United Kingdom

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom wants to be the first to develop a commercial jet plane to fly across the Atlantic Ocean without any carbon emissions, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson surprised some in the aviation sector on Tuesday when he promised the United Kingdom would produce the world’s first zero emission long haul passenger plane.

LONDON (AP) — Public health experts on Wednesday criticized the U.S. for securing a large supply of the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19.

The U.S. government announced this week that it had an agreement with Gilead Sciences to make the bulk of their production of remdesivir for the next three months available to Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services said it had secured 500,000 treatments through September, which amounts to all but 10% of production in August and September.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will continue to have a constructive relationship with Chinese companies working and investing in the country, but the strong ties between London and Beijing do not come at any price, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

“We have a strong and constructive relationship with China in many areas ... But this relationship does not come at any price. It has always been the case that where we have concerns we raise them, and where we need to intervene, then we will,” the spokesman told reporters.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom said China’s imposition of a security law on Hong Kong was a “clear and serious” violation of the 1984 Joint Declaration and that London would offer around 3 million residents of the former colony a path to British citizenship.

Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas and arrested nearly 200 people as protesters took to the streets in defiance of sweeping security legislation introduced by China that they say is aimed at snuffing out dissent.

LONDON (AP) — Companies linked to hospitality and travel in Britain have announced thousands of more job cuts as the longer term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic take hold, choosing to slim down for survival rather than await potential government handouts.

The owner of sandwich and coffee shop chain Upper Crust was the latest business that caters to travelers to announce cuts Wednesday. Some 5,000 jobs are under threat as travelers stay home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

01 July 2020; MEMO: The UK is facing fresh calls to end its arms sale to Israel amidst international outrage over the Zionist state’s planned annexation of Palestinian territory which is considered a war crime under international law.

30 June 2020; MEMO: A rare 15th century Quran from Iran written on Chinese paper has sold at an auction in London by Christie’s for $8.6 million (£7,016,250) almost 12 times more than its estimated value.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday Britain could not continue to be “prisoners of this crisis” as he outlined plans to boost Britain’s economy, devastated by the coronavirus lockdown.

He said while people were rightly still nervous about further outbreaks of the virus, the government had to spell out the way ahead.

“We cannot continue, simply, to be prisoners of this crisis,” he said in a speech in central England.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Monday, supported by improving economic data but held in check by sharp spikes in new coronavirus infections around the world that have forced some countries to impose partial lockdowns.

Brent crude LCOc1 fell 4 cents, or 0.1%, to $40.98 a barrel by 1031 GMT and U.S. crude CLc1 was up 7 cents, or 0.2%, at $38.56.

Crude prices found some support as profits at China’s industrial firms rose for the first time in six months in May, suggesting the country’s economic recovery is gaining traction.

LONDON (Reuters) - Julian Assange’s lawyer said on Monday he was surprised U.S. authorities issued a new and wider indictment last week against the WikiLeaks founder whom they are seeking to extradite from Britain.

Assange is wanted by U.S. authorities to stand trial for 18 offences including conspiring to hack government computers and espionage. Last year, the United States began extradition proceedings after he was dragged from London’s Ecuadorean embassy where he had been holed up for almost seven years.