United Kingdom

GLASGOW, Britain, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The British capital welcomes Chinese investment, including in the city's infrastructure, Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn has said.

Asked about the concerns by some British politicians over Chinese investment, Kahn said Thursday that Chinese investment has been contributing to the growth of the city.

London has "invested hugely" in the expansion of its transportation system and "Chinese companies helped us with the electric buses, electric taxis. It is a working partnership", he told reporters in Glasgow, Scotland.

LONDON (AA) - The UK became the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 treatment pill that can be taken at home when Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the treatment on Thursday.

The pill, taken orally, is called molnupiravir, and was developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck Sharp & Dohme.

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19.

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The British lawmaker Owen Paterson, who was found guilty of breaking paid lobbying rules, has decided to resign from parliament, the BBC reported on Thursday.

"I maintain that I am totally innocent of what I have been accused of and I acted at all times in the interests of public health and safety," he said according to the BBC.

GLASGOW, Britain, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States continue their dialogue and exchanges on tackling climate change here at the ongoing 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

China is represented by Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, and Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation to COP26 and vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the United States by John Kerry, U.S. special presidential envoy for climate.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Several major coal-using nations have pledged for the first time to phase out their use of the heavily-polluting fossil fuel or to speed up existing plans to do so, while others announced commitments to end investment in new coal-fired power plants.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The dramatic drop in carbon dioxide emissions from the pandemic lockdown has pretty much disappeared in a puff of coal-fired smoke, much of it from China, a new scientific study found.

A group of scientists who track heat-trapping gases that cause climate change said the first nine months of this year put emissions a tad under 2019 levels. They estimate that in 2021 the world will have spewed 36.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, compared to 36.7 billion metric tons two years ago.

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - British lawmakers voted on Wednesday to halt the suspension of a member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party who was found to have broken rules on paid lobbying, instead backing an overhaul of the process of investigating politicians.

A Committee on Standards report said Owen Paterson committed an "egregious case of paid advocacy" by repeatedly using his position to promote two companies, who together paid him nearly three times his annual parliamentary salary. 

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received a degree from the University of Cambridge on Wednesday, warning that the world risked falling into a spiral of crises unless it put critical thinking and truth back to the centre of global discourse.

Cambridge conferred a honorary degree of Doctor of Law on Guterres, recognising his work and the work of the United Nations, founded in 1945 as a way bring peace after the horrors of World War Two.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Over five days abroad at two global summits, President Joe Biden showed a new willingness to openly confront China over climate change and its lack of leadership on the global stage.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Over five days abroad at two global summits, President Joe Biden showed a new willingness to openly confront China over climate change and its lack of leadership on the global stage.