Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak lead race to be the UK's next prime minister

Friday, October 21, 2022

by Hani Richter

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Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak lead race to be the UK's next prime minister, Trump's ex-adviser Bannon to be sentenced for contempt of Congress and Pfizer expects to hike its U.S. COVID vaccine price.

Today's biggest stories

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak walk out of Downing Street to meet Michelle Ovens of Small Business Saturday, in London, Britain, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

WORLD NEWS

Boris Johnson and his former finance minister Rishi Sunak were leading the potential contenders to replace British Prime Minister Liz Truss, with candidates canvassing support to become Conservative Party leader in a fast-tracked contest.

Xi Jinping, poised to clinch a third five-year term as China's leader, will preside over the most dramatic moment of the Communist Party's twice-a-decade congress and reveal the members of its elite Politburo Standing Committee.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the West to warn Russia not to blow up a huge dam that would flood a swath of southern Ukraine, as his forces prepare to push Moscow's troops from Kherson in one of the war's most important battles.

Indonesia's health minister said that the child deaths caused by the acute kidney injury rose to 133 from the previously reported 99. The deaths come from 241 total cases in 22 provinces, minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

European Union leaders will discuss reducing their economic dependency on China, aiding Kyiv and punishing Iran for its involvement in the war that Russia is waging on Ukraine, when they meet for a second day of talks in Brussels.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's White House chief strategist Steve Bannon attends his arraignment at the New York Criminal Courthouse in New York, U.S., September 8, 2022. Steven Hirsch/Pool via REUTERS

U.S. NEWS

Steve Bannon, a prominent figure on the American right who served as a senior strategist for former President Donald Trump, is set to be sentenced after being convicted in July on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from lawmakers investigating last year's U.S. Capitol attack.

When jury selection begins next week in the criminal trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump's company, prosecutors and the defense will likely be on alert for "stealth" jurors seeking to hide political biases in the hopes of being named to the panel, legal experts told Reuters.

A federal judge dismissed a Republican-led challenge to President Joe Biden's plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, shortly after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a request in another case to block it.

A federal judge barred the state of New York, at least for now, from enforcing the part of a closely watched gun law that bans firearms from churches or other places of worship.

The Democrat-led city of El Paso, Texas, is ending a months-long effort to bus migrants to northern cities after a new policy put in place by the Biden administration is forcing Venezuelan migrants back to Mexico and easing pressure on the border city.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

Pfizer expects to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID vaccine to about $110 to $130 per dose after the United States government's current purchase program expires, Pfizer executive Angela Lukin said.

Russia can access enough tankers to ship most of its oil beyond the reach of a new G7 price cap, industry players and a U.S. official told Reuters, underscoring the limits of the most ambitious plan yet to curb Moscow's wartime revenue.

The world's top automakers are planning to spend nearly $1.2 trillion through 2030 to develop and produce millions of electric vehicles, along with the batteries and raw materials to support that production, according to a Reuters analysis of public data and projections released by those companies.

Shares of Snap sank about 25% before the bell, after the owner of photo messaging app Snapchat forecast zero revenue growth for the current quarter, triggering a slide in other social media stocks dependent on advertising revenue.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said he thinks a recession will last until spring of 2024 after earlier raising concerns on demand in China and Europe.

Quote of the day

"Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough."

Boris Johnson

Former UK prime minister

Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak lead race to be UK's next prime minister

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