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  • Sarina Wiegman: How the Dutchwoman turned England into a winning ‘machine’ | CNN

    Sarina Wiegman: How the Dutchwoman turned England into a winning ‘machine’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Lionesses had seemingly lost their ability to hunt.

    England had been on a poor run of form, at one stage losing seven out of 11 matches, and head coach Phil Neville was winding down the days until his exit.

    It was announced that Neville’s successor was to be the highly successful Netherlands head coach Sarina Wiegman, who had led her home nation to back-to-back major tournament finals, including a European Championship win in 2017.

    While success was always a possibility for this talented group of footballers, nobody could have imagined what was to come under Wiegman’s leadership.

    In the last major tournament before Wiegman took over, England crashed out in heartbreaking circumstances.

    In a tight World Cup semifinal game against the US – the eventual champion – England captain Steph Houghton missed a crucial late penalty as the Lionesses fell to a 2-1 defeat.

    It was the third major tournament in a row that England had fallen at this stage. With expectations and pressure growing, and with the European Championship on home soil on the horizon, England appointed a coach who had the crucial knowhow in getting a team over the line in tournament football.

    “She’s a proven winner and we’re confident she can take England to the next level, giving us the best possible opportunity of achieving our ambition to win a major tournament,” said Mark Bullingham, the English Football Association’s CEO, when Wiegman was appointed two years ago.

    While the England players’ abilities speak for themselves, Wiegman has helped to instill a formidable team mindset in the group through some “non-negotiable” philosophies.

    “I think in a team you always have to do your best,” she told CNN before the start of the Women’s World Cup. “That doesn’t mean you always have to run the fastest. That’s something different.

    “It’s doing what’s best for the team and what’s demanded of you, on and off the pitch.

    “When you start doing things on your own in a team sport, that’s really hard. You’re not going to reach the highest potential.”

    Heading into the Covid-19 delayed European Championship a year later, England was on a brilliant run of form of free-flowing soccer and goals aplenty.

    That form continued throughout the tournament, with the Lionesses scoring goals for fun on the way to a historic final at Wembley against Germany.

    In a tense game against an experienced Germany side, the Lionesses sealed a 2-1 win to end England’s 56-year-wait for a senior international soccer trophy.

    Wiegman helped end England's long wait for a major trophy.

    After the success of the Euros, England was among the favorites heading into the World Cup, although with injuries piling up pre-tournament Wiegman has had to find ways to rebuild her squad without crucial players.

    England captain Leah Williamson suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in April, joining another star player from the winning Euros squad – Beth Mead – in suffering the same injury.

    “I’m a pretty positive person but, of course, I also have feelings,” Wiegman told The Independent ahead of Sunday’s final. “I feel very privileged to work with this team. It has been so great.

    “You have some setbacks with some players that got injured, which was very sad for them, but then you have to switch and say: ‘OK, this is the group of players we think are the best and this is the team now. We are going to go to the World Cup with them.’”

    With these key players out of the squad, Wiegman has reinvented the side throughout the World Cup and has implemented a system where the team can fluidly switch between different styles and formations.

    Humbly, Wiegman also attributes a successful change to a 3-5-2 formation to one of her assistant coaches, Arjan Veurink.

    “During the first two matches of the tournament we were struggling a little bit and also had moments where we were a little bit vulnerable,” Wiegman explained to reporters.

    “So after the second match Arjan [Veurink, her assistant] came to me and said: ‘Sarina, isn’t this the time to go to 3-5-2?’ I said: ‘You’re completely right. This is the moment, with the players available, we can get more from their strengths in this shape.’ So then we changed it.”

    The Dutch manager has instilled a real sense of togetherness in the England camp.

    In the 3-5-2 formation, Wiegman has removed one of the forward players for a defender, which has allowed the Lionesses to have greater control in games and be less susceptible to counter-attacks. It has also given more freedom to some of England’s attackers, especially the dangerous Lauren Hemp who has been freed of some of her defensive responsibilities and consequently thrived in attack against Australia in the semifinal.

    But not only did Wiegman have to deal with injuries ahead of the tournament, key midfielder Keira Walsh picked up a knee injury during the group stages and breakthrough star Lauren James was shown a red card in England’s round-of-16 win against Nigeria, meaning England not only had to play the rest of that match with 10 players but without James available for the quarterfinal and semifinal.

    “We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability and, first and foremost, we believe in what we’re getting told to do,” England winger Chloe Kelly told the BBC after the tense penalty shootout win against Nigeria.

    Can England go back-to-back?

    A belief in the manager has led to unwavering support in Wiegman’s decision making and ideologies.

    One manager who knows a thing or two about women’s football is Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes and when speaking to CNN’s Amanda Davies ahead of Sunday’s final she was full of praise for the Dutchwoman.

    “A top, world-class manager – she’s demonstrated that. To go back-to-back Euros, plus World Cup, shows her qualities,” said Hayes.

    “I think [she’s] fulfilled the potential of a group that were hitting their peak and she’s come in and steered that ship to winning.”

    Throughout her international managerial career, Wiegman has shown her ability to turn nearly-teams into winners. Hayes spoke of the winning machine that the 53-year-old has cultivated.

    Before the World Cup, England had won 26 of the 32 games under Wiegman and had only lost once – a friendly against Australia in April. The Lionesses have since added six wins to that tally in Australia and New Zealand.

    “They’ve become a bit of a machine. You know to think we’ve gone from a Euros to a World Cup final in the space of 12 months is just unbelievable,” Hayes said.

    “We’re going to feel a little bit spoiled, but at the same time we’re going to be in the World Cup final on Sunday and it’s amazing for everyone.”

    England’s success has led to Wiegman being recently linked to the vacant head coach role with the US Women’s team.

    “I’m really enjoying my job and I have the impression that people still like me doing that job,” Wiegman clarified to reporters this week. “I have no plans to leave.”

    No matter what happens in the World Cup final on Sunday, Wiegman has helped grow the women’s game in England immeasurably. But, for the team, winning on Sunday is all that matters.

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  • British nurse guilty of murdering seven babies, making her UK’s worst child serial killer in recent times | CNN

    British nurse guilty of murdering seven babies, making her UK’s worst child serial killer in recent times | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A British nurse has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at the hospital where she worked, making her the country’s worst baby serial killer in recent times.

    Lucy Letby, 33, harmed babies in her care by injecting air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them and poisoning them with insulin, Manchester Crown Court in northern England heard.

    Police found a trove of handwritten notes while searching Letby’s house during their investigation, including one that read: “I am evil I did this.”

    She secretly attacked 13 babies on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.

    Her intention was to kill the babies while duping her colleagues into believing there was a natural cause of death, prosecutors argued.

    Doctors at the hospital began to notice a steep rise in the number of babies who were dying or unexpectedly collapsing, the court heard.

    But concerns raised by consultants over the increased mortality rate of patients under Letby’s care were initially dismissed by the hospital’s management, the UK’s PA Media news agency reported.

    In September 2016, Letby filed a grievance against her employers after she was relocated from the hospital’s neonatal ward. She was put back on clerical duties after two male triplets died and a baby boy collapsed on three days in a row in June 2016.

    Later that year, she was notified of the allegations against her by the Royal College of Nursing union, but the complaint was later resolved in her favor. Doctors were asked to formally apologize to Letby in writing.

    She was scheduled to return to the neonatal department in March 2017, but her return did not take place. The hospital trust contacted the police, who opened an investigation.

    Nurse said ‘I killed them’ in handwritten notes

    In 2018 and 2019, Letby was arrested twice by police in connection with their investigation, PA said. She was arrested again in November 2020.

    Authorities found notes Letby had written during searches of her address.

    “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them,” she wrote in one memo, adding in another, “I am a horrible evil person” and in capital letters “I am evil I did this.”

    Pascale Jones of the CPS called Letby’s actions a “complete betrayal of the trust placed in her.”

    “Lucy Letby sought to deceive her colleagues and pass off the harm she caused as nothing more than a worsening of each baby’s existing vulnerability,” she said.

    “In her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk, fluids – or medication like insulin – would become lethal. She perverted her learning and weaponised her craft to inflict harm, grief and death.”

    Victims’ families said they “may never truly know why this happened.”

    “To lose a baby is a heartbreaking experience that no parent should ever have to go through,” a joint statement said.

    “But to lose a baby or to have a baby harmed in these particular circumstances is unimaginable,” the statement added.

    “Justice has been served and the nurse who should have been caring for our babies has been found guilty of harming them.

    “But this justice will not take away from the extreme hurt, anger and distress that we have all had to experience.

    “We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb.”

    Letby will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on August 21.

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  • Microsoft gives ground on streaming in bid to remove UK block on Activision deal | CNN Business

    Microsoft gives ground on streaming in bid to remove UK block on Activision deal | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Microsoft has made a major concession to UK authorities in a bid to remove the last remaining regulatory obstacle to its huge takeover of Activision Blizzard.

