6:55 am, October 19, 2023
PM to visit Israel as concerns grow over Middle East conflict
Rishi Sunak will arrive in Israel on Thursday, commencing a two-day trip to the wider region as concerns grow over the conflict in the Middle East.
The Prime Minister will meet the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Isaac Herzog following US President Joe Biden’s visit on Wednesday in a diplomatic bid to prevent fighting from spiralling into a larger crisis.
He will press for the route into Gaza to be opened as soon as possible to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and the exit of those trapped in the territory, No 10 said.
UK inflation in surprise pause as food prices ease back
UK inflation held steady last month as rising food and drink prices eased back.
It nevertheless halts three consecutive months of waning pressure on household budgets.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation stayed at 6.7 per cent, the same rate as seen in August, despite expectations that inflation would fall again.
Tesla’s net income slumped 44% in Q3 as lower prices hit profits
Tesla’s net income slumped in the third quarter versus a year earlier, as price reductions helped drive strong sales growth but also ate into the carmaker’s profit margins
The Texas-based maker of electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries reported net income of $1.85bn for the July-September quarter, a 44 per cent decline from a year earlier.
Earnings per share fell to 53 cents from 95 cents.
Read more here.
X begins charging new users to post as part of trial
X, the site formerly known as Twitter, has started to charge new users to post and reply to others on the platform as part of a new trial it says is to combat bot accounts.
The scheme will see new users who sign up in New Zealand or the Philippines be required to pay a one dollar a year subscription in order to use key features on the site.
Those who choose not to pay the fee will only be able to follow accounts and read posts.
Wednesday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Troubled used car dealer Cazoo continues cutbacks as it sells Livingston prep site to Greenhous
- Family-owned car dealer Snows Motor Group clocked up £6.4m profit in 2022
- Advertising watchdog bans ‘misleading’ Nissan ads despite just four complaints from viewers
- AutoNation pulls out of race to buy car dealer Pendragon paving way for Lithia
- SMMT calls for delay to new ‘rules of origin’ laws which could see price of an EV rise by £3,400
Ministers ‘listening’ to car industry concerns over trade barriers
Car industry leaders have been told that the government is listening to their concerns about barriers to trade.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), told a conference that Europe was the sector’s number one trading partner ‘by some considerable distance’.
Business secretary Kemi Badenoch told the conference that recent investment decisions by car companies including Ford, Stellantis and BMW were a ‘huge vote of confidence’ in this country’s motor industry.
Read the full story here.
FTSE 100 slides after UK inflation sticks
London’s FTSE 100 has dropped after a disappointing set of inflation figures showed price rises held steady last month, casting fresh doubts over where interest rates will go.
Nearly 100 points were shaved off the UK’s top index with housebuilders among the stocks seeing the biggest losses.
At close, it was down 87.21 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 7,588. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s Dax closed 1.03 per cent lower and France’s Cac 40 was down 0.91 per cent.
UK doesn’t have ‘enough capacity’ to meet future EV battery recycling targets, says Veolia boss
The UK won’t have enough capacity to recycle the correct number of electric vehicle batteries in the future unless more reprocessing facilities are given the go-ahead.
That’s according to Cory Reynolds, corporate affairs and communications director for Veolia, one of the largest waste management providers in the UK.
Speaking at an Environment and Climate Change Committee meeting today (October 18), Reynolds said that current projections see that up to 350,000 tonnes of material will need to be processed by 2040 and that ‘there isn’t currently enough capacity in the UK to be able to process that material.’
Rare red weather warning issued as Storm Babet hits UK
A rare red weather warning stating there is a ‘risk to life’ has been issued for parts of Scotland as Storm Babet is expected to batter the UK on Thursday.
The UK is bracing for heavy wind and rain from the storm, which is currently hitting Ireland after sweeping in from the Atlantic.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for parts of eastern Scotland on Thursday, while yellow warnings for rain cover eastern England and the rest of Scotland on Friday.
