LONDON A giant mural of Donald Trump locked in a kiss with former London mayor Boris Johnson in the style of a legendary Soviet-era image has been unveiled by a group campaigning for Britain to stay in the European Union. Painted on the side of a building in B... More »
LONDON Prince William, his wife Kate and brother Harry urged Britons on Monday to ditch their prejudices about mental health in what is being billed as the biggest joint project the three young royals have taken on. In the “Heads Together” campaign they launch... More »
LONDON British Prime Minister David Cameron stands by his description of Donald Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States as “divisive, stupid and wrong”, a spokesman said on Monday. Trump, when asked about Cameron’s criticism,... More »
LONDON Donald Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with David Cameron because the British prime minister cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong” for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.... More »
STANSTED, England Chancellor George Osborne attacked pro-Brexit campaigners for saying Britain should not just leave the European Union but also its single market, as he sought to convince voters that the economy faces big risks in next month’s referendum. Osb... More »
LONDON Presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Britain leaving the European Union would make no difference to a potential bilateral trade deal if he became president, according to an interview clip aired by broadcaster ITV on Sunday.... More »
LONDON A London temporary worker, sent home for wearing flat shoes, has collected more than 120,000 signatures so far in a petition calling for Britain to make it illegal for a firm to require women to wear high heels at work. Reaching that total on Friday eas... More »
LONDON The BBC will face external regulation for the first time in its 94-year history, the government said on Thursday, subjecting it to tighter scrutiny but stopping short of the heavy-handed intervention that some stars and programme-makers had feared. In a... More »
LONDON The British government said the publicly-funded BBC would not regulate itself in future, with a new unitary board taking over the responsibilities of the BBC Trust and external regulator Ofcom being brought in to oversee the corporation. “It is no longe... More »
LONDON Sterling is likely to fall by a fifth in the immediate aftermath of a British vote to leave the European Union on June 23, triggering intense inflation pressure, Britain’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research said on Tuesday. NIESR, an aca... More »
LONDON Former NATO secretary generals warned on Tuesday that a British exit from the European Union would help enemies of the West while ex-U.S. foreign and defense chiefs cautioned that Britain would have less clout outside the bloc. The double warning comes ... More »
LONDON A new 200 million pound ($290 million) polar research ship is to be named after veteran BBC naturalist David Attenborough but the government promised on Friday that “Boaty McBoatface”, the name which topped a public poll, would not be ignored. The namin... More »
LONDON Betting odds have moved sharply in favour of Britons voting to remain in the European Union after U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned last week against leaving the 28-member bloc. The implied probability of a vote to remain in the June 23 referendum r... More »
LONDON Some of Shakespeare’s best known characters – Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and King Lear – will be featuring along a stretch of the River Thames this weekend, as part of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of England’s greatest playwrigh... More »
HONG KONG The Hong Kong exchange has begun a Brexit impact assessment, and some Asian asset managers are looking to set up new bases in mainland Europe amid growing concerns their operations could be disrupted if Britain votes to leave the European Union in a ... More »
LONDON Britain’s Supreme Court was urged on Thursday to maintain a ban on the English press naming a celebrity who was involved in an extra-marital threesome, even though the details are easy to find online. The case has stirred debate in Britain about whether... More »
LONDON A meticulous recreation of the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, destroyed by Islamic State militants last year, has been erected in Trafalgar Square in what London Mayor Boris Johnson called an act of defiance. The 5.5-metre (20ft) mode... More »
LONDON BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said on Monday that businesses could face a decade of damaging uncertainty if Britain voted to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum. Mackenzie, boss of the world’s biggest mining ... More »
LONDON British finance minister George Osborne said a vote to leave the European Union in a referendum in June would do permanent damage to the country’s economy, which he warned would be 6 percent smaller by 2030 than if it stayed in the bloc. The government ... More »
LONDON A team of sniffer dogs set up at a British airport at a cost of 1.25 million pounds ($1.7 million) have proved adept at discovering small amounts of cheese and sausages but not so good at finding smuggled drugs, a report said on Thursday. An inspection ... More »
