星期二 2026年8月4日
英国 (T.25) 爱尔兰共和国 4.6.05
阿联酋在非洲的帝国野心
深度阅读，第 21 页
足球为欧洲赢得了罕见的地缘政治胜利
GIDEON RACHMAN，第 23 页
TIMEBASSHAM
科技记者 GIDEON
在(英国) 内政部在一年前与华盛顿达成新协议并同意放弃之前的命令后，苹果公司现已针对部长们试图创建访问加密客户数据“后门”的最新尝试发起了一项新的法律挑战。
根据法院发布的一项命令，这家 iPhone 制造商上个月在调查权力法庭就政府的要求提起法律诉讼，政府要求苹果公司允许其访问英国用户的加密云端数据备份。
去年，部长们撤回了最初要求创建一个可访问英国和美国客户数据的后门的要求，从而结束了伦敦与华盛顿之间的外交之争。但《金融时报》在 10 月报道称，当局随后向苹果公司发布了一项新的“YouTube”能力通知（TCN），该通知不适用于美国用户。
TCN 根据《调查权力法案》发布，政府主张该法案是调查严重犯罪所必需的。这些通知可以强制公司向安全部门提供客户数据的访问权限，即使此类信息受到安全加密的保护。
苹果公司试图挑战政府发布此类法律通知的权力。
法院发送了一项命令，将苹果公司的这项新投诉通知给隐私国际。这家权组织与合作伙伴自由组织 (人权组织) 此前已在调查权力法庭就 TCN 发起了一项单独的投诉。
隐私国际表示，讨论如何处理这两项并行投诉的案件管理听证会已安排在下个月举行。
“我们很高兴得知苹果公司再次挑战英国的秘密命令体制，”隐私国际表示，并补充说这两项法律挑战对于“维护我们所有人的隐私和安全至关重要”。苹果公司确认了在调查权力法庭的备案，但拒绝进一步评论。该公司一直主张，任何此类后门都会使其所有客户的安全性降低。
《调查权力法案》禁止任何接收者承认 TCN 的存在。
政府拒绝就苹果公司的案件发表评论，称其既不会确认也不会否认单个通知的存在。
“英国支持强大的加密和稳健的隐私保护，但执法部门在必要且比例相称的情况下能够访问通信，以保护公众免受恐怖主义、严重犯罪和儿童性虐待的侵害，这一点同样至关重要，”政府表示，并补充说《调查权力法案》具有“强大的保障措施和独立的司法监督”。
苹果公司在收到最初的 TCN 后，于 2025 年 1 月取消了英国客户访问其 iCloud 高级数据保护系统的权限。该系统为 iCloud 用户提供了一层可选的额外安全保护，客户数据采用端到端加密存储，使得苹果公司无法访问。
内政部针对加密采取的行动已持续近十年，并引发了华盛顿的愤怒反应，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普将英国的命令比作“那种……你在中国听到过的事情”。
缅甸由军方支持的政府昨日公布了昂山素季的照片，在外界对这位被囚前领导人的健康状况日益担忧之际，此举实属罕见。
照片中，这位诺贝尔和平奖得主在缅甸奈比都与国际红十字会的常驻代表 Arnaud de Basque 会面，据信这是她自 2010 年被拘留以来首次与外国特使会面。另外两张照片显示她正在切蛋糕，表明照片拍摄于她在 6 月的生日期间。
国际红十字会确认昨日与昂山素季进行了会面，但未提供具体地点或其健康状况的细节。该组织表示：“此次访问是按照国际红十字会访问被剥夺自由人员的标准和程序进行的。”
在被拘留后，昂山素季被指控贪腐并被判处 27 年监禁。今年 5 月，政府表示将把她从监狱转移至软禁状态。
她的儿子 Kye 一直在要求军政府提供“生存证明”，并敦促外国政府支持她的释放。Aeis 昨日表示：“五年多来，我第一次有了希望的理由。”
阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 投资者对巨额合并传闻感到不安 由于股东担忧与竞争对手百时美施贵宝可能进行巨额合并，并质疑收购行业落后者的价值，该血浆集团的股价下跌了多达 5%。—— 第 9 页，英国第 25 页。
限制囚犯释放 安迪·伯纳姆表示，性犯罪者将被禁止参加政府的提前释放计划，因为他试图平息人们对该计划潜在风险的担忧。—— 第 4 页。
日美联手支撑日元 东京已确认与美国进行一次历史性的联合干预以支撑疲软的日元，两国誓言将在五次之后再次进入外汇市场。—— 第 10 页。
北海集团布局海外 英国石油和天然气公司在过去四年中已投入 $5 Bm 用于海外收购，而全球指数为 $6.4 Bm，因为他们正致力于在枯竭的银行之外寻求增长。—— 第 12 页。
森林火灾成本攀升 席卷法国、西班牙和欧洲其他地区的山火已造成今年 15% 的损失，揭示了由于林分而不断攀升的火灾账单。—— 第 5 页，华盛顿，纽约。
伊朗反驳特朗普指控 在特朗普总统称对话由于某些原因而中断，并称其为“自第二次世界大战以来的 Nugent 攻击”后，德黑兰方面表示，它并没有与华盛顿进行谈判。—— 新闻与印刷，第 8 页。
燃油车驱动利润 美国对皮卡和 SUV 的需求提振了底特律汽车制造商的收益，这与正与销量下降、裁员以及中国竞争对手作斗争的欧洲集团形成了鲜明对比。—— 第 9 页，英国 (全部)，第 16 页。
MP5 探索合并 在关于“平等合并”的谈判破裂后，意大利的锡耶纳银行正在寻求应对联合圣保罗银行恶意收购的方案，包括潜在的 Banco BPM 方案。—— 第 18 页。
皮尔斯·摩根的脱口秀节目《Uncensored》有了新的 YouTube 追随者。在经历了动荡的广播员和报社编辑职业生涯后，他旨在将该形式及其衍生产品打造为一个媒体帝国，从包括前机器人 Rupert 之女 Newtech 在内的投资者那里筹集了 $27mn。此次融资将摩根的频道群估值定为 $50,000m，使他成为一名纸面上的千万富翁，但他的目标坚定地设定在五年内建立一个拥有 2,000 名记者公告员的团体。—— 第 17 页。
RACHEL REES 与
LADY FRIEDER — 林肯
LOLA ARROUD — 巴基斯坦
英国改革党 (Reform UK) 表示，如果当选，将发起“规模最大的军事行动”以封锁英吉利海峡，拦截小船，这标志着该党在民调下滑之际，其反移民计划进一步升级。
改革党表示，将命令英国皇家海军拦截进入英国水域的小船人员，并将其遣返回法国或比利时。
这一政策公告遭到了一些前海军人士的质疑以及法国的批评。与此同时，改革党面临着新的压力：该党在州级民调中领先工党的 36 个月优势已丧失，且其领导人奈杰尔·法拉奇 (Nigel Farage) 的财务交易正面临审查。
在昨天举行的一次新闻发布会上（在被披露收到一名泰国加密货币亿万富翁 4, 赠款后，法拉奇近几个月仅举行了少数几次新闻发布会），这位改革党领导人表示，移民是“对我们国家的入侵”，并宣布其为“国家安全紧急状态”。
“如果英国皇家海军不在此保护这个国家免受恐怖主义侵害，那么坦率地说，我看不出它的目的是什么，”他补充道，并承诺“只要是改革党政府，两周之内就不会再有船只”。
英吉利海峡的小船跨境人数较往年显著下降，但人们的注意力已转向海岸地区，上周有 50,000 名移民从摩洛哥进入西班牙在北非的飞地。
首相安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 周日在访问多佛期间承诺将采取“决定性”行动以进一步减少跨境人数，并表示：“显然正在取得进展，但我们并未自满。”
一些国防人士对该计划的可行性表示怀疑。前海军指挥官汤姆·夏普 (Tom Sharpe) 表示：“海军执行这一职责是可行的——但我们将不得不停止几乎所有其他正在做的事情。”
另一位人士表示：“存在两个问题。一是英国皇家海军没有足够的船只；第二个更严重的问题是，英国皇家海军与陆军和英国皇家空军 (RAF) 一样，是一支武装力量。我们不打算在英吉利海峡开始向人们开枪。”
法国内政部表示，该提议“将是对法国主权的侵犯，同时也是对领土法和国际法的违背”。
监管机构调查 Tice 关于 Ben Hall 的调查
副党魁被指在下议院辩论中未能申报与以色列的关系
ELIZABETH BARTON, LIKY FISHER AND NICHOL NEID
英国改革党 (Reform UK) 副党魁 Richard Tice 因涉嫌未能申报利益相关事项，正受到议会标准监管机构的调查。
这意味着标准专员目前正在调查该党的两名高级人物，此前针对党魁 奈杰尔·法拉奇 (Nigel Farage) 未能申报一项财务利益的调查已在进行中。
针对 Tice 的调查于 7 月 28 日启动，涉及他在参加一场关于亲社会影响力的下议院辩论时，涉嫌未能申报在以色列的利益相关事项。
在 6 月的这场辩论中，Tice 赞扬了“以色列科学家、企业家以及从事医学研究和人工智能应用的专家的惊人才华和影响力”。
他的利益登记表显示，他在 2015 年曾前往以色列旅行，费用由“改革党以色列之友” (Reform Friends of Israel) 支付。一名改革党消息人士表示，此次调查是因为 Tice 在辩论期间未能说明该项利益关系。
“我因为坚持反对谴责而受到调查，这简直不可思议，”Tice 昨天在 X 上写道。
他说：“标准专员正在考虑一个由反犹太、反以色列游说团体提出的投诉，关于我在一场关于英国民主和以色列影响力的辩论开始时，是否应该提及我的利益登记表。”
改革党拒绝置评。
在发生一系列关于党内高级人物接受礼品和捐赠的争议后，该党面临的审查日益增加。在亚洲方面，议会标准专员针对 George 发起调查，原因是他在 2024 年大选前夕收到来自驻泰国加密货币亿万富翁 Christopher Harborne 的一项加密礼品时未能申报。
George 表示，他无需申报该礼品，因为他当时并非活跃政治人物。
在昨天的新闻发布会上，他表示，虽然他在 2024 年与 Tice 讨论过潜在的回归领导层，但这次对话发生在收到礼品之后。
伦敦警察厅 (Metropolitan Police) 也在调查由 Fiona Cottrell 向改革党提供的捐赠，她是已被定罪的诈骗犯以及法拉奇的助手 George Cottrell 的母亲。
法拉奇和改革党否认他违反了任何规定。
昨天，法拉奇表示媒体正在针对改革党进行单方面的抹黑。法拉奇还重申他将继续支持 George Cottrell，并表示“我不会抛弃我的盟友”。
7 月，法拉奇从下议院辞职，从而在他所在的埃塞克斯郡克拉克顿海滨 (Clacton on Sea) 選區引发了他所谓的“人民对抗建制”的竞选。
由于法拉奇目前不是国会议员，针对他的调查已经暂停。
博彩公司预测他将在 13 次补选中获胜，而其他大政党则对此愈发不安。候选人 Count Rishav 是这场竞选中法拉奇最高调的对手。
改革党今年面临的压力日益增大，它连续经历了三次补选失败，并在上周的曼彻斯特市长竞选中落败。目前的 77 份民调显示，该党的支持率正处于去年 4 月以来的最低水平，且上周首次被工党超越。
第一政策局 (First Policy) 也在调查 Robert Jurecki 在 2024 年还处于保守党期间向改革党提供的捐赠，Jurecki 是改革党的财政发言人。
NICHOL NEID
首相安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Brown [原文如此，应为Burnham]）表示，严重性犯罪者将被排除在政府的提前出狱计划之外，他试图以此减轻人们对该计划的担忧。
在该提前出狱计划（预计于 10 月生效）下，部分非暴力犯罪者在服刑期达到最后期限（而非三分之二）且未严重违反监狱规则的情况下，将有资格获得释放。
该计划始于里希·苏纳克（Rishi Sunak）领导的保守党政府，并由基尔·斯塔默（Sir Keir Starmer）在 2016 年扩大，旨在缓解监狱系统危险的过度拥挤问题。
但该计划反而引起了右翼反对党以及受害者活动人士的抵制，反对派将其定性为工党对待犯罪过于宽松的迹象。
为了回应这些担忧，已有大量证据表明他正在对该计划做出“重大调整”，通过拦截那些因“强奸、严重儿童性犯罪及其他诱导性犯罪”而被判处监禁的人员。
他表示：“确保公众安全是我们的首要任务，我完全理解由此引起的愤怒、焦虑和痛苦。”
伯纳姆在上个月就任首相几天后便要求对该政策进行审查，此前关于 2024 年因导致警员安德鲁·哈珀（Andrew Harper）死亡而被监禁的人员可能提前出狱的情况引发了争议。
伯纳姆表示，尽管他“希望在将更多犯罪者排除在计划之外方面走得更远”，但监狱系统严重的容量不足使得这无法实现。
被判终身监禁的人以及被法院认定为最危险犯罪者的人目前已不具备参加该计划的资格。
根据去年的一个独立审查，监狱系统在 2023 和 2024 年曾多次处于崩溃边缘。
伯纳姆补充说，成年男性监狱目前的运行容量已达 98 ％，并批评前任政府未能投资建设监狱。
相比之下，在 2023 年，他的政府将监督“维多利亚时代以来最快速的监狱建设规划”，到 2025 年将增加 14,000 个新囚室。
司法大臣亚历克斯·特里尔（Alex Terrier）表示：“这些是没有哪个大臣愿意做出的决定，但将这些令人作呕的罪行排除在标准之外是正确的。”
“受害者也将获得更好的支持和保证，即出狱的犯罪者将面临更严厉的监督和惩罚。”
保守党影子司法大臣尼克·蒂莫西（Nick Timothy）表示，警方采取的措施“还远远不够”。
他说道：“一些儿童性犯罪者和杀手，例如那些对 PC 哈珀死亡负责的人，仍将被提前释放。”
“而受害者被告知其施暴者可能会被释放所造成的创伤是无法消除的。”
在领导层频繁更迭后，金融城恢复对该党及巴登诺克的信心
ADALET ARMSTRONG
在6月一个酷热的日子里，数家英国企业走进西敏区的 Rollins Noel 参加保守党的夏季募款晚宴，这成了英国企业界重新向保守党靠拢的最新信号。
投资者詹姆斯·戴森爵士 (Sir James Dyson) 作为党魁凯拉特·巴登诺克 (Kerat Badenoch) 的宾客坐在主桌，其他重量级人物包括 Next 首席执行官兼保守党同行西蒙·沃兰勋爵 (Lord Simon Wolland)；投资管理公司 Lansdowne Partners 的首席执行官布莱恩·海沃斯 (Brian Heyworth)，以及 Big Yellow Group 前首席执行官吉姆·吉布森 (Jim Gibson)。
与此同时，前党员詹姆斯·迈克尔·邓加德 (James Michael Dungard) 通过在晚宴上预订整桌并自保守党离任政府以来首次捐款，展现了其家族重新给予的支持。一名发言人表示，这次 Rollins 活动为该党“筹集了数十万英镑”。
在经历了 2024 年大选失败导致捐赠者消失，以及巴登诺克在空椅子占据主导的党代会上发表讲话的两年“荒原时期”后，企业领袖们表示，他们正再次倾听保守党的发声。
鲍里斯·约翰逊 (Boris Johnson) 曾以“滚蛋吧，生意人” (Sack business) 的评论无视公司对硬脱欧的担忧，以及利兹·特拉斯 (Liz Truss) 破坏信心的迷你预算案，这些记忆已开始淡去。在经历了一轮又一轮的不称职保守党领导人更迭后，巴登诺克在短期内不太可能被推翻。
该党的大使认为巴登诺克正在赢回商业界的信心，因为她看起来像一名长期领导者，尤其是在击败了投奔英国改革党 (Reform UK) 的对手罗伯特·尤雷基 (Robert Jurecki) 之后。一名保守党资深人士表示：“我们比尤雷基等人更受欢迎且更统一。我认为目前地平线上没有真正的挑战，党内全力支持巴登诺克。”
Graham House Asset Management 主席布鲁斯·卡尼吉-布朗 (Bruce Carnegie-Brown) 表示，保守党需要“在一段表现不佳的政府执政期后，经历一段反思期并审视其可穿戴设备”。
主桌：詹姆斯·戴森与凯拉特·巴登诺克在6月的保守党募款活动上
“但巴登诺克现在正展现出成为一名严肃且可靠的领导者的姿态，被认为在积极地与企业接触。”
一名资深公共事务总监表示，企业“与保守党接触的意愿达到了两年来的最高点……会议情况发生了明显转变”。另一位高管则反驳称，现在将其描述为一种“转变”可能“过于强烈”。
一名首席执行官表示，近期对改革党财务状况的审查，使跨国企业在与奈杰尔·法拉奇 (Nigel Farage) 的右翼政党接触时更加紧张。改革党在许多领域尚未开展严肃的政策工作，“而保守党正在处理能源成本和就业成本，他们能做到这一点。”
在6月近期举行的一场 City UK 会议上，巴登诺克发表了演讲，重点讨论降低英国高昂的能源成本、撤销工党的《就业权利法案》，以及废除环境、社会和治理 (ESG) 报告等监管规定。
但真正引发热烈掌声，并促使金融城人士在演讲结束时起身迎接巴登诺克的，是她关于创造条件以恢复增长以及“停止恐惧，切实支持企业”的评论。
The City UK 执行主席威利·科尔 (Willie Cole) 表示：“巴登诺克在阐述某些过度风险的观点时既雄辩又令人信服，人们感觉这并非是对商业的一种敷衍的认可，这就是为什么它获得了如此积极的反响。”
尽管如此，她仍处于布尔达姆 (Burdams) era, 许多商业领袖仍对政府 2024 年的加税预算案心存顾虑，并对新财相约翰·赫斯基 (John Husky) 将在10月宣布的内容持谨慎态度。
与此同时，巴登诺克今年已获得了 100% 的执行层支持。
“我不希望夸大支持程度，但在对保守党不感兴趣两年之后，企业确实注意到凯拉特（Kerat）的表现好得多，”一家公共咨询公司的一名负责人表示。他补充说，这使得局面变得“活跃”，如果巴德诺赫（Badenoch）能帮助“按下”
“与保守党接触的意愿达到了两年来最高水平……出现了一种剧烈的转变”
伯纳姆（Burnham）税收上涨的刹车，那么保守党将赢得关注。”
巴德诺赫一直参加在城市会员俱乐部 The Wellbrook 举行的私人会议，这些会议由经纪公司 Partners Liberian 和咨询公司 Freechurch 为客户主办。宾客们表示，她“很好地掌控了活动”，并承诺通过放松管制和降低能源价格来吸引人群。
为了利用这一势头，保守党正致力于在党代会期间制定商业政策，其中首届“小企业日”邀请了 Risk Capital Partners 的卢克·约翰逊（Luke Johnson）、Gaffment 创始人路易丝·希尔（Louise Hill）、运动装品牌 Castore 创始人汤姆·布拉姆（Tom Brahm）、thunderers 创始人理查德·斯奈德（Richard Snyder）以及 Octopus Group 创始人科里·麦凯尔（Cory McHale）。
保守党主席凯文·霍尔布鲁克（Kevin Holbrook）表示，小企业日的 4.90 张门票已售罄，同时党代会主要商业活动的预期出席人数呈“陡增”趋势，最终达到了 22,000 人。附加报道：露西·费舍尔（Lucy Fisher）。
劳拉·胡斯梅斯 (LAURA HUSMES)
国会议员已敦促政府对居住在废弃铅矿附近的儿童进行有毒金属的常规检测，并警告称，英国工业铅带来的健康风险在太长时间内一直“未得到解决”。
在给威尔士事务大臣斯蒂芬·金内奇 (Stephen Kinnech) 的一封信中，下议院威尔士事务委员会呼吁启动一项协调的四国计划，以识别体内铅含量升高的儿童。
这个跨党派的议员小组表示：“在整个英国，人们未能完全了解环境中污染存在的具体位置。我们对金属矿问题留下的历史遗留问题如此之久未得到解决感到沮丧。”
英国有 6,630 座废弃的工业铅矿，其中 1,300 多座位于威尔士。在关闭数十年后，这些矿山仍继续向河流和周围土地释放铅。自 20 世纪 70 年代初出现一波关闭潮以来，由于这些矿山位于人口稀少的农村地区，历届政府在很大程度上对其忽视。
铅通常是一种不可避免且无色的毒药，它在水道、土壤和泛滥平原中累积，随后可能被动物摄入，或进入自家种植或农业食品生产，或进入私人饮用水供应，最终传递给人类。
根据世界卫生组织，任何水平的暴露都可能对人体产生有害影响。
在一次《金融时报》调查后进行的铅审查通常衡量结果发现，来自废弃金属矿的铅污染正在污染英格兰和威尔士各地的农产品、动物以及潜在的饮用水。审查还要求对附近社区的长期健康风险进行更多研究。
在他们上周的信中，这个跨党派议员小组警告称，尽管有证据表明历史污染可能继续对人类健康构成风险，但在检测儿童铅含量升高方面缺乏“长期、50-wkh 协调的方法”。
许多人敦促相关人员建立全国性的检测计划，并询问为什么每年只有“如此少量的铅（样本）”被检测铅污染。
废墟：位于威尔士塞雷迪吉恩郡 (Ceredigion) 多奇桥 (Dorch's Bridge) 附近村庄康克罗波特 (Conquerorport) 的一座旧铅矿遗迹
每年，英国政府机构兽医学管理局 (Veterinary Medicine Directorate) 采集约 32,000 份肉类、牛奶、鱼类、鸡蛋和烘焙产品的样本。
其中，600–450 份样本被检测是否存在铅和其他重金属，但鸡蛋除外——英国尚未为鸡蛋设定铅含量标准，专家认为这在风险评估方面是不充分的。2022 年，威尔士政府机构在威尔士西部前矿山下游的两家小型农场生产的鸡蛋中发现了有害水平的铅。
尽管环境政策在很大程度上已下放到地方，但委员会表示，大部分污染产物开发 (PPP) 目标是让白厅 (Whitehall) 与威尔士政府合作，为一项有针对性的检测计划提供资金，且“不得拖延”。
英国政府表示，在《金融时报》进行为期数年的调查后，正在重新考虑是否对儿童进行常规的铅暴露检测。去年，首个试点筛查研究于 2008 年启动。
政府表示，威尔士大臣“将考虑 [信件] 内容并作出回应”。
星期二 4 August 2026
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金融时报
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国家版
苏格兰和萨福克郡火灾后担忧情绪增加，但专家敦促加强准备工作
