MPs from the right wing of the ruling Conservative Party in Great Britain are talking with its moderate faction about removing the leader - and therefore prime minister - Rishi Sunak and replacing him with the leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt - the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail reported yesterday.more
Iranian-born scientist Shiva Kaviani has been living at Istanbul airport for a month now, unable to return to her country for political reasons and denied a visa by Canada, where she was heading, on formal grounds. It is a story like out of the Steven Spielberg film "Terminal", the media notes.more
Only 10% of funding promised to reduce inequality as part of the levelling up agenda has been spent, MPs have said.
The Public Accounts Committee found ministers were "unable to provide any compelling examples of what levelling up funding has delivered so far". It also criticised a "worrying lack of transparency" in how cash was allotted. more
Economy Minister in the Welsh Government Vaughan Gething was today announced as the winner of the election to become the new leader of the local branch of the Labour Party and will become the new First Minister (Prime Minister) of Wales. He will be the first black head of government in Europe.more
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said there will not be a general election on 2 May, the date when local elections are already taking place. Earlier this year, Mr Sunak suggested the general election would happen in the second half of 2024.more
Ministers have unveiled a new extremism definition under which certain groups will be blocked from government funding and meeting officials. It will apply to, but not criminalise, groups that promote an ideology based on "violence, hatred or intolerance".more
Russia is clearly preparing for a long conflict with the West, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced in the European Parliament yesterday. Russia is not invincible, we can overcome this challenge if we pool our resources, he added.more
Foreign governments will not be allowed to own British newspapers and magazines, the British government announced yesterday, effectively closing the subject of the takeover of the 'Daily Telegraph', 'Sunday Telegraph' and 'The Spectator' by a consortium involving a company linked to the ruling family from the United Arab Emirates.more
The return to the rule of law is underway in Poland - the French daily "Le Figaro" reported yesterday. The policy of the new authorities is sometimes considered brutal, but it brings the first results in the form of unlocking EU funds, the newspaper adds.more
The Home Office is dysfunctional and in urgent need of reform, the recently sacked independent borders inspector has told the BBC. David Neal said immigration failures went to the top of the department.more
Russia is in a state of combat readiness and is fully ready for a nuclear war, but "not everything is rushing towards it," said Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, quoted by Reuters, in an interview with Russian media published today. He also assured that Russia would "cooperate" with any elected US president.more
Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were blindfolded, detained, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at their hospital last month.more
Parliamentarians of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from the Bavarian state parliament go to Russia. They were invited to observe the country's "presidential elections" on March 15-17.more
The UK needs new gas-fired power stations because without them the country will face energy supply disruptions, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Energy Security Minister Claire Coutinho argued yesterday.more
The historic visit of President Duda and Prime Minister Tusk emphasized the iron commitment of both countries to NATO, the White House said yesterday in a statement from the meeting. The topics discussed included support for Ukraine, energy security and the importance of democratic values.more
More than a fifth of adults in the UK are deemed not to be actively looking for work, official figures suggest. The UK's economic inactivity rate was 21.8% between November and January, marginally higher than a year earlier.more
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be involved in the ruling Conservative Party's campaign in this year's House of Commons elections in an attempt to help it avoid the heavy defeat indicated by the polls, 'The Times' reported today.more
Labour’s chairman has vowed to get more older women and single mothers into the workforce to boost the economy if the party wins the next election.
Anneliese Dodds, who is shadow minister for women and equalities as well as party chairman, said getting more women into work would be key to unlocking economic growth.more
Poland has made good use of its 25 years in NATO and is now a key country in the Alliance's eastern flank, standing out in the field of defence spending, among other things, say analysts from various North Atlantic Alliance countries.more
The King has pledged to continue to serve "to the best of my ability" in his first video message since his cancer diagnosis. The message has been recorded to mark Commonwealth Day and will be played at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey later.more
Boris Johnson flew to Venezuela in February for unofficial talks with its autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, according to reports. The former prime minister spoke to the Venezuelan president about the war in Ukraine, amid concerns that the socialist republic could supply weapons or military support to Russia, according to the Sunday Times.more
Voters in the Republic of Ireland have overwhelmingly voted against amending the Irish Constitution. Proposals to alter wording in the constitution to include families which are not based on marriage were defeated with 67.7% voting 'no'.more
The British Army's sourcing of a senior member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as an informant is likely to have cost more lives in the Northern Ireland conflict than it saved, according to a report published yesterday.more