• Starmer begins trip to India to promote trade ties.
• Visas blocked previous efforts to seal trade deal: UK PM.
• Starmer trying to take more restrictive stance on immigration.

Britain will not pursue a visa deal with India, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, as he aims to deepen economic ties with the country following this year’s trade agreement.

Starmer begins a two-day trip to India on Wednesday, bringing a trade mission of businesses to promote the trade deal, which was agreed in May, signed in July, and is due to come into effect next year.

Starmer said that visas had blocked previous efforts to seal a trade deal, and that, having reached an agreement which had no visa implications, he didn’t wish to revisit the issue when he meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks on Thursday.

“That isn’t part of the plans,” he told reporters en route to India when asked about visas, adding the visit was “to take advantage of the free trade agreement that we’ve already struck”.

“Businesses are taking advantage of that. But the issue is not about visas.”

Starmer is trying to take a more restrictive stance on immigration amid high public concern about the issue, as his Labour Party trails the populist Reform UK party in polls.

He said visas would not be on the table in order to attract tech sector professionals from India, after US President Donald Trump hiked fees on H-1B visas, though he said more broadly he wanted to have “top talent” in Britain.

Asked if he would stop issuing visas to arrivals from countries that won’t take back foreign criminals or people wanted to deport, Starmer said it was a “non-issue” with India as there is a returns agreement, but it was something he would look at more broadly.

“We are looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements,” he said.

Scientists warn that the seas surrounding New Zealand are warming much faster than the global average, highlighting the urgent impact of climate change on the island nation.

A government report, Our Marine Environment, revealed that New Zealand’s ocean waters are heating 34 percent faster than worldwide averages.

Rising temperatures, increasing acidity, and more frequent marine heatwaves are already threatening thousands of coastal homes as sea levels climb.

“Climate change is driving significant changes in our oceans,” the report said. “Ocean temperatures are rising, marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and longer-lasting, and sea-level rise is accelerating at many locations.”

Researchers linked this rapid warming to disruptions in ocean currents between New Zealand and Antarctica, along with changes in atmospheric circulation.

Shane Geange, marine advisor at the Department of Conservation, said, “Global warming is intensifying existing problems in our oceans.

We are witnessing faster sea-level rise, more severe marine heatwaves, and oceans becoming more acidic and losing oxygen.”

Sea-surface temperatures at four sites around New Zealand rose, on average, between 0.16C and 0.26C per decade between 1982 and 2023.

Many native species were struggling to adapt to life in warmer and more acidic oceans, the study found, and risked being overrun by invasive pests.

Warmer-than-normal sea temperatures have previously been linked to deaths of New Zealand’s native yellow-eyed penguins.

“Because of these findings, how we manage New Zealand’s marine environment needs to change,” said Geange.

“We now have enough evidence to take action, and delaying risks further harms to our marine ecosystems.”

Steadily rising sea levels were already being felt in many of New Zealand’s low-lying coastal hamlets, the report found.

More than 200,000 homes worth US$100 billion (NZ$180 billion) were found in areas at risk of coastal inundation and inland flooding.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza entered their third day on Wednesday, as Qatar’s Prime Minister and senior officials from the United States and Turkey joined Hamas and Israeli negotiators for indirect talks in Egypt.

The discussions are taking place in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, centered around a 20-point peace plan proposed last month by US President Donald Trump.

Among the high-level attendees are Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, and Trump’s Middle East team — special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

“There’s a real chance we could achieve something,” President Trump told reporters in Washington, expressing optimism about the peace push.

“We’re hopeful for an immediate release of hostages and a broader step toward lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Trump added that the United States would “do everything possible to ensure all parties adhere to the deal” if Hamas and Israel reach an agreement.

The latest diplomatic efforts come as Israel marks two years since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks, which triggered the ongoing war.

The assault the deadliest in Israel’s history killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, with 47 still in captivity, including 25 believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, international calls for an end to the war continue to grow, as much of Gaza lies in ruins, famine looms, and families of hostages plead for swift action.

A UN probe accused last month Israel of genocide in Gaza while rights groups have accused Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the October 7 attack. Both sides reject the allegations.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters joined pro-Palestinian mass demonstrations in cities across the world last weekend, calling for an immediate end to the war, including in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Britain.

Demonstrators in the Netherlands called for their government to recognise a Palestinian state, while tens of thousands in Britain defied Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s calls to skip rallies, holding vigils and gatherings on the October 7 anniversary.

Guarantees

Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said the Islamist group wants “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all”.

Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The plan received positive responses from both Israel and Hamas and prompted indirect talks in Egypt since Monday.

A Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team said Tuesday’s session included Hamas discussing “the initial maps presented by the Israeli side regarding the withdrawal of troops as well as the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange”.

US representatives Witkoff and Kushner were expected to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, after they were initially expected to arrive last weekend.

“The primary guarantee of success at this stage is US President Trump himself… even if it comes to a point to require him imposing a vision,” he said.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that over half of the dead are women and children.