LONDON A high-tech marine drone scouring the depths of Scotland’s Loch Ness for one of nature’s most elusive beasts has found a “monster” – but not the one it was looking for. Rather than the fabled Loch Ness Monster itself, the probe has discovered a 30-foot ... More »
LONDON Usually concerned with top secret matters affecting national security, Britain’s eavesdropping spy agency GCHQ was also on the lookout for leaks of a yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book, its publisher has revealed. Shortly before the publication of on... More »
LONDON Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has asked 20 banks and other financial firms to check if they have any ties to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, the regulator said on Thursday. A massive leak of documents from the firm released this week detailed h... More »
ISLE OF BUTE, Scotland A nearly 400-year-old copy of a first edition of William Shakespeare’s collected plays has been found in a vast aristocratic house on the Isle of Bute, off the western coast of Scotland. Published in 1623, the First Folio contains Shakes... More »
LONDON Big British firms are delaying deals and hiring decisions ahead of a referendum on the country’s European Union membership, a survey showed on Monday, adding to signs that uncertainty around the vote is weighing on the economy. Chief financial officers ... More »
LONDON Britain said on Sunday that UK steel producers must be considered for infrastructure and other government contracts involving steel supplies, as part of plans to find a long-term solution to a crisis in the industry. The government is looking for ways t... More »
LONDON The campaign for Britain to leave the EU has been backed by 250 business leaders including the former chief executive of HSBC, the Vote Leave group said on Saturday, hoping to counter the view that UK businesses back staying in the bloc. The camps argui... More »
LONDON Shakespeare’s skull is likely missing from his grave, an archaeologist has concluded, confirming rumors which have swirled for years about grave-robbers and adding to the mystery surrounding the Bard’s remains. Four hundred years after his death and bur... More »
LONDON Britain said it will begin trialing driverless cars on motorways for the first time in 2017, as it moves toward its goal of allowing autonomous cars to take to the streets by 2020. The government said last year there were no legal barriers to the techno... More »
LONDON Four-piece Lukas Graham set a new record in Britain on Friday by becoming the longest-reigning Number 1 single from a Danish act in UK pop chart history, while Adele returned to the top of the album lists with “25.” “7 Years” had been tied with Whigfiel... More »
LONDON For the last six years, Prince William and his wife Kate have been the darlings of the world’s media, gracing the front pages of newspapers and magazines across the globe with their good looks, easy charm and two photogenic children to boot. In the last... More »
NOTTINGHAM, England The Bank of England (BoE) is still more likely to raise interest rates than to cut them over the next two years, but it has plenty of scope to stimulate the economy if needed, one of the bank’s policymakers said on Tuesday. Martin Weale, in... More »
LONDON Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress and model Jerry Hall celebrated their marriage with a blessing service on Saturday at St. Bride’s church on London’s Fleet Street, the spiritual home of British journalism. A star-studded guest list included actor ... More »
LONDON Rupert Murdoch wed former supermodel Jerry Hall in a low-key ceremony in central London on Friday, the fourth marriage for the media mogul. The 84-year-old executive chairman of News Corp (NWSA.O) and owner of 21st Century Fox Inc, and Hall, 59, smiled ... More »
LONDON A sharp increase in the number of deaths in Britain in 2015 compared with the previous year helped funeral services firm Dignity post a 16-percent profit increase, the firm said on Wednesday. Dignity said the 7-percent year-on-year rise in the number of... More »
LONDON Yanis Varoufakis, the self-described “erratic Marxist” who took Greece to the brink of a euro zone exit by battling creditors over the conditions for a bailout, has got a new role: advising Britain’s opposition Labour Party. The former Greek finance min... More »
LONDON A Scottish nurse, who recovered from Ebola but then suffered life-threatening complications from the virus persisting in her brain, was discharged from hospital in London on Sunday. The Royal Free Hospital said in a statement that Pauline Cafferkey was ... More »
LONDON Britain’s globally respected broadcaster, the BBC, was told on Thursday it was guilty of serious failings in its handling of Jimmy Savile, a celebrated TV and radio showman revealed after death to have been one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders. ... More »
LONDON The “in” camp is ahead by a 12-point lead ahead of a referendum on whether Britain should stay in or withdraw from the European Union, but the gap has narrowed, according to the latest opinion poll. Support for staying in stood at 51 percent, while 39 p... More »
