England lockdown: Guidance on public transport and workplaces to be relaxed July 17, 2020 From 1 August employers will be asked to decide on whether to bring staff back to workplaces after the coronavirus lockdown, Boris Johnson announced today. Restrictions on public transport will also be lifted from today, he said, with anybody now allowed to use any method of travel they wish. Speaking at a press conference, the [...]
London boroughs spent nearly £1m opposing Heathrow expansion July 17, 2020 A number of London boroughs and Transport for London have spent almost £1m over the last year and a half in challenging plans to expand Heathrow Airport. Between September 2018 and March this year, the boroughs of Hillingdon, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Hammersmith and Fulham, as well as the capital’s transport operator, have spent £944,603 [...]
Firefighters tackle blaze at Blackpool’s historic Central Pier July 17, 2020 Around 50 firefighters have been tackling a blaze which broke out overnight at Blackpool’s historic central pier. Emergency services were alerted to the incident at around 3 o’clock in the morning, with 10 crews involved in the effort. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said that they found a ride and workshop on the pier on [...]
Britishvolt chooses Welsh site for UK’s first battery ‘gigafactory’ July 17, 2020 Battery firm Britishvolt has chosen a site in Wales for the development of the UK’s battery manufacturing “gigafactory”, it was announced today. In a statement, the start-up said it had signed an MoU with the Welsh government to work on plans for the 30 gigawatt facility at Bro Tathan in south Wales. The company said [...]
Government reviewing response to ‘unacceptable’ Russia hack, says minister July 17, 2020 The UK is reviewing its response to Russian-backed attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine research, security minister James Brokenshire said this morning. Yesterday the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued a statement in conjunction with counterparts in the US and Canada saying that hacking group Cozy Bear had been attempting to steal Covid-19 research from institutions [...]
Centrica staff may have to sign new contracts or risk more redundancies July 16, 2020 Workers at British Gas owner Centrica have been told they may have to accept new employment conditions or risk having their jobs cut. It was reported that the services firm has told employees to sign new contracts or risk a second wave of redundancies. Last month Centrica announced that it would slash 5,000 jobs in [...]
66 more people die of coronavirus in the UK July 16, 2020 An additional 66 people have died of coronavirus in the UK, government officials confirmed, taking the total number of fatalities to 45,119. According to figures from the Department of Health, there have also been 642 new positive cases of the virus. That means 292,552 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK. The new [...]
BMW inks €2bn battery deal with Sweden’s Northvolt July 16, 2020 Auto giant BMW has signed a €2bn(£1.8bn) deal with Swedish energy firm Northvolt to provide battery cells to power its electric vehicles. The Scandinavian company, which was founded by two former Tesla executives, will make the cells using only renewable energy at a new facility in the north of Sweden. In a statement, BMW said [...]
Twitter employee ‘helped attackers’ perpetrate blue tick account hack July 16, 2020 A Twitter employee was to blame for last night’s high profile hack of the social media, two sources have told Vice. In one of the most devastating data breaches in history, hackers managed to infiltrate Twitter’s most notable blue tick accounts and send scam tweets supporting bitcoin before the social network clamped down on the [...]
Ikea launches vegetarian meatball in climate crusade July 16, 2020 Vegetarians will now be able to try Ikea’s iconic meatballs after the Swedish giant announced it would launch a vegetarian version of the classic food. From 3 August, customers will be able to buy the new creation, named “plant balls”, which Ikea said were a “more sustainable” take on one of its best-loved products. Made [...]
