United Kingdom

The Union health ministry has called an urgent meeting of its joint monitoring group on Monday to discuss the new strain. The emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus in the UK.

The source added that Mallya's extradition is before India's foreign secretary as an important matter seeking immediate attention. Also, a crystal-clear diplomatic stand on Mallya has been communicated to the UK authorities, yet they continue to stall his extradition behind the veil of a confidential legal issue. Despite repeated efforts, the UK has declined to disclose these confidential proceedings, said the source.

Gove told MPs that they could be called back from their Christmas break to approve a deal if one is agreed between the two sides. The government would "request that the House returns in order to make sure that we can legislate effectively", he said. On Thursday, the House of Commons broke for Christmas recess.

The bilateral Customs Assistance Agreement was signed by the UK's Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman and US Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson in London on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency quoted an official statement as saying.

Sunday had been slated as a cut-off point to reach an agreement before the end of the UK's Brexit transition period, Xinhua news agency reported. But in a surprise move, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed that negotiations between both sides should continue beyond the deadline.

Johnson made the remarks while speaking at the virtual Climate Ambition Summit co-convened by the United Nations, Britain, and France, in partnership with Chile and Italy. The Prime Minister hailed a new era of "scientific optimism" as the year comes to the end.

Co-convened by the United Nations, the UK and France, in partnership with Italy and Chile, on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Saturday's Climate Ambition Summit marked a major milestone on the road to the crucial UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow next November.

The set of contingency measures were designed to prepare for all eventualities, including not having a deal in place with the UK on January 1, 2021. The main purpose of the plan is to ensure basic reciprocal air and road connectivity between the two sides, as well as allowing for the possibility of reciprocal fishing access by EU and UK vessels to each other's waters.