Author: LoveWorld UK

How quickly things change in markets. After the euphoria of April, world stocks are on track for their biggest weekly loss since mid-March, when the coronavirus-linked rout was in full swing. The dollar has gained half a percent this week against a basket of currencies, gold has risen 2% and Treasury yields are down six basis points. But on the last day of the week, the mood has swung around again, with MSCI’s global index up 0.3%. European markets are enjoying rises of 1% to 2%. Travel and leisure are up 3% and banks, which plumbed record lows yesterday, have bounced 1%.…

Talks between Britain and the European Union on their new trade relationship made little progress this week, sources with the bloc said on Friday, with persistent differences on key areas weighing on chances for a deal by the end of the year. That is when Britain is due to leave its status-quo transition period after exiting the EU earlier this year and both sides are now locked in talks on new cooperation rules from 2021 from trade to fisheries to security. “Both sides agreed to disagree,” said one diplomat following Brexit in the EU hub Brussels as the penultimate round…

London’s transport operator, which has seen passenger numbers collapse due to coronavirus, said it had secured 1.6 billion pounds in government funding for cover a shortfall in revenue until October. Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city’s red double-decker buses and underground Tube trains among other services, said it had lost more than 90% of its revenue from fares and advertising on its network since lockdown. Measures imposed in March have restricted people’s movements with businesses shut and many people working from home. TfL said demand had declined steeply, with journeys on London Underground down 95% and on London…

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is a leader in electric vehicle battery technology, but the company doesn’t do all its own research. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has reached out to battery experts clustered at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tesla in 2016 agreed to fund a group of scientists led for the past 24 years by Jeff Dahn, a pioneer in lithium-ionbattery development. The work with Dahn’s team is now playing a key role in Tesla’s plans to introduce a new low-cost, long-life battery in its Model 3 sedan in China by early next year, Reuters reported on Thursday. The…

More than three-quarters of British have applied for the government’s emergency — and hugely expensive — job retention scheme to help them through the coronavirus lockdown, according to an official survey. Seventy-six percent of the companies which responded to April 20-May 3 survey said they had applied, the Office for National Statistics said, up from 66% in the previous fortnightly survey by the Office for National Statistics. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, under which the state pays 80% of the wages of workers who are temporarily laid off, is the centrepiece of Britain’s attempts to prevent an expected doubling of…

COVID-19 contact-tracing apps must only be used during the pandemic and will need to be automatically de-activated once the crisis is over, EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders said on Thursday in a bid to allay concerns over state surveillance. Countries are rushing to develop mobile tracing apps, hoping smartphone technology could help bring about a reopening of borders and economic activity without unleashing a second wave of the pandemic. “Apps cannot be used for mass surveillance. Individuals will keep control on their data,” Reynders told EU lawmakers in a plenary sitting, as deputies reiterated concerns over risks that these apps…

The head of the World Trade Organization will announce his early departure on Thursday more than a year before the end of his term, Geneva-based sources said, a surprise move at a time when the agency’s mechanism to resolve disputes has been paralysed. Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, 62, has been director-general since 2013 and is serving a second term due to conclude at the end of August next year. He has summoned a virtual meeting to inform national members on Thursday afternoon of his decision to step down early, the sources said. His departure would come at a testing time for…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has “forgotten” its professionalism and neutrality in locking Taiwan out of the body for political reasons, Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-jen said on Thursday. Taiwan says China and the WHO have conspired for political purposes to keep it out of key meetings, that the WHO has not responded to requests for coronavirus information and has misreported the number of its infections. The WHO and China have strongly dispute the accusations, saying Taiwan has been given all the help it needed, but that only China, which claims democratic Taiwan as one of its provinces, has the…

The European Union’s executive will say on Wednesday that airlines will not have to leave the middle seat empty but passengers will have to wear masks on board and in airports as travel amid the coronavirus crisis gradually resumes. The non-binding recommendations are part of a wider set of proposals to salvage the ailing tourism industry, which in normal times represents some 10% of the EU’s economic output and employs almost 12% of the bloc’s workforce. According to a European Commission document, the executive will propose vouchers for cancelled flights or holidays remain valid for at least a year with…

Belgian football is anticipating a stormy end to the season on Friday when key decisions about the campaign are finally decided in the boardroom. While play for the rest of the season has been cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions must still be made over whether to declare a champion, promotion and relegation as well as places in next season’s European club competitions. Belgium was the first country in Europe to end the campaign but that decision made by the Pro League board — which at the time saw runaway leaders Club Brugge hailed as champions —…