Keir Starmer will face mutinous Labour MPs as he fights for his political survival after the resignation of his top aide over the Peter Mandelson/Epstein scandal.

The prime minister is expected to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday, amid anger over his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite knowing that his links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.

It comes a day after Morgan McSweeney quit as Starmer’s chief of staff, taking “full responsibility” for giving the prime minister advice that resulted in the “wrong” appointment.

But scrutiny of Starmer’s own judgment is mounting as critics, including some of his MPs, have highlighted that he made the final decision.

The pressure on his premiership looks unlikely to ease as the government prepares for the lengthy process of releasing tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment.

Starmer believes the files will prove Mandelson lied about the extent of his ties to the notorious pedophile during his vetting.

The Guardian, citing a well-placed source, said they would show the Cabinet Office had warned about the grave reputational risk of handing Mandelson the ambassadorship.

Starmer and McSweeney, blamed by many for pushing for his ally Mandelson to get the coveted ambassadorship, mutually came to the decision that it was the right moment to move on, it is understood.

The prime minister credited his longtime adviser’s “dedication, loyalty and leadership” for Labour’s 2024 general election win and said he owed him a “debt of gratitude” in a statement that did not mention the Mandelson fiasco.

Labour MPs on the left of the party, including Brian Leishman, Ian Byrne and Kim Johnson, suggested Starmer should consider following McSweeney out the door.

Two unnamed cabinet ministers were quoted by The Times as saying Starmer was “weaker” and “could stand down at any moment”, a claim No 10 said was “categorically untrue”.

The FBI pored over Jeffrey Epstein’s bank records and emails, searched his homes and spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world’s most influential people.

But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal US Justice Department records shows.

Videos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands did not depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein’s financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends, agents could not confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.

Summarising the investigation in an email last July, agents said “four or five” Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them.

But, the agents said, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement”.

Media organisations are still reviewing millions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

But the documents, which include police reports, FBI interview notes and prosecutor emails, indicate why US authorities ultimately decided to close the investigation without additional charges.

The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school age students $US200 or $US300 ($A290 or $A430) to give him sexualised messages.

After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls’ visits and payments.

But instead, then-Miami US attorney Alexander Acosta struck a deal letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein was arrested in July of 2019.

One month later, he was found dead in his jail cell.

New York City’s medical examiner called the death a suicide.

A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein’s longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, saying she had recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse.

Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department’s latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential co-conspirators.

Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.

Some allegations could not be verified, investigators wrote.

In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – formerly Prince Andrew.

Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein but other parts of her story were problematic.

Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also “lent out” to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.

“No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men,” the memo said.

Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalised memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that did not take place.

In a memoir published after she took her own life last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her they did not include her in the case against Maxwell because they did not want her allegations to distract the jury.

She insisted her accounts of being trafficked to elite men were true.

with Reuters

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Lifeline 13 11 14

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)

Australia’s incipient data centre boom risks being curtailed by unreliable energy supply, limiting the nation’s productivity potential.

Machinery and equipment spending by IT firms hit record levels as Australia looked to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom, Deloitte Access Economics found in its quarterly investment monitor.

It remained too early to tell whether AI would provide the sustained boost to productivity needed to lift Australia’s growth potential and living standards, the report said.

But investment in technology infrastructure would enable more data-intensive business models, greater automation and innovation across other industries.

However, developers were increasingly running into constraints, most notably around access to reliable electricity, Deloitte Access Economics director and lead author Sheraan Underwood said.

“The vast majority of these projects remain in the planning stages, meaning the pipeline has yet to translate into a sustained lift in construction activity,” he said.

“Progress will depend on continued growth in the use of AI, as well as access to a stable and cost-effective supply of electricity.

“Nonetheless, data centres now represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the national project pipeline and a potentially significant source of future investment.”

Despite the challenges of the energy transition, Australia’s strategic location in the Asia-Pacific and relatively stable regulatory frameworks have made it the second-largest destination for data centre investment after the United States.

An extra $28 billion worth of data centre projects were added to Deloitte Access Economics’ database in the past year, driving a 57 per cent rise in the value of projects in the finance, property and business services industry.

