Europe’s longest and most dramatic canyon is replete with exotic wildlife, including kingfishers and beavers, ruined castles and architectural oddities We’re sipping chestnut kir on a terrace overlooking the Tarn River in southern France when we hear excited voices from the table beside us: “ Regards! C’est un castor ! ” Below us, a beaver the length of my leg is languidly swimming upstream. We do...
Europe’s longest and most dramatic canyon is replete with exotic wildlife, including kingfishers and beavers, ruined castles and architectural oddities We’re sipping chestnut kir on a terrace overlooking the Tarn River in southern France when we hear excited voices from the table beside us: “ Regards! C’est un castor ! ” Below us, a beaver the length of my leg is languidly swimming upstream. We don’t need our binoculars because the Tarn is so clean that almost every fish, frog, pebble and ribbon of weed can be seen with the naked eye, magnified by the clarity of the water. This meandering, jade-green river – which winds from its source in the Cévennes national park to Moissac, just north of Toulouse – is home to trout, perch, carp, otters, frogs, toads, kingfishers and herons. We add “beavers” to our list. Above us, huge vultures have been drifting all day, cruising the thermals in groups of nine or 10. And when our eyes haven’t been on the river or the sky, they have been welded to the many orchids on the bank: including monkey, bee, military, butterfly, pyramidal and fragrant orchids. Later, we discover that 30 varieties have been recorded in this orchid hotspot. Continue reading...
Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing least year’s total Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year. Waste managers and recycling campaigners have raised concerns as the nu...
Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing least year’s total Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year. Waste managers and recycling campaigners have raised concerns as the number of online searches for electrically powered handheld fans, which sell for as little as £2, has already surpassed that seen in the whole of 2025 in the first six months of this year. Continue reading...
From heads of state to foot-kissing knights, Hollywood romcoms to sex, a fascinating story of the gesture that for centuries has brought people together If, on a European holiday, you get flustered greeting people – should you kiss? how many times? – spare a thought for Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. Visiting England in 1499, he found a nation of enthusiastic kissers. “Wherever you go, you a...
From heads of state to foot-kissing knights, Hollywood romcoms to sex, a fascinating story of the gesture that for centuries has brought people together If, on a European holiday, you get flustered greeting people – should you kiss? how many times? – spare a thought for Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. Visiting England in 1499, he found a nation of enthusiastic kissers. “Wherever you go, you are received on all hands with kisses; when you take leave you are dismissed with kisses,” he wrote in surprise, or possibly, alarm. On the continent, the fashion for greeting with a peck on the lips had long fallen by the wayside (probably because of sexual propriety), but the English held firm. It didn’t matter if the other person was of the opposite sex, everyone puckered up. Whether you like to snog, smooch, suck face or osculate (the scientific term), kissing seems so natural and instinctive, it’s hard to imagine it having a history at all. But just as kissing is not seen in all cultures , so, historian of emotions Katie Barclay writes, its meanings have changed across time too. From foot-kissing knights to baby-kissing politicians, to the “shut-up kiss” of Hollywood romcoms, this rich and fascinating history reminds us that kissing is, and always has been, a contested public gesture as well as a private pleasure. Continue reading...
Sumitra Peries’ 1978 film about teenage sisters and thwarted romance is laden with passions that can’t be spoken aloud Here is a gem of South Asian cinema from 1978, by the Sri Lankan director and editor Sumitra Peries. With its lucid monochrome cinematography and calm, natural, unselfconscious performances, there is a freshness and warmth to this film. It is often on the brink of melodrama or soa...
Sumitra Peries’ 1978 film about teenage sisters and thwarted romance is laden with passions that can’t be spoken aloud Here is a gem of South Asian cinema from 1978, by the Sri Lankan director and editor Sumitra Peries. With its lucid monochrome cinematography and calm, natural, unselfconscious performances, there is a freshness and warmth to this film. It is often on the brink of melodrama or soap opera, many shots having a tendency to slow zoom into the actors’ faces, and yet The Girls is in fact rather understated. A great deal of its poignancy resides in this very suppression of emotion. We are in a world of passions that can’t be spoken aloud. It is a story through whose entire running time I wistfully hoped for a happy ending, but that is what Peries ruthlessly withholds from her audience. Kusum (Vasanthi Chathurani) is a studious, serious teen from a poor family with a scholarship to a very good school. Her father is seriously ill and her mother works hard to make ends meet. She has a rather tense, quarrelsome relationship with her sister Soma (Jenita Samaraweera), who is naughtier, flightier and always receiving letters from “pen pals” – boys. Kusum’s sobering story is triggered in flashback by the sight of a visiting local dignitary, the “divisional revenue officer”, being welcomed to her village. Continue reading...
