One day after the Trump administration imposed restriction on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming to the United States from 10 airports in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified terrorism threats, moments ago the UK issued a similar ban, restricting the use of carry on laptops and tablets for inbound flights for flights originating in the following middle-eastern nations: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and surprisingly, Saudi Arabia.

And so what last night appeared to some to be a capricious decision by the Trump administration, may have been prompted by some actionable intel since the UK has joined the action.

According to Downing Street, no phones, tablets, or laptops bigger than 16cm length, 9.3cm wide and 1.5cm deep would be allowed in the main cabin of the plane. The devices will need to be placed into hold luggage and checked-in instead.

“The safety and security of the travelling public is our highest priority,” said a government spokesperson. “In the last few weeks we have had a number of meetings on aviation security. This morning at a meeting we agreed that these new measures were required.”

According to the FT, the spokesperson declined to explain how the decision was made, saying, “we would not get into the information on which this decision was taken but we think these steps are necessary and proportionate. We have spoken closely with the US [about which countries they have included] but we have each taken our own decisions on this.”

UK carriers affected by the ban are: British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2.com, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson.

While we await more detais, a reminder that on Monday afternoon, the DHS said passengers traveling from a selection of airports could not bring devices larger than a cellphone, such as tablets, portable DVD players, laptops and cameras, into the main cabin. Instead, they must be in checked baggage. The new restrictions were prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices in electronic gadgets, officials told reporters on a conference call on Monday. They did not provide further details on the threat.

The airports are in Cairo; Istanbul; Kuwait City; Doha, Qatar; Casablanca, Morocco; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates.

Officials said the decision had nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a travel ban on six majority-Muslim nations. DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the government “did not target specific nations. We relied upon evaluated intelligence to determine which airports were affected.”

The airports affected by the electronics rules are served by nine airlines that fly directly from those cities to the United States about 50 flights a day, senior government officials said.

The carriers – Royal Jordanian Airlines, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways [KA.UL], Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways – have until Friday to comply with the new policy, which took effect early on Tuesday and will be in place indefinitely.

Several of the carriers, including Turkish Airlines, Etihad and Qatar, said early on Tuesday that they were quickly moving to comply. Royal Jordanian and Saudi Airlines said on Monday that they were immediately putting the directive into place.

An Emirates spokeswoman said the new security directive would last until Oct. 14. However, Christensen termed that date “a placeholder for review” of the rule.

The policy does not affect any American carriers because none fly directly to the United States from the airports, officials said. Officials did not explain why the restrictions only apply to travelers arriving in the United States and not for those same flights when they leave from there. The rules do apply to U.S. citizens traveling on those flights, but not to crew members on those foreign carriers. Homeland Security will allow passengers to use larger approved medical devices.

Angela Gittens, director general of airport association ACI World, likened the move to years-long restrictions of liquids on planes, which she said also came suddenly, in response to a perceived threat, and caused some disruption. Airlines will adjust to the electronics policy, she said. “The first few days of something like this are quite problematic, but just as with the liquids ban, it will start to sort itself out.”

DHS said the procedures would “remain in place until the threat changes” and did not rule out expanding them to other airpor

Six months ago, it was virtually assured that as part of his daily out at the West, Philippines’ president Duterte would accuse then-president Obama of being a “son of a bitch (or whore).” Now, a similar dynamic is playing out between Turkish president Erdogan and Angela Merkel, and/or the German (and Dutch) people, whom he now accuses on an almost daily basis of being Nazis, as a result of the escalating diplomatic spat between Turkey and Europe. And while some have grown accustomed to Erdogan’s daily verbal diarrhea, today the Turkish president took it to the next level: while on Sunday Erdogan once again compared Europe with the Nazis, and accused Angela Merkel of engaging “Nazi practices”, he escalated dramatically when he said that Europeans “would revive gas chambers” if they weren’t ashamed.”

Speaking at yet another demonstration in Istanbul on Sunday, where he rallied support for a ‘Yes’ vote in Turkey’s upcoming constitutional referendum, Erdogan said Europe’s “masquerade ball” is over: saying the “struggle” against his country has reached a new level, Erdogan slammed European nations, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, for their “Nazi regulations” as they revealed “the hatred they have accumulated for years against our country, our nation or even against all Muslims on TV screens and newspaper headlines every day.”

Erdogan then stunned listeners when he compared treatment of Turks to Jews during the Second World War, when he said “if [Europeans] weren’t ashamed, they would revive the gas chambers,” he said quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News.

Predictably, the Turkish president then turned his sights on Angela Merkel. “When we call them Nazis they [European politicians] get uncomfortable. They rally together in solidarity. Especially Merkel,” Erdogan said as cited by AFP. “Merkel. She backs [the Netherlands] too. You too are practicing Nazi practices. To whom? To my Turkish brothers and sisters in Germany,” the Turkish leader also said as quoted by the AP. Erdogan said that the current policy of a number of European states is based on fear of Turkey’s power.

“[The European states] do not have the urge to hide their intentions and cannot hide the discomfort they feel from Turkey, which is growing stronger,” Erdogan said, as cited by Reuters.

Erdogan’s comments come as Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to express Ankara’s anger over a Kurdish rally held in Frankfurt on Saturday. The Turkish president’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also called Germany’s actions “a worst example of double standards.” Quoted by Deutsche Welle, Kalin said that “the German ambassador was invited, summoned, to the Foreign Ministry and this [rally] was condemned in the strongest way.” The spokesperson added that the “scandalous” event in Frankfurt shows that European countries are in fact actively campaigning against Turkey’s constitutional reform, which of course is merely a pretext to give Erdogan near-supreme executive and legislative power.

Scheduled for April 16, the plebiscite proposes amendments to the constitution that will make Erdogan the sole executive head of state, with the authority to choose his own cabinet ministers, enact laws, call elections, and declare states of emergency. Turkish officials have been seeking meetings with Turks living in Europe ahead of the referendum hoping to get the support of the strong diaspora — in Germany alone, there are 1.5 million people with Turkish citizenship. But these plans did not go down well with the European authorities.

“It is unacceptable to see the symbols and slogans of the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK [at a rally in Frankfurt] while Turkish ministers and politicians are barred from meeting with their fellow citizens,” Kalin told in an interview to CNN Turk. Around 30,000 Kurdish supporters took to the streets in Frankfurt on Saturday to denounce the Turkish president and the upcoming referendum which seeks to expand his presidential powers.

Kalin wasn’t finished, and in the day’s final assault on Germany, Erdogan’s spokesman said Turkey accused Germany of backing last summer’s Turkish “coup” plotters.Kalin responds to remarks by Bruno Kahl, head of Germany’s federal intelligence agency, who said Turkey failed to convince Gulen was responsible for coup attempt, in Der Spiegel interview published Saturday. According to Kalin, “Kahl’s comments were proof of Germany’s support to Gulen network.”

“Why are they protecting them? Because these are handy instruments that can be used against Turkey,” Kalin asked and answered.