News diary 11-17 March: Telegraph sale investigation deadline, Europe votes on AI Act

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Telegraph Media Group corporate logo and Telegraph website. Picture: Shutterstock/T. Schneider

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Leading the week

A decision on the future of The Telegraph could be imminent with regulators due to publish findings from investigations into the proposed takeover by RedBird IMI on Monday (March 11). Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority were asked to look into the investment fund’s bid for the Telegraph Media Group, which includes the Spectator magazine and both Telegraph titles, over fears that RedBird’s backers in Abu Dhabi could seek to influence editorial decisions at the newspapers. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer requested a second probe after issuing a public interest intervention notice last November, and is due to make a decision on whether the acquisition can proceed after receiving the regulators’ reports.

But that decision could be held up by an attempt to amend a bill currently being debated in the House of Lords in what is becoming a bit of a theme for the government. Baroness Tina Stowell, the Conservative chair of the Lords Culture Committee, has tabled an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill that would prevent foreign takeovers of UK news media, with debates scheduled on Monday and Wednesday (March 13) and over 100 peers apparently supportive of the move, though Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s reported late-stage interest in blocking the takeover could make all the Parliamentary manoeuvring redundant.

Before the parliamentary ping-pong over the Rwanda bill gets underway next week, peers have a final chance to shape the legislation when it’s back in the Lords on Tuesday (March 12). Rishi Sunak looks determined to get planes to Kigali before a general election is called, but the government has already suffered 10 defeats in the House of Lords during two days of voting this week, ensuring a more drawn-out battle when the legislation returns to the Commons.

Following the policy’s defeat in the Supreme Court, the prime minister is hoping to give Parliament the ability to overrule the ECHR and UK courts to declare Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers to be deported to. But peers approved amendments on Monday that would ensure the bill complies with the rule of law and allows the safe country designation to be challenged in court, and another that would prevent flights from taking off before the treaty setting out safeguards is fully implemented. That recommendation came from the Lords International Agreements Committee in a report published in January, which the Government is due to respond to by Sunday (March 17).

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Looking abroad

The holy month of Ramadan, which sees Muslims observe daily fasts, is now expected to begin on Monday (March 11), depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. But this year the traditionally joyful atmosphere at daily fast-breaking iftar dinners will be dampened by the plight of the many Gazans at risk of famine amid the ongoing war with Israel. Despite recent airdrops of humanitarian aid, US President Joe Biden’s announcement last night of plans to build a temporary port on the Gaza coast to deliver more aid, and the new Amalthea Initiative aid corridor, in the short term the outlook remains bleak. The apparent breakdown of efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement before Ramadan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to push on with operations in Gaza, including into Rafah, means the spectre of further devastation looms large over the holiday. And while Israel has said Ramadan access for Muslims at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound will be as it was in previous years, the sacred site has been a frequent flashpoint in the past, raising the possibility of trouble following prayers on Friday (March 15) when large numbers of worshippers are expected.

While the outcome is not in doubt, the presidential election in Russia on Sunday (March 17) is nevertheless an important moment for Vladimir Putin, who has held the position almost continuously since 2000, notwithstanding the period 2008-12 when he was nominally Dmitry Medvedev’s prime minister. Putin’s position looked somewhat precarious last summer when Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin led a dramatic, albeit short-lived, mutiny in June before dying in a plane crash two months later which western countries believe was caused by a bomb on board. But speculation at the time that the president would struggle to reimpose his authority following the rebellion looks to have been premature, with Putin on the brink of a new six-year term. Nevertheless, the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny last month in a Siberian penal colony may pose a fresh challenge, as Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya calls on Russians to stage nationwide protests on election day.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on Wednesday (March 13) on its Artificial Intelligence Act, landmark legislation hailed as the world’s first effort to set guardrails on the AI while protecting ‘fundamental rights and democracy’. Under the legislation, certain practices – including the use of AI to influence behaviour, for ‘social scoring’, and real-time facial recognition (except by law enforcement) – are banned, and non-compliance can lead to fines of up to €35 million or seven per cent of the company’s global turnover. Assuming it’s passed next week, the legislation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal but made fully applicable over a subsequent two-year period. The EU hasn’t hesitated to use its legislative might against big tech firms, slapping Apple with a €1.8 billion fine this week after finding its streaming practices breached competition rules. And while the law will only apply in the EU, the size of the market means compliance will be felt globally as AI development continues, with lawmakers hoping to encourage open-source AI and limit potentially negative impacts of giants like OpenAI’s GPT.