United Kingdom

27 Mar 2023; MEMO: Scotland's Health Secretary has been elected as the Chair of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following 14 days of voting by the party members, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Humza Yousaf became the first Muslim to lead a major UK party and is set to be confirmed as the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government in the UK.

LONDON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A major incident has been declared after around 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leaked into Poole Harbour, in Southern England's Dorset on Sunday, local authorities have said.

"It is estimated that approximately 200 barrels of reservoir fluid has been released into the water column in Poole Harbour," said Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) in a statement.

Typically, there are five main types of reservoir fluids: black oil, volatile oil, condensate (retrograde gas), wet gas, and dry gas.

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - British retail consultant and television personality Mary Portas has written an open letter to the John Lewis Partnership accusing the group of losing its soul for considering a change to its longstanding model of employee ownership.

Last week, the partnership, which owns John Lewis department stores and the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, confirmed it was considering selling a minority stake in the business to outside investors to fund investment.

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Plans by the British government to move migrants out of hotels and into military bases or even disused ferries are expected to be announced within weeks, Sky News reported on Saturday.

Previous suggestions involving the use of holiday camps and student halls were less likely to be brought into action, the report said.

The government has signalled it wants to end the use of hotels as asylum seeker accommodation.

24 Mar 2023; MEMO: Hundreds of people gathered outside Downing Street today in the British capital, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met his British counterpart Rishi Sunak.

The protest was called for by the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III’s state visit to France has been postponed indefinitely amid widespread protests over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, putting a damper on the new monarch’s debut on the international stage.

Charles and his wife, Camilla, will still travel to Germany on Wednesday in what was scheduled to be the second leg of his first overseas trip since ascending the throne in September.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to London on Friday while demonstrators gathered nearby to protest against the Israeli government’s right-wing policies.

Israel faces a national crisis over the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system. They have ignited Israel’s biggest protests in history and sparked rare dissent from across Israeli society, including military reservists, navy veterans, high-tech businesspeople and former officials.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has called on the UK government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in Palestine, and to recognise the court's jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Unaccompanied asylum-seeking people in the UK face various threats, including deportation to Rwanda, if they complain about the condition of housing, according to a report by a refugee advocate group, Anadolu News Agency reports.

A new report, released on Thursday and titled "Hostile Accommodation" by Refugee Action revealed that people in asylum accommodation exposed conditions that actively harm their physical and mental health.

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - New York kept the top spot in the latest rankings of global financial centres from Z/Yen Group on Thursday, with London and Singapore also unchanged in second and third place.

New York overtook London to head the table in September 2018 -- two years after Britain voted to leave the European Union -- but London has retained its second place ranking since then, despite some predicting it could take a heavy knock from Brexit.