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☆ Starmer is selling Britain on gloom, and patience is wearing thin
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Protesters demonstrate outside the Labour Party conference venue in Liverpool against the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance, on September 23, 2024. “It has felt a bit blunt,” a Labour Member of Parliament admitted after Starmer’s speech Tuesday, summing up the sentiment across much of conference. Unfortunately, the realities of governing are beginning to bite the Labour Party – and it is likely he will need to show some returns far sooner. Starmer’s speech was was light on fresh content but a heckler was calmly removed and the key messages were confidently delivered. But a premiership can only survive on doom and gloom for so long, and patience is already wearing thin among much of the wider party.

Persons: Keir Starmer, –, Ian Forsyth, Starmer, Taylor, “, Rachael Maskell, Sir Keir Starmer, Peter Byrne, Maskell, ”, Boris Johnson’s, ” –, Patience, Opinium, Sunak, ” James Crouch ,, Reeves, Rachel Reeves, heckler Organizations: Liverpool, England CNN —, Labour, Protesters, Labour Party, Labour Party –, Conservative, Public, Arsenal soccer, Wembley, CNN, ”, London, Tory, National Health Service, Organisation for Economic Co, Development, United Nations General Assembly Locations: England, Liverpool, Starmer’s, Opinium, Britain, New York, July’s

☆ Russia expels six U.K. diplomats as tensions rise over Ukraine missiles
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-14 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Russia announced the expulsions hours before British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, a crucial step towards winning the go-ahead for Kyiv to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia. Neither Biden nor Starmer addressed long-range missiles in brief comments in front of reporters. Sources say the meeting is another step in talks to allow Ukraine to use Western long-range missiles against targets in Russia, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been demanding for months. The six UK diplomats were named on Russian state TV, which also showed photographs of them. The FSB said Russia would ask other British diplomats to go home early if they were found to be engaged in similar activity.

Persons: Keir Starmer, Joe Biden, “, ” Biden, Starmer, Biden, ” Starmer, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, John Kirby, Kirby, Maria Zakharova, ” Zakharova Organizations: British, White, Ukraine, FSB, Soviet KGB, Russian Federation, Federal Security Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, British Embassy, British Foreign, Biden, United Nations General Assembly, House, The New York Times, Russian Foreign Ministry Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Britain, Russia, Kyiv, United States, Russian, Western, Washington, London, Iran, Soviet, British, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Europe, Vienna

☆ UK riots may have peaked, but more trouble could lie ahead
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

It was meant to be another night of violence at the hands of the far right. “It shows that when everyone comes out to support, their numbers dwindle.”Large crowds gathered at an anti-racism protest in Walthamstow on Wednesday, where far-right violence had been expected. The fury simmering in a subset of White Britain remains a live danger; these riots were shocking, but not entirely surprising. “I normally walk through this city center all the time,” Nadeem Akhtar, 18, told CNN in the northern English city of Sheffield, where angry riots took place. Tommy Robinson, the figurehead of Britain’s far right, was reinstated to X (then Twitter) days after Elon Musk bought the platform.

Persons: ” Ahmed Hussain, ” Nadeem Akhtar, don’t, –, ” Jesse Bernard, ”, we’ve, Ian Forsyth, disruptors, Tommy Robinson, Elon Musk, Robinson, Justin Tallis, provocateur Laurence Fox, Fox, Starmer, Keir Starmer, Musk, Keir ” –, ” Paul James McDermott, “, ” McDermott Organizations: London CNN, Police, CNN, Reuters, Elon, Getty, Britain’s, Downing Locations: Walthamstow, London, Britain, English, Sheffield, Middlesborough, Bristol, British

☆ Violent, far-right riots overran some UK cities this weekend. What happened, and what comes next?
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-05 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

London CNN —Far-right riots swept Britain over the weekend, with outbreaks of anti-immigrant violence in a number of cities and towns, leaving the new UK government scrambling to control the worst disorder in more than a decade. Throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday, violent protesters congregated in city and town centers across the UK, many of them apparently intent on clashing with police and causing havoc. The gatherings ostensibly started as anti-immigration marches, organized on social media platforms like X and on WhatsApp and Telegram groups. Violence also took place in Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent and several more cities, mostly across the Midlands and north of England. The man in charge of bringing those offenders to justice was Keir Starmer, then Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

