Tuesday, October 27, 2026
type here...
Home Blog Page 147

Thames Water creditors propose ‘golden share’ to avoid nationalisation

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
Thames Water creditors propose ‘golden share’ to avoid nationalisation

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said nationalisation is the best solution for Thames, for years held up as an example of the failure of Britain’s privatised water industry after sewage discharges into rivers sparked anger while debt ballooned

International News via Reuters:

Thames Water’s senior creditors said they were working on a materially improved rescue deal, which could include a ‘golden share’ for government, to try to avoid the water company being taken into public ownership by Britain’s new prime minister.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said nationalisation is the best solution for Thames, for years held up as an example of the failure of Britain’s privatised water industry after sewage discharges into rivers sparked anger while debt ballooned.

The consortium of lenders, who hold £17 billion of the troubled utility’s debt, said it recognised the new government would like to see greater public control and involvement to strengthen water companies’ accountability.

The creditor group “has evaluated potential new local public control supervisory structures for Thames Water” that it will discuss with the new secretary of state “alongside additional commitments that could be implemented through a ‘Golden Share'”, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

A ‘golden share’, often owned by the government, gives the power to veto other shareholders over issues such as control.

FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

Thames has been fighting for survival after successive owners failed to invest adequately in its ageing infrastructure. It now has about £20 billion ($27 billion) in debt, and has said it will run out of money by November.

A source close to the creditor group, which is called London  &  Valley  Water, said on Monday it could seek court action to recover its debt if the government takes control, potentially leaving Burnham’s administration facing a multi-billion-pound bill.

The creditors, however, said on Tuesday they were eager to engage with new ministers and present a “revised proposal, which will deliver environmental compliance, cleaner rivers faster, and safeguard resilient supply and clean drinking water”.

They said they were confident they could address the issues raised by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is now led by Angela Eagle, and the regulator Ofwat.

‘RECORD INVESTMENT NEEDED’

“Thames Water is a company of national importance, and we look forward to working with the new Government to secure a long-term solution which delivers greater public control and the best outcome for customers,” a London & Valley Water spokesperson said.

“Under our plan, customers will have strong protections, regulators and Government will have enhanced oversight, and there will be greater controls to ensure Thames Water delivers the record investment needed to improve environmental and operational performance,” they added.

($1 = 0.7437 pounds)

Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, William James and Jan Harvey

UK’s new government seeks to boost fighter jet program with Canadian partnership

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
UK’s new government seeks to boost fighter jet program with Canadian partnership

The announcement coincides with the Farnborough Airshow, the aerospace and defence industry’s premier gathering, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East driving demand for everything

International News via Reuters:

Britain’s new government will seek an early defence win on Tuesday by inviting Canada to join the delayed GCAP fighter jet programme, as European allies push to reduce their reliance on U.S. weapons and military technology.

The announcement coincides with the Farnborough Airshow, the aerospace and defence industry’s premier gathering, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East driving demand for everything from combat drones and interceptor missiles to artificial intelligence-enabled military software.

The event overlapped with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first day in office. He named John Healey, who favours hiking the UK defence budget, as finance minister, alongside giving former Health Minister Wes Streeting the defence brief.

The new government’s first announcement with foreign partners will be on the Global Combat Air Programme, the stealth fighter being jointly developed by Britain, Italy and Japan, which Canada is expected to join as an observer, marking the first expansion beyond the founding members. 

UK DEFENCE STOCKS RISE

British defence stocks including BAE Systems and Babcock jumped by 3% and 6% respectively on Tuesday as markets bet the companies would benefit from the new government’s willingness to make Britain more war-ready. 

Healey, formerly the defence minister, had previously spent months lobbying the former prime minister to lay out a pathway to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, rather than the 2.68% that the government eventually budgeted for.

“As Defence Secretary, John Healey championed British business, recognising the contribution that the defence sector makes to growth and national security,” BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn said.

“We look forward to continuing to work with John in his new role as UK Chancellor.”

Canada is becoming an increasingly important defence partner for European nations as it looks to diversify its defence spending away from the United States and forge closer ties on the continent.

There will be no financial commitment involved in its observer status, but Canada could join the programme more formally in future, sharing the billion-dollar development bill and potentially ordering the jets. 

