British banking giant HSBC is under pressure after it was revealed that it’s been complicit in several cases of tax evasion.As our correspondent in London Mohamed Walji reports, the coalition government has now been accused of turning a blind eye to the conduct of the bank.

Britain has joined the US in reserving the right to arm Kiev amid escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine. British foreign secretary Philip Hammond went on to say his country will not allow the Ukrainian army to collapse. Speaking in parliament, he accused Russia of aggravating the effects of its initial incursion by providing military support to what he called proxies. The announcement comes as the US is considering providing Kiev with weapons to battle pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine. On Monday, however, President Barack Obama said he would hold off the decision to give a Franco-German peace plan time to work.

Britain says it reserves the right to arm Kiev, as peace talks are set to resume over the crisis in Ukraine.

Each year, 12-thousand people die in UK hospitals run by the publicly funded National Health Service, due to blunders by health workers. That is according to British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. In an interview with the Telegraph, Hunt described the revelation as the biggest scandal in global healthcare and said drastic reforms are needed to improve the situation. He also admitted that a cover-up culture is strife in British hospitals, which needs to be changed.

Protestors gathered outside one of Europe’s largest immigration removal centres to call for an end to the government’s controversial fast track removal system which has been ruled unlawful by two separate courts. Ahead of the publication of a report by a Parliamentary Inquiry looking into immigration detention, campaigners say Britain’s international reputation is being harmed by its refusal to treat detainees with dignity.

A health watchdog in Britain is warning that the National Health Service is failing many patients who complain about their care. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman says over 40 percent of NHS investigations into patient complaints are not adequate. The watchdog looked into 150 complaints, alleging that patients had died or suffered avoidable harm. It discovered failings in the handling of over sixty complaints. Patient groups believe that the findings are worrying and suggest that authorities haven't learnt from recent hospital scandals.

Head of Britain's inquiry into the Iraq War, Sir John Chilcot, sat in front of a select committee on Wednesday to answer questions about why the investigation has been delayed for almost five years. Critics say pressure from certain areas of the U-K government has been the reason for the delay.

The UK-based daily Independent has published a report that tries to show what it describes as gross inequality plaguing Britain. The report compares the income and life expectancy of people in various districts of London. The average wage varies from more than 18-thousand pounds to over 100-thousand pounds. Also, life expectancy varies from 72 to 91, depending on where a person resides. The Independent’s report says that the richest people in Britain take a greater share of the total wealth than they did at the start of the century. The top ten percent of earners own 54 percent of total assets. The report concludes that the already wide poverty gap in the U-K is getting wider.

The Church of England expresses opposition to an amendment that would allow “three-parent babies.”

The gap in performance between poor and better-off pupils in the UK is growing, figures show.