Reform UK's Farage to Vow Benefit Hikes in Attack on Starmer
The Reform UK leader is set to hold a press conference Tuesday morning during which he will claim the policies would be funded by abandoning net-zero emissions pledges, getting rid of accommodation for asylum seekers and shaving expenditures on quasi-government agencies — known as quangos — by 5%.
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New York Post
18 minutes ago
- New York Post
Multiple families were sent the wrong bodies after Air India disaster: report
Families of UK residents killed in last month's Air India disaster have been sent the wrong bodies in repatriation blunders. The Daily Mail reports that at least two cases of mistaken identity had come to light, with one family having to abandon a funeral after being informed their coffin contained an unknown body. In another case, a coffin contained 'co-mingled' remains of more than one person killed in the flight 171 crash at Ahmedabad in western India on June 12. The scandal has sparked top-level inquiries in both the UK and India, the Mail reports, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to raise concerns with counterpart Narendra Modi this week. 5 Basit Zargar/ZUMA Press Wire / There were 52 British citizens killed among the 261 people who died after the plane lost power and crashed into a residential area soon after it lifted off to fly to London. All but one of the 242 people on board died as well as 19 people on the ground. Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt has been engaged to represent UK-based people impacted by the tragedy, with the remains of 12 people repatriated so far. 'I've been sitting down in the homes of these lovely British families over the last month, and the first thing they want is their loved ones back,' he told the Mail. 'But some of them have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this. 5 Getty Images 'It has been going on for a couple of weeks (and) I think these families deserve an explanation.' Healy-Pratt said the family which had received the wrong body had been left 'in limbo' since the devastating discovery was made. '(They) have no one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket. 'And if isn't their relative, the question is, who is it in that coffin? Presumably it's another passenger and their relatives have been given the wrong remains. 'The coroner also has a problem because she has an unidentified person in her jurisdiction.' Investigations continue into how the disaster unfolded, with mounting attention on the actions of lead pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal. 5 AFP via Getty Images Some experts who have reviewed the initial report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) believe a pilot on turned off two switches controlling fuel flow to the plane's engines. The first was moved three seconds after lift off and the other one second later, the AAIB report found, before being turned back on a further 10 seconds later. Fingers have been pointed at Captain Sabharwal because his younger co-pilot, Clive Kunder, would have had his 'hands full' while flying the plane. Air India's inspection of the locking feature on the fuel control switches of its existing Boeing 787 aircraft found no issues, an internal communication circulated within the airline said on July 17. 5 AFP via Getty Images India's aviation regulator ordered the country's airlines this week to investigate the locking feature on the switches of several Boeing models. The order came after Boeing notified operators that the fuel switch locks on its jets were safe. However, it was in line with a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018, which recommended inspection of the locks to ensure they could not be moved accidentally. Air India's probe found no problems with the locking mechanism. 5 Saurabh Sirohiya/NurPhoto/Shutterstock 'Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft,' the airline's flight operations department said in a communication to its pilots. 'The inspections have been completed and no issues were found.' A spokesperson for the UK government told the Mail formal identification of the bodies was a 'matter for the Indian authorities'. 'We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them,' they said.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Iran Warns It Could Exit Nuclear Treaty if Europe Reimposes Sanctions
A top Iranian official warned on Wednesday that Iran could withdraw from a key nuclear nonproliferation treaty if Europe followed through on its threats to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. The remarks, from Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, came during a rare on-the-record briefing with reporters in New York, where he was attending meetings at the United Nations. Mr. Gharibabadi laid out his country's positions on a range of issues, setting the stage for nuclear talks with European counterparts in Istanbul on Friday. Since negotiations between the United States and Iran collapsed in June as Israel launched a wave of attacks on Iran, setting off a 12-day war, Tehran has faced additional pressure from Europe about making concessions on its nuclear program. Britain, France and Germany announced this month that they would enforce tough U.N. sanctions on Iran by the end of August if the country did not make concrete progress on a deal to limit its nuclear program. The mechanism for applying the sanctions is called a 'snapback,' and it refers to a term in the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that allows parties to the deal to impose sanctions on Iran before the deal expires at the end of October this year if it has violated its terms. Mr. Gharibabadi, who is part of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, warned that enacting snapback sanctions would provoke Iran to retaliate, including potentially by withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, one of the last remaining international safeguards on its nuclear program. Iranian officials have made similar threats in the past, saying the country would withdraw from the treaty if Israel or the United States attacked its nuclear sites. But even after the United States and Israel did just that during the recent war, Iran did not follow through on that threat. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
