothers' careers amid Covid-19
Almost three-quarters of mothers in Britain have been forced to cut work hours because of childcare issues under Covid-19 lockdowns, according to a survey by a maternal rights group which warned more action was needed to protect women's careers.
More than eight in 10 employed mothers said they needed childcare to be able to work, but fewer than half said they had enough childcare to let them do their job during the pandemic, showed the survey by Pregnant Then Screwed released on Saturday.
"This lack of childcare is destroying women's careers," said the campaign group's founder and chief executive Joeli Brearley. "They are being made redundant, they are being forced to cut their hours, and they are being treated negatively all because they are picking up the unpaid labour."
American arrested in France for wife's murder
An American man has been arrested at Toulouse airport while trying to flee to Indonesia after allegedly killing his French wife whose dismembered remains were found by police, prosecutors said on Saturday.
The man has confessed to killing Laure Kruger, 52, who taught French at a school in Jakarta, the prosecutors said. He is due to appear before a judge on Sunday.
Kruger's LinkedIn profile states that she had been living in the Indonesian capital since 2015 and had earlier worked in Shanghai, Cairo and Hawaii.
US talk show legend Regis Philbin dead at 88
Regis Philbin, an award-winning fixture of American talk show culture, has died at the age of 88, media reports said on Saturday.
Philbin, a playful and self-deprecating New Yorker with a thick Bronx accent, died on Friday of natural causes, People magazine reported, quoting a statement from the family.
Philbin was best known to many Americans as co-host of a daytime talk show that began in 1988 called Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee.