Persons: Keir Starmer, –, ”, Constable Lindsey Butterfield, Owen Humphreys, we’ve, ” Starmer, Christopher Furlong, Nigel Farage, Priti Patel, Diane Abbott, Britain’s, Elon, Tommy Robinson, Joe Mulhall, Robinson, Peter Powell, Musk, “, Starmer, underfunding Organizations: London CNN, Labour Party, Protesters, Rotherham, South Yorkshire Police, Middlesbrough, Stoke, Trent, Office, National Police Chiefs ’ Council, “, Downing, Police, . Police, Reform, Conservative Party, Farage, Conservative, CNN, Getty, Public Prosecutions, British Ministry of Justice, State, Justice, PA Media Locations: Britain, Southport, England, WhatsApp, Rotherham, Tamworth, Midlands, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, United Kingdom, Manchester, AFP, ”, British, London, gridlock, Wales, Afghanistan

☆ Zelensky Becomes First Foreign Leader to Visit U.K. Cabinet Since Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-19 | by ( Stephen Castle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky became the first foreign leader to attend Britain’s cabinet meeting in person since former U.S. president Bill Clinton in 1997, in a public display of Britain’s staunch support for Ukraine as doubts grow about future U.S. military aid if Donald J. Trump wins a second presidential term. Mr. Zelensky briefed the British government’s top ministers on Friday on his country’s military conflict with Russia, while discussing moves to prevent oil tankers from breaching international sanctions against Moscow. The Ukrainian president, who was greeted with a standing ovation, was the first foreign leader to be invited into Downing Street by Keir Starmer, the new British prime minister, following his general election victory earlier this month. The two leaders also discussed a new defense export support treaty designed to boost production of military hardware and weaponry in both countries. Mr. Zelensky’s visit to Downing Street followed his attendance on Thursday at a summit of more than 45 European leaders at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, where Ukraine was high on the agenda, and where he won renewed pledges of support for his battle against the forces of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Bill Clinton, Donald J, Zelensky, Keir Starmer, Zelensky’s, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Trump, British, Moscow, Downing Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Blenheim, Oxford

☆ To Revitalize Britain’s Economy, a Plan for a Stronger Government Role
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Patricia Cohen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The last time a freshly minted Labour government unabashedly campaigned on an ambitious national industrial policy to revive the British economy was 50 years ago, and the results were generally viewed as disastrous. The 1974 program of subsidies, state ownership and power sharing among business, unions and government resulted in strikes that paralyzed the nation. And the government’s goal of picking industrial winners turned into a policy of backing losers like the automaker British Leyland and British Steel Corporation. The current Labour Party has clearly jettisoned that ’70s era legacy. Keir Starmer’s new government, which formally laid out its economic agenda as Parliament opened on Wednesday, is nonetheless embracing the idea that the government must play a key role in driving Britain’s stagnant economy.

Persons: unabashedly, Keir Starmer’s Organizations: British Leyland, British Steel Corporation, Labour Party Locations: British

☆ Exclusive: Britain’s Starmer says Biden ‘in good form’ in private talks, reaffirms ‘unshakable support’ for NATO
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-12 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Keir Starmer, Britain’s newest leader, wants to force lawmakers in the country’s upper chamber to step down at the same age. Does this mean he thinks octogenarians like President Joe Biden should step back from politics? Starmer said the talks were “a really good opportunity” for him to “speak to the president about the special relationship” between their two countries. He said Biden “deserves credit” for presiding over a summit that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called a success. “I took over the Labour Party four and a half years ago.

Persons: Winston Churchill, Keir Starmer, Joe Biden, ” Starmer, CNN’s Jake Tapper, Starmer, King Charles III, Biden, “, Tapper, ”, Biden “, Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin, Kamala Harris “, Trump ”, We’ve, Emmanuel Macron, David Lammy, Lammy, Donald Trump –, CNN Tacking, Britain’s, Jeremy Corbyn, We’d, ’ ” Starmer, ‘, we’ve, ’ ” Organizations: CNN, it’s, NATO, Conservative Party, Labour, Trump, BBC, Labour Party, Conservative, European Union Locations: America, Washington, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Britain, NATO

CNN —Ukraine should be allowed to use French weapons, including long-range missiles, against targets inside Russia from which Moscow attacks Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. The SCALP missiles have a range of up to 155 kilometers (96 miles) and carry a 400-kilogram (881-pound) high-explosive penetration warhead, according to the Missile Threat project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Macron stressed that the French arms are to be used only against targets from which attacks are launched into Ukraine. “We must not allow them to hit other targets in Russia,” including civilian or other military targets, the French leader said. The meeting follows a similar agreement between Ukraine and Spain on Monday, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announcing a $1.08 billion weapons deal for Ukraine.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, “, ” Macron, Olaf Scholz, Guillaume Souvant, David Cameron, Putin, ” Cameron, let’s, Caesar, Viacheslav Ratynskyi, Germany’s Scholz, Macron’s, ” Scholz, Vladimir Putin, ” Putin, ”, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, Pedro Sánchez Organizations: CNN, French Defense, Missile, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Getty, British, NATO, Spanish, Ukraine Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Brandenburg, Germany, France, Bourges, AFP, Kyiv, ” France, Avdiivka, Donetsk region, United States, Uzbekistan, Europe, Belgium, Brussels, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Canada

