Big investment in coaches and kit – £5.8m in the last cycle – has paid off despite lack of facilities and snow at home According to UK Sport, 3,500 people have signed up to audition for their skeleton Talent ID programme in the past three days, an extraordinary surge of interest in what has never been what you might call the most accessible sport. It is all after Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won...
Big investment in coaches and kit – £5.8m in the last cycle – has paid off despite lack of facilities and snow at home According to UK Sport, 3,500 people have signed up to audition for their skeleton Talent ID programme in the past three days, an extraordinary surge of interest in what has never been what you might call the most accessible sport. It is all after Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won Great Britain’s 10th and 11th Olympic medals in the sport, continuing a lineage that reaches back to 1928, when it was the winter sport of choice for the most reckless of a set of aristocratic adventurers. The 11th Earl of Northesk won bronze ahead of his teammate, and the pre-race favourite, Lord Brabazon of Tara. It is some legacy. After a century of competition, skeleton is the only Winter Olympic sport in which Britain lead the all-time medal table. Continue reading...
Anxiety about AI displacing businesses has rattled markets, shaking industries from software and wealth management to logistics. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Bloxham joins Vonnie Quinn and Norah Mulinda to discuss what to expect going forward. He speaks on "Bloomberg Markets." (Source: Bloomberg)
Anxiety about AI displacing businesses has rattled markets, shaking industries from software and wealth management to logistics. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Bloxham joins Vonnie Quinn and Norah Mulinda to discuss what to expect going forward. He speaks on "Bloomberg Markets." (Source: Bloomberg)
Visitors have started filling campsites along the seashore in Sai Kung near Hong Kong’s famed MacLehose Trail for the Lunar New Year break, with officers patrolling to monitor and prevent littering following previous complaints. At Sai Wan Beach, a picturesque spot popular with tourists on mainland Chinese social media, around two dozen visitors were seen camping and swimming on Monday. Among the ...
Visitors have started filling campsites along the seashore in Sai Kung near Hong Kong’s famed MacLehose Trail for the Lunar New Year break, with officers patrolling to monitor and prevent littering following previous complaints. At Sai Wan Beach, a picturesque spot popular with tourists on mainland Chinese social media, around two dozen visitors were seen camping and swimming on Monday. Among the campers were Jiang Li, 24, and Wu Handeng, 23, from Guangdong province, who had pitched their yellow...
A defamation case by Malaysia’s telecoms regulator against an Australian resident in Thailand was formally withdrawn from a Thai court on Monday after mediation, the sued man and his lawyer said. The case has caused concern among free speech advocates because it was seen as a form of cross-border repression. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or MCMC, had already acknowledged ...
A defamation case by Malaysia’s telecoms regulator against an Australian resident in Thailand was formally withdrawn from a Thai court on Monday after mediation, the sued man and his lawyer said. The case has caused concern among free speech advocates because it was seen as a form of cross-border repression. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or MCMC, had already acknowledged in a statement earlier this month that it had reached a settlement agreement on January 12, which...
In an age in which every gripe is highlighted and performative fury is good business, there is an argument that long-termism has become impossible Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here Last week, Thomas Frank was sacked as manager of Tottenham and Sean Dyche was sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest . Both decisions were entirely explicable in their own terms. Frank had won only two of his...
In an age in which every gripe is highlighted and performative fury is good business, there is an argument that long-termism has become impossible Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here Last week, Thomas Frank was sacked as manager of Tottenham and Sean Dyche was sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest . Both decisions were entirely explicable in their own terms. Frank had won only two of his previous 17 league games and Dyche only two of his previous 10. Both saw the improvement of West Ham under Nuno Espírito Santo and felt the drag of potential relegation. When fear sets in and something has to change, football tends to sacrifice the manager. Excluding caretakers and interims, their departures take the number of Premier League managers to leave their jobs this season to eight, with Oliver Glasner to come at the end of the season, when Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola are also out of contract. Last season there were 10 departures, in 2023-24 nine, in 2022-23 an absurd 18. To give a little context, in the first season of the Premier League, 1992-93, there were only four changes (five if you include Dave Webb at Chelsea, who was effectively an interim, although he did not officially have that title). The average life span of a Premier League manager has dropped from about four seasons to about a season and a half. This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com , and he’ll answer the best in a future edition. Continue reading...
