Britain

Bloomberg News reports: Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party extended its poll lead over the Conservatives even as Rishi Sunak’s party unveiled a series of pledges intended to build momentum early in UK election campaigning, YouGov said. Labour was 27 points ahead of the Tories in the survey by YouGov, which was commissioned by Sky News and conducted from May 27 …

Reuters reports: Britain’s Conservative Party will introduce mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if it wins the national election on July 4, comprising military or community participation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday. Young adults will be able to choose between spending one weekend a month volunteering over the course of a year, or take up one of 30,000 spaces …

Politico Europe reports: Nigel Farage will not stand for Reform U.K. in Britain’s snap general election — because he’s more focused on Donald Trump. Writing on X, the leading Brexiteer — whose Reform Party wants to take votes from the Tories on the right — said he will “do my bit to help in the campaign, but it is not …

The Guardian reports: Rishi Sunak has called a surprise early election for 4 July in a contest that will see Keir Starmer try to take power for Labour after 14 years of Conservative-led government. The prime minister announced the election will be in the early summer in a high-risk move for the Conservative party as it trails 20 points behind …

The Guardian reports: The actor and rightwing activist Laurence Fox has been ordered to pay £90,000 each in damages to two people he libeled by referring to them as “paedophiles” on social media. A high court judge made the order in London on Thursday. Fox lost his high court libel battle in January, after Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled that …

The Daily Mail reports: Filings published by Companies House today for ‘Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ record that his ‘New Country/State Usually Resident’ is now the USA. It was previously recorded as the United Kingdom. The change comes as pressure increases on US President Joe Biden’s government to release Harry’s visa records after campaigners seized on comments …

The Associated Press reports: The British government’s plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking cleared its first hurdle in Parliament on Tuesday despite vocal opposition from within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party. The bill, a key policy announced by Sunak last year, would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to …

The Daily Mail reports: Campaigners trying to force the release of Prince Harry’s U.S. visa records have submitted to a judge what they called ‘extraordinary’ comments by Joe Biden’s ambassador to the U.K. Ambassador Jane Hartley recently said that Harry would never be deported from the U.S. while Biden is president. The Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, is …

The Independent reports: A senior Conservative MP has apologised after revealing his involvement in a Westminster honeytrap sexting scandal, which targeted a minister and fellow MPs. William Wragg had leaked colleagues’ numbers to a man he had met on the gay app Grindr, after becoming scared over sending intimate pictures of himself to the user. Speaking to The Times, he …

Politico Europe reports: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party is on track to win fewer than 100 seats in the next election, with Labour likely to score a landslide victory, a new poll suggests. A seat-by-seat analysis based on a survey of 15,000 voters sees Sunak’s governing party winning in just 98 constituencies compared to Labour’s 468, the Sunday …

Politico Europe reports: In 2015, it was Donald Trump who took aim at the U.K. capital as a place where “police are afraid for their own lives,” sparking national outrage. Now, it’s a homegrown party amping up fear of crime in London. The Conservatives posted a campaign social media video claiming London was “teetering on the brink of chaos … …

The BBC reports: Julian Assange faces a further wait to see whether he can appeal against his extradition to the United States on 18 charges relating to the publication of sensitive intelligence. Two judges at the High Court in London said they would give the United States government three weeks to provide assurances that Mr Assange could rely on the …

The Independent reports: The Princess of Wales has been diagnosed with cancer and personally revealed her diagnosis to the world. In a deeply moving video statment, Kate Middleton disclosed that the cancer was discovered while she underwent major abdominal surgery at the London Clinic at the start of the year. The 42-year-old princess said she needed to recover from surgery …

The Guardian reports: The US government is reported to be considering a plea deal offer to Julian Assange, allowing him to admit to a misdemeanor, but his lawyers say they have been “given no indication” Washington intends to change its approach. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the US justice department was looking at ways to cut short …

The Telegraph reports: A Christian actress who was sacked from a stage show of The Color Purple over homophobic comments has lost a five-year discrimination case. Seyi Omooba, 29, was dropped from the role of lesbian character Celie in a 2019 production of the play in a row over a social media post. She took the theatre and her former …

The BBC reports: Prince Harry has lost a High Court challenge against the government over the level of his security protection when he is in the UK. The Duke of Sussex failed to overturn a ruling which saw his security status downgraded after he stopped being a “working royal”. The King’s second son launched the legal challenge after being told …

Politico reports: On Thursday, an ousted world leader went to a far-right political conference in the United States to rage about how they and the conservative movement were betrayed by enemies within. No, it wasn’t Donald Trump. It was Liz Truss. The former British prime minister who lasted just seven weeks in office spoke in a hotel conference room that …

The Associated Press reports: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s fight to avoid facing spying charges in the United States may be nearing an end following a protracted legal saga in the U.K. that included seven years of self-exile inside a foreign embassy and five years in prison. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in London starting Tuesday as …

The Hill reports: Boris Johnson, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, called out conservative commentator Tucker Carlson for interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Around the world, people are watching that ludicrous interview with Vladimir Putin conducted by Tucker Carlson and we must not fall for this tissue of lies above all for the notion that Putin is somehow …

The medical website Medriva reports: Last week, England experienced a surge in measles cases with a total of 118 new instances confirmed in regions such as the West Midlands, London, Yorkshire, and The Humber. This sudden outbreak of the highly infectious disease has stirred considerable worry among health officials and underscores the critical importance of maintaining robust vaccination protocols and …