☆ Report Finds ‘Catalog of Failures’ in U.K. Contaminated Blood Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A “catalog of failures” by government and medical officials in Britain, most of them avoidable errors, led to blood contaminations that killed about 3,000 people and infected more than 30,000 others over two decades, according to a long-awaited report published on Monday. The report is the product of a six-year inquiry that the British government ordered in 2017 after decades of pressure from victims and their families, and it could pave the way for sizable compensation payments. The independent report puts a harsh spotlight on Britain’s state-run National Health Service, identifying “systemic, collective and individual failures” by British authorities as they dealt with the infections of tens of thousands of people by tainted blood transfusions or contaminated blood products between the 1970s and the 1990s. The authorities at the time refused to acknowledge those failings — including the lack of proper screening and testing of blood — by “hiding the truth,” the report said.

Persons: “ Organizations: Health Service Locations: Britain

☆ U.K. to Accuse China of Cyberattacks Targeting Voter Data and Lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Mark Landler | Stephen Castle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The British government is expected to publicly link China to cyberattacks that compromised the voting records of tens of millions of people, another notable hardening of Britain’s stance toward China since its leaders heralded a “golden era” in British-Chinese relations nearly a decade ago. The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, will make a statement about the matter in Parliament on Monday afternoon, and is expected to announce sanctions against state-affiliated individuals and entities implicated in the attacks. The government disclosed the attack on the Electoral Commission last year but did not identify those behind it. It is believed to have begun in 2021 and lasted several months, with the personal details of 40 million voters being hacked. The Electoral Commission, which oversees elections in the United Kingdom, said that the names and addresses of anyone registered to vote in Britain and Northern Ireland between 2014 and 2022 had been accessed, as well as those of overseas voters.

Persons: Oliver Dowden Organizations: Electoral Commission Locations: China, United Kingdom, Britain, Northern Ireland

Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesThe news is a major blow to Port Talbot, a town of about 35,000 people whose economy has been built on the steel industry since the early 1900s. At its height in the 1960s, the Port Talbot steelworks employed around 20,000 people, before cheaper offerings from China and other countries hit production. More than 300,000 people worked in Britain’s steel industry in 1971; by 2021 it was about 26,000. Last year the U.K. government gave Tata up to 500 million pounds ($634 million) to make the Port Talbot steelworks greener. “We saw it with the coal industry and now it is happening again with the steel industry.

Persons: ”, T.V, Narendran, Port, Tata, “, Tata's, Anthony Slaughter Organizations: Tata Steel, Tata, ” Tata Steel, Unions, Port Talbot, Commons Library, Community, Green Party Locations: Port Talbot, Wales, China, Port

☆ Banks’ wealth-management heyday may have passed
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

For wealth managers, that will make revenue growth much harder to come by, shifting the focus to controlling expenses. LOSING ITS SPARKLEIn Wall Street parlance, wealth management is a capital-light business. Little wonder Morgan Stanley boss James Gorman focused on wealth management after taking charge in 2010. The good news for UBS and Morgan Stanley is that they are better placed than most to handle these pressures. The bank’s wealth-management business generated a 35% ROTE, while the division that houses investment banking and trading managed just 8%.

Persons: UBS –, Morgan Stanley’s, Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, Sergio Ermotti, Goldman Sachs, Italy’s, Iqbal Khan, Morgan Stanley’s Andy Saperstein, Peter Thal Larsen, Sharon Lam, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Wealth, UBS, Credit Suisse, HSBC, HK, Lloyds Banking Group, Revenue, Treasury, Big, Thomson Locations: Swiss, United States, Americas, Switzerland, Britain’s St, James’s

Its cost was estimated at 33 billion pounds in 2011, but has soared to more than 100 billion pounds ($122 billion) by some estimates. Sunak said Conservative lawmakers would be given a free vote in Parliament on the smoking ban. He used the speech to give party members and voters a glimpse of the man behind his technocratic exterior. Home Secretary Suella Braverman used her conference speech to appeal to the party’s authoritarian, law-and-order wing, advocating tougher curbs on migration and a war on human rights protections and “woke” social values. “I am confident we can win,” said Balwinder Dhillon, deputy mayor of the town of Slough, west of London.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Sunak, he's, ”, ” Sunak, Andy Burnham, ” “, Rain Newton, Smith, “, Margaret Thatcher —, Liz Truss, Akshata Murty, Suella Braverman, Balwinder Dhillon Organizations: Conservative Party, Labour Party, Leeds, Conservative, Manchester, of British Industry, Health, New, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, London Stock Exchange, Treasury, United, British Locations: MANCHESTER, England, Manchester, London, “, Birmingham, Midlands, North, Britain, Britain’s, New Zealand, Rwanda, United Kingdom, Slough

