United Kingdom

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans on Tuesday to raise taxes on workers, employers and some investors to try to fix a health and social care funding crisis, angering some in his governing party by breaking an election promise.

After spending huge amounts of money to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson is returning to an election pledge to address Britain's creaking social care system, where costs are projected to double as the population ages over the next two decades.

Tokyo, Sep 6 (AP-PTI) Japan's defence minister on Monday welcomed the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as it made its first Japanese port call, saying the involvement of European nations in the Indo-Pacific region is key to peace and stability as China's military strength and influence grow.

Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi met the strike group's commander, Commodore Steve Moorhouse, on board the carrier.

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to hike taxes to fund social care has provoked fury among many of his own lawmakers, who fear that such a clear violation of his election promises shows he is happy to oversee a sweeping expansion of the state.

After the fiscal splurge on the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson is now addressing Britain's creaking social care system, whose costs will soar as the population ages, while facing numerous other thorny policy matters.

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - British vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi on Sunday said a decision had not yet been taken on whether healthy children aged 12- to 15-years-old should be vaccinated against COVID-19, following reports that a rollout could begin in the coming days.

Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on Friday declined to recommend vaccinations for children in that group, taking a precautionary approach due to a rare risk of heart inflammation, but adding the issue was finely balanced. 

LONDON (AP) — One of the U.K.’s largest suppliers of seasonal influenza vaccines warned Saturday that there could be delivery delays of up to two weeks as a result of a shortage of truck drivers.

In a statement that has accentuated concerns about the potential scale of this winter’s flu outbreak, vaccine company Seqirus blamed “unforeseen challenges linked with road freight delays” for the disruption to deliveries in England and Wales.

The company said it “is working hard to resolve the delay to allow customers to reschedule their influenza vaccination clinics.”

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Britain has started shipping COVID-19 vaccines to delegates attending global climate talks it is hosting next month who cannot access them at home, with the first shots to be delivered next week.

The COP26 conference, postponed from last year, takes place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow.

LONDON (AP) — English educator Richard Sheriff watched this week as a group of energetic 11-year-olds entered their new secondary school for the first time — finding their classrooms, eating in the cafeteria, racing around the halls.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: Britain's Labour Party has become embroiled in another feud with its pro-Palestine members following reports that former leader Jeremy Corbyn and pressure group the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) have been banned from speaking later this month at the annual party conference.

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab said the intelligence assessment was that it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year as he defended Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban swept across the country much more quickly.

Britain, like the United States, failed to predict how quickly the Afghan government would fall, meaning it had not made sufficient preparation for the chaos that would follow when the Taliban seized power.

31 Aug 2021; MEMO: The UK retains "the right to exercise self-defense" after withdrawing from Afghanistan, the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reported.

Raab was speaking to British news channel ITV after British Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the UK could launch airstrikes against 'ISIS-K', the branch of the Daesh terrorist group in Afghanistan.