Rishi Sunak to urge debt relief for weaker global economies October 14, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will today urge global governments to ease the debt burden on the poorest countries affected by coronavirus as he meets leaders to discuss cooperation. Sunak will discuss a global action plan for the months ahead with G20 counterparts today. He will then join an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [...]
Swipe card: Social media accounts for quarter of all online purchases October 14, 2020 Almost a quarter of all online purchases are now made through social media, new data has revealed, as more and more people use their favourite messaging platforms for shopping. Research by Visa showed almost a fifth of Brits use social apps to shop, while one in 10 has made a purchase this way since the [...]
iPhone 12: What’s new with Apple’s first 5G phone? October 13, 2020 Apple has unveiled its first 5G compatible mobile phone – the iPhone 12 – in a move chief executive Tim Cook said was the “beginning of a new era”. Apple’s first 5G iPhone has been eagerly awaited. The company set the tech world abuzz when it unveiled the “Hi, Speed” tagline for this year’s event, [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown founder: Now is a ‘fantastic’ time to start a business October 13, 2020 One of Britain’s richest businessmen has urged people to embrace their entrepreneurial spirit and set up new companies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Peter Hargreaves, the founder of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said that despite the damage done to many firms by the pandemic, it had also created new opportunities. “Right now is [...]
Andrew Bailey says Bank of England ‘not there yet’ on negative interest rates October 13, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said the BoE is not yet in a position to decide whether it should cut interest rates in negative territory, as there is more work to be done on what effects they might have. It comes after the Bank sent a letter to lenders yesterday asking them about [...]
Boris Johnson freezes ministers’ salaries amid MP pay rise backlash October 13, 2020 Boris Johnson has frozen ministerial salaries amid growing unease about the possibility of a £3,000 pay rise for MPs. The PM’s official spokesman said that the decision was “only right” given the current pressure on public services. The move means that ministerial salaries remained frozen at 2010 levels for House of Commons members and at [...]
Labour calls for two to three week lockdown in England October 13, 2020 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a two to three week “circuit breaker” in England that would plunge the country back into lockdown. Starmer called for the England lockdown at a televised press conference today, saying the measure was “in line with Sage’s recommendations”. Sage, the government’s primary scientific advisory body, published papers [...]
Cornish Lithium fundraise smashes £4m as Poldark spirit lives on October 13, 2020 A new lithium project in the south-west has attracted more than £4m in investment over the last 24 hours, smashing its target of a £1.5m raise. Cornish Lithium opened up to pre-registered investors yesterday and nearly doubled its original target within three hours. The firm, which is based near Redruth in England’s westernmost county, then [...]
WTO tells EU it can slap $4bn of tariffs on US over Boeing subsidies October 13, 2020 The EU has been given the go-ahead to slap tariffs on $4bn (£3.1bn) of US goods in the latest development in the subsidy saga involving Boeing and Airbus. It comes after the World Trade Organization (WTO) last year allowed Washington to tariff $7.5bn of EU goods over state support for European aeroplane manufacturer Airbus. The [...]
FTSE 100 and US stocks slip amid second-wave worries October 13, 2020 The FTSE 100 was set to end the day lower and US stocks fell as concerns about rising coronavirus cases and new restrictions weighed on global sentiment. London’s blue chip index opened lower and was down 0.8 per cent by 4pm at 5,951 points. The mid-cap FTSE 250 had shed 1.5 per cent. Read more: [...]
