Foreign governments, international banks and multinational companies are increasingly tapping China’s domestic bond market, as panda bond issuance hit a record high in the first five months of the year. A total of 11 entities sold 14 panda bonds – yuan-denominated debt instruments issued by foreign entities in mainland China’s onshore market – worth 26.64 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in May, up 2...
Foreign governments, international banks and multinational companies are increasingly tapping China’s domestic bond market, as panda bond issuance hit a record high in the first five months of the year. A total of 11 entities sold 14 panda bonds – yuan-denominated debt instruments issued by foreign entities in mainland China’s onshore market – worth 26.64 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in May, up 246 per cent from a year earlier and the highest level on record for the month, according to data...
Like meaningless idioms and aimless encounters with small dogs? This is your show. Only the charm of its presenter renders this worldwide tour bearable Antoni Porowski is waving to us from the top of the Shard. “If sightseeing is your thing, London doesn’t mess around,” he shouts as the camera swoops past his custard-yellow cagoule. “Go beyond the postcards and this city goes deep!” What could thi...
Like meaningless idioms and aimless encounters with small dogs? This is your show. Only the charm of its presenter renders this worldwide tour bearable Antoni Porowski is waving to us from the top of the Shard. “If sightseeing is your thing, London doesn’t mess around,” he shouts as the camera swoops past his custard-yellow cagoule. “Go beyond the postcards and this city goes deep!” What could this mean, we wonder, as we watch our hexagon-jawed host whoop cautiously behind a safety barrier. We wait for Porowski to elaborate. He does not. The former model merely waves again, and the soundbite drifts off, bewilderingly, into the clouds. But then, Best of the World With Antoni Porowski is no place for elucidation. Clarity would only muddy the four-part travel show’s vibe; the vibe, or “message”, essentially being “stop asking questions and just enjoy this decontextualised shot of Antoni Porowski embracing a yorkshire terrier in a gilet”. Continue reading...
Influencers often brand sugar as inherently harmful – but not all sweet foods are created equal ‘It’s a common myth,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London – and one that thrives on social media. The confusion, she says, often comes from people cutting out sugary foods and feeling better. But that can be because removing ultra-processed sweet treats improves the overall quali...
Influencers often brand sugar as inherently harmful – but not all sweet foods are created equal ‘It’s a common myth,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London – and one that thrives on social media. The confusion, she says, often comes from people cutting out sugary foods and feeling better. But that can be because removing ultra-processed sweet treats improves the overall quality of a diet (making more room for wholefoods). Leeming says influencers who call sugar “toxic” often see it as inherently harmful – solely responsible for weight gain, poor blood sugar control and heart problems. But in controlled studies where calorie intake is kept the same, diets high in sugar don’t appear to worsen weight loss, metabolism or key health markers. “It’s not ideal nutritionally if you’re missing out on fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Leeming says, “but sugar isn’t in itself directly harmful in that context.” Continue reading...
As she prepares to mark 70 with a birthday concert, the musician talks about her destructive mindset – and the steps she took to finally make sense of her life and music’s part in it It was 2023. The holiday of a lifetime, in Australia, had begun, after two weeks at the Australian festival of chamber music, in which I’d played viola in several of my own works. I had fretted about this for months, ...
As she prepares to mark 70 with a birthday concert, the musician talks about her destructive mindset – and the steps she took to finally make sense of her life and music’s part in it It was 2023. The holiday of a lifetime, in Australia, had begun, after two weeks at the Australian festival of chamber music, in which I’d played viola in several of my own works. I had fretted about this for months, not really believing that I could stand up as a soloist and deliver. Even as a full-time viola-player in the 80s, I avoided solo playing – always feeling more at home in larger chamber groups. But as my husband Peter and I set off on our holiday, I was euphoric. I had performed with the marvellous young pianist Joseph Havlat , with the legendary accordionist James Crabb and virtuoso trumpeter David Elton – and all had gone well. But then came a horrible realisation: I had not asked for the concerts to be recorded. This had been a moment in my life that would never be repeated. And I hadn’t captured it. I sank into despair. The fact that this is a pattern in my thinking didn’t make it any less painful: the more wonderful the event, the more likely I am to find regrets to attach to it. It is a destructive mindset I have learned to live with, but for years I had no idea why my head seemed compelled to ruin every joyful memory. Continue reading...
