United Kingdom

LONDON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 10 million coronavirus cases have been recorded in Britain since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country reported another 47,240 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,021,497.

LONDON (AP) — The bars are shut in Vienna, and the Christmas market is empty in Munich, as several European nations tighten up or even lock down to combat a spike in coronavirus infections.

Meanwhile in London, couples sip mulled wine at a seasonal market near the River Thames, full-capacity audiences fill the seats at the nearby National Theatre, and friends huddle over pints in pubs throughout the city.

Not for the first time in the pandemic, Britain is out of step with many of its neighbors. But this time, it’s happy to be different.

24 Nov 2021; MEMO: Thirty-one refugees tragically drowned in the English Channel today, after their boat sank near Calais, in the highest single loss of life since records began, the BBC reported.

The International Organisation for Migrants (IOM) said the tragic sinking of the boat was the highest death toll since it began collecting data in 2014.

Five women, including a young girl, were said to have been passengers aboard the boat.

LONDON (AP) — The British government is investigating whether built-in racial bias in some medical devices led to Black and Asian people getting sick and dying disproportionately from COVID-19.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Sunday that the pandemic had highlighted health disparities along race and gender lines. He said that a third of intensive care admissions in Britain at the height of the pandemic were people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds, more than double their share of the population.

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a cross-government review into the migrant crisis as he is “exasperated” by a failure to stem the number of crossings from France, The Times reported on Saturday.

British frustration at the number of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel from French shores has resurfaced in recent days after more than 1,000 refugees reached southern England in a single day last week. Some 22,000 migrants have made the crossing this year.

20 Nov 2021; MEMO: Fans of footballer Mohamed Elneny have accused his club, UK's Arsenal, of terminating his contract over his support for Palestine, Rai Al-Youm reported on Friday.

The news outlet claims that the stated reason for the termination of Elneny's contract was that his team's coach, Mikel Arteta, no longer wanted him on the team.

20 Nov 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Mission in the UK on Friday condemned the designating of Hamas as a "terrorist organisation", stressing that this step "will make peace-making harder" than ever.

"With this move, the British government has complicated Palestinian unity efforts and undermined Palestinian democracy," the mission announced in a statement.

LONDON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said it was "absolutely possible" his forces had helped migrants cross into Poland but denied they had been invited, the BBC reported.

"I think that's absolutely possible. We're Slavs. We have hearts. Our troops know the migrants are going to Germany," Lukashenko told the BBC in an interview. "Maybe someone helped them. I won't even look into this."

But Lukashenko denied inviting thousands in to provoke a border crisis, the BBC said.

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Friday that it intends to ban the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The military wing of Hamas has been outlawed in the U.K. since 2001 but the organization as a whole is not proscribed.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, who is in charge of law and order issues, said on Twitter that she had “acted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety.”

She said the group “has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry, as well as terrorist training facilities.”

LONDON, Nov 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – G7 foreign ministers urged Belarus Thursday to end a migrant crisis on its border with Poland, accusing it of callously engineering the stand-off and putting lives at risk.

  “We call on the regime to cease immediately its aggressive and exploitative campaign,” Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a joint statement.

They charged that President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime orchestrated irregular migration across its borders.