Doubts have emerged about the vaccine's efficiency after AstraZeneca released interim results of its candidate vaccine on Monday showing two different levels of efficacy depending on the dosing regimen.

Black Friday usually marks the start of the holiday shopping season when millions of people go out to stores to buy their Christmas presents. But the Covid-19 pandemic means that this year people are stuck at home and the day will be different in many key aspects.

An audit of memorials was launched By the Welsh government in July in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Its remit was to assess historical figures as regards their culpability in the slave trade imperialism and racism.

Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, succeeding Theresa May who had failed to push through Brexit. His Conservative Party won a resounding victory at the general election in December 2019.

LONDON (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) announced on Friday that trials of a revolutionary blood test developed by US company Grail to identify 50 types of cancer will begin in England in mid-2021.

Earlier in the month, positive vaccine-related developments buoyed British stocks somewhat, yet the latter still under-performed on market jitters over soaring coronavirus cases, new ‘lockdown tiers’ and stalled Brexit negotiations ahead of a year-end deadline for a trade deal between the UK and the European Union.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry was set up to investigate claims of police had infiltrated more than 1,000 trade unions, environmental and anti-war groups, and leftist movements, all operating legally within England and Wales. But the judge in charge refuses to permit the public to watch the hearings, a participant tells Sputnik.

A global health crisis has caught many by surprise this year as COVID-19, which initially wasn't taken seriously enough, continues to infect a growing number of people. Yet a pandemic of this scale is hardly anything new in the fictional world of cinema.

LONDON (Sputnik) - The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed on Friday that it has received a request from the government's Department of Health and Social Care to assess the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The move comes after a report was published the criticised the lack of competition in the digital marketplace which it said was leading to higher prices for businesses and preventing the development of new services for consumers.

The 11-month transition period that followed the UK's departure from the European Union is set to end on 31 December, which could leave London without a trade deal with the bloc if the sides fail to agree on the matter within the next month.

Newport-based structural engineer Peter James together with his team has been restoring the Egyptian pyramids for 18 years, working deep inside the iconic structures and questioning how exactly they were built, over 4,000 years ago.

Thalidomide is a drug that was marketed as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It later became clear the drug caused miscarriages and abnormalities in children born to women who took it.

Earlier this month, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson clashed in Parliament with the opposition parties' lawmakers over his recent comments on Scotland's autonomy, which he allegedly called a "disaster" during a meeting with fellow Conservatives.

As the UK is set to emerge from the current national coronavirus lockdown after midnight on 2 December, the country’s regions are expected to be placed in one of three coronavirus alert level tiers: medium, high and very high, with restrictive measures applied accordingly to try and stop the spread of the disease.

The UK government has announced plans to establish a Digital Markets Unit (DMU) to make a new code to improve transparency regarding the provision of services and the use of personal data by the world’s biggest tech companies, as well as oversee a pro-competition regime for platforms.

Controversy is surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, with critics expressing concerns that it could be based on "shaky science".

The UK prime minister said mass community testing for coronavirus in Liverpool - aided by some 2,000 army personnel - had helped drive down the infection there, and would soon be offered to the four-tenths of the country under the new tier-three restrictions.

The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University demonstrated 62% efficacy - a far cry from the 90% and over shown in the trials of two US and one Russian vaccine that were presented earlier.

The Duke of York was earlier accused by US federal prosecutors of failing to cooperate with an investigation into the alleged sex crimes of late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The British Queen’s son, however, maintained through his lawyers that he had reached out to FBI agents on several occasions to shed light on his former friend’s activities.