United Kingdom

05 May 2022; MEMO: A group of British activists have unfurled a Palestinian flag on top of the town hall in Bishop's Castle on the English side of the border with Wales. Activist Sarah Wilkinson climbed the building on Monday — the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr — and called out the double standards of the town for raising the Ukraine flag following Russia's invasion but not doing the same for Palestine despite it suffering under 74 years of Israeli occupation.

LONDON, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of England (BoE), the central bank of the United Kingdom (UK), on Thursday once again raised its benchmark interest rate to 1 percent, the highest level since 2009, to curb surging inflation.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on Wednesday and voted by a majority of 6-3 to increase the Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, the BoE said in a statement.

"Those members in the minority preferred to increase Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 1.25 percent," according to the statement.

LONDON (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries decided Thursday to gradually increase the flows they send to the world, even as Europe’s plan to sanction Russian oil threatens to yank millions of barrels off a global market already thirsty for crude.

LONDON (AP) — The militaries of Britain and Japan will “work more closely together” under a defense deal that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced during talks with his Japanese counterpart Thursday.

Johnson hosted Premier Fumio Kishida at the British leader’s 10 Downing St. residence. He noted the “strong stance” Japan has taken “against the Russian aggression in Ukraine” and he drew a parallel with the security situation in Asia.

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 15 million people were killed either by coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.

In a report Thursday, the U.N. agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the figure as “sobering,” saying it should prompt countries to invest more in their capacities to quell future health emergencies.

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed speculation that President Vladimir Putin planned to declare war against Ukraine and declare a national mobilisation on May 9 when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union's victory in World War Two.

LONDON (AP) — A British parliamentary committee scrutinizing draft online safety legislation has invited Elon Musk to discuss his plans to buy Twitter and the changes he’s proposing for the social media platform.

Parliament’s digital committee asked the Tesla CEO on Wednesday to give evidence about his proposals “in more depth.”

Musk said it’s too early to give an answer.

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice on Tuesday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin's toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the United States and allies over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, Russia's paramount leader since 1999, signed a broad decree on Tuesday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days.

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - The British Foreign Office said on Sunday Russia is using a troll factory to spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine on social media and target politicians across a number of countries including Britain and South Africa.

Britain cited UK-funded expert research, which it did not publish. It said the research exposed how the Kremlin's disinformation campaign was designed to manipulate international public opinion of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, boost support for it and recruit new sympathisers.

29 April 2022; MEMO: UK Labour leader Keir Starmer and senior shadow cabinet ministers are said to be on a charm offensive to woe Britain's Jewish community by canvassing for next week's local elections with officials from Israel's Labor Party. That's according to a report in the Guardian which said that a delegation from Israel were taken door-knocking in Barnet, north London, which has a large Jewish community, in what seems to be an attempt to show Labour's commitment to Israel.