United Kingdom

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Russia may be paving the way to conduct a nuclear test, a move that would sharply raise tensions with the West and likely prompt other world powers to resume testing for the first time this century.

President Vladimir Putin last week said Russia's parliament should consider withdrawing Moscow's ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which prohibits tests involving nuclear explosions. Parliamentary leaders were due to discuss the issue on Monday.

LONDON (AP) — The British government’s contentious policy to stem the flow of migrants faces one of its toughest challenges this week as the U.K. Supreme Court weighs whether it’s lawful to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

The Conservative government is challenging a Court of Appeal ruling in June that said the policy intended to deter immigrants from risking their lives crossing the English Channel in small boats is unlawful because the East African country is not a safe place to send them.

LONDON (AP) — An independent inquiry opened Monday to examine claims that British special forces murdered dozens of Afghan men during counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan a decade ago, as well as allegations that authorities subsequently covered up the alleged illegal activity or failed to investigate it properly.

The inquiry, which opened at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, focuses on alleged unlawful killings that took place during night raids carried out by elite military units in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Dengue fever will become a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new parts of Africa this decade, the WHO's chief scientist said, as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread.

The illness has long been a scourge in much of Asia and Latin America, causing an estimated 20,000 deaths each year. Rates of the disease have already risen eight-fold globally since 2000, driven largely by climate change as well as the increased movement of people and urbanization.

LONDON, Oct 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a delay to the phasing out of petrol-driven vehicles has been criticised by a committee of lawmakers in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom (UK), who called the move “disappointing.”

Philip Dunne, chair of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, fired a lengthy letter at Sunak yesterday.

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - British and Nigerian civil society groups have urged the British government to return funds confiscated from Nigerian politician James Ibori, a convicted fraudster, to his country in a swift and transparent way so the money can benefit ordinary Nigerians.

In a letter to Britain's home and foreign affairs ministers, a coalition of close to 50 NGOs said the long-delayed confiscation process had undermined the strong anti-corruption message sent by Ibori's conviction over a decade ago.

LONDON (AP) — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday in northern England in connection with what authorities described as the “deliberate” felling of a famous tree that had stood for nearly 200 years next to the Roman landmark Hadrian’s Wall.

27 September 2023; MEMO: British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has urged Germany to approve the delivery of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, in an apparent bid to save the United Kingdom’s economy from further detriment.

LONDON (AP) — Britain on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a major oil and gas project in the North Sea, ignoring warnings from scientists and the United Nations that countries must stop developing new fossil fuel resources if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned on Tuesday uncontrolled migration poses an "existential challenge" to Western nations and called for the rewriting of a treaty which has influenced global asylum policy for the last seven decades.

Addressing the American Enterprise Institute think-tank in Washington, Braverman said the United Nations refugee convention has expanded the definition of "persecution" and increased the number of people qualifying for refugee protection.