Defence companies made up half of a record 1,600 exhibitors at this year’s show, highlighting a shift from the usual dominance of commercial aviation and reflecting how Ukraine and Middle East conflicts have transformed spending priorities.

Exhibitors at the airshow displayed new defence technologies from unmanned fighter jets and hypersonic missiles to spy satellites and AI-enabled weapons systems. 

Reporting by Sarah Young, Joe Brock, Tim Hepher, Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Sharon Singleton

UK weapons maker stocks rise after former defence secretary appointed finance minister

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
UK weapons maker stocks rise after former defence secretary appointed finance minister

Healey, in June, resigned from Keir Starmer’s previous administration saying the then prime minister had been “unable” and the finance ministry “unwilling” to find the money to keep the country safe

International News via Reuters:

London-listed defense stocks rose on Tuesday, outperforming European peers, a day after Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed former defence minister John Healey as finance minister.

Healey, in June, resigned from Keir Starmer’s previous administration saying the then prime minister had been “unable” and the finance ministry “unwilling” to find the money to keep the country safe. 

Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Berenberg, said that Healey’s resignation as defence secretary because of insufficient funding “suggests that he will raise military expenditure”, though how he will raise the revenue “remains to be seen.” 

Babcock International shares rose 6.7%, Qinetiq gained 3.3% and BAE Systems added 3.1%.

The broader European aerospace and defence index gained 1.15%.  

Reporting by Sophie Kiderlin, editing by Alun John

London’s FTSE 100 climbs as oil prices ease; earnings in focus 

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
London’s FTSE 100 climbs as oil prices ease; earnings in focus 

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 10,552.50 points by 1000 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 climbed 0.5%

International News via Reuters:

Britain’s FTSE 100 edged higher on Tuesday as reports of U.S.-Iran mediation efforts pushed oil prices lower, while investors assessed a fresh batch of corporate earnings.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 10,552.50 points by 1000 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 climbed 0.5%.

• Reports of diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran pushed oil prices off one-month highs, though concerns over energy supply disruption lingered after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi Arabia on Monday. [O/R]

• Precious metal miners led sectoral gains, up 3.1%, tracking a rise gold prices as easing oil prices boosted expectations of a more accommodative U.S. Federal Reserve policy path.[GOL/]

• Investors also sifted through a fresh batch of corporate earnings for signs of how the Middle East conflict is affecting companies.

• Compass Group shares fell 1.6% despite the catering giant reporting third-quarter organic revenue growth of 7.1%.

• IQE shares rose 20.2% after the UK semiconductor wafer maker raised its full-year revenue growth forecast.

• Mitie jumped 38.8% to the top of the mid-cap index after the British outsourcer agreed to be acquired by rival OCS Group International in a deal valued at about 3.1 billion pounds ($4.17 billion).

• Data showed Britain’s labour market stabilised in the three months to May.

• “Looking at the bigger picture, the jobs market appears to have stalled. However, the fall in vacancy numbers has slowed and wage growth is still, just about, outpacing inflation,” said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis.

• New Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed former defence secretary John Healey as finance minister, just weeks after he resigned from the previous government with a stinging rebuke of how the Treasury had fallen short on defence spending.

Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed

Bermuda Tonight – July 20

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
Bermuda Tonight – July 20

LIVE: OBA Town Hall on CARICOM

Gary Foster Skelton
-
0
LIVE: OBA Town Hall on CARICOM

The One Bermuda Alliance holds a Town Hall discussion on CARICOM, and the PLP Government’s pursuit of full CARICOM membership

Ortega says Nicaragua will no longer hold elections

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
Ortega says Nicaragua will no longer hold elections

Ortega, who has continuously held power since 2007 following an earlier presidential term in the 1980s, said the move will close off any path to the opposition, although he did not provide details about carrying out the measure

International News via Reuters:

Nicaragua’s long-serving president Daniel Ortega said the Central American country will no longer hold elections, eliminating the possibility of an electoral challenge when his term ends next year and further entrenching the rule he shares with his wife.

Ortega, who has continuously held power since 2007 following an earlier presidential term in the 1980s, said the move will close off any path to the opposition, although he did not provide details about carrying out the measure.

“There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” Ortega said in a speech on Sunday evening to commemorate the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which Ortega helped overturn the brutal Anastasio Somoza dictatorship.

“The days when parties backed by the Yankees and the Somocistas would return to power are over – never again,” he added, in his first public appearance in two months.

