Page 15 - Uk Govt

India, UK agree to add momentum to FTA talks during Piyush Goyal's visit

India and the UK have agreed to add momentum to the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. Goyal, who is on a short visit to the UK, took to Twitter after meeting his UK counterpart Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch to say they had agreed to keep up work towards a mutually beneficial deal. India and the UK started round 11 of their FTA talks last Wednesday, which is expected to conclude on Friday. Held a meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch in London. Discussed how both sides can add further momentum to the India-UK Free Trade Agreement negotiations for a mutually beneficial deal, Goyal tweeted. It came a day after a UK government source said the senior Indian ministerial visit to the UK in the midst of a negotiation round shows there is political will to make progress towards an ambitious trade deal. The potential is clear a strong trade deal will ...

British police assess info from BBC over presenter paying teen for photos

British detectives met representatives of the BBC on Monday over allegations that a leading presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. The UK's publicly funded national broadcaster has suspended the male star, who has not been named, over allegations he gave a youth 35,000 pounds (USD 45,000) starting in 2020 when the young person was 17. Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it's a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18. London's Metropolitan Police force said detectives were assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further enquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed. "There is no investigation at this time," the force said. The Sun newspaper, which first reported the allegations, said the young person's mother had complained to the BBC in May but that the presenter had remained on the air. The BBC said in a statement on Sunday that it first became aware of a

Piyush Goyal visit shows political will to make FTA progress: UK official

The visit of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, who starts a two-day visit in London from Monday in the midst of ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, shows political will to make progress towards an ambitious trade deal, a UK government source said. Goyal will hold talks with his UK counterpart, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, during which the two ministers are expected to discuss ways to progress the India-UK FTA following the start of round 11 in London last Wednesday. The latest round is expected to conclude on Friday. The ministerial meeting marks Goyal's first in-person meeting with Badenoch in London, having last met for talks in New Delhi in December last year during round six of the FTA negotiations. Goyal's visit to the UK in the midst of a negotiation round shows there is political will to make progress towards an ambitious trade deal, a UK government source said. The potential is clear a strong trade deal will strengthen the ..

UK govt loses legal bid to keep Boris Johnson's messages from Covid inquiry

A UK court on Thursday rejected the British government's request to keep former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from being made public at an official COVID-19 inquiry. The Cabinet Office took the unusual step of bringing a legal challenge after the retired judge chairing the inquiry into Britain's handling of the coronavirus pandemic ordered the Conservative government to release full copies of Johnson's documents. Government officials argued the inquiry did not have the legal power to force them to release documents and messages that they said were unambiguously irrelevant to how the government handled COVID-19. But lawyers for the inquiry said the idea that civil servants could decide what material was relevant would undermine public confidence in the process. The judges who ruled in the Cabinet Office's case said Johnson's diaries and notebooks were very likely to contain information about decision-making relating to the pandemic. A ...

TCS bags 10-yr contract for managing Teacher's Pension Scheme in Eng, Wales

The Teachers' Pension Scheme is the UK's second largest public sector pension scheme, with over 2 million members

UK to soon disallow international students to bring dependants along

The move comes ahead of the official data, which is expected to show that legal migration has hit a record high of 700,000 this year

UK cracks down on overseas student visa right to bring family dependants

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said that only international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes will be allowed to bring in their family members

Salman Rushdie makes first public appearance since stabbing incident

Nine months after a near-lethal attack that left him debilitated and without vision in one eye, Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie made his first appearance at the PEN Americas

Ajeya Warrior exercise to increase India, UK army interoperability: Envoy

As the UK and India will conclude the seventh edition of the biennial exercise, Ajeya Warrior on Thursday, Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami said

Sunak faced devastating losses of over 1,000 Tory seats in local elections

The party had made surprising successes in Hertsmere, in Hertfordshire, the seat of the Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, where the Tories lost overall control of the Council

Tata Steel flags risk to UK operations' status as a going concern

Discussions with the UK government on support for the transition had been on for almost three years now

Sunak, wife Akshata to lead with UK flag at King Charles III's Coronation

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty will be at the head of a procession of flag-bearers as the UK's flag is carried by a high-ranking Royal Air Force (RAF) cadet at the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6, Buckingham Palace said on Friday. In a series of details released around the ceremonial roles to be carried out at the historic event when the 74-year-old monarch is formally crowned along with wife Camilla, the palace also confirmed that Indian-origin peers will be participating in the ceremony. They will represent the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim faiths as they hand over key elements of the royal regalia to King Charles. In keeping with this theme of diversity and inclusion for the Christian ceremony, one of the first processions into the Abbey will be made up of faith representatives of different religions. The first processions into Westminster Abbey will be made up of faith leaders and faith representatives ...

