United Kingdom

20 May 2023; MEMO: Secretary General of the Arab Group in the British Labour Party Omar Mufid revealed that he managed to persuade the UK's Oxford University to retract its link of the cause of the occupation of Palestine with the suffering of Jews in Europe.

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - Russian military forces have been enhancing defensive positions in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, four witnesses said, ahead of an expected counteroffensive in the region.

New trenches have been dug around the city and more mines have been laid. Surveillance cameras at the plant are pointing north across a wide reservoir towards Ukrainian-controlled territory.

19 May 2023; AA: The funeral and associated events honoring Queen Elizabeth II, which took place during a period of national mourning, incurred an estimated cost of £162 million (nearly $200 million) to the government, the Treasury said Thursday. 

The state funeral was held on Sept. 19 last year, 11 days after the Queen's passing.

During this period, hundreds of thousands of people visited Westminster to pay their respects as she lay in state.

LONDON (AP) — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.

LONDON (AP) — Writer Salman Rushdie has made a public speech, nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat in his lifetime.

Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award on Monday evening. Organizers said the honor “acknowledges the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face.”

London/New Delhi, May 13 (PTI) India is planning a repatriation campaign for artefacts dating back to the colonial era, including the controversial Kohinoor diamond and other idols and sculptures in museums across the UK, according to a British media report on Saturday.

“The Daily Telegraph” newspaper claims the issue is among the priorities of the Narendra Modi-led government, with it likely to spill over into diplomatic and trade talks between the two countries.

LONDON, May 11. /TASS/: British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed that London is sending Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Kiev.

While addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Wallace described the move as "a calibrated and proportionate response to Russia’s escalations." "The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," the British defense chief stated.

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday became the first country to start supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines.

Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter range weapons.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said Thursday that the global outbreak of mpox, which initially baffled experts when the smallpox-related disease spread to more than 100 countries last year, is no longer an international emergency, after a dramatic drop in cases in recent months.

Last July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox, also known as monkeypox, to be an “extraordinary” situation that qualified as a global crisis. In doing so, he overruled WHO’s expert committee, which didn’t recommend the emergency designation.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. is sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles to help push back Russian forces, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Thursday. It’s the first known shipment of the weaponry that Kyiv has long sought from its allies.

Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain is donating Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers (155 miles). He didn’t say how many are being sent.

Wallace said the missiles “are now going into or are in the country itself.”