Local government in the United Kingdom

The outlook for London's financial sector has improved since Brexit was triggered, insists the man charged with its policy, even as banks remain set to move some jobs abroad.

Mark Boleat, who spoke on Thursday to AFP after British Prime Minister Theresa May activated the process for Britain's EU exit, nevertheless urged speedy trade talks to minimize disruption.

A naked calendar was launched by the Liverpool university’s women’s rugby team aimed at raising money for a good cause. The calendars were sold at Coppafeel – a charity that teaches women to check their breasts regularly to detect cancer in the early stages.

Around 2,750 people have applied to buy homes for just one pound in Liverpool where city bosses are selling off derelict houses in decay. Over 120 terraced Victorian properties are being sold in the Picton area of the city.

MasterCard has said it will outsource part of its business from its office in Peterborough, in the UK to Bulgaria and the Philippines.

UK-based Peterborough Telegraph quoted a company spokesperson as saying that "?in alignment with other MasterCard business functions we are outsourcing an element of our business to both Bulgaria and the Philippines."

Scots vote against independence

Scotland will remain a part of the United Kingdom, voters have decided in a referendum on Thursday.

Over 55 percent voted against the motion for Scotland to gain its independence after 307 years.

The draft ordinance that would allow local elected officials to opt, within ten days since its coming into force, for the political party they want to be part of, without losing their mandates gained in the previous election, was published on the website of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP).

British authorities are investigating the disappearance of a 15-year-old Bulgarian girl, Ana Simeonova.

The girl was last seen on March 25, in the city of Leicester, the BBC reports. Simeonova cannot speak English, and she had arrived to the UK just 5 weeks ago, from Poland.