United Kingdom

LONDON, April 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A London Court handed down a life imprisonment sentence on convicted terrorist Ali Harbi Ali for the Oct 16, 2021, murder of British Conservative MP Sir David Amess.

Wednesday’s whole-life sentence means there is no possibility of parole for the terrorist killer, who had been found guilty of the charges against him Monday by a jury that needed less than 20 minutes to reach a verdict.

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined the U.S.-led military alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in an exclave in the heart of Europe.

Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance. Finland will decide in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday. 

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government has struck a deal with Rwanda to send some asylum-seekers thousands of miles away to the East African country, a move that opposition politicians and refugee groups condemned as inhumane, unworkable and a waste of public money.

LONDON, April 13. /TASS/: President of the Russian oil producer Lukoil Vagit Alekperov, Board Chairman of Sistema Holding Vladimir Evtushenkov and ex-President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin were added to the updated sanction list posted on the website of the UK government on Wednesday.

The updated version of the document now contains 206 more individuals from Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

"Through his directorship of Lukoil, Alekperov continues to obtain a benefit from and/or continues to support the Government of Russia," the document says.

LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - All options would be on the table in how the West responds to any use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by Russia, British armed forces minister James Heappey said on Tuesday.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Monday Britain was working with its partners to verify the details of reports that Russian forces may have used chemical agents in an attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where thousands are believed to have died during a near-seven week siege.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said Tuesday that he and Treasury Chief Rishi Sunak will be fined by police for breaching COVID-19 regulations following allegations of lockdown parties at government offices.

The news came after London’s Metropolitan Police force said earlier Tuesday that they were issuing 30 more fixed penalty notices in relation to the “partygate” scandal, which has angered many in Britain and seen dozens of politicians and officials investigated over allegations that the government flouted its own pandemic restrictions.

LONDON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1 percent in February, down from a 0.8 percent growth in January, the country's statistics office said on Monday.

Services, growing by 0.2 percent, was the main contributor to the GDP growth in February, while production and construction fell by 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Accommodation and food service activities increased by 8.6 percent in February, being the main driver of February's growth in services, ONS data showed.

LONDON (AP) — The World Bank says Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year because of Russia’s invasion, which has shut down half of the country’s businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure.

Unprecedented financial and export sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war, meanwhile, are plunging Russia into a deep recession, lopping off more than a tenth of its economic growth, the World Bank said in a report Sunday.

LONDON (AP) — For many in the U.K., the pandemic may as well be over.

Mask requirements have been dropped. Free mass testing is a thing of the past. And for the first time since spring 2020, people can go abroad for holidays without ordering tests or filling out lengthy forms.

That sense of freedom is widespread even as infections soared in Britain in March, driven by the milder but more transmissible omicron BA.2 variant that’s rapidly spreading around Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere.

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak considered whether he should resign this week after a storm of criticism over his wealthy wife's tax status, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

"He was considering whether he could withstand his family taking this any more," the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that Sunak did not consider resigning.