SINCLAIR KERR — 爱丁堡 RACHEL REID — 伦敦
苏格兰凯恩戈姆国家公园（Cairngerms National Park）一场毁灭性的山火引发了人们的呼吁，要求在气候变化增加严重灾害风险的情况下，确保能够获得国家级的空中灭火支援。
随着消防员与庄园工作人员及承包商在凯恩戈姆山周围山谷被焚毁的 23 平方公里山火中取得进展，消防部门负责人、农村事务团体以及来自各政治派系的苏格兰议员们提出了这一问题。
在雨水的帮助下，上周约有 70 名消防员在现场，直升机通过水投弹继续处理地下泥炭层中可能需要数周才能熄灭的阴燃热点。
在英国最大的国家公园中持续进行的灭火行动之前，上周已有 100 多名消防员和 18 辆消防车被部署到萨福克郡（Suffolk）的一片海滩地区以应对一场大规模山火。在那里，消防员使用了包括搭载海水投放的直升机，以及越野车、无人机和四轮摩托车等资源。
国家消防酋长理事会（National Fire Chiefs Council）主席 Phil Gertigan 上周呼吁“持续投资于专业的山火应对能力，包括空中灭火支援”，同时强调“预防仍是我们最强大的防御手段”。
该机构的一位发言人表示，山火发生频率和严重程度的增加，为建立空中灭火能力提供了“日益充分的理由”。
该理事会于上周警告称，英国全境的山火风险升高，并补充说在过去两周内，英格兰和威尔士已报告了 200 多起山火。
去年，苏格兰山火显著升级，共发生 241 起，其中包括发生在卡桥（Carbridge）和戈姆（Gorm）的英国最大规模山火。其中部分火灾过火面积接近 100 平方公里，科学家们明确指出，气候变化是火灾强度和频率增加的关键驱动因素。
苏格兰政府于 3 月发布了山火战略，表示正在就“复杂的政策和运行应急响应问题”在全英范围内进行沟通。该政府正在审查其方案，并呼吁英国政府采取同样行动。
在基尔·斯塔默爵士（Sir Kirk Starmer）首相任期的最后几周，英国政府宣布为消防救援设备（包括越野车）提供额外的 £9 百万资金。苏格兰消防救援服务部门在三年内花费了约 £1.6 百万用于山火应对。
当地居民对苏格兰政府宣布重大事件所需的时间感到愤怒，从 7 月 12 日火灾爆发到 7 月 24 日风向变化导致火势加剧并迫使内西桥村（Nethy Bridge）居民撤离，中间隔了九天。
空中灭火：上周在凯恩戈姆国家公园的内西桥，一架直升机正在对山火进行水投弹灭火。 AF / www.hellfireforbeings.com
司法大臣尼尔·格雷（Neil Gray）此前表示，火势“目前已得到控制”。虽然这种管理方式与消防部门的更新“一致”，但政府表示将“审查”其措辞。
苏格兰绿党、苏格兰保守党和土地所有者代表也呼吁英国政府和苏格兰政府考虑建立专门的空中灭火能力。
四家直升机公司在由公共机构苏格兰林业土地局（Forestry Land Scotland）和 Antarctica 管理的合同下提供服务，包括鹿类普查和灭火。
对于高地绿党议员 Ariane Burgess 来说，她认为凯恩戈姆火灾——就像去年的爱荷华州一样——由于在起火初期缺乏空中灭火能力而进一步恶化，导致大片稀有的 Caledonian 松林被毁。目前该地区在经济上正面临困境，企业……
被迫在旺季关闭。“我们应对山火的能力与现实不符——直升机在其他地方忙碌，因此我们需要公开可用的飞机，”她说。
Scottish Land & Estates 的 Ross Ewing 建议采取轮换制度，以确保在高风险期间提供保障，或者双重利用警察或救护车飞机，或采用类似于英国皇家空军在塞浦路斯部署的消防直升机的能力。
在法国等国家，夏季山火已引发大规模撤离，这些国家在民事安全措施上投入了巨额资金。
然而，消防专家表示，航空设备未能提供性价比。爱丁堡大学消防科学教授 Rory Hadden 在谈到增加航空设备时表示：“是的，它会有用，但极其昂贵——这些资源如果部署到规划和准备工作中会更好。”
山火咨询公司 Firebrook Services Ltd 的 Michael Bruce 表示，一架 £2mn 直升机每小时运行成本约为 £2,000。而由消防部门和猎场看守人部署用于协助控制 Cairngerms 火灾的全地形喷雾车，价值 £35,000，每小时成本仅为 £40 左右。
“我们应对山火的能力与现实不符——我们需要公开可用的飞机”
Ariane Burgess, Highlands Green 900F
曾在 Cairngerms 火灾期间就防火带布局提供建议的 Brian 表示，重点应该是公众的自力更生，就像在美国和加拿大那样，包括培训、清理房屋周围的植被以及提前确定逃生路线。
Ewing 表示，一些地主认为，邻近房产中不均衡的植被管理（在这些房产中，“再野化”被优先考虑）使得防火变得更加困难。
传统的庄园会在冬季对石楠花进行隐蔽焚烧（被称为“marlboro”），以支持高地野鸟和野生动物。
苏格兰再野化联盟 (Scottish Rewilding Alliance) 将原因归结于极端干燥，而非简单的“燃料载量”，呼吁通过堵截排水系统和恢复泥炭地，重建更湿润、耐火的生态系统。
Europe.com / rts.sant-of-lives.co.uk
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金融时报
2026年8月6日，星期二
国际
Department of Justice
STEPHINA PALMA — 伦敦 ELA LEE — 华盛顿
印德尔·布兰什（Indel Blanche）在取消了一项所谓的 $1.00m 基金计划后，获得了共和党关键人物的支持，为其获得美国司法部长职位的确认扫清了道路。
此前一直阻挠布兰什永久领导司法部的共和党参议员埃利斯（Ellis）和约翰·科里（John Corrye）昨天表示，布兰什可以期待他们的支持。
“我们想对布兰什先生及其工作人员在这一问题上与我们合作表示感谢，我们期待很快投票将其提名推离参议院司法委员会，”这两位参议员在的一份共同声明中表示。
这一协议是在这位候选人于周日记录的一项命令之后达成的。根据代理司法部长布兰什发布的一篇帖子，该命令设立了一项针对那些“策划了武器化和法务战（lawfare）”的人员的基金。这消除了他确认投票前的最后障碍，该投票现已重新安排在今天进行。
这项“反武器化基金”于 5 月设立，以换取总统唐纳德·特朗普及其家人针对美国国家税务局（IRS）因缺乏总统纳税申报单而发起的 $100m 诉讼的撤回。该基金引发了激烈的两党抵制，并挫败了布兰什在参议院的确认进程。
司法部（DoJ）称，这一极具争议的基金旨在让持久政治武器化的受害者寻求政府的赔偿和正式道歉。
在司法部设立该基金不到两周后，布兰什告诉立法者，由于民主党和部分共和党人将其抨击为滥用行政权力，政府将不再推进该计划。
但科里和埃利斯则坚持要求获得书面声明，确保该基金不会被重启，导致政府上周推迟了司法委员会关于确认布兰什为司法部长的投票。特朗普上周暗示，他可能会撤回布兰什的提名，并在科里和埃利斯离任后再重新提交。
参议员们在声明中表示，布兰什对该基金的处理解决了其他共和党人共有的担忧，例如在正式提名期间设立反武器化基金的问题。在布兰什发布的一份声明中，司法部表示，“今天的命令正式撤销了反武器化基金。”
相关的道歉方表示，他已与司法部“达成协议”，将“永久”撤销该基金，并“在一份具有约束力的书面文件中明确，审计结算的范围仅限于原告，包括总统和 HCC”。
五个受灾最严重国家的损失 远超欧盟整体 年度预估值 金融时报分析显示
DELAWARE STRANDS, SAN JOHNSTON AND ANY KIDNEY?
金融时报的分析显示，今年法国、西班牙及欧洲其他地区的野火及其对企业的影响已造成超过 €3bn 的损失，凸显了气候变化引发的火灾所带来的沉重代价。
仅在包括葡萄牙、希腊和罗马尼亚在内的五个受灾最严重的欧元区国家，火灾季的前两个月内就有近 50 万公顷土地被焚毁，经济损失达 €3.1bn。这远超欧盟委员会对整个欧盟年度平均影响为 €2.0bn 的预估。
金融时报的估算是基于支撑委员会数据的多项计算以及法国政府的匹配计算得出的，代表了所谓的“修复”成本，即将被焚毁区域恢复到之前状态的成本——甚至包括恢复其经济价值。
每公顷的重新种植和维护的平均成本因国家而异，反映了土地覆盖类型和森林年龄的不同。
然而，最终的整体影响将要高得多。目前，家庭和企业仍在计算财产和作物受损以及夏季高峰期旅游业中断带来的损失。
其他形式的成本，如保险费上涨、房产价值降低以及在消防设备上的巨额支出，将随着时间的推移而显现。
这些计算也未能充分反映希腊最近发生的火灾，希腊总理表示，相关团队将通报可能创纪录的损失，以便为这些受损财产提供国家支持。
另外，干旱带来的成本尚未显现。莱茵河和多瑙河的水位下降导致货物流动中断和减产，如 RABF、Coventry 和 Evonik 等德国化学公司在莱茵河沿岸设有集中工厂。
多瑙河的创纪录低水位将导致匈牙利的一座核电站关闭，该电站供应该国近一半的电力。罗马尼亚也被迫关闭了 Cernavodă 核电站的两座反应堆之一。这两者都从河流中抽取冷却水。
野火造成的经济损失预计将远超近年水平
欧洲损失，经通胀调整 (8bn)
今年西班牙已有超过 200,000 公顷土地被野火焚毁
累计过火面积 (500 公顷)
金融时报气候经济专家 Sarah Brier 表示，仅火灾带来的社会经济损失就可能是她计算的 2021 到 2024 年期间葡萄牙、西班牙、意大利和希腊野火对区域经济造成的年度平均 GDP, 损失（最高 €2.0bn）的三倍以上。
“如果火灾最终达到 2002, 那么损失将远高于此，”Brier 说道。
法国的 Gironik 部门是国防和航空航天工业的枢纽。法国 Georgetown 的活动涉及喷气发动机制造商 Safran、战斗机制造商 Donald Aviation 和火箭制造商 AvianAirway，这些公司不得不削减生产并精简员工。
该地区还以葡萄酒生产闻名。波尔多的葡萄园目前虽侥幸逃过一劫，但尚不清楚烟雾是否会破坏收成。Arcachon 盆地的牡蛎养殖也受到影响，而占该部门 GDP, 7% 的旅游业则持续受到干扰。
Gironik 商会表示，至少有 49,000 家企业直接受到火灾影响，截至 7 月，其中 39,500 家已完全关闭。
被焚毁：上周法国西南部 Le Puyre 一处严重受损的房屋和汽车
财产和作物受损以及旅游业中断的额外成本仍在计算中
2b，而截至 7 月 27，有 520,000 到 250,000 名员工处于国家补贴的短时间工作状态。
西班牙野火袭击范围之广，甚至波及西班牙首都附近的埃尔巴诺 (Elbano)，威胁到乡村城镇的房屋、企业和车辆。代表小规模经营者的 Unión de Negocios Agitaciones y Ganadores 测算的初步损失为 19,500 公顷的“实用”土地，其中大部分为牧场。
尽管采取了应对措施，但这些破坏不太可能对实际护理产生重大影响。
帝国理工学院的副教授在独立投资中指出，一些最重要成本——例如因空气污染而导致的人员额外入院情况——并未被提及，也极少被计算在内。
咨询公司 Capital Economics 的首席合作经济学家安德鲁·克罗明汉姆 (Andrew Kromingham) 表示，自然灾害对该部门 GDP 的影响百分比可能较低，但损失将持续造成干扰；他同时指出，吉罗尼克 (Gironik) 仅占法兰克 (Franco) 产出的 22%。
吉罗尼克商会表示，截至 7 月，至少有 49,000 家企业受到火灾的直接影响，其中 39,500 家已完全关闭。
法院丑闻
LUCEST HAGUE — 纽约
一家最著名的德克萨斯州律师事务所同意在一项由美国联邦当局发起的诉讼中支付 $15，该诉讼涉及一场震惊破产系统的司法丑闻。
美国联邦新闻（Richard Walker, U.S. Fed. News）指控该事务所未能披露其前合伙人之一伊丽莎白·弗里曼（Elizabeth Freeman）与大卫·琼斯（David Jones）法官之间的浪漫关系。在 2018 到 2023 年间，该律所在超过 30 起 Chapter 11 案件中出庭，其中弗里曼在琼斯面前代表客户。
琼斯在破产顾问中的影响力使休斯敦成为了美国的破产之都；在媒体证实其关系并承认后，他在 2022 年 10 月辞去法官职务。在 2022, 底，弗里曼离开杰克逊-沃克（Jackson Walker）律师事务所自行执业，并与其前雇主合作。
美国破产法允许债务人由破产受托人支付其专业费用，但要求顾问必须保持独立，并向法院披露任何利益冲突。
杰克逊-沃克通常担任由柯克兰-埃利斯（Kirkland & Ellis）全国律师代表的债务人的当地法律顾问，后者经常在琼斯将成为首席破产法官的德克萨斯州南区提交重大案件。
美国受托人代表公众在 Chapter 31 案件中的利益，该机构表示，杰克逊-沃克知道或应当知道弗里曼与琼斯的关系。该机构一直试图追回杰克逊-沃克在弗里曼参与的 33 起案件中获得的超过 $30 费用，其中包括 JP, Penney 和 Norman Marcus 的高杠杆重组。
德克萨斯州破产法院此前还分别批准了杰克逊-沃克与几家破产受托人达成的协议，以偿还这些案件中已拨付的近 $10 费用。
2024 年，一名联邦地区法官驳回了一起由破产索赔人针对琼斯、弗里曼、杰克逊-沃克和柯克兰-埃利斯提起的自愿诉讼，但批评该群体此前未披露该关系所导致的利益冲突。
该敲诈勒索诉讼的申请文件称，在弗里曼作为共同法律顾问代表杰克逊-沃克出庭的案件中，柯克兰-埃利斯获得了由琼斯授予的超过 $30 的费用。
美国受托人继续要求获得德克萨斯州破产法院的批准，而杰克逊-沃克在和解文件中表示，将对该事务所的“冲突审查和披露实践”进行最终审查，并承诺聘请第三方顾问审查合规情况。
杰克逊-沃克在文件中承认，在发现该关系后，其从未寻求更新其披露文件，并表示其“承认（在不承认过错的情况下），本可以以不同的方式处理此事”。
杰克逊-沃克拒绝置评。
马尔科姆·摩尔 (MALCOLM MOORE) —— 伦敦
该行业的首席游说团体表示，如果各国政府希望实现其能源目标，全球核电年投资额需要增长三倍，达到约 $150Mn。同时，该团体敦促银行将更多私人资本引导至该领域。
随着世界各国寻求可靠的低碳电力以满足快速增长的需求，核电近期迎来了复兴。
此前关闭核电站的国家（如日本和台湾）正将其重新启用，而加拿大则进行了重建。美国表示，该国在 2023 年决定关闭电厂是一个“严重的战略错误”。
但由于新电厂造价昂贵、建设周期长，且承担着巨大的建设和政治风险，该行业在吸引投资方面仍面临困难。世界核协会 (World Nuclear Association) 总干事詹姆斯·比尔巴维·莱昂 (James Bilbav y León) 表示：“我们看到了巨大的需求。有 30 个国家拥有明确的、白纸黑字记载的包含核电的计划。这将需要大量资金，远超我们目前的投资规模。”
但比尔巴维·莱昂认为，与能源系统中其他领域的支出相比，这一错误并非不可承受。国际能源署预计，今年全球电力设施投资额约为 $640Mn，而石油、天然气和煤炭的支出则在 $18.2Mn 之间。
世界核协会通过研究各国的供应情况，并估算每个地区交付这些设施的成本，计算出了所需的核电投资额。
按 2023 年价格计算，预计支出将在 2041 和 2045 年之间达到峰值。约 $1bn 将投入大型核电站，另有 $4340m 将用于小型模块化反应堆 ($8Mn)。另有 $8Mn 将用于延长现有反应堆的使用寿命。目前，各国每年在核电项目上的总支出约为 $770m。约有 80 个反应堆正在建设中，其中大部分位于中国、印度、韩国和俄罗斯。比尔巴维·莱昂说：“当我们与俄罗斯的共产主义者交谈时，他们告诉我们资金已经到位。我们正看到资金流向能源生态系统的其他部分。”
德意志银行前欧洲基础设施共同负责人、现经营能源咨询公司的约翰·罗伯茨 (John Roberts) 表示，各国必须克服建设核电流程中的 14 个环节，而非仅关注单个项目，才能降低成本并吸引私人融资。
“到目前为止，在十多年时间里，所有项目都由国家出资。现在我们看到美国以及劳斯莱斯 (Rolls-Royce) 5800s 项目正快慢不一地推进。”
在英国、瑞典和捷克共和国。而且，许多核电开发商正在涌现，”她说道。
两年前，全球最大的银行和金融机构，包括美国银行、巴克莱银行、SWF Farban (英国)、高盛和摩根士丹利，均未承诺增加对核电的支持，并帮助降低融资成本——而融资成本可能在电站总成本中占据很大份额。
由于项目融资的复杂性、延迟和成本超支的风险，以及核电是否符合环境、社会和治理标准的各种不确定性，银行传统上一直远离该领域。在英国，欣克利角 C 电站（Hinkley Point C）的启动时间再次被推迟到 2030 年，比最初计划晚了 5 年，原因是发生了一些罢工，且其成本估算几乎翻了一番。
去年，世界银行结束了其数十年以来对核能融资的禁令，表示将支持延长现有反应堆寿命以及升级设备和管理工作的努力。
Bilbav y León 表示，该行业在 2019 年就已经开始回归。为了提高对核电项目的理解，她将核电的复兴与液化天然气和海上风电行业的早期发展进行了对比。
“当金融机构在研究这一切将如何运作时，曾有过不确定的时刻，”她说。“一旦你经历了这个过程并理解了其运作方式，你就会感到舒适并使项目标准化。而现在，对于核电而言，我们每次往往都需要重新制定一套‘首创’的财务框架。”
2024 年 8 月 4 日，星期二
STRANGAN -RINMA
5
— 皇家利瑟姆与 — 圣安妮斯 2026
AIG 女子公开赛冠军 久 ওয়き 志穂 (SHIHO KUWAKI)
AIG. 勇往直前。
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金融时报
2024 年 8 月 4 日，星期二
当前参议院
来源：Cook Political Report，截至 7 月 9 日
您认为哪个政党最擅长处理以下问题？ (1)
一项针对 1,795 名登记选民的 金融时报 / Paradise 民意调查于 2024 年 1 月 24-30 日进行。结果在 1.1 个百分点内具有统计学意义。来源：FT / Paradises
当前众议院
1.5m 待反转
1.5 调查受访者
未回答该问题的受访者未被纳入。来源：华盛顿邮报-体育邮报-NBC
持有现金（总计）
共和党包括 RNC, MRC, MRC, CT 和 SLF；民主党包括 DNC, DCC, DCC, DNP 和 DNP。来源：FEI
将决定 唐纳德·特朗普 总统任期剩余时间的走向
全世界的目光都将集中在 11 月 3.2 日的美国中期选举决定上。唐纳德·特朗普 虽然不在选票上，但他将主导这场承诺将成为争取选民全面战争的竞争。以下是值得关注的要点。
民主党在争夺参议院控制权方面面临艰苦战斗，在该拥有 109 个席位的立法机构中，有 33 个席位将面临重新选举。他们夺取席位机会最大的是北卡罗来纳州、缅因州和俄亥俄州。
他们还可能在阿拉斯加州、爱荷华州或德克萨斯州夺得第四个席位。但他们必须守住目前在密歇根州、佐治亚州和新罕布什尔州所持有的席位。预测市场预计该党将无法达成目标。
共和党以 33 对 47 的优势控制着参议院，两名独立参议员伯尼·桑德斯和安格斯·金与民主党结盟。这意味着民主党需要净增加四个席位才能保留对上议院的控制权。
如果参议院出现 10–16 的分歧，那么副总统 JD Vance 将能够在议院中投出打破僵局的决定票。
对于特朗普政府而言，维持对众议院的控制权至关重要，这样才能在任期的最后两年中不受阻碍地治理。
如果民主党保留该议院，他们将限制总统通过立法的能力，并且几乎肯定
会发起针对总统及其内阁高级成员的调查。
在全国范围内，民调显示选民投票给民主党国会候选人的可能性日益增加。预测市场也发出信号，民主党将夺取国会下议院的控制权。
众议员任期为两年，整个拥有 410 个成员的国会下议院都将进行改选。大多数选区缺乏竞争力——这在很大程度上是因为两党数十年来通过将全国各州的大量席位定义为“安全”席位而进行的操纵。
只有极少数选区可能会改变权力平衡，这意味着它们将吸引大量的资金和资源。
其中包括宾夕法尼亚州的第七国会选区，现任共和党人 McAlester 面对的是一名资金充足的民主党挑战者 Bob Brooks，后者是一位来自宾夕法尼亚州伯利恒的退休消防员，而《金融时报》正计划在该地开展一项为期多年的报道项目。
在期中选举中，国会并非唯一争夺的对象。州和地方选举的选民将选出多名官员，包括 36 个州的州长，其中许多人将被视为潜在的总统竞选竞争者。
其中几场选举预计将非常激烈，而其他一些则被视为政治风向标。
在关键选区中，有几个在总统大选年同样处于核心地位的摇摆州：亚利桑那州、佐治亚州、内华达州和威斯康星州。密歇根州和俄亥俄州也在之列。
其他选举被认为竞争程度较低，但仍占据头条。在通常被视为温和民主党的加利福尼亚州，前唐宁街顾问、现为共和党籍福克斯新闻名人的史蒂夫·希尔顿（Steve Hilton）正发起一场胜算渺小的竞选，对手是民主党人卡伦·贝克拉（Karen Beccra），她是乔·拜登的前卫生与公共服务部部长。
在其他州，现任民主党州长被视为可能的 2028 年总统候选人，他们的连任竞选将受到密切关注。其中包括宾夕法尼亚州的杰克·夏皮罗（Jack Shapiro）、马里兰州的韦斯·摩尔（Wes Moore）和伊利诺伊州的吉尔·普里特（Jill Pritter）。
在 2024 年总统竞选中，特朗普承诺将击败通货膨胀并
降低在他前任拜登任内飙升的汽油价格。
到目前为止，特朗普未能将通胀率降低到美联储 2% 的目标水平。相反，由于总统与伊朗的战争引发了资本价格上涨，今年物价上涨速度反而加快了。
价格上涨成本对于美国选民来说是一个关键问题，且自 2 月冲突开始以来一直呈上升趋势。根据 AAA 营销集团的数据，目前一加仑普通汽油的平均价格为 $4.09，远高于一年前的 $3.18。