They may have been unethical, potentially dangerous and somewhat sexist … but each of these classic adverts, from the PG Tips chimps to the Tango slapper, caught the public’s imagination Baldy Man, Gold Blend flirters and mash-mad Martians: TV’s golden age ads Continue reading...
They may have been unethical, potentially dangerous and somewhat sexist … but each of these classic adverts, from the PG Tips chimps to the Tango slapper, caught the public’s imagination Baldy Man, Gold Blend flirters and mash-mad Martians: TV’s golden age ads Continue reading...
When the shares of Revolution Medicines surged after the US biotech firm unveiled a landmark result – its drug nearly doubled the overall survival for late-stage pancreatic cancer patients to 13.2 months – investment banks and scientists flagged that the company’s Chinese rivals racing to target the same cancer mutation are significantly undervalued by the market. Chinese biotech firms were closin...
When the shares of Revolution Medicines surged after the US biotech firm unveiled a landmark result – its drug nearly doubled the overall survival for late-stage pancreatic cancer patients to 13.2 months – investment banks and scientists flagged that the company’s Chinese rivals racing to target the same cancer mutation are significantly undervalued by the market. Chinese biotech firms were closing the gap with the United States as the country “has developed a highly competitive and rapidly...
In a homecoming for Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence community, Cao Liangliang – former principal engineer and director at Google DeepMind, IEEE Fellow and architect of foundational AI systems at Google, Apple and IBM – has returned to the city after a two-decade absence. His appointment as Chair Professor of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) l...
In a homecoming for Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence community, Cao Liangliang – former principal engineer and director at Google DeepMind, IEEE Fellow and architect of foundational AI systems at Google, Apple and IBM – has returned to the city after a two-decade absence. His appointment as Chair Professor of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) last week completes an intellectual boomerang trajectory that began under renowned mentor Tang...
What Future Awaits Ukrainian Military-Aged Male Refugees In The EU? Authored by Andrew Korybko, Recent moves at the European and national levels bode ill for them... The European Commission proposed to exclude new military-aged Ukrainian men from the bloc’s special refugee protection scheme per Ukraine’s request to help replenish its lost forces. For background, new Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikh...
What Future Awaits Ukrainian Military-Aged Male Refugees In The EU? Authored by Andrew Korybko, Recent moves at the European and national levels bode ill for them... The European Commission proposed to exclude new military-aged Ukrainian men from the bloc’s special refugee protection scheme per Ukraine’s request to help replenish its lost forces. For background, new Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov shockingly revealed in January that 200,000 men have already deserted thus far and ten times more (2 million) are actively dodging the draft. Moreover, adult men comprise 26% of the 4.3 million Ukrainians in the EU for another one million potential conscripts. The forcible conscription policy known as “busification”, which refers to capturing military-aged men off the street and throwing them into minibuses that then take them straight to local training centers and finally the frontlines, is wildly unpopular and increasingly being resisted by the population. It’s therefore much easier for the EU to deport ineligible military-aged men that flee to the bloc going forward, but the ideal solution from Ukraine’s perspective is for all those that are already there to be deported as well. Denmark is planning to do precisely that. According to RT , “The Danish authorities want to amend a special law passed in 2022 to make Ukrainian men aged 23 to 60 ineligible for temporary residence permits unless they have been granted an exemption from military service. Ukrainian men under 23 would only be granted residence permits until they reach draft age.” Less than 50,000 Ukrainians have residence permits under this law, and maybe one-quarter are adult males, but it would still be symbolic. Other countries could potentially follow Denmark’s lead on the basis that they too, as explained by the Danish Immigration Minister, “never intended for our residence rules to be used to avoid mobilization into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Doing so undermines Ukraine’s war effort and weakens t...
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has had one overarching regional goal since taking office — stop China gaining a military foothold in the Pacific. He’s been ready to harness any tool available to further it, including sport. Canberra is using rugby league, a fierce and combative form of football popular in Australia and the Pacific islands, for diplomatic ends. Albanese last year announ...
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has had one overarching regional goal since taking office — stop China gaining a military foothold in the Pacific. He’s been ready to harness any tool available to further it, including sport. Canberra is using rugby league, a fierce and combative form of football popular in Australia and the Pacific islands, for diplomatic ends. Albanese last year announced Australia would finance a team from Papua New Guinea to participate in the domestic professional league. Some of the A$600 million ($400 million) set aside for the new team is also earmarked to support youth development. League will be on show to cement regional ties on Wednesday evening, when Albanese hosts Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and the leaders of Samoa and Tonga to watch State of Origin. This is the most important Rugby League series, when powerhouse states Queensland and New South Wales front up in a take-no-prisoners contest. “I am very much looking forward to hosting Pacific Leaders in Brisbane and attending the State of Origin with them,” Albanese said in a statement Wednesday. “Through one of Australia’s favorite sporting codes, we are bringing our Pacific family closer together.” Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for Pacific island affairs, said PNG’s new team — the Chiefs — is something Marape wanted in order to unite his diverse peoples, “akin to when Nelson Mandela brought South Africans together” through rugby union. “We have been clear that we are now in a permanent state of contest in the Pacific,” Conroy added. “That’s why we are using all tools of statecraft and all levers of diplomacy, including sports diplomacy, to ensure we have a prosperous and secure region.” That contest with Beijing was brought into sharp relief on Monday, when China test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine into the Pacific. The test happened to coincide with Albanese visiting Fiji, and came shortly after the Australian and Fijian leaders signed a new ...
