US Business Archives - Page 334 of 902

UK's embattled Truss told: 'The game is up'

16 Oct 2022 16 Oct 2022

Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss on Sunday vied to reboot her economic programme, but Conservative critics warned the party faces electoral oblivion under her crippled leadership.

With even US President Joe Biden joining in attacks on her libertarian platform, Truss admitted it had been a “wrench” to fire her friend Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer on Friday.

But writing in the Sun on Sunday newspaper, she said: “We cannot pave the way to a low-tax, high-growth economy without maintaining the confidence of the markets in our commitment to sound money.”

That confidence was jeopardised on September 23 when Kwarteng and Truss unveiled a right-wing programme, inspired by 1980s US president Ronald Reagan, of £45 billion ($50 billion) in tax cuts financed exclusively by higher debt.

Markets tanked in response, driving up borrowing costs for millions of Britons, and the Conservatives’ poll ratings have similarly slumped, leading to open warfare in the governing party mere weeks after Truss succeeded Boris Johnson.

“I think the game is up, and it’s now a question as to how the succession is managed,” senior Tory MP Crispin Blunt said on Channel 4.

Truss has been forced into a screeching policy U-turn which cost Kwarteng his job. But she depressed the bond markets even more with a painful press conference on Friday, and the government was nervously awaiting the resumption of trading on Monday.

Bidding to placate investors, Kwarteng’s replacement Jeremy Hunt is now warning that taxes may in fact have to rise, and is pressing for spending restraint by his cabinet colleagues even as Britons endure a cost-of-living crisis.

Hunt met the prime minister at her country retreat on Sunday to thrash out a new budget plan which he is due to deliver on October 31, effectively demolishing the “Trussonomics” programme that brought her to power.

– Who’s in charge? –

“It’s going to be very, very difficult, and I think we have to be honest with people about that,” Hunt told the BBC — prompting a warning from trade unions of concerted strike action if he enforces painful cuts.

Hunt said he was “not taking anything off the table”, but also defended Truss.

“She’s been willing to do that most difficult of things in politics, and that is to change tack,” he said, adding: “The prime minister’s in charge.”

But many questioned that verdict. “Truss has become a pointless prime minister — an empty vessel with no policies or power,” the Sunday Times editorialised.

The Treasury declined to confirm reports that Hunt plans to delay a planned cut to the basic rate of income tax, removing yet another headline measure announced by the new government last month.

Up to 100 letters expressing no confidence in Truss have been submitted by Tory MPs, the Sunday Times and Sunday Express said.

Opponents were said to be coalescing around Truss’s defeated leadership rival Rishi Sunak and another one-time foe, Penny Mordaunt, for a possible “unity ticket” to rebuild the stricken Tories.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace could be another compromise candidate for leader, the Sunday Mirror reported.

– ‘Libertarian jihadists’ –

Tory MP Robert Halfon, who supported Sunak, likened Truss and Kwarteng to “libertarian jihadists” who had indulged in “ultra free-market experiments”.

“Of course, colleagues are unhappy with what is going on, with haemorrhaging in the opinion polls,” he told Sky News. “It’s inevitable that colleagues are… talking to see what can be done about it.”

Fellow Tory Alicia Kearns, newly elected as chair of the powerful foreign affairs committee in the House of Commons, also questioned Truss’s prospects for survival.

“We’ve had questions around our moral competency (under Johnson),” she told Times Radio. “We’ve now got questions around our fiscal competency.”

But Johnson loyalists — still seething at Sunak’s perceived disloyalty towards the scandal-tainted former leader — warned against a coronation that cuts out Tory grassroots members.

Any new leader would face strong pressure to call an early general election, and the opposition Labour party has streaked far ahead in the polls.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, echoed Biden’s critique of Truss’s “trickle-down” economics.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church said he was “deeply sceptical” that tax cuts for the rich would benefit anyone else.

UK's Truss struggles to salvage premiership

16 Oct 2022 16 Oct 2022

Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted on her commitment to economic discipline but Conservative critics stepped up warnings Sunday that the party faces electoral oblivion under her crippled leadership.

With even US President Joe Biden joining in attacks on her libertarian platform, Truss admitted it had been a “wrench” to fire her friend Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer on Friday.

