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British government sees no point in being at event in Rome because UK will not be involved in planning bloc’s future  Theresa May with Angela Merkel at the EU summit in Malta. The British PM is not expected to attend the Rome summit. Photograph: Xinhua/Barcroft Jennifer Rankin   Theresa May  is expected to miss the EU’s 60th anniversary summit in March because the British government sees no point in being involved in planning the future of the EU. The British prime minister was invited to join the celebrations on 25 March with 27 other EU leaders but decided not to take part, a senior EU diplomat told the Guardian. “The door was open, but the response was, ‘We don’t think it is appropriate for us,’” the diplomat said, summarising the UK response. A second EU source said May’s decision was “entirely logical” because the main focus of the summit would be the future. “We are still a union of 28 and Theresa is of course very welcome to come and celebrate 60 years of the ...

RUSSIA-UK RELATIONS British actor and writer Stephen Fry joked about Russian hacking at the opening ceremony of the 70th British Academy Film Awards. Source: imago stock&people/Global Look Press British actor and writer Stephen Fry joked about Russian hacking at the opening ceremony of the 70 th  British Academy Film Awards. “Let’s crack on with the awards themselves and find out who the Russians have decided has won,” Fry said, Metro news UK  reported on Feb. 12.  In suggesting that the Russians might have messed with the results of the BAFTA vote, Fry humorously referred to allegations that Russian hackers influenced the result of the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, which resulted in the election of Donald Trump as president. It was one of many remarks about the American president, who is despised by left-leaning groups. The comedian also called Meryl Streep, “One of the greatest actresses of all time,” adding that, “only a blithering idiot w...

THE future of British trade after Brexit is shrouded in uncertainty. It is an unprecedented process, so it is hard to know where to look for clues as to how it may work out. One possibility is a country whose trading patterns were perhaps more disrupted than any other’s by Britain’s accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973: New Zealand. Just as Brexit is likely to mean the end of British access to the single market, so “Brentry” ended New Zealand’s preferential access to the “mother country”. In 1961, when Britain first announced its intention to join the EEC, it took about half of New Zealand’s exports—a similar proportion to the EU’s share of British exports today. New Zealand’s prime minister at the time, Keith Holyoake, warned his British counterpart, Harold Macmillan, that, without safeguards for its exports, New Zealand would be “ruined”. After years of negotiations, a transitional d...

James Ibori, who as governor of oil-rich Delta State became one of Nigeria's richest and most powerful men, has returned to the country after serving a sentence for corruption in Britain, his lawyer said on Saturday. "I can confirm that he left last night and arrived this morning in Nigeria," Jonathan Chike-Epelle, Ibori's lawyer in Britain, told Reuters by phone. Local media have said he remains influential in politics, and in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Ibori did not rule out a political comeback. Arrested in 2010, Ibori served half his 13-year sentence - as is normal under British procedures - after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering. He was released in December, but is still locked in a battle over his assets. While in office, Ibori acquired luxury properties in Britain, the United States, South Africa and Nigeria. He is the most senior Nigerian politician to have been held to account for the corruption that has blight...