United Kingdom

LONDON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that "a good deal is there to be done" with the European Union (EU) on the post-Brexit trade relations, but he could not accept the terms the regional bloc is currently insisting.

Johnson made the remarks at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, lower part of the British Parliament, before heading to Brussels later Wednesday for a crunch meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to seek a breakthrough in the deadlocked post-Brexit trade talks.

10 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Amnesty International accused Airbnb of acting in bad faith towards investors ahead of its stock market debut on Thursday by failing to inform them of its politically sensitive business activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reports.

Airbnb did not provide comment on Amnesty's charge. A company spokesman referred Reuters to a statement it made in 2019 saying it would not take profits from its listings in the West Bank.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s medicine regulator has advised that people with a history of significant allergies do not get Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine after two people reported severe adverse reactions on the first day of rollout.

Starting with the elderly and frontline workers, Britain began mass vaccinating its population on Tuesday, part of a global drive that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in peacetime history.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday as news about COVID-19 vaccines lifted investor hopes for a recovery in fuel demand and outweighed concerns sparked by figures indicating U.S. oil inventories jumped last week.

Brent crude rose 27 cents, or 0.6%, to $49.11 a barrel by 1218 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1> climbed 22 cents, up 0.5%, to $45.82.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday no British leader could sign up to the demands the European Union are “currently insisting on”, adding that while there is a trade deal to be done, the country would prosper without one.

“Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply ... then they want the automatic right ... to punish us and to retaliate,” he said in parliament.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a push to secure a trade deal and avoid a turbulent breakup in three weeks.

With growing fears of a chaotic no-deal finale to the five-year Brexit crisis when the United Kingdom finally leaves the European Union’s orbit on Dec. 31, the 1800 GMT meeting over dinner is cast as a chance to unlock the stalled trade talks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Margaret Keenan, the 90-year-old grandmother who became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial in Britain on Tuesday, has a message for others: “go for it” to beat the devastating disease.

An early riser, Keenan, from Northern Ireland, received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot at her local hospital in Coventry, central England, at 0631 GMT, a week before she turns 91.

LONDON (Reuters) - EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that he had met his British counterpart to prepare the next steps and what the Brexit talks needed was “a school of patience, even a university of patience”.

“I just met David Frost this morning to prepare the next steps,” Barnier said on Tuesday.

LONDON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers on Monday voted to reinstate a controversial section of the Internal Market Bill, which would allow them to overrule sections of the Brexit divorce deal.

On Monday night, 357 lawmakers voted for putting an amendment back into the Internal Market Bill, while a total of 268 lawmakers voted against it.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. health authorities are rolling out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed COVID-19 vaccine, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval.

The first shot will come Tuesday at one of a network of hospital hubs around the country where the initial phase of the U.K. program will be rolled out on what has been dubbed “V-Day.”