Nicaragua’s last election in 2021 was widely disputed after Ortega detained opponents and business leaders and criminalized dissent.

Last year, Ortega further consolidated his power through a series of constitutional reforms that included naming his wife Rosario Murillo as “co-president” and extending the presidential term to six years. He and his wife control virtually every aspect of the government, including the armed forces and the judiciary.

Ortega and Murillo’s government has been accused by the U.N. Human Rights Council of transforming the country “into an authoritarian state” and systematically violating human rights.

Nicaragua has been in a severe political crisis since April 2018, when Ortega responded to anti-government protests with a crackdown in which more than 300 people were killed.

Reporting by Raul Cortes and Gabriela Selser, Writing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Nia Williams

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada sentenced in US to life in prison

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
Mexican drug kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada sentenced in US to life in prison

Zambada is one of the most high-profile Mexican drug traffickers to be sentenced in a U.S. court since fellow Sinaloa leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019

International News via Reuters:

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced on Monday to life in prison in the U.S., after a plea deal last year in which he admitted to shipping millions of kilograms of cocaine over decades as leader of the violent Sinaloa Cartel.

Zambada is one of the most high-profile Mexican drug traffickers to be sentenced in a U.S. court since fellow Sinaloa leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019.  

In handing down the sentence at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan said that even though he had no choice but to impose a life sentence, he believed it was the right punishment. 

“The almost unimaginable amount of drugs attributable to him and the number of murders that we can document is enough to justify Congress’s decision to make this a mandatory life sentence,” the judge said.

Zambada, 76, agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 to charges, including racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise after the Justice Department said it would not seek the death penalty. The charges carried a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

ZAMBADA ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY

Wearing a beige prison-issue t-shirt over an orange long-sleeve shirt, Zambada was led into Cogan’s courtroom by two U.S. Marshals and said, “Buenas tardes” — Spanish for “good afternoon” — to his lawyer, Frank Perez. 

In brief remarks to the court, Zambada said he took responsibility for the harm his actions had caused. 

“No one wins in a war like this. To the next generation, I say, choose a different path,” Zambada said. 

Cogan said he would suggest that the Bureau of Prisons place the septuagenarian Zambada in a facility where he would receive adequate medical care. The judge said Zambada was suffering several progressive health ailments, which he did not specify, and said his decision to plead guilty rather than go to trial spared the government considerable time and expense. 

“I’m not saying he should be assigned to a camp as a reward for that,” Cogan said, referring to a minimum-security facility. “To the extent there’s doubt about what’s needed medically, give him the doubt.” 

A DRAMATIC ARREST

Zambada was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman’s sons, after their plane landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico.

Guzman Lopez has since pleaded guilty to charges, including drug trafficking and the July 2024 kidnapping of someone referred to in court papers as “Individual A.” 

Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters after Zambada’s sentencing that Guzman Lopez had admitted to kidnapping Zambada in an effort to win credit from U.S. law enforcement. 

“The United States made perfectly clear that we do not condone kidnapping and that he would receive no credit,” Nocella said. 

Guzman Lopez’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Guzman Lopez has not yet been sentenced.

His father is serving his life sentence at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Edmund Klamann, Toby Chopra and Aurora Ellis

Ontario wildfires expand as smoke lingers in parts of the US

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
Ontario wildfires expand as smoke lingers in parts of the US

The wildfires, which are mostly in difficult-to-access areas, have increased tensions between Canada and the U.S., where some politicians have criticized Canada’s response

International News via Reuters:

Wildfires burning across Ontario have grown to 735,000 hectares (1.8 million acres), from 650,000 hectares over the weekend, Premier Doug Ford said on Monday, as air quality from smoke improved in much of the province but remained unhealthy in parts of the U.S. Midwest.

Ford said at a press conference in Toronto that the province is battling 190 active blazes and around 1,800 residents had been evacuated from sparsely populated communities in northwestern Ontario.

“We will not spare a penny fighting these fires and keeping people safe,” Ford said.

The wildfires, which are mostly in difficult-to-access areas, have increased tensions between Canada and the U.S., where some politicians have criticized Canada’s response. 

 Heavy smoke from fires in northern and western Ontario as well as northern Minnesota brought the world’s worst air quality to Toronto last week, which then spread to New York and Washington. 

