Monday briefing: How the government’s debt woes could cost the economy – and Rishi Sunak

In today's newsletter: The prime minister promised to halve inflation this year, and is already struggling. What does that mean for an economy that keeps getting worse?

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Good morning.

You probably don't remember, but last year we ran an edition of this newsletter all about gilts, government borrowing and an economy that was teetering on the edge of a recession. It really felt like, economically speaking, things could not get much worse.

BBC | The BBC has suspended a prominent male presenter and called in the police over allegations that he paid a teenager for sexually explicit images, as the corporation struggles to contain a rapidly escalating crisis. It has been alleged that the unnamed BBC star gave 35,000 over three years to a young person who used the money to fund their crack cocaine habit.

Westminster | The Guardian has revealed that more than 50 MPs have owned stakes in publicly listed companies that raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and that until now have been in effect secret. Parliamentary rules mean MPs' shareholdings, including ones that were held by the former prime minister Theresa May and the former education secretary Gavin Williamson, do not need to be publicly disclosed in parliamentary registers. But as a result voters are left in the dark about some of the financial interests of their elected representatives.

China | Six people have been killed and one person has been injured in an early morning knife attack at a kindergarten in southern China. Local police have said that a 25-year-old man has been detained over the fatal incident.

France | France has banned fireworks outside authorised public displays during the 14 July Bastille Day holiday weekend, amid simmering tensions over last month's police killing of a teenager and a brutal arrest at the weekend leading to fresh allegations of police violence.

Sudan | Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale civil war" that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations has warned, after an airstrike on a residential area killed 22 civilians.