CMA and EU antitrust watchdogs eye AstraZeneca’s $39bn Alexion deal June 1, 2021 EU antitrust watchdogs and are set to decide by this weekend whether to approve AstraZeneca’s $39bn bid for biopharmaceutical company Alexion, a European Commission filing revealed today. Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca sought approval for the deal on Monday. However, the UK’s competition regulator is reviewing the takeover bid for the US-based pharma firm, until 5 July – [...]
Giving a helping hand to the unbanked with Kamari June 1, 2021 Crypto AM takes a look at African cryptocurrency Kamari and the KamPay wallet.
Russia to set up 20 new military units in west to counter Nato’s ‘growing threat’ May 31, 2021 The Russian military will form 20 new units in the country’s west this year to counter what it claims is a growing threat from Nato. Defence minister Sergei Shoigu made the announcement at a meeting with top military officials. He pointed to a growing number of flights by US strategic bombers near Russia’s borders, deployments [...]
Investors unshaken by inflation surge as Wall Street opens higher May 28, 2021 Wall Street’s main indexes opened higher today as investors shrugged off data showing a rise in inflation. Consumer prices rose 0.7 per cent in April after a 0.4 per cent increase in March, exceeding economists’ predictions of a 0.6 per cent gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite [...]
Around 500 farmers with UK visas are trapped in Belarus after the flight ban May 28, 2021 Around 500 farmers from Belarus, who were recruited under a government visa scheme, have been left trapped in Belarus after the UK banned flights from the country this week. Trying to help the UK with its summer harvest, farmworkers have been trying to find indirect flights from neighbouring countries to get to the UK, after [...]
US informs Russia it will not rejoin Open Skies arms control pact May 27, 2021 The Biden administration has informed Russia that it will not rejoin a key arms control pact, even as the two sides prepare for a summit next month between their leaders. US officials said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians that the administration had decided not to re-enter the Open Skies Treaty, which [...]
India’s Covid battle exposes GDP growth as an ineffective measure of economic success May 26, 2021 India is in the throws of a double-headed infrastructure threat: a medical breakdown and a drastic water shortage. The latter has been obscured and worsened by the focus on the former. Even with these fierce crises, India continues to have one of the highest GDP growth rates in the world. It sits sixth in the [...]
Ready, set, go: Britain is bound for the next space race May 26, 2021 The UK is bound for a seat in the next space race, the transport secretary has said today, as the government preps for Virgin’s commercial Orbit mission – the UK’s first space-bound flight. The National Space Agency (NSA) confirmed on Monday that spaceflights will soon be a reality as the government has funded spaceports that [...]
Syrian election neither ‘free nor fair’, Western leader say May 25, 2021 The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the US have tonight denounced tomorrow’s presidential elections in Syria, saying the vote will be neither “free nor fair”. With the Syrian civil war now into its eleventh year, the ministers criticised incumbent leader Bashar al-Assad’s decision to hold a vote. They said that the international [...]
Russia and Saudi Arabia planning joint space mission May 25, 2021 Russia and Saudi Arabia are preparing for a joint manned space mission, the former’s government confirmed today, in another sign of warmer relations between the two countries. In a statement, the Kremlin said that Saudi astronauts were being trained in Russia while the mission is developed. “Speaking of the two countries’ work on the joint [...]