Google suffers setback at EU court over record $4.9 bln fine
Alphabet's Google faced a potential setback on Thursday as an adviser to Europe's highest court sided with EU antitrust regulators in the company's fight against a record $4.98 billion fine from 2018. Fiona Jones reports.
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The Sun
40 minutes ago
- The Sun
Brit AI-drone gunships to fly alongside Apache helicopters in war of the future
BRITAIN'S new AI-drone gunships will fly alongside Apache helicopters in future battles. Apache pilots will command up to six drones, known as mules, carrying missiles, sensors and jamming kit. The mules will also be programmed to fight autonomously and control swarms of smaller drones on the ground. This triple-layer system will give the Army far greater firepower and aims to protect our fleet of Apache AH-64Es, Challenger 3 tanks plus soldiers on the ground. More integration of crewed and uncrewed aircraft had been hinted at in the Strategic Defence Review announced earlier this month. Defence Secretary John Healey told this week's RUSI land warfare conference in London: 'From this year, we will be investing more than £100million in new, initial funding to develop land drone swarms.' 'Our Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (the mules) will fly alongside the Apache attack helicopters and enhance the Army's ability to strike, survive and win on the battlefield. 'This will be a game-changer. It will be applying the lessons from Ukraine in a world- leading way. It will be putting the UK at the leading edge of innovation in Nato.' Chief of the General Staff Sir Roly Walker said 80 per cent of the Army's weapons in future wars would be drones — as it could take months to build Apaches and tanks and years to train their crews. He said drones were vital as the Ukraine war had 'shown how a £20million tank and four experienced crew can be lost to a £1,000 drone operated by a kid with a few days' training'. He added of the mule drones: 'You don't want to lose them but, if you do, it's not a tragedy because, although sophisticated, they are uncrewed.'
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Bank of England holds steady as divisions emerge over rates
The Bank of England missed the party on Thursday when it announced that interest rates would hold steady at 4.25 per cent. On a day littered with monetary policy announcements across Europe, it was the only major central bank to sit tight. Switzerland's central bank cut rates by a quarter point. Sweden's did the same, as did Norway's. In the UK, the monetary policy committee was not for turning and stuck to the script: markets expected rates to be held and the Bank of England duly delivered. However, that the committee voted 6-3 in favour of leaving rates unchanged did somewhat upset the apple cart. Analysts projected a 7-2 vote split. Dave Ramsden, a deputy governor, broke from the centre ground on the MPC and voted alongside Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor — external committee members who have repeatedly voted for frequent and larger cuts — for a 0.25 percentage point reduction.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Spain rejects Trump's Nato spending demands ahead of summit
Spain has rejected Donald Trump's 'unreasonable' demand that Nato members increase defence spending, throwing plans for a summit of alliance leaders into disarray. Next week's meeting in the Hague has been carefully designed to convince the US president to continue supporting Europe's defence. However, the refusal by Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, to commit to a new defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP has jeopardised the carefully choreographed diplomacy. Mr Trump has threatened to withdraw US protection from allies which don't commit to the new target, which has been raised from 2 per cent amid fears over Russian aggression. Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, has broad support for an increase in military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 and 1.5 per cent of investment in defence-adjacent areas such as transport infrastructure and cyber security. Mr Sánchez asked for Spain to be exempt from any spending target agreed next week or that the goal be made optional, even though Madrid has failed to meet even the original 2 per cent target. The letter from Europe's most influential Left-wing leader is a blow for Mr Rutte and could embolden the few other members reluctant to sign up to the 5 per cent. Germany and Poland are among the countries supporting the goal. Britain has committed to hit 2.5 per cent by 2027 but Sir Keir Starmer does not think the economy is strong enough to go above three per cent at this stage. In his letter, Mr Sánchez said hitting the target would only be possible by raising taxes on the middle class and cutting public services. The socialist premier said a 'rushed' effort to hit 5 per cent would damage economic growth and could force his government to slash net zero and development aid budgets. 'The empirical reality is that, for Spain, as for other Nato countries, reaching 5 per cent defence spending will be impossible unless it comes at the cost of increasing taxes on the middle class, cutting public services and social benefits for their citizens,' he wrote. He added that diverting money from education, technology and healthcare would cost the Spanish economy, as well as increase debt and inflation. In 2024, Spain spent just 1.28 per cent of GDP on defence, which has drawn criticism from the US president. Mr Sánchez claimed Spain was committed to the 2 per cent target but wanted the scope widened to include the fight against climate change and illegal migration. He has announced more than €10 billion of fresh defence investment to hit the 2 per cent target this year. But he faces a balancing act of aligning with Nato allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-Left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending. Mr Sánchez has taken swipes at Mr Trump and his political allies such as Javier Milei, the president of Argentina. Spain's formal recognition of Palestine and criticism of Israel will have won it no favours with the White House and neither will its liberal transgender rights laws. Mr Trump will be handed a one-page communiqué to sign off at the Nato leaders' summit in a concession to his short attention span and as part of an effort to head off a spending row between Europe and the US. Nato has cut back the 32-leader strong summit to just one working session of two and a half hours dedicated to the spending target. Strategic shortening of summit The meeting was originally meant to last three days, but shortening it will prevent Mr Trump from leaving early, as he did at the G7 meeting in Canada this week. Mr Trump's departure, ostensibly to respond to Israel's strikes on Iran, meant he missed talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president. Sources have claimed he left because he was angered Emmanuel Macron, the French president, had visited Greenland on his way to Canada. Mr Trump has said he wants to buy the Arctic Island, but Mr Macron declared that the Danish autonomous territory was 'not for sale'. Mr Zelensky has been invited to a dinner of Nato leaders on Tuesday night hosted by the King and Queen of the Netherlands, but will not take part in the summit. The US has ruled out future Nato membership for Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine said on Thursday that they had completed another exchange of captured soldiers, part of a deal reached earlier in June at peace talks in Istanbul. 'Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,' Mr Zelensky said on social media. Fighting between Iran and Israel could deflect global attention from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and even bolster the Kremlin's war effort, Ukrainian officials say. The conflict has pushed up the price of oil – a key revenue stream funding Russia's invasion. However, Kyiv has welcomed Israeli attacks on Iran, which has directly aided and provided weapons to Moscow for its own strikes on Ukraine.
