United Kingdom

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Armenia's prime minister has said his country's policy of solely relying on Russia to guarantee its security was a strategic mistake because Moscow has been unable to deliver and is in the process of winding down its role in the wider region.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on Sunday, Nikol Pashinyan accused Russia of failing to ensure Armenia's security in the face of what he said was aggression from neighbouring Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

LONDON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Grant Shapps, who has been serving as Britain's energy secretary, has replaced Ben Wallace as Britain's new defense secretary, the office of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday.

It is the fifth cabinet job for Shapps, 54, in a year. His previous roles were energy secretary, transport secretary and home secretary.

"I'd like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defense & global security over the last 4 years," Shapps wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the appointment.

29 August 2023; MEMO: The Humans for Rights Network has identified an increasing number of cases in which child refugees who have arrived in the United Kingdom on small boats are being held in adult prisons alongside sex offenders. Several of these minors, particularly those from Sudan and South Sudan, appear to have been victims of trafficking or exploitation.

30 August 2023; MEMO: Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s “punitive” demolition of Palestinian child detainee’s home, stressing he is being punished for a fault he did not commit.

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Around 2,000 artefacts including gold jewellery and gems had been stolen from the British Museum over a long period of time, but recovery efforts were already under way, the museum's chair George Osborne said on Saturday.

The museum, one of London's most popular attractions whose treasures include the Rosetta Stone, an ancient Egyptian relic inscribed with hieroglyphs and other texts, said last week a member of staff had been dismissed after items dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD had been taken from a storeroom.

LONDON (AP) — The head of trustees at the British Museum said Saturday that the museum has recovered some of the 2,000 items believed to have been stolen by an insider, but admitted that the 264-year-old institution does not have records of everything in its vast collection.

Chairman of trustees George Osborne acknowledged that the museum’s reputation has been damaged by its mishandling of the thefts, which has sparked the resignation of its director and raised questions about security and leadership.

LONDON/CHICAGO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A highly mutated COVID variant called BA.2.86 has now been detected in Switzerland and South Africa in addition to Israel, Denmark, the U.S. and the U.K., according to a leading World Health Organization official.

The Omicron offshoot carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023 - a number roughly on par with the Omicron variant that caused record infections compared to its predecessor.

LONDON (AP) — British police said Friday they are investigating the deaths of 88 people in the U.K. who bought products from Canada-based websites allegedly offering lethal substances to people at risk of self harm.

The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest in Canada earlier this year of Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counseling and aiding suicide. Canadian police say Law, from the Toronto area, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.

LONDON (AP) — A British jury ruled Wednesday that two teenagers were part of a hacking and blackmail campaign against technology companies including the maker of the “Grand Theft Auto” game series.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court in London said 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj committed 12 offenses including computer hacking, blackmail and fraud. A 17-year-old defendant who can’t be identified because of his age was convicted of fraud, blackmail and carrying out an unauthorized act to impair the operation of a computer.

LONDON (AP) — A former neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies in her care and trying to kill six others at a hospital in northern England was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of release by a judge who highlighted “the cruelty and calculation” of her actions.

Lucy Letby, who refused to appear in court to face her sentencing or to hear grieving parents share their anger and anguish, was given the most severe punishment possible under British law, which does not allow the death penalty.