U.S. President Joe Biden will bring a grave Brexit warning to his first meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Prevent a row with the European Union from imperilling the delicate peace in Northern Ireland. On his first trip abroad since taking office in January, Biden meets Johnson on Thursday …
Read More »Brussels threatens trade war with UK over Northern Ireland Protocol
After talks in London ended without a breakthrough, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said patience with the UK was wearing “very, very thin” The EU has threatened to launch a trade war against the UK if it fails to implement checks on goods entering Northern Ireland under the terms of …
Read More »UK police officer pleads guilty to woman’s rape and kidnap – BBC
A serving British police officer has admitted the rape and kidnap of Sarah Everard whose killing sparked anger and soul-searching about what police, government, and society can do to stop male violence against women, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Wayne Couzens, 48, a London officer whose role it was to …
Read More »Fears for rights of EU citizens still waiting for UK settled status
Backlog of 305,000 applications in post-Brexit settlement scheme prompts calls for extension of 30 June deadline Hundreds of thousands of European citizens face legal limbo if the Home Office fails to clear a backlog of more than 300,000 applications before the EU settlement scheme closes at the end of this …
Read More »EU and UK probe Facebook advertising data use
The European Union and Britain launched parallel competition probes on Friday into whether Facebook uses data from advertisers to unfairly dominate the online classifieds market. The US social media behemoth sells classified advertising on its Marketplace service, but also gathers data from commercial advertising that may give it an unfair …
Read More »Buckingham Palace ‘banned’ ethnic minorities from office jobs
UK royal officials banned ethnic minorities from clerical roles until at least the 1960s, a report by The Guardian reveals. Buckingham Palace banned “coloured immigrants or foreigners” from undertaking office roles for the United Kingdom’s royal family until at least the late 1960s, according to documents obtained by The Guardian …
Read More »UK records zero daily Covid deaths for first time since March 2020
The UK on Monday recorded no new Covid-19 deaths for the first time since March 7, 2020, adding strength to calls for all restrictions to end as planned on June 21. UK Prime Minister Johnson has said he will wait for more data on the increasing spread of the newly …
Read More »Covid: WHO renames UK and other variants with Greek letters
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a new naming system for variants of Covid-19. From now on the WHO will use Greek letters to refer to variants first detected in countries like the UK, South Africa, and India. The UK variant for instance is labelled as Alpha, the South …
Read More »COVID-19 origin: Wuhan lab leak theory is ‘feasible’, says British intelligence
British intelligence agencies now believe it is “feasible” that the COVID-19 pandemic began with a coronavirus leak from a Chinese laboratory, a media report said on Sunday, prompting UK”s Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi to demand that the WHO must fully investigate the origins of the deadly virus. The origins of …
Read More »UK PM acted unwisely over home refurbishment but no conflict of interest-report
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “unwisely” allowed a refurbishment of his residence to proceed without more rigorous consideration of how it would be funded but did not break the ministerial code of conduct, an official report said on Friday. Johnson has in recent weeks faced intense scrutiny over how the …
Read More »Delay in Negotiations on Gibraltar’s Post-Brexit Future Causes Concern Among Locals
The issue has been described as one of the loose ends of the Brexit deal. Being a British overseas territory, Gibraltar shares a border with Spain, an EU and Schengen area member. To avoid a hard border, London and Madrid struck a deal in December that, among other things, stipulates …
Read More »London and Brussels clash over Northern Ireland Protocol
The UK and the European Union (EU) have once again clashed over the terms and conditions of the Northern Ireland Protocol as post-Brexit tensions show no sign of subsiding. The latest spat was sparked after European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said there is no alternative but the “full …
Read More »UK set to unveil plans for ‘digital border’
Britain is to announce plans for a “fully digital border” including the introduction of US-style electronic travel authorization to pre-check travelers to the UK, interior minister Priti Patel said Sunday. The minister will announce the plans in parliament on Monday as part of a wider overhaul of the country’s immigration …
Read More »France warns Britain not to ‘play’ with Northern Ireland Brexit deal
France’s European affairs minister warned Britain not to play games with special post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland, as fears rise of a summer of violence in the province. Clement Beaune urged London to be “responsible” over the so-called “protocol” for Northern Ireland, which kept it in the EU single …
Read More »EU leaders to urge UK to respect rights of travelling citizens
European Union leaders will urge Britain to respect the rights of their citizens, according to a draft of the statement they will agree at a summit next week, a reference to concerns about the handling of EU nationals by British immigration authorities. “The European Council calls on the UK to …
Read More »‘It’s genocide’: Protesters slam Israel, support Palestinians
From Amman and Baghdad to London and Berlin, thousands gather across the world to protest Israeli attacks on Gaza. Protesters have marched across the world in support of Palestinians amid the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since the 2014 Gaza war. At least 140 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed after …
Read More »Glasgow immigration raid: Men detained by Home Office released after face-off between police and protesters on Eid
Men detained in a Home Office van have been released following a face-off between police and protesters in Glasgow. A crowd of around 200 people gathered in Kenmure Street this morning, with people lying under a Home Office van to stop it from moving. Dozens of police officers surrounded the …
Read More »UK PM’s office accuses France of issuing ‘another EU threat’ by blocking financial services deal to wrangle fisheries access
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accused Paris of issuing a fresh “EU threat,” following reports the French government is set to block a post-Brexit financial services deal over the fishing access dispute. The latest war of words between London and Paris comes after it was reported …
Read More »UK PM Johnson apologises ‘unreservedly’ for 1971 Belfast killings
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday apologised “unreservedly” on behalf of the British government for the deaths of 10 innocent people killed in a 1971 incident in Belfast during a British Army operation. A judge-led inquiry on Tuesday found that British soldiers unjustifiably shot or used disproportionate force in …
Read More »Former UK diplomat Craig Murray jailed for ‘contempt of court’
Former British diplomat, Craig Murray, has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment over his blog posts about the infamous Alex Salmond trial. Murray, who was UK ambassador to Uzbekistan between 2002 and 2004, posted a series of articles online about the Scottish nationalist leader’s High Court trial in 2020. Prosecutors …
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