HOLX earnings call for the period ending December 26, 2020.
Rishi Sunak is plotting a new tax on online deliveries next month and a raid on the self-employed later this year, The Telegraph can reveal. The Chancellor will use Wednesday's Budget to announce a £5 billion fund to help high street pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops that have remained closed as a result of the Covid lockdown. On March 23 – dubbed "tax day" in Whitehall – he will then unveil a series of consultations on further tax increases to start paying for the £300 billion cost of dealing with the virus crisis. The Telegraph has learnt that this will include options to tax online retail more heavily, including the possibility of a new green tax on every internet delivery, alongside other online tax ideas. However, it is understood that he has turned his back on a mooted windfall tax on the "excess profits" of internet companies. Mr Sunak is also planning to use a Budget in the autumn to increase National Insurance Contributions paid by Britain's 4.5 million self-employed, arguing that they too benefited from state support in the pandemic. A Treasury source said: "The idea of an online sales tax is being looked at as part of the business rates review. "Responses to the consultation are being considered in the round, but the Chancellor is cognisant of the need to level up the playing field between the high street and online taxation."
People across the country enjoyed temperatures of up to 15C on Saturday.
Mary Miller started her term as an Illinois representative on 3 January 2021
Aidy Bryant reprised her role as the Texas senator
The UK has reported another 290 coronavirus deaths and 7,434 new cases, while 19.6 million people have now had their first vaccine dose. The UK government has set the target of offering a first coronavirus vaccine to all adults in the UK by the end of the July. Yesterday at the Downing Street press conference, Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended the decision to base the rollout on age, and not prioritising certain professions like teachers and police officers.
Budget 2021: Sunak’s £5bn plan to rescue high streets from collapse. Grants will be offered to stricken shops and pubs but NHS fears its pleas for cash will be ignored
The stunning full Snow Moon us seen rising over the sea in Sheerness, Kent, in southeast England on Saturday evening (February 27).
A single-shot vaccine to combat Covid in Britain could be just weeks away, with regulators set to begin the approval process this week. Ministers are expecting the Johnson & Johnson jab – which has been authorised in the US for emergency use – to start formal regulatory approval in the coming days. The UK has ordered 30 million doses, the US 100 million and Canada 38 million. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which must carry out the checks for the UK, did not respond to a request for a comment. The development came as reports emerged that just one shot of the Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the risk of being admitted to hospital by more than 90 per cent. Public health officials have briefed ministers on the new results, according to a report in The Mail on Sunday. Health sources said the jab, developed by Johnson & Johnson's vaccines division Janssen, was not yet being considered by the MHRA for formal approval – a process that normally takes less than two weeks, based on the timelines for Pfizer and Astra Zeneca's jabs. A senior Government source said the MHRA formal process was "very likely" to start this week. The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment. A department source said: "We are working with them to complete the rolling review process and we look forward to receiving more data from them as soon as possible."
Kim Kardashian West has cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason she is divorcing rapper Kanye West. The reality TV star filed divorce papers with an LA court that also confirmed she is seeking joint custody of their four children - North, seven, Saint, five, Chicago, three, and Psalm, one. The businesswoman has enlisted the services of lawyer Laura Wasser, who earned the title “disso queen” thanks to her work sorting out the divorces of high-profile celebrities.
‘I’ve had my vaccine - how well will it protect me and for how long?’. The latest answers to the important medical questions about the vaccines and the pandemic
Trump has captured the Republican party – and that's great news for Biden. The Trump party is only interested in appealing to its base. Democrats in Washington have the public square to themselves
The joy of receiving a note from a member of the Royal Family, in response to a card or a letter, has long been keenly felt by well wishers from across the globe. But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now face a scramble to make new arrangements for their correspondence after the Prince of Wales withdrew his financial support for the mail service provided by his team at Clarence House. The couple’s decision not to return to the royal fold as working members of the family means that all professional ties will be severed from the end of next month. For practical reasons, that will include arrangements relating to their mail, the Sunday Telegraph understands, meaning that well wishers might have to start posting their cards to the US instead. The Correspondence Section at Clarence House, comprising around four members of staff, has traditionally handled the Sussexes’ mail, as well as that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
The French city of Dunkirk had long prided itself on being the main port of entry for Britons into Europe, and welcoming scores of British tourists to its beaches and wine shops. But in February, its proximity to Britain, where a more contagious variant of Covid-19 has spread like wildfire, quickly triggered a health crisis. "We're an important point of entry into Europe for Britain. This time it did not work out well for us," Thomas Roussez, from the city hall, told the Telegraph. "We did not manage to detect [the variant] early enough. When we realised it we were already on very high rates," he added. All eyes in France are now fixed on Dunkirk and other similar hotspots like Nice. Panicked health officials are warning that the overwhelmed hospitals and rising epidemic is a window into what is to come for the rest of the country as the vaccination programme is in disarray. The jarring glimpse is a stark warning for Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who has faced increasing pressure to bring in new restrictions just as the UK is planning for its grand reopening. It is a conundrum present across much of the continent, acutely felt in Central Europe where case rises are on the march once again. Dinkirk's first cases of the so-called Kent variant are believed to have reached the city through truck drivers coming from Britain. Quickly, the city of 90,000 had the highest incidence rate of Covid-19 in the country. Dunkirk's Covid-19 rate has risen from 658 to 901 cases per 100,000 of the population in a week, more than four times the national average.
Clean break: the risk of catching Covid from surfaces overblown, experts say. Prioritising eye protection and face masks will prevent the spread of coronavirus more than disinfecting surfaces, research shows
Germany and France could approve the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines for over 65s just days after Angela Merkel said she was too old to take the jab. Thomas Mertens, the head of Germany’s vaccine committee, revealed it would "very soon" update its recommendation on the jab.
Archaeologists have unearthed a unique ancient-Roman ceremonial carriage from a villa just outside Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. The almost perfectly preserved four-wheeled carriage made of iron, bronze and tin was found near the stables of an ancient villa at Civita Giuliana, around 700 metres (yards) north of the walls of ancient Pompeii. Massimo Osanna, the outgoing director of the Pompeii archaeological site, said the carriage was the first of its kind discovered in the area, which had so far yielded functional vehicles used for transport and work, but not for ceremonies.
Oprah with Meghan and Harry: masterstroke or disaster? . The Sussexes are the latest in a line of celebrities to try to rebuild their image by talking to the chatshow queen
Exclusive: Single-shot Covid vaccine could be weeks away Prince William warns social media is awash with vaccine rumours Scientists work on rapid mass tests to unlock summer sport Flexible rail season tickets by June Subscribe to The Telegraph for a month-long free trial There is no evidence of newly-discovered coronavirus variants spreading after concerns case rates are rising in some areas, Rishi Sunak has said. On Friday, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said one in five local authorities has seen a rise in case rates in the last week. But the Chancellor told the The Andrew Marr Show that he had not seen evidence this was due to newly-discovered variants. "That's not what I've seen in any of the data,” he said. But he stressed: "It's important that we keep following the rules." Pressed if there was any evidence of more new variants, he said: "No." It comes as nearly two million people aged 60 to 63 in England are being invited to book a coronavirus jab as part of the continued expansion of the vaccine programme. NHS England said the letters would start landing on doormats from Monday, explaining how people can make an appointment to get jabbed through the national booking service. Follow the latest updates below.
The change comes into effect from Saturday.
‘I'm not going to worry about people that their only worry in life is to be re-elected,’ says Enrique Tarrio
Yahoo News