England

LONDON (Reuters) - Libya’s National Oil Company said it expected oil production to rise to 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) next week, as the OPEC member looks to revive its oil industry, crippled by a blockade since January.

Oil prices fell around 5% on Monday, partly due to the potential return of Libyan barrels to a market that’s already grappling with the prospect of collapsing demand from rising coronavirus cases. [O/R]

LONDON (Reuters) - EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is due in London on Wednesday for informal Brexit talks, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter, citing EU sources.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday parliament would be able to consider and debate the new measures put in place to tackle an increase in COVID-19 cases early next week.

Trying to head off criticism from lawmakers, including some in his Conservative Party, that the government is introducing restrictions without consultation, Johnson told them: “Parliament should and will debate these issues and ... will make time early next week ... for a full debate on these measures.”

LONDON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain's chief medical officers (CMOs) have recommended moving the country's COVID-19 alert level from level 3 to level 4, according to a joint statement released on Monday from the CMOs.

"The CMOs for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have reviewed the evidence and recommend all 4 nations of the UK should move to level 4," said the statement.

Level 4 means COVID-19 epidemic is in general circulation, transmission is high or rising exponentially.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday, weakened by the possible return of Libyan production and as rising coronavirus cases stoked worries about global demand, although the market drew support as a tropical storm threatened to disrupt output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Brent crude was down 95 cents at $42.20 a barrel by 1205 GMT. U.S. crude fell 90 cents to $40.21 a barrel. Both contracts were set for their biggest daily drops in two weeks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson will make a statement in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, the leader of the House of Commons said on Monday, after the British leader spent much of the last three days discussing possible next steps in the coronavirus crisis.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is at a tipping point on COVID-19, health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday, warning that a second national lockdown could be imposed if people don’t follow government rules designed to stop the spread of the virus.

COVID-19 cases have risen sharply in recent weeks to more than 4,000 per day. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called it a second wave and stricter lockdown measures have been introduced in areas across the country - with London possibly next in line.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is likely to need to reintroduce some national coronavirus lockdown measures sooner rather than later, a leading epidemiologist and former senior government health advisor said on Saturday.

Neil Ferguson, a professor of epidemiology at London’s Imperial College, told the BBC the country was facing a “perfect storm” of rising infections as people return to work and school.

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned the United Kingdom that it must honour the Northern Irish peace deal as it extracts itself from the European Union or there would be no U.S. trade deal.

“We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden said in a tweet.

“Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.”

LONDON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a parliamentary committee Wednesday he did not believe the European Union (EU) was negotiating a Brexit deal with Britain in good faith.

Johnson spent more than an hour being grilled by the House of Commons Liaison Committee, made up of the chairs of the major parliamentary select committees.