United Kingdom news & latest pictures from ibtimes.co.uk

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe.

It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Great Britain is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.

British PM Johnson and Ukraine's President Zelenskiy attend a news briefing in Kyiv

Exclusive-Boris Johnson signals UK's willingness to demine, help export grain from Ukraine

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday Britain was willing to assist with demining operations off Ukraine's southern coast and was considering offering insurance to ships to move millions of tonnes of grain stuck in the country.

Commonwealth leaders meet in Rwanda amid criticism of host's rights record

Commonwealth leaders meet in Kigali on Friday to discuss cooperation on topics from trade to health to climate, against a backdrop of criticism of the host Rwanda's human rights record and of a British policy to deport asylum seekers there.

Greenpeace activists protest against the production of biofuel from grain, in Berlin

Exclusive-Britain, Germany push G7 for halt to biofuel mandates to tame food prices

Officials from some G7 countries, including Germany and Britain, will push for temporary waivers on biofuels mandates to combat soaring food prices when leaders from the group of wealthy nations meet on Sunday, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The EU and Union Jack flags are flown outside the Houses of Parliament in London

Analysis-UK's Brexit woes threaten another flagship policy: levelling-up

Dashed hopes, so far at least, that Brexit would tilt Britain's economy towards growth driven by trade and investment are threatening another of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's flagship policies: "levelling up" the regions outside of London.

Financial Conduct Authority signage at the regulatory body's head office in London

Get cracking with phasing out remaining Libor, UK watchdog says

The financial sector should not bet on remaining deadlines changing for the phasing out of the use of Libor interest rates, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday.

Prince William unveiled the new national monument to the 'Windrush' generation of Caribbean migrants who moved to Britain following World War II

New UK statue unveiled to post-war Caribbean migrants

The artist said the monument recognised the "dreams and aspirations, courage and dignity, skills and talents" of the Windrush generation.

Stonehenge was built in stages, from around 3,000 BC to 2,300 BC, and the stones are aligned with the movements of the sun

Misty sunrise for the summer solstice at Stonehenge

At 5:08 am, the sun finally appeared, serenaded by whistling and cheers but also joined by a collective rise of mobile phones in the air to immortalise the moment.

The colonial badge “harbour picture” redesigned by the museum is seen at the Museum Victoria City, in Hong Kong

'Good or bad, it's Hong Kong history' says British colonial museum founder

Bryan Ong has made it his mission to preserve items that tell the story of Hong Kong's British colonial past even as Beijing increasingly shapes life in the city that is firmly back in the fold of the mainland.

An undated photo obtained from the Refugee Action Coalition in 2014 shows a man walking through an Australian processing centre on Manus Island

Offshore detention survivors decry UK's Rwanda scheme

Manus-detainee-turned-author Behrouz Boochani has urged the British public to resist plans "to copy the deeply dehumanising asylum policies of Australia".

Rail union the RMT has said that more than 50,000 workers will take part in a three-day national strike

Britain set for biggest rail strike in decades

The government and the RMT were engaged in a war of words over the weekend, after the union's general-secretary Mick Lynch said strikes would go ahead as "no viable settlements" had been found to the disputes.

Canary Wharf business district in London

UK institute pushes ethical code after corporate scandals

Britain's company directors should sign up to a code of conduct to improve behaviour in boardrooms after high-profile corporate collapses, such as builder Carillion and retailer BHS, an industry body proposed on Sunday.

UK's Sunak hardens attitude to BoE's Bailey as inflation roars

British finance minister Rishi Sunak has toughened his language towards Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, a reflection of the political pressure piling on them both as inflation surges towards double digits.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky

British PM Johnson in Kyiv on second visit: Zelensky

On Friday, Johnson's Downing Street office said Britain stood ready to offer Zelensky a major new training programme with the potential to train 10,000 new and existing Ukrainian soldiers every 120 days.

British PM Boris Johnson holds weekly cabinet meeting with ministers in Downing Street

British minister condemns rail strikes as 'huge mistake'

British transport secretary Grant Shapps has condemned planned rail strikes as a "huge mistake" that will stop people attending hospital appointments, sitting school exams or getting to work.

