
China issues funds to safeguard agriculture from disasters
BEIJING, May 23 (Reuters) - China's recently disbursed 1.4 billion yuan ($194.42 million) of central government funds earmarked for agricultural production disaster prevention and relief, according to a statement from the Agriculture Ministry on Friday.
The funds from the Agriculture Ministry and Finance Ministry will support 30 provinces including Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan, according to the statement.
The central government will focus on providing appropriate subsidies for pesticides, equipment and unified services for disaster prevention and control.
($1 = 7.2008 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Northumberland MP calls for supermarkets to pay farmers more
A Labour MP has called on supermarket chains to pay farmers more for their Smith, who won his North Northumberland seat in Labour's 2024 landslide, said some farming businesses were making as little as one pence profit on some sales to is one of 46 MPs from his party to recently write to the major supermarkets calling for a better British Retail Consortium, which represents Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi, insists they are not exploiting farmers. In an open letter, the politicians said the big six chains could afford to offer higher prices to farmers as they made £5bn profit last year, while a typical 200 acre (81 hectare) family farm could only expect to bring in about £27,300 after expenses and taxes."What we were saying simply was please can you give better prices to farmers, but also to the processor and abattoirs," Smith said."But especially to farmers as some can be making just one pence profit on some of the produce they are selling."There are 750 holdings, and about 2,000 people working in farming in North Northumberland, so I hear a lot from farmers here that do feel squeezed." One of the farmers supporting his campaign is John Renner, who stocks 120 beef cattle on 500 acres (202 hectares) of land in Belford in the North Northumberland Renner has run the business for 20 years with his wife, Helen, but says however much they improve quality and drive down costs, profits are not would like supermarkets to pay more and stock more local produce."Are the supermarkets paying enough? I would say no, they're not," he said."For the last 15 years my wife and I have been driving down the cost of production of a kilogram of beef, but we are not seeing a greater profit out of that."The British Retail Consortium said retailers knew they needed to pay a sustainable price to farmers."Given the pressure on British farmers at the moment, retailers are paying more for their produce," a spokesperson said."However, retailers are also facing additional costs and are working incredibly hard to limit price increases for consumers where many are struggling to afford the essentials." Smith's push for a better deal comes after months of protests from farmers unhappy with the Labour government's policies on inheritance tax and support he says his intervention comes after building links with farmers in his constituency, and says he is backing them on this and other issues."I have learned a lot about farming," he said."I still have more to learn, but I have been representing their interests to the government and that's what I have set out to do since day one." John Renner says he remains concerned that Labour's inheritance tax changes could make it harder for his three children to take over the business in the also wants more support from the government for farms like his but appreciates his MP is seeking to understand the sector's concerns."He sees where the problems are," Mr Renner said."Maybe he doesn't understand the absolute basics; I think the national government doesn't understand the absolute basics."But he has been taking our points back to the government." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.


Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Telegraph
No more leprechaun economics: Ireland's tax swindle is finally ending
Donald Trump has sent Ireland to the naughty step. Once the altar boy of American commerce, Dublin now finds itself blacklisted alongside China, Germany and Vietnam, each a prime candidate for tariffs and sanctions. The offence? Running a surplus with the United States. On the face of it, the complaint seems petty. One country sells more than it buys. So what? But Ireland's problem, like the others on Trump's list, is that its surplus rests on a creed that has fallen out of favour. As offshoring hollowed out Middle America, the old Clinton mantra 'It's the economy, stupid' has begun to sound rather less clever than it once did. That, at least, is the mood in Trump's Washington. And judging by his campaign-trail fixation with the word tariff, many Americans agree: a reckoning is overdue. Ireland offers a particularly inviting target. Its surplus owes less to tangible exports than to tax gymnastics. A pill is made in Ireland for 50 cents, sold to a sister company (also in Ireland) for €10, and then shipped to the global market at the same price. The profit is booked in Dublin, while tax collectors elsewhere are left out of pocket. The trick doesn't stop there. Intellectual property is shifted to Irish subsidiaries, global sales are routed through Irish entities, and profits vanish into low or no-tax jurisdictions. Together, these sleights of hand form what we're invited to call the Irish economic miracle – a miracle that, by one estimate, deprives other countries of nearly $20 billion a year in tax revenue. The question being asked in Washington is: who