Author: Loveworld UK

The Co-op Group, Britain’s most prominent mutual, is exploring the sale of its general insurance operations for about £300m amid accelerating changes to the industry’s distribution model. Sky News has learnt that the Co-op has appointed investment bankers from Fenchurch Advisory Partners to advise on potential options for its insurance business, which made £11m in underlying profit in 2017.In recent weeks, the Co-op has begun approaching prospective acquirers of the business although it has not yet made a definitive decision to offload it, according to people close to the process.The sale is viewed sensitively within the Co-op Group because of…

Tear gas has been deployed in Zimbabwe after people protested against election results giving the ruling Zanu-PF party a big parliamentary majority. Sky News correspondent John Sparks said water cannons were on standby in Harare.President Emmerson Mnangagwa called for calm after stones were throne and tyres burned.”We must all demonstrate patience and maturity, and act in a way that puts our people and their safety first,” Mr Mnangagwa tweeted.The protests are happening halfway between a hotel where the results are being announced, and the opposition MDC party’s headquarters.MDC leader Nelson Chamisa tweeted that he won the “popular vote” in the…

Lloyds Banking Group had to pay out a further £460m in PPI compensation between April and June, its latest results have revealed.  The bank put aside a total of £550m in the six-month period to June 30, to provide compensation to Lloyds customers caught up in the payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.Lloyds Bank said the additional half-billion pound provision in the second quarter would cover claims currently coming in at a rate of approximately 13,000 per week, 2,000 claims per week more than the run rate previously assumed, until the compensation deadline in August 2019.This latest compensation round takes the…

As the government further delays publication of ‘no deal’ Brexit preparedness reports, dozens of councils have taken the initiative to produce their own analyses, Sky News can reveal. Local authorities across the UK have expressed serious concerns about the delivery of public services in dozens of Brexit impact studies obtained by Sky News as part of its Brexit Forensics investigation.Nearly 30 councils have responded to a freedom of information request for their Brexit plans, with some expressing mounting incredulity and exasperation at having to plan to deliver local public services against a backdrop of highly uncertain Brexit negotiations with Europe…

Donald Trump has said “collusion is not a crime” ahead of the first trial in the Russia investigation. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort is facing charges of tax and bank fraud, with the jury selection due to begin today.His is the first trial in the Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, looking at whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to sway the result of the 2016 election.Mr Trump tweeted: “Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!”:: Trump: ‘I have the absolute right to…

By Faisal Islam, political editorAt a National Trust site nestled into Dover’s white cliffs, with a clear view of the Continent, the famous port opens up in its entirety.The pace with which the roll-on/roll-off ferries unload and upload lorries, straight on to the UK high-speed road network through a snaking system, is remarkable.It is designed for minimal checks. Indeed, a ferry unloading 180 lorries sees just two of them checked.At the heart of the recent suggestions from government about the need to stockpile food and medicines in anticipation of a “no deal” Brexit is the fact there is no economic…

The government’s “temporary solution” to potential traffic chaos on Kent’s roads after Brexit will have to last “many years” as a permanent solution will not be in place until “2023 at the earliest”, Sky News can reveal. According to internal Brexit impact reports from two Conservative-run local councils, the conversion of four lanes of the M20 motorway into a 13-mile (20km) long lorry park could be in place for a number of years after the UK’s departure from the EU.The first preparations for the scheme, known as Operation Brock, have just begun, with hard shoulders about to be strengthened to…

Dixons Carphone has apologised to all of its customers after revealing that a 2017 data breach affected personal data held in an additional 8.8 million customer records. The admission early on Tuesday is the second revelation related to the data breach in six weeks and the third since 2015.The company says it was alerted to the breach by investigators on Monday evening.Sky News reported in June that the company said it believed there had been other recently discovered attempts since last year to compromise 5.9 million cards in one of its processing systems for Currys PC World and Dixons Travel…

Spy satellites have picked up new activity at the North Korean site that made the country’s first intercontinental missiles, according to a senior US official. Photos and infrared imaging indicate vehicles going in and out of the facility in Sanumdong, but it is not clear how advanced any new missile construction might be.The US official was speaking anonymously to the Reuters news agency after The Washington Post reported that one or two new liquid-fuelled missiles appeared to be under construction. Image: The Hwasong-15 was first tested in November 2017 A truck and trailer similar to ones used in the past…

The UK is hotter and wetter than at any time in the last 100 years, the latest figures from the Met Office show. Last year was the fifth warmest on record and nine of the 10 hottest years have been since 2002.The figures were revealed in the Met Office’s annual state of the climate report.It shows that, despite this summer’s shortage of rain in some areas of the UK, the amount of rainfall has gone up.:: Latest weather forecast Image: Extreme weather, like that this summer, is becoming more common say campaigners Average annual rainfall was 20% higher in the…