United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Authorities around the world are racing to draw up rules for artificial intelligence, including in the European Union, where draft legislation faces a pivotal moment on Thursday.

A European Parliament committee is set to vote on the proposed rules, part of a yearslong effort to draw up guardrails for artificial intelligence. Those efforts have taken on more urgency as the rapid advance of ChatGPT highlights benefits the emerging technology can bring — and the new perils it poses.

Here’s a look at the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act:

10 May 2023; MEMO: British Secretary of State, Michael Gove, is due to push forward the UK Government's long-anticipated plan to ban the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to prevent further boycotts against Israel, reported The Financial Times.

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Some of Britain's top finance executives, fearful London is losing out to New York and rival European cities, are pressing the government to broaden an array of reforms aimed at attracting big-ticket corporate listings.

London has seen a 40% decline in publicly-listed companies since 2008 and has struggled to match growth in rival markets in Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt, while Amsterdam overtook London as a share trading venue soon after Brexit in 2021.

LONDON (AP) — An anti-monarchy group says it plans to take legal action against London’s Metropolitan Police after several of its members were arrested as they prepared to protest the coronation of King Charles III.

Civil liberties groups are accusing the police, and Britain’s Conservative government, of stifling the right to protest with new powers to clamp down on peaceful but disruptive demonstrations.

07 May 2023; MEMO: The Cambridge Union is facing accusations of undermining free speech after it changed the title of a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - Anti-monarchists on Sunday criticised the policing of the coronation of King Charles as heavy-handed, saying there was no longer a right to peaceful protest in Britain after dozens of protesters were arrested and detained into the night.

Police arrested Graham Smith, leader of the Republic group, and 51 others in central London as thousands of royal fans gathered in the capital for the event on Saturday, saying their duty to prevent disruption outweighed the right to protest.

LONDON (AP) — After the gilded spectacle of King Charles III’s crowning in an ancient religious ceremony, coronation festivities took a more down-to-earth turn Sunday with thousands of picnics and street parties held across the U.K. in his honor.

The community get-togethers, part of a British tradition known as the Big Lunch, were intended to bring neighbors together to celebrate the newly crowned king even as support for the monarchy wanes. Critics complained about the coronation’s cost at a time of exorbitant living expenses amid double-digit inflation.

London, May 6 (PTI) Rishi Sunak on Saturday made history as the first Indian-origin British Prime Minister to perform a reading at the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in London.

The 42-year-old British Hindu leader read from the Epistle to the Colossians from the New Testament reflecting the theme of service to others, in keeping with the recent tradition of UK Prime Ministers giving readings at State occasions.

London, May 6 (PTI) King Charles III was on Saturday crowned the King of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey, in a solemn religious ceremony that dates back almost a thousand years.

The king and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, travelled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey - a distance of 2.2-km - at a stately pace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach bearing a gilded crown, which was commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II in 2012.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony built on ancient traditions at a time when the British monarchy faces an uncertain future.