Britain

Eiffel Tower needs blowtorch for ice as snow blankets Europe

4:41 pm February 10, 2021

Paris: Workers at the Eiffel Tower used a blowtorch to melt the ice collecting on its surfaces and snow was blocking roads and halting trains and school buses Wednesday across northern France. Amid a European cold snap, areas in Normandy and Brittany unused to such icy conditions were closing highways for lack of snow-clearing equipment. In parts of the Paris region, local authorities […]

AstraZeneca: Vaccine may work against UK variant

10:08 pm February 5, 2021

London: The developers of AstraZeneca‘s coronavirus vaccine say the shot appears to work against the variant detected in Britain late last year. It’s similar to previously reported results by other vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer and Moderna. Andrew Pollard of Oxford University, which helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine, says the shot also appears to reduce the amount of virus in people infected with COVID-19. […]

Border checks stopped at N Ireland ports after threats

7:41 pm February 2, 2021

London : Politicians in Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union on Tuesday condemned threats against border staff that prompted authorities to suspend post-Brexit checks on animal products. The Northern Ireland government said it had stopped inspections at Belfast and Larne ports “in the interests of the wellbeing of staff.” Mark McEwan, Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the force had increased patrols “in order to reassure staff […]

Thousands flee Hong Kong for UK, fearing China crackdown

3:25 pm February 1, 2021

Hong Kong: Thousands of Hong Kongers have already made the sometimes painful decision to leave behind their hometown and move to Britain since Beijing imposed a strict national security law on the Chinese territory last summer. Their numbers are expected to swell to the hundreds of thousands. Some are leaving because they fear punishment for supporting the pro-democracy protests that swept the former British colony […]

WHO report on Wuhan virus mission expected soon

WHO Europe: Vaccine production delays are a real issue

10:13 pm January 28, 2021

Geneva : National tensions are erupting over slow coronavirus vaccine rollouts but production delay issues are real and world leaders must realize that “no one is safe until everyone is safe,” the European chief for the World Health Organization said Thursday. Dr Hans Kluge said international solidarity in the fight against the virus that has already killed 2.1 million […]