    The companies have submitted a new proposal to the UK antitrust watchdog — the only regulator worldwide standing in the way of the $69 billion deal — that would see Activision’s (ATVI) cloud streaming rights outside the European Union and three other European countries sold to a rival, Ubisoft Entertainment. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post Tuesday that the companies believe the new proposal “presents a substantially different transaction” for the CMA to consider than its previous merger agreement.

    “We believe that this development is positive for players, the progression of the cloud game streaming market, and for the growth of our industry,” Smith said.

    The restructured deal, announced by the UK Competition and Markets Authority Tuesday, follows a decision by the CMA to block the acquisition on its original terms. That move put it at odds with EU regulators, which approved the plan in May. A US federal court also said in July that it would not block the deal from closing.

    CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the regulator would now consider the new proposal.

    “Our goal has not changed — any future decision on this new deal will ensure that the growing cloud gaming market continues to benefit from open and effective competition driving innovation and choice.”

    Under the restructured deal, Ubisoft — a French video game developer — will be able to license out Activision’s content to any cloud gaming provider outside the European Economic Area, including in the United Kingdom. Shares in Ubisoft jumped 7% in Paris Tuesday.

    “This will allow gamers to access Activision’s games in different ways, including through cloud-based multigame subscription services,” Cardell said.

    Microsoft and Activision agreed last month to extend their merger deadline by three months to October 18, to allow more time to come to an agreement with the CMA. October 18 is now also the statutory deadline for a CMA decision on the new merger proposal, and Microsoft said it expects the agency’s review process to be completed ahead of that date.

    Microsoft (MSFT) announced the planned acquisition of Activision early last year. The transaction was valued at $69 billion at the time, making it one of the tech industry’s largest deals.

    Activision Blizzard is one of the world’s biggest video game developers, producing games such as “Candy Crush,” “Call of Duty,” “World of Warcraft” and “Overwatch.”

    –CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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  • What is catfishing and what can you do if you are catfished? | CNN Business

    What is catfishing and what can you do if you are catfished? | CNN Business

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    Editor’s Note: This story is part of ‘Systems Error’, a series by CNN As Equals, investigating how your gender shapes your life online. For information about how CNN As Equals is funded and more, check out our FAQs.



    CNN
     — 

    Catfishing is when a person uses false information and images to create a fake identity online with the intention to trick, harass, or scam another person. It is often on social media or dating apps and websites as a common tactic used to form online relationships under false pretenses, sometimes to lure people into financial scams.

    The person doing the pretending, or the “catfish” may also obtain intimate images from a victim and use them to extort or blackmail the person. This is known as sextortion, or they may use other personal information shared with them to commit identity theft.

    The term is believed to originate from the 2010 documentary “Catfish,” in which a young Nev Schulman starts an online relationship with teenager “Megan”, who turns out to be an older woman.

    In the final scene of the documentary, the woman’s husband shares an anecdote about how live cod used to be exported from Alaska alongside catfish, which kept the cod active and alert. He likened this to people in real life who keep others on their toes, like his wife. Schulman went on to produce the docuseries Catfish

    There are many reasons people resort to catfishing, but the most common reason is a lack of confidence, according to the Cybersmile Foundation, a nonprofit focused on digital well-being. The foundation states that if someone is not happy with themselves, they may feel happier when pretending to be someone more attractive to others.

    They may also hide their identity to troll someone; to engage in a relationship other than their existing one; or to extort or harass people. Some people may catfish to explore sexual preferences.

    Studies have shown that catfish are more likely to be educated men, with one 2022 study finding perpetrators are more likely to come from religious backgrounds, possibly providing a way to form relationships without the constraints they face in real life, the authors write.

    In another study published last year, Evita March, senior lecturer in psychology at Federation University in Australia, found that people with the strong personality traits of sadism, psychopathy, and narcissism were more likely to catfish.

    March told CNN the findings are preliminary and that her team would like to further investigate if certain personality traits lead to specific kinds of catfishing behavior.

    In the US, romance scams resulting from catfishing have among the highest reported financial losses of internet crimes as a whole. A total of 19,050 Americans reported losing almost $740 million to romance scammers in 2022.

    In the UK, the country’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau received more than 8,000 reports of romance fraud in the 2022 financial year, totaling more than £92 million (US $116.6 million) lost, with an average loss of £11,500 (US $14,574) per victim.

    In Singapore, romance scams are among the top 10 reported scams. The reported amount of money catfish may get from their victims increased by more than 30% from SGD$33.1 million (US $24 million) in 2020 to $46.6 million (US $34 million) the following year.

    Catfishing is also increasingly happening on an industrial scale with the rise of “cyber scam centers” that have links to human trafficking in Southeast Asia, according to INTERPOL.

    Victims of trafficking are forced to become fraudsters by creating fake social media accounts and dating profiles to scam and extort millions of dollars from people around the world using different schemes such as fake crypto investment sites.

    Catfishing used to occur more among adults through online dating sites, but has now become equally common among teenagers, according to the Cybersmile Foundation.

    Research by Snapchat last year with more than 6,000 Gen Z teenagers and young people in Australia, France, Germany, India, the UK and the US found that almost two-thirds of them or their friends had been targeted by catfish or hackers to obtain private images that were later used to extort them.

    Older people are also likely to lose more money to catfishing. In 2021, Americans lost half a billion dollars through romance scams perpetrated by people using fake personas or impersonating others, with the largest losses paid in cryptocurrency, according to the US Federal Trade Commission. The number of reports rose tenfold among young people (18-29) but older people (over 70s) generally reported losing more money.

    In Australia, a third of dating and romance scams result in financial losses, with women having lost more than double the total amount lost by men, and older people again losing more money than those under 45., according to data from the country’s National Anti-Scam Centre.

    ”Romance scams are one of the hardest things to avoid. It’s emotional manipulation,” said Ngo Minh Hieu, a Vietnamese former hacker and founder of Chong Lua Dao (scam fighters), a cybersecurity non-profit.

    Since 2020, Hieu has been monitoring trends to help scam victims, he says, and explains that in his experience, a catfish would usually approach a victim with premediated intention to scam them.

    They were likely to be using personal information that they mine from the victim’s social media accounts, or may have bought that data from users in private chat groups simply by providing a phone number of a potential victim.

    There are many signs you can look for to help spot a catfish, experts say.

    Firstly, a catfish might contact you out of nowhere, start regular conversations with you and shower you with compliments to quickly build up trust and rapport. They may state desirable qualities in their opening conversations, including wealth or attractiveness, but then rarely or never call you, either over the phone or on a video call.

    They often do not have many friends on social media and their posts are usually scarce. Search results using their name may not yield many results and their stories are usually inconsistent. For example, personal details like where they live or go to school might change when discussed again.

    Another classic sign is if the feelings they declare for you escalate quickly and after a short period of time. A catfish may ask you for sensitive images and money.

    Many scammers use already available photos of other people in their fake personas, which may be possible to spot using a reverse image search.

    With the explosion of AI technology, scammers may now generate unique and realistic images for use as profile pictures. But Hieu explains that thanks to their built-in patterns by design, AI-generated images can be detected, using tools such as AI-Generated Image Detector.

    If you believe you are being catfished, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and help end the targeting.

    Experts advise that you should not be afraid to ask direct questions or challenge the person you believe may be catfishing you. You can do this by asking them why they are not willing to call you or meet face to face, or questioning how they can declare their love for you so quickly.

    Wang and her colleagues sent nearly 200 deterrent messages to active scammers in a 2020 study and concluded that this could make fraudsters respond less or in some cases, admit to wrongdoing.

    An example of one of the messages was: “I know you are scamming innocent people. My friend was recently arrested for the same offense and is facing five years in prison. You should stop before you face the same fate.”

    You should think about stopping all communications with the catfish, and refrain from sending money to them at the risk of further financial demands. Experts say catfish continue to target those who engage with them more.

    It’s also useful to secure your online accounts and ensure your personal information is kept private online.

    Cybersecurity expert Hieu explained that you can do this by putting personal information such as your phone number, email addresses and date of birth in private mode on social media. You can also check if your email has been compromised in a data breach by using tools such as the Have I Been Pwned website.

    Installing two-factor authentication on your accounts can also help protect against unauthorized access. That requires you to take a second step to verify your identity when logging in to a service, for example by SMS or a physical device, such as a key fob.

    Being subjected to catfishing can also have a significant impact on your mental health, with many victims left unable to trust others and some left feeling embarrassed about falling for the scam. A 2019 study found that young LGBTQ+ men in rural America experiencing catfishing on dating apps felt angry and fearful.

    If someone was “sextorted,” they may continue to fear their images resurfacing online in the future.

    March from Federation University in Australia recommended improving digital literacy and staying aware of the potential red flags. She also emphasized the need to recognize today’s loneliness epidemic, which “leads people to perhaps be more susceptible to catfishing scams,” she said.

    Seeking professional support from a counselor or talking to supportive friends and family is one way to address loneliness, March added.

    Catfishing is not explicitly a crime, but the actions that often accompany catfishing, such as extortion for money, gifts or sexual images are crimes in many places.

