Britain

The Associated Press reports: The British government said Friday it has formally asked the country’s medicines regulator to assess whether a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University should be authorized for use. The step comes amid questions about preliminary results from trials of the jab, after the company and the university acknowledged that the most encouraging part of …

Sky News reports: Boris Johnson has branded Donald Trump the “previous president” and hailed his “refreshing” conversation with successor Joe Biden. Mr Trump is continuing to claim he won last week’s US presidential election and has made multiple unsubstantiated claims of fraud. But the prime minister consigned Mr Trump’s presidency to the history books on Wednesday, as he told MPs …

The Guardian reports: Downing Street’s congratulatory message to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the US presidential election contains a hidden message congratulating Donald Trump for winning a second term in office. The message, posted on Twitter as an image a few hours after the US TV networks called the election for Biden, congratulates the president-elect on his election, …

The BBC reports: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a second national lockdown for England as the UK passed one million Covid-19 cases. Non-essential shops and hospitality will have to close for four weeks on Thursday, he said. But unlike the restrictions in spring, schools, colleges and universities will be allowed to stay open. It comes as documents suggested the …

The Guardian reports: More than £30m of UK government money is to fund the world’s first Covid-19 “challenge trials”, in which healthy young volunteers are intentionally infected with the virus to hasten the development of a vaccine. The trials have the potential to yield results more quickly than conventional vaccine field trials in which researchers must wait for participants to …

Reuters reports: Wales will impose a two-week “fire-break” lockdown from Friday in which everybody apart from essential workers must stay at home to combat an accelerating second wave of COVID-19. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said he understood that people were tired of coronavirus restrictions but tougher rules were essential as critical care units were already full. “It will have …

The Independent reports: London is to go into Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions from midnight on Friday evening, barring the capital’s 9 million residents from meeting other households in their homes or other indoor spaces. The escalation in controls over social and economic life was formally announced by health secretary Matt Hancock in a statement to the House of Commons, when …

The Associated Press reports: The British government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk on Monday in a bid to slow a resurgent outbreak, putting the northern city of Liverpool into the highest risk category and shutting its pubs, gyms and betting shops. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the three-tier national system was designed to “simplify and standardize” a …

The Washington Post report: England’s rate of new coronavirus infections appears to be slowing, but cases remain high particularly among people between 18 and 24 years old, said a team of researchers behind a new study of more than 80,000 participants that was published Thursday by Imperial College London. The study, the country’s largest to date, notes that the reproduction …

Sky News reports: Joe Biden has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Labour MP Chris Bryant, Sky News can reveal. The Democratic presidential candidate now joins President Donald Trump on the list of nominees as the race for the White House enters its final stages. Mr Bryant, a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and …

Business Insider reports: British grocery chains Tesco and Morrisons have started rationing essential items over fears that stricter lockdown measures will send shoppers into a panic. Supermarkets limited sales of certain goods earlier in the pandemic, and Morrisons became the first major grocer to reintroduce these measures when it said on Thursday that customers could only buy three of certain …

Reuters reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people on Tuesday to work from home where possible and ordered bars and restaurants to shut earlier in a bid to tackle a fast-spreading second wave of COVID-19. After government scientists warned that the death rate would soar without urgent action, Johnson said the new restrictions in England could last for six …

The Washington Post reports: No masks. No distancing. The ability to go to work or school, the theater or a soccer match, as if living in a virus-free world. That’s the vision British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pitched this past week, as he unveiled “Operation Moonshot” — a plan to test 10 million Brits every single day, or everyone in …

Reuters reports: Britain and the European Union held emergency talks on Thursday over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to undercut parts of the Brexit divorce treaty, with Brussels exploring possible legal action against London. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic expressed concern about the plan before a meeting with British counterpart Michael Gove in London, taking place alongside trade talks …

The Washington Post reports: The family of Harry Dunn, the 19-year-old motorcyclist killed by a car driven on the wrong side of an English roadway by the wife of a U.S. official, filed a U.S. federal lawsuit against the driver, Anne Sacoolas, on Wednesday. The lawsuit, which claims wrongful death and seeks financial damages, represents a significant escalation in the …

Reuters reports: Tough new lockdown restrictions on social gatherings across the whole of England are to be announced on Wednesday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to control a spike in COVID-19 infections. From Sept. 14, groups of more than six people will be banned from meeting and fined if they fail to comply, Johnson will say. The number of …

Politico Europe reports: U.K. government plans to backtrack on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement will break international law, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told the House of Commons Tuesday. The Financial Times reported Monday that sections of the Internal Market Bill, due to be published Wednesday, will override sections of the divorce deal Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck with the EU …

Business Insider reports: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to overwrite key parts of the Brexit withdrawal deal he agreed with the EU last year as he insists that leaving all existing trade arrangements without a fresh deal at the end of the year would be a “good outcome” for Britain. The prime minister intends to “eliminate the legal force …

Reuters reports: Julian Assange resumed his battle in a London court on Monday to avoid extradition to the United States to face criminal charges over the activities of his WikiLeaks website, after months of delay due to the coronavirus lockdown. The U.S. authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of conspiring to hack government computers and of violating an espionage law in …

ABC News reports: A U.K. lawmaker has asked the government to hold a virtual trial for the wife of an American diplomat who left Britain after being involved in a road accident that killed a British teenager. The decision to charge Anne Sacoolas, who has claimed diplomatic immunity, has caused tensions between the U.K. and the United States. The Americans …