Page 12 - Uk Govt

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

Accounting company PwC plans to cut around 600 jobs in UK: Report

The job cuts will be directed mainly at PwC's advisory business and a small number in the tax department, the report said

Amazon, Meta settle UK probe with pledges to refrain from unfair practices

Amazon and Meta settled separate UK antitrust investigations by agreeing to stop practices that give them an unfair advantage over merchants and customers using their platforms, the watchdog said Friday. The Competition and Markets Authority said it accepted the commitments from the US tech companies to close the investigations into their online marketplaces. The watchdog had been investigating whether Amazon was harming competition and hurting consumers by giving preference to merchants paying for extras like storage, packaging and delivery. It also looked into how Amazon chooses suppliers for the so-called buy box, which shows customers one-click buy now or add to basket options and the collection and use of data. The CMA said Amazon will no longer be able to use data from third-party sellers to give itself an edge. Sellers can negotiate their own delivery rates with independent delivery services and they'll get a fair shot at the buy box, it said. Amazon welcomed the deal, sayi

UK pledges £80 million for AI projects globally, including in Africa

According to a statement it will, "help bring down the barriers to entry for African AI innovators with the private sector"

Dubious agents running illicit UK visa trade in South Asia: Report

Dubious agents are operating an illicit visa appointments trade in South Asia, charging unsuspecting students and workers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal exorbitant rates for a service that should be free, a UK media investigation has found. According to The Observer' newspaper on Sunday, brokers in some parts of South Asia are charging up to GBP 800 for biometric appointments being advertised on social media messaging services in these countries. The problem is believed to be the worst in Pakistan where the investigation found that the abuse of the visa appointment system by agents is feared to have increased significantly over the last year. "It is a massive issue. It all adds to the debt people pay to come to the UK," Rakesh Ranjan, South Asia coordinator for the migrant workers' programme at the UK-based Institute for Human Rights and Business, told the newspaper. When applying for a visa from New Delhi recently, Ranjan was quoted the equivalent of GBP 500 by an agent

Antisemitic, Islamophobic hate crimes rise in UK amid Israel-Hamas conflict

Antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes have continued to rise dramatically in London since the Israel-Hamas conflict intensified earlier this month, with Scotland Yard gearing up for another set of protests on the streets of London on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police said it had recorded 408 antisemitic offences against Britain's Jewish communities this month, compared to 28 in the same period last year, and Islamophobic hate crime was up from 65 offences in October 2022 to 174 so far this month. The police force has made 75 arrests linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict and its counterterrorism officers are investigating 10 potential breaches of terrorism laws. "We've been clear over the last week that wherever possible we will police up to the line of the law, said Met Police Commander Kyle Gordon, with reference to protests and marches planned in London this weekend. Our most experienced and knowledgeable officers are working on the policing of these events, making sure we are ..

FTSE 100 closes 0.9% lower, logs weekly loss as lacklustre results weigh

The banks index shed 2.3% and ended the week 5.4% lower.

World's first AI Safety Institute to be set up in UK: Rishi Sunak

The UK is to be the headquarters of the world's first AI Safety Institute as the country takes the lead in examining and testing new types of artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in a speech in London on Thursday. Ahead of hosting the first Global AI Safety Summit next week, the British Indian leader who completed one year in office this week said that he genuinely believes that technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) will bring a transformation as far-reaching as the industrial revolution, the coming of electricity, or the birth of the internet. But like those waves of advancements and the many positives that they offer, there are also "new dangers and new fears" that need to be tackled head on. Get this wrong, and AI could make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons. Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and destruction on an even greater scale. Criminals could exploit AI for cyber-attacks, disinformation, fraud, or even child sexua

AI backlash may anger thousands of employees in UK, says Infosys Partner

The remarks ahead of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's AI Summit next week underscore the stakes for policymakers facing a rapid shift in the nature of work