The ancient Greeks pioneered a range of innovations to cool their houses during the summer, planting trees to provide natural shade and designing buildings to limit which spaces felt the full blast of the sun’s rays. Thousands of years later, their descendants are drawing upon the same kind of ideas to cool down the city
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There is an irritating predictability to the way in which Elon Musk’s unsolicited bid for Twitter is unravelling. Some users might have been excited by the idea but tech commentators and investors in Twitter were sceptical from the start. Why wouldn’t they be? For the second time, Musk appeared to insert a 420 internet weed
Volkswagen’s chief executive Herbert Diess, the architect of the German carmaker’s multibillion-euro push into electric vehicles, will leave the company within weeks after being forced out by union leaders. The 63-year-old, who took over in the years following the VW emissions scandal, will be replaced by Porsche boss and former VW manager Oliver Blume from
Citigroup Inc.’s municipal-bond business, for decades a powerhouse in the $4 trillion market for U.S. state and city debt, has seen a wave of high-profile departures as the bank revamps parts of the group’s trading and banking units. The bank in recent months shuttered its muni proprietary trading unit — which used the firm’s own
Genesee County, Michigan, drew an upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service over its healthier reserves, action that also benefits the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline’s debt as it’s ultimately backed by the county. Moody’s raised the county’s general obligation limited tax and issuer ratings to A1 from A2 Monday, impacting $578 million of mostly self-supporting GOLT debt
As a boy growing up in Southampton, Rishi Sunak helped his mother do the books in her pharmacy. That formative experience, coupled with his deep-rooted belief in a small state and his polished TV performances, should make him a dream candidate for the Conservatives. But the former chancellor is currently trailing Liz Truss among the
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners voted to enact Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s proposal to lower the property tax by 1%, the first cut in over 10 years. The board voted on Tuesday to cut the countywide, unincorporated municipal service area, library and fire levies, bringing the combined millage rates to their lowest levels since
If you’ve owned one, we needn’t remind you of the headaches and costs a vacation home can deliver. Hassles, maintenance and cash outflows can seem never ending. Maybe that’s why the pandemic era has ushered in the age of luxury co-ownership. Owners can acquire a piece of an ultra-luxurious property, view it as they might
UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has indicated that Britain’s next prime minister will need to rule on Tata Group’s request for £1.5bn in government subsidies to safeguard the future of its Port Talbot steelworks. Kwarteng’s allies say the minister wants to help steelmakers including Tata, owner of the UK’s largest steelworks, to decarbonise the sector,
It’s such a well-known face, to anyone who grew up watching cultural television in Britain, and such a well-known voice to anyone who listens to BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time. And it’s a daunting prospect, to interview a man who has spent his working life over several decades interviewing many of the greatest cultural
Data released on Friday showed that high UK inflation is hitting retail sales, business activity and consumer confidence, strengthening predictions of an economic recession this year. The volume of retail sales in Great Britain fell for the second consecutive month in June as high inflation pushed consumers to tighten their belts. A closely watched survey
The colonial Mexico city of Dolores Hidalgo holds special significance in its history as the birthplace of its national independence from Spain. Today, the small yet vibrant setting in north-central Mexico is a cultural delight with winding cobblestone streets lined with shops and vendor stalls offering beautiful Talavera pottery, a heritage style that originated during
Eurozone business activity has gone into reverse for the first time since February 2021 after companies were hit by falling orders and rising prices, fuelling economists’ expectations of a recession this year. Fears that the 19-country single currency zone is heading for a sharp downturn were reinforced by S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’
The town of Darien occupies a prime spot along Connecticut’s Golden Coast. Stretches of trees blanket the lush landscape with a canopy of green. Parks and summer sports camps are abundant. Public beaches line the waterfront. Views take in the Long Island Sound. Yet, it’s close enough to New York City to be considered a
A century after winning the right to vote and in the midst of a pandemic, female fund managers are outperforming their male colleagues on Wall Street. That is according to a team of equity strategists at Goldman Sachs, who crunched the numbers in honor of 2020, which marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment’s
Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund celebrated its 50th birthday in July. A mutual fund being in business that long has become about as rare as couples reaching their 50th wedding anniversary, and so the fund’s longevity is noteworthy in its own right. But, by analyzing this mutual fund’s performance, we can draw important investment lessons for
Two proposed rulemakings from the Labor Department in the past eight weeks would largely gut sustainable investing options and strategies in retirement plans. These proposals would reverse the Labor Department’s 2015 and 2016 guidance while ignoring the growing consensus among academics, retirement plan fiduciaries and professional money managers that responsible companies are likely to outperform
Clean-energy stocks and exchange-traded funds are on a tear this year, sharply outperforming the broader market and traditional fossil-fuel investments. The clean-tech ETFs with the most powerful year-to-date rallies include Invesco Solar ETF TAN, -2.75%, up 81% through Thursday; First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund QCLN, -1.84%, up 58%; and iShares Global
For the 55 calendar years from 1965 through 2019, Berkshire Hathaway’s stock rose at an 18.6% annualized pace, versus 11.8% for the S&P 500 SPX, -0.82% . (Both returns reflect reinvested dividends.) Warren Buffett can take credit for this, and he appears to be very much in charge of Berkshire. But, given that he just
Andrey Liscovich was at home in downtown San Francisco when he saw a tweet from the American politician Marco Rubio: “The #Russian invasion of #Ukraine is now underway.” He felt sick. The 37-year-old Ukrainian had spent most of the previous decade working far from his native country, including as chief executive officer of Uber Works,
Mykhailo Poperechnyuk was driving towards the town of Nikopol, in southern Ukraine, earlier this month when he saw a barrage of Russian rockets streaking across the night sky. The missiles were fired from what may be the most impregnable Russian positions along the entire front line: those around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant just 5km