Month: April 2022

Images of mass graves and bodies of civilians reportedly executed in the Kyiv suburb have shocked the world.

India’s condemnation at the UN meeting is the strongest statement it has made since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Delhi has so far abstained from UN votes condemning Russia’s actions.

In a statement on Tuesday at the UN Security Council meeting, India’s permanent representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti said the country “remained deeply concerned at the worsening situation and reiterates its call for immediate cessation of violence and end to hostilities”.

“The situation in Ukraine has not shown any significant improvement since the Council last discussed the issue. The security situation has only deteriorated, as well as its humanitarian consequences,” Mr Tirumurti said.

“We hope the international community will continue to respond positively to the humanitarian needs. We support calls urging for guarantees of safe passage to deliver essential humanitarian and medical supplies.”

India has a long history of pursuing a non-aligned foreign policy but is under pressure from Western countries over its diplomatic balancing act. Delhi and Moscow also share a decades-old relationship, and Russia is also India’s biggest defence supplier.

India recently also placed contracts for nearly six million barrels of Russian crude after prices slumped in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia. But the Indian government says this is “literally a drop, in a larger bucket” of its oil imports globally.

Last week, Delhi was criticised by the US and Australia for considering a Russian offer that was seen as circumventing the sanctions.

The civilian killings in Bucha were uncovered after Russian troops withdrew from the town. The mayor, Anatoli Fedoruk, said on Monday that at least 300 civilians had been killed, but there is no official tally yet.

‘Delhi-Moscow ties to be tested’

India’s support for an independent inquiry into civilian killings in Bucha is hardly surprising.

It stopped short of blaming or naming Russia for the violence in Bucha, which was in line with its policy of neutrality over Ukraine.

The West has so far appeared to be accommodating of India’s stand, which largely stems from its reliance on Russian defence equipment and its historical ties with Moscow.

But as allegations of atrocities in Ukraine mount, so will the pressure on Delhi to take a clearer stand.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said that Washington wanted Delhi to scale down its defence dependence on Russia. If his statement is a sign of things to come, India’s policy of pushing for diplomacy over Ukraine will be seriously tested.

The declaration defies calls from the public and political opponents for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down amid the country’s economic crisis.

Crowds have protested for weeks over lengthy power cuts and shortages of gas, food and other basic goods.

The public anger has prompted nearly all Cabinet ministers to quit, and scores of MPs to leave his government.

Opposition MPs have also rejected his invite to form a national unity government, saying voters want the president and entire government to resign.

But on Wednesday, Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando told lawmakers: “As a responsible Government, we state President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from his post under any circumstances.”

On Tuesday night, Mr Rajapaksa lifted controversial state of emergency measures following further protests, the departure of several government lawmakers and the resignation of his finance minister.

The president had invoked the law – which allows the arrest of suspects without warrants – on 1 April after protests outside his house.

But he lifted them on Tuesday in an apparent concession to angry citizens. Earlier that day in parliament, 41 MPs had left the president’s ruling coalition to “represent themselves independently”. The implication of this is still unclear.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948.

The heavily import-reliant South Asian nation no longer has enough dollar reserves to buy essential items like food, fuel to power vehicles or even generate electricity.

People have been suffering power cuts of up to 13 hours, massive inflation and a shortage of food and basic goods.

Protests across the country continued on Wednesday. Public frustration over the crisis has seen peaceful demonstrations held since January.

But the situation has escalated in the last fortnight, with many more people taking to the streets as power cuts stretched to 13 hours and petrol stations ran out of fuel.

“People can’t afford their daily rice, their dhal, their basic necessities. People can’t get on buses to come to work, to go to school,” one protester told the BBC this week.

While most protests are peaceful, there have also been violent flare-ups – with attacks on politicians’ homes and clashes between protesters and police.

On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council expressed its concerns about the emergency measures in a statement issued before they were lifted.

The UN noted the reports of police violence and said it was worried the restrictions aimed at “preventing or discouraging people from legitimately expressing their grievances through public protests”.

It added that: “The drift towards militarisation and the weakening of institutional checks and balances in Sri Lanka have affected the state’s ability to effectively tackle the economic crisis.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the measures will target Russian financial and state-owned bodies, as well as some officials and oligarchs.

Ms Psaki said the move will “hold accountable the Russian kleptocracy that funds and supports Putin’s war”.

