Britain’s King Charles and his wife Camilla unveiled the stage for next month’s 2023 Eurovision Song Contest during a visit to the venue in the northern English city of Liverpool on Wednesday, saying he would be watching. Charles and the Queen Consort, whose coronation will take place a few days …
Read More »Big Tech crackdown looms as EU, UK ready new rules
TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are facing rising pressure from European authorities as London and Brussels advanced new rules Tuesday to curb the power of digital companies. They’re among those on a list of the 19 biggest online platforms and search engines that the European Union’s executive arm said …
Read More »Majority of Britons opposed to funding King Charles III coronation, survey finds
More than half of Britons are opposed to funding the upcoming coronation of King Charles III by British taxpayers in face of the nation’s record-breaking inflation and cost-of-living crisis, a new poll has found. The survey, conducted by the London-based YouGov market research firm and published on Tuesday, shows that …
Read More »Russia summons US, British and Canadian envoys to object to ‘interference’: Interfax
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the US, British and Canadian ambassadors to protest against what it said was their “interference in Russia’s internal affairs,” the Interfax news agency reported, citing a ministry statement. The three countries on Monday condemned Russia for jailing opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza for 25 years …
Read More »UK parliament’s standards commissioner investigating PM Sunak
The British parliament’s Commissioner for Standards opened an investigation into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this month, according to a list of open inquiries posted on its website on Monday. The list said the matter under investigation was a “declaration of interest”. The inquiry began on April 13. A spokesperson …
Read More »Biden set to skip coronation of King Charles – Telegraph
Foreign travel “takes a fair amount out of” the 80-year-old US president, the newspaper’s source says. US President Joe Biden will likely miss out on the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III, The Telegraph reported on Friday. According to a “source close to the Biden administration” quoted by the newspaper, …
Read More »King Charles III postpones a trip to France as strikes and protest hobble the country
French citizens angry at President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms engaged in scattered protest actions Friday, as the ongoing unrest across the country persuaded officials to postpone a planned state visit by Britain’s King Charles III. Demonstrators had demanded that Charles cancel his trip, which was scheduled to start Sunday. The …
Read More »UK lawmakers approve ‘Stormont brake’ element of post-Brexit deal
Britain’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday voted to approve the key element of a post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland reached between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the European Union last month. Members of parliament voted by 515 to 29 in favor of the so-called “Stormont brake,” aimed at offering …
Read More »London police riven with institutional ‘racism, misogyny’
A report has found that London’s Metropolitan Police Service, the biggest police force in Britain, is riddled with deep-seated racism and misogyny. The review, published Tuesday, noted that London police have lost the confidence of the public, stressing that it must “change itself” or risk being broken up. “It is …
Read More »Britain imposes sanctions on senior officials of Iran’s IRGC over alleged rights abuses
In yet another hostile move against Iran, Britain has imposed sanctions on more senior officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), including those who it claimed were responsible for managing the elite force’s financial investments. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said on Monday that it has …
Read More »Britons facing ‘disastrous decade’ – report
Households will get poorer and pay more tax over the coming years, a think tank projects Real wages in the UK will not return to their 2008 level until 2026 despite an easing of inflation, the Resolution Foundation, an independent think tank, reported this week in its analysis of the …
Read More »Cambodia celebrates return of ‘priceless’ stolen Angkor jewellery
Cambodian leader Hun Sen unveiled a collection of stolen Angkor crown jewellery on Friday which was recently returned to the kingdom after decades in Britain, pleading for other long-lost treasures to be handed back. Gold crowns, necklaces, and amulets were among the trove of treasures from the Angkor period, which …
Read More »European states decry Israeli bill allowing settlers’ return to evacuated areas
Britain and a dozen other EU member states condemn the Israeli parliament’s approval of a bill that will enable settlers to return to areas of the West Bank evacuated in 2005 as part of the so-called Disengagement Law. In a joint statement on Monday, the UK and the EU countries, …
Read More »Sunak announces UK nuke plans
The UK prime minister says the modernization of the country’s “nuclear enterprise” will follow a new defense spending hike The UK government has earmarked an additional £5 billion ($6 billion) for bolstering the country’s military capabilities, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement published on Monday. Britain’s nuclear deterrent …
Read More »Britain’s King Charles hands Duke of Edinburgh title to Prince Edward
Britain’s King Charles named his younger brother Prince Edward as the new Duke of Edinburgh on Friday, handing him the title last held by their father Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. Edward, 59 on Friday, becomes the latest member of the royal family to be granted a …
Read More »Hate crimes against Russians rising in UK – Sky News
The British police have recorded dozens of such offenses since the start of the Ukraine conflict, according to the outlet’s investigation Russians in the UK have been subject to an increasing number of hate crimes, including violent assaults, abuse, and vandalism, a Sky News investigation released on Friday found. In …
Read More »EU imposes new sanctions on 121 individuals, entities over Russia’s war in Ukraine
New EU sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine adopted on Saturday target 121 individuals and entities, including drone manufacturers, officials said. The measures, agreed late Friday ahead of Saturday’s formal adoption, are the 10th round of European Union sanctions aimed at undercutting Russia’s finances and military supplies used in its …
Read More »England’s junior doctors to stage three-day strike from March 13
Junior doctors in England will take strike action for three days from March 13 in a dispute over pay, the British Medical Association (BMA) said on Friday. “We are demoralized, angry and no longer willing to work for wages that have seen a real terms decline of over 26 percent …
Read More »Opinion | Britcoin escalates the war between governments and crypto
Since the Bank of England’s announcement a few weeks ago that it would be developing a digital currency quickly nicknamed “Britcoin,” central bank digital currencies, or Govcoins, as they are sometimes known, have been all the rage. Supposedly, the British government will take on responsibility for the maintenance of a …
Read More »Four-day working week ‘more productive’: UK study
A four-day working week is more productive for most staff and companies than the traditional five days, one of the biggest trials of its kind conducted in the UK reported on Tuesday. Over 60 firms in Britain took part in the six-month experiment allowing almost 3,000 employees to work one …
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