These include the $5 billion Mamre Road data centre – a sprawling campus comprising six four-storey buildings capable of providing up to 1GB of data power – and the $3.1 billion Marsden Park data centre, both in Sydney’s west.

A sharp rise in data centre investment contributed to private demand exceeding Reserve Bank forecasts in the second half of 2025, which the central bank cited as a key factor behind its decision to hike interest rates on Tuesday.

The surprising speed of the private sector recovery was also underpinned by strong household spending.

A one per cent rise in household spending in November, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, pushed annual growth in the measure to a two-year high of 6.3 per cent.

But consumer confidence has since taken a hit amid expectations of higher borrowing costs.

Economists expect a slowdown in growth when the statistics bureau releases December spending figures on Monday.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will begin his visit to Australia in response to the Bondi massacre against a backdrop of nationwide protests and calls for his arrest.

The head of state begins his official visit in Sydney on Monday after an invitation from the Albanese government following the terrorist attack, which targeted a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on December 14.

The Islamic State-inspired father-and-son gunmen killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 others.

Mr Herzog will meet with politicians and Jewish community leaders, some of who say the figurehead’s visit will bring great comfort.

But other groups oppose him setting foot on Australian soil, calling for federal police to investigate the Israeli president for alleged war crimes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, but Mr Herzog is not and is granted customary immunity under international law as a visiting head of state.

The president’s role is largely ceremonial, but he has sparked outrage for being photographed signing an Israeli artillery shell.

Mr Herzog later said the munition was a smokescreen rather than an explosive device, but described the signing as an error.

A United Nations inquiry found his comments after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in which he described Palestinians as an “entire nation out there that is responsible” – to reasonably be interpreted as incitement for genocide.

Israel has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and Mr Herzog subsequently clarified his remarks, which he said were taken out of context.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Mr Herzog’s visit would “lift the spirits of a pained community”.

“We hope it will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies,” he said.

“President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics.”

But Judith Treanor, from Jews against the Occupation ’48, said the visit told the world that “genocide is compatible with Jewish identity”.

“There are Jews who support Israel and Jews who don’t … Herzog must be investigated, (he’s) not welcomed here,” she said.

Protest organisers Palestine Action Group have flagged an urgent NSW Supreme Court challenge on Monday after Premier Chris Minns formally declared the visit a major event.

The declaration granted police extra powers to block movements in the city centre.

“Instead of defending human rights, the NSW government is using emergency-style powers to shield a visiting head of state from public scrutiny and accountability,” spokesman Josh Lees said.

A last-minute court hearing arguing the powers are excessive, unjustified and unlawful is scheduled before Justice Robertson Wright on Monday morning – hours before the rally is due to take place.

Police have warned protesters they will be arrested if they breach public assembly restrictions put in place following the Bondi attack.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley insists she has the overwhelming support of her party room after striking a deal with the Nationals to restore the coalition, but another opinion poll shocker could prove fatal.

Reunited after a bitter, almost three-week split sparked by a disagreement over hate speech laws, the long-term partners were stronger together and were focused on holding the Labor government to account, Ms Ley said.

Mending the coalition partnership could also give her some breathing room to reassert her leadership of the Liberal Party after the separation amplified rumblings of a potential challenge.

But with Nationals frontbenchers returning to the shadow cabinet, it also means Ms Ley can no longer offer promotions to key Liberals to shore up her position.

Asked about the prospects of a challenge, Ms Ley said she was “very confident of the overwhelming support of my party room”.

“They elected me nine months ago to lead,” she said on Sunday.

“I said then I was up for the job. I’m up for the job now.”

Former shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has firmed as a potential challenger after fellow leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie bowed out of the race.

With both men vying for the backing of the Liberals’ conservative wing, Mr Hastie’s withdrawal cleared the runway for Mr Taylor by averting a split in the right-faction vote.

Liberal sources said they thought Mr Taylor could move a spill as soon as the coming week if opinion polls showed the coalition falling even further behind One Nation.

On Sunday night, a Newspoll survey published in The Australian showed the coalition’s primary vote plumbing a new low of 17 per cent, down from 21 per cent in mid-January.

