Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images Introduction The last time I covered Park Hotels & Resorts ( PK ), I rated them a Buy, supported by their solid AFFO, conservative management, several portfolio adjustments, and a nearly double-digit dividend sustained by their AFFO. Despite the stock returning over 15% since then, I will reiterate PK’s Buy rating following a solid report released rece...
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images Introduction The last time I covered Park Hotels & Resorts ( PK ), I rated them a Buy, supported by their solid AFFO, conservative management, several portfolio adjustments, and a nearly double-digit dividend sustained by their AFFO. Despite the stock returning over 15% since then, I will reiterate PK’s Buy rating following a solid report released recently, with the bull case supported by several internal and macro catalysts even in the near future, including the timing of their renovations, asset recycling, and important events that could help the travel industry. Internal Developments Park Hotels & Resorts IR PK’s Q4 was solid overall, beating the market’s revenue and especially FFO estimates by quite a bit, with the adjusted FFO reaching $394 million in 2025, dropping from their $430 million reported in 2024, or about $1.97 per share compared to $2.06 as a result of ongoing overhauls, renovations, and asset sales, with the company noting that some of the non-core assets sold were operating at a weak 7% average EBITDA margin. Park Hotels & Resorts IR As for the guidance, they expect RevPAR growth between 0% and 2%, with Adjusted EBITDA reaching $580 million to $610 million and an Adjusted FFO per diluted share of $1.73 to $1.89, meaning a midpoint of $1.81, while expecting 201 million shares outstanding, getting us to a reported Adjusted FFO of $363.81 Note that the company’s Adjusted FFO is not what we normally call the AFFO (which is common in the industry), as the number they report doesn’t take into account the FF&E reserve (the CAPEX for Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment), which is generally about 4% of hotel revenues , although some sources suggest that the current level in even double that much over the past decade, as the pandemic disrupted these numbers significantly as a result of a mix of inflation combined with occupancy drops, while others noted that many hotels haven’t been renovated in over a decade . F...
US President Donald Trump may find himself wielding less leverage when he heads to China in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that overturned his signature tariff policy, Chinese analysts and exporters say. They said the court’s decision could weaken Trump’s negotiating position with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while potentially offering short-term good news for US-linked exporters in China. Th...
US President Donald Trump may find himself wielding less leverage when he heads to China in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that overturned his signature tariff policy, Chinese analysts and exporters say. They said the court’s decision could weaken Trump’s negotiating position with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while potentially offering short-term good news for US-linked exporters in China. The White House confirmed Trump’s China visit on Friday, just as the US Supreme Court ruled the...
Daphne O. Martschenko and Sam Trejo both want to make the world a better, fairer, more equitable place. But they disagree on whether studying social genomics—elucidating any potential genetic contributions to behaviors ranging from mental illnesses to educational attainment to political affiliation—can help achieve this goal. Martschenko’s argument is largely that genetic research and data have al...
Daphne O. Martschenko and Sam Trejo both want to make the world a better, fairer, more equitable place. But they disagree on whether studying social genomics—elucidating any potential genetic contributions to behaviors ranging from mental illnesses to educational attainment to political affiliation—can help achieve this goal. Martschenko’s argument is largely that genetic research and data have almost always been used thus far as a justification to further entrench extant social inequalities. But we know the solutions to many of the injustices in our world—trying to lift people out of poverty, for example—and we certainly don’t need more genetic research to implement them. Trejo’s point is largely that more information is generally better than less. We can’t foresee the benefits that could come from basic research, and this research is happening anyway, whether we like it or not, so we may as well try to harness it as best we can toward good and not ill. Obviously, they’re both right. In What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future , we get to see how their collaboration can shed light on our rapidly advancing genetic capabilities. Read full article Comments
Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day A Nobel laureate’s environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought, could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says. The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reti...
Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day A Nobel laureate’s environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought, could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says. The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water even in arid and desert conditions. Continue reading...
As Botswana’s president here is my plan to renew this country’s beleaguered health system – and my vision for a stronger Africa Shortages of medicine in Botswana forced me to declare a public health emergency last year. Patients went without treatment – not because health workers failed them, but because the system did. For a nation committed to universal healthcare, free at the point of use, it w...