    The main challenge in tackling online fraud is the issue of jurisdiction, according to a 2020 paper about police handling of online fraud victims in Australia. Traditional policing operates within specific territories, but the internet has blurred these boundaries, the authors write.

    Cybercriminals from one country can also target victims in other countries, complicating law enforcement efforts, and victims often face difficulty and frustration when trying to report cybercrimes, which can further traumatize them.

    Fangzhou Wang, a cybercrime professor at the University of Texas at Arlington told CNN that virtual private networks (VPNs), forged credentials, and anonymous communication methods make it extremely difficult to determine identities or locations.

    Scammers have also capitalized on the proliferation of AI, such as AI-generated personas, which complicates the ability of law enforcement authorities to gather evidence and build cases against a catfish.

    ”Law enforcement agencies, often constrained by limited resources and prioritizing cases based on severity and direct impact, might not readily prioritize catfishing cases without substantial financial losses or physical harm,” Wang told CNN.

    In the US, there are some legal precedents. In 2022, a woman who had created multiple fake profiles to target wealthy men was charged with extortion, cyberstalking, and interstate threats and was sentenced in a plea deal last year.

    In the UK, while catfishing itself is not classified as a criminal offense, if the person using a fake profile engages in illegal activities, like financial gain or harassment, they can be punished by law.

    China has a law that implicates people who allow their websites or communications platforms to be used for frauds and other illegal activities under Article 46 in the Cybersecurity Law.

    If a catfish has tricked you into sending them money, you can go to the authorities and your bank immediately, depending on where you are.

    If activities that are crimes in your country have taken place because of being catfished, such as extortion, identify theft or harassment, the police or other authorities, such as specific commissions targeting online crime, may be your first port of call.

    The Australian government’s agency responsible for online safety, the e-safety commissioner, advises that people gather all the evidence they can, including screenshots of the scammer and chats with them to keep as evidence.

    Depending on the case, you can also submit an abuse or impersonation report against the catfish directly to the platform on which you are communicating with them.

    If you believe the person you are talking to is not who they say they are, most of the larger social media platforms give you the option report them for impersonation or other forms of abuse, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Telegram, Tinder and WhatsApp. WeChat also offers a channel to report another user for harassment, fraud, or illegal activity, while Telegram creates an anti-scam thread for users to report on fraudsters.

    You are not responsible for the catfish behaviors of others, but staying vigilant and alert online goes a long way.

    Make sure your online accounts are secured and use two-factor authentication. When browsing the internet, you may want to use a virtual private network (VPN) which makes your internet activity harder to track.

    In many countries such as the US, the UK and Australia, victims have reported being preyed on by catfish who tricked them to put money in bogus cryptocurrency investment sites.

    If someone you have been talking to asks you to put money into an investment site, think twice. The Global Anti-Scam Organization has a database of fraudulent websites generated by their own investigations and the public’s tip offs to help inform you if you’re being scammed.

    If you are a parent, this guide provided by the UK-based National College platform suggests communicating effectively and sensitively with your children about the risks. You may also help them report and block the catfish accounts and report to police if they have been subjected to anything illegal or inappropriate.

    Because catfish get close to a target often by relying on personal information posted on social media, UNICEF asks children to consider their rights when it comes to parents sharing their pictures and other content online, especially when they are underage.



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  • Britain says may clear restructured Microsoft-Activision deal | CNN Business

    Britain says may clear restructured Microsoft-Activision deal | CNN Business

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    Microsoft’s restructuring of its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard “opens the door” to the biggest ever gaming deal being cleared, Britain’s antitrust regulator said Friday.

    Microsoft (MSFT) announced the deal in early 2022, but it was blocked in April by the UK competition regulator, which was concerned the US tech giant would gain too much control of the nascent cloud gaming market.

    Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which makes “Call of Duty,” agreed in August to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment in a new attempt to win over the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

    The Ubisoft divestment “substantially addresses previous concerns,” the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement.

    “While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues,” the regulator said.

    Consummating the deal would turn Microsoft into the third largest video game publisher in the world, after Tencent and Sony.

    Microsoft said it was “encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review process.”

    “We presented solutions that we believe fully address the CMA’s remaining concerns related to cloud game streaming, and we will continue to work toward earning approval to close prior to the October 18 deadline,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said.

    Activision, which also makes “World of Warcraft,” “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush,” said the preliminary approval was great news for its future with Microsoft.

    The European Union waved the deal through in May after accepting Microsoft’s commitments to license Activision’s games to other platforms, the same remedies that Britain had rejected.

    The US Federal Trade Commission also opposes the deal, but it has failed to stop it. A federal judge ruled in July that the deal can close, a decision the FTC is appealing.

    The CMA’s decision to reopen the case was a radical departure from its play book, but it said on Friday it had been consistent and Microsoft had “substantially restructured the deal” to address its concerns.

    “It would have been far better, though, if Microsoft had put forward this restructure during our original investigation,” CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said.

    “This case illustrates the costs, uncertainty and delay that parties can incur if a credible and effective remedy option exists but is not put on the table at the right time.”

    Equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown said the loss of the cloud gaming rights was not an ideal concession for Microsoft to have to make, but it was necessary collateral if the deal were to be waved through.

    “This looks to be the final bump in the road,” she said.

    The CMA said there were “residual concerns” around the Ubisoft deal, but Microsoft has offered remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator.

    It is now consulting on the remedies before making a final decision.

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  • Microsoft, Amazon facing UK antitrust probe over cloud services | CNN Business

    Microsoft, Amazon facing UK antitrust probe over cloud services | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Microsoft and Amazon could be in hot water over apparently making it difficult for UK customers to use multiple suppliers of vital cloud services.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country’s antitrust regulator, said Thursday it was launching an investigation into the UK cloud infrastructure services market to determine whether players were engaged in anti-competitive practices.

    Cloud computing firms, such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), use data centers around the world to provide remote access to computing services and storage. This “cloud infrastructure” forms the foundation for how software applications, such as Gmail and Dropbox, are developed and run.

    The CMA probe has been initiated following a report from Britain’s media and communications regulator Ofcom, which found that the supply of cloud infrastructure in the United Kingdom is highly concentrated and competition limited.

    “We welcome Ofcom’s referral of public cloud infrastructure services to us for in-depth scrutiny,” CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said in a statement.

    “This is a £7.5 billion market that underpins a whole host of online services — from social media to [artificial intelligence] foundation models. Many businesses now completely rely on cloud services, making effective competition in this market essential.”

    The CMA said it would conclude its investigation by April 2025.

    The probe is the latest evidence of increased scrutiny of big tech companies by European regulators, which have tightened rules in recent years in areas such as data protection and targeted advertising.

    The European Digital Services Act, which came into force at the end of August, reflects one of the most comprehensive and ambitious efforts by policymakers anywhere to regulate tech giants. It applies to companies including Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Snapchat, TikTok and Meta (META), the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

    According to Ofcom, last year Microsoft and AWS had a combined market share of 70-80% in the UK cloud infrastructure services market. Google is their closest competitor with a share of 5-10%.

    In its report, Ofcom identified features of the market that make it more difficult for customers to change providers or to use multiple providers, such as switching fees.

    “If customers have difficulty switching and using multiple providers, it could make it harder for competitors to gain scale and challenge AWS and Microsoft effectively for the business of new and existing customers,” Ofcom wrote.

    The report also raised concerns about the software licensing practices of some cloud providers, particularly Microsoft.

    Both Amazon and Microsoft said they would engage “constructively” with the CMA.

    But a spokesperson for AWS added that the company disagreed with Ofcom’s findings. “We… believe they are based on a fundamental misconception of how the IT sector functions, and the services and discounts on offer,” the spokesperson said, noting that “the cloud has made switching between providers easier than ever.”

    A spokesperson for Microsoft added: “We are committed to ensuring the UK cloud industry remains innovative, highly competitive and an accelerator for growth across the economy.”

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  • Microsoft completes blockbuster Activision Blizzard takeover after UK removes final hurdle | CNN Business

    Microsoft completes blockbuster Activision Blizzard takeover after UK removes final hurdle | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Microsoft has completed its takeover of Activision Blizzard, the maker of “Call of Duty” and other hit video games, closing one of the biggest tech deals of all time.

    The company said in a filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that Activision (ATVI) had now become a wholly-owned subsidiary.

    Earlier on Friday, UK antitrust officials approved the planned acquisition, removing the final regulatory hurdle to the deal closing.

    The Competition and Markets Authority said the merger had been cleared after the companies agreed to give up certain cloud gaming rights. The concession is “a game-changer” that will allow “competitive prices and better services,” the CMA said in a statement.

    Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled the deal in early 2022, but it was blocked in April by the UK competition regulator.

    The CMA was the only regulator worldwide standing in the way of the landmark acquisition, which was valued at $69 billion when it was first announced.

    The UK regulator had concerns about competition in the cloud gaming market, saying Microsoft could seek to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own platforms, and then increase the cost of user subscriptions, leaving gamers with less choice.