Electricite de France SA said growing solar and wind generation was increasing equipment wear and maintenance costs at its nuclear reactors, which are forced to reduce output when power demand is insufficient. The warning, contained in a 60-page report published Monday, highlights the growing challenges nuclear plant operators face in coping with subsidized renewable energy flooding grids across W...
Electricite de France SA said growing solar and wind generation was increasing equipment wear and maintenance costs at its nuclear reactors, which are forced to reduce output when power demand is insufficient. The warning, contained in a 60-page report published Monday, highlights the growing challenges nuclear plant operators face in coping with subsidized renewable energy flooding grids across Western Europe, while electricity demand remains below pre-pandemic levels. “The increased flexibility required of EDF’s generation assets is notably leading to higher maintenance costs for all these facilities,” the French utility said. That was “mainly the result of the expansion of renewable generation sources - solar and wind - in France and across Europe, against a backdrop of stagnant electricity consumption.” The report echoes findings by grid operator RTE in December that France will face an electricity glut for years, leading to increased curtailment of nuclear and renewable generation. As a result, the government last week scaled back targets for solar and wind capacity, and pledged to draft a plan to boost demand for electric cars, industrial furnaces, heat pumps, and data centers. Read more: France Cuts Renewable Growth Plans, Still Angers Le Pen (1) While the power glut is pushing prices lower, which is good news for users, it’s complicating EDF’s efforts to finance plans for six new reactors to replace some the country’s aging units. A weak growth in demand may eventually create a €15-billion ($17.8 billion) shortfall in annual revenues of generators that don’t benefit from public support, RTE said in its December report . The volume of nuclear modulation — when a reactor reduces output or halts because of excess supply, to save fuel, or to help stabilize grid frequency — has roughly doubled since 2019 to 33 terawatt-hours in 2025, largely due to solar capacity additions. That compares with total nuclear generation of 373 terawatt-hours last year, and curtailme...
Offsetting Charli xcx, Chaney’s take on 19th-century ballad Dark Eyed Sailor accompanies Margot Robbie on the moors – but it’s just a tiny part of her culture-crossing, history-vaulting musical catalogue An hour into Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights , Margot Robbie is in a gauzy wedding dress, gliding forlornly across the moors towards the man her character feels she has to marry. A lone female...
Offsetting Charli xcx, Chaney’s take on 19th-century ballad Dark Eyed Sailor accompanies Margot Robbie on the moors – but it’s just a tiny part of her culture-crossing, history-vaulting musical catalogue An hour into Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights , Margot Robbie is in a gauzy wedding dress, gliding forlornly across the moors towards the man her character feels she has to marry. A lone female English voice appears to accompany her, high and pure against the buzzing drone of a harmonium, singing about a woman roaming alone, and a man who, for “seven years, left the land”, before his eventual return. Long before Emerald Fennell found Olivia Chaney’s version of 19th-century ballad the Dark Eyed Sailor online, Chaney was preparing to sing it for a 2013 live session on Mark Radcliffe’s BBC Radio 2 folk show, in the midst of her own Brontë-esque love triangle. “I was at the beginning of my relationship with the man who is now my husband and the father of my two children – he nearly married someone else, and I nearly had kids with someone else.” Continue reading...
He left school at 15 and worked as a scaffolder. Then success on New Faces launched him to stardom – and he’s been a panto and musicals sensation ever since. So what made him write a comedy about two men waiting? Gary Wilmot has had many lives. A children’s TV presenter turned variety show host turned panto marvel turned musicals sensation, Wilmot has now turned his hand back to playwriting. His L...
