United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a rebellion from some fellow Conservatives, including his two immediate predecessors, when lawmakers vote Wednesday on his deal with the European Union to revise the rules governing Northern Ireland trade.

Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss said they would vote against the agreement, which is designed to resolve a thorny trade dispute that vexed U.K.-EU relations and triggered a political crisis in Belfast.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. inflation accelerated for the first time in four months in February as high food and energy prices hit consumers battered by the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.

The consumer price index jumped to 10.4% in the 12 months through February from 10.1% the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The figures surprised analysts who had forecast inflation would slow to 9.9%.

21 Mar 2023; MEMO: The Metropolitan Police in the UK capital London have been found to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic in a damning report led by Baroness Louise Casey.

In one of the incidents highlighted, a Muslim police officer said that he found bacon inside his boots in his locker but did not tell anyone at the time out of fear of reprisals.

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic, briefly uploaded to a database by Chinese scientists, gives information on its origins, including suggesting a role for raccoon dogs in the coronavirus reaching humans, international researchers said.

The virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, with many suspecting a live animal market to be involved, before spreading round the world and killing nearly 7 million people to date.

21 Mar 2023; MEMO: Britain, on Monday, said far-right Danish politician, Rasmus Paludan, will be denied entry to the UK to carry out a provocative act of burning a copy of the Muslim holy book, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Responding to a question by Wakefield Labour MP, Simon Lightwood, Home Office Minister for Security, Tom Tugendhat, said Paludan had been added to a "warnings index" and would not be allowed into the country to carry out a Quran burning.

LONDON (AP) — The Scottish National Party is finding Nicola Sturgeon a hard act to follow.

Scotland’s governing party is holding an acrimonious contest to replace Sturgeon, a leader who came to dominate Scottish politics, but hit an impasse in her fight for independence from the United Kingdom, and divided the party with a transgender rights law.

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has presented awards to the pilots of two Su-27 fighter planes that intercepted a U.S. drone near the airspace around Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, his ministry said on Friday.

The drone crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday after being intercepted by Russian jets, in the first known direct military encounter between Russia and the United States since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Jim Ratcliffe toured Manchester United on Friday as part of his bid to buy the English soccer club.

The billionaire owner of INEOS jetted in for talks with club executives at Old Trafford, along with some of his closest advisors.

Ratcliffe was greeted by United chief executive Richard Arnold on Friday morning and will get a closer look at the club before submitting a formal offer to the Glazer family.

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) has been suspended from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for two years over what the ABPI on Thursday described as "serious breaches" of its code of practice.

ABPI's statement linked to a website of a self-regulatory body run by the association that pointed to a complaint alleging that Novo Nordisk had sponsored courses on weight management on LinkedIn for health professionals, without making clear the company's involvement.

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - Binance is halting its sterling deposits and withdrawals, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday, a month after the world's largest crypto exchange ceased dollar transfers.

Binance has been informed by its partner for sterling transfers, Paysafe, that it would halt its services from May 22, the spokesperson said, impacting all Binance customers.

Sterling transfers for new users were stopped on Monday, it said.