Boiler manufacturers are pushing back against government efforts to force them to rapidly make thousands more heat pumps, in a new flashpoint over the pace of the shift towards lower carbon heating. The government plans to fine companies from next year unless they meet stringent quotas for heat pump production and installation. But bosses are lobbying
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China has warned western militaries to stay out of waters and airspace near its borders if they want to avoid dangerous run-ins with the People’s Liberation Army, putting on display the growing risks of unintended conflict as geopolitical competition grows. The blunt message from General Li Shangfu, China’s new defence minister, followed a near collision
China will soon account for less than half of the US’s low-cost imports from Asia for the first time in more than a decade, new data has shown, as western companies shift operations out of the country. According to an annual reshoring index from Kearney, the Chicago-based management consulting firm, US efforts to reduce reliance
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled a move to more orthodox economic policies as he unveiled sweeping changes to his cabinet, revamping his financial team and replacing an interior minister known for his hardline rhetoric. Erdoğan shook up several top departments, announcing new finance, foreign and interior ministers in a speech late Saturday. The appointments
Three Israeli soldiers have been shot dead by an Egyptian security official, Israeli and Egyptian authorities said on Saturday, in the worst incident on the countries’ border for more than a decade. Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1979, and the border has been relatively calm since a
An Indonesian defence minister has floated a peace plan for Ukraine, triggering fierce criticism from western security officials but praise from China and highlighting the deep divide between the west and global south over Russia’s invasion of its neighbour. In a speech on Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defence conference in Singapore, Prabowo
Virtual reality start-ups have pinned their hopes on Apple’s longed-for release of a mixed reality headset becoming a catalyst for a rebound in industry funding. Anticipation is growing that the iPhone maker will host at its annual developer conference on Monday its biggest hardware launch since the iPad in 2010. The headset, with a likely
Artificial intelligence tools are “ripe” to disrupt the private banking sector, Amnon Shashua has said, as his new digital bank One Zero prepares to expand its activities outside Israel. Shashua last year launched One Zero — whose investors include Swiss private bank Julius Baer, US private equity group Cerberus and China’s Tencent — as the
When Antony Knights and his wife, Louise Firth, first noticed that their British Airways flight to Berlin from London’s Heathrow airport was listed as delayed, they were neither surprised nor very concerned. But shortly afterwards they and others waiting for the flight, on May 25, were shocked to be told to leave the airport terminal.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday criticised China for conducting risky aerial intercepts over the South China Sea and warned that Washington would not be deterred by dangerous behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region. China was conducting “an alarming number of risky intercepts of US and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace”, Austin said
How bad was your week? Well fear not. Rajesh Vishwas is here to make you feel better. The Indian government official was recently suspended after he ordered a reservoir to be drained so he could retrieve his mobile phone, which had fallen in when he tried to take a selfie while picnicking with friends. Taking
A train crash in eastern India has killed more than 200 people, officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest railway accidents in decades. At least 233 people were killed and 900 injured in a collision involving multiple trains in the state of Odisha on Friday night, according to the state’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena.
The six Glazer siblings could retain stakes in Manchester United in a proposed phased takeover of the football club by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is seeking a way through the share structure and family dynamics that have complicated the deal. The Glazer family started a strategic review more than six months ago but the process
The train from London to Amsterdam is a 3hr 52m joke at the expense of the nation state. Four countries zip past without so much as a courtesy announcement over the speaker at each crossing of a border. Staff of indeterminate citizenship offer drinks in three languages. The onscreen message (“Welcome à bord d’Eurostar”) is a
This week five men were found guilty of illegally streaming live Premier League games and sent to jail for a total of more than 30 years. The UK-based fraud had more than 50,000 customers and generated £7mn over five years. The Premier League, which brought the case as an unusual private prosecution, takes these matters
In the circle of a therapy session in an 18th century Scottish country house are half-a-dozen recovering addicts. Many recall, at their lowest points, battling chronic depression and contemplating suicide. The patients, all male, share harrowing stories of dealing with a newfangled addiction: compulsive crypto trading. Some say their crypto addiction combined with an alcohol
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman spent almost two decades as a relatively low-profile member of Saudi Arabia’s Opec delegation. But since becoming the first royal to serve as the kingdom’s oil minister in 2019, he has made a name for himself, though not one of his choosing: traders have recently taken to calling him the “prickly
And relax. After months of performative wrangling, the showboats of US politics have finally agreed to give the country more leeway in borrowing, a move that extinguishes the risk of a potentially cataclysmic default on its government bonds. Averting a disaster in the world’s core so-called risk-free asset, this is victory for common sense. If
The writer is associate professor in cardiometabolic health at the University of Exeter and chairs the BMA Board of Science Smoking kills. In a world where physicians cannot achieve consensus on other major health threats, this unambiguous fact is something that we can all agree on. Tobacco use is the biggest cause of preventable disease
Rishi Sunak has been warned by a leading think-tank against entering a “subsidy race” with the US and EU in an attempt to defend the British car industry. The UK is locked in a subsidy battle with Spain, as the prime minister tries to persuade Indian conglomerate Tata to build a new gigafactory in Britain
Almost a year on from England’s victory in Euro 2022, women’s football is preparing for its next big showcase event: the Uefa Women’s Champions League final. On Saturday, FC Barcelona Femení and VfL Wolfsburg will battle it out in Eindhoven in front of a sellout crowd of almost 35,000 fans. The match between the Catalan