World News

Alert warning and guards on – New deadlier Covid-19 variant is a realistic possibility – SAGE

Sky News - The emergence of a new COVID variant with a similar death rate to MERS, which kills one in three infected people, is a "realistic possibility", the SAGE's…

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UK prime minister Johnson and wife expecting another baby -media

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are expecting a second baby, British media reported on Saturday. Their first child, Wilfred, was born in April last…

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Microsoft and BT announce partnership to shape the future of voice calling

Microsoft and BT have formed a strategic partnership that will drive innovation and growth in the telecoms sector and shape the future of voice calling. As part of the exciting…

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Drug deaths hit record level in Scotland

Drug-related deaths in Scotland have hit record levels for the seventh year in a row, with 1,339 people dying in 2020. It is the largest number of drug-related deaths since…

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BA-owner IAG cautious on recovery, sees summer capacity rising to 45%

IAG said summer capacity would rise to 45% of pre-pandemic levels from 22% in the previous quarter, in the latest sign that a travel recovery is underway, although the British…

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England’s COVID-19 prevalence rises but increase may be slowing, ONS says

The prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England is estimated to have risen to 1 in 65 people in the week to July 24, Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said…

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Pregnant women in England urged to get Covid jab amid rise in hospital admissions

England’s top midwife is urging expectant mums to get the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible, as new data suggests a worrying rise in Covid-19 hospital admissions among unvaccinated pregnant…

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Britain’s climate getting warmer, sunnier and wetter – Met Office

Recent decades in Britain have been warmer, wetter and sunnier than in the last century, with last year the third warmest on record, a report by climate scientists said on…

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Aston Martin’s first SUV helps push up sales by more than 200%

Carmaker Aston Martin reported on Wednesday a 224% increase in sales to its dealers, boosted by its first sport utility vehicle, the DBX, as pretax losses fell to 91 million…

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UK watchdog demands 40% women in boardrooms, ethnic diversity

Britain's financial regulator demanded the appointment of more women and non-white minorities to the leadership of Britain's largest firms on Wednesday, saying at least 40% of board members should be…

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UK lose court ruling for no sign language interpretation of Covid briefings

A deaf woman has won a court case against the UK government for failing to provide sign language interpreters at televised Covid-19 briefings. AFP reports that the ruling is the…

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UK wants world vaccinated by middle of 2022, Raab says

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned that the world would not be vaccinated until 2024 under current rates and urged other countries to join Britain in donating shots to poorer…

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UPDATED: England scraps quarantine for fully vaccinated U.S., EU arrivals

England will allow fully vaccinated visitors from the European Union and United States to arrive without quarantine from next week, the transport minister said on Wednesday, in a huge and…

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EasyJet CEO says UK travel rule change is too late

The chief executive of British airline easyJet said on Wednesday Britain's travel rules were changing too late and expensive testing requirements would prevent a full reopening of travel. "It's the…

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UK’s Johnson urges caution on drawing conclusions from falling COVID cases

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged caution on Wednesday on drawing conclusions from a seven-day decline in COVID-19 cases in Britain, saying it was too early to assess whether it…

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UPDATED: UK poised to end amber list quarantine for people vaccinated in US and EU

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is talking to the United States about a travel corridor, LBC radio said on Wednesday, quoting him as saying he wants U.S. citizens to come to…

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UK’s Kanabo to buy Canadian cannabis producer Materia

Kanabo Group Plc said it would buy Canada-based cannabis producer and distributor Materia for an undisclosed sum, sending shares in the London-listed medical marijuana firm up 8%. The deal gives…

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Britain reports highest deaths from COVID-19 since March as Johnson urges caution

LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - Britain reported its highest number of deaths and people in hospital with coronavirus since March on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging caution despite…

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Philip Morris to end Marlboro cigarette sales in UK within a decade

Tobacco group Philip Morris International will stop selling Marlboro cigarettes in Britain within a decade, its chief executive told the Daily Mail, in line with the country's wider ambition to…

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University students in the UK could need to be fully vaccinated to attend lectures and stay in halls

University students could need to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus to attend lectures and stay in halls this coming academic year. "We aren't ruling it out," a senior government source…

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Heathrow Airport calls for UK to open up to vaccinated travellers

Britain's Heathrow Airport called on the government to open up the country to vaccinated travellers from the European Union and United States from the end of this month to help…

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UK could end quarantine for travellers from France

Britain is expected to remove France from its "amber" category of coronavirus risk countries and could drop quarantine for travellers from France as soon as next week, The Times reported…

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UK financial watchdog warns consumers over CoinBurp crypto launch

Crypto broker CoinBurp is not fully authorised before Monday's planned launch of its $BURP token and initial exchange offering, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Sunday, in its latest…

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Britain reports 29,173 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, lower than a day earlier

Britain reported 29,173 further cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, a fall from 31,795 a day earlier, Public Health England said. It said on Twitter that data for the number of…

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Travellers complain of queues and ‘chaos’ at British airports as thousands jet off for summer

Travellers have complained about “total chaos” at airports with hundreds of thousands of people jetting off as schools close and summer holidays begin for millions. Airports and airlines are expecting…

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UK will be exposed to paying pandemic cost risks for decades-report

The British government will be exposed to financial risks from its 372 billion pound pandemic spending for decades, according to lawmakers' reports on Sunday that also said more than 2…

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Northern Ireland set to lose access to 2,000 medicines – FT

About 2,000 medicines currently offered to patients in Northern Ireland and made in Great Britain are set to be withdrawn as drugs manufacturers grapple with onerous post-Brexit red tape, the…

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New coronavirus variant under investigation in UK – reports

