Page 15 - Britain

Jugnauth thanks PM Modi after UK announces to hand over Chagos Islands

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Friday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for completing our decolonisation a day after the UK government announced to hand over sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to the country. Jugnauth took to X to thank Modi as he wrote, Mauritius thanks the African Union @AfricanUnion, the Government of India @narendramodi and all friendly countries which have supported us in our fight for completing our decolonisation. The UK on Thursday announced a historic agreement that will see Britain hand over sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while it retains the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia. The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) status of the disputed archipelago, made up of around 60 islands, has been in contention for many years and negotiations over its future began under the previous Conservative Party government in 2022. British Prime Minister Keir Starm

British auto industry set to miss 2024 EV sales target, warns trade body

Britain's ZEV mandate, introduced by the former Conservative government, requires at least 22 per cent of an automaker's new car sales to be purely EVs in 2024

Following freebies row, UK's PM Starmer pays back $8K worth of gifts

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday it is right that he has paid back more than 6,000 pounds (USD 8,000) worth of gifts and hospitality, following a row over freebies. For weeks, Starmer has faced criticism over the scale of the donations, which included clothes, eyeglasses and tickets to his beloved soccer team Arsenal, that he received over recent years. During the last parliamentary term from 2019 to 2024, Starmer received around 100,000 pounds worth of donations, substantially more than any other member of parliament. Though the donations were legal and properly filed with officials in the UK Parliament, the row has dented Starmer's popularity ratings. According to officials at his 10 Downing Street offices, Starmer has covered the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets at London's Wembley Stadium, four to a horse racing event and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Victoria Starmer. We are now going to bring forward principles fo

UK PM Starmer to meet sceptical investors in attempts to woo them

Years of Brexit-linked political chaos may have ended with his Labour Party's big election win, but the near-collapse of utility Thames Water has unsettled investors

UK economy grew more slowly than thought but outlook is improving

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party won power in July, is seeking to speed up economic growth

Labour Party members deal blow to Starmer day after his appeal for unity

Members of Britain's governing Labour Party dealt Prime Minister Keir Starmer a blow on Wednesday, rejecting his decision to cut payments that offset winter heating costs for millions of retirees. The vote on the final day of Labour's annual conference is not binding, but it's a setback to Starmer's efforts to unite his centre-left party around the contentious measure. Since winning office in July, Starmer has cautioned that the dire state of the public finances inherited from the last Conservative government means he must make hard choices such as ending the winter fuel allowance, worth between 200 and 300 pounds (USD 262 and USD 393), for all but the poorest pensioners. Trade unions that are among Labour's funders and allies organised resistance to the cut at the conference in Liverpool, northwest England. They forced a vote on a demand for the decision to be reversed. It was narrowly passed in a show-of-hands vote amid cheers and jeers in the conference hall. I do not understand

JLR plugs $669 mn into retooling UK plant for production of electric SUVs

JLR cautioned last month that its push into EVs will cost more than initially planned, citing weak consumer demand

Britain Treasury chief seeks to boost economic optimism after failed talks

British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves will pledge Monday not to return to an era of public spending cuts despite the dire state of the UK's national finances. Reeves plans to stress optimism in a speech to the Labour Party's annual conference, aiming to reassure party members, jittery despite a recent landslide election victory, that her first budget next month won't be all doom and gloom. The party said Reeves, the UK's first female finance minister, will stress that my optimism for Britain burns as bright as it ever has done. The centre-left party is gathering in the northwest England port city of Liverpool three months after winning power in Britain's July 4 election. While Labour's return to office after 14 years in opposition has many delegates buzzing, some are anxious about the government's faltering start and downbeat economic messaging. Prime Minister Keir Starmer won the election on a promise to banish years of turmoil and scandal under the Conservatives, get Britain's ...

Google urges tribunal to scrap $9.3 bn UK lawsuit over search 'dominance'

The lawyers asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case to proceed towards a trial, a very early step in any mass lawsuit. Google, however, says the case is seriously flawed

Ex-BBC news anchor gets suspended for indecent images of children on phone

Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, once one of the most prominent media figures in Britain, was given a suspended prison sentence on Monday for indecent images of children on his phone. Edwards, 63, pleaded guilty in Westminster Magistrates' Court in July to three counts of making indecent images of children, a charge related to photos sent to him on the WhatsApp messaging service by a convicted pedophile. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sentenced Edwards to a six-month prison term suspended for two years. It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters, Goldspring said. Edwards' fall from grace over the past year has caused turmoil for the BBC after it was revealed the publicly funded broadcaster paid him about 200,000 pounds (USD 263,000) for five months of his salary after he had been arrested in November while on leave. The BBC has asked him to pay it back. Edwards had been one of the BBC's top earners when he was suspended in July 2023 over separa

