United Kingdom

LONDON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Described as the "Rome of Britain", the UNESCO World Heritage city Canterbury faces the risk of being recklessly destroyed, SAVE Britain's Heritage, one of the country's leading heritage groups, warned Wednesday.

As a major tourism city 107 km south east of London, Canterbury is in danger of losing its beauty and history by allowing an increasing number of ugly and outsized developments within, or adjacent to, the city's historic core, still enclosed within its circuit of medieval walls, said the heritage group in a report.

LONDON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Group of Seven (G7) held a virtual summit on Tuesday as the United States and its allies scramble to complete evacuations from Taliban-held Afghanistan before the impending Aug. 31 deadline, while contention among the "rich countries club" runs deep over U.S. hasty withdrawal from the Asian country and the chaos it engendered.

LONDON, Aug 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 800 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK on Saturday – setting a new record for crossings in a single day.

The Home Office said nearly 200 people making the trip were also stopped by the French authorities.

Nearly 12,500 people have made the journey so far this year.

Officials say there are safe and legal routes for migrants and they were working with international partners to tackle the “dangerous crossings”.

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Iran restarted exports of gasoline and gasoil to Afghanistan a few days ago, following a request from the Taliban, Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union said on Monday.

The Sunni Muslim group seized power in Afghanistan last week as the United States and its allies withdrew troops after a 20-year war.

LONDON, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science, The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.

Whatever this week's Biden review on the virus' origins finds, the cause of the pandemic lies in the destruction of animal habitats. As for the "lab leak" theory of the disease, scientists refuted the idea in the paper.

LONDON, August 21. /TASS/: The British government needs to abandon the line of confrontation towards Russia, otherwise the UK will face Moscow’s tit-for-tat measures, the Russian embassy to London said in a statement released on Saturday, following the new round of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

"We urge, yet again, the British leadership to relinquish unjustified confrontational stance towards our country. There will be adequate and proportionate response to any hostile act," the embassy said.

22 Aug 2021; MEMO: Britain would have to turn to Russia and China to exercise a "moderating influence" over the Taliban, despite a mistrust between the UK and those governments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, reports Reuters.

"We're going to have to bring in countries with a potentially moderating influence like Russia and China, however uncomfortable that is," Raab told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

LONDON (AP) — Tony Blair, the British prime minister who deployed troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago after the 9/11 attacks, says the U.S. decision to withdraw from the country has “every Jihadist group round the world cheering.”

In a lengthy essay posted on his website late Saturday, Blair said the sudden and chaotic pullout that allowed the Taliban to reclaim power undermined everything that had been achieved in Afghanistan over the past two decades, including advances in living standards and the education of girls.

LONDON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that Britain will work with the Taliban "if necessary," as the group has regained the control of Afghanistan.

"What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan -- working with the Taliban, of course, if necessary -- will go on," Johnson told reporters.

He said the situation at the Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans gathered in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight, was getting "slightly better" and he saw "stabilization."

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended his response to the fall of Afghanistan on Friday, dismissing as inaccurate media reports that he failed to help evacuate local translators who had worked for Britain because he was on holiday.

"The whole of government has been working tirelessly over the last week to help as many people evacuate from Afghanistan as possible," Raab said, adding that he had been focused on events at the airport.