FTSE 100 Live: UK Retail Sales Rose More Than Expected in January
While it was the largest January surplus on record it was well below the £20.5 billion predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Public sector net financial liabilities excluding public sector banks was 82.7% of GDP while excluding the banks it was 95.3%.
As Andrew Atkinson and Tom Rees write, the figures will pile further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is reported to be seeking further savings from government departments other than health, education and defence to avoid breaking her self-imposed fiscal rules.
Meanwhile, Britain along with other European countries is under mounting pressure to plow more money into defence, implying an even tighter squeeze in other areas.
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Boston Globe
16 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Erdogan calls it an anticorruption drive. His rivals call it a political crackdown.
The arrests come at a time of uncertainty about the political future of Turkey and Erdogan, who has dominated the country's politics for more than two decades. He cannot legally run again when his current, third presidential term ends in 2028 but could seek another mandate if parliament were to call early elections, an outcome many analysts expect him to pursue. The arrests began last year but have accelerated since March, when the police arrested Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, citing allegations of corruption, which he denies. Advertisement In the months since, the government has arrested at least 390 people in connection with investigations of alleged corruption in the Istanbul municipal government and other opposition-run cities, according to a New York Times tally based on Turkish media reports. The opposition says those arrested include current and former mayors and other municipal officials as well as representatives of companies that have worked with opposition-run city governments. Although these arrests have not led to any convictions, Erdogan said in a speech last month that government investigators were exposing 'the biggest gang of robbers in the history of the Republic.' Advertisement Opposition leaders have denied the charges and accuse Erdogan's government of weaponizing the judiciary to weaken its opponents and silence critics, some of whom have faced legal action for opposing the arrests. 'My confidence in justice, in the law, in how it is executed and investigated is gone,' said Cem Yigit Uzumoglu, an actor who played Mehmed the Conqueror in the Netflix docudrama 'Rise of Empires: Ottoman.' In an interview, he described how the police had arrested him at his home in the middle of the night in April after he posted support on social media for a boycott of government-linked companies. Prosecutors are now seeking prison sentences up to about seven years on charges that include instigating hatred in society, an accusation he called 'ridiculous.' Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party fared poorly in nationwide municipal elections last year, largely because of anger over high inflation. Yet his geopolitical position appears strong. The civil war in neighboring Syria ended with a Turkish-friendly administration in Damascus. European countries count on his help to curb migration. And he has a warm relationship with President Donald Trump, whose secretary of state, Marco Rubio, recently ordered American diplomats to limit their comments about how other countries practice democracy. Few Western governments have spoken publicly about the arrests. Imamoglu, a star in the opposition Republican People's Party, had beat candidates backed by Erdogan for mayor of Istanbul three times, and some polls suggested he could beat Erdogan in a presidential race. The mayor's arrest came days before he officially began his presidential campaign and one day after his university suddenly annulled his undergraduate diploma, citing a decades-old irregularity. That alone could keep him from becoming the president, who is required by law to have completed higher education. Advertisement The timing of those events, which followed other cases that could temporarily bar Imamoglu from politics, led his supporters to accuse the government of seeking to knock him out of the running. The Turkish government insists that its prosecutors and courts are independent and has called on citizens to trust the authorities and not prejudge investigations. Interrogation notes and other information shared with Turkish news outlets indicate that investigators are pursuing allegations that include bribery, fraud, improper distribution of municipal contracts and solicitation of favors in exchange for construction permits. The New York Times has not been able to independently verify these details. In his address in July, Erdogan said that the investigations were free of politics and were uncovering great criminality. As this year's arrests have progressed, the government has also taken legal action against critics, using laws that rights groups say restrict freedom of speech. Last month, a student, Doruk Dorucu, tore up his diploma during a university graduation ceremony to protest the annulment of Imamoglu's diploma and what he called undue government interference in Turkish universities. In an interview, Dorucu said that the police arrested him at his home later that night. He said that he has been barred from traveling abroad while being investigated for inciting hatred among the public. 'In terms of oppression, we are in such a bad period,' he said. 'Everyone is afraid that they can be taken from their homes at dawn over one tweet or one joke they made in daily chitchat with friends.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
