Economy
UK could fully nationalize struggling British Steel, Starmer says
The U.K. could fully nationalize struggling steelmaker British Steel under new plans announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said Monday it had not been possible to sell the Chinese-owned business the government saved from closure last year.
Starmer said his government would bring in new legislation to allow it to take ownership of the steelworks based at Scunthorpe, northern England, ensuring the country does not lose its last remaining primary steelmaking capability.
Any decision will be based on a public interest test being met, which would consider national security, maintaining critical national infrastructure and supporting the economy.
The steelworks supply the rail, construction, and automotive industries, but have in recent years struggled with high energy costs in Britain and a glut of steel in the global market.
“Steel is strategically important to our economy and our national resilience,” said Starmer, who was making a speech defending his leadership.
In April 2025, the government seized operational control of British Steel from its Chinese owners, Jingye, to stop the furnaces from being shut and to protect 2,700 jobs at the plant and thousands of related jobs in the supply chain.
In the months since, it has been looking for a private sector partner to secure the future of British Steel, which was privatized under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1988.
Starmer said negotiations with Jingye had shown a commercial sale was not possible at this time, as any agreement would not deliver acceptable value for money for taxpayers.
Business minister Peter Kyle did not rule out private sector involvement in the future.
“The government recognizes that securing the long-term future of the U.K.’s steel sector relies on both public and private investment for modernization,” he said in a statement.
The cost of supporting British Steel is set to reach 615 million pounds ($836 million) by June, according to the country’s spending watchdog.
Inflation in the U.S. slowed in July and a measure of underlying price pressures also cooled, according to official data Wednesday that suggested higher oil and gas prices from the Iran war were only having a limited impact on broader costs in the economy.
Consumer prices rose 3.4% last month from a year ago, down slightly from 3.5% in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday. But inflation is still higher than before the Iran war began in February, when it was 2.4%. On a monthly basis, prices rose just 0.1% from June to July.
The modest decline could ease pressure on the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve (Fed) and may give them some room to maneuver ahead of potential rate hikes.
Yet prices are still rising more quickly than average wages, underscoring the struggle many Americans have had with more expensive groceries, gas, and health care, trends that have taken on a high profile in the fast-approaching midterm elections.
U.S. households have been battered by more than five years of elevated prices since the pandemic hit, and the July data is still well above the Fed’s long-term 2% target.
President Donald Trump’s Republicans are facing a stern test in upcoming midterm elections, with Democrats seeking to wrest control of Congress over his handling of the world’s largest economy.
Inflation has surged since Trump launched the war on Iran, with Tehran’s retaliatory action virtually blocking the critical Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of global energy supplies normally transit.
Consumer inflation came in at 2.4% in February, before spiking to a three-year high of 4.2% in May.
In July, energy prices continued to lead the line in terms of price increases, with gasoline prices – a sensitive political issue – up 24.6% from a year ago.
Fuel oil, used by households for heating and in various industrial applications, was up 39.1% from the year before.
Still, the energy index overall was 1.5% lower than a month ago, indicating a downward trajectory for prices of those commodities as talks to end the war continue.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation also slipped to 2.5% in July from a year ago, down from 2.6% in June.
Core prices rose 0.2% from June to July. Monthly increases at about 0.2% would be low enough over time to bring inflation closer to the Fed’s 2% goal.
Still, oil prices remain elevated and gas prices rose in late July and August, suggesting overall inflation could accelerate next month. On Wednesday, gas averaged $4.04 a gallon nationwide, 16 cents higher than a month ago, according to the motor club AAA.
Key questions for Fed policymakers
Inflation has been pushed higher by a series of shocks to the economy, including Trump’s tariffs imposed last spring, higher gas prices stemming from the Iran war, and a surge in investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure that has boosted computer chip prices.
The key question for the policymakers at the Fed – not to mention for consumers struggling with high gas and grocery prices – is how quickly those one-time effects will fade or whether they will lead to persistently rising prices.
