The Jim Bakker Show

France confirms Calais migrant camp shutdown

Migrants pass by a road sign as they leave the northern area of the camp called the "Jungle" in Calais, France,

By Elizabeth Pineau

CALAIS, France (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande said on Monday that France will completely shut down “the Jungle” migrant camp in Calais by year-end and called on London to help deal with the plight of thousands of people whose dream is ultimately to get to Britain.

“The situation is unacceptable and everyone here knows it,” Hollande said on a visit to the northern port city where as many as 10,000 migrants from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan live in squalor.

“We must dismantle the camp completely and definitively,” he said.

France plans to relocate the migrants in small groups around the country but right-wing opponents of the Socialist leader are raising the heat ahead of the election in April, accusing him of mismanaging a problem that is ultimately a British one.

The migrants want to enter Britain, but the government in London argues that migrants seeking asylum need to do so under European Union law in the country where they enter.

Immigration was one of the main drivers of Britain’s vote this year to leave the EU. It is also likely to be major factor in France’s presidential election.

If France stopped trying to prevent migrants from entering Britain, Britain would ultimately find itself obliged to deal with the matter when asylum-seekers land on its shores a short distance by ferry or subsea train from France’s Calais coast.

Hollande bluntly reminded Britain of that, saying that he expected London to fully honor agreements on managing a flow of migrants.

“I also want to restate my determination that the British authorities play their part in the humanitarian effort that France is undertaking and that they continue to do that in the future,” Hollande said.

London and Paris have struck agreements on issues such as the recently begun construction of a giant wall on the approach road to Calais port in an attempt to try to stop migrants who attempt daily to board cargo trucks bound for Britain.

“What happens in the Jungle is ultimately a matter for the French authorities, what they choose to do with it,” a British government spokesman said.

“Our position is very clear: we remain committed to protecting the shared border that we have in Calais,” the spokesman said. He added: “The work that we do with France to maintain the security of that border goes on and will go on, irrespective of what happens to the Jungle camp.”

(Additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Writing by Brian Love; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Brexit not the end of European Union, Juncker says

By Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott

STRASBOURG (Reuters) – The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, sought on Wednesday to rally support for the European Union, saying the bloc battered by the UK Brexit referendum was not about to break up despite its existential crisis.

In setting out the Commission’s plans for the first time since the UK voted to exit the EU on June 23, Juncker highlighted the British referendum as a warning that the EU faces a battle for survival against nationalism in Europe.

“The European Union doesn’t have enough union,” Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, noting his own executive was limited in its response to problems by division among states that was the worst he had seen in three decades in EU politics.

“There are splits out there and often fragmentation exists,” he said. “That is leaving scope for galloping populism.”

But he underlined he believed the world’s biggest trade bloc was still an important force. “The EU as such is not at risk.”

Proof of that, Juncker said, was the success of a new European investment fund that the former Luxembourg premier proposed to double to 630 billion euros ($707 billion) by 2022 to help with a sharp fall in spending since the global financial crisis, helping projects from airports to broadband networks.

The 48-minute speech drew a standing ovation from the main parties in an assembly dominated by supporters of closer European integration, but there was scorn from eurosceptics, including Marine Le Pen, the French National Front leader, and Nigel Farage, the triumphant Brexit campaigner from UKIP.

The pro-Brexit British Conservative leader, Syed Kamall was also dismissive: “Today was billed as a relaunch, but sadly it’s fundamentally the same mantra we’ve heard year after year,” he said, criticizing plans for more EU military cooperation — something long blocked by Britain, whose voice no longer counts.

AFRICA FUND

Juncker also wanted to extend the fund to the private sector in Africa to help curb emigration to Europe, starting with a pot of 44 million euros that could also be doubled later on.

An Africa fund was part of Juncker’s efforts to stress a more positive agenda, particularly over the migration crisis that has deeply divided the European Union. He also had veiled criticism of eastern European countries unwilling to take in refugees from North Africa and the Middle East.

“Solidarity must come from the heart. It cannot be forced,” Juncker said.

But the Juncker address offered few clues to the talks with London that the EU insists cannot start until Prime Minister Theresa May formally sets starts a two-year countdown to British departure. Juncker urged that to be done quickly and reiterated the EU negotiating position that Britain could not retain its full EU market access if it blocks free immigration from the EU.

