England

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose to their highest since early March on Wednesday after data showed a big drop in U.S. crude inventories, although concerns that mounting coronavirus infections will lead to reduced fuel demand capped gains.

Brent crude was up $1.03, or 2.3%, at $45.46 a barrel by 0951 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate oil rose $1.03 cents, or 2.5%, to $42.73 a barrel.

LONDON (Reuters) - Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, won a court battle on Wednesday to keep the names of five of her friends private for the time being as part of her legal action against a British tabloid which she accuses of invading her privacy.

Meghan, wife of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry, is suing Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday that included parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

LONDON (Reuters) - Steel consumption in the European Union slid by 12% year-on-year in the first quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened an already weak picture, industry group Eurofer said on Wednesday.

The coronavirus crisis is likely to show a bigger impact in the second quarter because lockdown measures only kicked off in the last month of the quarter, a statement said.

In June, the European Steel Association (Eurofer) estimated that steel demand had tumbled by around 50% since March as industries such as automakers shut factories.

LONDON, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- To blame China for this pandemic is to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and to marginalize the failings of Western nations, said Dr. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of medical journal The Lancet.

"The present wave of anti-China sentiment has now evolved into an unpleasant, even racist, sinophobia, which threatens international peace and security," Dr. Horton said in an opinion article recently published by British newspaper The Guardian.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Tuesday amid concerns that a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections will see a global demand recovery stalling due to tighter lockdowns, just as major producers ramp up output.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 68 cents, or 1.7%, at $40.33 a barrel at 1020 GMT, while Brent crude futures were 72 cents, or 1.7%, lower at $43.43 a barrel.

The slide comes after WTI rose 1.8% and Brent climbed 1.5% on Monday on better-than-expected data on manufacturing activity in Asia, Europe and the United States.

LONDON (Reuters) - The location of TikTok owner ByteDance’s headquarters is a commercial decision for the company to make, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday, responding to a report that the firm could move to London.

“It would be a commercial decision, and I’m not aware that one has been taken,” the spokesman said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday on fears about the economic fallout from rising COVID-19 cases around the globe and on oversupply worries as OPEC and its allies are set to wind back output cuts in August.

Brent crude fell 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $43.34 a barrel by 1123 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 19 cents, or 0.5%, at $40.06.

In the last month, Brent has been trading in a range between $41 and almost $45.

LONDON (AP) — Europe’s biggest bank, HSBC, said Monday that its net profit plummeted 96% in the second quarter of this year as lower interest rates combined with the downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic tool hold.

The bank’s net profit was $192 million in the April-June quarter, down from $4.37 billion reported in the same period a year earlier.

London-based HSBC has most of its business in Asia.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could impose quarantine measures on people arriving from certain countries within days, health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday, without specifying which countries.

Asked in a BBC radio interview whether it was possible that in the next few days there could be a change in the list of countries to which quarantine measures apply, Hancock replied: “Yes ... We just have to be realistic about the fact that these things change, because the pandemic changes in other countries.”

LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, accused a British newspaper publisher in court on Wednesday of commercially exploiting its legal dispute with her by using court documents as the basis for “sensational” coverage.

Meghan, wife of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry, is suing Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday in February 2019 that included parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.