United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — A British court ruled Wednesday that the Conservative government acted illegally when it discharged hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for COVID-19 or isolating them — a policy that led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic.

Two High Court judges said the policy in March and April 2020 was unlawful because it failed to take into account the infection risk that non-symptomatic carriers of the virus posed to older or vulnerable people.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Tuesday that Ukraine was spiralling towards a collapse into several states because of what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia.

The comments from Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful secretary of Russia's Security Council, appeared to be an attempt to blame the United States for any division of Ukraine that emerges from the conflict.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Global food and fuel price shocks linked to the Russia-Ukraine war are set to last until at least the end of 2024 and raise the risk of of stagflation, the World Bank said in its latest Commodities Market Outlook report.

In its first comprehensive analysis of the war's impact on commodity markets, the bank, which provides loans and grants to low- and middle-income countries, said the world faces the biggest commodity price shock since the 1970s.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit Canada next month as part of celebrations to mark his mother Queen Elizabeth's 70th year on the British throne, his office said on Tuesday.

The trip, the 19th the heir-to-the-throne has undertaken to Canada, will see the royal couple travel more than 2000 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Northwest Territories over three days from May 17-19.

26 April 2022; MEMO: Amnesty International has called on French President Emmanuel Macron to make the protection of human rights a priority for his second term in office after he beat his far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Sunday.

LONDON (AP) — Four people were found stabbed to death Monday at a home in south London, British police said. A man has been arrested.

The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called by neighbors to reports of a disturbance at around 1:40 a.m. and forced their way into a home in the Bermondsey area. Inside they found three women — in their 30s, 40s and 60s — and a man in his 60s “suffering what are believed to be stab injuries.”

All four were pronounced dead at the scene.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Russia's top state investigative body said on Saturday it was looking into a Russian media report alleging that sabotage experts from Britain's SAS special forces have been deployed to western Ukraine.

The Special Air Service is an elite military force trained to conduct special operations, surveillance and counter-terrorism. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency on Saturday quoted a Russian security source as saying about 20 SAS members had been sent to the Lviv region.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it plans to deploy its newly tested Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of mounting nuclear strikes against the United States, by autumn.

The target stated by Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Roscosmos space agency, is an ambitious one as Russia reported its first test-launch only on Wednesday and Western military experts say more will be needed before the missile can be deployed. 

LONDON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers on Thursday approved an investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson over claims he misled the parliament about rules-busting parties in Downing Street during lockdown, casting further doubts on his political future.

A Labour-led motion called for the Committee of Privileges to examine allegations that the Conservative prime minister misled the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Parliament, when he denied lockdown rules were broken in Downing Street.

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers looked likely Thursday to order an investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson for allegedly lying about whether he broke coronavirus restrictions by attending illegal gatherings during the pandemic.

The opposition Labour Party has called a House of Commons vote that, if passed, would trigger a watchdog committee probe of Johnson for allegedly misleading Parliament. Ministers found to have knowingly misled Parliament are generally expected to resign.