Ukraine is fighting for its survival and is desperate for cash, but that isn’t deterring London hedge-fund manager Richard Deitz from demanding money back from an ill-fated investment there, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Deitz’s VR Capital has a long history of making money in countries going through upheaval. His fund paid $123 million in 2019 to buy distressed loans issued by state-owned Ukrainian Railways, hoping they could work out a repayment and get a double-digit return.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender expects the housing market to slow in the coming year, as rising interest rates make loans more expensive for borrowers and property prices finally begin to fall, Bloomberg News reported. Charlie Nunn, chief executive officer of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, said the bank’s open mortgage book rose just 1% in the three months through June and now stands at £296.6 billion.

U.K. satellite operator OneWeb plans to join forces with European rival Eutelsat in a deal the two companies hope will help them take on Elon Musk’s SpaceX, CNBC.com reported. The all-stock merger will see Eutelsat issue 230 million new shares and exchange them for all remaining shares of OneWeb, according to a press release Tuesday. Shareholders of OneWeb and Eutelsat will own 50% of the combined firm, respectively. The deal values OneWeb at $3.4 billion.

British former finance minister Rishi Sunak said his first economic priority if he becomes prime minister will be tackling high inflation, not the tax cuts pledged by some of his rivals in the race to replace Boris Johnson, Reuters reported. British consumer price inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, and the Bank of England forecasts it will exceed 11% in October when regulated household energy tariffs increase next. "I think our number one economic priority is to tackle inflation and not make it worse," Sunak told BBC radio on Thursday.

Train drivers at eight British rail companies will go on strike later this month in the second large-scale industrial action set to affect commuters in July, the Associated Press reported. The Aslef train drivers’ union said Thursday its members will walk out for 24 hours on July 30 over pay disputes. The disruptions, which come during the busy summer holidays, are expected to affect sports fans attending the Commonwealth Games, which kick off in Birmingham on July 28, and the opening weekend of the English Football League.

Boris Johnson said Thursday that he would step down as British prime minister, following a wide-scale rebellion in his party, the Wall Street Journal reported. The step bookends an extraordinary 36 hours in British politics in which more than 50 ministers and senior government aides resigned, leaving the British government in a state of paralysis. Mr. Johnson said he would appoint a new cabinet as he stays in office until a successor has been found, a process that could take some months.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak resigned on Tuesday, saying he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that "we cannot continue like this," Reuters reported. "The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning," he said on Twitter.

The Bank of England warned on Tuesday that the economic prospects for Britain and the world had darkened since the start of the year and told banks to ramp up capital buffers to ensure they could weather the storm, Reuters reported. International institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and OECD say Britain is more susceptible to recession and persistently high inflation than other Western economies, which are all grappling with global energy and commodity market shocks. "The global economic outlook has deteriorated markedly.

Britain's economy is struggling under the strain of two major risks in the form of double-digit inflation and a possible recession, leaving the Bank of England in a dilemma about how much further it should raise interest rates, Reuters reported. The BoE has raised borrowing costs five times since December and its next scheduled rates announcement is on Aug. 4. The central bank has said that it will act "forcefully" - in other words, increase rates more steeply - if inflation pressures turn more persistent.

Council leaders in England have said a multibillion-pound financial crisis caused by rising inflation could make local services unviable and even lead to local authorities going bankrupt, unless the government offers emergency funding, the Guardian reported. The cross-party Local Government Association (LGA) said local services that were seemingly secure just three months ago were now at risk of closure or cuts as councils scramble to manage an unforeseen £2.4bn rise in energy and pay costs.