New rules and extra foster carers should ease the pressure on councils. But unregistered placements remain a grave concern It is incumbent on everyone with an interest in social policy to pay attention to the most vulnerable children and young people. When those who have been neglected, abused or exploited fall through the cracks in the welfare state because local councils are unable to meet their...
New rules and extra foster carers should ease the pressure on councils. But unregistered placements remain a grave concern It is incumbent on everyone with an interest in social policy to pay attention to the most vulnerable children and young people. When those who have been neglected, abused or exploited fall through the cracks in the welfare state because local councils are unable to meet their needs , this reflects poorly on wider society and risks causing harm in the long term as well as immediately. In England, the social care systems for children and adults are well known to be under immense strain. The rise in the number of children placed in unregistered settings – and thus effectively invisible to Ofsted – is an alarming symptom of a wider failure. From 144 children in 2020-21, the figure multiplied to 680 in 2024-25, according to a timely report from the policy consultancy Public First. The finding mirrors one from the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, who recorded 669 such placements in September last year. While these numbers make up less than 1% of the more than 83,000 looked-after children in England, the rapid rise in the number of cases where councils cannot find proper provision is both alarming in itself – since no child should be living outside the regulatory framework – and because of what it reveals about how the overall sector is managing. Continue reading...
CBP To Begin First Phase Of Tariff Refunds Following Supreme Court Ruling Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to begin the first phase of its refund process for certain tariffs on April 20, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in February. CBP will deploy the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) through its Autom...
CBP To Begin First Phase Of Tariff Refunds Following Supreme Court Ruling Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to begin the first phase of its refund process for certain tariffs on April 20, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in February. CBP will deploy the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) through its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system, which would allow businesses to seek refunds for tariffs they paid that were imposed by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that the IEEPA does not clearly authorize the president to impose tariffs. The agency said the CAPE will be implemented in phases, with the first phase starting at 8 a.m. ET on April 20 and covering “certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation.” The system is designed to “consolidate refunds of IEEPA duties including interest rather than processing refunds on an entry-by-entry basis,” according to CBP. It stated that importers and licensed customs brokers are required to set up an account on the ACE portal, submit bank account details, and file declarations for imports on which tariffs were paid. “Importers and authorized brokers should anticipate that valid IEEPA refunds will generally be issued within 60–90 days following acceptance of the CAPE declaration, unless a compliance concern requires further CBP review, ” the agency stated on its website. “However, certain scenarios, such as entries that are extended, suspended or under review, and warehouse entries, will maintain their liquidation status with validated refunds issued at liquidation.” In a court filing dated April 14, CBP Executive Director of Trade Programs Brandon Lord said the agency was dealing with “an unprecedented volume of refunds,” with more than 330,000 importers filing about 53 million entries in which they deposited or ...
Head of UN’s humanitarian agency frustrated that $2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday. He also warned the normalisation of violent language, such as threatening to b...
Head of UN’s humanitarian agency frustrated that $2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday. He also warned the normalisation of violent language, such as threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone ages , was very dangerous since it encourages every “wannabe autocrat” to use similar threats and tactics, including the destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Continue reading...
ollo/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Commerzbank ( CRZBF ) ( CRZBY ) has formally rejected UniCredit's ( UNCFF ) ( UNCRY ) approach, the German lender said in a statement on Monday. Last month, the Italian bank disclosed a €35B offer to increase its stake in Commerzbank to over 30%. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel had reportedly said the bid is designed to allow the bank to boost its stake to over 3...
ollo/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Commerzbank ( CRZBF ) ( CRZBY ) has formally rejected UniCredit's ( UNCFF ) ( UNCRY ) approach, the German lender said in a statement on Monday. Last month, the Italian bank disclosed a €35B offer to increase its stake in Commerzbank to over 30%. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel had reportedly said the bid is designed to allow the bank to boost its stake to over 30% without triggering a requirement to make an offer for complete ownership. Orcel was set to hold a conference call at 9.00 AM CET today. UniCredit was set to outline the details of "an approach to value creation" for Commerzbank, adding that it believed the German lender is insufficiently prepared for future challenges and is overly focused on short-term delivery. In the latest statement, Commerzbank said it has taken note of the Italian lender's presentation. " Commerzbank has tried to engage constructively with UniCredit, but no concrete combination plan for a mutually agreeable value-accretive transaction nor any reliable indications for a commensurate control premium from UniCredit have been put forward," said the statement. "What UniCredit has presented today is not a value-creating business combination—it is a stand-alone restructuring proposal that has to be evaluated against the existing strategy of Commerzbank that delivers real, reliable value with limited execution risk," said the German bank's CEO, Bettina Orlopp. Commerzbank is set to present its updated financial targets and strategy through 2030 on May 8. The bank will set out a comprehensive response to UniCredit's specific claims after the Italian lender has published the full details of its announced takeover offer. More on Commerzbank AG, UniCredit S.p.A. Commerzbank AG (CRZBY) M&A Call Transcript UniCredit S.p.A. (UNCRY) Presents at European Financials Conference 2026 Transcript Commerzbank AG (CRZBY) Presents at European Financials Conference 2026 Transcript UniCredit to outline value plan for Co...