“There can be no a la carte access to the single market,” he said of British hopes to cut immigration and keep free trade.

A summit of the 27 EU leaders in Bratislava on Friday is also unlikely to shed much light on the Brexit issue. Juncker will travel there to urge national leaders to remember the big picture and stop their “bickering”.

“What are we instilling in terms of values in our children. Is this a union that has forgotten its past, has no vision for the future? Our children deserve better,” Juncker said, speaking of his own father, a war veteran who died last month.

BORDER GUARDS

With Germany and France both facing major elections in the coming year, major changes in the Union are unlikely, but EU officials are concerned that left-right political tensions over fiscal policy in the euro zone or divisions over taking in refugees will jeopardize the cohesion of the bloc.

Juncker also urged states to complete the setting up of a European Border and Coast Guard, a project driven by last year’s chaotic arrival of over a million migrants and refugees, and proposed new cooperation among EU armies, as well as pushing for an acceleration of capital markets union.

Claiming success in fostering investment by the application of seed capital and guarantees from the EU and national governments, the Commission has put the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) at the heart of its economic policy.

Set up last year to run for three years until 2018 with a target of mobilizing 315 billion euros of investment, the current EFSI target is based on 21 billion euros of EU money being leveraged 15 times by other investors.

However, as the EU’s current, seven-year budget program ends in 2020, the total target will rise to 500 billion euros for five years and the Commission will call on member states to add to their contributions.

Brussels says the fund could also serve to bolster Internet connectivity across the bloc.

“We propose today to equip every European city with wireless internet,” Juncker said, revealing the kind of project he hopes can help build some love for the EU among ordinary voters.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Alissa de Carbonnel, Jan Strupczewski, Marilyn Haigh, Francesco Guarascio, Foo Yun Chee and Robin Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Mastercard sued for $19 billion in Britain’s biggest damages claim

By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) – Some 46 million people in Britain could potentially benefit from a legal case brought against Mastercard <MA.N> demanding 14 billion pounds ($19 billion) in damages for allegedly charging excessive fees, according to court documents filed in London.

The case brought by a former chief financial services ombudsman alleges the payments company charged unlawfully high fees to stores when shoppers swiped their debit or credit cards and these were passed on to consumers in higher prices.

Mastercard is alleged to have done this for 16 years between 1992 and 2008, in more than 600 pages of documents filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Thursday.”This was almost an invisible tax,” Walter Merricks, who is bringing the case, told the BBC. “Mastercard has behaved disgracefully in this. They have not had the reasonableness to accept that what this was doing was damaging UK consumers.”

Mastercard said in a statement it denied any wrongdoing.”We continue to firmly disagree with the basis of this claim and we intend to oppose it vigorously,” the world’s second-largest payments network said.

The lawsuit comes after the European Union’s antitrust regulator found in 2014 Mastercard’s fees to store owners to process international payments within the EU were excessive.Law firm Quinn Emanuel said the lawsuit was the largest damages claim in British history and would be brought under a law meaning consumers would automatically be claimants unless they opt out. Any person living in Britain who used a credit card, cash or cheques and was over 16 years old in the period covered by the lawsuit will automatically be part of the claim.If the 14 billion pound claim was shared equally between the number of eligible claimants, each person could receive more than 300 pounds each, according to a Reuters’ calculation.A lawyer working on the case said Mastercard charged shops fees in excess of 1 percent for card use on international transactions between 1992 and 2008.Although the EU’s anti-trust regulator only ruled Mastercard’s international fees were illegal, this impacted British consumers as it was the default fee used in Britain.

Two years ago, the European Union capped the fees retailers pay at 0.2 percent for debit cards and 0.3 percent for credit cards. Merricks in a statement said the case is a watershed moment for consumer compensation in Britain.Merricks was head of Britain’s financial services ombudsmen for ten years until 2009, helping to settle disputes between consumers and financial services companies. Britain’s banks have been caught in a range of misspelling cases in the last five years. They have paid 24 billion pounds in compensation for mis-selling loan payment insurance, making it Britain’s costliest scandal in financial services.Consumers no longer living in Britain, but who lived in the country between 1992 and 2008, can opt in to the collective claim against Mastercard.Any hearing on the case is not expected until early 2018, unless MasterCard settle it out of court.

