Page 6 - Britain

King Charles III dedicates Britain's 1st national memorial to LGBTQ+ troops

King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain's first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the UK ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban. Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who were or were thought to be gay or transgender were labelled unfit to serve and dismissed or discharged from the forces. Some were stripped of medals or lost their pension rights, and many struggled with the stigma for decades. The government lifted the ban after a 1999 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. In 2023 then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak formally apologised for what he called an appalling .

UK royals, govt face pressure to formally strip Prince Andrew of his titles

He won't call himself a duke anymore, but that is not enough for many of Prince Andrew's critics. Buckingham Palace and the British government were under pressure on Monday to formally strip Prince Andrew of his princely title and sumptuous home after new revelations about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. After discussions with his elder brother King Charles III, Andrew agreed on Friday to stop using titles including Duke of York. It was the latest effort to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew's suspicious business deals, inappropriate behaviour and controversial friendships. But he still technically holds the title of duke, bestowed by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. And as the son of a monarch, he remains a prince. Andrew's statement relinquishing some of his royal titles came after emails emerged showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted, and days before publication of a ...

London became a global hub for phone theft. Here's what's behind it

About 80,000 phones were stolen in the British capital last year. The police are finally discovering where many of them went

Aadhaar emerges as poster child for Starmer's upcoming UK digital ID plan

Last week, Starmer was visiting India and met with Aadhaar's architect, Nandan Nilekani - who is also the non-executive chairman of the IT services giant Infosys Ltd

Britain sees 50% spike in major cyberattacks as top firms targeted

Britain's National Cyber Security Center, part of its signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said it had dealt with 429 cyber incidents in the 12 months to the end of August.

UK's finance minister Reeves plans to build bigger budget buffer

Economic think tanks now expect Reeves to need to raise about 30 billion pounds in tax increases at the November 26 budget

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 .