United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party formally endorsed Jeffrey Donaldson as its new leader on Saturday, a position that will likely see him become the country’s first minister.

Donaldson received 32 votes of the party’s 36-strong electoral college, which is made up of the party’s 28 lawmakers in the Northern Ireland assembly and its eight members of parliament in London.

25 June 2021; MEMO: In the latest episode of UK Labour's internal row over Israel and Palestine, party officials have blocked a debate on sanctions against the occupation state. Members were expected to debate a motion yesterday calling for sanctions on Israel but senior officials stepped in to prevent the discussion from taking place over fears that it would trigger "anti-Semitic behaviour".

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - British Health Secretary Matt Hancock apologised on Friday for breaching social distancing guidelines after pictures appeared of him embracing his top aide, and the prime minister said he believed the matter was now closed.

Photographs published on the front page of the Sun showed Hancock kissing the woman - a friend hired for a taxpayer-funded role - in his office.

"I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances," Hancock said.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. regulators said on Friday that they’re investigating Google and Amazon over concerns the online giants aren’t doing enough to stop fake reviews of products and services on their platforms.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it opened a formal investigation into whether the two companies broke U.K. consumer law by failing to protect shoppers. The watchdog started looking into phony reviews on some big websites last year - without identifying any specific ones - amid the pandemic-fueled boom in online shopping.

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain is getting some positive indications from the European Union that they accept the need for a compromise over the import of British sausages to the British province of Northern Ireland, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Thursday.

"I think we're getting some positive indications and it's always our view that it's better if we can reach agreement with the European Union on these things," Eustice said when asked about the so called "sausage war".

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain wants to allow people to have holidays abroad again but the government is wary of the risks, a minister said on Thursday ahead of an announcement on whether a narrow list of quarantine-free travel destinations would be expanded.

Anger is growing at Britain's onerous restrictions on foreign travel: pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other workers from the travel industry held protests on Wednesday, begging the government to open up more routes. 

LONDON (AP) — The British government is being urged by its own climate advisers to deliver on its promises to deal with climate change or risk undermining a key environmental summit that it is hosting at the end of the year.

Among some 200 recommendations in a report published Thursday, the advisory Climate Change Committee said policies are urgently need to make homes more energy-efficient, accelerate the shift to electric cars and encourage people to eat less meat.

London, Jun 23 (AP-PTI) Five years ago Wednesday, Britons voted in a referendum that was meant to bring certainty to the UK's unsettled relationship with its European neighbors.

Fat chance.

Voters' decision on June 23, 2016 was narrow but clear: By 52% to 48%, they chose to leave the European Union. It took over four years to actually make the break and the former partners are still bickering, like many divorced couples, over money and trust.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA (AP) — Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is helping to take on the “lion’s share” of operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq, U.K. naval commanders said. It has also piqued the interest of Russian warplanes, who try to keep tabs on its cutting-edge F-35 jet in a “cat-and-mouse” game with British and U.S. pilots.

LONDON, June 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Civic leaders in Liverpool Saturday pleaded with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage Committee to keep the city’s World Heritage status.

A letter, signed by City Mayor Joanne Anderson, Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and the CEOs of English Premier League clubs Everton FC and Liverpool FC, has been sent to the committee ahead of a critical decision over the city’s World Heritage status to be made in July.