She has been forced into a screeching policy U-turn, but depressed the markets even more with a painful press conference on Friday.

Kwarteng’s replacement Jeremy Hunt is now warning that taxes may in fact have to rise, while pressing for spending restraint by his cabinet colleagues even as Britons endure a cost-of-living crisis.

The new chancellor met Truss at the prime minister’s country retreat on Sunday to thrash out a new budget plan which he is due to deliver on October 31, effectively demolishing the programme that brought her to power.

“It’s going to be very, very difficult, and I think we have to be honest with people about that,” Hunt said in a BBC television interview — prompting a warning from trade unions of concerted strike action if he enforces painful cuts.

– Who’s in charge? –

Hunt defended Truss. “She’s been willing to do that most difficult of things in politics, and that is to change tack,” he said, adding: “The prime minister’s in charge.”

But many questioned that verdict. “Truss has become a pointless prime minister — an empty vessel with no policies or power,” the Sunday Times editorialised.

The Treasury declined to confirm reports that Hunt plans to delay a planned cut to the basic rate of income tax, removing yet another headline measure announced by the new government last month.

Up to 100 letters expressing no confidence in Truss have been submitted by Tory MPs, the Sunday Times and Sunday Express said.

Opponents were said to be coalescing around Truss’s defeated leadership rival Rishi Sunak and another one-time foe, Penny Mordaunt, for a possible “unity ticket” to rebuild the stricken Tories.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace could be another compromise candidate for leader, the Sunday Mirror reported.

– ‘Libertarian jihadists’ –

“I worry that over the past few weeks, the government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country as kind of laboratory mice in which to carry out ultra, ultra free-market experiments,” Tory MP Robert Halfon, who supported Sunak, told Sky News.

“Of course, colleagues are unhappy with what is going on, with haemorrhaging in the opinion polls,” he said. “It’s inevitable that colleagues are… talking to see what can be done about it.”

Fellow Tory Alicia Kearns, newly elected as chair of the powerful foreign affairs committee in the House of Commons, also questioned Truss’s prospects for survival.

“It’s a very difficult one,” she told Times Radio. “We’ve had questions around our moral competency (under Johnson). We’ve now got questions around our fiscal competency.”

But Johnson loyalists — still seething at Sunak’s perceived disloyalty towards the scandal-tainted former leader — warned against a coronation that cuts out Tory grassroots members.

Any new leader would face strong pressure to call an early general election, and the opposition Labour party has streaked far ahead in the polls.

The coming week could be key for Truss, starting with the first reactions on bond and currency markets when trading resumes Monday, and as her restive members of parliament reconvene in Westminster.

Hunt at least has won important endorsement for his fiscal approach from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who had to stage costly interventions to calm the bond markets leading up to Friday.

Padres, Phillies and Astros advance in MLB playoffs

16 Oct 2022 17 Oct 2022

San Diego eliminated a 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers squad while Philadelphia ousted defending champion Atlanta and Houston swept Seattle on Saturday in the Major League Baseball playoffs.

Jake Cronenworth’s two-run single capped a five-run seventh inning for San Diego as the Padres rallied to beat the Dodgers 5-3 and win their best-of-five National League division series 3-1.

“Since I was a little kid we’ve been getting beat up by the Dodgers but when it comes down to it and the games matter, this team stepped up top to bottom,” hometown Padres star Joe Musgrove said.

“The guys we’ve got in there, the dogs we’ve got, when the moment is big these guys turn it on.”

The Dodgers went 14-5 during the season against San Diego.

“Disappointment very high. It’s crushing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We didn’t expect to be in this position.”

The Dodgers led the MLB in wins this season and won the NL West division by 22 games over the Padres, making it the second-biggest upset in MLB playoff history, eclipsed only when the 1906 Chicago White Sox trailed the Chicago Cubs by 23 games but beat them in the World Series.

“These guys dominated us all year but we got hot at the right time,” Musgrove said. “We wanted it for these fans. We wanted it for ourselves. It’s a great feeling.”

For the first time since 1998, the Padres advanced to the best-of-seven NL Championship Series, where they will face the Philadelphia Phillies, who ripped Atlanta 8-3 to dispatch the Braves in four games.

