United Kingdom

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - It is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, highlighting evidence that case counts are slowing in a handful of countries.

There are encouraging signs of a sustained week-on-week decline in the onset of cases in many European countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Britain, as well as a slowdown in some parts of the United States, despite scarce vaccine supplies.

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Russia condemned the destruction of Soviet war memorials in the three Baltic states and accused them on Tuesday of persecuting their Russian-speaking minorities.

In a forcefully worded statement, Moscow said Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were guilty of xenophobia, saying they were treating their ethnic Russian minorities as "second-class people". It said Russian-language media, kindergartens and schools were being shut down.

London, Aug 29 (PTI) The UK's biggest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has broken down off the south coast of England after setting sail from Portsmouth Naval Base for the US on what the Royal Navy has described as a landmark aviation trial mission.

The warship was said to be experiencing an "emerging mechanical issue" and the problem is being investigated. The GBP 3 billion carrier, which became fully operational last year, is reportedly anchored southeast of the Isle of Wight while the investigation is carried out.

LONDON (AP) — Stinking piles of garbage on the streets of Edinburgh are threatening the health and safety of the public, a health authority warned Saturday as strikes by garbage collectors in the Scottish capital moved into their ninth day.

The warning from Public Health Scotland came as garbage collectors in Newham, a borough of London, also walked out for a week over a pay dispute.

LONDON (AP) — Jennifer Jones keeps feeding money into her energy meter, but it never seems to be enough. And when she can’t pay, she feels the impact immediately.

The power in her London home has gone off suddenly three times recently, once when her partner was cooking an egg.

LONDON (AP) — Mixed signals are emerging about travel in Europe heading into the winter season. British Airways is cutting more than 10,000 short-haul flights in and out of London’s Heathrow Airport through March, while nearby Gatwick Airport is ending its limits on the number of daily flights.

LONDON (AP) — British health authorities will begin offering eligible people just a fraction of the normal monkeypox vaccine dose to stretch supplies by about five times, in line with similar decisions to extend available doses in Europe and the U.S.

In a statement Monday, Britain’s Health Security Agency said patients at clinics in Manchester and London would soon get just one fifth the regular monkeypox vaccine dose as part of ongoing research, citing earlier work suggesting the smaller dose provided as effective an immune response as a full dose.

LONDON, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UK has announced £36 million (approx. US$ 42 million) in UK humanitarian funding to help people in Ukraine, East Africa, and Syria.

 People whose lives have been upended by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, drought and food shortages in East Africa, and conflict in Syria will be among those to benefit from £36 million in UK humanitarian funding announced Friday.

LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leaders of the United States, France and Germany on Sunday stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of nuclear sites in Ukraine in a call, Johnson's office said.

"On a joint call, the Prime Minister, President (Joe) Biden, President (Emmanuel) Macron and Chancellor (Olaf) Scholz underlined their steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion," a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.

LONDON, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lisa O'Neill scrutinizes her bank account to look for possible ways to economize, reviewing her income and outgoings, fearing her family may no longer be able to make ends meet with a staggering rise in energy bills just around the corner.

The working mom-of-four is preparing for a sweeping cost-of-living crisis in the UK.

"We have cancelled a private pension and are using the money we were paying on that to go towards our bills," said O'Neill, who lives just outside Liverpool, in a recent interview with Xinhua.