England

LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil prices moved in and out of negative territory on Friday but remained on course for a second monthly fall as rising COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States heighten concerns over fuel consumption.

Brent crude was down 3 cents at $37.62 a barrel by 1140 GMT after touching a five-month low in the previous session. The December Brent contract expires on Friday and the January contract was trading broadly flat.

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government’s “Eat out to help out” discount scheme to boost spending at restaurants, cafes and pubs over the summer helped spread the coronavirus and contributed to a second wave of infections, according to a new study.

For the month of August, the government offered diners up a 50% discount of up to 10 pounds ($13.03) per head on meals between Mondays and Wednesdays to kick-start the economy and encourage people to spend money again after the pandemic lockdown.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Labour opposition suspended its former leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday after he downplayed a report that detailed serious failings in the party’s handling of persistent anti-Semitism complaints during his 2015-2019 leadership.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it had found evidence of political interference in the processing of anti-Semitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to people handling the complaints, and harassment.

SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) - The operator of an oil tanker stormed in the English Channel by British special forces thanked the authorities on Monday for their timely response, saying help was requested after seven stowaways who boarded in Nigeria had turned hostile.

Troops from the Special Boat Service, Britain’s elite naval special forces unit, stormed the Greek-operated Nave Andromeda near the Isle of Wight off southern England after the master of the ship said he was concerned about the safety of his crew.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have made good progress in talks on a last-minute trade deal that would stave off a tumultuous finale to the five-year-old Brexit crisis, but fish is the biggest sticking point.

The United Kingdom left the EU in January but the two sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade before informal membership - known as the transition period - ends on Dec. 31.

LONDON Oct 22 (APP): Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Moazzam Ahmad Khan has said that further strengthening the existing friendly relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom, facilitating and leveraging the potentials of our diaspora and highlighting the Kashmir issue at international levels for its peaceful resolution would be his top priorities.

He stated this while briefing a small group of UK based Pakistani media here at the High Commission, in his maiden interaction with them the other-day.

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of jobs furloughed as of Aug. 31 could reach 3.7 million, Britain’s tax office said on Thursday, highlighting that the arts and entertainment sector was making heaviest use of the scheme.

The tax authority said preliminary figures showed 3.3 million jobs were furloughed as of August 31, and that this could rise to 3.7 million once all data had been collected.

Use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has fallen from a peak of 8.9 million job on May 8.

LONDON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain announced on Wednesday that it will resume talks on future relationship with the European Union (EU) later this week in London, a few days after Downing Street said the post-Brexit negotiations were over.

"We are ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations later this week. We have jointly agreed a set of principles for handling this intensified phase of talks," Downing Street said in a statement.

It said the initial phase of the negotiations will take place in London from Oct. 22 until Oct. 25.

LONDON (AP) — The parent company of British Airways has cut its fourth-quarter passenger forecast to just 30% of last year’s level as government restrictions imposed to control a new wave of coronavirus infections reduces demand for flights.

International Airlines Group made the announcement Thursday as it posted a third-quarter operating loss of 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), compared with a profit of 1.4 billion euros in the same period last year.

LONDON, October 20. /TASS/: The UK Foreign Office claims that Russian intelligence services tried to organize cyber attacks in order to derail the Tokyo Olympics before it was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic, the statement by UK Foreign Office published on Monday reads.