UNITED KINGDOM
Economy exits recession
The kingdom exited a shallow recession and beat growth forecasts in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday, in a boost to embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of this year’s election. GDP expanded 0.6 percent, bolstered by robust growth in service industries and auto manufacturing, the Office for National Statistics said. That beat market expectations of 0.4 percent growth and marked the strongest performance since the fourth quarter of 2021, helping send London’s stock market to yet another record peak. Sunak — whose governing Conservatives are trailing the Labour Party before a general election and suffered heavy losses in English local polls last week — has made economic growth one of his top priorities. The economy had suffered two successive quarters of slight contraction in the second half of last year on the back of elevated inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
RUSSIA
Putin reappoints Mishustin
President Vladimir Putin yesterday reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister. In line with the law, Mishustin, 58, submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday when Putin began his fifth presidential term. Mishustin’s reappointment was widely expected by political observers, who said that Putin has appreciated his skills and low political profile. Mishustin, the former head of the nation’s tax service, has steered clear of political statements and avoided media interviews during his tenure. Lower house Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that Putin had submitted Mishustin’s candidacy to the State Duma, which was to hold a session later yesterday to consider it. Mishustin’s approval is a mere proforma in the Kremlin-controlled parliament.
ZIMBABWE
Official forex rate pushed
The government said it would fine businesses using inflated exchange rates as it battles to maintain the value of its newly introduced gold-backed currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG). Any business using an exchange rate higher than the official rate of 13.5 ZiG per US dollar would be fined 200,000 ZiG (US$14,815), a government notice on Tuesday showed. Anyone offering “goods or services at an exchange rate above the prevailing interbank foreign currency selling rate” would be guilty of a civil infringement, it said. The government has been striving to keep the ZiG afloat since its launch early last month, with authorities launching a blitz on illegal foreign currency traders last month. Some businesses such as supermarkets have been charging a premium above the market rate for customers paying in the new currency, while the ZiG is being rejected by informal traders.
UNITED STATES
Scores of pelicans starving
Scores of sick and starving pelicans have been found in coastal California communities in recent weeks and many others have died. Lifeguards spotted a cluster of two dozen sick pelicans earlier this week on a pier in coastal Newport Beach and called in wildlife experts to assist. Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, said the birds are the latest group that they have tried to save after taking in more than 100 other pelicans that were anemic, dehydrated and weighing only half of what they should. “They are starving to death and if we don’t get them into care, they will die,” she said. “It really is a crisis.” It is not immediately clear what is sickening the birds. Some experts said the pelicans are malnourished even though marine life abounds off the Pacific Coast.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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