A 31-year-old girl in Australia has been charged with arson after she set fireplace to the COVID-19 quarantine resort the place she was staying on Sunday morning, authorities mentioned.

The unidentified girl lit the hearth within the Eleventh-floor room the place she was quarantined together with her two kids on the Pacific Resort Cairns within the northern metropolis of Cairns, the BBC reported.

Nobody was injured within the blaze, however greater than 160 folks had been pressured to evacuate, police mentioned.

Appearing Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman mentioned the girl was in custody and police had been caring for her kids.

He mentioned the girl had been in quarantine for a few days and there had been points together with her that authorities “had been managing,” Hodgman mentioned.

The incident got here as tensions rose in components of Australia attributable to COVID-19 restrictions and the most recent considerations over the emergence of the Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa by scientists.

It’s unclear whether or not the variant causes extra extreme illness.

However in response to the variant, the federal government has banned international vacationers from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.

Australian residents coming back from these nations might be required to quarantine for 14 days in motels.

Beforehand, quarantine guidelines utilized to unvaccinated vacationers getting into the nation.

Thanksgiving vacationers flocked to the air this week forward of the vacation — with the variety of air vacationers screened by the Transportation Safety Administration almost matching that of 2019, earlier than the coronavirus pandemic hit. 

The TSA said in a tweet Thursday that it screened roughly 2.3 million vacationers at US airports on Wednesday, which is about 88 % of the site visitors recorded on the day earlier than Thanksgiving in 2019. 

The airports have been equally packed on Tuesday, with greater than 2.2 million passengers taking to the skies, the company stated in another tweet. That determine is the same as about 91 % of the site visitors recorded on the corresponding day in 2019. 

Chatting with CNN, TSA chief David Pekoske stated the company’s focus is to make sure all vacationers are secure amid the surge in aircraft ridership. 

“We’ve checked out passenger quantity projections, we’ve labored with the carriers and with the airports, and collectively we’re prepared for the Thanksgiving vacation,” Pekoske stated. “Our aim is to make it as secure and safe and as pleasing for individuals as we presumably can.”

On Wednesday, Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland stated he was directing federal prosecutors to prioritize instances involving unruly airline passengers after a string of high-profile disturbances on planes in latest months. 

In a memo, Garland stated the violent conduct that’s turn out to be widespread amongst air vacationers endangers everybody aboard a flight. 

“Passengers who assault, intimidate or threaten violence in opposition to flight crews and flight attendants do greater than hurt these workers; they forestall the efficiency of crucial duties that assist guarantee secure air journey,” Garland stated within the memo.

“Equally, when passengers commit violent acts in opposition to different passengers within the shut confines of a industrial plane, the conduct endangers everybody aboard,” he added.

Republican US Senate candidate Sean Parnell introduced Monday he’s suspending his Pennsylvania marketing campaign after a decide granted his estranged spouse full custody of their three youngsters following home abuse allegations. 

Parnell, who has denied the claims, mentioned he intends to ask the courtroom to rethink its ruling and doesn’t really feel he can proceed within the race whereas the matter roils his household. 

“I strongly disagree with the ruling immediately and I’m devastated by the choice. I plan on asking the courtroom to rethink this choice. Within the order, two of the main components that weighed closely within the decide’s choice revolved round me being a number one U.S. Senate candidate,” Parnell mentioned in a press release.  

“There may be nothing extra vital to me than my youngsters, and whereas I plan to ask the courtroom to rethink, I can’t proceed with a Senate marketing campaign. My focus proper now’s 100 [percent] on my youngsters, and I need them to know I would not have some other priorities and can by no means cease preventing for them. Thanks.”

Through the custody trial, Parnell’s spouse, Laurie Snell, accused him of each verbal and bodily abuse. At occasions, Snell attributed the habits of Parnell — a former Military Ranger who served in Afghanistan — to PTSD. 

In 2020, Parnell was narrowly defeated by Democrat Conor Lamb within the race to symbolize Pennsylvania’s seventeenth Congressional District. He was endorsed by former President Donald Trump to win the GOP main within the battle to fill the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).