Britain hosts an international investment summit and denies snubbing Elon Musk

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s new Labour Party government announced 63 billion pounds ($82 billion) in investment in U.K. artificial intelligence, life sciences, infrastructure and technology on Monday at a business summit attended by executives from major international companies — though it was the absence of Elon Musk that made headlines.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s center-left administration is eager to attract investment into Britain’s sluggish economy and to convince corporations that its push to improve workers’ rights won’t come at the expense of businesses. It also needs to reassure trade unions, key Labour backers, that wooing business won’t come at workers’ expense.

Starmer told about 300 executives from banks, investment firms, pharmaceutical companies, tech and media firms and others that after several years of economic and political turmoil and “policy churn” under the Conservatives, Britain is once again a stable place for investors.

“This is the moment to back Britain,” he said, pledging to oversee a “hard-headed” industrial strategy and “galvanize growth” by slashing unnecessary regulation, especially around planning.

“We will rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment,” Starmer said.

Unions worry that may mean lowering standards on health, safety and the environment, a claim the government denies. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said reducing red tape did not mean “cutting corners or lowering standards, but making sure that the government takes on some of the burden of compliance so that our nation can benefit.”

A sign of the tensions facing the government as it tries to please both employers and employees came after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh last week urged people to boycott P&O Ferries, which in 2022 fired 800 seafarers to replace them with cheaper contract staff.

Its parent company, Dubai-based DP World, reportedly threatened to pull out of the investment conference because of the remarks. After Starmer rebuked Haigh and reassured the company that hers was “not the view of the government,” DP World confirmed Monday it would invest in a 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) expansion of the London Gateway container port.

Other deals announced Monday included a life sciences incubator supported by pharma firm Eli Lilly, several new data centers backed by U.S. firms, a new research and development campus for Imperial College London, an expansion of Stansted Airport near London and a new freight ferry port in eastern England.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves also announced the establishment of a new National Wealth Fund — a beefed-up version of the U.K. Infrastructure Bank — to funnel public and private investment into clean-energy industries.

Business executives attending the summit were rubbing shoulders with government ministers at London’s magnificent medieval Guildhall before being treated to British pomp and pop during a reception at St. Paul's Cathedral attended by King Charles III, with a performance by Elton John.

Not among them was Musk, whose social media platform X was used to spread false information during the anti-immigrant violence that erupted in Britain this summer. Musk himself posted messages insulting Starmer and saying the U.K. was headed for civil war.

After the BBC reported in September that Musk would not attend the investment summit, the Space X and Tesla boss posted on X: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”

He was apparently referring to the government’s decision to release hundreds of inmates — though not sex offenders — early because of overcrowded prisons.

Kyle, the technology secretary, denied Musk had been snubbed for political reasons.

“Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events,” Kyle said.

“But I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making. I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.”

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, center, speaks with leaders from across the UK during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, sits in conservation with former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, center, and Emma Walmsley the CEO of GSK, during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks with leaders from across the UK during the International Investment Summit in London, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Another 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before dawn Saturday, the military said.

The Houthis issued a statement on Telegram saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.

“A flash of light, a blow and we fell to the ground. Big mess, broken glasses all over the place,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.

The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people Thursday. The Israeli strikes were in response to a Houthi long-range missile that hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.

Israel's military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports that will lead to the "immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The Hodeida port has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides’ attacks risk further escalation in the region.

Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 people — 12 of them children — killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.

One strike hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven Palestinians, including five children and one woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.

In Gaza City, a strike on a house killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli Hospital where the bodies were taken.

One man cradled a tiny shroud-wrapped body as mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City. Women comforted each other as they wept.

Overall, Gaza's Health Ministry said 21 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.

More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and triggered the 14-month war. The health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said more than half of fatalities are women and children.

Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian deaths in Gaza. It says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

Gaza's Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza, while the hospital director described conditions as dire, as Israel's military presses its latest offensive.

The ministry reported continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, saying “shells have struck the third floor and the hospital’s entrances, creating a state of panic.”

Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility faced “severe shortages” and asserted that requests for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems "have largely gone unmet.”

He said 72 wounded people were being treated at the hospital.

“Food is very scarce, and we cannot provide meals for the wounded," Safiyeh added. “We are urgently calling on anyone who can provide supplies to help us.”

Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hindered their ability to distribute aid.

The Israeli military organization dealing with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said Saturday it had led an operation delivering thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north. It said trucks with the U.N. World Food Program transported them to distribution centers in the area Friday.

Iran on Saturday said unknown gunmen had killed a local staffer of the Iranian embassy in Syria, the official IRNA news agency said.

Its report quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car last Sunday. It did not say what he did with the embassy.

Baghaei said Iran considers Syria’s interim government responsible for finding and prosecuting those behind the killing. Iran had been a key ally of recently ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp are prepared for the funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Men pray over the bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp during a funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat arrive at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital before their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli soldier observes the site where the missile launched from Yemen landed Jaffa district, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)