Page 12 - Uk Govt

EU, UK approve 3-year postponement of tariffs on electric vehicles

The European Union and the UK approved a three-year postponement of tariffs on electric vehicles, giving carmakers more time to make necessary changes to comply with local content requirements

Australia and New Zealand leaders considering closer defence ties

Australia and New Zealand leaders agreed on Wednesday to seek closer defence ties as the latter considers sharing advanced military technologies with the United States and Britain through the so-called AUKUS partnership. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made Australia the destination of his first overseas visit since forming a coalition government following his election in October. Luxon said he and his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, agreed at their meeting in Sydney the two countries' defence and foreign ministers would meet in early 2024 to ensure their plans were aligned and coordinated. We know we're facing a more challenging and complex world. Close security and defence relationships we have with our only ally, Australia, is very foundational for New Zealand, Luxon told reporters. New Zealand is committed to doing our share of the heavy lifting in the alliance and I'm determined that New Zealand will continue to be alongside Australia as we seek to advan

UK plans to implement carbon tax on imported goods like steel from 2027

The British government announced plans Monday to charge a carbon levy on imported raw materials such as aluminum, iron, steel and cement from 2027, in an attempt to prevent firms being undercut by overseas producers. However, the plan has come under criticism from the body representing British steel as being too sluggish, as it will come into effect one year after similar proposals from the European Union (EU) are implemented. Announcing its plan, Britain's Treasury said the proposed new tax will level the playing field, helping greener domestic producers compete against higher carbon, but cheaper, foreign rivals. For years, fears have been expressed that efforts to cut greenhouse gases in the UK are not being matched overseas, meaning that emissions are just being displaced to other countries without ambitious net-zero targets, leading to little global benefit. This levy will make sure carbon-intensive products from overseas like steel and ceramics face a comparable carbon price

Japan, UK and Italy join forces to develop new advanced fighter jet

The defence ministers of Japan, Britain and Italy on Thursday signed an agreement to establish a joint organisation to develop a new advanced jet fighter, as the countries push to bolster their cooperation in the face of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea. The three countries had agreed last year to merge earlier individual plans for Japan's Mitsubishi F-X to succeed the retiring F-2s developed with the United States and Britain's Tempest to produce the new combat aircraft for deployment in 2035. Japan, which is rapidly building up its military, hopes to have greater capability to counter China's rising assertiveness and allow Britain a bigger presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara at a joint news conference with his British and Italian counterparts, Grant Shapps and Guido Crosett, said that co-developing a high performance fighter aircraft is indispensable to securing air superiority and enabling effective deterrence at a time Japan ..

Microsoft, OpenAI partnership draws UK antitrust regulator scrutiny

Brad Smith, Microsoft's president, said as recently as last month he doesn't "see a future where Microsoft takes control of OpenAI"

Prince Harry challenges UK govt on removal of security when he moved to US

Prince Harry is challenging on Tuesday the British government's decision to strip him of his security detail after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States. The Duke of Sussex said he wants protection when he visits home and claimed it's partly because an aggressive press jeopardizes his safety and that of his family. The three-day hearing scheduled to begin in London's High Court is the latest in a string of Harry's legal cases that have kept London judges busy as he takes on the UK government and the British tabloid media. It was not clear if he would attend Tuesday's hearing. Harry failed to persuade a different judge earlier this year that he should be able to privately pay for London's police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn't be used as private bodyguards for the wealthy. Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, said he did not feel

UK to start Gaza surveillance flights to locate captives held by Hamas

The report stated that Britain did not reveal when its military surveillance flights over the territory would start but stressed they would be unarmed and focused only on the captive recovery efforts

Google pushes for antitrust action against Microsoft in UK cloud market

In a letter submitted to the CMA, Google said Microsoft's licensing practices unfairly discouraged customers from using competitor services, even as a secondary provider alongside Azure

UK govt intervenes in potential Telegraph takeover by Abu Dhabi-backed fund

Britain's government said on Thursday it has asked media and market competition officials to look into a potential Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of The Telegraph newspaper. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said she issued a public interest intervention notice after considering the possible impact of the offer by the investment fund RedBird IMI to the previous owners of The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine to repay debts owed by them. RedBird IMI a joint venture between RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi's International Media Investments, and led by former CNN chief Jeff Zucker said earlier this month it agreed to provide loans to Britain's Barclay family and ensure the family's debts, worth some 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion), are paid. The Barclay family owned the right-leaning newspaper and magazine before they were put into receivership. The family also previously owned London's luxurious Ritz Hotel before selling it in 2020. RedBird IMI has said it would provide a loan of up to 600

Rishi Sunak gets small bump in opinion polls after crowd-pleasing tax cuts

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the governing Conservatives are enjoying a small bump in the opinion polls after some crowd-pleasing tax cuts were announced in the Autumn Statement budget this week, it emerged on Friday. According to a YouGov survey for The Times' conducted after the budget was tabled by UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in Parliament on Wednesday, the popularity rating for the Sunak-led Tories rose to 25 per cent which is four points up from the previous week, the party's highest rating in recent weeks. The Opposition Labour continues to hold on to their firm lead, with no change to their 44 per cent rating. It is the highest rating since mid-September and only three points below Sunak's highest-ever rating last April, the newspaper analysis notes. "Labour still holds a commanding 19-point lead over the government, however, with the poll suggesting that most voters do not believe the measures announced by Hunt will make either themselves or the country materially

HSBC India, UK Export Finance tie up for 100 mn pound financing programme

HSBC India and UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK's export credit agency, have intended to establish a financing programme of up to 100 million pound to support Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and corporates for financing their imports from Britain. This partnership will enhance the availability of credit for Indian MSMEs and boost trade ties between the two countries, HSBC India said in a statement on Thursday. HSBC India and UKEF on Thursday signed a Letter of Intent (LoI), which enables them to work together on opportunities relating to UKEF's guarantee-backed structures. India was the UK's 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023, accounting for 2.1 per cent of total UK trade. In 2021, around 7,500 UK SMEs, with around 3,17,300 employees, exported goods worth 1.2 billion pound to India, accounting for 85 per cent of all UK businesses exporting goods to India. Providing enhanced financial access and developing an ecosystem that ..

