MOSCOW: Russia on Monday ordered a diplomat at the British embassy in Moscow to leave the country over allegations he was working as a spy, Russia&#39;s FSB security service reported. Moscow and London have expelled multiple embassy staff over the last decade, both trading accusations of espionage. Expulsions from one side have typically been followed by a tit-for-tat response from the other. The diplomat, whom the FSB named as 29-year-old embassy secretary Albertus Gerhardus Janse Van Rensburg, was expelled for engaging in &quot;subversive intelligence activities that threaten Russia&#39;s security&quot;, the FSB said. &quot;A decision was made to strip Janse Van Rensburg of his accreditation, and he was ordered to leave Russia within two weeks,&quot; it added. The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned Britain&#39;s charge d&#39;affaires over the incident and warned the United Kingdom not to retaliate. Relations between London and Moscow, currently at a low point over the Ukraine war, have been strained by spying allegations for decades. In 2006, former FSB officer and Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London, poisoned by polonium in what British investigators said was a hit by the Russian secret service. In 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury. One member of the public was killed after handling the delivery device, a discarded perfume bottle, triggering the largest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats alleged to be spies in decades. The UK has, however, refuted Russia&#39;s claim. UK calls Russia claims of spying &#39;complete nonsense&#39;Britain on Monday accused Russia of an &quot;aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment&quot; after a British diplomat was expelled from Moscow over allegations he was working as a spy. &quot;The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense,&quot; a foreign ministry spokesperson said, adding Russia was &quot;pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work&quot;.

Europe

Russia ordered a British embassy diplomat to leave within two weeks, accusing him of espionage. The move deepens already fraught UK-Russia ties, marked by years of mutual expulsions, spying allegations and tensions heightened further by the war in Ukraine.

Russia expels UK diplomat on spying allegations

LONDON: British police said on Sunday seven people suffered &quot;serious but not life-threatening injuries&quot; and a man had been arrested for attempted murder after a car drove into people on a street in an English city. Officers arrested a man in his 30s shortly after the incident in Derby, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) north of Birmingham, Derbyshire Police said. &quot;He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, causing serious injury through dangerous driving, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, and dangerous driving,&quot; the force added. &quot;The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing and we are keeping an open mind as to the motives.&quot; The statement said the suspect was &quot;originally from India&quot;. UK police have started to release such details in some high-profile cases, after a 2024 Southport mass stabbing targeting children was initially falsely blamed on a purported immigrant. Misinformation online was viewed as helping to fuel anti-immigration riots that subsequently swept the country. The black Suzuki Swift car struck the pedestrians at about 9:30 pm (2130 GMT), according to police. The seven injured were treated at the scene and then taken to Royal Derby Hospital and Queen&#39;s Medical Centre in the nearby city of Nottingham. &quot;The seven suffered a range of serious but not life-threatening injuries and we can confirm that, contrary to online speculation, no-one died in the incident,&quot; police noted. Interior minister Shabana Mahmood was being kept updated on the incident, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC. &quot;The police are actively investigating. We don&#39;t believe there is wider cause for the public to be alarmed,&quot; she added. Derby North MP Catherine Atkinson said she was &quot;deeply shocked&quot; by the incident. &quot;My thoughts are with those injured and I&#39;m grateful to our emergency services,&quot; she said on social media.

Police forensic officers work amongst a variety of personal items seen covering the road, inside a cordon set up on Friar Gate in central Derby, central England, on March 29, 2026, following an incident the night before where a vehicle was driven into ped

United Kingdom

The seven injured were treated at the scene and then taken to Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre in the nearby city of Nottingham.

