United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday that Britain faces a “tidal wave” of infections from the omicron coronavirus variant, and announced a huge increase in booster vaccinations to strengthen defenses against it.

In a televised statement, Johnson said everyone age 18 and older will be offered a third shot of vaccine by the end of this month in response to the omicron “emergency.” The previous target was the end of January.

12 Dec 2021; MEMO: Britain told Iran on Sunday that there was still time for Tehran to save the nuclear deal but that this was the last chance for Iranian negotiators to come to the table with serious proposals, Reuters reported.

"This is the last chance for Iran to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution to this issue, which has to be agreeing the terms of the JCPOA," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

LIVERPOOL, England, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a "productive" meeting with counterparts from Britain, Germany and France on Friday, discussing the way forward for talks on the Iran nuclear deal, a State Department spokesperson said on Saturday.

World powers and Iran resumed talks on Thursday on reviving the nuclear pact. A European source said they were working from texts discussed five months ago, while Iranian officials said they were sticking to a tough stance from last week.

LONDON (AP) — The British government may need to introduce tougher restrictions to slow the growth of the omicron variant and prevent a new surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, British scientists said Saturday.

U.K. health officials say omicron is spreading much more quickly than the delta strain and is likely to replace it and become the dominant variant in Britain within days. The U.K. recorded 58,194 coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number since January, though what portion were the omicron variant is unclear.

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized nations gathered beside the River Mersey in Liverpool, with host country Britain seeking “a show of unity against global aggressors” amid a crisis over Russia’s intentions towards Ukraine.

The U.K. is seeking elusive consensus from the wealthy nations’ club in response to what it calls “malign behavior” by Russia, and over tensions with China and Iran.

LONDON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges, the Royal Courts of Justice ruled here Friday as the body overturned a lower court ruling earlier this year.

Assange, 50, is wanted in the United States on allegations of disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago.

LONDON (AP) — A British appellate court opened the door Friday for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States on spying charges by overturning a lower court decision that the WikiLeaks founder’s mental health was too fragile to withstand incarceration in America.

The High Court in London ruled that U.S. assurances about Assange’s detention, received after the lower court decision, were enough to guarantee he would be treated humanely. Assange’s lawyers say they will ask to appeal.

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Britain's governing Conservative Party was fined 17,800 pounds ($23,500) by the electoral watchdog on Thursday for failing to accurately report a donation which helped fund the refurbishment of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official residence.

Johnson has faced intense scrutiny over how the financing of the refurbishment, estimated by some media to have run into hundreds of thousands of pounds on what the Sun newspaper has described as garish furniture and embossed wallpaper.

LONDON (AP) — The British government confirmed Thursday that an inquiry into an alleged lockdown-breaching Christmas party at the offices of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson nearly a year ago will also look at two prior gatherings involving government officials.

In a statement to lawmakers, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis laid out the terms of reference for the inquiry Johnson ordered Wednesday following a week of allegations that officials flouted coronavirus rules that they imposed on everyone else.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday ordered an inquiry and said he was “furious” after a leaked video showed senior members of his staff joking about holding a lockdown-breaching Christmas party.

The video has poured fuel on allegations that government officials flouted coronavirus rules they imposed on everyone else.

Johnson said that “I understand and share the anger up and down the country” at staff seeming to make light of lockdown rules.