Forty years on from the release of their Victorialand album, we rank the Scottish band’s 20 best tracks, from goth beginnings to weightless masterpieces At first, Cocteau Twins gave every impression of being a goth band: check out Wax and Wane’s Banshees-esque ambience – the guitar is very John McGeoch – flanged bass and drum machine. But the chorus soars out of the metaphorical cloud of dry ice, ...
Forty years on from the release of their Victorialand album, we rank the Scottish band’s 20 best tracks, from goth beginnings to weightless masterpieces At first, Cocteau Twins gave every impression of being a goth band: check out Wax and Wane’s Banshees-esque ambience – the guitar is very John McGeoch – flanged bass and drum machine. But the chorus soars out of the metaphorical cloud of dry ice, and Elizabeth Fraser’s voice is already outpacing her influences. Continue reading...
Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at France’s latest attempt to reset relations with Africa. And: Dangote needs $40 billion for expansion plans Congo rushes to market its bonds during the Iran truce The US raises fresh concerns about security in Nigeria R...
Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at France’s latest attempt to reset relations with Africa. And: Dangote needs $40 billion for expansion plans Congo rushes to market its bonds during the Iran truce The US raises fresh concerns about security in Nigeria Resetting Relations After falling out with many of its former colonies in the west, France has turned to Kenya to help reset its ties with the continent. President Emmanuel Macron invited his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, to attend this year’s Group of Seven meeting in Évian-les-Bains, while Nairobi will host an Africa-France summit next month — the first time the gathering is being held in a non-Francophone country. Kenyan lawmakers are meanwhile signing off on a defense pact with France that will facilitate co-operation between their armed forces and enable them to participate in joint training exercises. While Macron pledged to rebuild relations with Africa after he took office in 2017 and insisted that France’s colonial past shouldn’t be a stumbling block, he’s made little headway so far in retaining alliances or forging new ones. Senegal, Ivory Coast, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have all requested the removal of French troops from bases in their territories. And the president’s suggestion last year that some African nations owed their sovereignty to France after its troops intervened to prevent coups and quell insurgencies was widely panned on the continent. The Nairobi conference will provide an opportunity for Macron to chart a new course — assuming he and Ruto can persuade a sizable body of leaders to attend. They are being enticed to do so by offers of business deals, investments and new partnership agreements. China, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have spent years and billions of dollars building their own presence and clout in Africa. The U...
Housing corporations are adopting rainwater storage in garden fences, reducing pressure during downpours and preserving water for times of drought Good fences make good neighbours – but rain fences could make even better ones. That is the hope of housing corporations in the Netherlands, which are adopting rainwater storage in their garden fences. Continue reading...
Housing corporations are adopting rainwater storage in garden fences, reducing pressure during downpours and preserving water for times of drought Good fences make good neighbours – but rain fences could make even better ones. That is the hope of housing corporations in the Netherlands, which are adopting rainwater storage in their garden fences. Continue reading...
Raivo Sarelainens/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and Blackstone Credit & Insurance ( BX ) agreed to launch a new global aircraft investment program, aiming to deploy about $1.6 billion annually into planes leased to commercial airlines, the companies said Thursday. The initiative, branded “Equator,” is designed to build a diversified portfolio of aircraft leased to ai...
Raivo Sarelainens/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and Blackstone Credit & Insurance ( BX ) agreed to launch a new global aircraft investment program, aiming to deploy about $1.6 billion annually into planes leased to commercial airlines, the companies said Thursday. The initiative, branded “Equator,” is designed to build a diversified portfolio of aircraft leased to airlines worldwide. Under the arrangement, DAE will source aircraft from third parties, while its Aircraft Investor Services unit will manage the assets on behalf of the program. “Blackstone’s scaled and flexible capital provides a strong foundation to grow our third-party fleet management franchise,” Firoz Tarapore, chief executive officer of DAE, said in the announcement. The program will be backed by capital from Blackstone Credit & Insurance, including funds managed by ITE Management, which is described as a strategic partner. Blackstone Credit & Insurance said it expects to provide a range of financing structures for the program, with the goal of supporting investments across different market conditions. DAE, which had a fleet of about 700 aircraft as of the end of 2025, including more than 100 aircraft under management valued at over $4 billion, operates as both a lessor and a service provider for institutional investors. The company currently serves as a manager across multiple servicing agreements. Blackstone Credit & Insurance’s infrastructure and asset-based credit platform manages more than $100 billion in assets and invests across sectors including infrastructure, commercial finance, consumer lending and real estate. More on Blackstone Blackstone: Asset Management Juggernaut, 3.7% Dividend Yield, Phantom Crisis Blackstone: A Discounted Opportunity Blackstone: Valuation Compression Masks Intact Earnings Power Investors asked to withdraw over $20B from private credit funds in Q1, FT says Blackstone and Dubai Aerospace team up for $1.6B aircraft leasing program
Beirut residents and officials say thousand-pound-bombs mainly hit civilians in mission dubbed ‘Operation Eternal Darkness’ Middle East crisis – live updates It took Israel only 10 minutes to carry out one of the worst mass-killings in Lebanon since the end of the country’s civil war in 1990. Omar Rakha heard the war planes but did not feel the explosions; it was only when he woke up face down on ...
