Politics
Rising UK youth unemployment tests govt over wage pledge
The rise in Britain’s youth unemployment rate to a 10-year high is posing tough questions for the country’s centre-left government about its policy of phasing out a lower minimum wage for younger workers.
Official figures this week showed Britain’s jobless rate for people aged 16-24 rose to 16.1% in the final quarter of last year, up from 13.8% in the middle of 2025 and a record low of under 9.2% during the Covid-19 pandemic. Youth unemployment in Britain now exceeds that in the euro zone.
Many business groups and economists blame a sharp increase in the minimum wage alongside last April’s increase in employer social security charges and broader economic headwinds, while the impact from greater use of artificial intelligence remains harder to prove.
UK low-paid vacancies fell faster than in Germany, France
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at job site Indeed, said vacancies for jobs paying close to the minimum wage in Britain had fallen more sharply than those for higher-paid roles over the past three years – the opposite trend to Germany or France.
“The UK really stands out in terms of the weakening that we’ve seen in lower-paid job postings,” Kennedy said. “That does definitely illustrate the extent to which low-wage postings in the UK have been hit by policy changes: the National Insurance increase, the minimum wage increases, and so forth.”
Ben Caswell, senior economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said official data showed some of the sharpest rises in unemployment in the private sector between April and October 2025 had come in hospitality and retail.
“It’s definitely impacting younger workers more,” he said.
The IT sector had also seen above-average job losses, possibly due to AI, but overall there was little evidence of firms investing more in labour-saving technology in response to higher labour costs, Caswell said.
UK minimum was has risen sharply
For most of the time since Britain introduced a minimum wage in 1999, there was little sign that it hurt jobs. The headline unemployment rate hit its lowest since the 1970s at 3.6% in 2022.
The previous Conservative government set a goal of raising the main minimum wage to two thirds of median earnings, making it one of the highest relative to earnings in Europe. It abolished lower minimum wage rates for workers aged 23-24 in 2021 and for 21 to 22-year-olds in 2024.
The current Labour government has pledged to end lower minimum pay rates for 18 to 20-year-old workers.
The main minimum wage rate now stands at £12.21 ($16.40) an hour – up 29% over the past three years – while the rate for 18 to 20-year-old workers has risen 46% to £10 an hour over the same period and is due to increase to £10.85 in April.
Approaches to youth minimum wage rates vary widely across Europe. France, which has a high minimum wage similar to Britain’s, does not lower it for younger workers except in certain training roles, while the Netherlands pays 18-year-olds half the hourly rate of those three years older.
Gareth Jones, managing director of In-Comm Training Services, said manufacturing and engineering firms, especially smaller ones, were becoming more reluctant to hire apprentices.
“There’s a lot of narrative around employers saying: ‘Why would we pay someone that’s completely unskilled that wage when we can get semi-skilled for the same or not too much more?’,” Jones said.
Tough market for job-hunters
For young people, finding work is often tough.
Alex Kelly, a 19-year-old film student, works at the bar of a working men’s club in southeast London near his family home, where he started washing glasses at the age of 16.
But the job does not offer reliable hours and he has not been able to find other work that fits around his studies.
“The applying process is really awful. If you do it online, then most of the time you’re not even getting a response,” Kelly said. “A lot of people I know have just stopped applying for jobs.”
Elsa Torres, 20, in her final year of a business studies degree in Liverpool, has been unable to find a part-time job, despite 70 applications, after the gastropub where she was a waitress closed down.
The Times reported on Wednesday that the government was considering abandoning its long-term plan to end the lower rate of pay for 18 to 20-year-olds.
In response, a government spokesperson said the minimum wage was going up “so that low-paid workers are properly rewarded”.
Minimum wage rates for 2027 will be set in October or November based on advice from a public body representing businesses, academics and trade unions.
Nye Cominetti, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, a think tank focused on issues affecting lower earners, said evidence that a higher minimum wage was to blame for youth unemployment was not cast-iron but was strong enough for the government to be more cautious about future rises.
“In a world where the youth labour market looks rocky … big increases in the youth minimum wage rate are probably the wrong way to go,” he said.
ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi will establish a national-scale artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer in India with a computing capacity of 8 exaflops, marking a new phase in the country’s AI infrastructure development.
The project was announced on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi.
It follows the fifth India-UAE Strategic Dialogue, held in December 2025, and the visit of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in January 2026, which strengthened cooperation in defence, technology, space, and energy.
The system will be delivered by G42, an Abu Dhabi-based global technology group, and US company Cerebras, which manufactures high-performance AI computing systems.
The initiative also involves Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), a postgraduate AI research university in Abu Dhabi, and India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a government-run body specialising in supercomputing and advanced IT research.
An 8 exaflop system is capable of performing eight quintillion calculations per second — that is, eight billion operations every second — placing it among the world’s most powerful computing platforms.
Officials say this will significantly expand India’s domestic capacity to train and run advanced AI models.
The supercomputer will be hosted within India and operate under governance frameworks defined by Indian authorities. All data will remain within national jurisdiction to meet sovereign security and regulatory requirements.
The project builds on earlier cooperation between G42 and MBZUAI. In December 2025, the two organisations released NANDA 87B, an open-source Hindi-English large language model containing 87 billion parameters, designed to support AI applications in regional languages.
- Rubio hails “Pakistan’s ongoing support of Peace Plan for Gaza”.
- DPM Dar responds to Marco Rubio with appreciation.
- Pakistan gets extraordinary reception at BoP meeting in US: minister.
The United States has thanked Pakistan for supporting President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan and for joining the Board of Peace.
In a post on X, US State Secretary Marco Rubio shared an image with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
Rubio mentioned in the post that he met PM Shehbaz to appreciate “Pakistan’s ongoing support of@POTUS’s Peace Plan for Gaza and for joining the Board of Peace.”
