Britain and India have laid the ground for a possible post-Brexit bilateral free trade deal and signed off on a series of commercial agreements worth up to £1bn, according to Downing Street. Brexit opponents claim the chances of Britain securing a trade deal with India superior to a Indian-EU deal are a fantasy unless the UK makes major concessions on Indian skilled labour accessing UK markets. Karan Bilimoria, the British Indian entrepreneur and life peer, insisted Modi’s priority was a free trade deal with the EU. Britain is nevertheless lavishing diplomatic attention over Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, thanking him for breaking a decade of Indian indifference to the Commonwealth by personally attending the Commonwealth summit and so giving the post-colonial assembly greater relevance. Modi did not attend the Commonwealth summit in Malta two years ago, and his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, missed the 2011 summit in Australia and its successor in Sri Lanka in … [Read more...] about UK and India ‘lay ground’ for free trade deal with bilateral agreement
Uk and brexit
Northern Ireland economy ‘suffering from impasse at Stormont and Brexit uncertainty’
0 Comments Northern Ireland economy 'suffering from impasse at Stormont and Brexit uncertainty' BelfastTelegraph.co.uk The private sector in Northern Ireland is "rigid with uncertainty" over Brexit as political statemate continues, trade unions have said. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-economy-suffering-from-impasse-at-stormont-and-brexit-uncertainty-36794155.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/article36794154.ece/5672b/AUTOCROP/h342/2018-04-11_bus_39995271_I1.JPG Email The private sector in Northern Ireland is "rigid with uncertainty" over Brexit as political statemate continues, trade unions have said. And they called for "compromise" to bring about the revival of power-sharing institutions under the Good Friday Agreement, as they marked its 20th anniversary at an event in Stormont yesterday. Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) assistant general secretary Owen Reidy (right) said the economy was … [Read more...] about Northern Ireland economy ‘suffering from impasse at Stormont and Brexit uncertainty’
Facebook hit with class action lawsuit for ‘$1,000 per person’ in UK and US over privacy scandal
FACEBOOK has been struck with a class-action lawsuit launched by British and US lawyers over its alleged mishandling of the personal data of more than 71 million people. The suit, which also names Cambridge Analytica and two other firms, claims the companies obtained the private information of the platform's users to develop "political propaganda campaigns" in the UK and US. Richard Fields, the co-lead counsel on the lawsuit in the US, told The Sun that it could result in Facebook having to foot a massive bill. "The Plaintiffs as proposed representatives of the class are seeking minimum statutory damages of $1,000 per person or $71 billion based on information released by Facebook about the number of affected users," he said. Facebook maintains that the privacy crisis was a breach of trust, and while the suit acknowledges that it may have initially been misled, it says it failed to protect the data of 1.1 million Brits and over 70 million Americans. The data was allegedly used to sway … [Read more...] about Facebook hit with class action lawsuit for ‘$1,000 per person’ in UK and US over privacy scandal
George Mitchell: UK and Ireland need to protect Good Friday agreement
The former US senator who successfully chaired talks leading to the Good Friday agreement has said that London and Dublin should put aside their disagreements over Brexit to protect the deal. However, George Mitchell added that he also believed the agreement, which turns 20 years old this week, would survive any post-Brexit turbulence. The retired senator and diplomat said Anglo-Irish governmental cooperation had been the “critical first factor” in the process leading to the Good Friday peace deal, and that Northern Ireland now needed the same strong unity between the two governments to defend the gains of the agreement as well as restoring power sharing to the region. Speaking before the 20th anniversary of the agreement on Tuesday, Mitchell said: “I have said many times that the factor that led to the talks was the decision by the governments of the UK and Ireland to cooperate, to try to establish a basis for those negotiations. This was indisputably the critical … [Read more...] about George Mitchell: UK and Ireland need to protect Good Friday agreement
George Mitchell: UK and Ireland need to realise what’s at stake in Brexit talks
One of the architects of the Belfast Agreement has issued a fresh warning about the potential impact of Brexit on the peace process. George Mitchell, the US special envoy to Northern Ireland who chaired the negotiations for the 1998 agreement, urged the UK’s Prime Minister and Ireland’s Taoiseach to remember what is at stake in the Brexit talks.He said resolving the problem of the post-Brexit border was important because it had been an “important factor” in reducing tensions between Northern Ireland and the Republic.Asked what his message would be to Theresa May and Leo Varadkar, he said: “What I do urge them is to recognise what’s at stake here.“It’s the futures of their economies, it’s the possibility of resumption of conflict or of a reversion back to a time when nobody wants to go back to except for a very tiny fringe element on both sides.“I think that means that they have to come up with reasonable and acceptable … [Read more...] about George Mitchell: UK and Ireland need to realise what’s at stake in Brexit talks