Boris Johnson

World leaders on Wednesday expressed their shock as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed here the U.S. Capitol building where Congress meets in an attempt to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election won by Joe Biden.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "saddened" by the events at the U.S. Capitol, his spokesman said.

More than 1 million people in England now have coronavirus, the British government said, as medics race to vaccinate the most vulnerable against the rapidly spreading disease.

Peaking case rates from the new virus strain mean one person in every 50 in England now has Covid-19, while in London one in 30 is infected, official survey results showed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally put Britain into lockdown as the battle against coronavirus enters a new phase.

The PM took to national television at 8.30pm to announce strict new measures to control the spread of Covid-19 and stop the national health service being overwhelmed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Jan. 4 a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.

The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 CET as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force.

Boris Johnson said the UK had "freedom in our hands" and the ability to do things "differently and better" now the long Brexit process was over.

But opponents of leaving the EU maintain the country will be worse off.

In a few hours Britain will officially leave European Union.

Officials this afternoon attempted to play down fears of immediate post-Brexit queues at Britain's ports amid worries of a 'mission impossible' for hauliers.

Like a separated couple still living together, Britain and the European Union spent 2020 wrangling and wondering whether they can still be friends.

On Thursday, the UK is finally moving out. At 11 p.m. London time — midnight in Brussels — Britain will economically and practically leave the the 27-nation bloc, 11 months after its formal political departure.

The father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was in the process of applying for a French passport to maintain his ties with the European Union after Brexit.

Stanley Johnson, a former member of the European Parliament who voted Remain in Britain's 2016 referendum, told RTL radio he wanted to become a French citizen because of strong family links to France.

Britain's Parliament voted resoundingly on Dec. 30 to approve a trade deal with the European Union, paving the way for an orderly break with the bloc that will finally complete the U.K.'s long and divisive Brexit journey.

With just a day to spare, lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 521-73 in favor of the agreement sealed between the U.K. government and the EU last week.

The U.S. logged its highest ever daily death toll from the coronavirus Wednesday as the world prepares to turn the page on a grim year defined by the pandemic, with much of the globe united in one hope for 2021: that a slew of new vaccines will stamp out COVID-19.