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☆ Inside the UK training camp where Ukrainians learn to destroy Russian tanks and survive on the battlefield
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Mandoline Rutkowski | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ukrainian soldiers are crouching in a dug trench, while two men stand at the edge. Ukrainian soldiers at a British training camp. Since 2015, after Russia annexed Crimea and began the war in the east of the country, London has been training Ukrainian soldiers. Among empty residential buildings, Ukrainian soldiers learn how to liberate an occupied building. Alina, the 28-year-old soldier, and the other newly trained Ukrainian forces at the military base are ready for their return.

Persons: —, Mandoline, Alina, Putin, Rishi Sunak, James, London, Dmitry Medvedev, Alexei Leonkov, Truton, Truton Mandoline, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: London, Service, Nine, German Armed Forces, Command, EU, Patriot, Challenger, NATO, Twitter Locations: United Kingdom, Ukraine, WELT, England, Britain, Russian, British, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Germany, Berlin, Crimea, London, Ukrainian, Moscow, United States, Great Britain, Kyiv

Odey Asset Management "does not recognise the picture of the firm that has been painted" by the allegations, it told investors in a letter seen by Reuters. Within hours of the report being published, Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) began reviewing their prime broking ties with Odey Asset Management, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. "We are confident our service providers will continue to work with us," an Odey Asset Management letter said later. Industry experts consulted by Reuters said that did not necessarily indicate a major change in culture in the City, however. A London employment tribunal last month awarded a former Algebris employee over 32,000 pounds in a sex harassment claim against the asset management company.

Persons: Crispin Odey, Odey, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, MS.N, Schroders, Evan Nierman, Megan Tobias Neely, Neely, retrained, Daniel Beunza, Davide Serra, Serra, Algebris, Yasmine Chinwala, Nell Mackenzie, Sinead Cruise, Naomi Rovnick, Dhara Ranasinghe, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Odey Asset Management, Financial Times, Tortoise Media, Reuters, Odey, Wall, JPMorgan, FT, Financial, Bayes Business, Labour Party, New, Thomson Locations: City, London, Britain, New York

Prince William honored his father with a few words during Sunday night's concert - the first ever to be staged at Windsor Castle, home to monarchs for almost 1,000 years. Royals dance the night awaySeveral members of the royal family got their groove on throughout the concert. Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesMesmerizing drone displayA fabulous drone display lit up the sky over the coronation concert, earning audible gasps from the crowd below. Crowds watch illuminated drones creating a light display above Windsor Castle. But when Miss Piggy, dressed in a cerise pink evening dress and glittering necklace, recognized “Downton Abbey” star Bonneville she had other things in mind, thinking he was a real lord.

☆ Morning Bid: Markets brush off OPEC as factories stall
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike DolanRelatively calm world markets have brushed off OPEC's latest twist and focussed more squarely on stalled global manufacturing and edgy U.S.-China relations. Crude oil prices held much of Monday's pop higher on the surprise weekend production cut by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But Brent crude remains below levels seen just before the Silicon Valley Bank bust last month and is still tracking year-on-year declines of 20%. Strikingly, both short and long-term inflation expectations embedded in the Treasury markets , have barely budged since the OPEC news. McCarthy, the third-most-senior U.S. leader after the president and vice president, is due to host a meeting in California on Wednesday with Tsai.

☆ UK house price slide accelerates in March: Nationwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - British house prices slid in March at the fastest annual rate since the financial crisis, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Friday. House prices fell 3.1% year-on-year, the biggest such drop since July 2009, Nationwide said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices to fall by 2.2% from a year earlier and by 0.3% in monthly terms. Nationwide said the market was still feeling the effects of a "turning point" last year - the September economic agenda of former prime minister Liz Truss, which prompted a confidence crisis in British assets and hammered the mortgage market. Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-Dinosaurs existed and were documented before the term ‘dinosauria’ was coined in the early 1840s
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dinosaurs existed long before the word ‘dinosauria’ was coined by paleontologist Sir Richard Owen in the 19th century, paleontology experts and a spokesperson for Britain’s Royal Society told Reuters, rejecting a claim to the contrary spreading online. They were invented by the Royal Society in 1841,” the individual says, referring to the academic organisation which is Britain’s national academy of sciences. However, three experts and a spokesperson for the Royal Society told Reuters separately that these claims are false. They say Sir Richard Owen first used the term ‘Dinosauria’ in the early 1840s but that dinosaurs and their fossils existed and were documented long before. Dinosaurs existed and were documented long before they were given a universal name in 1841, paleontologists and Britain’s Royal Society say.

