England

LONDON (Reuters) - British opposition parties said on Friday that they would block Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s second bid to call a snap general election in mid-October, setting up showdown with the government over delaying Brexit.

Brexit remains up in the air more than three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc in a 2016 referendum. Options range from a turbulent no-deal exit to abandoning the whole endeavor.

LONDON, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that the NHS, the British national health service, is "not on the table" during any post-Brexit trade deal talks with the United States.

Johnson took the strong approach as he met visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Downing Street.

"Of course, we will do everything to increase free trade but the National Health Service is not on the table as far as our negotiations go," he said.

LONDON, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is to make a second bid on Monday to call a general election is what will be a duel over Brexit between Britain's two political giants.

Johnson believes a mid-October election will allow the British public to decide whether he heads to Brussels, with his threat of a deal or no deal Brexit, or pave the way for main opposition Labour to negotiate a delay to Britain's departure from the European Union.

LONDON (AP) — The new American secretary of defense, Mark Esper, is cautioning European allies to be wary of China’s growing global influence.

In a speech to a British think tank on Friday, Esper said countries that grow too dependent on Chinese investment and trade become susceptible to coercion and retribution when they cross Beijing.

LONDON, Sep 05 (APP): Pakistan High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK), Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, has said that the tragic human rights situation and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), since August 5, 2019, in particular, and for the past seven decades Indian governments had been perpetrating grave human rights’ violations in the occupied territory unabatedly with impunity.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will continue preparing for a no-deal Brexit even if parliament passes a law forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay because any European Union member state could block that request, Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said on Thursday.

“The legal position on an extension is that it requires the support of every member state, including the United Kingdom,” Barclay told parliament. “So it is the case ... we would need to continue to prepare for no deal because it is within the scope of any member state to block an extension.”

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson abused his powers by suspending parliament from next week until shortly before Britain leaves the European Union, London’s High Court was told on Thursday.

Johnson announced at the end of August that he would suspend parliament from mid-September to mid-October, just before Britain is due to exit the European Union on Oct. 31, to allow the government to announce a new legislative program.

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Britain’s main opposition leader on Thursday of trying to dodge an election, after rebellious lawmakers rejected the U.K. leader’s call to trigger a snap poll and moved to block his plan to leave the European Union next month without a divorce deal.

Johnson remained determined to secure an election as the only way out of Britain’s years-long Brexit impasse. His office said he would argue in a speech later that politicians must “go back to the people and give them the opportunity to decide what they want.”

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s bid to leave the European Union (all times local):

9:50 p.m.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has failed to win sufficient parliamentary support for an early national election on Oct. 15.

The vote was 298 in favor and 56 opposed, not enough to force the election because a large number of lawmakers abstained, meaning he failed to reach the required threshold.

Under U.K. law, Johnson needed the support of two-thirds of the 650 legislators in the House of Commons, which equates to 434.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told opposition parties on Wednesday Labour would not fall for “Boris Johnson’s tricks” and would not support a new election until he is confident that the threat of a no deal Brexit has been removed.

Corbyn, who says he wants a new election, hosted opposition parties as part of a series of meetings to try to thwart what many of them see as Prime Minister Johnson’s bid to lead Britain out of the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31.