We are in dangerous territory as courts encourage jurors to discern untruth from body language. In fact, the words are far more revealing Imagine you are a juror on a murder trial. A married couple have been found shot dead. The defendant, a man known to them, denies the charge. You’ve heard the prosecution’s evidence and you’ve heard his testimony. But you and your fellow jurors are unsure if you...
We are in dangerous territory as courts encourage jurors to discern untruth from body language. In fact, the words are far more revealing Imagine you are a juror on a murder trial. A married couple have been found shot dead. The defendant, a man known to them, denies the charge. You’ve heard the prosecution’s evidence and you’ve heard his testimony. But you and your fellow jurors are unsure if you should believe his protestations of innocence. At the hotel in the evening, another juror makes a novel suggestion: contact the spirits of the dead couple to find out if the defendant is lying. In agreement, you all sit around a crudely constructed Ouija board and call upon the spirits of the dead couple to ask: “Who killed you?” The board spells out the name of the defendant. The next day, you return a guilty verdict to the court. Sounds too absurd to be true? Well, in 1994 an English jury did consult a Ouija board (a retrial was ordered, and the defendant was found guilty again). But it is no less absurd than a jury being directed by the courts to use an assessment of body language to make a judgment. Judicial directions in Scotland advise jurors that they can “look at the content of witnesses’ evidence, [and] their body language in giving it”. Similarly, in England and Wales, jurors are instructed not to take so many notes during a trial that they are “unable to observe the manner/demeanour of the witnesses as they give their evidence”. It appears that the UK’s judicial system is no different from most of the population in assuming there is a clear association between body language or demeanour and deception – while being ignorant of the fact that looking at these to determine an individual’s honesty is not trustworthy. Kirsty King is a lecturer in communication at UCL. She is the author of The Language of Lies Continue reading...
Lionel Scaloni’s strong, confident squad are no longer reliant on Messi as they target back-to-back World Cup titles This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 1...
Lionel Scaloni’s strong, confident squad are no longer reliant on Messi as they target back-to-back World Cup titles This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. Continue reading...
The 2022 football tournament cost me my freedom for three years. This year, I’ve lost my passport, safety and perhaps more What I saw in a town called Al-Shahaniyah on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, seven years ago broke every rule and human right in the book. Desperate, hard-working people were on strike for not receiving their salaries for two, four or six months. Salaries that rar...
The 2022 football tournament cost me my freedom for three years. This year, I’ve lost my passport, safety and perhaps more What I saw in a town called Al-Shahaniyah on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, seven years ago broke every rule and human right in the book. Desperate, hard-working people were on strike for not receiving their salaries for two, four or six months. Salaries that rarely exceeded $300 (£220) a month, in one of the richest countries in the world at the time. They had no food, no drinking water and no money to survive on or send back home to their families. But what made the situation worse was that they were building something for each and every one of us: not a mansion, a private home, or a road in the middle of nowhere. They were building World Cup stadiums for Messi and Ronaldo to play in, and for me and you to enjoy the show. Continue reading...
Record numbers linked to warming waters is mixed news for fishers, with shellfish catches down but octopus catches booming Record numbers of octopuses found off the south-west coast of England last year have now spread as far as Scotland and Wales and are transforming the fishing industry and the marine ecosystem, according to a study. The surge in sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent ...
Record numbers linked to warming waters is mixed news for fishers, with shellfish catches down but octopus catches booming Record numbers of octopuses found off the south-west coast of England last year have now spread as far as Scotland and Wales and are transforming the fishing industry and the marine ecosystem, according to a study. The surge in sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates was first recorded in 2025 off the south coast of Devon and Cornwall. Continue reading...
A year after government pledge to regulate sector, ECB criticises ‘lack of visible progress’ and ‘no clear plan’ The UK government has been accused of dragging its feet over plans for the mandatory regulation of bailiffs amid concerns about harmful practices in an industry that collects more than £1bn a year from indebted Britons. A year on from an announcement by the Ministry of Justice that it w...
A year after government pledge to regulate sector, ECB criticises ‘lack of visible progress’ and ‘no clear plan’ The UK government has been accused of dragging its feet over plans for the mandatory regulation of bailiffs amid concerns about harmful practices in an industry that collects more than £1bn a year from indebted Britons. A year on from an announcement by the Ministry of Justice that it would legislate to make independent regulation of bailiffs mandatory, the body that now oversees the industry, the Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB), criticised the lack of “visible progress”. Continue reading...