LONDON (AP) — Before he hit America, Rupert Murdoch ripped through Britain’s media like a tornado. But politicians from both right and left courted and feared Murdoch, who added The Times and Sunday Times to his stable in 1981. Like other politicians, Blair denied giving Murdoch anything in return for his support — though plenty of skeptics doubted that. For now, Rupert Murdoch remains a magnet for the powerful, and those who seek power, in Britain. The guest list for his summer party in June included Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, many members of his Cabinet and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan, Murdoch, Boris Johnson, “, Nathan Sparkes, Murdoch “, Jeremy Corbyn, Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s, couldn’t, ”, Jacques Delors, Margaret Thatcher, Thatcher’s, John Major, Sun wot, Tony Blair’s, Blair, ” Blair, Andy Coulson, Prince Harry, Lachlan Murdoch, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, James, Kathryn Murdoch Organizations: Fox, News Corp, Times, ”, Labour Party, Treasury, LBC, BBC, European, Argentine, Liverpool, Sunday Times, Thatcher’s Conservative, Sun, Blair’s Labour Party, Murdoch’s News Corp, The Sun, Sky Television, Premier League soccer, Sports, BSkyB, Comcast, AP Locations: London, Australian, Britain, British, Hillsborough, ___

☆ U.K. Replaces Defense Secretary Ben Wallace With Grant Shapps
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Mark Landler | More About Mark Landler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His replacement, Grant Shapps, a politically astute Conservative Party operative, has signaled that he would maintain Britain’s support for Ukraine. Mr. Shapps has held multiple cabinet posts and is a close ally of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, though he has far less foreign policy and security experience than Mr. Wallace. Mr. Wallace’s departure has been long in the works — he was floated by Downing Street in an unsuccessful bid for NATO secretary general — but Mr. Shapps’ appointment was a surprise. Mr. Shapps has already held no fewer than four ministerial posts in the past year, a tumultuous stretch for Britain’s government. Mr. Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, named him home secretary in the chaotic final days of her tenure.

Persons: Ben Wallace, Grant Shapps, Shapps, Rishi Sunak, Wallace, Mr, Wallace’s, —, Sunak’s, Liz Truss, Truss’s, Boris Johnson Organizations: White House, Pentagon, Ukraine, Russia, Conservative Party, NATO Locations: Ukraine

☆ Credibility crisis requires BoE to write new plot
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Francesco Guerrera | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Since May 24, thousands of British people have had their homeowning dreams dashed by a sudden spike in mortgage rates. Unlike many other central banks, the BoE doesn’t provide its own forecasts of how consumer prices will evolve in coming years. The whiplash occurred because traders had to digest the inflation shock without any interest rate guidance from policymakers. Because most banks price home loans off those derivatives, it sent mortgage rates rocketing. The BoE announces its latest interest rate decision on June 22, with traders expecting a 25-basis-point hike, to 4.75%.

Persons: “, Paul Gascoigne, BoE, Andrew Bailey, That’s, Bailey, ”, Charles Goodhart, ’, apocryphally, Seneca, David Roberts, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Bank of England, Monetary, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Reuters Graphics Reuters, MPC, Financial Times, Fed, Thomson Locations: policymaking, BoE’s

☆ UK inflation surprises for all the wrong reasons
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Britain’s stubbornly high inflation is a major drag on its economy because it increases the cost of everyday goods and services, dampening consumption. At the same time, interest rate hikes to combat inflation make loans and mortgages more expensive, which further weighs on spending by businesses and consumers. “The indirect impact of energy prices on business costs means lower gas and electricity prices should eventually feed into lower core inflation. But strong wage growth is likely to keep services inflation high throughout this year,” he added. But it cautioned that high inflation is still a considerable risk to the UK economy.

Persons: Grant Fitzner, Britain’s, ” Paul Dales, Martin Beck, ” Organizations: London CNN —, National Statistics, Bank of England, International Monetary Fund, Bank, Capital Economics, IMF, Bank of England’s Locations: United Kingdom

☆ Opinion | My Mother Knew How to Celebrate a Royal Event
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David Lammy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When that happens, I know I’m going to miss my mother. I know my mother would have looked for it. My mother felt the monarchy folded her and other immigrants into Britishness. She loved the pomp and ceremony of royal events, and her shelves were filled with cheerful memorabilia from the weddings and jubilees. We’d crowd around the television to watch the latest event and she’d serve her divine Caribbean cooking on royal cake trays.