One Nation surged to 27 per cent – a record high and within six per cent of Labor.

Recent opinion polling by Redbridge and DemosAU also had One Nation ahead or on par with the coalition.

Ms Ley also flagged the party would soon announce its immigration principles. 

Expected by the end of February, it is likely to spell out an intention to lower Australia’s migration intake below current levels in a bid to stem the flow of voters to One Nation. 

But that could prove too late to save her leadership.

Mr Taylor failed to put rumours of a spill to bed on Friday, telling Sydney radio station 2GB he did have leadership ambitions.

Pressed on whether Ms Ley would still be leader in a week, he said a coup was not in the works but conceded he had been having conversations with his colleagues about the party’s future.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s coalition has swept to a landslide election win, ‍paving the way for her tax cuts that have spooked financial markets and military spending aimed at countering China.

The conservative Takaichi, Japan’s first female leader who says she is inspired by “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, was projected to ​deliver as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house for her Liberal Democratic Party.

The LDP alone had already sailed past the 233 seats needed for a majority less than two hours after polls closed.

⁠With coalition partner Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, she is certain to deliver a supermajority that would ease her legislative agenda, public broadcaster NHK projected.

“This election involved major policy shifts – particularly a major shift in economic and fiscal policy, as well as strengthening security policy,” Takaichi said in a television interview as the results rolled in.

“These are policies that have drawn a great deal of opposition. If we have received the public’s support, then we truly must tackle these issues with all our strength.”

Takaichi, 64, called the rare winter snap election to capitalise on her buoyant personal approval ratings since she was elevated to lead ‌the long-ruling LDP late ​last year.

Voters have been drawn to her straight-talking, hardworking image but her nationalistic leanings and emphasis on security have strained ties with China while her promises of tax cuts ‍have rattled financial markets.

Takaichi, who has enjoyed high approval ratings since taking office in October after winning the LDP leadership race, framed the election as a referendum on her mandate and pledged to resign if her coalition failed to secure an absolute majority.

The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the progressive-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined pre-election share of 167 seats.

Exit polls also projected gains for anti-globalist and nationalist party Sanseito.

It was projected to win between five and 14 seats, up from the two it held previously.

Residents trudged through snow to cast their ballots with record snowfall in parts of the country snarling traffic and requiring some polling stations to close early.

It was only the third postwar election held in February, with elections typically called during milder months.

Outside a polling station in the town of Uonuma in the mountainous Niigata prefecture, teacher Kazushige Cho, 54, braved below-freezing temperatures and deep snow to cast his vote for Takaichi’s LDP.

“It feels like she’s creating a sense of direction – like the whole country pulling together and moving forward. That really resonates with me,” Cho said.

But Takaichi’s election promise to suspend the 8 per cent sales tax on food to help ​households cope with rising prices has spooked investors concerned about how the country with the heaviest debt burden among advanced ‌economies will fund the plan.

Takaichi said in the interview that she would speed up consideration for the sales tax cut while keeping the focus on fiscal sustainability.

“Her plans for the cut in the consumption tax leave open big question marks about funding and how ​she’s going to go about making the arithmetic add up,” said Chris Scicluna, head of research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe in London.

The head of Japan’s top business lobby ‍Keidanren, Yoshinobu Tsutsui, welcomed Takaichi’s win as restoring political stability.

“Japan’s economy is now at a critical juncture for achieving sustainable and strong growth,” he said.

The LDP, which has ruled for almost all of Japan’s postwar history, had lost control of both houses in elections over the past 15 months under Takaichi’s predecessor Shigeru Ishiba.

with AP and EFE

Australia’s economy is like a car exceeding the speed limit.

Or is it an inflating balloon, squeezing up against the inside of a box?

Either way, it’s too hot for the Reserve Bank to handle.

Fresh data in the coming week will give the central bank more of an idea about whether it needs to raise interest rates again or if its February hike was enough to get the economy back on an even keel.

While the resurgence in inflation that forced the Reserve Bank’s hand was due to a number of factors, Governor Michele Bullock said, the speed at which consumer spending and business investment surged in the second half of 2025 caught the board off guard.

