Latest news with #British-German
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
German and UK leaders sign mutual defense pact as US steps back
Advertisement In addition to defense and security, the treaty covers energy, economic cooperation, and migration. It builds on an agreement signed last October, under which the countries agreed to conduct joint military exercises and develop sophisticated weapons. Merz, a center-right leader who came to power in May, has swiftly emerged as a linchpin in Europe's effort to build a more independent role in its security since the return of Trump to the White House. Starmer, who welcomed Merz to No. 10 Downing St., has likewise tried to position Britain as a critical player in European support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. 'We see the scale of the challenges our continent faces today and we intend to meet them head-on,' said Starmer, standing next to Merz at an Airbus space and defense factory in Hertfordshire, north of London. Advertisement 'We are really on the way to a new chapter,' Merz said, noting that Russia's aggression was 'shaking the European security architecture' and that the trans-Atlantic alliance was undergoing 'a far-reaching transformation.' Neither Merz nor Starmer said much about Trump, though the chancellor praised the president for announcing earlier this week that the United States would supply new weapons to Ukraine through NATO. 'Europe and the United States are pulling in the same direction here,' Merz said. Germany does not possess nuclear weapons, but it is the third-largest supplier of military hardware to Ukraine, after the United States and Britain, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Under Merz, Germany has agreed to increase its military spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2029, its most ambitious rearmament since the end of the Cold War. Britain and Germany have both made strides in recent years in tightening security cooperation with France, said Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a research organization. But the British-German relationship has been slower to evolve. 'The signing of this treaty really is a big step forward,' he said. Georgina Wright, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Paris, said the treaty was an 'easy win' for the countries, since Britain and Germany had no institutional framework that formalized their cooperation on defense. For all its symbolism, however, she said the treaty would never be as important to Germany as its defense and security ties with France, its continental neighbor. 'This was about plugging a very clear gap,' Wright said. Advertisement Still, Merz seemed tickled that the accord was signed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. The museum, he said, was chosen because it was named after Queen Victoria and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, famous for their long, happy marriage. It was a hopeful omen for the treaty, he joked. German officials even referred to the treaty as a 'friendship contract,' intended to bring the two countries closer at a time of heightened security concerns, and to bridge divides that had been opened by Britain's exit from the European Union. At a time of economic stagnation in Britain and Germany, the friendship agreement includes steps to strengthen commercial ties, from a scientific research partnership to improved rail connections. It also features several measures related to migration. These include new cooperation to combat human trafficking and more targeted efforts to make it easier for British and German citizens to visit each other's countries. Frequent travelers from Britain, for example, will be able to pass through German airports more easily. Starmer thanked Merz for a change in German law that allows authorities to seize small boats being stored in the country. 'It's a clear sign we mean business,' the prime minister said, noting that it built on the deal he signed last week with France to curb illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel. For reasons of diplomatic protocol, Merz's visit was more modest and businesslike than that of Macron. Unlike Macron, Merz is not a head of state (Germany has a largely ceremonial president). Starmer is the chancellor's host, while King Charles III invited Macron, reciprocating for his own state visit to France in 2023. Advertisement When Trump makes a rare second state visit to Britain in mid-September, he, like Macron, will get the full ruffles and flourishes. Later this month, Trump will make a semiprivate visit to his two golf clubs in Scotland. He is expected to meet with Starmer, though not with the king, while there. Still, the lack of pomp and pageantry for Merz says little about the importance of the relationship between him and Starmer. Both are centrist leaders, struggling to govern in polarized political systems. Both are also relatively new, meaning they could work together for years. Starmer just marked his first year in office; Macron, by contrast, is in the twilight of his presidency, with elections in France scheduled for 2027. This article originally appeared in
Irish Examiner
02-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Gardaí suspect €31m Courtmacsherry cocaine haul was destined for UK market
