Conflicts over land and resources have deepened owing to climate breakdown, deforestation and population growth Beneath the shade of the wide-spreading branches of a neem tree, five young gang members wearing camouflage and beanies and cradling AK47 rifles took refuge from the harsh midday sun. They passed around cold bottles of water and a popular energy drink called Fearless. To their left, a dr...
Conflicts over land and resources have deepened owing to climate breakdown, deforestation and population growth Beneath the shade of the wide-spreading branches of a neem tree, five young gang members wearing camouflage and beanies and cradling AK47 rifles took refuge from the harsh midday sun. They passed around cold bottles of water and a popular energy drink called Fearless. To their left, a dreadlocked teenager with his own rifle rested on one of three motorcycles parked on the sparse grass. To their right, another teenager sat with his back to the others, rolling a spliff. Abu ‘Abu Radde’ Bello, the leader of a gang in Katsina state Continue reading...
Bonnie has two days to get from south London to her grandparents’ house in Cornwall before lockdown in this super low budget British comedy No offence to any Clives reading, but the intentionally naff title of this film does not inspire confidence – and turns out to be indicative of the cheerful ridiculousness of this super low budget British comedy. It is about a trio of twentysomethings on a roa...
Bonnie has two days to get from south London to her grandparents’ house in Cornwall before lockdown in this super low budget British comedy No offence to any Clives reading, but the intentionally naff title of this film does not inspire confidence – and turns out to be indicative of the cheerful ridiculousness of this super low budget British comedy. It is about a trio of twentysomethings on a road trip to Cornwall at the start of one of the Covid lockdowns; from the outtakes and behind the scenes clips that run over the end credits, everyone involved clearly had a blast making it. But that enjoyment doesn’t spill on to the screen – and the whimsical songs accompanied by a ukulele wear thin in less than half a minute. Eleanor May Blackburn is Bonnie, who has two days to get to her grandparents’ house in Cornwall from south London before lockdown. Just as she is about to hit the road, Bonnie meets homeless busker Clive (Michael Kodi Farrow) and offers to buy him a kebab. But when her credit card is declined at the till, she rushes out without paying, leaving Clive to perform a stickup with his ukulele case to the bemusement of the kebab shop owner. Continue reading...
It’s not enough to wish for growth; economic success requires a sense of purpose, according to this academic When Keir Starmer won a landslide Labour majority promising to pursue five governing “missions”, the high-profile leftwing economist Mariana Mazzucato was credited as an inspiration. Two years on, her bracing new book helps shed light on why Labour in power has struggled to project the sens...
It’s not enough to wish for growth; economic success requires a sense of purpose, according to this academic When Keir Starmer won a landslide Labour majority promising to pursue five governing “missions”, the high-profile leftwing economist Mariana Mazzucato was credited as an inspiration. Two years on, her bracing new book helps shed light on why Labour in power has struggled to project the sense of direction that “mission-led government”, as Mazzucato calls it, requires. Synthesising and extending her earlier work, here she proposes “a new economics of collective action around the common good”. From this perspective, the economy is not a concatenation of rapacious independent forces, to be contained and offset by public policy, but a project – or rather a series of projects – with direction and purpose. Finance should be turned to the benefit of these collective goals instead of chasing short-term returns, she argues, and the creativity of corporations channelled to the public good. Continue reading...
To better highlight the whole field among Europe’s elite, we chose an XI that couldn’t feature more than one player from any one team This year we are picking a team of the season with a difference: I am allowed only one player per team. Of course, as finalists Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal have players with claims to all of these positions, so apologies to Willian Pacho and Declan Rice, among o...
To better highlight the whole field among Europe’s elite, we chose an XI that couldn’t feature more than one player from any one team This year we are picking a team of the season with a difference: I am allowed only one player per team. Of course, as finalists Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal have players with claims to all of these positions, so apologies to Willian Pacho and Declan Rice, among others. But what this format does allow for is an overall view of the Champions League season that was. *** Continue reading...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter We talk about the commodity supply chain all the time. We talk about the ports and the trucks and the ships and all of that. But there's another dimension to moving commodities all around the world, which is actually paying for it. Who funds the oil tanker and what happens when ...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter We talk about the commodity supply chain all the time. We talk about the ports and the trucks and the ships and all of that. But there's another dimension to moving commodities all around the world, which is actually paying for it. Who funds the oil tanker and what happens when that tanker is, say, stuck in the Strait of Hormuz? Commodity finance underpins production, transportation and storage of a wide variety of the things that make the modern world, but you tend to only hear about it when things go wrong. Today we speak with Lewis Hart, head of corporate advisory and banking at Brown Brothers Harriman. We discuss how the business of commodity finance actually works, how risk is priced, what makes for a good or bad warehouse, and the difference between financing a commodity you can hedge (like oil) versus one where's there's no futures market (like cashews).
