United Kingdom

LONDON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 598 to 52,745, marking the highest daily number of fatalities since May 6, according to official figures released Tuesday.

Another 20,051 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,410,732, the data showed.

England is currently under a month-long national lockdown until Oct. 2, the second of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak began in Britain, in a bid to quell the resurgence of coronavirus.

LONDON, Nov 17 (APP): The United Kingdom (UK) Councilor and former Mayor of Rugby Dr James Shera (MBE) Tuesday said that Indian real face had been exposed as a sponsor of terrorism and terrorfinancing in Pakistan to destabilise it.

“India has been using the sovereign soil of Afghanistan for perpetrating terrorism against the sovereign state of Pakistan, taking a huge toll on human lives”, Dr.James Shera said in a statement issued here.

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC and its allies hold a ministerial committee meeting on Tuesday to look at adjusting plans for oil supply cuts next year as the coronavirus crisis continues to drive down demand.

The group known as OPEC+, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and others, are now due to wind down cuts that now stand at 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 5.7 million bpd from January.

LONDON (AP) — British airline easyJet has posted its first full-year loss in its 25-year history as a result of the coronavirus pandemic but laid out hope that the rollout of vaccines will help it bounce back strongly next year.

The airline reported Tuesday a pretax loss of 1.27 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) for the year through September as passenger numbers halved to 48.1 million. The summer was particularly tough, with the airline flying just 38% of its planned capacity during the peak holiday season.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has inflamed Scottish discontent with his Conservative government by reportedly saying that giving governing powers to Scotland had been a “disaster.”

British media reported that Johnson made the remarks during a video meeting with Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday evening, in which he also said Scottish devolution had been former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “biggest mistake.”

London, Nov 16 (AP-PTI) Britain will be the first country to run final stage trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Scientists will begin recruiting some 6,000 people across the U.K. on Monday for the 12-month trial.

Dr. Saul Faust, who is helping lead the study, said the research will start first in Britain but aims to recruit a total of 30,000 people in six countries around the world.

LONDON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-quarantining after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement Sunday.

The spokesman said the prime minister "will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic."

"The PM is well and does not have any symptoms of COVID-19," the statement added.

LONDON (AP) — One of the scientists behind the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer said Sunday that he was confident that it could halve the transmission of the virus, resulting in a “dramatic” curb of the virus’ spread.

Professor Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, said it was “absolutely essential” to have a high vaccination rate before next autumn to ensure a return to normal life next winter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have made some progress in their negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal but might not succeed in getting an agreement, Britain’s top Brexit negotiator said as he headed into further talks on Sunday.

“There has been some progress in a positive direction in recent days,” David Frost said on Twitter.

“We also now largely have common draft treaty texts, though significant elements are of course not yet agreed. We will work to build on these and get an overall agreement if we can. But we may not succeed.”

LONDON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Another 26,860 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,344,356, according to official figures released Saturday.

The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 462 to 51,766, the data showed.

Britain is the first European nation to record more than 50,000 coronavirus deaths. It is the fifth country in the world to hit the tragic milestone, following the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.