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Boris Johnson, the frontrunner in the race to become Britain's next prime minister, has met hedge fund and private equity executives to raise donations for his leadership campaign, according to sources familiar with the matter.     Johnson, who on Tuesday reaffirmed his determination to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct 31, is seeking to build up a war chest for his campaign and rebuild ties with executives, which were strained last year by his expletive four-letter-word attack on...

The vice-governor of China's Xinjiang region responded to international condemnation of state-run detention camps on Tuesday by saying they were vocational centres which had helped "save" people from extremist influences. China had now effectively contained terrorism and religious extremism in Xinjiang, Vice-Governor Erkin Tuniyaz told the U.N. Human Rights Council in an appearance that was criticised by the United States. U.N. experts and activists say at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in the detention centres...

Disposable plastic cutlery, plates and bowls, straws and PVC packaging are among the eight items that should be eliminated, Wrap said. Disposable plastic cutlery, polystyrene packaging and plastic cotton buds and stirrers are among eight items that should be eliminated by the end of 2020, according to a report. Eight problem plastics to be eliminated by #UKPlasticsPact members before the end of 2020. And that’s just the beginning. We are investigating many more plastics changing how we avoid, make, use,...

“I hugely admire the Queen, but the royal family should lead by example and they are not doing so in the case of their own state-funded spending", he said.

Southern Water has been hit with a record £126 million penalty package after a “shocking” Ofwat probe uncovered failures in the firm’s sewage treatment sites and found that it fixed wastewater samples. Customers of the utility company will now receive rebates of £61 over the next five years after Southern Water agreed to the package, which, given the size of the firm, is the largest the regulator has ever imposed. Ofwat said its large-scale investigation found that Southern Water failed to...

Figures from the royal accounts, revealed the island-hopping visit in March, which included stops in St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and Havana among others, cost £416,576.

Campaigners fear over biotech firm's bid to harvest 1,800 acres of seabed

The cost of renovating Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's new home was 2.4 million pounds, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday as it detailed how the royal family had spent money provided by taxpayers. The sum, part of the annual "Sovereign Grant", funded the conversion of Frogmore Cottage to a single dwelling while the royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, paid for the fittings and furnishings. "The property had not been subject of work for some years and...

Tax cuts planned by Boris Johnson, the leading candidate to become Britain's next prime minister, could cost as much as 20 billion pounds a year, according to calculations from the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank. Johnson, who is vying for the votes of Conservative Party members in a run-off against foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, has proposed raising the threshold at which higher-rate income tax is payable to 80,000 pounds a year from 50,000 pounds. Cutting tax on these earnings...