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This Month

A production line of hybrid Nissans at the automaker’s factory in Sunderland.

EV targets watered down to help UK’s tariff-hit car industry

New rules in Britain will allow manufacturers to sell full hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles until 2035.

A used Range Rover at a Land Rover dealership in Tucson, Arizona. The parent company has halted shipments for now.

British car maker Jaguar Land Rover pauses shipments to US

The company, which makes luxury cars that include Jaguars, Defenders and Range Rovers, does not have manufacturing facilities in the United States.

Jes Staley leaves court last week.

Ex-Barclays boss awaits judgment in court battle over Jeffrey Epstein

With the courtroom drama concluded, banker Jes Staley has to wait and see if his high-profile legal gamble to clear his name has paid off.

President Donald Trump with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, at the White House, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington.

Clock ticks on Keir Starmer’s cautious Trump strategy

The UK prime minister set himself apart from most other European leaders by taking a pragmatic approach to the US that detractors have accused of being fawning.

Max Mito’s business trip to luxury villas in Morocco was a red flag to finance staff. EVP’s Misha Saul called in the cops after investing.

From a Moroccan villa to the courtroom: how StrongRoom AI’s good times went bad

Court filings that allege fraud at the tech start-up paint a picture of company funds being used to fund a lavish lifestyle of foreign trips and fine dining.

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Rod Levis founded Cue Clothing in 1964. He has sold the business to Hilco Capital.

Cue Clothing and its Veronika Maine brand sold to Britain’s Hilco

The womenswear fashion business was founded and run by the wealthy Levis family. Its chief executive, Simon Schofield, is also leaving after the sale.

President Donald Trump unveils the “reciprocal” tariffs.

Trump’s ‘beautiful’ trade war will leave an ugly scar

The diplomatic cost of the US president’s tariffs will be enduring. Countries will look to do the serious deals with each other and bypass America in future.

Donald Trump also levelled his strongest criticism to date against Vladimir Putin.

UK names Russia as a top-level foreign influence threat

The move means that anyone who does business with Russian agencies must register their activity with British authorities.

15 years of drift: Why global law firms can’t make it in Australia

UK and US law firms are battling for market share on either side of the Atlantic. But expansion has proven much more difficult in Australia.

Rio Tinto chairman Dominic Barton has battled Palliser’s calls for unification.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to vote against Rio Tinto unification

The huge fund intends to vote to keep Rio Tinto’s dual-listed structure, despite other shareholders supporting a bid to review it.

March

A cat rummages through furniture and uncollected refuse bags in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham, amid an ongoing refuse workers’ strike in the city.

‘Rats gnawed through my sister’s car. Now there’s no escape’

Binmen in Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city, have been on strike for three weeks, leaving bin bags obstructing pavements like an assault course.

US President Donald Trump displays a signed automotive tariff executive order in the Oval Office.

Trump’s trade ‘Liberation Day’ explained

The US has said it wants to impose tariffs on a “country by country” basis, hitting any trading partners that have higher levies on the US than it imposes back.

Isar Aerospace test rocket “Spectrum” lifts off on Andøya island, Norway, on Sunday.

German rocket’s test flight hailed as it crashes and burns

Fraying defence ties with Washington and a backlog at Elon Musk’s SpaceX have added to Europe’s sense of urgency to develop its own satellite launch capacity.

Spanish Civil Guard General Alfonso Lopez Malo, second right, and Portuguese Police Director Luis Neves, left, speak during a news conference at the Portuguese police headquarters in Lisbon.

Submarine carrying tonnes of cocaine seized in Atlantic

Spanish authorities, who tipped off the Portuguese, said it was the first time a drug-running semi-submersible had been intercepted in the open sea.

Jamie’s parents in Adolescence are confronted with the knowledge that they could have done more to protect their son from harmful online rhetoric.

Boys are in crisis, but it’s adults who need educating

The real problem hit Netflix series Adolescence has raised is one that hand-wringing over toxic masculinity won’t solve.

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King Charles was hospitalised in London after experiencing side effects from ongoing cancer treatment.

King Charles in hospital with a health scare after cancer treatment

The monarch was admitted briefly and his appointments have been cancelled, in what royal sources said was a minor setback following therapy.

A US Air Force fighter aircraft F-35 takes off in Bangalore during India’s air show.

Allies rethink F-35 fighter jets over Trump’s ‘kill switch’

Some of America’s allies are considering dumping plans to buy the $127 million US plane, as the president upends traditional military alliances.

The Scots have a new whisky competitor - England.

The English whisky distilleries ruffling Scottish feathers

These 20-year-old upstarts are taking on centuries of northern tradition in a war of the whiskies – and even have conflicting views on what makes a single malt.

The four-part Netflix series about a 13-year-old boy who kills a schoolmate.

Why everyone in Britain is talking about Netflix’s Adolescence

The show has captured how British society is grappling with what it means to be a boy when the loudest voices defining masculine identity belong to Andrew Tate and Donald Trump.

Rachel Reeves, UK chancellor of the exchequer, departs 11 Downing Street ahead of the Spring Statement in London.

Rachel Reeves unveils $28.6b repair job after UK growth downgraded

The chancellor’s midyear statement details cuts to welfare and government spending, and an increase in defence spending.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-gd3