($1 = 0.7523 pounds)

(Editing by Mark Potter and Alexander Smith)

North Korea conducts fifth and largest nuclear test, drawing broad condemnation

* Test seen as North’s most powerful yet

* Japan protests, sends jets to monitor for radiation

* China begins emergency radiation testing

* South accuses North of “maniacal recklessness”

* UN Security Council to hold closed-door meeting Friday –
dips

(Adds UN, CTBTO estimate, further condemnations)

By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim

SEOUL, Sept 9 (Reuters) – North Korea conducted its fifth
and biggest nuclear test on Friday and said it had mastered the
ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, ratcheting up
a threat that its rivals and the United Nations have been
powerless to contain.

The blast, on the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s
founding, was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima,
according to some estimates, and drew condemnation from the
United States as well as China, Pyongyang’s main ally.

Diplomats said the United Nations Security Council would
discuss the test at a closed-door meeting on Friday, at the
request of the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Under 32-year-old dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korea has
accelerated the development of its nuclear and missile
programmes, despite U.N. sanctions that were tightened in March
and have further isolated the impoverished country.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in Laos after a summit
of Asian leaders, said Kim was showing “maniacal recklessness”
in completely ignoring the world’s call to abandon his pursuit
of nuclear weapons.

U.S. President Barack Obama, aboard Air Force One on his way
home from Laos, said the test would be met with “serious
consequences”, and held talks with Park and with Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House said.

China said it was resolutely opposed to the test and urged
Pyongyang to stop taking any actions that would worsen the
situation. It said it would lodge a protest with the North
Korean embassy in Beijing.

There were further robust condemnations from Russia, the
European Union, NATO, Germany and Britain.

North Korea, which labels the South and the United States as
its main enemies, said its “scientists and technicians carried
out a nuclear explosion test for the judgment of the power of a
nuclear warhead,” according to its official KCNA news agency.

It said the test proved North Korea was capable of mounting
a nuclear warhead on a medium-range ballistic missile, which it
last tested on Monday when Obama and other world leaders were
gathered in China for a G20 summit.

Pyongyang’s claims of being able to miniaturise a nuclear
warhead have never been independently verified.

Its continued testing in defiance of sanctions presents a
challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and
could become a factor in the U.S. presidential election in
November, and a headache to be inherited by whoever wins.

“Sanctions have already been imposed on almost everything
possible, so the policy is at an impasse,” said Tadashi Kimiya,
a University of Tokyo professor specialising in Korean issues.

“In reality, the means by which the United States, South
Korea and Japan can put pressure on North Korea have reached
their limits,” he said.

UNPRECEDENTED RATE

North Korea has been testing different types of missiles at
an unprecedented rate this year, and the capability to mount a
nuclear warhead on a missile is especially worrisome for its
neighbours South Korea and Japan.

“The standardisation of the nuclear warhead will enable the
DPRK to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of
smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher
strike power,” KCNA said, referring to the country’s formal
name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It was not clear whether Pyongyang had notified Beijing or
Moscow of its planned nuclear test. Senior officials from
Pyongyang were in both capitals this week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she
had no information to provide when asked if China had advance
warning of the test, and would not be drawn on whether China
would support tougher sanctions against its neighbour.

Although Beijing has criticised North Korea’s nuclear and
missile tests, it has repeatedly expressed anger since the
United States and South Korea decided in July to deploy the
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system
in the South.

China calls THAAD a threat to its own security and will do
nothing to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table on
its nuclear programme.

Preliminary data collected by the Vienna-based Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors
nuclear tests around the world, indicates the magnitude – around
5 – of the seismic event detected in North Korea on Friday was
greater than a previous one in January.

Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute
of International Studies said the highest estimates of seismic
magnitude suggested this was North Korea’s most powerful nuclear
test so far.

He said the seismic magnitude and surface level indicated a
blast with a 20- to 30-kilotonne yield. Such a yield would make
this test larger than the nuclear bomb dropped by the United
States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War Two.

“That’s the largest DPRK test to date, 20-30kt, at least.
Not a happy day,” Lewis told Reuters.

South Korea’s military put the force of the blast at 10
kilotonnes, which would still be the North’s most powerful
nuclear blast to date.

