United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace barred ethnic minorities from office jobs during the 1960s, the Guardian newspaper reported Thursday, citing documents in Britain’s National Archives.

The revelation, published on the newspaper’s front page, was based on papers showing that Queen Elizabeth II’s chief financial manager told civil servants in 1968 that it was not the palace’s practice to hire “coloured immigrants or foreigners” for clerical posts and other office jobs.

02 June 2021; MEMO: The BBC has removed a series of educational videos about Palestine and the origins of the ongoing Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing, following pressure from a pro-Israel lobbyist organisation, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

(Reuters) --- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he would be cautious in lifting coronavirus restrictions as it is still unclear how protected the population would be against a new surge of COVID-19 cases should lockdown end as planned in June.

Johnson has previously warned that the swift spread of the B.1.617.2 variant of concern first identified in India could derail his plans to end England's COVID restrictions on June 21.

(Reuters) --- The decision to lift final lockdown measures in England on June 21 will be made after data on infection, hospitalisation, vaccination and new variants are assessed, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday.

"We will share the evidence with the country on the 14th of June to basically explain exactly where we are on infection rates, on hospitalisation, and of course, sadly, on deaths," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.

"We have to be cautious; we have to look at the data and share it with the country."

LONDON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Unfounded allegations by some U.S. politicians that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a Chinese lab are making it harder for nations to collaborate on ending the pandemic, and fueling online bullying, said a recent article in British scientific journal Nature.

"Even without strong supporting evidence," calls to investigate Chinese laboratories have reached a fever pitch in the United States, said the article, adding that for many researchers, the tone of the growing demands is unsettling, which could thwart efforts to study the virus's origins.

28 May 2021; MEMO: Amnesty International has called on Israel to cancel plans to forcibly displace two Palestinian families from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa area of the Silwan neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Saleh Higazi, said: "For years Israel has sought to expand illegal settlements in the area of Silwan, forcibly displacing more than 200 Palestinians from their homes."

24 May 2021; MEMO: A third of the members of the British cabinet, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have been funded by Israel or pro-Israel lobby groups, Declassified UK has revealed. The investigative journalism website uncovered the various ways through which the occupation state has courted members of the government over the years, a trend that was denounced as "disgusting" last month by a senior Conservative former minister.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was meeting Hungarian President Viktor Orban on Friday, and faced criticism for inviting the hardline European leader to 10 Downing St.

Johnson’s office said it was a routine meeting with the leader of a major European Union nation. The prime minister’s spokesman, Max Blain, said “cooperation with Hungary is vital to the U.K’s prosperity and security.”

LONDON, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Another 3,180 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, according to official figures released Wednesday, meaning that the number of daily COVID cases reported in the country passed 3,000 for the first time since mid-April.

The latest figures brought the total number of coronavirus cases in Britain to 4,470,297, according to the official data.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s health minister on Thursday defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic after a former top government aide alleged the government’s botched response had led to tens of thousands of needless deaths.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock hit back after Dominic Cummings singled him out for criticism in an excoriating attack on the government.