United Kingdom

(Reuters) --- Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is critically ill after being shot in the head in south London in the early hours of Sunday, her political party said.

London's Metropolitan Police appealed for witnesses after offices found a woman, who they said was thought to be in her 20s, suffering a gunshot injury in Peckham.

Police said the woman, who they have not named, remained in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

(Reuters) --- The Scottish government is facing a new legal challenge over its February rejection of a motion to investigate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s all-cash purchases of two golf courses, reviving an effort to force Trump to disclose how he financed the deals.

23 May 2021; MEMO: Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London and other British cities on Saturday to protest against Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip during fighting with the Islamist group Hamas, reports Reuters.

Protesters called for sanctions on Israel during the march in London. Some were draped in Palestinian flags and set off green and red smoke flares. Others carried banners declaring "Free Palestine", "Stop bombing Gaza" and "Sanctions on Israel".

(Reuters) --- Britain's early plan to combat COVID-19 was a "disaster" and "awful decisions" led to the government imposing lockdowns that could have been avoided, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's former top adviser said.

Dominic Cummings, who left Johnson's staff late last year, made his comments in a series of tweets just days before he is due to give evidence to members of parliament about the government's handling of the pandemic.

(Reuters) --- The first operational deployment of Britain's flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to Asia will show countries such as China that Britain believes in the international law of the sea, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.

Johnson said the Carrier Strike Group, which will interact with more than 40 nations on the deployment through the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and South China Sea to Japan, would project Britain's values as well as its military capabilities.

20 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces continue to attack the Gaza Strip killing at least 200 Palestinians including 70 children. The Occupation authorities are also practicing serious violations against the Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah's neighbourhood, which is also a blatant breach of laws, treaties, and international conventions.

Al Aqsa Mosque also has been raided by Israeli settlers, and police forces recently

21 May 2021; MEMO: British Labour Party MP Richard Burgon asked the House of Commons yesterday how many more Palestinian civilian casualties it will take before the government takes action to stop Israeli war crimes.

(Reuters) --- The Group of Seven is playing a "dangerous game" by making aggressive and baseless criticism of the Kremlin because it pushes Russia closer to China, Russia's ambassador to London Andrei Kelin told Reuters on Thursday.

G7 foreign ministers this month scolded both China and Russia, casting the Kremlin as malicious and Beijing as a bully, but beyond words there were few concrete steps aside from expressing support for Taiwan and Ukraine.

LONDON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,323 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in India have been recorded in Britain, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday.

Speaking at the House of Commons, the lower house of British Parliament, Hancock said the variant is now the dominant strain of the virus in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, both in northwest England, with 483 confirmed cases.

According to Hancock, in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, cases of the variant have doubled last week.

LONDON (AP) — Gary Miller drove a London taxi. Rohit Patel worked behind the till in a supermarket. Barry Bwalya was in customer service.

When the coronavirus tore through their London neighborhoods in early 2020, they all got sick. More than a year later, they are still struggling.