McDonald’s, KFC and Wetherspoon among chains to slash prices after government VAT cut July 15, 2020 High street cafe and restaurant chains including McDonald’s, KFC and Wetherspoon have slashed prices in response to the government’s decision to cut VAT for the sector. Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week announced that VAT would be reduced from 20 per cent to five per cent for hospitality and tourism businesses. Fast food favourites and casual [...]
Opec set to ease production cuts as lockdowns lift July 15, 2020 Oil cartel Opec is set to ease production cuts less than previously expected, it emerged today, in a bid to continue supporting the slowly recovering global economy. Since May, the wider alliance of Opec members and key players such as Russia have been cutting oil output by 9.7m barrels per day, nearly a tenth of [...]
US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand may copy UK Hong Kong visa, says Patel July 15, 2020 Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are looking at creating bespoke long term visas for Hong Kong residents escaping new security laws, according to home secretary Priti Patel. Patel told a parliamentary committee today that the UK’s Five Eyes security partners were looking at following the UK by making emergency visas available to Hong [...]
Google injects $4.5bn into India’s Reliance Jio unit July 15, 2020 Google has become the latest technology giant to invest in Reliance’s digital unit Jio Platforms, putting up $4.5bn in exchange for a 7.7 per cent stake. Reliance has now gained a total of $20.2bn from strategic and financial investors in the last few months — surpassing the $15.4bn that the entire Indian startup sector took [...]
English lockdown reduced Covid-19 rates more than thought, study finds July 15, 2020 The reproductive number of Covid-19 in England could have been lower than experts originally thought in May, suggesting that the lockdown was successful in driving down cases, according to the latest scientific research. The research indicated that infection rates fell during the last full month of lockdown before the Prime Minister began easing restrictions in [...]
Donald Trump hails vaccine progress after positive trial results July 15, 2020 A number of promising developments related to coronavirus vaccine developments announced today have met with the approval of US president Donald Trump. Using his favoured platform Twitter, Trump wrote: “Great News on Vaccines!” It is unclear exactly what the president was referring to, but the tweet followed the news that drug firm Moderna’s experimental vaccine [...]
Google ousted from NHS coronavirus data project July 15, 2020 Google has been dropped from a partnership deal with the NHS to populate its coronavirus database, posing a setback for the tech giant’s plans to integrate into the UK’s digital infrastructure. The health service’s digital arm NHSX signed a contract with Google in April to consult on the project, but the deal was terminated last [...]
‘Late’ Hong Kong motion won’t be voted on by City chiefs July 15, 2020 A controversial motion on Hong Kong will not be debated at the City of London’s Court of Common Council meeting tomorrow, but will instead be presented only as a ‘question’ from a member of the Court. The motion would have criticised the imposition of Beijing’s new security law on the territory, as well as welcoming [...]
Goldman Sachs beats profit forecasts to defy coronavirus July 15, 2020 Goldman Sachs today revealed quarterly profit has smashed forecasts, driven by the strength of its core bond trading and underwriting businesses. The Wall Street bank earned as much in the second quarter of 2020 as it did a year earlier, seemingly defying the global pandemic. A strong showing in bond trading helped to offset a [...]
Boris Johnson commits to independent coronavirus inquiry July 15, 2020 Boris Johnson has committed to hold an independent inquiry into the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Johnson told the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions that there would be an inquiry, marking it the first official confirmation that the government’s response would be officially scrutinised. The format [...]
