Author: LoveWorld UK

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned on Tuesday and dissolved parliament hours after mutinying soldiers detained him at gunpoint, plunging a country already facing a jihadist insurgency and mass protests deeper into crisis. Looking tired and wearing a surgical mask, Keita resigned in a brief address broadcast on state television after troops seized him along with Prime Minister Boubou Cisse and other top officials. “If today, certain elements of our armed forces want this to end through their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said from a military base in Kati outside the capital Bamako where he had…

Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya appealed to European Union leaders on Wednesday not to recognise what she said were fraudulent presidential elections, urging the bloc to respect the choice of the Belarusian people. Tsikhanouskaya was speaking from exile in neighbouring Lithuania before an emergency EU summit, due to be held by video conference, to discuss the crisis unfolding in Belarus. Martin Bryant, founder of technology and media consultancy Big Revolution, is leading the claim for English and Welsh-domiciled guests after more than 300 million customer records from Marriott’s global database, potentially including passport and credit card details, were hacked between…

Britain’s education minister tried on Tuesday to defend a U-turn over a school exam grading system used to replace cancelled tests, which opponents said was another example of the government’s incompetent handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, the government ditched a mathematical model used to assess grade predictions made by teachers which had lowered results for almost 40% of students taking their main school-leaving exams. University places depend on the results but many students found their grades had been downgraded, meaning they failed to meet their provisional offers. The action only came after days of criticism of the algorithm…

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman is expected to conclude negotiations on a three-year contract to manage Barcelona, Dutch media reported on Tuesday. Koeman has a clause in his deal with the Dutch football association KNVB which allows him to break his contract if he receives an offer from Barcelona, the club he played for and began his coaching career with as assistant to Louis van Gaal. The 57-year-old has made no secret of the fact Barcelona would be a dream job and Dutch media said Koeman felt it was “now or never” to accept an offer from the Catalan giants. His…

The pound rose on Tuesday, approaching a five-month high, driven by a weaker dollar but analysts are cautious about the outlook for the pound as a new round of Brexit talks began. The dollar index hit new lows on Tuesday, facing the triple woes of diminishing yields, weak U.S. economic data and a lessening of demand for safe havens. The weaker dollar pushed cable up close to its highest since March. The pound also rose against the euro. Traders are bracing for a new round of sterling volatility as talks between Britain and the European Union restart. “Sterling’s recent good…

BHP Group (BHP.AX) (BHPB.L) on Tuesday said it expects most major world economies except China to bear the brunt of a coronavirus-led downturn this year, reporting a 4% drop in annual profit that missed analysts’ estimates. While miners have seen green shoots emerge from an economic pickup in the world’s top metals user, as well as a boost in infrastructure spending, the risk of new virus outbreaks around the world threatens to undermine growth, BHP said. The warning came as BHP reported underlying profit attributable from continuing operations for the year ended June 30 that fell to $9.06 billion -…

Housebuilder Persimmon (PSN.L) posted a plunge in first-half profit on Tuesday, as it sold fewer homes due to coronavirus-driven disruptions to construction activity and transactions, but “an excellent start to the second half” helped it reinstate dividend. The UK’s second-largest homebuilder is expecting to deliver about 45% of its second half new home completions by September end. Britain’s housing market has picked up pace in recent months after coming to a virtual standstill in late March and April as tax breaks for home purchases and a shift towards suburban living caused by the pandemic spur home sales. “Potential medium-term risks…

The British government is working with regulators on how to resolve an escalating row over the way pupils in England were awarded grades after their exams were cancelled due to COVID-19, with media reports suggesting a change in policy was imminent. The government has faced days of criticism after its exam regulator used an algorithm to assess grade predictions made by teachers, and lowered those grades for almost 40% of students taking their main school-leaving exams. A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government was continuing to work on a solution, and that Johnson had spoken with education…

Employers in Britain have posted the most job advertisements since the country went into its coronavirus lockdown but there were some warning signals about the economy’s recovery prospects in the increase in demand for workers. Among the most sought-after staff in early August were childminders, suggesting more people working from home heeded the government’s call for them to return to their workplaces, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) said. Gardeners, construction workers and light goods vehicle drivers were also high on the list of recruiters. But debt collectors were in demand too, reflecting the struggles faced by many households whose…

Perhaps the Champions League has, inadvertently, found the right formula for the Netflix era. Rather than having to wait two weeks for the second episode of two-legged knockout games, allowing for distractions and loss of attention, fans have been binge watching the action every night. The COVID-enforced final eight mini-tournament in the Portuguese capital has delivered real drama, with unexpected plot twists in every instalment. The only pity is that the four single-leg knockout games have been played out in empty stadiums in front of only a handful of team staff, medical officials, security guards and a few, very fortunate,…