England

LONDON, Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A 40-year-old Irish haulier pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese men, women and boys found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck near London last year.

Ronan Hughes became the second man to plead guilty over a case that shocked Britain and Vietnam and shone a light on the illicit human smuggling trade. The other is Maurice Robinson, from the British province of Northern Ireland, who was driving the truck when the bodies were found.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices were broadly stable on Thursday as a massive hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico made landfall in the heart of the U.S. oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut down.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures for October, which expire on Friday, rose 6 cents, or, 0.1% to $45.70 a barrel by 0942 GMT. The more active November Brent contract LCOc2 was virtually flat at $46.17 per barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 8 cents or 0.2% to $43.31 a barrel.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously dismissed appeals by Chinese mobile technology companies Huawei and ZTE in patent disputes with Unwired Planet International Ltd and Conversant Wireless Licensing.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization on Monday cautioned that using blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat other patients is still considered an experimental therapy, voicing the concern as a U.S. boost for the treatment has many scientists afraid formal studies will be derailed.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s prime minister is asking parents to set aside their fears and send their children back to school next month when schools in Britain fully reopen for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic shut then down more than five months ago.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was the government’s “moral duty” to reopen the schools as he stressed that authorities now know more about COVID-19 than they did when the country went into lockdown on March 23.

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief medical officers of the United Kingdom have said children should return to school after the summer holidays, warning that missing out on their education posed much bigger risks to them than catching COVID-19.

The rare joint statement from the top health advisers to the governments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland represents a boost for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has said getting children back to school is a national priority.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s economic recovery from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has gathered pace, data showed on Friday, but government borrowing rose past the 2 trillion pound ($2.6 trillion) mark and fears of future job losses are mounting.

Retail sales rose above pre-pandemic levels in July, the first full month for many shops reopening after lockdown, and August’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data showed the fastest growth in almost seven years.

LONDON, Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, aged 50 to 70, are more likely to be in the poorest 20 percent of the population in England, a new study revealed yesterday.

Carried out by the Centre for Ageing Better, with the Institute for Public Policy Research and the University College London, the study said, with the proportion of people from BAME in this age group doubling in a generation, action is needed now to prevent inequalities from deepening.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was facing fresh criticism on Thursday over its handling of grading for school exams after results for hundreds of thousands of students were pulled.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been accused of overseeing a fiasco over how grades have been awarded to teenagers who were unable to take their exams because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit safeguards to stop asset managers in Britain running “shell” investment funds in the European Union to retain access to its markets should be hardwired into EU law, the bloc’s securities watchdog said on Wednesday.

After Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued guidance on minimum “substance” or senior boots on the ground at EU funds whose portfolio management has been “delegated” to London.