SSE Renewables managing director Jim Smith said the project «will contribute towards building a cleaner, more resilient economy as we pursue a green recovery from coronavirus».
And UK Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said: «Seagreen 1 will create hundreds of jobs while powering millions of homes and helping to cut CO2 emissions, highlighting the key role offshore wind will play in our journey to a net-zero carbon emissions UK economy.»
Blades for the wind turbines will be built at the MHI Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight.
GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith said the turbines would be built in Denmark while fabrication yards in Fife and Arnish «lie idle».
«Today’s contract awards make the need for an urgent review of the wind power strategies of Holyrood and Westminster an absolute necessity,» he added.
Image copyrightPAImage caption Trade unions say more wind farm jobs should be created locally
However SSE Renewables said there would be benefits for Scottish jobs.
In a statement, it said: «The supply chain contracts associated with the Seagreen 1 project represent a significant opportunity for Scotland.
«Seagreen will create around 400 jobs during construction and will deliver an estimated £1bn-plus in economic benefits to Scotland and the UK.
«There are still a number of subcontracts to be announced included the subcontract for the fabrication of foundations which is still being negotiated and will be announced in due course.»
Empty yards
BiFab was rescued from closure by a Canadian firm, with the Scottish government taking an equity stake.
The company has yards in Methil and Burntisland in Fife and near Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, but they have had little work and only skeleton staff while awaiting news of contracts for big offshore wind projects.
If there are no jackets ordered from BiFab, it would be the latest in a series of disappointments, as wind projects are developed off the east coast of Scotland.
The jackets, or platforms for turbines, are being more cheaply fabricated at bigger scale in Spain, the Persian Gulf and Indonesia.
Snapchat says it has stopped promoting President Donald Trump’s account.
As a result, it will no longer feature in the app’s Discover section. The firm said it would «not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice».
The decision follows Mr Trump saying that «vicious dogs» and «ominous weapons» would have been used on protesters if they had breached the White House fence.
It follows Twitter’s decision to hide some of the president’s posts.
Snapchat’s parent company Snap said: «Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America.»
The move is likely to feed into tensions between the White House and social media, which escalated when Twitter added fact-checking tags to some of the President’s tweets last week.
The president subsequently signed an executive order seeking to curb legal protections offered to the industry.
Twitter later hid one of the president’s tweets for breaking its rules on «glorifying violence».
Snapchat’s action will also put further pressure on Facebook.
Its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has resisted internal and external calls to intervene in regard to posts on its platform. Mr Zuckerberg has said the firm’s free speech principles mean the president’s posts should be left up unaltered.
President Trump has more than one million followers on Snapchat, according to the Bloomberg news agency. It said the app is seen as being a «key battleground» by Mr Trump’s re-election campaign because it offers a way to reach first-time voters.
The president’s account will not be suspended or deleted.
However, the fact it will not feature in Discover means that his posts will only be seen by people who subscribe to or search for his account directly.
….have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and….
«Every minute we are silent in the face of evil and wrongdoing we are acting in support of evildoers,» Mr Speigel wrote.
«As for Snapchat, we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform.»
«Our Discover content platform is a curated platform, where we decide what we promote,» he added.
Engineering giant Rolls-Royce, which makes jet engines, will cut 3,000 jobs across the UK.
It is part of a previously-announced cost-cutting exercise that will see the company slash its global workforce by a fifth, following a drastic fall in air travel because of the coronavirus.
The firm’s base in Derby is expected to bear the brunt of UK job losses, with 1,500 roles expected to be axed.
Rolls-Royce has begun the process by offering voluntary redundancy to everyone in its UK civil aerospace division.
The first staff could leave the firm as soon as July.
The Covid-19 pandemic has grounded planes across the globe and the aviation sector has warned that it could take several years for passenger numbers to return to pre-virus levels.
The scale of these job cuts has raised fears that entire factories could close as the company plans to save £1.3bn.
Thousands of staff have already been furloughed and last month senior managers at Rolls-Royce described the pandemic as a «deep crisis».
