from new york, the bbc s michelle fleury reports. major western brands have found themselves hit by a grassroots often unplanned boycotts because of their stance on the israel palestine conflict. this includes mcdonald s. the burger chain came a target became a target after videos online showing them giving away thousands of free meals to the members of the israeli military. this resulted in boycotts of the brand. owners and muslim majority countries such as kuwait and pakistan put out statements distancing themselves. in a message on linkedin, mcdonald s ceo wrote that the burger chain is experiencing a meaningful business impacted due to the war and associated misinformation. all of this in the middle east and beyond because of the war in gaza. he added, this is disheartening and ill founded, pointing that many of the restaurants are operated by local owners. he didn t elaborate on the scale of the impact, but mcdonald s has around 2,000 restaurants in the region. it isn
world championship match. hello, i m mark lobel. here in the uk the veteran tv presenter phillip schofield is to step down from the programme this morning with immediate effect after more than 20 years on the itv programme, thatis that is according to the broadcaster. the 61 year old tv presenter will not return to co host the morning talk show with holly willoughby, with thursday s show being his last. in an statement, itv said that holly willoughby will remain on this morning and will co present with members of the this morning family. despite his departure from this morning, phillip schofield will continue to present peak time shows for itv. this is the statement mr schofield has posted on his instagram a short time ago: his long time co host, holly willoughby, posted a statement on instagram, saying: with more on this, we canjoin robin brant in the newsroom. give us a contact for what has happened here. give us a contact for what has ha ened here. ~ . , . ., happened
these are the four areas where voting is being held. they include occupied parts of luhansk and donetsk in the east, and zaporizhzhia and kherson in the south and cover around 15% of ukraine s territory. the so called referendums have been widely condemned. president biden described them as a sham and a false pretext to try to illegally annex parts of ukraine. our correspondentjames waterhouse reports from kyiv. russia s version of their so called referendums a free and fair democratic process where ukrainians in kherson decide whether they want tojoin russia. but, on the same spot today in the city centre, it s deserted. ukrainian officials have posted footage like this. apparently, ballots being taken door to door with the support of armed men. on this unverified cctv clip, a man is asked what apartment he s from. i don t live here. are you sure? yes, he says. he carries on down without looking over his shoulder. we ve spoken to several people under russian occupati
hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. an independent think tank in britain says the uk government s mini budget is likely to leave the vast majority of taxpayers worse off. the chancellor kwasi kwarteng s package of measures include scrapping the top rate of income tax for the highest earners and reducing the basic rate by a penny. the institute for fiscal studies says that only those with incomes of more than 155,000 will be net beneficiaries over the current parliament. ben king reports. here in reading and around the uk, people feel like they could do with a boost. bills are going up and interest rates are rising. across the country as a whole, the economy has been growing too slowly. and the chancellor has come up with a very bold solution tax cuts worth billions of pounds. he plans to cut the basic rate of income tax to 19p and the pound in england, wales and northern ireland next april and abolish the 45p top rate of tack for people ear