☆ Morning Bid: Irksome inflation won't die down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Friday's latest U.S. inflation surprise was matched in Europe on Tuesday, with French and Spanish headline inflation rates unexpectedly rising again in February - making for an uncomfortable final day of a transformative month for markets. And worryingly, market-based measures of inflation expectations are rising sharply again too. U.S. two-year 'breakeven' inflation rates , taken from inflation-protected Treasury securities, have jumped 80 basis points this month to 2.8% - wiping away the prior assumption that inflation would return to the Fed's 2% target over two years. In Europe, the five year, five-year forward inflation linked swap has jumped 20bps to a 9-month high just under 2.5%. Stock markets steadied after early losses, with U.S. futures only slightly in the red ahead of the open and month end.

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - British asset manager abrdn (ABDN.L) fell to a full-year pretax loss and reported a slide in client funds for 2022, as global markets turmoil and runaway inflation weighed on its finances. Abrdn reported a 615 million pound ($741 million) pretax loss for the year ended Dec. 31, compared to a 1.1 billion pound profit the prior year. Abrdn's assets under management fell 8% to 500 billion pounds from 542 billion pounds, while the company reported a further year of net outflows of client funds. The company also said it had agreed to sell its discretionary fund management arm abrdn Capital to Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT for 140 million pounds. The sale involves the transfer of around 6.1 billion pounds of assets and about 140 employees, the company said.

☆ Astronaut Tim Peake says Europe's space agency avoids hiring people who say they would live and die on Mars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Astronaut Tim Peake said Europe's space agency avoids hiring people who want a one-way trip to Mars. The ESA wants people who are thoughtful and aware of risk mitigation, Peake told the FT.Peake added there were hurdles to overcome to reach Mars safely. During an interview with the Financial Times, published on Monday, Peake said those types of people were not who the space agency was looking for when hiring candidates. Peake told the FT that before getting there, "we have to get over the hurdles of getting to Mars safely." "I absolutely do not see us having a problem with getting to Mars and creating safe habitats on Mars," Peake told the FT.

☆ UK economy in 'a lot better shape' than bleak figures suggest, fund manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

People walk outside the Bank of England in the City of London financial district, in London, Britain, January 26, 2023. Henry Nicholls | ReutersLONDON — The U.K. has thus far avoided a widely anticipated recession, and the signs from the business world are that the economy may be holding up better than feared, according to veteran Schroders fund manager Andy Brough. Figures published earlier this month showed that the U.K. GDP contracted by 0.5% in December, as the economy flatlined over the final quarter of 2022 to narrowly avoid a technical recession. "Underneath companies' profitability x-minus today, we're seeing pretty good dividend increases, pretty good earnings statements, so, underlying, I think the economy is in a lot better shape. 'Signs of life' in business investment Uncertainty over future relations between Westminster and Brussels have hammered business investment since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in 2016, in turn hampering productivity expansion and adding to the direct costs of Brexit on the U.K. potential growth.

☆ Three arrested after violence outside British asylum seeker hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - British police arrested three people late on Friday after a protest outside a hotel providing refuge to asylum seekers turned violent. Demonstrators threw missiles towards police officers and damaged a police vehicle following an initially peaceful protest and counter-protest in Knowsley near Liverpool in north-west England, police said. Footage from social media showed a police van set on fire and hundreds gathered at the site of the protests. Knowsley Council, the local government authority in the area, said the protests happened outside a hotel housing asylum seekers since January last year. Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Making Medical Science More Democratic
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Amy Dockser Marcus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Members of the nascent British Association for the Advancement of Science gathered in Cambridge in 1833 to discuss the state of the field. Science was an increasingly popular pursuit and was helping to expand knowledge about the natural world. One of the association’s founders, William Whewell , was ready with an answer: scientists. In the century that followed, science was transformed from a vocation to a profession. Universities became the central venue for the pursuit of science.

