STAR TV

  The Queen has awarded the George Cross, the UK’s very best award for gallantry and heroism, to the NHS to mark its public service over seven decades, Buckingham Palace has announced. The NHS marks its 73rd birthday on Monday following a year of extraordinary challenges. It is only the third time the award has been given to a collective body, country or organization rather than an individual since it was instituted via the Queen’s father, George VI, at the peak of the blitz in 1940. In a handwritten private message, the Queen said: “It is with great pleasure, on behalf of a grateful nation, that I award the George Cross to the National Health Services of the United Kingdom. “This award recognises all NHS staff, previous and present, throughout all disciplines and all 4 nations. Over more than seven decades, and particularly in current times, you have supported the people of our country with courage, compassion and dedication, demonstrating the best possible standards of public service

  Boris Johnson is to announce that the lifting of most remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England will go ahead on 19 July amid a backlash from government scientific advisers who have warned that doing so would be like building new “variant factories”. Despite cases having risen to their highest level since January 2021, the prime minister is set to press ahead with the final stage of unlocking in two weeks. In a Downing Street press conference on Monday afternoon, he is anticipated to announce that, with 86% of adults in the UK having had at least a first jab, the government will move from relying on legal curbs to manage people’s behavior to letting people make their personal decisions. Changes to be announced include allowing fully vaccinated adults to tour to amber list countries without having to self-isolate when they return; making the wearing of face masks voluntary, apart from in hospitals and other healthcare settings; and no longer requiring fully vaccinated adults to self-

  THE European Union has been blasted for the mountain of paperwork fishermen have to complete in order to export to the trading bloc. Scottish fisherman Jamie McMillian informed the BBC that his crew spends three hours each and every morning completing paperwork for the European Union. He added that he now exports to markets in the Far East as it is "cheaper and quicker" than exporting to France following Brexit. Mr McMillian said: "The paperwork is just madness. "It is such a waste of paper, a waste of time, a waste of the environment, and a waste of cost. "That is three hours' work each morning that we export to the EU. "Three hours' work to do all that paperwork." He added: "In easy terms exports to China, Singapore or Hong Kong is less expensive and export there than it is to France. "So we are pushing sales in the UK and pushing sales in the Far East to attempt and compensate for what we have lost from Europe." June Mummer

  The Wild signed center Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year, $42 million contract on Friday, the first of three re-signings the crew prioritized this offseason. Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala are the other offensive leaders up for new deals. Eriksson Ek's contract carries an average annual value of $5.25 million and runs via 2028-29, making him the longest-signed player on the Wild. A 10-team, no-trade list kicks in for the second half of the contract, a source confirmed, and the deal dwarfs the $2.975 million Eriksson Ek earned over the previous two seasons. His overall performance on the ice the previous year explains the raise. A defense-first ahead early in his NHL tenure after getting drafted 20th overall in 2015 by the Wild, Eriksson Ek became a constant catalyst in the offensive zone after an offseason makeover positioned him at the top of the team's depth chart up the middle. Gone were former captain Mikko Koivu and veteran Eric Staal, creating more minutes and responsi

 The Biden administration is thinking about extending a pandemic freeze on Americans’ student-loan repayments beyond its scheduled expiration in September and turning to piecemeal measures to lower their student-debt bills. Five months into his term, President Biden has resisted calls from fellow Democrats and activists to cancel most of America’s $1.6 trillion in federal student-loan debt in one swoop through an executive action. Congress additionally appears unlikely to make it happen because Democrats lack the Republican support they would need to pass such a measure. Yet many Americans efficaciously are seeing their debt bills decreased via policy changes that started under the Trump administration, which froze student-loan repayments when the pandemic started unfolding in March 2020. The move, which the Biden administration extended through September, has in effect forgiven tens of billions of dollars in student debt that families otherwise would have paid, mostly by waiving inter