London: Britain's prosecutors say The Sun tabloid's politics editor Clodagh Hartley has been charged over a conspiracy to pay thousands of pounds worth of bribes to a press officer working in the British government's tax department.
Prosecutors say The Sun paid bribes to press officer Jonathan Hall in return for information about unannounced spending plans, deficit reduction work, and policy decisions. Hall, 51, was also charged in relation to the payments.
Hartley, 38, was arrested in 2012 as part of a sprawling bribery probe linked to Britain's phone hacking scandal. The investigation has already ensnared some of The Sun's most senior staffers....
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09:40 PM, May 14, 2013
London: Britain has launched a new "super priority" same-day visa service for urgent travellers from India, the first-of-of-its-kind service to be launched by the UK anywhere in the world. The Super Priority Visa Service had been announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the country in February, 2013. The first-of-of-its-kind service to be launched anywhere in the world by the UK Home Office is open for...
06:35 PM, May 14, 2013
Chennai: A 26-member British business delegation, led by Kenneth Clarke, cabinet minister and the prime minister's trade envoy, will visit Tamil Nadu this week to promote healthcare partnership with the state. In a statement issued here, the British High Commission said Clarke is expected to meet Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Health Minister KC Veeramani May 8, 2013. "On May 9, 2013 he will deliver a speech at a conference...
05:35 AM, May 07, 2013
The Duchess of Cambridge was recently voted the world's best dressed pregnant star by the Vanity Fair magazine. ...
06:55 PM, May 06, 2013
London: A woman desperate for another child forced her 14-year-old daughter to get pregnant using syringes of donor sperm, a British judge said. In a ruling reported for the first time on Monday, High Court judge Peter Jackson said the mother had behaved in "a wicked and selfish way" that almost defied belief. The judge said the woman, an American divorcee living in Britain with three adopted children, hatched the...
08:16 AM, Apr 30, 2013
London: Steel giant Tata Steel has reportedly warned the British government that it plans to shut down two research and development facilities in the country and shift them overseas including to India, resulting in 300-400 job cuts in the UK. In a move that will be seen as a major blow to Britain's already struggling industrial base, the company plans to close its technology centres on Teesside, in the north-east...
12:36 PM, Apr 29, 2013
London: A 40-year-old woman, said to be an "illiterate" Indian, was beaten, raped and given out-of-date food and passed between three middle-class families as a slave for many years in Britain, a daily reported. The woman made desperate pleas for help to Hertfordshire Police as well as charities and other state agencies, but when police officers spoke to her, one of her "powerful and well-connected abusers" was used as an...
05:54 PM, Apr 20, 2013
London: Britain's most successful Olympian Chris Hoy is to retire from track cycling having exhausted "every last ounce of effort and energy", the six-time Games gold medal winner said on Thursday. Hoy, 37, has decided against competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in his native Scotland. "I am officially announcing my retirement. It was not a decision I took easily or lightly, but I know it's the right...
04:49 PM, Apr 18, 2013
London: Britain's public broadcaster came under fire on Friday for compromising over the song 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead' that was sent flying up the UK charts by a campaign to celebrate former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's death. The song from the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz' is vying for the No 1 slot in the UK's weekly list of the top 40 best-selling singles that are usually...
11:17 AM, Apr 13, 2013
Margaret Thatcher, the 'Iron Lady' who transformed Britain and inspired conservatives around the world by radically rolling back the state during her 11 years in power, died on Monday following a stroke. Was Thatcher one of the most influential world leaders of the last century? And what made her so special? ...
10:13 PM, Apr 09, 2013
World leaders are paying their tribute to the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, who passed away on Monday at the age of 87 and will have full military honours at her funeral. "There were people who said she couldn't make it, who stood in her way, who said that a woman couldn't lead. And she defied them all," said British Prime Minister David Cameron. ...
09:56 AM, Apr 09, 2013
London: Britain on Saturday eased immigration rules for a section of foreign students, including Indians, who wish to stay and work in the country, in a bid to attract the "brightest and the best" global talent. The Home Office has announced a series of reforms which came into force on Saturday to encourage the "brightest and the best to come to the UK". Changes to the "Graduate Entrepreneur Programme" will...
08:40 PM, Apr 06, 2013
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found in the locked bathroom of his luxury mansion near London over the weekend, died by hanging, British police said on Monday. An autopsy showed no signs of a violent struggle but further tests would be carried out, including toxicology and histology examinations, police said. ...
10:40 AM, Mar 26, 2013
British Prime Minister David Cameron today unveiled further plans to tighten rules for foreigners in the country, even as the department in charge of tackling immigration came under severe criticism for its inability to clear backlogs of over 300,000 unresolved immigration cases. ...
06:33 PM, Mar 25, 2013
British police on Sunday said they have no evidence to suggest third-party involvement in the death of Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled Russian tycoon who went from Kremlin kingmaker to fiery critic. ...
08:10 AM, Mar 25, 2013
A middle-aged mother of two, who joked on Facebook about chucking an egg at British Prime Minister David Cameron, has been quizzed by detectives. Forty-five-year-old Debra Burt typed "Cameron I'd like to egg him" on a friend's timeline. ...
09:40 PM, Mar 24, 2013
The British Minister of State for Foreign Office, Hugo Swire, met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. A deal was signed between the state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd and UK-based BG group to get a supply of 1.25 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per annum starting 2015. When asked about granting Modi a UK visa, Swire said the decision is taken on an individual basis. He, however,...
08:46 PM, Mar 20, 2013
China has become the world's fifth-largest arms exporter, a respected Sweden-based think tank said on Monday, its highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient. ...
11:54 AM, Mar 18, 2013
An overwhelming 99.8 per cent of Falkland Islands voters have backed keeping their government just the way it is: a British Overseas Territory. Of the 1,517 valid votes cast, only 3 islanders voted "no" to the question: "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?" One vote was somehow lost, officials said on Tuesday. ...
05:49 PM, Mar 12, 2013
Italy's foreign ministry said Sunday that seven foreign hostages kidnapped in northern Nigeria had been killed as claimed by Islamic extremists, the worst such foreign abduction violence to hit the turbulent West African nation in decades. Greece also confirmed one of its citizens had been killed by Ansaru, the radical group that claimed responsibility for abducting the foreigners from northern Bauchi state in February 16. ...
08:41 PM, Mar 10, 2013