While the bulk of UK job losses are in the East Midlands, the company has sites at 30 other locations across the country.
How many people will lose their job at each site?
Derby and the East Midlands – 1,500
Inchinnan, Scotland – 700
Rotherham – 100
Washington – 50
Solihull – 175
Denby/Trentham – 90
London Heathrow – 50
Barnoldswick – 200
Bristol – 50
Ansty – 65
Air travel has ground to a virtual standstill since the coronavirus began spreading across the world and many airlines have announced steep job cuts.
Global air traffic is expected to decline by 45% this year, according to investment bank Baird. It also forecasts that airlines are expected to lose $310bn (£253bn) in revenue in 2020.
The US is to ban passenger flights from China from 16 June, in the latest sign of tensions between the two economic giants.
The Department of Transportation said it was punishing Beijing for refusing to let US flights to China resume following the coronavirus outbreak.
In recent weeks the countries have sparred over the pandemic and China’s policies in Hong Kong.
But Washington said it would continue to «engage» on the air travel issue.
The Department of Transportation order applies to four airlines – Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.
It needs final approval from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused China of engaging in unfair trade, and in recent weeks criticised its handling of coronavirus and protests in Hong Kong.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment. Beijing had previously said it opposed any new air travel restrictions.
‘Fair and equal opportunity’
In announcing the ban, the US said it had raised repeated concerns since March, when China restricted international flight arrivals to battle coronavirus.
Beijing had told domestic and foreign airlines to operate no more than one weekly flight between China and any given country, adding that carriers could not exceed capacity they were offering on 12 March.
The Department of Transportation said the order had effectively stopped US airlines from flying to China. Many voluntarily suspended services between the two countries in February due to the pandemic and Mr Trump’s 31 January order barring entry to the US for most Chinese travellers.
The US said China has thus far maintained its restrictions were fair, since they applied to all airlines.
«We conclude that these circumstances require the Department’s action to restore a competitive balance and fair and equal opportunity among US and Chinese air carriers,» the Department of Transportation said.
«Our overriding goal is not the perpetuation of this situation but rather an improved environment.»
Delta Airlines, one of the companies that had sought to resume flights this month, said it welcomed the move.
«We support and appreciate the US government’s actions to enforce our rights and ensure fairness,» it said.
The Bank of England governor has told lenders to be ready for the possibility that the UK and EU fail to agree a free trade deal by the end of the year.
On a call with financial firms, Andrew Bailey stressed the importance of ensuring the financial system could cope with a no-deal, Sky News reported.
The Bank said the reminder was part of its regular weekly call with lenders.
It comes as the UK and EU continue to negotiate over their future trading relationship, in a fourth set of talks.
However, key sticking points remain. The UK left the EU in January but is covered by a transition period until the end of this year. The UK has consistently said it will not ask for a longer transition period.
The Bank of England said Mr Bailey «meets the leadership of UK banks on a very regular basis».
«As we have said previously, the possibility that negotiations between the UK and EU over a future trading relationship might not conclude in a deal is one of a number of outcomes that UK banks need to prepare for over the coming months,» the Bank said in a statement.
«It is fundamental to the Bank of England’s remit that it prepares the UK financial system for all risks that it might face,» it added.
Brexit resurfaces
The UK and EU sides still have key sticking points in negotiations that are taking place, the BBC’s Katya Adler told the Radio 4 Today programme this week.
She said that negotiations have faltered and been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, so time is tight, and that if there are clashes between the two sides, because the talks are taking place online there is less opportunity to walk around the block to try and reach a consensus.
Sticking points include common standards on the environment and labour markets and how disputes over those standards will be resolved, and access to fishing grounds.
Some of the fundamentals of a no-deal Brexit have remained the same.
Similarly, the Bank of England has warned about the negative economic effects of a no-deal Brexit for a number of years.
The Bank has done stress tests looking at the effect of a «disorderly» Brexit on the banking system, and in 2018 said that major UK banks have enough capitalisation to withstand the shock of a no-deal Brexit.