RerF/iStock via Getty Images AH REALTY TRUST ( AHRT ) has only one series of outstanding preferred stock, ( AHRT.PR.A ). The coupon rate of the shares is fixed at ~6.75%. The shares trade at a discount to par value at around ~$21.6 at present, resulting in the market dividend yield being higher at ~7.8%. This makes the allocation fall under the moderately high-yield category and suitable for an in...
RerF/iStock via Getty Images AH REALTY TRUST ( AHRT ) has only one series of outstanding preferred stock, ( AHRT.PR.A ). The coupon rate of the shares is fixed at ~6.75%. The shares trade at a discount to par value at around ~$21.6 at present, resulting in the market dividend yield being higher at ~7.8%. This makes the allocation fall under the moderately high-yield category and suitable for an investor seeking incremental yield but not wanting altogether to be exposed to a concerning credit profile, preferably for those allocating via tax-advantaged accounts, since the payouts would not receive qualified tax treatment. However, the distributions might often fall under Section 199A dividends , which still improve the after-tax yield relative to fixed-income securities, whose interest income is treated entirely as ordinary income without either qualified dividend or Section 199A treatment. Seeking Alpha Company Overview AH REALTY TRUST is the result of a name change from its former name, Armada Hoffler Properties, following the strategic rebranding of the business initiated earlier this calendar year. The company operates as a diversified equity REIT focused on owning, operating, and acquiring retail and office properties primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States. Company 10Q The GAAP numbers of the company showed a significantly higher loss for the latest reported quarter due to accounting adjustments related to discontinued operations. The GAAP net income came in at negative ~$33 million. FFO, however, remained positive at ~$15 million. The total preferred dividend obligations for the first quarter came to ~$2.9 million , which not only results in a preferred dividend coverage of ~5x but, on an absolute basis, remains a relatively moderate contributor to the overall operating base of the company. AHRT 10Q Management discussion The total amount of dividends paid to the common stock was ~$10.5 million, materially more than the obligations of preferred...
“Bloomberg: The China Show” is your definitive source for news and analysis on the world's second-biggest economy. From politics and policy to tech and trends, Haidi Stroud-Watts and Avril Hong give global investors unique insight, delivering in-depth discussions with the newsmakers who matter. (Source: Bloomberg)
“Bloomberg: The China Show” is your definitive source for news and analysis on the world's second-biggest economy. From politics and policy to tech and trends, Haidi Stroud-Watts and Avril Hong give global investors unique insight, delivering in-depth discussions with the newsmakers who matter. (Source: Bloomberg)
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has broken his silence on China’s sanctions against his defence chief, in remarks seen as a closing of ranks that could complicate diplomacy between Manila and Beijing in the near term. Observers say the president’s public backing of outspoken Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro amounts to a “good cop, bad cop” approach that signals Manila’s resolve and may...
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has broken his silence on China’s sanctions against his defence chief, in remarks seen as a closing of ranks that could complicate diplomacy between Manila and Beijing in the near term. Observers say the president’s public backing of outspoken Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro amounts to a “good cop, bad cop” approach that signals Manila’s resolve and may strengthen defence cooperation with its allies. Speaking to reporters in Vancouver over the...
Tony Studio Despite recent reports that OpenAI ( OPENAI ) proposed offering a stake to the Trump administration, Kalshi ( KALSHI ) contract traders remain highly skeptical that a deal will materialize before the end of the year. Just last week the Financial Times reported that the artificial intelligence giant proposed granting the U.S. government a 5% stake. However, Kalshi traders see odds of le...