“In our meeting, we discussed the importance of our strategic relationship on critical minerals development and counterterrorism,” the state secretary added.
Responding to Rubio’s tweet, DPM Dar thanked the US secretary of State for what he described as productive discussions on key areas of mutual interest.
In a post on X, Dar said Pakistan values its longstanding relationship with the United States and appreciates the meaningful talks held on advancing peace, enhancing cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, and expanding bilateral economic and trade ties.
He added that Islamabad looks forward to further strengthening its strategic partnership with Washington across all areas of shared interest.
PM Shehbaz and other world leaders attended the inaugural meeting of the Trump-led BoP in Washington on Thursday.
Addressing the BoP meeting, PM Shehbaz described his participation as an honour and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to lasting peace in Gaza.
The prime minister said the pursuit of sustainable peace in Gaza remains a shared mission, adding that the day marked a “golden chapter in history” for peace efforts in the Middle East.
He expressed hope that the initiative would succeed in achieving long-term stability in the war-hit region.
In his address, Trump also hailed PM Shehbaz and “tough, serious fighter” Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
“I like this man [PM Shehbaz] of Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan has received an extraordinary reception at the Board of Peace meeting in Washington.
In a video message, he said US President Trump appreciated Pakistan’s role in world peace, which increased Pakistan’s prestige at the global level.
The minister further said that due to a successful foreign policy, Pakistan is emerging as an important and effective player on the global stage.
The US president first proposed the board last September when he announced his plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza. He later made clear the board’s remit would be expanded beyond Gaza to tackle other conflicts worldwide.
PM holds cordial interactions with world leaders at BoP meeting
PM Shehbaz engaged in warm interactions with several world leaders, including US President Trump on the sidelines of the Board of Peace inaugural meeting.
In an informal meeting, Trump was seen cheerfully interacting with PM Shehbaz, as the two leaders expressed mutual goodwill and shook hands.
The US president also hugged the premier, highlighting that the exchange was exceptionally warm.
Moreover, PM Shehbaz also interacted with King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, who attended the event in Washington.
During the conversations, the leaders discussed important global and regional issues, displaying genuine warmth and and a spirit of close friendship.
Pakistan’s inclusion in the Board of Peace reflects the country’s growing success in diplomatic efforts and foreign policy, particularly its contributions toward establishing peace in Gaza, reconstruction efforts, and broader global peace initiatives.
- Trump warns Iran of ‘really bad things’ if no deal is reached.
- Signals possible US action if talks fail on nuclear enrichment.
- Says Iran’s nuclear potential had been ‘decimated’ in June strikes.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has warned that Iran has no more than 10 to 15 days to strike a “meaningful” deal over its nuclear programme, or face what he described as “really bad things”.
Speaking in Washington, Trump signalled that the US could take action if talks fail, sharpening the stakes in an already tense stand-off.
His remarks come amid a major US military build-up in the Middle East, underscoring the urgency of the deadline and raising fears of fresh escalation if diplomacy falls short.
Amid a massive US military build-up in the Middle East that has fuelled fears of a wider war, Trump said negotiations with Iran to end the tense stand-off were going well but insisted Tehran has to reach a “meaningful” agreement.
“Otherwise bad things happen,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
Trump spoke of the US air strikes carried out in June, saying Iran’s nuclear potential had been “decimated”, adding “we may have to take it a step further or we may not.”
“You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” he said. Asked later to elaborate, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I would think that would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum.”
But he declined to be specific, except to warn again of “really bad things” and insist that Iran would have to make a deal one way or another.
‘Good talks’: Trump
Trump’s threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, have pushed up oil prices, and a Russian corvette warship on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.
Iranian and US negotiators met on Tuesday and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said they had agreed on “guiding principles”. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday, however, that the two sides remained apart on some issues.
Trump said “good talks are being had”, and a senior US official said Iran would make a written proposal on how to address US concerns.
Trump called on Tehran to join the US on the “path to peace”.
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple,” he said. “You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran has resisted making major concessions on its nuclear programme, though insisting it is for peaceful purposes. The US and Israel in the past have accused Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb.
Trump’s latest sabre-rattling came as he talked himself up as a man of peace in a long, meandering speech while hosting world leaders at the launch of his Board of Peace. He proposed the body in September when he announced his plan to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. He later expanded the board’s remit to tackle conflicts worldwide, prompting many key Western allies to stay away.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia warned against an “unprecedented escalation of tension” around Iran and urged restraint amid the US military build-up in the region, which a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.
Threat of war
Trump has sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the region, raising the prospect of another attack on the Islamic Republic.
The United States and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and some military sites last June. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Iran on February 28, the senior US official said.
Washington wants Iran to entirely give up uranium enrichment, a process used to create fuel for atomic power plants but that can also provide material for a warhead.
The US and ally Israel also want Iran to give up long-range ballistic missiles, stop supporting groups around the Middle East and stop using force to quell internal protests.
Iran says it refuses to discuss issues beyond the atomic file, calling efforts to limit its missile arsenal a red line.
Satellite pictures have tracked both Iranian work to repair and fortify sites since last summer, showing work at both nuclear and missile sites, as well as preparations at US bases across the Middle East over the past month.
Iran’s joint exercise with Russia came days into an extended series of Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, with Iranian state television showing special forces units deployed on helicopters and ships.
In a sign of growing concern over the increased tensions, Poland on Thursday became the latest European country to urge its citizens to leave Iran, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poles may only have hours to evacuate.
Trump began threatening strikes on Iran again in January as Iranian authorities crushed widespread protests with deadly violence that left thousands dead across the country.
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