By , , BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union both demanded that the other side give ground in talks on a new post-Brexit trade deal or risk severe damage in tetchy exchanges after the latest bout of bargaining ended with scant progress on Friday.The United Kingdom left the EU on Jan.31 but the main terms of its membership remain in place for a transition period until the end of this year, giving it time to negotiate a new free trade deal with the bloc.Failure to reach a deal would convulse global trade just as the world aims to exit the coronavirus lockdown. But so far...…By , , BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union both demanded that the other side give ground in talks on a new post-Brexit trade deal or risk severe damage in tetchy exchanges after the latest bout of bargaining ended with scant progress on Friday.The United Kingdom left the EU on Jan.31 but the main terms of its membership remain in place for a transition period until the end of this year, giving it time to negotiate a new free trade deal with the bloc.Failure to reach a deal would convulse global trade just as the world aims to exit the coronavirus lockdown. But so far...WW…

By , LONDON (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic is forcing senior doctors in Britain’s National Health Service to contemplate the unthinkable: how to ration access to critical care beds and ventilators should resources fall short.The country’s public health system, the NHS, is ill-equipped to cope with an outbreak that is unprecedented in modern times. Hospitals are now striving to at least quadruple the number of intensive care beds to meet an expected surge in serious virus cases, senior physicians told Reuters, but expressed dismay that preparations had not begun weeks earlier.With...…By , LONDON (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic is forcing senior doctors in Britain’s National Health Service to contemplate the unthinkable: how to ration access to critical care beds and ventilators should resources fall short.The country’s public health system, the NHS, is ill-equipped to cope with an outbreak that is unprecedented in modern times. Hospitals are now striving to at least quadruple the number of intensive care beds to meet an expected surge in serious virus cases, senior physicians told Reuters, but expressed dismay that preparations had not begun weeks earlier.With...WW…

By , LONDON (Reuters) - It was early spring when British scientists laid out the bald truth to their government. It was “highly likely,” they said, that there was now “sustained transmission” of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.If unconstrained and if the virus behaved as in China, up to four-fifths of Britons could be infected and one in a hundred might die, wrote the scientists, members of an official committee set up to model the spread of pandemic flu, on March 2. Their assessment didn’t spell it out, but that was a prediction of over 500,000 deaths in this nation of nearly 70 million.Yet...…By , LONDON (Reuters) - It was early spring when British scientists laid out the bald truth to their government. It was “highly likely,” they said, that there was now “sustained transmission” of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.If unconstrained and if the virus behaved as in China, up to four-fifths of Britons could be infected and one in a hundred might die, wrote the scientists, members of an official committee set up to model the spread of pandemic flu, on March 2. Their assessment didn’t spell it out, but that was a prediction of over 500,000 deaths in this nation of nearly 70 million.Yet...WW…

By LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday and urged the public to do the same, saying “he did not feel a thing.”Johnson, 56, received his vaccine at the same hospital where almost a year ago he was put in an intensive care unit and given oxygen via a tube in his nose after he contracted the virus and fell seriously ill. He later said he was so sick that plans were drawn up on how to announce his death.“I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick,” Johnson said after receiving the...…By LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday and urged the public to do the same, saying “he did not feel a thing.”Johnson, 56, received his vaccine at the same hospital where almost a year ago he was put in an intensive care unit and given oxygen via a tube in his nose after he contracted the virus and fell seriously ill. He later said he was so sick that plans were drawn up on how to announce his death.“I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick,” Johnson said after receiving the...WW…

By Slideshow LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists believe they have discovered the origins of the Stonehenge prehistoric monument after they uncovered the remains of an ancient stone circle in Wales that may have been dismantled and rebuilt hundreds of years later in England.Among Britain’s most recognisable and mysterious landmarks, the standing stones at Stonehenge draw tourists from around the world and people searching for spiritual connections with the past. Their exact purpose remains unknown.A team of archaeologists in 2015 had already established some of the stones came from a quarry...…By Slideshow LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists believe they have discovered the origins of the Stonehenge prehistoric monument after they uncovered the remains of an ancient stone circle in Wales that may have been dismantled and rebuilt hundreds of years later in England.Among Britain’s most recognisable and mysterious landmarks, the standing stones at Stonehenge draw tourists from around the world and people searching for spiritual connections with the past. Their exact purpose remains unknown.A team of archaeologists in 2015 had already established some of the stones came from a quarry...WW…

By Slideshow LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom reached a bleak milestone in its battle with coronavirus on Wednesday as the official death toll passed 50,000 casting a shadow on the positive news about the effectiveness of a potential vaccine.The death toll is higher than the other worst-affected countries in Europe and the number of people killed by coronavirus is only higher in the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.Asked about the latest milestone, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain is “not out of the woods yet” even as Pfizer this week announced that early data showed...…By Slideshow LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom reached a bleak milestone in its battle with coronavirus on Wednesday as the official death toll passed 50,000 casting a shadow on the positive news about the effectiveness of a potential vaccine.The death toll is higher than the other worst-affected countries in Europe and the number of people killed by coronavirus is only higher in the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.Asked about the latest milestone, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain is “not out of the woods yet” even as Pfizer this week announced that early data showed...WW…

By LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Julian Assange told a London court on Friday that she was present when an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement to the court that...…By LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Julian Assange told a London court on Friday that she was present when an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement to the court that...WW…

By LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Julian Assange told a London court on Friday that she was present when an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement to the court that...…By LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Julian Assange told a London court on Friday that she was present when an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement to the court that...WW…

By LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s government has spent at least 4.4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of taxpayers’ money on preparations to leave the European Union, the public spending watchdog said on Friday, in the first detailed estimate of the cost of Brexit.The National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report that most of the money was spent on staff costs, building new infrastructure and paying for external advice.Although some ministries had to supplement their spending from existing budgets, the government overall only spent about 70% of the 6.3 billion pounds allocated to cover the cost of...…By LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s government has spent at least 4.4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of taxpayers’ money on preparations to leave the European Union, the public spending watchdog said on Friday, in the first detailed estimate of the cost of Brexit.The National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report that most of the money was spent on staff costs, building new infrastructure and paying for external advice.Although some ministries had to supplement their spending from existing budgets, the government overall only spent about 70% of the 6.3 billion pounds allocated to cover the cost of...WW…