Author: LoveWorld UK

Companies running rail services in Britain have asked the government for a financial bailout as Britons increasingly work from home to avoid spreading coronavirus, sending passenger numbers plunging, a source told Reuters. Passenger numbers have fallen by about 18% on some lines, according to anecdotal early evidence from the rail industry, as the formal data is not yet available, putting the viability of some rail contracts at risk. Many Britons are working from home instead of commuting. State-owned Transport for London (TfL) said on Monday that passenger numbers on London’s Underground network fell 19% in the week starting March 2…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a backlash on Monday over his decision to keep schools open, with angry parents keeping their children at home and complaining that other countries were doing more to stop the spread of coronavirus. Britain has reported 1,372 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 35 deaths, fewer than in Italy, Spain and France, where schools have been shut, though the British numbers are expected to rise. Johnson’s spokesman said the scientific advice was that school closures were not a step the government should be taking at this time, but a growing number of parents are refusing…

British Airways warned that its survival was at stake on Friday as its CEO told staff of plans to cut jobs and ground aircraft to tackle the “worsening situation” caused by coronavirus. Chief Executive Alex Cruz told BA’s staff in a message titled “the survival of British Airways” that coronavirus was causing a crisis “of global proportions like no other we have known”, more serious than the financial crisis, SARS or 9/11. “Please do not underestimate the seriousness of this for our company,” read the message from Cruz, a transcript of which was seen by Reuters. Airlines around the globe…

British shoppers stripped some supermarkets of pasta, toilet paper and canned food on Friday and major soccer matches were suspended just hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson resisted imposing stringent measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Johnson has said it would be counterproductive to implement draconian isolation measures as the peak of the epidemic is weeks away, but people were bracing for the worst. Across the country, many supermarket shelves were empty of basic ingredients for the first time since fuel protests prompted panic buying two decades ago. “I have never seen the supermarket look like that. It is chaos…

Elon Musk is expected to defend a $2.2 billion (1.75 billion pounds) deal in court next week criticized by shareholders as benefiting Musk at the expense of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), and the outcome may depend as much on the chief executive’s temperament as on the facts of the case. The electric vehicle maker’s unconventional CEO has shown two sides in recent court proceedings — one polite and respectful, the other evasive and taunting. It remains to be seen which Musk will show up on Monday at a Delaware court, the nation’s leader on corporate issues, when he squares off against…

London stocks rose on Friday as a recovery in oil prices and moves by policymakers to limit the economic hit from the coronavirus helped them rebound from their worst selloff since the 1987 “Black Monday” crash a day earlier. The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 3.2%, but was still on course to post its worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008. Helping the slight move up on Friday were miners, supermarket chains and oil & gas producers. “It was perhaps inevitable, given that the FTSE suffered its second worst session ever yesterday and it’s probably some people deciding to buy…

The European Central Bank cut its growth forecasts for this year and next on Thursday, and its president declined to rule out the currency bloc slipping into recession as the coronavirus epidemic weighs heavily on economic activity. Christine Lagarde said the ECB now expected the euro zone economy to grow by 0.8% this year, a significant drop from the expansion of 1.1% it had forecast in December. Asked at a news conference if a recession beckoned, she said the outturn for the economy would “clearly depend on the speed and strength” of the collective response to the epidemic, which had…

Slovenia plans to close all schools and kindergartens for two weeks from Monday in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Marjan Sarec said on Thursday. He also told a news conference that Slovenia would start rejecting cargo traffic from Italy, as neighbouring Croatia was rejecting some trucks and Slovenia does not want the trucks to be stuck in the country. He did not say what trucks would be rejected and from what date. Later on Thursday prime minister designate Janez Jansa, who is expected to take over late on Friday or on Saturday after his cabinet…

The Bank of England must tread carefully to avoid financial stability dangers if it creates a digital equivalent to its existing banknotes, Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday. Cash usage is falling in Britain, making shoppers and businesses more reliant on electronic money held with banks and payment companies rather than banknotes issued by the BoE. The BoE said it was seeking the public’s views on how it might design a digital currency of its own to operate alongside physical cash — though a decision on whether to go ahead would need government approval. “While CBDC (central bank digital currency)…

The Czech Republic will close its borders to travellers crossing from Germany and Austria and also ban the entry of foreigners coming from other risky countries to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday. Czechs will also be barred from travelling to those countries, and to and from and other countries deemed risky, effective from Saturday (2300 GMT on Friday). The full list includes other EU members Italy, Sweden, Norway, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Denmark, and also Britain, Switzerland, China, Korea and Iran. International public transport vehicles with more than nine seats will also be…