A passenger’s cell phone caught fire on an Alaska Airlines jet at Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport on Monday, forcing the crew to deploy evacuation slides.

The passenger’s phone “overheated and began sparking” after Flight 751 from New Orleans had landed and was waiting for a gate, at about 8:30pm, said Alaska Airlines spokesperson Ray Lane.

Haze in the cabin forced the crew to use the plane’s evacuation slides to get passengers off the jet, while the crew used fire extinguishers and a battery containment bag to put out the fire, KOMO-TV reported, citing an an Alaska Airlines spokesperson.

Passengers were taken by bus to the terminal and some suffered minor injuries, the airport confirmed in a tweet.

Croatia, Iceland and Madeira are among the destinations that could be kicked off the UK’s green list in the upcoming government review of international travel.

Seven countries and territories have been identified as potential candidates to be demoted to amber by Covid and data expert Tim White, who published his predictions ahead of the next travel announcement, expected to be revealed this week.

Based on global Covid rates and available data, White forecast that Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Croatia, Iceland, Israel and Madeira are all at risk.

“I predict Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada and Dominica will be moved from green watchlist to amber tomorrow,” White tweeted. “Anguilla and Turks and Caicos are also at risk, but with such small populations, may survive.”

Read the full story:

Morocco, Jamaica and the Caribbean island of Aruba all look likely to move from the amber list to the red list in this week’s review of the UK traffic light travel system, one expert has predicted.

Writing in several detailed Twitter threads between Thursday and today, data analyst and journalist Tim White listed notable rises and declines in the infection rates of various destinations, and made his predictions for countries that are likely to move between lists.

“Any follower of mine must know I’ve been warning about Jamaica for a few weeks,” tweeted White earlier today.

“The island’s now taken measures to control the Covid-19 outbreak. I know a lot are predicting it stays amber, but sadly I think the positive test rates are just too high. It’s a very close call, but I think red.”

Read the full story:

A number of countries including the Maldives and Turkey should be bumped up from the red list to the amber list at the next government travel review, an expert has said.

Data and Covid-19 expert Tim White trawled through the latest data to make his predictions for the Department for Transport’s upcoming update to its traffic light lists, expected later this week.

In a lengthy Twitter thread, White forecast that, based on the available data, four destinations should come off the government’s red list, which necessitates 11 nights in hotel quarantine for returning travellers: the Maldives, Turkey, Oman and Dominican Republic.

Ryanair is pulling out of Northern Ireland, ending flights from Belfast International Airport and Belfast City.

Europe’s biggest budget carrier is axing routes to Alicante, Barcelona, Gdansk, Krakow, London Stansted, Malaga, Malta, Manchester, Milan and Warsaw from 30 October.

A spokesperson for Belfast City said the routes had only been seasonal.

A Belfast International Airport spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that Ryanair has now decided to withdraw operations from the entire Northern Ireland market at the end of October, having variously had a presence in all three local airports in recent years.

“It has been a difficult period for aviation and a time when consumers need some stability and faith in the Northern Ireland air transport network.”

The government’s next update to its traffic light lists for international travel is expected to drop in the next couple of days - on either 25 or 26 August.

Ahead of the announcement, data analyst and travel expert Tim White has been ploughing through copious data to come up with his best guesses when it comes to which countries might move between the green, amber and red lists at this latest review.

Tim may not have access to a crystal ball, but he will attempt to answer your most pressing travel queries using the latest analysis of Covid and vaccination rates around the world.

Join him at 4pm today, 24 August, when he’ll be on hand to answer your travel questions about all the latest rules and restrictions live.

Click below to leave your travel question in advance:

The Cornish tourist board has urged people not to visit unless they have pre-booked and to test themselves extensively for Covid-19 amid a spike in coronavirus cases in the county.

Chief executive of Visit Cornwall Malcolm Bell said visitors should aim to “treble their efforts as much as possible” with the hands, face, space guidance and try to remain outdoors.

It comes as the south-western county has seen a rise in cases in recent weeks after visitors flocked there for their summer holidays.

Figures calculated by the PA news agency using health agency data show that both Devon and Cornwall have 500 cases or more per 100,000 people in the seven days to August 18.

A week before, the figure was 300 or less per 100,000 people.

Mr Bell told the PA news agency: “We are asking people not to come unless they have booked ahead and request they take a lateral flow test before, during and after [their] stay so that [people] can be safe and help us to manage the current spike.”

Reporting by agencies

Singapore and Hong Kong have decided to shelve plans to introduce a travel bubble because of differing Covid policies.

The initial plan was based on the two cities pursuing similar pandemic strategies - reducing local caseloads to as few as possible - but Singapore has since moved towards a new strategy of building a “Covid-resilient” nation, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said.

Travel bubbles have been used during the pandemic to allow restriction-free travel between nations, and are typically used when the destinations involved have similarly low Covid rates.

Venice will start charging travellers to visit from summer 2022 onwards.

Several measures have been proposed to control tourism in the Italian city, newspaper La Stampa has reported, such as an online booking system and a fee to enter the city.

Visitors who have paid are expected to enter the city via Disneyland-style electronic turnstiles.

The proposed fee will vary between €3 and €10, reported La Stampa, depending on whether you’re visiting in low or high season.

The US has added an extra six destinations to its highest risk level for travel.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends travellers avoid visiting countries on its “Level 4: Covid-19 Very High” list.

The health body advises that travellers should be fully vaccinated before going to Level 4 destinations.

The six places moved to Level 4 as of 23 August are: Bahamas, Haiti, Kosovo, Lebanon, Morocco and Sint Maarten.