In allying with Iran, China signals the start of Cold War II July 20, 2020 To read the lion’s share of today’s headlines, you would think the western world is in its final days, a Rome tottering on the edge of the abyss. And yet geopolitically, for all our leaders’ unheroic bungling of the coronavirus pandemic, our primary strategic rival China has had a far worse innings. Overconfident President Xi [...]
Angela Merkel lowers hopes as talks start over €750bn EU Covid fund July 17, 2020 European Union leaders face “very, very difficult” negotiations over a €750bn coronavirus bailout fund, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned ahead of the start of talks today. EU heads of state today go into the first in-person leaders’ meeting for five-months to try to thrash out a deal over a huge fund that could kickstart [...]
Privacy Shield ban ‘hurts’ UK’s chances of post-Brexit data deal July 16, 2020 Industry figures have warned that a decision today to ban Privacy Shield, a data-sharing deal between the EU and the US, will compromise the UK’s hopes of securing its own data-sharing agreement at the end of the Brexit transition period. Judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today banned the Privacy Shield data-sharing agreement [...]
Report into Russian interference in UK politics to be published next week July 16, 2020 A long-awaited report into Russian interference in British politics will be published by Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee within the next week. The committee announced this morning that the report would be released before the summer parliamentary recess, which begins next Thursday. It comes just a day after Julian Lewis prompted a mini-coup to win [...]
Apple’s victory throws EU’s digital tax into doubt July 16, 2020 Apple’s successful appeal against a €13.1bn fine from the European Commission could leave the EU’s digital tax strategy at risk of unravelling, experts have warned. A top European court yesterday annulled a decision passed by the Commission in 2016 ordering Apple to pay Ireland more than €13bn in back taxes. It said the executive body [...]
US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand may copy UK Hong Kong visa, says Patel July 15, 2020 Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are looking at creating bespoke long term visas for Hong Kong residents escaping new security laws, according to home secretary Priti Patel. Patel told a parliamentary committee today that the UK’s Five Eyes security partners were looking at following the UK by making emergency visas available to Hong [...]
Huawei banned from UK’s 5G network after government U-turn July 14, 2020 The government will ban new Huawei products from being a part of the UK’s 5G network from next year and all its existing infrastructure will be removed by 2027 in a major U-turn. Huawei will also be banned from supplying equipment to the UK’s new full fibre broadband network, with the embargo likely to begin [...]
Private equity firms eye listed companies as economy starts to reopen July 11, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has left a number of UK-listed companies scrambling for cash, with private equity firms tempted to swoop as the crisis develops. PE firms are eyeing opportunities as they move to deploy more of their dry powder into public entities as the economy starts to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. [...]
UK data watchdog opens joint probe of controversial tech startup Clearview AI July 9, 2020 The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office today launched a joint investigation with the Australian data watchdog of Clearview AI, a facial recognition startup. The ICO said the probe will focus on the data handling practices of Clearview AI, which scrapes data and biometrics of individuals from photos uploaded onto sites such as Facebook. Clearview AI describes [...]
They’ve kept our shelves stocked, now it’s time to stand up for our seafarers July 9, 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has been a desperately worrying time for many people all over the country, in virtually every sector. Thousands of lives have been lost and the global economy has been set back by many years. But there is another pandemic taking place behind the scenes — a hidden pandemic that may cause myriad [...]