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Two photos taken during the Ukraine crisis seem to sum up the relative positions of Russia and the western alliance. The first is of Vladimir Putin at his now famous long table — his physical distance from visiting leaders symbolising Russia’s isolation. The second image is of Joe Biden in the middle of a group
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BUY: Tesco (TSCO) It’s all about price points at the UK’s largest grocer as inflation reduces real household budgets, writes Mark Robinson. The market gave the thumbs down to Tesco’s full-year figures. The initial markdown of the shares seems curious given a 35.8 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit for its core retail segment,
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One of the reasons I like writing Swamp Notes is that I almost always enjoy the resulting interaction with our subscribers (I’m sure you agree Rana). As readers go, you are unusually polite, thoughtful and engaging. Where you disagree, which does occasionally happen (I didn’t say you were perfect), most of you are constructive in
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Another global energy crisis has produced a series of political pledges to use energy more wisely. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought calls to embargo the oil and gas exports that support the country’s economy, and laid bare the folly of maintaining fossil-fuelled energy systems that are no longer fit for purpose. This time, world
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Two months before its armies invaded Ukraine, Russia published a set of security demands that aimed at a drastic revision of Europe’s post-cold war order. Above all, the Kremlin wanted far-reaching restrictions on Nato’s presence in central and eastern Europe, a region where 14 countries joined the US-led alliance between 1999 and 2020. Two months
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Hello from New York, where the newsroom is buzzing with the start of another earnings season — a unique one, amid the war raging in Ukraine. Comments from some of the biggest US financial players suggest Wall Street has not shied away from ESG, even as commodity producers and energy companies surged in the first
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The superbloom of southern California was the ultimate botanical hit for plant geeks and meadow fanatics. In spring 2019, after an unusually wet winter, the region’s mountains and deserts erupted with wildflower meadows of orange California poppies, violet Phacelia and vivid blue Chia sage – a surreal display of nature so vast and vivid it
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South Korea will ditch all remaining social-distancing measures next week while downgrading Covid-19 to a “Class 2” disease alongside conditions such as tuberculosis and cholera. The east Asian country’s decision to remove restrictions offers a stark contrast with neighbouring North Korea and China, both of which continue to wrestle with variations of their zero-Covid approach.
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Small protests have broken out in Shanghai as residents grow increasingly frustrated with Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, just as Beijing looks to widen national support for its commitment to eliminating the coronavirus outbreak. Shanghai residents in the Zhangjiang compound in the eastern Pudong district pleaded with police on Thursday to let them stay in their rented
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