LONDON A baby gorilla has been delivered by a rare caesarean section at a British zoo in an operation performed by a hospital gynaecologist, the zoo said on Tuesday. Vets at Bristol zoo in western England called in expert medical help after the mother Kera sho... More »
NEW YORK A British cathedral sought to reassure visitors on Monday that they could still view a massive sculpture following a Facebook post by the statue’s creator saying the church had moved it because people kept bumping into it while texting. The Salisbury ... More »
BRUSSELS British and EU negotiators agreed much of a reform package on Thursday to help keep Britain in the European Union, leaving Prime Minister David Cameron to settle tricky final issues, notably on migration, at a summit next week, diplomats said. After t... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. and UK spy agencies and police may soon be allowed to directly ask media companies in each others’ countries for email and online chat data for people being investigated, under a tentative bilateral deal, officials said on Friday. As government... More »
PARIS French President Francois Hollande ruled out on Wednesday Britain getting a veto over euro zone policies as London negotiates an EU reform package to keep the country in the bloc. On Tuesday, the head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, unveiled a draf... More »
BRUSSELS Proposals to protect Britain and other non-euro zone countries from deeper euro zone integration do not grant London the right of veto over decisions, European Council President Donald Tusk told EU leaders in a letter on Tuesday. Publishing the letter... More »
LONDON Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council President Donald Tusk failed on Sunday to reach a deal on Britain’s EU renegotiation after talks in London, but agreed to another 24 hours of “crucial” discussions. The meeting was seen as vital to findi... More »
LONDON Britain’s opposition Labour party demanded on Sunday that the finance ministry explain how it arrived at a back tax payment by Internet giant Google that has put the government on the back foot. The settlement of 130 million pounds ($185 million) for th... More »
LONDON British lawmakers on Monday debated a petition to ban U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from Britain over remarks on Muslims, but while describing his comments as “crazy” and “offensive”, most said the ban would go against free speech.... More »
LONDON The 19th century courtyards of Britain’s parliament echoed to the strains of Hubert Parry’s “Jerusalem” on Wednesday in one of the loudest public shows of support for a possible new anthem to be played at English sports events. One lawmaker has challeng... More »
Tyson Fury, the boxer at the center of controversy over comments about women and homosexuals, made an apology at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in Belfast on Sunday. Before tennis champion Andy Murray collected the prestigious award, an audience... More »
LONDON Britain and Italy said on Tuesday that they agree on the need to reform the European Union to protect the rights of the bloc’s non euro zone members, promote business and tackle the migration crisis. Britain is renegotiating some of the terms of its EU ... More »
LONDON British detectives have charged a man with attempted murder after a knife attack at an east London metro station on Saturday night which was described by police as a terrorist incident. Police said 29-year-old Muhaydin Mire of east London would appear a... More »
LONDON The outlook for British manufacturing next year has darkened, with output and new orders deteriorating at rates not seen since 2009, according to an industry survey on Monday that warned of slowing growth both at home and abroad. Manufacturing organizat... More »
LONDON Refusal to pay the bills of one’s tailor was famously almost a point of honor among English gentlemen in past centuries and Winston Churchill was no exception, newly released archives show. Britain’s World War Two leader had racked up a bill of 197 poun... More »
LONDON British singer Adele’s “25” notched up the most sales in its opening week of any UK album, beating a record set in 1997 by Oasis, the Official Charts Company said on Friday. The 27-year-old’s third studio album sold 800,307 copies – compared with Oasis’... More »
LONDON Debris from a U.S. rocket, most likely the doomed SpaceX Falcon 9, has been recovered near the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of southwest England, the UK coastguard has said on Friday. It was covered in barnacles and was initially mistaken for a dead w... More »
LONDON Britain’s “woefully inadequate” anti-money laundering system has left the country wide open to corrupt money and terrorism funds and needs radical overhaul, a leading anti-corruption group said on Monday. Each year billions of pounds of dirty money flow... More »
LONDON What do John Lennon, Margaret Thatcher, Henry VIII and West Indian immigrants in 1956 London have in common? They are all, according to British historian Simon Schama, part of “The Face of Britain”. Schama – known to worldwide audiences for his 15-part ... More »
