In the run-up to the Muslim feast marking the end of Ramadan, Mona, a teacher in Lebanon for more than 30 years, worked in a parking lot to supplement her meagre income, now worth less than $150 a month. After a years-long crisis and the collapse of the Lebanese pound, “the only ones who can
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The industry for outsourcing investment mandates is booming, offering large prizes for asset managers as challenging markets, a deluge of compliance and governance requirements and rising costs push big asset owners to seek their help. The industry has more than doubled in size since 2016, growing to $2.46tn in assets under management worldwide. The pace
Every week, employees at Fujitsu block out an hour in their calendars for a non-work activity of their choice. They reserve periods for undisturbed “protected focus time” and squeeze their remaining essential online meetings into 25 and 45 minute periods to ensure they have breaks between calls. “These were really simple things that got so
Israeli spyware company NSO Group has stonewalled questions over whether it is operating legally, according to consultants acting on behalf of the controversial company’s owners. Berkeley Research Group, the US consultancy that was last year put in charge of the private equity fund that owns 70 per cent of NSO, has told EU lawmakers that
The International Energy Agency says in a net zero world there would still be 20 per cent of global energy supply coming from fossil fuels. As Pilita Clark explains in “Magical thinking on fossil fuels endangers safety” (Opinion, April 30) there is a now a scramble by energy companies, who want to produce that final
The lung game A clear jar filled with a miniature forest of lush lichen is gently whirring on the table next to me, exhaling Arctic-clean air and an air of calm. My little green companion – basically a terrarium with oomph – is purportedly the world’s “most sustainable” air filter. An elegant new creation from
It’s commonly said that people use the most offensive swear words through laziness, ignorance or a juvenile wish to shock. Whereas great writers such as Dickens never used the F-word, why does your newspaper allow its columnists, such as Jemima Kelly (“Twitter isn’t the town square, it’s the theatre”, Opinion, May 5), to gaily employ
Why wait to reform banks’ capital buffers (“Sieving the alphabet soup of banks’ capital requirements”, FT View, May 2)? Now is as good a time as any to make changes. It was clear during the Covid-19 downturn that the current operation of capital buffers was not working as banks were reluctant to release excess capital
Boris Johnson will attempt to re-energise his faltering government this week with a new legislative programme intended to show he has ideas to improve voters’ lives after the Conservative party’s dire local election results. The prime minister is facing calls from Tory colleagues to put a particular focus on winning back voters in the “blue
Wm Morrison has mounted a last-ditch rescue bid for McColl’s, prompting petrol station operator EG Group to improve its offer to buy the struggling UK convenience store chain out of administration. Just hours before a court was expected to formally appoint an administrator, supermarket operator Morrisons tabled an improved offer to win over McColl’s lenders,
British ministers have rejected claims that Sinn Féin’s election victory in Northern Ireland heralds the break-up of the UK, in spite of the nationalist party’s push for a referendum on a united Ireland within five years. Brandon Lewis, Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, on Monday begins the painstaking process of trying to coax pro-UK unionists to
Renewable energy developers are facing delays of up to a decade to connect new capacity to the electricity grid, threatening the government’s pledge to shift away from fossil fuels and meet net zero targets. The UK recently set out ambitious new goals to more than double existing renewable generation capacity, adding 50 gigawatts of offshore
Northern Ireland is a place where democracy is weakly rooted. So it is troubling that while there are clear winners from last week’s historic election and widespread backing for constructive government, it is in a rut. The big news was the victory of Sinn Féin, the one-time political wing of the Provisional IRA. It is
May 9 will be celebrated as Victory Day in Russia and as Europe Day in much of the rest of Europe. The coincidence in time between a cult of military victory and a celebration of European peace and unity has long been a little jarring. Today the clash is more sinister, reflecting as it does
The Taliban have ordered all women in Afghanistan to cover their faces in public, the latest in a series of policies that have systematically eroded women’s rights and liberties in the country despite earlier assurances. The Islamist group’s ministry for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, a religious police force, announced the restriction
Customers at the exclusive Shinsegae department store in the Gangnam district of Seoul prefer to display their wealth discreetly. But their high spending was exposed to the wider world when it revealed annual sales had topped $2bn in 2021 — the highest turnover for a single store in the world. It outpaced even Harrods in
Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, we ask if the growing tensions between the US and China could split the world into two competing technological spheres. It has been dubbed ‘the great
You and I, dear reader, are in an unequal relationship. Although you are not obliged to read this article, I do have to write it. If you stick with me, however, we will both be rewarded, because I’m going to encourage you to share a few motivational treats. As soon as I have typed my
Ascension beckoned for Li Qiang. Shanghai’s top official seemed only months away from securing one of the seven positions on the politburo standing committee, China’s most influential political body, as his longtime patron Xi Jinping prepared to secure a third term as leader in November. Yet in China’s most modern and one of its best-run
Two of the biggest landlords in the West End are in talks over a £3.5bn merger that would bring together some of central London’s best known tourist destinations under the ownership of a single company. Capital & Counties, which owns Covent Garden and the surrounding area, and Shaftesbury, which has a portfolio spanning parts of