Friday newspaper round-up: China, 'Stealth tax raid', Tapestry

(Sharecast News) - Joe Biden has called China a "ticking time bomb in many cases" because of its economic challenges, saying the country was in trouble because of weak growth. The US president pointed to the country's high unemployment and ageing workforce, saying: "China is in trouble." "They have got some problems. That's not good, because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things," Biden said at a political fundraiser in Utah on Thursday. He said he did not want to hurt China and wanted a rational relationship with the country.- Guardian

Rishi Sunak's stealth tax raid has seen payments to the Exchequer surge by 40pc since the pandemic, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) analysis shows. Payments of taxes on earnings and wealth - such as income tax and capital gains tax - were up by 39.2pc in the first quarter of this year compared with the final months of 2019, the OECD found. The tax burden on households has shot up more quickly in the UK than in other big rich economies, analysts said, despite all facing similar blows from Covid-19. - Daily Telegraph

Top brands including Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors and Kate Spade will be brought together under one roof in a £7billion luxury mega-merger. Tapestry, the parent company behind the designer handbag seller Coach, is set to buy Capri Holdings creating a new US fashion powerhouse. New York-listed Tapestry owns brands including Kate Spade and shoe firm Stuart Weitzman, as well as Coach, whose bags are advertised by singer Jennifer Lopez. - Daily Mail

West African leaders have ordered a standby force to be immediately activated for possible use against coup leaders in Niger after the junta defied the bloc's deadline to reinstate the ousted president.Speaking after an emergency summit of the bloc, President Tinubu of Nigeria said "no option is taken off the tables, including the use of force as the last resort". An official communiqué was read out at the gathering of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in Abuja, which included a resolution asking the bloc's defence chiefs to "activate the Ecowas Standby Force with all its elements immediately". - The Times

The social media company formerly known as Twitter, now called X, will introduce video calls to its platform as executives led by Elon Musk attempt to transform it into an "everything app". X plans to launch the feature and enable users to ring one another without providing a phone number, Linda Yaccarino, its chief executive, said. Yaccarino, 59, the veteran advertising executive hired by Musk to revive the platform's fortunes, also claimed in an interview yesterday that brands including Coca-Cola and Visa had returned to Twitter. - The Times