    In August, Microsoft and Activision addressed those concerns by revising the deal.

    They proposed a restructured merger, which would allow Activision’s cloud streaming rights outside the European Union and three other European countries to be sold to a rival, Ubisoft Entertainment.

    That appeased the CMA, which signaled last month that it would most likely approve the reworked takeover.

    “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming,” the agency said Friday.

    “It will also help to ensure that cloud gaming providers will be able to use non-Windows operating systems for Activision content, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.”

    Activision Blizzard is one of the world’s biggest video game developers. Alongside “Call of Duty,” it also produces “World of Warcraft” and “Overwatch.”

    Microsoft, which sells the Xbox gaming console, offers a popular video game subscription service called Xbox Game Pass, as well as a cloud-based video game streaming service.

    The acquisition is expected to help Microsoft boost its standing in the gaming industry and better compete with market leaders Tencent and Sony.

    In a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Microsoft President Brad Smith said “we’re grateful for the CMA’s thorough review and decision.”

    — Olesya Dmitracova contributed to this article.

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  • Lost in translation: How New Zealand’s plan for bilingual road signs took an unexpected turn | CNN

    Lost in translation: How New Zealand’s plan for bilingual road signs took an unexpected turn | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    It was meant to be an inclusive gesture to New Zealand’s indigenous Maori community. But plans to introduce bilingual road signs featuring both the English and te reo Maori languages have sparked a divisive, racially charged debate ahead of the country’s looming general election.

    New Zealand – or Aotearoa as it is known to the Maori – recently hosted a public consultation on whether to include te reo Maori on 94 types of road signs, including for place names, speed limits, warnings and expressway advisories.

    The idea, according to the national Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (whose name means “traveling together as one”), is to promote “cultural understanding and social cohesion” with the Maori community, which makes up almost a fifth of New Zealand’s population of 5.15 million.

    But the idea hasn’t gone down well with right-wing opposition parties, who have attacked the signs claiming they will jeopardize road safety. An extra language will mean less space for the English words, the theory goes, and smaller type will be harder for motorists to read.

    “Signs need to be clear. We all speak English, and they should be in English,” the main opposition National Party’s spokesman Simeon Brown told reporters, insisting the signs could confuse people “traveling at speed.”

    That claim prompted criticism from the ruling Labour Party government, with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins accusing the opposition of thinly disguised racial politics. “I’m not entirely sure where they are going with this unless it’s just an outright dog whistle,” he said.

    While the National Party has since insisted it is not opposed to bilingual signs “per se” – rather, it says, it wants the government to prioritize other things like fixing potholes and improving traffic networks – the issues has sparked heated debate in the run up to the vote in October where Labour are facing a tough fight to hold onto power.

    For many in the Maori community, the plan is as much about signposting and preserving their cultural heritage as it is about understanding road directions.

    Slightly less than a quarter of New Zealand’s 892,200 Maori speak te reo Maori as one of their first languages, according to the latest government data.

    While opponents use this as an argument against the signs – pointing out that 95% of New Zealanders speak English according to the most recent census in 2018 – supporters use the same data as an argument in favor.

    Part of the reason that te reo Maori is not so widely spoken is that back in New Zealand’s colonial era there were active efforts to stamp it out. The Native Schools Act 1867 required schools to teach in English where possible and children were often physically punished for speaking te reo Maori.

    That led to a decline in the language that the New Zealand government of today is trying to reverse. It wants to preserve the language as part of the country’s cultural heritage and sees bilingual signs as one way of encouraging its use.

    As Maori language expert Awanui Te Huia, from the Victoria University of Wellington, put it: “Having bicultural signage allows us to see our language as part of our daily surroundings and contributes to the development of a bilingual national identity.”

    To this end the government in 2018 launched a five-year plan aimed at revitalizing the language. Five years ago just 24% of New Zealanders were able to speak “more than a few words or phrases” of te reo Maori; by 2021 that had risen to 30%.

    Over the same period, support for bilingual signs rose from 51% to 56%.

    The longer term vision is that by 2040, 85% of New Zealanders will value te reo Maori as a key part of their nationality; 1 million people will be able to speak the basics, and that 150,000 Maori ages 15 or above will use it as much as English.

    For Professor Tania Ka’ai, director of The International Centre for Language Revitalisation at Auckland University of Technology, bilingual signs are at least a move in the right direction.

    “I would describe it as a ‘work in progress’ because the language is still at risk of dying and it does not deserve to die – no language does,” Ka’ai said.

    While the transport agency acknowledges some people have “safety concerns” over the plan, it points to the example of Wales in the United Kingdom, where it says signs featuring both English and Welsh have managed to “improve safety” by catering to speakers of the two most common local languages.

    It also says the parallel between New Zealand and Wales will be “particularly salient if te reo Maori becomes understood more widely in the future” – as the government is hoping.

    Several other experts have downplayed the suggestion bilingual signs pose a hazard. Even so, the issue is not entirely clear cut.

    Kasem Choocharukul, an engineering scholar who specializes in traffic behavior, told CNN there is no evidence that bilingual road signs in themselves negatively impact a driver’s comprehension.

    However, design and placement of road signs, as well as the languages and the context in which they are used, have to be treated with care, said Kasem, associate dean of the engineering faculty of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

    Research by the University of Leeds suggests road signs consisting of four lines, or more, are likely to slow drivers’ response time significantly.

    Kasem said that in cases where signs featured multiple languages all based on the same alphabet – for instance, both Welsh and English are based on the Latin alphabet – greater care was needed to differentiate them, such as by using different colors or font sizes.

    “The primary objective of these standards is to guarantee that all road signs are unambiguous, uniform, and legible to all,” he said.

    Essentially, poor design can be dangerous, not multiple languages, if done badly.

    A bilingual traffic sign on the A465 in Tredegar, Wales.

    The example of Wales – situated more than 10,000 miles away from New Zealand – isn’t as random as it may seem.

    Commentators say there are a host of uncomfortable parallels between the fortunes of te reo Maori and Welsh, which was also once in danger of dying out but has since witnessed a resurgence.

    At the same time as 19th century European settlers in New Zealand were punishing students for speaking te reo Maori, the British government was actively discouraging the use of the Welsh language, or Cymraeg, in the wake of widespread social unrest.

    In 1847 (20 years before New Zealand’s Native Schools Act) a British government report into Welsh linked the language to stupidity, sexual promiscuity and unruly behavior, prompting a drive to remove the language from local schools.

    This led to the notorious punishment known as the Welsh Nots. These were planks of wood with the initials W.N. on them that would be hung around the necks of students caught speaking the language in school.

    The turning point for Welsh came a century later, following a series of civil disobedience campaigns by the Welsh Language Society in the 1960s. One of these campaigns involved activists defacing and removing English-only signs on streets and roads. Bilingual road signs began to spring up.

    Three decades later, and the British Parliament was actively encouraging the use of Welsh.

    In 1993, it passed the Welsh Language Act to ensure the language shares the same status as English during day-to-day business in Wales. The language is now spoken by more than 900,000 people in Wales, out of a population of more than 3 million.

    James Griffiths, author of “Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language” and a former CNN journalist, said Wales was a prime example of how sound policies could revive a native language, but he noted that, as in New Zealand, there had been resistance from some quarters.

    “I think for a lot of people, if they speak the language of the majority, they don’t appreciate the type of recognition and representation of having it on road signs,” he said.

    Across the Irish Sea, bilingual signs bearing both Irish Gaelic and English have existed in the Republic of Ireland dating back to the start of the 20th century.

    Other commentators draw parallels to how the US state of Hawaii has used road signs to encourage use of Olelo Hawai’i which, like te reo Maori, is a Polynesian language.

    Before the passing of the Hawaii State Constitutional Convention in 1978, which made Hawaiian an official language of the the state, there had been concerns it might go extinct.

    In the 1980s, teaching of Hawaiian in schools began to pick up momentum and parents began making greater efforts to pass the language on to later generations, said Puakea Nogelmeier, professor emeritus of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii.

    This momentum continues to build to this day, with Hawaii’s Department of Transportation last year moving to introduce diacritical markings such as the okina and kahako – dots and lines that indicate glottal stops or longer vowels – to its road signs to help non-native Hawaiian speakers grasp correct pronunciations.

    According to a local government survey in 2016, about 18,000 residents now speak Hawaiian at home in a state with a population of more than 1.4 million.

    But Nogelmeier says that while it has become more common to hear conversations conducted in Olelo Hawai’i, the battle to revive the language is far from over.

    Unlike in New Zealand, where the Maori people reached an agreement with the New Zealand government to preserve te reo Maori under the Maori Language Act 2016, he says the movement in Hawaii is driven primarily by the community, making the cause “more decorative than functional” and akin to “a bit of a hobby.”

    Nogelmeier also says that efforts in Hawaii are largely limited to using Olelo Hawai’i for place names, rather than more complicated linguistic uses.

    He should know: On Hawaiian buses, it is Nogelmeier’s voice that calls out the names of stops in the local language.

