England

(Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University as it battles a winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus.

ANTONELLA VIOLA, PROFESSOR OF IMMUNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF PADUA

LONDON (AP) — British hospitals are canceling non-urgent procedures and scrambling to find space for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus cases continue to surge despite tough new restrictions imposed to curb a fast-spreading new variant of the virus.

Another 41,385 confirmed cases were recorded across the U.K. on Monday. It was the first time the daily number of cases reported in the country surpassed 40,000, although many more tests are being performed than earlier in the pandemic.

LONDON (AP) — First came the Brexit trade deal. Now comes the red tape and the institutional nitty gritty.

Four days after sealing a free trade agreement with the European Union, the British government warned businesses Monday to get ready for disruptions and “bumpy moments” when the new rules take effect on Thursday night.

Firms are scrambling to digest the details and implications of the 1,240-page deal sealed by the EU and the U.K. on Christmas Eve, just a week before the year-end deadline.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose to hit $52 a barrel on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of a coronavirus aid package and the start of a European vaccination campaign outweighed concern about weak near-term demand.

After Trump backed down from a threat to block the package, Democrats on Monday will try to push through expanded $2,000 relief payments. Europe, meanwhile, launched a mass vaccination drive on Sunday. [nL1N2J804R]

LONDON (AP) — Hurricane-force winds reaching up to 106 mph (170 kph) and heavy rainstorms battered parts of Britain on Sunday, disrupting train services and stranding drivers in floodwaters.

The Isle of Wight saw Storm Bella’s strongest gusts hit 106 mph, while parts of the south coast of England and north Wales also saw gusts of around 80 mph (129 kph). Flooding on the tracks caused train cancellations and delays in southern England, and a main train line into London was blocked by a fallen tree.

LONDON (AP) — The head of drugmaker AstraZeneca, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine widely expected to be approved by U.K. authorities this week, said Sunday that researchers believe the shot will be effective against a new variant of the virus driving a rapid surge in infections in Britain.

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot also told the Sunday Times that researchers developing its vaccine have figured out a “winning formula” making the jab as effective as rival candidates.

LONDON, Dec 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Another 34,693 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases to 2,256,005, according to official figures released yesterday.

Another 210 have died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total number of deaths to 70,405.

The reporting of cases and deaths was affected by the Christmas holidays in some devolved regions, and will be reported later on, which means the true total number of cases and deaths is likely to be higher.

LONDON (Reuters) - China will overtake the United States to become the world’s biggest economy in 2028, five years earlier than previously estimated due to the contrasting recoveries of the two countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, a think tank said.

“For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China,” the Centre for Economics and Business Research said in an annual report published on Saturday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Saturday published the text of its trade agreement with the European Union just five days before it exits one of the world’s biggest trading blocs in its most significant global shift since the loss of empire.

The deal includes a 1,246-page trade agreement, as well as agreements on nuclear energy, exchanging classified information, civil nuclear energy and a series of joint declarations.

LONDON (AP) — Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to the U.K., then demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant.