The former USSR president, Mikhail Gorbachev who opened up the USSR and brought the cold war to a peaceful end, but failed to prevent its collapse in 1991 died aged 91. Gorbachev, as the youngest member of the ruling council known as the Politburo, took over in 1985, with his reformist policies for the…
. Aman Resort’s Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York has huge rooms, kilos of gold leaf, and is the epitome of luxury. A couple of blocks south of Central Park, the Fifth Avenue hotel opened on August 11, occupying floors seven to 14 of the 30-storey Crown Building, a 1921 landmark at 730 Fifth Avenue.…
Pearson, a British industrialist, had done a deal with the anti-American government of Mexico for a 50-year oil concession that covered much of the state of Veracruz, a 1839 feet ( 558 meters ) Dos Bocas well exploded into a broiling fountain of oil that rose 1000 feet into the air. Keith Fisher’s new book…
Over the past decades, the US and India have had several diplomatic ties. But Russia and India have long been friends too, with a relationship forged during the cold war and sustained by steady trade in energy and weapons, dealing with Indian Rupees rather than US Dollars. West is frustrated at India’s response to the…
Tesla, the electric vehicle giant completed a three-for-one stock split on Thursday, dropping share prices from nearly $900 to $302. Tesla’s latest three-for-one split means that stockholders will get two additional shares for each share that they owned. This is Tesla’s second stock split in two years, intended to attract a new and diverse investor…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) the World’s largest and most powerful space telescope took infrared images of the Solar System’s biggest planet, Jupiter, in July 2022. The images revealed auroras, giant storms, moons, and rings surrounding Jupiter in detail that astronomers have described as “incredible”. Planetary astronomer Imke de Pater of the University of…
Barristers in England and Wales have voted to go on an indefinite, uninterrupted strike from 5 September, next month. Until now, members have been striking on alternative weeks in a dispute with the government over pay, working conditions, and legal aid funding, The strike is expected to delay thousands of cases, leaving victims and the…
Behind Closed Doors is the result of a decade of research and writing on London clubs, based on exclusive behind-the-scenes access to archives and proceedings, as well as a love of gossip and scandal. The ups and downs of London Clubland which grew to spread around the world, with its four hundred clubs, and how…
Petroleum has always been used by humans, from time immemorial as a waterproofing agent in Noah’s Ark, as a weapon during the Crusades, and as an adhesive for Neanderthals. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed into light, heat, and power. A Pipeline Runs Through it, looks at the social, economic, political,…
Lee Jaw-Yong, Samsung heir, convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2017 – has been granted a special presidential pardon. Lee was twice imprisoned for bribing a former president. South Korea’s government justified the move, saying the de-facto leader of the country’s biggest company was needed back at the helm to spearhead economic recovery post-pandemic. Lee’s…