A million more working Britons have been pushed into poverty because of soaring housing costs and stagnant wages. That’s according to a new UK government report attacked bitterly by unions and rights groups. New figures published by the UK government reveal that the number of working Britons below the poverty line has risen by at least 1 million. The government, however, insists the poverty... 

Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Crimea are resisting the western banker takeover of their country by installing a Russian Mayor in the town of Sevastopol as part of an emerging revolt against the US-backed coup d’état that saw the overthrow of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych. “Sevastopol’s city council handed power to Aleksei Chaliy, a Russian citizen, during an extraordinary... 

The UK coalition government is facing mounting criticism for failing to do enough to prevent flooding, which has crippled parts of the country since almost two months ago. The government’s response to the crisis was described as “very disorganized” by angry residents of English Thameside village of Datchet in Berkshire, who woke on Tuesday morning to witness their houses surrounded by water. As... 

Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage The leader of Britain’s Eurosceptic right-wing political party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), says the UK government should lift a ban on handguns that has been in place for almost two decades, calling the current ban on handguns “ludicrous.” “I think proper gun licensing is something we’ve done in this country responsibly and... 

Gibraltar, one of the British Overseas Territories, is on the UN list of areas awaiting decolonization. Spain has sent a survey ship into Gibraltar’s territorial waters amid continuing tension with the UK government over the sovereignty of the breakaway island nation. The Ramon Margalef, a 50-meter oceanographic survey ship defied repeated orders from British Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Sabre... 

The UK claims mass surveillance is crucial to national security but seems unwilling to provide evidence of that. The government should shoulder responsibility, but instead lacks accountability, Freedom of Information campaigner Thomas Hughes told RT. In a joint letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, 70 human rights organizations from 40 countries recently stated their concern over the UK’s... 

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor committed some of the most heinous crimes in human history. The UK government has confirmed that former Liberian president Charles Taylor will serve his 50-year sentence for sponsoring atrocities in Sierra Leone at a British prison. Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said in a written statement to Parliament that former president Taylor will now be transferred to... 

Britain could quit the European Convention on Human Rights so it can legally “chuck out” people threatening the country and its way of life, UK PM David Cameron said. Critics doubted Cameron’s honesty, saying such move would mean quitting the EU. In the first public statement of its kind, the British prime minister told BBC1 that he was ready to cut ties with the Strasbourg court, to prevent... 

Ed Miliband criticizes plans for EU referendum as “wrong” and damaging to economy. British Labour leader Ed Miliband says Tory plans to hold an in/out referendum on European Union (EU) membership are “wrong” and damaging to the UK’s national interest. Speaking to the Labour group Progress on Saturday, Miliband reiterated his opposition to the idea of an EU vote. Referring to British Prime... 

General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh The Church of Scotland says Israel has no right to the occupied Palestinian lands. In a new report titled “The Inheritance of Abraham? A Report on the ‘Promised Land,’” the church said Israel’s claim to the occupied territories could be invalidated by its treatment of Palestinian people. The report will be voted on by the 700 church... 

Researchers say the governments in Britain and Scotland are willfully underestimating the number of families living in poverty, local media reported. A report backed by the Economic and Social Research Council found that ministers both at Holyrood and Westminster have failed to “effectively define” deprivation. Academics at Edinburgh University believe there is a “weakness” in the way central... 

Ron Fouchier, author of the original study. A group of leading scientists – including a Nobel Prize winner – has proclaimed that it is “ethically and morally” wrong to alter the deadly H5N1 virus to make it more contagious for research purposes, and have asked President Obama to ban it. “The accidental release of an artificial, laboratory-generated, human-transmissible H5N1 virus into... 

The UK government is considering plans to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, on the British skies by 2020, new reports say. The move is part of a plan introduced by the British police to spy on the public more efficiently and more effectively in a country where its people are already the most spied upon in the world, British media reported. Drones have already been used in such... 

Civil liberties groups have reacted angrily to the British government’s plan to monitor the personal activities of its citizens on the Internet. Under a government plan known as the Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP), Internet service providers will be forced to grant security services easy access to users’ online information. If legislated, the plan will give intelligence... 

Over two-thirds of the employees in local government and schools who have lost their jobs since the general election in 2010 are women, warns the GMB union. A new study by the public services union on the latest official figures for employment in councils between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2011, showed that there are 36 councils in England and Wales where the fall in the number...