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LONDON: The UK's recession-threatened economy rebounded in July, data showed Monday (Sep 12), but is set to receive a further hit from a public holiday marking next week's funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
British gross domestic product expanded 0.2 per cent after a drop of 0.6 per cent in June, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
June's big decline had been attributed partly to an extra public holiday for the queen's Platinum Jubilee marking 70 years on the throne before her passing last week.
Another public holiday is scheduled next Monday for the queen's state funeral.
"The feeble 0.2 per cent bounce-back in July was driven by weak GDP in June due in part to the loss of working days from the Jubilee long weekend," noted Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK.
"More concerning, July's GDP remains below the level seen in May, pointing to an overall contraction over the first two months of summer."
Britain usually has only one public holiday in early summer but the amount was doubled for the Jubilee.
Time off work for millions of Britons next Monday means the economy will have had two more public holidays than usual in 2022.
The Bank of England (BoE) expects the UK economy to enter recession before the end of the year on decades-high inflation fuelled by surging energy and food bills.
"Looking ahead, the extra public holiday for the queen's funeral on Sep 19 has the potential to be more damaging for the economy than the extra day off for the Jubilee in June," Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said following Monday's data.
"That said, many businesses will be able to catch up work, as most of them did in June."
Pantheon is predicting the funeral to hit September GDP by 0.2 per cent.
"That suggests that a technical recession - widely defined as two quarters of declining GDP - is hanging in the balance."
The BoE forecasts UK inflation - already at a 40-year high above 10 per cent - to keep surging this year.
In a bid to tame runaway prices, the central bank has hiked its main interest rate several times since the end of last year.
More tightening of borrowing costs had been nailed on at a BoE meeting this week but its latest monetary policy gathering has been delayed until after the funeral.
Mourners later Monday get the first opportunity to pay respects before the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, as it lies in an Edinburgh cathedral where successor King Charles III will mount a vigil.
The queen died in Scotland last Thursday, aged 96.
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TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Japan's government is planning to waive tourist visa requirements from some countries as part of a further easing of border controls enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19, Fuji News Network reported on Monday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may decide as early as this week on the easing, which would also allow individual travellers to visit Japan without travel agency bookings, FNN reported. Japan did not require tourist visas for 68 countries and regions before the pandemic.
The government may scrap a daily cap on arrivals by October, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.
Deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said on a television programme on Sunday that "a weak yen is most effective in attracting inbound tourism," adding that further steps must be taken to draw in foreign visitors. read more
Japan last week raised the daily ceiling of inbound travellers to 50,000 from 20,000 and eliminated a requirement for pre-departure COVID tests, easing what have been among the most restrictive border measures among major economies. read more
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LONDON: Mourners in their thousands will be able to file past the coffin of Britain's late Queen Elizabeth in a round-the-clock lying-in-state from Wednesday (Sep 14) evening to early on the day of her funeral.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch ahead of her state funeral on Sep 19, which will be attended by world leaders.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said members of the public would be able to file past the coffin for 24 hours a day from 5pm local time on Wednesday, Sep 14, until 6.30am on Sep 19.
"Those wishing to attend will be required to queue for many hours, possibly overnight," Britain's culture ministry said.
"Large crowds are expected and people are encouraged to check ahead, plan accordingly and be prepared for long wait times," it added on Monday.
Airport-style security checks will take place at Westminster Hall, the oldest of the buildings that make up Britain's parliament, and tight restrictions will be in force with only small bags permitted.
EDINBURGH, Scotland: Queen Elizabeth's coffin arrived in Edinburgh on Sunday (Sep 11) after a six-hour journey from her summer home in the Scottish Highlands, past tens of thousands of mourners lining the route, many in sombre silence, some applauding and others in tears.
At the end of its slow journey through picturesque Scottish countryside, villages, small towns and cities, soldiers wearing kilts carried the coffin to the throne room of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Elizabeth's official Scottish residence, where it will remain overnight.
In an emotional tribute to his mother on Friday, the queen's eldest son and the new monarch, King Charles, said she had begun a "last great journey" to join Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years who died last year.
Earlier, the hearse carrying the oak coffin emerged from the gates of Balmoral Castle, where she died on Thursday aged 96, at the start of the drive to the Scottish capital.
Her coffin was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath on top made of flowers taken from the Balmoral estate including sweet peas, one of Elizabeth's favourites.
Crowds, fifteen deep in places, massed in the centre of Edinburgh to greet the cortege as it made its way to Holyroodhouse, where it was met by a military guard of honour.
The queen's daughter Anne, flanked by the queen's younger sons, Princes Andrew and Edward, curtsied as the coffin was carried inside by soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
"There was no way I could miss this. I would regret it for the rest of my life," said Eilidh Mackintosh, 62, who left her home at 6am to be sure of a good view among the large crowds on Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile.
Rachel Lindsay, 24, was left in tears as the coffin passed. "It’s just very sad," she said. "I don’t think we expected it to ever happen. I just thought she’d live forever. I didn’t think it was real until I saw it."
The journey from Balmoral was the first of a series of events leading up to the state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on Sep 19.
Her death has drawn tears, sadness and warm tributes, not just from the queen's own close family and many in Britain, but also from around the globe - reflecting her presence on the world stage for seven decades.
Wherever the cortege went, people lined the road or stopped their cars to get out and watch. At one point, it passed a guard of honour formed by dozens of tractors lined up in adjacent fields by farmers.
Many watched silently in bright sunshine. Some threw flowers into the road. For others, the emotion of the moment moved them to tears.
"It's just very, very sad. I’m happy I was here to say our goodbyes," said Elizabeth Alexander, 69, who was born on the day the queen was crowned in 1953.
Many thousands are continuing to gather at the royal palaces across Britain, bringing bouquet after bouquet of flowers. In Green Park near London's Buckingham Palace, where some of the tributes are being taken, long lines of bouquets snake around the park allowing mourners to read the tributes.
Other well-wishers have attached their messages of condolence to trees.
TOKYO: Japan's government must take steps as needed against excessive declines in the yen, deputy chief Cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said on Sunday (Sep 11), repeating authorities' warnings about the currency's slide to 24-year lows.
"As for excessive, one-sided currency moves, we will closely watch developments and must take steps as needed," Kihara told a television programme, when asked about the yen's recent falls.
The yen has recently fallen to 24-year lows against the dollar, as investors focus on the widening divergence between the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes and the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) pledge to maintain ultra-low rates.
"I won't comment on monetary and interest-rate policy, as they fall under the jurisdiction of the BOJ," Kihara said.
Kihara also said the government will consider "in the not so distant future" steps to further open Japan's borders to overseas visitors, such as by scrapping a cap on the daily number of entrants.
"A weak yen is most effective in attracting inbound tourism," Kihara said, adding that further steps must be taken to draw in more foreign tourists into the country.
King Charles and other royals will on Monday take part in a procession to convey her coffin along Edinburgh's Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral.
The following day the coffin will be flown by Royal Air Force jet to Northolt airfield near London, and driven to Buckingham Palace. Then, on Wednesday, it will be moved to Westminster Hall to lie in state.
King Charles will also visit Northern Ireland and Wales in a show of national unity, accompanied by British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was only appointed by the late queen on Tuesday.
He has seen his popularity recover since Diana's death in a 1997 car crash, but he takes the throne at a moment of deep anxiety in Britain over the spiralling cost of living and international instability caused by the war in Ukraine.
Charles vowed at the formal Accession Council at St James's Palace on Saturday that he would "strive to follow the inspiring example I have been set" by his mother during her "lifetime of service".
The centuries-old tradition was televised live for the first time, featuring a fanfare of trumpets and a court official wearing a feathered hat to declare him king from a palace balcony.
Thousands of people have gathered outside Buckingham Palace and other royal residences in recent days to lay flowers and messages of condolence, or simply to experience history in the making.
But officials expect far more people to pay their respects while the queen lies in state, before the televised funeral service at Westminster Abbey opposite.
The funeral for the queen - who came to the throne aged just 25 in 1952 - will be attended by national leaders including US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and possibly Japanese Emperor Naruhito.
Her record 70 years on the throne were a constant during a turbulent time for Britain, from a world of post-war deprivation and the loss of its empire, to more recent traumas like the coronavirus pandemic.
Charles's coronation, an elaborate ritual steeped in tradition and history, will take place in the same historic surroundings of Westminster Abbey, as it has for centuries, on a date to be fixed.
