United Kingdom

London, Nov 23 (AFP/PTI) British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has revealed for the first time that he will remain neutral in the second Brexit referendum that he has vowed to hold if he becomes prime minister next month.

"I will adopt a neutral stance so I can credibly carry out the result," he told a special edition of the BBC's Question Time programme on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour Party will hold a rally outside an Amazon depot on Saturday as it highlights its promise to target multinational firms it accuses of dodging taxes and cheating workers should it win next month’s general election.

In its manifesto launched on Thursday, Labour unveiled a plan to spend almost 83 billion pounds ($106 billion) on a program of widespread nationalization and free public services with the revenue coming from taxes on high earners and corporations.

London, Nov 21, IRNA - Russia says the US remained isolated in Thursday night’s session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Board of Governors that discussed Iran’s nuclear energy programme. 

“Debates on Iran in IAEA Board of Governors today were tough… Almost all are fully committed to the JCPOA. The US remain isolated,” tweeted Russia’s Ambassador to international organisations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov on Thursday. 

LONDON (Reuters) - London’s Canary Wharf underground station reopened on Friday after an incident involving a faulty fan left dust on the platform, the city’s transport operator said.

British transport police said the incident was not a security or police matter.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested a 23-year old man from Northern Ireland on Friday as part of their enquiry into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last month.

“He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and remains in custody,” Essex Police said in a statement.

The man was arrested on a motorway in Beaconsfield, a town 25 miles west of London, the statement said.

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Thursday as fresh tensions between the United States and China over protests in Hong Kong fueled concern that a deal to end a trade war between the world’s top two economies may be further delayed.

Brent crude LCOc1 fell 44 cents, or 0.7%, to $61.96 a barrel by 0951 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was down 36 cents, or 0.6%, at $56.65.

Both benchmarks had risen strongly on Wednesday due to bullish data on U.S. crude inventories.

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will unveil his opposition party’s election manifesto on Thursday, setting out how in government he wants to transform Britain with “the most radical and ambitious plan” in decades.

Voters faces a stark choice at the Dec. 12 election: Corbyn’s plan for a socialist Britain, including widespread nationalisation and free public services, or Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s drive to deliver Brexit within months and build a “dynamic market economy”.

LONDON (Reuters) - A former employee of Britain’s Hong Kong consulate said Chinese secret police beat him, deprived him of sleep and chained him as they pressed him for information about activists leading the pro-democracy protests, the BBC and Wall Street Journal reported.

Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen who worked for the British government for almost two years, was detained for 15 days on a trip to mainland China in August.

“I was shackled, blindfolded and hooded,” the 29-year-old told the BBC.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn attacked each other’s policies on Brexit, health care and the economy Tuesday in a televised election debate that likely failed to answer the question troubling many voters: Why should we trust you?

The two politicians hammered away at their rival’s weaknesses and sidestepped tricky questions about their own policies in the hourlong encounter, which was the first-ever head-to-head TV debate between a British prime minister and a chief challenger.

19 November 2019; AFP: European car sales hit their highest October level in a decade, an industry body said Tuesday, as the sector recovers from a stall last year over tighter pollution regulations.

The 8.7 percent rise in registration to 1.18 million vehicles "marked the highest October total on record since 2009," said the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.