United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — All adults and children in England will be able to have routine coronavirus tests twice a week as a way to stamp out new outbreaks, the British government said Monday as it prepared to announce the next steps in lifting the nation’s months-long lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said regularly testing people who don’t have COVID-19 symptoms would help “stop outbreaks in their tracks, so we can get back to seeing the people we love and doing the things we enjoy.”

LONDON, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain reported 10 deaths from COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test on Saturday (Apr 3), the lowest daily figure since early September, as its vaccine rollout reached another milestone.

Official data also showed 31,301,267 people had received their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, with five million now having had both doses in what is the fastest rollout in Europe.

LONDON (Reuters) - The majority of British firms have faced disruption with trade with the European Union since Brexit, with many expecting the problem to last for some time, according to a survey published on Saturday.

A trade agreement between London and Brussels which came into force on Jan. 1 has meant some companies have had to deal with new bureaucracy and rules.

The Survation survey for London First/EY, conducted in February, found 75% had experienced some disruption, even though 71% said they had felt prepared for the changes.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s medicines regulator is urging people to continue taking the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite revealing that seven people in the U.K. have died from rare blood clots after getting the jab.

The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, said it wasn’t clear if the shots are causing the clots, and that its “rigorous review into the U.K. reports of rare and specific types of blood clots is ongoing.”

02 Apr 2021; MEMO: Britain's organised crime agency is reviewing a report by a group of London-based lawyers which accuses Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh and associates of money laundering and corrupt practices, four sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters reports.

02 Apr 2021; MEMO: Two UK school textbooks on the Middle East have been "significantly altered" following intervention from leading advocates of the Zionist state in favour of the Israeli narrative. The alterations, slammed as "propaganda under the guise of education" and "not fit for purpose" have raised serious concerns over the textbook, prompting a pause in further distribution.

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Thursday on optimism about the strength of U.S and European economies and hopes that OPEC and its allies will keep production curbs in place.

Brent crude rose by $1.33 cents, or 2.1%, to $64.07 a barrel by 1023 GMT. U.S. oil was up $1.36, or 2.3%, at $60.52 a barrel.

Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allied producers, a group known as OPEC+, meet on Thursday to reassess output policy.

LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The British government has been accused of trying to downplay structural racism in Britain, after its new social disparities report said claims that the country is institutionally racist are "not borne out by the evidence".

The government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, set up after Black Lives Matter protests last year, said Wednesday in the report that social class and family structure, rather than race, had a bigger impact on how people's lives turned out.

30 Mar 2021; MEMO: UCL's Students for Justice for Palestine Society (SJP) has welcomed the London university's Academic Board's rejection of the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will on Wednesday push G7 allies to get tough on China over “pernicious practices” that undermine the international trading system, calling for an overhaul of outdated and ineffective World Trade Organization rules.

Trade minister Liz Truss will host her G7 counterparts and the new head of the WTO, using Britain’s platform as current president of the group of rich countries to promote post-Brexit Britain as a leading free trade advocate.