Author: LoveWorld UK

Keir Starmer’s decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap if Labour wins power has exposed deep splits within the party, as he faces mounting calls to rethink the policy. Facing the prospect of a battle at this week’s national policy forum (NPF) over the controversial decision, shadow cabinet ministers were sent out to defend his position. They argued that if Labour wanted to appear fiscally credible at the next election, it could not make any spending commitments without saying how they would be funded. But at a bad-tempered meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday, almost every question to the…

House Republicans sent a letter demanding Meta answer if policies on its new Twitter-style platform, Threads, violates free speech. The letter, which was obtained exclusively by CNBC, is a hint that Meta’s latest product could bring it further scrutiny in Congress. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on July 17 to send over documents about Threads’s content moderation practices by the end of July. Zuckerberg launched Threads earlier this month as an alternative to Twitter, which has received partisan pushback following owner Elon Musk’s release of internal files that revealed censorship of Americans at the direction of elements within…

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang has disappeared from public view for more than three weeks, sparking intense speculation and media attention. Mr. Qin’s last public appearance was on June 25 in Beijing, when he met with the foreign ministers of Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Russia. Since then, Mr. Qin, 57, has been absent from a series of important diplomatic activities. His lunch meeting with the ambassadors of EU countries to China in late June was temporarily canceled; then, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell’s scheduled China visit from July 7 to July 10 to…

Bricklayers, plasterers and other construction jobs have been added to the government’s “shortage occupation list”, making it easier for foreign builders to come to Britain amid labour shortages partly caused by Brexit. The UK government has relaxed visa restrictions for a number of sectors that face severe worker shortages, and has added bricklayers and masons; roofers, roof tilers and slaters; carpenters and joiners; plasterers and other construction workers to the list. Fishing jobs have also been added to the list. The Home Office said that this would “aid the delivery of key national infrastructure and stimulate growth for related industries”. Those…

Manchester United will switch attention to trying to sign the striker Rasmus Højlund after securing a deal to buy the goalkeeper André Onana from Internazionale. Onana is close to travelling for his medical and to sign a contract after a fee of €50m (£42.9m) plus €5m in add-ons was agreed. Onana is understood to be getting a five-year deal with an option for a further season and United want to process a visa application for him to be part of their tour to the United States. Their first match there is on Saturday against Arsenal in New Jersey. United have…

Supermarket bosses will meet Grant Shapps on Monday after the energy secretary pledged to hold “rip-off retailers” to account for charging motorists “sky high” prices for fuel. Executives from Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – as well as those from the fuel providers BP, Shell and Esso – will come under pressure to explain why they have failed to pass on savings to customers after a drop in their own wholesale fuel costs. “I want to now hear how they are going to fix this,” Shapps said in the Sun newspaper over the weekend. “I will be telling them to do the…

The UK has formally signed the treaty to join a vast free trade area spanning the Indo-Pacific region, in a move the government says will be a “big boost for British businesses.” Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the accession protocol to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday. The UK is the first new member, and the first European nation, to join the bloc—comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam—since its formation in 2018. It represents Britain’s biggest trade deal since leaving the…

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked former Vice President Mike Pence multiple questions about how he would describe the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Mr. Carlson, who departed Fox News in late April, opened his line of questioning of Mr. Pence at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa by asking him if he believed the incident was an “insurrection,” a narrative that has been repeated often by legacy news outlets and Democrat officials. “All I know for sure, having lived through it at the Capitol, is that it was a tragic day,” said Mr. Pence, who oversaw the Joint Sessions…

Over the past few years of men’s tennis, as his great rivals have retreated from view, Novak Djokovic has spent his time destroying the hopes and dreams of nearly all younger challengers at the major tournaments. Not only has he continued to hold off the next generation, but he has relished his supremacy over them. It has been clear for a long time, though, that Carlos Alcaraz is just different. He is different both in terms of his peerless on-court talents and the supreme mental strength that underpins his success. A month after his body crumbled under the sheer tension of facing Djokovic…

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been invited to the UK on an official visit in late autumn, the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and dissident. Numerous UK ministers have been to Saudi Arabia in the interim, and senior Saudi ministers have also come to the UK, including the foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Prince Mohammed also spent nearly a week in Paris last month meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and attending a climate finance…