Author: LoveWorld UK

Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their applications to join Nato, in one of the biggest geopolitical consequences to date of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, personally accepted the Nordic neighbours’ membership applications at the headquarters of the 30-member, US-led defensive military alliance in Haren, in the north-east of Brussels. “I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join Nato. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg said, hailing the occasion as “a historic step” and “a good day at a critical time for our safety” Sweden’s ambassador to Nato, Axel Wernhoff, and his Finnish colleague Klaus Korhonen handed…

Rents are nearly £100 per month higher on average than a year ago, according to a property website. The average UK monthly rent was £995 in the first quarter of this year, Zoopla said, up by 11 per cent from £897 a year ago. Its index is based on new lets agreed and shows demand has surged back into city centre markets and the supply of properties for rent struggled to keep pace, the report said. A new let agreed for an average rental property in London, meanwhile, will cost more than £20,000 in rent over the next 12 months. In…

The government is concerned that the £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea could collapse because of the alleged refusal by Roman Abramovich to accept a new sale structure proposed by ministers. With the deadline for the deal to be completed less than a fortnight away Whitehall insiders have said there are fears of Chelsea going out of business. The government is determined that none of the proceeds from the club being sold to Todd Boehly’s consortium go to Abramovich, who put the European champions up for sale when he was hit with sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chelsea, whose special operating licence expires on 31…

Two key National Institutes for Health (NIH) executives in positions of influence on decisions about who gets grants from the agency received a total of 77 previously undisclosed royalty payments from outside firms between 2010 and 2014. The secret royalty payments, which were first reported by The Epoch Times, are among thousands estimated to total at least $350 million paid between 2010 and 2020. Long-time NIH Director Francis Collins received 14 payments, Anthony Fauci, who heads NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), received 23, and Clifford Lane, Fauci’s chief deputy, got eight payments. Acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak conceded during questioning last…

McDonald’s announced on Monday that it would be permanently closing its 850 franchises in the Russian Federation, ending over three decades of engagement with the Russian market and signifying Russia’s increasing isolation from the global economic community since President Vladimir Putin’s authorization of the invasion of Ukraine. After more than thirty years of operating within Russian borders, McDonald’s has officially begun to sell its properties within the nation, citing humanitarian, legal, and financial concerns about the company’s involvement in Russian markets. “For the first time in our history, we are ‘de-Arching’ a major market and selling our portfolio of McDonald’s restaurants,”…

At the end Mohamed Elneny, Ben White, Martin Ødegaard and Aaron Ramsdale all sank to their knees, while most of their teammates gazed vacantly with hands on hips. Mikel Arteta completed his formalities in short order before disappearing down the tunnel, knowing Arsenal’s Champions League prospects had almost certainly slipped away too. That old “Spursy” joke will be tested to the limit now: either of the north London teams could still make it but it would take a barely imaginable stumble for Tottenham to let fourth place go. What a time this was for Arteta’s players to turn out arguably…

Trent Alexander-Arnold has said his appetite for silverware has only increased after becoming the youngest player to win all six major trophies available to an English club. Liverpool’s FA Cup victory on Saturday ensured that, at the age of 23 years and 219 days, Alexander-Arnold has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup. Alexander-Arnold is the sixth player to complete that sextuple after Ryan Giggs, Denis Irwin, James Milner, César Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, when aged 23 years and 109 days, won the Champions League, Premier League, FA…

ROME—World number one Novak Djokovic claimed his first title in over six months after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6–0 7–6(5) to win the Italian Open on Sunday. Djokovic did not drop a set en route to the final in Rome, having picked up his 1,000th tour-level victory by beating Casper Ruud in the semifinal to book a clash with Tsitsipas—a repeat of last year’s French Open final, which the Serb won. A sixth-successive win for Djokovic over his Greek opponent looked inevitable as he stormed through the first set with a blistering display of hitting, to which Tsitsipas had no answer. Tsitsipas’s name rung around…

The government of Finland has announced that it’s planning to apply for NATO membership in a move that’s likely to irk Moscow amid the months-long conflict in Ukraine. Ahead of the planned announcement, Russian officials made threats against the Scandinavian country, which shares a lengthy border with Russia and has long held a position of neutrality. During the Cold War, both Finland and neighboring Sweden kept out of NATO, but the governments of both countries have said they’ve reconsidered their stance on the military alliance amid the Russia–Ukraine war. “We hope that the Parliament will confirm the decision to apply for NATO membership during…

Elon Musk has said his $44bn takeover of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” after the social media platform claimed that less than 5% of its users were spam or fake accounts. The Tesla chief tweeted on Friday morning that the deal was being frozen while he awaited details behind Twitter’s assertion. Musk announced the move alongside a link to a Reuters article published on 2 May that referred to a filing with the US financial regulator, in which Twitter claimed that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its daily average users. Musk has railed at automated Twitter accounts – which…