England

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó should be recognized as the nation’s interim president in a case that will ultimately determine who controls almost $2 billion of gold held by the Bank of England.

LONDON, December 18. /TASS/: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Saturday said he declared a "major incident" in the city due to a surge of Omicron cases.

"I have taken the decision, along with our partners, to declare a major incident," the mayor said on Sky News television.

He said hospital admissions and staff absences were going up "by massive levels" and Omicron was the dominant variant. Still, he didn’t announce any new measures.

Last time a major incident was declared was on January 8 amid the spread of the coronavirus’s Alfa variant.

LONDON, December 18. /TASS/: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Saturday said he declared a "major incident" in the city due to a surge of Omicron cases.

"I have taken the decision, along with our partners, to declare a major incident," the mayor said on Sky News television.

He said hospital admissions and staff absences were going up "by massive levels" and Omicron was the dominant variant. Still, he didn’t announce any new measures.

Last time a major incident was declared was on January 8 amid the spread of the coronavirus’s Alfa variant.

LONDON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Living in U.S. counties with high poverty rates might face a higher risk of firearm-related deaths among children and young adults, according to a study carried by Britain's News Medical website.

"Notably, children and young adults living in these counties accounted for 22 percent of all firearm deaths, 25.5 percent of firearm homicides, 15.3 percent of firearm suicides, and 25.1 percent unintentional firearm deaths in the U.S. during this period," said the study originally published in the U.S. medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first choice to investigate allegations that government officials held Christmas parties last year when COVID-19 rules barred such gatherings has stepped aside after he, too, was caught up in the “partygate” scandal.

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, resigned from leading the investigation after the Guido Fawkes website reported Friday that Case’s department held two parties in December 2020. Johnson tapped Sue Gray, a former senior government ethics adviser, to take over the inquiry.

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The poster child of China's property crisis China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) was officially declared in default by credit rating agency S&P Global on Friday after the sprawling firm missed a bond payment earlier this month.

"We assess that China Evergrande Group and its offshore financing arm Tianji Holding Ltd. have failed to make coupon payments for their outstanding U.S.-dollar senior notes," S&P said in a statement.

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident. The American e-commerce giant must stop allowing any customer ratings and reviews in China.

A negative review of Xi's book prompted the demand, one of the people said. "I think the issue was anything under five stars," the highest rating in Amazon's five-point system, said the other person.

LONDON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a major upset in his premiership on Friday when his ruling Conservative Party lost a "safe" seat in a by-election.

The minority Liberal Democrats won the North Shropshire parliamentary seat with a margin of 5,925 votes, overturning a 23,000 majority the Conservatives gained in the 2019 general election.

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Wednesday that the Omicron coronavirus variant posed a really serious threat and that what health officials already knew about was "bad".

"This is a really serious threat at the moment. The how big a threat - there are several things we don't know, but all the things that we do know, are bad," Whitty told a news conference.

"And the principle one being the speed at which this is moving, it is moving at an absolutely phenomenal pace."

LONDON (AP) — An independent, unofficial body set up by a prominent British barrister to assess evidence on China’s alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people concluded Thursday that the Chinese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Uyghur Tribunal, made up of lawyers, academics and businesspeople, doesn’t have any government backing or powers to sanction or punish China. But organizers hope the process of publicly laying out evidence will compel international action to tackle Beijing’s policies against the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.