New virus outbreak: As Langya spreads across China, just how worried should we be? August 13, 2022 A new virus, Langya, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces. It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans. However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus – known as LayV for short – including whether it spreads from human to human. Therefore, [...]
HMRC’s furlough fraud crackdown sees whistleblowers file almost 14,000 reports August 10, 2022 HM Revenues and Customs has received almost 14,000 whistleblower reports after launching an online tip off service to make it easier to report instances of furlough fraud. Thousands of people have blown the whistle on their employers and former-employers by reporting them for furlough fraud using HMRC’s digital reporting tool, analysis from law firm Pinsent [...]
Dozens of people in China infected with new virus called Langya transmitted from animals August 10, 2022 Chinese authorities are urgently looking into a new deadly virus that has infected over three dozen people in the country, several media in Asia report this morning. The virus, called Langya, is carried to humans from animals, particularly shrews, according to The Taipei Times. The Langya henipavirus has been discovered in China, with 35 confirmed [...]
Sitting on cash pile: Only half of all councils in England use £1.5bn pandemic fund with thousands of companies missing out August 8, 2022 Only half of all councils in England have started making payments to Covid-hit firms from a £1.5bn support package, almost 18 months after it was first launched. Real estate experts have said it is “too little too late” and could mean thousands of companies miss out on almost £700m of available funding. In March 2021, [...]
Fresnillo reports lower revenues as gold volumes fall and Covid’s impact lingers August 2, 2022 Fresnillo reported lower revenues for the first half of 2022 due to the drop in gold volumes and silver prices, with Covid’s impacts still a concern. The Mexican metals mining company reported adjusted revenues of $1.35bn, a drop of 12.6 per cent as volumes and prices of precious metals that the company mines declined. The [...]
Claims globalisation has ‘had its heyday’ are premature, Lloyd’s chief executive says August 2, 2022 Claims the dual shocks of Covid and the war in Ukraine have halted the “all conquering forces of globalisation” are “premature,” Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal told City A.M. In an op-ed in this newspaper, the insurance chief said that while we will “rightly see a degree of retreat and retrenchment” in [...]
Long Covid-19 deals £1.5bn blow to workers, IFS finds July 27, 2022 Britons suffering from long Covid-19 are missing out on £1.5bn in earnings as a result of being too ill to work, a new study published today reveals. Some 110,000 workers are missing from work because they are on sick leave with lingering symptoms of the virus, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Each [...]
Fashion factories: Government must do more to tackle workers’ fears towards reporting illegal wages July 25, 2022 The government should do more to tackle Leicester garment workers’ fears around reporting illegal wages, a report has urged. Findings from the Low Pay Commission (LPC) echo earlier studies in concluding there is still a long way to go in improving the treatment of textile factory workers in the city. Some factories have operated at [...]
UK’s Insolvency Service uses new powers to crack down on Covid loan fraud July 25, 2022 The UK’s Insolvency Service has begun using new powers, given to it last December, to crack down on company directors that dissolve their firms to avoid making repayments on government backed loans. The Insolvency Service used its “tough new powers” to ban three individuals from acting as company directors, for dissolving their companies to avoid [...]
Jubilee weekend boom fails to lift June’s retail sector July 22, 2022 An uptick in sales of food during the Jubilee weekend was offset by slower sales across the rest of the retail sector to see June retail volumes drop 0.1 per cent compared to previous month. The Jubilee weekend saw food shops sell 3.1 per cent more food last month than they did in May, as [...]