He left school at 15 and worked as a scaffolder. Then success on New Faces launched him to stardom – and he’s been a panto and musicals sensation ever since. So what made him write a comedy about two men waiting? Gary Wilmot has had many lives. A children’s TV presenter turned variety show host turned panto marvel turned musicals sensation, Wilmot has now turned his hand back to playwriting. His London debut is a comedy about two men, waiting. One is chill, the other restless; both become bonded by the wait. Very Samuel Beckett, isn’t it? The men could be Vladimir and Estragon, no? “Funny you should say that,” Wilmot says, sitting at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, the theatre above a pub in London that is staging While They Were Waiting, in which he also stars, opposite Steve Furst. Soon after the play was commissioned, he was asked if he had been influenced by Beckett’s existential play, Waiting for Godot. He’d never seen it but it just so happened there was a production in the West End starring Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati. Wilmot went, saw it and left nonplussed. “I thought, ‘There’s a reason I’ve never seen this. I haven’t got a clue what’s going on.’” Continue reading...
Move could mean fewer free exhibitions and paid-for shows and more expensive tickets The National Gallery is to make significant cuts in the face of an £8.2m deficit in the coming year, which could mean fewer free exhibitions and ticketed shows, less international borrowing of artworks and more expensive tickets. As a result of considerably increased running costs and stagnant income, the gallery ...
Move could mean fewer free exhibitions and paid-for shows and more expensive tickets The National Gallery is to make significant cuts in the face of an £8.2m deficit in the coming year, which could mean fewer free exhibitions and ticketed shows, less international borrowing of artworks and more expensive tickets. As a result of considerably increased running costs and stagnant income, the gallery has said it will be looking spending cuts in areas “such as public programmes, and activities where, for a number of reasons beyond our control, we can no longer justify their costs”. Continue reading...
Andrii Dodonov/iStock via Getty Images Introduction OFS Credit ( OCCI ) is an externally managed closed-end fund, focusing on CLO equity and debt. While the CEF does contain some CLO debt, the very vast majority of the assets consists of CLO equity , as OFS Credit focuses on the higher-yielding securities. The weighted average effective yield of the investments was approximately 13%. Data by YChar...
Andrii Dodonov/iStock via Getty Images Introduction OFS Credit ( OCCI ) is an externally managed closed-end fund, focusing on CLO equity and debt. While the CEF does contain some CLO debt, the very vast majority of the assets consists of CLO equity , as OFS Credit focuses on the higher-yielding securities. The weighted average effective yield of the investments was approximately 13%. Data by YCharts A look at the full-year results During its financial year, OFS Credit had to navigate a tougher credit environment as Morningstar reported the total default rates doubled from 0.73% to 1.46%, backing off from a multi-year high at 1.50% at the end of the third quarter in the calendar year 2025. Meanwhile, the CLO market is still booming as the total amount of private credit offerings increased by a high single digit percentage during the year. Looking at the FY 2025 results, we see OFS reported an interest income of $44.2M, while the total amount of operating expenses came in at almost $22M. Approximately 1/3 rd of the total operating expenses are related to the interest expenses, with the combination of incentive fees and base management fees making up about half of the expenses. OCCI Investor Relations This resulted in a net investment income of $22.6M, and divided over the weighted average share count throughout the year, this represented a NII/share of around 88 cents. A good result, but the statement of operations also shows there was a $3.6M realized loss, while the total fair value of its portfolio decreased by almost $29M. As OFS Credit is a ‘serial ATM issuer,’ its share count continued to increase throughout the year. At the end of October, OFS had just over 28M shares outstanding, resulting in a NAV/share of $5.46. That's, of course, almost four months ago, and in a more recent update, OFS Credit has disclosed the current NAV/share is approximately $4.31-4.41 . At the end of October, the balance sheet contained $271M in assets, backed by $114M in preferred stoc...
Giddy EU Elites Gush Over Newsom & AOC's Brave New World (Same As The Broken Old World Order) Authored by Jonathan Turley, This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) joined the many Californians now seeking their fortune elsewhere. The difference is that Newsom is planning to come back to California, even as billionaires, investors, and companies flee his state for greener pastures. Newsom and De...
