British police made a record 299 terror arrests over the last 12 months, overtaking the previous highest level in the year of the London bombings in 2005.

In the year to March, 299 people were detained for terrorism-related offenses, an increase of 31 percent on the previous year, Home Office figures showed.

Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday defended Britain's decision not to participate in a binding European system of quotas to resettle refugees as the proposals were unveiled in Brussels.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude announced "bold plans" to share 160,000 refugees between member states to ease Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II, as Greece and Hungary struggle to cope with the influx from Syria and elsewhere.

Britain will provide an extra 100 million pounds (137 million euros, $153 million) in humanitarian aid for the Syrian crisis, bringing its total contribution to more than 1.0 billion pounds, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday.

"That is the UK's largest-ever response to a humanitarian crisis. No other European country has come close to this level of support," he told a news conference in Madrid.

A British judge on Friday granted bail to high-profile radical preacher Anjem Choudary, who faces charges for inviting support for the Islamic State jihadist group through social media.

The 48-year-old Choudary, who has been frequently interviewed by British and U.S. media on his views on Islam and the Middle East, was arrested last month and has indicated he will plead not guilty.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday warned of a "real threat" to Northern Ireland's power-sharing government in a crisis triggered by fears over IRA activity and called urgent talks next week.

Following talks with his Irish counterpart Enda Kenny, Cameron's office said in a statement that "urgent, intensive and focused cross party talks" would be held.

Turkish authorities on Thursday released two British reporters working for U.S.-based media outlet Vice News who were being held on terror charges in a case that amplified concerns over press freedom in the country.

But their Iraqi translator remained under arrest on charges of assisting the Islamic State extremist group, legal sources told AFP, quoting a court decision.

A court in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast Monday remanded in custody on terror charges two British journalists working for U.S.-based media outlet Vice News, in a case that has sparked fresh concern about press freedoms.

Vice News condemned the charges as "baseless" and an attempt to censor coverage, while leading rights groups have called for the immediate release of the reporters.

A total of 11 people are likely to have died after a vintage military plane crashed on to a busy road near an air show on the south coast of England, police said on Sunday.

Seven deaths have already been confirmed after the Hawker Hunter, a type of jet first developed in the 1950s, failed to pull out of a loop and crashed into traffic next to the Shoreham air show near Brighton on Saturday.

Forces from the United Arab Emirates have rescued a British hostage held for more than 18 months by al-Qaida in Yemen, authorities in Abu Dhabi and London said on Sunday.

Douglas Robert Semple, a 64-year-old oil worker, had been kidnapped by al-Qaida in February 2014 while working in Yemen's Hadramawt province, a stronghold of the jihadist group, a statement carried by the UAE's official WAM news agency said.

The United States and Britain pushed for U.N. sanctions Tuesday to punish South Sudan's government over its failure to sign a peace deal as the Security Council weighed its next move to help end the nearly two-year war.

South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar signed the power-sharing agreement late Monday but President Salva Kiir only initialed part of it and said he would return to the table in early September to finalize the accord.