United Kingdom

6 Mar 2023; MEMO: Charities have criticised the government's new plans to clamp down on refugees crossing the English Channel.

The legislation will mean the home secretary will remove as soon as possible anyone arriving on a small boat and send them to Rwanda or another third country.

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Monday it will introduce legislation to ban anyone who arrives in the U.K. in small boats across the English Channel from ever settling in the country.

The government said a bill — expected to be announced Tuesday — will bar asylum claims by anyone who reaches Britain by unauthorized means, and will compel the government to detain and then deport them “to their home country or a safe third country.”

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Anyone arriving illegally in Britain will be prevented from staying, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Sunday, ahead of new legislation which is expected to be set out next week.

Under pressure from his own lawmakers to find a solution to the flow of migrants arriving in Britain across the channel from Europe, Sunak has made stopping small boats one of his five key priorities.

"Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay," Sunak told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

LONDON (AP) — Britain has reasserted its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after Argentina pulled out of a cooperation agreement and demanded new talks over the South Atlantic territory that sparked a 1982 war between the two countries.

The pronouncement came after Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said on Twitter that he informed British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly about his country’s decision when the pair met on the margins of the Group of 20 summit in India last week.

LONDON (AP) — Two senior clergymen in Jerusalem have consecrated the holy oil that will be used to anoint King Charles III during his coronation, as the Anglican Church seeks to underscore the monarchy’s long history and the royal family’s links to the Middle East.

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Britain's security services missed a "significant" opportunity to take action which might have prevented a 2017 deadly suicide bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester, an inquiry into the attack concluded on Thursday.

Twenty-two people - the youngest aged just eight - died in the blast and more than 200 were injured when a man detonated a homemade bomb at Manchester Arena as parents arrived to collect their children following the U.S. singer's show.

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a "terrorist attack" in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false "provocation", but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - British home prices will fall less than previously expected in 2023 as a resilient job market and easing recession fears soften the blow from higher borrowing costs, analysts polled by Reuters said.

Inflation running at multiple times its 2% target has pushed the Bank of England to embark on an aggressive policy tightening path and Bank Rate has gone from 0.10% in late 2021 to 4.00% today.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. and the European Union sealed a deal on Monday to resolve their thorny post-Brexit trade dispute over Northern Ireland, hailing the agreement as the start of a “new chapter” in their often fractious relationship.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the grandly titled “Windsor Framework” after agreeing to the final details in Windsor, near London.

Von der Leyen told a news conference it was “historic what we have achieved today.” Sunak said there had been a “decisive breakthrough.”

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled to Belfast on Tuesday to sell his landmark agreement with the European Union to its toughest audience: Unionist politicians who fear post-Brexit trade rules are weakening Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.