United Kingdom

LONDON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Britain's chief Brexit negotiator David Frost said Friday that Britain remains "committed to a successful outcome" in talks with Brussels after little progress was made in the fourth round of crucial talks.

"Progress remains limited but our talks have been positive in tone. Negotiations will continue and we remain committed to a successful outcome," said Frost in London after the talks.

5 June 2020; AFP: The latest round of Brexit trade talks ended with no breakthrough Friday, as the EU and Britain stuck to long-held positions and called for negotiations to be ramped up.

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier could report "no significant progress this week", accusing London of backtracking on divorce terms agreed last year.

"This situation cannot go on forever," Barnier told reporters after hundreds of officials completed four days of virtual talks on forging future EU-UK ties.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday after OPEC decided to move up discussions on whether to extend record production cuts to Saturday, indicating that some laggard countries may have agreed to align themselves with the deal.

Brent crude futures were up 95 cents, or 2.4%, at $40.94 a barrel as of 0920 GMT, after rising over $1 to $41.18.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 64 cents, or 1.7%, to $38.05 a barrel.

BELFAST, June 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Three men have been arrested in the biggest drug seizure carried out by the National Crime Agency in Northern Ireland.

An estimated 600kgs of herbal cannabis were seized when a lorry was stopped in Templepatrick in the early hours of Wednesday.

The drugs, with an estimated value of £10m-£12m, were discovered among a “cover load” of vegetables.

NCA and PSNI officers took part in the operation.

It is understood the vehicle had travelled through Great Britain and crossed into Northern Ireland on a ferry to Larne.

LONDON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened the Global Vaccine Summit virtually on Thursday, urging countries and organizations to pledge funding for vaccinations to save millions of lives in the poorest countries and protect the world from future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

The summit hosted by Britain aims to mobilize at least 7.4 billion U.S. dollars for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in additional resources to protect the next generation with vaccines, reduce disease inequality and create a healthier, safer and more prosperous world.

LONDON (AP) — A vaccine summit has raised billions of dollars to immunize children in developing countries as experts wrestled with how any potential vaccine against the coronavirus might be distributed globally — and fairly.

The United Nations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have urged that “a people’s vaccine” be developed for COVID-19 that would be freely available to everyone, calling it a “moral imperative.”

LONDON (Reuters) - People across almost all the world’s leading rich economies have turned more sceptical about their governments’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic with confidence slumping the most in Britain, a survey showed on Thursday.

In May, in the Group of Seven nations as a whole, 48% of respondents approved of how authorities had handled the pandemic, down from 50% in April and 54% in March, the survey published by polling firm Kantar showed.

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union’s markets watchdog published guidance for the bloc’s national regulators on Thursday to tighten scrutiny of how asset managers charge fees on investors in funds.

“One of the key factors to mobilising investor participation in capital markets is to ensure that their trust in financial markets is improved and costs associated with buying financial products are reduced,” said Steven Maijoor, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority.

DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC+ oil producers could still hold a ministerial video conference this week if Iraq and others which have not fully complied with existing oil supply cuts agree to boost their adherence, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries andits allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, are stilldebating when to hold their ministerial talks to discuss a possible extension of the existing cuts.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested a man for driving offices on Wednesday after a car collided with two people near Sloane Square in central London.

“Cordons were put in place and buildings in the surrounding area were evacuated as a precaution while officers searched the vehicle,” the Met police said in a statement. “A man was subsequently arrested for driving offences.”

The lawmaker for the area, Greg Hands, had previously tweeted that he was hearing a vehicle had mounted the pavement and struck pedestrians.