As Botswana’s president here is my plan to renew this country’s beleaguered health system – and my vision for a stronger Africa Shortages of medicine in Botswana forced me to declare a public health emergency last year. Patients went without treatment – not because health workers failed them, but because the system did. For a nation committed to universal healthcare, free at the point of use, it was a moment of hard truth. Even outwardly strong public health systems can be fragile. As donor assistance bites across the continent, governments cannot afford to delay building resilience. Continue reading...
Recent incidents involving Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert suggest things are not well at the network after the acquisition financed by Trump supporter Larry Ellison Anderson Cooper decides to walk away from broadcast TV’s most prestigious news show, 60 Minutes. Stephen Colbert takes his interview with a rising Democratic politician to YouTube instead of his own late-night show . The CBS Eveni...
Recent incidents involving Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert suggest things are not well at the network after the acquisition financed by Trump supporter Larry Ellison Anderson Cooper decides to walk away from broadcast TV’s most prestigious news show, 60 Minutes. Stephen Colbert takes his interview with a rising Democratic politician to YouTube instead of his own late-night show . The CBS Evening News anchor presents a misleading version of the network’s own exclusive reporting on Ice arrests. And a news producer writes a farewell note to her CBS News colleagues blaming the loss of editorial independence . If you connect the dots, the picture of what’s happening at CBS becomes all too clear. That picture comes into even sharper focus once you recall an underlying factor: the network’s parent company is trying to get a big commercial deal done and needs the help of the Trump administration to bring it over the finish line. Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
Influential documentary-maker whose films eavesdropped on the relationships between people and institutions In 1960, when a small group of American documentary film-makers named their work direct cinema, they might have been accurately describing the films of Frederick Wiseman, who has died aged 96. Although he came along a few years later, Wiseman, more than the others in the movement, exemplifie...
Influential documentary-maker whose films eavesdropped on the relationships between people and institutions In 1960, when a small group of American documentary film-makers named their work direct cinema, they might have been accurately describing the films of Frederick Wiseman, who has died aged 96. Although he came along a few years later, Wiseman, more than the others in the movement, exemplified the credo of direct cinema, which believed in an immediate and authentic approach to the subject matter. Avoiding planned narrative and narration, Wiseman recorded events exactly as they happened. People were allowed to speak without guidance or interruption, while the camera watched them objectively, not interfering with the natural flow of speech or action. This was made possible by the advent of light, portable cameras and high-speed film, which allowed more intimacy in the film-making – what Wiseman called “wobblyscope”. Continue reading...
Ljupco/iStock via Getty Images Foreword This article is based on 91 top Ten-Year collected dividend dogs as determined by the author's weekly selections of portfolio stocks over the past ten years How The Dogcatcher Ranked the Companies To build this list of 91 top Ten-Year collected dividend dogs, The Dividend Dogcatcher whittled the 520 potential companies, down to 120 by looking at the top mont...
Ljupco/iStock via Getty Images Foreword This article is based on 91 top Ten-Year collected dividend dogs as determined by the author's weekly selections of portfolio stocks over the past ten years How The Dogcatcher Ranked the Companies To build this list of 91 top Ten-Year collected dividend dogs, The Dividend Dogcatcher whittled the 520 potential companies, down to 120 by looking at the top monthly gainers over the past ten years. That survey also revealed the 40 top quarterly and 10 annual top dogs. He then used annual totals to rank each of 10 portfolios. Annual portfolio totals ranged from $2,342.55 (a 4.5% return) in 2023 to $11,966.62 (a 23% return) in 2021. the ten year median was $7155.10 (a 13.76% return). Any collection of dividend stocks is more clearly understood when subjected to yield-based (dogcatcher) analysis. These 91 publicly traded Ten-Year collected dividend dogs are perfect for the dogcatcher process. Here, February 18 data focused on 75 still paying dividends. The full list of 91 is posted by descending dividend yield in the Afterword of this article. Happily, 42 of 91 ordinary, and 24 of the 42 ‘Safer’ dividend-paying Ten-Year collected dividend dogs , live up to the Dogcatcher IDEAL of showing annual dividends from a $1K investment exceeding their single share prices. As of 2/18/26, the 24 are: Sixth Street Specialty Lending ( TSLX ), Credit Agricole ( CRARF ), EPR Properties ( EPR ), Aegon ( AEG ), George Risk Industries ( RSKIA ), Whitecap Resources ( WCPRF ), Imperial Brands ( IMBBY ), Columbia Banking ( COLB ), United Microelectronics ( UMC ), Donegal Group ( DGICA ), Bouygues SA ( BOUYY ), KeyCorp ( KEY ), Bar Harbor Bankshares ( BHB ), Magic Software ( MGIC ), Viatris ( VTRS ), MDU Resources ( MDU ), FNB Corp ( FNB ), Mowi ASA ( MHGVY ), MedicaL Facilities Corp ( MFCSF ), Secure Waste Infrastructure ( SECYF ), Extendicare ( EXETF ), Nokia ( NOK ), Leggett & Platt ( LEG ), and Armanino Foods ( AMNF ). Many first-time investors regard t...
