London

Former Minister Alok Sharma, 55, has been honoured with the Order of St Michael and St George for his contribution to combating climate change through his role as the President of 26th UN Climate Change Conference. Agra-born Sharma, who moved to the UK when he just five years old, has been recognised for "driving the UK to agree a historic agreement from individual countries that will have a major impact in addressing climate change in the future".

In a letter to Steve Barclay, Gill said she has been inundated by messages from the UHB staff, who have shared their experiences of what has been repeatedly described as a "toxic culture"."Staff have been bullied and demeaned for raising concerns about policies and practices that they believe have compromised patient care, and in some cases even led to deaths," the MP for Birmingham and Edgbaston wrote in her letter.

The visa centre, which was inaugurated on Tuesday by Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, will be operated by VFS Global -- the outsourcing and technology services provider for governments and diplomatic missions. "The number of appointments we have been able to do has increased greatly... to about 40,000 per month, thanks to our partners at VFS," Doraiswami said in a video message shared on Twitter.

In an extraordinarily strong condemnation of the BBC, a statement by the organisers said: "The BBC's coverage of the violent attacks on Leicester Hindus by Islamists was the worst reporting seen so far and has contributed to the concealment of an attempt to ethnically cleanse Leicester of Hindus."

Whittome was "instructed" to remove her tweet, a spokesman for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer confirmed, after it drew backlash on social media, the BBC reported. "Rishi Sunak as prime minister isn't a win for Asian representation," Whittome wrote in the tweet, which now stands deleted.

Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: "Suella Braverman's appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak's claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10. "There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises (Prime Minister Rishi) Sunak made to her behind closed doors."

Sunak has received 93 endorsements from Conservative MPs, the BBC report said. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is expected to arrive in London on Saturday from a vacation in the Carribean, is in second place with 44 endorsements. Sunak and Johnson are however yet to officially declare their bids in the contest to succeed Liz Truss who resigned as head of government on Thursday after only 45 days in office -- the shortest period for any British Premier in history.

The new UK chancellor, now widely seen as the most powerful man in the government since he took over from the sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, has buried a series of flagship policies that brought Truss to power, The Guardian reported. "The Prime Minister is in charge," he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, even though her authority has been seriously undermined by her decision to allow him to tear up her economic agenda in a bid to calm the markets and mutinous Tory MPs, the report said.

Before the service commences at 11 a.m. (about 4 p.m. IST), a bell will toll for 96 consecutive minutes, marking the length of the Queen's life, reports the BBC. Towards the end of the service, the Last Post will be played, followed by a two-minute silence and a lament from the Queen's piper.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, exactly a year after her husband Prince Phillip, the duke of Edenborough, passed, has set in motion a meticulously choreographed and coordinated procedure for which the Palace, the government, the news media, the local authorities and the Queen herself had long planned. Amid the public mourning, the national grief and the lowering of flags will come a transition of power and national memorialising, known as Operation London Bridge, which will overtake the country's agenda for days and play out potentially for months before the coronation of a new monarch.