Page 10 - Uk Govt

WikiLeaks founder Assange starts final UK legal battle to stay out of US

Julian Assange's lawyers will begin their final UK legal challenge on Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges. The 52-year-old has been fighting extradition for more than a decade, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a high-security prison. Assange's attorneys will ask two High Court judges to grant a new appeal hearing, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain. If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the US before that happens. Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson could deliver a verdict at the end of the two-day hearing on Wednesday, but they're more likely to take several weeks to consider their decision. This hearing marks the beginning of the end of the extradition case, as any grounds rejected by these judges cannot be further ...

UK voters deliver double blow to Sunak, elect Labour lawmakers in polls

Voters in two districts in England delivered new blows to beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, electing opposition-party lawmakers in seats that Sunak's Conservatives had held for years. Labour Party candidate Dan Egan won the House of Commons seats of Kingswood in southwest England, and Labour's Gen Kitchen took Wellingborough in the country's center, results announced Friday showed. The Conservatives won both by large margins at the last national election in 2019. The hard-right Reform Party came third, putting more pressure on the Conservatives. Labour leader Keir Starmer said the results show people want change. The results will likely worsen fears among Conservatives that, after 14 years in power, the party is heading for defeat when a national election is held in less than a year. The Tories consistently lag between 10 and 20 points behind Labour in opinion polls.

Crime wave a $4.2 bn headache for UK retailers amid 50% rise in violence

Violence and abuse against UK shop workers rose by 50% to 1,300 incidents a day while instances of theft grew to more than 45,000 daily

Totally up for the fight to win UK general election: PM Rishi Sunak

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he is totally up for the fight of pitching his policies to the electorate to win another term for the governing Conservative Party as he prepares for a general election expected to take place in the second half of the year. In an interview with The Times this weekend, the 43-year-old British Indian leader said he had reasons to be optimistic because the economy was pointing in the right direction and that the future is going to be better. At the beginning of this year there is a sense that the country is pointing in the right direction, he told the newspaper. Because economic conditions have improved, because the plan is working, you are starting to see mortgage rates come down and we have been able to cut taxes. I do believe those pressures are starting to ease and that hopefully over the course of this year, we can continue to make even more progress, he said. In a message as much for the voters as for the rebels within his own Tory ran

King Charles III thanks public for support after cancer diagnosis

King Charles III has expressed his heartfelt thanks to the British public for their messages of support ever since his cancer diagnosis was revealed by Buckingham Palace this week. The 75-year-old monarch wrote the message from his royal estate at Sandringham in Norfolk, eastern England, in which he also expressed his lifelong admiration for the work done by cancer charities." The King said he was heartened that his personal experience of the disease had helped shine a light on the tireless care provided by cancer organisations around the world. I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days, reads the King's message released by Buckingham Palace on Sunday. As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement, he said. It is equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a ligh

UK Foreign Secy urges Pak to uphold fundamental rights amid poll violence

The ECP has released the provisional results for 134 out of 265 seats in the National Assembly

UK PM Rishi Sunak paid over half a million pounds in personal tax

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid over half a million pounds in personal tax for the financial year 2022-23, Downing Street revealed on Friday as part of its transparency data release. The 43-year-old Indian-origin leader had indicated his plans to publish his tax returns. His tax assessment document shows he paid a tax bill of GBP 508,308, around GBP 75,000 more than what he paid in the previous financial year (2021-22). The tax documents show that Sunak made nearly GBP 1.8 million through capital gains up from GBP 1.6 million in 2021-22 as well as GBP 293,407 in other interest and dividends. All of the investment income and capital gains came from a US-based investment fund listed as a blind trust, according to the summary. He also earned GBP 139,477 during the year from his roles as a member of Parliament and Prime Minister including allowances for the use of 10 Downing Street. Prepared by accountancy service Evelyn Partners, the tax summary follows the publication of h

King Charles III doing extremely well after cancer diagnosis: Queen Camilla

Queen Camilla said Thursday that King Charles III is doing well given his cancer diagnosis, adding that he has been touched by the messages of support he's received from the public. Camilla traveled from Sandringham House to Salisbury Cathedral on Thursday to attend a concert celebrating the work of local charities. Among the first people she met were workers from Wiltshire Air Ambulance, who offered hope that the king was doing well. Well he's doing extremely well under the circumstances,' Camilla said. He's very touched by all the letters and the messages the public have been sending from everywhere that's very cheering. The British monarch has been recuperating at his Sandringham estate in eastern England following his first treatment for an unspecified type of cancer. Buckingham Palace announced the diagnosis earlier this week.