We talk about the commodity supply chain all the time. We talk about the ports and the trucks and the ships and all of that. But there’s another dimension to moving commodities all around the world, which is actually paying for it. Who funds the oil tanker and what happens when that tanker is, say, stuck in the Strait of Hormuz? Commodity finance underpins production, transportation and storage of...
We talk about the commodity supply chain all the time. We talk about the ports and the trucks and the ships and all of that. But there’s another dimension to moving commodities all around the world, which is actually paying for it. Who funds the oil tanker and what happens when that tanker is, say, stuck in the Strait of Hormuz? Commodity finance underpins production, transportation and storage of a wide variety of the things that make the modern world, but you tend to only hear about it when th
Euro-area consumers’ expectations for inflation in three years fell slightly in April, offering some relief to the European Central Bank , though policymakers are still likely to raise interest rates next week. Prices were seen rising 2.9% over the period — down from 3% in March, a monthly survey by the ECB showed Monday. That’s still a bit below the 3.1% peak reached at the height of the last pri...
Euro-area consumers’ expectations for inflation in three years fell slightly in April, offering some relief to the European Central Bank , though policymakers are still likely to raise interest rates next week. Prices were seen rising 2.9% over the period — down from 3% in March, a monthly survey by the ECB showed Monday. That’s still a bit below the 3.1% peak reached at the height of the last price spike in October 2022. Expectations for the next 12 months remained unchanged at 4%, while the outlook for five years held at 2.4%, above the ECB’s 2% medium-term inflation target. The data come after Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel warned Monday that the risk of inflation expectations becoming de-anchored is rising, meaning the ECB can’t ignore the energy-led surge in prices triggered by the Iran conflict. Last week, the German official called the rise in March’s survey numbers for the medium term and the rightward shift in the distribution “ worrisome .” The latter is widely seen as an early sign that expectations could shift away from the 2% target. Officials want to stop the jolts in energy markets spilling over into consumer prices more broadly. Data on Tuesday are likely to show another uptick in euro-zone inflation, with analysts estimating a reading of 3.2%. Some policymakers also worry about the war’s impact on economic activity, with the ECB’s poll showing increased pessimism. Respondents saw gross domestic product over the next 12 months contracting by 2.2%, compared with -2.1% in March. Expectations for the unemployment rate one year ahead decreased to 11.2% from 11.3%. ECB’s Schnabel Sees Risk of Unanchored Inflation Views From War Inflation Above ECB Comfort Zone in Top Economies Backs Hike Euro-Zone Consumer Price Expectations May Rise More, ECB Warns
While Micron has already delivered monster gains for investors, the semiconductor leader still looks poised for further upside as AI spending continues to reshape the memory chip market.
While Micron has already delivered monster gains for investors, the semiconductor leader still looks poised for further upside as AI spending continues to reshape the memory chip market.
While Micron has already delivered monster gains for investors, the semiconductor leader still looks poised for further upside as AI spending continues to reshape the memory chip market.
While Micron has already delivered monster gains for investors, the semiconductor leader still looks poised for further upside as AI spending continues to reshape the memory chip market.
Manufacturing PMI in Germany decreased to 50.10 points in May from 51.40 points in April of 2026. " Business expectations have steadied, recovering somewhat from April's low, perhaps on hopes of a deal being reached to end the Middle East war. However, even if a peace agreement is reached and we start to see the Strait of Hormuz open up, there's still going to be disruption and heightened inflatio...
Manufacturing PMI in Germany decreased to 50.10 points in May from 51.40 points in April of 2026. " Business expectations have steadied, recovering somewhat from April's low, perhaps on hopes of a deal being reached to end the Middle East war. However, even if a peace agreement is reached and we start to see the Strait of Hormuz open up, there's still going to be disruption and heightened inflationary pressure in the system for some time, said Phil Smith, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. More on Germany: EWG: A Cautiously Optimistic Stance On German Equities Seems Sensible EWQ: France An Excellent Diversifier, Here's Why EUR/USD, GBP/USD And Dollar Index Overview - The U.S. Dollar Rallies Back After CPI, Is The Correction Over? France's May manufacturing PMI drops to 49.70 from 52.80 in April German retail sales dip 0.3% in April, beating forecasts despite four-month slump
Liu Jianyi on trial for trading on nonpublic information. Photo: Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court A former Huatai Asset Management Co. Ltd. investment manager has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined 21 million yuan ($3.1 million) for trading on nonpublic information, according to a Shanghai court. Liu Jianyi used nonpublic information from his role in Huatai’s equity investm...
Liu Jianyi on trial for trading on nonpublic information. Photo: Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court A former Huatai Asset Management Co. Ltd. investment manager has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined 21 million yuan ($3.1 million) for trading on nonpublic information, according to a Shanghai court. Liu Jianyi used nonpublic information from his role in Huatai’s equity investment department between 2021 and 2023 to coordinate stock trading through associate accounts, the court said.