United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Got European travel plans this summer? Don’t forget to pack your passport, sunscreen and plenty of patience.

Liz Morgan arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport 4 1/2 hours before her flight to Athens, finding the line for security snaking out of the terminal and into a big tent along a road before doubling back inside the main building.

London, Jun 21 (PTI) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for a sensible compromise on the pay demands by workers' unions that have resulted in the UK's worst rail strike in 30 years, with a majority of the staff walking out to cripple the networks.

Just one in five trains are expected to run on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday when workers are on strike, with services across England, Wales and Scotland being affected from Monday evening. Passengers have been urged to travel by train only if necessary.

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of workers walked out on the first day of Britain's biggest rail strike in 30 years on Tuesday, with millions of passengers facing days of chaos as both the unions and government vowed to stick to their guns in a row over pay.

The strike by more than 40,000 rail staff, which is due to be replicated on Thursday and Saturday, caused major disruption across the network, bringing most services to a standstill and leaving major stations deserted. The London Underground metro was also mostly closed due to a separate strike.

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - A top ally of President Vladimir Putin told Lithuania on Tuesday that Moscow would respond to its ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad in such a way that citizens of the Baltic state would feel the pain.

With relations between Moscow and the West at a half-century low over Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania banned the transit of goods sanctioned by the European Union across its territory to and from the exclave, citing EU sanction rules.

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Britain must have a military capable of fighting in Europe and defeating Russia, the new head of the British army was quoted as telling troops by local media.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a vocal supporter of Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February, has ruled out sending British troops to help Kyiv, but warned this weekend that London would have to show support for "the long haul". 

LONDON (AP) — The price of bitcoin fell below $20,000 for the first time since late 2020 on Saturday, in a fresh sign that the selloff in cryptocurrencies is deepening.

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, fell below the psychologically important threshold, dropping as much as 9% to less than $19,000, according to CoinDesk.

The last time bitcoin was at this level was November 2020, when it was on its way up to its all-time high of nearly $69,000.

Bitcoin has now lost more than 70 percent of its value since reaching that peak.

17 June 2022; MEMO: British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, signed an order to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, to the US on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Assange's extradition order was passed to the Secretary by the UK courts last month, confirming that the US assurances on how Assange would be treated were sufficient for extradition.

LONDON, June 17 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage charges, the Home Office confirmed on Friday.

Britain's Westminster Magistrates' Court issued a formal order in April to extradite Assange, leaving the final decision to Patel. Assange and lawyers for the United States have gone through several rounds of legal battle over the past months that reached up to the British Supreme Court.

LONDON (AP) — The British government has ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges. WikiLeaks said it would appeal.

Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the extradition order on Friday, her department said. It follows a British court ruling in April that Assange could be sent to the U.S. over WikiLeaks’ publication of a huge trove of classified documents more than a decade ago.

LONDON (AP) — The ethics adviser to Britain’s scandal-hit Prime Minister Boris Johnson has quit and accused the Conservative government of planning to flout conduct rules, weeks after a separate investigation criticized the U.K. leader for overseeing a culture of government rule-breaking.

Christopher Geidt stepped down late Wednesday with a terse statement saying “with regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.” Johnson’s office said it was surprised by the decision.