Wednesday’s figures could bolster officials at the Fed who believe the central bank can leave its key rate on hold at about 3.6% while inflation steadily declines on its own as those temporary factors fade.
Overall, price increases have stayed above the Fed’s 2% target for more than five years, suggesting that more than temporary factors may be at work. The cost of services such as health care, restaurant meals, and car maintenance are on average rising at more than 3% annually, and they aren’t particularly sensitive to gas prices or AI investment.
Rising costs for services often reflect higher wages, as companies charge more to offset the cost of higher pay. But incomes aren’t growing fast enough to sustain inflation, economists note.
It’s a confounding situation that has left many economists – and Fed officials – seeking more information to determine where inflation is headed.
“You’ve got all these things that are just not the way the economy used to behave,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, said.
For many consumers, years of sharply rising grocery prices have led them to adopt a wide range of coping strategies, from comparison shopping to couponing, to cutting back on favorite foods.
Many firms still pass on higher costs
Some retailers, such as Walmart, have responded by rolling back food prices, a trend that could have lowered July’s inflation figures. Yet many other firms are still passing on higher costs.
Paint company Sherwin-Williams is planning an 8% price increase effective Sept. 1 to offset higher raw material costs, CEO Heidi Petz told analysts late last month. She said that because of the company’s strong relationships with suppliers, it was able to delay price increases until now.
“We are seeing the impact of higher oil and related cost pressures, and we expect continued volatility throughout the balance of the year,” she said.
Wednesday’s report comes as the Federal Reserve is sharply divided over whether it should hike its key interest rate to combat inflation. The Fed kept its rate unchanged, at about 3.6%, at a meeting late last month. But the vote was 9-3, with three dissenters favoring a rate hike.
And at a July 29 news conference explaining the decision, chair Kevin Warsh was vague about the Fed’s next steps, in keeping with his focus on reining in the central bank’s previous willingness to signal whether it was prepared to raise or cut borrowing costs.
“If inflation continues to be elevated… interest rates could well be part of that solution,” he said. “But I wouldn’t say it’s in isolation.”
Long-term interest rates rose after Warsh’s comments, suggesting investors worried that inflation could worsen in the coming months and the Fed might not lift borrowing costs to fight rising prices.
Complicating matters, the government said last week that employers had cut jobs in July, a sign of potential economic weakness. The Fed typically avoids rate hikes when hiring is faltering, because higher borrowing costs could slow the economy further.
Türkiye’s pharma industry, one of the leading in the region and Europe, has seen a notable increase in R&D spending over the 2020-2024 period, according to a report on Tuesday.
The pharmaceutical industry’s R&D expenditures increased 8.3 times between 2020 and 2024, rising from TL 676.2 million (about $14.2 million in current prices) to TL 5.6 billion.
According to a compilation by Anadolu Agency (AA) from a recent review report published by the Turkish Competition Board (RK), the pharmaceutical industry is identified as a field requiring significant investment capital, employing advanced technology and carrying out intensive R&D activities in recent years.
With the advancement of technology, the pharmaceutical industry is developing products not only to treat diseases but also to improve the quality of life.
Companies that develop new products and market reference drugs protected by patents, and therefore place a strong emphasis on R&D activities, are defined as originator pharmaceutical companies.
Accordingly, the increase in R&D investments contributes to the introduction of new medicines and greater product diversity in the short term, while in the long term it creates the conditions for stronger competition among originator and generic drugs.
Global firms’ increasing share in market
According to the latest data included in the report, companies ranked among the world’s top 50 pharmaceutical companies by sales last year accounted for 88% of the U.S. pharmaceutical market and 49% of the Turkish market.
This indicates that globally operating pharmaceutical companies hold a significant share of the Turkish market, while domestic and other international companies continue to maintain strong positions.
Spending on pharmaceutical development has also been rising steadily, alongside drug sales.
Global pharmaceutical R&D spending increased by 3% in 2025 compared with the previous year, reaching $201.3 billion. The U.S. ranked first in global R&D spending, with $130.1 billion.