J.T. Realmuto hit an inside-the-park home run while Brandon Marsh smacked a three-run homer and Bryce Harper added a solo homer for the Phillies, who hadn’t reached the playoffs since 2011 or the NLCS since 2010.

“What an opportunity,” Harper said. “You’ve got to beat the champs to be the champs. I get chills, man. We’ve got two more. We’ve got (to win) eight more games.”

The Braves failed in their bid to become the first MLB repeat champion since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.

In the American League, the Houston Astros won a marathon contest 1-0 at Seattle on Jeremy Pena’s solo home run in the 18th inning to eliminate the Mariners in three games.

Pena’s blast after the most scoreless innings in MLB playoff history sent the Astros into their sixth consecutive AL Championship Series.

“I’m tired. That was a long game,” Pena said. “But you still got to lock in, try to put together good at-bats. I was just trying to stay inside the baseball. Thought I drove it in the gap, but it just happened to leave the ball field.”

The Astros will face either the Yankees or the Cleveland Guardians, who rallied for a dramatic 6-5 victory over New York to grab a 2-1 series lead. Cleveland can advance with a home victory on Sunday.

Cleveland rookie Oscar Gonzalez hit a two-out, two-strike single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to drive in the two deciding runs.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play. Thank God I got the results,” the Dominican said through a translator. “Then I was just waiting for the guys to score and celebrate.”

Cleveland trailed 5-3 in the ninth but consecutive singles by Myles Straw, Steven Kwan, Amed Rosario and Jose Ramirez pulled the hosts within 5-4 and loaded the bases, setting the stage for Gonzalez’s decider.

– Record-setting efforts –

At Philadelphia, Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an MLB playoff inside-the-park homer and only the 18th player in all to manage the feat. It was the first such homer in the playoffs since 2017.

At Seattle, relief pitchers were masterful for hours in the first MLB playoff game to go scoreless into the 16th inning. The total of 42 strikeouts in the contest also was an MLB playoff record.

Hounded at home, China's video game firms welcomed in Europe

16 Oct 2022 17 Oct 2022

China is investing billions in Europe’s video game industry, but analysts have warned that there could be trouble along the road unless regulators start to take stricter notice.

Europe is embroiled in long-running disputes with Beijing over trade, environment, education, raw materials, intellectual property — but so far video games are not part of the fight.

As Beijing tightens up on the video game industry at home, China’s tech giants are looking to make investments overseas — prompting concerns ranging from data security to limits on creative freedom.

“Europe has this idea that we will be able to separate strategic industries from non-strategic industries,” Antonia Hmaidi from the Mercator Institute think-tank told AFP.

“Video games for most policymakers will always go into the non-strategic pile.”

This has helped Tencent, the world’s largest games company by revenue, to buy into studios across Europe –- including the then world-record $8.6 billion deal for Finnish firm Supercell in 2016.

Chinese rival NetEase made its biggest foray into foreign gaming studios in August, snaffling French firm Quantic Dream — just days before Tencent upped its stake in Ubisoft, another French studio.

EU regulators only look at major investments with a pan-European dimension, and national regulators have shown no interest.

When Tencent bought British studio Sumo for $1.3 billion last year, the deal was scrutinised not by UK regulators but by their US counterparts.

– ‘Cold’ China –

Chinese firms are increasingly seeking profits abroad, analysts say, because of stifling restrictions in their home market.

Tencent recorded its first-ever quarterly loss in August on the back of a wide-ranging crackdown on the tech sector.

The Chinese government has identified video games as a potential threat not only to state power but also to the wellbeing of citizens.

Beijing introduced a nine-month ban on approval of new video games last year and now approves only a fraction of the number it once allowed on to the market.

Game makers have had to scrub “politically harmful” content, and the state has tightly restricted the time youngsters can spend gaming.

“Chinese companies in general are looking further afield given the climate of the domestic market,” said Louise Shorthouse of Ampere analysis.

Several reports have suggested that Tencent is preparing to ramp up its overseas investments and could even begin to take control of smaller firms.

Tencent is essentially “sitting on a load of cash”, said Kevin Shimota, a former marketing manager at the company and author of “The First Superapp”.

“The Chinese market is cold right now so in terms of Tencent’s global strategy you’d expect it to be more aggressive,” he said.

