Here’s a quick summary of what has happened around the world over the last 24 hours, brought to you exclusively by British Herald.
Starting off with the local economy, British consumers failed to increase their spending for a record fifth month in a row in December, adding to signs of economic weakening that might prompt the Bank of England to cut interest rates this month. Official data showed sales volumes fell by 0.6% from November, defying the median forecast for a rise of 0.5%.
From the field of politics, British opposition Labour Party has to do more to promote aspiration to become a government-in-waiting, said Rebecca Long-Bailey who is the party’s business spokeswoman, while formally launching her leadership campaign. European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt has assured EU nationals that Brexit does not automatically deport citizens of the European Union who have not applied to remain in Britain after Brexit. Verhofstadt met with British Ministers and said that he had been reassured that a grace period would be granted to those who have not applied for the “settled status” scheme by the deadline of June 2021.
On January 31st evening, Boris Johnson will address the nation to celebrate the exit of Britain from the European Union. Earlier that day, Johnson will be holding a special meeting in northern England with his ministers. The British government plans to broadcast the Downing Street light display on social media with a clock counting down to 2300 GMT, the exact moment when Brexit takes place officially. Other Whitehall buildings will be lit up too.
The United States will begin screening efforts at three U.S. airports to detect travellers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan who may have symptoms of a new respiratory virus that so far has killed two people and infected 45 more.
The Chinese virus is a coronavirus, a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a highly infectious virus that originated in China in 2002 and eventually travelled to 37 countries, killing 774 people. So far, health officials do not consider the new virus from China to be as lethal as SARS, but the investigation is evolving and much is still not known about whether the virus can spread easily from person to person.
“This is the stage of the investigation where we need to proceed cautiously and be prepared for any eventuality,” Dr Nancy Messonnier, a CDC expert in respiratory diseases.
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Stay tuned for our daily roundup tomorrow!