World Central Kitchen -- one of two NGOs spearheading efforts to deliver aid by boat -- said a "targeted Israeli strike" on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged a "swift, impartial investigation" into the airstrike and said Israel needed to...

Madrid, Spain - Spain's government has acquired a three-percent stake in telecoms giant Telefonica following concerns over a Saudi firm taking a piece of a company that Madrid considers strategically important. Spanish state-owned holding company SEPI said in a filing with the stock market regulator late Monday that the move was...

Australia, Canada and Sweden, which were among those states, announced earlier this month they were resuming aid. Ten percent of the Finnish funding will be allocated to risk management, the minister said.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said "food prices were the main driver of the fall, with prices almost unchanged this year, compared to a large rise last year". On a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.6 percent last month compared with a rise of 1.1 percent in February 2023, the ONS...

Britain and the United States have already imposed sanctions on a small number of Israeli settlers accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pinocchio in a statement early Tuesday, maintaining the missile strike "was accurate". The British maritime security agency UKMTO had previously said a ship in the area "reported a sound of an explosion" in its vicinity southwest of the Yemeni port of...

Bitcoin hit a fresh record above $72,000 on Monday as demand for the cryptocurrency picks up amid optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. That comes after US authorities gave the green light this year to exchange-traded funds pegged to bitcoin's spot price, persuading some mainstream...

Canada has reviewed the investigation's interim report and "we were reassured by the contents," Minister of International Development said. He also announced that Ottawa will partner with Jordan and the World Food Program to conduct airdrops in Gaza to deliver desperately needed food and other essentials.

Beirut, Lebanon - Gunmen thought to be linked to the Islamic State group in Syria killed 18 people searching for truffles in the desert Wednesday, a war monitor said. More than 50 people remained missing after the attack that saw heavy clashes with pro-government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

The head of the UNRWA is set to defend his organization's work at the General Assembly, after crippling backlash over accusations that some employees were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that his agency is at a...

Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany. The social media giant had been pushed into paying for news by governments hoping to level the media playing field and support struggling news firms.

Jim Ratcliffe is the co-owner of the Manchester United.

"The weakness of yesterday's US retail sales release have given market doves a new lease of life and allowed them to refocus on the likelihood of an early Fed rate cut," Rabobank analyst Jane Foley told AFP.

Group revenue dipped 0.8 percent to 59.6 billion euros.

"The presence of US forces in our region has no justification," Raisi said in a Tehran ceremony ahead of the 45th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution on February 12.

McDonald's cited war in the Middle East as a drag.

MADRID, SPAIN -  Spain said on Monday that it would give an additional US$$3.8 million (3.5 million euros) in aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which is facing a cash crunch after several nations suspended their funding. Over a dozen countries, including major donors the United States, Germany, Britain...

"We urge fellow donor countries to reflect on the wider consequences of cutting their funding to UNRWA," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement to AFP. "UNRWA is a vital lifeline for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza," he said, adding that "to avoid collectively punishing millions of...

US and Britain have carried out two rounds of joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis' ability to target shipping, while the US has also launched unilateral air raids on the Iran-backed rebels' missiles. Washington is seeking to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, redesignating them as a...

Davos, Switzerland - The United States wants a "de-escalation" in the Middle East despite its strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday. "We seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de-escalation," Sullivan said at the World Economic Forum...

Tehran, Iran - Iran urged on Monday the United States and Britain to "stop the war against Yemen" following their recent strikes on targets of the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels. US and British forces have hit scores of targets in Yemen after weeks of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea,...

Britain, the United States and eight allies said the strikes aimed to "de-escalate tensions". But Iran and other governments condemned the Western action or warned that unrest could worsen. The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the strikes on Friday, days after adopting a resolution...

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the strikes carried out by the United States and Britain against Houthi rebels in Yemen, the chamber's presidency said. France, which holds the rotating presidency for the month of January, said the emergency meeting had been requested by Russia.

China, which has a broad definition of state secrets, has publicized several other alleged spying cases in recent months. In May, authorities sentenced 78-year-old American citizen John Shing-wan Leung to life in prison for espionage, though Beijing has not provided substantial details of his case.

HALEU fuel is needed to power many of the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors, including so-called small modular versions that the UK intends to use. The first plant of the uranium fuel will be in northwest England and is scheduled to be operational by the 2030s, the government said.

London, UK - Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair has strongly denied an Israeli media report linking him to talks last week about the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza in other countries. Channel 12 claimed on Sunday that Blair, who left office in 2007 and served as a Middle East envoy...

The Belgorod attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 40 people, wounding dozens more. Fresh strikes Saturday caused more casualties in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said. Belgorod lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the...

