England

LONDON (AP) — British airline easyJet has posted its first full-year loss in its 25-year history as a result of the coronavirus pandemic but laid out hope that the rollout of vaccines will help it bounce back strongly next year.

The airline reported Tuesday a pretax loss of 1.27 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) for the year through September as passenger numbers halved to 48.1 million. The summer was particularly tough, with the airline flying just 38% of its planned capacity during the peak holiday season.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has inflamed Scottish discontent with his Conservative government by reportedly saying that giving governing powers to Scotland had been a “disaster.”

British media reported that Johnson made the remarks during a video meeting with Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday evening, in which he also said Scottish devolution had been former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “biggest mistake.”

LONDON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-quarantining after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement Sunday.

The spokesman said the prime minister "will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic."

"The PM is well and does not have any symptoms of COVID-19," the statement added.

LONDON (AP) — One of the scientists behind the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer said Sunday that he was confident that it could halve the transmission of the virus, resulting in a “dramatic” curb of the virus’ spread.

Professor Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, said it was “absolutely essential” to have a high vaccination rate before next autumn to ensure a return to normal life next winter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have made some progress in their negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal but might not succeed in getting an agreement, Britain’s top Brexit negotiator said as he headed into further talks on Sunday.

“There has been some progress in a positive direction in recent days,” David Frost said on Twitter.

“We also now largely have common draft treaty texts, though significant elements are of course not yet agreed. We will work to build on these and get an overall agreement if we can. But we may not succeed.”

LONDON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Another 26,860 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,344,356, according to official figures released Saturday.

The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 462 to 51,766, the data showed.

Britain is the first European nation to record more than 50,000 coronavirus deaths. It is the fifth country in the world to hit the tragic milestone, following the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce next week a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Britain had originally planned to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars from 2040, as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in February Johnson brought this forward to 2035.

LONDON (Reuters) - Dominic Cummings, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s most powerful adviser, will step down by year-end, reducing the sway of Brexit hardliners as Johnson tries to recast his premiership after a series of coronavirus failures.

Cummings, who masterminded the 2016 Brexit referendum vote and Johnson’s 2019 landslide election win, told the BBC that he wanted to be largely redundant by the end of this year, once Britain has left informal membership of the European Union.

LONDON, Nov 12 (APP): Pakistan’s Exports to the United Kingdom (UK) during the July-September 2020-21,despite COVID-19 stood at US $ 465 million as compared to US $ 414 million achieved same period of the last fiscal year, depicting an increase of 12 percent, Economic and Trade Wing of Pakistan High Commission sources said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices held steady on Thursday as traders tempered expectations of an early release of a COVID-19 vaccine and the IEA raised doubts about a quick demand rebound amid surging infections in Europe and the United States.

Brent crude was up 8 cents, or 0.2%, at $43.88 a barrel at 1132 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $41.55 a barrel.