United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party’s new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office Tuesday as Britain’s new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis.

The 47-year-old Truss, who is currently foreign secretary, beat former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak after a leadership contest in which only about 170,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss received 81,326 votes, compared with Sunak’s 60,399.

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Liz Truss said on Sunday she would set out immediate action in her first week in power to tackle rising energy bills and increase energy supplies if she is, as expected, appointed prime minister.

The governing Conservative Party is widely expected to name Truss its new leader, and Britain's new prime minister, on Monday at a time when the country faces what is forecast to be a long recession, double-digit inflation and industrial unrest.

LONDON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 40 percent of Americans say a U.S. civil war is likely to happen within a decade as political polarization and street violence grow, British media outlet The Guardian said recently citing a poll result.

According to the survey conducted by the Britain-based data company YouGov and the Economist, around 43 percent of Americans believe a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next 10 years.

LONDON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth will break with tradition and appoint Britain's new prime minister at her Balmoral Castle residence in Scotland, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London, due to mobility issues.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday the queen would meet outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his yet-to-decided successor on Sept. 6 at Balmoral, where she spends her summers.

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - It is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, highlighting evidence that case counts are slowing in a handful of countries.

There are encouraging signs of a sustained week-on-week decline in the onset of cases in many European countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Britain, as well as a slowdown in some parts of the United States, despite scarce vaccine supplies.

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Russia condemned the destruction of Soviet war memorials in the three Baltic states and accused them on Tuesday of persecuting their Russian-speaking minorities.

In a forcefully worded statement, Moscow said Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were guilty of xenophobia, saying they were treating their ethnic Russian minorities as "second-class people". It said Russian-language media, kindergartens and schools were being shut down.

London, Aug 29 (PTI) The UK's biggest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has broken down off the south coast of England after setting sail from Portsmouth Naval Base for the US on what the Royal Navy has described as a landmark aviation trial mission.

The warship was said to be experiencing an "emerging mechanical issue" and the problem is being investigated. The GBP 3 billion carrier, which became fully operational last year, is reportedly anchored southeast of the Isle of Wight while the investigation is carried out.

LONDON (AP) — Stinking piles of garbage on the streets of Edinburgh are threatening the health and safety of the public, a health authority warned Saturday as strikes by garbage collectors in the Scottish capital moved into their ninth day.

The warning from Public Health Scotland came as garbage collectors in Newham, a borough of London, also walked out for a week over a pay dispute.

LONDON (AP) — Jennifer Jones keeps feeding money into her energy meter, but it never seems to be enough. And when she can’t pay, she feels the impact immediately.

The power in her London home has gone off suddenly three times recently, once when her partner was cooking an egg.

LONDON (AP) — Mixed signals are emerging about travel in Europe heading into the winter season. British Airways is cutting more than 10,000 short-haul flights in and out of London’s Heathrow Airport through March, while nearby Gatwick Airport is ending its limits on the number of daily flights.