Increasing domestic production as key objective
The pharmaceutical sector in Türkiye also stands out for its high value-added production structure, skilled employment capacity and R&D-intensive activities.
Under the 12th Development Plan, the objectives in this area include increasing domestic production capacity, reducing dependence on foreign sources and strengthening the country’s capacity to develop innovative medicines.
The total size of Türkiye’s pharmaceutical market, which stood at TL 56 billion in 2020, reached TL 479 billion last year.
The country’s pharmaceutical R&D expenditures also increased steadily between 2020 and 2024. While the sector spent some TL 676.2 million on research and development activities in 2020, this figure rose by 723% to TL 5.6 billion in 2024.
In other words, the sector’s R&D spending increased 8.3-fold over the five-year period.
Domestically manufactured medicines surpass imported drugs
In addition to R&D, production and foreign trade have also drawn attention in the sector.
During the 2020-2025 period, domestically manufactured medicines accounted for a larger share of the overall market than imported medicines, both in terms of sales value and number of packages sold.
Global footwear brand Skechers has launched a new shoe featuring a hidden compartment enabling the integration of location-tracking technology, allowing parents to follow their children’s location.
The new “Where’s My Skechers?” model incorporates a dedicated compartment under the heel of the insole that has a screw-tight cover that hides the locator tag.
Tracking tags and mini screwdrivers are sold separately.
The feature is designed to help parents monitor their children’s whereabouts in environments where they can easily become separated, such as parks, shopping malls, school trips, airports and other crowded public venues.
Skechers said the product combines comfort with technology, enabling parents to check their child’s location through compatible devices such as Apple’s AirTag when needed while allowing children to move freely throughout the day.
AirTags, introduced in 2021, are primarily designed to help users locate personal belongings but have increasingly been incorporated into various accessories.
Senior U.S. and Canadian trade officials are working to finalize a potential agreement that could be presented to U.S. President Donald Trump as early as Monday, Canada’s CBC reported, citing unnamed sources.
The Tuesday report said that the joint proposal could reach Trump at least a day before an Aug. 19 deadline, giving him time to make a final decision before new 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian imports are set to take effect.
Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer LeBlanc are meeting in Washington on Tuesday, their third face-to-face meeting in three weeks. LeBlanc’s trip was delayed after his flight was diverted to Montreal on Monday due to severe weather.
Canada’s chief trade negotiator, Janice Charette, also spent Monday in Washington meeting with U.S. trade officials. Neither LeBlanc nor Charette will comment on the negotiations, the report said.
Beyond seeking to prevent new tariffs, Canada wants relief from U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber, and autos, and hopes the talks will lead to an extension of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.
Last month, Washington also announced additional tariffs of 50% on certain Canadian goods, covering products ranging from wine and hockey sticks to cement, according to the White House.
Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis, European countries are facing fresh questions about natural gas security as the war in the Middle East grinds on.
Surging prices due to Iran’s closure of the Straits of Hormuz are keeping liquefied natural gas (LNG) stocks unusually low, with winter just months away.
That raises the spectre of both supply difficulties and prices remaining well above pre-crisis levels, just as colder Continental weather drives up demand.
Stockpiles slump
Besides its use in heating and producing electricity, gas also powers many factories across Europe.
Summer is traditionally when energy firms take advantage of lower prices to fill LNG storage tanks, preparing for higher winter demand.
In a typical year, storage sites would be filled to “around 75% to 80%,” said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
Currently, the level is just 58% – the lowest since 2021 – according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, an industry association cited by the resources consulting firm Kpler.
Why?
“The European Union ended last winter with underground gas storage at only 28%, significantly lower than in previous years,” said Ronald Pinto, an analyst at Kpler First.
European imports were curtailed by the U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran, which led Tehran to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf tanker traffic.
That halted gas shipments from Qatar, a key European supplier, driving up prices of contracts for future delivery, the main way of buying LNG on global markets.
