Fully vaccinated travellers heading to England will no longer have to take a COVID-19 test before they travel.
Confirming the decision, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said travellers will instead take a rapid lateral flow test rather than a PCR test once they arrive.
"In England, from 4:00 am on Friday, we will be scrapping a pre-departure test which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense," he told lawmakers.
"We will also be lifting the requirement to self isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR," he said, adding that arrivals would instead need to do a rapid lateral flow test, and then only take a PCR if the lateral flow was positive.
"Anyone who receives a positive result on their lateral flow test must self-isolate immediately and order a NHS PCR test from gov.uk," the UK government guideline added.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated travellers must take PCR tests on day two and day eight after arriving, and self-isolate for 10 days.
India is inspecting facilities of spice makers MDH and Everest for compliance with quality standards after sales of some of their products were halted in Hong Kong and Singapore for allegedly containing high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide.
Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered one of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's deputies be kept in custody on suspicion of taking bribes, the highest-profile corruption case since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, a senior figure in the country's ruling party, met with Donald Trump on Tuesday, becoming the latest US ally seeking to establish ties with the Republican presidential candidate.
Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday, Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.