Page 2 - Britain

UK PM Starmer welcomes moment of profound relief with Gaza peace plan

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is on an India visit, welcomed an agreement on the first phase of the Gaza peace plan to halt Israel-Hamas hostilities on Thursday as a moment of profound relief. The agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye will see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the entry of aid into Gaza. I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump's peace plan for Gaza, said Starmer, in a statement released from 10 Downing Street in London. This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years, he said. The UK PM hailed the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the United States, supported by regional partners in ...

PM Modi holds talks with UK PM Starmer to boost trade, defence, tech ties

Starmer's visit to India came two-and-half months after the two countries inked a landmark free trade pact that will increase market access

UK's Vertu Motors sees up to $7.4 million hit from JLR cyberattack

Vertu, which operates 10 JLR dealerships, said about 2 million pounds of the profit impact was in September, with the full-year effect hinging on when JLR restores its systems

UK confronts rising long-term terror threat linked to ongoing Gaza conflict

The fatal Manchester attack by Jihad Al-Shamie has heightened UK security concerns since Oct. 7, 2023, though his motives and path to the standoff remain unclear

Weakness brings more terrorism: Netanyahu on Manchester synagogue attack

The attack took place in Manchester's Crumpsall, where a car struck pedestrians and a man was stabbed, killing at least two and leaving three others critically injured

Two dead in car and stabbing attack at UK's synagogue, suspect shot

The attack was declared 'Plato', a code-word used by the UK police when responding to a marauding terror attack

UK govt makes new attempt to access Apple cloud storage to get user data

In August, Britain dropped a mandate for the iPhone maker to provide a "back door" that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American as well as British citizens

UK sanctions 70 people, groups with links to Iran's nuclear programme

The UK has sanctioned 70 people and organisations with links to Iran's nuclear programme. The sanctions come amid concerns the Islamic Republic is developing weapons, the British Foreign Office said Tuesday. The penalties aimed at 62 groups and nine people follow a decision by Britain, France and Germany last month to trigger the snapback mechanism to automatically reimpose all United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. The three nations, known as the E3, said at the time that Iran had willfully departed from the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures. Iran's nuclear programme has long been a serious concern to the international community, as a significant threat to global peace and security, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. This sanctions package sends a clear message to Tehran we will continue to take every step necessary to prevent Iran ever developing a nuclear weapon. The UN sanctions in effect before the deal included a conventional arms embargo,

Britain's Treasury chief says wars, tariffs harming economic outlook

Britain's Treasury chief warned Monday that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and economic headwinds sparked by US President Donald Trump's tariffs have worsened the UK's economic outlook since the governing Labour Party won power last year. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is under pressure to say whether she will raise taxes in her autumn budget on November 26. "In the last year the world has changed, and we are not immune to that change," she told the BBC. "Whether it is wars in Europe and the Middle East, whether it is increased barriers to trade because of tariffs coming from the United States, whether it is the global cost of borrowing, we're not immune to any of those things." Reeves hopes to deliver a touch of economic optimism when she addresses the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool later on Monday. Since ending 14 years of Conservative rule in July 2024, the Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised. Inflation remai

What is digital ID card, how will it help UK deal with illegal immigration

Similar to the NHS app and various other existing digital cards, the new scheme will create a universal form of identification stored on mobile phones

Britain considering financial support for Jaguar Land Rover's suppliers

The luxury carmaker, owned by India's Tata Motors, has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day

UK's MI6 agency launches dark web portal 'Silent Courier' to recruit spies

MI6 said it was harnessing the anonymity of the dark web for the first time to allow potential agents living in Russia and around the world to mitigate the risks against them

Trump disagrees with Starmer over UK's plans to recognise Palestine

Trump underscored the atrocities of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 and emphasised his priorities of the release of hostages

Trump praises his hosts for royal welcome on UK visit, sidesteps key issues

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was tremendously thankful for the pageantry and splendour lavished on him during his second state visit to the United Kingdom as he wrapped up a trip that largely sidestepped major public disagreements over difficult trade and geopolitical issues. The mutual warmth, along with Trump's abundance of kind words bestowed on the host country, suggested that an all-out charm offensive by the royal family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had its desired effect, even though there was a notable lack of progress on some key matters. Trump and Starmer signed what both sides hailed as a historic agreement on science and technology, and they held a roundtable with global business leaders where they suggested the deal could mean significant job gains. Among the topics tackled mostly in private talks between Trump and Starmer were the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and US tariff rates on steel imported from Britain. "The bond between our countries is .

After royal pomp, Trump meets UK PM Starmer on final day of state visit

After the pomp, it's time for the politics. President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, the final day of the US leader's state visit to Britain, with tech investment, steel tariffs and potentially tricky topics on the agenda. The president and first lady Melania Trump were feted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at Windsor Castle with all the pageantry the monarchy can muster: gold-trimmed carriages, scarlet-clad soldiers, artillery salutes and a glittering banquet in a grand ceremonial hall. British officials have festooned the trip with the kind of superlatives Trump revels in: It's an unprecedented second state visit for the US leader, featuring the biggest military honour guard ever assembled for such an occasion. On Thursday it is Starmer's turn to welcome the president to Chequers, a 16th-century manor house northwest of London that serves as a rural retreat for British leaders. Trump's British hosts want to celebrate the streng

Donald Trump, wife Melania arrive in UK for historic second state visit

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in London on Tuesday evening for a historic second State Visit to the UK at the invitation of King Charles III, who has laid out a royal reception at Windsor Castle. The Trumps were greeted by US Ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens and Viscount Henry Hood, the King's Lord-in-Waiting, as Air Force One landed at Stansted Airport. "They're friends of mine for a long time, long before he was King, and it's an honour to have him as King. I think he represents the country so well, I've watched, he's such an elegant gentleman," said Trump, who pointed out that it was the first instance of an American President being honoured twice with a State Visit to the UK. The US First Couple will be formally welcomed to the grounds of Windsor in Berkshire, south-east England, on Wednesday morning by the Prince and Princess of Wales William and Kate, before collectively proceeding to meet King Charles and Queen Camilla. Their Majesties t

King Charles III to use tiara diplomacy as UK prepares for Trump's visit

Windsor Castle staff are setting the 50-metre-long mahogany table. Grooms are buffing the hooves of the horses that will pull the royal carriages. And the military honour guard is drilling to ensure every step lands with precision. Throughout the halls and grounds of the almost 1,000-year-old castle west of London, hundreds of people are working to make sure King Charles III puts on the best show possible when he welcomes US President Donald Trump for his historic second state visit this week. The visit, featuring glittering tiaras, brass bands and a sumptuous banquet served on 200-year-old silver, is a display of the pomp and ceremony that Britain does like no one else. But it's a spectacle with a purpose: to bolster ties with one of the world's most powerful men at a time when his America First policies are roiling longstanding trade and security relationships. We're buttering up to him, said Robert Lacey, a royal historian and consultant on the Netflix series The Crown." He ...

Trump's fondness for UK royalty offers Starmer a chance to boost ties

That affection has been leveraged by the British state in the months since Trump retook the White House

US-UK nuclear agreement to precede tech, whisky deals on Trump's visit

Nuclear partnership is one of several economic deals that PM Keir Starmer's administration intends to announce in an effort to keep Trump's visit from descending into diplomatic, political difficulty

US financial firms pledge $1.7 billion to Britain ahead of Trump's visit

The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs across London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester, and deepen transatlantic financial ties