South Korean tobacco company KT&G has entered into a memorandum of understanding with American tobacco giant Altria to pursue long-term growth opportunities across international markets and adjacent product categories. The partnership aims to leverage the complementary strengths of both companies in innovative nicotine and non-nicotine products, with a particular focus on expanding their presence in the rapidly growing modern oral nicotine segment.

As an initial step in their collaboration, the two companies are jointly acquiring European nicotine pouch manufacturers. Through a Special Purpose Company established in Sweden, they will acquire 100% stakes in ASF AB Co., Ltd., a nicotine pouch production and sales company, and ASF AS Co., Ltd., a nicotine pouch sales company. The acquisition amount totals approximately 1.76 billion Swedish krona (around 262.4 billion Korean won).

The joint acquisition targets the high-growth nicotine pouch market, allowing KT&G to rapidly expand its next-generation tobacco portfolio and strengthen new growth drivers. The partnership will explore opportunities to collaborate on expanding the global demand for nicotine pouch products, including potential expansion of the on! and on! PLUS product portfolio to select countries, as well as strategic transactions in the modern oral space.

Beyond nicotine products, the collaboration extends to non-nicotine segments through KT&G's subsidiary, Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC), which will jointly explore opportunities with an Altria subsidiary in the health functional foods sector. KT&G has set ambitious growth targets, aiming for double-digit growth in revenue and operating profit for the year, buoyed by strong global performance that has seen five consecutive quarters of triple growth in revenue, operating profit and sales volume.

The UK government has announced sweeping changes to its asylum system, eliminating automatic settlement rights and family reunification for refugees granted protection in Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlined the reforms ahead of his attendance at the European Political Community Summit in Copenhagen, where he will co-chair discussions on innovative approaches to tackling illegal migration. The fundamental policy shift represents the government's attempt to balance protection for genuine refugees with stronger border controls.

Under the new system, migrants granted asylum will no longer receive automatic resettlement rights or the ability to bring family members to join them in the UK. The government suspended new family reunion applications at the beginning of September as part of these changes, with Home Office figures showing almost 21,000 refugee family reunion visas were issued in the year to June 2025. The vast majority of these visas had been granted to women and children seeking to join family members already in Britain.

The reforms aim to create what the government describes as a "fairer system where the route to settlement should be longer, and be earned via contribution to the country." Prime Minister Starmer emphasized that "there will be no golden ticket to settling in the UK—people will have to earn it." The changes are designed to reduce what officials term "pull factors" that they believe encourage migrants to attempt dangerous Channel crossings rather than seek protection in other safe countries they pass through.

These policy announcements come alongside preparations for additional measures, including potential army-built migrant camps to replace costly hotel accommodations. Logistics teams with experience building barracks in war zones are developing plans to quickly establish facilities on government land. The government views providing less comfortable housing as a key deterrent to stopping record numbers of small boat crossings, with cross-government efforts being ramped up to close migrant hotels ahead of the previous 2029 deadline.