Saturday Read: Investors are fleeing Myanmar as coup grows more deadly March 6, 2021 The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian central bank, has put Japanese Kirin Holdings on a watch list for possible exclusion due to its ties to Myanmar’s military, in light of the recent coup and ongoing unrest in the country. The Japanese beverage group Kirin has a partnership and $1.7bn controlling stake in Myanmar [...]
Hancock firm on NHS one per cent pay rise despite nurse and union pressure March 5, 2021 Matt Hancock rejects opposition to one per cent pay rise despite union hostility towards the decision
Matt Hancock: Vaccines are breaking the ‘unbreakable link’ between Covid cases and deaths March 5, 2021 The “unbreakable link” from Covid cases to hospitalisations and deaths is now being broken as Britain begins to emerge from the grips of the pandemic, the health secretary has said. Latest official data showed infections have fallen 34 per cent over the past week, as the UK makes rapid progress with the vaccine rollout. Speaking [...]
Boris Johnson challenges EU after Italy blocks Astrazeneca vaccine shipment March 5, 2021 Boris Johnson has challenged the EU’s decision to approve the blockade of 250,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine from being shipped to Australia. Italy yesterday announced it had blocked the shipment of vaccines made at its Anagni plant near Rome after the British-Swedish drug manufacturer failed to meet its EU contract commitments. The European Commission gave [...]
Covid: UK R rate rises despite lockdown measures March 5, 2021 The UK’s R rate has crept up slightly, despite Covid cases falling to their lowest level since September amid nationwide lockdown measures, according to the latest official figures. The rate of reproduction of coronavirus now stands at 0.7 to 0.9, meaning every 10 people infected will likely infect between 7 and 9 other people. The [...]
France could block vaccine shipments over shortages, health minister says March 5, 2021 France has suggested the country could block exports of Covid-19 vaccines, the French health minister said this morning, echoing Italy’s move which stopped 250,000 vaccines from reaching Australia yesterday. Health minister Olivier Veran said France “could” follow Italy’s steps when ask by French broadcaster BFM TV. The minister added that France received 800,000 doses of [...]
Liz Truss insists UK has not breached Northern Ireland protocol March 5, 2021 Trade minister Liz Truss has insisted Britain has not breached the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit trade deal, something it has been accused of doing by the European Union which has promised to take legal action. “These are temporary easements and it’s perfectly common practice whilst deals are being implemented to have temporary easements [...]
Test and Trace to receive extra £15bn, bringing total funding to £37bn March 4, 2021 The Test and Trace scheme is set to receive an extra £15bn, bringing its total funding over two years to £37bn. The contact tracing scheme, which has been awarded £22bn so far, will receive a further £15bn over the next financial year. The new figures were first revealed by the Huffington Post. It also revealed [...]
EU to launch legal action against UK ‘very soon’ over Brexit grace period extension March 4, 2021 The EU will launch legal action against the UK “very soon” over Britain’s extension of a grace period for checks on goods heading to Northern Ireland, the vice president of the European Commission has said. Maros Sefcovic told the Financial Times the decisions announced by the UK government yesterday had been a “very negative surprise”. Ministers [...]
Exclusive: UK to begin backdoor push to get Joe Biden to dump Trump’s steel tariffs March 4, 2021 The UK will begin a push to get Joe Biden to ditch Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs on British manufacturers, after the US today moved to de-escalate a long-running transatlantic trade dispute. The government is hoping the US’ decision to suspend a raft of tariffs on British goods, like Scotch whisky and Stilton cheese, [...]