Author: Loveworld UK

North Korea has hailed its summit with the South as a “historic meeting” that now paves the way for the start of a new era. The new optimism comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in pledged to pursue denuclearisation and a permanent peace.The North’s official KCNA news agency carried the text of the leaders’ Panmunjom Declaration in full and said the agreement opened the way “for national reconciliation and unity, peace and prosperity”.In the document, the two leaders “confirmed the common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula”. Image: The…

The end of Alfie Evans’ brief life just short of his second birthday is a tragedy for his parents, who devoted themselves to his care. He spent 17 months on the intensive care unit at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.His death however, has been a subject of fierce public debate in the UK, the United States and beyond.At its heart are questions about the rights of the child, the limits of parental responsibility, and how best to untangle the knot of ethical and medical issues.In most cases, the fate of a terminally ill child is resolved without publicity or debate. Doctors…

Eight of the 10 people killed in the Toronto van attack on Monday were women, police have confirmed. Inspector Bryan Bott has released the names of the victims who died when Alek Minassian mowed down pedestrians on a busy central street.Toronto police announced those killed were “predominately” female after reports suggested the attacker had a grudge against women.Minassian appears to have belonged to the “Incel” movement, which represents men who blame women for their inability to have sex or form relationships. Victims of Yonge Street Tragedy officially identified at press conference by Toronto Police Homicide Inspector Bryan Bott & Ontario…

The United States is “not going to be played” when it comes to talks with North Korea, Donald Trump has warned. Speaking while welcoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House for talks, he said discussions between the North and South had “never gone this far” after the two nations agreed on “complete denuclearisation”.However, Mr Trump also said his leadership meant US talks with North Korea would “be different” this time around. The American President is said to be deciding between two or three locations for a summit in the coming weeks.It comes after he expressed his delight as…

It was only a coincidence – but the publication of lacklustre GDP data on the same day Travis Perkins updated investors on current trading will have made the builder’s merchant’s task easier. For what they show is that the business actually appears to be defying the current gloom engulfing the construction sector.While the latter suffered a 3.3% quarter-on-quarter contraction during the first three months of the year, Travis Perkins actually enjoyed a highly creditable 3% rise in its like-for-like sales, driven by a remarkable 19.7% increase in its plumbing and heating division, which includes the City Plumbing Supplies, City Heating…

No excuses. Try as one might to blame the weather for the weakness of these GDP figures, to judge from what we have just heard from the Office for National Statistics, the economy was starting to sag well before the Beast from the East came in and disrupted UK economic activity.Consumers – the engine of the UK economy for decades – have been spending less and less in recent quarters.The services sector, which grew by around 2% a year in 2015 and 2016, is now growing by around 1% a year. Image: Snowy weather in February and March exacerbated the…

A “ground-breaking” international operation has crippled the propaganda machine of Islamic State. European policing agency Europol said the two-day “takedown” action had “punched a big hole in the capability of IS to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe”.A particular target was the group’s Amaq news agency, which has been used by IS to broadcast claims of responsibility for attacks and spread propaganda messages.The operation involved authorities from the UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Romania, and the US.In a statement, Europol said: “With this takedown action, targeting major IS-branded media outlets like Amaq, but also al-Bayan…

A plunge in construction activity and the so-called Beast from the East took a toll on the economy in the first quarter, with growth falling to 0.1%. The preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which were much worse than economists and markets had predicted, showed the weakest growth since 2012.They sparked a dive in the value of the pound, trading at $1.38 versus the dollar after falling almost a cent, as expectations of a rise in interest rates by the Bank of England next month tumbled.The Bank had been forecasting a rise in gross domestic product (GDP)…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged a “new history” with South Korea as he met his counterpart south of the border, President Moon Jae-in. It is the first time in 65 years that the leaders from the North and South have come face-to-face, making it a rare moment in history and a potential turning point as the pair hold a summit with denuclearisation at the top of the agenda.Mr Kim stepped over the border to greet his rival, and in an unchoreographed move, Mr Kim then invited Mr Moon to cross briefly North with him before they returned…

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported first quarter profits of £792m, up 206%, as income grows and costs fall. The bank said its earnings performance demonstrated the “progress” it had made in its turnaround – announcing its first annual profit in a decade just months ago.However, it is expected to agree a multi-billion pound penalty with US authorities this year to settle claims it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis.Such a deal would have a significant impact on its bottom line.RBS had no update for investors on the negotiations with the US Department of Justice. Image: Natwest…