Cuts

• Con Starmer sotto crescente pressione per dimettersi, i gruppi Growth e Tribune propongono idee per una revisione delle politiche • Gruppi collegati al segretario della salute, Wes Streeting, e al sindaco del Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, hanno proposto ampi cambiamenti alla politica governativa, offrendo un'idea di come il paese potrebbe cambiare qualora uno dei due dovesse succeedere a Keir Starmer. • Il Growth Group, alleato di Streeting, e il gruppo Tribune di parlamentari laburisti, alleato di Burnham, hanno pubblicato visioni contrastanti su come la Gran Bretagna dovrebbe essere gestita, tra cui vasti tagli fiscali, aiuti per il costo della vita e grandi riforme dell'apparato governativo.

Il senatore Chris Van Hollen e altri legislatori democratici stanno abbracciando una politica che difficilmente avvantaggia la classe media. • È prevedibile che all'interno del partito democratico ci sia una fase di profonda riflessione dopo la sconfitta nelle elezioni del 2024. • Il vantaggio di Donald Trump rispetto a Kamala Harris nella percezione degli elettori riguardo alla competenza economica (per quanto appaia ora perplesso dopo un anno di politiche erratiche) era destinato a ispirare una richiesta di ripensare il programma del partito. • Tuttavia, questi dubbi stanno spingendo i Democratici lungo un percorso pericoloso, verso l'adozione di una strategia di tagli fiscali che rischia di compromettere il progetto di realizzare una società più sana ed equa. Continua a leggere...

• India's largest companies have seen profits surge over 30% annually since the pandemic, yet private investment remains weak with capital outflows nearly matching FDI inflows. • Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman publicly questioned the reluctance amid tax incentives, infrastructure push, and record corporate cash reserves. • Experts cite safety preferences by family-run businesses, funds parked in family offices by heirs, and high perceived political-regulatory risks as key barriers.

Inquiry set up by rightwing politician recommends merging major channels and slashing TV entertainment budgets by 75%French politicians on the left and centre have criticised a parliament inquiry report that recommends sweeping cuts to public broadcasting, with a row over culture wars building before next year’s presidential election.State broadcasting is a key topic in the run-up to April’s vote, with the far right, which is leading in the polls, highly critical of public TV and radio and vowing to privatise it. Continue reading...

• The Trump administration announced plans to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next 6 to 12 months, impacting the approximately 35,000 American service members currently stationed there. • Defense Secretary Hegseth is pulling the troops amid ongoing tensions between Trump and the German Chancellor over defense spending and NATO contributions. • The reduction marks a significant shift in U.S. military presence in Europe and signals potential strains in the transatlantic alliance during this period.

Staff warned news operations face 15% cut, above BBC-wide 10% target, as corporation pushes through £600m savings planThe BBC’s news operation is to cut costs by a steeper-than-expected 15%, with staff told to expect heavy redundancies.The division, home to about a quarter of all BBC staff, is being saddled with one of the highest cost-cutting targets as the corporation attempts to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in the biggest downsizing of the public service broadcaster in 15 years. Continue reading...

• The Senate Armed Services Committee has advanced a draft version of the National Defense Authorization Act that includes language to block automatic military pay reductions triggered by certain budget gimmicks tied to the sequester framework. • The provision comes after Pentagon officials warned that artificial pay cuts could drive recruitment and retention problems and after several advocacy groups lobbied lawmakers to permanently repeal the sequester caps. • Senator Adam Smith and other committee members argued that service members should not be collateral damage in political budget fights.

Cross-party group says closure of humanitarian unit will undermine monitoring of legal violations and arms exportsMPs have expressed alarm at the closure of the Foreign Office’s international humanitarian law unit, warning it “will impair the UK’s ability to anticipate, assess and respond to serious violations of international law across multiple contexts”.News of the closure, revealed by the Guardian, was raised with Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions this week by the independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, Iqbal Mohamed. Starmer said the work would be undertaken by another team as part of a restructuring. Continue reading...