AIG racks up $730m loss amid ‘ongoing catastrophe’ of pandemic August 4, 2020 Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) has piled up $730m (£558.7m) in coronavirus-related losses during the first half of 2020, its chief executive said today. AIG chief executive Brian Duperreault warned of the “formidable and ongoing catastrophe” of the pandemic, as he ran through the insurer’s results in a call with analysts. The firm, which [...]
Weekly coronavirus deaths sink to lowest level since March lockdown August 4, 2020 Weekly coronavirus deaths fell more than a quarter in the seven days to 24 July, marking the lowest level since before the lockdown, latest figures showed. England and Wales have now recorded weekly death rates lower than the five-year average for the sixth week in a row, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). [...]
Whatsapp launches fact check feature in bid to curb fake news August 4, 2020 Whatsapp has introduced a fact checking feature allowing users to cross-examine the content of viral messages, as the Facebook-owned messaging app attempts to weed out misinformation across the platform. The new feature, which is being rolled out in six countries including the UK from today, will allow users to perform a Google search on forwarded [...]
German watchdog audits collapsed Wirecard’s financial accounts August 4, 2020 Germany’s financial watchdog today announced it will conduct an audit of accounts covering the past few years of collapsed payments fintech Wirecard. BaFin said it was carrying out the audit after Wirecard refused to accept it had produced an error, despite it folding last month after details of a €1.9bn accounting black hole came to [...]
Virgin Media triples losses as pandemic eats into finances August 4, 2020 Virgin Media almost tripled its losses in the three months to 30 June, as the coronavirus crisis dented revenue despite record customer sign-ups. The results Net loss at the Liberty Global-owned firm swelled 285 per cent to £203.9m during the quarter, up from £53m during the same period last year. Revenue declined 3.5 per cent [...]
Johnson gives Tiktok the green light for London headquarters August 4, 2020 Boris Johnson has given the green light to allow video sharing app Titkok to move its global headquarters to London, in a move that will likely spark fury from across the Atlantic. Downing Street today said it had no objection to Tiktok’s shift to the UK, despite growing national security concerns over its close links [...]
Public Health England becomes UK’s biggest advertiser during lockdown August 4, 2020 Advertising spend in the UK almost halved during lockdown according to the latest figures, with Public Health England becoming the nation’s biggest advertiser over the course of the pandemic. Traditional advertising spend — including on TV, newspapers, radio, cinema and billboards — fell more than £1.1bn year on year between the start of lockdown and the [...]
UK coronavirus: Second wave could be double the size of first August 4, 2020 Reopening schools in September without an effective test, track and isolating system could result in a second wave of coronavirus more than double the size of the UK’s first, according to a new modelling study. Researchers from UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) examined the potential effects of reopening schools [...]
‘More than three-quarters’ of UK hospitality firms could go bust within a year August 4, 2020 More than three-quarters of UK hospitality businesses are at risk of insolvency within 12 months, the leading British trade body announced today, as social distancing measures and local lockdowns continue to weigh on the sector. A new survey by UK Hospitality showed that one in five hospitality businesses are at significant risk of insolvency within [...]
Russian hackers ‘stole’ US-UK trade deal papers from Liam Fox’s email August 3, 2020 Classified US-UK trade documents were “stolen” from former trade minister Liam Fox’s email account by Russian hackers, according to reports. The papers, which were leaked ahead of the December General Election last year, were accessed via several hacks on Fox’s account between 12 July and 21 October, according to Reuters. Several sources declined to name [...]