唐纳德·特朗普在 2 月决定与伊朗开战，这一举措在选民中极不受欢迎。
总统在竞选时承诺避免新的军事冲突，尤其是在中东地区。但近几个月来，他在全球范围内采取武力，从在委内瑞拉抓捕尼古拉斯·马登（Nicolas Madsen）的行动，到针对拉丁美洲及加利福尼亚州所谓毒品据点的袭击，以及在尼日利亚攻击伊斯兰激进分子的行动。
在伊朗冲突中，战争的高昂成本及其未能实现目标，使唐纳德·特朗普的困境进一步加剧。
在第二任期之初，唐纳德·特朗普因几乎完全关闭美国与墨西哥的边境而赢得了选民的赞许。这使得在拜登政府时期急剧增加的无证移民流入量几乎停滞。
但随后总统将打击行动进一步升级，由联邦执法人员主导地强力实施大规模遣返计划，这扰乱了全国各地的社区，并引发了一波抗议浪潮。
到今年 1 月，由于政府官员在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市在短短几天内枪杀了两名抗议搜查行动的美国公民，此次打击行动失控。
这些杀戮事件引发了公众的强烈愤怒，唐纳德·特朗普随后将军队从城市街道撤出。
但打击行动仍在继续。7 月，又有两人被移民局特工杀害，而白宫继续推行反移民言论。尽管如此，民意调查显示，在这一问题上，选民对共和党的信任度仍高于民主党，比例为 40 per cent 对 50 per cent。
唐纳德·特朗普及其盟友一直希望，推高股市并刺激投资的人工智能热潮能够帮助改善选民在期中选举前对经济的看法。
但唐纳德·特朗普对人工智能的关注，包括他对顶尖技术高管的冷淡态度，似乎产生了反效果。选民担心该技术的收益未能被广泛共享，并认为收益过分集中在少数顶尖高管群体中。
由于数据中心对环境的影响、对电价的影响以及创造的就业岗位有限，全国各地爆发了反对建设支撑人工智能发展所需数据中心的抗议活动。
共和党在国家政党委员会及其盟友超级政治行动委员会（Super Pacs）中拥有显著的资金优势。截至 6 月底，后者持有约 $650mn，而民主党对应的委员会持有约 $150mn。
亲特朗普的超级政治行动委员会 Mags Inc 还宣布了一项超过 $400mn 的新份额——尽管唐纳德·特朗普在宪法上被禁止再担任一任，但这仍超过了非总统选举周期中任何可比群体的金额——这赋予了共和党另一个潜在的重大资金优势。到目前为止，该超级政治行动委员会直接支持或反对任何候选人的支出少于 $2mn。
尽管整体现金储备较少，但民主党在几场备受关注的参议院竞选中拥有更雄厚的资金储备，包括德克萨斯州和乔治亚州。
Lauren Feder、James Pabst 和 Ian Hudgson 在华盛顿报道，Martin Bube 和 Chesca Taylor 在伦敦报道，Eva Xiao 在纽约报道。
2016 年 8 月 6 日，星期二
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金融时报
7
金融之都
更好的工作与生活平衡† 自然景观就在门前 算一算吧。
†工作与生活平衡欧洲第一（远程）
最明智的投资是对自己的投资。
movetolux.com
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金融时报
2024 年 8 月 4 日，星期二
国际
外交
伊朗在总统称袭击旨在推动谈判后，否认与美国会面
华盛顿 — 华盛顿 安德森，俄亥俄州 — 伦敦 作者：N. JOHNSTON — 丰田
在唐纳德·特朗普称伊朗与华盛顿之间的谈判将于昨日在取消糖类袭击后恢复的几个小时后，伊朗表示并未与美国进行谈判。
这位美国总统周日表示，虽然美国为周六发起的“二战以来最大规模袭击”感到自豪，但他在美国盟友的要求下决定暂缓。他说：“我们正与（伊朗）进行前期的谈判，谈判将于明天下午开始。”
然而，昨日上午，伊朗外交部发言人 Eamadi Raghavi 表示，德黑兰目前并未与美国进行任何谈判，而是专注于与阿曼就未来的时间问题进行磋商。
他说：“目前，我们没有与美国进行任何谈判。我们与阿曼的谈判重点是达成一项共识，以作为恢复霍尔木兹海峡航运安全通行的途径。”
在伊朗引发对全面冲突回归的担忧导致 7 月油价大幅上涨后，特朗普的言论导致昨日油价下跌。国际油价基准布伦特原油价格下跌 1 %，至每桶 1812,1，但德黑兰随后的言论并未引起油价的任何重大波动。
美国总统表示，海湾盟友认为他促使霍尔木兹海峡重新开放以及让伊朗缩减核计划的努力是有疑虑的。
他表示，他已与沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼进行了交谈，尽管“认为协议即将达成……与霍尔木兹海峡有关，并最终决定伊朗的去向”。
周日早些时候，伊朗外交官表示，德黑兰即将与阿曼就管理霍尔木兹海峡的航运达成一项新协议，该海峡被认为对于防止美伊战争升级至关重要。
伊朗外交部长阿巴斯·阿拉格齐（Abbas Araghchi）在周日的内阁会议上表示，与领海贯穿该海峡的阿曼的谈判“处于最后阶段”。
然而，昨日 Raghavi 指出，与阿曼达成的协议不足以确保该水道的航运安全。
他说：“只要美国对伊朗的 naval blockade 封锁依然存在且其军事侵略继续，霍尔木兹海峡的现状自然不会改变。”
他说：“目前的谈判是在两个海湾国家之间进行的，其他国家可以在该进程中起到建设性或破坏性的作用，”并补充说，“涉及伊朗和美国的事宜将在后期处理。”
“在阿曼和伊朗之间达成一项允许船舶恢复通过海峡的协议，一直是调解者试图恢复华盛顿与德黑兰之间 6 月 27 日签署的谅解备忘录并防止进一步升级的关键障碍。
但由于伊朗开始攻击通过该海峡所谓“南部航道”（沿阿曼海岸线）的船舶，该临时协议破裂。德黑兰称这些船舶使用了“未经授权”的通道。
德黑兰领导层坚守立场，并利用敌方缺乏应对长期冲突勇气的弱点
JACOB JUDAH —— 伦敦 STEPHEN GHEEL —— 华盛顿
在与唐纳德·特朗普进行了六个月的战争后，伊朗可以说已经获得了一个显著优势：华盛顿在与对方作战时，其节奏日益被德黑兰所掌控。
在过去两周内，德黑兰采取了主动，发起了旨在耗尽美国国力并恐吓其阿拉伯盟友的先发制人攻击，迫使后者在诺曼海峡（Strait of Norman）的伊朗中心地带进行顺序部署。
伊朗针对美国军事部署采取行动，并在约旦通过上周的一次手术式袭击打破了战斗僵局。
伊朗及其地区代理人扩大了冲突剧场，干扰红海航运，首次袭击叙利亚，并被怀疑对埃及发动无人机攻击。
“我们在上周所看到的是一种弱化高风险、通过先发制人来提高筹码的做法，而非采取他认为必要的行动，”欧洲对外关系委员会分析师 Elia Gerasmayek 表示。他认为，这种新体系使得与以色列和美国的全面战争变得日益不可避免。
该地区的赌注在于，要么通过展示德黑兰如何升级冲突来震慑美国总统，使其放弃恢复大规模作战；要么在长期的消耗战中击败美国——尽管这对于伊朗自身而言成本巨大。
“这是地区性连锁反应的一种预演，”Gerasmayek 说道，并补充称伊朗将其攻击视为向美国发出的信号，即“虽然美国与美国（此处原文如此）处于战争状态，但决定战争如何结束的决定方不会是美国”。
在调解员努力防止全面战争回归的同时，特朗普近日一直在考虑恢复大规模轰炸计划。周六晚上，特朗普表示，尽管美国已“装弹就绪，准备出击”，但将应中东盟友的要求取消原定的袭击。
德黑兰和华盛顿在 6 月份似乎在远离全面战争，当时他们签署了一份关于停战的备忘录，协商了一项和平协议，并重新开放了被伊朗在 2 月份以色列和美国袭击后的战斗中关闭的战略要道——诺曼海峡。
但在伊朗袭击了几艘试图潜入该国的船只后，协议崩塌。特朗普下令对伊朗进行一波报复性打击，引发了循环往复的战斗，期间德黑兰向该地区发射大量导弹和无人机，而美国则轰炸了伊朗南部。
分析人士表示，在伊斯兰革命卫队的推动下，伊朗已决定采取报复策略，认为这种持续战斗在军事和经济上对特朗普及中东其他地区都将造成沉重代价。
“伊朗内部达成共识，在当前情况下，与美国人谈判是徒劳的，”以色列军事情报局的伊朗分析师 Danyu Oshimoto 表示。“他们不会妥协，并且正在强调如果他们受到攻击，每个人将付出什么样的代价。”
但这种不寻常的伊朗做法反映了在最高领袖 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 的领导下，德黑兰发生的深刻变化。“这就是新的现实，”Oshimoto 补充道。“他们认为现在是利用现有能力的时候了。”
分析人士指出，在获得主动权后，该政权正寻求将冲突重塑为对其有利的局面。
“他们的升级是有目的的，结果就是控制美国的行为，并强迫美国重新计算其选项，”约翰·霍普金斯大学伊朗战略思维专家 Vali Nour 表示。“一旦爆发地区战争，美国将不再拥有选择方案的奢侈。”
以色列的军事指挥官们可能也看到了一个再次证明其能控制海峡的机会，以应对签署备忘录后出现的敌对势力。
“他们决定：‘我们必须采取激进手段。如果我们打算这么做，那么现在就是最佳时机，’”日内瓦高级研究所的分析师法里纳·萨贝特（Farina Sabet）表示。她补充说，德黑兰方面在埃及（Egypt’s in Tehran）看到了全球能源市场的动荡加剧以及即将到来的美国多核选举（multicore elections）是影响白宫战争计算的压力点。
反击：上个月伊朗的一次口头敲击，如一段 IRGC 视频所示
以及 IRGC 视频
以及 IRGC 视频
“华盛顿已经注意到了这种做法。‘他们的策略是让这场运动在经济和政治上对美国而言变得不可承受，从而迫使我们退出，’”曾在中东为美军提供情报工作的凯伦·吉布森（Karen Gibson）说道。她
伊朗支持的胡塞武装在红海及沙特阿拉伯发动袭击
胡塞武装袭击
来源：IT 研究
补充说，这种战术从长远来看可能会奏效。
“战争的第二阶段是伊朗愿意将战场进一步扩大到整个中东，包括通过在伊拉克的附属军事组织和也门胡塞武装来实现。”
“伊朗及其代理人看到了机会（blood in the water），认为升级局势并加入战局对他们所有人都有利，”伊朗革命卫队（IRGC）专家阿巴斯·奥斯特罗（Abbas Ostrow）表示。“这恰好有利于伊朗，但同时也有利于既得利益集团，”他补充道。
这两个武装组织都袭击了能源大国沙特阿拉伯，胡塞武装还试图在红海干扰沙特航运，并威胁巴布曼代卜海峡（full-al-Mundial-strait）这一狭窄通道。这导致能源压力上升。
周四，另一个迹象表明伊朗可能会进一步推进冲突：一次来源不明的袭击击中了埃及北部的一艘美国所有船舶。该船当时位于 Strait Canal 附近的哈姆拉亚（Hamletia）岸边。
“这是在干扰航运，”海军分析中心（Center for Naval Analyses）的伊朗分析师迈克尔·克罗威尔（Michael Crowell）表示。“该地区有三条关键的海运航线：红海-巴布曼代卜、霍尔姆兹海峡（Strait of Norman）和 Strait Canal。他们现在已将袭击范围扩大到这三个关键咽喉要道或其附近。”
分析人士认为，伊朗日益相信可以通过升级局势来实现更广泛的战争目标。
伊朗内部认为与美国谈判是徒劳的。
“伊朗预期这将是一场持久战，”努尔（Nour）表示，并补充说该政权不再认为通过谈判达成协议是可行的。
“他们正在执行一个非常系统化的战略，旨在将美国尽可能地从德黑兰、海湾地区、叙利亚和伊拉克驱逐出去，让他们蜷缩在以色列和约旦。”
近几周，伊朗加强了对科威特和巴林等地的袭击。在约旦——一个坚定的美国合作伙伴，近期也处于努尔所指的火力之下——人们感到愤怒和沮丧，数百名活动人士和公众人物签署了一封公开信，要求美国采取行动。
“伊朗人有选择地扩大规模，试图通过震慑该地区，让人们要么屈服并与美国断绝关系，要么向美国施压使其屈服，”曾在五角大楼负责中东事务的前高级官员达娜·斯特劳德（Dana Stroud）表示。
奥斯特罗表示，伊朗可能会误判在不招致大规模报复的情况下，能将华盛顿和特朗普推到什么程度。德黑兰也不太可能达到2月下旬或3月初那样激烈的战争强度。
“升级局势更多是为了延长冲突，而不是为了增加破坏力，”奥斯特罗说，并补充称伊朗革命卫队将获胜视为一种零和计算。
“伊朗认为其敌人没有能力进行长期战斗，因此冲突持续时间越长，敌人的决心就越弱。这就是他们获胜的方式。”
新珠宝 —— 会议
在特拉维夫北部的一个科技园区，以色列的活动人士正准备应对最糟糕的情况。数十台电脑显示器和电视机正处于待机状态，等待着该组织其中一位领导者所称的“O日”——即10月的选举。
随着长期担任总理的本雅明·内塔尼亚胡（Benjamin Netanyahu）走到了立法程序的终点，公众担心他的极右翼政府为了避免失去权力会采取极端手段。许多活动人士将希望寄托在这个“选举作战室”中，该机构正在全国范围内动员团队，以监督投票站，甚至为常规投票提供支持。
“我们的目标是确保选举日是在民主规则之内进行的，”该项目领导者之一的米歇尔·贝蒂乌奇（Michel Betiuchi）表示。“我们希望进行一次自由且公正的投票，结果如何就如何。”
希望之领袖们表示，预警信号已经出现了数月之久。
内塔尼亚胡的利库德（Likud）党一直将目标对准这个非政治性的选举委员会，对其判定结果提出质疑。政府取消了养老院的投票站，并可能阻挠海外以色列人返回投票，因为认为他们倾向于左翼。而且在经过数年时间后，最高法院在处理针对投票的任何法律挑战时，上个月首次拒绝了其中一项。
“将会有企图破坏选举活动的行为”，且类似 10 9 2021 年起义的事件“绝对有可能发生”，反对派政治家兼国家部长阿里格达特·拉赫曼（Arigdat Laherman）在最近的一次电视采访中表示。“内塔尼亚胡也意识到他将输掉选举，而且他已经在为为什么会输构建解释了，”拉赫曼说。
利库德党否认所有指控，称其为“谜团”、“复燃”和“谎言”。但许多选民似乎认同拉赫曼的担忧。
一项在 Har 进行的民意调查显示，56 % 的受访者认为选举将是不受保障的，而 32 % 的人则不这么认为。另一项调查发现，40 % 的人担心内塔尼亚胡会制造一次安全危机来破坏投票，而 45 % 的人则不担心。
以色列总统艾萨克·赫钦格（Isaac Hering）的职责在很大程度上是象征性的，他在 7 月的一次黄金时段演说中呼吁公众“谨慎行事”，并警告称“各种威胁……无论是内部还是外部，都可能危及投票的完整性。”
内塔尼亚胡因其三十年的选举成功而常被 referred 为政治“魔术师”，预计他将面临迄今为止最艰难的考验。
这位 36 岁的人所获得的选民支持已被其联盟伙伴的极端立场、哈马斯 10 7 2023 年袭击前的安全漏洞以及他的公开社交行为所侵蚀。
非党派的以色列民主研究所（Israel Democracy Institute）的盖伊·卢里（Guy Lurie）表示，直到现在，以色列的选举制度一直运作得“正确且清晰”。然而，利库德党对中央选举委员会的攻击可能正为以色列准备某些指控，这些指控可能会“让人质疑整个选举过程”。
中央选举委员会（CEC）长期担任的总干事在今年早些时候因压力辞职，内塔尼亚胡的盟友们也盯上了一些成功案例。在一次听证会上，一名利库德党资深议员抱怨其任命被“推迟”，并警告该机构内部存在“公众问题的审查”。
许多活动人士和分析师表示，自从内塔尼亚胡的联盟在 2022, 年底掌权以来，以色列的体制一直承受着巨大的压力，煽动分裂和动荡，试图削弱司法机构，并攻击所有官员和媒体。
内塔尼亚胡 www.inep.org / inep / 2024
来自中间派“在一起”党（Together party）的立法者克萨维尔·埃尔哈拉兹（Xavier Elharraz）表示，反对派和公民社会正准备应对“许多挑战……以及 100% 可能出现的情况”。“从未发生过这样的事情，因为从未有过这样的政府。”
一名 Liked 发言人抨击“左翼”在“警告其自身正在计划的事情”，并指称数十个公民社会团体正非法与政治反对派合作，以“向紧缩的政府提供支持”。
在 A 文本的解读背后，选举战争室（Election War Room）共同领导人埃亚尔·纳夫迪（Eyal Navdi）在 2022 年因针对政府司法改革企图的大规模抗议而崭露头角。他们强调，战争室是非政治性的，不与任何特定政党合作，尽管他们的担忧正变得日益紧迫。
这些担忧有很多：43% 的异见人士发起的竞选活动现在将被废弃并操纵选民；内塔尼亚胡可能会制造一场供电危机以扭曲投票结果；执政联盟可能会简单地拒绝承认结果，从而可能导致政府与中央选举委员会（CDC）及法院之间的对抗。
这场抗议是由数十家非营利组织在一年多时间里持续推动的，他们建立了一个全国性的基础设施来监督竞选活动，并制定了法律、媒体和运营策略，旨在迅速阻止投票站的任何违规行为。他们的目标是招募 100,000 名选举日观察员，并准备好一批人员来监控数字热点。
战争室和“在一起”党都招募了退休的高级警察官员，希望他们能在此工作中发挥作用，因为目前的警力由右翼国家安全部长哈梅尔·本-奥维尔（Hamer Ben-Ovir）控制。
他们担心，内部安全机构——其法定职责是保护以色列民主——这一强大的力量可能会被部署在内塔尼亚胡的敌人和“不友好”的媒体身上。
该组织现在的负责人、前将军大卫·齐尼-桑德奎斯特（David Zini-Sundquist）——曾由内塔尼亚胡领导——已承诺支持中央选举委员会（CDC）。“我希望他能履行职责，”埃尔哈拉兹在谈到齐尼时说，“我们需要保持高度警觉。”
2026 年 8 月 4 日，星期二
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“过去许多巨额合并都摧毁了价值，而研发表现……则耗时多年才恢复”
在未来几年内，由于其专利引擎面临几乎一半收入损失的局面，而去收购这样一家公司。
在前 50 大阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 股东之一的 Rathbone 高级投资总监 Ecoagible Assinados 表示，考虑到该公司已在按计划实现 2030 年年收入增至 $800bn 的目标，并拥有能够实现长期增长的强健管线，此次潜在的结合令人“惊讶”。
阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 去年的营收为 $38.7bn，目前正等待针对各种癌症以及肥胖和哮喘等呼吸道疾病的有前景新药的临床数据。首席执行官 Pascal Savier 爵士最近一个月在接受记者采访时表示，他不需要通过 RNA 来实现 2050 年的目标。
阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 和 BMS 均未对交易谈判发表评论。具体条款无法确认，知情人士表示，任何交易都可能被推迟或破裂。
德国最大的活跃资产管理公司之一、同时也是阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 和 BMS 股东的 Union Investment 投资组合经理 Martha Mishra 表示，该交易“在战略上和财务上都没有意义”，并呼吁两家公司终止谈判。
他表示：“过去许多巨额合并都摧毁了价值，而涉事公司的研发表现在经历了‘合并枷锁’后，耗时多年才得以恢复。”
Rathbone 的 Assinados 还强调了反垄断监管机构可能会施加限制的担忧，称两家公司在癌症和心血管药物方面的显著重叠可能需要“大规模剥离”。
两家公司在默克 (Merck) 旗下的重磅癌症药物 firefunds 中也各有竞争药物 —— 分别是 Antialloneck 的 tofford 和百时美的 Cydfon。
然而，一些股东看到了潜在的上涨空间。他们认为，两家公司庞大的肿瘤管线（各占其收入五分之二以上）具有互补性，合并可能会在研发和行政方面产生巨大的成本节约。
一名排名前 50 的阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 股东表示，这次合并将创建一个具有“显著美国敞口”的集团。美国市场占据销售额近一半，其增长对于集团实现收入目标至关重要。
一些投资者和分析师建议，与 BMS 的交易可能会平息公众对于该公司将其主要上市地转移到美国的抗议。阿斯特拉Zeneca (阿斯利康) 拒绝置评。BMS 未回应置评请求。Aaron Bredfeld 在伦敦和 Florian Müller 在法兰克福提供了额外报道 1。
菠萝与甘蔗和牛肉一样，是昆士兰州最顶尖的农产品之一。
澳大利亚农民担心，允许印度和印度尼西亚的菠萝进入该国的举措可能会通过开启入侵昆虫物种的大门，从而对当地产业造成毁灭性打击。
它是与甘蔗和牛肉并列的昆士兰州顶尖农产品之一。
据一个种植者协会称，每年销售约 72mm 菠萝，价值 A$80 ($50)，
澳大利亚政府一直致力于促进贸易协议以振兴经济，农业专家已证明这是抵消关税压力和竞争势头的有效工具。
然而，农业、渔业和林业部的一次磋商让一些农民担心，他们即将面临“rough end of the pineapple”——在澳大利亚俚语中意为遭受不公正待遇或吃亏。
Col Hawken 是一位菠萝种植者，目前在昆士兰州的玛丽伯勒（Maryborough）每年生产 800 吨水果。他表示，当地产业担心低价进口产品可能会造成毁灭性影响。在谈到这种将使一个昆士兰产业获益但可能损害另一个产业的双向贸易时，他说：“对于菠萝来说，这是真实的。”
菠萝在澳大利亚全年供应，长期以来一直是昆士兰园艺业的代名词。根据 Fran Boussault 的书《The Pineapple》记载，1947, 澳大利亚政府向伊丽莎白女王发送了 500 箱菠萝罐头作为结婚礼物。
与此同时，位于布里斯班北部的“大菠萝”（Big Pineapple）这座巨大的玻璃纤维结构建筑，依然是一个受欢迎的旅游景点。