Gardaí suspect a British-German trafficking gang planned to bring yesterday's €31m cocaine haul in Cork across the border and onto a ferry to Scotland for UK distribution. A two-day investigation — beginning with a spy operation by the highly secretive Garda National Surveillance Unit and ending with a high-speed chase by Naval Service fast boats of fleeing gang members — resulted in the arrest of all four members of the drug importation team, which is believed to be Scottish-led. The four men comprise two Scots, one English, and one German — all in their 30s and 40s. They are described by security sources as 'critical' in terms of the 'logistics' of the operation. Two of the men were caught with an estimated 443kgs of cocaine when the elite Garda Emergency Response Unit and armed officers from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau intercepted their van in Courtmacsherry. Two other members on a fast rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) were chased by two Naval Service RHIBs, carrying armed members of the NS Maritime Interdiction Team, and intercepted off the Cork coast. The suspect RHIB had been used to transport the cocaine from a mother ship off the coast to Broad Strand Beach, just south of Courtmacsherry. Irish agencies have identified the suspect mother ship — a bulk carrier cargo ship — registered in Barbados. They are now tracking its movements, which was in the Atlantic North East last night. The EU drug interdiction agency MAOC-N, which assisted authorities in the operation, is believed to be helping in this regard. It appears the ship have may docked in recent days in an Irish port to offload legitimate goods before dropping off the drugs out at sea for the landing team - in a trend that authorities in Europe have spotted. High tide occurred at 3am on Tuesday, and it's believed the cocaine was brought ashore directly onto Broad Strand beach and loaded into a van just before 4am. 'The full team has been caught, along with the almost half-tonne of cocaine,' a security source said. "There was full Joint Task Force (JTF) deployment and a great result achieved". The JTF is comprised of An Garda Síochána, Revenue, Irish Naval Service, and Air Corps. It is understood that the JTF — probably through Revenue — has contacted with the EU drug interdiction agency, MAOC-N, to try and locate the mother ship and trace its origins, mostly likely South America or the Caribbean. Gardaí have estimated the haul to be worth around €31m, based on the standard street value of €70,000 per kilo. But given the haul was sent straight from South America without being cut, the final value is likely to be considerably more. It is the largest seizure of cocaine since the colossal haul of 2.25 tonnes on the MV Matthew off the Cork coast in September 2023, in what was another JTF operation. The Courtmacsherry seizure tops the 300kg haul of cocaine at Foynes Port in Limerick in December 2023, the next biggest seizure in recent years. Interviews are continuing with the four men arrested and forensic analysis will begin on digital devices that have been found to try and identify recent communications. Officers suspect the haul was bound for the British market primarily. 'We suspect its for the UK and was heading that way, the North the easiest route, but it's coming in through our shores,' a security source said. The Naval Service deployed the LÉ William Butler Yeats offshore patrol vessel for the operation and its two RHIBs pursued the two gang members on their own RHIB. A Garda HQ statement said: 'Two Naval Service rigid-hulled inflatable boats, with members of ships armed Maritime interdiction Team, were launched from LÉ William Butler Yeats and intercepted the suspect RIB off the coast of Cork. 'The suspect RIB was detained by Revenue Customs and the two males were taken on board the LÉ William Butler Yeats. The LÉ William Butler Yeats returned to Haulbowline Naval Base and both males [were arrested] by Gardaí.' The Butler Yeats was also involved in the MV Matthew operation. The Air Corps C295 was involved throughout the operation. Tánaiste and Defence Minister Simon Harris and Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan praised the cooperation of the agencies.
Time Out
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Alexandra Palace is hosting a massive sleepover soundtracked by Max Richter
London's arts institutions love a good sleepover. You can already get 40 winks at the Natural History Museum' Dino Snores nights, the Science Museum's Astronights and the British Museum's sleepovers, and now another beloved London arts venue is hosting a truly special, limited-edition overnight experience this September in collaboration with British-German composer Max Richter in celebration of the tenth anniversary of his opus, SLEEP. Comprising 204 individual tracks, SLEEP is an epic, 8 hour and 30 minute-long lullaby created for listeners to fall asleep to, and has previously been performed live at overnight events in a bunch of iconic global settings, including Sydney Opera House, the Philharmonie de Paris and The Great Wall of China. The events – and the mammoth task of preparing for such lengthy performances – were also captured in a documentary of the same name, directed by Richter's creative partner Yulia Mahr. And now it's the turn of Alexandra Palace to host more of his truly special all-nighters. The north London music venue will be hosting two performances of SLEEP this September, marking the first time the piece has been performed in London since 2017. The concerts will start at 10pm and finish at around 6am as the sun rises, and audiences will be provided with beds and bedding, as well as being served a light breakfast at the end of the night. Fancy bunkering down in the Grade II-listed Great Hall for the night? Tickets for the event are on sale now via the Alexandra Palace website, with prices starting at £249.75 (steep for a concert, yes, but not unreasonable for a one-night stay in one of London's fancier hotels, which is how we prefer to think of the experience!)