I mourn the vibrant life we lived before. But though our faces anxiously turn to the sky, our hands are joined in a solidarity that rises above hunger Every year, Ramadan comes as a sanctuary for the soul. For Muslims like me, it is a sacred pause in the chaos of life. But this year, as a woman displaced from the familiar streets of Gaza City to a rented room in Al-Zawayda, I am searching for a pe...
I mourn the vibrant life we lived before. But though our faces anxiously turn to the sky, our hands are joined in a solidarity that rises above hunger Every year, Ramadan comes as a sanctuary for the soul. For Muslims like me, it is a sacred pause in the chaos of life. But this year, as a woman displaced from the familiar streets of Gaza City to a rented room in Al-Zawayda, I am searching for a peace that feels like a ghost. The world calls this a “ ceasefire ”, yet from my window the silence feels heavy. We are holding our breath because the fear of death has not disappeared, it has just become unpredictable. I did not welcome Ramadan this year with the golden lanterns that once adorned our balconies. I welcomed it to the roar of bulldozers clearing the bones of neighbouring houses and with the constant buzz of the zanana , the Israeli surveillance drones, overhead. Even as we stand in prayer, that metallic humming drowns out the adhan , the call to prayer, reminding us that we are still watched and that our “calm” rests at the mercy of a sudden strike. Majdoleen Abu Assi is a project coordinator and humanitarian practitioner based in Gaza, Palestine Continue reading...
My fellow Brits seem weighed down by endless swiping – I went to the Europeans for a fresh perspective Last year, I went through a breakup and threw myself into internet dating. I started experimenting with mirror selfies, and spent whole evenings trying to take artful photographs of my own bum. I agonised over my three-line bio. I even put a notebook by my bed with the Hinge prompt “most spontane...
My fellow Brits seem weighed down by endless swiping – I went to the Europeans for a fresh perspective Last year, I went through a breakup and threw myself into internet dating. I started experimenting with mirror selfies, and spent whole evenings trying to take artful photographs of my own bum. I agonised over my three-line bio. I even put a notebook by my bed with the Hinge prompt “most spontaneous thing I’ve done” written on the first page, so if the answer came to me in a dream, I’d have a pen and paper handy. I’d spent my early 30s trying to cling on to a failing relationship, which had made me feel stuck in a holding pattern. As if I was fated to have a slightly different version of the same argument every night until I was dead. The thrill of scrolling on Hinge, when I first started dating, was that it felt like shopping for an alternate future. I’d pore over pictures of men cradling small dogs and swinging tennis rackets, and get high on the thought of all the tiny dogs and tennis games we would enjoy together. I started hiding my phone in a cupboard in the kitchen before I went to sleep, because when I kept it in my room, I could feel all my new lives calling to me. Sometimes, when I got up to hide it, I had motion sickness from scrolling so hard and so fast. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Rami Ranger, who was suspended temporarily in 2023, makes successful bid at party fundraising event A Conservative donor who was suspended from the party after being accused of bullying and inappropriate language spent £50,000 last week to have dinner with Kemi Badenoch, the Guardian has learned. Rami Ranger was the successful bidder for the dinner at a Tory fundraising event and will a...
Exclusive: Rami Ranger, who was suspended temporarily in 2023, makes successful bid at party fundraising event A Conservative donor who was suspended from the party after being accused of bullying and inappropriate language spent £50,000 last week to have dinner with Kemi Badenoch, the Guardian has learned. Rami Ranger was the successful bidder for the dinner at a Tory fundraising event and will attend the meal with a small group of friends, infuriating those in the party who believe he should not have been readmitted. Continue reading...