Tony Studio Despite recent reports that OpenAI ( OPENAI ) proposed offering a stake to the Trump administration, Kalshi ( KALSHI ) contract traders remain highly skeptical that a deal will materialize before the end of the year. Just last week the Financial Times reported that the artificial intelligence giant proposed granting the U.S. government a 5% stake. However, Kalshi traders see odds of less than 30% that the U.S. government could take a stake in OpenAI ( OPENAI ) or Anthropic ( ANTHRO ), according to a CNBC report. The Kalshi event asks which companies will the U.S. government take a stake in this year, and will be resolved once verified by the government, news outlets, or official filings. Kalshi traders see odds well over 60% that the government could take a stake this year in quantum computing plays Rigetti Computing ( RGTI ) or D-Wave Quantum ( QBTS ) , as well as in semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) . More on OpenAI OpenAI IPO Delay: A Symptom Of A Tech Bubble? OpenAI: Mega IPO Faces Anthropic Claude Mythos Reckoning Wall Street Lunch: Hot Labor Market Defies Predictions Of AI-Led Job Losses OpenAI set to launch GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna globally this Thursday SpaceXAI's Grok continues to lose market share; Meta AI climbs to fourth in US: analysis
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images One of Tuesday's biggest losers was Rivian ( RIVN ). The electric vehicle maker saw its shares tumble almost 19% after the company announced its latest equity offering . After raising yearly delivery guidance last week, the company took advantage of a recent rise in shares to strengthen its balance sheet as it ramps production of its R2 SUV. The lates...
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images One of Tuesday's biggest losers was Rivian ( RIVN ). The electric vehicle maker saw its shares tumble almost 19% after the company announced its latest equity offering . After raising yearly delivery guidance last week, the company took advantage of a recent rise in shares to strengthen its balance sheet as it ramps production of its R2 SUV. The latest news was a major step forward for the company, although it's not out of the woods just yet. Previous coverage of the name The last time I looked at Rivian was back in mid-February, right after the company had reported its Q4 2025 results . The company beat street estimates for the period, and it gave a solid forecast for 2026 deliveries, showing management's confidence in the R2 launch. However, I cautioned investors with a sell rating since the balance sheet still needed help, and the valuation was a bit too lofty. Since that time, to Tuesday's close, Rivian shares have declined by 5.8%, compared to a 10% rise in the S&P 500. Preliminary Q2 figures Last week, Rivian announced its preliminary production and delivery numbers . The key was that almost 12,200 vehicles were delivered, higher than expectations that called for roughly 9,000 to 11,000 vehicles. On the back of that stronger figure, management this week called for revenues to be in a range of $1.55 billion to $1.65 billion, above street estimates for $1.44 billion. Thanks to the strong second quarter, Rivian has increased its yearly delivery forecast range by 3,000 vehicles, to a new range of 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles. While analyst revenue estimates haven't fully adjusted to the new numbers just yet, we have finally seen the 2026 average estimate climb back above $7 billion. Earlier this year, the 2026 average was down to almost $6.8 billion, after peaking at more than $38.5 billion in late 2021. As the graphic below shows, a lot of growth is expected moving forward, but all of these yearly estimates have come do...
SimonSkafar/E+ via Getty Images CVR Partners Analysis CVR Partners ( UAN ) reports second-quarter results in late July, and it should be another strong quarter for the company, although the prior $4.00-per-unit distribution may come in slightly lower. I previously rated the stock a BUY in March when it traded around $115, and I'm keeping this call open heading into its upcoming Q2 earnings report....
SimonSkafar/E+ via Getty Images CVR Partners Analysis CVR Partners ( UAN ) reports second-quarter results in late July, and it should be another strong quarter for the company, although the prior $4.00-per-unit distribution may come in slightly lower. I previously rated the stock a BUY in March when it traded around $115, and I'm keeping this call open heading into its upcoming Q2 earnings report. While realized nitrogen fertilizer prices have recently come down a bit, they remained elevated throughout most of the second quarter, so I expect a strong report. One question mark for investors, however, is just how much the board pays out in its distribution this quarter (versus earmarking funds for its capex ramp). Three things have changed and slightly shifted the thesis since my last article: a change in its CEO, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and (related to this) a softening of spot fertilizer prices . Yet, none of the three significantly impacts the thesis, which we'll dig into below. The Business: A Nitrogen Pure Play With A Pet Coke Twist CVR Partners is a nitrogen fertilizer producer. It runs two plants, one in Coffeyville, Kansas, and one in East Dubuque, Illinois, and it turns them into ammonia and upgraded nitrogen products, primarily UAN. UAN is the liquid nitrogen solution farmers spray on corn, and CVR sells it in the UAN28 and UAN32 grades, which appear on every dealer price sheet in the Corn Belt. One feature separates it from the pack. The Coffeyville plant doesn't run on natural gas. It gasifies petroleum coke, a refining byproduct, which means a large share of CVR's production is insulated from the gas price swings that dictate margins for gas-fed competitors like CF Industries ( CF ), Nutrien ( NTR ), and LSB Industries ( LXU ). East Dubuque does use natural gas, so the partnership isn't fully hedged against a gas spike, but the feedstock mix is a structural edge that most nitrogen investors underrate. And because it's structured as a variab...