England

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged further below $59 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by concerns about weaker demand for fuel due to slower economic growth and forecasts of a further rise in U.S. crude inventories.

Prices gained some support due to signs from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that further curbs to oil supply could come in December. OPEC and its allies meet on Dec. 5-6 in Vienna to review output policy.

Brent crude LCOc1, the global benchmark, slipped 11 cents to $58.63 a barrel by 1045 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 gained 9 cents to $52.90.

LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Royal Mail is facing the first national postal strike in a decade after its workers voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday in favor of industrial action in a dispute over job security and terms and conditions of employment.

Over 97 percent of votes from members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) backed action. The turnout was 76 percent. Most of the staff agreed to walk out in what they said a "fight of our lives".

LONDON (Reuters) - British police have ordered a halt to Extinction Rebellion protests in London after a week of civil disobedience by climate change activists who have targeted government building and major financial institutions.

“Any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’... must now cease their protest(s) within London,” the police said in a statement late on Monday.

Police said 1,445 people had been arrested in the protests so far.

LONDON (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday defended his stance on Turkey’s attack on Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria as he came under pressure from some members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to be tougher with Ankara.

Splits in the military alliance have emerged after NATO member Turkey began its offensive in Syria last week, with the governments of EU countries that are also NATO members suspending weapon sales to Turkey.

LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth set out Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s agenda for his government on Monday, including an Oct. 31 Brexit, a new deal with the European Union, and a host of domestic policies designed to win over voters ahead of an expected election.

The so-called Queen’s Speech is the highlight of a day of elaborate pageantry in Westminster and is used to detail all the bills the government wants to enact in the coming year. It is written for the 93-year old monarch by the government.

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit talks with the European Union aimed at striking a last-minute divorce deal are getting serious, Britain said on Sunday, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepared to update his cabinet on the state of negotiations.

In a pivotal week that could decide the future of Brexit and the fate of the world’s fifth largest economy, Johnson is trying to strike an exit deal with the EU to allow an orderly departure on Oct. 31.

LONDON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- British government said on Sunday that measures to help the country prosper in the post-Brexit era are set to be laid out in the Queen's Speech in the parliament.

The government said the Queen's Speech on Monday will outline 22 bills including some measures to allow Britain to "seize the opportunities that Brexit presents," according to local media.

British media reported that plans to end the free movement of European Union (EU) citizens into Britain and provide faster access to medicines will also be unveiled.

LONDON, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Several people are being treated after a stabbing incident close to a shopping center in Manchester, local media said Friday.

Police have been called to reports of multiple injuries after the stabbing close to Manchester Arndale, the Manchester Evening News reported.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet his Irish counterpart on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to revive a British proposal for a Brexit deal that the European Union said falls far short of what is needed for an orderly divorce.

Just three weeks before the United Kingdom is due to leave the world’s biggest trading bloc, it is still unclear on what terms it will leave or indeed whether it will become the first sovereign state to depart the European project.

LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-Brexit campaigners claimed victory after Scotland’s highest court decided on Wednesday to wait before ruling whether to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to Britain’s EU divorce date if he has not struck a deal in the next 10 days.

An alliance of rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers voted through a law, known as the Benn Act, last month which requires him to ask for a Brexit delay if there is no deal in place by Oct. 19.