Culture ministry hails ‘exceptional historical importance’ of prints that show resistance fighters’ final moments In his book-filled office, Vangelis Sakkatos took in the images of the men lined up before a firing squad. The executions on May Day 1944 have haunted him since he was a boy. “Their heroism was the stuff of myth,” said the veteran leftist, casting his eyes over the photographs that hav...
Culture ministry hails ‘exceptional historical importance’ of prints that show resistance fighters’ final moments In his book-filled office, Vangelis Sakkatos took in the images of the men lined up before a firing squad. The executions on May Day 1944 have haunted him since he was a boy. “Their heroism was the stuff of myth,” said the veteran leftist, casting his eyes over the photographs that have dominated Greece’s press in recent days with a mixture of fury and awe. “The years may have passed, but I haven’t forgotten.” Continue reading...
Few UK nominations this year as industry tries to balance attracting global attention and celebrating homegrown projects It may be billed as Britain’s premier film awards, but when nominations for the Baftas were announced last month, the lack of British representation in the top categories was hard to ignore. Just one British actor, Robert Aramayo, appeared in the leading actor category, while th...
Few UK nominations this year as industry tries to balance attracting global attention and celebrating homegrown projects It may be billed as Britain’s premier film awards, but when nominations for the Baftas were announced last month, the lack of British representation in the top categories was hard to ignore. Just one British actor, Robert Aramayo, appeared in the leading actor category, while there were no British nominees at all for leading actress (the UK-based Irish actor Jessie Buckley notwithstanding). The supporting categories fared little better, with Peter Mullan and Emily Watson the sole British nominees. Of the films themselves, only one British co-production, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet – about Shakespeare and his wife Agnes’s grief over the loss of their son – made it into the best film race. Continue reading...
Surendra Sharma/iStock via Getty Images I stopped doing 60-40 in 2020 Like many of you, I started my investment journey following standard templates like the 60-40 (60% equity plus 40% treasury bonds). In hindsight, these templates helped me in at least two ways. First, a fixed allocation template taught me discipline and kept my emotions in check, crucially important for all investors at all stag...
Surendra Sharma/iStock via Getty Images I stopped doing 60-40 in 2020 Like many of you, I started my investment journey following standard templates like the 60-40 (60% equity plus 40% treasury bonds). In hindsight, these templates helped me in at least two ways. First, a fixed allocation template taught me discipline and kept my emotions in check, crucially important for all investors at all stages. In particular, the 60-40 template provides a disciplined approach to exploit the negative correlation between equity and treasury bonds, a way to systematically buy low and sell high on both assets. The second way the 60-40 template helped me is largely via luck. I started my investment journey in early 2000 (shortly after the dot-com bubble’s burst), a time when both equity and treasury bonds were attractively priced. As seen in the next chart, 10-year treasury bond rates hovered around 6% during that period. Bonds with longer duration yielded even more. The next two decades witnessed a secular decline of bond rates (as illustrated by the red-dotted trendline below). Amid the epic easing following the COVID-19 pandemic, 10-year treasury rates fell below 1%. A 5% decline in 10-year bonds roughly corresponded to a 50% price gain. The price gain is even more pronounced for bonds with longer durations. Adding an annual coupon rate of 3~4% on average on top of the price again (which was reinvested into either more treasury bonds and/or equity during regular rebalancing), I cannot thank the 60-40 template enough. But the situation in 2020 also made me question the template itself. The wisdom of the 60-40 template is to diversify risks. With 10-year treasury rates hovering below 1%, I don’t see how treasury bonds can help me diversify risks anymore. Instead of being a risk-free asset, I saw these bonds as return-free assets under those conditions. That was when I abandoned the template. Reflecting on the past is fun, but it’s not helpful unless it also offers some insights to...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is currently observing a transition in capital flows as market participants evaluate the long-term viability of high-valuation altcoins. While established assets often command significant market attention, their growth trajectories sometimes reach a point of consolidation.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is currently observing a transition in capital flows as market participants evaluate the long-term viability of high-valuation altcoins. While established assets often command significant market attention, their growth trajectories sometimes reach a point of consolidation.
After years of record-breaking growth, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has been stagnant in recent weeks -- up by just 0.24% since the beginning of the year, as of this writing. Many investors are also divided on where stocks are headed. While around 35% feel optimistic about the next six months, according to the most recent weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors, 37% fe...
