Tuesday, July 7

Featured

Deal or no deal: How could Brexit play out
Featured, United Kingdom

Deal or no deal: How could Brexit play out

    As the clock ticks towards exit day, Theresa May is battling to agree a Brexit deal with the European Union and steer it through parliament in time. British politics is in uncharted territory, so predicting with a high degree of certainty how the next few months will pan out is risky. Think of it like a chaotic game of chess. One move in either direction could throw the entire board into turmoil and completely alter what follows. There are myriad of outcomes, but here's a broad overview of how things could go between now and Brexit day in March. Senior UK and EU officials remain locked in negotiations to try and reach an agreement with both sides continuing their talks until 2.45am on Monday. Downing Street said substantial issues over the Irish border backstop t...
Brexit talks in the endgame: Theresa May declares
Featured, United Kingdom

Brexit talks in the endgame: Theresa May declares

    Brexit negotiations with Brussels are now in the endgame, Theresa May has declared, amid predictions that a deal could be imminent. The prime minister said talks between UK and European negotiators have been going on through the night in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock. And, with Brexiteers in her cabinet and on the Tory backbenches threatening mutiny, the PM also promised no compromise on the 2016 referendum result or agreement at any cost. The embattled PM's latest attempt to placate the warring factions in the Conservative Party came in a speech at the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet in the City of London. In what is traditionally a major foreign policy speech, she also called for improved relations with Russia after this year's Salisbury poisonings and a series...
Prince Harry tops most popular royal list
Featured, United Kingdom

Prince Harry tops most popular royal list

    The Duke of Sussex is the most popular royal with the British public, according to a new poll. Some 77% of people have a positive opinion of Harry, who is expecting his first child with his wife the Duchess of Sussex. The duke, who is sixth in line to the throne, is followed by the Queen who is in second place with 74%, and the Duke of Cambridge, who is third with 73%. Harry is described by his fans as admirable, likeable, humorous, fun-loving and genuine, the YouGov survey said. Future king the Prince of Wales, who celebrates his 70th birthday this week, is in seventh position in the ranking of royals. Almost half of the nation 48% have a positive opinion of the heir to the throne. Charles is behind his daughters-in-law and his father. The Duchess of Cambridge...
News Brief: Bangladesh High Commission London
Featured, London

News Brief: Bangladesh High Commission London

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina extended thanks to all political parties for their decision to take part in the upcoming polls. The Premier conveyed her felicitations while chairing a meeting of Awami League Parliamentary Nomination Board at the AL’s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka yesterday. The Premier said, the government would remain careful so that everybody could get equal opportunity in the participatory election. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said, her government is aimed at ensuring the fairness of the upcoming elections to strengthen the democracy and intensify the development process. The Premier said this as the Bangladesh Awami Jubo League leaders and workers called on her on the occasion of the front’s 46th founding anniversary at Ganabhaban yesterday. Chief E...
UK employers plan to hold tight on pay despite labour shortages
Featured, United Kingdom

UK employers plan to hold tight on pay despite labour shortages

    British employers do not expect to increase the average pay settlements they offer to staff over the coming year, an industry survey showed on Monday, raising questions about whether pay will pick up as the Bank of England predicts. Employers plan to raise pay by 2 percent over the year to come, unchanged from the increase they planned three months earlier, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said. Moreover, only around half of the businesses experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties were raising pay to attract new staff or keep hold of existing ones, due to wider productivity challenges and cost pressures, the CIPD said. The CIPD's data shows a similar pattern to other industry surveys, which report employers offering higher pay f...
Universal Credit will cost the DWP more than the benefits system it replaces
Featured, United Kingdom

Universal Credit will cost the DWP more than the benefits system it replaces

    Universal Credit (UC) is set to cost more than the legacy benefits system it replaces because of changes declared in Philip Hammond's Budget, according to a new report. In October the Chancellor injected an extra £1.7 billion into UC. This, coupled with the £3.2 billion higher benefit take-up projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility, means UC will be more expensive than the old system for the first time since early 2015, the Resolution Foundation think tank has said. Mr Hammond's reform means 200,000 more working families will be better off under UC, taking the figure of those gaining under the new system from 2.2 million to 2.4 million. Among working families with children, the number expected to gain from switching to UC (1.5 million) matches the number ...
Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson join FOBT rebellion
Featured, United Kingdom

Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson join FOBT rebellion

    Theresa May’s government faces becoming the first to suffer a defeat on its own budget bill in 40 years after Tory MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson and David Davis joined a rebellion over fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). More than 70 MPs from both sides of the House of Commons have signed two amendments that, if passed, would effectively force the government to bring forward the timing of the planned cut in FOBT maximum stakes to April 2019. Sport minister Tracey Crouch quit the government this month after the chancellor, Philip Hammond, revealed in the budget that the policy would not take effect until October 2019. She has joined dozens of party colleagues in putting her name to amendments that could force the Treasury to revert to the earlier da...
Macron denounces nationalism as a betrayal of patriotism in rebuke to Trump
Europe, Featured

Macron denounces nationalism as a betrayal of patriotism in rebuke to Trump

    In the shadow of a grand war memorial here, French President Emmanuel Macron marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I by delivering a forceful rebuke against rising nationalism, calling it a betrayal of patriotism and warning against old demons coming back to wreak chaos and death. His words during a solemn Armistice Day ceremony under overcast skies at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe in the heart of the French capital were intended for a global audience. But they also represented a pointed rebuke to President Trump, Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and others among the more than 60 world leaders in attendance. Speaking in French, Macron emphasized that a global order based on liberal values is worth defending against those who have sought to disrupt ...
UK piles pressure on Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi killing
Arab world, Featured

UK piles pressure on Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi killing

    Jeremy Hunt will meet both King Salman and Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and the man widely accused of ordering Khashoggi’s murder. Speaking before a diplomatically fraught trip that includes a visit to the United Arab Emirates to try to broker a ceasefire in Yemen, Hunt said: It is clearly unacceptable that the full circumstances behind his murder still remain unclear. We encourage the Saudi authorities to cooperate fully with the Turkish investigation into his death, so that we deliver justice for his family and the watching world. He added: The international community remain united in horror and outrage at the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi one month ago. Hunt’s trip was preceded by talks in Riyadh on Sunday between Sir Simon McDonald, th...
How to beat stress using NLP and mindfulness
Featured, Life Style

How to beat stress using NLP and mindfulness

    Stress is a day-to-day occurrence. Many of us spend our lifetimes being busy, jumping from one task to the next. How are you today? is no longer answered with an acknowledgement of how we actually are, but more around what we are doing. Oh you know, busy. Not only that, our busyness prevents us from taking the time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak, to enjoy the present moment, enjoy who we are and how we are appreciating life. What is stress? Stress is a debilitating condition that can stop us in оur tracks. Mаnу in the scientific community nоw believe that the vаѕt majority оf diseases and illnesses аrе caused by prolonged stress. Dr Mауо from the Mауо Clinic bеliеvеѕ that mаnу people hаvе died bесаuѕе оf worry. While it dоеѕn’t directly kill them, it...