United Kingdom

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The dollar headed for its biggest two-day drop in almost 14 years on Friday, as investors piled into riskier assets after a cooler reading of U.S. inflation helped temper expectations for the Federal Reserve to keep raising rates as quickly.

Data on Thursday showed consumer inflation rose 7.7% year-on-year in October, its slowest rate since January and below forecasts for 8%.

The dollar staged its biggest drop since late 2015 on Thursday as Treasury yields plunged, while other currencies - the yen and the pound in particular - jumped.

LONDON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of working-age adults in the UK who are currently unemployed has increased by half a million since 2019, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows. This has mainly been caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Around 2.5 million people were economically inactive due to long-term sickness in the summer of 2022, compared to around two million people in the spring of 2019, said the ONS on Thursday.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s economy shrank in the three months to September, official statistics said Friday, as forecasters warned of many months of contraction to come.

The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product fell by 0.2% between July and September, a smaller-than-expected contraction that nevertheless is seen to signal the start of a long recession.

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The British government said on Thursday it had frozen assets worth more than 18 billion pounds ($20.5 billion) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and businesses sanctioned over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has overtaken Libya and Iran to become Britain's most-sanctioned nation, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of the finance ministry, said in its annual report.

The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes.

LONDON/BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Oil-laden tankers risk being left languishing at sea if insurers do not urgently get clarity on an unfinished G7 and European Union plan to cap the price of Russian crude, two senior industry executives told Reuters.

The Group of Seven (G7), which includes the United States, Britain, Germany and France, agreed in September to enforce a low price on sales of Russian oil.

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Russia's leading war hawks on Wednesday swiftly rallied behind the decision to abandon the Ukrainian city of Kherson, putting a brave face on one of Moscow's most humiliating retreats in nearly nine months of war.

The pullout proposed by General Sergei Surovikin, appointed last month to take overall charge of Russia's war effort, means Moscow is giving up a strategic city just north of annexed Crimea, the only Ukrainian provincial capital it had captured since its Feb. 24 invasion.

LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday he had accepted minister Gavin Williamson's resignation "with great sadness" and was grateful for his personal support and loyalty.

Williamson said earlier he was quitting to "comply fully" with an investigation into whether he had bullied colleagues while in previous roles.

"I support your decision to step back and understand why you have taken it ... I would like to thank you for your personal support and loyalty," Sunak said in a letter to Williamson which was published by the government.

LONDON (AP) — A protester was arrested Wednesday after hurling eggs and vitriol at King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, as they walked in the northern England city of York.

The incident happened as the king and his wife were entering York through Micklegate Bar, a medieval gateway where monarchs are traditionally welcomed to the city.

Video footage showed several eggs in motion and smashed on the ground. None appeared to hit the royal couple, who continued to greet crowds.

LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry took the rare step on Monday of denying allegations that a naval infantry unit had suffered disastrous losses of men and equipment in a futile offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry was responding to what Russian military bloggers said was an open letter from members of the 155th marine brigade of Russia's Pacific Fleet, complaining they had been thrown into an "incomprehensible" assault on Ukrainian forces southwest of Donetsk.

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is standing by a government minister who has been accused of bullying a colleague, cabinet office minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday, saying the phone messages in question were sent "in the heat of the moment".

The allegations, reported by the Sunday Times newspaper, have surfaced only days following criticism of Sunak for reappointing Suella Braverman as interior minister after she was fired by his predecessor for breaching email security rules.