United Kingdom

LONDON, April 20. /TASS/: London's Westminster Magistrates' Court has issued an order for the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring announced at a brief hearing on Wednesday.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel will now handle the extradition case against Assange, who faces 175 years in prison in the US on charges of leaking classified information. Even if the home secretary grants Assange’s extradition, his defense team will still have an opportunity to file an appeal with the High Court.

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Western governments jointly warned on Wednesday about a potential threat of increased malicious cyber activity by Russia against critical infrastructure as a response to sanctions imposed as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.

The cybersecurity agencies of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - which together form the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance - said the war could expose organisations everywhere to cyber crime.

LONDON, April 19. /TASS/: UK authorities intend to revoke the recognized stock exchange status from the Moscow Exchange, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said in its statement on Tuesday.

"The UK’s tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has today (19 April 2022) announced its intention to revoke the Moscow Stock Exchange’s (MOEX) status as a recognized stock exchange," the authority said.

"This means investors will not be able to access certain UK tax benefits in future when trading securities on MOEX, although existing investments will be protected," it added.

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak will boycott some G20 meetings in Washington this week if Russia attends, as part of diplomatic efforts to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a British government source said on Tuesday.

United States officials said on Monday that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would skip some meetings of finance ministers from the G20 - a group of advanced and emerging economies - if Russian officials were present. 

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing British lawmakers on Tuesday for the first time since he was fined by police for attending a birthday party in his office that broke coronavirus lockdown rules.

As the House of Commons returns from an 11-day Easter break, Johnson is expected to apologize for what he insists was a minor slip-up — but rebuff opposition calls to resign for flouting the restrictions that he imposed on the country during the pandemic.

LONDON, April 18. /TASS/: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that he did not violate Covid-related restrictions in 2020 despite the fine he paid, the Times reported Sunday citing its source.

According to the report, Johnson will try to minimize the consequences of the scandal around the parties at Downing Street held at the peak of the first waves of the pandemic in his speech at the House Monday. He also plans to touch upon the new fines that the police imposed on him, his spouse Carrie and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak over the 2020 parties, the source said.

LONDON (AP) — Senior British royals including Prince William and his wife Kate have attended an Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.

Queen Elizabeth II, who has been experiencing mobility problems, did not attend the service at St. George’s Chapel on the castle grounds, a fixture in the royals’ calendar.

William and Kate, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were accompanied by two of their three children: Prince George, 8, and 6-year-old Princess Charlotte.

LONDON (AP) — The leader of the Anglican church strongly criticized the British government’s plan to put some asylum-seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda, saying “sub-contracting out our responsibilities” to refugees cannot stand up to God’s scrutiny.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made the unusually direct political intervention in his Easter Sunday sermon, saying there are “serious ethical questions about sending asylum-seekers overseas.”

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Friday that it plans to start putting asylum-seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda within weeks, as it defended a deal that has outraged refugee groups and humanitarian organizations.

Britain and Rwanda announced Thursday that they had struck an agreement that will see some people arriving in the U.K. as stowaways on trucks or in small boats sent 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to the East African country, where their asylum claims will be processed and, if successful, they will stay.

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago.

The couple’s office says they visited the 95-year-old queen, Harry’s grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans.