Lionel Messi returning to Barcelona would now be ‘feasible’, the club’s financial chief has said. Messi left Barcelona for Paris St-Germain last year after the Spanish club were unable to renew his deal and stay within La Liga-imposed spending limits, with £172million required to be cut from their wage bill. …
Read More »Sterling posts sharp gains; dollar down against most currencies
Sterling gained in volatile trading on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar fell against some currencies, with investors taking comfort from the Bank of England’s purchase of long-dated bonds to stabilize the market. The pound rose 1.4% to $1.1034. After hitting a fresh 37-year low of $1.0327 three days ago, sterling …
Read More »Egypt unveils ancient Rameses II-era ‘royal secretary’ sarcophagus
Egypt unveiled Monday a sarcophagus of a senior royal official from over 3,200 years ago at the Saqqara archaeological site south of Cairo, the latest in a series of spectacular discoveries in the area. A team of Egyptian archaeologists from Cairo University found the red granite sarcophagus of Ptah-em-uya, “a …
Read More »France’s Eiffel Tower to go dark earlier to save energy
Amid soaring electricity prices, Paris is seeking to catch up with the goal of reducing energy consumption by 10% through an “energy sobriety” plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday announced that the French capital would start switching off the lights of its monuments hours earlier than usual. The potential …
Read More »Rents, food drive US consumer prices higher
U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in August and underlying inflation picked up amid rising costs for rents and healthcare, giving the Federal Reserve ammunition to deliver a third 75 basis points interest rate hike next Wednesday. The surprisingly firm inflation readings reported by the Labor Department on Tuesday followed in …
Read More »New ‘breathtaking’ Webb images to reveal the secrets of star birth
“Breathtaking” images of a stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula taken by the James Webb Space Telescope are revealing intricate details about how stars and planetary systems form. The images, released Monday, shed light on an environment similar to our own solar system when it formed more than 4.5 billion …
Read More »What is a ‘triple dip’ La Niña? Meteorologists predict one is coming
La Niña has a devastating impact because of its effect on weather and climate Changing temperatures around the world have led to several climate emergencies so far in 2022, from historic flooding in Pakistan that’s displaced millions of people to the rapid melting of a major glacier in Antarctica. Parts …
Read More »White House urges Americans to get updated COVID-19 vaccine shots this fall
The White House said its COVID response is “constrained” by a lack of funding. The White House is urging Americans to get updated COVID-19 vaccine shots this fall specifically targeting prevalent omicron variants. The Biden administration on Thursday released more details on its plan to make the newly approved shots …
Read More »‘Hundreds’ of secret NATO documents leaked – media
The data is reportedly for sale on the dark web after Portugal’s General Staff was hacked Portugal’s General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA) has been targeted by a “prolonged and unprecedented” cyber attack, resulting in the leak of a raft of secret NATO documents, local media outlets reported on …
Read More »2022 Europe’s hottest summer on record: EU monitor
The summer of 2022 was the hottest in Europe’s recorded history, with the continent suffering blistering heatwaves and the worst drought in centuries, the European Commission’s satellite monitor said on Thursday. The five hottest years on record have all come since 2016 as climate change drives ever longer and stronger …
Read More »Iraq maintains the 30th rank among world’s top gold holders
Iraq maintained the 30th ranking in the list of the countries with the largest gold reserves, the monthly report of the World Gold Council said. The Central Bank of Iraq bought 34 tonnes of gold in June in a bid to help stabilize the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar …
Read More »Oil falls as demand fears overtake OPEC-led rally
Oil prices sank on Tuesday after a two-day rally as concern returned about weaker demand and the prospect of more interest rate hikes trumped support from OPEC+’s first output target cut since 2020. Brent crude was down $3.26, or 3.4%, to $92.48 at 11:27 a.m. EDT (1527 GMT). U.S. West …
Read More »Dream job: the Japanese man who gets paid to do nothing
Shoji Morimoto has what some would see as a dream job: he gets paid to do pretty much nothing. Shoji Morimoto was often chided for ‘doing nothing’ at work. The Tokyo resident says he started wondering ‘what would happen if I provided my ability to 'do nothing' as a service …
Read More »Champions League: Which team is under the most pressure to win this season’s competition?
Barcelona have not lifted the Champions League trophy since 2015 while the prize has eluded both Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City despite heavy investment; Can anyone stop holders Real Madrid? Holders Real Madrid will launch their Champions League defence in Glasgow when this season’s group stage gets underway on Tuesday …
Read More »Beijing: US has conducted ‘tens of thousands’ of cyberattacks against China
China has condemned the United States for carrying out “tens of thousands” of cyberattacks against it and stealing troves of sensitive data in recent years. In a report on Monday, China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) said the US National Security Agency (NSA) had conducted “tens of thousands …
Read More »Oil prices jump nearly 4% as OPEC+ agrees small oil output cut
Oil prices rose about 4% on Monday, extending gains as OPEC+ members agreed to a small production cut to bolster prices. Brent crude futures for November delivery rose $3.53 to $96.55 a barrel, up 3.8%, by 11:07 a.m. ET (1507 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $3.08, or …
Read More »Millions of Britons to fall into ‘absolute poverty’: Think tank
A British think tank has warned that over three million more Britons will fall into absolute poverty by the end of 2024 unless the new government acts quickly. Resolution Foundation, in its latest report, projected households will see their spending power cut by an average of £3,000 by the end …
Read More »Google, Amazon workers to hold Day of Action protest against $1.2bn deal with Israel
Hundreds of employees of the American tech giants Google and Amazon will hold a protest rally on Thursday against their companies’ recent billion-dollar deal with the Israeli regime. The employees will hold their “Day of Action,” which is part of the #NoTechforApartheid movement, on September 8, demanding the cancelation of …
Read More »Shenzhen districts locked down as China battles COVID outbreaks
Most residents of the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen went into a weekend lockdown on Saturday as mass COVID-19 testing kicked off in much of the city of 18 million people. The lockdown, and the suspension of bus and subway services, came into effect two days after city authorities said …
Read More »Mystery of Egypt’s pyramids may be SOLVED as scientists reveal ‘lost ancient secret’
New evidence about the Nile bolsters a long-standing theory of how ancient Egyptians managed to build the massive pyramids of Giza thousands of years ago. Researchers led by geographer Hader Sheisha at Aix-Marseille University in France used paleoecological clues to help reconstruct what Egypt’s Nile river might have looked like …
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