England

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - One of the world's leading infectious disease experts said on Thursday the collapse of global collaboration during COVID-19 made the pandemic "far worse" and continues to put the world at greater pandemic risk than at any point in his working life.

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust who quit as a UK government adviser in November, has previously bemoaned failures in international cooperation on COVID-19 but his new remarks amount to his strongest criticism yet of world leaders.

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised interest rates for the second time in three months on Thursday, putting the United Kingdom far ahead of the rest of Europe and the U.S. in moving to tame surging inflation that is squeezing consumers and businesses.

The bank’s monetary policy committee boosted its key rate 0.5% from 0.25%. It also said it would stop reinvesting the proceeds from maturing securities in the 875 billion pounds ($1.19 trillion) of U.K. government bonds it has purchased to bolster the economy since the global financial crisis more than 10 years ago.

LONDON, Feb 2 (APP): Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Moazzam Ahmad Khan has stated that as the United Kingdom was Pakistan’s strategic partner, this partnership was deepening through growing linkages in diverse fields.

UK, being the 3rd largest export market for Pakistani products, accounted for approximately 8% of Pakistan’s global exports, he added.

LONDON, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The 23 members of the OPEC+ oil cartel, who meet on Wednesday, are expected to stick to their guns and increase output modestly as the price of crude surges.

  As in January, analysts expect the taps to be opened slightly, to the tune of an additional 400,000 barrels per day, Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Energy, said.

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russia could use cyberattacks as part of its efforts to destabilise and further invade Ukraine, a White House cyber official visiting her European counterparts said on Wednesday.

Anne Neuberger, U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, was meeting European Union and NATO officials in Brussels to discuss the threat of cyber attacks against Ukraine by Russia.

"We've been warning for weeks and months, both publicly and privately" of potential attacks, Neuberger told a virtual news conference.

LONDON, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- London has some of the most deprived communities in Britain, the capital's mayor said Wednesday as the British government unveiled the long-awaited plan to level up the country.

LONDON (AP) — The British government set out plans Wednesday for a huge shift in power and wealth to left-behind regions of the country, a long-standing promise to the voters who helped put Prime Minister Boris Johnson in office.

Johnson’s Conservative government was elected in 2019 on a pledge to “level up” one of Europe’s most regionally unequal countries by improving transport links, infrastructure and economic opportunities in swaths of the country hit by shuttered industries and public funding cuts.

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cannot answer specific questions over lockdown parties at his Downing Street office and residence because he does not want to prejudice a police investigation into 12 gatherings, his deputy said on Tuesday.

British police are reviewing more than 500 pieces of paper and over 300 photographs as part of an investigation into whether the Downing Street gatherings, including some attended by Johnson himself, broke COVID-19 lockdown laws. The inquiry is expected to take weeks.

LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced renewed calls to resign on Monday after a report found that alcohol-fuelled parties at his offices and residence when COVID-19 lockdown rules were in force should never have taken place.

The report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into the lockdown gatherings - at a time when Britons were all but banned from social mixing to tackle the coronavirus pandemic - pointed to "serious failures of leadership" at the heart of the British government.

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Monday after an inquiry found that Downing Street parties while Britain was in lockdown represented a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government or to heed the sacrifices made by millions of people during the pandemic.

But Johnson brushed off calls to quit over the “partygate” scandal, promising to reform the way his office is run and insisting that he and his government can be trusted.