US economy grew a surprisingly strong 3.3% in year’s end, far better than expected

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2024

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The nations economy grew at an unexpectedly brisk 3.3% annual pace from October through December as Americans showed a continued willingness to spend freely despite high interest rates and price levels that have frustrated many households.

Thursdaysreport from the Commerce Departmentsaid the gross domestic product the economys total output of goods and services decelerated from its sizzling 4.9% growth rate the previous quarter.

But the latest figures still reflected the surprising durability of the worlds largest economy, marking the sixth straight quarter in which GDP has grown at an annual pace of 2% or more.

Consumers, who account for about 70% of the total economy, drove the fourth-quarter growth.

Their spending expanded at a 2.8% annual rate, for items ranging from clothing, furniture, recreational vehicles and other goods to services like hotels and restaurant meals.

The GDP report also showed that despite the robust pace of growth in the October-December quarter, inflationary measures continued to ease.

Consumer prices rose at a 1.7% annual rate, down from 2.6% in the third quarter.

And excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation came in at a 2% annual rate.

Those inflation numbers could reassure the Federal Reserves policymakers, who have already signaled that they expect to cut their benchmark interest rate three times in 2024, reversing their 2022-2023 policy of aggressively raising rates to fight inflation.

Although GDP growth came in hotter than expected in the fourth quarter, underlying inflation continued to slow,’ said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics. The upshot is that an early spring rate cut by the Fed is still the most likely outcome.

The state of the economy is sure to weigh on peoples minds ahead of the November elections. Afteran extended period of gloom, Americans are starting to feel somewhat better about inflation and the economy a trend that could sustainconsumer spending, fuel economic growth and potentially affect voters decisions.

Ameasure of consumer sentimentby the University of Michigan, for example, has jumped in the past two months by the most since 1991.

There is growing optimism that the Fed is on track to delivera rare soft landing keeping borrowing rates high enough to cool growth, hiring and inflation yet not so much as to send the economy into a tailspin.

Inflation touched a four-decade high in 2022 buthas since edged steadily lowerwithout the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices.

The economy has repeatedly defied predictions that the Feds aggressive rate hikes would trigger a recession.

Far from collapsing last year, the economy accelerated expanding 2.5%, up from 1.9% in 2022.

Our expectation is for a soft landing, and it looks like things are moving that way, said Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at US Bank. Still, Bovino expects the economy to slow somewhat this year as higher rates weaken borrowing and spending.

People are going to get squeezed, she said.

The economys outlook had looked far bleaker a year ago.

As recently as April 2023, an economic model published by the Conference Board, a business group, had pegged the likelihood of a US recession over the next 12 months at close to 99%.

Even as inflation in the United States has slowed significantly, overall prices remain nearly 17% above where they were before the pandemic erupted three years ago, which has exasperated many Americans.

That fact will likely raise a pivotal question for the nations voters, many of whom are still feelingthe lingering financial and psychological effects of the worst bout of inflation in four decades.

Which will carrymore weight in the presidential election: The sharp drop in inflation or the fact that most prices are well above where they were three years ago?

The Fed began raising its benchmark rate in March 2022 in response to the resurgence in inflation that accompanied the economys recovery from the pandemic recession.

By the time its hikes ended in July last year, the central bank had raised its influential rate from near zero to roughly 5.4%, the highest level since 2001.

As the Feds rate hikes worked their way through the economy, year-over-year inflation slowed from 9.1% in June 2022, the fastest rate in four decades, to 3.4% as of last month.

That marked a striking improvement but still leaves that inflation measure above the Feds 2% target.

The progress so far has come at surprisingly little economic cost.

Employers have added a healthy 225,000 jobs a month over the past year.

And unemployment hasremained below 4% for 23 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

The once red-hot job market has cooled somewhat, easing pressure on companies to raise pay to keep or attract employees and then pass on their higher labor costs to their customers through price hikes.

Its happened in perhaps the least painful way: Employers are generally posting fewer job openings rather than laying off workers.

That is partly because many companies are reluctant to risk losing workers after having been caught flat-footed when the economy roared back from the brief but brutal 2020 pandemic recession.

Businesses are getting rid of job openings, but theyre holding onto workers, Bovino said.

Another reason for the economys sturdiness is that consumers emerged from the pandemic in surprisingly good financial shape, partly because tens of millions of households had received government stimulus checks.

