United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Scotland does not have the power to hold a new referendum on independence without the consent of the British government. The judgment is a setback for the Scottish government’s campaign to break away from the United Kingdom.

The top court ruled that the Scottish Parliament “does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence.”

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - European traders are rushing to fill tanks in the region with Russian diesel before an EU ban begins in February, as alternative sources remain limited.

The European Union will ban Russian oil product imports, on which it relies heavily for its diesel, by Feb. 5. That will follow a ban on Russian crude taking effect in December.

19 Nov 2022; MEMO: A proposed visit by controversial Israeli politician Dan Meridor has provoked outrage at the University of Cambridge and the wider community. Meridor who served as deputy Israel prime minister to Benyamin Netanyahu during Israel's military assault on the Gaza Strip in 2012, is among a growing list of Israeli war crimes suspects who have, in the past, avoided visits to Britain for fear of arrest.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government on Friday defended its decision to hike taxes for millions of working people in the “squeezed middle” class as it tries to shore up an economy battered by double-digit inflation and the reckless tax-cutting of recently ousted Prime Minister Liz Truss.

LONDON, Nov 17 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The ball Argentine football star Diego Maradona punched through English keeper Peter Shilton’s fists to score the opening goal of the quarterfinal match the eventual champions went past during the Mexico 1986 World Cup sold Wednesday at auction for £2 million (US$2.4 million).

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has pledged help to the most vulnerable weather Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, even as he announced a raft of spending cuts and tax increases designed to mend the country’s battered finances.

LONDON (AP) — The British government was increasing the windfall tax on the profits of oil and natural gas companies in an emergency budget announced Thursday that was aimed at restoring the nation’s economic credibility and patching up its battered finances.

Saying the U.K. faces “unprecedented global headwinds,” Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt is unveiling tax increases and spending cuts in a speech to the House of Commons in a bid to tame double-digit inflation and rein in a growing deficit.

16 Nov 2022; MEMO: The University of Edinburgh has excluded Palestinian staff and scholars of Palestine from a task group set up to discuss the "vicious repercussions" of the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. Details of the marginalisation of Palestinian voices at the Scottish university was reported by senior lecturer in international relations Nicola Perugini.

LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Iran's intelligence services have made at least 10 attempts to kidnap or even kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom regarded by Tehran as a threat, the head of Britain's domestic spy agency said on Wednesday.

Ken McCallum, Director General of the Security Service known as MI5, said while Tehran was using violence to silence critics at home, its "aggressive intelligence services" were also projecting a threat to Britain directly.

LONDON (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo has blasted Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag in an incendiary TV interview, saying he feels “betrayed” by the club and that senior figures have tried to force him out of Old Trafford.