Giddy EU Elites Gush Over Newsom & AOC's Brave New World (Same As The Broken Old World Order) Authored by Jonathan Turley, This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) joined the many Californians now seeking their fortune elsewhere. The difference is that Newsom is planning to come back to California, even as billionaires, investors, and companies flee his state for greener pastures. Newsom and Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) were selling a brave new world that looked a lot like the broken old world. It was an ironic moment. They were addressing countries at the Munich Security Conference that had previously destroyed their economies through socialist and far-left policies. The rush of liberal Democratic officeholders to Europe was telling. A new poll shows that a record 58 percent of voters believe their party is “too liberal.” But Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez found a welcoming audience in Europe. The global elite gushed over Ocasio-Cortez and sat enraptured as she rattled off socialist platitudes. That included New York Times correspondent Katrin Bennhold, who thrilled the audience by treating it as a given that Ocasio-Cortez will run for president. Both Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez spoke of returning the U.S. to the good graces of the global elite. Newsom assured the Europeans that Trump’s reign is temporary, and that the U.S. will soon enough dismantle the “wrecking ball” that the administration has taken to the EU. Newsom offered his leadership and his state as the model, proclaiming that “California is a stable and reliable partner” for Europe . The model includes high taxes, massive spending programs and greater bureaucratic regulations — precisely the policies that have driven the European economy into its current stagnation. In other words, Democrats were in Europe to offer precisely what Newsom outwardly condemned: “ doubling down on stupid .” When not fumbling with security questions about issues such as Taiwan, Ocasio-Cortez was demandin...
It’s on handbags, in flower arrangements and is even being used in a Burberry campaign. Just how did this humble brassica become the hottest new trend? Name: Cabbagecore. Age: Ready for 2026. Continue reading...
It’s on handbags, in flower arrangements and is even being used in a Burberry campaign. Just how did this humble brassica become the hottest new trend? Name: Cabbagecore. Age: Ready for 2026. Continue reading...
Updates from Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Start time is 7pm local/12.30am AEDT/1.30pm GMT Sign up for The Spin newsletter | And email James 4th over: Australia 38-0 (Head 23, Marsh 13) Head looks in ominous touch, he swats Theekshana wide of long on for four. Six off the over. 3rd over: Australia 32-0 (Head 19, Marsh 12) Oh no, Matheesha Pathirana - ‘Baby Malinga’ as he is nicknamed aft...
Updates from Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Start time is 7pm local/12.30am AEDT/1.30pm GMT Sign up for The Spin newsletter | And email James 4th over: Australia 38-0 (Head 23, Marsh 13) Head looks in ominous touch, he swats Theekshana wide of long on for four. Six off the over. 3rd over: Australia 32-0 (Head 19, Marsh 12) Oh no, Matheesha Pathirana - ‘Baby Malinga’ as he is nicknamed after his slingy action resembles the Sri Lankan great – pulls his hamstring in the middle of the over. It doesn’t look good for the bowler who is grimacing in pain. He has to go off mid over, sorry news for him and his side. Captain Dasun Shanaka has to step up and bowl the final two deliveries, his first is a drag down that Head whisltes through point for four. Finishes with a dot but trouble for the home side. Continue reading...
A Hong Kong coach driver has been charged after his vehicle crashed on the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, leaving 17 passengers with minor injuries on Sunday. Hong Kong police said on Monday that the man, surnamed Lee, 63, had been charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. Police said the bus had been travelling along the bridge towards Hong Kong shortly before 2pm on Sunday when it ran i...
A Hong Kong coach driver has been charged after his vehicle crashed on the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, leaving 17 passengers with minor injuries on Sunday. Hong Kong police said on Monday that the man, surnamed Lee, 63, had been charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. Police said the bus had been travelling along the bridge towards Hong Kong shortly before 2pm on Sunday when it ran into the railings. Emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene and confirmed that...
Novo Nordisk stock sinks 21% in a month as weak 2026 guidance, slowing semaglutide sales, and rising competition overshadow relatively strong Q4 results.
Novo Nordisk stock sinks 21% in a month as weak 2026 guidance, slowing semaglutide sales, and rising competition overshadow relatively strong Q4 results.