U.S. and EU scramble to strike a trade deal ahead of Aug. 1 deadline
The Trump administration and the European Union are racing to clinch a trade deal by the White House's self-imposed Aug. 1 deadline, with economists warning that a sharp hike in tariffs could raise costs for consumers and businesses. As the clock ticks down, a series of pacts with other U.S. trading partners in recent days have raised hopes of avoiding a potentially damaging trade war with Europe, with experts saying a deal with Japan announced on Tuesday could serve as a template for a deal with the EU. The U.S. has also recently announced the outlines of trade deals with China, Indonesia, the Philippines and U.K., though with many details still remaining to be finalized. For consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, much is riding on the outcome of the trade talks. Absent a deal, President Trump has threatened to hit imports from the EU's 27 member countries with a 30% tax. In preparing possible countermeasures, the European Commission has said it would impose tariffs on more than $100 billion worth of U.S. goods starting Aug. 7, AFP reported on Wednesday. Negotiations are ongoing and a U.S.-EU trade war could yet be avoided. Citing EU diplomats, AFP also said officials with the trading block could be open to a 15% U.S. tariff rate, with potential carveouts for key sectors, according to the wire service. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the status of talks with the EU, including whether the Trump administration expects to reach a trade deal by the Aug. 1 deadline. President Trump on Tuesday struck a trade deal with Tokyo that calls for a 15% tariff on Japanese imports. In return, the deal calls for Japan to invest $550 billion in the U.S. and further open its domestic market to U.S. exports, including cars and certain farm products. The 15% tariff rate on Japanese goods is five percentage points higher than a baseline tariff the Trump administration imposed on all foreign imports on April 2. But it is lower than the 25% he threatened against Japan earlier this month and the 24% duties his administration proposed in early April. "The Japan deal solidifies this pattern we've seen thus far, which is some market access relief, a commitment to purchase U.S. goods, and a slightly lower, but above the universal baseline, tariff level," Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a public policy research firm, told CBS MoneyWatch. "The Japan deal certainly provides a framework of what [Mr. Trump] looking for," Jacquez said. "It's about accepting a baseline tariff at or above 10%, and then making purchase commitments." A key element of Mr. Trump's trade deals has been a commitment by other nations to invest in the U.S. The president has defended tariffs as a way to revive the country's domestic manufacturing base and make American exports more competitive, as well as to generate additional federal revenue. "We are learning that the promise of greater investment into the U.S. works well with the administration," EY Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco said. "The promise to invest $550 billion was a big part of the Japan-U.S. trade deal. It was a key catalyst to securing a deal." The EU, whose member states have a combined gross domestic product of $20 trillion, could likely commit to a large investment in the U.S. because it could span a number of years and focus on key sectors, such as technology, energy or artificial intelligence, Daco added. Additional commitments by the EU to purchase American-made goods and to lower trade barriers to U.S. exports could also help close a deal, he said. "Those don't cost much, and they're an easy bargaining chip to put forward." Although a 15% baseline U.S. tariff on EU imports would represent a retrenchment from Mr. Trump's earlier threats, it would still drive up prices for U.S. businesses and consumers, according to Daco. "While it may seem like a great deal, it's still much higher than the tariffs that the U.S. was imposing at the end of 2024," he noted. "So there would still be a positive inflation shock because of higher tariffs. There would also be demand erosion coming from reduced business investment, hiring,and reduced consumer spending as a result of these higher tariffs." Currently, the average U.S. tariff rate on imports is around 15%, according to his analysis. If Mr. Trump's threatened tariffs go into effect, that rate would rise to more than 20%. If the EU agrees to a 15% tariff rate, however, the average U.S. tariff rate on imports from around the world would drop to 19.5%. "That's still a significant increase in the average rate," Daco said. "It's a lot higher than the 2.5% where we started the year." Because most U.S. imports from the EU include industrial inputs like components, raw materials and machinery, any added costs would take tie to work their way through the supply chain, according to Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. "It would affect manufacturing exports faster than it would affect American consumers, but it would raise prices all around," Young said. AFP contributed to this report.
