England

LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A blockchain linked to Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has been hit by a $570 million hack, a Binance spokesperson said on Friday, the latest in a series of hacks to hit the crypto sector this year.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet that tokens were stolen from a blockchain "bridge" used in the BNB Chain, known until February as Binance Smart Chain.

LONDON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- British households could face blackouts this winter if there are reduced European electricity imports and insufficient gas supplies in the country, a report warned on Thursday.

In the extreme scenario, it could erode the security of supply margins and mean some customers could be without power for pre-defined periods during the day. However, the event is "unlikely," said the Winter Outlook Report published by National Grid ESO, the electricity system operator for Great Britain.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry, singer Elton John and other individuals have launched legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper, alleging phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy, a law firm for some of the group said on Thursday.

Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online, one of the most widely read news websites in the world, said it "utterly and unambiguously" denied the allegations.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised a car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, the New York Times reported.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which cited unidentified U.S. officials. Ukraine repeated on Thursday its denial of any involvement in the attack.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A Russian-installed official in Ukraine on Thursday suggested President Vladimir Putin's defence minister should consider killing himself due to the shame of the defeats in the Ukraine war, an astonishing public insult to Russia's top brass.

After more than seven months of war in Ukraine, Russia's most basic war aims are still not achieved while Russian forces have suffered a series of battlefield defeats in recent months, forcing Putin to announce a partial mobilisation.

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia must be part of investigations into last week's explosions in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.

"So far, from those news conferences which took place in Denmark and Sweden, we've heard disturbing statements that any cooperation with the Russian side is ruled out," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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