Author: LoveWorld UK

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 aged just three, is assumed to be dead and an imprisoned German child abuser is the murder suspect, a German prosecutor said on Thursday. McCann vanished from her bedroom on May 3 during a family vacation in the Algarve while her parents were dining with friends nearby in the resort of Praia da Luz. Her disappearance sparked an international search, with missing posters of the little girl’s face papered across the world and celebrity appeals for information that could help track her down and bring her abductors to justice.…

Germany’s economy will shrink significantly this year and may need two years to make up the lost ground, its central bank said on Friday, joining a number of forecasters predicting only a slow recovery from a coronavirus-induced recession. The euro zone’s biggest economy will contract by 7.1% in 2020 based on calendar adjusted figures and 6.8% according to unadjusted data, the Bundesbank said in its biannual projections, days after the government agreed a 130 billion euro stimulus scheme. The Bundesbank’s projections are now broadly in line with outlooks provided by the government and its Council of Economic Experts, which both…

Britain expects the United States to continue its tradition of protecting media freedoms, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Thursday when asked about protests sparked by the death of a black man pinned by his neck to the street during an arrest. The death of 46-year-old George Floyd has sparked more than a week of nationwide protest and civil strife. While the demonstrations have been largely peaceful, police in some cities have used force against journalists and protesters, and protesters have clashed with police. Derek Chauvin, the white officer seen in widely circulated video footage kneeling on Floyd’s neck for…

The Bank of England will gather more information from banks on their likely losses on loans due to the pandemic, its deputy governor Sam Woods said on Thursday. The BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority will gather the data ahead of banks’ second quarter earnings to compare the timing and amount of losses with those it modelled last month. “This information will enable us to identify any significant outliers and to further refine our estimates for future capital exercises,” Woods said in a letter to banks. Britain is facing its worst recession in 300 years due to a national lockdown that has…

UK shares dipped from three-month highs on Thursday following strong gains earlier in the week on bets of a rebound in post-coronavirus economic activity, while miners tracked a fall in commodity prices. The blue-chip index .FTSE edged down about 0.1%, with basic materials and financial stocks among the biggest drags. Gains for AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and industrials stocks capped further declines. The mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC also fell 0.1% and was set to snap a three-day winning streak, with real estate stocks .FTUB8600, life insurers .FTNMX8570 and banks .FTNMX8350 among the biggest decliners. Elsewhere in Europe, investors awaited a central bank meeting where policymakers are…

Leaders Porto suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Famalicao as Portugal’s Primeira Liga became the latest league to return to action following the coronavirus stoppage on Wednesday. An embarrassing mistake by Porto goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin three minutes after halftime gifted Famalicao the lead. The Argentine sent an attempted clearance straight to Fabio Martins who rolled the ball into an empty net from the edge of the penalty area. Jesus Corona fired Porto level in the 74th minute but the hosts regained the lead four minutes later when Pedro Goncalves left fly from 25 metres and his shot found a gap…

Prosecutors on Wednesday leveled new criminal charges against four Minneapolis policemen implicated in the death of a black man pinned by his neck to the street during an arrest that sparked more than a week of nationwide protest and civil strife. The added murder charge filed against one officer already in custody and the arrest of three more accused of playing a role in the killing of George Floyd, 46, came as several nights of escalating unrest gave way to mostly peaceful protests. Thousands of demonstrators massed near the White House lit up their cellphone flashlights and sang along to…

Prices in shops in Britain fell at the fastest pace since at least 2006 last month as retailers sought to find a way to win over shoppers hit by the coronavirus lockdown, an industry survey showed on Wednesday. Shop prices fell by 2.4% in annual terms, following a 1.7% drop in April, the British Retail Consortium trade body and market research firm Nielsen said. It was the biggest fall since the BRC records began in 2006. Clothing and furniture saw the sharpest price drops while food prices increased slightly due to higher business costs, implementing social distancing measures and labour…

Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic were among the tennis players who joined the #BlackOutTuesday campaign against racial injustice, as protests continue over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody. Floyd died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25. Men’s world No. 1 Djokovic posted black screenshots on his Twitter and Instagram pages with the message “Black Lives Matter”, and was joined by Federer and Nadal, the other members of the “Big Three” of men’s tennis. Grand Slam winners Maria…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in charge of the government’s coronavirus response and always has been, a junior minister said on Wednesday after a report that Johnson was taking control of the crisis. With a reported COVID-19 death toll of nearly 50,000, Britain is said to be one of the worst-hit countries in the world and the government has faced criticism for being too slow to impose a lockdown, too slow to protect the elderly in nursing homes and too slow to build a test and trace system. The Telegraph newspaper said Johnson was taking back control of the…