England

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s failure to impose a lockdown in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic cost thousands of unnecessary deaths and ranks among the country’s worst public health blunders, lawmakers concluded Tuesday in the nation’s first comprehensive report on the pandemic.

LONDON/BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Britain and Ireland traded barbs on Twitter on Sunday after British Brexit negotiator David Frost restated his view that the EU must agree "significant change" to the Northern Ireland protocol that governs trade and border rules in the province.

The protocol was part of the Brexit settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has repeatedly said it must be rewritten less than a year after taking force due to the barriers businesses face when importing British goods into Northern Ireland.

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s foreign minister has warned that British demands risk a “further breakdown in relations” with the European Union ahead of talks this week aimed at resolving the impasse over the Brexit agreement.

Simon Coveney posted the remarks on Twitter after the U.K.’s Brexit minister reiterated his insistence that the European Court of Justice must not be allowed to oversee implementation of the deal. Coveney described this as a new “red line” that will impede progress in the negotiations.

LONDON, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of countries on the UK Covid travel red list will be cut from 54 to seven, the government says.

South Africa, Brazil and Mexico come off the red list, which requires travellers to quarantine in an approved hotel at their cost for 10 full days.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes begin on Monday and “mark the next step” in opening travel.

This latest move will be seen as a boost to the airline industry and families separated during the pandemic.

LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A leading Syrian Kurdish politician said on Thursday the United States will stay on in Syria to destroy Islamic State, build infrastructure and remain a player in the search for a political settlement after more than 10 years of civil war.

The Kurds, who live in the mountainous region straddling the borders of Syria, Armenia, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, carved out self-rule across northeast Syria during the civil war that began in 2011.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization on Wednesday endorsed the world’s first malaria vaccine and said it should be given to children across Africa in the hope that it will spur stalled efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it “a historic moment” after a meeting in which two of the U.N. health agency’s expert advisory groups recommended the step.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the phones of his ex-wife and her lawyers to be hacked as part of a "sustained campaign of intimidation and threat" during the custody battle over their children, England's High Court has ruled.

Mohammed used the sophisticated "Pegasus" software, developed by Israeli firm NSO for states to counter national security risks, to hack the phones of Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah, and some of those closely connected to her, according to the rulings.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — This is an autumn of inconvenience in Britain, marked by empty gas pumps, worker shortages and gaps on store shelves.

None of that got a mention from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, as he brushed off the economic bumps and said the U.K. would emerge from Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic as a more productive and dynamic nation.

Johnson told the Conservative Party’s annual conference that he’d end “decades of drift and dither” and tackle “long-term structural weaknesses,” especially a reliance on low-cost labor from abroad.

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca, the drugmaker that developed one of the first COVID-19 vaccines, has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize the emergency use of a first-of-a-kind antibody treatment to prevent the disease.

The Anglo-Swedish company said Tuesday that the treatment, known as AZD7442, would be the first long-acting antibody combination to receive an emergency authorization for COVID-19 prevention. If authorized, the drug would likely be limited to people with compromised immune systems who don’t get sufficient protection from vaccination.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government is facing calls to tighten the country’s defenses against “dirty money” after a massive leak of offshore data showed how London, in particular, is the destination of choice for some of the world’s richest and most powerful people to conceal their cash.

The cache of almost 12 million files, which has been dubbed the “Pandora Papers,” was published Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media partners, including Britain’s Guardian newspaper and the BBC.