Can Britain’s Economy Be Saved?

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at the uncertain future of Britain’s economy, Chad’s deadly crackdown on protests, and Uganda’s spreading Ebola outbreak.

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After a turbulent premiership that lasted just 44 days, Liz Truss abruptly resigned from her post on Thursday, plunging Britain deeper into turmoil and leaving its economy barreling toward a potential recession.

Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are now seen as the front-runners to replace her, and there is also a possibility that Boris Johnson will seek to return to office. It’s unclear if anyone can pull Britain’s battered economy back from the brink. Markets were shaky even before Truss took power, largely thanks to high inflation and an energy crisis that has roiled Europe and is hitting Britain particularly hard.

“The fundamental problem that the U.K. economy has is that the price of energy has gone up by a lot,” said Dan Davies, a managing director at Frontline Analysts. “That’s the fundamental problem; everything else in the economy is just basically how we’re going to spread that problem around.”

As Russia squeezed Europe’s natural gas supply over the war in Ukraine, British households have faced skyrocketing energy bills and double-digit inflation. With winter looming, the country’s electricity operator has also warned of three-hour blackouts in the worst-case scenario that supplies are exhausted.

Now, the question is how Truss’s successor will attempt to wrangle surging prices and stave off recession—or if that’s even possible. “I don’t see any miracle,” Davies said. “I don’t see anyone coming up with a solution that’s just going to turn things around and make everyone think, ‘Oh why didn’t we do that instead?’”

Truss responded to the country’s economic crisis by unveiling a contentious economic agenda that Davies characterized as “intrinsically quite dumb and politically really dumb.” Her plan called for unfunded tax cuts that would have required significant government borrowing in an already uncertain period. 

That unnerved markets and sent the value of the pound collapsing to a record low, forcing the Bank of England to launch an emergency intervention; it also drew public condemnation from the International Monetary Fund. 

Facing mounting criticism and political pressure, she ultimately reversed some of her plans and then fired her first chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, replacing him with Jeremy Hunt last week. Hunt quickly moved to overhaul her entire economic agenda, dealing yet another humiliating blow to the embattled politician. 

The Conservatives are now racing to name a new prime minister; they are expected to confirm a new leader by Oct. 28.

Chad’s brutal crackdown. At least 60 people have died after Chadian authorities violently suppressed protests calling for a faster democratic transition. After officials postponed original election plans by two more years, protesters set fire to the prime minister’s headquarters, marched through city streets, and blocked roads.

They were met with a brutal crackdown that also wounded hundreds of people. “We deplore lethal use of force against protesters,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights tweeted. “We call for calm & all sides to show restraint.”

Uganda’s Ebola outbreak. A World Health Organization (WHO) official has warned that Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is “rapidly evolving” while new cases are detected among people who weren’t in contact with already identified patients. The strain spreading across the country currently has no vaccine, although several vaccines are currently in development stages. 

“We remain concerned that there may be more chains of transmission and more contacts than we know about in the affected communities,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. At least 44 people have died in the current outbreak, according to the WHO. 

Indonesia’s cough syrup sales. Indonesia has temporarily banned cough syrup sales and Indonesian authorities have launched an investigation into the deaths of almost 100 children from acute kidney injuries and more than 200 child kidney injury cases. The ban follows the WHO’s findings in Africa linking certain medicines to child deaths; several Indian-produced medicines were connected to the deaths of as many as 70 children in Gambia due to kidney failure.

Mexico’s disappearances. Mexican activist groups have filed a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to investigate government authorities’ ties to hundreds of drug cartel-related abductions and disappearances. The criminal complaint was filed by the International Federation for Human Rights.

• As War Hits the Homefront, Russia’s Defeat Inches Closer by Alexey Kovalev

• Why Putin’s Nuclear Gambit Is a Huge Mistake by Raphael S. Cohen and Gian Gentile

• Why the World Should Be Worried About Chechnya by Lucian Kim 

Raccoons may be known for ransacking trash cans for their smelly bounty, but in Australia, an unsuspecting creature is quickly developing an even more notorious reputation: cockatoos. According to scientists, the birds have developed a knack for opening the bins, infuriating homeowners—and some are sharing tricks with their fellow cockatoo comrades. 

“They’ve actually started to work in packs,” Edith McNally, a retired school principal, told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s like gang warfare.”