Page 35 - Uk

Fitch Ratings cuts UK's credit outlook to negative on fiscal risk

The UK's credit outlook was lowered to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings, which cited risk the government's new growth plan could increase the nation's fiscal deficit

Britain's Defence Secretary calls Ukraine war a 'wakeup call' for NATO

Britain's defence secretary said Tuesday that Russia's war on Ukraine has been a wake-up call for NATO members, making them realize that their militaries need to be better and invest more in defense. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said many nations in Europe had become complacent after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin has become in a sense, a gift to NATO. He spoke during a panel discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum, a two-day gathering of trans-Atlantic leaders, security and defence experts. Conference attendees included Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, who thanked Poland and other allies for their support of her country. Wallace described Putin as a pantomime villain who reminded us that there really is somebody out there who really, really wants to not only challenge us, but wants to inflict violence. He said there is agreement among his colleagues that they have not invested enough in their militaries. On the surface o

Australian dollar slides as RBA opts for smaller hike; sterling on new high

The Reserve Bank of Australia said it decided to slow the pace of tightening because the cash rate had been increased substantially in a short period of time, but left the door open to additional hike

Best of BS Opinion: India's Ukraine destiny, U-turn in UK, and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

UK PM U-turns on tax cut for wealthiest to avert rebellion within party

The new Liz Truss-led UK government on Monday made an embarrassing U-turn on its central plank of tax cuts by withdrawing a controversial policy to abolish the topmost income tax slab for the wealthiest, following market turmoil and to avert a feared rebellion within the governing Conservative Party. The decision, which marks a humiliating climbdown for Prime Minister Truss, comes after several Conservative MPs criticised the government's plan announced just 10 days ago. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng declared that the announcement in his mini-budget of a proposed abolition of the 45 pence tax rate, which applied to the top tier of income taxpayers from next April, had become a massive distraction to an otherwise sound growth plan for the economy. The plan to scrap the 45p rate, paid by people earning more than 150,000 pounds (USD 167,000) a year, was announced as part of a package of tax cuts on September 23. It came after days of turmoil on the global financial markets spooked by the

U-turn in UK: Room for fiscal fireworks is limited

It is best to stick to tried and tested methods of reviving growth - deregulation, macroeconomic stability, and targeted investment

Vodafone in talks for UK merger with Hutchison's Three, shares rise

Merger would create new leader in British mobile market; Vodafone in talks about creating a 51%-49% joint venture; deal structured using debt, with no cash consideration

UK PM Liz Truss makes U-turn on tax after week of market turmoil

The U-turn comes after the govt's fiscal plans triggered a crisis of investor confidence, jolting markets to such an extent that the BoE had to intervene with a 65 billion pound bond-buying programme

Sterling rebounds 1% on reversal of proposed tax cut plan; yen weakens

Sterling climbed higher on Monday after British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the government would reverse a plan to scrap the UK's highest rate of income tax

UK train strikes and soaring energy prices add to a week of turmoil

Trains in Britain all but ground to a halt Saturday as coordinated strikes by rail workers added to a week of turmoil caused by soaring energy prices and unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets. Only about 11% of train services were expected to operate across the U.K. on Saturday, according to Network Rail. Unions said they called the latest in a series of one-day strikes to demand that wage increases keep pace with inflation that is expected to peak at around 11% this month. Consumers were also hit with a jump in their energy bills Saturday as the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushes gas and electricity prices higher. Household bills are expected to rise by about 20%, even after the government stepped in to cap prices. Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has been in office less than a month, cited the cost-of-living crisis as the reason she moved swiftly to introduce a controversial economic stimulus program, which includes 45 billion pounds ($48 billion) of unfund

UK imposes services sanctions on Russia over illegal annexation of Ukraine

The UK government on Friday imposed new services and goods export bans on Russia in response to what it termed the illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine after sham referendums. The services sanctions are designed to target vulnerable sectors of the Russian economy, including IT consultancy, architectural services, engineering services and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activity. UK Foreign Secretary also instructed the Russian Ambassador, Andrey Kelin, be summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), to protest in the strongest terms against the Russian action in Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The UK utterly condemns [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's announcement of the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. We will never recognise the results of these sham referendums or any annexation of Ukrainian territory, said UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. The Russian regime must be hel

6 UK institutions to partner with Jindal University for overseas education

The O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has established comprehensive and meaningful partnerships with six prestigious universities in the UK

UK's Labour Party aims to strengthen connections with Indian diaspora

The Labour Convention of Indian Organisations (LCIO) is aiming to close the gap between British Indians and the Labour Party by boosting the Indian diaspora connection

Royal Mint unveils first coins to feature King Charles III's portrait

Britain's Royal Mint has unveiled the first coins to feature the portrait of King Charles III. Britons will begin to see Charles' image in their change from around December, as 50-pence coins depicting him gradually enter circulation. The new monarch's effigy was created by British sculptor Martin Jennings, and has been personally approved by Charles, the Royal Mint said Friday. In keeping with tradition, the king's portrait faces to the left the opposite direction to his mother's, Queen Elizabeth II. Charles has followed that general tradition that we have in British coinage, going all the way back to Charles II actually, that the monarch faces in the opposite direction to their predecessor," said Chris Barker at the Royal Mint Museum. Charles is depicted without a crown. A Latin inscription surrounding the portrait translates to King Charles III, by the Grace of God, Defender of the Faith." A separate memorial 5-pound coin remembering the life and legacy of Elizabeth will be ..

UK PM Liz Truss says tax cut was a right thing, will not change course

"We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing and that means taking controversial and difficult decisions," Truss said.

DCGI allows Serum Institute to export malaria vaccine to UK: Report

India's drug regulator has allowed the export of the first produced-in-India vaccine against malaria, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford and manufactured by Serum Institute to the UK, official sources said on Thursday. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted permission to send two lakh doses of the vaccine. The move comes after an application was submitted by Prakash Kumar Singh, director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, at Serum Institute of India (SII) to DCGI on September 27 seeking permission to export the vaccine against malaria, official sources told PTI. "SII has developed the vaccine against malaria under leadership of our CEO Dr Adar C Poonawalla. We have been relentlessly working to make available made-in-India and world-class vaccines against malaria to our country and world at large," an official source quoted Singh as having said in the application. Currently, only one vaccine against malaria is available globally and GSK is the ...

10-year yield on US Treasury notes breaches 4% mark after 12 yrs

The benchmark US 10-year yield was little changed at 3.945 per cent after earlier climbing to 4.015 per cent.

India proposes 15% retaliatory duties on 22 items imported from UK

India has proposed additional customs duties of 15 per cent on the import of 22 products, including whiskey, cheese and diesel engine parts, from the UK in retaliation to Britain's decision to impose restrictions on steel products. In a communication to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India said it is estimated that the safeguard measures taken by the UK on steel products have resulted in the decline of exports to the tune of 2,19,000 tonnes on which the duty collection would be USD 247.7 million. Accordingly, India's proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the UK, it said. "India hereby notifies the (WTO's) Council for Trade in Goods of its decision to suspend concessions or other obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards that are substantially equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the measures of the UK," it added. The other products .

IMF tells UK to 're-evaluate' unfunded tax cuts as global criticism mounts

Prime Minister Liz Truss's decision to cut taxes by the most since the early 1970s and cover them via borrowing at a time of surging inflation has rattled financial markets and drawn concern

UK markets have lost $500 billion since Liz Truss took over as PM

Taking the helm at a time when the UK economy was already grappling with the specter of recession, the Truss government's new fiscal policies fueled concerns that inflation and borrowing would surge