Kent Covid variant ‘no more deadly’ than original coronavirus strain March 31, 2021 The Kent Covid variant, which is now the UK’s dominant version of coronavirus, is no more deadly than the original strain, research by Public Health England (PHE) has found. A PHE study matched 2,800 cases of the B117 variant first identified in Kent against the original Covid strain and found there was no significant difference in [...]
France and Germany swoop to buy Russia’s Sputnik vaccine March 31, 2021 France and Germany held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin last night to supply doses of the country’s Sputnik Covid vaccine as suspicions over the Astrazeneca jab continue to proliferate across the continent. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a video call with the Russian premier to discuss “co-operation” over vaccine [...]
Wall Street flat and FTSE 100 slips into the red as Archego default hits banks March 29, 2021 Wall Street closed flat and the FTSE 100 slipped into the red today as fears of potential losses from a major US hedge fund defaulting on margin calls held back stocks. While the Dow Jones gained 0.3 per cent, the S&P 500 was 0.09 per cent lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 0.6 per [...]
Oil prices rise as as output cut hopes offset Suez Canal reopening March 29, 2021 Oil prices rose nearly one per cent today as hopes that Opec+ will hold output cuts reversed an earlier slump linked to the reopening of the Suez Canal. Futures had dropped earlier today after container ship Ever Given, which had grounded in the Suez Canal and blocked the waterway for almost a week, was refloated. [...]
Joe Biden invites Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to climate talks March 26, 2021 President Joe Biden is including rivals Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China among the people he has invited to the first big climate talks of his administration. The US hopes the event will help shape, speed up and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials said this evening. [...]
Norway blocks Rolls-Royce sale on security grounds March 23, 2021 The Norwegian government has today said it will block Rolls-Royce’s attempt to sell an engine-making firm to a Russian company on national security grounds. Last month the FTSE blue chip firm announced it would sell Norwegian firm Bergen Engines to TMH Group for €150m (£132.5m). The disposal is part of plans by the aerospace giant [...]
The most complex World Cup qualifying process yet? England’s path, the role of Qatar, the Nations League and Russia in the race for Europe’s 13 spots March 23, 2021 When Bill Shankly quipped that “football is a simple game complicated by people who should know better” he could have been talking about the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers. This week, England and the other 54 European national teams kick off their campaigns to reach next year’s tournament with a triple-header of matches. And the [...]
Boris Johnson may face defeat as MPs try to stop trade deals with genocidal regimes March 21, 2021 More Tory MPs have come out to support an amendment to a trade bill that would make it harder for the government to sign trade deals with countries that have committed genocide. Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has now backed the amendment, which would force ministers to justify any trade deal that is signed with [...]
European Commission calls for reciprocity on vaccine exports with the UK March 19, 2021 European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen has called for reciprocity on vaccine exports amid an ongoing row with the UK and US over jab deliveries. “I ask for greater openness as Europe is among the regions in the world that exports the most, but reciprocity is needed,” she told Italian newspaper la Repubblica. She [...]
Panic reflation, oil plunge and Bitcoin-led chip shortage March 19, 2021 Market sentiment is mixed this Friday morning. The Powell boost did not last long on the US equities which returned to the reflation setup. Investors sold tech stocks aggressively, sending Nasdaq 3 per cent lower during Thursday’s trading session. The S&P500 shed 1.48 per cent, as Dow Jones (-0.46 per cent) remained somehow resilient to [...]