News in Brief
Uncontrollable trembling sparks Merkel health fears
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday suffered another episode of uncontrolled trembling, a week after a similar incident that sparked questions about her health. The latest lapse came hours before Merkel was due to board a plane for the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The German leader began to tremble as she stood next to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was giving a speech at a ceremony to formally appoint a new justice minister. The shaking went on for two minutes, according to a DPA photographer who was present at the event. Merkel folded her arms visibly in a bid to stop the trembling. She only finally brought it under control once she was able to take a few steps. She was offered a glass of water but turned it down. Her previous bout of shaking last Tuesday had been blamed on dehydration on a hot summer’s day.
Britain adopts 2050 net zero emissions target
Britain yesterday became the world’s first major economy to adopt the tough new target of lowering fossil fuel emissions to a level of net zero by 2050. Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore signed an order paper enacting the legislation after it passed both houses of parliament without a vote earlier this week. Britain is already on course this year to make low-carbon sources such as wind and solar responsible for more than half of all its power generation for the first time since the 1800s. The deadline is more ambitious than Britain’s previous policy of cutting emissions by 80 percent over the same period. The stringent new guidelines will require a fundamental change in how the UK economy functions that some have warned may carry prohibitive costs. Philip Hammond’s finance ministry has reportedly issued a study showing that a shift to net zero from current targets could cost more than £1.0 trillion ($1.3 trillion, 1.1 trillion euros) over 30 years.
UK scrambles fighter jets after Air India ‘bomb threat’
Britain yesterday scrambled fighter jets to escort an Air India passenger flight forced to land at London’s Stansted Airport following a “bomb threat”, according to security officials and the airline. “The RAF (Royal Air Force) can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this morning... to intercept a civilian aircraft,” Britain’s defence ministry said in a statement. “The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted Airport.” The plane, en route from Mumbai to Newark in the United States, made a “precautionary landing” at the airport after a “bomb threat”, Air India said in a tweet that was subsequently deleted. “The plane (is) currently at the airport,” an Air India spokesperson added in a statement, noting all the 327 passengers were being cared for inside a terminal.
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