“The important thing is, that five tests in, they now have a
lot of nuclear test experience. They aren’t a backwards state
any more,” Lewis said.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park, James Pearson, Se Young
Lee, Nataly Pak, and Yun Hwan Chae in SEOUL; Additional
reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, Kaori Kaneko and Linda
Sieg in TOKYO, Kirsti Knolle in VIENNA and Eric Beech and
Michelle Nichols in WASHINGTON; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing
by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Ian Geoghegan)

North Korean Earthquakes Since 2010 | FindTheData

Major Cities in Range of North Korea’s No Dong Missile | Graphiq

Britain is building a security wall to stop migrants from Calais

Workers set-up barbed wires on top of a fence along the harbour of Calais to prevent migrants jumping aboard lorries

LONDON/CALAIS, France (Reuters) – Work on building a wall along the approach road to the French port of Calais to try to stop migrants from jumping aboard trucks bound for Britain will begin this month, British officials said.

Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill told lawmakers that security was being stepped up in Calais, home to the “Jungle” camp where thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa hope to cross the English Channel to Britain.

The camp and a Franco-British border control deal that effectively pushes the British frontier onto mainland France have been hotly debated since Britons voted in a June referendum to leave the European Union.

Migrants walk in the northern area of the camp called the “Jungle” in Calais, France, September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Goodwill said the wall was part of a 17 million pound ($22.75 million) package of security measures agreed by Britain and France in March.

“We are going to start building this big new wall as part of the 17 million package that we are doing with the French … We’ve done the fence and now we’re doing the wall,” Goodwill said on Tuesday.

Shrubbery has already been cleared on one side of the Rocade road but there was no sign of workers or machinery at the site on Wednesday. A local official said the project would be completed by the end of the year.

The wall is expected to be four meters (13 ft) high and to be built along both sides of a 1-km (0.6 mile) stretch of road.

A document shown at a public meeting organised by the Port of Calais on July 6 showed the wall would be made of smooth concrete to make it harder to scale, but lined with plants and vegetation on the inside to minimize the visual impact.

France dismantled the southern half of the Jungle camp in February and March and the government said last week it would shut down the rest, but gave no timeframe.

($1 = 0.7472 pounds)

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper in London and Matthias Blamont in Calais; Editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)

UK police say almost 6,200 hate crimes in month after Brexit vote

LONDON (Reuters) – British police said on Friday there had been almost 6,200 hate crimes reported in the last month following the vote to leave the European Union in a referendum where immigration had been a key issue.

In the four weeks from June 16, police forces across the country said 6,193 offences had been reported, with the most common crimes being harassment, assault and other violence such as verbal abuse or spitting.

Britons voted on June 23 to exit the EU following bitter and deeply divisive campaigning in which the control of immigration was one of the main arguments of those who supported leaving the bloc. Since the result was declared, Muslims and Eastern Europeans say they have been particularly targeted.

The latest figures showed there were 3001 offences in the first two weeks of July, down 6 percent compared to the previous fortnight but still 20 percent higher than the same period last year.

“Following increases in hate crime seen after the EU referendum, police forces have been taking a robust approach to these crimes and we are pleased to see the numbers of incidents have begun to fall,” Mark Hamilton, the National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman on hate crimes.

“Clearly any hate crime is unacceptable and these numbers are still far too high.”

Critics of the “Leave” campaign say its focus on immigration helped stoke xenophobia and racism, an accusation its leaders reject. A week before the vote, opposition Labour lawmaker Jo Cox, a strong supporter of remaining in the EU, was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency in northern England.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Giles Elgood)

Britain will not start EU divorce this year

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (centre, left) holds her first Cabinet Meeting at Downing Street, in London July 19, 2016

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will not begin its formal divorce from the European Union this year, a government lawyer said on Tuesday at the start of the first legal action prompted by last month’s referendum vote to exit the bloc.

At least seven lawsuits have been brought to force the government to accept that only parliament has the authority to decide whether Britain should trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal exit process, rather than the prime minister.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to press ahead with so-called Brexit but has previously indicated that Article 50, which starts a two-year countdown to leaving the bloc, should not be invoked before 2017.

Some European leaders have urged Britain to get on with the exit process, but in the first official confirmation that it would not be started this year, government lawyer Jason Coppel told London’s High Court: “The current position is that notification will not occur before the end of 2016.”

