Author: Loveworld UK

Britain risks falling behind her enemies if the Government doesn’t sufficiently invest in modern capabilities, the head of the Army will warn. General Sir Nick Carter will directly compare Britain’s military to Russia’s and say there are areas where the UK is worse off in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute today. “Our ability to pre-empt or respond to threats will be eroded if we don’t keep up with our adversaries,” he will say. “State-based competition is now being employed in more novel and increasingly integrated ways and we must be ready to deal with them. “The threats…

Saudi Arabia is expected to announce a multi-billion dollar aid package for Yemen, which it says will “alleviate the suffering” by opening land, sea and air routes into the war-torn country. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of nine Arab countries in airstrikes against Yemeni rebels and their allies. The aid money, around $1.5bn, will be distributed through humanitarian agencies and in co-ordination with the United Nations. A further $2bn will be given to the Central Bank of Yemen to promote economic stabilisation of millions will be set aside to improve the country’s ports. Seventeen safe-passage…

Catalonia’s parliament has met for the first time since the region’s failed bid for independence from Spain. The legislature was dissolved following the unsuccessful secession effort, with Madrid calling fresh elections in a bid by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to defuse Spain’s worst constitutional crisis in decades. But pro-independence parties are now in the majority and the session has seen separatists start the process of getting sacked regional leader Carles Puigdemont back into power. With 70 out of 135 deputies, they in theory have the votes necessary to nominate a separatist president, with Mr Puigdemont their favoured candidate. A first…

Britain‎’s biggest retail bank is to retain a £2,000 cap on cash bonuses even after being freed from the shackles of partial state ownership last year. Sky News has learnt that Lloyds Banking Group is expected to continue with the limit on ‎cash payouts, nearly a decade after it was imposed by the then-Labour government. The decision, which is provisional and remains subject to change, reflects a desire within Lloyds’ boardroom to demonstrate restraint on staff pay against a backdrop of improved financial performance, according to insiders. “There are no plans to change it,” said one insider. Sources said that…

Bosses at collapsed construction firm Carillion have had their bonus payments halted amid growing anger at bumper payouts. The Insolvency Service revealed payments had stopped when the major public service provider plunged into liquidation on Monday with debts of £1.3bn and a £600m pensions deficit. A spokesman said: “Any bonus payment to directors, beyond the liquidation date, have been stopped and this includes the severance payments which were being paid to some senior executives who left the company.” The news came after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used Prime Minister’s Questions to tackle Theresa May over “wildly excessive bonuses” given to…

North and South Korea will form their first joint Olympic team and march together at the opening ceremony, Seoul says. The two countries will field a joint women’s ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, next month. They will also march under a unified flag, according to a statement from Seoul’s Unification Ministry. North Korea will send a 550-member delegation to the games, which includes 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 taekwondo players for a demonstration. They will begin arriving in South Korea on 25 January. Officials have also agreed that a 140-piece orchestra from North…

Donald Trump has said he has cancelled his trip to London to open the new US embassy because he considers the building’s relocation a “bad deal”. The US President tweeted: “Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO.” Mr Trump had been expected to visit the new £750m ($1bn) home for American diplomats on the…

All the jewellery stolen from the Ritz Hotel in Paris on Wednesday has been recovered, a source close to the investigation said. The jewels were in a bag dropped during the raid by one of the five men who carried out the heist. According to a first estimate, the jewels were worth more than £4m and also included luxury watches. “I can confirm that all the stolen jewels were found in the bag recovered by police officers,” the source said. The men broke a window at the tradesman’s entrance to the famed hotel just after 6.30pm (5.30pm UK time). Three…

Voting will close today in the latest election which will help determine the future of the Labour party. Elections for the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – the body which runs the party and sets its rules – will close at noon. Although little noticed since the turn of the year amid the trials of Theresa May’s latest botched reshuffle and the NHS winter crisis, they are the latest staging post in the Labour civil war. Three new positions representing the party members are up for grabs. The jobs were created in an expansion of the NEC at the urging…

The cost of a barrel of oil has topped $70 for the first time in just over three years, prompting a motoring group to say it is “fearful” of fuel price rises. The RAC signalled pump costs were likely to reflect the march of Brent crude – damaging the economy at a time drivers and businesses could ill afford it. Oil prices have been steadily rising since the major OPEC group of oil-producing nations, along with Russia, agreed last autumn to maintain production cuts – credited with lifting prices last year as they intended. The expectation has been that US…