England, Britain | featured news

A book chronicling a Chinese tragedy under Mao has won Britain's richest nonfiction book award, the Samuel Johnson Prize. Frank Dikotter's "Mao's Great Famine" won the 20,000 pound ($32,000) award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday.

The News of the World, the British tabloid newspaper beset with a widening phone-hacking scandal, will shut down as result of the imbroglio, a top executive of its parent company said Thursday. The News, a feisty, hugely profitable daily that has been continuously published for 168 years, will cease publishing on Sunday, said James Murdoch, the son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns the newspaper.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday condemned the alleged hacking of a slain teenage girl’s cell phone by a British tabloid. Nearly all of Britain’s papers reported Tuesday — citing unnamed sources — that a private investigator hacked into the cellphone of 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002 after she was reported missing. The investigator reportedly worked for News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling Sunday tabloid.

HSBC said that it is to cut around 700 jobs from its retail-banking operations in the U.K., ahead of major regulatory reforms that are set to affect the domestic industry's advisory business.

Personal details about Tony Blair that appear online were apparently not hacked from the former British prime minister's computer systems, but from the email account of a former staffer.

A North Somerset primary school teacher filmed himself sexually abusing young girls in his classroom, a court hears.

The United States has not seen a balanced budget since 2001. Although private banks in the U.S. hold the majority of the country’s debt, over 52% according to MSNBC, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board estimate that foreign governments hold 4.4 trillion of the country’s $14 trillion debt in Treasury securities.

Lionel Messi broke a 1-1 tie with his 53rd goal as Barcelona topped Manchester United 3-1 Saturday in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium in London.

A 16-year-old British schoolboy became the youngest person ever to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents when he ascended Mount Everest, the tallest of them, on Thursday, his organizers said.

Queen Elizabeth II welcomed President Obama to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, marking the start of a state visit with the British monarch.