“Private demand looks to have increased more strongly over the latter part of last year than we were expecting,” she told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed he would introduce long-promised changes to superannuation tax concessions to parliament on Wednesday, pending an agreement with the Greens.

Speaking to ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, he also flagged that he was working on a productivity package for the May budget, which would aim to address the long-term supply constraints concerning the RBA.

“Really, the emphasis in the work we’re doing for the budget is attracting more investment,” Dr Chalmers said.

“If we attract more investment, we lift the speed limit on the economy, we make our economy more productive, more dynamic and more competitive.”

How resilient household spending remains will be put to the test in figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

Consumption grew faster than expected in November, partly boosted by Black Friday sales, before consumer confidence slumped amid fears of more rate hikes.

Economists believe households reined in their spending in December, with ANZ Bank’s Aaron Luk tipping a 0.5 per cent increase, above consensus forecasts.

“We expect solid services spending in December, while goods spending likely slowed following major promotional events in prior months,” he said.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index slipped to 92.9 in January and could fall even further on Tuesday following the rate hike.

NAB’s business survey will also be released on Tuesday.

Another sign of the economy’s strength has been a rebound in housing investment, which has been pushing up dwelling prices.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ release of credit growth figures on Wednesday will indicate whether banking regulator APRA’s new restrictions on risky lending have had any effect on dampening investor demand.

It will also be a big week for Australian shares, with Commonwealth Bank, CSL and AGL Energy reporting half-year earnings on Wednesday, Origin Energy and goldminer Northern Star providing updates on Thursday and med-tech company Cochlear reporting on Friday.

Fresh from their parliamentary grilling by MPs in Canberra, top Reserve Bank officials will front up again, with senators getting their turn to ask questions on Thursday.

Wall Street investors are meanwhile breathing a sigh of relief after indices came roaring back on Friday, with technology stocks recovering much of their drops from earlier in the week and bitcoin halting its plunge.

The Dow Jones index rose 1,206.95 ⁠points, or 2.47 per cent to finish beyond the 50,000 mark for the first time, at 50,115.67.

The S&P 500 rallied two per cent for its best day since May and the Nasdaq composite leapt 2.2 per cent.

Australian share futures surged 92 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 14,653.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 180.4 points on Friday, down 2.03 per cent, to 8,708.8, as the broader All Ordinaries tumbled 200.3 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 8,954.6.

Voters in Thailand are heading to the polls for an early general election seen as a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist and old-fashioned patronage politics.

The battle for support from 53 million registered voters comes against a backdrop of slow economic growth and heightened nationalist sentiment. 

While more than 50 parties are contesting the polls, only three –  the People’s Party, Bhumjaithai, and Pheu Thai – have the nationwide organisation and popularity to gain a winning mandate.

A simple majority of the 500 elected lawmakers selects the next prime minister.

Local polls consistently project that no single party will gain a majority, necessitating the formation of a coalition government.

Although the progressive People’s Party is seen as favoured to win a plurality, its reformist politics aren’t shared by its leading rivals, which may freeze it out by joining forces to form a government.

The People’s Party, led by Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, is the successor to the Move Forward Party, which won the most House seats in 2023, but was blocked from forming a government by conservative lawmakers and then forced to dissolve. 

Its platform continues to promise sweeping reforms of the military, police and judiciary, appealing to youth and urban voters. Legal constraints have led it to set aside demands for reform of a law that metes out harsh penalties for criticism of the monarchy, while putting new emphasis on economic issues. 

Softening its politics risks weakening its core support, already at risk because the last election had positioned it squarely as the alternative to nine previous years of military-led government, a situation it can’t fruitfully exploit this time.

At the same time, with the army’s reputation burnished by the surge of patriotism that emerged during last year’s border clashes with Cambodia, its positions critical of the military can be a political liability, said Napon Jatusripitak, director of the Center for Politics and Geopolitics at Thailand Future, a Bangkok-based think tank.

The Bhumjaithai Party, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is seen as the main defender and preferred choice of the royalist-military establishment.

Anutin has been prime minister only since September, after serving in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was forced out of office for an ethics violation regarding mishandling relations with Cambodia. He dissolved parliament in December to call a new election when he was threatened with a no-confidence vote.

