Rishi Sunak News

India and the UK are in the final stages of negotiating a free trade agreement with time running out as New Delhi gets ready to hold general elections in the next two months. A team of British trade negotiators is visiting New Delhi to iron out differences on India's demand for more visas for its workers and a social security agreement, and UK's asks for access in India's government procurement and inking a bilateral investment treaty before a trade pact. Officials said most talks have been completed at the negotiator level and a final decision on signing the FTA now rests with the two governments.

extremist Islamist views from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia will be blocked from entering Britain under new plans being drafted by the government, according to a UK media report on Sunday. 'The Daily Telegraph' reports that the British government is concerned about a «shocking increase» in extremist activity and officials are being deputed to identify the most dangerous extremists from overseas so they can be added to visa warning lists. Under the new plans, those on the list will be automatically refused entry to the UK. The revelation comes days after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivered an impassioned speech from the podium at 10 Downing Street in London, warning that the country's democratic and multi-faith values were under threat by extremists.

UK higher education institutions and setting back the country’s ambitions to be a leader in science and technology, according to an influential British entrepreneur. Recent steps by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to make the UK less attractive for overseas students will lead to a university funding shortfall and a reduced pool of talent for British employers, Ewan Kirk, founder of quantitative hedge fund Cantab Capital Partners and a former entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Cambridge said. The measures will chafe against the premier’s ambition to make Britain a hub for high-growth industries such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence, he said Do you meet the immigration criteria? Check here “For all the guff and bloviation about making the UK a scientific superpower, you’ve actually got to do something that’s going to make that happen,” Kirk, also a non-executive director at defense firm BAE Systems, said in an interview. “The corollary of being a scientific superpower is presumably that you need a lot of scientists,” he said. “We’re not going to grow them all internally, so would it not be good to get some from outside?”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that a Conservative lawmaker was wrong to say the mayor of London is controlled by Islamists, and denied his party tolerates anti-Muslim prejudice. Sunak was pressured to condemn Islamophobia after the comments by Lee Anderson about Mayor Sadiq Khan, amid growing tensions within British politics over the Israel-Hamas war. The Conservative lawmaker claimed Islamists had «got control» of Khan and the city of London. Khan is Muslim and a member of the opposition Labour Party.

RIA Novosti news service published on Monday. RIA reported that Siluanov’s answer was in response to a question on Russia’s frozen foreign reserves. The group of seven (G-7) nations should be “bolder" in seizing frozen Russian assets, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an article published on Sunday.

By David Milliken and Suban Abdulla

Britain’s Conservative Party faces the nightmare of an election this year after the economy has dipped into recession, and the Tories have no one to blame but themselves. At least their predicament is a warning for others. The U.K.

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A post shared by Юлия Навальная (@yulia_navalnaya) Kira Yarmysh, the spokesperson for the late Russian opposition leader, confirmed Navalny's death and demanded that his body be handed over to his family "immediately." Yarmysh also accused Russian officials of lying to delay the process, CNN reported. Yarmysh's statement comes after the Russian prison service said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's critic, Navalny, died on Friday after he felt 'unwell' during a walk in his prison and fell unconscious. The cause of his death is not clear.

recession at the end of last year, marked by two consecutive quarters of contracting activity. While the euro area is expected to avoid a downturn, the European Commission still sees the bloc growing slower than initially forecast this year. And in Australia, the unemployment rate climbed to the highest level in two years, consistent with expectations for its economy to soften. Meantime, US consumer prices jumped at the start of the year, though economists maintain that inflation is still broadly on a downward trend.

The British economy fell into recession at the end of 2023 as output shrank more than anticipated in the final three months of the year

Britain’s economy fell into a recession in the second half of 2023, a tough backdrop ahead of this year’s expected election for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has promised to boost growth.

By Suban Abdulla and Andy Bruce

King Charles said, “I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days". On Monday, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles, 75, had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, less than 18 months into his reign, adding that he would postpone some engagements to undergo treatment.

Sudha Murty, who is well-known for her strong recommendations on lifestyles said that she asked Akshata and Rishi to be just honest with their work in helping the nation and ignore what people are saying. "I always tell them [Akshata and Rishi], people talk because of your position. And if you're honest, if you're helping your country, your job - what you're doing - people will always talk.

ALSO READ: India vs England: ENG's Shoaib Bashir ruled out of 1st Test due to visa issues, Ben Stokes calls it ‘very frustrating’ Shoaib Bashir, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent, faced visa issues amid England embarking on India's tour for a five-Test series. With his teammates proceeding to Hyderabad for the first test after a training camp in Abu Dhabi, the young cricketer remained in the Emirate and later returned to England to seek the necessary approval at the Indian embassy. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government expects British citizens to be treated fairly by India's visa processes.

By Zaheer Kachwala

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt (pictured) will meet with UK banks CEOs on 23 January. | Copyright: HM Treasury

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt | Copyright HM Treasury

Political risk in the U.K. is «far less than it's ever been» as the difference between the ruling Conservative Party and main opposition Labour on economic policy is «fairly minimal,» Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said Thursday.

military personnel to serve across Europe in a major NATO exercise in the first half of this year, as well as warships and fighter jets, the defence ministry said on Monday. The deployment includes 16,000 British army troops who will be based in Eastern Europe from February to June, an aircraft carrier strike group and F35B Lightning attack jets and surveillance planes. NATO's Exercise Steadfast Defender 24 marks the Western alliance's 75th year. «I can announce today that UK will be sending some 20,000 personnel to take part in one of NATO's largest deployments since the end of the Cold War,» Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in excerpts of a speech due to be delivered later on Monday at Lancaster House, published by the defence ministry. The NATO alliance has boosted the number of combat-ready troops after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago and has continued to support Kyiv with military, economic and humanitarian aid.