World: Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economic downturn is likely to be deeper and last longer than expected and could be the worst for 60 years, finance minister Alistair Darling said on Saturday.

LONDON (AFP) - Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has warned the country is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years and says it will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected.

LONDON (AFP) - A 109-year-old woman believed to be the last surviving female veteran of World War I has died, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

LONDON - A British court on Friday gave Foreign Secretary David Miliband a week to justify his decision to suppress secret documents that lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee argue could prove their client was tortured in Morocco.

LONDON (AFP) - British automaker Land Rover, recently taken over by Indian industrial giant Tata, told its employees Friday it will scale back production in light of an economic slowdown and the credit crunch.

LONDON (AFP) - Domestic energy providers Npower and Scottish Power said Friday that they will hike their electricity and gas prices by as much as 34 percent because of rocketing wholesale energy costs.

LONDON (AFP) - A man accused of threatening to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown and ex-premier Tony Blair appeared in court Friday.

LONDON (AFP) - Police took the unusual step of issuing a poster in English and Mandarin on Friday as they appealed for more information about the brutal killing of a young Chinese couple in northeast England.

LONDON (AFP) - British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley said on Friday that it had endured a net loss of 17.2 million pounds (21.3 million euros, 31.4 million dollars) in the first half of 2008.

LONDON (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son on Friday said Tripoli only accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing to get sanctions lifted and slammed the victims' "greedy" families.

LONDON (AFP) - Imperial Energy, facing a takeover by Indian peer ONGC, said on Friday that it had reduced its losses during the first half of 2008.

CINCINNATI - Authorities in the United Kingdom are investigating potential antitrust violations involving an unnamed Procter & Gamble Co. subsidiary, the consumer products company said Thursday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

LONDON - Three British men questioned about an online threat to assassinate Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been charged with a range of terror offenses, police said Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police charged three men with terrorism offences on Thursday over threats to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown posted on a militant Islamic website.

LONDON - Diageo PLC, the world's largest producer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, said it is pushing ahead with its focus on premium sales as it posted a small rise in full-year net profit on Thursday and cut its earnings forecasts for the current year.

LONDON - The European Court of Human Rights has cleared the way for the extradition of a British man who allegedly hacked into secret U.S. military computers, his lawyer said Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's top Muslim policeman accused the controversial head of London's police of racial discrimination Thursday, triggering a sharp rebuke that he should "shut up."

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A strong earthquake struck off Canada's west coast early Thursday near Vancouver Island. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

LONDON - A British aristocrat is offering two public art galleries a 50 million-pound (US$92 million) bargain — a Renaissance painting by the Italian artist Titian that has been on display in Britain for 200 years but now could be sold overseas.

LONDON - A British politician says he has won a victory for an endangered icon — the red telephone booth.

LONDON (AFP) - A man was jailed for life Thursday for running the country's biggest-ever gun factory which converted dozens of replica submachine guns into deadly weapons used in nine gangland murders.

LONDON (AFP) - Diageo, the world's biggest maker of alcoholic drinks, said Thursday that profits flattened in 2007-08 and forecast slowing growth this year because of tough trading conditions.

LONDON (AFP) - The government wants French energy group EDF and British Energy to hammer out a takeover deal within the next two weeks, Business Secretary John Hutton said in an interview published on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British computer expert accused by the United States of "the biggest military hack of all time" lost an appeal on Thursday and could be extradited within weeks.

LONDON (AFP) - British travel firms TUI Travel and Thomas Cook said Thursday that they are in talks with Germany's Lufthansa about a merger of their respective airline units TUIfly Germany, Condor and Germanwings.

LONDON (AFP) - Northern England and Wales have claimed the unenviable title of the country's fattest areas following the publication of an "obesity map" on Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - A 27-year-old slice of wedding cake made for Prince Charles and Diana has sold for 1200 pounds at an auction, it was reported Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - Police were still searching for a multi-millionaire business man and his family on Thursday following a suspected arson attack on their home.

LONDON - A man accused of involving two teenage boys in self-flagellation as part of a Muslim religious ritual was convicted of child cruelty Wednesday.