United Kingdom

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s top government official in the ministry responsible for policing and counter-terrorism resigned on Saturday, saying there had been an orchestrated campaign to remove him.

Philip Rutnam quit after reports of tensions between him and Home Secretary Priti Patel, including allegations she mistreated officials. Patel has denied the allegations against her.

Rutnam, who has worked the government for 33 years, took the unusual step of making a statement outside his home alleging Patel was behind the campaign to oust him.

LONDON (Reuters) - London’s Court of Appeal ruled on Friday that two judgments in the legal battle between Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and his former wife over the wardship of their two children should be made public.

Mohammed had said that the judgments of Andrew McFarlane, president of London’s High Court Family Division, in the case involving Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah, were wrong in law and should not be publicized.

BRISTOL, England (Reuters) - Greta Thunberg denounced politicians and the media on Friday for failing her generation, saying the world is on fire but they are ignoring a looming climate cataclysm.

Several thousand people attended a rally in the southwestern English city of Bristol to see Thunberg, the teenage activist who has reprimanded governments across the world over climate change.

Known simply as Greta, 17-year-old Thunberg has captured the imagination of many young people with impassioned demands for world leaders to take urgent action.

LONDON (Reuters) - Three former Barclays (BARC.L) executives were acquitted in London on Friday of charges they helped funnel 322 million pounds ($418 million) in secret fees to Qatar during the credit crisis, in return for rescue funding.

In a blow to the UK’s taxpayer-funded Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which prosecuted the case, a jury cleared Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris, and Richard Boath of fraud.

The men, aged between 61 and 64, all denied any wrongdoing. Qatar, which is still a significant Barclays shareholder, was neither investigated nor accused of wrongdoing.

LONDON, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The British government will decide in June whether to abandon talks with the EU and prepare for a no-deal Brexit on World Trade Organization terms.

The decision will be made if insufficient ground has been covered in talks with the EU.

The acid test will be if what it calls “good progress” has not been made on areas such as financial services and data, which the government sees as the easiest areas to negotiate.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 3% on Thursday, plunging for a fifth day to their lowest since January 2019 as a rise in new coronavirus cases outside China fuelled fears of a pandemic that could slow the global economy and dent demand for crude.

Brent crude LCOc1 was down $1.55, or 2.9%, at $51.88 a barrel at 1315 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 fell by $1.41 cents, or 2.9%, to $47.32 a barrel.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain unveiled a negotiating mandate on Thursday for talks with the European Union that puts it on a collision course with Brussels, saying it was ready to walk away if “good progress” was not made by June.

After officially leaving the EU last month, Britain has until the end of the year to negotiate a trade deal and agreements on everything from fishing to transport, to replace more than 40 years of closely aligned political and economic relations.

LONDON (Reuters) - The expansion of Heathrow Airport was declared unlawful by an appeal court judge on Thursday, a major setback for the $18 billion project that could prompt the British government to pull its support for a third runway.

The new runway was approved by the government in 2018, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously opposed expanding Heathrow, Britain and Europe’s busiest airport.

LONDON, Feb 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a major review of the country’s post-Brexit approach to defense, security and international development, which will define and overhaul Britain’s place in the world.

Described as the largest review of Britain’s foreign, defense, security and development policy since the end of the Cold War, it will cover all aspects of Britain’s place in the world, from diplomatic service and the country’s approach to development to the capabilities of its armed forces and security agencies.

26 Feb 2020; MEMO: British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has revealed that two Saudi diplomats have been thrown out of Britain for drink-driving. The unnamed pair were expelled from the Saudi diplomatic mission after committing three offences, according to Sky News. One of them faced two allegations of driving under the influence of alcohol from 2018, whilst the other was accused of driving under the influence of alcohol and dangerous driving.