United Kingdom

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak won the most votes in the second round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, as one candidate was eliminated.

Sunak came top with 101 votes, followed by junior trade minister and bookmakers' favourite Penny Mordaunt on 83 votes and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 64 votes. Attorney General Suella Braverman was eliminated with 27 votes.

Lawmaker Tom Tugendhat received 32 votes and Kemi Badenoch received 49 votes.

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - A self-portrait of Dutch post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh has been uncovered hidden behind one of his paintings.

National Galleries of Scotland said on Thursday art conservators made the discovery, believed to be a first for a UK institution, during an x-ray examination of Van Gogh's 1885 artwork "Head of a Peasant Woman" for an upcoming exhibition.

LONDON (AP) — Conservative Party lawmakers in Britain on Thursday knocked one of the six remaining contenders out of the contest to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as front-runner Rishi Sunak worked to stave off momentum from surprise challenger Penny Mordaunt.

Attorney General Suella Braverman secured the fewest votes from her colleagues, 27, and was eliminated from the race, leaving five contenders.

LONDON (AP) — The number of outbreaks of diseases that jumped from animals to humans in Africa has surged by more than 60% in the last decade, the World Health Organization said, a worrying sign the planet could face increased animal-borne diseases like monkeypox, Ebola and coronavirus in the future.

There has been a 63% rise in the number of animal diseases breaching the species barrier from 2012 to 2022, as compared to the decade before, the U.N. health agency said in a statement on Thursday.

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Britain's House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle ordered two lawmakers belonging to the Scottish party Alba to leave the debating chamber just before Prime Minister's Questions for refusing to comply with his instructions.

"Neale Hanvey, I am now naming you and Kenny MacAskill to leave this chamber," Hoyle said, requesting them to be escorted out and warning that it might lead to them being suspended from the house.

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Britain's government will hold a confidence vote in itself on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's political spokeswoman said on Wednesday, after blocking an effort to bring one by the opposition Labour Party after ministers objected to its wording.

Johnson has said he will step down once the governing Conservative Party chooses a new leader, but the Labour Party wanted a vote of confidence against both the government and Johnson to try to force him to leave earlier.

LONDON (AP) — Conservative Party lawmakers in Britain are casting ballots Wednesday in the first round of an election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The internal party contest will replace the flamboyant, scandal-ridden Johnson — a figure famous in Britain and around the world — with a new and much lesser-known prime minister.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s economy showed unexpectedly strong growth in May, with the three major components of production— manufacturing, construction and services — all posting gains.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that gross domestic product expanded 0.5% in the month, compared with economic forecasts of about 0.1%. GDP declined 0.2% in April.

12 July 2022; MEMO: More than 50 detainees and unarmed men were killed by British troops in Afghanistan, according to newly obtained military reports and an investigation by the BBC, Anadolu Agency reported.

BBC Panorama program, which is to be aired on Tuesday night, looked into documents of operations by the Special Air Service (SAS) – a British elite unit used in special operations – and found they include "reports covering more than a dozen 'kill or capture' raids carried out by one SAS squadron in Helmand in 2010/11."

LONDON, July 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pres Joe Biden will make his first visit as US president to Saudi Arabia on Friday, where he will seek to persuade Riyadh to pump more oil to bring down prices that are fuelling inflation to the highest levels in decades. 

Prior to his election, Biden had vowed that Saudi should be a “pariah” state following the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in a recalibration of relations with the oil-producing country that is a kingpin of the OPEC oil cartel.