United Kingdom

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The world should give the Taliban the space to form a new government in Afghanistan and may discover that the insurgents cast as militants by the West for decades have become more reasonable, the head of the British army said on Wednesday.

The leaders of the Taliban will show themselves to the world, an official of the Islamist movement said on Wednesday, unlike during the last 20 years, when its leaders have lived largely in secret. 

LONDON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Britain reported another 170 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest number of fatalities recorded in one day since March 12, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 131,149. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Another 26,852 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,322,241.

17 Aug 2021; MEMO: Forensic Architecture is pulling an exhibition it was holding at the University of Manchester-run Whitworth Art Gallery after a statement declaring support for the Palestinian people was removed by the venue.

LONDON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Tuesday that Britain is looking at "bespoke" resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Raab told the BBC that details of the new resettlement scheme would be set out by the British home secretary and prime minister "in due course".

Britain had already admitted more than 3,300 Afghan interpreters, staff and their families for resettlement, according to the British Home Office.

LONDON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said on Monday that British forces going back to Afghanistan is "not on the cards", after the Taliban entered the Afghan capital city of Kabul.

Asked by Sky News if Britain and NATO forces would return to Afghanistan, Wallace said: "That's not on the cards that we're going to go back."

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The British parliament will be recalled from its summer recess next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, a source at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office said on Sunday, as Taliban insurgents entered Kabul.

The entry into the capital caps a lightning advance by the Islamist militants, who were ousted 20 years ago by the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Britain's interior ministry said earlier that it was working to protect its citizens and help other eligible former UK staff to leave Afghanistan.

LONDON, August 14. /TASS/: Moscow will issue a working visa to BBC journalist in Russia, Sarah Rainsford, if London does the same for the Russian correspondent, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Saturday.

"Once the Russian correspondent is given a visa, Sarah will be given it, too. That is exactly what we suggested when calling on London to unblock the visa impasse for journalists," Zakharova said.

LONDON, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace on Friday said the U.S. decision to pull its troops out of Afghanistan was a "mistake," which has handed the Taliban "momentum" in the country.

Speaking to Sky News, Wallace said the withdrawal agreement negotiated in Doha, Qatar, by the Trump administration was a "rotten deal."

"At the time of the Trump deal with, obviously the Taliban, I felt that was a mistake to have done it that way. We will all, in the international community probably pay the consequences of that," Wallace said.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s police watchdog says it has launched an investigation into why a 22-year-old man who fatally shot five people in southwestern England on Thursday was given back his confiscated gun and gun license last month.

Police have said Jake Davison killed his mother and four other people, including a 3-year-old girl, before taking his own life in the port city of Plymouth. It was Britain’s first mass shooting in over a decade. Firearm crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict gun control laws and regulations.

LONDON (AP) — An international system to share coronavirus vaccines was supposed to guarantee that low and middle-income countries could get doses without being last in line and at the mercy of unreliable donations.

It hasn’t worked out that way. In late June alone, the initiative known as COVAX sent some 530,000 doses to Britain – more than double the amount sent that month to the entire continent of Africa.