Britain

The Associated Press reports: U.K. residents will see an 80% increase in their annual household energy bills, the country’s energy regulator announced Friday, following a record 54% spike in April. That will bring costs for the average customer from 1,971 pounds ($2,332) a year to 3,549 pounds. The latest price cap — the maximum amount that gas suppliers can charge …

Reuters reports: Britain has become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine that targets both the original and Omicron variant of the virus. The the UK medicines regulator (MHRA) approved the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna as a booster for adults. The MHRA also cited an exploratory analysis in which the shot was also found …

Reuters reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received a round of applause from members of his Conservative Party after he finished addressing parliament at his last appearance during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. “We’ve helped, I’ve helped, get this country through a pandemic and help save another country from barbarism. And frankly, that’s enough to be going on. Mission largely …

The Daily Beast reports: Environmental activists smashed the windows of Rupert Murdoch’s News Building in London Tuesday morning after taking issue with his paper’s coverage of this week’s heat wave in the U.K. Protesters from Extinction Rebellion (XR) scrawled messages including “TELL THE TRUTH” and “40 DEGREES = DEATH” on the lavish office building in central London alongside recent headlines …

The BBC reports: The UK is set to see its hottest day on record, with temperatures on Tuesday expected to reach up to 42C (107.6F). A high of 38.1C was reached in Suffolk on Monday, just short of the UK record of 38.7C set in 2019. Wales recorded its hottest day on record with 37.1C. The Met Office has issued …

Britain’s The Metro reports: All British troops are believed to have been effectively grounded after military officials said the runway at the country’s largest air base ‘melted’. The RAF has halted all flights in or out of Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Monday, according to sources cited by Sky News. The base is the sole point of air embarkation for …

The BBC reports: The UK could have its hottest day on record this week, with temperatures forecast to hit up to 41C (106F). The Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning on Monday and Tuesday in much of England, from London and the south-east up to York and Manchester. The current highest temperature in the UK is 38.7C, …

ABC News reports: The candidates to become the next British prime minister burnished their right-wing credentials Sunday, as they looked to remain in the race to succeed Boris Johnson. The five remaining hopefuls highlighted issues linked to Brexit and immigration as they attempted to woo fellow Conservative lawmakers ahead of a third round of voting on Monday, when another contender …

Reuters reports: An initial field of 11 challengers has been whittled down following two days of votes by lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party, but no individual has yet emerged as the obvious successor to Boris Johnson who announced he was stepping down following a series of scandals. While ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak has topped those two votes, he faces …

NBC News reports: The candidates all had to win the initial backing of at least 20 of their fellow Conservative lawmakers in order to proceed to the first round of voting which takes place Wednesday. In order to whittle the number of candidates down to just two, more votes will now take place – beginning Wednesday – with the 358 …

Politico Europe reports: Boris Johnson’s premiership will end on September 6 under a timetable agreed Monday evening by Conservative Party bosses. The U.K prime minister is set to step down from his role in eight weeks’ time, after a new Tory leader is elected in a ballot of party members ending September 5. Johnson’s anointed successor is likely to take …

The BBC reports: Sir Mo Farah was brought to the UK illegally as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant, he has revealed. The Olympic star has told the BBC he was given the name Mohamed Farah by those who flew him over from Djibouti. His real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. He was flown over from …

Reuters reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was sad to be leaving the best job in the world in a resignation statement on Thursday, and added: “Thems the breaks.” “I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad …

The New York Times reports: Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain will resign as Conservative Party leader on Thursday after a wholesale rebellion of his cabinet, a wave of government resignations and a devastating loss of party support, prompted by his handling of the party’s latest sex-and-bullying scandal. Mr. Johnson plans to stay on in the role of prime minister …

Politico Europe reports: The party’s over but Boris Johnson refuses to leave. Despite more than 40 resignations from his government, an attempted coup by his top team and numerous calls to quit from his own Tory backbenchers, the British prime minister was locked in No.10 Downing Street with his closest aides on Wednesday night, trying to map out a way …

The BBC reports: Boris Johnson is battling to stay in office, amid a growing wave of resignations from his government in protest at his leadership. New chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has urged unity after his predecessor, the health secretary, and several junior ministers walked out. But the prime minister has been hit by six further resignations, taking the total to 16 …

ABC News reports: Two of Britain’s most senior Cabinet ministers have quit, a move that could spell the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership after months of scandals. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said “I can no longer continue in good conscience.” Johnson has been hit by allegations …

The Hill reports: The U.K. Embassy in Washington, D.C., shared a playlist to commemorate the United States’s Independence Day on Monday, including only one song on repeat by the band Player: “Baby Come Back.” “Baby come back, any kind of fool could see/There was something in everything about you/Baby come back, you can blame it all on me/I was wrong …

Reuters reports: More than a million people flocked to central London on Saturday for a record-breaking 50th-anniversary Pride parade. The three-hour-long parade, headed by veterans of the LGBT movement who took part in Britain’s first Pride march, retraced part of the original route of 1972. Organisers said there had been 30,000 participants. The first Pride had seen a few hundred …

The BBC reports: A former deputy chief whip alleged to have groped two men in a private members’ club has been suspended as a Conservative MP. Chris Pincher will sit as an independent after he was reported to Parliament’s behaviour watchdog. He quit his government job in a resignation letter on Thursday, saying he had “drunk far too much” and …