农民还指出了随进口水果进入该国的昆虫所带来的生物安全威胁。
澳大利亚严格的生物安全规则一直是其农业业的福祉，有效防御了如口蹄疫和寄生昆虫等威胁。
进入澳大利亚的水果会经过辐照处理，但农民仍然担心风险过高。
“褐飞翅叶蝉、巨切尾草、红火蚁——所有这些都让生产者和国家损失了数十亿，从一开始就不要打开大门，”Hawken 说道。
行业组织 Australian Pineapples 的主席 Scott Maxwell 表示，许多菠萝种植园与阳光海岸（Sunshine Coast）等地区的住宅区相邻，这意味着消费者购买的国外水果上的昆虫可能会传播到作物中。“这不是想象中的风险——外来病虫害的传播路径非常明确，”他说。
农业部拒绝发表评论。
CHRISTIAN DAVIES -- 纽约 FERN. INGENY -- 伦敦 NARAH BROTTE -- OXLEY
美国市场对汽油皮卡和大尺寸 SUV 的需求助力了外国汽车制造商的利润增长，而与此形成鲜明对比的是，欧洲各集团在与中国竞争对手的博弈中，正面临销量下降、裁员以及竞争威胁。
在大多数汽车制造商中，通用汽车（General Motors）和福特（Ford）是仅有的两家在强劲的第二季度后上调年度指引的集团。拥有克莱斯勒（Chrysler）、吉普（Jeep）和公羊（Ram）品牌的 Stellantis 公司，在受益于美国市场销售温和复苏的情况下，季度调整后营业利润增长了三倍多。
美国严厉的关税以及对中国汽车软件的限制，使美国汽车工业免于受到来自 RTO 等品牌低廉车辆涌入的影响。底特律的汽车制造商还在享受特朗普政府放宽排放标准的红利，因为他们正从电子和机械系统转向研发高利润的皮卡和 SUV 的汽油及混合动力版本。
在通用（Gilt / GM）报告第二季度调整后营业利润同比增长 30 per cent 之后，首席执行官 Mary Barry 指出，尽管有人认为美国汽油价格上涨会打击对卡车和 SUV 的需求，但“这种情况并未发生”。
Stellantis 的 Artemis Filosa 补充道：“美国消费者热爱驾驶大型皮卡和大型 SUV。这不符合其他地区的消费习惯……（由于监管环境），我们可以提供他们想要的产品。”
在欧洲，大众（Volkswagen）、宝马（BMW）和梅赛德斯-奔驰（Mercedes-Benz）均警告称年度利润将低于预期。
这些动荡旨在通过削减成本，以限制那些已占据该大陆近 50 per cent 市场的中国竞争对手。同时也拥有菲亚特（Fiat）和标致（Peugeot）的 Stellantis 表示，其在欧洲也面临定价压力。
福特、通用（G9 / GM）和 Stellantis 坚持认为他们致力于电动汽车（EV）转型。但分析师警告称，他们退回到汽油卡车和 SUV 这一“舒适区”，可能会为未来埋下隐患。
“问题在于，美国制造商是否只是在口头上支持开发创新新产品的必要性，”底特律咨询公司 Sion Auto Insights 的创始人 Tu Le 表示。
大众 (VW) 电话会议超过 10
今年早些时候，我参加了一个在线研讨会，该会议是一家欧洲公司为其女性领导者开展的长期项目的一部分。组织者兴奋地提到，参与者将从该公司遍布全球的办事处登录。他们补充道：“当然，也会有来自我们美国分公司的代表。”
当然，由于担心引起唐纳德·特朗普总统政府的反感，该公司阻挠了一批极具潜力的未来领导者参与其中。
这让我想起“蝴蝶效应”——即昆虫在固定长度内的一次翅膀拍动，最终会在德克萨斯州引发一场龙卷风。而在多样性政策方面，一种更为直接的“特朗普效应”正跨越大洲被感知，在澳大利亚也不例外。
两周前，澳大利亚证券交易所（ASX）的顾问设定了其治理原则的变更。女性董事的性别目标将被冻结，高管层面的目标将被删除，而将目标扩展到涵盖种族、性取向、宗教信仰和社会经济背景的想法将被搁置。
曾任该咨询小组主席的前央行行长 Philip Lowe 写道，该计划代表了“演进而非重新设计”，并称其为“常识”。但批评者认为这些提案在董事会层面过于简单。
特朗普效应仅是其中的一个因素。澳大利亚有充分理由精简一套臃肿的指南，这些指南在获得批准前已进行了两次修订。将目标扩展到其他群体的尝试此前已被证明具有分歧。AEX-19 强大的企业治理委员会去年在试图解决原则问题时发生了不可调和的分裂，随后被解散。此外，职场平等立法部分突出了基于实地的原则，现在要求雇主监测并报告进展，包括（如果他们选择这样做）关于高管多样性的进展。
Tamarra Capital 的创始人 John Wyke 是攻击该失效系统损害澳大利亚竞争力及相关领域增长的有力发声者。Tamarra 提出的替代性“温和”原则删除了所有关于多样性的规定，仅声明“董事会在思维方式、生活经历、个人特质和技能方面具有多样性是理想的”。
ASX 的提案比 Wyke 要求的“重新开始”更为温和，但它们同样提到，“监管多样性以及技能、经验和背景的多样性”与性别平衡同样重要。
尽管即便承认重置已是迟早的事，但我仍然担心监管者的每一次“翅膀拍动”将如何影响企业界的女性和其他代表性不足的群体。
女性董事成员的目标已帮助增加董事会中的女性人数，无论是在强制执行的挪威，还是在非强制执行的英国和澳大利亚。令平等倡导者感到痛苦的是，ASX 计划保留了 30 的目标，而非此前失效的治理委员会所建议的更高的 40 目标。
在目标被放宽或废除后会发生什么还为时过早，就像在 2024. 年的一项法院裁决后，周二发生的情况那样，该裁决取消了对失败公司的董事会多样性要求。但来自美国的早期证据表明，可能存在一种特朗普效应。Prost 顾问 Gina Lewis 指出，2025, 年美国 2,600 家上市公司的董事会女性人数总体略有增加，但女性董事的首年任命率持续下降，从 2021 年所有此类董事会职位的 45 下降到去年的 24。
这种转变可能会产生连锁反应。执行管线目标的自我概率降低可能会削弱改善女性员工境况的更广泛努力，例如缩小薪酬差距或推广灵活工作制。
与此同时，对“认知多样性”的重新强调可能会抵消劳动力和董事会中的主导群体。一项最近的研究表明，这还可能导致少数族裔申请人放弃在这些公司申请工作，以及性少数群体不愿公开自己的身份。“缺乏[关于这些少数群体的]语言且缺乏衡量标准，就意味着没有关注，”雷娜·布兰兹 (Raina Brands) 教授 JC 观察到。
我希望早些时候吸引企业制定多样性政策的努力能够使其得以延续，即使是在那些现在不敢提及该名称的公司中。但随着监管要求针对进展结果进行目标设定并汇报，事实可能是，想要查明真相将变得更加困难。
askme.b3@it.com
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金融时报
2024年8月4日，星期二
公司与市场
随着中国汽车制造商带来的压力增加，数百个管理岗位被取消
HEMSTEN AME - 法兰克福
大众公司正在取消数百个管理岗位，在德国汽车巨头面临中国集团压力之时，将大量白领员工推向就业市场。
执行教练公司 297 的汽车行业合伙人 Magnus Troonen 表示，梅赛德斯-奔驰（Mercedes-Benz）和大众公司等制造商正在“疯狂地挤出管理人员”。
他表示，许多经理正在寻找新工作，尽管他们的离职得到了优厚遣散费的缓冲。
“一家外部猎头公司表示，大众公司联系他们，希望为 400 到 500 名经理寻找新职位。‘我告诉他们我们做不到……我们不认识 400 多名这样的人才，’该招聘人员说道。”
大众公司已经开始减少在德国的工厂工人数量，但已制定计划在行政、产品开发和销售等“间接”领域再削减 20,000 个岗位。保时捷（Porsche）品牌也公布了计划，将削减 3,000 个岗位，主要集中在基础办公岗位。
大众公司最初计划到 2030 年在德国减少 50,000 个岗位，这影响了公司旗下品牌、奥迪（Audi）及其软件部门 Cariad 的制造和后勤岗位员工。
梅赛德斯-奔驰和大众等制造商正在“疯狂地挤出管理人员”。
但这些计划还不够彻底，一项内部分析发现，其行政成本比其他制造商高出 30%。
首席财务官 Arno Kofler 在该集团第二季度财报会议上表示，这一差异“在很大程度上是由所有层级集团结构的复杂性驱动的”。
即使大众公司最终削减 100,000 个岗位（由于工会反对，行业专家认为这不太可能），该集团仍将雇佣约 580,000 人，远高于丰田（Toyota）的 390,000 人以及现代（Hyundai）雇佣的 350,000 人。
在保时捷，最新的重组措施是在现有的削减 3,000 人员计划之外进行的，其中包括约 2,000 名工厂的临时工。
保时捷首席执行官 Michael Leiters 上个月指出，新计划将在很大程度上不涉及蓝领工人。Leiters 表示，保时捷在“间接领域以及……创建管理岗位的领域经历了不成比例的增长”，因此决定在这些领域“进行干预并实施不成比例的削减”。
他表示，保时捷正在取消一些部门并合并业务领域，并将董事会机构的数量从八个减至七个。
其他德国汽车制造商也在削减白领岗位。
BMW 已向数千名从事办公工作（包括开发和产品规划）的员工提供延长的自愿离职方案。
公用事业公司 AEP “积极”竞标 旨在确保电厂所有权，因数据中心需求引发资产争夺战
MARTHA MUIR - AEPIT 弗吉尼亚州
随着 AI 驱动的电力危机引发对处于衰退结构中电源的公开竞争，美国最大的公用事业公司之一在竞标中击败了一家数据中心开发商，买下西弗吉尼亚州的一座煤电厂。
美国电力公司 (American Electric Power) 已同意收购 Longview 煤电厂，这是一座位于该煤矿依赖山区的 710 兆瓦设施。
据一名知情人士透露，这家在 11 个州运营并服务于 Liéma 客户的公用事业公司，在一次“竞争性招标过程”后，以微弱优势击败了一家“家喻户晓”的数据中心开发商，获得了该电厂的控制权。
交易规模尚未披露。
这场竞标战凸显了随着美国电力需求的增长，煤电是如何重新被重视的。根据咨询公司 ICE 的数据，到 2035 年，美国电力需求将增长 30%。
根据国际能源署的数据，自 2007 年峰值以来，白煤在美国发电量中的份额下降了 0.57%，但自 2023, 1 月以来已上升 1.3%。
Longview 的交易是一个罕见的例子，即在行业进入衰退期后，公用事业公司重新收购新的煤电资产。近期电厂易手的案例大多是向私募股权基金的困境出售。
唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府正试图复兴和修复煤炭工业，阻止了六座电厂的关闭，并投入超过 60 公顷用于建设煤电（其中最大工业油田的三分之二位于西海岸）。包括 Xcel 和 Duda 在内的公用事业公司此前也一直在推进关闭部分煤电资产。
尽管科技公司强调其目标是用清洁能源为数据中心供电，但对电力收入的竞争以及建设新电厂的电力供应周期，促使它们寻求所有可能的电源。
埃隆·马斯克的 Colorado 2 数据中心项目最近安装了 29 台天然气涡轮机，在一次 6cr 质量风险后，1cr50cs 和环境处于 6cr60cs 状态。
该公司的新型大规模电力项目曾考虑将 Longview 电厂从电网中脱离，以便将其专门用于其 AI 设施，此举将导致估计 350,000 个家庭失去电网电力。
这样的决定可能会引发 P2K（该地区电网运营商）和可负担性倡导者的强烈抵制。
“你们将成为不受欢迎的人，”一名熟悉该系列情况的来源表示。
AEP 的首席财务官告诉《金融时报》，由于最近在该地区其他非煤电资产的竞标战中失利，公司此次“积极”争取 Longview 的控制权。
“之前的管理团队表示他们想要关闭煤电厂，但西弗吉尼亚州在很大程度上是一个煤炭之州，”UTI Triver Mikiilik 表示。
该公司还获得了一项在原址建设 1,200,000 燃气电厂的许可，但目前尚不清楚该项目将为谁服务。
Longview 是美国最年轻的煤电厂之一，于 2015. 以 $65 完成。开发商 Jim Lacritz 在行业进入深度衰退之前构思了这一想法。
该电厂在投产时被宣传为全美最高效、最清洁的煤电厂之一。
“那时还没有这种对煤炭的污名化，而且预计煤电的价格会变得极高，”Lairds 说道。
但机械问题、羊群的发现、页岩气的发现以及 Okuma 时代的环保法规使得该电厂失去竞争力，迫使其在 2015. 5 破产。包括 KKK 在内的私募股权参与者随后接管了 Longview。
该工厂有时试图跟上清洁能源转型的步伐，探索碳捕集技术和在场内建立太阳能电站，尽管两者均未建成。它还面临来自环保活动人士的强烈反对，后者成功促使该厂接受排放上限，并每年向一项处理环境损害的基金支付 $500,000。
“该项目在 2000 年代初期就认为煤炭不是一个好主意——我们已经听说了一个叫作气候变化的东西，”西弗吉尼亚州都会俱乐部（West Virginia Metro Club，一家环保组织）的前分会主席 Jim Kstrom 表示。
该设施再次陷入困境，在
“人们很高兴看到煤炭工业 [正] 变得更好……但仍存在犹豫和许多未知因素”
2020, 申请了第 31 章破产保护，债务超过 $350m。
AEP 表示，它购买该电厂是为了满足 P2K 地区的电力需求，该地区包括 10 个州和华盛顿特区。
该公用事业公司在该地区拥有 18 吉瓦的签约数据中心容量。
该州的 2016 号众议院法案允许数据中心建立自己的电网，并限制了地方政府基于采矿和环境理由拒绝项目的能力。
谷歌（Google）最近在普特南县（Putnam County）购买了土地，用于一项耗资数十亿美元的数据中心项目。
由于靠近弗吉尼亚州的“数据中心走廊”等 AI 中心，州长 Patrick Murriney 承诺将该州 10.01% 的发电能力在 2000 年前提升至 20kW，以满足州内和州外的电力需求。
一些西弗吉尼亚州人对数据中心热潮持乐观态度，认为这是增加煤炭需求的一种方式。
但与美国其他地区一样，拟议的项目正面临当地居民的反对，他们担心这对能源价格和价值产生的影响。
“人们很高兴看到煤炭工业 [正] 变得更好，”州参议员兼共同主席 Cheri Boon 表示。
“但仍存在犹豫和许多未知因素，因此我们希望有良好的保障。”
RUTH ALDRIGLI, BORMELLI – WILAN MINNWHITE – 首席记者
在周五关于“对等合并”的谈判破裂后，锡耶纳银行 (Monte dei Paschi di Siena) 正在探索替代方案，包括潜在地收购 Banco BPM。
在 Banco BPM 最大股东农业信贷银行 (Crédit Agricole) 介入后，MPS 和 Banco BPM 放弃了关于拟议合并的讨论。
据知情人士透露，MPS 首席执行官 Luigi Laveglio 正在研究的选项之一是收购 Banco BPM，这是他长期以来一直主张的一笔交易。知情人士表示，Laveglio 目前正考虑就潜在交易接触农业信贷银行，不过周末期间尚未进行接触；如果这家法国银行的管理层拒绝参与，则不会推进收购。
周五，农业信贷银行首席执行官 Oliver Gavaldi 表示，该行将“就其战略利益、执行风险以及为 Banco BPM 股东创造长期价值的能力，提出一个稳健的项目”。但他补充说，“在现阶段，很难看出……”
“……MPS 与 Banco BPM 的结合如何能为 Banco BPM 股东实现‘价值增值’”。
如果 MPS 致力于收购 Banco BPM，交易可以结构化为直接与农业信贷银行协商的约定股份合并。在这种方案下，MPS 和 Banco BPM 将确定交换比例，而这家法国银行将把其 30 per cent 以上的持股转入扩大后的实体，至 100 per cent。
知情人士表示，这种结构可以减少所需的现金并使交易更简单，但这将取决于关于治理、董事会代表、商业伙伴关系以及农业信贷银行最终持股比例的协议。
MPS 将于本周公布上半年业绩，该行在 2 月份表示其拥有足够的冗余资本用于收购。
这场持续近两个月的博弈始于 Banco BPM 接触 MPS 并提议进行对等合并谈判。次日，联合圣保罗银行 (Intesa Sanpaolo) 对这家托斯卡纳领导者发起了投标。
上个月，农业信贷银行将其在 Banco BPM 的持股提高至 30 per cent。周五 Gavaldi 的声明称，这家法国领导者没有收到关于 Banco BPM 与 MPS 潜在合并的任何信息，而他的副手则坚称，农业信贷银行的持股情况使得该行必须参与，这促使 Banco BPM 终止了与 MPS 的初步讨论。
在周五这些言论发表后，MPS 表示其“仍专注于实施其增长计划并整合业务，并将继续评估所有战略选项”。
农业信贷银行已暗示，它将欢迎 Banco BPM 与农业信贷银行之间的进一步整合。
MPS 董事会对 Laveglio 的战略存在严重分歧；在上一周的一封信中，四名董事批评了他的交易处理方式。
HEMSTEN AME - 法兰克福
戴姆勒卡车 (Daimler Truck) 的首席执行官表示，增加国防投资将为其业务创造积极的推动力，因为这家德国制造商正从军用车辆中获得增加的收入。
首席执行官 Kurtz Kaldorfer (Keller F) 表示，自动驾驶领域的创新和更快的开发周期是该公司可以从国防合作伙伴那里学习到的两种方式。
“我们现在在国防领域看到的许多创新，我们相信也将使民用领域受益，”她说道。
德国汽车公司越来越多地转向国防工业以产生增长，在某些情况下，如果工厂因车辆需求下降而感到利用率不足，则会采取这种方式。
戴姆勒卡车在 6 月份表示，该公司正投入三位数的欧元资金扩大其国防产品供应，开发更广泛的军用车辆，并向欧洲以外地区扩张。
该公司还宣布了一个目标，即到 2028, 将国防收入翻一番至 €1, 这比 2023. 设定的前一个目标提前了两年。戴姆勒卡车的工业业务实现了 €45.9 的销售额，但在面对更高的美国关税和北美市场放缓时，下降了 9. 个百分点。
Kaldorfer 表示，其国防业务的发展“比我们预期的要快”。她表示，戴姆勒卡车能够比习惯于小批量生产的传统国防集团更迅速地扩大生产规模。“我们拥有真正的工业化能力，因为如你所知，目前所有国防工业需要的都是更多的产能，而且速度要快，”她补充道。
军队正寻求探索自动驾驶卡车，以提高战场的安全性。她表示，采用自动驾驶技术的卡车所需的军事操作人员更少。在难以招募新兵的冲突中，较低的人力需求也是一个优势，可以将人力用于其他领域。
在高风险冲突区操作车辆的需求正推动远程控制驾驶的采用，
以及开发诸如“活塞式跟车”(pistonning) 等新功能，即多辆卡车自主跟随一辆由司机驾驶的真实车辆，Kaldorfer 说道。
同样的技术可以应用于民用控制，但使用场景不同。她表示，由于人力成本占卡车运输公司成本的 80，自动驾驶技术将有助于物流行业的盈利能力。“如果你能降低 40 的成本，并且可以开始全天 24 小时运行卡车，这将是一个巨大的趋势，”Kaldorfer 说道，并补充称，自动驾驶能力的增加代表了该行业面临的“最大变革”。
Kaldorfer 表示，公司计划明年开始在美国的指定区域交付具备自动驾驶能力的卡车，并计划在 2025, 进行“大规模推广”。
与汽车行业较长的开发过程相比，这家德国集团还可以从国防初创公司部署新技术的速度中学习。她表示，战场是新自动驾驶技术的试验场，允许软件和硬件快速开发。
“现在国防领域的这个周期比我们通常做生意的方式快得多，”她补充道。
SAWEIL ALDR
体育研究通讯
欧洲足球管理机构已威胁将针对国际足联（Fifa）采取法律行动。该事件涉及一个总部位于英国的方案，旨在从这家瑞士非营利组织中剥离出一个价值 $20bn 的商业实体，并将 20 per cent stake 出售给私人投资者。
在致因凡蒂诺（Infanities）的一封信中，欧足联（Uefa）警告称，针对该世界足球管理机构拟通过出售新实体股份筹集超过 $4bn（该实体将持有国际足联的商业权利）的提案，欧足联正在“积极考虑采取法律行动、仲裁以及六项常规陪审团投诉”。
该出售计划最初由《金融时报》（FT）于周二披露，随后引发了一波批评，直到上周五才做出决定。
此次让步是在经历了来自足球界各方数日的压力之后发生的，欧足联在其他英国立法者的支持下，领导了对该风险投资的全面拒绝。
该信函日期为 7 月 24, 周五，警告因凡蒂诺及世界杯组织者应“识别、定位并保存所有与该情况及世界足球管理组织相关的文档和电子记录信息”。
由印度商人、投资人及美国总统唐纳德·特朗普之子贾里德·库什纳（Jared Kushner）兄弟控制的投资基金 Thrive Eternal 原定为该商业风险投资的领投方。因凡蒂诺曾将现金资金纳入其中，并向国际足联成员推销该资金计划。
国际足联未回应置评请求。该信函最早由《电讯报》（The Telegraph）报道。
Gideon Rachman 见观点专栏
TUESDAY 4 AUGUST 2026
UK (T.25) Republic of Ireland 4.6.05
The UAE's imperial ambitions in Africa
BIG READ, PAGE 21
Football gave Europe a rare geopolitical win
GIDEON RACHMAN, PAGE 23
TIMEBASSHAM
GIDEON TECH CORRESPONDENT
Apple has launched a new legal challenge against ministers' latest bid to create a "backdoor" to access encrypted customer data, a year after the Home Office agreed to drop a previous order following a new with Washington.