benefits? Ireland, clearly. One in every eight euros of its tax revenue now comes from US firms. That's a fivefold increase since 2010, driven by Ireland's famously 'competitive' tax regime. It accounts for a large slice of a €150 billion bilateral surplus. When Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited the Oval Office in March, Trump put it plainly: 'We do have a massive deficit with Ireland, because Ireland was very smart. They took our pharmaceutical companies away.' It's hard to argue with the logic. Ireland has been undeniably clever at attracting American capital. Spending it is another matter. Much of the money sits on Irish books without generating the economic activity one might expect. The state's coffers may be overflowing, but the windfall is narrowly concentrated. Public spending, as ever, has been handled with something shy of brilliance. From roads and hospitals to housing and energy, the services most visible to the public have seen little improvement, despite years of surging revenues. Meanwhile, resources have been channelled into more headline-friendly ventures: a €350,000 bike shed outside parliament; a vast new hospital project already among Europe's most expensive; and billions annually to accommodate asylum applicants – most of whom, the government has conceded, are economic migrants. The miracle, it seems, left little room for prudence. As every lottery winner learns, easy money tends to breed excess. But with full coffers, Ireland could afford to paper over the cracks. Meanwhile, American tech and pharma giants have flourished. Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and others have routed billions through Ireland, to the delight of shareholders and pension funds. If Trump moves to close loopholes or impose tariffs, these are the interests he'll have to console ahead of the midterms. The losers, predictably, are the American workers left behind by the long, slow flight of industry and tax revenue. Worse off still are the countries quietly drained by Ireland's magic act. The sums involved are vast. The structures that move them are so complex they can feel impossibly abstract. But the consequences are not. According to modelling by the Universities of St Andrews and Leicester, this tax loss has deprived more than 100,000 children of school attendance and some 1.1 million people of access to basic sanitation. Quibble with the methods if you like, but the core truth is hard to deny: when profits are rerouted, people are short-changed. Not that Dublin seems overly troubled. Only last month, Ireland's Taoiseach declared: 'Ireland earns its living from an open and fair approach to world trade.' The most pious nations often turn out to be the most artful. Ireland rarely misses a chance to sermonise on Gaza, climate justice, or whichever cause currently allows it to cast itself as Europe's moral compass. But as La Rochefoucauld noted, hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue. And by that measure, Ireland has paid handsomely.


The Sun
15 hours ago
- The Sun
I jetted to China to furnish my UK house – for £1k I got a king-sized bed, mattress, tables, chairs and MORE
A YOUNG woman has jetted off to China to furnish her UK house. Shirley Bekker took to social media to share her experience, leaving people stunned by just how affordable it was. 2 She decided to spend six days in Foshan, China, to find furniture for her new house. And it seems to have worked in her favour; not only does she cut out the middleman by going to the manufacturers directly, but she was also able to get her furniture customised to her liking. Shirley spent the day looking for furniture for her bedroom and managed to kit it out for just £1,000. First, she looked for the ideal mattress to take home along with a bedframe. She ended up finding both and was able to customise the colour of the bedframe. In total, the two pieces cost her just £350. Next, she spotted a large chair and foot stool for her bedroom to match her new bed frame. "Shirley almost choked on her own saliva when the man said £185 for the set. But she quickly calmed down," the video read. "After reverse search imaging the chair, it revealed that the chair alone costs thousands of pounds in the UK. Eventually, she shook hands at £165." Next, she found a dressing table and chair that she was also able to customise for £170. Shoppers urged 'not to blink' and get their hands on Home Bargains garden essential that sold out fast last time and it makes your garden extra cute - TikTok homebargainsofficialuk While she was meant to be shopping for her bedroom, Shirley got distracted with the outside furniture and picked up an egg chair for just £45. She also bought a table and chair set for outside as well as a TV stand. "I spent £1000 today and managed to buy: king-sized custom bed, perfect mattress for my back, egg chair, Bistro table and chair, TV table, 6 handmade ceramic pots, dressing mirror, Japanese style chair and pouffe," added Shirley. The clip went viral on her TikTok account @ shirley_bekker with 319k views and 47k likes. People were quick to share their thoughts and were eager to try it for themselves. One person wrote: "Ok I've seen enough… anyone wanna go China and go halves on a shipping container to the UK???" Another commented: 'How much to ship to the UK? Cos I'm gonna need to book a flight to China." "Oh so we're being ripped off real bad here in the UK," penned a third. Meanwhile a fourth said: "This is crazy. I might make a trip too." "I have never been so influenced to go to China,' claimed a fifth. Someone else added: '£350 for the whole bed is insane."