United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — A prosecutor argued Wednesday that a serving London police officer handcuffed a woman on the pretext of breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules before he kidnapped and killed her.

Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who disappeared while walking home from visiting a friend in south London on March 3.

Couzens has pleaded guilty to the charges. He sat in court with his head bowed as members of Everard’s family listened to prosecutor Tom Little open his case.

LONDON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Britain's main opposition Labour Party on Monday passed an emergency motion that described the new security pact among the United States, Britain and Australia, known as AUKUS, as a "dangerous move that will undermine world peace."

During the party's annual conference, delegates passed the emergency motion by 70.35 percent to 29.65 percent.

"AUKUS is starting a new nuclear arms race and cold war. We must keep speaking out against it," said former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Twitter on Monday.

BRIGHTON, England, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The opposition Labour Party would make rebuilding Britain's ties with the European Union its top trade priority, putting the bloc above U.S and Indo-Pacific deals in the post-Brexit era, its trade policy chief Emily Thornberry said on Monday,

Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is only two years into a possible five-year term, but Labour is using its annual conference in southern England to bill itself as a credible alternative government with Britain beset by fuel shortages, empty shelves and soaring energy prices.

LONDON (AP) — Google is heading to a top European Union court Monday to appeal a record EU antitrust penalty imposed for stifling competition through the dominance of its Android operating system.

The company is fighting a 2018 decision from the EU’s executive Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, that resulted in the 4.34 billion-euro ($5 billion) fine — still the biggest ever fine Brussels has imposed for anticompetitive behavior.

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain said on Sunday it had collected evidence of multiple ships from various nationalities apparently breaching United Nations sanctions against North Korea which ban the sale of fuel to the country.

British frigate HMS Richmond has been taking part in UN sanctions enforcement operations in the region.

BRIGHTON, England, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour Party hinted on Sunday at new taxes on wealth, identifying landlords and shareholders as possible targets if it won power at the next election.

Labour's would-be finance minister Rachel Reeves used an interview before her speech at the party's annual conference in Brighton to preview what she called "a fair tax system".

BRIGHTON, England, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Transport Minister Grant Shapps on Sunday called on Britons to behave normally when buying petrol, saying there was no shortage of fuel and the government was stepping in to ease a shortage of drivers bringing it to petrol stations.

In recent days long lines of vehicles have formed at petrol stations as motorists waited, some for hours, to fill up with fuel after oil firms reported a lack of drivers was causing transport problems from refineries to forecourts.

LONDON (AP) — Britons are encouraged these days — though in most cases not required — to wear face coverings in crowded indoor spaces. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson regularly appears in the packed, poorly ventilated House of Commons cheek-by-jowl with other maskless Conservative lawmakers.

For critics, that image encapsulates the flaw in the government’s strategy, which has abandoned most pandemic restrictions and is banking on voluntary restraint and a high vaccination rate to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

LONDON, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British climate change protesters on Friday temporarily blocked the Port of Dover, Europe’s busiest trucking port, and police arrested 39 people.

About 40 activists from the environmental group Insulate Britain brought traffic to and from the port, the main artery for trade over the English Channel, to a standstill. Some demonstrators sat on the road until police cleared them.

The port said on Twitter that traffic was moving freely again about three hours after it announced the protest.

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Britain is expected to announce plans to issue temporary work visas to truck drivers to ease an acute labour shortage that has led to fuel rationing at hundreds of gas stations and long queues to fill up - with pumps running dry in some places.

As retailers warned of significant disruption in the run-up to Christmas, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said it was looking at temporary measures to address the shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers.