
In a move that could save up to 2,500 jobs, Hays Travel announced on Wednesday that it is to acquire 555 Thomas Cook stores from the Official Receiver. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, is a significant step for Hays, which has 190 shops, 1,900 staff, and last year had sales of £379m, reporting profits of £10m.

Canadian-American cosmologist James Peebles and Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz won the Nobel Physics Prize for research increasing our understanding of our place in the universe, the jury said.

London City Airport was braced for disruption on Thursday after climate change protesters Extinction Rebellion vowed to occupy its terminal and shut down operations for three days as part of its action in the British capital.

Three researchers won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for the development of lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for smart-phones and a fossil fuel-free society. John Goodenough of the United States - at 97 the oldest person to be awarded a Nobel prize - Britain's Stanley Whittingham, and Japan's Akira Yoshino will share the nine million Swedish kronor (about US$914,000 or €833,000) prize equally, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Britain is looking forward to taking back control of its trade policy after it exits the European Union later this month, a government minister told the World Trade Organization on Wednesday. Speaking at a WTO conference, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said her country was preparing to seize a golden opportunity.

An anti-Semitic attack that killed at least two people in the German city of Halle on Wednesday was streamed live for 35 minutes, and eventually seen by around 2,200 people, the online platform Twitch said.

Grinding trade disputes are undermining the global economy, which is set to see its slowest growth in nearly a decade, the new IMF chief said on Tuesday. Research shows the impact of the trade conflict is widespread and countries must be ready to respond in unison with cash infusions, Kristalina Georgieva said in her first speech as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

More than 1 billion people worldwide are living with vision impairment because they do not get the care they need for conditions like short and farsightedness, glaucoma and cataract, according to the first World report on vision issued by the World Health Organization.

As global trade tensions persist, investments are put on hold and without that cash to boost economic growth, poverty could surge, the World Bank's chief economist warned Tuesday. Without growth “inevitably, people will struggle”, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg said in an interview.

China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange reports that Chinese travellers spent US$ 127.5 billion abroad in the first half of 2019.