London buses travel along Whitehall in Westminster in London

Analysis: Golden age of buses? Buyers hop on UK transport firms

Private capital has a keen eye on British bus companies.

UK could ditch European rights pact after Rwanda plan blocked

The last-gasp intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) forced the government to cancel the first flight on Tuesday night.

Arguments over EU-UK trading arrangents in the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement have stoked tensions in Northern Ireland

EU takes legal action against UK for breaching N.Ireland agreement

On Monday, the British government introduced legislation to rip up post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland, in an attempt to override the EU withdrawal treaty that it had signed.

Britain's Department for Transport said it will end the current £1,500 ($1,800) subsidy for buyers of new plug-in cars as it focuses on other types of electric vehicles, such as taxis and trucks

UK scraps subsidies for electric plug-in cars

Britain's automobile sector had stalled last year on pandemic fallout including a semiconductor shortage.

The planned work stoppage at Ryanair in Spain could cause more travel headaches in Europe, where strikes and shortages of staff have hit a sector that has started to recover from the Covid pandemic

Ryanair faces strike in Spain during summer break

The strike would come as summer holidays get underway in European countries and a recovery in air travel following the lifting of most Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The border between Northern Ireland and Ireland

Britain defies EU with 'relatively trivial' N.Ireland law

Britain published plans on Monday to override some post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland by scrapping checks and challenging the role played by the European Union's court in a new clash with Brussels.

An aerial view of Britain's military Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area in eastern Cyprus, a former British colony which became independent in 1960

'Like it or not', Britannia still rules part of Cyprus

The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded following a Greek-sponsored coup.

Protest as legal case is heard over halting deportation of asylum seekers, at the Royal Courts of Justice, London

UK's first flight taking migrants to Rwanda can go ahead, court rules

Britain's government overcame a legal challenge to its controversial policy to begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda as the High Court dismissed campaigners' attempts to win an injunction and said the first flight could leave next week.

Prince Harry's lawyers say paper implied he had lied, UK court hears

A newspaper article about Prince Harry's legal battle with the British government over his security arrangements implied that he had lied and tried to manipulate public opinion, lawyers for Queen Elizabeth's grandson said on Thursday.

A Wizz Air plane is de-iced before flight at the Chopin International Airport in Warsaw

Wizz Air says airline suffering major costs from chaos at airports

Wizz Air said on Wednesday it was suffering significant costs from cancellations and "operational hiccups" at airports, especially in the United Kingdom, as the industry tackles a shortage of air traffic controllers and security staff.

Shoppers walk through Oxford Circus, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in London

UK house-building slows to weakest since May 2020 - PMI

Construction of new homes in Britain almost ground to a halt last month as builders feared the cost-of-living squeeze and rising interest rates would constrain demand, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives a speech

Authority shaken, Boris Johnson pitches new plan for UK economy

Rocked by a major revolt against his leadership this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Thursday promise to rejuvenate a flagging economy and make it easier for young people to buy homes.

Willie Walsh, Director General of the International Air Transport Association, takes part in a panel discussion

Boris Johnson's COVID response 'a joke,' irked airline chief says

A leading airline industry official on Tuesday blasted British politicians for criticizing long airport lines and canceled flights once COVID-19 cases eased and in turn assailed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's own response to the pandemic.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London

In the last-chance saloon, Boris Johnson survives as UK PM for now

For a man who long set his sights on becoming Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson came dangerously close on Monday to being ousted by lawmakers tired of defending him and faces a battle to win back the confidence of his party and country.

Factbox-If UK PM Boris Johnson is ousted, who could replace him?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a confidence vote on Monday following a series of scandals, including a damning official report about COVID-19 lockdown-breaking parties at his official residence.

Platinum Party at the Palace to celebrate The Queen's Jubilee

Damaged, UK's Boris Johnson scrapes win in party confidence vote

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday but a large rebellion in his Conservative Party over the so-called "partygate" scandal dealt a blow to his authority and leaves him with a struggle to win back support.

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