A new coronavirus variant is under investigation in the UK, Public Health England has said, The Independent reports. The variant, known as B.1.621, was designated a variant under investigation on Wednesday. There is no evidence…

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UK needs 10 times as many EV charge-points by 2030 -regulator

Britain's competition regulator on Friday laid out guidelines to ensure a robust electric vehicle (EV) charging network to aid the country's net zero plans, as it also launched a probe…

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UK to launch daily COVID tests in food sector to tackle ‘pingdemic’

Daily contact testing will be rolled out to workplaces in Britain's food sector so staff who have been 'pinged' by the COVID-19 app can keep working if they test negative…

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Britain unveils plan to return NatWest to majority private control

Britain's government on Thursday unveiled a blueprint for returning NatWest to majority private ownership within a year, more than a decade since bailing out the lender at the height of…

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Britain, free of COVID curbs, could see revival of local stores – Barclays

Britain's retailers could open thousands of local high street stores over the next 12 months as people start to step out again after months of coronavirus curbs, according to research…

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UK’s Johnson urges EU to consider post-Brexit proposals seriously

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to consider seriously Britain's proposals to change what he called the "unsustainable" way a Brexit deal…

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Photo to mark eighth birthday of Prince George

is pictured sitting on a Land Rover - the car closely associated with his great-grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh - in a new photograph to mark his eighth birthday. It…

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UK food supply chains ‘on the edge of failing’, meat industry warns

Britain’s food supply chains are “right on the edge of failing” as absence related to COVID-19 has aggravated a critical shortage of labour, a meat industry body said . The…

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UPDATED: ‘Pingdemic’ grips Britain as fears of food shortages grow

British supermarkets said on Thursday that some products were in short supply and petrol stations had been forced to close after the official health app told hundreds of thousands of…

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UPDATED: Britain tells EU on Brexit deal: it wasn’t going to last forever

British Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Thursday the European Union had been inflexible over renegotiating the Northern Ireland part of the Brexit divorce accord and cautioned Brussels that it…

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Royal Mail UK parcel volumes fall, outlook uncertain as COVID-19 curbs ease

Royal Mail Plc said Britons are having fewer parcels delivered to their homes as pandemic curbs are lifted and it withheld from offering an annual outlook for its UK business…

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Health service staff in England to get 3% pay rise

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Staff in England's National Health Service (NHS), who have been in the frontlines of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a 3% pay…

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UK’s Next smashes sales forecast

British fashion retailer Next said it had soundly beaten its expectations for full-price sales, with a rise of 19% in the last 11 weeks compared with two years ago, and…

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What is Britain demanding on Brexit?

Britain is demanding the European Union agree to rework the post-Brexit rules governing trade with Northern Ireland, saying it had considered taking unilateral action but would try once more to…

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UK opposition leader Starmer is self-isolating

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, is self-isolating after one of his children tested positive for COVID-19, his spokesperson said. "One of Keir’s children tested positive for…

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England may have to reimpose Covid rules in August, scientists warn

Face masks and other Covid restrictions could be reintroduced in England in as little as three weeks if hospital admissions rise above anticipated levels, scientists advising the government have warned.…

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UPDATED: UK demands new deal on post-Brexit trade for N.Ireland

Britain on Wednesday demanded a new deal from the European Union to govern post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying it already had cause to step away from parts of the…

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Full Brexit checks risk becoming ‘incendiary’ in N.Ireland, M&S says

The introduction of full customs checks between Britain and Northern Ireland risks becoming "incendiary" when prices rise and favourite products fail to get through, one of the country's biggest retailers…

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UK home secretary outlines steps to tackle violence against females

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was publishing a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, which include reviewing options to limit the use of non-disclosure agreements…

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UPDATED: UNESCO strips English city of Liverpool of its world heritage status

The English city of Liverpool has been removed from UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites after the United Nations' cultural agency found new buildings, including a football stadium, undermined the…

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UK court rules government acted lawfully over COVID travel rules

London’s High Court on Tuesday ruled that Britain acted lawfully over its so-called traffic lights system for travellers entering Britain in a case brought by Manchester Airports Group (MAG), backed…

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France, Britain beef up patrols, crack down on illegal migration

France and the United Kingdom have agreed to deploy more police and invest in detection technology on the French coast to try to stop boats carrying illegal migrants from reaching…

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We discussed ousting Johnson, ex-adviser to UK prime minister says

LONDON (Reuters) - The former top adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he discussed the possibility of toppling Johnson shortly after an election triumph in 2019 because Brexit…

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Britain to permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters

Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China…

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UK records 46,558 Covid cases and 96 deaths, the highest number since March

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has reported 46,558 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Tuesday, meaning the rise in cases between July 14 and July 20 stood at 40.7%…

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UK PM Johnson dismissed COVID-19 lockdown as only elderly would die, ex-aide says

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was not prepared to impose lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 to save the elderly and denied the National Health Service would be overwhelmed, his…

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UK to demand vaccination proof for clubs, big crowd events, Johnson says

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he would make proof of double vaccination a condition of entry to nightclubs and other venues where large…

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60% of people being admitted to UK hospitals had two COVID jabs – adviser

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said on Monday that 60% of people being admitted to hospital with COVID-19 have had two doses of vaccine.…

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Britain says most children and teens will not be given COVID jabs

Britain said on Monday it has decided against giving mass COVID-19 vaccinations to all children and they would only be offered in certain situations such as when young people have…

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UK to warn EU it may deviate from Brexit deal on N.Ireland -sources

BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Britain will threaten this week to deviate from the Brexit deal unless the European Union shows more flexibility over Northern Ireland, one UK and three…

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