United Kingdom

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London on Saturday, calling for an end to Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip which was triggered by last weekend's rampage in Israel by the Hamas militant group.

Protesters, many of them waving Palestinian flags and signs saying "Free Palestine," gathered close to Oxford Circus from where they planned to head to Downing Street, the official residence and office of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

14 October 2023; AA: Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in central London on Saturday for a pro-Palestine protest, voicing their solidarity with the people of Palestine and demanding an immediate end to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

The city's streets were filled with a sea of demonstrators, with many holding placards that read "Free Palestine" and draped in the Palestinian flag.

11 October 2023; AA: Despite international journalists and news agencies debunking allegations that Palestinian resistance group Hamas "beheaded babies" in Israel, the claim continued to make headlines on Wednesday in Israeli and Western media, receiving millions of social media views.

Even as thousands of people have been killed in the conflict between the Israeli army and Gaza-based Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the disinformation front of the conflict persists on social media.

13 October 2023; MEMO: British journalist, Harry Fear, has accused Western media of exhibiting bias in its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying the “overarching storytelling” is based on the Israeli narrative, Anadolu Agency reports.

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Russia may be paving the way to conduct a nuclear test, a move that would sharply raise tensions with the West and likely prompt other world powers to resume testing for the first time this century.

President Vladimir Putin last week said Russia's parliament should consider withdrawing Moscow's ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which prohibits tests involving nuclear explosions. Parliamentary leaders were due to discuss the issue on Monday.

LONDON (AP) — The British government’s contentious policy to stem the flow of migrants faces one of its toughest challenges this week as the U.K. Supreme Court weighs whether it’s lawful to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

The Conservative government is challenging a Court of Appeal ruling in June that said the policy intended to deter immigrants from risking their lives crossing the English Channel in small boats is unlawful because the East African country is not a safe place to send them.

LONDON (AP) — An independent inquiry opened Monday to examine claims that British special forces murdered dozens of Afghan men during counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan a decade ago, as well as allegations that authorities subsequently covered up the alleged illegal activity or failed to investigate it properly.

The inquiry, which opened at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, focuses on alleged unlawful killings that took place during night raids carried out by elite military units in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Dengue fever will become a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new parts of Africa this decade, the WHO's chief scientist said, as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread.

The illness has long been a scourge in much of Asia and Latin America, causing an estimated 20,000 deaths each year. Rates of the disease have already risen eight-fold globally since 2000, driven largely by climate change as well as the increased movement of people and urbanization.

LONDON, Oct 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a delay to the phasing out of petrol-driven vehicles has been criticised by a committee of lawmakers in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom (UK), who called the move “disappointing.”

Philip Dunne, chair of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, fired a lengthy letter at Sunak yesterday.

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - British and Nigerian civil society groups have urged the British government to return funds confiscated from Nigerian politician James Ibori, a convicted fraudster, to his country in a swift and transparent way so the money can benefit ordinary Nigerians.

In a letter to Britain's home and foreign affairs ministers, a coalition of close to 50 NGOs said the long-delayed confiscation process had undermined the strong anti-corruption message sent by Ibori's conviction over a decade ago.