‘Snotty tweets’: Amazon clashes with Elizabeth Warren over taxes and unions March 27, 2021 Amazon has become embroiled in a rare public row with US senator Elizabeth Warren over issues including its tax and employment practices. The dispute kicked off on Thursday when the Massachusetts senator posted a video accusing Amazon of “exploiting loopholes and tax havens to pay close to nothing in taxes”. The ecommerce giant replied saying [...]
EU will not be ‘blackmailed’ by UK over vaccines, says French minister March 26, 2021 The EU will not be “blackmailed” by the UK over Covid vaccine supplies, France’s foreign minister has said, as a cross-Channel dispute over coronavirus jabs continues to escalate. Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed the UK is set to run into “problems” because it has prioritised first doses of the jab, as he warned that Europe would [...]
Coronavirus latest updates: EU boosts vaccine supply; Norway halts Astrazeneca jab; London R rate rises March 26, 2021 EU boosts production of Covid vaccines The European Medicines Agency announced this afternoon that it has approved the use of two European factories to scale up the EU’s vaccine supply. The Halix factory in the Netherlands has been cleared to produce doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine for the EU, while another in Marburg in Germany [...]
Alex Salmond launches new pro-independence party March 26, 2021 Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond is launching a new pro-independence party which will stand in the Scottish Parliament election. Salmonds’s new Alba Party is expected to field at least four candidates in each regional list. “I’m announcing the public launch of a new political force: the Alba Party,” Salmond said in a statement broadcast on [...]
UK R rate increases to between 0.7 to 0.9 March 26, 2021 The UK’s R number has risen slightly to a best estimate of between 0.7 and 0.9, though it remains below the crucial 1 threshold. The figure marks a marginal hike from last week, when scientists estimated that the R rate was between 0.6 and 0.9. The new R rate means that every 10 people infected [...]
EU approves use of Netherlands factory to produce Astrazeneca vaccine March 26, 2021 The EU medicines regulator has approved the use of a factory in the Netherlands for the production of Covid vaccines for Europe, despite the fact that it is currently being used to make jabs for the UK. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in statement it had cleared the Halix production site in the Netherlands [...]
China sanctions Tory MPs in Uighur human rights abuse row March 26, 2021 China has imposed sanctions on nine UK individuals — including five Tory MPs — for spreading what it calls “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in the country. The Chinese foreign ministry today said it had sanctioned four organisations and nine individuals, including Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and the party’s Human Rights [...]
Covid-19, a year on: the need for a more diverse UK economy March 26, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks back at the last year of the pandemic and Covid restrictions and takes stock of its impact on industries and issues at the heart of British society. Read more: Read the full Covid-19, a year on series here. The UK’s economy was hit by a 10 per cent drop in GDP [...]
Rishi Sunak: Workers will quit if they can’t return to offices, chancellor warns March 26, 2021 Employers may face an exodus of staff if they implement a permanent remote-working strategy after lockdown, the chancellor warned. Rishi Sunak said workers should be allowed to return to offices or they may “vote with their feet” and leave the firm for an employer that encourages face-to-face working. He said offices allow meetings to “happen [...]
MPs vote to extend emergency coronavirus powers for another six months March 25, 2021 MPs have voted to extend the government’s emergency Covid powers for a further six months. The 2020 Coronavirus Act was passed by 484 votes to 76, handing the government a majority of 408. It comes despite opposition from a group of rebel Tory backbenchers who argued that the extension could result in further lockdowns. The [...]