UNITED KINGDOM

UK commercial property capital values decreased by 13.3% as a whole in 2022, and annual total returns were down 9.1%, according to the CBRE Monthly Index published on Monday.

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme offers help for businesses, the public sector and charity organisations.

The project is part of a new agreement with the British government focused on "cancer immunotherapies, infectious disease vaccines.

Updates next week from Britain's biggest retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer are expected to confirm that while Christmas was not the disaster that some had feared, consumer demand is set to weaken in 2023, denting profit.

Days after Prince Harry's memoir accidentally went on sale early with new allegations of discord and conflict within the British royal family, a series of TV interviews with him will start airing on Sunday with the prospect of yet more damaging attacks on the monarchy.

Sunak did not offer any details, or on how he will end a wave of strikes including by nurses and train drivers that has stoked a sense of national paralysis this winter.

British businesses are gloomy about prospects for 2023 as they face the likelihood of a surge energy bills and ongoing post-Brexit trade difficulties, the British Chambers of Commerce said late on Wednesday.

British rail workers kicked off the new year with a week-long strike on Tuesday, disrupting the return to work for millions of commuters in the latest bout of industrial action to hit the country.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will set out his priorities for 2023 on Wednesday, using his first speech of the year to try to reassure his restive Conservative Party that he has what it takes to lead them into the next national election.

One in every five patients picked up by an ambulance in England last week took more than an hour to be admitted to emergency care.

2022 also saw the highest ever single-day total of migrants making the crossing, with 1,295 making the journey on August 22.

Most of England and Wales experienced drought this summer after exceptionally high temperatures and heatwaves as well as little rainfall.

Opponents of the law fear it could be a danger to women and girls, particularly around the provision of single-sex spaces.

More than two million UK homes are connected via such smart prepay devices which link up to suppliers and use remote credit payment.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay, writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, accused the unions of making a "conscious decision" to "inflict harm" on patients.

Italy must have equal treatment in a partnership with Britain and Japan to develop a new jet fighter, Rome's defence minister told Reuters, as talks proceed to define the roles each country has in the ambitious project.

If a settlement is not reached, the case will be pursued in the High Court in London, the legal firm warned in a statement.

Judges at London's High Court will rule on Monday whether the British government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stakes his future on stopping a record number of migrant arrivals in small boats.

Britain's top diplomat said London's response demonstrated its "adherence to the rule of law" as well as "the seriousness with which we take these incidents".

The UK interior ministry could not confirm the details, noting it would be for a coroner to formally confirm details of those who died.

Strike action scheduled to begin on December 29 remains in place pending the outcome of the ballot of members.