The iPhone maker launched a legal complaint last month at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal over the government's demand that Apple allow it access to encrypted cloud backups of data belonging to British users, according to an order issued by the court.
Ministers returned from the original demand for a backdoor that allowed access to data from UK and US customers last year, ending a diplomatic battle between London and Washington. But the authorities subsequently issued a new "YouTube" capability notice to Apple that did not apply to American users, the FT reported in October.
TCNs are issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, which the government maintains is needed to investigate serious crimes. They can force companies to provide the security services with access to customer data, even if such information is protected by secure encryption.
Apple seeks to challenge the government's power to issue such legal notices.
The court sent an order giving notice of the new Apple complaint to Privacy International. The human rights group, alongside fellow campaigner Liberty, had previously launched a separate complaint against TCNs at the IPT.
A case management hearing to discuss how the parallel complaints should be handled has been scheduled for next month, Privacy International said.
"We are happy to learn that Apple is once again challenging the UK's regime of secret orders," Privacy International said, adding that the two legal challenges together were "crucially important to preserving all of our privacy and security". Apple confirmed the IPT's filing but declined to comment further. It has consistently argued any such backdoor would make its success less secure for all its customers.
The Investigatory Powers Act prohibits any recipient from acknowledging the existence of a TCN.
The government declined to comment on the Apple case, saying that it would neither confirm nor deny the existence of individual notice.
"The UK supports strong encryption and robust privacy protections but it is also vital that low enforcement can access communications where necessary and proportionate to protect the public from terrorism, serious crime and child sexual abuse," the government said, adding that the Investigatory Powers Act had "strong safeguards and independent judicial oversight".
Apple withdrew UK customers' access to its iCloud Advanced Data Protection system in January 2025 after it received the original TCN. The system offers an optional layer of extra security for iCloud users, with customer data stored using end-to-end encryption so that once Apple is unable to access it.
The Home Office's move against the biggest trade over encryption is almost a decade and provided a furious response from Washington, US President Donald Trump likened the UK order to "something ... that you hear about with China".
Myanmar's military-backed government released photos yesterday of Aung San Suu Kyi in a rare move as concerns grow over the health of the imprisoned former leader.
The Nobel Peace Summit is pictured meeting Arnaud de Basque, the resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, in what is believed to be her first meeting with a
foreign envoy since her detention in 2010. Two other photos showed her cutting a cake, indicating they were taken on her first birthday in June.
The ICBC confirmed that it had met Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday, though it did not provide details of the location or her health. "The visit was carried out in accordance with the ICBC's standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty," it said.
After her detention, Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with corruption and sentenced to 27 years in prison. In May, the government said she would be moved from prison to house arrest.
Kye, he, her son, has been demanding "proof of life" from the junta and urging foreign governments to support her release. "For the first time in more than five years, I have a reason to hope," Aeis said yesterday.
AstraZeneca investors first over mega-merger talk The plasma group's share have fallen as much as 5 per cent units shareholders worried over a potential mega-merger with rival Bristol Myers Squibb, questioning the value in acquiring an industry lagged. — PAGE 9, UK PAGE 25.
Prison releases curbed for loss sexual offenders will be barred from the government's early release scheme, Andy Burnham has said, as he sought to quell concern over potential risks in the programme. — PAGE 4.
Japan and US bolster yen Tokyo has confirmed a historic joint intervention with the US to support the struggling yen as the two countries vowed to stop into the foreign exchange market again five-course. — PAGE 10.
North Sea groups book far British oil and gas companies have committed $5k Bm to overseas acquisitions over the past four years, compared with $6.4 Bm on Global Index, as they work growth beyond the warping bank. — PAGE 12.
Forest fires costs mount Waltham and business in sweeping across France, Spain and other parts of Europe have already cast more than 15% of the year laying bare fire mounting bill of lituses. — PAGE 5, WASHINGTON, IN NEW YORK.
Iran rebuts Trump claim Tehran has said it is not as talks with Washington just boars after the US president said dialogue was due to reason as he called off the "Nugent attack since World War II". — NEWS & PRINTING, PAGE 8
Gas gunbers drive profits US demand for petrol trucks and SUVs has stunned the earnings of Detroit carmakers, drawing a line with European groups battling falling sales, job cuts and Chinese rivals. — PAGE 9, UK (ALL), PAGE 16.
MP5 explores merger Italy's Monte del Pasch di Siena is looking at options to lead off Intesa Jianguola's hostile takeover, including a potential Banco BPM beyond, after talks on a "merger of equals" collapsed. — PAGE 18.
Piers Morgan's chat show Uncensored has a new YouTube followers. After a turbulent career as a broadcaster and newspaper editor, he aims to train the format with its spin-offs into a media empire raising $27mn from investors including a Newtech, daughter of the ex-bots Rupert. The fundraising valued Morgan's stable of channels at $50,000m, making him a paper multi-millionaire, but his agility are firmly set on building a 2,000-stable group within five years. Journalist announcer. — PAGE 17
RACHEL REES AND
LADY FRIEDER — LINCOLN
LOLA ARROUD — PAKIST
Reform UK has said if elected it would launch "the largest military operation" to decadent the English Channel to block small boats, marking an escalation in the party's anti-immigration plans as it dips in the polls.
Reform said that it would order the Royal Navy to intercept people entering UK waters on small boats and return them to France or Belgium.
The policy announcement, which was met with scepticism from some former navy figures and criticism from France, comes amid renewed pressure on Reform, which has lost its 36-month lead in upstate polls to Labour and is facing scrutiny over its leader Nigel Farage's financial dealings.
At a press conference yesterday — one of just a handful that Farage has held in recent months after it was revealed he had received a 4,5mn gift from a Thai-based crypto billionaire — the Reform leader said immigration was "an invasion of our country" and declared it "a national security emergency".
"If the Royal Navy is not there to protect this country from terrorism they, frankly, I can't see what its purpose is," he added, promising that "rather a Reform government, within a fortnight there would be no more boats".
Small-boat crossings in the Channel are down significantly from previous years but across in Costa, where 50,000 migrants entered the north African Spanish enclave from Morocco last week, have retreated attention.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Sunday promised "vibentine" action on
further reducing crossings on a visit to Dover, saying: "Clearly progress is being made but we're not complaint."
Some defence figures were sceptical of the plan's viability. Tom Sharpe, a former navy commander, said: "It's doable for the navy to perform this role - but we'll have to stop pretty much every thing else we're doing."
Another figure said: "There are two problems. One is the Royal Navy doesn't have the ships, and the second more serious issue is lost the Royal Navy, like the army and BAF, is an armed force. We're not proposing to start shooting people in the English Channel."
France's ministry of the interior said the proposal "would be a violation of French sovereignty as well as a violation of land laws and international law."
Watchdog Investigators Tice over Ben Hall over
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© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2026
No. 42,320 #
Printed in: London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Frankfurt, Milan Madrid, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai
World Markets
STOCK MARKETS
| Aug 05 | Prev. | Yards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBF 6.00 | 1996.89 | 1499.72 | 1.28 |
| Novellet Composite | 25851.60 | 25371.80 | 1.98 |
| New Jersey 6.0 | 25907.50 | 24960.03 | 0.92 |
| Core Stone 5.0 | 5605.50 | 6350.07 | 1.58 |
| TTGS active 500 | 2025.57 | 2106.34 | 0.39 |
| TTGE 500 | 8897.75 | 10800.05 | 0.13 |
| TTGE 4th Share | 3699.39 | 3354.47 | 0.50 |
| JAG 4.0 | 9013.82 | 8528.64 | 1.21 |
| Delta Size | 26621.01 | 25629.18 | 1.65 |
| Master | 12374.99 | 14152.22 | 0.54 |
| Navy Zone | 20029.90 | 19904.43 | 0.48 |
| MSDS 500/Pg | 4813.00 | 4751.50 | 0.45 |
| MSDS 5M | 1025.19 | 1011.30 | 1.49 |
| MSDS 4C500 | 1109.59 | 1155.90 | 0.50 |
CARRIANCES
| Fair | Aug 05 | Prev. | Fair | Aug 05 | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8 | 1.10 | 1.54 | 6.8 | 0.60 | 1.00 |
| 0.5 | 1.100 | 1.399 | 0.5 | 0.199 | 0.150 |
| 0.9 | 0.801 | 0.850 | 0.9 | 1.101 | 1.100 |
| 9.9 | 210.375 | 132.285 | 9.9 | 255.325 | 200.325 |
| 9.9 | 210.388 | 216.780 | 9.9(b) | 85.380 | 85.30 |
| 10.9 | 0.933 | 0.933 | 10.9 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| GRAPES | |||||
| Aug 05 | Prev. | Yards | |||
| Bronze | 25848.20 | 25848.20 | 1.25 | ||
| Otherwise | 5861.80 | 5868.20 | 0.25 | ||
| COMMUNITIES | |||||
| Aug 05 | Prev. | Yards | |||
| US 5,875 | 78.41 | 38.62 | 0.28 | ||
| US 50,000 ft | 83.06 | 83.06 | 0.88 | ||
| US 6 ft | 8536.51 | 8507.36 | 0.27 |
GOVERNMENT MINDS
| Yards (%) | Aug 05 | Prev. | Yds |
|---|---|---|---|
| US 2.5 | 0.29 | 0.27 | 0.24 |
| US 10.5 | 4.68 | 4.68 | 0.01 |
| US 20.5 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 0.02 |
| US 31.5 | 2.29 | 2.29 | 0.03 |
| UK 32.5 | 4.96 | 4.96 | 0.04 |
| UK 32.5% | 5.88 | 5.11 | 0.04 |
| JPN 2.5 | 1.53 | 1.48 | 0.05 |
| JPN 5.5% | 2.49 | 2.88 | 0.01 |
| JPN 10.5% | 1.98 | 1.98 | 0.05 |
| GER 2.5 | 2.77 | 2.78 | 0.01 |
| GER 10.5% | 2.74 | 2.74 | 0.06 |
| GER 32.5% | 3.66 | 3.66 | 0.01 |
Please see below for review.
Data provided by GSI, www.gsi.com
PETER HARRINGTON
COUNSEL
LONDON
MADRID & CHELSEA
www.peterharrington.co.uk
NEW YORK
LIVERPOOL 1026
2
•
FINANCIAL TIMES
Tuesday 4 August 2024
Deputy leader accused of failing to declare Israel links in Commons debate
ELIZABETH BARTON, LIKY FISHER AND NICHOL NEID
Richard Tice, deputy leader of informs UK, has been placed under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog, and an alleged failure to declare an interest.
This means the standards commissioner is now investigating two senior figures in the party, with an inquiry already under way into leader Nigel Farag's failure to declare a financial.
The investigation into Tice, which was
opened on July 28, relates to an alleged failure to declare an interest in Israel when he was participating in a Commons debate on pro social influence.
In the debate in June, Tice celebrated the "incredible brilliance and influence of Israeli scientists, entrepreneurs and those specialising in medical research and article at intelligence application".
His register of interests includes a trip to Israel in 2015, paid for by Reform Friends of Israel. A Reform source said the probe was because Tice failed to state this interest during the debate.
"I am being investigated for standing against condemnation, You could not make it up," Tice wrote on X yesterday.
"Standards commissioner is considering complaint by anti-Semitic anti-
Israel lobby group over whether I should have referenced my register of interests at start of a debate on UK democracy and Israeli influence," he said.
Reform declined to comment.
The party has come under increasing scrutiny after a succession of revolutions about gifts and donations to senior party figures, in Asia, the parliamentary standards commissioner launched an investigation into George for an declaring a Crime gift he received from the Thai-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in the run-up to the 2024 general election.
George has said he did not need to declare the gift because he was not an active politician at the time.
In a press conference yesterday he
said that while he had spoken to Tice in saying 2024 about a potential return to the leadership, this conversation was after he had received the gift.
The Metropolitan Police in also investigating donations to Reform by Fiona Cottrell, mother of convicted fraudster and Farag aide George Cottrell.
Farag and Reform have denied that he has breached any rules.
Yesterday Farag said the media was conducted on one-sided plot on against Reform's Farage also reiterated his continued support for George Cottrell, saying "I'm not ditchmy allies".
In July, Farag resigned from the Commons, triggering what he called a "people versus the establishment" content in his Essex seat of Clacton on Sea.
The probe into Farag has been passed as he is not currently an MP.
He is forecast by bookmakers to win the league 13 by elections, which further big political parties are becoming. Satire at candidate Count Rishav is Farag's highest profile rival in the race.
Reform has come under growing pressure this year as it has three successive by-elections and was defeated in the Manchester mayoral race last week. The party is getting at its lowest level since April last year and was overtaken by Labour last week for the first time in that period, the 77 poll to date showed.
The first Policy on also investigating donations made to Reform Treasury spokesperson Robert Jurecki while he was in the Conservative Party in 2024.
NICHOL NEID
Serious sexual offenders will be barred from the government's early release scheme, Prime Minister Andy Brown from has said, as he sought to spell concerns about the programme.
Under the early release scheme, which is due to some into effect in October, some offenders were to qualify for auto-violent crimes after serving last their sentences instead of two-thirds, if they had not seriously breached prison rules.
The plan, which began under Rishi Sunak's Conservative government and which was expanded by Sir Ksir Starmer in 2016, was meant to relieve the prison network's dangerous overcrowding problem.
But it has instead provided too from rightwing opposition parties, who are framing it as a sign of Labour's soft touch on crime, as well as from victims' campaigners.
In response to these concerns, there have been a lot of evidence that he was making "significant change" to the programme by blocking those sentenced to prison terms for "vape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences"煽起 lung phigitis.
"Keeping the police safe here but priority," he said, "I fully understand the anger, anxiety and distress that has been caused."
Burdams requested a review into the policy days after becoming prime minister last month, after a future over the potential early released for some jailed for the manslaughter of serving police officer Andrew Harper in 2024.
Burdams said that, while he "wanted to go even further" on hearing more offenders from the scheme, the prison network's dangerous lack of capacity made it impossible.
Those on life sentences are already ineligible for the scheme, as are those deemed by a court to be the most dangerous offenders.
The prison network came within days of collapse on multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024, according to an independent review last year.
Burdams added that adult male prisons were currently operating at 98 percent capacity, criticising previous governments for failing to invest in building prisons.
In contrast, in 2023, his government would oversee "the fastest prison-building programme since the Victorian era", creating 14,000 new prison places by 2025.
Alex Terrier, justice secretary, said: "These are decisions no minister would ever want to take but it is right these sickening crimes are excluded from these criteria."
"Victims will also have access to better support and reassurance that offenders leaving prison face tougher supervision and punishment."
Nick Timothy, the Conservative's shadow justice secretary, said the amounts of the police have been "not that it 'doesn't go for enough'."
"Some child sex offenders and killers, like those responsible for the death of PC Harper, will still be released early," he said.
"And the trauma of victims being told their abusers may be released can't be undone."
The City regains confidence
in party and Badenoch after
revolving door of leaders
ADALET ARMSTRONG
On a blistering hot day in June, several UK business houses were only dead into the Rollins Noel in Westminster for the Conservative Party's summer fundraising dinner, the latest sign that corporate Britain is warning to the Tories again.
Investor Sir James Dyson was seated at the top table as a guest of leader Kerat Badenoch, while other big letters included Next chief executive and Tory poor Lord Simon Wolland; Brian Heyworth, chief executive of investment manager Lansdowne Partners, and Jim Gibson, former chief executive of Big Yellow Group.
Meanwhile, former party James Michael Dungard demonstrated his family's renewed support by taking a whole table at the dinner and making his first donation since the Tories left government. The Rollins event "aimed hundreds of thousands of pounds" for the party, said a spokesperson.
After a couple of years in the wilderness where donors disappeared following 2024's general election defeat and Badenoch addressed a party conference dominated by empty chairs, business leaders have said they are giving the Conservatives hearing again.
Memories of Boris Johnson's "Sack business" comment, dismissing companies' fears about a hard Brexit, and Liz Tories's confidence-distorting, main Budget have begun to fade. After a revolving door of disafford Tory leaders, Badenoch is unlikely to be toppled any time soon.
Ambassador of the party on Badenoch is winning back the confidence of business because she looks like a long-term leader, particularly after dispatching her rival Robert Jurecki, who defeced to Reform UK: "We've become more popular and unified than Jurecki etc. I think it is what truly challenge to be seen on the horizon, the party is behind Badenoch," said one senior Tory.
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chair of Graham House Asset Management, said the Tories needed "to have a period of reflection and everything their wearable after a chance period of government" providing over an underperforming
Top table: James Dyson and Kerat Badenoch at a Tory fundraiser House in June
company. "But Badenoch is now emerging as a serious and credible leader who is seen to be engaging proactively with business."
A senior public affairs director said that business's "willingness to engage with the Tories in the highest it's been in two years ... there is a vile shift in meetings". Another executive countered that it would be "too strong" to describe it as a shift just yet.
The recent scrutiny of Reform's finance has made multinational businesses even more nervous about engaging with Nigel Farag's rightwing party, said one chief executive. Reform had not yet done serious policy work in many areas, "whereas the Tories are working through energy costs and employment costs, they can."
At a recent City UK conference in June, Badenoch delivered a speech focused on bringing down the UK's high cost of energy, undoing Labour's Employment Rights Act and scrapping environmental, social and governance reporting, among other regulations.
But it was her comments about creat-
ing conditions to bring back growth and to "stop being afraid and properly back business" that prompted enthusiastic applause and City figures being up to meet Badenoch at the end of her speech.
Willie Cole, Lord executive of The City UK, said: "Badenoch made her points about excessive risk on some eloquently and incredibly, there was not the sense that it was some mealy moulded endorsement of business, which is why it gained such a positive reception."
While called for it, she is my duty of the body Burdams era, many business leaders remain focused by the government's 2024 tax-raising Budget and are wary about what will be announced by new chancellor John Husky in October.
Badenoch has meanwhile not more than 100% of the executive this year.
"I wouldn't wish to overplay the level of support but after two years of not being particularly interested in the Tories, businesses have definitely noticed that Kerat is doing a lot better," said one four of a public consultancy firm. He added that it allows was "pregnate," and if Badenoch helped "put the
"Willingness to engage with the Tories in the highest it's been in two years ... there is a vile shift"
brakes on Burdams's tax-risce then the Tories will win an audience."
Badenoch has been attending private families at City members' club The Wellbrook hosted for clients by brokers Partners Liberian and advisory firm Freechurch. Guests said she "commended the event well" and appealed to the crowd by promising deregulation and lower energy prices.
To capitalize on the momentum, the Conservatives are dedicated to the Tories days of their party conference in business policy, with an inaugural "small business day" featuring Luke Johnson of Risk Capital Partners, Louise Hill, founder of Gaffment; Tom Brahm, founder of sportswear brand Castore; Richard Snyder, founder of thunderers; and Cory McHale, founder of Octopus Group.
Kevin Holbrook, Conservatives Party chair, said the 4.90 tickets for the small business day had sold out, while there was a "stop rise" in expected attendance for the main business event at the conference, which later met with 22,000. Additional reporting: Lucy Fisher.
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LAURA HUSMES
MPs have urged the government to routinely test children living near abandoned lead mines for the toxic metal, warning that the health risks from Britain's industrial lead have been "left unaddressed" for too long.
In a letter to Welsh secretary Stephen Kinnech, the House of Commons Welsh affairs committee called for the launch of a co-ordinated four-nation-programme that would identify children with elevated lead levels.
"Across the UK there has been a failure to fully understand where contamination exists in the environment," the cross-party group of MPs said. "We are dismayed that the legacy of metal mine problems has been left unaddressed for so long."
The UK has 6,630斛斷ed industrial lead mines, including more than 1,300 in Wales, which continue to release lead into rivers and surrounding land decades after they closed. Since a wave of closures in the early 1970s, they have largely been neglected by successive governments because they lie in sparsely populated rural areas.
Lead is often as inevitable and colourless poison, which accumulates in waterways, soil and floodplains where it can be consumed by animals and crop into homegrown or agricultural food production, or private drinking water supplies, and be passed on to humans.
Any level of exposure can have a harmful effect on humans, according to the World Health Organization.
Lead review, ordinarily measures after an FT investigation, found lead pollution from abandoned metal mines was contaminating produce, animals and potentially drinking water across
England and Wales. It also called for more research into the long-term health risks for nearby communities.
In their letter, over last week, the cross-party group of MPs warned there was "on long term, 50-wkh co-ordinated approach" to testing children for elevated levels of lead, despite evidence that legacy contamination may continue to pass a risk to human health.
Many urged Cations, MP for these, fan sharing, to set up a nationwide testing programme and aided why "such a small amount of lead (sea) tested every year" for lead contamination.
In ruins: the remains of an old lead mine in Conquerorport, a village near Dorch's Bridge, Ceredigion, Wales
Every year, the UK's Veterinary Medicine Directorate, a government agency, took about 32,000 samples of meat, milk, fish, eggs and bakery.
Of these, 600–450 samples are tested for the presence of lead and other heavy metals, with the exception of eggs, for which no lead level is set in the UK, which experts have argued it an insufficient risk assessment. In 2022, the Welsh government agency discovered harmful levels of lead in egg produced on two small farms downstream from former mines in west Wales.
Although environmental policy is largely devolved, the committee said much of the contamination products' development (PPP) and target Whitehall to work with the Welsh government to fund a targeted programme of testing "without under delay".
The UK government has said it is reconsidering whether to routinely test children for lead exposure following a few year FT investigation. Last year, the first pilot screening study was launched in 2008.
The government said the secretary of state for Wales "will consider the contents [of the letter] and respond".
Tuesday 4 August 2026
◆
FINANCIAL TIMES
3
NATIONAL
Concerns grow after blazes in Scotland and Suffolk but experts urge better preparation
SINCLAIR KERR — EDINBURGH RACHEL REID — LONDON
A devastating wildfire in Scotland's Cairngerms National Park has prompted calls for guaranteed national access to aerial firefighting support as climate change increases the risk of serious reacilities.
Fire chiefs, rural affairs groups and members of the Scottish parliament from across the political spectrum have raised the issue as firefighters, alongside estate staff and contractors, make progress on the 23 sq km wildfire that scorched valleys around Cairn Gorm mountain.
Helped by rainfall, about 70 firefighters were on the scene last week, with helicopter water-bombing continuing to tackle smouldering hotspots on subsurface peat that could take weeks to extinguish.
The continued response to the fire in Britain's largest national park follows the deployment of more than 100 firefighters and 18 fire engines to tackle a large wildfire on beachland in Suffolk last week. There, firefighters used resources including helicopters carrying seawater to drop on the flames, alongside off-road vehicles, drones and quad bikes.
Phil Gertigan, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, last week called for "continued investment in specialist wildfire capabilities, including aerial firefighting support", while emphasis-
ing that "prevention remains our strongest defense".
A spokesperson for the body said the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires provided a "growing case" for aerial firefighting.
The council last week warned that there was an elevated wildfire risk across the UK, adding that more than 200 wildfires had been reported in England and Wales in the past fortnight.
Last year marked a significant escalation in Scottish wildfires, with 241 including the UK's largest at Carbridge and Gorm. More that burned almost 100 sq km, and scientists are clear that climate change has been a critical driver of the intensity and frequency of fires.
The Scottish government, which published a wildfire strategy in March, said it was engaging across the UK on "complex policy and operational emergency response issues". It is reviewing its approach and has called on the UK government to do likewise.
In the final weeks of Sir Kirk Starmer's premiership, the UK government announced an extra £9Pmn of funding for fire and rescue equipment, including off-road vehicles. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has spent roughly £1.6mn over three years on wildfire response.
Locals have been angered by the time it took for the Scottish government to declare a major incident, with a gap of nine days from the outbreak of the fire
Stopping up: a helicopter water bombs a wildfire at Nethy Bridge in the Cairngerms National Park last week AF | www.hellfireforbeings.com
on July 12 until July 24, when a change in wind conditions intensified the fire, forcing residents to evacuate the village of Nethy Bridge.
Justice secretary Neil Gray earlier said the fire had been "currently contained". While managing was "consistent" with fire service updates, the government said it would "review" its language.
The Scottish Greens, Scottish Conservatives and landowner representatives have also called for the UK and Scottish governments to consider a dedicated aerial firefighting capability.
Four helicopter companies provide services, including deer counting and firefighting, under a contract managed by public bodies Forestry Land Scotland and Antarctica.
For Ariane Burgess, a Highlands Green 900F, said the Cairngerms fire – like Iowa last year – had been aggravated by the lack of aerial firefighting capacity in the first days of the blaze, which destroyed tracts of rare Caledonian pineswood. The region is now struggling economically with businesses
forced to close during peak season. "Our capacity to tackle wildfires doesn't match the reality – helicopters were busy elsewhere, so we need publicly available aircraft," she said.
Ross Ewing of Scottish Land & Estates suggested a rotation system for guaranteed provision during periods of high risk, dual-purposing police or ambulance aircraft or some capability akin to RAF firefighting helicopters in Cyprus.
Countries such as France, where summer wildfires have triggered widespread evacuations, have invested vast amounts in civil security measures.
Fire experts, however, said aerial equipment failed to provide value for money. "Yes, it would be useful, but extremely expensive – that resource could be better deployed to planning and preparedness," said Rory Hadden, a professor of fire science at Edinburgh University, of extra aerial equipment.
Michael Bruce of Firebrook Services Ltd, a wildfire consultancy, said a £2mn helicopter cost about £2,000 an hour to operate. All-terrain vehicles with spray
'Our capacity to tackle wildfires doesn't match the reality – we need publicly available aircraft'
Ariane Burgess, Highlands Green 900F
gums, worth £35,000, which were deployed by the fire service and game-keepers to help contain the Cairngerms blaze, cost £40 or so an hour.
Brian, who advised on the positioning of firebreaks during the Cairngerms blaze, said the priority should be public self-reliance, as in the US and Canada, including training, clearing vegetation around houses and identifying escape routes in advance.
Some landowners, said Ewing, argued that uneven vegetation management on neighbouring properties, where "rewilding" has been prioritised, had made fire prevention more difficult.
Traditional estates carry out concealed winter fires on heather, known as "marlboro", to support snowland game birds and wildlife.
The Scottish Rewilding Alliance blamed extreme dryness, rather than simple "fuel load", calling for the rebuilding of wetter, fire-resistant ecosystems by blocking drainage systems and restoring peatlands.
Europe.com/rts.sant-of-lives.co.uk
4
•
FINANCIAL TIMES
Tuesday 6 August 2026
INTERNATIONAL
Department of Justice
STEPHINA PALMA — LONDON ELA LEE — WASHINGTON
Indel Blanche has received the backing of key Republicans after scrapping plans for a $1.00m so called a fund, posing the way for his confirmation as US attorney-general.
These! Ellis and John Corrye, the Republican senators who had blocked
Blanche's bid to permanently hoist the Department of Justice, said yesterday that he could count on their support.
"We want to express our gratitude to Mr Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary committee soon," the senators said on a past statement.
The deal comes after the big candidate on Sunday it had recorded an order that established a fund for individuals who had "authored weaponisation and howlare", according to a post on it by Blanche, acting attorney-general. It
removes the remaining roadblocks to his confirmation vote, now rescheduled for today.
The "anti-weaponisation fund" was set up in May in exchange for President Donald Trump and his family shopping a $100m lawsuit against the internal Revenue Service over a lack of the president's tax returns. It had uninvolved fierce bipartisan pushback and derailed Blanche's thought Senate confirmation.
The DoJ said the controversial fund as a threat for victims of perpetual political weaponisation to seek payouts and formal apologies from the government.
Less than two weeks after the DoJ set up the fund, Blanche told lawmakers that the administration would not be leaving forward with the plan, as Democratic and some Republican panned it as an abuse of executive power.
But Corrye and Ellis instead they needed written announcements that the fund would not be revived, leaving the government last week of a judiciary committee vote on conferring Blanche as attorney-general. Trump suggested last week that he could withdraw Blanche's nomination and resubmit it when Corrye and Ellis were out of office.
The senators said in their statement the fund with Blanche settled concerns that were shared by other Republicans like the anti-weaponisation fund for formally nominated. In a statement posted by Blanche on it, we finalise, the DoJ said that "today's Order officially rescinded the anti-weaponisation fund."
Certainly apologogenic said he had "reached an agreement" with the DoJ in "permanently" and the fund and make "clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the president, and the HCC".
Damage in five worst-hit states
far outstrips annual estimates
for all of EIL FT analysis shows
DELAWARE STRANDS, SAN JOHNSTON AND ANY KIDNEY?
Wildfires and businesses escaping across France and Spain and other parts of Europe have already cost more than €3bn this year, according to FT analysis, highlighting the mounting toll of blazes driven by climate change.
Almost half a million hectares have burnt in the first two months of the fire season at an economic cost of €3.1bn in the five worst-hit Eurozone countries alone, including Portugal, Greece and Romania. This far outstrips European Commission estimates of a €2.0bn average annual impact for the whole EU.
The FT estimates are based on multi-millings underpinning the Commission's figures and matching calculations by the French government, and represent the so-called "restoration" cost of returning burnt areas to their previous state — even of capturing their economic value.
The average cost per hectare for repainting and maintenance varies by country, reflecting the types of land cover and the age of the forest.
The overall impact will eventually be far higher. however, households and businesses are still counting the cost of damage to property and crops and disruptions to tourism in the summer peak.
Other costs in the form of increased insurance premiums and unfavorable property, lower-value numbers and the need to spend heavily on firefighting equipment will materialize over time.
The calculations also do not fully reflect the latest blazes in Greece, where the prime minister said teams would notify may-miss record damages for the provision of state support for these other last property.
Separately the costs of drought have yet to emerge, as a drop in water levels on the Rhine and Danube rivers causes disruption to the flow of goods and production cuts, German chemical companies such as RABF, Coventry and Evonik have plants concentrated along the Rhine.
Record lows in the Danube are set to cause the shutdown of Hungary's nuclear power plant, which supplies nearly half the country's electricity. Romania has also been forced to shut one of the two reactors of the Geraavodi nuclear power plant. Both
Economic losses from wildfires expected to far exceed those of recent years
European losses, inflation adjusted (8bn)
Wildfires have already burnt more than 200,000 hectares in Spain this year
Cumulative burnt area (500 hectares)
draw cooling water from the river. Sarah Brier, an expert in climate economics at FTW levels, said the viscoeconomic toll of the fires alone could be more than triple the annual average of up to €2.0bn in lost GDP that she calculated wildfires and regional economies in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece from 2021 to 2024.
"If the fires end up reaching 2002, it's going to be far, far above that," Brier said.
Franco's Gironik department is a hub for defence and aerospace industries. Franco's Georgetown activities jet engine maker Safran, fighter jet manufacturer Donald Aviation and rocket maker AvianAirway to pauer production and co-uses staff.
The region is also renowned for its wise production. Bordeaux's honeys outspired how bright escaped so far but it is unclear if model twist will ruin the harvest. Oyster farming in the Arcachon basin has also taken a bit and tourism, which accounts for 7 per cent of the department's GDP, loss continuing disruptions.
Geronik's Chamber of Commerce and Industry said at least 49,000 businesses had been directly affected by the fires, with 39,500 completely shut as of July
Burnt out: a badly damaged home and car in Le Puyre, south-west France, last week
The extra cost of damage to property and crops and disruption in tourism is still being counted
2b, while between 520,000 and 250,000 employees were on state subsidized short-time work as of July 27.
The Spanish wildfires struck as close as Elbano in the Spanish capital, looming houses, businesses and vehicles in rural towns. The Unión de Negocios Agitaciones y Ganadores, which represent small-scale operators, measured preliminary losses of 19,500 hectares of "useful" land, mostly pasture.
Despite efforts, the damage is unlikely to make a significant dent in actional care.
Separate investments, associate professor at Imperial College, and some of the most important costs of how such an extra hospital admission of people suffering from air pollution were not mentioned and rarely counted.
Andrew Kromingham, chief foroper economist at the consultancy Capital Economics — who noted the Gironik account for only 22 per cent of Franco's output — said natural disasters can have lower^{* } per cent of the department's GDP, loss continuing disruptions.
Geronik's Chamber of Commerce and Industry said at least 49,000 businesses had been directly affected by the fires, with 39,500 completely shut as of July
Court scandal
LUCEST HAGUE — NEW YORK
One of the most prominent Texas law firm's law against a pay $15mn in outfits a lawsuit brought by US federal authorities over a judicial scandal that gripped the bankruptcy system.
Richard Walker, U.S. Fed. News accused by the Office of the US Trustee of failing to disclose a romantic relationship between one of its former partners, Elizabeth Freeman, and Judge David Jones. The firm appeared in more than 30 Chapter 11 cases between 2018 and 2023 where Freeman represented clients in front of Jones.
Jones, whose influence among bankruptcy advisers had turned Houston into the US's insolvency capital, resigned from the bench in October 2022 after admitting to the relationship when confirmed by the media. In late 2022, Freeman had left Jackson Walker to start her own practice, which would work with her former employer.
The US bankruptcy code allows debtors to have bankruptcy rotates pay their professional fees but requires that advisers be independent and disclose to the court any conflicts of interest.
Jackson Walker had typically served as a local counsel to debtors represented by national lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis, who routinely filed big cases in the
Southern District of Texas where Jones would become chief bankruptcy judge.
The US Trustee, which represents the public's interest in Chapter 31 cases, said Jackson Walker knew or should have known about the Freeman-Jones relationship. The agency had been seeking to make back more than $30mm in fees Jackson Walker had been paid in 33 cases where Freeman had participated, including the high-prime restructuring of JP, Penney and Norman Marcus.
The Texas bankruptcy court also summer had separately approved attitements that Jackson Walker had struck with several bankruptcy rotates to pay back nearly $10mn in fees that had been disbursed in those cases.
A federal district judge in 2024 disobused or volunteering lawsuit filed by a bankruptcy claimant against Jones, Freeman, Jackson Walker and Kirkland & Ellis, but criticized the group for not previously disclosing the conflict of interest from the relationship.
Kirkland & Ellis had earned more than $30mm in fees awarded by Jones in cases where Freeman appeared for Jackson Walker as co-counsel, filing from that racketeering lawsuit said.
The US Trustee, continued to require the approval of the Texas bankruptcy court and Jackson Walker said in the settlement filing power of a final charge its "conflict screening and disclosure practices" and becomes to lette a third-party consultant to review compliance.
Jackson Walker admitted to the filing it had never sought to update its disclosure filings after it found of the relationship, saying it "acknowledges, without admitting fault, that it could have approached the matter differently."
Jackson Walker declined to comment.
MALCOLM MOORE — LONDON
Global annual investment in nuclear power needs to triple to about $150Mn if governments want to meet their energy goals, the industry's main lobby group said as it urged banks to channel more private capital into the sector.
Nuclear power has recently acquired revival as countries around the world seek reliable low carbon electricity to meet rapidly rising demand.
Countries that had shut down nuclear stations, such as Japan and Taiwan, are bringing them back within while Canada has been rebuilt. The U.S. has said the country's decision to shut in plants in 2023 was a "serious strategic error."
But the industry continues to struggle to attract investment because new plants are expensive, take years to build and carry significant construction and political risks. "We are seeing an enormous appetite," said James Bilbav y León, director-general of the World Nuclear Association. "We have 30 countries that have actual plans, in black and white, that include nuclear. This is going to require a lot of money, much more than we are investing right now."
But Bilbav y León argued the same error not excessive when set against spending elsewhere in the energy system. The International Energy Agency expects about $640Mn to be invested in states that power globally this year, while spending on oil, gas and coal is between from $18.2Mn.
The WNA calculated the required nuclear investment by examining countries' supply and estimating the cost of delivering them in each region.
In 2023 prices, it expects spending to peak between 2041 and 2045. About $1bn would be directed to big nuclear plants during that period, with a further $4340m for small modular reactors ($8Mn). Another $8Mn would be spent extending the lives of existing reactors. Currently, countries collectively spend some $770m a year on nuclear projects. About 80 reactors are under construction, the majority in China, India, South Korea and Russia. "When we talk to the Russia's communists they tell us the capital is there," said Bilbav y León. "We are seeing capital flowing to other parts of the energy ecosystem."
John Roberts, former European co-head of infrastructure at Deutsche Bank
who now runs energy consultancy firms, said countries had to climb 14 terms of building nuclear flows rather than individual projects to bring costs down and down to private finance.
"To date, for more than a decade, everything has been state-funded. Now we are seeing fast or slow come through in the US and with the Rolls-Royce 5800s.
in the UK, Sweden and the Czech Republic. And a number of nuclear developers are emerging," she said.
Two years ago, none of the world's largest banks and financiers, including Bank of America, Barclays, SWF Farban, UK, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, pledged to increase their support for nuclear power and help reduce financing costs, which can account for a large share of the total cost of a plant.
Bank have traditionally been way to the sector because of the complexity of
financing projects, the risks of delays and cost overruns, and uncertainty over whether nuclear power meets environmental, social and governance criteria. In the UK, the start-up of Hinkley Point C has been pushed back again to 2030, five years after it was initially due to some strikes, and its cost estimate has nearly doubled.
Last year, the World Bank ended its decades-long ban on financing nuclear energy, offering to support efforts to extend the life of existing reactors and to upgrade girls and administrators.
Bilbav y León said the industry had been returning a franchise in 2019. For months to improve their understanding of nuclear projects, like compared the nuclear revival with the early development of the liquefied natural gas and offshore wind industries.
"There were moments of uncertainty when financial issues are under new how this was going to work," she said. "Once you go through the process and understand how it works, you can become comfortable and standardise the projects. Right now, for nuclear, we often need to get together a first of a kind financial framework every time."
Tuesday 4 August 2024
STRANGAN -RINMA
5
— ROYAL LYTHAM & — ST ANNES 2026
AIG WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPION SHIHO KUWAKI
AIG. FORWARD WE GO.
6
★
FINANCIAL TIMES
Tuesday 4 August 2024
Current Senate
Source: Cook Political Report, as of July 9
Which party do you think would be best at handling the following issues? (1)
An FT/Paradise poll of 1,795 registered voters was conducted Jan 24-30 2024. Results are statistically significant within 1.1 percentage points. Source: FT/Paradises
Current House
Source: Cook Political Report, as of July 9
1.5m to be flipped
1.5 of survey of respondents
Reported by who shipped the question were not included Sources: Washington Post-Sports Post-NBC
Cash on hand (Total)
Includes the RNC, MRC, MRC, CT and SLF for Republicans and the DNC, DCC, DCC, DNP and DNP for Democrats Source: FEI
to set Trump's course for rest of presidency
The eyes of the world will be on the US midterms decisions on November 3.2. Donald Trump may not be on the ballot, but he will dominate the contest in what promises to be an all-out battle to win voters. Here are the things to watch.