BELEK, Turkey Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he wanted Britain to carry out air strikes against Islamic State militants (ISIL) in Syria but still needed to convince more lawmakers to back such action. “I have always said I think that it is sensibl... More »
LONDON King of rock and roll Elvis Presley topped the British album charts for a second week on Friday with his 12th UK Number 1. Nearly 40 years after his death, Elvis became the male solo artist with the most UK Number 1 albums last week with “If I Can Dream... More »
LONDON Online retailer Amazon has stepped up the pressure on Britain’s traditional supermarkets with the nationwide launch on Friday of a packaged groceries offer for Amazon Prime members. The move is the ecommerce giant’s most ambitious foray into Britain’s g... More »
LONDON British pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies face a major skills shortage which threatens future investment and the long-term success of the life sciences sector, according to a new industry report. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical In... More »
LONDONBritain’s security agencies will receive a significant boost to staff numbers as part of a multi-pronged effort to stave off threats from terrorist plotters, finance minister George Osborne said on Monday. “I can confirm that over the next five years we ... More »
LONDONThe European Union needs to be more flexible if it is to persuade the British people to vote to stay in the bloc at a referendum due by the end of 2017, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. Cameron wants to reform Britain’s EU ties and is due to ... More »
LONDONBritish finance minister George Osborne will spell out on Monday the first set of spending cuts to be imposed on government departments as part of an overall 37 billion-pound ($56 billion) austerity plan to turn Britain’s deficit into a surplus by 2020. ... More »
LONDON“If I Can Dream,” a collection of Elvis classics featuring orchestral reworkings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This means Elvis now has more Number 1 albums in the UK than any other male solo artist, and puts him level with Madonna in second place... More »
LONDONThe man who will become the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station said on Friday he hoped his mission would inspire young Britons to one day journey to Mars. Tim Peake, 43, a former army major, will blast off on a six-month mis... More »
ASTANA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit London this week to discuss the situation in Syria and other matters, his spokesman said on Monday. “While in London, he will meet with British Foreign Secretary Hammond to discuss a range of bilateral and g... More »
LONDON Britain is seeking an “emergency brake” to allow countries which are in the European Union but outside the euro zone to delay decisions that could threaten their interests, the Financial Times reported. Britain, which is not a member of the 19-member si... More »
LONDON A new play that opens in London next summer will pick up the story of Harry Potter where the seventh and final volume of J.K. Rowling’s saga left off, with a plot involving a grown-up Harry and his youngest son, Albus. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child... More »
LONDON Some of Britain’s most senior former judicial figures criticized Prime Minister David Cameron’s government on Monday for its response to the EU migrant crisis, saying it was inadequate and was pushing people into the arms of smugglers. A statement, sign... More »
LONDON British singer Sam Smith went straight to number one in the UK pop charts on Friday with “Writing’s On The Wall”, the theme song to the upcoming James Bond film “Spectre”, making it the first title track for a 007 movie to be a chart-topper. The song kn... More »
GLASGOW This year’s Turner Prize nominees range from a collective selling handles, and costlier furnishings, online for 15 pounds ($23) a pop to a video display in which a woman talks about being brainwashed in Kentucky by aliens. Since the British contemporar... More »
LONDON Britain is considering selling the Channel 4 public broadcaster as part of its drive to pay down debt, a government official has accidentally revealed. An official was photographed on Thursday outside No. 10 Downing St, the residence of Prime Minister D... More »
BEIJING British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne expressed his confidence in the slowing Chinese economy on Sunday, saying the country was going through a necessary transformation and was still a driver of global growth. A string of downbeat activity... More »
BEIJING British finance minister George Osborne said on Monday Britain would like to continue helping the gradual internationalization of the yuan and that it welcomed the potential for majority Chinese investment in future nuclear projects. Speaking at the st... More »
CAMBRIDGE, England Britain’s BBC will launch an online subscription service in the United States next year, boosting revenues for the public broadcaster and allowing viewers to watch shows on demand. “We’re launching a new OTT (over-the-top) video service in A... More »
LONDON Reuters) – London’s tallest building, a 95-storey gleaming glass tower named the Shard, has changed more than the skyline. Completed in 2012, it spurred redevelopment at the ground level that ripped at southeast London’s cultural fabric by forcing the e... More »
