Page 25 - Britain

Oil jumps 4% as tankers avoid Red Sea after US-UK joint strikes on Houthis

Brent crude futures were up $3.16, or 4.1%, at $80.57 a barrel at 1124 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $3.05, or 4.2%, to $75.07

Plans for Britain's largest hydrogen production hub get green light

The Cheshire West & Chester Council has approved Essar Energy Transition's (EET) plans to set up the first large scale, low carbon hydrogen production plant in the UK at the Stanlow manufacturing complex. "Consisting of two plants (HPP1 and HPP2), the hydrogen hub will enable local industrial and power generation businesses to switch from fossil fuels to low carbon energy. This will help reduce the North West's carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonne every year - the equivalent of taking 1.1 million cars off the roads," the company said in a statement. The hydrogen will be used locally by the Essar refinery and other major manufacturers in the region, including Tata Chemicals, Encirc and Pilkington to create the first low carbon refining operations, glass and chemicals manufacturing sites in the world. The EET hydrogen hub will help secure and grow vital industries, create jobs and unlock billions of pounds of related investment. EET will develop the hydrogen hub in phases with the .

Britain to make big tech give rivals access to data under new plans

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has bolstered its oversight of Big Tech firms like Facebook owner Meta , Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Apple

Rajnath Singh holds 'fruitful discussions' with UK counterpart on security

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met his British counterpart Grant Shapps and held "fruitful discussions" on a wide range of issues related to defence cooperation, security and also on enhancing defence industrial cooperation. Singh's visit comes after a gap of 22 years, with the last one by an Indian defence minister to the UK dating back to January 2002. "Had an excellent meeting with UK Defence Minister, Mr. Grant Shapps. We reviewed the full range of India-UK defence relations. We had fruitful discussions on a wide range of issues pertaining to defence cooperation, security and also on enhancing defence industrial cooperation," Singh said in a post on X. Earlier, Singh inspected the guard of honour on reaching the British MoD Building here. Singh kick-started his UK tour with a visit to Mahatma Gandhi's statue at Tavistock Square in central London on Tuesday. Accompanied by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami and members of his delegation, Singh paid

China says it detained individual accused of collecting secrets for Britain

China says it has detained an individual accused of collecting state secrets on behalf of Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6. The Ministry of State Security posted on social media on Monday that Britain had been cooperating since 2015 with the person, who it said was a citizen of a third nation and had the surname Huang. The ministry said Huang had received training in intelligence gathering, provided with equipment and had collected numerous state secrets on repeated visits to China. No further information on the intelligence gathered was given, nor did the ministry say when he or she had been detained or where they were being held. The definition of state secrets is not clearly defined under China's opaque political and legal system, and many consulting and advisory firms have been investigated for obtaining data that would ordinarily be in the public record, particularly if they were shared with foreign entities. The British government has yet to comment on the allegation

UK Oppn raises questions over Akshata Murty's liquidated firm Catamaran

The UK's Opposition Labour Party has got into campaigning mode for an expected general election later this year, with advertisements claiming British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is giving the British public a raw deal and also raising questions over his wife Akshata Murty's recently liquidated investment venture Labour's national campaign coordinator and shadow minister, Pat MacFadden, posted a letter on social media dated January 4 that he wrote to UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden questioning the circumstances surrounding Murty's Catamaran Ventures being wound up. The 43-year-old Indian businesswoman and daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy had incorporated the venture in 2013 with her husband as one of the directors before he resigned in 2015. It had emerged in a financial statement last year that she had decided to wind down her firm as a going concern. In the past few months, numerous reports about the business dealings of Catamaran Ventures have circulated, reads

UK economy to hit 2% inflation target by spring in upgraded outlook

A 1% cut in the basic rate of income tax in April would add another £4 billion this year, and a halving of the inheritance tax rate to 20% would be worth close to £1 billion more for 2024

Self-driving cars could be on British roads by 2026, says UK minister

Self-driving cars could be on British roads as early as 2026, according to UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper. In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, the minister said he expected to see the owners of such vehicles being able to travel without having to watch where they're going by the end of that year. It came against the backdrop of the UK's Automated Vehicles Bill, which lays out a set of laws for using autonomous vehicles and was introduced in Parliament last month. The government hopes it will pass through both Houses by the end of 2024. "I think that's when companies are expecting in 2026, during that year that we'll start seeing this technology rolled out," Harper told the BBC. The transport minister said it was clear the self-driving technology works from a roll-out in California, where cars "without a safety driver, so in full, autonomous mode" are already on the roads. "This technology exists, it works and what we're doing is putting in place the proper legislation

Explosions in Red Sea off Yemen's coast, unmanned aircraft sighted: UK

Two unmanned aircraft were observed before two explosions occurred 5 nautical miles from a vessel located 50 nautical miles west of Hodeidah on Yemen's west coast, the United Kingdom said

Sanjay Bhandari case: Court issues NBW against UK national Sumit Chaddha

"Cognizance of the offence of money laundering as defined in u/Sec. 3 r/w Sec. 17 punishable u/Sec. 4 of PMLA, 2002, has already been taken on October 5, 2020," noted the court

Rishi Sunak's minister under fire for making joke about date rape drug

British Home Secretary James Cleverly was under fire Sunday for joking about date rape just hours after announcing plans to crack down on what he had dubbed a perverse offence. Cleverly, who oversees national security and law enforcement in England and Wales, faced a call to step down after he reportedly joked at an event at the prime minister's home about drugging his wife. He told women guests at a Dec 18 reception that the secret to a long marriage was having a spouse who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there, the Sunday Mirror newspaper reported. Cleverly said "a little bit of Rohypnol" the so-called date rape drug "in her drink every night was not really illegal if it's only a little bit. The drug, colloquially known as a roofie when it is crushed and put into someone's beverage without their knowledge, makes the subject drowsy and can lead to unconsciousness and memory loss. Cleverly apologised through a spokesperson for what he .

