England

LONDON (AP) — A senior Labour party official says leaks from a report on Russian interference in British politics raises serious questions about the security of next month’s election.

The Sunday Times says the report from Parliament’s intelligence committee concludes that Russian interference may have affected Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, though the impact was “unquantifiable.” The Times says the report discusses the impact of articles posted by Russian new sites that were widely disseminated on social media.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said they are investigating the alleged assault on the Hong Kong justice secretary in London, but so far there have been not been any arrests.

Teresa Cheng, who was in London to promote Hong Kong as a dispute resolution and deal-making hub, was targeted on Thursday by a group of protesters who shouted “murderer” and “shameful”.

“A woman was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service suffering an injury to her arm,” the police said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour Party plans to nationalize BT’s broadband network to provide free internet for all, a radical election pledge to roll back 35 years of private ownership that caught both the company and its shareholders by surprise.

Labour said its proposed overhaul of Britain’s telecoms infrastructure would be paid for by raising taxes on tech firms such as Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Facebook and using its Green Transformation fund.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has a 10-point lead over the opposition Labour Party, according to an opinion poll published by market research company Kantar on Wednesday, ahead of next month’s election.

Support for the Conservatives stood at 37% compared with Labour’s 27%. The pro-European Union Liberal Democrats were on 17% and the Brexit Party was on 9%.

Kantar surveyed 1,165 people online between Nov. 7 and Nov. 11, before the Brexit Party announced it would not stand in seats held by Conservative members of parliament.

HARTLEPOOL, England (AP) — In Hartlepool, a tough, proud English port town whipped by bitter North Sea winds, people have long felt ignored by politicians in far-off London. But not anymore.

Political parties in Britain’s Brexit-dominated December election are battling fiercely to win Hartlepool and places like it: working-class former industrial towns with voters who could hold the key to the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing Street.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose further above $62 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump may signal progress on trade talks with China and lower inventories at a U.S. oil hub.

Concern about slower economic growth and oil demand due to the fallout from the 16-month U.S.-China trade dispute sent prices lower on Monday. Trump gives a speech later on Tuesday and investors are keen for an update on the talks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Tuesday it was subject to a large-scale cyberattack on its digital platforms just weeks before a national election but it was confident no data breach occurred.

British security services have warned that Russia and other countries could use cyberattacks or divisive political messages on social media to attempt to disrupt the Dec. 12 election.

“We have experienced a sophisticated and large-scale cyber attack on Labour digital platforms,” a party spokesman said in a statement.

LONDON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hopes of winning a majority in the general election were given a massive boost Monday.

Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU Brexit Party announced at an election rally in northeast England that the party will not contest more than 300 Conservative seats in the December election.

Farage had earlier indicated the party would contest almost all of the 650 parliamentary seats, a move that could have harmed the Conservatives prospects of winning an outright majority next month.

LONDON (AP) — Facebook is opening up a war room to quickly respond to election hoaxes. Twitter is banning political ads. Google plans to crack down on bogus videos on YouTube.

Social media platforms say they are mounting a vigorous campaign against misinformation in the lead up to next month’s general election in the United Kingdom. But digital misinformation experts believe British voters remain vulnerable to the same type of misleading ads and phony claims that played a role in the vote to leave the European Union three years ago.

LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Sajid Javid said on Sunday the opposition Labour Party’s “reckless” spending plans would trigger an economic crisis within months if it won the Dec. 12 election, citing a contested dossier published by his Conservative Party.

Labour strongly dismissed the report, which said it would increase spending by 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.5 trillion) over the next five years, calling it fake news.