The British government will stand by Ukraine, the country’s new prime minister Keir Starmer pledged on Saturday.
“I will emphasize, as I did yesterday when I spoke to Ukraine’s president Zelensky, that we will stand with our allies to support his country,” he said, referring to next week’s NATO summit in Washington.
According to The Guardian, Starmer said he has already had a number of phone calls with foreign leaders to “establish relationships and have important discussions about Ukraine and other key topics.”
Starmer is the head of the election-winning Labor Party. He took over as head of government on Friday and the new British cabinet held its first meeting on Saturday.
The UK will provide a new winter aid package to Ukraine worth more than half a billion dollars, the British government’s website reported on Thursday, October 5.
“The new aid allocations to Ukraine announced today include £34 million (over $41 million) for the UN and charities providing shelter and warm winter clothing,” the statement said.
In addition, 10 million pounds (over $12 million) will be allocated to restore energy supply to household consumers after Russian attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.
A fourth UK loan guarantee of $500 million, provided through the World Bank, has also been announced. This funding should ensure that the Ukrainian government can provide vital winterization payments to three million households.
Britain is banning the use of the social network TikTok on government phones and electronic devices for security reasons, Duchy of Lancaster Chancellor and British Cabinet Secretary Oliver Dowden said Thursday.
“We are going to ban TikTok on government devices. We’re going to do that immediately,” Dowden said, speaking in the House of Commons.
“We’re moving to a system where government devices will only be able to access third-party apps on a pre-approved list. This system is already in place in many agencies, now it will become the rule for the entire government,” he added.
According to the minister, social networking apps, particularly TikTok, collect and store a large amount of information about users, including contacts, user content and geolocation information.
“On the government’s electronic devices, this information can be sensitive,” Dowden noted.
He stressed that there is a risk that apps could use government data.
Dowden said the government will impose “limited exceptions for the use of TikTok on government devices where it is required for operational reasons.”
He noted that the decision follows the U.S., Canada and the EU.
Late last year, the U.S. Congress approved a bill banning the use of the TikTok social network on federal government phones and electronic devices.
In February, the White House gave all federal agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from all government devices.
In turn, U.S. lawmakers plan to consider a bill that would allow the President of the United States to ban the application altogether.
A total of 13 U.S. states have already taken action against TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a company based in China.
According to U.S. authorities, the Chinese government could use the Chinese app to collect data from American users.
European stock indices are mainly growing on Monday, with the exception of the British indicator.
The composite index of the largest enterprises in Europe Stoxx Europe 600 as of 12:20 Moscow time rose by 0.58% to 398.6 points.
German DAX adds 0.53%, French CAC 40 – 0.52%, Italian FTSE MIB – 0.44%, Spanish IBEX 35 – 0.8%.
The British FTSE 100 loses 0.35% in trading. The international rating agency Moody’s on Friday changed the outlook for the UK rating to “negative” from “stable” due to “growing unpredictability of the country’s political course in the face of deteriorating growth prospects and high inflation.”
At the same time, the agency’s experts noted the stability of the British economy, in connection with which they confirmed the country’s rating at the level of “Aa3”.
On Sunday, it became known that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not fight for the post of leader of the Conservative Party and, accordingly, the head of the British government.
This gives ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak a good chance of winning, the Financial Times notes.
Other European markets are supported on Monday by signals that the Federal Reserve System (FRS) may slow down the pace of raising the base rate since December.
Meanwhile, business activity in the eurozone continues to weaken. The Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), calculated by S&P Global, fell to 47.1 points in October, the lowest since November 2020, compared with 48.1 points a month earlier, according to preliminary data. An index value below 50 points indicates a decline in activity.
Manufacturing PMI in the euro area in October fell to the lowest since May 2020 46.6 points from 48.4 points a month earlier, the service sector indicator fell to 48.2 points from 48.8 points in September.
