United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Two senior clergymen in Jerusalem have consecrated the holy oil that will be used to anoint King Charles III during his coronation, as the Anglican Church seeks to underscore the monarchy’s long history and the royal family’s links to the Middle East.

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Britain's security services missed a "significant" opportunity to take action which might have prevented a 2017 deadly suicide bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester, an inquiry into the attack concluded on Thursday.

Twenty-two people - the youngest aged just eight - died in the blast and more than 200 were injured when a man detonated a homemade bomb at Manchester Arena as parents arrived to collect their children following the U.S. singer's show.

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a "terrorist attack" in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false "provocation", but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - British home prices will fall less than previously expected in 2023 as a resilient job market and easing recession fears soften the blow from higher borrowing costs, analysts polled by Reuters said.

Inflation running at multiple times its 2% target has pushed the Bank of England to embark on an aggressive policy tightening path and Bank Rate has gone from 0.10% in late 2021 to 4.00% today.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. and the European Union sealed a deal on Monday to resolve their thorny post-Brexit trade dispute over Northern Ireland, hailing the agreement as the start of a “new chapter” in their often fractious relationship.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the grandly titled “Windsor Framework” after agreeing to the final details in Windsor, near London.

Von der Leyen told a news conference it was “historic what we have achieved today.” Sunak said there had been a “decisive breakthrough.”

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled to Belfast on Tuesday to sell his landmark agreement with the European Union to its toughest audience: Unionist politicians who fear post-Brexit trade rules are weakening Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. and the European Union were poised Monday to end years of wrangling and seal a deal to resolve their thorny post-Brexit trade dispute over Northern Ireland.

Striking an agreement at a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would be a victory for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — but not the end of his troubles. Selling the deal to his own Conservative Party and its Northern Ireland allies may be a tougher struggle.

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday in an effort to finalise a new deal for Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trading arrangements.

More than a year of stop-start and sometimes rancorous negotiations between London and Brussels on an overhaul of part of the 2020 EU exit deal look to be coming to a conclusion although it is unclear whether any agreement will go far enough to satisfy critics in Britain and Northern Ireland.

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is working with Cambodian authorities after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu were found among one family in the country.

Describing the situation as "worrying" due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals, Dr Sylvie Briand, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments.

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a "special military operation" to protect Russian speakers and ensure its own security.