The task force announced by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday initially included Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. The Iran-backed Houthis say their missile and drone strikes on passing container ships are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel...

Sixty-nine million children live in poverty in the world's 40 richest countries, UNICEF said in a report, blasting Britain and France for their particularly bad standings. That's despite a drop in child poverty rates by around 8 percent in the 40 European Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development...

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on X, formerly Twitter, that she welcomed the agreement to "protect those who try to reveal inconvenient truths".

The resolution, prepared by Malta and adopted with 12 votes in favor, "calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days" to allow aid to reach civilians in the besieged territory. The text raises the question of how many days...

During parliamentary hearings, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the move to revoke the treaty was a response to the United States' "cynicism" and "boorish attitudes" on nuclear weapons.

Qatar's top diplomat Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the two governments -- both Western allies -- "reaffirm our complete rejection of responding to the crisis with double standards when it comes to human life". "It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it...

Demonstrators held signs reading "Freedom for Palestine", "Stop Bombing Gaza" and "End Israeli Apartheid". Many waved Palestinian flags and some chanted "5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state" and "Free Palestine". Since shock Hamas attacks, Israel has launched devastating air and ground bombardments of Gaza., killing some 4,385...

Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, made his comments during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who before visiting Riyadh met with Israeli leaders and pressed them to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Prince Mohammed "affirmed that the kingdom considers targeting civilians in Gaza...

Last year Shell inked a deal with QatarEnergy for a 9.4% stake in Qatar's North Field South project, the second phase in the expansion of the world's largest gas field, extending under the Gulf into Iranian territory. Later it also agreed to a 6.25% share in the first phase of...

Labour heads into its annual conference in Liverpool, northwest England, this weekend enjoying double-digit leads in opinion polls ahead of a general election expected next year. Many observers say that is largely down to chaotic Conservative rule that has resulted in three different prime ministers in four years, following upheaval over...

New Delhi, India - Army chiefs and senior officers from 30 countries including the United States met in India on Tuesday to discuss threats facing the Asia-Pacific region, in the face of concern at an increasingly assertive China. US Army chief Randy George said the region was "critically important", speaking to reporters...

"Just as we stand together against military aggression, so must we strive together to protect the world from our most existential challenge of all -- that of global warming, climate change and the catastrophic destruction of nature," said the king, known for campaigning on environmental issues for the past decades.

Iran's foreign ministry said that the move to withdraw accreditation from several of the UN's nuclear watchdog inspectors was in retaliation for "political abuses" by the United States, France, Germany and Britain. But IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said that this would seriously hamper the ability of the IAEA to...

The International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned that the next 24 to 48 hours will be critical for saving lives as the death toll keeps rising. At the same time, global aid and support has begun to pour into Morocco, led by the UAE, Qatar,...

In a short statement, the 74-year-old British head of state recalled the "great affection" for his mother, her life and public service. "I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to...

Abu Dhabi, UAE - The UAE Ministry of Economy has announced that Zencargo, a UK-based company with expertise in digital freight forwarding, is joining its NextGenFDI program, a government initiative to attract international investment to the UAE. The company plans to establish operations in the Emirates with a view to...

It accuses Google of breaching competition law by shutting out mobile search competition and using its market dominance to increase the prices paid by advertisers for their prominence on the Google search page.

Senior royal, political and other figures and experts are set to be appointed to the committee to develop ideas and bring their recommendations to her heir, King Charles III, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The committee will also seek suggestions from the public during the preparatory process.

London, Britain - The Biden administration has implemented restrictions on the sale of Nvidia's advanced microchips to certain Middle Eastern countries, citing rising worries about China's access to crucial artificial intelligence resources, Telegraph reported on Wednesday.  Nvidia, a tech giant valued at $1.2 trillion, has been directed to obtain permission...

Former culture minister Nadine Dorries announced her intention to resign 11 weeks ago but had remained as member of parliament while she investigated why she was not given a seat in the upper house of parliament. In her letter, which she released on social media, Dorries accused Sunak of leading...

Moscow, Russia - Moscow has expanded its stop-list as a retaliatory measure barring 54 UK citizens from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, quoted by Russian news agency TASS. The list now includes Lucy Frazer, UK secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, "who is promoting Russia’s...

With support from a military force from neighboring Saudi Arabia, Bahrain crushed the 2011 protests which had demanded a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.Bahrain faced US criticism at the time, with former president Barack Obama imposing an arms embargo for four years. But Obama's successor Donald Trump fully...

The talks to be hosted in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah next weekend will discuss a path toward peace in Ukraine, convening representatives from Kyiv, Western powers and developing countries. Russia is likely to miss the meeting just as it did not participate in a similar gathering last...