Beirut residents and officials say thousand-pound-bombs mainly hit civilians in mission dubbed ‘Operation Eternal Darkness’ Middle East crisis – live updates It took Israel only 10 minutes to carry out one of the worst mass-killings in Lebanon since the end of the country’s civil war in 1990. Omar Rakha heard the war planes but did not feel the explosions; it was only when he woke up face down on the street, bleeding, that he understood what had happened. The building next to his in the Barbour neighbourhood of central Beirut had been destroyed by two Israeli bombs – he then ran through the flaming wreckage to find his sister, screaming. Continue reading...
A long-awaited EU debate on China has been shelved in favour of the Middle East crisis, highlighting how Europe is struggling to treat Beijing as a strategic priority despite mounting economic pressure. The European Commission’s security college was set to meet this coming Monday to debate the challenges posed by Beijing, as part of what officials were referring to internally as “China week”. It w...
A long-awaited EU debate on China has been shelved in favour of the Middle East crisis, highlighting how Europe is struggling to treat Beijing as a strategic priority despite mounting economic pressure. The European Commission’s security college was set to meet this coming Monday to debate the challenges posed by Beijing, as part of what officials were referring to internally as “China week”. It would have been the first strategic discussion among the bloc’s 27 commissioners under President...
Rising demand for yuan settlement amid Middle East tensions is driving record transaction amounts in China’s cross-border payment system, analysts said, building on years of efforts to bolster financial infrastructure and expand its global network. “The Middle East conflict may have acted as a catalyst,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered, citi...
Rising demand for yuan settlement amid Middle East tensions is driving record transaction amounts in China’s cross-border payment system, analysts said, building on years of efforts to bolster financial infrastructure and expand its global network. “The Middle East conflict may have acted as a catalyst,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered, citing rising demand for yuan settlement, particularly in oil trade. China’s Cross-border Interbank...
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Former Google DeepMind researcher Andrew Dai believes that the artificial intelligence models at big labs have the intelligence of a 3-year-old kid, at least when it comes to making sense of visual prompts. So he’s co-founding a research startup to bring an adult into the proverbial room. The company, Elorian, is building AI that can better understand the imagery in the world around it. The breakt...
Former Google DeepMind researcher Andrew Dai believes that the artificial intelligence models at big labs have the intelligence of a 3-year-old kid, at least when it comes to making sense of visual prompts. So he’s co-founding a research startup to bring an adult into the proverbial room. The company, Elorian, is building AI that can better understand the imagery in the world around it. The breakthroughs could speed the deployment of AI in industries such as architecture, the automotive market and robotics, Dai said. Elorian is emerging from stealth mode on Thursday with $55 million in funding and a $300 million valuation. The Palo Alto, California-based startup, which has hired more than a dozen people, is working on building better-reasoning visual models. Investors include Striker Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures and Altimeter Capital, with participation from Nvidia Corp. and prominent AI researcher Jeff Dean. The round was raised in two tranches, with the first capital coming in at a $120 million valuation and the second portion raised at a $300 million level, according to a spokesperson for Elorian. The Information previously reported on some details of the company’s fundraising efforts. Though the startup isn’t yet generating revenue, it is having discussions with potential customers and plans to release its first publicly available reasoning model in approximately the next 12 months, Dai said. Elorian’s other co-founders are Yinfei Yang, who worked on AI research efforts at both Google and Apple, and Seth Neel, a former Harvard professor who researched data and artificial intelligence. Elorian’s pitch: In order to help AI understand the world around it, the tech industry needs to build models designed specifically for that purpose. Despite the billions of dollars that companies such as Google and OpenAI have poured into building massive AI models, the tools still do a poor job of, say, visually analyzing satellite imagery or answering questions about what an ...
chaofann/iStock via Getty Images Showcase Intro In March, we welcomed 21 new analysts who published their first-ever article on Seeking Alpha. In this article, our editors highlight some of the best ideas from these new analysts and introduce them. The first five introductions are spotlight features, including a longer excerpt from the analyst's article. The rest of the new analysts will be introd...
