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The US Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, in a step that could encourage reluctant people to get immunised and give new impetus to vaccine mandates from employers. The decision on Monday makes the mRNA jab the first Covid-19 vaccine to receive full approval for use in people

Mutual funds are considered relatively safe investments. However, mutual funds are considered a bad investment when investors consider certain negative factors to be important, such as high expense ratios charged by the fund, various hidden front-end and back-end load charges, lack of control over investment decisions, and diluted returns. High Annual Expense Ratios Mutual funds

Since the second world war, some of the strongest advocates for the use of US power abroad have been Democratic presidents. From Harry Truman to Bill Clinton, so-called liberal internationalists have sent US forces to Korea, Vietnam and the Balkans with orders to protect democracy and human rights against the threat of communism and nationalism. The

Good morning. As I write, tropical storm Henri is bearing down on me in eastern Long Island. What this looks like, in practice, is rain. If the newsletter arrives in your inbox at the normal time, it means my power has not gone out. Today’s column is even nerdier than usual, though, so non-nerds might

The vast majority of financial literature is concerned with when to buy a stock and how to get a deal. The assumption seems to be that the time to sell is self-explanatory. The truth is that selling is just as important and intensive of an operation as buying. In this article, we will look at

Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, will host crisis talks on Afghanistan with world leaders, as Britain presses the US to extend the evacuation timetable amid “harrowing scenes” and deaths at Kabul airport. Johnson, as chair of the G7, will hold talks on Tuesday that will include evacuation arrangements for western nationals and Afghan citizens, with

London’s offices are almost deserted and no one knows how many people will return or when, but some investors are making bets on workspace. The question is whether this confidence is well placed or reckless yet the sharp post-pandemic fall in the value of new offices has not yet come to pass. Thai police seized

Twitch may just be Amazon’s best-kept secret. Acquired in a 2014 bidding war with Google for $1 billion in cash, the gaming platform, and the social network continues to break its own high scores. Four years after that acquisition and just seven after its initial launch, Twitch boasts a valuation of about US$3.79 billion. Twitch viewers live-streamed

Shoppers walk in front of a Walmart store in San Leandro, California, U.S., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images As earnings season draws to a finale, investors’ eyes are focused on how the second half of 2021 will look. Be it a contagious new Covid-19 variant causing lockdowns,

Seven more Afghan civilians have been killed around Kabul international airport at the weekend as western forces struggled to evacuate people from the country, one week after the Taliban retook control. The UK defence ministry said the Afghans “died in crowds” on Saturday, and added that conditions on the ground “remain extremely challenging”. Thousands of

Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to assuage Ukrainian concerns over the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying Germany would not allow Russia to weaponise the gas corridor. The construction of NS2, which will pump Russian gas to western Europe across the Baltic Sea, is of particular concern to Kyiv, which stands to lose $2bn

What is the college degree that you should have gotten? Maybe it’s the one you did get. But sometimes when people are getting out of college—and they and their friends start hitting the job market—they realize that the opportunities open to grads with their particular major are not necessarily in the career fields they’d like

In the two decades since the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan living conditions have improved markedly, including huge progress in healthcare, education, life expectancy and child mortality. But endemic corruption and violence slowed the pace of progress, and the scaling-back of troops and aid in recent years reduced one of its biggest sources of revenue,

At the weekend there is nothing quite like puttering around the allotment — if you can get one. The tomatoes may be blighted and the broad beans covered in blackfly. But demand for these parcels of land is blossoming. Allotments, or community gardens as they are called in the US, are an Anglo-Saxon legacy. They

We’ve been fascinated by the Philippines ever since the Spanish-American War. This archipelagic nation is technically a collection of more than 7,000 islands bordered by Taiwan to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo to the south, and the South China Sea to the west. Tourism here increased by 7.7% to

The brother of slain Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud has called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government following their recapture of the country, and warned of resistance if they refused. Ahmad Wali Massoud, one of a band of leaders holding out against the Taliban from their base in the Panjshir valley, raised the

BUY: Hochschild Mining (HOC) Profits have climbed on higher silver and gold prices, while an interim dividend announcement has been delayed because of a reserves issue, writes Alex Hamer. The historically strong silver and gold prices of this year helped Hochschild Mining in the first half, which posted higher profits despite rising costs. Silver and gold aren’t as lofty as

Rising sea levels, summer heatwaves, widespread droughts, storms, wildfires, and disastrous floods. These are all dramatic effects of human-induced climate change. Some investors may overlook the environmental impacts of their portfolios, but for those on top of the world’s environmental changes, green technology and renewable energy may provide profitable investment opportunities. Climate investments fall within

When Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived at Afghanistan’s Kandahar airport from Doha on a Qatari Air Force C-17 on Tuesday, he was welcomed by jubilant Islamist militants as a conquering hero. Yet Baradar’s success had come not on the battlefield but in the dealmaking room. Back in 2010, Baradar, then a top Taliban

Thousands of Afghans have fled from the Taliban this year during the Islamist group’s push to take over the country. The Taliban launched a big attack in southern Helmand and six other provinces in May, three weeks after President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of US troops from the country. The impact was swift. In

The rising cost of a college degree has more students than ever borrowing to cover their expenses. While some students opt for loans from private lenders, as of March 2021, an estimated 42.9 million borrowers have Federal Direct Loans. Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans may be subsidized or unsubsidized. Both types offer numerous benefits,

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stands in lower Manhattan on the first day that traders are allowed back onto the historic floor of the exchange on May 26, 2020 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images When junior bankers at Goldman Sachs complained about what they called “inhumane” working conditions in an

A surge of public anger over a pair of high-profile sexual assault cases in China has revitalised efforts by the country’s struggling #MeToo movement to tackle widespread discrimination and harassment. But women’s rights activists warned that the ruling Chinese Communist party remained wary of mass feminist activism, which continues to suffer from censorship and nationalist

Taiwan is shaped like a sweet potato, which is why we use it here. People are often intrigued to find it in a cocktail, but love it once they try it. This is a sour made with gin, with sweetness coming from the sweet potato and apricot, and nutty notes from the chestnut liquor. We

The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) tracks the performance of the CRSP U.S. Total Market Index. The fund has returned 8.86% since its inception in 2001 (as of July 31, 2021). The fund is a market capitalization-weighted index that measures the entire investable U.S. equity market. It includes small-, mid-, and large-cap companies. The

Jeff Bezos, owner of Blue Origin, introduces a new lunar landing module called Blue Moon during an event at the Washington Convention Center, May 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson | Getty Images Jeff Bezos flew to space late last month, but his company has lost top talent since the billionaire space founder came

Global stocks recorded their worst week since June as fears of a slower economic rebound and a looming reduction in US stimulus weighed heavily on sentiment. The FTSE All-World index fell 1.8 per cent this week, during which China has toughened data privacy rules on its fast-growing technology sector and countries such as Australia and

Joe Biden pledged to evacuate every American trying to leave Afghanistan and insisted the botched US airlift was making “significant progress”, dismissing suggestions his administration had ignored warnings the Taliban would conquer Kabul at lightning speed. “This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” said Biden in a televised address to the

Leading automaker stocks fell sharply Thursday after reports surfaced that a global semiconductor shortage could add to further production cuts in the months ahead. Chips, in general, have been in short demand since the pandemic hit amid reduced production from manufacturers and a range of supply chain holdups. In the automotive industry, carmakers use the

United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno at the rollout of the Atlas V 541 rocket that would launch NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter on July 28, 2020. Ben Smegelsky | NASA Rocket builder United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will require all employees to receive vaccinations against