Author: Loveworld UK

John Lewis Partnership is to close four Waitrose convenience shops and a supermarket after issuing a profit warning. The group said that it expected profits in the first half of the year to be “close to zero”, while profits for the full year will come in “substantially” lower than last year.The company cited “market uncertainty” and significant extra costs as a result of “greater IT investment” as the drivers behind the forecast.It said Waitrose was expected to see profit growth and John Lewis a decline.Little Waitrose convenience shops at Manchester Piccadilly, Spinningfields in Manchester, Colmore Row in Birmingham and Portman…

A heterosexual couple have won a legal bid at the UK’s highest court for the right to have a civil partnership instead of marriage. Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, had been prevented from having the legal union because the Civil Partnership Act 2004 says only same-sex couples are eligible.The couple, who have two young daughters, claim the government’s position was “incompatible with equality law” and the Supreme Court in London has now ruled they are being discriminated against.The academics, from Hammersmith in west London, have “deep-rooted and genuine ideological objections to marriage” and were “not alone” in their…

Brexiteers have accused Remainers in the cabinet of co-ordinating business attacks on Brexit in a bid to bounce the prime minister into a soft Brexit. Jacob Rees-Mogg, head of the eurosceptic European Reform Group of Tory MPs, told Sky News he believed Chancellor Philip Hammond was behind the sudden flurry of businesses speaking up on Brexit.It comes ahead of a crunch Chequers meeting of cabinet ministers next Friday to agree detailed plans on the UK’s post-Brexit future.”I think there is cooperation between the Remainers in the cabinet and some businesses, some of the more politicised businesses,” Mr Rees-Mogg told Sky…

Boris Johnson has called for the international chemical weapons watchdog to get beefed up powers to name countries behind attacks. He said the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should be able to use its “forensic, scientific impartiality” to identify states that use the banned substances aggressively.The foreign secretary’s comments come three months after the Salisbury poisoning, where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were incapacitated by the nerve agent novichok.Britain believes Moscow was behind the attack – a claim the Kremlin strongly denies.But after the OPCW travelled to Britain, it was only able to…

Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh face “a race against time” as the monsoon season brings heavy rains, leading to landslides and floods. Twelve people are thought to have died so far, with the heaviest rain yet to come. Sky News has spoken to the families of some of the victims.”This is an emergency within an emergency,” Shelley Thakral, a World Food Programme spokesperson said.”It is a race against time – we need to move people to safe locations as fast as we can and make sure they have the food and resources and relief they need to survive.” Image:…

Sixteen people have been injured in a crash involving a lorry and a double decker bus on the A47 in Cambridgeshire. An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We are currently attending a serious road traffic incident in Thorney Road, Guyhirn.”The East of England Ambulance Service Trust has currently dispatched seven ambulance crews, three ambulance officers, two rapid response vehicles, a Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) and Magpas Air Ambulance to the scene where the crew are caring for several seriously injured patients. Image: Sixteen people were injured in the smash “We are working closely with our emergency blue light…

All disposable plastic has been banned in Mumbai – a city of 21 million people – and the Indian state it is part of. State authorities in Maharashtra – which has nearly twice the population of the UK – say they are responding to a major pollution problem.The legislation kicked in at the weekend, and also includes a ban on plastic bags and products made out of polystyrene. Image: A girl sits among discarded rubbish in a Mumbai slum Disposable cups, plates, spoons, forks, glasses and containers are among the items prohibited along with other single-use items and plastic packaging…

Firefighters are tackling a large blaze across Saddleworth Moor as warmer temperatures bring the risk of more wildfires. Fire crews were called to the moor, which is in the Pennines, north-west England, on Sunday night.The fire was extinguished with the help of a nearby gamekeeper but was reignited by the heat on Monday morning.At one stage it covered almost a square mile of moorland.A Manchester Fire and Rescue spokesman said crews had “worked tirelessly” to control the blaze and were expected to remain in the area between Stalybridge and Dovestones on Tuesday.A portion of the area near Buckton Hill has…

The US drug regulator has approved the first cannabis-based epilepsy treatment for children as young as two. Nasdaq-listed GW Pharmaceuticals, which grows its own marijuana plants in glass houses in Britain, hopes the drug will be approved in the UK next year.The company’s chief executive Justin Gover told Ian King Live last week: “This is a new breakthrough in the field of childhood-onset epilepsy. This treatment we have studied for the last five years.”It has shown in placebo trials it can reduce seizures in certain types of childhood-onset epilepsy and we believe it would a breakthrough in the US and…

US President Donald Trump slammed Harley-Davidson’s decision to move some production of motorcycles overseas after Brussels retaliated against his tariffs. Mr Trump said the iconic maker of motorcycles had waved the “White Flag” after he had fought hard for the company.The Milwaukee-based company said it would shift some production of bikes heading for customers in the European Union to its international production plants. It has factories in Brazil, India and Thailand.Brussels imposed tariffs on a range of US-made products, including cosmetics, whiskey and cranberry juice, after Mr Trump imposed extra taxes on EU steel and aluminum. The levy on Harley-Davidson…