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There are no plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 tests for arrivals from China, a UK government spokesperson has said.

The news comes after China announced it was abandoning its COVID-zero policy and was preparing to reopen its borders in January.

There are fears that the end of strict measures in the country of 1.4 billion people could result in massive spread of the disease worldwide.

The spokesperson said: “There are no plans to reintroduce COVID-19 testing or additional requirements for arrivals into the UK.”

But the UK Health Security Agency will continue to monitor the prevalence and spread of harmful variants and keep international data under review, they added.

The US announced on Wednesday that, from 5 January, all arrivals from China will have to provide a negative COVID test result taken no more than two days before their flight.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move was due to the surge in infections and a lack of adequate and transparent information from China, particularly on the strains circulating in the country.

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That came after India, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan said they would also place restrictions on travellers arriving from China.

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Beijing’s announcement means millions of Chinese people could go abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday – the first time most have been able to travel internationally since 2020.

Travel companies Trip.com and Qunar said international ticket bookings and searches for visa information on their websites had risen following the news, with Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the US, Britain and Australia in highest demand.

Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese told the ABC his country was not making any change to entry rules at this stage, adding: “…we are continuing to monitor the situation, as we continue to monitor the impact of COVID here in Australia as well as around the world.”

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health had a similar response, telling the NZ Herald: “…the current public health measures remain appropriate for managing the pandemic”.

In Thailand, the Bangkok Post said the government is preparing to welcome Chinese tourists to the country, quoting the transport minister Saksayam Chidchob as saying the Ministry of Public Health was working with the Chinese embassy on “travel measures”, although no further details were given.

He added that he was confident the ministry could manage the COVID situation.

In Singapore, The Straits Times reported that the rules for arrivals from China will remain the same – those who are not fully vaccinated will need to do a pre-departure test, while short-term visitors also have to have insurance for COVID-related medical costs.

The true scale of China’s COVID-19 infections is unclear, as there is little reliable official information, but almost 37 million people may have been infected with the virus on a single day last week, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

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What could Elon Musk do with $1trn?

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What could Elon Musk do with trn?

Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.

Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.

But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.

Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.

Show me the money

Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.

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That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.

That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.

Spend it on sport

You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.

The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.

The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.

But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.

Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla's shareholders. File pic: AP
Image:
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP

Take over Tesla’s rivals

He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.

They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).

But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.

Buy up San Diego

He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.

But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.

Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.

Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.

Do something charitable?

There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.

He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.

Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.

If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).

Pay off the credit card

With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.

Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).

But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.

The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.

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Prince Harry apologises to Canada for wearing LA Dodgers cap at World Series

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Prince Harry apologises to Canada for wearing LA Dodgers cap at World Series

Prince Harry has apologised to Canada for wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers cap while attending a World Series game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan, were pictured at the baseball game last Tuesday, which Toronto ultimately lost to the Dodgers in a seventh-game decider on Sunday.

The prince joked to Canadian broadcaster CTV that he wore the Dodgers merchandise “under duress”.

He said it felt like “the polite thing to do” after being invited to the dugout by the team’s owner.

“Firstly, I would like to apologise to Canada for wearing it,” he said.

“Secondly, I was under duress. There wasn’t much choice.”

“When you’re missing a lot of hair on top, and you’re sitting under floodlights, you’ll take any hat that’s available,” he joked.

“Game five, game six, game seven, I was Blue Jays throughout. Now that I’ve admitted that, it’s going to be pretty hard for me to return back to Los Angeles.”

Harry, who is in Canada for Remembrance Week events, conducted the interview wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap.

He added he was “devastated” at the Blue Jays’ defeat.

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The royal couple, who met in 2016 and married in 2018, moved to California in 2020 – after initially setting up home in Canada. They live in Montecito with their children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.

Harry’s father, the King, is the head of state of Canada – a Commonwealth nation.

Meghan has previously shown her support for the Blue Jays, a nod to her former home city.

The former actress lived in Toronto while filming the legal drama Suits. She appeared in more than 100 episodes.

She and Harry also spent time together there during the early stages of their relationship.

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Scientist who co-discovered double-helix of DNA dies

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Scientist who co-discovered double-helix of DNA dies

James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at the age of 97.

James D. Watson shared a 1962 Nobel Prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for discovering that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

Their co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped revolutionise medicine, crime-fighting, genealogy and ethics.

The discovery turned him into a legendary figure, but later in life he faced condemnation for offensive remarks, including saying black people are less intelligent than white people.

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