Tpp trade deal trump

The NHS is facing a legal challenge over its data deal with controversial Silicon Valley firm Palantir, Sky News can reveal. Palantir, which has become notorious for its close ties to security services and immigration agencies in the United States, secured its first ever deal to handle NHS data in March last year for the nominal sum of £1. Legal group Foxglove announced today that it was bringing a court case against the health service to force it to reconsider the contract, which was extended in December 2020 and is now worth £23.5m. Government's failure to publish COVID contracts details was unlawful, High Court rules The lawsuit is the latest challenge over procurement during the pandemic, which has become a highly contentious topic in recent months, with critics accusing the government of favouring its own contacts. It comes as a batch of internal government emails uncovered by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and seen by Sky News reveal that … [Read more...] about NHS facing legal challenge over data deal with controversial Silicon Valley firm Palantir

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist and former finance minister, has been appointed to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first African and woman to helm the global trade body. Okonjo-Iweala takes over as the global trade body struggles to remain relevant amid growing protectionism and trade tensions and an economic crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic. From reviving WTO's dispute settlement process to policing China, the new director-general has her task cut out as she looks to restore global faith in the trade body. "What it [the WTO] needs is someone who has the capability to drive reform, who knows trade and who does not want to see business as usual. And that is me," she said. Okonjo-Iweala said her top priority would be to deal with the economic and health fallouts of the pandemic. WTO members should accelerate efforts to lift export restrictions on medical supplies and vaccines. "The WTO can contribute so much more to helping stop the … [Read more...] about Daunting challenges await WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The UK government has been told to "act unilaterally" over the controversial Northern Ireland protocol in its trade deal with the EU. Following the UK's departure from the European Union , the Brexit deal agreed saw trade checks enacted on products travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. But to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, these regulatory and customs checks moved to the Irish Sea, with goods imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK subject to a range of new processes. A grace period has been in place since 31 December, but there has still been disruption on transporting supermarket goods and this could intensify when it ends on 1 April. Unionists say the protocol is driving an economic wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Advertisement Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, spoke after a meeting of the UK/EU committee for … [Read more...] about Brexit: UK government urged to ‘act unilaterally’ over Northern Ireland protocol

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned Brussels against creating a "serious escalation" by forcing firms to relocate euro clearing business away from the UK. Mr Bailey told MPs Britain should "resist very firmly" any attempt by the EU to try to dismantle by "dubious" means the dominance of London in clearing euro-denominated derivatives - a business sometimes described as the plumbing of the financial market. It was the latest broadside by the governor on Europe, two weeks after he took Brussels to task over its apparent intransigence on granting post- Brexit "equivalence" for Britain's financial services sector. Appearing before the Treasury select committee on Wednesday, Mr Bailey said that stand-off now risked becoming a "side show" amid reports about the EU's attempt to shift euro-denominated clearing to the continent. Europe's top banks are being asked by Brussels to justify why they should not have to do so, according to a report by the … [Read more...] about Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey warns EU against ‘dubious’ attempt to grab multi-trillion clearing business

PARENTS can check to see if their children's toys to see if they've been made with potentially harmful chemicals It comes after a study by the United Nations found 126 chemicals in hard, soft and foam plastic toys that could cause long-term illnesses in children. In total, UN Environment researchers found the dangerous chemicals in a quarter of children toys based on existing studies. It doesn’t necessarily mean the toys are unsafe as toys sold in the UK have to pass strict safety guidelines first, including limits on certain chemicals. The study found softer plastic toys pose more of a threat to tots than harder ones because children typically own more, play with them for longer and put them in their mouth. The full effect the chemicals have on the body aren't known, but they have been linked to cancer and infertility. List of potentially dangerous chemicals in toys THESE are the 126 chemicals found in children's toys that could be potentially harmful, … [Read more...] about Parents can check kids toys for list of 126 potentially harmful chemicals