Britain's economy recorded a second quarter of strong growth as it recovered from last year's shallow recession but it lost momentum as it entered the second half of 2024, suggesting the Bank of England remains on course to cut interest rates again, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024 after a 0.7% expansion in the first quarter which was the fastest in more than two years, the Office for National Statistics said.

Despite all its recent freight growth and international expansion plans, Ukrainian Railways now finds itself in a problematic situation, railtech.com reported. The Ukrainian operator says that it is facing potential bankruptcy, after a number of companies have succeeded in annulling a 2021 rail tariff hike via a Kyiv court. Ukrainian Railways announces that it is now in troubled waters, according to a post on its Telegram channel. “Private companies using the courts are trying to reduce tariffs for themselves, which will cause the bankruptcy and shutdown of Ukrainian Railways,” it says.

A former investment firm director has been handed stringent bankruptcy restrictions extended to the maximum of 15 years “to prevent him causing further harm to the public,” the U.K.’s Insolvency Service said in a statement on 12 August, the International Adviser reported. Derby-based Andrew Paul Bird defrauded 13 different parties in an investment scam between 2011 and 2016. The Official Receiver discovered he had knowingly misled investors and exposed them to the risk of losing money for his personal gain, the statement said.