Author: ricardofrancois

US President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 2024.Jim Watson | AFP | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden visited Pennsylvania on Friday to begin a tour of battleground states and his re-election team will spend $30 million on ad buys as he quickly moves into the US general election campaign after his feisty State of the Union address.Campaign officials who briefed reporters said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in March will rally Democrats in several states where the Nov. 5 election against Republican opponent Donald Trump is likely to be decided.After Pennsylvania on…

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Former US President Trump met on Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the potential Republican presidential nominee continued his embrace of authoritarian leaders who are part of the global resistance to democratic traditions.Orban has become an icon for some conservative populists for his advocacy of what he calls “illiberal democracy,” rife with restrictions on immigration and gay rights. He also suppressed the press and judiciary in his country and reshaped Hungary's political system to keep his party in power while maintaining the close relationship with Russia among the EU countries.In the United States, Trump's allies in the Republican…

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Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Azerbaijan has defended its position as another oil and gas producing nation hosting the world's most important climate summit, with the incoming COP29 president saying the Caucasus nation is vulnerable to climate change.In his first international interview since his appointment, Mukhtar Babayev told the Financial Times that Azerbaijan was suffering from the effects of global warming with water shortages and land degradation.The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources said from his office in Baku that “green growth is a priority for Azerbaijan…

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As U.S. stock markets rise, many increasingly cautious domestic investors have turned to options and derivatives for protection against changing sentiment. There has been an explosion in funds in the US that are using options in one form or another to act as a hedge, whether it is through so-called covered call writing, or more structured defined outcomes. Options are very popular on US retail platforms like Robinhood, but derivatives are also finding their way into more mainstream products, such as exchange-traded funds. These products are finally becoming available in the UK via ETFs. Arguably the most popular strategy is…

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Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Earlier this year, venture capitalist Eileen Lee, who coined the term “unicorn” to refer to privately owned startups valued at $1 billion or more, put out a report reflecting on what has changed in the 10 years since the moniker was created. To be sure, a lot has changed – the number of unicorns in the US has risen from 39 to 532 in the past decade, while one notable startup, Meta, has reached a market value of $1.3 trillion. But one…

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This article is the latest part of the Financial Times' financial education and inclusion campaignInternational Women's Day should be a day for celebration, but as a financial journalist, I admit it's often a day tinged with dread. When it comes to women's finances and career prospects, how much has really changed for the better in the intervening twelve months? Not soon enough, judging by the depressing headlines on Friday. For starters, MPs on the Commons Treasury Select Committee criticized “sexism in the City” against women working in finance – a scandal that the Financial Times’ courageous investigative team has been…

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A man accused of illegally entering a Santa Monica woman's home and having sex near her while she slept has been charged with a pair of felonies.Los Angeles County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Anthony Romero, 28, with burglary and one count of indecent exposure and unlawful entry. Romero, who remains in custody, is expected back in court on April 17 for a preliminary hearing. Anthony Romero, 28, who has a long criminal record, is accused of breaking into a woman's home in Santa Monica and masturbating next to her while she slept. (Santa Monica Police Department) Romero allegedly entered the…

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Group showing Taylor Swift (left) and Ray Dalio.Getty Images (left) | CNBC (right)Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio attended a Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert in Singapore, posting a selfie from the crowded venue with a caption explaining why he thinks the megastar should be the next president of the United States.”@TaylorSwift for president!” Bridgewater Associates founder Dalio wrote Thursday on Instagram.“I just saw her in concert in Singapore and realized that she can bring Americans together with people in most countries much better than either candidate, and that bringing people together is the most important thing,” Dalio wrote.He added: “Watching…

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Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sam Altman will return to OpenAI's board of directors after a review of the events leading up to his dramatic dismissal from the maker of ChatGPT found no evidence that he should have been fired.Altman was removed from his position as CEO and removed from the board of directors of the artificial intelligence company he co-founded in November. The remaining board members reversed course days later, reinstating him as CEO and resigning instead. A subsequent review of the boardroom chaos concluded that…

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Victoria, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Friday upheld a key part of President Biden's immigration policy that allows a limited number of migrants from four countries to enter the United States on humanitarian grounds, rejecting a challenge by Republican-led states that said the program created an economic burden. on them.U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton is in favor of a humanitarian parole program that allows up to 30,000 asylum seekers into the United States each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela combined. Canceling the program would undermine a broader policy that seeks to encourage migrants to…

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