World News
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Joint statement by UK MOD, US DOD, and German Defence Ministry
The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany are deeply committed to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Russia has shifted its focus to theRead More... -
Protecting EU transport in times of crisis: Commission adopts Contingency Plan for Transport
Today, the Commission adopted a Contingency Plan for Transport to strengthen the resilience of EU transport in times of crisis. The plan draws lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic as well asRead More... -
London and Los Angeles work together to tackle the climate emergency
Today, the Mayor of London and Chair of C40 Cities, Sadiq Khan, visits the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), alongside...Read More... -
Mayor in Silicon Valley to boost London’s position as global tech hub
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is leading a trade mission to Silicon Valley in the US as new research reveals leading US tech companies are setting their sights onRead More... -
PM address at the Brave Ukraine fundraising event
Thank you very much, what an honour to speak after my friend Volodymyr Zelenskyy, truly one of the most incredible leaders of modern times.Read More...
Culture
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70 facts to mark The Queen's Platinum Jubilee
1. On 9th September 2015, The Queen became the longest reigning Monarch in British history, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. In a speech given...Read More... -
Eid in the Square celebrations return to Trafalgar Square
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that Eid in the Square returns to the capital on Saturday 7 May.Read More... -
Mayor invites families and visitors to ‘Spring into London’
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced a free programme of fantastic outdoor art and performance events to encourage Londoners and visitors toRead More... -
Mayor and Assembly commemorate Holocaust Memorial
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Chair of the London Assembly, Andrew Boff AM, will today (Monday 24th January) join Jewish community leaders, Holocaust and genocide survivors atRead More... -
British Library and University of Westminster announce major research collaboration into black British music
Today the British Library and University of Westminster announce a new partnership to develop a landmark exhibition exploring the history of black British music.Read More... -
New exhibition exploring Beethoven’s creative imagination and determination opens at the British Library
3 December 2021 – 24 April 2022Read More... -
London’s sky to be lit up with Borealis spectacular this Winter
A free Northern Lights inspired spectacular in the heart of London has been announced today by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. It is part of a series of excitingRead More... -
Mayor's Diversity Commission to celebrate London’s Untold Stories
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has today announced details of a £1million fund to help champion diversity in the capital’s public spaces and ensure London’s landmarks and monumentsRead More... -
Mayor announces return of Diwali celebrations in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square will once again be transformed into a beacon of light and colour to celebrate Diwali on Saturday 23 October, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan announced today.Read More... -
Stirling among places longlisted for UK City of Culture 2025
Stirling has been named among eight areas longlisted for UK City of Culture 2025, unveiled today by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.Read More... -
Mayor and film industry urge Londoners 'Back to the Big Screen’
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today joined with Richard Curtis, Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill, the team behind Rocks and leaders of the film industry to encourage Londoners and visitorsRead More... -
Mayor to invest nearly £3m in Creative Enterprise Zones
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced a new investment of nearly £3m to boost his successful Creative Enterprise Zones (CEZ) programme.Read More... -
Mayor of London funds 35 projects to protect future of high streets
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has today announced funding for innovative projects all across the capital aimed at ensuring London’s high streets can flourish and thrive as we emerge fromRead More...
British Queen celebrates
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Media
Japanese auto giant Nissan said on Tuesday that it will build a new hatchback compact car in Britain, in a £125-million investment that will create 2,000 jobs.
The new vehicle will be built at Nissan's Sunderland plant from mid-2013 in a project which will also be supported by a government grant of £9.3 million, the automaker said in a statement.
"As well as playing a key role in Nissan's market expansion within Europe, the new model will also have a significant benefit in terms of jobs with around 2,000 new posts created at Nissan and amongst its UK supplier base," it said.
The hatchback car, which will compete models like the Ford Fiesta and the VW Polo, was unveiled on Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show by Nissan Executive Vice President Andy Palmer.
Business Secretary Vince Cable welcomed the news as a "clear vote of confidence" in Britain's manufacturing industry.
"It is fantastic news that Nissan will be building the new model in Sunderland," Cable said.
"The investment is a boost for jobs at Nissan's plant as well as the wider supply chain."
Many young people underestimate how much alcohol they drink even if they have some knowledge of the Government's guidelines on sensible consumption, a study says.
Researchers said their results suggest that young people do not have the knowledge or skills to keep their drinking within the set guidelines.
The University of Sussex-led study, which is published in Drug and Alcohol Review, surveyed 18- to 25-year-olds about their knowledge and beliefs on safe drinking.
People who took part in the study were asked to pour their usual measure of wine, beer or vodka followed by what unit they believed it to be.
Nearly two-thirds underestimated the unit content of the drinks they poured, researchers said. The Government's daily unit guidelines are up to two to three units for a woman and up to three to four units for a man.
Lloyds Banking Group is to claw back bonuses worth around £2 million in the wake of the scandal over payment protection insurance (PPI), it has been reported.
Former chief executive Eric Daniels will lose up to £700,000 of his £1.45 million bonus for 2010, while three other current and former directors will each have to forgo up to £250,000.
A further six executives, below board level, will be stripped of around £100,000 each, the BBC added.
Amid pressure from politicians and the Financial Services Authority, it will be the first time a bank has used a claw-back option on executive pay packages since the financial crisis.
