England

LONDON, Jul 8 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia’s Chief of General Staff, Gen. Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, met yesterday with the British Chief of Defence Staff, General, Nick Carter, during the inaugural meeting of the bilateral military cooperation committee.

During the meeting, strategic relations between the two friendly countries were reviewed. They also discussed bilateral military cooperation and common challenges facing Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

Earlier this week, military chiefs of the two countries met during an annual meeting of the Dragon Group.

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - A British police officer on Friday admitted murdering Sarah Everard, whose killing sparked anger, protests and soul-searching across the country about what the authorities and society could do to stop male violence against women.

Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving London officer who guarded diplomatic premises, had previously admitted rape and kidnap.

LONDON, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trial of the CoronaVac vaccine in more than 10,000 participants in Turkey suggests the efficacy of two doses of the vaccine is 83.5 percent against symptomatic cases of COVID-19, according to a study published on Thursday in The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal.

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Most British soldiers have been pulled out of Afghanistan, ending Britain's official role in a two-decades long conflict even as the Taliban are gaining ground and amid fears the departure of foreign soldiers could lead to civil war.

"All British troops assigned to NATO's mission in Afghanistan are now returning home," Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament, praising what British forces had achieved while at the same time acknowledging the "perils" facing Afghanistan.

LONDON, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Oil prices hardly moved at the start of the week, as a cautious market eyes stalling talks between the major oil-producing nations on future production policy.

A barrel (159 litres) of North Sea Brent cost 76.18 dollars on Monday morning, about the same as on Friday. The price for a barrel of the US variety West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was – also hardly changed – 75.20 dollars.

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Montenegro is weeks away from securing a deal to either swap or refinance with European and U.S. banks nearly $1 billion in debt owed to China, and hopes to reduce the interest rate on the debt to below 1%, Economy Minister Jakov Milatovic told Reuters.

Montenegro borrowed $944 million from China in 2014 to fund a 41-km (25-mile) stretch of road, which foes of then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic dubbed the "Road to Nowhere", saying it typified waste under his rule, an accusation he denied.

LONDON, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — After failing last week, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of oil producers will try again Monday to reach agreement on how much crude to put on the market.

  Since May, the group has raised oil output little by little, after slashing it more than a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand.

  The current proposal is to increase output each month from August to December by 400,000 barrels per day, providing oil markets with an additional two million bpd by the end of the year.

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Britain has reported 27,334 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Monday, meaning the rise in cases between June 29 and July 5 stood at just over 53% compared with the previous seven days.

A further nine people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.

A total of 45.35 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by July 4 and 33.73 million people had received a second dose.

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due on Monday to set out plans to end social and economic COVID-19 restrictions in England, in a test of whether a rapid vaccine rollout offers enough protection from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Johnson's announcement at 1600 GMT is expected to confirm that he aims to end restrictive measures on July 19, and will include guidance on social distancing, face coverings and working from home.

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - The data that will decide if final lockdown restrictions in England can be lifted on July 19 is looking "very positive", thanks to the success of the vaccination programme, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday.

"The data that we're seeing that the Prime Minister is reviewing at the moment ahead of his decision point on the roadmap looks very positive," he told Sky News.