After making a spectacular punt on racing and bloodstock, the football super-agent will be hoping for a swift return There was an unexpected, jarring moment in the winner’s enclosure at Newmarket last week as Kevin Philippart de Foy, the principal trainer for the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation, prepared to discuss his win with Sovereign Spell in the opening race on Cra...
After making a spectacular punt on racing and bloodstock, the football super-agent will be hoping for a swift return There was an unexpected, jarring moment in the winner’s enclosure at Newmarket last week as Kevin Philippart de Foy, the principal trainer for the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation, prepared to discuss his win with Sovereign Spell in the opening race on Craven Stakes day . The familiar “huddle” of reporters was ready to hear what might come next for the three-year-old, but first, the trainer had a question of his own: was anyone there to report for the Racing Post? Amo Racing and the British turf’s trade paper, it seems, are not currently on speaking terms, for reasons best known to themselves. Continue reading...
bymuratdeniz/iStock via Getty Images AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ( ASTS ) is down about 14% in pre-market trading on Monday, a rough start to the week, and building on the 6% plunge last Friday. Seeking Alpha The stock recovered slightly at the market open and was down around 9% at open. The stock has been on my radar for a while, but it’s just now entering attractive territory, and understanding why it...
bymuratdeniz/iStock via Getty Images AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ( ASTS ) is down about 14% in pre-market trading on Monday, a rough start to the week, and building on the 6% plunge last Friday. Seeking Alpha The stock recovered slightly at the market open and was down around 9% at open. The stock has been on my radar for a while, but it’s just now entering attractive territory, and understanding why it's selling off matters before you buy into the stock. So, before I get into why the stock has gone out of the market’s favor, let’s take a look at the business itself. The business: In the simplest terms, ASTS is a company that puts cell towers in space, not satellites that require a special dish on your roof. Basically, your phone connects directly to their BlueBird satellites orbiting 700 km (or lower) above Earth, the same way it connects to a cell tower on the side of a highway, with no new hardware, SIM card, etc. Since every other satellite connectivity solution before this required you to buy something, like a Starlink dish, ASTS collapses that friction to zero, which is why the addressable market is everyone who has ever driven through a dead zone and is not bound to one specific niche of early adopters. ASTS Investor Relations ASTS doesn't sell directly to consumers; instead, they sell wholesale capacity to the carriers, who wrap it into their existing plans. AT&T, Verizon , Vodafone, and over 50 other mobile network operators globally are already signed up, collectively representing nearly 3 billion subscribers. ASTS provides the sky, and the carriers handle everything else, including billing, customer service, distribution, and brand. The carrier takes roughly half the revenue, ASTS keeps the other half, and has almost no customer acquisition cost. The latest generation of satellites, known as Block 2 BlueBird, is the largest commercial communications array ever deployed in low Earth orbit, measuring roughly 2,400 square feet of antenna surface each, larger than ...
Direct-lending strategy funds raised a total of about $10.7 billion in funds completed during the first quarter, the lowest quarterly amount recorded in the past three years, according to data compiled by With Intelligence, an alternative investment research provider owned by S&P Global . After seven consecutive quarters of direct lending fundraising that surpassed $20 billion, the strategy has se...
