Beyoncé buys out Ivy Park venture from Sir Philip Green

Beyoncé has ended a business venture with Topshop boss Sir Philip Green by buying him out of Ivy Park, the gymwear label they founded together.

The pair launched Ivy Park two years ago, playing on the personal brand of the US singer and outspoken feminist.

The buyout comes weeks after Sir Philip was named as having taken legal action to prevent publication of allegations of sexual harassment of staff.

Sir Philip says he "categorically and wholly" denies the allegations.

However, Beyoncé had faced pressure from campaigners to cut ties.

In a statement on Thursday, Ivy Park said: "After discussions of almost a year, Parkwood has acquired 100% of the Ivy Park brand. Topshop - Arcadia will fulfil the existing orders."

Ivy Park sells items such as hoodies and leggings, part of a trend towards so called athleisure.

Beyoncé and Sir Philip had both owned 50% stakes in the label, which is named after the singer's daughter with rapper Jay Z, Blue Ivy.

Sir Philip, one of Britain's best known businessmen, was named in parliament last month by Lord Hain as the man behind a court injunction preventing the publication of allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff.

In a statement last month, he denied having broken the law and said his businesses fully investigated employee grievances.

However, campaign Equality Now had called for Beyoncé to end her relationship with the tycoon, arguing it was at odds with her stated principles.

Yasmeen Hassan, from the campaign group, said in October: "Beyoncé has put herself forward as a women's rights activist. She and her team need to look closely at these allegations."

Another activist, Nimco Ali, said: "Beyoncé should say 'I don't want to work with Philip Green'."

A representative of Sir Philip would not comment further on the Ivy Park deal, while Beyoncé could not be reached for additional comment.

Gabon amends constitution for ill President

Gabon's constitutional court has intervened to avert a political crisis brought about by the ill health of President Ali Bongo.

There have been no government meetings since he was taken to hospital in Saudi Arabia last month.

The court has amended the constitution to allow the Vice-President or Prime Minister to run cabinet meetings if the President is temporarily unavailable - a move the opposition says is illegal.

Amid speculation that the President had suffered a stroke and some even questioning whether he was still alive, Mr Bongo's office finally admitted on Sunday that he was recovering from surgery.

In 2009 Ali Bongo succeeded his father Omar Bongo who had been President for more than 40 years.

U.S election turnout highest for 104 years

If Donald Trump has one undisputable achievement during the first two years of his presidency, it's that he has succeeded in increasing the political engagement of a large share of the American public.

Preliminary figures for nationwide turnout in the 2018 mid-term elections are in, and they've reached a mark not seen in more than a century. Across the US, 49.2% of the voting age public cast ballots. In 2014 that number was 37%, and the average over the last few decades has hovered around 40%.

The last time turnout for a mid-term topped 50% was 1914 - before women had the vote in the US.

In some states, the numbers were even higher. Washington and Colorado, which heavily utilise voting by mail, topped the list at 69.4% and 65.5%, respectively. Minnesota, always a high-participation state, came in at 64.3% this year.

Even states with lower 2018 turnout saw sharp increases over recent mid-terms. In Texas enthusiasm generated by Democrat Beto O'Rourke (who was narrowly defeated) helped boost turnout to 46.1%, compared to 28.3% in 2014. Georgia, which had a contentious governor race, saw an increase from 38.6% to 55%.

In California, where several prominent Republican congressional incumbents have been unseated, turnout rose from 30.7% to 47.8%

The numbers across the US still fall short of the roughly 60% voter participation seen during recent presidential elections, although 2018 does come close to the 51.7% mark for Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. And digging back farther into the historical records, it surpasses the levels of the 1920 and 1924 presidential years.



Overall, more than 103 million votes were cast across the US in races for the House of Representatives (in which all 435 seats were up for election). Some states, such as California, are still processing mail-in ballots, but at last count Democrats won 51.8% of the overall vote, while Republicans accounted for 46.5%. With seven races still to be decided, Democrats have posted a net gain of 35 seats, giving them control of the chamber for the first time since 2010.

Thirty-three states also had Senate races, in which a total of at least 84 million votes were cast (a partisan breakdown of the balloting here is misleading because California, the largest state, had two Democrats advancing to the general election).

And if there was any doubt that this election was a referendum on the Trump presidency, a just-released Pew Research Center poll should put them to bed.

Only 35% of Americans said the president was not a factor in their mid-term vote. For those who had Mr Trump on their minds, 39% said they were casting their ballot against the president, while only 25% were voting to support him.

According to Pew, 57% of Americans are "happy" about the results of the mid-term elections - although there are sharp partisan divides over exactly what they like about it.

Ninety-one percent of Democrats are glad their party took control of the House, but only 11% are happy about Republicans holding the Senate. The numbers are reversed for Republicans, who are overwhelmingly pleased that their party kept the Senate, while only 20% are happy Democrats took the House.