chaofann/iStock via Getty Images Showcase Intro In March, we welcomed 21 new analysts who published their first-ever article on Seeking Alpha. In this article, our editors highlight some of the best ideas from these new analysts and introduce them. The first five introductions are spotlight features, including a longer excerpt from the analyst's article. The rest of the new analysts will be introduced after these with a more brief excerpt and are generally organized by rating from Strong Sell to Strong Buy . Each section includes details about the new analysts' interests and backgrounds, so you can get to know them a bit more. With all the ideas and information shared in this article, we'd invite you to join the conversation and let others know what you think: are any of these picks worth following up on ? To our new analysts: welcome to the community ! And please don't hesitate to share more in the comments to introduce yourself to our readers. Top Stock Picks From Seeking Alpha's New Analysts Elina Selianska | British American Tobacco: The Ideal Defensive Asset With A 12x P/E Biography: “I am a private investor with 10 years of experience in the stock market. Before opening a trade, I am interested in knowing what management is doing right now to capture the markets of the future. Multipliers, balances, and charts are secondary—they should only confirm the fundamental idea, not dictate it. I write on Seeking Alpha to share exactly this approach: helping readers see the real business behind dry numbers and evaluate its future potential. ” Buy | “ British American Tobacco ( BTI ) offers deep value, trading at a forward P/E of ~12x with a 5-6% dividend yield, despite robust cash flows. BTI's revenue and margins remain stable, with gross margins near 82% and FCF yield above 10%, underpinned by resilient global demand and pricing power. Transition to 'digital nicotine' (vapes, heated tobacco) offsets declining cigarette sales; BTI is closing the innovation gap with Phi...
Welcome to the Brussels Edition. I’m Suzanne Lynch, Bloomberg’s Brussels bureau chief, bringing you the latest from the EU each weekday. Make sure you’re signed up . The EU’s top economy official warned today that the bloc still faces the threat of stagflation despite the temporary ceasefire in Iran. Speaking to a committee in the European Parliament, Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis raised...
Welcome to the Brussels Edition. I’m Suzanne Lynch, Bloomberg’s Brussels bureau chief, bringing you the latest from the EU each weekday. Make sure you’re signed up . The EU’s top economy official warned today that the bloc still faces the threat of stagflation despite the temporary ceasefire in Iran. Speaking to a committee in the European Parliament, Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis raised the specter of low growth and higher inflation, predicting that GDP could be 0.6 percentage points lower and inflation as much as 1.5 percentage points higher this year and next. How to respond remains contentious. Following a request by five member states for a tax on the windfall profits that energy companies make due to price spikes, Dombrovskis said the Commission was looking into a more coordinated approach. Such an approach is “currently being assessed” and “remains a possibility,” he told lawmakers. The comments come as countries across Europe grapple with high energy costs. Protests against fuel prices have brought gridlock to cities in Ireland , France has introduced a new loan program for small businesses, while Italy has cut excise duty on fuel. Dombrovskis warned today that any measures, which include taxes on energy, “need to be temporary and targeted.” With France burdened with a persistently high deficit and Italy struggling with debt, any moves that would jeopardize the health of public finances is being closely watched in Brussels. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said today that the government still intends to keep the deficit within its target of 5% of economic output. Figures on Friday showed that Italy’s budget shortfall reached 3.1% of GDP last year, breaching the EU’s limit. Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said it was “inevitable” that the EU revises the 3% deficit ceiling on member countries. But asked today, Dombrovskis said that a condition for activating the stability and growth pact’s general escape clause — which allows count...
In this article NVDA INTC TSM GOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Intel Xeon 6 processors are shown to CNBC at Intel's advanced packaging facility in Chanfler, Ariona, on November 17, 2025. Tony Puyol Google has committed to using multiple generations of Intel central processing units in its artificial intelligence data centers, an expansion of an existing partnership. The intern...
In this article NVDA INTC TSM GOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Intel Xeon 6 processors are shown to CNBC at Intel's advanced packaging facility in Chanfler, Ariona, on November 17, 2025. Tony Puyol Google has committed to using multiple generations of Intel central processing units in its artificial intelligence data centers, an expansion of an existing partnership. The internet giant has long relied on Intel processors, dating back to its earliest server rack ambitions nearly three decades ago. Intel's newest Xeon 6 CPUs will now run AI training and inference workloads, potentially giving the chipmaker a stronger position in an AI market that's so far been dominated by Nvidia . "Their Xeon roadmap gives us confidence that we can continue to meet the growing performance and efficiency demands of our workloads," Amin Vahdat, Google's chief technologist for AI infrastructure, said in a statement Thursday. No financial terms were disclosed, nor did the companies provide a timeline for the agreement. The deal lands as the CPU takes center stage in the next phase of the AI race. Dion Harris, Nvidia 's head of AI infrastructure, told CNBC in March that CPUs are "becoming the bottleneck" as agentic workloads move compute needs beyond the graphics processing units that have ruled AI thus far. "Scaling AI requires more than accelerators — it requires balanced systems," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement about the Google deal on Thursday. Intel, which has been struggling for years to keep pace with new trends in technology, sold a 10% stake to the U.S. government in August, with the Trump administration touting the chipmaker's ability to make advanced chips on U.S. soil. The following month, Nvidia said it would purchase a $5 billion stake in Intel. Shares of Intel have nearly tripled in the past year, fueled by those investments. Intel makes the latest Xeon processor on its most advanced 18A technology at its Arizona chip fabrication plant that ope...