Britain’s OneWeb said on Friday that SoftBank Group Corp and Hughes Network Systems LLC had invested in the satellite communications company, bringing its total funding to $1.4 billion, Reuters reported. Founded by entrepreneur Greg Wyler in 2014, OneWeb aims to provide high-speed broadband internet services globally using low earth orbit satellites, taking on a similar offering by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The funding would allow OneWeb to cover the costs for its network of 648 satellites, expected to be ready by the end of 2022.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking in the U.K. has started a six month project, with support from City law firm Humphries Kerstetter, Accountancy Daily reported. Kevin Hollinrake, co-chair of the APPG, said: ‘In recent years there have been a number of high-profile failures in the insolvency industry. The APPG has also received its fair share of complaints about the system.

Loaded with tons of live crab, lobster and prawns, the trucks headed south from the Scottish town of Oban had to reach their destination in Spain within 72 hours to be sure the cargo would survive the trip. But with Britain operating new post-Brexit trading rules, a journey that used to be routine is now a high-stakes gamble for the exporter Paul Knight, managing director of PDK Shellfish, the New York Times reported. “It is like roulette,” said Mr.

An investment spree billed as an income generator to protect frontline services in a cash-strapped London borough has provided a cautionary tale about the perils of over-reach as local authorities across Britain face mounting financial and social pressures, the Financial Times reported. Twice in the past two months, the Labour-run council in Croydon, on London’s southern fringes, has issued a Section 114 notice — announcing de facto bankruptcy — after failing to fulfil a legal duty to balance its books.

Proposals have been outlined by the U.K. government to increase the financial eligibility criteria for debt relief orders (DROs), helping more people deal with financial difficulties to get a fresh start, according to a press release. Research shows that the demand for debt advice could increase by up to 60% by the end of 2021 and around 3 million more people than before the pandemic will need support with problem debt by the end of 2021. The government is publicly consulting on changing the eligibility criteria to enter a DRO to:

Britain started 2021 in a new relationship with its biggest trade partner, and it has immediately brought a litany of headaches and lost business, the New York Times reported. Within a week, implications of the Brexit trade deal with the European Union are being felt by businesses up and down the country as food deliveries are delayed for not having the right customs paperwork, logistics companies halt the shipment of goods, and retailers discover their supply chains might be obsolete.

British airline easyJet boosted its liquidity through a new five-year loan facility of $1.87 billion, backed by a partial guarantee from Britain, helping to ease concerns about its finances as the pandemic continues to stop travel, Reuters reported. Like most European airlines, cash-strapped easyJet had been hoping to be gearing up for a recovery this spring, but with Britain, its biggest market, back in lockdown, flying is expected to stay at minimal levels for several more months.

Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson’s airline which has been hammered by the pandemic, is close to finalising a deal to raise just over $230 million from two planes, enabling it to repay a loan taken on as part of its rescue deal last year, Reuters reported. COVID-19 restrictions stopped significant levels of travel on Virgin’s main UK to U.S. routes during 2020, bringing the airline to its knees. To survive the crisis it shed almost half of its 10,000 workforce and underwent a “solvent recapitalisation” last September.

British retailer Marks & Spencer warned on Friday its popular Percy Pig sweets could be hit by tariffs if it re-exports the product to European Union countries, including Ireland, Reuters reported. Chief Executive Steve Rowe said that the pink sweets, along with about a third of the products in M&S’s food business, are subject to very complex “rules of origin” regulations that form part of Britain’s trade deal with the EU struck on Christmas Eve. The rules relate to the composition of individual products and how much of it has been altered in the United Kingdom.

Ryanair slashed its annual traffic forecast by around 5 million passengers on Thursday, saying fresh lockdowns in Britain and Ireland targeting a highly contagious new variant of COVID-19 would leave the countries with “few, if any” flights, Reuters reported. The Irish low-cost carrier, Europe’s largest, also harshly criticised public health measures, saying Ireland’s travel curbs were “inexplicable and ineffective” and called on the country and Britain to accelerate the pace of vaccine rollouts.