As a result, many consumers have managed to keep spending even in the face of rising prices and high interest rates.

Some economists have suggested that the economy will weaken in the coming months as pandemic savings are exhausted, credit card use nears its limits and higher borrowing rates curtail spending.

Still, the government reported last week thatconsumers stepped up their spending at retailersin December, an upbeat end to the holiday shopping season.

Entertainment

Police watchdog closes investigations over decision to charge Caroline Flack

Published

3 hours ago

August 21, 2025

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Police watchdog closes investigations over decision to charge Caroline Flack

The police watchdog has closed its investigations into the circumstances leading up to the decision to charge TV presenter Caroline Flack with assaulting her boyfriend.

Flack died in February 2020, with a coroner ruling that she took her own life after discovering she was definitely going to face a trial.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially recommended a caution after the alleged assault in December 2019 – but London’s Metropolitan Police appealed and the Love Island host was charged with assault by beating.

Various reviews into the way the case was handled have been carried out by the CPS, the Met, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) since Flack’s death. In April 2024, the star’s mother told Sky News she believes her daughter’s celebrity status likely contributed towards the decision to charge her.

It has now emerged that the IOPC closed its latest investigation, relating to the actions of officers in appealing to the CPS, in January 2025 – finding the outcome was “reasonable and proportionate”.

An IOPC spokesperson said it received a complaint referral from the Met, which contained “a number of allegations about the force’s investigation” into the alleged assault, in March 2024.

The majority of the allegations had already been investigated by the force and reviewed by the IOPC, the watchdog said, so it found no further action was required. However, the Met was directed to investigate one aspect of the complaint “on the basis there may be new witness evidence available”.

This related to the actions of officers in appealing the initial CPS decision, and five allegations were returned to the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) to “resolve in a proportionate manner”, the IOPC spokesperson told Sky News.

In June 2024, the Met found there was “no new evidence that would alter any previous outcomes”, the spokesperson added, and the complainant asked the IOPC to review once again.

“Following that review, in January 2025 we found that outcome to be reasonable and proportionate.”

A Met Police spokesperson said DPS officers made further enquiries and examined the evidence last year. “It did not change the original outcome that the service provided by officers was acceptable,” the spokesperson said.

“The family were advised of the outcome in June [2024] and then appealed that outcome to the IOPC. The IOPC carried out a review and, in January 2025, found no new evidence that would alter any of the previous outcomes.”

Both the Met and the IOPC have closed their investigations. The IOPC said another review could be considered in light of any new evidence.

At the end of Flack’s inquest, coroner Mary Hassell said the alleged assault had “played out in the national press” following her arrest and had a serious impact on her mental health.

In April 2024, her mother Christine Flack told Sky News: “This wasn’t domestic violence. This was an accident. But she was portrayed in the court and in the newspapers as a domestic abuser, and that’s what hurts. That’s what I want got rid of – because she wasn’t.”

She said she believed her daughter was treated differently due to her celebrity status. “And that’s not on. She shouldn’t be treated better, but she shouldn’t be treated worse.”

This was not the first investigation into the handling of Flack’s case, with the Met initially referring itself to the watchdog just a few days after her death.

The DPS found there was no misconduct, prompting another complaint from Flack’s family to the IOPC.

In 2023, the IOPC ordered the force to apologise for not recording its reason for appealing against the caution, but said it had not identified any misconduct.

In the days after the TV presenter’s death, the CPS also reviewed its handling of the case.

Flack’s boyfriend, Lewis Burton, had said he did not support the prosecution, and following her death her management released a statement criticising the decision.

At the time, a CPS spokesperson said it was normal practice for prosecutors to hold a debriefing after complex or sensitive cases have ended.

“This has taken place and found that the case was handled appropriately and in line with our published legal guidance,” they said.

Flack, 40, presented shows including spin-offs I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! NOW! and The Xtra Factor, as well as one season of the main X Factor show with former contestant Olly Murs, before becoming best known as the host of Love Island. She also won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.

Sky News has contacted Flack’s family for comment.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

Entertainment

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs judge urged by prosecutors to reject request for acquittal or retrial

Published

3 hours ago

August 21, 2025

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs judge urged by prosecutors to reject request for acquittal or retrial

Prosecutors in the Sean “Diddy” Combs case have urged the judge to reject a request by the hip-hop mogul for acquittal or retrial on prostitution-related charges.