Prince William arrived in the Falkland Islands on Thursday for a six-week deployment with the Royal Air Force (RAF), British officials said, a move Argentina has condemned as a "provocation".
The 29-year-old, who is second in line to the throne, has been deployed to the disputed South Atlantic archipelago as a routine part of his work as an RAF search and rescue pilot, the Ministry of Defence said.
However the timing of the deployment, just ahead of the 30th anniversary of the start of the war between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands which Buenos Aires claims as its own, has stoked tensions.
"The Ministry of Defence can confirm Flight Lieutenant Wales, as part of a four-man search and rescue (SAR) crew, has arrived in the Falkland Islands on a routine operational deployment and will shortly take up SAR duties post a period of briefings and a familiarisation flight," a ministry spokesman said.
When William's deployment was announced in November, Argentina said it was a "provocative act", and this week the foreign ministry in Buenos Aires said the prince would be arriving in a "conqueror's uniform".
Germany is proposing that Greece should temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts, an official in Berlin has said.
The initiative is being discussed among the 17-nation currency bloc's finance ministers because Greece has repeatedly failed to fulfil its commitments under its current multi-billion pound lifeline, the official said.
The proposal foresees a commissioner holding a veto right against any budgetary measures and having broad surveillance ability to ensure that Greece will set its priorities on repaying its debt as scheduled, the official said.
Greece's international creditors - the so-called troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank - are currently negotiating another 130 billion euro rescue package for the heavily indebted country.
But German news magazine Der Spiegel cited an unnamed troika official as saying that Greece might need a total of 145 billion euros in its second bailout package amid the country's prolonged and sharp recession.
London Underground workers are to stage four strikes, including one on Boxing Day, in a row over bank holiday pay.
Aslef said its Tube members will walk out for 24 hours on December 26, January 16 and February 3 and 13 after failing to agree payments for working on Boxing Day.
Around 2,200 Aslef members were balloted, with 92% of those who voted backing a campaign of industrial action.
The owner of the Daily Mail says a resilient performance at its national newspapers helped offset a challenging year for its regional titles.
Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) said the nationals arm benefited from a record year for the Metro free newspaper while the Mail on Sunday became the biggest selling Sunday newspaper following the demise of the News of the World.
Revenues at the division were 2% lower at £862 million in the year to October 2, which DMGT said represented a resilient performance. The division's operating profits fell 15% to £76 million after it absorbed rising printing costs and it was impacted by greater promotional activity as newspapers competed to win News of the World readers.
A strong performance from its business-to-business division, which includes publications such as Euromoney Institutional Investor and marketing arm DMG Events, also helped offset "challenging" conditions at its regional newspapers.
Group underlying profits rose 3% to £237 million on revenues up 1% to £2 billion. Bottom-line profits declined 14% to £125 million.
Its Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers both saw their circulation revenues fall although they grew their market share. Free newspaper Metro had its strongest year yet, with record profits and revenues up 14%.
The "forest boy" of Berlin is refusing to have his photograph released despite investigators being flooded with calls from all over the world from people saying they are related to him.
Ray, 17, who speaks fluent English, arrived in the city on September 5 claiming to have walked for two weeks.
He told officials he had lived in the woods with his father for the previous five years - but set off alone after his father died in a fall and he buried him.
The mystery resulted in Berlin police sending Ray's fingerprints and photograph to foreign police forces in a bid to identify him. Detectives also called upon Interpol, the world's largest police organisation, to help.
But so far there have been no significant leads, police said today. And Ray, who is being looked after by a legally-appointed guardian, is refusing to have his photograph released publicly.
"There are of course many questions," said Berlin police spokeswoman Miriam Tauchmann. "At the moment he doesn't want us to put a picture of him in the public because he wants to live like a normal teenager and we have to respect that."
Photo bu Southern Driver
The number of job losses threatened at local authorities because of Government spending cuts has topped the 140,000 mark, according to a study.
The GMB union said 203 councils had now issued official warnings of redundancies after having their budgets slashed by central Government.
The Local Government Association warned last year that 140,000 jobs could be lost, but the GMB said this figure had already been passed.
Most of the local authorities in the study had issued a 90-day statutory consultation warning of job cuts, said the union.
Councils have given notice that they plan to delete vacant posts and seek volunteers for early retirements and redundancy, according to GMB officials.
Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, said: "The Government is deliberately creating unemployment on a scale that we have not seen before.
"As a direct consequence of the Government spending plans, the cumulative number of job losses is 140,456 for 203 authorities in Britain. To that total has to be added the job losses in the rest of the public sector.
Any suggestion that frontline services for the most vulnerable people in our society are not being affected by cuts of this scale is simply nonsense.The impact for those who depend on these services will be devastating. Some services like meals on wheels in some authorities are now only available to those at death's door.
"In the current circumstances it is hard to see the private sector creating enough new jobs to make up for these job losses. The money that people in work have to spend is being badly affected by the hike in VAT, high fuel prices and other inflationary pressures on the economy as pay is not keeping up with inflation.
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"Pay freezes in the public sector and the threatened increase in pension contributions will make matters worse."
Northcliffe Media plans to cut up to 95 jobs and close or merge a number of the weekly papers it publishes across Essex, Kent and Surrey, as part of proposals to amalgamate subediting in a single centre.