Iran evaded sanctions, moved money using Santander, Lloyd accounts: Report

The banks provided accounts to front companies secretly owned by a sanctioned Iranian petrochemicals company

Tata Steel proposes additional support package for Port Talbot workers: CFO

Tata Steel UK will be closing its first blast furnace by mid-this year while the second furnace is planned to be shut down in the second half of 2024, he said

Job cuts in Britain 'least bad option', will continue talks: Tata Steel CEO

The steelmaker will close its two blast furnaces in Britain by the end of this year, axing up to 2,800 jobs at its Port Talbot steelworks in Wales

'UK wants India to treat it's citizens fairly after cricketer visa episode'

The UK government on Wednesday stated that India should treat British citizens "fairly" when they apply for visas after off-spinner Shoaib Bashir's arrival for the five-match Test series was delayed due to lingering issues relating to his travel documents. The 20-year-old Bashir, who plays for Somerset in the English county, was with the England squad in Abu Dhabi but couldn't proceed to India as he is yet to be granted visa. His family is of Pakistani heritage. "The specifics of this case are a matter for Shoaib Bashir and the Indian Government. But we absolutely expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa process," a spokesperson of the British government was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "We have previously raised the issues British citizens with Pakistani heritage experience applying for visas with the Indian High Commission in London." England captain Ben Stokes had earlier in the day said that he's "devastated" that the visa issues had forced ..

UK gives Northern Ireland new deadline to revive its collapsed govt

The UK government on Tuesday gave Northern Ireland politicians until February 8 to restore the collapsed regional government in Belfast, after a deadline this month passed without an end to the deadlock. The extension comes amid signs Northern Ireland's largest British unionist party is close to deciding whether to end a boycott that has kept the power-sharing administration on ice for almost two years. The British government is legally obliged to call new Northern Ireland elections now that a previous deadline of January 18 has passed. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he would bring a bill to Parliament on Wednesday to set a new date of February 8. He said significant progress had been made towards reviving the Northern Ireland Executive, and the short extension would give sufficient time for it to bear fruit. The Democratic Unionist Party walked out in February 2022 in a dispute over post-Brexit trade rules. Ever since, it has refused to return to government w

UK watchdog confirms scrapping of tougher company internal controls

The FRC has also just been given anew remit to consider Britain's global competitiveness when writing new rules

Lok Sabha polls nearing, PMO reviews UK free trade agreement progress

Officials say 'political call' now needed to fructify proposed deal

Strikes against Houthis to continue as ship attacks see no respite: Biden

US forces on Thursday conducted a fifth strike against Iranian-backed Houthi rebel military sites in Yemen as President Joe Biden acknowledged that the American and British bombardment had yet to stop the militants' attacks on vessels in the Red Sea that have disrupted global shipping. The latest strikes destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the southern Red Sea and prepared to launch, US Central Command said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. They were conducted by Navy fighter aircraft, the Pentagon said. Biden said the US would continue the strikes, even though so far they have not stopped the Houthis from continuing to harass commercial and military vessels. When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis, no. Are they going to continue, yes," Biden said in an exchange with reporters before departing the White House for a domestic policy speech in North Carolina. Biden's comments followed another significant round of strikes Wednes

UK inflation rate rises to 4% in December for first time in 10 month

Wednesday's figures showed that core inflation - which excludes volatile food, energy, alcohol and tobacco prices - was 5.1% in December, the same rate as November

US-UK airstrikes slow Iran from supplying weapons to Houthis, say officials

On Tuesday, the US hit four Houthi missiles in Yemen in a preemptive strike, a far more limited move than the one carried out on Jan 11

RAF conducted 'targeted strikes' against Houthi rebel sites: UK PM Sunak

Sunak noted that Houthis in recent months have conducted a series of "dangerous and destabilising attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea

'UK to send warships to Indian Ocean as sign of strategic ties with India'

The UK government on Wednesday unveiled plans to deploy Royal Navy warships to the Indian Ocean region later this year to operate and train with Indian forces, signalling what it described as the growing importance of the strategic relationship between the two countries. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who co-chaired an India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable with visiting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday following their bilateral talks earlier, said the Littoral Response Group (LRG) will be deployed this year and the Carrier Strike Group (CRG) in 2025 for joint India-UK training. The deployment of the UK's most advanced naval capabilities has been flagged by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a decisive step in bolstering UK-India security ties. There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so it's vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India, said Shapps. Together, we share the same