United Kingdom

29 July 2019; DW: Liz Truss dismissed the notion that a US-UK trade deal would lead to the privatization of the National Health Service. Truss promised to free the UK's trade partnerships from the "EU straitjacket" of regulations.

In an opinion piece published in The Telegraph on Sunday, the UK's Conservative trade minister, Liz Truss, said the country's National Health Service (NHS) would not be put "up for sale" in a trade deal with the US.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s largest business group is warning that neither the U.K. nor the European Union is prepared for the country to leave the 28-nation bloc without a deal.

The Confederation of British Industry released a report outlining 200 recommendations for both sides to accelerate Brexit preparations. It concludes that “the EU lags behind the U.K. in seeking to prevent the worst effects of a no-deal scenario.”

LONDON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make his first official visit to Scotland on Monday amid opposition to his insistence on pulling the country out of the European Union (EU) even without a deal.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that Scotland, which voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, needed an "alternative option" to Johnson's Brexit strategy, as local media reported.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson also refused to back a no-deal Brexit.

27 July 2019; DW: Chancellor Angela Merkel has invited the UK's new prime minister, Boris Johnson, to Berlin. No date has been set for the visit, which could include difficult talks on Johnson's Brexit plans.

Britain's new prime minister, Boris Johnson, held telephone talks on Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Brexit and bilateral relations, with Merkel inviting Johnson to visit Berlin soon and wishing him luck in his new job, the spokeswoman for the chancellor said.

LONDON, July 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UK warships will accompany all British-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in a change of policy after the government earlier said it did not have the resources to protect every ship from Iranian aggression.

A British government spokesman said ships passing through the strategically important chokepoint would be accompanied either individually or in a convoy.

LONDON, July 25. /TASS/: The European Union is not going to revisit the agreement on the terms of Brexit reached by Theresa May’s government, TV channel Sky News reported on Thursday, disclosing the details of the telephone conversation between President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

LONDON, July 26. /TASS/: British media regulator Ofcom has fined Russia’s RT news channel 200,000 pounds ($250,000) for breaking broadcasting rules, Ofcom said in a statement on Friday.

"Ofcom has today fined the news channel RT 200,000 pounds for serious failures to comply with our broadcasting rules - and required the channel to broadcast a summary of our findings to its viewers," the statement reads.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the European Union on Thursday to rethink its refusal to renegotiate the Brexit deal, setting himself on a collision course with both the bloc and his own lawmakers over his vow to leave the EU by Oct. 31.

Addressing a rowdy session of Parliament for the first time since becoming prime minister a day earlier, Johnson pledged to deliver Brexit and a “broader and bolder future.”

25 July 2019; MEMO: UK ordered Lebanese development bodies to ban both the political and military wings of Hezbollah in order to continue receiving economic aid, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported yesterday.

25 July 2019; MEMO: The UK’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Priti Patel as Home Secretary despite the fact that she was forced to resign two years ago after holding secret, unofficial meetings with Israeli ministers.