6:37 am, June 6, 2024
Royals and world leaders joining veterans in Normandy for 80th anniversary of D-Day
Royalty and world leaders will gather with veterans in Normandy today to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
The King and Queen will pay tribute to fallen soldiers at the UK’s national commemoration event at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, along with Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron.
The site, which opened in 2021, honours the 22,442 service personnel under British command who died on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944.
eBay to drop American Express over ‘unacceptably high fees’
Online marketplace eBay said it plans to no longer accept American Express, citing what it says are ‘unacceptably high fees’ and that customers have other payment options to shop online.
Spokesman Scott Overland said: ‘After careful consideration, eBay has decided to no longer accept American Express globally, effective August 17, due to the unacceptably high fees American Express charges for processing credit card transactions.’
AmEx takes a percentage of each transaction a merchant processes on their network, with the fees paid by the largest merchants typically a closely guarded trade secret, but the National Retail Federation says they can be as high as 4% on premium rewards credit cards such as AmEx.
Trade union’s legal challenge over Rwanda act to be heard at High Court
The FDA trade union’s legal challenge over the government’s Safety of Rwanda Act is set to be heard at the High Court today.
The trade union, which represents senior civil servants, said it was bringing legal action over the relationship of the Civil Service Code with the government’s Safety of Rwanda Act.
The claim against the Cabinet Office is due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London and comes after the government told the court in a separate case brought by charity Asylum Aid that it plans to begin removals to Rwanda on July 24.
Google faces £13bn legal claim over advertising tech
A multi-billion-pound claim against Google over allegations that it has behaved anti-competitively in the advertising tech space can proceed to trial, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has ruled.
The £13.6bn claim, brought by a group called Ad Tech Collective Action LLP, alleges that Google has abused its dominant position in the digital advertising space, causing significant losses to UK online publishers.
Google tried to get the legal action dropped, calling the case ‘incoherent’, but the tribunal has ruled that it can go to trial. A court date has yet to be set but Google says it’ll oppose the action ‘vigorously and on the facts’.
Junior doctors in Northern Ireland stage fresh 48-hour strike
Junior doctors in Northern Ireland are staging another 48-hour walkout.
They will strike from 7am today to 7am on Saturday over pay and staff retention. Junior doctors will travel to Stormont for a rally this afternoon.
It follows a 48-hour strike held last month and will affect hospitals and GP surgeries across the region.
Amazon extends grocery deliveries to all UK customers
Amazon has said it will now offer grocery deliveries to all UK customers, after previously only making the service available to Prime members.
The retail technology giant said customers in more than 100 towns and cities across the UK would now be able to get same-day delivery without needing to be a member of its subscription service.
This would cover groceries from Amazon Fresh as well as those through its Morrisons, Co-op and Iceland services.
SNP tells Bank of England ‘time is now right’ for interest rate cut
A cut in interest rates is needed from the Bank of England to help fix the ‘Tory mess’ in the economy that has sent mortgage bills and other costs ‘through the roof’, the SNP has said.
Stewart Hosie, the party’s general election campaign director, called for action from the Bank of England to ‘help families with the cost of living’ after the ‘Tories trashed the economy’.
The Bank’s monetary policy committee meets eight times a year to set the UK base rate, which influences the interest rates applied to mortgages, loans and savings accounts. The next meeting is scheduled to take place on June 20.
Actresses urge creative industries to fund bullying and harassment watchdog
Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley are among the famous faces who have signed a letter urging the creative industries to support an independent body planning to tackle bullying and harassment in the sector.
The open letter calls for firms to make their ‘final financial commitment’ to the creation of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, which aims to ‘uphold and improve standards of behaviour’ in the industry.
Oscar-winning director Emerald Fennell, Cabaret star Cara Delevigne, Eternals actress Gemma Chan and Skyfall’s Naomie Harris are also among the 25 stars to add their names to the letter.
Battery degradation main reason for slow second-hand EV uptake – survey
Second-hand EVs aren’t winning the hearts of UK car buyers, according to new research.
A website poll of 1,462 motorists by Autocar found that 75% would have serious concerns about buying a second-hand EV, with their biggest worry being wear and tear on the battery.
Of the participants who’d never owned an EV, 47% said they’d refuse to buy a second-hand one and nearly 62% believed that electric vehicles cost more to insure than conventional petrol and diesel cars.
Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed
- Fleets drive growth as new car market enjoys best May since 2021
- John Grose Group suffers pre-tax profit fall despite turnover rise
- IMDA welcomes record number of new members as it partners with RAC Dealer Network
- JLR increases UK client care team to help accelerate security update roll-out for older vehicles
- EV Experts agree franchise partnership with Fisker as boss hails ‘exciting opportunity’
- Luscombe Motors sells 5,000th new MG from Leeds showroom
- Vauxhall broadens Mokka appeal with new 48V hybrid powertrain
- LCV sales rise for 17th month in a row but SMMT warns over electric uptake
Market movements
The FTSE 100 closed 14.91 points up yesterday to end the day on 8,246.95. The Cac 40 was up 68.67 points at 8,006.57, the Dax was up 170.30 points at 18,575.94, and the Dow Jones was up 96.04 points at 38,807.33.
Weather outlook
Today will see a mixture of sunny spells, patchy cloud and well-scattered showers developing, most likely in the north where it’ll be breezy, says BBC Weather. It’ll remain cool during the day.
Friday will see cloud and rain move into northern England before easing to showers. Otherwise, most areas will have sunny spells and scattered showers, but thicker cloud will develop for northern Scotland.
