Britain’s foreign minister said Thursday that negotiations on a trade deal with the European Union will reach a “moment of finality” this weekend, with both sides assessing chances of an agreement as slim.
The United Kingdom on Wednesday signed a trade agreement with Canada, days before the end of the Brexit transition period, removing the risk of an estimated £42 million ($56.15 million) tariff burden on UK exports.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is trying to persuade Iran to resume its obligations under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear arms deal, the Times of Israel reports. In a report to the Security Council published Tuesday, Antonio Guterres called on Iran to address concerns about its decision last year to begin, among other violations, the enrichment of uranium beyond the agreed limits.
A British grandmother has become the world’s first person to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 injection as part of a controversial global vaccination program.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France will continue to make economic and defense deals with Egypt, despite Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s heaviest crackdown on dissent in the Arab country’s modern history, the Washington Times reports. While he gave this assurance during the Egyptian leader’s two-day state visit to France, Macron emphasized that he and el-Sissi have “disagreements” on human rights issues.
The United States Department of Justice has announced that over 1,000 Chinese researchers have left America amid a US national security crackdown on alleged technology theft, Sky News reported Thursday. The researchers are believed to be connected to China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Britain and the European Union warned Tuesday that talks on a post-Brexit free-trade deal are teetering on the brink of collapse, with just over three weeks until an economic rupture that will cause upheaval for businesses on both sides of the English Channel.
Norway’s government has now barred its citizens from speaking against transgender people even in their own homes.
Romania’s prime minister resigned Monday after his Liberal party narrowly lost Sunday’s parliamentary election amid public concern over corruption and political upheaval.
Britain, France, and Germany say Iran’s apparent plan to install additional advanced centrifuges at its main nuclear enrichment facility is “deeply worrying” and contrary to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Organizers of the annual World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland, have again changed their planned venue for next year’s edition, announcing it will now take place in Singapore in May — a sign that the COVID-19 crisis has played havoc with planning.
The European Union on Monday invited presumptive U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help mend tattered trans-Atlantic ties and urged him to join it in a long-term “strategic dialogue” that would address global issues ranging from COVID-19 to climate change.
China influenced American policies for decades through a covert network of “old friends” — sympathizers and agents — who had penetrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions before the Trump administration, according to an academic linked to the Chinese government.
The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior commander as saying.
A well-known Iranian journalist Momahad Ahwaze has said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has transferred his power to his son Mojtaba Khamenei because of increasing concerns about the state of his health, Newsweek reported on Saturday.
Chinese scientists claim to have built a quantum computer that is able to perform certain computations nearly 100 trillion times faster than the world’s most advanced supercomputer, representing the first milestone in the country’s efforts to develop the technology.
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to install several cascades, or clusters, of advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at the Natanz plant in violation of its commitments under the nuclear deal, Reuters reported Friday.
After Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, the two sides now face deadlock over an important trade deal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen instructed representatives to secure their annual $1 trillion in trade.
Russia has become the first country to officially launch a massive immunization effort against the coronavirus, despite concerns about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Russia provides the vaccine for free to people aged 18 to 60 who don’t suffer from chronic illnesses and aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding.
The British government has granted Pfizer a legal indemnity protecting it from being sued for possible side effects of its new coronavirus vaccine.