After Air Canada suspends operations, government forces airline and union into arbitration
TORONTO — Canada's government forced Air Canada and its striking flight attendants back to work and into arbitration Saturday after a work stoppage stranded more than 100,000 travelers around the world during the peak summer travel season. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said now is not the time to take risks with the economy, noting the unprecedented tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canada. The intervention means the 10,000 flight attendants will return to work soon. The government's action came less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job. 'The talks broke down. It is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator,' Hajdu said. Hajdu said the full resumption of services could take days, noting it is up to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The shutdown of Canada's largest airline early Saturday is affecting about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians may be stranded. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day. Hajdu ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to extend the term of the existing collective bargaining agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator. 'Canadians rely on air travel every day, and its importance cannot be understated,' she said. Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, complained in a statement that Hajdu waited only a few hours to intervene and said the government has violated the union's constitutional right to strike. 'The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada's refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted,' he said. Union spokesman Hugh Pouliot didn't immediately know when workers would return to work. 'We're on the picket lines until further notice,' he said. The bitter contract fight between the airline and the union representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as CUPE turned down the airline's request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract. Keelin Pringnitz of Ottawa was returning with her family from a European vacation when they became stranded at London's Heathrow Airport after flights were canceled. She said there was an option for the travelers in line to go to the United States, but they were told there wouldn't be any further assistance once they landed in the U.S. 'It didn't go over well with the line. Nobody really seemed interested. Everybody seemed a little bit amused almost at the suggestion, or exasperated, because it is a bit ridiculous to offer to take stranded passengers to a different country to strand them there,' she said. Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is in doubt. They had a Saturday night flight to Nice, France, booked. Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations. Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 p.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. Ian Lee, associate professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, noted earlier that the government frequently intervenes in transportation strikes. 'They will intervene to bring the strike to an end. Why? Because it has happened 45 times from 1950 until now,' Lee said. 'It is all because of the incredible dependency of Canadians.' Canada is the second-largest country in the world geographically, and flying is often the only viable option. 'We're so huge a country and it's so disruptive when there is a strike of any kind in transportation,' Lee said. The government forced the country's two major railroads into arbitration with their labor union last year during a work stoppage. The union for the rail workers is suing, arguing that the government is removing a union's leverage in negotiations. The Business Council of Canada has urged the government to impose binding arbitration in this case, too. Hajdu said her Liberal government is not anti-union, saying it is clear the two sides are at an impasse. Passengers whose travel is affected will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline's website or mobile app, according to Air Canada. The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full 'due to the summer travel peak.' Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but that most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 he and his girlfriend paid for their original tickets. Laroche said that he was initially upset over the union's decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages. 'Their wage is barely livable,' Laroche said. Air Canada and the CUPE union have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren't in the air. 'We are heartbroken for our passengers. Nobody wants to see Canadians stranded or anxious about their travel plans, but we cannot work for free,' Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant and local union president, said before the government intervention was announced. The attendants are about 70% women. Stea said Air Canada pilots, who are mostly men, received a significant raise last year, and she questioned whether flight attendants are getting fair treatment. The airline's latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said 'would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.' But the union countered, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn't go far enough because of inflation. 'We're the national carrier and we have people operating in poverty. Like, that's disgusting, that's very problematic,' Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE, said at a news conference. Gillies and Yamat write for the Associated Press and reported from Toronto and Las Vegas, respectively.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
