United Kingdom

LONDON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom's (UK) consumer prices index (CPI) rose by 10.7 percent in November, down from 11.1 percent in October, according to data released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"Prices are still rising, but by less than this time last year with the most notable example of this being motor fuels. Tobacco and clothing prices also rose, but again by less than we saw this time last year," said ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner.

LONDON (AP) — Helicopters and lifeboats were dispatched to the English Channel off the coast of Kent in southern England to rescue a small boat that capsized in the freezing water, authorities said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed in comments before Parliament there was a loss of life but offered no specifics. Home Secretary Suella Braverman was expected to update the House of Commons later Wednesday.

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Governor Andrew Bailey spoke to reporters after the Bank of England said investment funds and other non-bank financial institutions would face their first 'stress test' after the near-meltdown in the pension fund sector earlier this year.

Below are comments from Bailey and colleagues from the BoE at a news conference.

LONDON (AP) — Three young boys who fell through ice covering a lake in central England have died and a fourth remains hospitalized as weather forecasters issued severe weather warnings for large parts of the United Kingdom.

Rescuers pulled the boys, aged 8, 10 and 11, from the icy waters Sunday afternoon and rushed them to the hospital in the West Midlands, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London. But they could not be revived after suffering cardiac arrest.

LONDON, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Post-Brexit Britain must look beyond its traditional allies to emerging powers in Latin America, Asia and Africa, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is set to say.

In a speech Monday at the Foreign Office, Cleverly will stress the need for long-term partnerships from trade to climate change, his office said.

The speech comes a fortnight after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the “golden era” of relations with China was over, but that his government would pursue “robust pragmatism” in dealing with global competitors.

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Jersey emergency services said on Sunday its search and rescue operation after an explosion at an apartment building on the island was now a recovery mission, a possible indication that there were unlikely to be more survivors from the blast.

Three people have been confirmed killed and police say around a dozen others remain missing after an explosion early on Saturday morning at a block of flats on the island of Jersey, off the coast of northern France.

LONDON (AP) — Rescuers searching the scene of an explosion at an apartment building on the English Channel island of Jersey said Sunday they expected to recover more bodies after three people were confirmed dead. Around a dozen people are still missing.

Robin Smith, chief of Jersey Police, said specialist teams were continuing a painstaking search of the area in St. Helier, the island’s capital, and warned it was likely to be weeks before investigations are completed.

LONDON (AP) — U.S. and Scottish authorities said Sunday that the Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 is in U.S. custody.

Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said in a statement that “the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in U.S. custody.”

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Three people were killed and around a dozen others remain missing after an explosion early on Saturday morning at a block of flats on the island of Jersey, off the coast of northern France.

"We now have, I regret to say, three fatalities," Robin Smith, Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police, told a news conference.

The explosion occurred just before 0400 GMT and the fire has since been extinguished. Emergency services will continue to search for survivors through the night, Smith said.

LONDON (AP) — This was the year war returned to Europe, and few facets of life were left untouched.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine unleashed misery on millions of Ukrainians, shattered Europe’s sense of security, ripped up the geopolitical map and rocked the global economy. The shockwaves made life more expensive in homes across Europe, worsened a global migrant crisis and complicated the world’s response to climate change.

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