Calls for further sanctions have grown in recent days amid allegations of Russian atrocities in Bucha.

The town’s mayor told the BBC on Tuesday night that Russian forces had killed around 320 civilians during their occupation of the town, while the discovery of mass graves has caused outage in western capitals.

Ms Psaki told reporters during a news conference in Washington DC on Tuesday that the sanctions, which are expected to include a ban on all new investment in Russia, will “degrade key instruments of Russian state power, impose acute and immediate economic harm on Russia”.

The Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday that the Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, may be among those targeted.

US media has suggested that sanctions could also target the two daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, though Ms Psaki refused to comment on the reports.

She added that the sanctions will be announced will be taken in coordination with the EU and other G7 nations.

“In coordination with the G7 and the EU, an additional sweeping package of sanctions measures that will impose costs on Russia to send it further down the road of economic, financial, and technological isolation,” Ms Psaki said.

On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed broad new sanctions on Russia, including a potential ban on imports of Russian coal and additional measures targeting state-owned businesses and officials and oligarchs in Moscow.

The proposed ban on Russian coal, which must be agreed by all 27 member states, would mark the first time the EU has blocked imports of Russian energy.

The bloc buys around €4bn (£3.3bn) worth of coal from Moscow every year.

Some member states, including Germany, are heavily reliant on Russian energy and had been reluctant to directly target the sector. But sentiment appeared to change after evidence of Russian war crimes emerged, with French President Emmanuel Macron joining calls for a ban earlier this week.EU officials say sanctions on Russian imports of coal and oil are definitely being considered

Member states are also expected to impose a “full transaction ban” on four Russian banks and ban a range of other Russian and Belarus imports, including wood, cement, seafood and liquor, worth €5.5 billion (£4.59bn).

And Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said she intends to close EU ports to Russian vessels and ban Russian and Belarusian road transport operators from the region.

Ms Von der Leyen accused Russia of “waging a cruel and ruthless war” against Ukrainian civilians and said the EU must “sustain utmost pressure on Putin and the Russian government at this critical point”.

But Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Tuesday evening criticized the EU’s proposed sanctions package, calling it a “feeble response” which is “an invitation for more atrocities.”

“Coal, four banks…a ban on ports and borders (with exceptions) is not really an adequate sanctions package to the massacres that are being uncovered,” Vilnius’ chief diplomat wrote on Twitter.

Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian leaders of committing war crimes in his country and called for them to be brought to justice.

“The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country,” he said. “They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies.”

Also on Tuesday, American officials said they will provide $100m (£76m) in anti-armour Javelin missiles to Ukraine’s forces. This is the sixth batch of US equipment aid released to Ukraine since August.

US Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the newly-authorised money will “meet an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-armour systems, which the United States has been providing to Ukraine and they have been using so effectively to defend their country”.

Emtelle, which has its headquarters in Hawick, is opening a new manufacturing facility in Fletcher, North Carolina.

The firm already employs 700 staff worldwide and it said the new factory would create up to 200 jobs.

It said the move would also allow it to better serve its customer base in North America by providing its first fully “made in the USA” range of products.

Emtelle describes itself as the “leading global manufacturer of pre-connectorised blown fibre, cabling and ducted solutions”.

It already has manufacturing facilities in Denmark and Germany and recently announced the acquisition of Dubai-based telecoms ducts manufacturer AfriPipes.

It has also expanded its UK manufacturing facilities to Wrexham to help meet “unprecedented demand”.

The company said the latest expansion continued its efforts to “put the Scottish Borders on the new technology map”.

Chief executive Tony Rodgers said: “Our US expansion marks a landmark moment for Emtelle.

“With an estimated multi billion dollars to be invested in fibre rollouts across the US in the next five years, the new manufacturing facility in Fletcher will better position us to ensure our customers across the US have access to our high-quality product range.”

Employees, businesses and the self-employed will pay an extra 1.25p in the pound. The extra tax is earmarked for government spending on social care.

Some MPs opposed the move amid cost of living pressures, but mitigation will instead be introduced in July.

Experts are urging people to check their status as a new tax year starts.

Earnings levels at which people start to pay income tax have been frozen, increasing the chances of employees being dragged into a new band – with a higher rate of tax – if they receive a pay rise.

Employees pay National Insurance on their wages, employers pay extra contributions for staff, and the self-employed pay it on their profits.