Biden meets Britain's PM, brushes off Putin's threats about war with West

President Joe Biden brushed off a threat from Russian leader Vladimir Putin about war against the West if Ukraine's allies allow it to use weapons deeper inside Russia. It's a shift that Kyiv has pleaded for but does not appear likely to be announced following a meeting Friday between Biden and Britain's prime minister. Ukraine and many of its supporters in the US and Europe want Biden to lift restrictions on Western-provided long-range weapons, and there are signs Biden might shift the administration's policy. But the US, concerned about any step that could lead Russia to escalate the conflict, has moved cautiously before granting a series of earlier requests from Ukraine for specific arms, including advanced tanks, missiles and rocket systems, and F-16 fighter jets. Russian officials have issued similar threats before many of those past decisions. Ukraine was a key topic for Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer following this week's visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats, w

Russia to expel 6 British diplomats over spying, subversive activities

Russia's Federal Security Service on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation. Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying that they will be expelled. The expulsions come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks with President Joe Biden that will include Ukraine's request to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia. Starmer said on his way to the US that Britain does not seek any conflict with Russia. Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away, he told reporters. Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we've obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine's right to self-defense we're providing training capability, as you know. But we don't seek any conflict with Russia that's not our intention in the slightest, he said. The FSB said it received documents

Shahi Exports' Harish Ahuja pays $27 mn for home in London's Notting Hill

The property offering more than 20,000 square feet of space is a short walk from Kensington Gardens

Britain's Rightmove rejects $7.3 bn takeover offer from Murdoch's REA Group

REA, which is 62 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp , did not cite any reason for the offer's rejection by Rightmove

AppsForBharat raises $18 mn in series B funding from Nilekani's Fundamentum

Founded in November 2020 by Prashant Sachan, AppsForBharat operates the devotion platform Sri Mandir

UK authorities vow relentless search as manhunt for shooter enters Day 3

As a gruelling manhunt stretched into a third day Monday for a suspect in an interstate shooting that struck 12 vehicles and wounded five people, authorities vowed to keep up a relentless search as the stress level remained high for a rural area where some schools cancelled classes. Authorities have been searching a rugged, hilly area of southeastern Kentucky since Saturday evening, when a gunman began shooting at drivers on Interstate 75 near London, a small city of about 8,000 people located about 75 miles (120 kilometres) south of Lexington. The search was temporarily suspended once darkness fell Sunday night, but was set to resume Monday morning. We're not going to quit until we do lay hands on him, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Sunday night. Joseph A. Couch, 32, was named first as a person of interest and later as a suspect in the shooting after authorities said they recovered his SUV on a service road near the crime scene. They later found a semi-automatic weapon nearb

Biden to host British PM Keir Starmer next week for White House talks

President Joe Biden will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks in Washington next week that are expected to touch on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and other issues. Next Friday's meeting with the leader of one of America's closest allies comes as Biden looks to step up engagement on the international stage in his final months in office. US allies and adversaries are also intently watching how the race to succeed Biden between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump plays out. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the Oval Office visit, the second by Starmer since he was elected earlier this summer, will focus on continuing Western support for Ukraine as it tries to repel Russia's invasion, ongoing efforts to secure a hostage and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, threats to commercial shipping in the Red Sea posed by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group, as well as shared concerns about

UK watchdog accuses Google of anti-competitive behaviour in digital ads biz

Google was slammed on Friday by UK regulators who say it's taking advantage of its dominance in digital advertising to thwart competition in Britain, ratcheting up pressure that the tech giant is facing on both sides of the Atlantic over its ad tech business practices. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said that the US company gives preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain's 1.8 billion pound (USD 2.4 billion) digital ad market. Google is a major player throughout the digital ad ecosystem, providing servers for publishers to manage ad space on their websites and apps, tools for advertisers and media agencies to buy display ads, and an exchange where both sides come together to buy and sell ads in real time at auctions. We've provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites, the watchdog's interim executive director of enforcement, Juliette .

US, Britain, EU to sign first legally binding international AI treaty

The AI Convention, which has been in the works for years and was adopted in May after discussions between 57 countries, addresses the risks AI may pose, while promoting responsible innovation

Projectiles strike ship in Red Sea in suspected Yemen rebel attack

A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea on Monday, authorities said. Two projectiles hit the vessel, and a third explosion occurred near the ship, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. Damage control is underway, UKMTO said. There are no casualties onboard and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a United States-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel's campaign against H