The mortgage business is the latest sector to slow down amid uncertainty leading up to the EU referendum.
Mortgage approvals fell to an 11-month low in April - a drop from 70,305 the month before to 66,250 - according to the Bank of England's Money and Credit Report.
The Bank of England said net mortgage lending rose just £281m in April, a fraction of the £3.8bn increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and down sharply from a £7.411bn increase in March.
This was the smallest increase in lending for four years.
Economists have blamed the slowdown on people rushing to buy property ahead of a 3% stamp duty rise on buy-to-let properties in April and, consequently, inflating the figure for March lending.
Meanwhile, Nationwide Building Society has released a report saying that the average price of a UK house has increased by just 0.2% during May to £204,368.
Year on year growth was at 4.7% - down from the 4.9% seen in April.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The adverse impact of uncertainty about the outcome of the EU referendum can be seen clearly across all the latest lending data.
"The drop in (mortgage) approvals reflects April's rise in stamp duty on buy-to-let and second home purchases, as well as the impact of Brexit risk on London's housing market."
Mr Tombs said that he expects the UK to vote to remain in the EU in the 23 June referendum, adding that this should mean "all types of lending likely will bounce back".
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
M&S Cans Background Music In All Its Stores
Marks & Spencer is abolishing piped music in all of its 300 clothing and home stores.
The company has recently acquired a new boss, Steve Rowe, who indicated his aim was to encourage original customer, "Mrs M&S", to return to the shop, fearing she may have felt left out of its recent revamps and, as a consequence, stopped shopping there.
It seems the abolition of piped music is one of his first efforts to encourage the more mature shopper back to his stores.
A company spokesman told Sky News in a statement: "We're focused on putting the customer at the heart of everything we do, this decision is the result of extensive research and feedback from our customers and colleagues."
Pipedown, which campaigns for "freedom from piped music", is delighted with the news that, from today, M&S will be a muzak-free zone.
Nigel Rodgers, who started the organisation 20 years ago when he was in his mid-30s, said the group had been urging M&S to rethink its policy since it was introduced 10 years ago "about the time its sales started falling, coincidentally".
Mr Rodgers said: "Piped music alienates more people than it charms, including probably the majority of people over the age of 45 - the age group of many M&S shoppers.
"It's the hellish ubiquity of piped music that so many people object to - and, by the way, it's not just older people who can't stand it. Violinist Nicola Benedetti once tweeted how she hated being force-fed music."
He puts the trend for piped music down to psychology professor Adrian North from Heriot Watt University, who is also a keen amateur musician.
The professor combined his two loves to produce research into the connection between personality and musical taste.
However, Nigel Rodgers disputes the findings and says the resultant fashion of using music to persuade people to buy is, in fact, counter-productive.
"It's a false science," he insists. "It drives people away from the shops, not towards the tills."
The music licensing company PRS for Music said M&S stands to save tens of thousands of pounds a year as a result of turning off commercial music, which costs around £1,600 a year per 10,000 metres of shop floor space.
Mr Rowe unveiled a turnaround plan for the high street stalwart last week, announcing it was his "top priority" to get clothing sales back on track.
He said he will cut everyday prices for nearly a third - 30% - of its clothing ranges, while reducing promotions and clearance sales.
Black Box From Crashed EgyptAir Jet Found
A black box from the EgyptAir jet that crashed last month has been found in the Mediterranean, according to French investigators.
The breakthrough came after a French ship picked up signals in a three-mile (5km) area where the plane is believed to have come down on 19 May - killing all 66 passengers and crew on board.
Locator pings emitted by flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as the black boxes, can be picked up from deep underwater.
The French ship, La Place, is equipped with three deep-water devices known as Detector 6000s - which can detect the signals.
Some debris from the plane - including life vests, passenger belongings and pieces of wreckage - had already been found, but the fuselage and black boxes were still missing before the latest discovery.
Human remains have also been recovered, and a Cairo forensics team is carrying out DNA tests to identify the victims.
A second ship, the John Lethbridge from the Deep Ocean Search firm, had also been expected to join the search later this week, according to the committee investigating the crash.
Egyptian authorities have said they believe terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure, although no militant group has so far claimed to have downed the jet.
Some aviation experts have said the erratic flight path reported by the Greek defence minister suggests a bomb blast or a struggle in the cockpit.
Leaked data has indicated a sensor had detected smoke in a toilet and a fault in two of the plane's cockpit windows in the last moments of the flight.
PETA Activist Says Zoo Wrong To Kill Gorilla
An animal rights activist has told Sky News a US zoo was wrong to shoot dead a gorilla to protect a young boy who had entered its enclosure.
Kirsty Henderson, campaigns co-ordinator at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said the life of an animal cannot be treated more importantly than a child's.
She was questioned by Sky's Colin Brazier, who repeatedly pressed her on whether the zoo was right to shoot the Western Lowland gorilla, named Harambe, dead.
Eventually she said: "I don't think so. We can't put the life of an animal above that of a child and this should never have happened in the first place.
"(Harambe) should never have been in this cage, he should have been in the wild living his life."
Brazier replied: "If this gorilla killed a three-year-old child … are you happy to live with that and explain it to the parents?"
Ms Henderson replied: "I think systems should have been in place, there should have been a secondary barrier.
"The zoo should have done more to protect people from these animals.
"But please let's not forget that these animals are wild animals, and they belong in the wild, away from cages."
Police are investigating the circumstances which led to the 17-year-old gorilla being shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo.
Officers said over the weekend no charges were planned but now it has emerged they are still gathering information and charges are possible.
