Author: LoveWorld UK

Fed up with being confused for China amid the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty, Taiwan said on Wednesday it would redesign its passport to give greater prominence to the island’s name. Taiwan has complained during the outbreak that its nationals have encountered problems entering other countries, as Taiwanese passports have the words “Republic of China”, its formal name, written in large English font at the top, with “Taiwan” printed at the bottom. The new passport, to roll out in January, enlarges the word “Taiwan” in English and removes the large English words “Republic of China”, though…

Lionel Messi is unlikely to change his mind about leaving Barcelona, the club’s presidential candidate Victor Font has said. Messi rocked Barcelona last month when his lawyers told the club he wanted to activate a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for free before the 2020-21 season. The club disputed the claim saying the clause expired on June 10 — with La Liga also releasing a statement saying his contract was still valid — but Font is not optimistic about convincing Messi to stay another year. “I really hope the decision can be changed,” Font told…

British house prices leapt to hit an all-time high in August, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Wednesday, adding to signs of a sharp rebound in the country’s housing market after the coronavirus lockdown. Prices jumped by 2.0% from July, the biggest month-on-month increase since 2004 and far outstripping the median forecast for an increase of 0.5% in a Reuters poll of economists. Nationwide said prices were 3.7% higher than a year earlier. The Reuters poll had pointed to a 2.0% annual increase. “House prices have now reversed the losses recorded in May and June and are at a new all-time…

Britain will urge people this week to get back to their places of work, ramping up Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s calls to revive the economy after its hammering during the coronavirus lockdown. The government will launch a media campaign to explain to workers that they will be safe if they return to their offices and other places of employment. Data has shown only 17% of workers in British cities had returned to their workplaces by early August, and one business leader said last week that big urban centres looked like ghost towns. The government hopes that reopening schools, which began…

British mortgage lending accelerated in July, a latest sign of a post-lockdown bounce-back in the housing market, and consumers returned to borrowing, data from the Bank of England showed on Tuesday. Mortgage approvals jumped to 66,300 from just under 40,000 in June and seven times higher than their coronavirus pandemic low of barely more than 9,000 in May, the data showed. Economists polled by Reuters had expected about 55,000 approvals in July. “Overall, these figures support other evidence that the economy continued to recover in July,” Andrew Wishart, an economist with Capital Economics, said. “But we still think that the…

Marcus Rashford has formed a taskforce with some major food brands to help tackle hunger among children, the Manchester United and England forward said on Tuesday. Rashford had earned widespread praise after the 22-year-old successfully campaigned for school food vouchers to be provided over the summer holidays in Britain, revealing that he had relied on such support as a boy. Announcing the child food poverty group that includes Aldi, Asda, Tesco, Deliveroo, Sainsbury’s and Kellogg’s among others, Rashford wrote an open letter to parliament endorsing three policy recommendations of the National Food Strategy. The points include the expansion of free…

The governing body in charge of London’s financial district is asking for views on whether to take down statues and other landmarks with historic links to slavery and racism, as part of its response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The City of London Corporation, which runs the area that is home to some of the world’s biggest banks, has launched a three-month consultation. The memorials could be re-sited, reinterpreted or retained depending on the responses collected, Andrien Meyers, co-chair of the City’s Tackling Racism Taskforce, said. Street and building names could also be changed. “We know that historical symbols…

Britain appointed Simon Case, Prince William’s former private secretary and a senior government official, as the new head of the civil service on Tuesday – an influential role as Prime Minister Boris Johnson maps out a post-Brexit future. The appointment of 41-year old Case puts him in a senior advisory position in government, as well as overseeing the work of more than 400,000 state employees and making sure they implement Johnson’s policy decisions. The job of Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service is a non-political role, meaning Case is expected to be impartial and he would remain in…

Schools in England and Wales will finally reopen on Tuesday to all students for a new term after the COVID-19 pandemic forced their closure, leading to cancelled exams and throwing student grades into chaos. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised to get schools back up and running before the summer break, but was forced to shelve those plans, contributing to criticism over how his government has handled education during the crisis. The Department for Education said that a “system of controls” would be in place to keep pupils and teachers safe, with social distancing maintained whenever possible. “I do…

Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) has applied for a licence to set up an investment bank hub in Madrid after Britain has left the European Union, a spokesman said on Monday confirming a report from Spanish newspaper Expansion. The Swiss lender sought a licence from the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank in July to upgrade its brokerage in the country to a bank, the spokesman said confirming the article that quoted Wenceslao Bunge, Credit Suisse’s chief for Spain and Portugal. The bank expects to get the licence within a year and to be fully operational by mid 2021. In…