‘No Sino-phobes’: UK will not ‘pitchfork’ business from China despite Hong Kong and human rights October 19, 2021 Boris Johnson has told the Chinese business community the UK has no intention to “pitchfork away” investment from China despite ongoing differences with Beijing over human rights and Hong Kong. Ahead of the Global Investment Summit in London, later today, the Prime Minister said China would continue to play a “gigantic part” in UK economic [...]
Foreign investors pile into London’s green dream, making it the ‘cleantech’ capital of Europe October 19, 2021 London was the leading city in Europe for ‘cleantech’ projects last year, with investors piling into the cause as the UK chases its net zero target and maps its ‘levelling up’ agenda. The UK snagged one in six of all foreign direct investment that came in behind cleantech last year, according to Big Four firm [...]
Gupta’s GFG files High Court claim against AIP amid French smelter row October 18, 2021 Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance has filed a claim against American Industrial Partners (AIP) with the High Court amid a row over an aluminium smelter in France. A GFG spokesperson said: “GFG’s opinion is that AIP has unlawfully expropriated the valuable aluminium smelter, located in Dunkerque, France, belonging to GFG’s ALVANCE Aluminium business. “Despite GFG providing [...]
COP26: ‘Climate risk is investment risk’, says BlackRock ESG lead October 18, 2021 “Climate risk is investment risk,” the ESG lead at investment heavyweight BlackRock has said, as the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) outlines not only what countries need to do to hold back climate change, but what they are likely to achieve. To meet the Paris Agreement’s goals, countries will need to retire unabated coal [...]
Netflix’s famed Squid Game set to rake in around $900m October 17, 2021 Netflix’s famed Squid Game is reportedly set to generate around $900m in value for the company, despite costing just $21.4m to make. The spend came in far less than some of Netflix’s other big shows, costing around $2.4m per episode, Bloomberg first reported, which has resulted in a huge margin for profit. Other successful shows, [...]
Russia will look to ‘rescue’ UK in energy crisis October 17, 2021 Russia will try to “come to the rescue” of the UK amid rapidly rising energy costs, says the country’s ambassador Andrei Kelin. He told Andrew Marr that that if there is an “opportunity” to help the UK, then the country will “do what we can to alleviate difficult conditions which are now being created with [...]
Airlift 240m Covid-19 vaccines says Gordon Brown after COVAX scheme misses target October 17, 2021 Former prime minister Gordon Brown has urged that 240m Covid-19 vaccines being distributed to countries in the global south could save 100,000 lives. It follows the global COVAX scheme, a World Health Organisation (WHO) programme designed so wealthier countries can donate vaccine doses to states less able to bulk buy, missed its target, according to [...]
Putin could miss COP26 climate conference October 17, 2021 Vladimir Putin has not decided whether to attend the upcoming COP26 climate conference in Glasgow later this month. Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, told Andrew Marr that a decision on the president’s trip has “not been taken yet”. This follows Wednesday’s comments from the Russian premier that he might avoid the conference due [...]
French fishermen threaten to block Channel amid post-Brexit licences row October 17, 2021 French fishermen have reportedly threatened to block Channel trade after president Emmanuel Macron failed to align European governments on how to tackle British fishing licences. “We were promised to be able to go fishing in English waters, but since January 1, it’s forbidden to us. We’re losing 50 per cent of our income,” Pierre-Yves Dachicourt, a French fisherman from [...]
United Nations job offer to Matt Hancock withdrawn after only three days October 16, 2021 A United Nations job offer to disgraced former health secretary Matt Hancock has apparently been withdrawn after only three days. Earlier this week, Hancock announced he had been appointed a special representative to the UN in an unpaid role. The former cabinet minister, who resigned in June after admitting he broke coronavirus restrictions during relations [...]