Contrary to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s advice (Opinion, May 6) that we should slow down the admittance of Finland and Sweden into Nato, the opposite is actually warranted — to speed up the process, not out of fear of a Russian invasion, but of a sudden Russian push for political if not physical domination. Now, in fact,
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By Ana Kinsella I was lucky enough to spend several summers in my twenties working in Stockholm. The Swedish capital at that time of year is lovely: bright and sunny; long days, short nights. The city streets tend to be quiet and peaceful. Many offices close in mid-July, allowing employees to take off for summer
Gay dating app Grindr plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that it said would give the business an implied valuation of $2.1bn. The app will receive $384mn in proceeds as part of the transaction announced Monday with Tiga Acquisition Corp, a Spac set up by
A sharp increase in interest rates to tame fresh inflation shocks would pose a risk to the American economy, the Federal Reserve said on Monday as it reported a “higher than normal” chance that trading conditions in US financial markets will suddenly deteriorate. “Further adverse surprises in inflation and interest rates, particularly if accompanied by
Brussels has shelved its plans to ban the EU shipping industry from carrying Russian crude after failing to secure agreement from key partners to mirror the sanction. However, the European Commission still aims to ban European companies from insuring tankers carrying Russia oil as a way of constraining Moscow’s ability to make crude shipments. The
Twitter is one of the few biggish tech stocks not to puke this year, thanks to Elon Musk’s $54.20-a-share bid for the company. Nathan Anderson is wagering this won’t last. The founder of short seller Hindenburg Research thinks Musk can clearly do a deal at that price, but questions why he should, given the newsflow
Hello readers, I hope your weekend was as lovely as it was in Essex, and that you’re awaiting yet more bank holiday fun. In this week’s issue, Joshua Oliver talks crypto from the even sunnier Bahamas, Tim Bradshaw chats about sports trading cards with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and I interview Ashutosh Bhatt, chief executive
Emmanuel Macron has urged the creation of a broad “community” of European democracies to include non-EU members amid calls to reform the way the continent is governed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a speech to the European Parliament on Monday, Macron also joined a push for the rewriting of EU treaties to speed
Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government. The study by Tom Krebs, an economics professor at the University of Mannheim who advises the finance ministry in Berlin on
The first week of summer sunshine is a tough time to get Britain focused on next winter’s energy crisis. But ScottishPower’s chief executive Keith Anderson is right to be shouting about it. His concern is that the government is taking a “wait and see” attitude to what is obviously a looming emergency. Warmer temperatures now
The UK government’s controversial plans to shake up the way asylum seekers are treated and deport some refugees to Rwanda are running up against a barrage of legal challenges. The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civil servants, has joined forces with advocacy groups Detention Action and Care4Calais, to demand greater clarity from the
The writer is president of Yardeni Research In my opinion, investors have turned too pessimistic about the outlook for the US economy and stock market. I don’t recall so much stock market bearishness in a very long time. I think it’s mostly because the “Fed put” is kaput. The US Federal Reserve has long been
The day the M-19 guerrillas descended on the University of South Colombia felt like a carnival. Students ran from classrooms to greet the khaki-clad visitors and teachers lined the corridors in the steamy tropical heat cheering them on. The mood darkened when the army arrived later. Troops were hunting “subversives” who had shown the audacity
Hello. Here’s the document we’ve been waiting for, the draft proposal to create flexibility in World Trade Organization rules to allow countries to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines. It’s less than 900 words*, about the length of a Trade Secrets newsletter, quite concise for such a politically fraught subject. It was mooted more than 18
Shares of China’s second-biggest automaker BYD have fallen after authorities launched an investigation into claims one of the company’s factories was responsible for harmful pollutants that were causing respiratory problems in children near the plant. Investors had poured into BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, after blockbuster first-quarter results. But following the announcement of
The world’s oldest grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh, passed away aged 100 on May 7. The venerable Russian had been a world title candidate, an aide to champions, and chief arbiter at top matches, as well as a renowned author of multiple books on endgames and chess history. As a child, Averbakh watched Emanuel Lasker; on his
Whether or not money buys happiness is an age-old question. But it’s something the super-rich are grappling with as never before. As the realm of the mega-wealthy grows ever larger – Forbes estimated a global population of more than 2,600 billionaires whose collective wealth equals some $14tn, as of December 2021 – so too are accompanying issues
Good morning. The dust is still settling on last week’s elections. We’ll be exploring the new lie of the land over the next few days. For now, today’s newsletter looks at the most significant result from the action last week, and explains the calculations Conservatives and Labour MPs will be making about Sir Keir Starmer’s
When record-breaking bushfires tore through much of eastern Australia in late 2019, Melbourne resident Carolyn Glascodine suffered a severe bout of depression. “I was in despair,” the 58-year-old editor says. “I literally couldn’t get out of bed.” For years she says she watched Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government brush aside warnings of climate scientists and continue
There are many things that I dislike about flying, but I think I can put my finger on the most important. It’s the moment when you catch sight of the screen flashing: GATE CLOSING. You look at your ticket, you look at your watch, you know that it’s impossible that the gate is actually closing.