Author: LoveWorld UK

Clothing and furnishing retailer Laura Ashley (ALY.L) said on Monday its main banking lender and majority shareholder were in talks regarding the company’s immediate funding needs, as it reported a drop in half-year revenue. The fashion house, a favourite of Princess Diana in its 1980s heyday, is the latest victim of a troubled couple of years for British retailers, its sales hit by store closures, weakness in its home furnishings business and a worsening consumer mood. The company said on Monday recent movements in its stock and customer deposit levels had led to a reduction in the amount it can…

The U.S. government’s decision to raise tariffs on European-built aircraft will hit U.S. airlines already facing a shortage of aircraft and complicate efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with the European Union, Airbus (AIR.PA) said. The European planemaker said it would continue discussions with its U.S. customers to “mitigate effects of tariffs insofar as possible” and hoped the U.S. Trade Representative’s office would change its position. “USTR’s decision ignores the many submissions made by U.S. airlines, highlighting the fact that they – and the U.S. flying public – ultimately have to pay these tariffs,” the company said in a statement.

Communities across Britain are facing another day of flooding and travel chaos, following the torrential rain brought by Storm Dennis. More than 300 flood warnings are still in place across the UK, including five severe warnings in England, which mean there is a danger to life. Rescue teams worked into the early hours to get stranded residents out of their homes by boat in Worcestershire. Natural Resources Wales said the scale of the flooding was “unprecedented”. Travel continues to be disrupted across the UK, with A-roads closed in Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire in England, and Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. Roads…

U.S. prosecutors on Thursday accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets and helping Iran track protesters in its latest indictment against the Chinese company, escalating the U.S. battle with the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker. In the indictment, which supersedes one unsealed last year in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Huawei Technologies Co was charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from six U.S. technology companies and to violate a racketeering law typically used to combat organized crime. It also contains new allegations about the company’s involvement in countries subject to sanctions. Among other accusations, it says Huawei installed surveillance…

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) said on Tuesday it had tightened restrictions on project finance and general lending for high-carbon energy projects and companies, joining other banks like HSBC (HSBA.L) in shoring up its climate policies. RBS said it would no longer directly finance new coal-fired power stations or thermal coal mines, oil sands or Arctic oil projects and unsustainable vegetation or peatland clearance projects. It also said it would no longer lend money to mining companies that generate more than 40 percent of their revenues from thermal coal or power companies that generate more than 40 percent of…

Finance minister Sajid Javid resigned on Thursday, British media reported, a surprise move that shattered Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s choreographed reshuffle of his government and raised questions over his leadership team. Johnson’s team had wanted to keep Britain’s biggest-hitting ministers in post, but Javid’s reported resignation over what one political editor said was a disagreement over his advisers has thrown the prime minister’s plans off kilter. “He has turned down the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer,” the Mirror newspaper quoted a source close to Javid as saying. “The PM said he had to fire all his special advisers and…

The timekeepers at Elizabeth Tower had to abandon attempts to renovate its clock because they lacked the expertise, one of a litany of blunders over its restoration. Parliamentary authorities admitted last night that the cost of the project, which doubled two years ago, had again risen, from £61.1 million to £79.7 million. The total is £50 million more than the original estimate. The House of Commons Commission blamed “the discovery of extensive Second World War damage, pollution and asbestos”. A breakdown of the overrun is understood to have identified a failed attempt by the Commons’ specialist clock team to restore…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sacked the minister who helped end three years of political stalemate in Northern Ireland, in a wider reshuffle as Johnson reshapes his cabinet. Julian Smith was central to restoring Northern Ireland’s devolved government, a key element of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord. He won him praise at the time from all sides of the political divide. Business Minister Andrea Leadsom,  Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, and Junior Minister for Housing Esther McVey were among the ministers to confirm their sacking from the cabinet on Twitter. Environment Minister Theresa Villiers confirmed on Facebook she had also…

The Haven Practice becomes the third medical centre to shut in two days after a staff member at one surgery tested positive for coronavirus. The County Oak Medical Centre closed with a message left saying: “Unfortunately, the building has had to close due to an urgent operational health and safety reason.” A second medical centre in the city, Warmdene Branch Surgery, also shut on Monday citing, ”health and safety reasons”, according to local media. A British man who has not been identified tested positive for coronavirus in Brighton on Feb. 6 after travelling to Singapore. He has since been taken…

The Japanese the health ministry said that, another 39 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined in Japan and one quarantine officer also infected, bringing the total to 175. At Yokohama port, ambulances and fire trucks continued to be on standby to evacuate passengers off from the ship to take them to a hospital. Sightseeing vessels were operating around the quarantined cruise ship and sightseeing passengers could be seen waving handkerchiefs and taking photographs of Diamond Princess as they got close. The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks upon arriving…