New York Report: S&P climbs to another fresh all-time high March 4, 2014 US STOCKS rallied yesterday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record as concerns about a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine eased, and the market recovered more than all of the previous session’s hefty losses. President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defence of Russia’s actions in Crimea, saying he would use force in Ukraine only [...]
A trade war with Russia would be Lehman Bros 2 March 3, 2014 MORALITY and foreign policy make uneasy bedfellows. In 1997, when Tony Blair called for an ethical foreign policy, the country cheered; 17 years later, any politician calling for such idealism would be laughed out of town. After 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, the Arab Spring and so on, a battlehardened realism is the order of the [...]
Ukraine: The biggest crisis in Europe this century says Hague March 3, 2014 Foreign secretary William Hague has called the current situation in Ukraine “the biggest crisis in Europe in the 21st century” this morning. Hague confirmed Russia’s taken operational control of Crimea, and that he’s “very concerned” about the possibility of movement by Russia further into eastern Ukraine. There is "no justification" for Russia's actions, he said. [...]
Ukraine: The brink of war March 3, 2014 ■ Cameron and Obama warn Russia to change course or face significant costs ■ Nato says Putin has broken the UN charter and threatens peace in Europe THE US Secretary of State John Kerry will fly to Kiev tomorrow, as Russia faces off against the West over its interests in Ukraine. David Cameron has vowed [...]
Russia’s Ukraine attack is end of Pax Americana March 3, 2014 THIS is the week Western foreign policy was finally exposed as a sham. Russia has started to invade Ukraine, an independent nation supposedly backed by the West, in what could be the most significant geopolitical crisis since 9/11, and what is anybody going to do about it? Nothing. Pax Americana had been on its death [...]
Sales from the riverbank February 27, 2014 The future landmarks set to transform London’s river and make living Thameside even cooler LONDON is finally starting to follow the example of its European neighbours by making the most of its meandering river. Luxury developments are beginning to pop up all along the riverbank, proving that the place to be seen in the next [...]
Forget invasion: Putin is just four steps from victory in Ukraine February 27, 2014 AS ITS currency collapses, protests flare up in Crimea, and Russia flexes its muscles on the doorstep, those in the West claiming triumph in Ukraine should remember the story of King Pyrrhus of Epirus. In 279 BC, this scourge of the Romans managed to best them at the Battle of Asculum, but at tremendous cost. [...]
Stagecoach says storms will not dent its revenues from railways February 26, 2014 STAGECOACH, the transport group that runs the South West Trains franchise, said the recent storms and flooding that devastated the region’s railways will not make a dent in the firm’s overall results. UK rail revenues were up 3.9 per cent in the forty weeks to 2 February, with the effects of the weather likely to [...]
Capco property values up by a fifth to £2.3bn February 25, 2014 CAPITAL & Counties (Capco) said a strong performance from its sprawling Covent Garden estate helped push the total value of its property up by 20 per cent to £2.3bn last year. The developer, which has been bringing in new upmarket tenants including Dior, Laduree and the restaurant Balthazar, said the value of its west end [...]
Giant panda numbers are up: see them in Chengdu February 23, 2014 They famously eat shoots and leaves. LISA YOUNG gets up-close and personal with the Chinese city’s most famous residents IT’S a warm August morning, the time of year when the sizzling Chengdu summer gives way to cooler climes. Chengdu sits in a fog-filled bowl 500 metres above sea level in the Sichuan Province of south [...]