World News
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is richer than King Charles III, here is how he built his fortune
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Steph Deschamps / October 26, 2022
Rishi Sunak was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King Charles III on October 25, 2022. The new head of government is richer than the British monarch: he and his wife Akshata Murty have a considerable fortune, estimated at about 837 million euros. Here’s how they built it.
Rishi Sunak is too rich to be Prime Minister. The man referred to by the British newspaper The Times , in this article published in April 2022, was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the equivalent of the Minister of Finance in the United Kingdom. But since then, the then head of government, Boris Johnson, has resigned, Liz Truss, who succeeded him, has resigned and Rishi Sunak was appointed Prime Minister by King Charles III (who meanwhile succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September) on October 25, 2022.
The new Conservative head of government is richer than the monarch: the couple he forms with his wife, Akshata Murty, is said to be worth £730 million, or €840 million. That’s about twice as much as Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, according to the local daily The Guardian …
To understand the origins of Rishi Sunak’s fortune, one must first delve into his history. The 42-year-old, who comes from a family of Indian immigrants who settled in East Africa and then in the United Kingdom, was born in Southampton, in the south of England. His father was a doctor; his mother a pharmacist. He first studied at Winchester College, a prestigious private school. His parents were able to pay for his education by saving and making financial “sacrifices,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Rishi Sunak went on to study at Oxford University, another elite institution, before joining the investment bank Goldman Sachs, where he worked as an analyst. After returning to school at Stanford University in the United States, he returned to the world of finance, joining several investment funds. It was there, in the City, the financial heart of London, that he built part of his fortune, notes the British daily The Independent.
In 2009, Rishi Sunak got married. He married Akshata Murty, whom he had met five years earlier in California, at Stanford. Indian businesswoman, who has since become a fashion designer, she is very, very wealthy. Notably because she holds shares worth nearly a billion euros in Infosys, the Indian technology giant co-founded by her father, N.R. Narayana Murthy.
As a result, in 2022, the couple entered the list of the richest personalities in the United Kingdom drawn up by the newspaper The Sunday Times. According to the same media, the couple’s fortune was almost twice as high as that of Queen Elizabeth II: 730 million pounds against 370 million pounds (424 million euros). Still according to The Guardian, Akshata Murty also holds “almost as much property” as the former British sovereign …
But with fortune also comes controversy. In April, the British press revealed that Akshata Murty, who has lived in the U.K. for nine years, has a tax status that allows her to avoid being taxed on income earned abroad… It’s all legal, but it doesn’t sit well with the public in a U.K. hard hit by inflation, and while her husband is Minister of Finance – a position he held from February 2020 to July 2022.
Rishi Sunak denounced a “smear campaign” and his wife subsequently decided to domicile her income overseas. “I’m doing it because I want to, not because the regulations force me to,” she said at the time in remarks reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
All these elements explain why the British media regularly question the fortune of the man who was elected MP for the first time in 2015. Many commentators wonder if with such wealth, he is precisely “too rich” to take the helm of government and well perceive the financial difficulties faced by many in the country.
On the whole, people in Britain don’t think that being rich is a bad thing or disqualifies you,” said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, interviewed by the American daily The Washington Post. A lot of very wealthy people are popular, among the general public. But what people don’t like are rich people who make rules for themselves. [… People think they don’t mind if a wealthy person is a politician as long as they pay their taxes. It really annoys them when they don’t. »
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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