☆ Global investors losing appetite for Chinese government bonds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Summer Zhen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Signs of a peak in developed market rates are another reason why China's bonds, yielding roughly 3% on 10-year investments, are less appealing, given the potential greater capital gains elsewhere. "If investors are saying that I want to trade the China recovery, the answer is not Chinese government bonds (CGBs). "China bonds served as a very good type of diversifier, in particular over the past 3 years," said Pang. But as global rates hit a peak, it made sense to plough limited cash into better yielding markets, he said. ($1 = 6.7969 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Summer Zhen Additional reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Shipping Platform Freightos Goes Public in SPAC Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Online freight booking platform Freightos Ltd. started trading shares publicly on Thursday through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, just as the booming shipping demand that helped fuel the digital startup’s growth shows signs of weakening. The company has seen booming business during the pandemic for its platform as shipping demand skyrocketed while tight capacity and supply-chain disruptions sent freight rates soaring. The Freightos platform operates like an Expedia or Travelocity for freight, allowing companies with goods to ship to compare prices and book space on planes and ships. In a note to new shareholders on Freightos’ website Thursday, Zvi Schreiber, the company’s chief executive and chairman, recommended that investors view Freightos as a long-term investment. Ezra Gardner, Gesher’s chief executive and a Freightos board member, said the SPAC gave Freightos more control than an IPO over whom the company’s main investors would be.

☆ Take Five: Staring at the ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

All told, companies worth more than half the S&P 500's market value are reporting results over the next two weeks. Stock markets can predict the global PMI levels, tending to bounce ahead of a sustainable rise of the index. On Wednesday, watch out for Australian and New Zealand inflation data as well, with the RBNZ pondering how much more to tighten, and the RBA wondering whether it's time to pause. Reuters Graphics5/LONDON CALLINGLondon's bluechip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) is poised to launch a new attempt to scale an all-time high in days to come. British public sector borrowing numbers, producer price inflation and PMI data are all due as well ahead of a Bank of England meeting the following week.

☆ JPMorgan, Standard Chartered win approval to expand in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Standard Chartered won Chinese regulatory approval on Thursday to expand operations in China, as Beijing encourages expansion by foreign companies after lifting its restrictive COVID policies. British bank Standard Chartered (STAN.L) won an approval to set up a new securities brokerage unit in China also on Thursday, the regulator said. Canada's Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) in November received regulatory approval to take full control of its Chinese mutual fund venture. U.S. asset manager Neuberger Berman in the same month won approval to set up a new fund unit in China. "China is certainly going to be bit of a long slog," Alexander said, referring to China's lengthy approval process for foreign companies.

☆ Schroders gets nod to set up China fund unit as Beijing speeds up approvals
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Schroders has obtained Chinese regulatory approval to set up a wholly-owned mutual fund unit in China, as Beijing accelerates opening up its giant financial sector to foreigners. Last month, U.S. asset manager Neuberger Berman celebrated the opening of its China retail fund business, while Fidelity International was granted a mutual fund licence in the country. Authorities have also recently allowed Canada's Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) to take full control of its Chinese mutual fund venture. Setting up a wholly-owned retail fund business in China is testament to Schroder's long-term commitment to the country - a key component of the group's global strategy, the company said in a statement. China scrapped foreign ownership caps in its $3.7 trillion mutual fund industry in 2019, and BlackRock become the first foreign asset manager to open a fully-owned retail fund business in the country.

☆ Four Migrants Dead as Overcrowded Boat Starts to Sink Crossing English Channel
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( David Luhnow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—At least four people died and more than 40 were rescued after a small boat crowded with migrants began to sink in the frigid waters of the English Channel, prompting the U.K. and French governments to launch a joint rescue mission. The deadly incident came a day after the U.K. government outlined a new plan to try to stop a surge in migrants crossing the channel on small boats, a wave of illegal immigration that has overwhelmed the British asylum system.