Indian-origin man arrested for attempted murder as car hits pedestrians in UK

LONDON: A team has started searching through records related to the former Prince Andrew&#39;s previous role as a trade envoy ahead of publication, amid fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, a UK minister said on Tuesday. Britain&#39;s government committed late last month to releasing the documents following a deepening scandal sparked by the US authorities&#39; publication of millions of files related to the late Epstein. The Department of Business and Trade was leading work to identify and prepare the material for release, Minister Chris Bryant said in a written statement. &quot;We have begun searching historic departmental records and have commissioned parallel searches in other departments, in particular the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Cabinet Office,&quot; the trade minister said. The scandal has reverberated around the British monarchy and political circles. The former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and former minister and ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, are both now the subject of high-profile police investigations. Both were arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office over their connections to Epstein Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, has been released by police under investigation. He is being probed by police over allegations that he shared sensitive documents with Epstein during his time as envoy. Vetting documents on Mountbatten-Windsor&#39;s appointment as trade envoy, a post he held from 2001 to 2011, are among the documents the government has pledged to release. The former duke, long embroiled in scandals over his friendship with Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing. Mountbatten-Windsor settled a US civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre while not admitting liability.

A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, November 12, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

UK team preparing ex-Prince Andrew documents for publication: minister

LONDON: The British government announced Tuesday that it would stop issuing education visas to nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan and work visas for Afghans as part of its broader clampdown on asylum seekers. The Home Office said there had been a surge in asylum applications by students from those countries, and almost 135,000 asylum seekers in total had entered the UK using legal routes since 2021. &quot;Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused,&quot; said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in a statement. &quot;That is why I am taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity.&quot; The Home Office said the number of asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan had &quot;rocketed&quot; by more than 470% between 2021 and 2025. Migration has become a major issue in British politics, with the hard-right Reform UK surging in opinion polls with its anti-migration stance. Successive governments have struggled to contain small boats crossing the Channel from France, which bring large numbers of undocumented migrants. But the authorities also face pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers entering on other routes. The Home Office said the government has &quot;reduced student asylum claims by 20% over the course of 2025, further action is needed as those arriving on study visas still make up 13% of all claims in the system&quot;.

The tail fins of British Airways planes are pictured at Heathrow Airport in west London on February 27, 2026. (AFP)

London says asylum applications from students of the affected countries surged more than 470% between 2021 and 2025, with 135,000 people entering via legal routes since 2021.

UK halts study visas for Afghanistan, three other countries

LONDON: London&#39;s high court on Friday upheld a challenge to a government ban on activist group <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/palestine-action-launches-court-bid-to-overturn-uk-government-ban" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Palestine Action</a>, saying the proscription had interfered with the right to freedom of speech. A three-judge panel at the court found the ban was &quot;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/almost-900-people-arrested-at-london-palestine-action-protest,-police-say" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">disproportionate</a>&quot; and resulted in a &quot;very significant interference with the right to freedom of speech and free assembly&quot;. UK interior minister Shabana Mahmood said she was &quot;disappointed&quot; and would appeal against the ruling. Palestine Action remains banned to allow the government to contest the decision, judges said. Cheers erupted among dozens of protesters gathered outside the building when the ruling was announced. The government ban made being a member of Palestine Action or demonstrating support for it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. It put Palestine Action on a blacklist that also includes Palestinian militants Hamas and the Lebanese Iran-backed group Hezbollah, and sparked a severe backlash. But Judge Victoria Sharp, reading out a summary of the judgement in court, said only &quot;a very small number&quot; of Palestine Action&#39;s activities &quot;amounted to acts of terrorism&quot;. The proscription led to nearly 3,000 arrests, primarily for people carrying placards defending the group, according to protest organisers Defend Our Juries. Hundreds have also been charged and face court hearings. &quot;We won,&quot; Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, who launched the challenge, wrote on social media after the ruling. Outside the court, people waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyah scarves cheered and hugged each other. One protester with a megaphone said: &quot;Palestine action is BACK!&quot;. &#39;Over the moon&#39;Niall Pemberton, a 58-year-old retiree who has been arrested four times at pro-Palestine Action demonstrations, told AFP he was &quot;over the moon&quot;. &quot;I think it shows that we were right that direct action groups should not be proscribed as terrorist organisations,&quot; said Pemberton. Unlike previous protests where police have detained people carrying placards supporting Palestine Action, they did not arrest those at the demonstration on Friday, the Defend Our Juries campaign group noted. The government banned Palestine Action in July, days after activists protesting against Israel&#39;s military assault on Gaza broke into an air force base in southern England and caused millions of pounds worth of damage to two aircraft. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk previously called the move &quot;disproportionate and unnecessary&quot;. The UK government had insisted that some of the supporters of the group &quot;don&#39;t know the full nature of this organisation&quot;. &quot;The proscription of Palestine Action followed a rigorous and evidence-based decision-making process, endorsed by parliament,&quot; Mahmood said in a statement after the judgement. But the court concluded &quot;the claimant&#39;s claim is allowed. Subject to any further representations on relief, we propose to make an order quashing the Home Secretary&#39;s decision to proscribe Palestine Action.&quot; &#39;Right the wrongs&#39;In a recent interview with Britain&#39;s Channel 4, Ammori insisted it &quot;was about saving lives in Palestine&quot;. &quot;It&#39;s the very opposite of what a terrorist organisation is to most people,&quot; she added. &quot;Together we took action at great personal risk... We helped make this proscription unenforceable,&quot; Defend the Juries said in a statement after the ruling. It called for a meeting with Mahmood and Metropolitan Police chiefs &quot;to right the wrongs of the ban&quot;. Set up in 2020, Palestine Action&#39;s stated goal on its now-blocked website is to end &quot;global participation in Israel&#39;s genocidal and apartheid regime&quot;. It has mainly targeted weapons factories, especially those belonging to the Israeli defence group Elbit Systems.

