Tag: UK
Wanted Hong Kong activists in Britain decry ‘harassment’
LONDON, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – A heightened fear for their safety, increased worry for their families, and a desperate search for international support — this is what dominates everyday life for two activists in Britain who are among Hong Kong’s most wanted. Last month, Hong Kong police announced bounties of HK$1 million ($128,000) on eight democratic activists living abroad, encouraging the public to pass on information that could lead to their arrest. Former legislator […]
US, UK scouts abandon heatwave-hit South Korean jamboree
BUAN, South Korea, Aug 5, 2023 (AFP) – American and British scouts pulled out of the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea Saturday citing scorching temperatures, as organisers vowed the event would continue despite criticism of dire campsite conditions. About 43,000 people have joined the jamboree in North Jeolla province, but an extreme heatwave has seen hundreds of scouts fall ill, forcing Seoul to deploy military doctors, offer air-conditioned buses and vow an all-out effort […]
China says UK offering ‘protection to fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong activists
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after its foreign secretary slammed Hong Kong’s decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas. “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in London said in a statement late Monday. “This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs,” they continued. “China […]
Man held after three killed in UK’s Nottingham
NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom, June 13, 2023 (AFP) – Police arrested a man Tuesday after three people were found dead and a van tried to mow down three others in the central English city of Nottingham in incidents authorities believe are linked. Nottingham’s centre was cordoned off, with a heavy police presence, including some armed officers following the events that left residents shaken. A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said. Prime […]
UK inflation slides to 13-month low, stays elevated
LONDON, May 24, 2023 (AFP) – Britain’s annual inflation rate struck a 13-month low in April, official data showed Wednesday, but remains elevated at 8.7 percent as soaring food prices offset weaker energy costs, prolonging a cost-of-living crisis. The rate of price increases slowed from 10.1 percent in March to below double digits for the first time since August last year, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. At 8.7 percent, UK inflation […]
King Charles III crowned in UK’s first coronation since 1953
LONDON, May 6, 2023 (AFP) – Charles III was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms on Saturday at Britain’s first coronation for 70 years, during a ceremony steeped in a millennium of ritual and spectacle. Charles, 74, became the oldest sovereign yet to be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey, after a lifetime as heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II. At 12:02 pm (1102 GMT), Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby […]
2022 set to be UK’s hottest year on record
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – British experts on Wednesday said 2022 was set to be the UK’s warmest on record after a year of heatwaves and minimal rainfall. The findings come as communities across the globe reel from a catalogue of extreme weather this year including soaring temperatures and drought across Europe that saw crops wither and forest fires ravage swathes of land. This year had the “highest annual average temperature across the UK, exceeding the […]
UK orders Chinese-owned firm to sell most of chip maker
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – The UK government on Wednesday ordered a Chinese-owned company to divest most of Britain’s biggest semiconductor maker, in a move likely to antagonize Beijing. Business Secretary Grant Shapps was blocking the full takeover of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia following a “detailed national security assessment”, a government spokesperson said in a statement. Shapps was requiring Nexperia to sell at least 86 percent of the Wales-based chip fabricator “to prevent against potential […]
Sunak to meet Xi, first UK-China summit in nearly 5 years
Nusa Dua, Indonesia (AFP) — Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 on Wednesday, the first such summit in nearly five years, Downing Street said. Sunak will urge a “frank and constructive relationship” between London and Beijing, Downing Street said in a statement. “The challenges posed by China are systemic and they are long-term,” the statement added, citing Beijing’s “authoritarian leadership intent on reshaping […]
France, UK sign new deal on thwarting migrant Channel crossings
PARIS, France (AFP) – France and the UK on Monday signed a new agreement to work together to stop migrants crossing the Channel to England in small boats, a source of huge bilateral tension. Under the agreement, Britain will pay France 72.2 million euros ($74.5 million) in 2022-2023 so that Paris can increase by 40 percent the numbers of security forces patrolling its northern beaches, the French interior ministry said. This means some 350 additional members […]
PBBM meets with UK ex-PM Blair to discuss BARMM peace process, other global issues
Concrete ways to address food security, climate change, trade also discussed (Eagle News) — Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., met with United Kingdom’s former prime minister Tony Blair on Wednesday, September 21,to discuss developments on the peace process, food security and climate change among others. Blair is currently the Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute For Global Change. Marcos was also with First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos when he met with the former UK […]