☆ Football or soccer? It’s complicated …
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Allison Rosen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Football, or soccer, has been around for centuries with its roots dating back over 2,000 years ago, but it was not until 1863 that England’s Football Association (the FA) cemented the sport’s full name of Association Football when they established the game’s first rules. Courtesy of U.S. Soccer and National Soccer Hall of FameBy the time association football and its round ball made its way across the Atlantic, American Football was already the popular game claiming the name of football. Unlike association football, American football is a game played mostly with one’s hands and uses an oval ball. Fast forward to 1974 and the United States Soccer Football Association (USSFA) – the sport’s governing body in the US – distanced itself from the word football by changing its name to the United States Soccer Federation, commonly referred to as the USSF (US Soccer). In places where football can be ambiguous, soccer is usefully precise.”In 1994, soccer fever reached a highpoint as the US hosted the World Cup.

☆ Credito Real in talks with bondholders as bankruptcy ruling looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Troubled Mexican non-bank lender Credito Real (CREAL.MX) is in talks with foreign bondholders, prompting creditors to delay their request for an involuntary U.S. bankruptcy hearing, according to two sources close to the matter. Credito Real collapsed after it defaulted on a 170 million Swiss franc ($176 million) bond in February, prompting bonds to shed 99% of their value. The person added that while the talks did not constitute negotiations yet, there was chance they could develop into them. Credito Real, which offered payroll lending and unsecured credit, did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The default by Credito Real, along with AlphaCredit and Unifin (UNIFINA.MX), have made banks less willing to finance non-bank lenders, analysts say, prompting fears about the non-bank sector in Mexico.

☆ Russia's Lavrov went to hospital for 'checkup': Indonesia official
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited and later left a Bali hospital ahead of the Group of 20 summit being held on the island, Indonesian authorities said Monday. Four Indonesian government and medical officials earlier told The Associated Press that Lavrov was treated at the hospital in the provincial capital, Denpasar. Lavrov is Russia’s longest-serving foreign minister since Soviet times, when Andrei Gromyko, nicknamed “Mr Nyet” in the West for his uncompromising approach, held the post for 28 years. Before becoming foreign minister, Lavrov served as Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov repeatedly dismissed U.S. and British assertions that Putin was preparing to order an invasion.

☆ Chilean authorities find body of missing British astronomer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SANTIAGO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Chilean authorities on Thursday said they found the body of a British astronomer who went missing in mid-September at an observatory in the north of the country, where he had arrived for a scientific research visit. Authorities conducted an extensive search for Thomas Marsh, of the University of Warwick, across a vast area of the La Silla observatory, located in an arid, mountainous area 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of Chile's capital, Santiago. "After an intense search by a multidisciplinary team police officers (...) found the lifeless body of an astronomer missing since September 16," the police unit in the northern region of Coquimbo said on its Twitter account. The La Silla observatory is located on the southern edge of the Atacama Desert, about 2,400 meters (7,874 feet) above sea level. Northern Chile is a global hub for astronomical observation due to the quality of its skies.

☆ Sterling slips as dollar edges higher, with all eyes on U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Harry Robertson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The British pound fell on Tuesday as the dollar rose, with investors focused on U.S. inflation figures and the midterm elections. Sterling was down 0.23% against the dollar to $1.1489 in the morning session in Europe, having earlier fallen more than 0.5%. The fall came as the dollar index rose 0.1% to 110.28. Sharma said he thought the dollar had further to rise, meaning the pound should fall. Analysts said the British government's fiscal statement, due next week, could trigger volatility in sterling and other British assets.

☆ Russia Blames Ukraine, U.K. for Collapse of Grain Deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Alan Cullison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia blamed the U.K. and Ukraine for the collapse of the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports Sunday, as Russia said it recovered wreckage from a drone strike on the occupied Black Sea port of Sevastopol. Moscow said the wreckage proves the Saturday attack was mounted with British assistance, a claim the U.K. denies.

☆ Akshata Murty: Rishi Sunak’s wife is a software heiress who’s richer than royalty
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And thanks largely to his wife Murty, Sunak will be one of the richest people to reach the top of the political establishment. Murty has a 0.93% stake in her father’s Indian software company, Infosys, worth approximately $715 million. Even Queen Elizabeth wasn’t as rich – the Sunday Times put the late monarch’s net worth at £370 million (about $420 million) before she died. In April, it was reported that Murty enjoyed a tax status in the UK that meant she could legally avoid to pay taxes on her foreign earnings. “I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family.

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