Mint
13-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Eurostar Needs Competitors to Power High-Speed Rail Renaissance
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Disembarking from the Eurostar international rail service beneath the magnificent arched roof of London's St Pancras station always gives me a thrill. Whooshing through a 31-mile (50-kilometer) tunnel beneath the English Channel and arriving in the heart of Britain's capital less than two and half hours after leaving Paris makes the stress of flying and the associated burning of hydrocarbons feel uncivilized. And yet, my pleasure is sometimes tinged with disappointment: about Eurostar's sometimes high fares, crowded departure lounges and the limited number of direct international connections. Happily, there's a fix for these issues: increased investment and greater competition. Eurostar Group Ltd., the sole provider of high-speed passenger rail services between the UK and the continent, this week announced plans to directly connect London with Frankfurt and Geneva, enabled by a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) expansion of its train fleet, and with each journey taking around five hours. As a British-German national, I'm delighted about these new travel possibilities, albeit they won't begin until the early 2030s. But I'm even more excited about what potential rivals are up to: Around half a dozen challengers have lately expressed interested in providing high-speed international trains to and from London, including Richard Branson's Virgin Group, a partnership between startup Gemini Trains and Uber Technologies Inc., as well as Italian state railway company FS Group, owner of Trenitalia. These upstarts are responding to customer willingness to accept longer train journeys as well as efforts by Eurotunnel and London St Pancras Highspeed, operator of the UK's fast rail link and the stations along the route, to simplify regulatory approvals and make access less costly; Eurotunnel concession holder Getlink SE says it's halved the time to market for new entrants to just five years, for example. Eurostar, which is majority owned by France's state rail company SNCF, told me it welcomes competition and views increasing demand as an opportunity, not a threat. Its cross-Channel operations made a net profit of £122 million ($165 million) in 2023 on revenues of £1.28 billion. Yet coming after a long period of stagnation — Eurostar carried 11.2 million cross-Channel passengers last year, only slightly more than in 2019 — its expansion risks being construed as a land grab that stymies rivals' efforts to break its 30-year monopoly. The problem isn't a lack of railway capacity: the tunnel and connecting rail networks were designed to handle more than 20 million passengers a year, according to Getlink. However, the east London maintenance depot Eurostar leases from the British government is too small to support its growth plus the new players hoping to enter the market.(1) It's imperative, then, that collectively these companies and the government find a way to expand the Temple Mills depot or quickly develop alternative facilities, because otherwise passengers will be denied the benefits of rail liberalization. Two high-speed rail operators now compete in Italy and three do so in Spain, for example, and unsurprisingly such competition typically leads to lower ticket prices, while boosting passenger volumes and service quality. Eurostar's financial accounts warn that the arrival of potential competitors 'would result in a loss of market share and likely lead to lower pricing and reduced profitability.' Yet when a standard London-to-Paris return on Eurostar this weekend costs around $500, I reckon a fare war is overdue.(2) (In fairness, much cheaper seats are available if you book in advance or are prepared to be flexible about travel times; one also shouldn't forget customers can bring two large pieces of luggage for free, unlike on the plane.) Competition might encourage Eurostar to up its game. Having commenced services in 1994, its original target of 10 million annual cross-Channel passengers was only reached in 2013, 15 years behind schedule. Today, it only travels to a handful of destinations directly, including Paris, Lille, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The upshot is that while Eurostar accounts for around 75% of the total air and rail travel between the UK and French capitals, overall far more passengers fly to Europe compared with those using its services. Eurostar's limitations partly reflect more than £700 million of losses incurred during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was denied a British government bailout and was forced to increase commercial borrowings. Eurostar merged with another high-speed rail firm, Thalys, in 2022, and the group's total bank debt at the end of 2024 was €650 million. The shareholder structure is shown below: Eurostar raised prices and cut non-core services to repair its finances: Connections to Disneyland Paris and the south of France were scrapped, while stations at Ashford and Ebbsfleet in south-east England and Calais in northern France were closed. Compounding its problems are the more rigorous post-Brexit border checks that have made St Pancras increasingly congested; regular fare passengers are advised to turn up 75 minutes before departure, negating some of the advantages compared with taking the plane. Fortunately, London St Pancras Highspeed, which owns the terminus, reckons processing capacity could be more than doubled by adding more security lanes and expanding waiting areas, which would enable customers to turn up much nearer to the departure time and free up room for competing services. Alternatively, new entrants may be able to use London's Stratford International railway station (which, despite the name, currently doesn't currently offer cross-border routes). New services likely won't arrive overnight: Most potential entrants haven't placed train orders yet, and adapting stations like Stratford and Frankfurt so they have the requisite passport and baggage controls will take time. And notwithstanding the greater availability of subsidies and lower track-use charges, breaking Eurostar's monopoly won't be cheap: Virgin is looking to raise £700 million to fund its international service, while FS Group plans to invest €1 billion, for example. Still, with investor backing and a concerted effort to address bottlenecks, I'm hopeful international rail passengers will in a few years spot trains with different liveries in London, poised to depart for new destinations and offering lower prices. Now that would really feel like progress. More From Bloomberg Opinion: (1) The Office of Rail and Road regulator has said there's 'room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar to grow.' (2) A Transport & Environment study found Eurostar is almost twice as expensive as the average European operator per kilometer of travel, which is partly a reflection of the high access charges it pays. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies in Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for the Financial Times.
Bloomberg
13-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
How to Spend $19 Billion With Blood on the Streets
Great investors rarely fear tumultuous times. 'Buy when there is blood on the streets,' in the words of a quote usually attributed to Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the British-German banker who made a fortune from the Napoleonic wars. Hong Kong's greatest investor learned that lesson well. Li Ka-shing, the 96-year-old founder of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., turned himself from a plastic flower manufacturer into a property tycoon by purchasing real estate at fire-sale prices after the city's 1967 riots. He pounced on utility HK Electric in the midst of a crisis in Sino-British relations in 1985, and made it the seed of one of the world's biggest infrastructure businesses. He started building up a ports conglomerate in the Chinese mainland eight years later, when it was still largely closed off from the world in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
