- Ohtani makes MLB history with first 50-homer, 50-steal season
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases, 49 homers
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Cathay Airbus engine fire linked to cleaning: EU regulator
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
Squeaky-clean Sunak: finance chief tipped as UK's first Hindu PM
British finance minister Rishi Sunak is on a meteoric trajectory that could, if Boris Johnson is forced out, propel him next door to 10 Downing Street to become Britain's first Hindu prime minister.
It would mark a historic landmark, for a descendant of immigrants from Britain's old empire in India and East Africa, to take command of the world's fifth largest economy.
A details-oriented policy wonk, the 41-year-old has promoted a carefully curated image on social media since he took over as chancellor of the exchequer two years ago at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
In India, he is better known through his wife Akshata. She is the daughter of Indian tycoon Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of information-technology group Infosys.
Already wealthy through his prior business career, Sunak was named as Britain's first Hindu chancellor on February 13, 2020, and swears his oath of allegiance as an MP on the Bhagavad Gita.
Later that year, he marked the Hindu festival of Diwali by lighting oil lamps on the front step of his official residence at 11 Downing Street -- while urging other Hindus to stick to England's then Covid lockdown.
That same evening of November 13, 2020, Johnson and his partner Carrie were allegedly violating the lockdown by partying with friends to celebrate the downfall of his then-chief advisor Dominic Cummings.
The apparent rule-breaking and history of mendacity attached to the "partygate" premier are in contrast to the teetotal Sunak, who admits only to a fondness for Coca-Cola and sugary confectionaries.
- Traditional Tory -
Sunak was barely known to the British public when Johnson made him chancellor, after only five years in Conservative politics. Covid-19 was then spreading, but not yet grounds for panic.
A month later, Johnson ordered the first nationwide lockdown, forcing the young chancellor to craft a massive financial rescue package to safeguard millions of jobs.
But while UK unemployment is now falling, Britons under Sunak's watch are also facing a cost-of-living squeeze with inflation accelerating at the fastest pace in decades.
While Johnson appears happy to splash the cash, Sunak has earned plaudits from Tory backbenchers for insisting that future generations must not be made to pay the bill.
Fiscal rectitude is key, he says, and his family values mark another return to Tory tradition after the thrice-married Johnson.
Sunak is also the first person born in the 1980s to hold one of the so-called four great offices of state: prime minister, chancellor, foreign secretary and home secretary.
He is the member of parliament for Richmond in Yorkshire, northern England -- a safe Conservative seat he took over in 2015 from former party leader and foreign secretary William Hague, who described Sunak as an "exceptional individual".
Theresa May gave the Brexit supporter his first job in government in January 2018, making him a junior minister for local government, parks and troubled families.
- Waiter to wealth -
Sunak's grandparents were from Punjab in northern India and emigrated to Britain from eastern Africa in the 1960s.
They arrived with "very little", Sunak told MPs in his maiden speech in 2015.
Sunak's father was a family doctor in Southampton on the southern English coast, and his mother ran a local pharmacy.
Born on May 12, 1980 in Southampton, he studied at Winchester College, one of Britain's leading private boarding schools, where he was head boy.
After waiting tables in a local Indian restaurant, Sunak studied at the University of Oxford, graduating with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics.
In 2006, Sunak gained a master's degree in business administration from Stanford University in California, on a Fulbright scholarship.
He met Akshata at Stanford and they lived in California and then returned to Britain, where he worked in finance for Goldman Sachs before making millions in hedge funds.
The Sunaks have two young daughters -- along with a photogenic dog -- and the minister's Instagram-ready profile has earned him the media nickname of "Dishy Rishi".
But if Conservative MPs do tire of Johnson, Sunak's past investments and relative lack of experience will come under the spotlight.
N.Fournier--BTB