Author: Jill Lawless
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NATO deems Russia its ‘most significant and direct threat’
MADRID • NATO declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security on Wednesday and vowed to strengthen support for Ukraine, even as that country’s leader chided the alliance for not doing more to help it defeat Moscow. The military organization’s condemnation was not wholly surprising: Its chief earlier said…
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Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO
MADRID • Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, a breakthrough in an impasse clouding a leaders’ summit in Madrid amid Europe’s worst security crisis in decades triggered by the war in Ukraine. After urgent top-level talks, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “we now have an agreement that…
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Queen Elizabeth II to miss Jubilee service amid ‘discomfort’
LONDON • Queen Elizabeth II stepped gingerly onto the Buckingham Palace balcony Thursday, drawing wild cheers from the tens of thousands who came to join her at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne. Her fans sported Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Some had camped…
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U.K. data: Hospitalization is less likely with omicron
LONDON • Preliminary data suggests that people with the omicron variant of the coronavirus are 50% to 70% less likely to be hospitalized than those with the delta strain, Britain’s public health agency announced Thursday in a finding that one researcher called “a small ray of sunlight.” The findings from the U.K. Health Security Agency…
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U.K. won’t extend deadline for EU citizens to apply to stay
LONDON • The British government won’t extend the June 30 deadline for European Union citizens in the U.K. to apply for permanent residency or risk losing their right to live and work in the U.K. Britain’s departure from the EU last year ended the automatic right of people from the bloc to settle in the…
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Russia says warning shots deter U.K. warship; London denies it
MOSCOW • Russia said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs Wednesday to force a British destroyer out of an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters, but Britain denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon. It was the first…
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Fishing tensions flare between France, UK over Brexit rules
LONDON • British Royal Navy vessels and French police boats patrolled Thursday near the English Channel island of Jersey, where French fishermen angry about losing access to its waters gathered for a maritime protest. The irate mariners set off flares and entered the island’s main harbor in the first major dispute between France and Britain…
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Northern Ireland leaders seek calm after violence escalates
BELFAST, Northern Ireland • Authorities in Northern Ireland sought to restore calm Thursday after Protestant and Catholic youths in Belfast hurled bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at police and each other. It was the worst mayhem in a week of street violence in the region, where Britain’s exit from the European Union has unsettled an…
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U.K. advises limiting AstraZeneca in under-30s amid clot worry
LONDON • British authorities recommended Wednesday that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine not be given to adults under 30 where possible because of strengthening evidence that the shot may be linked to rare blood clots. The recommendation came as regulators both in the United Kingdom and the European Union emphasized that the benefits of receiving the…
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U.K. judge: Newspaper invaded Meghan’s privacy with letter
LONDON (AP) — A newspaper invaded the Duchess of Sussex’s privacy by publishing a personal letter to her estranged father, a British judge ruled Thursday, in a major victory for the royal in her campaign against what she sees as media intrusion. The former American actress Meghan Markle, 39, sued publisher Associated Newspapers for invasion…