Author: LoveWorld UK

One of France’s top chefs on Thursday urged fellow restaurant and bar owners to protest against the possible closure of their establishments, as the government considers tightening rules to control a second coronavirus wave. Double Michelin-starred Philippe Etchebest, who frequently appears on TV cooking shows, pressed restaurateurs and their staff to stand on the street outside their venues on Friday before lunch service and make some noise. “We will not die in silence,” he said on BFM television. “The government must understand that restaurants are not to blame for COVID and that closing our venues only moves the problem elsewhere,”…

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves ended a statewide mask mandate on Wednesday as the number of COVID-19 cases have fallen in recent weeks to less than half of what they were at the peak of the pandemic in August. The Magnolia State was one of 33 states in the union – not counting Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, who also instituted the mandate – to require its citizens to wear facial coverings. But the governor said he will still require people to wear face coverings in schools to curb the spread of the coronavirus. ‘We should not use the heavy…

The flow of financial services between the European Union and Britain will be less fluid from January whatever happens in talks on a future free trade deal, the EU’s financial services chief designate said on Friday. Britain left the EU last January and unfettered access to the single market under transition arrangements ends on Dec. 31. Brussels and London are in talks on a free trade agreement, though financial services are being handled separately. “Under all circumstances, deal or no deal, trading in financial services will be different and less fluid as of the first of January next year,” Mairead…

The European Union on Thursday launched a legal case against Britain over its new Internal Market Bill that undercuts London’s earlier legal commitments under its Brexit divorce treaty, the head of the bloc’s executive said. Such so-called infringements could lead to hefty fines being imposed by the EU’s top court but that takes years, leaving plenty of time for the UK to change tack. London now has one month now to reply to a formal letter of complaint from the Commission, which will then assess whether the answer is satisfactory and can then request that the UK falls back in…

Serena Williams’ search for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title will extend into another year after an Achilles tendon injury forced her to withdraw from the French Open on Wednesday. The American, who turned 39 this week, had been due to play Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round later but after a warm-up decided the injury was too severe. Williams, a three-times former champion at Roland Garros, said she may not play again this year. “I warmed up and it was a very short warmup and then I spoke to my coach and said ‘what do you think?’ she…

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a 5.7 billion pounds bailout package for London’s transport operator, in an attempt to keep the capital’s transport system going for the next 18 months, the Financial Times reported on.ft.com/3cLZnFe. Khan, who serves as the chairman of Transport for London (TfL), has requested the financial package in his submission to the government’s spending review, as passenger numbers continue to plunge due to the coronavirus pandemic-induced strict measures on public transport, the newspaper said. TfL, which relies mostly on income from fares to run tubes, buses and trains, and invest in new projects, had initially…

British and EU trade negotiators have failed to close the gap on state aid, a key element barring their new agreement on post-Brexit trade ties, officials and diplomatic sources with the bloc said as 27 national leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday. The two-day summit in Brussels is due to deal with foreign policy but chairman Charles Michel and the bloc’s executive will also on Friday give their latest assessment on Brexit. Disagreements over corporate subsidies, fisheries and ways to solve disputes have overshadowed trade talks, while a proposed UK law that would undermine its earlier divorce deal with the…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is seeking to avoid a full national lockdown to prevent unemployment soaring into the millions, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Thursday. “I’ve not seen any projections of 4 million but certainly we know that there are some 700,000 extra people that are already unemployed as a result of this, and yes you know the projections are, that there are going to be economic impacts,” Eustice told Sky. “It’s for precisely that reason that we are trying to avoid full lockdown,” he said. Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in July that unemployment would…

Barclays BARC.L Chief Executive Jes Staley has reshuffled his senior lieutenants as he looks to promote closer cooperation between the bank’s corporate, banking and markets operations amid a tough environment for lenders worldwide. Staley named longstanding deputy Paul Compton as global head of banking and CS Venkatakrishnan, currently group chief risk officer, as global head of markets, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The two, who like Staley were previously employed by JPMorgan JPM.N, will chair a new corporate and investment bank management team aimed at bringing those business units closer together, Staley said. Barclays’ current global head of…

The Bank of England (BoE) set out proposals on Wednesday to end unfair advantages some banks have in calculating how much capital to hold for mortgages in a bid to increase competition. Some bigger banks can use their own internal models for determining the risk weightings and therefore capital levels for home loans they have granted. Typically this has resulted in lower capital levels than under the so-called standardised approach to risk weightings set out by regulators that many smaller lenders have to use. The BoE’s banks supervision arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said it wanted to reduce risks…