United Kingdom

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Prince Harry has said he stepped back from his royal duties because the “toxic” British press had been destroying his mental health, adding he had not walked away from public service.

Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and his American wife Meghan had made a final split with the royal family, and would not be returning as working members and would lose their patronages.

LONDON (Reuters) - The City of London’s finance industry would be worse off than rival New York under an early draft for a cooperation agreement in financial services between Britain and the European Union, a document, seen by Reuters, showed.

Britain’s financial services industry has been largely cut off from the EU, its biggest customer, since a Brexit transition period ended on Dec. 31 as the sector is not covered by the UK-EU trade deal.

Trading in EU shares and derivatives, for example, has already left Britain for continental Europe.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State should not be allowed to return to Britain to challenge the government taking away her citizenship because she poses a security risk, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

Shamima Begum left London in 2015 when she was 15 and went to Syria via Turkey with two school friends where she married an IS fighter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday amid continued outages in the United States and a weaker dollar, but a surprise build in U.S. inventories last week capped gains.

Brent crude futures gained 52 cents, or 0.8%, to $65.89 a barrel at 1109 GMT, after hitting a session low of $64.80.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $62.04 a barrel, after trading as low as $60.97 earlier on Wednesday.

24 Feb 2021; MEMO: Further doubts have been raised over Israel's killing of Ahmad Erekat. The 27-year-old was shot dead in June at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem. Israeli police claimed that Erekat was a "terrorist" conducting an attack.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday as the slow return of U.S. crude output cut by frigid conditions served as a reminder of the tight supply situation, just as demand recovers from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude was up 33 cents, or 0.5%, at $63.24 a barrel by 0945 GMT, after gaining nearly 1% last week. U.S. oil rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $59.47 a barrel, having fallen 0.4% last week.

LONDON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged that every adult in Britain will be given a jab of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July, local media reported Sunday.

"We will now aim to offer a jab to every adult by the end of July, helping us protect the most vulnerable sooner, and take further steps to ease some of the restrictions in place," Johnson told Sky News.

The British government has previously set a target to offer vaccines to all adults by September.

(Reuters) - Britain could restrict imports of European mineral water and several food products under retaliatory measures being considered by ministers over Brussels’ refusal to end its blockade on British shellfish, the Telegraph reported.

Senior government sources pointed to potential restrictions on the importing of mineral water and seed potatoes, the report said.

(Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak is set to increase a tax on business to pay for an extension to COVID-19 support schemes in the budget next month, The Sunday Times reported bit.ly/3ujaBcU.

Sunak, in his speech on March 3, will announce he is increasing corporation tax from 19 pence in the pound and will outline a pathway where it rises to 23 pence in the pound by the time of the next general election, the report said. The move will raise an expected 12 billion pounds ($16.8 billion) a year, the report added.

LONDON (AP) — Leaders of the Group of Seven economic powers promised Friday to immunize the world’s neediest people against the coronavirus by giving money, and precious vaccine doses, to a U.N.-backed vaccine distribution effort.

But the leaders, under pressure over their vaccination campaigns at home, were unwilling to say exactly how much vaccine they were willing to share with the developing world, or when.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the G-7 leaders held a virtual meeting that fair distribution of vaccines was “an elementary question of fairness.”