Greece has launched its tourist season, lifting most remaining restrictions on movement and declaring “we are putting the lockdown behind us”. Although an average of 2,000 daily Covid cases are still being reported, vaccinations are being rolled out with the Greek islands as a priority. German tourists have begun flying in, but Britons will not as Greece is not on the UK government’s “green list”. Holidaymakers from the UK will be able to travel to Portugal from Monday. Greece still has several restrictions. However, the big changes are that residents no longer have to send text messages to a hotline whenever they leave their homes or go shopping, movement is allowed between regions, and a night-time curfew has now been limited to between 00:30 and 05:00.

A fifth of Greece’s economy is seen as dependent on the tourism sector and 20% of workers are employed by it. “We are opening our tourist industry to the world,” Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis announced on Thursday evening in front of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion outside Athens.(BBC)…[+]

Dozens of passengers booked on Australia’s first repatriation flight from India will reportedly not be able to take it after testing positive for Covid or being close contacts of cases. The flight was supposed to bring 150 Australian citizens home following a backlash over a three-week ban on anyone entering from Covid-hit India. But local media reports suggest the plane may now take off half empty. Australia’s strict rules mean the seats cannot be given to others in the queue. There are 9,500 Australians stranded in India at the moment, including 950 people registered as vulnerable and 173 unaccompanied minors.

The tough measures were introduced due to the escalating Covid crisis in India. The country’s healthcare system has been engulfed as infection rates soared in recent weeks. Many people have died without getting treatment as hospital beds and medical oxygen ran out. The plane – leaving Delhi on Friday evening and due to arrive in Darwin on Saturday – was the first of six scheduled flights due to bring back the vulnerable citizens.(BBC)…[+]

A major US fuel pipeline has reportedly paid cyber-criminal gang DarkSide nearly $5m (£3.6m) in ransom, following a cyber-attack. Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware cyber-attack over the weekend and took its service down for five days, causing supplies to tighten across the US. CNN, the New York Times, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal all reported a ransom was paid, citing sources. Colonial said on Thursday that it would not comment on the issue. On Friday, Japanese consumer tech giant Toshiba said its European division in France had been hit by the same cyber-criminal gang. Following the cyber-attack, Colonial announced it would resume operations on Wednesday evening, but warned that it could take several days for the delivery supply chain to return to normal. The 5,500-mile (8,900km) pipeline usually carries 2.5 million barrels a day on the East Coast.