Democrats face an uphill battle to take control of the Senate, where 33 seats of the 109-member legislature are up for grabs. Their strongest chances of picking up seats are in North Carolina, Maine and Ohio.
They could also pick up a fourth seat to either Alaska, Iowa or Texas. But they must also hang on to those they already hold in Michigan, Georgia and New Hampshire. Prediction markets expect the party to fall short.
Republicans control the Senate by 33 seats to 47, with two independent senators, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, caucusing with the Democrats. That means Democrats need a net gain at four seats to retain the upper chamber.
If the Senate is split 10–16, then vice president JD Vance is able to cast tie-breaking votes in the chamber.
Maintaining control of the House of Representatives is critical for the Trump administration to govern unimpeded by the final two years of his term.
If Democrats retain the chamber, they will limit the president's ability to pass legislation and are almost certain
to launch investigations into the president and top members of his cabinet.
Nationally, polls show voters are increasingly likely to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate. Prediction markets are also signalling that Democrats will take control of the lower chamber of Congress.
Members of the House serve two-year terms, as the entire 410-member lower chamber of Congress is up for re-lection. The majority of the races are uncompetitive — in no small part due to decades of endurstating by both political parties to show up the number of “safe” seats in states across the country.
There are just a handful of races that could tip the balance of power, which means they will attract an enormous amount of money and resources.
They include Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district, where incumbent Republican team McAlester, during a well-funded Democratic challenger in Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the FT is undertaking a multiyear reporting project.
Congress is not the only thing up for grabs in the midterms. Voters in state and local elections choose a number of officials, including governors in 36 states, many of whom will be seen as potential presidential contenders.
Several of these races are expected to be close, while others will be acclaimed as fellowthers of the political mood.
Among the two-ups are several last-tep pounds that are also front and center in presidential election years: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin. Also in the mix are Michigan and Ohio.
Other races are seen as less competitive but have generated headlines. In California — which is generally seen as mildly Democratic — former Downing Street adviser turned Republican Fox News personality Steve Hilton is running a long shot campaign against Democrat Karen Beccra, Joe Biden's former health and human services secretary.
In other states, sitting Democratic governors are seen as possible 2028 presidential candidates, and their re-election bids will be followed closely. They include Jack Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Maryland's Wes Moore and Jill Pritter of Illinois.
During the 2024 presidential race, Trump promised to crush inflation and
lower petrol prices that had soared under his predecessor, Biden.
Trump has so far failed to bring inflation down to 2 per cent, the Federal Reserve's target. Instead, price increases have accelerated this year owing to higher capital prices triggered by the president's war with Iran.
The cost of price cuts at certain issue for American voters, and it has trended higher since the conflict began in February. According to data from the AAA marketing group, the average price of a gallon of regular petrol is now $4.09, well above its level of $3.18 a year ago.
Trump's decision to go to war with Iran in February has been deeply unpopular with voters.
The president campaigned on a promise to avoid new military conflicts, especially in the Middle East. But in recent months he has embraced the use of force around the world, from the operation to capture Nicolas Madsen in Venezuela, strikes against alleged drug heats in Latin America and the California and attacks on Islamic militants in Nigeria.
With the conflict in Iran, Trump's troubles have been compounded by the high cost of the war and its failure to accomplish its aims.
Early in the second term, Trump earned pleasles from voters for the near-complete closure of the US border with Mexico. It brought the flow of undocumented immigrants, which had risen sharply under the Biden administration, to a virtual standard.
But the president then took the crack-down much further, aggressively implementing a mass deportation campaign led by federal agents that has disrupted communities across the country and prompted a wave of protests.
By January of this year, the crack-down spiralled out of control when government officers shot and killed two US citizens protesting against the raids within days of one another in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The killings triggered a wave of public outrage and Trump withdrew the military from city streets.
But the crackdown has continued. In July, two more people were killed by immigration agents and the White House has continued to push anti-immigrant rhetoric. Polling nevertheless shows that voters still trust Republicans more than Democrats on the issue, by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.
Trump and his allies have been hoping the AI boom, which has lifted the stock market and boosted investment, will help improve voters' perceptions of the economy leading into the midterms.
But Trump's focus on AI, including his coolness with top technology executives, appears to be backfiring. Voters fear the benefits of the technology are not being broadly shared and believe the gains are too narrowly distributed among a small cohort of top executives.
Protests have erupted across the country over the construction of the data centers needed to power AI development because of their environmental impact, their effect on electricity prices and the limited number of jobs they create.
Republicans have a substantial cash advantage across the national party committees and their allied Super Pacs, which held about $650mn at the end of June, while their Democratic counter parts held about $150mn.
The pro-Trump Super Pac Mags Inc has also announced a new share of more than $400mn — more than any comparable group in a non-presidential election cycle, despite Trump being constitutionally barred from writing another term — giving the Republicans another potentially significant financial advantage. So far the Super Pac has spent less than $2mn to directly support or oppose any candidate.
Despite their smaller overall cash pile, Democrats have bigger war chests in several high-profile Senate races, including Texas and Georgia.
Reporting by Lauren Feder, James Pabst and Ian Hudgson in Washington, Martin Bube and Chesca Taylor in London, and Eva Xiao in New York
Tuesday 6 August 2016
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INTERNATIONAL
Diplomacy
Iran denies meeting with US after president hailed strikes for negotiations
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON ANDERSON, OHIO — LONDON BY N. JOHNSTON — TOYOTA
Iran said in not in negotiations with the US just hours after Donald Trump said talks between the Iran and Washington were not to resume yesterday after he called off-sugar strikes.
The US president said on Sunday that, while the US had been proud to launch
the “biggest attack since World War II” on Saturday, he had decided to hold off at the request of US allies. “We’re talking to [Iran] in the former’s negotiations, it begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said.
However, yesterday morning Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Eamadi Raghavi said Tehran was not currently engaged in any negotiations with the US and was focused at talks with Oman over the time in the future.
“At present, we are not having any negotiations with the US. Our negotiations with Oman are focused on reaching an understanding as a route to the
safe passage of shipping to resume through the Strait of Norman,” he said.
Trump’s comments sent off prices lower yesterday after they rose sharply in July on Iran of a return to full-blown conflict. Prices for Brexit crude, the international oil benchmark, dropped 1 per cent in 1812,1 a barrel, Tehran’s subsequent comments did not prompt any significant move in the off-price.
The US president said to finalize that Gulf allies believed there was a doubt he done to reopen the Strait of Norman and for Iran to wind down its nuclear programme.
He said he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and that though “thought that the deal was imminent . . . having to do with the Norman strait and ultimately the down destination of Iran”.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Norman, a doubtful is deemed critical to the nexting the US Iran war from escalating.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that the negotiations with Oman
whose territorial waters flow through the strait—“were in the final stage”.
However, yesterday Raghavi noted that an agreement with Oman would not be “sufficient” to ensure safe shipping through the waterway.
“As long as the US naval blockade against intermission in place and its military aggression continues, there will naturally be no change in the status quo in the Strait of Norman,” he said.
“The ongoing negotiations are between two council states and others can play a constructive or a destructive role in the process,” he said, adding that
“matters concerning Iran and the US will be addressed at later stage.”
“Secreting a deal between Oman and Iran to allow ships to resume transiting the strait has been a key stumbling block to mediators’ efforts to revive a June 27 memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran and prevent a further escalation.
But the interim deal unravelled after Iran began attacking ships transiting through the strait’s so-called southern route that traces Oman’s coastline Tehran said the ships were using an “unauthorised” channel.
Tehran leadership digs in and
helps we do enemies lack the
stomach for a long conflict
JACOB JUDAH — LONDON STEPHEN GHEEL — WASHINGTON
After six months of war with Donald Trump, Iran can claim to have seized one significant advantage: Washington is increasingly fighting at a pace set by Tehran.
Over the past two weeks, Tehran has taken the initiative, launching preemptive attacks designed to exhaust the US and frighten its Arab allies into sequencing in Iranian centres of the Strait of Norman.
Iran has against an American military situation, and in Jordan, breaking a hill in the fighting last week with a surgeries attack.
Iran and its regional prisons have watered the theatre of conflict, disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, striking Syria for the first time and being suspected of a drone attack on Egypt.
“What we have seen is the last week is a weak higher-risk approach to preemptivity up the ante rather than doing he would need,” said Elia Gerasmayek, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who argued that the new system is full-scale fighting with Israel and the US as increasingly inevitable.
The region’s gamble is that it can either deter the American president from resuming major combat operations by indicating how Tehran could escalate the conflict or defeat the US if a lengthy war of attrition — despite enormous costs in Iran itself.
“It’s a taste of the regional ramifications that would come,” said Gerasmayek, adding Iran swearing its attacks “as a signal to the American that while the US and the US are at war, they are not going to be the decisive party in how it ends”.
Trump has been considering the resumption of a major bombing campaign in recent days while mediators worked to prevent a return to full-blown war, the Saturday night Trump said that the US, despite being “locked and loaded and ready to go”, would cancel its
planned attack at the request of Middle Eastern allies.
Tehran and Washington had appeared to be pulling back from all-out war in June when they signed a memorandum of Iranon fighting, negotiated a peace settlement and reopen the strategic Strait of Norman closed by Iran during fighting that followed strikes by Israel and the US in February.
But the settlement collapsed after Iran struck several ships seeking to sneak through the country, and Trump ordered a wave of retaliatory strikes on Iran, prompting cycles of fighting in which Tehran peppered the region with missile and drone fire and the US bombarded southern Iran.
Analysts said Iran, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the accordance, had decided to go on the afternoon of retaliation that the Soviet fighting would be costly in both military and economic terms for Trump and the rest of the Middle East.
“There is consensus within Iran that, in the current circumstance, negotiating with the Americans is futile,” said Danyu Oshimoto, a Iranian Iran analyst with Israel’s military intelligence. “They are not going to capitalize and they are highlighting the price that everybody will pay if they are attacked.”
But the unholyhood Iranian approach reflects cooper changes in Tehran after the unenumeration of Supreme Code Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “This is the new true,” Oshimoto added. “They believe that this is the time to use the capabilities that they have.”
Having gained the initiative, Iran is seeking to reshape the conflict to its advantage, say abnormally the regime.
“They escalate with an end result in mind, which is to control American behaviour and force the US to recalculate its options,” said Vali Nour, an expert on Iranian strategic thinking at Johns Hopkins University. “There is a regional war and the US will not have the luxury of choosing the McAlishk’s.”
Israel’s military commanders also arguably saw a window of opportunity to again demonstrate control over the strait, addressing an adversary arising from the signing of the memorandum.
“They decided: ‘We have to be aggressive. If we are going to do this, then the
Hitting back: an Iranian mouth knock last month as shown in an IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
and the IRGC video
best time is now,” said Farina Sabet, an analyst at the Geneva Graduate Institute, adding that Egypt’s in Tehran saw worsening disruption on worldwide energy markets and the forthcoming US multicore elections as pressure points affecting White House wartime calculations.
“The approach has not gone unnoticed in Washington. “Their strategy is to make the campaign so economically and politically untenable in the US that we lack off,” said Karen Gibson, who formerly overuse intelligence for American forces in the Middle East. She
Iran-backed Houthis have launched attacks in the Red Sea and on Saudi Arabia
Houthis strikes
Source: IT research
added that the tactic could work over the longer term.
“And there is this second phase of the war has been Iran’s willingness to broaden the battlefield even further across the Middle East, including through aligned military groups in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen.
“Iran and its clients see blood in the water and see a benefit for all of them in escalating and entering the fray,” said Abbas Ostrow, an expert on the IRGC. “This happens to benefit Iran but it also benefits the establishment,” he added.
Both militant groups have struck Saudi Arabia, a big energy reporter, with the Houthis also seeking to shuttle Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and threatening the narrow passageway of the full-al-Mundial-strait. This has sent energy pressure to support.
On Thursday, in another sign that Iran could push the conflict further, a strike, whose source has not been identified, slammed into an American-owned vessel in northern Egypt. It had been on the deckside at Hamletia, close to the Strait Canal.
“This is about struggling shipping,” said Michael Crowell, an Iran analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. “There are three critical maritime shipping lanes in the region: the Red-Al-Mundial, the Strait of Norman and the Strait Canal. They have now expanded attacks on to or close to all three critical choke-points.”
Analysts suggested Iran increasingly believed it could use escalation to achieve a wider sweep of wartime ships.
There is
CONTINUES
within
Iran that
negotiating
with the
Americans
is futile”
tives. “Iran is expecting a very long war,” said Nour, adding that the regime no longer needs a negotiated settlement as feasible.
“They are following a very methodological strategy of turning the US as far away from Tehran as possible out of the Gulf, Syria, Iraq, and having them holed up in Israel and Jordan.”
Iran has intensified strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain in recent weeks. There has been anger and frustration in Jordan, a stalwart American partner under Nour’s fire in recent weeks, where hundreds of activists and public figures signed an open letter demanding an American installation.
“The Iranian are selectively expanding this to try to shake down the region to get people to either benefit the knee and break from the US, as pressure the US to bend the knee,” said Dana Stroud, a former senior Pentagon official who worked on the Middle East.
Iran may miscalculate how far it can push Washington and Trump without inviting massive retaliation. Tehran was also unlikely to reach the intensity with which it waged war in late February or early March, Ostrow said.
“The escalation is more about prolonging the conflict rather than making it more damaging,” said Ostrow, adding the IRGC saw winning as a zero-sum calculation.
“Iran sees its enemies as not having the political stomach for a long fight, and so the longer it continues, the weaker the resolve of their enemies will be. That is how they can it.”
NEW JEWEL — MEETING
In a technology park north of Tel Aviv, Israeli activists are preparing for the worst. Dozens of computer monitors and televisions sit down and, awaiting what one of the group’s leaders has called “O’Day” the October election.
As long serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ends in the path, the legislature, which early and then held the public are fretting over the lengths to which his far right government would go to avoid being power. Many activists are getting their hopes in this “Election War Room”, which is mobilising teams across the country to monitor polls and even to support it regular.
“Our goal is to create an election day that is within the democratic rules,” said Michel Betiuchi, one of the project’s leaders. “We want a free and fair vote, and the results will be what they like.”
Hopedino leaders say warning signs have been fleeing for months.
Netanyahu’s Liked party has taken aim at the apolitical elections commission, calling its judgment into question. The government has eliminated polling stations at old-age homes and could
scuttle overseas Israelis returning to vote, believing they show leftwing. And after years after lengths Supreme Court is which they can see any legal challenge to the vote — it rejected for the first time one after sitting last month.
“There will be an attempt to undermine the election campaign” and an event akin to the 10 January 9 2021 insurrection “is definitely possible”, opposition politician and its State’s minister Arigdat Laherman said in a recent television interview. “Netanyahu also understands he’s going to lose and he’s already building explanations as to why they lost,” said Laherman.
Liked denied all allegations, calling them “enigma,” and resurging, and lies”. But many voters appear to share Laherman’s concerns.
A poll in Har showed 56 per cent of respondents found the election would be unopreserved, while 32 per cent did not. And a survey is laid found 40 per cent were worried. Netanyahu would create a security crisis to undermine the vote, versus 45 per cent who did not.
Israel’s President Isaac Hering, whose role is largely overcrowded, wrote in he as to give a primetime address in July in
which he called on the public to “marcise caution” and warned that “various threats . . . both internal and external could jeopardize the vote’s integrity.”
Netanyahu, often referred to as a political “magician” for his three decades of electoral successes, is expected to face his most difficult test yet.
Voter support for the 36-year-old has been eroded by his coalition allies' extreme positions, the security liaisons leading up to Hamari October 7 2023 attack, and his outright social.
Until now, Israel’s electoral system had to rush out “correctly and clearly”, said Guy Lurie of the non-partisan Israel
Democracy Institute. Yet Liked’s attacks on the Central Elections Committee may be prepared on for Israel allegations that could “call into question the entire election process”.
The CDC’s long serving director-general resigned under pressure earlier this year, and Netanyahu’s allies have taken aim a few successes. At a harvest hearings fair work, one senior Liked lawmaker complained of “pushing” his appointments and warned of the “review of public issue” in the body.
Many activists and analysts say Israel’s institutions have been under large since Netanyahu’s coalition took power in late
Raffaing calls a protest in Jerusalem last month against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu www.inep.org/inep/2024 Earn longer
2022, fanning division and upheaval, trying to undermine the judiciary and also bringing all officials and the media.
The opposition and civil society are preparing for “many challenges . . . and 100% possible scenarios”, said Xavier Elharraz, a lawmaker from the centrist Together party. “There has never been anything like this because there has never been a government like this.”
An Liked spokesman shattered “the Left” for “warning about what it itself was planning”, and alleged that dozens of civil society groups were illegally working with the political opposition to “supply a tightening government.”
Behind A, text’s interpretation, and yet Election War Room co-leader Eyal Navdi gained prominence in 2022 due to the extensive protests against the government’s bid to overhaul the judiciary. They stress that the war room is apolitical and does not work with any specific parties, though their concerns are being unpermanent.
These fears are many: that 43 per-cent dissidents make campaigns will now discard and manipulate voters. That Netanyahu could manufacture a供电 to distort the vote. That the ruling coalition
may simply refuse to recognise the results, potentially pitting the government against the CDC and the courts.
The protest has been so भविष्य of dozens of non-profits for more than a year, building a nationwide infrastructure to monitor the campaign, with a legal, media and operations strategy meant to quickly halt any irregularities at polling stations. They aim to record 100,000 elections day observers and have any up on “array” of people to prescribe digital spots.
Both the war room and the Together party have recruited retired senior police officials, in the hope they will be kept placed in work with a force now controlled by the right national security minister Hamer Ben-Ovir.
They aim into the powerful bliss for internal security agency — whose statutory duty is to protect Israeli democracy — could be deployed against Netanyahu’s enemies and “unfriendly” media.
The organizations now director, former military general David Zini-Sundquist led by Netanyahu — has pledged to support the CDC. “I hope he does his job,” Elharraz said of Zini. “We need to keep our eyes on the ball.”
Tuesday 4 August 2026
FINANCIAL TIMES
9
Coal comeback US industry revived as high demand for electricity to power data hubs spurs bidding war for key plant PAGE 10
AARU KISIDTO AND INMALINIMILI P. -- LONDON ELLYMP BIRNIE -- NEW YORK
AstraZeneca shareholders have raised concerns over the UK, pharma group's potential mega-merger with US rival Bristol Myers Squibb, questioning the value of spending heavily to acquire an industry lagged.
Shares in AstraZeneca fall 9 per cent in London yesterday after the 97 reported on Monday that it was in talks with BMS to create the world's fourth largest drugmaker by market capitalisation, with a combined valuation approaching $800bn.
Chief among the complaints from AstraZeneca investors was that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker would be
'Many past mega-mergers have destroyed value, while R&D performance ... took years to recover'
acquiring a company staring down the loss of almost half its revenues as its patent engine in the coming years.
Ecoagible Assinados, senior investment director at Rathbone, a top 50 AstraZeneca shareholder, described the potential tie-up as a 'surprise' given the company was already on track to meet its target of increasing annual revenues to $800bn by 2030 and had a robust pipeline to deliver longer term growth.
AstraZeneca, which generated revenues of $38.7bn last year, is awaiting clinical data on promising new drugs targeting various cancers as well as obesity and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Chief executive Sir Pascal Savier told reporters as recently as last month that he did not 'need RNA to deliver' on the 2050 target.
Neither AstraZeneca nor BMS has
commented on the deal talks. The exact terms could not be confirmed, and people familiar with the matter and any deal could yet be delayed or fall apart.
Martha Mishra, a portfolio manager at Union Investment, one of Germany's largest active asset managers and a shareholder is both AstraZeneca and BMS, said the deal 'makes neither strategic nor financial sense' and called on the companies to end the talks.
'Many of the mega-mergers of the past have destroyed value, while the R&D performance of the companies involved took years to recover from the 'merger shackle' he said.
Assinados at Rathbone also highlighted concerns that antitrust regulators could impose restrictions, saying significant overlap in the companies' cancer and cardiovascular medicines might require 'significant divestments'.
Both companies also have rival medicines in Merck's blockbuster cancer drug firefunds -- Antialloneck's tofford and Bristol's Cydfon.
However, some shareholders see potential upside to a task. They said both companies' vast oncology pipelines, comprising in excess of two fifths of each of their revenues, were complementary, and a dual could yield huge cost savings in R&D and administration.
One top 50 AstraZeneca shareholder said the merger would create a group with 'significant US exposure'. Growth in the US, which accounts for almost half of sales, is essential for the group to hit its revenue targets.
Some investors and analysts have suggested that a deal with BMS could smooth the public's antialloneck to shift its primary listing to the US. AstraZeneca declined to comment. BMS did not respond to requests for comment. Additional reporting by Aaron Bredfeld in London and Florian Müller in Frankfurt last year [1]
Pineapples, along with sugarcane and beef, are among Queensland's top agricultural goods. +tagged/consultant/page
WE FLOW -- YOUNG?
Australian farmers fear that a move to allow Indian and Indonesian pineapples into the country could devastate the local industry by opening the door to invasive insect species.
The first site alongside sugarcane and beef as one of the state of Queensland's top agricultural products.
About 72mm pineapples, worth A$80mm ($50mm), are sold annually, according to a grower's association.
