Author: LoveWorld UK

British government borrowing surged to a record 128 billion pounds ($162 billion) in the first three months of the 2020/21 financial year, when COVID-19 lockdown measures were tightest, more than double the entire previous year’s borrowing. Most economists think British government borrowing this year will be its largest since World War Two relative to the size of the economy. Borrowing in June, excluding state-owned banks, was 35.5 billion pounds, the government statistics office said. That was five times more than a year earlier though below economists’ average forecast of 41.5 billion pounds in a Reuters poll, following a big downward…

BP (BP.L) has put four traders responsible for Chinese crude oil sales on temporary leave as it conducts internal investigations into trades with Singapore’s Hontop Energy, four sources familiar with the matter said. They were involved in crude trading and operations in Singapore and China and were put on leave last week, the sources said, while BP’s counterparties have been told to deal with another team for Chinese crude transactions. BP declined to comment. BP traders were named in a court document filed by Malaysian lender CIMB where the bank applied to place Hontop Energy under judicial management. BP has…

Britain said on Saturday it was pausing its daily update of the death toll from the coronavirus after the government ordered a review into the calculation of the data over concerns the toll might have been exaggerated. Academics have said the way that Public Health England (PHE), the government agency responsible for managing infectious disease outbreaks, calculates the figures in England means they may be distorted compared to other parts of the United Kingdom. “Currently the daily deaths measure counts all people who have tested positive for coronavirus and since died, with no cut-off between time of testing and date…

Chelsea beat Manchester United 3-1 on Sunday to book their place in an all-London FA Cup final, helped by two glaring errors from goalkeeper David de Gea and an own goal by Harry Maguire. Chelsea, who face rivals Arsenal in the Aug. 1 showpiece, had lost to United three times this season but dominated the match and took control with goals either side of halftime from Olivier Giroud and Mason Mount. Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was delighted with the discipline of his team, who ended United’s 19-game unbeaten run. “People ask a lot at this time of the year about…

Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people with knowledge of the matter. Bankers at Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L), Julius Baer Gruppe AG (BAER.S) and UBS Group AG (UBSG.S), among others, are broadening scrutiny under their programs that screen clients for political and government ties and subjecting them to additional diligence requirements, these people said. The designation, called politically exposed persons, can make it more…

British property website Rightmove said a mini housing market boom was gathering pace after a tax cut by finance minister Rishi Sunak. The number of sales agreed in England — which eased coronavirus restrictions on the market before other countries in the United Kingdom — jumped by an annual 35% in the five days after Sunak’s announcement on July 8, Rightmove said. A recovery had already been under way with agreed sales in England up by 15% in June, it said on Monday. Hoping to give a boost to the economy, Sunak raised the threshold for paying tax on property…

Britain has not achieved a good outcome in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s chief scientific adviser said on Thursday, adding that he was sure mistakes had been made. Britain has the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe, which, including deaths from suspected cases, is nearly 56,000 according to a Reuters tally of official data sources. Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered a lockdown on March 23, though a former member of the government’s scientific advisory group has said that introducing measures a week earlier could have halved the death toll. “It’s very difficult to know exactly where we stand…

British Airways, the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747s, will retire its entire jumbo jet fleet with immediate effect after the novel coronavirus pandemic sent air travel into freefall. For over 50-years, Boeing’s (BA.N) “Queen of the Skies” has been the world’s most easily recognised jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines, but its days had already been numbered before the pandemic struck earlier this year. BA had been planning to retire the aircraft in 2024 but with passenger numbers decimated this year and forecasts that it will be years before they recover, the airline said it was unlikely…

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says his team can “create some more history” by sealing Champions League qualification for a second time after Thursday’s 2-0 Premier League win over Sheffield United kept them in the driving seat for fourth spot. A top-four finish will ensure a place in Europe’s elite club competition but with Manchester United trailing Leicester only on goal difference Rodgers said it was no time to relax. “If you go back a year, when we were setting our goals for the season, our main goal was could we break into the top six,” Rodgers told reporters. “That…

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) disclosed late on Thursday that hackers targeted about 130 accounts during the cyber attack this week, an incident in which profiles of many prominent personalities and organizations were compromised. Hackers had accessed Twitter’s internal systems to hijack some of the platform’s top voices including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama and billionaire Elon Musk and used them to solicit digital currency. In its latest statement, Twitter said that the hackers were able to gain control to a “small subset” of the targeted accounts, and send tweets from them.…