Direct-lending strategy funds raised a total of about $10.7 billion in funds completed during the first quarter, the lowest quarterly amount recorded in the past three years, according to data compiled by With Intelligence, an alternative investment research provider owned by S&P Global . After seven consecutive quarters of direct lending fundraising that surpassed $20 billion, the strategy has seen a dramatic slowdown, falling from $27.7 billion during the final quarter of last year, according to the firm. Fundraising in the $1.8 trillion private credit industry has stagnated after years of rapid growth as a couple of high-profile failures raised concerns about the health of certain borrowers. In recent months, fears that artificial intelligence would disrupt private equity backed software businesses mounted, driving investors to step up redemption requests at some of the largest non-traded private credit investment vehicles. “Investors were already on a hair trigger for potential signs of stress in private credit,” says James Harvey, research lead of private credit at With Intelligence. “With talk of a ‘Saas-pocalypse’ caused by rapid advances in AI, the quality of many of these loans has come under intense scrutiny, causing some investors to hit pause on new direct lending allocations in the first quarter.” While private debt managers don’t get all their cash through fundraising, even certain banks, which often provide leverage, have been pulling away and tightening their arrangements. About $49.9 billion of private credit fundraising was recorded in the first quarter, slightly below the fourth quarter’s $50.8 billion, With Intelligence said. Read More: Private Credit Funds Face More Pressure as Banks Swap Collateral Despite the recent exodus, some managers have recently announced raising funds for brand new vehicles for their investors. Last week, Adams Street Partners LLC raised $7.5 billion for its third private credit vehicle, over double the size of its prev...
A court in southern Turkey sentenced eight people on Monday to prison terms over a 2024 cable car accident in the coastal resort of Antalya that killed one passenger and injured seven. Four of the defendants were convicted of causing death and injury through negligence and were sentenced to seven-and-a-half years each, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The other four were sentenced to be...
A court in southern Turkey sentenced eight people on Monday to prison terms over a 2024 cable car accident in the coastal resort of Antalya that killed one passenger and injured seven. Four of the defendants were convicted of causing death and injury through negligence and were sentenced to seven-and-a-half years each, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The other four were sentenced to between three years and four months and five years for the same offence. In the April 12, 2024...
Earnings Call Insights: Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) Q1 2026 Management view "The first quarter of 2026 was the beginning of a sustained improvement progression that will continue through the rest of the year" (Chairman, President & CEO Lourenco Goncalves), while adding that "Q1 results could be better... if not for a couple of one-timers," with "the impact of the spiking on energy costs" the most signi...
Earnings Call Insights: Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) Q1 2026 Management view "The first quarter of 2026 was the beginning of a sustained improvement progression that will continue through the rest of the year" (Chairman, President & CEO Lourenco Goncalves), while adding that "Q1 results could be better... if not for a couple of one-timers," with "the impact of the spiking on energy costs" the most significant. "Our order book is full and the automotive OEMs are booking more and more steel from Cliffs" (CEO Goncalves), alongside "tight" production schedules and lead times moving out; he said pricing realization has shifted: "Today, that lag is closer to 2 months." "Steel imports into the United States are at their lowest levels, since 2009" (CEO Goncalves), who said, "Section 232 works," and highlighted "recent changes in how derivative products tariffs are being enforced" including "Distribution transformers were added." "In my long career in this business, I have never seen so much momentum in substituting aluminum with steel" (CEO Goncalves), extending beyond autos into "building products, appliances and truck and trailer sectors," and said Cliffs is demonstrating forming steel in equipment "previously utilized exclusive for aluminum." "In February, Cleveland-Cliffs received... Toyota, the Toyota Quality Excellence Award" (CEO Goncalves), saying it confirms quality and execution against Toyota’s standards. "At Burns Harbor, we are idling our smaller plate mill" and "idling the Gary Plate finishing line" (CEO Goncalves), while stating "There will be no loss in overall steel production or layoffs" due to backfilling roles from retiree attrition. "We have also partnered with a leading and prominent AI provider" (CEO Goncalves) to embed AI into production planning and order entry, and added, "We expect to make a full announcement... in the next few weeks." "Our adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $95 million" (Executive VP & CFO Celso Goncalves), and he said the quarter’s to...
Sold by Patricia McCormick, The Perks of Being a Wallflowe r by Stephen Chbosky and Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer: A Memoir .'/> The ALA says 4,235 titles were challenged at libraries across the country – the second-highest year on record. Forty percent of the challenged works involved LGBTQ+ subjects or the experiences of people of color. (Image credit: American Library Association)
Sold by Patricia McCormick, The Perks of Being a Wallflowe r by Stephen Chbosky and Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer: A Memoir .'/> The ALA says 4,235 titles were challenged at libraries across the country – the second-highest year on record. Forty percent of the challenged works involved LGBTQ+ subjects or the experiences of people of color. (Image credit: American Library Association)