A variety of stories are prominent in Saturday’s newspapers. The Financial Times reports on a survey that finds UK businesses are cutting jobs at the fastest pace since the 2009 financial crisis apart from the Covid pandemic, rekindling fears of the British economy coming to a standstill Has been. The newspaper says the data “will be a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has spent the week talking up the economy at the World Economic Forum in Davos”. It added that recent market turmoil has convinced them to move “faster and further” towards growth.
According to the Daily Mail, separate figures show a 50% increase in businesses in “severe financial distress”. The paper quoted an insolvency expert as saying that recent increases in employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage could be the “last straw” for companies already struggling with low consumer confidence and high borrowing costs.
The Times quoted Reeves as saying that if Britain wants to turn the economy around, it should learn from the “positivity” of US President Donald Trump. In an interview with the newspaper, Reeves says that Britain is “absolutely brilliant as a country” but that for too long he has been “humble” and “apologetic” about its potential. “We should be shouting from the rooftops,” she says.
A veteran who lost his winter fuel payment after the October budget is now relying on the generosity of a stranger in the US to heat his home, the Daily Express reports. John Dockery, 73, told the newspaper that he and his wife had to hide with their rescue dogs to stay warm and described the change as “disgraceful”.
The Guardian reports that police are locked in a lengthy US legal process to obtain data from Google and Microsoft that would allow them to see what Axel Rudakubana was searching online before murdering three girls in Southport . The newspaper says Rudakubana’s Internet history, which he deleted shortly before leaving home to carry out the attack, may provide clues about why he targeted young girls. It says detectives fear it could take years for them to access the data.
Downing Street says there are no plans for reforms to give life imprisonment to teenage killers like Rudakubana, the Daily Telegraph reports. On Thursday, Rudakubana was given a 52-year prison sentence instead of a whole-life order because of his age at the time of the murders, leading to a change to allow whole-life orders for people under the age of 18 in exceptional circumstances. Demand arose. The newspaper quoted a spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as saying the government would not pursue the change because it would violate UN law, which does not allow children to be sentenced to death or imprisoned without the possibility of release. Is.
A lawyer for Christian Brueckner, who has been named by German prosecutors as a suspect in the case of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, has said he is trying to flee to Europe to avoid charges in the case, the Daily Mirror says. Can. Bruckner is currently serving a seven-year sentence in a separate rape case, but is expected to be released in September. Speaking to the newspaper, lawyer Philipp Marcourt says: “Sometimes he wants to stay in Germany, sometimes he wants to leave Europe. If I were him I would leave Europe and look for a state that “Is not extradited to Europe or Great Britain, perhaps like Suriname.”
Real Madrid and England star Jude Bellingham has been pictured with his new girlfriend, US Instagram model Ashlynn Castro, for the first time, The Sun reports. The newspaper says Castro met Bellingham’s parents in the Spanish capital this week and the pair were seen together at lunch the next day.
And the Daily Star says UFO experts have claimed classified papers to be released by President Trump on the JFK assassination will prove the existence of aliens and their connection to the murder.
