Featured News

December 7, 2016

Air pollution plans brought down to earth

It is mostly invisible but its effects on human health are pervasive. Air pollution kills 400,000 people prematurely across Europe each year, and is considered to be the primary environmental threat to…

December 7, 2016

Scotophobia: Ukip’s road to electoral oblivion

Paul Nuttall, the new leader of Ukip, knows how to outperform Nigel Farage in at least one respect. Where Farage made himself famously unpopular in Scotland, Nuttall is on course to make…

November 27, 2016

Fillon takes centre stage from the right

The politician they called “Mister Nobody” now looks more like “The Man with No Name”. In this year of political surprises, few can claim as stunning an upset as François Fillon. On…

November 16, 2016

UK citizens: waving, not drowning

Grateful UK citizens have bombarded the office of European MP Charles Goerens with offers of thanks following his proposal to introduce “associate European Union citizenship”. The Luxembourg MEP last week called for…

November 16, 2016

Rise of the machines: new drone rules on horizon

Imagine a future scenario where dozens of aerial drones buzz past each day, like swarms of flies, delivering parcels, reacting to emergencies and monitoring traffic conditions. This is the potential prospect being…

November 9, 2016

Smartphones: from little acorns, great hoax grow

There is a common misconception that Extremadura should be translated as “extra hard”. It actually takes its name from the river Duera. Its financial currents began to shift in 2015, when Spain’s…

November 2, 2016

Ailing pound causes company jitters

Currency fluctuation is the “number one concern” of many senior grocery industry representatives – not Brexit – according to a survey conducted by IGD, the food and grocery research and training charity….

October 26, 2016

EU faces €1.8 billion budget shortfall

The European Union is facing a funding shortfall of €1.8 billion in this year’s budget following the dramatic fall of the British pound since the Brexit referendum. An EU official told Chief-Exec.com…

October 26, 2016

£36bn in missing taxes

About £36 billion in taxes were not collected, avoided or evaded last financial year, according to a report produced by HM Revenue & Customs. However, the “tax gap” – the difference between…

October 12, 2016

The City takes its fight to the House

Up to 35,000 jobs and £5 billion of annual tax revenue could be at risk if the May Government pursues a hard Brexit, a parliamentary committee will be told today. Miles Celic,…

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US House votes to aid Ukraine and Israel
The House voted to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson marshalled support from both parties to advance the long-stalled aid package. Overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved the funding as well as another bill that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok. But Johnson, a Republican who agonized over whether to take up the funding legislation, risks losing his job, having infuriated the anti-interventionist wing of his party. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as Tuesday and to send it to President Biden’s desk. New York Times, April 22

Greece and Spain under pressure to provide Ukraine with air defence systems
Greece and Spain are under intense pressure from their EU and Nato allies to provide more air defence systems to Ukraine, as Kyiv prepares to demand more aid at a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers on Monday. Kyiv this month made an urgent plea to western allies for seven additional air defence systems, such as US-made Patriots or Soviet-developed S-300s, as Russia steps up an air and missile campaign against the country’s cities and power infrastructure. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday: “Patriots can only be called air defence systems if they work and save lives rather than standing immobile somewhere in storage bases.” Only Germany has announced a shipment, of one Patriot system. Other EU leaders used a summit in Brussels last week to personally urge Spanish and Greek prime ministers Pedro Sánchez and Kyriakos Mitsotakis to donate some of their systems to Ukraine, according to people briefed on the discussions. Financial Times, April 22

Netanyahu vows to reject any US sanctions on army units
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to reject any sanctions on the country’s military, after reports that the US plans to cut aid to one unit. “I will fight it with all my strength,” the prime minister said on Sunday. Earlier, the Axios news site said the US would target Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion over alleged human rights violations in the occupied West Bank. The BBC understands any move would come under a US ban on aid to foreign units credibly implicated in violations. When asked last week about reports that US military aid to the Israel Defense Forces units could be cut over allegations of human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “I've made determinations; you can expect to see them in the days ahead”. Washington - Israel's main ally - has never suspended aid to an IDF unit before. The Israeli military said Netzah Yehuda was operating in accordance with international law. BBC news, April 22

Rockets fired from northern Iraq target US-led coalition base in Syria
Rockets were fired late on Sunday from northern Iraq at a military base in Syria housing a US-led coalition, according to Iraqi security forces. In response, the Iraqi forces launched a major search operation in northern Nineveh province and found the vehicle used in the attack, they said in a statement. It is the first major attack against the coalition forces in several weeks. It comes days after Israel reportedly responded to an Iranian attack with a drone strike on the Islamic republic, amid tensions fuelled by the Gaza war. The statement from the Iraqi security forces accused “outlaw elements of having targeted a base of the international coalition with rockets in the heart of Syrian territory”, at around 9:50 pm (1850 GMT). France 24, April 22

Russians jam sat-navs on British holiday flights
Thousands of British holiday flights have been hit by Russian jamming technology which aviation sources said was “extremely dangerous”, a report says. The sources alleged that fake data had forced planes to swerve to avoid phantom obstacles. In the eight months until the end of March, 2,309 Ryanair flights and 1,368 Wizz Air planes logged sat-nav problems in the Baltic region, according to The Sun. There were also 82 British Airways flights, seven Jet2, four easyJet flights and seven operated by Tui that were said to have been affected by suspected interference. An industry source said: “It is extremely dangerous.” The Times, April 22

Sharp rise in Aim delistings casts doubt over City of London’s future
The number of companies delisting from London’s junior stock market has risen sharply in the last year, adding to concerns about the future of the City’s financial sector. In the past 12 months the number of companies on the Alternative Investment Market has fallen by 70 to 738 at the end of March, according to London Stock Exchange Group data. That is a drop of 9 per cent, and is significantly more than the drop of 25 companies the year before. The London Stock Exchange Group runs Aim, which gives smaller companies the option to raise funds on the stock market without having to comply with the more stringent reporting requirements for listing on the main market. However, the market’s status as a place for companies to grow rapidly has come under scrutiny in recent years, with the number of companies falling from almost 1,700 in 2007. The Guardian, April 22