LONDON (Reuters) – Singer Vera Lynn, who became a symbol of hope in Britain during World War Two and more recently during the coronavirus pandemic with her song “We’ll Meet Again”, has died at the age of 103, British media reported on Thursday.

Known as the Forces’ Sweetheart, Lynn struck a chord with soldiers fighting overseas and with the public back in Britain with songs such as “The White Cliffs of Dover” that gave voice to the hopes and fears about the conflict with Nazi Germany.

To mark her 100th birthday in 2017, a giant image of Lynn as a young woman was projected on to the White Cliffs and a new album was released.

Lynn, who had continued to make public appearances in later life, was back in the news earlier this year when Queen Elizabeth used words from her famous song to tell the country “We will meet again” during a very rare broadcast to the nation to address the coronavirus outbreak

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s health minister on Wednesday hailed the use of a steroid called dexamethasone for treating coronavirus patients as the best news so far of the outbreak.

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.

“It does increase your chances of survival quite significantly,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News. “It is one of the best pieces of news we’ve had through this whole crisis.”

“It reduces your chances of dying when you are on a ventilator,” Hancock said. “It is brilliant news for everybody.”

He said the drug’s potential had first been spotted in February and in March positive signals came so that the government began buying it up in April.

He said that the R-rate was below 1 in all regions but did not clarify if he was speaking about England or the entire United Kingdom.

Hancock also praised England soccer player Marcus Rashford – who he mistakenly called “Daniel Rashford” – for campaigning successfully to get the government to change course and provide school food vouchers for struggling families over the summer holidays.

“I’ve been called much worse over the last couple of days,” Rashford said on Twitter in response to the minister’s mistake.

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(Reuters) – British finance minister Rishi Sunak is planning to break the Conservative Party’s “triple lock” state pension pledge, the Financial Times reported, saying the Treasury fears the policy may become unaffordable due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the triple lock pledge, state pension goes up by whichever is higher- wages, inflation or 2.5%.

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The jobless rate unexpectedly held at 3.9% over the three months to April – despite a record slump in overall economic output during that period – as firms turned to the government’s job retention scheme to keep employees on their books.

Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.7%.

“The furlough scheme continues to hold off the bulk of job losses, but unemployment is likely to surge in the months ahead,” Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said.

The furlough scheme is due to run until the end of October although employers have to make contributions to the cost of paying their temporarily laid-off workers from August.

Many companies have already announced permanent layoffs of workers. On Monday, building materials firm Travis Perkins said it would cut about 9% of its workforce, or 2,500 jobs. Airlines have shed more than 15,000 jobs in Britain.

Britain’s job market was strong before the coronavirus hit, and the ONS said many of those who lost their jobs in April were not actively looking for work and so counted as ‘inactive’ rather than unemployed.

In a more up-to-date sign of how the coronavirus lockdown is affecting the labour market, experimental figures, based on tax data, showed the number of people on company payrolls fell by 612,000 in April and May. In May alone, it was 163,000 lower than in April when the biggest job losses occurred.

That left the number of paid employees 2.1% lower than in March, the ONS said.

There was also a big drop in job vacancies which showed their largest quarterly fall since the ONS began measuring them in 2001, with a slide of 342,000 to 476,000.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under pressure to ease the slump in the economy, has ordered a review of Britain’s two-metre social distancing rule which many employers say is stopping them from getting back up to speed.

Johnson and finance minister Rishi Sunak are also reportedly considering increasing a tax incentive for small firms to hire workers, and suspending social security payments by employers.

The ONS said the number of hours worked per week dropped by the biggest amount on record, falling to 959.9 million in the three months to April from 1.041 billion in the three months to March, reflecting the scale of the jobs furlough scheme which covers about 9 million jobs.

A measure of the number of people claiming Universal Credit, a benefit for people out of work or on low incomes, rose by a larger than expected 528,900 in May to 2.8 million, more than double the number in March.

The ONS has said the claimant count almost certainly overstates the rise in unemployment because it includes people who are in work but are entitled to support.

A fall in pay growth reflected how workers on the government’s job retention scheme are only entitled to receive 80% of their former pay, up to 2,500 pounds a month.

The ONS said workers’ total pay growth of 1.0% was the weakest since September 2014. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew by 1.7%, the weakest since January 2015.

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LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a cross-government commission would examine racism and the disparities experienced by minority ethnic groups in education, health and the criminal justice system following Black Lives Matter protests.

Johnson said he could not ignore the strength of feeling shown by tens of thousands of people who had demonstrated in London and other British cities following the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

“We have to look at discrimination in the education system, in health, in the criminal justice system, we have to look at all ways in which it affects black and minority ethnic groups,” Johnson said on Sunday.

“And so we’re going have a big, big effort, which we will be announcing very shortly: a new cross-government commission to look at what is going on for black and minority ethnic groups and to champion their success.”

He said progress in tackling racism and improving opportunities, such as significantly more black and ethnic minority students going to university, had been “slightly lost”.

“What I really want to do as prime minister is change the narrative, so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination,” he said. “We stop the discrimination, we stamp out racism and we start to have a real sense of expectation of success, that’s where I want to get to.”

“But it won’t be easy. We’ll have to look very carefully at the real racism and discrimination that people face.”

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LONDON (Reuters) – It was party time this weekend for the gorillas at London Zoo – complete with treats like nuts, leeks and broccoli to eat and bunting in their treehouses – as they got ready to see visitors for the first time in nearly three months.

The zoo, located in Regent’s Park, closed in March as the country went into coronavirus lockdown. It opens again on Monday, albeit with restrictions such as limits on visitor numbers, one-way routes and paw-print markers to ensure social distancing.

The zoo, which says its nearly 200-year history makes it the world’s oldest scientific zoo, normally closes just once a year, on Christmas Day.

Staff laid on a little celebration for the gorillas to mark the reopening.

“Of course the animals have been missing the visitors, the gorillas have really been looking out for people,” said Daniel Simmonds, team leader of primates at the zoo.

“They have already adjusted to the fact that people haven’t been coming in, but equally I am absolutely sure they are going to be really excited when they see lots of friendly visitor faces visiting them tomorrow.”

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Fights broke out between groups outside London’s Waterloo station, with fireworks thrown before police cordoned off areas. On a nearby bridge, stones were lobbed at police. Sporadic skirmishes continued in central areas.

“Racist thuggery has no place on our streets,” Johnson said in a tweet. “Anyone attacking our police will be met with the full force of the law.”

Earlier in the day, small bands of protesters jostled, tossed bottles and cans in Trafalgar Square. Far-right groups shouted racial slurs at the anti-racism protesters, and some tried to use metal crash barriers to break through police lines.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement they had arrested five people for offences including violent disorder and assault on police and that six officers had suffered minor injuries. The ambulance service said it had treated 15 people.

“It is clear that far-right groups are causing violence and disorder in central London, I urge people to stay away,” Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter.

The police, who had already imposed a restriction calling for all demonstrations to end by 5 p.m., urged people to disperse.

There have been demonstrations around the world against racism and police abuses since the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. In British cities tens of thousands of people have marched peacefully during previous days of protest.

In London the demonstrators numbered fewer on Saturday than in recent days, after announcements by far-right groups that they would converge on the city centre prompted anti-racism activists to cancel a planned march and instead call for scattered protests.

Statues of historical figures including Winston Churchill were boarded up to prevent them from becoming flashpoints or from being defaced by protesters who say such monuments celebrate racists.

‘MY CULTURE UNDER ATTACK’

In and around Parliament Square, hundreds of people wearing football shirts, describing themselves as patriots and chanting “England, England” gathered alongside military veterans to guard the Cenotaph war memorial.

The far-right groups said they wanted to defend British culture, in particular historical monuments, after the toppling of the statue of a 17th century slave trader in the port city of Bristol last weekend sparked calls for others to come down.

“Winston Churchill, he’s one of our own,” they also chanted, near the statue of the World War Two leader, which last weekend was sprayed with graffiti reading: “Churchill was a racist”.

“My culture is under attack. This is my culture and my English history: why should Churchill be boarded up? Why is the Cenotaph attacked? It is not right,” said David Allen, one of the protesters.

While Churchill is admired by many for his role in defeating Nazi Germany, some in the anti-racism movement have called for more scrutiny of his overall legacy, noting he expressed racist and anti-Semitic views.

On Friday Johnson called it “absurd and shameful” that the Churchill statue was at risk of attack. “Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero,” he said.

Protests took place in other countries on Saturday, including in several Australian cities, Taipei, Zurich and Paris.

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Statues of historical figures including Winston Churchill – Britain’s World War Two leader whom protesters call a xenophobe – were boarded up to try and minimize trouble.

In Trafalgar Square, police separated two groups of about 100 people each, one chanting “Black Lives Matter”, the other racial slurs. Some groups jostled, tossed bottles and cans, and set off fireworks, as riot police with dogs and horses lined up.

Demonstrations have been taking place around the world over the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

In Britain, debate is raging over monuments to those involved in the nation’s imperialist past, especially after the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down and thrown into the harbour of Bristol port last weekend.

Police said on Saturday that some people were bringing weapons to the London rallies. They imposed route restrictions on both groups and said rallies must end by 5 p.m. (1600 GMT).

“Anyone who thinks they can commit a crime or vandalise property will be arrested,” Commander Bas Javid said in a statement.

‘MY CULTURE UNDER ATTACK’

In and around Parliament Square, hundreds of people wearing football shirts, chanting “England, England”, and describing themselves as patriots, gathered alongside military veterans to guard the Cenotaph war memorial.

The group sang songs in support of right-wing activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson.

“Winston Churchill, he’s one of our own,” they also chanted, near his statue which last weekend was sprayed with graffiti reading: “Churchill was a racist”.

“My culture is under attack. This is my culture and my English history: why should Churchill be boarded up? Why is the Cenotaph attacked? It is not right,” said David Allen, one of the protesters.

About two miles away, around 20 anti-racism protesters gathered at Hyde Park, holding Black Lives Matter placards, even though organisers had told them not to attend fearing clashes.

Hundreds also attended rallies in other English cities, many donning masks due to the coronavirus pandemic. “To Be Black Is Not A Crime,” read one placard at a rally in Reading.

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(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a cabinet backlash over plans to suspend Sunday trading laws, with three ministers warning him against it, The Times newspaper reported.

Some lawmakers wrote a letter to the prime minister saying the move will attract opposition and raised concerns about legislation proposed as part of the government’s coronavirus recovery bill, the newspaper reported.

The bill includes a measure to grant cafes and pubs fast-track approval to serve food and drink outside, according to the report.

Johnson and his adviser Dominic Cummings both support legislation drafted by Downing Street under which larger supermarkets are to open for more than six hours on Sundays, the newspaper said.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Business Secretary Alok Sharma are also said to be in favour of the move, the report added.

Some supermarkets are opposed to the changes while two big supermarket groups, Asda (WMT.N) and Morrisons (MRW.L), are said to be in its favour, The Times reported.

Britain’s Sunday Trading Act of 1994 allows large stores to open for no more than six consecutive hours between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The proposed legislation would suspend them for a year as part of a bigger bailout effort to help retail and hospitality businesses weather the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the newspaper added.

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LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will welcome French President Emmanuel Macron next Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s radio appeal to his countrymen to resist Nazi occupation.

The celebrations will offer a boost to ties between Britain and France at a time when talks with the European Union about a future relationship after a status quo Brexit transition period have all but stalled.

In a statement from Clarence House, Charles and Camilla will formally receive Macron at their residence “with a Guard of Honour formed by Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards accompanied by the Band of the Coldstream Guards”.

De Gaulle’s radio appeal, broadcast by the BBC on June 18, 1940, was the founding act of the French Resistance to Nazi occupation during World War Two, although few people heard it at the time and no recording of it has survived.

However, the full text is preserved on a bronze plaque set into the ground near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier below the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Horrified by the collapse of the French army as German forces swept through France and by the defeatist attitude of the government, De Gaulle left for London, determined to continue the struggle.

In his radio appeal, he argued that, even though mainland France was mostly under German occupation, French soldiers could continue the war using the country’s colonies as a base or by joining forces with the British.

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