The Festival of Words: From Gyles Brandreth to Anthony Scaramucci – all you need to know about the Fleet Street Quarter festival
Gold, the Federal Reserve, and the dollar – what’s driving up precious metal prices? March 19, 2019 Gold has been making a comeback. After a long period with little activity last year, the precious metal’s value has risen as stock markets have struggled and fallen. Combine the volatility of equities with the increase in geopolitical fears, and many investors are re-evaluating whether to increase the amount of gold in their portfolios. The [...]
Venezuela looks to Russia for oil exports as US sanctions bite the Maduro regime March 18, 2019 Venezuela may divert its US oil exports to Russia, the country’s oil minister said today after the Trump administration slapped sanctions on the country. Manuel Quevedo, who is also president of state-run oil company PDVSA, said oil initially headed to the US could be re-routed to other countries. Read more: Venezuelan opposition prepares to confront [...]
Like the myth that the Earth is flat, the socialist conspiracy theory never dies March 6, 2019 The idea that the Earth is flat is a rapidly growing trend on social media. The Flat Earth Society’s Twitter feed has the best part of 100,000 followers. The fact that the planet is a sphere has been known since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. The astronomer Eratosthenes demonstrated it with a simple [...]
It makes smart business sense to invest in the future of refugees February 27, 2019 Amid scenes of refugees’ flight from Venezuela, it is easy to forget that the world’s largest refugee crisis remains Syria. And that’s why the UK-Jordan Conference in London tomorrow is so important. Jordan has generously provided refuge for more than 670,000 Syrian refugees fleeing their homes amid a brutal war. Its role in the stability [...]
Venezuelan opposition prepares to confront troops on border February 23, 2019 Activists in Venezuela are preparing to confront troops on the country’s border attempting to block a plan to bring in humanitarian aid. Opposition volunteers in Brazil and Columbia are planning to help bring food and medicine into the country which has suffered an economic meltdown under the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported. Read [...]
Options are running out for the man who destroyed Venezuela February 14, 2019 It takes some front for a man who has presided over a double-digit recession for three successive years to claim that his country is being destabilised by a “gang of extremists” rather than his own inept economic performance. But that is exactly what Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro did this week, when he stated that the [...]
Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro calls for gold held in Bank of England to be returned February 12, 2019 Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that the Bank of England should repatriate the Venezuelan gold it holds in its vaults. “They have sequestered billions of dollars in gold in London that are ours – that is money to buy supplies, raw materials, food, medicines. They have sequestered $1.4bn [£1.09bn] for many months, that we [...]
Going for gold: How the Bank of England became a battleground of the Venezuela crisis February 10, 2019 While tens of thousands of Venezuelans continued their revolt against the regime of discredited strongman Nicolas Maduro last week, a rather different form of protest popped up in the Square Mile. A group of far-left protesters, who counted Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Chris Williamson among their ranks, accused the Bank of England of “theft” [...]
Corbyn allies join protest at Bank of England demanding transfer of gold to Maduro regime February 7, 2019 Two of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's most prominent allies joined a protest outside the Bank of England today, demanding that it release over £1bn worth of gold to the regime of Venezuela’s socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro. Members of Maduro's regime have laid claim to the country's gold reserves held at the Bank. Former Mayor of [...]
Opec exports to US fall to a five-year low as cartel cuts its output February 6, 2019 US oil imports from Opec countries have dropped to five-year lows as the oil producing cartel cuts output, while US domestic production grows. Opec’s sales to the world’s biggest economy fell 22 per cent month-on-month and 37 per cent year on year, to 1.4m barrels per day, data from energy intelligence company Kpler shows. Read [...]