United Kingdom

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of Julian Assange marched through London on Saturday to pressure the U.K. government into refusing to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States to face spying charges.

Famous backers, including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood joined the crowd protesting the U.S. espionage charges against the founder of the secret-spilling website. An extradition hearing for Assange is due to begin in a London court on Monday.

(Reuters) - London police said on Friday that they had charged a 29-year-old man in the stabbing of a prayer leader at a mosque in Park Road.

Daniel Horton, charged with section 18 GBH and possession of a bladed article, is due to appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Feb. 22, Police said here

LONDON, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing inside a central London mosque.

The victim, who is in his 70s, was found injured after emergency services were called to the London Central Mosque in Park Road, near Regent’s Park, at 15:10 GMT.

He was taken to hospital by paramedics where his condition has been assessed as non-life threatening.

The Met Police said the attack is not being treated as terror related.

LONDON (Reuters) - Almost a decade after his WikiLeaks website enraged Washington by leaking secret U.S. documents, a London court will begin hearings on Monday to decide whether Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States.

A hero to admirers who say he has exposed abuses of power, Assange is cast by critics as a dangerous enemy of the state who has undermined Western security. He says the extradition is politically motivated by those embarrassed by his revelations.

LONDON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Up to 50,000 staff members in 74 universities across Britain started a 14-day strike on Thursday over disputes on pension, pay and working conditions.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU), including lecturers, technicians, librarians and other academic and support staff, are joining the industrial action between Feb. 20 and March 13, potentially affecting 1.2 million students.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday supported by China’s efforts to boost its economy, a drop in new coronavirus cases at the epicentre of the outbreak and supply concerns in Venezuela and Libya.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 37 cents at $59.49 a barrel by 1300 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 climbed 49 cents to $53.78 per barrel.

China’s move to cut its benchmark lending rate on Thursday also helped ease worries about slowing demand in the world’s second-biggest oil consumer and largest crude oil importer. [nAPN0BMKPH]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain blamed Russia on Thursday for cyber-attacks on Georgia, including a major assault that knocked out thousands of state, private and media websites last year.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the GCHQ signals intelligence agency, has assessed with high probability that Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) carried out the October attack.

LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The future relationship between Britain and the European Union (EU) is a "different ball game" to the one the EU has with Canada due to Britain's proximity to the bloc, a key EU aide said here Wednesday.

Addressing a conference at the London School of Economics (LSE), Stefaan De Rynck, senior advisor of chief EU negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier, said Britain is too geographically close to the EU for a Canada-style trade deal without guarantees that Britain will not undercut European standards.

LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to claim during an extradition hearing that the Trump administration offered him a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, a lawyer for Assange said Wednesday.

Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the United States on spying charges. His full court hearing is due to begin next week.

London, Feb 19 (PTI) Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday announced the launch of the UK's new points-based visa system, aimed at attracting the "brightest and the best" from the world, including from India, and cutting down numbers of cheap, low-skilled workers coming to the country.

The new system will come into force from January 1 2021 at the end of the transition period after the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) last month, which will formally end free movement of people within the economic bloc for the UK as a non-member.