When it comes to the chance for real, bipartisan legislative progress in the next two years, the American public's outlook grows darker. Sixty-three percent of poll respondents say Mr Trump won't be successful in getting his programmes enacted, while 61% say the same thing about Democrats.

Nearly half of all Americans think that relations between Republicans and Democrats will get worse, while only 9% see them getting better.

And that may be the key takeaway from the 2018 mid-term elections. More Americans are engaged, more Americans are voting, but the partisan lines are deepening, and no one is all that convinced things are going to get better.

Democrats and Republicans have two years to try to figure it all out before they face the voters again. And in 2020, Mr Trump w

French mother tried for hiding baby in car boot

A French woman has gone on trial accused of hiding the existence of a child she kept in the boot of her car.

The girl was discovered by a garage mechanic who heard noises when the car was brought in for repairs.

The mother is charged with repeated violence against a minor causing permanent disability, and faces up to 20 years in prison.

She is said to have hidden the pregnancy and birth from her partner and three older children.

Rosa-Maria Da Cruz, who is being tried in the central city of Tulle, called the baby Serena and kept her in a room in her house and in the boot of her car.

When she was found in 2013 in Terrasson-Lavilledieu in the Dordogne region, the child, who was thought to be about two years old, was malnourished and displaying severe developmental problems, reports say.

The garage mechanic who discovered the girl said he was greeted by an unpleasant smell when he opened the boot to discover a pale, feverish child, lying naked in her own excrement.

Portuguese-born Ms Da Cruz, who is now 50, is said to have told investigators about her daughter at the time: "Not a baby but a thing (...), a thing that had to be discovered to live", a child "to whom she started talking at the age of 18 months, because she had smiled [to her]".

The girl, who is now nearly seven, is in foster care.

Her two brothers and sister, aged nine to 15, were returned to the couple after being placed in foster care for a time.

The case against Ms Da Cruz's partner, who denied knowing anything about the pregnancy or the baby, has been dismissed.

The trial is expected to last between five and seven days.

Messi returns but Barca beaten at home by rampant Betis

La Liga leaders Barcelona fell to a first home defeat in any competition for more than two years when they were beaten 4-3 by Real Betis at the Nou Camp on Sunday despite Lionel Messi returning from injury, while Ivan Rakitic was sent off for the Catalans.

Betis's livewire winger Junior gave the visitors a deserved lead in the 20th minute, finishing off a hugely impressive counter-attack that had started in their own penalty area, while captain Joaquin doubled their lead in the 35th after another venture down the wing from Junior.

Messi pulled Barca back into the game by converting a penalty midway through the second half but Betis restored their two-goal cushion through Giovani Lo Celso.


Arturo Vidal quickly responded with a goal down the other end but Rakitic was

then dismissed for a second booking and Sergio Canales soon made it 4-2.

Messi scored from close range in stoppage time but Betis hung on to clinch a first league win at the Nou Camp since 1998. (Reporting by Richard Martin; editing by Clare Fallon)

Firms 'struggling to recruit as overseas staff stay away'

Firms planning to take on more staff are being hit by labour shortages, with a "reversal" in the number of migrants in employment, says HR body the CIPD.

As Brexit approaches next March, the CIPD says there has been a slowing down in the growth of both EU and non-EU migrants in the UK workplace.

And it said research among over 1,000 employers suggested that vacancies are becoming harder to fill.

The squeeze is leading employers to increase pay rates, said the CIPD.

While the short-term outlook for employment remains strong, labour and skills shortages are accelerating, says the institute.


According to the latest official data, the number of non-UK-born workers in the UK decreased by 58,000 between April to June last year and the same period this year, with 40,000 of these non-EU-born workers.

This compares with an increase of 263,000 for the same period between 2016 and 2017.

'Post-Brexit system'

"The data implies that the pendulum has swung away from the UK as an attractive place to live and work for non-UK-born citizens, especially non-EU citizens, during a period of strong employment growth and low unemployment," said Gerwyn Davies of the CIPD.

"This has heightened recruitment difficulties for some employers.

"It also underlines the risk that more non-UK-born citizens and employers will be discouraged from using the post-Brexit system if more support is not provided and it is not made simpler, fairer and more affordable; especially for lower-skilled roles.

"Against the backdrop of a tight labour market, failure to do this will heighten recruitment difficulties and could lead to negative consequences for existing staff, such as higher workloads, and loss of business or orders for firms."

Looking ahead, the CIPD says that the UK labour supply looks set to be further constrained from 2021 when migration restrictions for EU citizens are introduced, especially for lower-skilled workers.

It says that employers express concern that the main route for recruiting EU citizens to fill lower-skilled roles that was recently proposed by the Migration Advisory Committee won't be enough to satisfy their recruitment needs.

In addition, a third of employers who employ non-EU citizens say that the administrative burden of using the current points-based system for non-EU citizens system, which will most likely be adopted for EU citizens from 2021, is too great.