In September, the government announced the rise in contributions from 6 April, in part to help ease the burden on the NHS.

It means that, instead of paying National Insurance contributions of 12% on earnings up to £50,270 and 2% on anything above that, employees will now pay 13.25% and 3.25% respectively. The self-employed will see equivalent rates go up from 9% and 2% to 10.25% and 3.25%.

Those of state pension age do not pay the tax at present, and nor do those on very low incomes.

After the announcement last year, the plans were met with disapproval from opposition parties and some backbench Conservative MPs who criticised the timing, as many people face sharp rises in energy bills and prices in general.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak responded in his Spring Statement with plans to allow workers and the self-employed to earn more before they start making National Insurance payments. This will take effect in July.

From now, employees will pay National Insurance contributions on earnings above £9,880 a year. From July, it will be paid on earnings above £12,570 a year.

Taken together, the measures mean that, over the next 12 months, anyone earning less than about £34,000 a year will pay less in National Insurance than they did the previous year, while those earning more will see their payments rise.

Had the chancellor stuck with his original plan, then all but the very lowest income workers would have paid more in National Insurance.

Many employers will still pay more, and business groups have warned that this may be passed on in higher prices. They also said it would add to the pressures already faced by firms following the withdrawal of Covid support measures.

Among those concerned about the bill is Hanna Gentry, an assistant general manager at George’s Bistro in Cleckheaton.

“Personally for me if I look at my wage I think it’s not too much, but as a business when you have to pay that on everybody’s wages, it adds up really really quickly,” she said.

“We are going to try and bring in more custom, that’s the only way we can do it – in terms of events, new menus, to try and draw customers in.”

Meanwhile James Hipkins, managing director of Emery’s Timber and Builders Merchants in Stoke and Telford, told the BBC’s Today programme the rise was “another little extra bit” to add to the rising cost of materials, fuel and energy.

“My greater concern is, is it the beginning of a perfect storm? By that I just mean all the little snips going up, is it going to start to stifle industry?”

However, Mr Hipkins said society had a “moral obligation and responsibility to this” to fund social care services, which he added have been “overlooked” for too long.

“We all know it needs sorting out, we all know it needs to be paid for but none of us are particularly keen on paying for it,” he added.

“At this stage is it seems a bit wishy washy and woolly as it’s coming in. I would feel a lot more confident and a lot more happy when I see it as an actual separate levy and it can be identified for where it’s supposed to be going.”

The government said it had raised Employment Allowance from £4,000 to £5,000, so smaller firms could claim up to £5,000 off their National Insurance bills. Ministers said it meant 670,000 firms would not pay the tax at all.

Overall, the increases in National Insurance for employers and higher-income workers will raise an extra £10.9bn in a year for the government, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as “necessary, fair and responsible”, adding that it would “provide the health and care system with the long term funding it needs as we recover from the pandemic”.

Next year, the extra tax will be rebranded as the Health and Social Care Levy.

An increase in the tax on dividends is also coming into effect, to add to the funds channelled by the government into the NHS and social care.

It has also gone up by 1.25p in the pound. Many private investors hold shares in an Individual Savings Account (Isa) which protects them from tax. However, some business owners pay themselves in dividends and so will face a tax rise.

Early last year Mr Sunak said the thresholds at which income tax is paid would be frozen at April 2021 levels for five years (although Scotland has different levels). That means pay rises will push more people into higher tax bands.

If a pay rise takes somebody from below £12,570 a year to above, then they will start paying income tax at 20% on the amount above £12,570. A shift in salary from below £50,270 to above means paying the higher rate of 40% on the amount above £50,270. The next threshold is at £150,000, when the additional tax rate of 45% kicks in.

Adrian Lowery, personal finance spokesman at investing platform Bestinvest, urged people to check their tax code, which is issued by HM Revenue and Customs and can be found on a pay slip.

“A tax code of 1257L is currently used for most people who have one job or pension. If yours is different, make sure you understand why, so you’re not paying too much tax,” he said.

At last month’s Spring Statement, Mr Sunak pledged to reduce the basic rate of income tax by 1p in the pound before the end of the Parliament in 2024.

For this new tax year, the personal allowance of capital gains tax has also been frozen at £12,300, so this much profit can be realised from assets in a year before tax is paid.

The threshold for inheritance tax – a levy on estates when somebody dies – has also been frozen again at £325,000, as it has since 2009.