Lawyers for Combs filed the request after he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for engagement in prostitution – for flying girlfriends and male sex workers around the US and abroad for sexual encounters referred to as “freak offs” – at the end of his high-profile trial in New York.

He was cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking. The trial would have been “totally different” if these charges had not been included, his defence team argued, saying they lacked credibility.

Now, prosecutors have responded to the request for the conviction to be thrown out, or for a retrial, saying in a court document that there was “ample evidence” presented during the trial that supported the jury’s convictions.

“[Combs] masterminded every aspect of freak offs,” the document says. “He transported escorts across state lines to engage in freak offs for pay. He directed the sexual activity of escorts… for his own sexual gratification. And he personally engaged in sexual activity during freak offs.”

The two transportation for prostitution charges Combs was convicted of fall under America’s Mann Act, which prohibits interstate commerce related to prostitution.

The rapper’s lawyers have argued that, to their knowledge, he is “the only person” ever convicted of these charges for the conduct he was accused of in court.

“The men chose to travel and engage in the activity voluntarily,” the defence team said in their submission to the judge for acquittal. “The verdict confirms the women were not vulnerable or exploited or trafficked or sexually assaulted during the freak offs or hotel nights.”

In their response, prosecutors said “evidence of the defendant’s guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming”.

Combs, one of the most influential hip-hop producers of all time, is due to be sentenced in October. Each charge carries a potential jail sentence of 10 years.

He would have been facing a mandatory 15 years – and up to life – in prison had he been convicted of the charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, of which he was exonerated.

Combs fell to his knees when the verdicts were read out, and his team later hailed it a “victory”.

The rapper has already served nearly a year at a federal jail in Brooklyn, where he has been since his arrest in September 2024.

He has been in contact with Donald Trump about a pardon, a source close to the rapper’s legal team told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News earlier this month, but the president has cast doubt on this actually happening.

Combs has been denied bail despite arguments by his lawyers that he should face little to no additional jail time for his convictions.

Judge Arun Subramanian, who heard the trial, said Combs has not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community”.

Entertainment

Vienna chosen to host Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Published

3 hours ago

August 21, 2025

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Vienna chosen to host Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Vienna has been chosen to host the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

The capital was selected as Austria’s host city following its Eurovision victory in 2025, where artist JJ won with his song Wasted Love in Basel, Switzerland.

The decision followed a bidding process in which officials evaluated different facilities and their capacity to host delegations, fans, and media.

It will be the third time Vienna has hosted the contest, putting it in joint fourth place among the song contest’s most frequent hosts – alongside Copenhagen, Malmo, and Stockholm.

Only Dublin, London and Luxembourg City have hosted more of the events.

The 70th Eurovision final will take place at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle arena on 16 May.

Austrian broadcaster ORF will host the event.

The director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, said: “The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) is thrilled that Vienna has been selected as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.

“Vienna’s reputation as one of the most musical cities in the world, and its location in the heart of Europe, makes it the perfect host city for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest.”

Mr Green said the city’s “exceptional” Stadthalle was a great venue for the 60th contest in 2015, and organisers are looking forward to welcoming delegations, artists, and fans next May, “as the world’s largest live music event celebrates 70 glorious years of being united by music”.

“Together with host broadcaster ORF and the city of Vienna we will create a spectacular celebration of music that will reverberate across the world.”

Vienna’s City Hall will host the event’s opening ceremony on 10 May, as well as EuroClub, the contest’s pop-up, nightlife spot.

The square outside City Hall will serve as the Eurovision Village, an open-air screening area for the public.

The mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig, said: “In Vienna, we can be proud that our city has been selected by the EBU and ORF as the most suitable host city for one of the world’s largest events.

“We placed great emphasis on offering numerous Eurovision Song Contest events in public spaces that can be visited free of charge.

“As the mayor of Vienna, it is very important to me that cultural events are accessible to everyone, regardless of the size of their wallet.”

Further details, including information about tickets, will be released later this year.

At the 2025 Eurovision final, Israeli singer Yuval Raphael finished in second place after her team reported that she was left “shaken and upset” when pro-Palestinian protesters surged toward a barrier during her performance.

In response to the incident, Swiss police confirmed that two individuals were detained and subsequently released. The event organizer, Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR, said that a crew member was struck with paint but was unharmed.