China's Xi urges efforts to ensure water supply amid drought, state media reports
BEIJING, May 20 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping urged relevant departments to work closely together to strengthen water allocation to ensure water supply for urban and rural residents and agricultural irrigation needs, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour in central China's Henan province.
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Daily Record
12 minutes ago
- Daily Record
New call for full State Pension for half a million older people after Winter Fuel Payment U-turn
Around 453,000 pensioners are living in a country which does not have a reciprocal agreement with the UK Government. Pension Credit – Could you or someone you know be eligible? Earlier this week the UK Government announced Winter Fuel Payments will be reinstated for over 9 million pensioners later this year. The U-turn and Chancellor Rachel Reeves Spending Review on Wednesday have prompted calls from the 'End Frozen Pensions Campaign' for the annual State Pension uprating to be reinstated for around 453,000 retirees living in countries which do not have a reciprocal agreement with the UK Government. The campaign said it would cost the UK Government just under £60 million per year to end this 'historic wrong'. The policy, which prevents State Pensions from being increased annually - to counteract the impact of inflation for UK pensioners living in certain countries - means some are receiving as little as £60 per week, far below the current £176.45 rate for the Basic State Pension for those living in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. John Duguid, Chair of the End Frozen Pensions Campaign, said: "The Government's U-turn on Winter Fuel Payments shows there is a common consensus that the most vulnerable in our society rely on such payments as essential lifelines during times of need. 'Victims of the Frozen Pensions scandal, who receive only a fraction of their full UK State Pension because they live in some countries overseas, should not be excluded from this rationale. Yet the Government's continued refusal to address this longstanding discrimination means they continue to suffer from often negligible levels of state support. 'These British pensioners, many of whom spent their working lives in the UK, receive on average just £60 per week compared to the more than £170 per week they would be entitled to in the UK, or a non-frozen country.' He added: 'Ending this historic wrong would cost just under £60 million per year. This would barely register in the overall State Pension budget. But this isn't only about cost, it is about the principle of treating British state pensioners fairly and equally. 'Similar to the Government's decision to reinstate Winter Fuel Payments, ending this scandal is the correct and morally just action to take. The Government should do right by those who paid fairly into the system, and ensure they have dignity in their retirement.' Last month, cross-party MPs united to intensify pressure on the UK Government over its refusal to reform the so-called 'frozen pensions' policy. Only British overseas pensioners living in specific countries - mostly within the Commonwealth - are impacted, in what Rebecca Smith MP described as "the ultimate postcode lottery'. Those in the USA see the same annual increase as British pensioners living in the UK or France, while those in Australia or Canada, see their State Pension remain 'frozen' and effectively fall in value. For example, 100-year-old Second World War veteran Anne Puckridge, who lived and worked in the UK until the age of 76 and served in all three of the RAF, Navy and the Army, has received just £72.50 per week since 2001, the year she moved to Canada to be nearer her daughter. Jim Shannon MP similarly questioned the logic of the policy applying in only some countries and not others, arguing 'the arbitrary distinction between countries with and without an operating agreement lacks logic and smacks of red tape and bureaucracy gone mad." The Minister for Pensions, Torsten Bell MP, was mostly notably challenged on the estimated cost of ending the policy, which is estimated at £60m per year - 0.04 per cent of the annual State Pension budget - rather than the £950m per year quoted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The difference explained by the fact the DWP are quoting for uprating and backdating payments to account for the years affected pensioners have been frozen. However, campaigners are instead asking to receive the annual increase from this point onwards. Douglas McAllister MP stressed that campaigners and supportive MPs are 'not seeking a full backdating, but for the Government to introduce some form of yearly indexing to answer that injustice'. Longterm critic of the policy Sir Roger Gale MP argued the policy is 'not a matter of cost. It is a matter of moral responsibility and duty.' The Minister was also reminded by a number of MPs that 'the vast majority of impacted pensioners still report having no knowledge of the policy's existence prior to moving overseas'. State Pension payments 2025/26 Full New State Pension Weekly payment: £230.25 Fortnightly payment: £460.50 Four-weekly payment: £921 Annual amount: £11,973 Full Basic State Pension Weekly payment: £176.45 Fortnightly payment: £352.90 Four-weekly payment: £705.80 Annual amount: £9,175 Future State Pension increases The Labour Government has pledged to honour the Triple Lock or the duration of its term and the latest predictions show the following projected annual increases: 2025/26 - 4.1% (the forecast was 4%) 2026/27 - 2.5% 2027/28 - 2.5% 2028/29 - 2.5% 2029/30 - 2.5% Article continues below Recent analysis released by Royal London revealed only around half of people receiving the New State Pension last year were getting the full weekly amount - and around 150,000 were on less than £100 per week.
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Breakdown of U.S. tariffs on China since Trump's first term
BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - Billions of dollars of Chinese goods have been impacted by additional U.S. tariffs since 2018, initially under the first Donald Trump presidency and later under the Biden administration. Returning to the White House this year, Trump has imposed even more duties on China. The U.S. tariffs range from those imposed under Section 301 of its trade act due to what Washington claims are unfair Chinese trade practices, to duties under Section 232 levied for national security reasons. This year, Trump has imposed another 20% levies on all Chinese goods, saying Beijing has not done enough to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States. So-called reciprocal tariffs, under which the U.S. will match duties imposed by other countries, have also been levied in a bid to rebalance trade flows. Below are the U.S. tariffs on China effective as of June 12, 2025: In September 2019, the U.S. imposed 15% tariffs on more than $120 billion of Chinese goods under Section 301, which it then halved to 7.5% less than six months later. The 25% U.S. tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods under the earlier List 1-3 remain unchanged. In September 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative under the Biden administration announced additional tariffs of 25-100% on 14 product groups following a four-year review of the Section 301 tariff actions. The levies were imposed on strategic Chinese sectors or sectors where the United States has made significant domestic investments. In addition to the above duties, the first Trump administration in 2018 imposed a range of tariffs under Section 232 aimed at restricting goods deemed a threat to national security, including all aluminium and steel imports, shutting most Chinese suppliers out of the U.S. market.
Reuters
19 minutes ago
- Reuters
China affirms trade deal with US, says it always keeps its word
BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - China on Thursday affirmed a trade deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, saying both sides needed to abide by the consensus and adding China always kept its word. The deal, reached after Trump and China's President Xi Jinping spoke on the telephone last week, brings a delicate truce in a trade war between the world's two largest economies. "China has always kept its word and delivered results," Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a regular news conference. "Now that a consensus has been reached, both sides should abide by it." The Trump-Xi telephone call broke a standoff that had flared just weeks after a preliminary deal was reached in Geneva. The call was quickly followed by more talks in London that Washington said had put "meat on the bones" of the Geneva agreement to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs. The Geneva deal had faltered over China's continued curbs on minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, jet engines for Chinese-made planes and other goods to China. Trump on Wednesday said he was very happy with the trade deal. "Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me," Trump said on Truth Social. "Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%." Still, specifics of the latest deal and details on how it will be implemented remain unclear. A White House official said the 55% represents the sum of a baseline 10% "reciprocal" tariff Trump has imposed on goods imported from nearly all U.S. trading partners, 20% on all Chinese imports associated with his accusation that China had not done enough to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., and pre-existing 25% levies on imports from China put in place during Trump's first presidential term.
