England

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Dengue fever will become a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new parts of Africa this decade, the WHO's chief scientist said, as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread.

The illness has long been a scourge in much of Asia and Latin America, causing an estimated 20,000 deaths each year. Rates of the disease have already risen eight-fold globally since 2000, driven largely by climate change as well as the increased movement of people and urbanization.

LONDON, Oct 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a delay to the phasing out of petrol-driven vehicles has been criticised by a committee of lawmakers in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom (UK), who called the move “disappointing.”

Philip Dunne, chair of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, fired a lengthy letter at Sunak yesterday.

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - British and Nigerian civil society groups have urged the British government to return funds confiscated from Nigerian politician James Ibori, a convicted fraudster, to his country in a swift and transparent way so the money can benefit ordinary Nigerians.

In a letter to Britain's home and foreign affairs ministers, a coalition of close to 50 NGOs said the long-delayed confiscation process had undermined the strong anti-corruption message sent by Ibori's conviction over a decade ago.

LONDON (AP) — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday in northern England in connection with what authorities described as the “deliberate” felling of a famous tree that had stood for nearly 200 years next to the Roman landmark Hadrian’s Wall.

LONDON (AP) — Britain on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a major oil and gas project in the North Sea, ignoring warnings from scientists and the United Nations that countries must stop developing new fossil fuel resources if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned on Tuesday uncontrolled migration poses an "existential challenge" to Western nations and called for the rewriting of a treaty which has influenced global asylum policy for the last seven decades.

Addressing the American Enterprise Institute think-tank in Washington, Braverman said the United Nations refugee convention has expanded the definition of "persecution" and increased the number of people qualifying for refugee protection.

LONDON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A recent poll found out British voters are "largely pessimistic" about Britain's hopes of achieving net zero emissions, The Times reported on Saturday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a series of relaxations of key climate policies this week, including delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.

Many of Sunak's decisions are popular, but British people are skeptical about the reasons behind them, said the British newspaper.

LONDON (AP) — British competition regulators gave preliminary approval Friday to Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, easing a final global hurdle that paves the way for one of the largest tech transactions in history to go through.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the revamped proposal “substantially addresses previous concerns” about stifling competition in the fast-growing cloud gaming market, which frees players from buying expensive consoles and gaming computers by streaming to tablets, phones and other devices.

LONDON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of England (BoE) has voted to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 5.25 percent, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.

At its meeting ending on Wednesday, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of five to four in favor of the decision, the statement noted. Four members preferred to increase the interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.5 percent.

This is the first time the BoE has kept the interest rates unchanged after 14 consecutive rate hikes since December 2021.

LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak watered down Britain's plans to tackle climate change on Wednesday, saying he would delay a ban on sales of new petrol cars to maintain the consent of the British people in the switch to net zero.

Sunak said he remained committed to the legally-binding target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 but said Britain could afford to make slower progress in getting there because it was "so far ahead of every other country in the world".