Britain has decided to build up a 300 million pound airport for a small island with population of around 4,000 people.

Mr. Andrew Mitchell, International Development Secretary, stated that Britain had a "responsibility" to set up the airport on St Helena that is a South Atlantic island and a British Overseas Territory.

The island can only be reached by water on Royal Mail ship St Helena, which now requires to be replaced.

The British administration is worried that unfavorable judgment towards energy company BP for its failure to control the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may hinder the country's kinship with the United States (US).

The scale and rage of the US attacks are said to have distressed David Cameron.

With US midterm polls just 5-months away, Whitehall functionaries are understood to be worried that the matter is turning a political football in the US.

According to reports, the passengers of Britain's top air carrier, British Airways (BA) look to be confronting another five-day strike, as this week's walkout reaches its final day.

Conflicts between BA and the Unite trade union started during the last year, when BA said it would lessen the number of cabin crew for long-haul flights from 15 to 14, making 1,000 full-time cabin crew staff redundant.

The airways also declared that the growth of salary would be frozen through 2010.

The trade union has since held a number of walkouts, the latest during May 30-June 3.

The Office of National Statistics said on Thursday that retail sales in Britain rose 3.5 percent in February from the same month last year, exceeding expectations.

A jump of 2.9 percent had been forecasted by economists. ONS said that measured by value, retail sales rose 4.9 percent.

From February 2009, sales rose 0.9 percent by value in stores listed as "predominantly food stores" and 8.1 percent in stores listed as "predominantly non-food stores."

The United States have been jointly accused of "protectionism" over a $53 billion aerospace contract by Britain's prime minister and the president of France.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy alleged that the Pentagon was favoring American company Boeing over the European consortium bidding to build refueling tanker aircraft for the U. S. Air Force.

The newspaper further said that the consortium withdrew from the bidding this week.

Security noose around the Falkland Islands was tightened by Argentina with a tough new warning to Australian oil explorer Billiton to stay out of the controversial hydrocarbon prospecting operations in the Falklands, which it claims are under British occupation.

Warning Britain and the Falklands administration that it will not abandon its claim of sovereignty over the islands, Argentina has built up its military presence in the Falklands' waters.

British troops prevailed over an Argentine invasion force in the war over the islands in 1982 but Buenos Aires never abandoned its claim over the islands.

Reed canary grass can be turned into an excellent 'green' fuel for biomass power stations and, on a smaller scale, boilers in buildings like schools, a long-term research has revealed.

Researchers from Teesside University's Contaminated Land and Water Centre carried out the five-year research project.

A native to Britain, Reed canary grass is turned into bricks and pellets. These not only burn well but also don''t add to greenhouse gases or contribute to global warming.

London, Dec 3 :Britain and Pakistan were embroiled in a public row Thursday over accusations that the government in Islamabad was not doing enough to "take out" Al Qaeda leaders believed by some to be hiding in Pakistan.

During a visit to London, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani used a joint news conference with Britain's Gordon Brown to reject allegations that his government was not doing enough to combat terrorism.

Windsor, Oct 28 - Drawing a parallel between the traditions of diversity and democracy embraced by India and Britain, President Pratibha Patil Tuesday described the two countries as "natural partners" who are set to shape the course of the 21st century.

Vilnius - Some court proceedings in the trial of an Irishman accused of attempting to buy arms for a paramilitary group will be held behind closed doors to protect the identities of secret service operatives, a local news agency said Tuesday.

The trial of the man, 36-year-old Michael Campbell, opened on Tuesday in Vilnius District Court in the Lithuanian capital. Campbell made a fresh application for bail, and a decision on it is due by August 21.

London  - Plagued by swine flu, pinched by the recession and disadvantaged by a strong euro, Britons have wholeheartedly embraced "staycation" this summer, giving overseas holidays in hot climates a miss in favour of a bucket-and-spade break on native shores.

According to one survey, up to a fifth of Britons who travelled abroad last year are foresaking the French Dordogne for the rolling hills of Dorset, the Greek islands for the Scilly Isles and Majorca for Scarborough on the North Sea coast.

With "staycation" having become a fact of recession life, the tourism industry is smiling. Hoteliers, cottage-letting agencies, caravan parks, restaurants and cafes all hope for improved business.

London - A reward of up to one million pounds (1.65 million dollars) for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the people behind Britain's biggest jewelry heist has been offered, investigators reported Friday.

The reward is being offered by the firm Tyler and Company on behalf of interested insurers.

Police spokeswoman Pam Mace added: "I'm directing my appeal at people, and that includes criminal associates, who know who these robbers are and where they are."

Washington - The United States voiced opposition to releasing a Libyan serving a life sentence in Scotland for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people.

"We have made our views clear to the UK government, to other authorities, that we believe that he should spend the rest of his time in jail," State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, 57, was convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 2001 and received life imprisonment.

London - Three British soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London said.

Their deaths, while on foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand province, brings the total of British military fatalities in Afghanistan to 199.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the deaths brought Britain "very close to the sad milestone of 200 fatalities in this conflict."(dpa)

London  - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday he was "saddened and angry" at the conviction of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for a violation of the house arrest imposed on her by the country's military junta.

Brown said he was "saddened and angry" at the conviction following a "sham trial."

New Delhi - England has pulled out of the World Badminton Championships scheduled to begin in the Indian city of Hyderabad Monday citing a terrorist threat, news reports said.

Badminton England Chief Executive Adrian Christy said in a statement the decision to pull out was taken after consulting the Foreign Office and British High Commission, PTI news agency reported.

Sydney - An Australian woman alleged to know something about the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal said Sunday she had no connection to the case and hadn't been abroad since 2000.

"I'm shocked that anybody may have thought that I have some connection to this case," Melbourne's Judith Aron told The Age newspaper. "I can honestly say I have no connection to the little girl."

Hong Kong  - A British private school that has produced world leaders, poets and business leaders is to open a campus in Hong Kong, a media report said Friday.

Harrow School - whose alumni include World War II British prime minister Winston Churchill and India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru - is to open a school on a former military site in the Tuen Mun district, the Standard newspaper said.

Beirut - Visiting Foreign Ministry official Ivan Lewis said Thursday that Britain had great concerns about the rearming of the Lebanese Shiite Movement, Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon.

"We are very, very concerned at the rearming of Hezbollah, which we believe to a significant extent has taken place, which is in contravention of Resolution 1701," the British official said during a short visit to Lebanon, where he met with Lebanese senior officials.

London - British authorities said Thursday that Ronnie Biggs, Britain's "Great Train Robber," was being allowed to go free after all.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Biggs, who turns 80 on Saturday, was granted "compassionate release" from a hospital near Norwich Prison in eastern England following a plea from his family.