Air quality has since improved in southern Ontario as well as the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, although it remained poor in several U.S. states in the Midwest.

As of 11:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow ​site rated the air quality as “unhealthy” or “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in an area covering parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada must do better at controlling Ontario wildfires.

Trump said he spoke to Carney about the issue at the FIFA World Cup final that both of them attended on Sunday, two days after threatening to levy additional tariffs on Canadian goods to punish Canada over the wildfire smoke. Carney has not directly responded to Trump, though he has said all countries including the U.S. must do more to address climate change. 

Ford said it’s “unacceptable” that Trump has chosen to criticize Canada’s wildfire response and threaten tariffs rather than sending help. He cited Ontario sending hydro workers to the U.S. in 2024 to help with the response to Hurricane Helene and water bombers to California to fight wildfires in 2025 as evidence of Canadian support for its neighbor during natural disasters.

“Rather than criticize and threaten Canada, your closest friends, maybe one day you’re going to need our help,” Ford said.

Major forest fires have become a regular occurrence in Canada, home to some of the world’s largest forests. Climate experts say rising temperatures have led to drier timber and increased fire risk.

Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Mark Porter

US ‘deeply concerned’ after EU eyes carbon price for international flights

Bermuda Broadcasting Newsdesk
-
0
US ‘deeply concerned’ after EU eyes carbon price for international flights

The European Commission published proposals on Friday to start applying costs on emissions from international flights departing Europe

International News via Reuters:

The United States is “deeply concerned” about the European Union’s plans to impose carbon costs on some international flights, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation told Reuters on Monday.

• “The United States remains deeply concerned about any expansion of the EU’s Emission Trading System,” the spokesperson said.

• The European Commission published proposals on Friday to start applying costs on emissions from international flights departing Europe – measured by a specific point in central Europe – and landing in countries up to 5,000 km away.

• That threshold would exclude direct flights from Europe to the United States – a limit some EU officials said had been designed to avoid stoking tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. However, U.S. officials are still concerned about the proposal.

• “We are analyzing the European Commission’s proposal and will take appropriate steps as needed to protect American consumers and businesses,” the spokesperson added.

• Washington blocked a previous attempt by the EU to expand its ETS to cover international flights in 2012.

Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Makini Brice, Inti Landauro and Susan Fenton

Musical revue will showcase budding talent

Kendal Trott
-
0
Musical revue will showcase budding talent

Actin’ Up! Theatre Camp is celebrating its fifth anniversary with Dare to Dream, a Disney musical revue showcasing the talents of Bermuda’s rising young performers.

The production features campers aged 9 to 16 and will take the stage at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium on Friday, July 24, at 7:PM. and Saturday, July 25, at 6:PM.
Kendal Trott spoke to co-founders Myah Bridgewater and Sanzia Pearman, who shared how their all-Bermudian team is bringing professional theatre training and international

OBA: We did not double the debt & the numbers prove it

Gary Foster Skelton
-
0
OBA: We did not double the debt & the numbers prove it

OBA’s Scott Pearman has countered Premier David Burt’s take on the national debt, and says some of the borrowing during their tenure was due to what they inherited from the PLP

What’s a half-billion dollars between political rivals?

…the OBA’s Scott Pearman thinks the number is very important to note.

The Deputy Opposition Leader has sought to correct the PLP’s charge that the OBA government ‘doubled the debt’, while citing the state of the economy that the OBA inherited in 2012.

On Friday, Premier David Burt delivered a lengthy statement on the eve of the PLP’s 9th anniversary of being returned to power in 2017.

That speech was made even longer by no less than five points of order from the Opposition.

The Premier highlighted the PLP’s payroll tax amendments, affordable housing, pension increases, the Corporate Income Tax and more – but it was his comments on the national debt that made the interruptions come thick and fast.

I asked Mr Pearman about his objections after the House broke for lunch on Friday, and he directed us to the Budgets for what the numbers show.

He also said the OBA will deliver its own take on the PLP’s 9 years of governance at a later date.

WATCH the report above.

1...146147148...1,108Page 147 of 1,108

© Bermuda Broadcasting Company Limited 2026 All rights reserved.

Stream live

Popular news

SportsPoliticsJobs & EconomyCrimeHealthcareBusiness & Finance

Editor Picks