Tag Archives: Britain

The Guardian reports: A conservative US evangelical organisation is taking legal action against UK entertainment venues that cancelled appearances by Franklin Graham, a preacher who has expressed homophobic and Islamophobic views, earlier this year. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is suing venues in Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Wales for breach of contract. Franklin Graham told the Guardian in February …

The New York Daily News reports: A U.K. couple has been found guilty of killing an Irish man by poisoning him with a powerful drug known as “devil’s breath.” Joel Osei, 25, and Diana Cristea, 19, were arrested after the body of Adrian Murphy, a 43-year-old champion dancer, was found in his South London apartment in June 2019. Investigators say …

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 …

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 …

The Guardian reports: Julian Assange has been warned by the judge in his extradition case that he could be removed from court with the case continuing in his absence after he interjected while a lawyer for the US authorities sparred with a high-profile witness giving evidence in support of the WikiLeaks founder. The incident came on the second day of …

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 …

The Verge reports: Amazon’s top reviewers in the UK appear to have engaged in fraud, leaving thousands of five-star ratings in exchange for money or free products. The company took down 20,000 product reviews following an investigation by the Financial Times. Scams like these typically start on social networks and messaging apps such as Telegram, where companies can meet potential …

Variety reports: Robert Pattinson has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting “The Batman” to suspend filming in the United Kingdom days after it went back into production, according to a source familiar with the situation. Warner Bros. confirmed earlier on Thursday that production was being halted after a crew member tested positive but did not confirm the person’s identity. Vanity Fair …

Reuters reports: U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson has made insensitive and inappropriate comments during his tenure, including about race, religion and sex, the State Department’s inspector general has found, judging that morale in some parts of the mission has dropped. “Offensive or derogatory comments, based on an individual’s race, color, sex, or religion, can create an offensive working environment …

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 …