Starmer and Merz Ink Treaty Locking in Cooperation on Defense
Conservative leader Merz has made clear his regret over Britain quitting the European Union and is keen to deepen German-UK cooperation. Starmer said the pact would 'bring the UK and Germany closer than ever' as they confront challenges like Donald Trump's trade onslaught and Russia's war on Ukraine.
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Fox News
8 minutes ago
- Fox News
Farage slams secret Afghan refugee resettlement to UK, claims sex offenders among arrivals
Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, slammed the Conservative and Labour parties after it was revealed this week thousands of Afghan refugees were secretly resettled into the country without the public's knowledge. Farage claimed some of those Afghans are sex offenders, sparking a row with the ruling Labour Party, which denied the claims. Around 4,500 Afghans have been relocated to the U.K. so far with around 6,900 expected to be relocated overall. Meanwhile, waves of migrants continue arriving by boat, further inflaming public frustration over unchecked immigration. "Amongst the number that have come are convicted sex offenders – I am not, I promise you, making any of this up, and the total cost of this operation has been a staggering £7 billion [$9 billion]," Farage said in a post on X. "The numbers are off the charts, the cost is beyond comprehension and the threat to women walking the streets of this country, frankly, is incalculable." Relocating the 6,900 Afghans is expected to cost £850 million [$1.1 billion]. The £7 billion Farage referenced is likely the total cost of all Afghan resettlement programs since 2021 of about 36,000 Afghans through multiple schemes. The British government earlier this week revealed it secretly resettled thousands of Afghan nationals in the U.K. after a catastrophic data breach exposed nearly 19,000 applicants who had worked with U.K. forces, an operation kept under wraps by a rare "super injunction" that barred even the mention of its existence. The injunction was lifted Tuesday in conjunction with a decision by Britain's current Labour Party government to make the program public. A spreadsheet containing the personal information of the nearly 19,000 people who had applied to relocate to the U.K. after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was accidentally released in 2022 because of a defense official's email error. The government only became aware of the leak when some of the data was published on Facebook 18 months later. "I can't think of a better example of the total incompetence, dishonesty and genuine lack of understanding of what the priorities of a British government are than this Afghan scandal," Farage added. But U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey denied any known sex offenders had been allowed into the U.K. under the program and insisted everyone had been checked "carefully" for any criminal records He said if Farage had any "hard evidence," he should report it to the police. "Anyone who has come into this country under any of the government schemes that was under the previous government and now from Afghanistan is checked carefully for security, checked carefully for any of those sort of criminal records that would preclude and prevent them coming to this country," Healey told Times Radio, according to The Sun. British soldiers were sent to Afghanistan as part of an international deployment against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. At the peak of the operation, there were almost 10,000 U.K. troops in the country, mostly in Helmand province in the south.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Top Execs Fleeing Tesla as Dark Clouds Grow
Another top executive has quit Tesla as the automaker continues a dicey and high-stakes spiral. The Wall Street Journal reports that Troy Jones, Tesla's vice president of sales, service and delivery in North America — its largest market — suddenly packed his bags after 15 years at the company. It's unclear at this point if the decision was his; at Tesla, heads can roll depending on the whims of CEO Elon Musk. Jones' exit comes during a particularly tumultuous time for the EV brand, which is suffering faltering sales and a plunging stock price as Musk continues to be a deeply polarizing figure with extreme politics. Hinting at turmoil behind the scenes, it's also less than a month after Musk fired one of his closest confidantes, Omead Afshar, who was serving as vice president of manufacturing and operations before getting the axe in June. Afshar, who joined Tesla in 2017 as an engineer, was promoted to the position last October to oversee sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, two markets where the backlash against Musk's role in the Trump administration has been the most intense. Mere weeks before Afshar's departure, Milan Kovac, who was in charge of Tesla's humanoid robot division Optimus, also left the company. Musk thanked Kovac for his time at Tesla, a courtesy he hasn't extended to others who have recently departed. Jenna Ferrua, a human resources director for North America, also left Tesla around the time of Afshar's departure. There are signs of upheaval at Musk's other ventures, too. Last week, Linda Yaccarino suddenly departed her post as CEO of X, Musk's social media platform. Her decision followed almost immediately after the site's integrated chatbot, Grok, went on racist tirades railing against Black and Jewish people, praising Nazis, and calling itself "MechaHitler." Whatever their reasons for leaving, the ex-Tesla execs bailed a ship that, if it's not outright sinking, is taking on alarming amounts of water. Off the back of its first-ever annual decline in revenue last year, Tesla sales have plunged for five straight months in Europe and in the US plummeted by nine percent in the first three months of 2025. This has been reflected in its stock position, with its shares down by over 15 percent this year. The automaker has been caught in the blast radius of Musk's reputational meltdown, facing mass protests and targeted acts of vandalism in response to his eager gutting of the federal government while working with the Trump administration. But to ascribe Tesla's plight to a mere image problem wouldn't do justice to its heap of other issues. Critics have pointed to its aging vehicle lineup for one reason why sales have dried up, with its recently refreshed Model Y failing to inspire customers — illustrated by the desperate financing deals that Tesla is offering, on top of slashing the vehicle's price. The recent launch of a small-scale robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, meanwhile, hasn't made a convincing case that Musk's vision of boldly staking Tesla's future on offering autonomous cab rides will rake in the trillions of dollars of money that he promised any time soon. And all the while, it's facing steeper competition than ever from Chinese competitors like BYD, which has overtaken Tesla as the largest EV company in the world. More on Tesla: A Clear Sign Just Emerged That Tesla Is Panicking
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Teradyne (TER) Tapped by Amazon as Warehouse Robot Supplier
Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) is one of the Best Industrial Automation Stocks to Buy for the Next Decade. Teradyne's Universal Robots division has been identified as the supplier of robotic arms for Amazon's newly unveiled warehouse robot, Vulcan, according to a report from Hunterbrook Media. This reveals Denmark-based Universal Robots as a key technology partner in Amazon's latest automation push. A technician in a factory setting next to an industrial automation machine. Vulcan is designed to handle tasks such as picking and stowing, integrating advanced touch sensitivity to perform delicate, repetitive movements with higher precision. Though Amazon has not officially confirmed its supplier, the robotic arms match Universal Robots' design, and are reportedly outfitted with grippers from Robotiq, another firm known for seamless compatibility with Teradyne's automation products. Hunterbrook estimates the Vulcan project could be worth as much as $400 million for Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER), as Amazon continues to invest in automating logistics for the 14 billion items it handles development highlights Teradyne's growing presence in warehouse and supply chain automation, adding another major client to its industrial roster. Shares of Teradyne moved higher following the report's release. Teradyne advances industrial automation through collaborative robots and machine testing systems used in manufacturing, logistics, and high-volume warehouse operations. While we acknowledge the potential of TER as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Best Non-Mega Cap NASDAQ Stocks to Buy Right Now and 13 Cheap Stocks Under $50 to Buy Now. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
