Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets of Estonia today hosted Dominic Raab of the United Kingdom, Edgars Rinkēvičs of Latvia and Gabrielius Landsbergis of Lithuania in Tallinn for a meeting of UK and Baltic Foreign Ministers. Ministers had an in-depth discussion of foreign policy issues and how to increase cooperation between the Baltic States and the United Kingdom.

Ministers discussed Russia, China, Ukraine, and Belarus, as well as the wider issues of regional security and mutual defence. All agreed that the Baltic States and the United Kingdom would enhance coordination in multilateral fora, including on responding to events in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as fostering a robust response in the OPCW and UN to the abhorrent poisoning of Alexey Navalny.

Ministers agreed to continue working on strengthening cooperation at NATO, democratic values, human rights, respect for international law, and to increase efforts to defend media freedom and combat disinformation. They reaffirmed the importance of combating climate change and increasing the ambition of emission reduction targets ahead of COP26, in Glasgow in November.

The Ministers agreed on the value of increased cooperation between the Baltic States and the United Kingdom, and to meeting regularly to continue discussing shared foreign policy priorities and further enhance cooperation.

Five people were arrested in the West Midlands today in a joint operation conducted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and West Midlands Police. A significant quantity of prescription-only and unlicensed medicines were also seized from addresses in the area. These include powerful sleeping pills, strong painkillers and medicines used to treat epilepsy and anxiety which were suspected of being sold through illegally operating websites.

The MHRA investigation continues.

MHRA Head of Enforcement Andy Morling said:

“Buying medicines online from illegally operating websites can be risky.

“The vast majority of medicines supplied from illegally operating websites are not UK authorised medicines and cannot be guaranteed to meet standards of quality, safety and effectiveness.

“In the first instance, you should discuss any health concern with your GP or a registered pharmacist.

“If you think you’ve been offered a medicine illegally or have any information about suspected or known illegal dealings with medicines, please contact us, on 020 3080 6330 (weekdays 9am to 5pm) or out-of-hours on 07795 825 727. Or email us at casereferrals@mhra.gov.uk

“We investigate any report of suspected illegal activity involving medicines and medical devices.”

Notes to editors

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for regulating medicines and medical devices in the UK. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (‘the agency’) has three centres. The MHRA, the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). The agency is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Prime Minister spoke to Iranian President Rouhani this afternoon.

The Prime Minister raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British-Iranian Dual Nationals detained in Iran and demanded their immediate release. He said that while the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle monitor was welcome, her continued confinement remains completely unacceptable and she must be allowed to return to her family in the UK.

The Prime Minister also stressed that while the UK remains committed to making the Iran nuclear deal a success, Iran must stop all its nuclear activity that breaches the terms of the JCPoA and come back into compliance. He stressed the importance of Iran seizing the opportunity presented by the United States’ willingness to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance.

The Prime Minister underlined the need for Iran to cease wider destabilising activity and be a positive force in the Gulf region.

Working in partnership with the local authority, additional testing and genomic sequencing is being deployed to targeted areas within Wandsworth (SW11 and SW15), where the COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa has been found.

The increased testing is being introduced in addition to existing extensive testing and, in combination with the public following current lockdown rules and Hands Face Space advice, will help to monitor and suppress the spread of the virus. Positive cases will be sequenced for genomic data to help increase our understanding of COVID-19 variants and their spread within these areas.

Enhanced contact tracing will be used for individuals testing positive with a variant of concern. This is where contact tracers look back over an extended period in order to determine the route of transmission.

People living within the targeted areas are strongly encouraged to take a COVID-19 test when offered, whether they are showing symptoms or not.

People with symptoms should book a free test online or by phone so they can get tested at a testing site or have a testing kit sent to them at home.

Those without symptoms should visit the local authority website for more information.