Lufthansa airlifts fresh food to England as UK border chaos continues

Deutsche Lufthansa AG will airlift fresh produce to Britain on Wednesday amid fears of shortages over the festive season, even as France prepares to reopen the main truck-ferry route with its neighbor.

The German airline will fly 80 metric tons of food to Doncaster-Sheffield airport in northern England using a Boeing Co. 777F freighter, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Europe crosses 500k Covid-19 deaths

Europe became the first region worldwide to cross 500,000 Covid-19-related deaths on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, as a new variant of the coronavirus discovered in Britain threatened the region's prevention measures to curb the pandemic. Reports of the mutated variant out of England prompted have a pre-Christmas lockdown and widespread panic.

UAE’s Islamic body okays vaccines, even with pork

The United Arab Emirates’ highest Islamic authority, the UAE Fatwa Council, has ruled that coronavirus vaccines are permissible for Muslims even if they contain pork gelatin.

The ruling follows growing alarm that the use of pork gelatin, a common vaccine ingredient, may hamper vaccination among Muslims who consider the consumption of pork products "haram", or forbidden under Islamic law.

If there are no alternatives, the body said that the vaccines would not be subject to Islam's restrictions.