England

LONDON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- A British F-35 fighter jet has crashed into the sea during a routine operation in the Mediterranean, the country's Ministry of Defence said Wednesday.

The pilot ejected and returned safely to the royal navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the ministry said.

It added the incident happened at 10:00 GMT over international waters and hostile action is not thought to have been involved.

An investigation has begun and would likely focus on potential technical or human error, reported the BBC.

LONDON (AP) — Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has signed a deal with a U.N.-backed group to allow other manufacturers to make its experimental COVID-19 pill, a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the world’s population.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Pfizer said it would grant a license for the antiviral pill to the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool, which would let generic drug companies produce the pill for use in 95 countries, making up about 53% of the world’s population.

LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - People in Britain must come forward for COVID-19 vaccines when they are eligible if new COVID restrictions this winter are to be avoided, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.

"If we want to avoid new restrictions on our daily lives, we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible," Johnson said at a news conference after the booster vaccination programme was expanded.

LONDON (AP) — A blast in a taxi outside a hospital in England that killed a man was caused by an improvised explosive device and is being treated as a terrorist incident, but the motive remains unclear, police said Monday.

Russ Jackson, the head of Counterterrorism Policing in northwest England, said Sunday’s explosion at Liverpool Women’s Hospital was caused by “the ignition of an explosive device” that was brought into the vehicle by a passenger.

The male passenger died in the explosion and fire that followed, and the taxi driver was injured.

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - One person was killed and another was injured in a vehicle explosion outside the Women's Hospital in Liverpool in northern England on Sunday, police said, adding that counter-terrorism officers were leading the investigation.

Merseyside Police said in a statement that they understood that the car involved was a taxi which had pulled up at the hospital shortly before the explosion occurred.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said police were called to reports of a car explosion just before 1100 GMT on Sunday.

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said he was cautious about rising cases of COVID in Europe, warning of gathering "storm clouds" of a new wave of coronavirus infections.

Britain has had much higher rates of COVID-19 than the rest of Western Europe since the summer when Johnson scrapped coronavirus restrictions in England.

However, rates in Britain are now coming down just as they are rising sharply in countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Parts of Eastern Europe have also seen a sharp rise in cases.

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union will intensify efforts next week to break their impasse over post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, as Brussels cautiously welcomed a change in tone from London.

After meeting with Britain's Brexit minister David Frost in London, EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic said the two sides would now seek to make headway on key issues such as customs checks and the movement of medicines into Northern Ireland.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Prince Harry has sharply attacked the failure of social media companies to challenge hate online, revealing that he warned the chief executive of Twitter ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that the site was being used to stage political unrest.

Harry made the comments Tuesday in an online panel on misinformation in California. He said he made his concerns known via email to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey the day before the riot in Washington.

LONDON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Another 30,305 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 9,301,909, according to official figures released Sunday.

The country also reported a further 62 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 141,805. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

There are currently 9,160 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to talk about climate change. But his opponents want to focus on corruption.

As a United Nations climate summit aimed at staving off catastrophic global warming enters its final week in Glasgow, Scotland, host Johnson is facing a barrage of criticism in London over his attempts to change the system that oversees lawmakers’ standards.