But he stressed that the aim was unlikely to be direct takeovers or deeper control of foreign companies, rather Tencent might look at ways of developing games for audiences outside of China.

– ‘More erratic’ –

Tencent is ubiquitous in China, an empire of games, social media and payment services largely funnelled through its WeChat app, which boasts more than one billion monthly users.

Its leader, Pony Ma, has worked hard to keep himself out of the limelight –- and out of Beijing’s firing line.

And the company is determined to present a humble face to the world.

“Whether we are a minority investor or a majority shareholder, we do not exercise creative, editorial, management, or day-to-day control,” Tencent told AFP in a statement.

Tencent’s business model has generally been to buy into foreign firms and publish their games for the Chinese market.

As those foreign companies were unlikely to find any other way into China, they welcomed the investment and new revenue streams.

NetEase is following the same model.

A blog from Quantic Dream announcing the takeover stressed that the French firm would maintain control over the “editorial line, the artistic direction of our projects and the management of the studio”.

NetEase did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.

Analyst Hmaidi said the hands-off approach was fine when business was booming — but the effects of an economic downturn or political upheaval were impossible to predict.

European regulators, she suggested, could benefit from a broader approach that questioned whether a single country — China or any other nation — should be allowed to dominate an entire industry.

“Having a sector dependent on China just in general is bad at the moment,” she said.

Mexico: the promised land for migrants… from the US

16 Oct 2022 17 Oct 2022

While many migrants risk their lives chasing the American dream, Gabriel Zarate fled the rising cost of living in California and moved to the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

The 38-year-old Chilean American now crosses over to work in San Diego as an English teacher during the day and returns home in the evening to Mexico.

“One of the biggest reasons is the cost of living in Tijuana. It’s significantly cheaper than in California,” Zarate said.

Also, he added: “I love Mexican people and food.”

His neighbor and fellow English teacher Mike Rachfal also made the move from San Diego, where he used to pay $1,275 a month to rent a studio.

“Here it’s about half that,” the 36-year-old said.

The cheaper rents can be a sensitive subject in Mexico, where wages are much lower than in the United States and people are also facing increasing living costs.

Tijuana is one of the cities with the fastest-rising real estate prices in Mexico — up 10.7 percent in the first quarter of 2022 from a year earlier, according to the state-owned Federal Mortgage Society.

The average price of properties bought by US citizens is around $270,000 — “three times lower than what the same property would cost in the United States,” said Ruth Sastre, president of the local realtors association.

– Construction boom –

In Tijuana, a bustling city with a reputation for gang violence, new apartment buildings are springing up with “For Sale” signs in English and prices in dollars.

With more than 1,000 murders in the city already this year, security is an important consideration, but Zarate said that “in general I feel fine in Tijuana, especially downtown or around the border.”

“It’s like any big city. There will always be places rougher or more complicated than others,” he added.

It is a similar story just south of Tijuana in Rosarito on the Pacific coast.

Following a real estate boom that began a decade ago, up to around 12,000 people from the United States now live in the resort city, said Jesus Rincon Vargas, president of the local construction industry association.

In total around 1.6 million US citizens are estimated to live in Mexico, according to their country’s embassy, which does not keep official records.

They can stay for up to six months with a tourist visa, or apply for residency.

– ‘Friendly culture’ –

Along with the lifestyle and cost of living, the relatively relaxed immigration rules are part of the appeal for remote workers flocking to Mexico, notably the capital.

Brian McDonald, a 34-year-old software developer from the US state of Oklahoma, has spent more than a year in the Latin American country, lured by its budding technology scene.

“Mexico City seems like it’s kind of a gateway for expanding companies and I like working with start-ups,” he said.

“It’s a very friendly culture,” McDonald added.

Office-sharing company WeWork has seen a “significant influx of digital nomads” in districts of Mexico City popular with foreigners, said spokeswoman Cristina Sancen.

“Mexico City has an incomparable climate. For foreigners, it’s definitely a cheaper city. It’s also a cosmopolitan and highly developed city with start-ups and corporations,” she added.

Some foreigners working for US firms are also choosing to base themselves south of the border.

Kirsty Hall, 23, from Scotland, picked Mexico City as a remote working location while helping to set up a San Francisco-based tech start-up.

