Newspaper headlines: Afghans 'left to die' and Omicron spreading rapidly
By BBC News
Staff
- Published
A former diplomat has said "red tape chaos" in the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan left tens of thousands of people unable to access help, the Guardian reports. Raphael Marshall claimed "bureaucratic chaos" in the Foreign Office led to Afghans "being left to die at the hands of the Taliban, the paper says. The government says staff "worked tirelessly" to evacuate more than 15,000 people over two weeks.
The Daily Mail is also focusing on the controversial withdrawal, focusing on the testimony that a "work from home" culture in Whitehall contributed to the deaths of Afghan people. The paper says the whistleblower claims he was sometimes the only person working on dealing with thousands of people "desperate to flee the Taliban".
Experts have warned the Omicron variant is set to become the dominant stain of Covid-19 in the UK within weeks, the Times is reporting. Cases of the variant are doubling every three days, as scientist have become "increasingly confident" Omicron is more transmissible than the Delta strain currently dominant.
The i paper also leads with a story about the spread of Omicron, instead focusing on the government's insistence that stricter Covid rules - known as Plan B - will not be needed before Christmas. It says ministers are refusing to consider introducing these measures unless the variant turns out to be more dangerous than Delta, even if a rapid rise in Omicron cases is experienced.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph leads on the rollout of Covid booster vaccines, which it describes as being at a "standstill". The paper says the effort over the weekend led to fewer people being given third jabs in England than before the government called for the rollout to be accelerated last week.
Meanwhile, a government "cover up" over the Grenfell Tower disaster is leading in the Daily Mirror. The paper reports that the fire risk from the cladding on the outside of the building was "covered up for years by ministers", the inquiry into the disaster heard on Monday.
The Daily Express is reporting on a warning from the Bank of England that price rises "will bite even harder" in the new year. Inflation is set to rise "comfortably" above 5% next spring once the cap on energy bills is lifted by regulators, the paper says.
Moving away from the UK, the Financial Times is reporting US regulators increasing their scrutiny of a company being used to take Donald Trump's "non-woke" entertainment group public. The Securities and Exchange Commission is evaluating a company created specially for this purpose, after concerns were raised about so-called blank-cheque company listings being used to evade regulation, the paper says.
The Metro is leading with the allegations that professional golfer Thorbjorn Olesen sexually assaulted a woman on a plane in 2019. A court heard that the Danish golfer also allegedly pushed a cabin crew member and urinated on another passenger's seat after waking up, the papers reports. Olesen has denied the charges.
And finally, "Grape expectations" is the headline in the Daily Star, reporting on a study that an injection made from the fruit "could extend life by up to a decade". The paper adds the "boffins" who made the discovery may have solved the "mystery of eternal youth".