United Kingdom

LONDON, July 4. /TASS/: The UK will prohibit export of oil refining goods, luxury goods, including British artwork and designer handbags, as well as advanced technology components such as those used in quantum computing, to Belarus, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.

Moreover, the British authorities announced the intention to ban imports of Belarusian iron and steel, as well as restrict the country's access "to the UK’s world class financial services sector" through banning Belarusian companies from issuing debt and securities in London.

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Germany and Ireland on Sunday told Britain there was no legal or political justification for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to override parts of the Brexit deal governing trade with Northern Ireland.

The British parliament is considering a new law which would unilaterally change customs arrangements between Britain and Northern Ireland that were initially agreed as part of its exit deal from the European Union.

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - A Russian scientist who was arrested in Siberia last week on suspicion of state treason and flown to Moscow despite suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer has died, his lawyer told Reuters on Sunday.

The scientist, Dmitry Kolker, had been taken to Moscow's Lefortovo prison, lawyer Alexander Fedulov said.

"He died yesterday. Tomorrow we will lodge a complaint over his detention," he said.

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it had summoned the British ambassador to voice a strong protest against "offensive" British statements, including about alleged Russian threats to use nuclear weapons.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it issued the rebuke to Ambassador Deborah Bronnert over "the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people".

LONDON/ISTANBUL, July 1 (Reuters) - Ukraine has requested that Turkey detain and arrest the Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy carrying a cargo of Ukrainian grain taken from the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk, according to a Ukrainian official and document seen by Reuters.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry official, citing information received from the country's maritime administration, said the 7,146 dwt Zhibek Zholy had loaded the first cargo of some 4,500 tonnes of grain from Berdyansk, which the official said belonged to Ukraine.

LONDON (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases across Britain has surged by more than 30% in the last week, new data showed Friday, with cases largely driven by the super infectious omicron variants.

Data released by Britain’s Office for National Statistics showed that more than 3 million people in the U.K. had COVID-19 last week, although there has not been an equivalent spike in hospitalizations. The number of COVID-19 deaths also fell slightly in the last week.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization’s Europe chief warned Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the last two weeks and urged countries to do more to ensure the previously rare disease does not become entrenched on the continent.

Dr. Hans Kluge said in a statement that increased efforts were needed despite the U.N. health agency’s decision last week that the escalating outbreak did not yet warrant being declared a global health emergency.

LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appealed against the British’s government decision last month to order his extradition to the U.S.

The appeal was filed Friday at the High Court, the latest twist in a decade-long legal saga sparked by his website’s publication of classified U.S. documents. No further details about the appeal were immediately available.

Assange’s supporters staged protests before his 51st birthday this weekend, with his wife Stella Assange among people who gathered outside the Home Office on Friday to call for his release from prison.

30 June 2022; MEMO: Amnesty International has called on the Egyptian authorities to abolish "unfair" sentences issued on Tuesday against 163 people, including ten people who were handed the death penalty, saying the sentences were "unfair" while the procedure was "marred by cases of enforced disappearance and torture, including of children".

Commenting on the sentences, Amna Guellali, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: "Today's verdict is an insult to justice."

30 June 2022; MEMO: The United Kingdom has fined a UAE-based subsidiary of a company for violating sanctions on the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad, as London grows stricter on enforcing measures and penalties for sanction violations.