Philippine financial regulators are sounding off potential foreign exchange risks as big conglomerates face large debt maturities of about 1.6 trillion pesos ($26 billion) over the next three years. “Large conglomerates face a sizable wall of upcoming maturities and FX obligations,” according to the 2025 Financial Stability Report released on Monday. The maturities make up nearly a quarter of tota...
Philippine financial regulators are sounding off potential foreign exchange risks as big conglomerates face large debt maturities of about 1.6 trillion pesos ($26 billion) over the next three years. “Large conglomerates face a sizable wall of upcoming maturities and FX obligations,” according to the 2025 Financial Stability Report released on Monday. The maturities make up nearly a quarter of total debt by Philippine conglomerates and are scheduled to mature between 2027 and 2029, according to the annual report. Those obligations have sizable foreign-currency exposures, with US dollar-denominated debt averaging 37.6% of conglomerate debt over the next five years, it said. “While corporates have so far met refinancing needs through a mix of bond issuances, bank funding, and internal liquidity, refinancing and FX‑related risks warrant close monitoring given the scale and currency composition of upcoming maturities,” the report said. The report was prepared by an inter-agency council that includes the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Finance. It was released against the backdrop of a weak peso, which touched a record low this month. The Philippine currency has become one of the hardest hit in Asia from the surge in oil prices as the Southeast Asian nation imports almost all of its fuel requirements from the conflict-hit Middle East. Still, the Philippine financial system remained stable last year, with banks well-positioned to lend and have sufficient capital to absorb unexpected losses, according to the central bank. Apart from corporate leverage, the report also warned of risks from elevated property prices and growth of unsecured consumer loans which are mostly credit card debts. It also cited risks such as cyber threats and geopolitical tensions, such as the Iran war. “We will sharpen our coordination by defining when to escalate issues and by clearly communicating our assessment of our respective regulated entities,” BSP Governor Eli Remolona said...
Visiting the popular Po Pin Chau area in Hong Kong’s geopark will require real-name reservations under a pilot scheme aimed at preventing scalping and no-shows, officials have told lawmakers concerned about its effectiveness. Undersecretary for Environment and Ecology Diane Wong Shuk-han told the Legislative Council subcommittee on ecology and tourism on Monday that authorities would not use a fir...
Visiting the popular Po Pin Chau area in Hong Kong’s geopark will require real-name reservations under a pilot scheme aimed at preventing scalping and no-shows, officials have told lawmakers concerned about its effectiveness. Undersecretary for Environment and Ecology Diane Wong Shuk-han told the Legislative Council subcommittee on ecology and tourism on Monday that authorities would not use a first-come-first-served model and were studying a ballot mechanism to prevent scalping. “We will...
Jonathan Kitchen Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia ( NVDA ) said the recent selloff in U.S. semiconductor stocks should be viewed in the context of a much larger trend, stating that "We are at the outset of the AI revolution." "We're at the beginning of it, and whatever happened to the stock market, you should be very happy because now you can buy at a discount. Everybody should be very excited." Huang ...
Jonathan Kitchen Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia ( NVDA ) said the recent selloff in U.S. semiconductor stocks should be viewed in the context of a much larger trend, stating that "We are at the outset of the AI revolution." "We're at the beginning of it, and whatever happened to the stock market, you should be very happy because now you can buy at a discount. Everybody should be very excited." Huang told reporters in Seoul on June 8 after meetings with South Korean business leaders. Responding to questions about how that selloff should be perceived, Huang added that it can be viewed as a buying opportunity, arguing that the buildout of AI infrastructure remains in its early stages despite investor concerns about overheating in the AI trade. “It is a foregone conclusion that AI will be infrastructure for the world, just like the internet was infrastructure for the world,” he added. Broadly, global tech names come under pressure after stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates elevated for longer. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI Index fell sharply on Monday as investors retreated from AI-related stocks that have driven much of the recent rally in global equities. AI-linked ETFs: ( BOTZ ), ( AIQ ), ( ROBO ), ( THNQ ), ( CHAT ), ( IGPT ), ( ARTY ), ( WTAI ), ( AIEQ ), ( ARKQ ), ( QQQ ), ( VGT ), ( XLK ), ( SMH ), ( SOXX ). More on Nvidia Nvidia: Downgrade To Hold As Earnings Fail To Push Price Higher Nvidia: I Do Not Fear The AI Bubble Yet NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) Presents at Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference Transcript UK AI start-up PhysicsX hits $2.4B valuation following $300M Temasek-led deal South Korea's Naver will build AI factories using Nvidia's DSX platform