17/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | APR 17, 2026

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BBC to cut up to 2,000 jobs

Trump says will fire Fed chair if he stays beyond mandate WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump renewed pressure on Wednesday on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, with the US leader threatening to fire the central bank chief if he stays beyond his mandate. Powell’s term at the helm of the Fed expires on May 15, although he can remain in his role as chairman if no successor has been confirmed. The central banker also said last month that he would not leave his post as a Fed governor as long as a Justice Department investigation involving him is “well and truly over, with transparency and finality”. It is rare for a former Fed chair to remain on its board after their term as chief expires. Powell’s Fed governor term expires in 2028. “I’ll have to fire him,“ Trump told Fox Business, if Powell “is not leaving on time.” The president added: “I’ve wanted to fire him.” Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Powell over the past year for not cutting interest rates more aggressively. The Trump administration has taken aim at the independent Fed on several levels, initiating an investigation into Powell over renovation cost overruns at the bank and seeking to oust another Fed governor, Lisa Cook. On whether he would drop the Department of Justice probe involving Powell, Trump said: “I’m not playing. I have to find out.” Trump has named former central banker Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell, but he must be confirmed by the US Senate before taking up the role. Warsh has a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee next Tuesday. But he faces an uphill battle with some lawmakers criticising the DOJ probe as political pressure on the central bank. Senator Thom Tillis – a member of Trump’s Republican party who sits on the Senate Banking Committee – has vowed to hold up the nomination as long as the investigation remains unresolved. “I hope that everyone will work to have (Warsh) there on May 16,“ US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a CNBC event on Wednesday, referring to the day after Powell’s term as chairman expires. On the impasse, Trump’s top economics adviser Kevin Hassett told an Axios event: “They’ll work something out. I have high confidence that that will happen.“ “It’s very hard to figure out what rational motive President Trump can have for prolonging this investigation of Jay Powell if it’s going to delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh,“ said David Wessel, a senior fellow at Washington think tank the Brookings Institution. Wessel added that if Trump got US attorney Jeanine Pirro “to back off,“ which observers believe he has the power to do, that would clear the way for Powell’s departure and Warsh’s confirmation. – AFP

o Acting director-general says broadcaster faces ‘significant financial pressures’

LONDON: The BBC said on Wednesday that the British broadcasting corporation is set to cut up to 2,000 jobs amid a challenging media landscape. BBC’s interim director-general Rhodri Talfan Davies said in a statement to staff that “while we still have to work through the detail, we anticipate the overall number of jobs will fall by 1,800-2,000”. The BBC reported the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, saying they amount to “almost one in 10” jobs, since it has about 21,500 employees. The acting director-general said in a message to staff, sent to AFP, that this was because the BBC faces “significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to at pace”. “Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing,” said Talfan Davies, who has taken on the role temporarily. “Inevitably, these plans will also mean reducing the number of jobs

In a report in March the BBC said its income from the licence fee had fallen 24% in real terms since 2017. “We must reduce our total cost base by a further 10% by March 2029 due to licence fee headwinds and other pressures,” the report said, warning “tough choices may require cuts to content and services”. US President Donald Trump has filed a US$10 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster over a documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot, making it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the seat of Congress. The BBC’s former director-general, Tim Davie, resigned over the case and left at the start of April. A new director-general, former Google executive Matt Brittin, is due to take over at the BBC next month, with his appointment announced as leading the corporation “through transformation”. – AFP

in the BBC,” he added in a message that he said followed an all-staff call. The BBC has to cut £500 million from its operating costs of £5 billion “over the next two years”, the director-general said. The BBC had previously said it has to find ways to shave 10% off its costs over the next three years. The job cuts will be the biggest round of redundancies at the broadcasting corporation in almost 15 years, ITV News and The Press Association (PA) news agency reported. In 2011, the BBC announced it would cut 2,000 jobs over the next five years and relocate some staff away from London. Talfan Davies told BBC radio “there are going to be some big

and some difficult choices”. The head of the Bectu union for media workers, Philippa Childs, said “cuts of this magnitude will be devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole”. The general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Laura Davison, condemned the cuts, which she said were “wrong, damaging and will cause uncertainty and distress for workers at the BBC”. The job losses come as the BBC faces a turbulent media landscape, affected by AI and changing consumer habits. The BBC is funded by the public paying for a licence to view live content. It says 94% of UK adults use its services every month.

Merz praises Lufthansa on centenary as strikes ruin party FRANKFURT: Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday praised “the strategic importance” of Lufthansa as the German airline giant marked its centenary, but the celebrations were marred by a wave of recent strikes. “Lufthansa provides technical and logistical support for the German government fleet,“ Merz said at Frankfurt Airport. “It also modifies and maintains the armed forces’ transport, The hundredth anniversary of Europe’s biggest aviation group – which also operates Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines and has acquired a stake in Italy’s ITA – comes as thousands of flights have been cancelled in a wave of strikes this year. Both pilots and cabin crew have repeatedly walked out due to disputes over pay and pensions. Pilots from the main airline as well as some subsidiaries are set to strike again later this week, having already stopped work earlier in the week. An AFP photographer saw hundreds of people dressed in yellow vests that carry the logos of the cabin crew and pilot unions protesting outside the event. speech, the head of Lufthansa’s supervisory board Karl-Ludwig Kley called on Merz to make it harder for workers to go on strike. If the government did not take action to tighten laws on walkouts, the situation could “develop into an even bigger competitive disadvantage for our country,“ he warned. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr (third from left) and Merz pose for pictures during celebrations marking Lufthansa’s 100th anniversary in Frankfurt. – REUTERSPIC

Citing a letter to employees, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Wednesday that Lufthansa had warned of the need to cut costs and was limiting hiring in response to the Middle East war. – AFP

Unions accuse Lufthansa of refusing to put good revised offers on the table, while the group has accused the unions of “absurd” behaviour. Opening the celebrations with a

The first strike of the year began in February, with almost 800 flights cancelled on a single day affecting about 100,000 passengers as pilots and cabin crew walked out.

reconnaissance and refueling aircraft. The civilian know-how of your company strengthens our country’s ability to defend itself”.