Author: Loveworld UK

Inflation fell to 2.5% in March, its lowest level in a year, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said consumer prices declined from 2.7% in February.Most economists had expected inflation to remain unchanged.The reason behind the fall was mainly due to a slower rise in the cost of clothing and footwear.”Inflation fell to its lowest rate in a year, with women’s clothing prices rising slower than usual for this time of year,” Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS, said.”Alcohol and tobacco also helped ease inflation pressures, with tobacco duty rises linked to the Budget not…

A UK security firm that lost out to a foreign company on a £490m Government contract to produce Britain’s post-Brexit passports has said it will no longer appeal the decision. While the announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May that Britain would change its passports from burgundy back to blue after leaving the EU was greeted with excitement in some quarters, it turned to uproar when it emerged that Gemalto – a Franco-Dutch firm – had reportedly won the bid by undercutting competitors by £50m.De La Rue, which has manufactured the passports for the past 10 years, had said it would…

Shopping centre owner Hammerson has called off its plan to take over rival Intu in a £3.4bn deal, amid concerns about the health of the UK retail sector. Hammerson, which owns Birmingham’s Bullring centre and Brent Cross in London, had agreed in December 2017 an all-share merger with rival Intu, which owns the Lakeside centre in Thurrock and Trafford Centre in Manchester.Hammerson would have become the biggest UK property company with £21bn in assets if the deal had gone through.It blamed weakness in the retail sector for calling off the deal.It has been a rocky few months for retailers and…

Chemical weapons inspectors are today being allowed into Syria’s Douma, the site of a suspected chemical attack. Their job is to investigate what happened at the site. But what does that actually involve? Expert Paul F Walker, who took part in a historic chemical weapons inspection in Russia in 1994 and campaigned against arms for more than three decades, explains some of the details of an investigation.Due to the ongoing war in Syria, any chemical weapons inspection there, either for removal or destruction of its stockpiles, or for chemical weapons use allegations, requires heightened security.OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of…

Forty-nine new cases are being looked into after a helpline was set up for Windrush generation immigrants, the Home Office has said. It comes after Downing Street defended the decision in 2010 to destroy the landing cards that recorded the arrival of the immigrants.The Windrush generation came to Britain from the Commonwealth after the Second World War and are named after the ship that brought one of the first large groups of West Indians to Britain.Anyone who entered the UK before 1973 is legally entitled to live in the country.But despite having been in the UK for most of their…

International chemical weapons experts are set to finally enter Douma in Syria after a UN security team went in to assess the situation. Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will go in on Wednesday if the UN team decides “the situation is sound”, according to Syria’s UN ambassador, Bashar Ja’afariThey will investigate an alleged poison gas attack by the Syrian regime which is said to have killed at least 70 people.Mr Ja’afari said on Tuesday: “Today the UN security team entered Douma… in order to assess the security situation on the ground and if this…

The Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour with her third child. Kate has been admitted to the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, central London – the same hospital where she gave birth to Prince George and Princess Charlotte.:: Live updates as pregnant Kate admitted to hospital Video: Police guard hospital after Kate admitted It was announced last September that the Duke and Duchess were expecting their third baby.Like her two previous pregnancies, they had to announce the news before she had reached the 12-week stage because she was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, an extreme form of…

Wage growth rose to 2.8% in the three months to February, outstripping inflation for the first time in a year, official figures show. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) signal an end to the squeeze on household incomes after the slump in the pound following the Brexit vote drove the cost of living higher.Inflation had topped 3% in recent months but more recently has eased, meaning that according to the latest figures wages, stripping out bonuses, are now growing in real terms by 0.2% – the first positive reading since the three months to January 2017.There was…

The pound has climbed to its highest level against the dollar since the Brexit vote. Sterling rose to $1.437 in early morning trading, surpassing a previous peak seen in January.Britain’s currency has been supported in recent months by expectations of a Bank of England interest rate hike and growing hopes about a Brexit deal.Meanwhile, the US dollar has been coming under pressure over fears of a trade war.Britain’s June 2016 vote to leave the EU saw its value collapse overnight from $1.50 and slip below $1.20 at the start of last year.Its weakness has driven up the cost of imports,…

Syrian government troops have shot down missiles fired at two airbases in the country, according to state TV. The reports said the missiles had targeted Shayrat airbase in Homs province and Dumair military airport, northeast of Damascus, late on Monday night.State TV said the country’s air defences had confronted a new “aggression” but gave no further details.It is unclear who was behind the attack, but the US said its military was not involved.Shayrat was hit last year by US cruise missiles, launched in response to a chemical attack that killed at least 70 people in the rebel-held town of Khan…