Author: LoveWorld UK

Newly released WhatsApp messages and emails between Tory donors and the former health secretary Matt Hancock reveal the extent of ministerial access they enjoyed when government Covid contracts were being awarded. Two major donors to the Conservatives, Mustafa Mohammed and Mohamed Amersi, had direct access to Hancock, and used it to promote companies offering Covid services with which they were involved. Amersi also had a phone meeting with James Bethell, a health minister at the time, in which he put forward projects with which he was connected. Both Mohammed and Amersi said they made no financial gain from the contacts and that…

For Newcastle the equation is simple; win one of their remaining two games and Tyneside’s 20-year exile from the Champions League will be over. The celebrations could well begin on Monday night when Leicester travel here but, should Aston Villa triumph at Liverpool, might be triggered as early as Saturday. On this evidence though, a few of Eddie Howe’s players could be almost too tired to party. The indefatigable Lewis Dunk and Jason Steele excepted, much the same could be said of Roberto De Zerbi’s evidently fatigued team as they aim to take Brighton into Europe for the first time.…

Nationwide will pay £340m directly into customer accounts for the first time, after a jump in deposits and higher interest rates drove annual profits up 40% to record highs. Britain’s biggest building society has tended to use profits to offer better rates on savings, loans and mortgages for its members but on Friday it launched an inaugural programme that will distribute funds directly to customers, akin to shareholder payouts made by banks. Eligible customers will receive about £100 directly into their accounts in June. It comes as Nationwide reported a 40% jump in annual pre-tax profits to £2.2bn – a…

The boss of Burberry has complained that the UK is at a “competitive disadvantage for global shoppers” which had held back sales in its home market after the government ditched a VAT tax break for tourists. Jonathan Akeroyd, the chief executive of the luxury British brand which is best known for its signature check and raincoats, said sales to tourists had risen 19% in the UK in the three months to April but they had more than doubled in Paris and were up 43% in Milan. He said total sales rose 28% in the UK for the year, as locals and visitors…

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—Norway’s King Harald V, who was released from a hospital earlier this week, appeared Wednesday on the royal castle’s balcony to salute the thousands of children marching by as the Scandinavian country celebrated its Constitution Day. Cheering and shouting, waving blue-white-red Norwegian flags, kindergarten and school students marched in front of the royal palace where Harald, 86, and his wife, Queen Sonja, sat and waved back to the vast crowd, many of whom wore traditional costumes. Elsewhere in Oslo, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, who was visiting his Norwegian counterpart, stood on another balcony and waved…

NEW YORK—Johnson & Johnson has set aside $400 million to resolve U.S. state consumer protection actions as part of its broader $8.9 billion effort to settle claims that its Baby Powder and other talc products cause cancer. J&J subsidiary LTL Management filed a bankruptcy plan in New Jersey late on Monday that details how the company intends to pay different types of cancer victims in a bankruptcy settlement. J&J has said that its talc products are safe and do not cause cancer. It is attempting for a second time to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits in bankruptcy and prevent new…

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Tokyo to announce a new defence partnership with Japan and support £18bn of private business deals, ahead of the G7 summit aimed at addressing the threats of Russia and China. Before the gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima on Friday, Sunak is meeting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to discuss more defence cooperation in the face of China’s increasing belligerence towards Taiwan. They will unveil a pact, the Hiroshima accord, which involves a duty to consult each other on some military decisions and further exercises in the Indo-Pacific by the Carrier Strike Group, a Royal Navy unit.…

Royal Mail has reported a £1bn loss, with bosses blaming strike action by workers and a failure to increase productivity for its poor performance during a year in which it cut 10,000 jobs. The poor performance led International Distributions Services (IDS), which owns Royal Mail, to report an overall loss of £748m for the year to 26 March. That compares with a profit of £577m a year earlier. IDS said Royal Mail swung to a loss “due to industrial action” by unionised staff over pay and working conditions that eventually led to the resignation of its chief executive, Simon Thompson, last…

Three energy suppliers have been made to pay compensation totalling £8m for failing to supply a final bill on time to more than 100,000 households that had switched provider. The energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, said E.ON Next was ordered to pay £5.5m to almost 95,000 customers because it did not provide them with a final bill within six weeks of moving to another supplier, nor did it pay compensation for the delay within 10 days of the missed deadline. Octopus Energy was made to pay approximately £750,000 to 19,000 customers, while almost 350 Good Energy customers received a combined total…

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani has made a dramatic fourth bid for Manchester United, with an improved offer of no more than £5.5bn which includes the clearance of the £1bn debt and a fund solely for the club and surrounding community. More than two weeks have passed since Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos owner, each submitted what were supposedly final bids for United. The Qatari banker’s offer then was close to £5bn for 100%, while Ratcliffe’s was thought to be for a stake of a little over 50%, leaving Avram and Joel Glazer, two of the siblings who…