US secretary of state Antony Blinken will travel to China this month, in the latest sign that Beijing and Washington are beginning to stabilise a turbulent bilateral relationship that had sunk to the lowest point in decades. Blinken is expected to visit within the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans. Blinken
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It is a quiet way to run a revolution. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, usually a source of constant source of pronouncements, commitments, strategies and statements about tackling climate change, has been borderline mute this year. Gfanz, as it’s known, billed as a “watershed” by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney when
The writer is a science commentator Some people covet a rare species of blind Slovenian cave beetle — not because they are enchanted by entomology but because they long for a specimen of Anophthalmus hitleri, better known as the Hitler beetle. The bug, named in the 1930s in homage to the then German Führer, is
The writer is author of ‘Black Wave’ A dictator invades his smaller neighbour and is placed under sanctions. The American president tries to rally a coalition against the invader and in support of democracy. A foreign army withdraws from Afghanistan and the Taliban rise to power. The Saudis and the Iranians announce a surprise reconciliation. The
The writer is senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics Signs that newly re-elected Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is willing to move away from unorthodox economic policies has led to an increase in investor optimism towards his country. These developments are encouraging but investors should not underestimate the size of the adjustment that Turkey’s
In January 2020, Sir Keir Starmer was asked by ITV News what he thought of Jeremy Corbyn, who was then the Labour party’s outgoing leader: “He’s a colleague and a friend,” he replied. The message Starmer offered in the leadership contest to replace Corbyn was clear: that he would offer a continuation of leftwing economic
UK hopes of securing a quick deal to deepen digital trade ties with the US have run into the diplomatic sands amid growing resistance to such pacts in Washington, technology industry insiders have warned. The sector’s frustrations emerged as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed in Washington for a meeting with President Joe Biden at which
Morgan Stanley rainmaker Rob Kindler is leaving to join elite law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after 17 years with the Wall Street investment bank where he advised on some of the largest-ever corporate takeovers. Paul Weiss said Kindler was joining as a partner and would chair its mergers and acquisitions practice. He
The US securities regulator requested a temporary freeze on assets linked to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, one day after it sued the company on more than a dozen charges. In a filing late on Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission requested a temporary asset freeze on several Binance-linked entities, as well as repatriation
The UK Cabinet Office will tell central government departments to remove all surveillance equipment made by Chinese companies including Dahua and Hikvision from sensitive sites in an attempt to limit potential intelligence-gathering by Beijing. Announcing the decision on Tuesday, the Cabinet Office said the government was “committing to publish a timeline for the removal of
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will arrive in Washington on Wednesday pledging to build an “economic alliance” with the US to counter global threats, while trying to paper over trade tensions between the two sides. Downing Street admitted before the visit that Britain had given up on seeking a free trade deal with the US
The owner of the Telegraph Media Group has been threatened with receivership by lender Lloyds Banking Group over a longstanding debt owed by the parent company controlled by the Barclay family. AlixPartners, the restructuring group, has been lined up to act as receivers of Press Acquisitions, which controls the Telegraph newspapers, if Lloyds decides to take
The future is Asian, argues the respected analyst, Parag Khanna. But this piece of conventional wisdom needs unwrapping. Geographically, Asia is no more a continent than is Europe. “Asia” itself is not even an Asian idea: Europeans invented it. Asians did not conceive of themselves as being part of a single continental entity. The region
Golf’s US-based PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway league LIV have agreed to join forces, ending a long-running feud. The PGA Tour and Riyadh’s Public Investment Fund have agreed to create a jointly managed entity to house their commercial operations, and intend to cease their pending litigation. The European Tour has also signed up
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam and power plant that unleashed floodwater across southern Ukraine is likely to limit Kyiv’s options in its incipient counter-offensive, according to military officials and analysts. Moscow and Kyiv traded blame on Tuesday for the demise of the dam, which spanned the Dnipro river and is located in Russian-occupied Kherson
Ilona was driving through Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday when she heard news of the damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam. She panicked — her mother still lived across the frontline, in Russian-occupied territory close to the river. “She doesn’t walk well. She never leaves her yard,” Ilona said. Her mother lives two
Try to get your head around the magnitude of American power in 1955. The US had set up Bretton Woods and Nato. It had revived Japan and western Europe. It led mass culture (Hollywood, Elvis Presley) and high art (Abstract Expressionism, Saul Bellow). It had a monstrous share of global output. It had leaders as
European stocks fell on Tuesday as investors digested fresh data signalling a slowdown in the eurozone economy, ahead of the bloc’s monetary policy decision next week. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 was down 0.1 per cent, while France’s Cac 40 fell 0.3 per cent and London’s FTSE 100 gave up 0.4 per cent, extending losses from
The venture capital giant Sequoia Capital is splitting its China business into a separate entity amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. The renowned Silicon Valley firm, which made bets on fast-growing tech companies such as TikTok parent ByteDance and Alibaba, said on Tuesday it will run its Chinese business as a “completely independent” entity
Prince Harry told the High Court in London on Tuesday that his civil lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers was intended to hold some “editors and journalists to account” as he described the effect of “incredibly invasive” articles that caused him to go into a “downward spiral”. The Duke of Sussex, the first British royal to give
After weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory and cross-border raids — a prelude to the long-awaited counter-offensive now gathering pace — it is Russia’s turn to distract and destabilise its enemy. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam over the Dnipro river is far more than a psychological game. It will have long-lasting humanitarian