UK gets record demand for debt that acts as protection against inflation

The huge demand for the bond comes as the UK increasingly looks like an outlier in the global fight to quash soaring inflation

UK blocks Microsoft's $69 bn deal Activision deal over competition fears

British regulators have blocked Microsoft's USD 69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report Wednesday that the only effective remedy to the significant loss of competition that the deal would result in is to prohibit the Merger. The all-cash deal was set to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. But it faces stiff opposition from rival Sony and is also being scrutinised by regulators in the US and Europe over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty. Microsoft said it was disappointed and signalled it wasn't ready to give up. We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal, President Brad Smith said in a statement. He said the UK watchdog's decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns" and discourages tech innovation and investment in th

UK PM commences evacuation of British nationals from strife-torn Sudan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said his government has commenced a large-scale evacuation effort to help British nationals leave strife-torn Sudan from Tuesday. UK military flights are due to depart from an airfield outside the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, supported by senior diplomats from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Flights will be open to those with British passports and priority will be given to family groups with children and/or the elderly or individuals with medical conditions. "The government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly, Sunak said on Twitter. "I pay tribute to the British Armed Forces, diplomats and Border Force staff carrying out this complex operation. The UK will continue to work to end the bloodshed in Sudan and support a democratic government, he said. At this stage, the FCDO has sa

UK PM Sunak faces parliamentary probe over wife Akshata's business interest

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a watchdog inquiry under his parliamentary declaration of interest obligations related to a Budget policy that could benefit his wife, Akshata Murty, through her business interest in a childcare firm, it emerged on Monday. The inquiry has been opened by the UK's Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, an independent officer of the House of Commons in charge of looking at evidence if individual British members of Parliament are feared to have broken a rule under the Code of Conduct'. The active inquiries on the watchdog's list include one opened on Sunak, 42, last Thursday under Paragraph 6 of the rules of conduct, as Downing Street said ministerial interests were "transparently declared". Members must always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its Committees, and in any communications with Ministers, Members, public officials or public office holders, states Paragraph 6. According to t

Policy vacuum

Govt must frame rules for space communication

TikTok to be blocked from parliamentary devices, networks in UK: Report

The commissions of the House of Commons and House of Lords have announced they will follow the move taken by the government on official devices, citing the need for cyber security

UK ex-PM Boris Johnson once again apologises over Partygate scandal

Boris Johnson has once again apologised over the Partygate scandal, this time for inadvertently misleading the British Parliament over the COVID law-breaking parties at Downing Street during his time as prime minister. Johnson was grilled for hours on Wednesday by the House of Commons Privileges Committee, which is investigating whether he knowingly misled the Parliament over the Partygate scandal of gathering that breached the lockdown rules. I apologise for inadvertently misleading this House, but to say that I did it recklessly or deliberately is completely untrue, as the evidence shows, he told the committee. During a heated session, the 58-year-old senior Conservative Party MP insisted the events that came under the purview of the scandal were essential during the lockdown period as Downing Street doubles up as a workplace and residence. "I believe it was absolutely essential for work purposes," he said when questioned about a particular event in November 2020. Johnson said t

UK to respond 'robustly' against attack on Indian High Commission: Cleverly

The UK will review the security at the Indian High Commission here following "unacceptable" acts of violence by pro-Khalistan protesters, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said, asserting that the government takes these matters "very seriously" and would "robustly" respond to such incidents. Around 2,000 protesters waving Khalistan flags descended upon the Indian mission here on Wednesday for a planned demonstration and hurled objects and chanted slogans amid a heightened security presence and barricades. Unlike the violent disorder on Sunday when the India House came under attack, the protesters were barricaded across the road with uniformed officers standing guard and patrolling the area throughout. The protesters, including turbaned men, and some women and children, had been bused in from different parts of the UK and chanted pro-Khalistan slogans. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Cleverly said the British government takes such matters very seriously and