UK's National Grid drops China-based supplier over cyber security fears

The decision came in April after the utility sought advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the nation's signals intelligence agency GCHQ, a report said

US, Britain say their navies shot down 15 attack drones over Red Sea

A US warship shot down 14 suspected attack drones over the Red Sea on Saturday, and a Royal Navy destroyer downed another drone that was targeting commercial ships, the British and American militaries said. Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, and have launched drones and missiles targeting Israel, as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to spread. US Central Command said that the destroyer USS Carney successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems" launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The drones were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries, Central Command tweeted. UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that HMS Diamond fired a Sea Viper missile and destroyed a drone that was targeting merchant shipping. The overnight action is the first time the Royal Navy has shot down an aerial target in anger since the 1991 Gulf War. Shapps said attacks on commercial ship

Bank of England holds rates with warning of 'way to go' on inflation

The UK central bank's decision contrasted with the US Fed's admission last night that reductions were on the agenda, reiterating that BOE policy will be "sufficiently restrictive" for long

UK PM Sunak battles to unite divided Conservative Party in pivotal week

For Sunak, struggling to revive a weak UK economy and heavily trailing the main opposition party in opinion polls, the Rwanda policy has become the defining issue

PM Rishi Sunak's officials in Delhi to discuss India-UK FTA: Report

Senior officials from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's team are in New Delhi this week to add momentum behind the ongoing round of negotiations for an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA), according to a UK media report on Saturday. The Guardian' newspaper reports that while there is no official comment from either side on such a visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is keen to finalise the FTA by the end of February before Sunak sets off on an expected general election campaign trail. Both countries are heading into an election year in 2024 and signing off on a trade agreement with India will bolster Sunak's electoral pitch to voters showing signs of anti-incumbency towards his governing Conservatives. The deal is still very much on and we think it is possible before both countries have their elections. Both sides are keen to get this done, an official close to the talks told the newspaper. The India-UK FTA talks began in January last year with Diwali 2022 set as t

Boris Johnson rejects notion he wanted to let Covid rip through population

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in sometimes angry testimony to Britain's inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday defended himself against suggestions that his indifference and failure to heed the advice of scientists led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. In a second day of sworn testimony, Johnson rejected claims that he was prepared to let older people die to protect the economy and that he was too slow to order a second national lockdown as infection rates began to rise in the autumn of 2020. Johnson, who left parliament after he was found to have misled lawmakers about lockdown-breaking parties during his premiership, said he learned about the horrors of COVID-19 firsthand when he was hospitalised with the disease in March 2020. In the intensive care unit, Johnson said he was surrounded not by elderly people but by middle-aged men like himself. I knew from that experience what an appalling disease this is. I had absolutely no personal doubt about that from March .

British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah detained in Denmark before trial

Shah is due to face trial in Denmark early next year on charges related to so-called "cum-ex" trading schemes in which the Danish state says it lost more than 12.7 billion crowns ($1.84 billion)

UK PM Sunak fights back amid leadership turmoil over deportation policy

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday launched a fight-back in favour of what he dubbed as the toughest anti-immigration law ever amid turmoil within the governing Conservative Party after a bruising Cabinet resignation and open attacks by backbenchers over his government's controversial policy to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda. Addressing a hurriedly organised press conference from Downing Street, the 43-year-old British Indian leader referred to his heritage as a child of immigrants to highlight how his family used the legal route before becoming proud British nationals. Illegal immigration undermines not just our border control, it undermines the very sense of fairness that is so central to our national character, said Sunak. We play by the rules, we put in our fair share, we wait our turn. That some people can just cut all of that out, you've not just lost control of your borders, you've fatally undermined the very fairness and trust on which our system is based, he

India-born media veteran Dr Samir Shah selected as new BBC chairman

An India-born media executive who has worked in UK broadcasting for over 40 years, Dr Samir Shah, has been announced as the UK government's preferred candidate to take over as the new BBC chairman. The 71-year-old, who was honoured with a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 for services to television and heritage, will replace Richard Sharp, who had been forced to resign after his communication with former prime minister Boris Johnson came under scrutiny. Shah will now be quizzed by cross-party MPs of the House of Commons Media Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny before formally taking charge. "With a career spanning more than 40 years in TV production and journalism, Dr Shah has a wealth of experience to bring to the position of BBC Chair," UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said on Wednesday, confirming the selection as per the appointment process. "He has a clear ambition to see the BBC succeed in a rapidly changing media landscape, and I have no .