United Kingdom

LONDON, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science, The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.

Whatever this week's Biden review on the virus' origins finds, the cause of the pandemic lies in the destruction of animal habitats. As for the "lab leak" theory of the disease, scientists refuted the idea in the paper.

LONDON, August 21. /TASS/: The British government needs to abandon the line of confrontation towards Russia, otherwise the UK will face Moscow’s tit-for-tat measures, the Russian embassy to London said in a statement released on Saturday, following the new round of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

"We urge, yet again, the British leadership to relinquish unjustified confrontational stance towards our country. There will be adequate and proportionate response to any hostile act," the embassy said.

22 Aug 2021; MEMO: Britain would have to turn to Russia and China to exercise a "moderating influence" over the Taliban, despite a mistrust between the UK and those governments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, reports Reuters.

"We're going to have to bring in countries with a potentially moderating influence like Russia and China, however uncomfortable that is," Raab told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

LONDON (AP) — Tony Blair, the British prime minister who deployed troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago after the 9/11 attacks, says the U.S. decision to withdraw from the country has “every Jihadist group round the world cheering.”

In a lengthy essay posted on his website late Saturday, Blair said the sudden and chaotic pullout that allowed the Taliban to reclaim power undermined everything that had been achieved in Afghanistan over the past two decades, including advances in living standards and the education of girls.

LONDON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that Britain will work with the Taliban "if necessary," as the group has regained the control of Afghanistan.

"What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan -- working with the Taliban, of course, if necessary -- will go on," Johnson told reporters.

He said the situation at the Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans gathered in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight, was getting "slightly better" and he saw "stabilization."

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended his response to the fall of Afghanistan on Friday, dismissing as inaccurate media reports that he failed to help evacuate local translators who had worked for Britain because he was on holiday.

"The whole of government has been working tirelessly over the last week to help as many people evacuate from Afghanistan as possible," Raab said, adding that he had been focused on events at the airport.

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - London's police warned on Friday that protests by environmental activists planned for the next two weeks will cause disruption across the capital and will distract officers from dealing with crime.

Extinction Rebellion, which caused days of traffic chaos in London two years ago, said it will target the capital's financial district in disruptive protests which are due to start on Monday.

The group accuses financial firms of helping to fuel climate change and it brought much of central London to a standstill during 11 days of action in 2019.

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The ruling Scottish National Party agreed a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party on Friday that cements a pro-independence majority in the devolved parliament ahead of a looming political battle over the future of the United Kingdom.

The deal between the SNP and the Greens, who will be part of a government for the first time in British history, will increase the pressure on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow a second independence referendum.

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The United States is joining with Britain in taking action against those responsible for poisoning Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the two countries said in a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Britain sanctioned seven men it said were Russian intelligence operatives suspected of involvement in the poisoning Navalny, describing the move as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons.

The statement did not outline any specific actions.

LONDON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Group of Seven (G7) on Thursday sought to secure close cooperation in personnel evacuation and the resettlement of refugees as chaos continues at the Kabul airport amid the hasty withdrawal of the U.S.-led military troops in Afghanistan and the Taliban's swift takeover of the Asian country.