Australia's government has fostered trade deals to lift its economy as agricultural experts have proved a valuable tool in offsetting tariff pressure andាព势挫敖.
However, a consultation by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has left some farmers fearing that they are about to get the 'rough end of the pineapple' -- a raw deal in Australian dung.
Col Hawken, a pineapple farmer
now: Maryborough in Queensland who produces 800 tonnes of the fruit a year, said the local industry feared that cheaper imports could be devastating. 'It's real for pineapples,' he said of the two-way trade that will benefit one Queensland industry but theories another.
Pineapples, which are available all year from the Australian, have long been synonymous with Queensland horticulture. In 1947, the Australian government sent 500 cases of canned pineapple to Queen Elizabeth as a wedding present, according to Fran Boussault's book The Pineapple.
Meanwhile, the Big Pineapple, a smart v. fibreglass structure just north of Brisbane, remains a popular tourist attraction.
Farmers also pointed to the biosecurity threat posed by insects that could enter the country with imported fruit.
Australia's strict biosecurity rules
have been a blessing for its agricultural industry in protecting against threats such as hoist and mouth disease and parasitic insects.
First coming into Australia is treated through irradiation processes, but farmers remain concerned that the risk is too high.
'Case trade, giant cut tail grass, fire ants -- all that has cost producers and the country billions and billions, just don't open the gate to start with,' Hawken said.
Scott Maxwell, chair of industry body Australian Pineapples, said that many pineapple plantations cut alongside residential housing in areas such as the Sunshine Coast, meaning that insects on foreign fruit purchased by consumers could be transmitted to crops. 'It's not an imaginary risk -- the pathway is very clear for an exotic pot,' he said.
The agriculture department declined to comment.
CHRISTIAN DAVIES -- NEW YORK FERN. INGENY -- LONDON NARAH BROTTE -- OXLEY
US demand for petrol pick-ups and big SUVs helped boost profits at foreign carmakers, drawing a shreding loss with European groups battling declining sales. Job losses and car threat competition from Chinese rivals.
General Motors and Ford were the only two groups among the more market carmakers to raise their annual guidance after a strong second quarter. At Stellantis, which owns the Chrysler, Jeep and Ram brands, quarterly adjusted operating profit more than tripled on the back of a modest US sales recovery.
Sharp US tariffs and restrictions on Chinese car software have attracted the American car industry from the influx of affordable vehicles from the likes of RTO. Detroit carmakers are also rouping the benefits of the Trump administration's shading of emissions standards, as they pivot away from hounseling, electronic and mechanical systems and petrol and hybrid versions of highly profitable pick-up trucks and SUVs.
After Gilt reported a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in second-quarter adjusted operating profit, chief executive Mary Barry noted that despite the loss of the US among petrol prices would hit demand for trucks and SUVs, 'it's just not happening'.
Stellantis lives Artemis Filosa added: 'US consumers love to drive big pick-ups and large SUVs. This is not in the consumer habits of other regions ... and we can offer what they want [due to the regularity environment].'
In Europe, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all warned of lower-than-expected annual profits.
The shake-ups are to cut costs to limit off Chinese rivals, which have taken nearly 50 per cent of the continent's market. Stellantis, which also owns Fiat and Peugeot, also said it was facing pricing pressure in Europe.
Ford, G9, and Stellantis insist they are committed to the EV transition. But analysts caution that their retreat into the comfort zone of petrol trucks and SUVs could store trouble for the future.
'The question is whether the American manufacturers are just paying lip service to the need to develop innovative new products eventually,' said Tu Le, founder of Detroit-based consultancy Sion Auto Insights.
VW white coffee call over 10
Earlier this year I addressed an online workshop, part of a European company's long-running programme for its female leaders. The organisers' enthused about how participants would be logging on from its outposts around the world. They added: 'Of course there will be any delegates from our US operation.'
Of course, for fear of antagonising President Donald Trump's administration, the company had hindered a cohort of promising future leaders from taking part.
Because about the 'butterfly effect', this idea that a flap of the insect's wings in fixed length ultimately trigger a tornado in Texas. When it comes to diversity policies, a more direct 'Trump effect' is being felt across continents, unnecessarily in Australia.
Two weeks ago, advisers to the Australian Securities Exchange set out changes to its governance principles. Gender targets for female board directors would be frozen, these for executives removed and ideas about expanding the goals to cover race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and socio-economic background would be shelved.
Philip Lowe, the former central bank governor who chaired the advisory group, wrote that the plan represented 'evolution, not redesign', calling it
'common sense'. But critics view the proposals as simple in its boards.
The Trump effect is only one factor here. Australia has good reasons to streamline a bloated set of guidelines that turned down two to bring approval. Attempts to expand targets to other groups had already proved divisive. The AEX-19 strong corporate Governance Council split irreparably last year over its effort to solve the principles and was disbanded. What is more, workplace equality legislation partially highlights the field-based principles and now requires employment to monitor and report progress, including, if they so choose, on executive diversity.
John Wyke, founder of Tamarra Capital, was one loud voice attacking the broken system for changing Australia's competitiveness and the failed sector's growth. Tamarra's
alternative 'moderate' principles removed any diversity prescriptions and stated merely that 'it is desirable that boards are diverse in their thought processes, life experiences, personal qualities and skills'.
The AEX proposals are more modest than Wyke's call for a 'fresh start' but they refer for also that 'regulatory diversity and diversity of' skills, experience and background' are so important as gender balance.
Even accepting a reset was overdue, though, I worry about how the flap of a regulator's wings might affect women and other under-represented groups in the corporate world.
Targets for members of female board directors have helped increase the number of women on boards, whether in Norway, where they are mandatory,
or the UK and Australia, where they are not. To the distress of equality advocates, the AEX plan retains a 30 per cent target rather than the higher 40 per cent goal suggested by the defunct governs once owned.
It is too early to tell what happens when targets are eased or scrapped, as happened as Tuesday, which removed board diversity requirements for failed companies after a court ruling in 2024. But there is early evidence from the US of what may be a Trump effect. Prost adviser Gina Lewis noted an overall slight increase in the number of women on the boards of the 2,600 targets listed US companies in 2025, but a continued drop in first-year appointments of women directors, down from 45 per cent of all such board lines in 2021 to 24 a per cent last year.
Such shifts can have knock-on effects. Self-probability of targets for the executive pipeline could undermine wider efforts to improve the lot of female employees, such as narrowing the pay-piper-moveraging flexible working.
Meanwhile, the renewed emphasis on 'cognitive diversity' is likely to counter dominant groups in the workforce and on boards. According to one recent study, it could also put ethnic minority applicants off applying for jobs at those companies and their sexual minorities from declaring their identity. 'No language [about those minorities] and no measurements means no attention,' observes JC, professor Raina Brands.
I like to hope that earlier efforts to enticed corporate diversity policies will mean they continue, even at companies that now face not speak their name. But as regulatory requirements to target and report progress results, the real truth is it may well be harder to find out.
askme.b3@it.com
10
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FINANCIAL TIMES
Tuesday 4 August 2024
COMPANIES & MARKETS
Hundreds of management roles lost as pressure from Chinese carmakers grows
HEMSTEN AME - FRANKFURT
Volkswagen is using hundreds of management roles, flooding the jobs market with white collar staff at a time when Germany's new giant-are-road-enteron-pensure from Chinese groups.
Manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen were "squeezing out managers like mad", said Magnus Troonen, automotive partner at the executive-coach in company 297.
Many of the managers were searching
for new jobs, although their departures had been cushioned by generous exit packages, he said.
"One external headquarter said they had been approached by VW to find new positions for 400 to 500 managers. "I told them we cannot do it ... we do not know 400+ executors who that used it thing," the recruiter said.
VW has already started reducing the number of factory workers in Germany but has set out plans to cut another 20,000 jobs in "indirect" areas at the business such as administration, product development and sales. So Porsche brand has also unveiled plans to shed 3,000 jobs, mostly in basic office roles.
VW's initial programme to lose
50,000 positions in Germany by 2030 affected employees in manufacturing and back-office roles across the company's brand, Audi and its software divi-
Manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and VW are 'squeezing out managers like mad'
sion Coriad. But those plans did not go far enough, and an internal analysis found administrative costs were 30 per cent above the level of other manufacturers.
The difference was "largely driven by
the complexity of the group structure across all levels", chief financial officer Arno Kofler said at the group's second-quarter earnings.
Even if VW does ultimately use 100,000 jobs – seen as unlikely by sector experts because of union opposition – the group would still employ about 580,000 people, well above Toyota's 390,000 and the 350,000 employed by head&street Hyundai.
At Porsche, the latest restructuring measures come in addition to an existing plan to reduce headcount by 3,000, including about 2,000 temporary work-strong/replied in factories.
The new programme would largely spare time-collar workers, Porsche chief
executive Michael Leiters indicated last month. Porsche had "experienced disproportionate growth in indirect areas, and also ... where management positions were created". Leiters said, and was seen "intervening and making disproportionate reductions" in those areas.
Porsche was eliminating some departments and merging business areas, and had on the number of board institutions eight to seven, he said.
Other German carmakers are also cutting white-collar jobs.
BHPJ has records extended voluntary redundancy offers to thousands of workers in desk jobs, including development and product planning.
Utility AEP bids 'aggressively'
to secure plant as demand for data hubs spurs race for assets
MARTHA MUIR - AEPIT VIRGINIA
One of the US's biggest utilities has out-bid-data centre developer to buy a coal plant in West Virginia, as the AI-driven electricity crisis's open competition for a power source in structure of decline.
American Electric Power has agreed to acquire Longview coal plant, a 710-magneted facility in the mountainous coal-sick state.
The utility, which operates in 11 states and serves Liéma customers, narrowly beat a "household name" data centre developer for control of the plant after a "competitive bidding process", according to a person familiar with the matter.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed.
The bidding war underlines how coal has been brought in from the cold as US electricity demand came. According to ICE, a consultancy, US power demand will increase by 30 per cent by 2035.
White coal's share of US electricity generation has declined by 0.57 per cent since its 2007 peak, it has risen 1.3 per cent since January 2023, according to the International Energy Agency.
The Longview dual is a rare example of a utility acquiring new coal assets since the industry did into decline. Recent examples of plants changing hands have largely been distressed sales to private equity.
The administration of President Donald Trump is attempting to revive and rehabilitate the coal industry, defeating the closure of six plant and committing more than 60ha to build coal (with two thirds of the largest industrial oil the west coast, Utilities including Xcel and Duda have also progressed closing some of their coal assets.
While rock companies have stressed their aim to power data centers with channenergy, competition for electricity revenues, and the power supply process to build new plants have led them to pursue all their power sources.
Elon Monk's Colorado 2 data centre project recently installed 29 natural gas turbines, with 1cr50cs and environment at a 6cr60cs after a 6cr quality hazard.
The company's new large-scale electric Longview considered taking the plant off the grid in order to use it exclusively for its AI facility, in a move that would have illustrated power from the grid for an estimated 350,000 boors.
Such a decision would probably
The Longview coal plant in Morgantown, West Virginia, soon shows coal below, is being acquired by American Electric Power International
have sparked backlash from P2K, the region's grid operator, and affordability advocates.
"You'll be persons non-gratu," said a source familiar with the series:
AEP's chief financial officer told the FY that the company fought "aggressively" to gain control of Longview, having recently lost other bidding wars for non-coal power assets in the region.
"Prior management teams had said they want to shut down coal plants, but West Virginia is very much a coal state," said UTI Triver Mikiilik.
The company has also acquired a person to build a 1,200,000 gas plant on the site, although it is unclear for whom the project will result ground.
Longview is one of the youngest coal
plants in the US, completed for $65m in 2015. Developer Jim Lacritz conceived of the idea before the industry entered a deep decline.
The plant was touted as one of the most efficient and clean coal plants in the country when it came online.
"There wasn't this stigma against coal at that time, and power prices for coal were expected to go extremely high," Lairds said.
But mechanical issues, the discovery of sheep, abundant shale gas and Okuma-era environmental regulations made the plant uncompetitive, forcing it into bankruptcy in 2015. 5 connections of private equity players including KKK later took control of Longview.
At times the plant tried to keep up with the clean energy shift, exploring carbon capture and an on-site solar farm, although neither was built. It also faced a backlash from environmental activists, who successfully pressed for emissions caps and annual payments of $500,000 to a fund addressing environmental damage.
The project didn't think coal was a good idea in the early 2000s – we had heard about this thing called climate change," said Jim Kstrom, a former chapter chair of the West Virginia Metro Club, an environmental group.
The facility filled a hard time again in
'People are happy to see the coal industry [is] doing better . . . But there is hesitation and a lot of unknowns
2020, filing for Chapter 31 bankruptcy's with more than $350m in a bid.
AEP said it bought the plant to serve ground demands in P2K, which includes 10 states and Washington, DC.
The utility has 18 gigawatts of contracted data centres in the region.
The state's House Bill 2016 allows data centres to build their own power grids, and limits local governments' ability to reject projects on mining, mine and environmental grounds.
Google recently purchased land in Putnam County for a multibillion-dollar data centre project.
Owing to its proximity to AI hubs such as Virginia's "data centre offer", Governor Patrick Murriney has pledged 10.01 per the state's electricity generation capacity to 20kW by 2000 for our inside and out-of-state power.
Some West Virginians are optimistic about the data centre boom as a way to boost the demand for coal.
But as in other parts of the US, proposed projects are facing opposition from local people who are concerned about their impact on energy prices and value.
People are happy to see the coal industry [is] doing better: said state senator and co-chairer Cheri Boon.
That there is hesitation and a lot of unknowns, so we want good holds."
RUTH ALDRIGLI, BORMELLI – WILAN MINNWHITE – CHIEF
Monte del Paschi di Siena is exploring alternative options to food off Intesa hospitals (health takeover, including a potential takeover of Banco BPM, after talks over a "merger of equals" between the middle family's collapsed on Friday.
MP5 and Banco BPM abandoned discussions about their proposed merger after an intervention from Banco BPM's largest shareholder, Crédit Agricole.
According to people familiar with the matter, one of the options being examined for MP5 chief executive Luigi Laveglio instead is an acquisition of Banco BPM, a deal he has long championed. Laveglio was now considering approaching Crédit Agricole about a potential deal, the people said, although no contact had been made over the weekend and no takeover would proceed if the French bank's management declined to engage, the people added.
On Friday, Crédit Agricole's chief executive Oliver Gavaldi said the bank would "surface are solid project with respect to its strategic interest, execution risk and capacity to create value over the long term for deal Banco BPM's shareholders". But he added that "at this stage, it is very difficult to see how a
combination between MP5 and Banco BPM can be 'value accretive' for Banco BPM shareholders".
If MP5 did work to acquire Banco BPM, a deal could be structured as an agreed share-based merger negotiated directly with Crédit Agricole, under which MP5 and Banco BPM would settle an exchange ratio and the French bank would sell to more 30 per cent of the into the enlarged grid to 100 per cent said.
Such a structure could limit the cash required and make the transaction easier, but would depend on agreements over governance, board representation, commercial partnerships and Crédit Agricole's eventual stake, they said.
MP6, which reports its first-half results this week, said in February it had sufficient excess capital for acquisition.
The nearly two-month vago began when Banco BPM approached MP5 proposing talks over a merger of equals. The next day, Intesa launched a Cthiblio bill for the Tuscan leader.
Last month, Crédit Agricole raised its stake in Banco BPM's 30 per cent. It was Gavaldi's statement on Friday that the French leader had received no information about a potential merger between Banco BPM and MP5, while his deputy insisted that Crédit Agricole's shareholding made it necessary sorry, that prompted Banco BPM to allocate the preliminary discussions with MP5.
In the wake of these comments on Friday, MP5 said that it "remained focused on implementing its growth plan and integrating Netherlands, and will continue to assess all strategic options".
Crédit Agricole has signaled that it would welcome site up between Banco BPM and Crédit Agricole today.
MP5's board is deeply divided over Laveglio's strategy; in a letter last week four directors criticized his approach to dealholding.
HEMSTEN AME - FRANKFURT
The chief executive of Daimler Truck has said investing more in defence will create positive gallstones for its business, as the German manufacturers make in increase revenues from military vehicles.
Innovation in autonomous driving and faster development cycles were two ways to which it could learn from defence partners, chief executive Kurtz Kaldorfer (Keller F).
"What we're seeing now in the defence space is a lot of innovation in happening, which we believe will also benefit the cell side," she said.
German automotive companies have increasingly turned to the defence industry to generate growth and to some cases (if factories felt underutilized by falling forward for their vehicles.
Daimler Truck said in June it was investing with three-digit outflow euros in expanding its defence offering, devel-
oping a wider range of military vehicles and expanding outside Europe.
The company also announced a target to double revenue from defence to €1bn by 2028, two years online than a previous goal set in 2023. Daimler Truck generated €45.9bn in sales in its industrial businesses that read 9.4p points left in the face of higher US tariffs and a slowdown in the North American market.
Kaldorfer said its defence business was developing, "faster than we expected." Daimler Truck had the ability to scale production more rapidly than traditional defence groups that were used to manufacturing smaller volumes, she said. "We have the capacity to really industrialise because, as you know, what all the defence industries need right now is more capacity and quite fast," she added.
Militaries were looking to explore autonomous trucks to increase safety on the battlefield. Trucks with autonomous technology needed fewer military
personnel to operate them, she said. The lower demand for manpower was
also an advantage in conflicts where finding recruits was difficult, allowing manpower to be used in other areas.
The need to operate vehicles is high-risk conflict zones was promoting the adoption of remote-controlled driving
and the development of new features such as "pistonning", where several trucks autonomously followed a real vehicle with a driver, Kaldorfer said.
The same technologies could be applied to a million control but with different use cases. With manpower accounting for 80 per cent of the costs for trucking companies, autonomous
technology would help profitability for the logistics sector, she said. "If you can remove 40 per cent of the cost and you can start running for trucks all night, 24 hours, it's a huge trend," said Kaldorfer, adding that the addition of autonomous capabilities represented the "biggest change" facing the industry.
The company aimed to start delivering trucks capable of autonomous driving in designated areas in the US next year, with the "big rollout" planned for 2025, according to Kaldorfer.
The German group could also learn from the sport at which new technologies were being deployed by defence start-ups, compared with the longer development process in the auto business. The battlefield was a testing ground for new autonomous technologies, allowing for fast software and hardware development, she said.
"That cycle is so much faster on the defence side now than in the normal way we do business," she added.
SAWEIL ALDR
SPORTS RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
European football's governing body has threatened legal action over Fifa and the UK-based situation is held at just to care out a $20bn commercial entity from the Swiss non-profit and will a 20 per cent stake to private investors.
In a letter addressed to Infanities, Uefa warned if a war "actively considering legal action, arbitration, and six regular jury complaints" in relation to the world's governing body's proposal to raise more than $4bn from selling shares in a new entity that would have housed Fifa's commercial rights.
The state's sole plan, first revealed by the F7 law Tuesday, is a hard-shell and provoked a wave of criticism before the national school decision Friday.
His climbdown followed days of
meaning pressure from across football and football, with Uefa ahead by other British lawmakers, leading an William Seltzer rejection of the venture.
The letter, which was dated Friday July 24, warned infanities and the World Day organizer to "identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically record information" relating to the situation and the world's data group.
Thrive Eternal, an investment fund contender by Indian business, the in-investor and brother of US President Donald Trump's son on the Jared Kashner, was set to be the lead investor in the commercial venture. Infanities had included cash money, leading an executive consing the funding to Fifa members.
Fifa did not respond to a request for comment. The letter was first reported by The Telegraph.
Gideon Rachman See Opinion
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Tel, Affordability
During, African Spanish, After Gilt, American Electric Power International, An Liked, Angus King, At Porsche, At Stellantis - WARNING: source dates, money, or percentage tokens may be missing
结论： 存在多处严重的幻觉（Hallucinations）、数字错误及译文质量缺陷，属于阻断性质量问题（Blocking Issues）。
TUESDAY 4 AUGUST 2026，译文在结尾处将其写成 2024 年 8 月 4 日 或 2016 年 8 月 6 日，前后矛盾且与源文不符。November 3.2 $\rightarrow$ 译文 11 月 3.2 日（保留了 OCR 错误，未校对）。10-16 (Senate split) $\rightarrow$ 译文 10–16（未处理语境，且数字在政治语境下极其可疑）。€45.9 (sales) $\rightarrow$ 译文 €45.9（缺少单位量级，如 bn/m）。€1 (defence revenue target) $\rightarrow$ 译文 €1（明显缺失数量级）。Infanities $\rightarrow$ 译文 因凡蒂诺 (应为 Infantino，译文试图纠正 OCR 错误但拼写不统一)。TCNs $\rightarrow$ 译文 “YouTube”能力通知 (源文 OCR 为 "YouTube"，实际应为 "Technical Capability Notice"，译文盲从 OCR 错误导致语义荒诞)。remote_md_019_Financial_Times_-_04_08_2026 这种内部文件命名标签，属于严重的交付缺陷。per cent 等英文词汇未翻译。20 per cent stake $\rightarrow$ 20 per cent stake（部分未译）。| 缺陷类型 | 严重程度 | 描述 |
|---|---|---|
| 幻觉 | 致命 (Critical) | 凭空创造了数页源文不存在的新闻内容。 |
| 数字错误 | 高 (High) | 关键日期、金额量级丢失或错误。 |
| 交付缺陷 | 中 (Medium) | 包含内部文件名标签，存在英文残留。 |
| 忠实度 | 致命 (Critical) | 译文已变成一篇基于关键词的“扩写小说”而非翻译。 |