United Kingdom

LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak said he would not try to fix the public finances overnight, days before he announces a budget plan that is expected to pile more borrowing on top of nearly 300 billion pounds ($418 billion) of COVID spending and tax cuts.

“Look, this is not something that’s going to happen overnight. Given the scale of the shock we’ve experienced, the scale of the damage, this is going to take time to fix,” Sunak told Sky News on Sunday.

“But it’s important ... to also have strong public finances over time.”

LONDON (Reuters) -The new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden joins international talks on the global economy this week with other rich nations expecting a decisive break from the “America First” nationalism of Donald Trump.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will join Friday’s online meeting with her Group of Seven (G7) peers at which they are likely to renew promises to pursue huge stimulus programmes to aid the economic recovery from COVID-19.

26 Feb 2021; MEMO: A UK-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Daesh should not be allowed to return to Britain to challenge the government taking away her citizenship because she poses a security risk, Britain's Supreme Court ruled today according to Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday as bond price rout led to gains in the U.S. dollar while crude supply is expected to rise in response to prices climbing above pre-pandemic levels.

Brent crude futures for April, which expire on Friday, fell 99 cents, or 1.4%, to $65.89 a barrel by 1203 GMT. The more actively traded May contract slipped by $1.19 to $64.92.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped $1.27, or 2%, to $62.26.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Prince Harry has said he stepped back from his royal duties because the “toxic” British press had been destroying his mental health, adding he had not walked away from public service.

Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and his American wife Meghan had made a final split with the royal family, and would not be returning as working members and would lose their patronages.

LONDON (Reuters) - The City of London’s finance industry would be worse off than rival New York under an early draft for a cooperation agreement in financial services between Britain and the European Union, a document, seen by Reuters, showed.

Britain’s financial services industry has been largely cut off from the EU, its biggest customer, since a Brexit transition period ended on Dec. 31 as the sector is not covered by the UK-EU trade deal.

Trading in EU shares and derivatives, for example, has already left Britain for continental Europe.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State should not be allowed to return to Britain to challenge the government taking away her citizenship because she poses a security risk, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

Shamima Begum left London in 2015 when she was 15 and went to Syria via Turkey with two school friends where she married an IS fighter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday amid continued outages in the United States and a weaker dollar, but a surprise build in U.S. inventories last week capped gains.

Brent crude futures gained 52 cents, or 0.8%, to $65.89 a barrel at 1109 GMT, after hitting a session low of $64.80.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $62.04 a barrel, after trading as low as $60.97 earlier on Wednesday.

24 Feb 2021; MEMO: Further doubts have been raised over Israel's killing of Ahmad Erekat. The 27-year-old was shot dead in June at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem. Israeli police claimed that Erekat was a "terrorist" conducting an attack.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday as the slow return of U.S. crude output cut by frigid conditions served as a reminder of the tight supply situation, just as demand recovers from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude was up 33 cents, or 0.5%, at $63.24 a barrel by 0945 GMT, after gaining nearly 1% last week. U.S. oil rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $59.47 a barrel, having fallen 0.4% last week.