United Kingdom

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused neighbouring Ukraine on Tuesday of sending 15,000 troops to the border area to build defences and conduct reconnaissance, actions that he called "provocations".

Lukashenko allowed his close ally Russia in February to use Belarus as a staging post for its invasion of Ukraine. However, he has said Belarus is not a party to the conflict and that its own forces are not involved.

BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Britain's foreign minister James Cleverly on Tuesday said Russian President Vladimir Putin's sequence of strategic errors must stop and that any use of nuclear weapons would lead to consequences.

Putin has escalated its seven-month war in Ukraine with a military mobilisation and warnings of nuclear weapons use.

Asked how Britain would respond to the use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia, Cleverly told a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference that he couldn't go into detail but there would be a response.

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russian defence ministry maps presented on Tuesday appeared to show rapid withdrawals of Russian invasion forces from areas in eastern and southern Ukraine where they have been under severe pressure from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The ministry's daily video briefing made no mention of any pullbacks, but on maps used to show the location of purported Russian strikes, the shaded area designating Russian military control was much smaller than the day before.

LONDON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A new round of industrial actions started from the end of September at key container ports in the United Kingdom (UK) as pay disputes went on. At a time when the supply chain was already overstretched, the walkouts inflicted more pressure.

RENEWED STRIKES OVER PAY

3 October 2022; MEMO: A royal source has confirmed that the UK's King Charles will not attend COP27 which is set to be held in Egypt in November as he distances himself from campaigning roles.

It was reported that Prime Minister Liz Truss said that it was not right for Charles to attend as it would make Egypt his first trip abroad as king.

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The withdrawal of Russian forces from a strategically important town in eastern Ukraine has prompted two powerful allies of President Vladimir Putin to do something rare in modern Russia: publicly ridicule the war machine's top brass.

Russia's loss of the bastion of Lyman, which puts western parts of Luhansk region under threat, touched a nerve for Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — The British government on Monday dropped plans to cut income tax for top earners, part of a package of unfunded cuts unveiled only days ago that sparked turmoil on financial markets and sent the pound to record lows.

In a dramatic about-face, Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng abandoned plans to scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds ($167,000) a year.

LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Britain has too many low-skilled migrant workers and very high numbers of international students, who often brought dependents with them, the country's new interior minister Suella Braverman said in an interview with The Sun on Sunday newspaper.

Braverman said new Prime Minister Liz Truss's government aimed to stick to a 2019 election pledge to lower net migration in an interview ahead of the ruling Conservative Party's annual conference.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III has decided not to attend the international climate change summit in Egypt next month, fueling speculation that the new monarch will have to rein in his environmental activism now that he has ascended the throne.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the decision came after Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss objected to Charles attending the conference, known as COP27, when she met with the king last month at Buckingham Palace.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss said Sunday that she could have done a better job “laying the ground” for her package of unfunded tax cuts, but insisted she would push on with an economic plan that has caused turmoil on financial markets and weakened the country’s public finances.

Truss acknowledged that the U.K. faces “a very turbulent and stormy time,” but said her policies would lead to a “high-growth, low-tax economy” in the longer term.