Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up for the myFT Digest Social Affairs – delivered straight to your inbox.Last weekend, I spent a good hour reading about the five Tory politicians nominated to replace their troubled leader, Rishi Sunak.The front runners vary, depending on whether you're looking at a betting agency like Ladbrokes, or a favorite of veteran Westminster political commentators. But there are three names that still stand out: Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, and Suella Braverman. They're all women, which raises a question I haven't thought about in a long time. Nearly 20 years after the so-called glass cliff…
Author: ricardofrancois
Stay informed with free updatesSimply subscribe to Equities myFT Digest – delivered straight to your inbox.European stock markets have reached record highs, but they are in crisis. Trading volumes are declining, initial public offerings are rare, and some of their largest companies prefer the attractiveness of the United States.This lackluster activity has prompted decision-makers in the region to take action. They are trying to revive their faltering markets with incentives designed to boost investment in local companies and encourage companies to list at home.However, these ambitions are riddled with political, financial and cultural obstacles that for years have proven overwhelming.…
Iranian women cast their votes at a polling station during elections to choose members of parliament and a major religious body, in Tehran on March 1, 2024.ata kinari | France Press agencyTurnout in Iran's parliamentary elections, seen as a test of the religious establishment's legitimacy, appears to have reached a historic low of around 41%, according to unofficial reports carried by state media on Saturday.The elections followed anti-government protests in 2022-2023 that escalated into some of the worst political unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and coincided with growing frustration over the economic woes plaguing the sanctions-hit country.Partial…
A tornado touched down in Kings County on Saturday afternoon, the second tornado to hit Central California in two days. The tornado struck the south end of Corcoran around 4:37 p.m., said meteorologist Carlos Molina of the National Weather Service's Hanford office. He said the tornado moved east and then dissipated by the time it reached U.S. Route 99. The hurricane comes less than a day after a funnel cloud briefly touched down in Madera County, about 30 minutes north of Fresno. The tornado touched down near an elementary school, forcing students to take shelter in the cafeteria, ABC7 reported.“This…
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators demonstrated in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday as part of a global day of action to demand an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. The demonstrators, waving Palestinian flags and banners, gathered outside City Hall around 1 p.m. before beginning a slow march down Broadway, chanting and carrying signs that read: “Stop genocide,” “Release 2 million hostages in Gaza,” and “Stop the fire.” now”. “The crowd of peaceful demonstrators spread to several city blocks. Some participants estimated that tens of thousands participated. The Los Angeles Police Department said it had no estimate of the…
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump thanks his supporters after speaking at the “Get Out The Vote” rally at Winthrop University on February 23, 2024 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.Wayne McNamee | Getty ImagesFormer President Donald Trump continued his march toward the Republican nomination on Saturday, winning the Missouri caucuses and sweeping delegates at the Michigan caucus. Idaho Republicans planned to hold caucuses later. Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador and his last major rival, was still searching for her first victory of an election year. The next event on the Republican calendar is Sunday in the District…
Hey folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch's newsletter covering noteworthy events in the tech industry. Investment firm KKR announced this week that it will acquire VMware's end-user computing business from Broadcom for $4 billion. As Ron explains, these businesses included VMware Workspace One and VMware Horizon – two remote desktop applications that were part of the VMware product suite. Elsewhere, Mistral, the French AI startup, has launched a new model to rival OpenAI's GPT-4 – and its own chatbot called Le Chat. The releases are timed by Microsoft's partnership to make Mistral models available to Microsoft Azure customers…
Washington – Ukrainian drones fly without ammunition. Russian artillery fires deadly barrages from safe positions beyond the range of Kiev forces. US Congressional leaders warn that ammunition and supply shortages are losing ground to Moscow, but the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has shown little rush to resupply Ukraine with military aid.Across Washington, officials view the decline in ammunition shipments with increasing concern. It has now been more than two months since the United States – which since World War II has positioned itself as the “arsenal of democracy” – sent military supplies to Ukraine. But House Speaker Mike Johnson appears…
Former President Trump continued his march toward the Republican presidential nomination on Saturday, winning the Idaho and Missouri caucuses and sweeping delegates at the party's convention in Michigan. Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and his last major Republican challenger, is still searching for her first victory of an election year.There were no Democratic contests on Saturday.The next event on the Republican calendar is Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later is Super Tuesday, when 16 states plus American Samoa will hold contests on the biggest voting day of the year leading up to the…
Irvine Rep. Katie Porter has repeatedly attacked her main Democratic challenger in California's 2024 Senate race, Burbank Rep. Adam P. Schiff, for accepting campaign contributions from oil, pharmaceutical, financial and other influential special interests trying to influence federal policy in Washington.She has bragged about not receiving donations from corporate political action committees, unlike Schiff, who is leading in the polls with former Republican baseball player Steve Garvey heading into Tuesday's primary.“Representative Schiff may have prosecuted Big Oil before coming to Congress, but when he got to Congress he cashed checks from companies like [British Petroleum] — from fossil fuel companies,”…