☆ Fact Check-Photo of Britain’s Starmer wearing a skirt is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A digitally altered photo of British Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer leaving his home in casual clothes is misleading people online. The original image of Starmer wearing jeans has been edited to look like a red-and-white skirt. “And you want this Clown in Number 10 GOD HELP US,” said one person who reshared the edited picture (here ). It shows the Labour Party leader in the same T-shirt and trainers and holding the same jacket in his left hand, but wearing light-blue jeans. Keir Starmer was photographed leaving his home wearing jeans, not a red-and-white skirt.

☆ UK growth hinges on more than a new pension giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Francesco Guerrera | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Politicians and financiers think a consolidation of the country’s pension funds would breathe new life into its stocks, startups and infrastructure. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that UK defined-benefit pension funds, company-sponsored plans that promise a specific payment upon retirement, have moved away from UK equities. The proposals also entail creating a 100 billion pound pension fund, modelled on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a retirement giant with $536 billion assets under management. Overall, some 19% of these funds’ assets are in UK stocks, according to the Pensions Policy Institute. If UK assets can yield the risk-adjusted returns offered by other assets, pension funds will join in too.

☆ London fears for its future as companies defect to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —London is used to punching well above its weight in global financial markets. And 70% of global secondary bond market trading happens in the city, according to the London Stock Exchange. Beyond the jobs they create and the tax they generate, financial markets also channel capital into companies to fund future growth. In other words, to safeguard its future, London needs to reinvigorate its stock markets. Those “unicorns” should be listing in London “at an earlier stage,” Haynes argues, “rather than growing through private equity and being sold off to Nasdaq.”Hoggett of the London Stock Exchange puts it this way: “London needs to be young, scrappy and hungry.”

☆ U.K. Braces for Biggest Strikes in Years Over the Holiday Period
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Max Colchester | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Unions in the U.K. argue that workers can’t afford to see their inflation-adjusted wages fall. LONDON—The U.K. is set to face some of the worst strikes in at least a decade, raising fears that a “winter of discontent” will hit the country as workers push for bigger pay raises amid double-digit inflation and a gloomy economic outlook. University professors, teachers, railway staff and even security guards at the luxury department store Harrods have held strikes recently. Nurses for Britain’s state health service are threatening their first-ever strike on selected days near Christmas and ambulance drivers have also voted to walk out, for the first time in 30 years. Passport-control officials also announced a strike in December at several U.K. airports.

☆ U.K. Treasury Chief Jeremy Hunt Reverses Nearly All Tax Plans to Reassure Markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Max Colchester | Paul Hannon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—New U.K. Treasury Chief Jeremy Hunt said Monday he was reversing nearly all the government’s proposed tax cuts and would pare back an energy price cap as he moves to reassure markets about the stability of the nation’s finances. Mr. Hunt, who took over on Friday after Prime Minister Liz Truss fired his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, has acted quickly in his first days on the job to try to repair the damage to Britain’s standing among investors by taking steps to shore up public finances after weeks of turmoil on U.K. financial markets.

London CNN Business —UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has fired finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and ditched a big part of her discredited economic strategy in a desperate bid to rescue her month-old premiership. “It was right, in the face of the issues we had, that I acted decisively to ensure that we had economic stability,” Truss said Friday. Kwarteng presented a “mini budget” just three weeks ago, promising tax cuts worth £45 billion ($50 billion) and increased borrowing with the hope of boosting UK economic growth. “Liz Truss’ reckless approach has crashed the economy, causing mortgages to skyrocket, and has undermined Britain’s standing on the world stage,” he said. Kwarteng had flown back from the IMF meeting in Washington, D.C., overnight for discussions with Truss.

☆ Collapsed French merger sends bad TV signal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Logos of French television networks TF1 and LCI are seen at the Boulogne-Billancourt headquarters, near Paris, France, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles PlatiauMILAN, Sept 19 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A French attempt to join forces against video streaming giant Netflix (NFLX.O) has fallen flat. “Top Chef” channel M6 (MMTP.PA), controlled by Germany’s RTL (AUDK.LU), and Bouygues-backed (BOUY.PA) rival TF1 (TFFP.PA) announced in May 2021 they were planning a merger. With 3.4 billion euros of combined revenue, the tie-up was meant to create a French TV leader. The failed merger is a bad signal for European broadcasters.

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