    Using indigenous place names also allows outsiders to have a better understanding of how to pronounce words and boost tourism.

    Both Wales and New Zealand have some famous tongue-twisters for those unfamiliar with the local language.

    Llanfairpwllgwyngyll – or to give it its full title Llanfair-pwllgwyngyll-gogery-chwyrn-drobwll-llan-tysilio-gogo-goch – is a little village on the Welsh island of Anglesey and lays claim to being the longest town name in Europe.

    That however it is dwarfed by New Zealand’s own Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a hill near Hawke’s Bay which prides itself as the world’s longest place name.

    With New Zealand having wrapped up its public consultation on the signs at the end of June, one other challenge remains should the plan go ahead: ensuring there aren’t any translation bloopers.

    One road sign in Wales made national headlines in 2008 when local council officials sought a translation for a road sign that was meant to say: “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.”

    Their mistake was to email the in-house translation service and not scrutinize its reply too closely.

    Officials requested a sign that read: “Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i’w gyfieithy.”

    Only later did they realize that is the Welsh for: “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”

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  • How to watch as France vs. Brazil highlights exciting Day 10 of Women’s World Cup | CNN

    How to watch as France vs. Brazil highlights exciting Day 10 of Women’s World Cup | CNN

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    Women’s World Cup 2023: Live scores, fixtures, results, tables and top scorers



    CNN
     — 

    Day 10 of the 2023 Women’s World Cup should prove to be a thriller.

    Saturday’s action is highlighted by the mouth-watering clash between European giant France and South American juggernaut Brazil, with As Canarinhas knowing a win will secure passage through to the last 16.

    Elsewhere, Sweden takes on Italy, before the potentially historic match up between Jamaica and Panama rounds off the day’s action.

    In the US, the matches will air on your local Fox channel. You can also stream the matches by signing in with your TV provider at foxsports.com or on the Fox Sports app. Telemundo and Peacock are providing Spanish-language coverage.

    Seven Network and Optus Sport are broadcasting matches in Australia and the BBC and ITV have the rights in the United Kingdom.

    A full breakdown of media rights holders in each country is available on the FIFA website.

    Sweden vs. Italy starts at 3:30 a.m. ET, France vs. Brazil kicks off at 6 a.m. ET and Panama takes on Jamaica at 8:30 a.m. ET.

    With victories in their opening Group G matches, and with Argentina and South Africa drawing on Friday, both Sweden and Italy can qualify for the knockout stages with another three points.

    Sweden will be the favorite going into Saturday’s first match, but the growth of women’s football in Italy has continued since the national team reached the second round of the knockout stages for the first time in its history four years ago in France.

    The Swedes needed a 90th-minute winner to edge past South Africa in its opening group match, denying Banyana Banyana a first ever Women’s World Cup point, and will certainly need to improve significantly to get past Italy.

    Italy’s 16-year-old sensation Giulia Dragoni – nicknamed ‘Little Messi’ – played a crucial role in the heart of the team’s midfield as Le Azzurre earned a narrow 1-0 win.

    Ary Borges scored the first hattrick of the tournament in Brazil's 4-0 win over Panama.

    It’s not often you get a heavyweight clash such as this in the group stages of the World Cup.

    There is an added layer of intrigue given France’s 0-0 draw against Jamaica in its opening match, with the pressure firmly on Les Bleues to try and avoid an early exit in Australia and New Zealand.

    Brazil, conversely, was impressive in its opening match against Panama, running out a comfortable 4-0 winner. Talisman and icon Marta, playing in her sixth and final World Cup, could come back into the starting lineup against France after starting on the bench against Panama.

    France, ranked fifth in the world, will be buoyed by the number of chances it created against Jamaica, but will need to be far less wasteful in front of goal to have any chance of beating Brazil.

    Jamaica's players celebrate after earning a draw against France.

    After securing the team’s first ever point at a Women’s World Cup, Jamaica will be full of confidence that it can go one better against Panama.

    The Reggae Girlz were hugely impressive against France in that goalless draw but will have to try and overcome Panama without star player Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, who was sent off for a second bookable offense late in the previous game.

    With the country appearing at a Women’s World Cup for the first time, Panama’s players were reduced to tears during the national anthem ahead of the match against Brazil.

    The team will certainly have more of a chance against Jamaica and will likely be eying a first ever Women’s World Cup point.

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  • Why are far-right parties on the march across Europe? | CNN

    Why are far-right parties on the march across Europe? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    While the Anglosphere was wracked by a burst of populism in 2016, most European countries proved remarkably resilient. Long-held grievances in the United Kingdom and United States fueled Brexit and took Donald Trump to the White House, but Europe – seeming at times to look aghast across the Channel and Atlantic – appeared largely immune. Brussels had fretted about a “Brexit domino effect.” In reality, the opposite came to be.

    In the five years from 2016, French centrism spurted out a new political party led by Emmanuel Macron that quelled the National Front. Angela Merkel’s resignation passed without populist fanfare and delivered a moderate successor. Mario Draghi, the technocrat par excellence, slid seamlessly from the European Central Bank to Italy’s premiership. Spain even went left.

    There were outliers: Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Poland and Viktor Orban in Hungary continued to shape their nations in their populist parties’ image. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged to third place in the 2017 federal elections. The billionaire tycoon Andrej Babis gained power that same year – but told CNN at the time he was more like the Czech Michael Bloomberg than the Czech Donald Trump. The story of that period was the so-called populist “wave” cresting early, and not sweeping much away. Voters in European nations largely toed the line.

    Today, there is not that same cohesion. The far right is on the march across the continent. Italy’s government under Giorgia Meloni is further to the right than at any point since the rule of Mussolini. The AfD recently won a district council election for the first time, with more victories expected to follow. In France, the perma-threat of a Marine Le Pen presidency grows with every protest against Macron’s government, whether over police violence or pension reform. Far-right parties are propping up coalitions in Finland and Sweden. Neo-Nazi groups are growing in Austria.

    And in Spain, the center-left coalition looks set to crumble after elections this weekend, paving the way for the far-right Vox party to enter government for the first time as part of a coalition.

    Why did Europe largely avoid the sort of populism that took root in the US and UK in 2016? And why are populist parties now steadily marching into the mainstream across the continent?

    It is often said that majoritarian electoral systems – as in the US and UK – help to shut extreme views out, while proportional systems – more common in Europe – welcome them in. Proportional systems give a louder legislative voice to parties like the AfD and Vox; winner-takes-all systems keep them quiet.

    For example, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), despite winning more than 12% of the vote, secured only one seat in Parliament in the 2015 general election. Thanks to the UK’s first-past-the-post system, while there was significant support for UKIP’s anti-European Union, anti-immigration platform, it was not concentrated enough in any single constituency to deliver many seats. Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP, ran in seven elections but never won a seat – a supposed benefit of majoritarian systems.

    But it’s not that simple. Afraid of losing voters to UKIP (and other far-right parties), the governing Conservatives ended up adopting many of its positions. First, holding a referendum on Brexit – then pursuing a hardline form of it. Middle-of-the-road Conservatives found they had to make room in their party for more extreme views, or face losing electoral ground to parties that championed them. The system that was meant to shut extremists out of the building ended up welcoming in their ideas. Farage saw many of his policies implemented without having to win a seat.

    By contrast, despite often having extremist parties in the building, almost all mainstream European parties would simply refuse to consider them as potential coalition partners, under the principle of the “cordon sanitaire.” For instance, when the then-National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen (father of Marine) unexpectedly defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the 2002 French Presidential election, the Socialists swung their weight behind the center-right candidate Jacques Chirac, delivering him a landslide in the second-round runoff. Despite their ideological differences, the mainstream parties simply refused to cooperate with extremists.

    Now, that dynamic has been reversed. Extremist parties that were once excluded from governing coalitions are increasingly propping them up, and the membrane separating the far and center right is proving increasingly permeable.

    In Finland, Petteri Orpo – largely seen as dependable and level-headed – only replaced Sanna Marin as Prime Minister in April after allying with the nationalist Finns Party. The party’s Vilhelm Junnila lasted barely a month as finance minister before resigning after allegations he had joked about Nazism at a far-right event in 2019. Swedish Prime Minister Ulif Kristersson relies on the votes of the increasingly Euroskeptic, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats.

    One peculiar feature of this new dynamic is how the far right and center right increasingly use each other’s language. Mainstream center-right parties, fearful of losing votes to more extreme groups, have increasingly begun to adopt their policies. In the Netherlands, Mark Rutte’s run as the second-longest serving leader in Europe ended this month after his new, hardline stance on asylum seekers proved too extreme for his more moderate coalition partners, causing his government to collapse.

    Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right party Rassemblement National (National Rally), has begun to use more moderate language of late.

    Conversely, far-right parties have attempted to sanitize some of their rhetoric, hoping to appear a more credible electoral prospect. After the fatal police shooting of an unarmed teenager, which sparked huge protests in France, Marine Le Pen’s response was markedly restrained.

