6:54 am, June 24, 2023
Transportation Safety Board launches investigation into fatal Titan implosion
A safety investigation is set to take place following the fatal implosion of the Titan submersible.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said a team of investigators had been deployed to St John’s in Canada to ‘gather information, conduct interviews and assess the occurrence’.
British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the Titan submersible when it catastrophically imploded, alongside the chief executive of the company responsible for the vessel, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Jeremy Hunt agrees measures with banks aimed at cooling mortgage crisis
Mortgage holders struggling with repayments will be given a 12-month grace period before repossessions begin, Jeremy Hunt has agreed with lenders in crunch talks to sooth the crisis as interest rates soar.
The Chancellor and leading banks and building societies endorsed a new charter including mortgage holidays to give homeowners more flexibility when they met in Downing Street on Friday amid calls for greater action.
Under the measures being rolled out in the coming weeks, borrowers will be able to extend the term of their mortgages or move to an interest-only plan temporarily ‘no questions asked’ in a change that echoes Labour’s demands.
Russian mercenary chief urging rebellion reaches city of Rostov-on-Don
The owner of the Wagner private military contractor who is calling for an armed rebellion to remove Russia’s defence minister has confirmed that he and his troops have reached Rostov-on-Don after crossing the Russian border from Ukraine.
The city is home to the Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s claim in a video posted on social media is the first confirmation that he was in Rostov.
Italian oil major Eni buys North Sea gas producer Neptune Energy in £4bn deal
One of the biggest producers of gas in the UK’s North Sea will be bought by Italian oil giant Eni after the two agreed a $2.6bn £2.1bn) deal.
The deal will see Eni take over Neptune Energy, with Norway’s Var Energi buying its sites in the Norwegian continental shelf for a further $2.3bn (£1.8bn). Var is majority owned by Eni.
Neptune’s German business will continue to be run as an independent company, owned by its current shareholders, it said on Friday.
Friday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Surprise used car price rise in June thanks to train strikes and limited supply
- Hedin looks to raise £110m for ‘acquisitions’ as experts predict fresh Pendragon bid is only a matter of time
- Used car salesman ordered to pay more than £23,000 after ‘fundamentally dishonest’ insurance claim
FTSE drops further as interest rate woes continue
Another lacklustre session on Friday concluded a week of consecutive daily declines for the FTSE as worries over interest rates continued to hamper London trading.
The FTSE 100 moved 0.54 per cent, or 40.16 points, lower to finish at 7,461.87.
Elsewhere, Germany’s Dax index fell by 1.07 per cent and the Cac 40 closed down 0.65 per cent.
Retail sales rise unexpectedly thanks to falling petrol prices and warm weather
The UK’s retail sector did unexpectedly well last month as it sold more fuel due to falling prices and more summer clothes thanks to a spike in temperatures.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales volumes rose 0.3 per cent in May, better than the 0.2% drop that economists had forecast.
The bounce was largely due to a rise in petrol and diesel sales, which the ONS said could be down to falling fuel prices, which reached their lowest point since early 2022 last month.
Arctic Monkeys close out Glastonbury mainstage after surprise Foo Fighters set
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl paid tribute to the band’s late drummer Taylor Hawkins as he closed out a surprise set on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage
The US rock band stormed through a number of hit songs during the hour-long performance – their first appearance at the festival since 2017.
Friday’s bill was topped by Arctic Monkeys, who shut down questions they would be unable to perform with a set full of hits.
Weather outlook…
Today will see light patchy rain towards the north-west. A cloudy start elsewhere, with the odd spot of rain in Wales and north-west England. It will turn largely sunny for most by the evening, according to the BBC.
Tonight, it will be mostly clear and dry for most, though cloudier in Scotland. Cloud will also build in from the west in Northern Ireland, with heavy rain by dawn. Turning windy in the north-west.
Tomorrow will see heavy rain in the west. This band of rain will move eastwards with spells of heavy rain and thundery showers in eastern areas in the afternoon. The south-east will be hot and dry.
