Tag: Britain

British govt to strip teen who joined IS of citizenship: lawyer

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain will strip citizenship from Shamima Begum, a UK teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria and wants to return home with a newborn baby, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday. “Family are very disappointed with the Home Office’s intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship,” their lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said on Twitter. “We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision,” […]

HSBC profits rise in 2019 but last quarter hit by trade jitters

by Elaine YU Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Banking giant HSBC said on Tuesday that pre-tax profit rose last year but it suffered a bruising final quarter as worries over the global economy and the US-China trade war began to bite. The London-headquartered behemoth told investors it was still aiming to meet targets despite the looming twin storms of Brexit and the long-running trade impasse between Washington and Beijing. But analysts warned it […]

Honda to close UK plant in 2022, risking 3,500 jobs: reports

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Japanese car giant Honda is expected to announce the shutdown of its plant in south west England in 2022, putting 3,500 jobs at risk, media reports said Monday. The carmaker is to announce the closure of its Swindon plant on Tuesday, according to Sky News, but still keep its European headquarters in nearby Bracknell. Nissan and Ford have also warned that jobs could be lost at British plants as Britain […]

Global energy demand to soar one third by 2040: BP

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Global energy demand will surge by a third over the next two decades on advancing prosperity, but Indian demand growth will eclipse that of flagging giant China, Britain’s BP forecast Thursday. “The demand for energy is set to increase significantly driven by increases in prosperity in the developing world,” BP said in its Energy Outlook 2019 for the industry. “This improvement in living standards causes energy demand to increase by […]

Actor Liam Neeson fights to recover after sharing racist episode

  by Thomas Urbain Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — After sparking a scandal by recalling a racist episode from his distant past, actor Liam Neeson is now battling to save his career — a task experts predict will be difficult but not impossible. More than 40 years ago, Neeson recently told The Independent of London, he was enraged to learn of a friend’s rape by a man she said was black. […]

Family tries to revive search for Sala plane pilot

    LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The family of the pilot of the small plane that crashed over the Channel while flying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala to Britain has launched a fundraising campaign to find his remains. British rescuers on Thursday formally identified the one body pulled from the submerged wreckage as that of the 28-year-old striker. But strong currents and winter weather forced them to call off the search before locating 59-year-old pilot […]

Body recovered from wreck of Sala plane: UK investigators

  by Edouard GUIHAIRE Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British investigators on Wednesday said they had recovered a body from the wreckage of the plane carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala in the Channel. But bad weather has forced the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) to abandon hopes of pulling the plane to shore. The light aircraft was carrying the 28-year-old footballer to his new Premier League team Cardiff City when it disappeared […]

Voyage into the unknown explores Indian Ocean’s hidden depths

by Robin MILLARD Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A mission to explore uncharted depths in the Indian Ocean was launched on Wednesday, hoping to discover hundreds of new species and find out what impact plastic is having way below the surface. The First Descent expedition, led by British-based ocean research institute Nekton, is set to send submersibles as deep as 3,000 meters off the Seychelles from March to test the health of the […]

Shipwreck hunter urges UK to urgently recover Sala’s plane

  by Alice Ritchie Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The investigator who found the wreckage of a plane carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala in the Channel called on the authorities Tuesday to urgently recover the unidentified body inside. “Time is of the essence when you’re talking about a body, so really it’s imperative that they proceed with the recovery of the plane and the body,” shipwreck hunter David Mearns told AFP. Mearns […]

Europe stands against May’s bid to rewrite Brexit

by Dave Clark / with Alice Ritchie in London Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — European leaders moved Wednesday to head off British Prime Minister Theresa May’s bid to rewrite the Brexit divorce deal, warning they will not budge. Having thrown out the exit deal May negotiated with the EU, divided British lawmakers voted Tuesday to send her back to get an Irish border “backstop” clause removed. May seized on this as a chance […]

Britain’s May wins mandate to reopen Brexit deal

by Alice RITCHIE and Dmitry ZAKS Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May won parliament’s backing on Tuesday to renegotiate her Brexit deal — a major policy reversal that sets up a clash with Brussels just two months before withdrawal day. May’s dramatic decision to abandon a pact she herself sealed with the 27 EU leaders at a summit last month came with Britain on course to crash out […]

Britain’s ‘zombie PM’ May staggers into battle

by James PHEBY Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May heads into her latest Brexit battle on Tuesday weakened but still determined to get her legacy-defining deal through parliament, as MPs wrestle to take control of the process. To her supporters, May is a model of resilience, but to her critics she is an inflexible leader oblivious to the changing circumstances around her. She has suffered the ignominy of […]