of the military coup in myanmar the un says security forces have shot dead at least 18 protesters. and the coronation street actorjohnny briggs, who played mike baldwin in the itv soap, has died at the age of 85. good afternoon. the chancellor rishi sunak says people should be reassured by his plans in this week s budget. mr sunak said he would continue to support families and businesses hit by coronavirus, but wanted to level with people that more challenging times could lie ahead as we emerge from the pandemic. he also announced a £5 billion grant scheme, to help pubs, restaurants, shops, and other businesses in england to re open. here s our political correspondentjonathan blake. closed for business and struggling to survive, but some comfort for companies hit hard by the pandemic as the government offers £5 billion worth of grants part, the chancellor says, of his promise to do whatever it takes to keep the economy going. and ahead of the budget a signal that he ll ke
to best open the price collapsing. normally they have their run of the world. this go-round though, there s been a change. a number of social media investment sites to pop up to challenge the guys shorting the stocks. it s a battle royale. the biggest hedge funds in the world are taking it on the chin. talk that maybe some of them needed rescuing because it was getting that bad. but if you re an owner of a game stock or amc or blackberry or these other names that have benefitted from this battle against those betting on their prices going down, it was heaven for you. the frenzied buying the likes of which we have never seen in these size issues that were dwarfing trading volume to the amazons or the apple. some of these guys at some point trading ten times the volume. in other words, people buying, selling, getting in and out. ten times what they do in a name like amazon. it s remarkable. so far it s already got the attention of elizabeth warren that says we need to look into
we start with an epic battle raging on wall street that has seen small time amateur investors take on the titans of the hedge fund industry. it s all centred around this company the struggling us computer game retailer gamestop. it shares have soared at much as 1700% after a group of private investors used online forums to drive up their price. and that has raised serious questions about how financial markets operate in the era of social media, as paul hawkins reports. this is a story of david versus goliath, of the amateur online investor beating the big traditional wall street traders. at the centre of it, gamestop, a struggling american retailer selling dvds and video games. a number of the wall street traders picked up on its problems and bet money that its share price would fall, known in the business as shorting a stock. only for this particular stock, amateur investors swapping tips on the social media site reddit saw it as an opportunity. they bought shares, which a
year since he was sworn into office. he says his administration has outperformed since that time and blames president trump and the republicans for any shortcomings. carley: brooke has reaction, first we begin with griff jenkins. a lot to talk about this morning. griff: a whole lot. the president begins a new year with another legislative failure, even before the vote was called over changing the filibuster rules, senator joe manchin labeled it dead on arrival. it will fuel on the fire. griff: the president tweeting this, i am profoundly disappointed the senate failed to stand up for our democracy. i am disappointed, but not deterred. this after the president defended his performance. president biden: i outperformed what anybody thought would happen. you mentioned number of deaths from covid. it was three times that not long ago. it s coming down, everything is changing. griff: as far as the direction he wants to take the country in, he had this exchange with pete
anti government protests, according to media reports citing health officials. if confirmed, it would mark a sharp rise from the previous figure of 44 deaths. almost 6,000 people have been arrested, including a substantial number of foreign nationals , kazakhstan s presidential office said on sunday. the demonstrations, triggered by a rise in fuel prices, turned into huge riots as they spread across the country. kazakhstan has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. it produces 1.6 million barrels of oil a day and has attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. however, the wealth has not trickled down to the population, who have an average income of less than $3,400 a year. joining me now is philip worman, managing director, gpw group, a political risk consulting firm. welcome to you, thanks very much for being with us. tell us more about what sparked this unrest, because it is notjust about fuel prices, is at? ma. about fuel prices, is at? no, the raw materi