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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the latest business bulletin on Friday the 21st of March.
00:04There are major issues at Heathrow Airport today.
00:07More than 1,300 flights are disrupted after a substation fire last night caused an outage at the airport.
00:13Thousands of homes were affected too and more than 100 people were evacuated.
00:17120 flights in the air at the time of the incident were redirected to other airports.
00:23UK government borrowing rose to £10.7 billion last month.
00:27That's larger than forecast and the fourth highest February figure on record.
00:32Public sector net borrowing was £100 million more than in February 2024.
00:37It was also £4.2 billion more than had been forecast by the government's official forecaster.
00:43WHSmiths is set to close another 10 stores, according to reports.
00:47Earlier this year, it was announced that all 500 high street stores owned by the brand had been put up for sale.
00:52Private equity firms Alteri, which owns Bensons for Beds, and hobbycraft owner Medela Capital are said to be interested.
01:00The fast fashion brand, In The Style, has been snapped up in a rescue deal after falling into administration.
01:05It's been bought by Alpsourcing Ltd, an entity linked to the previous owner, Barge Capital.
01:10The deal will secure the future of 87 jobs.
01:14The mayors of Liverpool and Manchester have agreed a deal with an American space firm to put Northwest England in a central role in the global space economy.
01:22Liverpool City Mayor Steve Rotherham and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham signed the agreement with Axiom Space on Thursday.
01:29The move could potentially unlock billions of pounds for the region.
01:33And the first major project for publicly owned Great British Energy is set to get underway.
01:38It'll fund solar panels on the roofs of hundreds of schools and hospitals.
01:42The idea is to save hundreds of millions of pounds on energy bills and free up cash to reinvest in frontline services.
01:49That's all for today. More next week.