United Kingdom

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Most British soldiers have been pulled out of Afghanistan, ending Britain's official role in a two-decades long conflict even as the Taliban are gaining ground and amid fears the departure of foreign soldiers could lead to civil war.

"All British troops assigned to NATO's mission in Afghanistan are now returning home," Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament, praising what British forces had achieved while at the same time acknowledging the "perils" facing Afghanistan.

LONDON, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Oil prices hardly moved at the start of the week, as a cautious market eyes stalling talks between the major oil-producing nations on future production policy.

A barrel (159 litres) of North Sea Brent cost 76.18 dollars on Monday morning, about the same as on Friday. The price for a barrel of the US variety West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was – also hardly changed – 75.20 dollars.

07 July 2021; MEMO: There has been a huge backlash against the UK's proposed anti-immigration bill which grants asylum seekers different rights based on whether they arrived in the country legally or illegally, making it harder for the latter to have their applications accepted.

The Nationality and Borders Bill, published yesterday, has been described by the Home Secretary Priti Patel as "the biggest overhaul of the UK's asylum system in decades."

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Montenegro is weeks away from securing a deal to either swap or refinance with European and U.S. banks nearly $1 billion in debt owed to China, and hopes to reduce the interest rate on the debt to below 1%, Economy Minister Jakov Milatovic told Reuters.

Montenegro borrowed $944 million from China in 2014 to fund a 41-km (25-mile) stretch of road, which foes of then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic dubbed the "Road to Nowhere", saying it typified waste under his rule, an accusation he denied.

LONDON, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — After failing last week, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of oil producers will try again Monday to reach agreement on how much crude to put on the market.

  Since May, the group has raised oil output little by little, after slashing it more than a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand.

  The current proposal is to increase output each month from August to December by 400,000 barrels per day, providing oil markets with an additional two million bpd by the end of the year.

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Britain has reported 27,334 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Monday, meaning the rise in cases between June 29 and July 5 stood at just over 53% compared with the previous seven days.

A further nine people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.

A total of 45.35 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by July 4 and 33.73 million people had received a second dose.

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due on Monday to set out plans to end social and economic COVID-19 restrictions in England, in a test of whether a rapid vaccine rollout offers enough protection from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Johnson's announcement at 1600 GMT is expected to confirm that he aims to end restrictive measures on July 19, and will include guidance on social distancing, face coverings and working from home.

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - The data that will decide if final lockdown restrictions in England can be lifted on July 19 is looking "very positive", thanks to the success of the vaccination programme, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday.

"The data that we're seeing that the Prime Minister is reviewing at the moment ahead of his decision point on the roadmap looks very positive," he told Sky News.

LONDON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported another 24,885 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,879,616, according to official figures released Saturday.

The country also recorded another 18 coronavirus-related death. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 128,207. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

LONDON (AP) — More than 6 million European Union citizens applied to settle in the U.K. before the end-June deadline that the British government had imposed as part of the country’s departure from the bloc.

In a statement Friday, Britain’s Home Office said of the 6.02 million people who had applied, 400,000 applications were made in the final month before the end of the EU Settlement Scheme.