    Philippe Marlier, a professor of French politics at University College London, told CNN that rather than seizing on traditional far-right rallying calls of “riots, ethnic minorities, rebelling against public authorities,” Le Pen’s “low-key” response was tempered “to appeal to a much broader audience than typical far-right voters.” This is part of a “long-term strategy of coming across no longer as a far-right politician, but as someone who eventually – in four years’ time – could be seen as a credible replacement for Macron.”

    Italy’s Meloni provided the model for this. When Lega leader Matteo Salvini, a long-term admirer of Vladimir Putin, planned a trip to visit the Russian President in June last year, Meloni took the opposite stance, restating her support for Ukraine and pledging to uphold sanctions against Russia if she was elected, as she then was in September. Using more moderate rhetoric is reaping electoral success for far-right politicians across the continent.

    Similarly, Germany’s AfD has begun to speak more seriously about economic policy, echoing traditional conservative values of fiscal prudence. While its flirtation with anti-vax politics may have cost it votes in the 2021 election, it has since enjoyed success in the east of the country, arguing that the government’s commitment to climate policies and supporting Ukraine’s war effort are placing overly burdensome costs on the German taxpayer. These moves suggest far-right parties, while not abandoning their extremist positions, are learning to speak the language of the mainstream to great effect.

    Co-leaders of the AfD Tino Chrupalla, left center, and Alice Weidel, right center, at the party's 10th anniversary celebration on February 6, 2023.

    All this is to say that the “supply side” of populism warrants as much attention as its “demand side.” It matters not just what voters want to buy, but what – and how – parties are selling. A bottom-up theory of populism suggests that dramatic shifts in public opinion create irresistible “waves” of support that mainstream parties are unable to resist. But, as the American political scientist Larry Bartels points out, there is also a top-down theory: Rather than an unexpected “wave,” there has long been a “reservoir” of populist sentiment in Europe. What matters is how politicians draw on it.

    The “demand side” often attributes the rise of populism to economic grievances and a cultural backlash. Financial crises, like that of 2008-2009, or big social shifts, like the European migrant crisis of 2015, are said to provide fertile ground for the seeds of populism to take root. Often the two factors can complement each other: The AfD, for instance, was founded during the Eurozone crisis in opposition to the common currency, but gained more support after adopting anti-Islamic policies following Germany’s welcoming of migrants mostly from the Middle East.

    The early 2020s, then, may seem to provide ground more fertile than the previous decade for these sorts of sentiments to grow. The continent has seen the return of inflation and the soaring cost of living; the end of quantitative easing and rising interest rates; increased tax burdens as government balance sheets recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and look to fund net-zero policies and increased defense spending. Recent opinion polls show the issue of immigration is also increasing in salience, as migrants continue to turn up on Europe’s shores.

    And yet, recent Eurobarometer polling shows that the public’s perception of the European economy is less bleak than we might expect – and far better than during previous crises. Negative perceptions of Europe’s economy rocketed after the financial crisis, and rose again after the start of the pandemic, but are now net positive. Similarly, trust in the European Union has been on an upward trend since 2015, and trust in national governments has remained broadly constant, but improved since the financial crisis.

    Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a run near his Oxfordshire home on June 15, 2023.

    And so the recent successes of far-right parties cannot be explained by dramatic shifts in public opinion. Europe has weathered financial and migrant crises before, which did not translate into widespread support for populism.

    Instead, what we are seeing is a different sort of populism to the one that wracked the US and UK in 2016: A populism fueled by the collapse of the cordon sanitaire between mainstream conservatives and the far right, and one which may have learned the lessons of its short-lived predecessors.

    The defenestration of Boris Johnson and legal travails of Donald Trump perhaps offered the comforting conclusion that populism will inevitably implode: Its policy failures will be too great, the personal foibles of its leaders too unbearable, crass – and potentially criminal.

    But, on the continent, there is a newer, smarter brand of populism taking root. Whereas the UK has been content to break international law in pursuit of Brexit and its crackdown on asylum seekers, populist leaders in Europe are taking greater care not to renege on their international commitments. Many are content to wage culture wars at home, while remaining reliable partners abroad.

    Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks with her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 12, 2023.

    Orban, then Kaczynski, provided the model for this. Meloni, since, has taken quickly to the craft: Remaining responsible on the continental stage while coldly implementing far-right policies on the domestic one. This weekend, Spain may also set out on this path. After Rutte’s resignation, the Netherlands may too.

    A lot depends on the ability of mainstream parties – particularly on the left – to build tents big enough to accommodate their differences, rather than compromising with far-right parties to prop up their coalitions. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has managed this since 2018, though with dwindling success. His ability – or otherwise – to do so again this weekend may serve as a harbinger of the continent’s future.

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  • Rishi Sunak suffers two election losses as British voters reject ailing Conservative government | CNN

    Rishi Sunak suffers two election losses as British voters reject ailing Conservative government | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a damaging political blow on Friday as voters rejected his party in two parliamentary elections it could ordinarily have expected to win.

    The Conservatives lost to the resurgent Labour Party in Selby and Ainsty, a region in the north of England where the Sunak’s party had enjoyed a commanding majority.

    A second seat, Somerton and Frome, was won by the Liberal Democrats, a centrist party.

    The Conservatives just managed to hold on to a third seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the constituency held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson until his resignation from parliament last month, although Labour significantly grew its share of the vote.

    But that was little comfort for Sunak – the overall results suggest Sunak’s government is on course for an electoral defeat at the next general election, expected next year.

    Thursday’s three by-elections were a tough mid-term test yet for Sunak, who took power after Liz Truss’s shambolic six-week premiership last fall.

    Sunak has struggled to reverse the Conservatives’ plummeting fortunes in the nine months he has held office; a series of scandals, a stuttering economy and a decline in Britain’s public services have left his party deeply unpopular.

    In Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Labour was hoping to claim the seat Boris Johnson had held for eight years. Conservative Party candidate Steve Tuckwell won 45.16% of the vote there.

    Johnson quit in anger after a committee of fellow lawmakers found that he had lied to Parliament over “Partygate,” the scandal of lockdown-era parties in his government that tanked his popularity and contributed to his political downfall.

    But in Selby, in the north of England, Labour overturned a huge deficit to win the seat with 46% of the votes.

    The two seats were viewed as the kind of regions that Labour needs to be targeting if it is to have a hope of claiming a parliamentary majority at the next election.

    Both those votes were triggered after a committee of lawmakers found Johnson lied to Parliament, in a damning and unprecedented verdict against a former Prime Minister. Johnson was set to be suspended from Parliament for 90 days, but avoided that penalty by resigning instead.

    Nigel Adams, the former Conservative lawmaker for Selby and a close ally of Johnson’s, quit hours later in an apparent move of solidarity.

    Adding to the Conservatives’ woes was a thumping loss in Somerton and Frome, an affluent area in south-west England, to the Liberal Democrats which won nearly 55% of votes. The centrist party has been picking up former Conservative support in the so-called “Blue Wall,” a well-off portion of southern England that typically opposed Brexit.

    While the Conservatives took some comfort from the result in Uxbridge, the swing against Sunak’s party in all three seats indicate a resurgent Labour party would take power in a national vote.

    By law, a general election must take place by January 2025. Most observers think Sunak will call it in the fall of 2024, if not before, to avoid trying to persuade voters to cast their ballots in the middle of winter.

    Time is running out for him to reverse Sunak’s fortunes. A cost of living crisis, creaking public services, stubbornly high inflation and an endless list of Tory scandals have turned opinion firmly against his party – which has been in power for 13 years – and intensified calls by buoyant opposition parties for an early general election.

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  • Stunning Hannah Wilkinson goal delivers shock win for New Zealand over Norway in opening Women’s World Cup match | CNN

    Stunning Hannah Wilkinson goal delivers shock win for New Zealand over Norway in opening Women’s World Cup match | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    World Cups are so often defined by their upsets, the surprise results that stun crowds and cause delirious celebrations.

    The first match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup duly delivered such scenes as co-hosts New Zealand shocked Norway 1-0 in Auckland, thanks to a stunning Hannah Wilkinson goal just after half-time.

    For so long, winning a World Cup game had proved to be an elusive goal for New Zealand. The Football Ferns’ previous five appearances in women’s tournaments had yielded not a single victory while the men also have not secured a win in their two World Cup appearances.

    It seemed fitting, then, that its first ever victory came on home turf in front of more than 40,000 raucous fans at an almost sold-out Eden Park, as New Zealand held on for the win despite Ria Percival’s penalty miss late in the game after a VAR decision.

    “I’m so, so proud, we’ve been fighting for this for so long. We had a clear goal that we wanted to inspire young girls here and around the world, and I think we did that this evening. Anything is possible,” New Zealand’s tearful captain Ali Riley told the BBC.

    The start of this World Cup has also been marked by tragedy as a rare multiple shooting in the center of Auckland rattled the city just hours before the opening match of the tournament.

    New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins outlined details of the attack in a hastily called news conference, confirming that three people had died – including the gunman – and several others were injured.

