International News

Taylor Wimpey expects its full-year performance to come in at the upper end of forecasts after reporting a rise in first-half profits. The company's pre-tax profits rose 16.3 per cent to £334.5million, despite a 5.4 per cent drop in revenue to £2billion, as slashed costs helped widen margins. It told investors on Wednesday it now expects annual operating profit at the top of end of the company-compiled analysts' expectation range of £873million to £924mill...

UK banking bosses gave off an unexpected air of calm when they released second quarter earnings over the past week, defying wider anxiety over the cost of living crisis and its impact on businesses and consumers. Major high street lenders, including NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC, largely shrugged off concerns over potential defaults linked to weaker economic forecasts, with most announcing fresh payouts for investors and instead releasing money they previously put aside for bad loans. ...

The UK has had one of its hottest days on record, with a high of 38.1C (100.6F) - and forecasters are warning it will be warmer still on Tuesday. The high was recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Monday, while 37C was exceeded in several places. The Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning for Monday and Tuesday in much of England, with temperatures of up to 41C forecast. The current highest temperature in the UK is 38.7C, in Cambridge in July 2019. A high of 38.5C was rea...

Britain, already a favourite destination for those heading overseas, became more attractive this year with the exchange rate sinking to a new low at around HK$9.30 (US$1.18) to a pound, a level last seen in 1985. DSE results out recently, but many applied for popular courses earlier as pound kept sliding Angus Tang Chi-wing, director of Hkies Overseas Education & Study Tours, said inquiries about overseas studies had risen by more than 20 per cent, partly because of the exchange rate. He esti...

M&S is removing best before dates from loads of fresh fruit and vegetables to try to cut food waste. Supermarkets are beginning to end use-by dates to cut down on food waste. Morrisons has scrapped the dates on its own-brand milk and the Co-op has done the same for yoghurt, while many retailers have stopped putting the dates on vegetables. Now M&S is scrapping best before dates on more than 300 fruit and veg - around 85% of all its produce. This includes foods like apples, potatoes a...

House prices in the UK rose at the fastest annual rate in 18 years last month as demand – especially for larger homes – continued to outstrip the number of properties on the market. Halifax, one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders and part of Lloyds Banking Group, said the market “defied any expectations of a slowdown”, with prices rising year on year in June by 13%, the highest since late 2004. Prices rose 1.8% compared with May, which was the biggest mont...

A brand new BBC series is in the making that is set to rival Netflix 's hit reality show Selling Sunset. Since its release in 2019, Selling Sunset has become extremely popular with viewers on the streaming service, having just recently been renewed for a sixth and seventh season. The series follows the lives of elite estate agents at The Oppenheim Group who sell extraordinary multi million-pound properties to affluent buyers in LA. As well as viewers getting to look inside these fascinati...

Several members of parliament have called for an end to higher fees imposed on students from Hong Kong. In a letter published in The Times, the group of MPs said the British National (Overseas) visa "has been a great success." However, they added "the higher education rules create an unnecessary impediment to opportunity since BNO visa holders are not eligible for home fees status until they have lived in the United Kingdom for five years." As such, the letter went on, BNO visa holders fa...