England

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chaired a meeting of the government's emergency response committee on Saturday to discuss the situation in Sudan, with defence minister Ben Wallace among those attending.

Sudan's army said on Saturday it had agreed to help evacuate foreign nationals, as gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum despite promises by warring sides to cease fire for three days after a week of strife that has killed hundreds.

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - With virtually all the Kremlin's opponents already jailed or in exile, and liberal press outlets and human rights groups forced to shut down, it might have appeared that years of repression in Russia had achieved their objective.

But in the space of just three weeks, Russia's security services and courts have crossed several new thresholds in their campaign to destroy perceived enemies, spies and traitors.

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned from the government on Friday following an independent investigation into complaints that he bullied colleagues, the latest scandal to force out one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's top ministers.

The loss of the third senior minister over their personal conduct in the last six months will damage Sunak's efforts to revive the governing Conservative Party's fortunes and is a major embarrassment as he had entered Downing Street in October promising a government of integrity.

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being investigated by parliament's standards watchdog over whether he properly declared his wife's shareholding in a childcare company which stands to benefit from new government policy.

Parliament's Commissioner for Standards began the investigation over a "declaration of interest" on April 13, according to a list of open inquiries on its website on Monday.

LONDON (AP) — Norwegian startup Freyr will first build batteries to power electric vehicles and store clean energy in a remote town near the Arctic Circle. Up next? An Atlanta suburb.

That’s because a new U.S. clean energy law offers generous tax credits — up to 40% of costs — in what is a “massive, massive incentive” for producing in America, CEO Tom Einar Jensen said.

LONDON (AP) — More than 6,000 British military personnel will take part in the coronation of King Charles III, the U.K. forces’ biggest ceremonial deployment in seven decades, the government said Sunday.

The Ministry of Defense said thousands of soldiers, sailors and aviators will escort the king and Camilla, the queen consort, between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey on their way to and from the May 6 ceremony.

LONDON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- During his visit to Belfast on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden called for the restoration of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. However, analysts do not expect his plea to lead to significant change.

An effective devolved government reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them, a government that works to find ways through hard problems together is going to draw even greater opportunity to this region, Biden said in a speech delivered at Ulster University.

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - The Confederation of British Industry, a leading business group, said it had fired Tony Danker as director-general after an investigation into complaints of workplace misconduct, and replaced him with its former chief economist, Rain Newton-Smith.

"The allegations that have been made over recent weeks about the CBI have been devastating," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Up to one million smokers will be encouraged to swap cigarettes for "vapes", with pregnant women offered financial incentives to make the change in what will be a world first, the British government said on Tuesday.

Under the scheme, almost one in five smokers will be given a vape - an e-cigarette - starter kit along with support to help quit smoking, the Department of Health (DoH) said.

LONDON (AP) — Tens of thousands of doctors walked off the job across England on Tuesday, kicking off a four-day strike billed as the most disruptive in the history of the U.K.’s public health service.

The walkout by junior doctors, who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care in the National Health Service, is due to last until 7 a.m. on Saturday.