    Riley added: “This morning, something really, really tragic happened and we wanted to bring something positive tonight and we thought of the victims and the first responders and they made us so proud and we just wanted to just help bring something amazing today.”

    Harnessing the energy of the home crowd, New Zealand began brightly, holding the more favored Norway to a scoreless first half.

    The Football Ferns launched the first attack of the game as Wilkinson broke clear of the Norwegian defense before Norway began displaying its own offensive prowess, its star Ada Hegerberg just mistiming an ambitious bicycle kick at her first World Cup in eight years before Frida Maanum, under pressure, skied her attempt on goal.

    But immediately after halftime, all of New Zealand’s pressure eventually paid off, as Wilkinson scored the first goal of the game, clinically finishing a sweeping team move that sliced open the Gresshoppene defense.

    Still the game remained finely poised; Norway struggled to get the ball to its dangerous front three but still created chances as only an outstretched hand from New Zealand’s goalkeeper Victoria Esson prevented Tuva Hansen’s powerful long-range effort from finding the back of the net on 80 minutes.

    Norway's Ada Hegerberg reacts after missing a scoring chance.

    New Zealand had a chance to double its lead and effectively end the contest 10 minutes later when Norway conceded a penalty for handball, but Percival’s miss kept the game alive, and the tension coiled around it as nine minutes of injury time were added on and Norway continued to press for a last-gasp equalizer.

    The home team had done enough, however, and held on until the final whistle blew, prompting wild celebrations around the stadium as the players ran onto the field and the crowd exploded with joy.

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  • As SAG strike brings Hollywood to a standstill, which favorite UK-filmed shows could still go ahead? | CNN

    As SAG strike brings Hollywood to a standstill, which favorite UK-filmed shows could still go ahead? | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    As a host of Hollywood actors join film and TV writers in a strike against major studios and streaming services, filming and production of some popular shows – including “House of the Dragon” and “Industry” – could continue, due to UK strike laws.

    Though British acting union Equity said it would “stand in unwavering solidarity” with Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), it advised “SAG-AFTRA members currently working under an Equity UK collective bargaining agreement should continue to report to work.”

    This, the 47,000-member union noted, was due to the UK’s “draconian” industrial relations legislation, which it called “a national disgrace” in need of reform.

    A large portion of filming for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon” took place in England, with the show’s base being Leavesden Studios in Watford, near London. HBO announced in April that production had begun on season 2, which is slated for next year.

    Another HBO show, “Industry,” which was renewed for a third season last year, was filmed in London and Cardiff, Wales. In March, Joseph Charlton, writer and consulting producer on “Industry” season 3, told Digital Spy that casting had begun for the season.

    A source with knowledge of the productions confirmed to CNN that both are Equity contract shows.

    HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

    Paul Fleming, General Secretary of Equity, said in a statement: “The regrettable consequence of this framework is that what artists working in the United Kingdom – whether SAG-AFTRA and/or Equity members (or both) – can do, may be different from their comrades in the United States and other parts of the world.”

    SAG-AFTRA, which represents about 160,000 actors, began a strike at midnight Pacific time Friday morning after talks with major studios and streaming services failed. It is the first time its members have stopped work on movie and television productions since 1980, after a final day of negotiations on Wednesday did not produce an agreement.

    Actors are calling for increased pay as well as progress on residuals paid for when films or shows are shown again, particularly on streaming services. They join 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for two months.

    Production of many movies and television shows has already been shut down by the current writers’ strike, and the actors’ strike threatens to bring most remaining productions to a halt, other than on some independent films not associated with studios.

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  • Biden meets King Charles III for the first time since coronation | CNN Politics

    Biden meets King Charles III for the first time since coronation | CNN Politics

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden and King Charles III on Monday met for the first time since the British monarch ascended to the throne, with the US president visiting Windsor Castle for all the pomp and circumstance that comes with a royal meeting.

    Biden arrived to inspect an honor guard formed of the Prince of Wales Company of the Welsh Guards – with hundreds of uniformed troops, and its military band – positioned on the grassy quadrangle before a tent. The band played “God Save the King” upon the monarch’s arrival and “The Star-Spangled Banner” upon Biden’s entrance.

    The moment marked Biden’s second trip to Windsor Castle since taking office – the president met the King’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at her home just outside London in June 2021. The Queen met 12 US presidents spanning her reign, all but President Lyndon Johnson. The president said at the time the Queen wanted to know about Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Biden was meeting in Switzerland days after their visit, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden said he wished he could have spoken to the Queen for longer. “She was very generous,” he told reporters.

    This latest meeting with Charles was a closely watched moment for how the King balances his traditionally apolitical role with a cause he is passionate about that has become a signature priority. Biden has called climate change “the existential threat to human existence as we know it.”

    Biden, Sullivan told reporters, “has huge respect for the king’s commitment on the climate issue in particular. He has been a clarion voice on this issue and more than that, has been an actor – someone who’s mobilized action and effort. And so the president comes at this with enormous goodwill at this relationship,” Sullivan said, calling Monday’s engagement an opportunity to “deepen the personal bond” and “harness their shared interest in trying to drive climate progress and climate action.”

    Biden, King Charles and special envoy for climate John Kerry met with private sector company leaders at a climate event. The group discussed barriers to private investment, and Biden was expected to encourage those in attendance to “step up to their responsibilities,” while also highlighting public investment, Sullivan said.

    WINDSOR, ENGLAND - JULY 10: King Charles III and US President Joe Biden pose in the Grand Corridor at Windsor Castle on July 10, 2023 in Windsor, England.

    In keeping with US tradition, Biden did not travel to London for the coronation, but first lady Dr. Jill Biden and granddaughter Finnegan Biden attended the ceremony. Both the president and first lady did make the trip across the Atlantic for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year.

    Earlier on Monday, Biden kicked off the first full day of his trip abroad with a London visit aimed at bolstering the US-UK “special relationship” on the eve of a high-stakes summit with NATO leaders.

    Biden arrived at 10 Downing Street and was greeted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of discussions on a range of issues, including Ukraine, a topic on which the two leaders have closely coordinated. Biden recounted all of the places he’s met with Sunak – from San Diego, California, to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Hiroshima, Japan, to Washington, DC – six times in the six months since the prime minister took office.

    US President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, ahead of their meeting at Downing Street in London, UK, on Monday, July 10, 2023.

    “Couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend or greater ally. Got a lot to talk about,” Biden said, adding, “Our relationship is rock solid. … And I look forward to our discussions.”

    Sunak welcomed Biden back to 10 Downing Street, which he was visiting for the first time as president, saying he is “very privileged and fortunate to have you here.”

    He said they would be strengthening cooperation on joint economic security, as well as discussing the NATO alliance.

    “We head from here to NATO in Vilnius, where we stand as two of the firmest allies in that alliance and I know we want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security. Great pleasure to have you here,” Sunak said.

    Their meeting came after the US announced Friday that it will be sending cluster munitions to Ukraine for the first time, a rare topic on which the US and United Kingdom publicly disagree. The UK, Sunak told reporters Saturday, is “signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use.”

    Sunak continued, “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and most recently long-range weapons, and hopefully all countries can continue to support Ukraine.”

    National security adviser Jake Sullivan downplayed any concern that Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions would present any “fracture” with allied countries that oppose the use of such equipment, suggesting that Sunak was stating a “legal position” as he highlighted broader US-UK unity.

    “The prime minister stated the UK’s legal position, that they are a signatory to the Oslo Convention. The United States is not. That being a signatory means discouraging the use of these weapons. He fulfilled his legal obligation, but I think you will find Prime Minister Sunak and President Biden on the same page strategically on Ukraine, in lockstep on the bigger picture of what we’re trying to accomplish and as united as ever, both in this conflict and writ large,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday.

    Sullivan noted that the US has not received any negative feedback from NATO allies regarding the decision.

    “That will be repeated, in my view, with all the leaders of the alliance. I do not think you will see fracture, division, or disunity… as a result of this decision. Even though many allies – the signatories to Oslo – are in a position where they themselves cannot say, ‘We are for cluster munitions.’ But we have heard nothing from people saying this cast doubt on our commitment, this cast doubt on coalition unity, or this cast doubt on our belief that the United States is playing a vital and positive role as leader of this coalition in Ukraine,” he said.

    A Defense Department release on the US’ latest equipment drawdown also said that the decision was made following “extensive consultations with Congress and our Allies and partners.”

    In a readout following the meeting, the White House said Biden and Sunak “reviewed preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius.”

    “They reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the White House said, adding the two leaders also discussed last month’s newly announced economic partnership and developments in Northern Ireland, including “efforts to ensure continued progress there.”

    Later Monday, the president departs London for Vilnius, Lithuania, where NATO leaders will gather for critical meetings amid the war in Ukraine and last month’s failed coup attempt in Russia, posing the biggest threat to global stability for the alliance in recent history.

    Following the NATO Summit, Biden travels to Helsinki, Finland, where he will offer a notable show of support to Nordic countries during a summit with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark.