In Germany, the composite PMI fell this month to the lowest since the beginning of 2020 of 44.1 points from 45.7 points in September. Indicators of activity in the industrial sector and in the service sector of Germany fell to lows, respectively, since June and May 2020.
In France, the composite PMI fell to 50 points from 51.2 points in September, the index of activity in the industrial sector fell to its lowest level since May 2020. In the UK, the composite indicator fell to 47.2 points from 49.1 points, industrial PMI also fell to its lowest level since May.
The focus of traders this week is the reporting of companies such as HSBC, Credit Suisse, TotalEnergies (SPB: TOT), Unilever and Mercedes-Benz. A total of 118 Stoxx Europe 600 companies will release reports this week.
Shares of Philips lost 2.6% in trading on Monday. The Dutch consumer goods and medical device maker posted a net loss in the third quarter of 2022, worse than analysts’ consensus.
Philips intends to urgently take measures to reduce operating costs, including by cutting about 4,000 jobs worldwide. In addition, it plans to attract a credit line in the amount of 1 billion euros.
Credit Suisse rose 1.4%. A Swiss bank said on Monday it would pay 230 million euros to settle a long-standing case in France concerning violations in cross-border transactions.
Among the growth leaders in Germany are shares of RWE (+1.9%), E.ON (+1.5%), Deutsche Bank (+1.6%), Merck (+1.4%), in France – Engie (+1.6%), STMicroelectronics (+1.56%) L’Oreal (+1.3%).
Shares of Anglo American (-2.8%), Shell (SPB: RDS.A) (-2%), Glencore (-2%), Rio Tinto (-2%), BHP Group (-1.95) are getting cheaper in the UK %), HSBC (-1.5%).
In the UK, at least 10 days of mourning are expected in connection with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, after which her funeral will take place, during which time major sports and government events are likely to be canceled, English media reported on Thursday.
Elizabeth’s body will be moved to Edinburgh Cathedral and later to Buckingham Palace. Five days after that, he will be moved to Westminster Hall. The Queen’s funeral, according to the media, is expected at Westminster Abbey 10 days after her death.
The death of Elizabeth II means that her eldest son, Crown Prince Charles, at the age of 73, automatically becomes the new king of Great Britain, and his wife Camilla becomes queen.
“The death of my dear mother, Her Majesty the Queen, is a moment of great sadness for me and all members of our family. We deeply mourn the passing of a beloved monarch and beloved mother,” the new king of Great Britain said in an official statement.
A number of ceremonial events are expected to take place on Friday to officially mark the new king’s ascension to the throne. Traditionally, after the death of the monarch, the Council of Succession meets to resolve organizational issues.
In addition, Clarence House – the residence of the British royal family – on Thursday evening confirmed that the king will rule under the name Charles III.
It is not yet known when the coronation ceremony will take place. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned more than a year after her father’s death.
It is also expected that major sporting events such as football and cricket matches will be cancelled. Already in today’s Europa League match, in which the English “Arsenal” met with the Swiss “Zurich”, before the start of the second half, they held a moment of silence.
The British media report that, most likely, the country’s authorities will not hold any non-urgent events that are not related to the death of the queen for ten days.
Approximately 60% of the EU and Britain this year are experiencing the effects of drought, which is exacerbated by abnormal heat, the Axios portal reported on Wednesday, citing the European Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service.
“The drought, coupled with high temperatures, is leading to an increase in the risk of fires due to lack of rain and to the appearance of dead wood,” the service said in a statement.
At the same time, EU countries such as France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands are facing water shortages. Such conditions have a negative impact on agriculture, energy and river navigation.
The UK’s main weather service said the south and east of England experienced their hottest July on record. Meteorologists expect the dry weather to last until October.
Employees of the Atmospheric Monitoring Service earlier, after analyzing data for the end of July, found that by the middle of the month up to 45% of the EU was in the drought zone, and 15% had a serious water shortage.
Also in July, service specialists predicted that dry weather conditions in the region would continue in August and September.
