England

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday hailed a new visa scheme that offers qualifying Hong Kong citizens a route to British citizenship - a programme launched in response to China’s new security laws in the former colony.

The scheme, first announced last year, opens on Sunday and allows those with “British National (Overseas)” status to live, study and work in Britain for five years and eventually apply for citizenship.

LONDON: Britain is banning direct passenger flights to and from the United Arab Emirates from Friday, shutting down the world’s busiest international airline route from Dubai to London.

Britain said it was adding the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda to its coronavirus travel ban list because of worries over the spread of a more contagious and potentially vaccine resistant COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa.

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe’s fight to secure COVID-19 vaccine supplies sharpened on Thursday when Britain demanded that it receive all the shots it paid for after the European Union asked AstraZeneca to divert supplies from the UK.

The EU, whose member states are far behind Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States in rolling out vaccines, is scrambling to get supplies just as the West’s biggest drugmakers slow deliveries to the bloc due to production problems.

LONDON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that Britain will impose mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals returning from "red list" countries.

Travelers who return from "red list" countries will be placed in quarantine in government-designated accommodation such as hotels for 10 days, Boris Johnson told lawmakers.

It is understood that travelers will have to pay to isolate in a monitored hotel, with coronavirus testing carried out during their stay.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose above $56 a barrel on Wednesday after industry data showed U.S. crude inventories fell unexpectedly, outweighing persistent concerns about demand as coronavirus cases top 100 million globally.

Industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) said U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.3 million barrels. Analysts had expected them to rise. Official inventory figures are due at 1530 GMT from the Energy Information Administration. [EIA/S]

LONDON (AP) — For nine months, Gordon Bonner has been in the “hinterlands of despair and desolation” after losing his wife of 63 years to the coronavirus pandemic that has now taken the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom.

Only recently did Bonner think he might be able to move on — after sensing the spirit of his wife, Muriel, near him on what would have been her 84th birthday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Monday as supply jitters and U.S. stimulus plans offset fresh concerns about the hit to global fuel demand from renewed lockdowns to curb spikes in COVID-19 infections.

Brent crude futures for March rose 34 cents, or 0.6%, to $55.75 a barrel by 1008 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for March was up 37 cents, or 0.7%, at $52.64.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has detected 77 cases of the South African variant of COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, also urging people to strictly follow lockdown rules as the best precaution against Britain’s own potentially more deadly variant.

Matt Hancock said all 77 cases were connected to travel from South Africa and were under close observation, as were nine identified cases of a Brazilian variant.

LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday of fearing democracy when it comes to letting the Scottish people express their will on independence from the United Kingdom.

Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% in a 2014 referendum. But a majority of Scots also backed staying in the European Union in the subsequent 2016 Brexit vote, stoking demands by Scottish nationalists for a new independence vote after the UK as a whole voted to leave.

LONDON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for tougher rules on wearing face coverings outside after revealing that more than 12,000 Londoners have died with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Evening Standard newspaper reported.

The mayor said there was a need for face coverings where people were "cheek by jowl" in outdoor locations, and revealed concerns at the number of Londoners in public places because the current lockdown rules were not tight enough.