“I can walk everywhere here. I can cycle. Today I roller-skated to work. Public transport is awesome and it’s very cheap. People are very welcoming too,” Hall said.

The influx of foreigners has divided opinion among residents of the capital, some of whom see the city’s popularity as one of the reasons behind gentrification and rising rents.

“I heard there’s some prejudice towards digital nomads within Mexico City but I haven’t experienced it personally,” said Blazej Mosinski, 23, from Poland, who is doing a San Francisco internship remotely “purely for financial reasons.”

Other challenges of working remotely in Mexico include slower internet speeds than in US technology hubs and safety concerns.

“I was robbed by the police two weeks ago, just walking home,” McDonald said.

But “the rest — the good food, the cost of living — offsets all of those things,” he added.

In conservative Florida, LGBT community fights to make its voice heard

16 Oct 2022 17 Oct 2022

A Beyonce hit thumped in the background as Pride parade participants marched on Saturday through the streets of Orlando, transforming the Florida city into a rainbow island in a US state more and more associated with the conservative politics of its governor.

Behind their beaming smiles and vibrant outfits, the state’s LGBT community is having a tough year.

“We’re definitely headed back in time,” said Donna Marie, a 55-year-old nurse in a rainbow hat.

“And if this continues, the next thing is going to be gay marriage,” she added, referring to the fear of a potential political threat to same-sex unions.

In March, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, one of the most prominent conservative politicians in the United States, signed a law prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school classrooms.

The controversial bill — dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its detractors — was a major topic of discussion at the Pride parade, with signs encouraging participants to not only “say gay,” but also to “shout gay” and “yell gay” too.

For 22-year-old Brianna Johnson, the political environment made her appearance at Pride all the more meaningful, because, she said, “We still show who we are, and nobody can stop us from that.”

Johnson, a manager with Disney, said she has known she was a lesbian since But her religious family has been a long-time obstacle on the path to embrace her true identity.

Stopping young people from expressing themselves, as Florida’s law could, is “very harmful and hurtful,” according to Johnson.

“It hurts my heart,” she said.

– Pulse –

Not far from a stand selling signs exclaiming “I love my gay son,” 61-year-old Morgan Manry shares his own concerns.

The non-profit worker recalls how the 2016 massacre at Pulse, in which 49 people were killed in a shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando, “brought together the city” and helped the LGBT community become more accepted around town.

Now, the current political climate is “dismantling a social understanding that took years to develop,” Manry said.

Transgender student Jason Humphrey says he is facing the indirect consequences the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Even though the new rule is directed at younger students, 19-year-old Humphrey says his own teachers are also now reluctant to discuss his gender identity or name change.

“They were worried about getting in any trouble,” he told AFP, calling the situation “horrible.”

“We’re citizens of Florida too, come on. It’s not appropriate,” he said of the law, carrying a large python around his arm — and hurrying to clarify that the animal does not bite.

– ‘Get out and vote’ –

Coming just weeks before decisive midterm elections, the Pride parade cannot help but take on a political tone.

Local Democratic candidates work campaign stands along the route, and US Senate candidate Val Demings marches right in the middle of the procession, rainbow flag in hand.

The campaigning helps to both differentiate candidates from DeSantis and use the social issue to motivate Democratic voters to show up to the polls.

For some Pride attendants, such as Aubrey Robinson, the strategy seems to be working. Next to a button reading “respect all pronouns,” the 43-year-old is wearing another one in support of a Democratic candidate, who, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know anything about him,” she said.

But campaigners told Robinson the candidate is opposed to the governor’s policies.

“Anybody that is against DeSantis and getting in there and that is for the community, I’m for,” she said.

“I think that it’s very important to get out and vote. More so than ever now.”

Phillies oust Braves, Astros sweep Seattle in MLB playoffs

16 Oct 2022 16 Oct 2022

Jeremy Pena’s solo home run in the 18th inning on Saturday lifted the Houston Astros over Seattle for a Major League Baseball playoff sweep, while Philadelphia ousted defending champion Atlanta.

Pena’s blast after the most scoreless innings in MLB playoff history gave the Astros a 1-0 victory over the Mariners and a 3-0 sweep of their best-of-five American League division series matchup.

Houston reached the best-of-seven AL Championship Series for a sixth consecutive year and will face either the Cleveland Guardians or New York Yankees.

Cleveland rookie Oscar Gonzalez hit a two-out, two-strike single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to drive in two deciding runs in a dramatic 6-5 victory over the visiting Yankees.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play. Thank God I got the results,” the Dominican said through a translator. “Then I was just waiting for the guys to score and celebrate.”

The Guardians swiped a 2-1 series lead with the chance to advance by winning at home on Sunday.

In the National League, Philadelphia defeated Atlanta 8-3 to win their series in four games.

J.T. Realmuto hit an inside-the-park home run while Brandon Marsh smacked a three-run homer and Bryce Harper added a solo homer for the Phillies.

Philadelphia advanced to an NL finals showdown against either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres to decide a World Series berth.

“What an opportunity,” Harper said.

“You’ve got to beat the champs to be the champs. I get chills, man. We’ve got two more. We’ve got (to win) eight more games.”

The Phillies reached the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and made the NL final for the first time since 2010. They last reached the World Series in 2009 and last won the crown in 2008.

The Braves failed in their bid to become the first MLB repeat champion since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.

The Dodgers, who won an MLB-best 111 games this season, faced elimination in a later game at San Diego.

At Seattle, relief pitchers were masterful for hours in the first MLB playoff game to go scoreless into the 16th inning. The total of 42 strikeouts in the contest also was an MLB playoff record.

The Astros stranded 13 base runners and the Mariners left 10 on base through 17 scoreless innings.

In the 18th, Pena blasted a 3-ball, 2-strike fastball pitch off Seattle reliever Penn Murfee over the centerfield wall for the only run of the contest.

At Cleveland, the Guardians took a 2-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Josh Naylor in the first and another by Steven Kwan in the second.

Aaron Judge and Oswaldo Cabrera each blasted two-run homers to put New York ahead 4-2. Will Brennan answered with a run-scoring single in the sixth but Harrison Bader’s solo homer in the seventh made it 5-3 Yankees.

Cleveland answered in the ninth on consecutive singles by Myles Straw, Kwan, Amed Rosario and Jose Ramirez to pull the hosts within 5-4 and load the bases, setting the stage for Gonzalez’s heroics.

– Inside-the-park mark –

Marsh gave the Phillies the lead by hitting a three-run homer in the second inning off Braves pitcher Charlie Morton, making his first playoff start since suffering a broken right leg last October.

Morton, who left the game after a batted ball struck his right elbow in the second inning, was replaced by Collin McHugh, who surrendered Realmuto’s inside-the-park homer in the third.

The ball went over Atlanta’s Michael Harris and bounced off the centerfield wall, rolling away from Harris.

By the time he retrieved the ball and threw it to the infield, Realmuto was racing home in a 15.4-second circuit of the bases to give Philadelphia a 4-1 lead. The Braves never got nearer than two runs again.

New UK finance minister tears up tottering PM's agenda

16 Oct 2022 16 Oct 2022

Britain’s new finance minister Jeremy Hunt warned Saturday of looming tax hikes as he dramatically reversed course on right-wing Prime Minister Liz Truss’s radical programme of economic reform.

Senior Conservative members of parliament were reportedly plotting to unseat Truss, possibly within days, aghast at the party’s collapse in opinion polls since she replaced Boris Johnson on September 6.

“Hunt takes full control as plotters circle wounded PM”, The Sunday Times headlined, while The Observer said: “Tories in talks to oust Truss”.

The Times and Telegraph newspapers reported that Hunt was planning to delay a planned cut on the basic rate of income tax, enforcing yet another humiliating climbdown on Truss after she sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer.

In crisis talks Sunday at the prime minister’s country retreat, Hunt and Truss were set to thrash out a new budget plan that he is due to deliver on October 31, just over a month after Kwarteng’s botched attempt to drive through a slew of unfunded tax cuts.

“There were mistakes,” acknowledged Hunt, whom one ally called the government’s new “chief executive” — with Truss relegated to the role of back-seat chairwoman.

