Boeing 777 grounded after engine incident
United Airlines has grounding 24 of its Boeing 777 aircraft, and Japan has done the same with 32 aircraft operated byJapan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, after a 777-200 jet suffered engine failure after take-off on Saturday. Boeing said it recommended suspending the use of 777 jets. TheUS Federal Aviation Administration has issued a directive requiring immediate or stepped-up inspections of planes using the same hollow fan blades unique to the Pratt & Whitney 4000 engine that failed on United Flight 328. The plane, bound for Honolulu, was carrying 231 passengers and 10 crew when it suffered a failure in the right-hand engine of the 26-year-old 777. The engine casing fell off, apparently landing in the front garden of a home in the town of Broomfield. A passenger filmed the fire in the wing-mounted engine. The plane returned to Denver airport and nobody suffered injury. The BBC and Reuters have more.
Asselborn issues warning as Germany tightens borders
Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn has said that making life difficult for cross-border workers “could lead to the collapse” of the grand duchy’s health system. He told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that although he understood the need for testing with regards to new variants of the coronavirus, “we must do everything we can to ensure that [cross-border] commuters get to their jobs without restrictions.” Germany turned away some 16,000 people trying to enter the country from the Czech Republic and Austria last week.
Fauci: Americans could still be wearing masks in 2022
President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr Anthony Fauci, has said he thinks it’s possible that Americans could still be asked to wear masks into 2022. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union and NBC’s Meet the Press, Fauci said that the cold weather setback in the US vaccine programme was temporary and the country could be back “to where we need to be by the middle of the week.” But as the US approaches a death toll of 500,000 from covid-19, Fauci said that in decades to come people would be “talking about this terribly historic milestone in the history of this country.” The United States recorded 13,347 deaths and more than 500,000 new cases in the past week, bringing the total number of fatalities to 498,879, according to John Hopkins University.
Ireland: hospitality closed until middle summer
Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin has come under fire after saying at the weekend that the government doesn’t foresee the reopening of the country’s hospitality sector “before the middle of the summer.” Industry associations have called the comment, “far too casual” and want concrete plans for increased support. The Irish Times and Irish Examiner have more.
Myanmar: general strike as protests continue
A general strike called to oppose the military coup has seen many businesses shut in Myanmar on Monday. Two more protestors and one policeman were killed in clashes over the weekend as state TV warned that protesters seeking confrontation were on “a path where they will suffer the loss of life.” Reuters and The Guardian have more.
Entertainer Fausti is dead
One of Luxembourg’s most beloved entertainers and singers, Fausti, has passed away at the age of 80. Born Faustino Cima in the Grund in Luxembourg City, on 24.July, 1940 he was an accomplished musician and energetic all-round entertainer. Fausti had hits in Germany with parodies of well-known songs and was a staple of Carnival parties and the famous Päischtcroisière--the annual Mediterranean cruise packed with Luxembourgers over the Pentecost holidays.
DUP threatens legal challenge over Northern Ireland protocol
Party leader Arlene Foster and three of her colleagues from the Democratic Unionist Party have said they will launch judicial review proceedings against the Northern Ireland protocol section of the agreement between the UK and EU. But Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin urged the DUP party to “dial down the rhetoric”. The Irish Times and Politico have more.
Johnson proposed roundabout under Isle of Man
Meanwhile, The Times has revealed that UK prime minister Boris Johnson had a cunning plan to do away with any form of border in the Irish Sea by building a network of three tunnels connected by an “underground roundabout” beneath the Isle of Man.
21-year old rows Atlantic
21-year old Jasmine Harrison, a part-time teacher and bartender from Yorkshire in England, became the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She completed the row from the Canary Islands to Antigua in 70 days, three hours and 48 minutes. The Guardian and ABC News have details.
Djokovic closes gap on Federer and Nadal
Novak Djokovic claimed his 18th Grand Slam by beating Russian player Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-2 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. He is now just two wins behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Naomi Osaka won the women’s title. The BBC and The Guardian report.
Today's breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts