On April 5, 2024, UK Day will focus on:
● The President of the UAE buys the Chelsea mansion for £65 million
● Chinese fashion e-commerce Shein doubles its profits or is waiting to be listed in London
● Google Search will use AI to generate answers, and the new initiative will be trialled in the UK
● London Underground strike cancelled, but train strike continues as usual
● The University of Cambridge will build a climbing wall in the tower of a 150-year-old church
The UAE president bought the Chelsea mansion for £65 million
British media have learned that a company linked to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, spent 65 million pounds to buy a mansion in the Chelsea district of London. This is the largest purchase transaction in London since the pandemic.
It is reported that this mansion is one of three identical mansions built in the SW10 zip code area between 2004 and 2006. It has 9 bedrooms, a swimming pool, a basement with a cinema, and a glass elevator that can carry cars.
The purchase of the mansion took place in November 2023, with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's royal family believed to own multibillion-pound worth of property in London.
According to a 2014 statistic, the family is the second largest landowner in London's Mayfair borough, after the Duke of Westminster.
Chinese fashion e-commerce Shein doubles its profits or is waiting to be listed in London
According to The Guardian, in 2023, China's fashion retail e-commerce Shein will have sales of about $45 billion, and its profits have more than doubled to more than $2 billion (£1.6 billion). The company became one of the most profitable fashion companies in the world, earning more than the Swedish fashion group H&M and the UK's Primark and Next.
Previously, Shein considered moving its initial public offering (IPO) from New York, U.S., to London, U.K., due to legal and regulatory challenges to listing in the U.S.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt reportedly held talks with Shein's executive chairman, Donald Tang, in February to try to persuade the latter to list the company on the London Stock Exchange. If successful, Shein would become one of the largest listed companies ever listed in London, with a valuation of up to $90 billion.
Google Search will use AI to generate answers, and the new initiative is being trialled in the UK
Following a test in the US last year, Google has begun trial of search answers generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK, the BBC reported.
Google has named the feature "Search Generative Experience," and it's been in beta in the U.S. for nearly a year, but it's only available to users who sign up through Google Labs.
Google said the trial in the UK would also only select from a small percentage of logged-in users.
At the same time, British media learned that Google is considering offering advanced artificial intelligence search services with paid subscriptions in the future, as well as a "search experience without ads".
Google's AI-powered search pricing could be $19.99 per month, or £16. At that time, traditional Google searches will continue to be free.
The London Underground strike was cancelled, but the train strike continued as usual
According to the latest news from the British media, the two 24-hour strikes of London Underground Driver members organized by the Aslef union on April 8 and May 4 have been cancelled.
However, the nationwide rail and train strike will continue, and the specific arrangements are as follows:
4月5日（周五）：Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, and CrossCountry
4月6日（周六）：Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, and TransPennine
4月8日（周一）：c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line
The University of Cambridge will build a climbing wall in the tower of a 150-year-old church
According to the Telegraph, Cambridge University's Pembroke College has submitted a planning application to build a climbing wall in a 150-year-old church tower in a Grade II listed building.
The academy and Haworth Tompkins Architects have partnered to build a 10-metre-high climbing wall in the towers of the church's Emmanuel United Reformed Church for "experienced climbers".
However, it is unclear whether the climbing wall will be open to the general public or will only serve Cambridge students.
Even if the renovation plan is approved, the church is not the first church in the UK to have a climbing wall – St Mark's Church in Newcastle and St Benedict's Church in Manchester have both been converted into climbing centres. There are also other places where churches have been converted into swimming pools, saunas and even bars or nightclubs.