How Trump's meeting with Putin pivoted from Ukraine cease-fire to full peace deal
WASHINGTON — President Trump made an abrupt announcement about two hours into his private, roughly three-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin Friday — declaring he wanted a full peace deal in Ukraine rather than a cease-fire, The Post has learned. Convinced there were relatively few matters left to resolve, and believing a truce would only prolong the war, Trump set aside his publicly stated goal of a temporary halt in fighting. 'Figuratively, the president sort of threw up his hands and said, 'I'm not interested in a cease-fire anymore,'' a source familiar with the discussion said. 5 President Trump said Saturday he's seeking a full peace deal rather than a truce after meeting with Vladimir Putin. GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock Trump expressed concern that the 'focus of the cease-fire' would be on 'how long the cease fire will be' and 'are they going to rearm?' The pivot yielded 'no pushback from the Russians,' leading Trump to exit Anchorage without a cease-fire in hand. Instead, he dialed up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to see if a full peace deal was within reach. The calls yielded a positive response, the source said, and Trump announced on social media that Zelensky would be at the White House Monday for talks. Putin insisted during the summit Ukraine hand over the remainder of the coal and minerals-rich Dontesk, a historically Russian-speaking region that had a Moscow-backed rebellion beginning in 2014. Russia claimed to annex the whole region in 2022. Zelensky has vehemently objected to giving up the northern third of the Donetsk region, arguing it would obliterate more than decade-old defense lines and allow Putin to launch further incursions into Ukraine. The matter may be addressed through an international peacekeeping deployment, the possibility of which was raised during the bilateral discussion in Alaska, with Putin open to a deployment of UK and French troops along the front lines to prevent a recurrence of fighting. 5 Trump left Anchorage without a cease-fire after a three-hour talk made him believe a final settlement could be reached. Trump has in principle accepted the deployment by its NATO allies as a de facto US 'security guarantee' to Ukraine, two sources told The Post. The move comes after Trump previously suggesting a US-Ukraine minerals deal would also effectively give Kyiv a measure of protection. In Anchorage, the Russian dictator floated an 'Article 5-plus' formulation for the peace-keeping force in which China would also send troops, but appeared to back away from the idea and settle on the possibility of NATO ally Turkey — a mediator for Moscow — instead sending soldiers to supplement the more openly pro-Kyiv bloc. European leaders appeared wooed by Putin informing Trump he was 'willing to stipulate' he would not attack additional countries in eastern Europe — though 'Europeans think in centuries' rather than US presidential terms, the source cautioned. 5 Putin accepted the idea of an international peacekeeping force in Ukraine, sources told The Post. AP 5 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House Monday to discuss a possible deal. 'The president got Putin to say out loud and agree to, in some way, memorialize that. … He said, 'I will not attack a European country. … I have no interest in this,' and that has always been the fear on the part of the Europeans,' the source said. 'That went a long way in the calls last night with the Europeans.' In a rare move, Trump took no questions at a planned news conference Friday and boarded Air Force One early for a return flight to Washington, during which he spoke on the phone with Zelensky and various European leaders. Trump firmed up his conviction that a full peace deal was possible during a series of Friday night and Saturday morning calls aboard Air Force One to the European leaders, before announcing Zelensky's Monday visit to Washington. 5 csuarez Zelensky has claimed he cannot cede land without a national referendum, adding complexity to the final end-game if he's amenable to handing over the remainder of Donetsk in exchange for the peacekeeping deployment. 'Every issue is an ancillary issue, except Donetsk,' a source familiar with the Trump-Putin talks said. 'That's the ball game, right there the future of Donetsk.' Russia has made recent gains in Donetsk, including capturing two villages Saturday. The Kremlin additionally took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and partially controls three other provinces in addition to Donetsk that it purportedly annexed. The Trump-Putin summit featured dramatic symbolism from the American hosts, with the US leader escorting the 25-year strongman down a red carpet as a B-2 bomber and fighter jets flew overhead, seeming to surprise the guest. Trump then asked Putin to join him in his Beast limousine to drive a short distance to the talks venue, during which they passed another B-2 parked on the runway — serving as a reminder of Trump using the aircraft for a surprise bombing of Iran on June 13 after Tehran balked at a deal with the US. 'The last thing [Putin] saw when he went in that room was a B-2 close up and personal,' a source remarked. Trump was joined in the meeting by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a well-known Russia hawk, and Steve Witkoff, the special presidential envoy who has met previously with Putin — offering additional strategic flexibility for the talks, though they remained led by Trump and Putin. Trump has openly expressed a desire for a three-leader summit between himself, Putin and Zelensky — and the White House currently is a top candidate for the venue.