Hunt said Kwarteng and Truss had erred on September 23 in trying to cut taxes for the highest earners, and tried to “fly blind” in presenting their plan without independent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

“The prime minister’s recognised that, that’s why I’m here,” Hunt told Sky News.

In one of his first acts on taking office Friday, the new chancellor spoke to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who has had to stage costly interventions to calm febrile bond markets.

Briefing reporters in Washington, Bailey said on Saturday: “I can tell you there is a very clear and immediate meeting of minds on the importance of stability and (fiscal) sustainability.”

US President Joe Biden said Saturday he thought the abandoned tax cut reform was a “mistake”.

“I think that the idea of cutting taxes on the super-wealthy at a time when… I disagreed with the policy, but that’s up to Great Britain to make that judgment, not me,” he said.

Tax cuts were the centrepiece of the ill-starred budget announced by Kwarteng and Truss.

But they were financed through billions in extra borrowing, causing panic on financial markets at the prospect of higher inflation, which has already left British households in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis.

– ‘Clinging on’ –

“We will have some very difficult decisions ahead,” Hunt said, warning that “all government departments” face spending curbs including welfare, health and defence.

“And some taxes will not be cut as quickly as people want. Some taxes will go up.”

Soon after Hunt’s upcoming fiscal statement, the Bank of England will hold its next rate-setting meeting on November 3.

In a separate speech Saturday, Bailey warned anew that the central bank would “not hesitate” to raise rates to keep soaring inflation under control, and said a “stronger response” than previously expected may have to come.

Truss dismissed Kwarteng hours after he had rushed home early from international finance meetings in Washington, and she staged another U-turn in acquiescing to a significant rise in profits tax levied on companies.

At a subsequent Downing Street news conference, the prime minister took only four questions, glancing nervously around the room and delivering terse replies before abruptly leaving after just over eight minutes.

“Robotic, hesitant, tone-deaf, defiant and still utterly convinced of the purity and necessity of her mission, Liz Truss killed off her political career in a matter of minutes,” Times columnist Jenni Russell wrote.

Asked why she herself should not resign, Truss said she was “absolutely determined to see through what I have promised” — but her comments only served to depress the pound and bond markets further.

Former Conservative leader William Hague said Truss’s premiership now “hangs by a thread”, as the Sunday newspapers recounted bitter infighting among party factions.

Up to 100 letters expressing no confidence in Truss have been submitted by Tory MPs, the Sunday Times said, with opponents said to be coalescing around her defeated leadership rival Rishi Sunak and another one-time foe, Penny Mordaunt.

But with the opposition Labour party surging in the polls, Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland warned his restive colleagues against “throwing another prime minister to the wolves”.

Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Truss of “clinging on”, and demanded an early general election.

“The Tories no longer have a mandate from the British people,” he tweeted, after Truss became prime minister through the votes of some 80,000 Conservative members — less than 0.2 percent of the UK electorate.

Biden calls latest January 6 testimony 'devastating'

16 Oct 2022 17 Oct 2022

US President Joe Biden on Saturday said the latest testimony and video evidence presented by lawmakers probing the deadly 2021 attack on the Capitol — including footage of House leaders asking for help — was “devastating.”

Biden, who was speaking during an impromptu ice cream stop in Oregon, where he was campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tina Kotek, called the case presented by January 6 committee members “fairly overwhelming.”

“I think the testimony and the video are actually devastating. And I’ve been going out of my way not to comment and see what happens. But it’s — I think it’s been devastating,” Biden told reporters.

“But any more I say about it, you — justified — are going to ask me if I’m trying to influence the attorney general. I’m not. I’ve not spoken with him at all.”

On Thursday, the House panel into the January 6 riot — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — revealed new video of Congressional leaders desperately calling for help as the melee unfolded.

In what was expected to be the final hearing of the committee before crucial midterm elections in November, the lawmakers aired the previously unreleased footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others in a secure location.

The committee also voted to subpoena former president Donald Trump to testify on his role in the violence.

The vote came as a spectacular coda to an already stunning hearing in which the committee offered fresh evidence that Trump had planned to declare victory in the 2020 election — regardless of the outcome.

Trump had a “premeditated plan” formulated months before the vote to claim he had won on election night, whatever the vote tally showed, panel member Zoe Lofgren told the hearing, citing evidence gathered by the committee.