United Kingdom

LONDON, Jul 26 (NNN-XINHUA) – Heavy downpours and thunderstorms have caused severe flash flooding in parts of London. The fire brigade said, it had taken about 300 calls – mostly about flooded basements or roads – yesterday afternoon. Officials have advised against travelling in the hazardous conditions.

An amber thunderstorm warning is in place for much of south-east England, with 75 to 100mm (3in to 4in) of rainfall forecast in some areas. The Environment Agency issued two flood warnings for areas in London, near Beverley Brook in Worcester Park and West Barnes.

LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - British health minister Sajid Javid apologised for and deleted a tweet urging people to take a COVID-19 vaccine and not to "cower" from the virus, saying on Sunday he had made "a poor choice of word".

Javid, who replaced Matt Hancock as health minister last month after his predecessor stepped down for breaking COVID rules by kissing an aide in his office, had been criticised for using the word "cower" when tens of thousands in Britain have died from the virus and many are trying to keep safe.

23 July 2021; MEMO: An anti-Islam activist and founder of the far-right English Defence League has been ordered by a British court to pay £100,000 ($137,300) in libel damages to Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi. The 18 year old won his case against Tommy Robinson after a two-year court battle that could bankrupt the far-right extremist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

LONDON (AP) — Chaos and confusion over travel rules and measures to contain new virus outbreaks are contributing to another cruel summer for Europe’s battered tourism industry.

Popular destination countries are grappling with surging COVID-19 variants, but the patchwork and last-minute nature of the efforts as the peak season gets underway threatens to derail another summer.

In France, the world’s most visited country, visitors to cultural and tourist sites were confronted this week with a new requirement for a special COVID-19 pass.

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday sanctioned the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president for misappropriating millions of dollars which London said was spent on luxury mansions, private jets and a $275,000 glove worn by Michael Jackson.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Teodoro Obiang Mangue, who is also vice president of Equatorial Guinea, had participated in "corrupt contracting arrangements and soliciting bribes, to fund a lavish lifestyle inconsistent with his official salary as a government minister".

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - A British court said on Thursday that Mike Lynch, the British tech billionaire who sold his company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, can be extradited to the United States to face charges including securities fraud related to the $11 billion deal.

Lynch's lawyer said if Britain's Home Secretary now decides to allow the extradition, Lynch will appeal.

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday sanctioned one of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's envoys, Alex Saab, in connection with an allegedly corrupt deal to obtain supplies for Maduro’s government-run food subsidy programme.

Saab, a Colombian national, is currently detained in Cape Verde facing extradition to the United States, which accuses him of helping Maduro's government skirt U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019. 

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to consider seriously Britain's proposals to change what he called the "unsustainable" way a Brexit deal is governing trade with Northern Ireland.

Since it completed its exit from the EU at the end of last year, Britain's ties with the bloc have reached new lows, with both sides accusing each other of acting in bad faith over an agreement for post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - The English city of Liverpool was removed from UNESCO's list of world heritage sites on Wednesday because new buildings undermined the attractiveness of its Victorian docks, making it only the third site to be removed from the prestigious list.

Liverpool was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation in 2004, joining landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Wednesday that post-Brexit trade rules it negotiated with the European Union “cannot go on” and need a major rewrite, straining already tense U.K.-EU relations.

The government said Britain would be justified in unilaterally suspending the legally binding Brexit agreement but had decided not to do so just yet.