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  • Art-loving Helsinki deputy mayor caught graffitiing the city | CNN

    Art-loving Helsinki deputy mayor caught graffitiing the city | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A deputy mayor in Helsinki is facing possible legal action after being caught spray-painting graffiti with a friend.

    Paavo Arhinmäki, deputy mayor responsible for culture and leisure in the Finnish capital, issued a statement Saturday admitting that he and a friend had been caught by security guards after painting inside a train tunnel leading to the city’s Vuosaari harbor.

    In the post, Arhinmäki apologized for “this stupid foolishness of mine. I’m asking for forgiveness,” adding that he and his friend had long been inspired by the graffiti adorning the walls of Pasila, a district renowned for its urban art.

    It cost the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency €3,500 ($3,800) to clean the graffiti from a concrete slab inside the tunnel, a spokesperson for the agency told CNN over email.

    “Now there is still on-going police investigation for legal action and its consequences,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The costs of cleaning up are collected from the perpetrators after the police investigation is done,” they added.

    Meanwhile, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published a photo of the graffiti and tweeted about the incident.

    CNN has reached out to Arhinmäki and Eastern Uusimaa Police Department for further comment.

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  • The company supplying water to millions of Londoners is in deep trouble | CNN Business

    The company supplying water to millions of Londoners is in deep trouble | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Britain’s biggest water supplier said Wednesday it needed to raise more cash from investors, as UK media reported the government was preparing contingency plans to rescue the company.

    Thames Water provides drinking water and waste water services to 15 million customers in London and the southeast of England. The utility, which counts one of Canada’s largest public pension funds among its top investors, has around £14 billion ($17.5 billion) of debt on its balance sheet.

    News that it needs more money came just a day after CEO Sarah Bentley resigned with immediate effect after three years in the role. She was in the second year of an eight-year turnaround plan to address aging infrastructure, tackle leakage and reduce pollution in rivers, a legacy of underinvestment.

    Thames Water received £500 million ($635 million) from shareholders in March, but said Wednesday it would need more.

    The firm “is continuing to work constructively with its shareholders in relation to the equity funding expected to be required to support Thames Water’s turnaround and investment plans,” it added.

    The company said it was keeping the water industry regulator Ofwat “fully informed” of its progress and added that it had a “strong liquidity position,” including £4.4 billion ($5.6 billion) of cash.

    Ofwat said it was in “ongoing discussions” with Thames Water “on the need for a robust and credible plan to turn the business around.”

    “We will continue to focus on protecting customers’ interests,” it added.

    Government ministers, including representatives from the UK Treasury and the environment department, Defra, are holding emergency talks with Ofwat over Thames Water’s future, according to UK media reports.

    One possibility would be to place the company into a special administration regime that effectively takes the firm into temporary public ownership. Sky News was first to report the discussions.

    A government spokesperson told CNN: “This is a matter for the company and its shareholders. We prepare for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries — including water — as any responsible government would.”

    The spokesperson added that the UK water sector “as a whole is financially resilient.”

    Thames Water says about 24% of the water it supplies to customers is lost through leakage.

    The company’s single biggest shareholder is the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, which holds a stake of around 32%. The Universities Superannuation Scheme, a pension fund for the academic staff of UK universities, owns nearly 20%.

    Other large investors include the Chinese and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, as well as British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, which invests on behalf of public sector workers.

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  • Prince William believes you can have zero homelessness and he’s using Finland as a case study | CNN

    Prince William believes you can have zero homelessness and he’s using Finland as a case study | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Prince William believes you can have zero homelessness and he’s using Finland as a case study.

    The Prince of Wales is launching a five-year, locally led plan in six flagship locations around the UK that will demonstrate it is possible to end homelessness, Kensington Palace announced on Monday.

    The program, “Homewards,” will bring together “an unprecedented network of organisations and individuals,” tapping into their collective expertise to “create and deliver a tailored plan to prevent homelessness in their areas,” the palace said.

    It will provide up to £500,000 ($637,000) of flexible seed funding in each of the six locations – which will be announced later this week – to support projects, and findings from the program will be used to create a model that can be used elsewhere across the UK and internationally.

    “In a modern and progressive society, everyone should have a safe and secure home, be treated with dignity and given the support they need,” the Prince of Wales said in a statement Monday, marking the launch of his first big initiative as heir to the throne.

    “Through Homewards, I want to make this a reality and over the next five years, give people across the UK hope that homelessness can be prevented when we collaborate.”

    The project draws inspiration from Finland’s “Housing First” policy which unconditionally offers rental homes with contracts to people experiencing homelessness, as well as support if needed and wanted.

    Finland’s successful homelessness policy “has been the leading example for a number of years,” Matt Downie, CEO of homeless charity Crisis told reporters. Its collaborative approach and “the whole of society committing for the long term” is key to its success, added a spokesperson for the Royal Foundation, the charity established by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

    Similarly, William said in an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times last week that he hopes to bring “all the wonderful people and pieces together of the puzzle.”

    “And from that, we can then get other councils in other parts of the country to copy,” he added. “It’s about that momentum. So you go, ‘Right, we can fix this and we will fix this.’”

    William was careful to stress that he wasn’t trying to interfere with government policy, saying that his plan “is an additive to what is already being done.”

    His initiative will also focus on reframing the issue and improving understanding among the general public.

    More than 300,000 people in the UK are affected by homelessness, research from the Royal Foundation found, though the number is likely to be larger given the number of people sofa surfing, living in cars, or staying in hostels or other types of temporary accommodation.

    Over the next two days, William will travel to each of the six locations to formally kickstart the program.

    William has long used his platform to spotlight homelessness, ever since his mother, Princess Diana, first took him to homeless shelters as a child.

    “I was 11 when I first visited a homeless shelter with my mother, who in her own inimitable style was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem,” he wrote in a piece last year published in The Big Issue, a magazine which offers employment opportunities to people in poverty.

    He took up Princess Diana’s patronage of the homelessness charity Centrepoint in 2005, spent a night sleeping rough in temperatures that reached -4 degrees Celsius (24.8 degrees Fahrenheit) four years later, and spent two days volunteering with Centrepoint, helping young people directly with its accommodation services.

    Last year, William attempted to go undercover on the streets of London and sell The Big Issue to “experience the other side and see what it was like to be a Big Issue vendor,” he wrote in the magazine afterwards.

    Sign up for CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls.

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  • King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

    King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    King Charles III will revive a royal tradition when he rides on horseback in the first Trooping the Colour of his reign, which marks the British sovereign’s official birthday.

    The traditional military spectacle returns on Saturday and is a staple in the royal diary drawing huge crowds to central London. Charles’ actual birthday is in November and is typically celebrated privately.

    He will join 1,500 soldiers, 300 horses and hundreds of musicians as they file from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in St James’s Park for the ceremony watched by members of the royal family.

    It’s the first time a reigning monarch has ridden in the procession since Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.

    He’ll be joined on horseback by the royal colonels including Prince William, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards and Princess Anne, Gold Stick in Waiting and Colonel of the Blues and Royals. The event is described by the palace as “a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare.”

    Well-wishers dressed in fascinators and draped in Union flags gathered early to claim prime positions along the Mall outside the royal residence in the hours ahead of the parade.

    The monarch is head of Britain’s armed forces and would traditionally lead an army into war. During the ceremony at Horse Guards, the monarch will take the salute as Colonel in Chief of the Household Division’s seven regiments before he is given a chance to review and approve his army.

    Queen Camilla will join her husband as they watch the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards troop their color, or regimental flag, in front of hundreds of Guardsmen and officers. The regiment will carry out intricate battlefield drill maneuvers to music, with Kensington Palace describing this year’s musical program as having “a distinctly Welsh theme,” with new compositions from the band specially for the occasion.

    After the parade, the royal party will return to Buckingham Palace and watch an extended military flypast. A similar display had to be scaled back after the King’s coronation last month because of poor weather.

    Around 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force will take to the skies from 15 locations around the UK before converging to fly across the British capital, according to the Ministry of Defence. The impressive aerial presentation will include aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, the C-130 Hercules on its final ceremonial flight, Typhoon fighter jets and culminate with a display from the famous RAF Red Arrows.

    “We are very proud to be able to showcase our capabilities to our Commander-in-Chief, on this historic occasion for His Majesty the King,” Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton said ahead of the event.

    “We have planned a fitting and appropriate tribute for our monarch, that should be a true spectacle for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”

    There will also be a 41-gun salute in nearby Green Park from The King’s Troop, with a second salute of 62 guns fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company, the City of London’s Army Reserves.

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  • Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament over Covid lockdown breaches, inquiry finds | CNN

    Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament over Covid lockdown breaches, inquiry finds | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been found by a parliamentary committee to have deliberately misled parliament over breaches of Covid-19 lockdown rules.

    This is a breaking story. More details soon…

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  • Three people found dead in major incident in Nottingham, UK police say | CNN

    Three people found dead in major incident in Nottingham, UK police say | CNN

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    Three people were found dead in the English city of Nottingham on Tuesday in what police called a major incident.

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