Subsequent border clashes with Cambodia allowed Anutin to recast himself as a wartime leader after his popularity initially slipped because of floods and financial scandals. His campaign focuses on national security and economic stimulus.

Bhumjaithai, seen as the likeliest party to form the next government, benefits from an electoral strategy employing old-style patronage politics and a machine skilled at grassroots organising in the vote-rich northeast.

The Pheu Thai Party, the latest political vehicle for billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, trades on populist policies innovated by its predecessor, the Thai Rak Thai party, which held power from 2001 until 2006, when it was ousted by a military coup.

Thaksin-backed parties staged repeated electoral comebacks, only to be ousted by conservative-leaning courts and state watchdog agencies. It softened its politics enough by the 2023 election to be returned to power after being judged by the previously hostile royalist-military establishment to an acceptable alternative to the more progressive Move Forward party.

The conservative court system rounded on it anyway – ousting two of its prime ministers over two years and ordering Thaksin imprisoned on old charges. The party now campaigns on economic revival and populist pledges like cash handouts, nominating Thaksin’s nephew, Yodchanan Wongsawat, as its lead candidate for prime minister.

Sunday’s voting includes a referendum asking voters whether Thailand should replace its 2017 military-drafted constitution.

The vote isn’t on a proposed draft, but rather to decide whether to authorise parliament to begin a formal drafting process, which would require many further steps before coming to fruition.

Pro-democracy groups view a new charter as a critical step toward reducing the influence of unelected institutions such as the military and judiciary, while conservatives warn that it could cause instability.

Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis ​is leaving, ⁠three days after the troubled newspaper said it was laying off one-third of its staff.

Lewis and the newspaper’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, did not participate in a meeting with staff announcing the layoffs.

“During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future ‌of The ​Post so it can for many years ‍ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day,” Lewis wrote in a message to staff that was shared online by ​the newspaper’s White House bureau ‌chief, Matt Viser.

Jeff D’Onofrio, chief financial officer of the ​newspaper, will serve ‍as acting publisher and CEO, the Post said. He joined the newspaper only last June.

The layoffs prompted an outcry from those in the media lamenting the demise of a once revered institution, including associate editor Bob Woodward who broke the Watergate scandal.

The British-born Lewis was a former top executive at The Wall Street Journal before taking over at The Post in January 2024. 

His tenure has been rocky from the start, marked by layoffs and a failed reorganisation plan that led to the departure of former top editor Sally Buzbee.

The Post also lost tens of thousand of subscribers following Bezos’ order late in the presidential campaign pulling back an expected endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and subsequent changes to turn the editorial pages in a more conservative direction.

While anticipated, this past week’s layoffs were deeper than anticipated, resulting in the shutting down of the Post’s renowned sports section, sharp cutbacks in foreign and metro coverage and the laying off of its photographic staff.

with AP

US President Donald Trump has endorsed Nexstar Media Group’s $US6.2 billion ($A8.8 billion) purchase of broadcast rival Tegna, an apparent reversal from earlier criticism of the deal.

“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote on social media. “Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar — Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition. … GET THAT DEAL DONE.”

The acquisition, which Nexstar announced in August and requires regulatory approval, would bring together two companies with significant holdings in local broadcast media.

Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets.

Trump criticised the purchase in November, saying: “If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy.”

But the companies operate independently of the large broadcast networks such as ABC and NBC. In September, Nexstar, along with the right-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC late-night talk show for about a week after Kimmel’s comments on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The deal has occurred as the Federal Communications Commission is seeking to reform rules that limit local TV station ownership. Some court decisions have also struck down regulations that limited the number of top TV stations in a single market that one company could own.

Nexstar has sought to portray the deal as consistent with the Trump administration’s deregulatory moves.

“The initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources,” Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said when announcing the deal.

Yet some conservative voices still oppose the deal.

“The Nexstar deal means dangerous consolidation that will limit competition, harm conservative voices and dramatically increase consumer cable bills,” the right-leaning network Newsmax said in a statement.

“President Trump was right in November when he called for smaller networks and for keeping TV ownership caps to limit massive broadcast consolidation.”