The animal, whose species is listed as endangered, was shot minutes after dragging the child through shallow water and up a rock wall.
More than 400,000 people have signed a petition calling for the parents of the four-year-old concerned to be investigated.
Corbyn Mole 'Leaked' PMQs Prep To Tories
Jeremy Corbyn's Prime Minister's Questions preparations have been leaked to the Conservatives by a party mole, according to his senior aide.
David Cameron's team has been routinely tipped off on the questions the Labour leader has prepared for their weekly showdowns, Mr Corbyn's chief spokesman Seumas Milne has claimed.
He said the leaks came after the weekly meetings to discuss how the Labour leader would tackle the head-to-head.
In a documentary on Mr Corbyn by Vice News, Mr Milne says after one PMQs session: "This time they did (know the questions) because it leaked. It leaked from that meeting.
"It's very annoying because it only happens about a third of the time, but it obviously gives them a little bit of extra time.
"Whenever there is a leak it gives them that advantage - it gives them the advantage on TV as well."
In the documentary Mr Corbyn also launched a scathing attack on the press, accusing a number of journalists of being "obsessed" with him.
And he voiced his anger over the coverage of the anti-Semitism row within the party.
But he reserved most of his criticism for the BBC, saying: "There is not one story on any election anywhere in the UK that the BBC will not spin into a problem for me.
"It is obsessive beyond belief, that they are obsessed with trying to damage the leadership of the Labour Party and unfortunately there are people in the Labour Party who play into that."
Since Mr Corbyn was selected as Labour leader the party has been riven by in-fighting and bitter public exchanges.
However, the Labour leader's support among the membership has grown, making a coup unlikely, if not impossible.
A number of high profile Labour MPs - including Sadiq Khan, Luciana Berger and Andy Burnham - have decided to focus their attentions on becoming city mayors instead, leading to claims of a party brain drain.
Brazil Gang Rape Victim Gives TV Interview
A teenage girl who says she was gang raped by dozens of men has spoken of her ordeal in a television interview.
The 16-year-old was attacked in a slum in Rio de Janeiro on 21 May, and two men have been arrested so far.
Speaking to a local television channel she said: "I fell asleep and woke up in a different place with a man underneath me, another one on top and two other holding my hands and several people laughing at me. Also, I was drugged and confused.
"There were many people armed and many boys laughing and talking.
"There were adults and not only boys. Now they judge me and blame me.
"They robbed me. They robbed me but not of any material property but of physical property."
The victim said that she was assaulted by 33 men in total.
Police say they have no doubt the assault happened but that tests on the victim were done too late to provide conclusive evidence.
Prosecutors say that one of the two men arrested – Rai de Souza, 22 and Lucas Perdomo Duarte Santos, 20 - may have been the victim's boyfriend.
The assault came to light after several men joked about it on the internet – sharing photos and videos of the unconscious and naked girl on Twitter and WhatsApp.
The attack shocked Brazilians, and threw the spotlight on the problem of violence against women in the country.
On Sunday hundreds of women demonstrated in front of the Justice Ministry building in Brasilia.
Brazil's interim president Michel Temer has announced that an institution for women's rights will be created in the aftermath of the outrage.
During the city's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, Rio's mayor assured the International Olympic Committee its violent crime rate would be reduced by the time tourists and athletes arrived.
In another case, a group of at least five men are reported to have drugged and raped a 17-year-old girl in the northeastern state of Piaui.
Sky Poll: 'Noise' Leaves EU Voters Undecided
Sky data shows 29% of voters are still making up their minds how to vote in the EU referendum.
Despite numerous reports predicting various outcomes from the UK's decision, 40% of the electorate still feel they would like more information.
With three weeks before the polls open on 23 June, the undecided voters are large enough to sway the decision either way - but so far neither campaign has managed to secure this elusive group.
If anything, the group has become larger since the beginning of the year.
A YouGov poll found that after David Cameron secured his deal in Brussels earlier this year the number of undecided voters started to rise, from 19% in February to 24% in March and April.
suggests the claims and counter claims of the campaigns - what some politicians have dubbed "noise" - have been leaving people even more perplexed.
Political analyst Adam Faegan says this group of voters holds the key to which way the country goes.
He said: "They're absolutely critical. Turnout is critical and so are those who are undecided. We can't say with any certainty that they'll go one way or the other. It will probably be an even split."
There is a theory that undecided voters are more likely to chose the perceived safe option to remain in.
However, Sky data suggests the primary concern for undecided voters is immigration, with 63% of Britons saying it has a negative impact on British culture.
Our research also shows that Brexit voters are unlikely to be swayed by a reduction in immigration numbers - while those who say they are inclined to vote Remain are more likely to change their vote if they see immigration figures rising.
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed net migration rising to 333,000.
The economy is a key factor for those who have decided to vote to remain in.
Paul Drescher, the president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), says he believes the Remain camp needs to focus on messages about jobs - and the impact on people's pockets.
"The question people need to ask is, 'Will there be more or less jobs?' In all the analysis we've done, there will be less jobs if we leave than if we remain."
But Out campaigner Iain Duncan-Smith told Sky News: "There's no reason why anyone should lose jobs. In fact Vote Leave think economic arguments are such that we'll be able to thrive and prosper. What's more, Lord Rose, who is campaigning to Remain, said the moment we leave, salaries and wages will rise."
Despite the large numbers who are still uncertain, polls suggest that in recent days voters are beginning to make up their minds. This is a crucial time for both campaigns.
:: EU In or Out: David Cameron Live, Sky News 8pm Thursday, Michael Gove Live 8pm Friday.
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