Page 30 - Britain

Opium, history and economics

Britain's opium policy severely damaged the economy of eastern India while perhaps helping that of western India

Modi, Sunak agree to 'work at pace' towards FTA at G20 bilateral meet

Negotiations good for both countries, says British deputy high commissioner on pending FTA issues

UK, India two nations with one ambition, rooted in shared values: PM Sunak

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart Sunak on the sidelines of the G20 Summit being held in the national capital under India's presidency

British PM Rishi Sunak says 'won't rush' into UK-India trade deal

The remarks assume significance as the 12th round of talks concluded last month between the officials of the two countries. The talks for the agreement were launched in January 2022

India's G20 presidency highly ambitious: British High Commissioner Ellis

British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis on Thursday said India's G20 presidency has been a highly ambitious one and has dealt with issues like disaster resilient infrastructure

UK says it won't change immigration policy to secure India trade deal

There is growing optimism that a free trade deal between the countries could be concluded this year though the remaining topics to be discussed are some of the difficult

G20 Summit 2023: This is what leaders would be served during the 2-day stay

G20 Summit in New Delhi: Every effort is being made to prepare New Delhi for the G20 Summit, which will take place on September 9 and 10

British businesses plan lowest price rises since February 2022: BoE

Businesses surveyed in the three months to August expected to raise prices by 4.9% over the coming year, the smallest percentage since February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine

Bank of England is 'much nearer' to peak interest rates, Bailey says

The BoE has raised rates at each of its last 14 meetings as it grappled with the highest inflation among the world's big, rich economies

UK's second-largest city Birmingham declares itself effectively bankrupt

The local authorities running Britain's second-largest city, Birmingham, have shifted focus on maintaining vital services as they declared the council effectively bankrupt due to an annual budgetary shortfall of millions of pounds. Birmingham City Council, which is run by the Opposition Labour Party and is the largest local authority in Europe comprising over 100 councillors, issued a Section 114 notice on Tuesday to say that all new expenditures with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services will stop immediately. The council said the dire financial situation arose as it must fund an equal pay liability that has accrued to date in the region of GBP 650 million to GBP 760 million, but it does not have the resources to do so. On that basis, the Council's Interim Director of Finance, Fiona Greenway, has issued a report under section 114(3) of the Local Government Act, which confirms that the Council has insufficient resources to meet the equal pay expenditur

India 'right country' at 'right time' to hold G20 presidency: UK PM Sunak

We will also work closely with India through their Presidency of the G20 to address the biggest challenges the world is facing, said the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Will only agree an India trade deal that works for Britain: PM Sunak

"He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree an approach which worked for the whole UK," his spokesperson told reporters

Saudi money is unbeatable, says Ben Stokes as Kingdom sets eye on cricket

The Indian Premier League is currently the most lucrative, though, attracting players including Stokes. But that could change given the financial firepower of Saudi Arabia

England's NHS introduces 7-minute 'under the skin' cancer treatment

This new method allows cancer patients to receive the immunotherapy drug 'Atezolizumab' through an injection, as opposed to intravenous administration which can take up to an hour

UK Foreign Secretary to visit China today, will raise human rights issues

This is the first visit of a UK Foreign Secretary to China in over five years

Britain's foreign secretary will visit China in an attempt to shore up ties

Britain's top diplomat, James Cleverly, is set to visit China on Wednesday, in the first trip by a U.K. foreign secretary to the country in more than five years. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed the long-awaited trip on Tuesday. The two sides will have in-depth communication on Sino-British relations and international and regional issues of common concern, spokesman Wang Wenbin said. We hope the British side will work with us to uphold the spirit of mutual respect, deepen exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and promote the stable development of Sino-British relations. Cleverly's visit is an attempt to stabilize China-Britain ties, which have sunk to their lowest level in decades. The countries disagree over issues such as Beijing's curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, a former British colony, alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, China's support for Russia and Britain's close security ties with the United States. Cleverly said in June he would

Cyberattack not cause of air traffic issues that snarled flights: UK

The British government said Tuesday that a breakdown at the nationwide air traffic control system that saw hundreds of flights delayed and cancelled was not caused by a cyberattack. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the problem was caused by a technical fault at flight control operator National Air Traffic Services. The company said the outage had hit its ability to process flight plans automatically, meaning that for several hours the plans had to be input manually, a much slower process that meant fewer flights could take off and land. Harper told the BBC that it is going to take some days to get people back to where they should be. The problem hit on a late-summer holiday Monday that is one of the busiest days of the year for air travel. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that by Monday afternoon, 232 flights due to leave UK airports and 271 arriving flights had been cancelled. Dozens of flights were cancelled at Heathrow, Europe's busiest air hub, which warned of knock-on .

Fixed a technical problem that sparked delays: UK air traffic control

Thousands of airline passengers faced delays on Monday after Britain's air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the U.K. on one of the busiest travel days of the year. More than three hours after it reported the technical issue, flight control operator National Air Traffic Services said it had identified and remedied the problem and flights could begin to return to normal. But scores of flights were canceled, and Heathrow Airport said its schedules would be significantly disrupted for the rest of the day. Lyudmila Hristova said she and her husband had planned to attend a niece's wedding in Bulgaria, but their flight from Heathrow was canceled. Now we are looking for some information on how we can arrange another flight, she said. It is so difficult, they just got us out of the airport, it was very rude. There was no information, just some leaflets and that's it. NATS said the outage had hit its ability to process flight plans ...

India, UK to continue free trade agreement negotiations till Aug-end

Indian and UK officials will continue their negotiations till the month-end to iron out differences on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), the commerce ministry said on Sunday. This meeting will be followed by a review at the higher level, it said. Following the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting (TIMM) at Jaipur, the progress of the negotiations was reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK's Secretary of State for Trade Kemi Badenoch on August 26. "Teams are going to continue negotiations till the end of August 2023 which will be followed by stock taking at the higher level, it said. While expressing satisfaction over the last 12 rounds of negotiations wherein several chapters have been finalized, both exuded confidence that the next round of talks to be similarly successful. "Both Chief Negotiators apprised the ministers about the current state of play, issues outstanding for resolution and their continuous joint efforts to iron out the same,"

Russian mercenary chief's likely death could destabilize his army: UK

Britain's defense ministry said on Friday that the presumed death of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash could destabilise the Wagner Group, whose brutal fighters were feared in Ukraine, Africa and Syria and conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia. Prigozhin, who was listed among those on board, was eulogized Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as suspicions grew that the Russian president was behind a Wednesday crash that many saw as an assassination. Russian authorities have not yet confirmed Prigozhin's death. The British ministry wrote that It is highly likely that he is indeed dead. However, it noted that he is known to exercise exceptional security measures. The demise of Prigozhin almost certainly would have a deeply destabilizing effect on the Wagner Group. His personal attributes of hyperactivity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor, t