“Italy, Poland and Belgium, contracted buyers of Qatari LNG, have borne the direct losses, as they have been unable to import any Qatari LNG volumes since April 2 – the date on which Italy received its last vessel loaded with Qatari LNG,” Pinto said.
Pricing pain
European buyers had hoped prices would ease by summer, allowing them to fill storage tanks later for less.
The Dutch TTF contract – the benchmark for European gas – for September delivery is currently trading between 55 euros ($63.4) and 58 euros per megawatt-hour.
The cost was just 30 euros before the Middle East war, and as low as 15-20 euros before the war in Ukraine.
An EU Commission spokesperson expressed confidence that filling storage tanks to 80% of capacity “is sufficient to secure winter supply and it is technically achievable.”
Europe has significantly ramped up its import capacity since the war in Ukraine, which prompted it to slash its Russian gas supplies.
Russia still supplies around 12% of the bloc’s gas imports, according to the European Council, but by the end of 2027 it will ban them completely.
“It is also worth noting that EU gas demand has decreased by 17% compared to pre-crisis levels” before 2022, the spokesperson added.
Austerity in store?
Analysts are not so sanguine.
“Supply risks to Europe remain elevated amid reduced LNG availability from the Middle East,” Rystad Energy analyst Antonia Syn said in a recent market update.
Gas infrastructure routinely experiences breakdowns or technical disruptions that halt flows.
And severe cold in the United States – now Europe’s biggest single supplier – could divert its supplies to domestic buyers.
Asian countries that usually buy from Gulf suppliers could also turn to U.S. or other sources, driving up prices to painful levels for European buyers.
So the longer Europe waits to fill up storage sites, the bigger the risks.
“We believe this wait-and-see approach has kept TTF prices from reflecting a scenario of extreme gas scarcity during the winter period,” said Pinto at Kpler First.
He expects average monthly prices to remain at 55 to 62 euros per MW/h through the rest of the year.
“For now we’re seeing LNG go more to Asia than to us, because prices are even higher there,” Corbeau said.
“If stocks are down, if the winter is rough and some other problem happens, we’ll have to start thinking about conservation measures,” she warned, as was the case across Europe in 2022.
Türkiye expects to double natural gas output from its flagship gas field in the Black Sea after deploying its first floating production platform later this year, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Tuesday.
Preparations for the Osman Gazi are nearing completion at Filyos Port on the Black Sea coast, where it is being readied for a send-off, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement.
The reserves Türkiye has discovered in the Black Sea since 2020 are estimated at approximately 785 billion cubic meters (bcm). The Sakarya Gas Field alone accounts for about 710 bcm.
The reserves are key to Türkiye’s push to curb its heavy dependence on imported energy. Natural gas, along with crude oil, constitutes the largest item in its energy import bill, which was $62 billion last year.
The Sakarya field accounted for about 6.6% of Türkiye’s 53 bcm gas consumption last year, according to calculations.
Current production from the field stands at 9.5 million cubic meters per day. Osman Gazi is expected to double that output once it enters service.
The platform is planned to be dispatched to its operating location at the end of September and commissioned in the final quarter of the year, Bayraktar said on the social media platform X.
Final stages
As part of the final outfitting process, engineers completed the installation of Osman Gazi’s flare tower, a critical safety component designed to safely vent and burn excess hydrocarbon gases during emergency situations while maintaining safe operating pressure.
The installation required two heavy-lift cranes with lifting capacities of 3,500 tons and 800 tons.
The completed flare tower stands 96 meters (314.96 feet) high, weighs 260 tons and occupies a base area of approximately 65 square meters.
The ministry described the operation as one of the final major stages before the platform begins offshore operations.
Production targets
Bayraktar said doubling production would enable the Sakarya field to supply natural gas to 8 million households.
Türkiye currently uses production from the Black Sea field to meet the gas needs of around 4 million households.
Bayraktar said Türkiye eventually plans to commission a second, higher-capacity floating production platform by 2028, increasing daily output to 45 million cubic meters.
At that level, domestic production from the Black Sea would be sufficient to meet the natural gas demand of 17 million households, he said.
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