Caroline Hepker

Now, the British Prime Minister has labelled comments on immigration made by Manchester United's co-owner Jim Ratcliffe as offensive and wrong.

A spokesperson for Number 10 also called on the billionaire boss of Ineos Chemicals to apologise for the remarks made during an interview with Sky News.

During the conversation, Ratcliffe said that the UK couldn't sustain its current population growth.

In that interview with Sky News, Jim Ratcliffe went on to argue that Keir Starmer needs to make difficult decisions to get the UK back on track.

Data from the Office for National Statistics estimates the UK population in mid-2025 was 69.4 million, almost 3 million higher than in 2020.

Several Manchester United supporters clubs have condemned the comments as well as the Kick It Out campaign against discrimination in sport.

WhatsApp says that Russia has tried to fully block its encrypted messaging service in the country.

WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, said in a statement on Wednesday that it's trying to keep more than 100 million Russian users connected.

The Russian government is trying to drive the adoption of a new state-sponsored app called Max, modelled on China's WeChat, while it is also trying to choke off access to other foreign-owned services, including Telegram.

Those are some of our top stories for you this morning.

In terms of the markets, Asian equities have had a hugely impressive start to the year in terms of the rally that we've seen.

Meanwhile, AI taking a bite out of more industries, including U.S.

real estate names and Dassault Systems yesterday in Europe.

Very hot U.S.

jobs report yesterday means that traders are pricing in a rate cut from the Fed now in July.

So not until then.

And a number of earnings out today, AB InBev, Siemens and Mercedes-Benz.

Siemens actually raising its outlook.

So a sort of validation for Roland Busch's push to reshape the company.

Mercedes-Benz expects margins to remain under pressure this year.