Author: staff

The property developer said he hoped to raise enough funds to help Reform UK win the next election as the party — which returned five MPs and ate into Tory and Labour votes in July’s election — tries to professionalise its operation. It marked another defection from the beleaguered center-right Conservatives, who currently languish in opposition after an election rout in July saw them reduced to just 121 seats. Last month, former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns joined the party and will stand in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty. Conservative former Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s husband Rael Braverman also joined Reform as…

The Eras Tour is over and the numbers are in, showing that Taylor Swift has sold the most tickets of any solo performer. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has come to an end, and the numbers are in.The record-smashing global tour brought in $2.2 billion in its nearly two-year run, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time for a second year in a row, Pollstar estimates from data collected across 149 shows.Swift wrapped the Eras Tour with a final show in Vancouver, Canada.Last year, Swift’s landmark tour became the first ever to cross the billion-dollar mark.“We are witnessing history in…

Crude oil prices retreated from Monday’s gains amid weak demand outlooks, following disappointing Chinese international trade data for November. Crude oil prices slid following disappointing China’s international trade data in the Asian session on Tuesday. At 6 am CET, Brent futures were down 0.37% to $71.9 per barrel, and the WTI futures slipped 0.45% to $68.06 per barrel. The swift downturn in oil prices highlighted an ongoing weak demand outlook for the traditional energy markets, driven by the global economic slowdown, particularly in China. China’s exports rose 6.7% and imports fell 3.9% from a year ago in November, both of which…

The reelection of Donald Trump in the United States means that a global trade war is all but inevitable, but when the declarations of tariffs and trade embargoes begin, the European Union will have a secret weapon at its disposal: Sabine Weyand. The director general of the European Commission’s trade department is a technical wizard who is infamously brusque. Often compared to a bulldozer, Weyand’s take-no-prisoners approach was key when she served as one of the bloc’s lead negotiators in the Brexit talks. The United Kingdom was undoubtedly the big loser in the resulting agreement, which helped cement the civil…

Last week, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed the EU-Mercosur deal, despite opposition from France. With French opposition remaining to the EU-Mercosur deal struck last week by the EU, the real work on the deal starts now, French liberal MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne tells the Radio Schuman podcast today. Last week, the EU finalised the contentious Mercosur agreement with some South Amercan countries, a deal that follows on-and-off negotiations that began in 1999. However, France—one of the largest EU member states—along with several other countries with sizeable dairy and beef industries, opposes the agreement. They argue it could expose…

The Israeli air force conducted over 100 airstrikes on military sites across four Syrian cities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Associated Press reports. The Israeli air force carried out over 100 airstrikes on military sites in four Syrian cities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Associated Press reporters. The strikes killed two people and caused significant damage to key military facilities.The attacks targeted a range of locations, including research centres, weapons depots, airports, and aircraft squadrons, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They also disabled air defence systems and rendered several…

Gegen Mittag wird die FDP heute ihre Kampagne für den Winter-Wahlkampf vorstellen. Auf welche Themen, Motive, Gesichter, aber auch Farben die Liberalen setzen, weiß POLITICO-Reporterin Rixa Fürsen vorab und berichtet im Gespräch mit Gordon Repinski, wie die Leitlinien der FDP vor dem Wahltag im Februar aussehen. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview ist der geschäftsführende Ministerpräsident von Thüringen, Bodo Ramelow, zu Gast. Er erklärt, welche Bedingungen er an die neue Brombeer-Koalition stellt, um den voraussichtlich neuen Ministerpräsidenten der CDU, Mario Voigt, im Landtag zu wählen. POLITICO-EU- und Diplomatie-Experte Hans von der Burchard blickt auf das heutige Treffen von Olaf Scholz und dem serbischen Präsidenten…

LONDON — The Conservative Party “got trounced in the polls,” ex-Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho admitted earlier this month. After 14 years controlling Westminster’s levers of power, voters … Sep 26 10 mins read

The draft rules, which would build on the 2022 WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, are intended to create an element of fairness currently missing in the global fishing sector. They should allow developing countries that have small fishing industries — and that provide only minor capacity-enhancing subsidies to their fishers, if any — to grow their industries with relatively less competition from other nations’ highly subsidized industrial fleets. Crucially, the new WTO rules encourage a much-needed paradigm shift toward improved conservation and the sustainable use of marine resources in both developed and developing nations. In doing so, the draft provisions…

Air traffic taken over by China Last summer, China Eastern Airlines announced that it was increasing its European capacity to 19 routes and 244 weekly round trips. China Southern Airlines, which recently launched a direct service from Budapest to Guangzhou, now serves 11 destinations in Europe. The largest Chinese passenger carrier flying to Europe is Air China, which counts “32 routes and 53 daily flights, exceeding the 2019 level by 116 percent,” the Global Times, a publication owned by the Chinese Communist Party, reported. British Airways also canceled its London-Beijing route at the end of October. | Justin Tallis/Getty Images Chinese…