United Kingdom

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed disappointment on Tuesday with what he cast as China's coercive trading practices against Lithuania.

China has downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and pressured multinationals to sever links with the Baltic state after it allowed Taiwan to open a de-facto embassy in Vilnius.

LONDON, February 7. /TASS/: London is willing to cooperate with Moscow and provides its assurances that NATO poses no threat to Russia, Spokesman of British Prime Minister told journalists on Monday.

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles led tributes to his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on the 70-year anniversary of her accession to the throne on Sunday, saying it was an opportunity for the country to unite and celebrate her service to the nation.

Charles also thanked the queen for her statement on Saturday that she hoped the heir to the throne's wife, Camilla, would become Queen Consort when he becomes king. 

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Two senior members of Boris Johnson's Conservative Party urged challengers to the British prime minister to temper their ambitions on Sunday and focus instead on helping the poorest through the biggest plunge in living standards in a generation.

Johnson is fighting for his political career after his government became engulfed in a three-month state of crisis, with an increasing number of lawmakers calling publicly for a change in leadership to rebuild trust with the electorate.

LONDON (AP) — This was the week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hoped to get a grip on his government after weeks of scandal. By Friday, he was struggling to hang on after a scathing report on lockdown-breaching parties and the departure of several top aides.

 LONDON, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain, France and Germany condemned a battery of “provocative” missile tests by North Korea and urged it to comply with UN resolutions ahead of Security Council talks.

  “We strongly condemn these provocative actions, which undermine regional as well as international peace and security and are in clear violation of multiple unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolutions,” the European powers said in a joint statement.

LONDON, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Top oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia announced another modest increase in output on Wednesday despite soaring crude prices and geopolitical tensions rattling the markets.

   The 23-nation OPEC+ group said in a statement that it will increase production by 400,000 barrels per day in March, the same amount as in previous months.

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Scotland will need checkpoints along its border with England for the first time in more than three centuries if it votes for independence and rejoins the European Union, according to a think tank report published on Thursday.

The pro-independence Scottish National Party, which heads the Scottish government, wants to hold a second referendum on breaking away from the United Kingdom by the end of next year.

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - One of the world's leading infectious disease experts said on Thursday the collapse of global collaboration during COVID-19 made the pandemic "far worse" and continues to put the world at greater pandemic risk than at any point in his working life.

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust who quit as a UK government adviser in November, has previously bemoaned failures in international cooperation on COVID-19 but his new remarks amount to his strongest criticism yet of world leaders.

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised interest rates for the second time in three months on Thursday, putting the United Kingdom far ahead of the rest of Europe and the U.S. in moving to tame surging inflation that is squeezing consumers and businesses.

The bank’s monetary policy committee boosted its key rate 0.5% from 0.25%. It also said it would stop reinvesting the proceeds from maturing securities in the 875 billion pounds ($1.19 trillion) of U.K. government bonds it has purchased to bolster the economy since the global financial crisis more than 10 years ago.