Britons voted by 52-48 percent on June 23 to leave the EU but the legal action over whether the government can begin divorce proceedings without approval from parliament is one of a number of challenges that could delay Brexit.

Last week, more than 1,000 prominent British lawyers wrote to then-Prime Minister David Cameron to say lawmakers in parliament should decide whether Britain leaves the European Union because the Brexit vote was not binding.

Some “Leave” campaigners say there is a concerted attempt by the pro-EU British elite to prevent departure from the bloc by entangling the process in political and legal challenges.

COURT TAKES LITIGATION “VERY SERIOUSLY”

On Tuesday, London’s High Court ruled that a case brought by investment fund manager Gina Miller should be the lead action in the Article 50 claims, and would be heard by Britain’s Lord Chief Justice, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, in mid-October.

However, lawyers said it was highly likely that the case would be appealed to the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, and heard there in December.

“The court takes this legislation extremely seriously and we will move expeditiously,” said judge Brian Leveson, adding that the matter was of great constitutional importance.

Among the other claimants expected to join the legal action are a British hairdresser and a group of Britons living in France. Such was the media interest and number of lawyers involved that the hearing had to be moved to a bigger courtroom.

If the legal challenge is successful, lawyers say there will have to be a debate and a vote in parliament on when to invoke Article 50, which could slow the exit procedure.

While the majority of lawmakers backed staying in the EU, most have since said they respect the verdict of the public. However Owen Smith, who is hoping to become leader of the main opposition Labour Party, has promised to hold a second vote on any Brexit deal.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has also said Scotland’s parliament would consider blocking an exit as Scots backed staying in the EU. Consent is required from the parliaments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, according to a report by the House of Lords.

“We will be making the argument that the correct constitutional process of parliamentary scrutiny and approval, as well as consultation with the devolved administrations in Scotland and Ireland and the Welsh Assembly, needs to be followed otherwise the notice to withdraw from the EU would be unlawful and subject to legal challenge,” Miller said in a statement.

The referendum campaign generated heated arguments and turned increasingly ugly towards its end, with one pro-EU lawmaker murdered in her own constituency a week before the vote.

Those strong feelings remain, and staff at law firm Mischon de Reya, which is representing Miller, had received a “large quantity” of threats, and racist and anti-Semitic abuse, said lawyer David Pannick. He said some clients had been deterred from taking action because of the abuse.

Meanwhile outside the court, a small group of “Leave” supporters handed out leaflets saying: “Uphold the Brexit vote. Invoke Article 50 now!”

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Stephen Addison and Giles Elgood)

Don’t give UK a generous Brexit deal, EU voters say: poll

LONDON (Reuters) – Voters in Germany, France, Sweden and Finland think Britain should not be given a generous deal when it tries to renegotiate its ties with the European Union, an opinion poll published on Friday showed.

Germans and the French were most opposed to helping Britain out: 53 percent of respondents in both countries said it should not expect any favors compared with 27 percent who said the EU should offer Britain a generous deal, polling firm YouGov said.

Furthermore, nearly half of voters in the two EU heavyweight countries said they would support a free trade deal with Britain only if Britain agreed to continue to allow EU citizens to live and work in the country.

Opposition to the EU’s free movement of workers principle was one of the main campaign messages of those who wanted Britain to leave the bloc, a decision British voters backed in a referendum on June 23.

Britain has yet to notify the EU formally of its plan to leave, a step which would kick off a period of up to two years for its exit to be completed.

The front-runner to become Britain’s next prime minister, interior minister Theresa May, has said she wants to hold informal talks with the EU about the outlines of a deal before launching the two-year exit period.

Of five continental EU countries covered by YouGov’s poll, only voters in Denmark favored offering Britain a generous deal, the polling firm said.

YouGov interviewed 2,045 people in Germany, 1,008 people in France and around 1,000 people in each of Sweden, Finland and Denmark between June 30 and July 5.

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

From drinks to drugs to cars: Global business hit by EU vote

By Ben Hirschler and Martinne Geller

LONDON (Reuters) – Chief executives from Tokyo to Denver prepared for long-term disruption, job cuts and lower profits on Friday after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union raised widespread fears over economic growth and sent share prices spinning.

