Author: Loveworld UK

Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Canada on Monday to discuss plans for a post-Brexit trade deal. She said the two countries held “shared values” ahead of meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The trip comes ahead of a deal between Canada and the EU, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), coming into force on 21 September. Mrs May hopes to use Ceta as the model for a bilateral trade deal for when the UK is excluded from Ceta after Brexit. Under the EU-Canada agreement, which took seven years to negotiate, Canada agreed to eliminate 98% of its import…

These are the first pictures of a suspect being held by police investigating the Parsons Green bombing. Yahyah Farroukh, 21, is listed as living at an address in Stanwell, Surrey, which was searched by officers on Sunday. He was arrested at a fried chicken shop in Hounslow on Saturday night. Another 18-year-old was detained at Dover ferry port on Saturday morning. The younger man is suspected of planting the device, which exploded on a District Line train on Friday morning, injuring 30 people. Police said the two men are being questioned by police on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act. Both men…

The UK’s plan to leave the Customs Union has fuelled fears of an upsurge in smuggling on the Irish border. Different tax regimes on either side of it for the first time could increase the opportunity for illegal profit-making. It is a serious concern for Fianna Fail’s Brendan Smith, a member of the Irish parliament from a border constituency. He said: “Criminal gangs have become big smugglers. What I fear is border checkpoints and different pricing and different trading conditions both sides of the border. “That will give, unfortunately, an impetus to those criminal gangs in their smuggling behaviour.” Ireland…

The UK’s terror threat level has been lowered from ‘critical’ to ‘severe’, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced. It means an attack is considered highly likely rather than imminent. The level had been raised on Friday to the highest – critical – following the bucket bomb blast at Parsons Green Tube station that left 30 passengers injured. Troops were deployed to key locations so armed police were freed up to patrol the streets. Two people have been arrested in connection with the west London bombing, and Ms Rudd has announced the UK threat level was being downgraded. “I would urge everybody to…

The Brexit-battered pound hit a 14-month high against the dollar on Friday as a Bank of England policymaker reiterated the possibility of a looming interest rate rise. Gertjan Vlieghe supported the view, expressed by a majority of the nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) at Thursday’s meeting, that rates could rise in the “coming months” to help keep a lid on inflation should it continue to grow as expected. In a speech to a conference in London, the economist said: “There remains a risk that, at some stage, the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit process has a larger impact on the economy than we…

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan, the Japanese government has said, as it condemned the latest “reckless act”. The missile was launched eastwards from Pyongyang, reaching an altitude of around 770km and flying for about 19 minutes over a distance of around 3,700km, South Korea’s military said. It flew over Hokkaido in northern Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean, sparking a nationwide alert. US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said the launch “put millions of Japanese into duck and cover”, although residents in northern Japan appeared to remain calm. US Pacific Command said an initial assessment…

A crucial Brexit bill has passed its latest stage in Parliament, but Tory MPs have threatened to stage a rebellion next month. MPs debated the EU Withdrawal Bill until past midnight into Tuesday morning and it was eventually passed, at its second reading, by 36 votes. Theresa May has said the attempt to transpose thousands of EU laws and regulations into British law is vital to avoid a legal “cliff edge” when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. Jeremy Corbyn had ordered his MPs to vote against the bill, saying the fact that ministers would be able to…

Boris Johnson is travelling to the Caribbean to visit British Overseas Territories battered by Irma, amid criticism that the Government’s response to the devastating hurricane was slow. The Foreign Secretary will spend “the coming days” in the region to see the UK’s relief effort first-hand, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. He is expected to visit the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, two of the worst hit territories. French President Emmanuel Macron is also visiting the region, and is expected to in St Martin later today, coinciding with a French military ship carrying supplies. Critics said the British Government did…

Donald Trump has led tributes to the 9/11 victims on the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks, saying the US grieves for the people “murdered by terrorists” in 2001. Moments of silence were held for the almost 3,000 people killed when hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. Bells first tolled at 8:46am – the time the first aircraft was smashed into the north tower by al Qaeda extremists. They also rang out to mark other significant timings during that destructive day in 2001, including the moment the south tower collapsed in…

Arms manufacturers will gather in London this week to grease palms and prepare sales of controversial defence and security equipment. More than 1,600 exhibitors from 54 countries are attending the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) at ExCeL. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, will speak at the event alongside the chiefs of staff of the UK’s armed forces. In 2015/16, the Ministry of Defence spent nearly £19bn, accounting for over 40% of all UK government procurement spend and representing the fifth largest defence budget in the world. Among the controversial companies…