LONDON Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has had his run-ins with the authorities in his native China, but the Royal Academy of Arts is giving him all the space he needs for a mammoth retrospective opening in London on Saturday. Among the works on display are securit... More »
LONDON Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, beloved of opera audiences for his command of the high registers, made a soaring stage debut as Orpheus in Gluck’s “Orphee et Eurydice” on Monday as the Royal Opera opened its 2015-16 season with a bang. In the role of ... More »
BELFAST When IRA-linked gunmen turned their fire on one other this summer they triggered a political crisis in Northern Ireland’s fragile government of pro-British unionists and republicans working for a united Ireland. They also revealed an uncomfortable trut... More »
LONDON Hrvoje Prpic is wandering through a fashion boutique trying to pick out a new accessory. Only he’s not actually there. He’s sitting in a trendy London coffee shop wearing a virtual reality headset that he believes could be the future of online shopping.... More »
LONDON A London skyscraper that made headlines for reflecting sunlight at an intensity that melted parts of a Jaguar car in the street below has been awarded the annual Carbuncle Cup that highlights perceived architectural horrors. Officially called 20 Fenchur... More »
LONDON Benedict Cumberbatch delivered a “Hamlet” for our time in London in a production that played to his strengths, dresses up Shakespeare for a younger crowd and had the British actor’s fans roaring in approval at the end. Ever since the 12-week run was ann... More »
LONDON The theater critic of the London Times received poor reviews of her own after she broke with protocol by reviewing Benedict Cumberbatch’s hotly anticipated “Hamlet” weeks before its official opening. Cumberbatch, 39, star of the BBC TV series “Sherlock”... More »
LONDON Britain’s government is asking some departments to prepare to cut day-to-day spending by as much as 40 percent by the 2019/20 tax year, in a major spending review launched by Conservative finance minister George Osborne on Tuesday. The finance ministry ... More »
LONDON Buckingham Palace scolded Rupert Murdoch’s top-selling Sun tabloid on Saturday for publishing a previously unknown film from 1933 that appears to show Britain’s Queen Elizabeth performing a Nazi salute as a young girl. The black-and-white film from the ... More »
LONDON Britain’s newly elected Conservative government signalled on Thursday it would cut back the BBC, the opening salvo in a battle over the future of the world’s biggest public service broadcaster. Any attempt to change the 92-year-old broadcaster provokes ... More »
LONDON Britain’s telecoms regulator is seriously considering a break up of dominant provider BT, after rivals accused it of abusing its market position and failing to invest in the broadband networks they rely on. Ofcom floated the idea of a forced separation ... More »
LONDON Britain’s government will ask the BBC’s competitors to scrutinize the broadcaster’s remit and scale, the government said on Sunday, after years of controversy over how it has been funded. The BBC [TBBC.UL], the world’s largest broadcaster, has long been... More »
PARIS An attempt by Airbus to make history by crossing the English Channel in an electric plane ended in wounded pride on Friday after a French pilot claimed to have beaten it by hours. In a further twist, a Slovenian businessman said he might have beaten both... More »
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A new app designed to educate young people about female genital mutilation (FGM) was launched in Britain on Tuesday amid a government crackdown on people who take girls abroad to undergo the practice during the summer holi... More »
LONDON British finance minister George Osborne plans to launch a 650 million pound raid on the BBC to help cover the country’s benefits bill, forcing the corporation to meet the cost of free television licences for the over-75s, the Sunday Times said. It quote... More »
LONDON A restored World War Two Spitfire which was shot down over northern France in 1940 is expected to raise about $3 million for charity when it goes up for auction in London next week. The wreckage of the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1A was recovered in... More »
LONDON The British Broadcasting Corporation will cut more than 1,000 jobs to cover a 150-million-pound gap in license fee income next financial year as millions of viewers turn off their televisions and watch programs on tablets and mobile phones. The BBC, the... More »
LONDON Italian luxury car maker Maserati is showcasing its hand-crafted Quattroporte S in an unlikely setting: at the Masterpiece London art and antiques fair, which opened on Thursday in a plush tent on the grounds of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital. Featuring among... More »
DOHA A BBC television team was arrested in Qatar and held for two nights in prison while reporting on living conditions for migrant laborers working on the 2022 World Cup, the broadcaster said on Monday. The Gulf state had organized a press tour in early May f... More »