'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham': UK Opposition leader Starmer on FTA with India

The UK's Opposition Leader Keir Starmer has described the ups and downs of the government's negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA) with India as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' and committed the Labour Party to pursuing an "always happy" bilateral relationship. During his speech at a Diwali celebration in the Houses of Parliament complex in London organised by the British Indian think tank 1928 Institute last week, Starmer referenced the Bollywood box-office hit which translates as sometimes happy, sometimes sad. India and the UK are currently in the 14th round of FTA negotiations to enhance the GBP 36-billion bilateral trading partnership, with several expected completion points having passed. We will be rebuilding Britain's reputation on the international stage and that means a new strategic partnership with India, said Starmer. The Tories are working on a free trade agreement, I think. It's all a bit stop-and-start. In fact, you could almost call the negotiations Khabi Kushi

UK PM Rishi Sunak addresses new look Cabinet with pledge for change

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed a weekly meeting on Tuesday with a pledge to drive change with his new look Cabinet, a day after sacking Home Secretary Suella Braverman and parachuting in former prime minister David Cameron as the new Foreign Secretary. In his opening remarks, Sunak said to his Cabinet that they all should build a better future for the citizens of the country. "Our purpose is nothing less than to make the long-term decisions that are going to change our country for the better. I know that this strong and united team is going to deliver that change for everybody, said Sunak in his opening remarks to the new Cabinet, which sees former foreign secretary James Cleverly shifted to the role of Home Secretary. I am confident that we can demonstrate to the country that we're making progress on the priorities that I set out at the beginning of the year. But you all know that is not the limit of our ambitions. We want to build a better future for our children and

Deepfakes, AI pose threats to next elections, warns UK cybersecurity centre

Britain's cybersecurity agency said Tuesday that artificial intelligence poses a threat to the country's next national election, and cyberattacks by hostile countries and their proxies are proliferating and getting harder to track. The National Cyber Security Centre said this year has seen the emergence of state-aligned actors as a new cyber threat to critical national infrastructure such as power, water and internet networks. The centre part of Britain's cyberespionage agency, GCHQ said in its annual review that the past year also has seen the emergence of a new class of cyber adversary in the form of state-aligned actors, who are often sympathetic to Russia's further invasion of Ukraine and are ideologically, rather than financially, motivated. It said states and state-aligned groups pose an enduring and significant threat, from Russian-language criminals targeting British firms with ransomware attacks, to China state-affiliated cyber actors using their skills to pursue strategi

Cleverly replaces Braverman as UK Home Secy, ex-PM Cameron gets a comeback

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday sacked his Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and replaced her with James Cleverly, while former premier David Cameron, in an unusual move, is back in the frontline government as the new Foreign Secretary. Braverman was sacked as Sunak began a Cabinet reshuffle in the morning, days after it emerged that a controversial newspaper article attacking the Metropolitan Police was published without clearance from her boss, according to reports coming out from Downing Street. The 43-year-old Goan-origin Cabinet minister has been replaced by Cleverly, 54, who moves from his portfolio of Foreign Secretary on the day he was scheduled for talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, currently on a five-day official visit to the UK. It remains to be seen how those bilateral meetings will now pan out as former British prime minister Cameron, 57, is back in the frontline government as the new Foreign Secretary. Cameron, who is no long

Dark underbelly of carbon trade

World leaders need to learn from the mistakes of the voluntary carbon market so that this new market mechanism does not repeat them

UK's stagnating economy fails to grow but sidesteps start of a recession

In the month of September alone, Britain's economy grew by 0.2% from August when growth was revised down to 0.1% from 0.2%

UK to add India in safe states list, no asylum rights for illegal migrants

The UK government has tabled plans to add India to an expanded list of safe states, which would speed up the process of returning Indians who travel from the country illegally and rule out their chance of seeking asylum in Britain. Draft legislation laid in the House of Commons on Wednesday includes India and Georgia as the countries to be added to the list. The UK Home Office said the move is aimed at strengthening the country's immigration system and help prevent abuse by people making unfounded protection claims. We must stop people making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK from fundamentally safe countries, said UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Expanding this list will allow us to more swiftly remove people with no right to be here and sends a clear message that if you come here illegally, you cannot stay. We remain committed to delivering the measures in our Illegal Migration Act, which will play a part in the fight against illegal migration, she said. The move is in

Oxford-AstraZeneca covid vaccine faces legal challenge in UK: Report

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, known as Vaxzevria in Europe and licensed as Covishield in India, is facing a legal challenge in the High Court in London, a UK media report said on Thursday. According to The Daily Telegraph', UK-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca could face a number of further claims based on the outcome of test cases around the condition identified by specialists as Vaccine Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis (VITT), believed to be related to the side effects of the COVID jab. AstraZeneca has stressed that patient safety is its "highest priority" and pointed out that regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects". "The fact of this legal battle poses a fundamental question: in circumstances where individuals are seriously injured or die because of a vaccination recommended by the government should the state provide access to adequate compensation,

Trader loses last fight to kick out $1.8 bn UK dividend tax fraud case

Shah's lawyers had argued the claim shouldn't take place in the UK because matters of foreign tax law can't be ruled on there