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The UK government on Monday called in military planners to help local officials combat the health crisis of mounting rubbish and rats on the streets of Birmingham as talks remain ongoing to resolve a nearly month-long strike by the city's bin collectors over a pay dispute. Birmingham City Council had declared a major incident at the end of last month with around 17,000 tonnes of waste uncollected across the city in the West Midlands region of England. Ministers and local council members have since been focussed on addressing rising concerns of risks to public health and damage to the environment. "The government has already provided a number of staff to support the council with logistics and make sure the response on the ground is swift to address the associated public health risks, a UK government spokesperson said. "In light of the ongoing public health risk, a small number of office-based military personnel with operational planning expertise have been made available to Birmingh
Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak has rewarded his former Cabinet colleagues, Downing Street aides and advisers in his resignation honours list released by the UK government on Friday. While his former housing secretary Michael Gove and former transport secretary Mark Harper are among seven allies elevated with life peerages to the House of Lords, former ministers Andrew Mitchell and Theresa Villiers have been conferred with Knight and Dame Commander honours respectively. Former England team cricketer James Anderson and filmmaker Matthew Vaughn are among those granted Knighthoods in the honours list. Sunak, 44, was Britain's first Indian heritage prime minister until July 4 last year, when as the Conservative Party leader he lost the general election to Labour's Keir Starmer. It is customary for an outgoing prime minister to request the British monarch to grant peerages, knighthoods, damehoods or other awards in the British honours system to his chosen political allies and
Nikhil Rathi, the Indian-origin chief executive of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), was on Thursday re-appointed to his post for a second term by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. Describing Rathi's leadership of the financial watchdog as crucial to the government's reform agenda, Reeves said she wanted him to go further in his efforts to boost economic growth and investment during his new five-year term. The FCA, as a regulator for the UK's financial markets and over 40,000 financial services firms, is in charge of holding them to account. Nikhil Rathi has been crucial in this government's efforts to reform regulation so it supports growth and boosts investment I am delighted he will be continuing his leadership of the FCA, Reeves said in a statement from the UK's Treasury department. We want the FCA to go further and faster to deliver this government's Plan for Change and we look forward to continuing to work together to achieve this, she said. The Treas
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rallied his European counterparts Sunday to shore up their borders and throw their full weight behind Ukraine as he announced outlines of a plan to end Russia's war. Every nation must contribute to that in the best way that it can, bringing different capabilities and support to the table, but all taking responsibility to act, all stepping up their own share of the burden," he said. Starmer's exhortation to 18 fellow leaders that they need to do the heavy lifting for their own security comes two days after US backing of Ukraine appeared in jeopardy when President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he wasn't grateful enough for America's support. The meeting had been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding that took place on live television at the White House. Starmer used the opportunity as part of his broader effort to bridge the gap between Europe and the US and also salvage what had seemed like the sta