United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — The European Union signed off Monday on a new agreement over the privacy of people’s personal information that gets pinged across the Atlantic, aiming to ease European concerns about electronic spying by American intelligence agencies.

The EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework has an adequate level of protection for personal data, the EU’s executive commission said. That means it’s comparable to the 27-nation’s own stringent data protection standards, so companies can use it to move information from Europe to the United States without adding extra security.

WINDSOR, England (AP) — President Joe Biden and King Charles III, two leaders who waited decades to reach the pinnacle of their careers, used their first meeting in those roles Monday to zero in on the generational challenge of climate change, prodding private companies to do more to bolster clean energy in developing countries.

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden was due to arrive in Britain on Sunday evening for a brief visit during which he will meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and discuss climate change with King Charles ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania.

The White House said the trip was designed "to further strengthen the close relationship between our nations".

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Britain's BBC suspended a male member of staff on Sunday following an allegation that one of its star presenters paid a teenager thousands of pounds to pose for sexually explicit photos, beginning when they were 17 years old.

The broadcaster said it first became aware of a complaint in May, but new allegations of a different nature were made to it on Thursday, and it had informed "external authorities".

London's Metropolitan Police said it had received initial contact from the BBC but no formal referral or allegation had been made.

LONDON (AP) — A dash of pomp and a dose of politics are on the agenda during a stopover visit to the U.K. where President Joe Biden will discuss the environment with King Charles III and the war in Ukraine with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Biden flies to London on Sunday on his way to a NATO summit in Lithuania. He is scheduled to hold talks with Sunak at 10 Downing St. on Monday before heading to Windsor Castle to meet Charles for the first time since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September.

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - As Thames Water's financial troubles raise questions about such investments, Britain will next week try to persuade pension schemes to plough billions of pounds into infrastructure and start-ups in its next leg of post-Brexit reforms.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt will on Monday set out the government's latest thinking on getting cash locked up in pension pots to work in the economy.

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards "forcibly seized" a commercial ship in international waters in the Gulf on Thursday and the vessel was possibly involved in smuggling, a U.S. Navy spokesperson said.

The U.S. Navy had monitored the situation and decided not to make any further response, U.S. 5th Fleet spokesperson Commander Tim Hawkins said.

06 July 2023; MEMO: Over a thousand people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London yesterday in protest at the occupation state's "terror attack" on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The protest was called by the Palestinian Forum in Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Britain's Orkney Islands, an archipelago about 10 miles off the north coast of Scotland, is considering "alternative forms of governance" which could include becoming part of Norway, its council leader said on Monday.

Orkney, made up of about 70 islands and with a population of 22,000 people, was considering its future after being financially neglected by the Scottish and British governments for years, council leader James Stockan said.

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president, has warned that Moscow's confrontation with the West will last decades and that its conflict with Ukraine could become permanent.

Medvedev, once seen in the West as a liberal moderniser, has emerged as one of Russia's most outspoken hawks since Moscow launched what it called a "special military operation" in Ukraine last year.

Now deputy head of the Security Council, his views reflect some of the thinking at the Kremlin's top level, according to Russian officials.