After years of record-breaking growth, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has been stagnant in recent weeks -- up by just 0.24% since the beginning of the year, as of this writing. Many investors are also divided on where stocks are headed. While around 35% feel optimistic about the next six months, according to the most recent weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors, 37% feel pessimistic about the future -- an increase from 29% in early February. So is it really safe to invest right now? Or should you hold off on buying? History offers a crystal-clear answer. Continue reading
The oil market is in the middle of its strongest start to a year since 2022 as supply shocks and sanctions confound expectations of a glut. Now traders are racing to cover themselves against the prospect of the US bombing Iran again. A surge in activity across futures and options markets is already pulling up crude prices — Brent futures touched a seven-month high of more than $72 a barrel on Frid...
The oil market is in the middle of its strongest start to a year since 2022 as supply shocks and sanctions confound expectations of a glut. Now traders are racing to cover themselves against the prospect of the US bombing Iran again. A surge in activity across futures and options markets is already pulling up crude prices — Brent futures touched a seven-month high of more than $72 a barrel on Friday, and some analysts see a risk premium of as much as $10. The rally — Brent is up about 18% since the end of last year — represents a marked shift from just weeks ago, when traders were focused on forecasts for a record surplus, especially around now. Instead, there’s been unexpected strength thanks to supply disruptions in the US and Kazakhstan — as well as a shunning of sanctioned crude . That’s been amplified by geopolitical risk — starting in Venezuela and extending to Iran — where President Donald Trump could order fresh strikes in a region home to about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. “You have a potential war, and that’s the overriding factor, but it’s in addition to a much tighter market than people anticipated,” said Gary Ross , a veteran oil consultant turned hedge fund manager at Black Gold Investors LLC. “I would fasten my seatbelt and wouldn’t want to be short in this market.” Trump said in response to reporters’ questions on Friday that he’s considering a limited strike on Iran after amassing the biggest US force since 2003. Axios reported earlier in the week that a US attack on Iran could come sooner than expected and look more like a full-fledged war. Futures Surge The number of Brent oil futures held surged to an all-time high this year, while last month saw record trading in options to protect against a further rally. Volatility has surged to the highest since the US last bombed Iran in June, and traders have — for the longest period in years — been charging premiums to protect against a surge. “It does feel that the probability of limited s...
Macron's India Trip Exposes EU Tech Overreach And Policy Failures Submitted by Thomas Kolbe At times, it seems almost absurdly comical when senior European Union officials make conspicuous efforts to court local business on foreign trips. Didactic in tone, nearly arrogant in their demands toward potential trade partners, and buoyed by a taste for moral superiority, the EU takes the global stage. I...
Macron's India Trip Exposes EU Tech Overreach And Policy Failures Submitted by Thomas Kolbe At times, it seems almost absurdly comical when senior European Union officials make conspicuous efforts to court local business on foreign trips. Didactic in tone, nearly arrogant in their demands toward potential trade partners, and buoyed by a taste for moral superiority, the EU takes the global stage. It still attempts to force large parts of the world into Brussels’ doctrinal playbook—as if economic cooperation could be achieved through normative decrees. Meanwhile, its own economic weakness is either overlooked or deliberately ignored. Economic strength would at least provide some justification for such demands. Yet the ongoing relocation of European industry to Asia and the United States undermines any carefully staged display of supposed superiority. From February 17 to 19, France’s President Emmanuel Macron visited India—the newly discovered object of European diplomatic desire . In Brussels, high hopes are pinned on Prime Minister Narendra Modi: unspoken is the goal of trade-policy support in the battle against Donald Trump’s America. For Macron, this India trip could have been an easy diplomatic exercise—without missteps, without verbal blunders, simply by observing routine protocol. He could have used the opportunity to study how a booming AI hub is being built. Instead, he presented his bewildered hosts with Europe’s “third way”—a performance that at best left them perplexed, likely met with a shrug. Macron advocated for “transparent” AI focused on open-source models, strict privacy standards, and societal benefits in health, education, and especially climate protection. Initiatives like “Current AI,” an EU-funded €2.5 billion project to finance nonprofit activities, confirm what is already obvious: Brussels still believes technological innovation can be decreed by the state. But new technologies do not emerge administratively or via bureaucratically managed gran...
If investors are waiting for less market volatility, they’ll have to wait a little longer, but the MarketBeat analysts help investors find the opportunities
If investors are waiting for less market volatility, they’ll have to wait a little longer, but the MarketBeat analysts help investors find the opportunities