U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being investigated by the country’s electoral watchdog following allegations that he failed to declare who funded an upgrade of his residence at 11 Downing Street, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Electoral Commission, which regulates political donations, said that it had been in contact with Johnson’s Conservative Party after concluding there “are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offense or offenses may have occurred,” amid allegations that undisclosed donors provide funds for a refit of his official residence.

World shares advanced Thursday ahead of the release of U.S. economic growth data and following a speech by President Joe Biden outlining ambitious plans for beefing up early education and other family oriented policies, the Associated Press reported. London’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.7% to 7,013.40. In Paris, the CAC40 climbed 0.6% to 6,344.17. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2% to 15,262.39 as a report showed weakening consumer confidence. The future for the Dow industrials rose 0.4% and that for the S&P 500 surged 0.6%. U.S.

Heathrow, Britain’s biggest airport, said a first quarter loss of 329 million pounds ($459 million) took total losses since the start of the pandemic to nearly 2.4 billion pounds as travel continues to be hammered, Reuters reported. It said only 1.7 million passengers traveled through the London airport in the three months to March 31, down 91% compared to the first quarter of 2019.

The European Parliament has voted by a large margin to give the European Union’s final approval to a Brexit deal already beset by difficulties, complaints and a court challenge, The New York Times reported. The tally was 660 in favor, with five against and 32 abstentions. While the outcome was never really in doubt, the Parliament expressed considerable concerns about the trustworthiness of the current British government to carry out its side of the Brexit bargain, including the trade deal that was just approved.

Liverpool reported a pre-tax loss of 46 million pounds ($64 million) for the last financial year, mainly because of the impact the coronavirus outbreak had on the English champion’s media revenue and matchday income, the Associated Press reported. The losses for the financial year ending May 2020, a period covering the first three months of the pandemic when the Premier League was suspended, equated to a negative swing of 88 million pounds ($122 million) from Liverpool’s position a year ago.

The U.K. has imposed sanctions on 22 people accused of serious corruption in Russia, South Africa and four other nations in the first use of a new tool to fight corrupt activities globally, Sky News reported.

British retail sales jumped last month before a partial lifting of coronavirus restrictions, suggesting an economic rebound is underway, but official data also showed record peacetime government borrowing, Reuters reported.

The U.K. scaled back its bond sale plans by more than expected after the budget deficit undershot official forecasts during a pandemic-blighted year that ravaged the public finances, Bloomberg News reported.

The number of U.K. businesses in significant financial distress jumped the most in at least seven years last quarter, with firms across all sectors seeing their situation deteriorate, Bloomberg News reported. There are 723,000 companies facing serious problems, according to research by intelligence provider Begbies Traynor published Thursday. That’s a 15% increase from the end of last year, and the biggest quarterly increase since it began publishing the data in 2014. From a year ago, the number has climbed 42%.