London — The BBC’s boss and its head of news quit on Sunday following accusations of bias at the British broadcaster, including in the way it edited a speech by US President Donald Trump.
The publicly funded BBC had been under mounting pressure after an internal report by a former standards adviser, which cited failings in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, transgender issues and a speech made by Trump, was leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Trump welcomed the departures, criticising the two as “very dishonest people” after the BBC’s flagship Panorama programme edited two parts of one of his speeches together so he appeared to be encouraging the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021. Reuters
Read the full story here: BBC boss and head of news resign after accusation of bias in Trump speech edit
UAE declines participation in Gaza stability force
Dubai — The United Arab Emirates does not yet see a clear framework for the proposed international stability force in Gaza and, under the current circumstances, will not take part, a senior Emirati official said on Monday.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said Abu Dhabi would continue to support political efforts toward peace and remain a leading provider of humanitarian aid. “The region remains fragile, yet there is reason for cautious optimism,” he told the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate.
The Gaza ceasefire deal aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Hamas was brokered by the US, with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey also mediating. Washington has drafted a UN Security Council resolution proposing a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body and an international stabilisation force in Gaza. Reuters
US flight chaos worsens amid government shutdown
Washington — Hundreds of thousands of travellers had their flights delayed or cancelled on Sunday in the worst day for disruptions since the start of a US government shutdown, as transportation secretary Sean Duffy warned of worse to come in the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Airlines cancelled more than 2,800 US flights and delayed more than 10,200 on Sunday in the third day of government-mandated flight cuts due to rising air traffic control staffing shortages, after thousands of delays and cancellations snarled traffic on Saturday.
The government shutdown, which has reached a record 40 days, has led to shortages of air traffic controllers who, like other federal employees, have not been paid for weeks.
“It’s only going to get worse. The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said on CNN’s State of the Union programme.
Millions of people usually travel in the run-up to Thanksgiving, one of the most important US holidays, which this year falls on November 27.
“Many of them are not going to be able to get on an aeroplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up,” Duffy said.
The US Senate voted to advance a bill to end the government shutdown late on Sunday, sending shares of US carriers up before the bell on Monday.
United Airlines led gains with a 1.9% rise in premarket trading, followed by Delta and American Airlines, both up 1.4%, while Alaska Air rose 1%.
But if the Senate eventually passes the bill, the package still must be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.
Duffy has said he does not plan to rescind the flight cuts until controllers begin returning to work and safety data improves. Reuters
Kremlin prepares for Putin’s India visit
Moscow — The Kremlin said on Monday it was “actively preparing” for President Vladimir Putin to visit India before the end of the year and hoped it would be a substantive trip.
Putin is due to visit India in December, according to the Kremlin. He last went there in December 2021, just a few months before ordering troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
“We are currently actively preparing for Putin’s visit to India,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
Peskov declined to give any details about agreements that might be reached during the trip.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India to stop buying oil from Russia. India is one of the biggest purchasers of Russian oil. Reuters
Senegal rejects IMF debt restructuring proposal
Bengaluru — Senegal’s bonds fell sharply on Monday after the country’s prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, said at the weekend that the International Monetary Fund wanted the country to restructure its debt but that the government opposed the idea.
Senegal’s euro-denominated 2028 bond slumped more than 6 cents to under 77 cents in early trading, Tradeweb data showed, while its 2031 dollar-denominated bond fell more than 5 cents to 71 cents on the dollar.
The IMF completed a mission to Senegal last week without agreeing to a new lending programme. It froze its previous $1.8bn programme last year after its then leaders disclosed hidden debts now estimated at more than $11bn.
The IMF is proposing a restructuring of “this abysmal debt that Macky Sall’s party has burdened us with,” Sonko told a rally in Dakar, referring to the previous president. Reuters
Swedish firms invest in small modular nuclear reactors
Stockholm — A group of large Swedish industrial companies has signed a deal with utility Vattenfall to invest 400-million Swedish kronor ($42.5m) into the development of small modular nuclear reactors in Sweden.
Industrikraft, a group of 17 industrial companies, including SKF, Volvo AB and Volvocars, is making the investment into Videberg Kraft, a company set up to facilitate the building of new nuclear power in Sweden. At a later stage Industrikraft will also take a 20% stake in Videberg Kraft, it said in a joint statement on Monday.
Vattenfall is planning to build small modular reactors at Vattenfall’s existing Ringhals plant in Värö, southwest Sweden, to provide a total output of around 1,500MW. Reuters
Vance cancels trip to Kenya after snubbing G20
Nairobi — US vice-president JD Vance has called off a visit to Kenya planned for later this month after his expected trip to the G20 summit in SA was cancelled by President Donald Trump, the East African nation’s government said on Monday.
Trump said on Friday that no US officials would attend the G20, alleging human rights abuses by SA against its white Afrikaner minority, allegations the government has repeatedly rejected. Reuters
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