In Britain itself, businesses including aerospace, housebuilders and drugmakers fear a range of difficulties from slumping demand to new regulatory hurdles as the pound plunged to its lowest level since 1985.

British Airways owner IAG <ICAG.L> warned that it would no longer meet its annual profit target and car manufacturers including Ford <F.N>, which employs around 14,000 people in the United Kingdom, indicated that it could ultimately lead to job cuts.

“Ford will take whatever action is needed to ensure that our European business remains competitive,” the company said, adding that it had not changed its investment plans yet.

World stocks headed for one the biggest slumps on record as investors predicted the impact of the narrow 52 vs 48 percent vote for Britain to leave the European Union would damage economic confidence across the globe.

The president of Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal <5401.T>, the world’s second-largest steelmaker, said the vote was extremely disappointing.

“We are greatly concerned for the negative impact this will have, not only on Britain and the EU but also on the global economy,” said Kosei Shindo.

Those who campaigned for Britain to leave had said a weaker pound could help UK exports, but it will also reduce the value of foreign companies’ UK earnings and raise questions about access to the EU market.

“This decision will create tremendous uncertainty, which will slow economic activity and decision making,” said Martin Sorrell, the boss of the world’s biggest advertising group WPP <WPP.L>.

Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s biggest carmaker, has estimated its annual profit could shrink by 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) by 2020 if Britain returns to World Trade Organization rules for trade with Europe.

Shares in the company’s owner, India’s Tata Motors <TAMO.NS>, fell 8 percent.

IMMEDIATE STEPS

Some businesses signaled an intention to push for a settlement between the UK and the EU that would minimize damage to their business, while others took immediate steps.

“This is a lose-lose ‎result for both Britain and Europe,” said Airbus <AIR.PA> CEO Thomas Enders. “We will review our UK investment strategy, like everybody else will.”

Volkmar Denner, CEO of Bosch, said its investment plans would not change, for now, but it was preparing for a weaker British currency: “We have significantly raised our hedging ratios in order to counteract a possible depreciation of the British pound.”

The German appliances maker plans to invest 25 million euros in Britain this year.

Randstad <RAND.AS>, the world’s second-largest employment services company, said it might need to restructure, as in did during the financial crisis in 2009, to cope with disruption to the jobs market.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned for Britain to remain in, said he would resign and leaders in Scotland, which voted strongly to stay in Europe, said they would consider holding a referendum to leave the United Kingdom.

Makers of Scotch whisky, who export more than 90 percent of what they produce, fear market access could be jeopardized.

“There are serious issues to resolve in areas of major importance to our industry and which require urgent attention, notably the nature of future trade arrangements with both the single (European) market and the wider world,” said David Frost, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association.

Some investors warned of a coming British or even global recession as sterling collapsed to lowest since 1985.

Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey <TW.L>, Barratt Developments <BDEV.L> and Persimmon <PSN.L> saw their market values slump by more than a fifth on fears of a sharp economic downturn.

Bank shares such as Barclays <BARC.L> and Credit Suisse <CSGN.S> also tumbled, as well as domestic retailers like Sports Direct <SPD.L> and Marks & Spencers <MKS.L>. Meanwhile safer-haven sectors, like gold miners and tobacco, outperformed.

STERLING HEADACHE

Big swings in sterling will be a headache for some international companies, with a fall in the currency hitting profits earned in Britain.

International companies with sizeable sterling exposure include Denver-based Molson Coors <TAP.N>, owner of Carling beer, which is heavily reliant on the UK.

But for multinationals reporting in sterling, there will be a short-term boost to profits, when expressed in pounds.

Aside from market access, streamlining of regulations within the EU has made life simpler.

Pharmaceutical companies, for example, enjoy a one-stop shop in the form of the London-based European Medicines Agency, which approves new drugs for all EU countries, while the EU’s open airspace deals have fostered a surge in air travel and common policies on agriculture and food safety have allowed for smoother supply chains.

Companies in those sectors have fretted that Britain outside the bloc would disrupt the regulatory landscape.

Ahead of the vote, some British-based multinationals such as Diageo <DGE.L>, Unilever <ULVR.L> and Rolls-Royce <RR.L> had expressed their support for “Remain” directly to employees, although most stopped short of this.

Rolls-Royce said on Friday the medium and long-term impact would depend on the relationships struck by Britain with the EU and the rest of the world.

