United Kingdom

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped almost 2% on Tuesday to below $50 a barrel, adding to losses from the previous session, as a new coronavirus strain in the United Kingdom revived concerns over demand recovery.

The detection of the new strain prompted several countries to close their borders to Britain, although a British minister said the UK and France are working to reopen one of Europe’s most important trade routes.

LONDON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that Britain and France are working to unblock the cross-channel trade "as fast as possible."

Johnson made the statement when he was speaking at a virtual press conference at Downing Street after the French government banned trucks entering from Britain over concerns about the highly transmissible new coronavirus strain.

Johnson said he had just had "a very good call" with French President Emmanuel Macron to solve the issue.

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices tumbled by $2 on Monday, as a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain that has shut down much of Britain and led to tighter restrictions in Europe sparked worries about a slower recovery in fuel demand.

Brent crude was down $2.06, or 3.9%, to $50.20 a barrel by 0926 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.95, or 4%, to $47.15 a barrel.

Monday’s declines come after seven weeks of gains in prices amid optimism stemming from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee later Monday after France closed its borders to the U.K. to stem the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus circulating in London and the southeast of England.

The meeting of the COBRA civil contingencies committee comes amid warnings of “significant disruption” around the ports in the English Channel, with tailbacks going back miles into Kent, a county in southeastern England.

LONDON (Reuters) - British health minister Matt Hancock repeated Britain’s calls for the European Union to shift its position on Sunday and withdraw its “unreasonable demands” for the two sides to be able to seal a post-Brexit trade deal.

LONDON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced new stricter coronavirus restrictions for London and parts of England to combat an alarming surge in infections linked to a new virulent strain.

The planned relaxation of coronavirus rules for Christmas is scrapped for a large part of southeast England and cuts to one day for rest of the region, Johnson said at a virtual press conference from Downing Street.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil dipped towards $51 a barrel on Friday though still headed for a seventh weekly gain in a row as investors focused on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and looked past rising case numbers and tighter lockdowns in Europe.

Pfizer has applied for approval in Japan for its vaccine, which is being used in the United Kingdom and the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is also working towards approving Moderna’s shot.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday trade talks with the European Union were “looking difficult” and there was a gap that needed to be bridged, but the door for further negotiations remained open.

“Obviously the UK’s position is always that we want to keeping talking if there’s any chance of a deal,” Johnson told reporters.

“But we’ve also got to recognise that the UK’s got to be able to control its own laws, it’s what people voted for, and we’ve also got to be able to control our waters and fishing rights.”

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU’s chief negotiator said on Thursday there had been good progress in trade talks with Britain that aim to prevent a turbulent finale to the Brexit crisis in two weeks’ time, but a British official said the sides were still far apart.

As talks go down to the wire, optimism has risen that a deal is imminent to keep the goods trade that makes up half of annual EU-UK trade, worth nearly a trillion dollars in all, free of tariffs and quotas beyond Dec. 31.

LONDON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Britain and the United States signed a customs agreement on Wednesday to ensure continued smooth trade after the Brexit transition period expires at the end of the year.

The bilateral Customs Assistance Agreement was signed by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman and U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson in London, according to a statement on the British Treasury website.

"This is an important agreement that ensures continuity post EU exit," Norman said.