In short, the UK banking system would be strong enough to deal with it.
In March, as the effects of the coronavirus crisis began to bite, the Bank said that due to «extensive preparations» by authorities and the private sector, if there was a no-deal Brexit, most risks to cross-border financial trade had been mitigated.
HR professional Angela Russell and her partner Steve have decided that despite coronavirus, they will be flying to Montenegro on 5 July.
They’re only going for a week’s holiday, but the prospect of having to spend two weeks in quarantine on their return doesn’t bother them.
«I have become totally fed up with all the bad news and how the government is dealing with issues,» she told the BBC.
«I’m prepared to put up with quarantine just to get away from here for a bit.»
The couple will be holidaying with a friend of Angela’s who has terminal cancer, accompanied by her husband. «She had planned to do a lot of travelling this year and until now, all her plans have been kiboshed.»
The four have booked to fly with Jet2, which plans to resume its flight programme on 1 July.
Return to the skies?
A number of other airlines and tour operators have announced similar plans.
Ryanair and Tui are also due to restart services from the beginning of July, while EasyJet is taking to the skies again from 15 June.
British Airways has said it will launch «a meaningful return to service» in July, while Virgin Atlantic has said flights will not resume until August.
However, at the moment, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is still advising against all non-essential foreign travel, with no indication of when the policy might change.
A spokesperson for Jet2 said the firm always followed FCO guidelines and was «reviewing the situation on a daily basis».
Jet2 declined to give any details of the level of bookings over the next few months, describing it as «commercially sensitive information». The BBC has approached other airlines and holiday firms for comment.
One airline that does seem to be confident about the future is budget carrier Wizz Air, which said on Wednesday that it was still planning to take delivery of new aircraft.
«Whatever we can fly, we’re going to be flying, because we’ve seen that there is actually demand out there,» said the airline’s chief executive, Jozsef Varadi.
Pragmatic approach
Angela, who live in Wales, is semi-retired and now works just one day a week, which she can easily do from home if forced to self-isolate. She points out that Montenegro is «pretty much coronavirus-free» .
«I’ve spent my life assessing risk, either in work or in my daily life,» she says. «The only risk is that we might pick it up at the airport.»
She adds: «My fear is that Montenegro will say, ‘We don’t want to let people in from the UK, because you don’t seem to manage it very well.’
«But I feel it’s imperative now that we support the travel industry. We have to take a pragmatic approach to how we do things.»
Insurance fears
Another hopeful holidaymaker is Robert Jenkins, of Bedwas in south Wales, who usually goes abroad four or five times a year with his wife Barbara. «We’re retired and travelling is very important to us,» he told the BBC.
Image copyrightRobert JenkinsImage caption Robert Jenkins hopes to fly to Greece later this year
Robert and Barbara are hedging their bets, with not one, but two trips booked between now and the end of the year.
The couple are due to fly with EasyJet to Malaga in Spain on 1 July and to the Greek island of Kos on 12 September.
But Robert says he is poised to cancel the Spanish trip, because «the FCO still hasn’t given the go-ahead and I don’t know if I’ll be insured».
«I’m really hoping Greece will go ahead. We’ve gone to the same resort for 20 years and we are on first-name terms with the people in the village we stay at,» he says.
«But it’s all up in the air. Things are changing day by day.»
Anyone considering booking an overseas holiday needs to find their balance on a financial tightrope.
As always, if you book on a flight which is subsequently cancelled, you should be refunded, although millions of people have already found that can be a slow, and still unresolved process.
Booking a package holiday also offers financial protection if it is later cancelled owing to a second wave of the virus or current restrictions being extended.
Insurance is more complex. Travelling against Foreign Office advice, which is still that anything but essential travel should be avoided, would invalidate existing insurance. That has implications for claiming the cost of accommodation, car hire and so on, but also medical care.
We still do not know when that advice will be lifted. It is under review.
Those buying a new insurance policy – irrespective of the travel advice – will often find that it will not cover you for coronavirus-related issues, such as having to cancel a break because you have been told to self-isolate.