Government figures show 12.6 percent of Britain’s economic output is linked to exports to the EU’s 27 other members, for whom only 3.1 percent of output is linked to exports to Britain. And 80 percent of British businesses trading overseas do so with the EU.

The Confederation of British Industry has estimated there could be between 550,000 and 950,000 fewer jobs by 2020 in the event of Brexit.

For banks, a huge concern has been the threat that financial institutions based in London could lose their EU “passports”, or the automatic right to sell services across the bloc under single low-cost system. That has made bank shares particularly volatile in the run-up to the referendum.

Brexit uncertainty has also helped push British merger and acquisition activity this year at its lowest as a proportion of global activity since records began in 1980.

It could also impact large deals already in process, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev’s <ABI.BR> $100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller <SAB.L> and the $30 billion merger of London Stock Exchange Group <LSE.L> and Deutsche Boerse <DB1Gn.DE>.

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Ritsuko Ando, Yuka Obayashi and Laurence Frost; editing by Keith Weir and Philippa Fletcher)

UK ‘Leave’ vote deflates hopes for U.S.-EU trade deal

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Britain’s looming exit from the European Union is another huge setback for negotiations on a massive U.S.-EU free trade deal that were already stalled by deeply entrenched differences and growing anti-trade sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic.

The historic divorce launched by Thursday’s vote will almost certainly further delay substantial progress in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks as the remaining 27 EU states sort out their own new relationship with Britain, trade experts said on Friday.

With French and German officials increasingly voicing skepticism about TTIP’s chances for success, the United Kingdom’s departure from the deal could sink hopes of a deal before President Barack Obama leaves office in January.

“This is yet another reason why TTIP will likely be postponed,” said Heather Conley, European program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.

“But to be honest, TTIP isn’t going anywhere, I believe, before 2018 at the earliest,” she said.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement on Friday that he was evaluating the UK decision’s impact on TTIP, but would continue to engage with both European and UK counterparts.

“The importance of trade and investment is indisputable in our relationships with both the European Union and the United Kingdom,” Froman said. “The economic and strategic rationale for T-TIP remains strong.”

TTIP negotiators are still expected to meet in Brussels in mid-July as scheduled, but those talks were aimed at focusing on less controversial issues while leaving the thorniest disagreements for U.S. and EU political leaders to resolve. And it is unclear when Britain will launch formal separation proceedings, which will take at least two years.

But analysts said both sides have been reluctant to put their best offers on the table with a new U.S. president due to take office in January and French and German leadership elections nearing in 2017.

The Brexit also will preoccupy EU officials in coming months as they launch their own negotiations with London over the future terms of UK-EU trade, and sort out their post-Brexit priorities, said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, a Brussels-based think tank.

Britain’s departure could leave U.S. negotiators facing a European side that is more dug-in on some issues, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington.

“As the UK is part of the coalition of liberal trading economies in the EU, the U.S. is losing one of the more like-minded countries from the group in Brussels sitting on the other side of the negotiating table,” said Bown, a former World Bank economist.

However, Lee-Makiyama, who also sees little chance of a deal before 2018, said Britain’s departure could eliminate one source of disagreement because the UK has insisted on a financial services chapter in the trade deal.

“The only real proponent of banking regulation in TTIP is the UK. Germany and France are probably willing to let it go,” he said. “It still leaves about 20 outstanding issues at nearly the same level of difficulty.”

The TTIP negotiations, which started three years ago, have unable to settle major differences over agriculture, where the EU side has shown little willingness to alter food safety rules that prohibit American beef raised with hormones or genetically modified foods, or open its closely guarded geographical food naming rules, such as for Asiago and feta cheeses.

European negotiators have complained that the United States has offered too little to open up its vast federal, state and local government procurement markets to European vendors with “Buy American” preferences in place.

Europe also wants access to key U.S. sectors such as maritime transport and aviation, while American negotiators have been frustrated over lack of access to some 200 European sectors ranging from healthcare to education.

The two sides also are far apart on how to resolve disputes. The U.S. side favors a traditional binding arbitration approach, while the Europeans want a court-like system that allows for appeals.

More progress has been made on harmonizing regulations for things like car seat belt anchors, clothes labeling and pharmaceutical inspections.

(Additional reporting by Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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