Phuc also ordered the police to launch an investigation into alleged human trafficking activities. British police have said at least some of the victims may have come from the Southeast Asian country. "Any violations will be strictly dealt with," Phuc said in a statement posted on the government website. He said he wanted reports on the case from authorities by November. 5
Britain's government denied a newspaper report on Saturday that it will seek to weaken workers' rights after Britain leaves the European Union, with one minister describing the idea as "completely mad". The EU is concerned Britain may try to loosen regulations, including workers' rights, after it leaves the bloc and says it is likely to impose trade barriers unless rules remain similar, to avoid what it views as unfair competition.
Essex Police said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the truck early Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of London. Although U.K. police said they believed the dead were Chinese citizens, they acknowledged Friday this was a "developing picture."
Police on Friday arrested three people on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. The 25-year-old driver of the truck remains in custody on suspicion of murder. In Vietnam, the father of 20-year-old Nguyen Dinh Luong feared his son was among the dead.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he is working with Scotland Yard to ensure that a "robust" policing plan is in place to prevent any security threats around the Indian High Commission in London during a planned "Free Kashmir" protest on Diwali.
European Union (EU) ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Friday agreed in principle to allow the UK to delay Brexit beyond October 31 but will announce the length of the extension only next week. The EU's move is expected to have a strong bearing in the UK Parliament, which is likely to vote on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's December 12 General Election demand early next week.
Johnson's comments came with the Labour main opposition still fighting over how -- or if -- to take Britain out of the European Union more than three years after a referendum. Labour leader Corbyn said in response to Johnson's initial challenge Thursday that he would wait to see the length of the Brexit deadline extension granted by the European Union.
Speaking on Friday in Brussels after EU ambassadors met with the EU Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said ambassadors from the EU's 27 other nations accepted the terms of an extension and their "work will continue in the coming days."
"If Labour (Party) agrees to the election, the government will try to get its deal through before Parliament is dissolved for the campaign on Nov. 6," Xinhua quoted the British Prime Minister as saying to local media.
Johnson said in a letter to opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn he would hand parliament more time to approve his Brexit deal but that lawmakers must back a December election, Johnson's third attempt to try to force a snap poll. Just a week before Britain was due to leave the EU, the bloc looked set to grant Johnson a Brexit delay, something he was forced to request by a divided parliament.
The 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain were Chinese nationals, British media outlets reported on Thursday, citing sources. The victims were discovered in a container on the back of a truck in Grays, east of London, on Wednesday, shortly after arriving by ferry from Belgium.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday he did not want another Brexit delay, confident he could still get a deal through parliament by Oct 31. Asked whether the PM thought he could get a deal passed by Oct. 31, his spokesman said: "That was the message which the PM delivered to Donald Tusk earlier this morning."
Police said the truck was believed to have come from Bulgaria and to have entered Britain at Holyhead in Wales on Saturday. The driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said.
A report published by the universities of Bristol and Essex for the Government Equalities Office found just 27.8% of women were in full-time or self-employed work three years after childbirth, compared to 90% of new fathers.
The European Union will not reopen the Brexit deal it has reached with Britain if lawmakers seek to change it by amending legislation to ratify the agreement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. The alternative to approving the deal is to undo Brexit, Johnson said, urging lawmakers to work "night and day" to get the legislation through.
Britain can begin to heal and unite if lawmakers pass legislation to ratify the government's Brexit deal with the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday.
Britain said Tuesday it was ending a nearly four-year suspension of flights to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh that followed the bombing of a Russian airliner claimed by the Islamic State. The move comes after multiple airport inspections and visits by aviation security experts in response to the 2015 attack that killed all 224 people on board the plane carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort.
With just 10 days to go until the UK is due to leave the bloc on October 31, Johnson's government planned to ask for a "straight up-and-down vote" on his EU divorce agreement, which changes how both sides handle the Irish border.
Britain's parliamentary speaker John Bercow told the government on Monday it could not again try to get a vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal because it was posing the same question to parliament twice. "Today's circumstances are in substance the same as Saturday's circumstances," Bercow told parliament in his justification for not allowing another vote.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to appear in court as he fights extradition to the United States on charges of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer. The full extradition is still set for a five-day hearing in late February, with brief interim hearings in November and December.
Prince Harry has been plagued by rumours in recent months of a rift between him and Prince William, and in an interview he acknowledged that "inevitably stuff happens" given their high-profile role and the pressure the family faces.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has condemned plans to hold an anti-India march here on the Kashmir issue on Diwali next Sunday, saying it would deepen divisions in the UK capital and called on the organisers and prospective participants to cancel the protest rally. "I absolutely condemn the plans for a protest march," he said.