London’s High Court rules that the UK government’s ban on activist group Palestine Action was disproportionate and violated free speech rights.

Activist group Palestine Action wins legal challenge against UK ban

LONDON: The embassy of Palestine was officially inaugurated in London in a short ceremony on Monday, hailed by its ambassador as a &quot;profound milestone&quot; in British-Palestinian relations.&nbsp;&quot;We gather today to mark a historic moment - the inauguration of the embassy of the State of Palestine to the United Kingdom, with full diplomatic status and privileges,&quot; said ambassador Husam Zomlot in a speech outside what was previously known as the Palestinian Mission to the UK in west London.&nbsp;The official upgrading of the mission to embassy status came after the UK announced it would recognise the State of Palestine in September 2025, along with several other countries, including Australia and Canada, at a time of major international concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.&nbsp;Sporting a traditional black and white keffiyeh scarf, Zomlot told the ceremony this is &quot;not merely a change of name&quot;, but a &quot;change of direction&quot; towards Palestinian statehood.&nbsp;&quot;What a way to begin a new year together, marking a profound milestone in the British-Palestinian relations, and in the Palestinian people&#39;s long journey to freedom and self-determination,&quot; Zomlot said, before unveiling the embassy&#39;s new plaque.&nbsp;&quot;This is a day of hope, a day of steadfastness, and a day that reminds the world that peace is not only possible, it is inevitable... when rooted in justice, dignity, equality and mutual recognition.&quot;&nbsp;The UK&#39;s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an AFP query on whether the UK planned to follow suit by opening a British embassy in the Palestinian territories.&nbsp;Speaking just after Zomlot at a lectern flanked by Palestinian and British national flags, UK diplomatic representative Alistair Harrison said the occasion represented a &quot;moment of hope&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;This is the beginning of a step change in our bilateral relationship,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;I wish you ambassador, and your team, a very happy stay in what is now your embassy, and congratulations.&quot;&nbsp;A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October in Gaza, following a devastating war waged by Israel in response to Hamas&#39;s unprecedented deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Middle East

Palestine opens its embassy in London, a landmark in British-Palestinian relations, signaling progress toward statehood and highlighting hope and justice amid humanitarian challenges in Gaza.

