United Kingdom

BOURNEMOUTH, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An English seaside resort declared a major incident Thursday after thousands of people flocked to the beach on the hottest day of the year so far, despite the threat of coronavirus.

Temperatures rose to a record 33.3 degrees Celsius at Heathrow Airport in west London, the Met Office said, a day after highs of 32.6 degrees Celsius saw huge crowds flock to the coast.

LONDON, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twenty-two police officers were hurt during trouble at an unauthorised music event in London overnight where crowds attacked some patrol cars, British authorities said.

Parties have been banned during Britain’s COVID-19 lockdown, though some people have been defying that.

“These are utterly vile scenes,” said Home Secretary Priti Patel of the disorder in the capital’s Brixton area.

LONDON (Reuters) - Finalising the European Union’s package of measures to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic is a “massive priority” for Germany’s presidency of the EU, German Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Friday.

EU leaders agreed in April to build a trillion-euro emergency fund to help the 27-nation bloc rebound from the pandemic, but the final details have yet to be agreed.

“We really need to act quickly now if we want the funds to be available on January 1, 2021,” Kukies told an online event.

LONDON (Reuters) - Last fall, European Space Agency satellites detected huge plumes of the invisible planet-warming gas methane leaking from the Yamal pipeline that carries natural gas from Siberia to Europe.

Energy consultancy Kayrros estimated one leak was spewing out 93 tonnes of methane every hour, meaning the daily emissions from the leakage were equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide pumped out in a year by 15,000 cars in the United States.

LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak sees a very high bar for bailing out companies that are struggling as a result of the coronavirus crisis, Bloomberg Television reported on Friday.

Sunak also said the economy was past the acute phase of the crisis, and that the best way to preserve jobs was to allow businesses to continue to reopen.

LONDON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday condemned the "appalling" scenes in Brixton in south London where 22 police officers were injured and police cars smashed up when they tried to break up an "unlicensed" street party Wednesday night.

A spokesman for the prime minister said the British government would shortly be launching a consultation on doubling the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker.

"These were appalling scenes. Violence against the police will not be tolerated," the spokesman said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slipped below $40 a barrel on Thursday after a more than 5% fall the previous session, as record-high U.S. crude inventories and a resurgence in coronavirus cases cast doubt on a recovery in fuel demand.

U.S. crude stocks rose 1.4 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. [EIA/S] This hit crude prices, although other details the EIA reported such as a fall in gasoline stocks as demand rose, lent limited support.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, reversing the previous session’s surge, as record high inventories and worries about a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic outweighed support from a gradual reopening of global economies.

Brent crude were down 43 cents, or 1%, to $42.20 a barrel by 1020 GMT a day after hitting its highest level since a price plunge began in March.

The benchmark crude has climbed from below $16 in April but remains a third lower than its level at the end of 2019.

LONDON (Reuters) - At the edge of the desert in North Khorasan province in northeast Iran, near the country’s largest deposit of bauxite, sits an aluminium production complex that the government has publicly hailed as a key part of its efforts to boost output of the metal.

LONDON (Reuters) - British transport minister Grant Shapps said he would say more on June 29 about possible air bridges with other countries to enable travel during the coronavirus crisis, adding that conversations were ongoing.

Britons hoping to go on holiday and airlines are putting pressure on the government to drop a quarantine on those returning to Britain or to form air bridges, where two countries agree to allow travel without such measures.