Palestinian embassy in UK officially inaugurated

LONDON: Britain has imposed visa restrictions on DR Congo nationals over the country&#39;s &quot;poor co-operation&quot; on returning illegal migrants, the UK government said.&nbsp;Further measures, up to a complete halt on visas, will follow unless cooperation &quot;rapidly improves&quot;, the interior ministry said in a statement late Saturday.&nbsp;The curbs mean that DR Congo VIPs and decision makers will lose preferential treatment on visas, while fast-track visa processing has been revoked for all DR Congo nationals.&nbsp;They come after Britain&#39;s Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in November threatened DR Congo, Angola and Namibia with visa bans unless they accepted the return of irregular migrants.&nbsp;The interior ministry said the three African countries had &quot;continually frustrated&quot; efforts to remove thousands of illegal migrants and criminals.&nbsp;It said they had &quot;unacceptably poor and obstructive returns processes&quot; and accused the countries of refusing to process paperwork and requiring individuals to sign their own documents &ndash; effectively allowing them to block their own deportations.&nbsp;Angola and Namibia had, however, agreed &quot;to improve their processes&quot; and accept the return of &quot;illegal migrants and criminals&quot;, and so will not face such restrictions, the interior ministry said.&nbsp;There had been some recent engagement by the DR Congo, but Mahmood warned the Central African nation needed &quot;to play by the rules&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;If one of their citizens has no right to be here, they must take them back,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;I thank Angola and Namibia and welcome their co-operation. Now is the time for the Democratic Republic of Congo to do the right thing. Take your citizens back or lose the privilege of entering our country.&quot;&nbsp;These visa measures came as part of a package of reforms Mahmood announced in November seeking to tighten up Britain&#39;s asylum rules.&nbsp;Immigration has become a bitterly divisive issue in Britain in recent years, fuelling support for the hard-right Reform UK party, which is currently well in front in opinion polls ahead of next May&#39;s local elections.

Britain has imposed visa restrictions on DR Congo nationals over poor cooperation on returning illegal migrants, while Angola and Namibia avoided sanctions. The UK warned DR Congo to comply or face further measures amid tightened asylum rules.

UK restricts DR Congo visas over migrant returns

LONDON: Police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian activist groups said.&nbsp;Thunberg&#39;s arrest makes her the highest profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws.&nbsp;&quot;Greta Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act at the Prisoners for Palestine lock-on protest,&quot; Prisoners for Palestine said in a statement.&nbsp;Thunberg was holding a sign reading &quot;I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide&quot;, it added.&nbsp;The 22-year-old was among hundreds of people who boarded a flotilla in October that tried to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza.&nbsp;City of London Police said officers had arrested three people on suspicion of criminal damage at a building in London&#39;s financial quarter.&nbsp;It said the arrests came after &quot;hammers and red paint were used to damage a building&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. They glued themselves nearby and specialist officers are working to release them, and bring them into police custody,&quot; a statement said.&nbsp;&quot;A little while later, a 22-year-old woman also attended the scene. She has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organisation (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000,&quot; it added.&nbsp;The government outlawed Palestine Action in July after activists broke into an air force base and caused an estimated &pound;7 million ($9.3 million) of damage.&nbsp;Some of the eight detainees who have been on hunger strike have been charged over that incident.&nbsp;The group, aged between 20 and 31, are facing trials relating to break-ins or criminal damage by Palestine Action.&nbsp;They are on hunger strike to protest at their treatment and call for their release on bail.&nbsp;Asked about it in parliament last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said &quot;rules and procedures&quot; were being followed.&nbsp;Two of the protesters began their hunger strikes in early November, according to their supporters, with others joining in the following weeks.&nbsp;The government&#39;s Palestine Action ban -- which makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison -- has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organisers Defend Our Juries.&nbsp;According to London&#39;s Met Police in late November, so far 254 out of the more than 2,000 arrested have been charged with a lesser offence which carries a sentence of up to six months.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in London at a protest backing pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, becoming the highest-profile detainee since Britain banned Palestine Action, as police cited terrorism laws and criminal damage allegations against protesters.

Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in London

LONDON: Britain&rsquo;s economy unexpectedly contracted again in October, official data showed Friday, dealing a blow to the Labour government&rsquo;s hopes of reviving economic growth. Gross domestic product fell 0.1% in October following a contraction of 0.1% in September, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Analysts had forecast growth of 0.1%. Manufacturing rebounded in the month as carmaker Jaguar Land Rover resumed operations after a cyberattack that had weighed on the UK economy in September. But analysts noted that businesses and consumers reined in spending ahead of Britain&rsquo;s highly expected annual budget.<figure id="isPasted"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/3167df24-30e1-4fce-a0a3-99f4aefa2b35-Untitled.jpg" alt="Untitled.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><figcaption>LONDON: Pedestrians walk past the Bank of England (L) and the Royal Exchange building (back R) at Bank in central London on December 12, 2025. -- Photo by AFP/Henry Nicholls</figcaption></figure>&ldquo;Business and consumers were braced for tax hikes and the endless speculation, and leaks have once again put the brake on the UK economy,&rdquo; said Lindsay James, investment manager at Quilter. Prime Minister Keir Starmer&rsquo;s Labour Party raised taxes in last month&rsquo;s budget to slash state debt and fund public services. At the same time, Britain&rsquo;s economic growth was downgraded from next year until the end of 2029, according to data released alongside the budget. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves raised taxes on businesses in her inaugural budget last year -- a decision widely blamed for causing weak UK economic growth and rising unemployment. She returned in November with fresh hikes, this time hitting workers. Analysts said that Friday&rsquo;s data strengthened expectations that the Bank of England would cut interest rates next week.

Business

Gross domestic product fell 0.1% in October following a contraction of 0.1% in September, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement; analysts had forecast growth of 0.1%.

UK economy unexpectedly shrinks in October

LONDON: Britain&#39;s interior minister on Sunday defended plans to drastically reduce protections for refugees and end automatic benefits for asylum seekers, insisting that irregular migration was &quot;tearing our country apart.&quot; The measures, modelled on Denmark&#39;s strict asylum system, aim to stop thousands of migrants from arriving in England from northern France on small boats &mdash; crossings that are fueling support for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party. But the proposals are widely seen as an attempt to counter a hard-right surge in popularity.&nbsp; They are likely to be opposed by left-wing lawmakers within Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#39;s embattled Labor government and the Refugee Council charity has already branded them &quot;harsh and unnecessary.&quot; The center-right opposition Conservatives also criticized the measures, their home affairs spokesman Chris Philp saying the government was just &quot;tinkering with the edges.&quot; Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood hit back, telling BBC television she rejected the idea that the proposals meant Labor was &quot;engaging in far-right talking points. &quot;This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart, it is dividing communities,&quot; she said. &#39;Block endless appeals&#39;Presently, those given refugee status have it for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship. Mahmood&#39;s ministry, the Home Office, said it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months. That protection will be &quot;regularly reviewed,&quot; and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added. The ministry said it now intended to make people granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the United Kingdom indefinitely. It said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants to come to Britain, and make it easier to remove those already in the country. Mahmood&#39;s reforms will also include new legislation to make it harder for irregular migrants and foreign criminals to use the European Convention on Human Rights to stop deportation, the Home Office announced late Sunday. In a statement, Starmer said the reforms would &quot;block endless appeals, stop last-minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here.&quot; Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with around 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures. Benefits crackdown A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, will also be revoked, the Home Office said. That means housing and weekly financial allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers. It will become &quot;discretionary,&quot; meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves but did not, or those who committed crimes. More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived on small boats this year &mdash; more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022, when the Conservatives were in power. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot welcomed the proposals, saying asylum seekers risked their lives crossing the Channel because the conditions they get in Britain &quot;are more permissive.&quot; &quot;We told the UK it was necessary to align certain conditions they give arriving immigrants with European standards,&quot; he said. However, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the government to reconsider, warning that the plans &quot;will not deter&quot; crossings. &quot;They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities,&quot; he said. The Danish model Labor is taking inspiration from Denmark&#39;s coalition government &mdash; led by the center-left Social Democrats &mdash; which has implemented some of the strictest migration policies in Europe. Senior British officials recently visited the Scandinavian country, where successful asylum claims are at a 40-year-low. Refugees in Denmark are entitled to a one-year renewable residency permit, and are encouraged to return as soon as authorities deem their countries are safe. Family reunions are also subject to strict requirements, including a minimum age for both parents, language tests and guarantees of funds. Labor has trailed Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, in opinion polls for most of this year but it&rsquo;s tougher stance on immigration risks losing voters to progressive alternatives such as the Greens.

Measures, modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system, aim to stop thousands of migrants from arriving in England from northern France on small boats; proposals widely seen as an attempt to counter a hard-right surge in popularity. 

Articles tagged with "UK"