Author: Agency Reporter

How do you get to Feb 15 unscathed with your relationship intact? One romance refusenik asks the experts Let’s be adults about this. We all know Valentine’s Day is a ruse. Restaurants and florists hike up their prices, greeting cards are dipped in saccharine and we are collectively guilt-tripped into bunging money at love. It’s a con. Which is why YouGov research last year found that 51 per cent of Brits did not celebrate at all. Only 6 per cent dined out and more people had a romantic meal with their pets than went for a romantic night in a hotel. And yet.…

Protect your heirs from incurring hefty bills – but beware ways it could backfire For most families, their home is their biggest asset. So it is no surprise that parents are increasingly giving property as gifts in order to avoid inheritance tax. Land Registry data shows that about 130,000 properties are given away each year. This rose to 152,000 in 2023 and is forecast to reach around 220,000 this year, according to figures obtained by estate agent Hamptons via a Freedom of Information request. This comes after Rachel Reeves launched a £2bn inheritance tax raid in her Budget. The Chancellor announced a range of…

By Tunde Akingbondere The media space is currently enmeshed in the loud argument over the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police(IGP), Kayode Egbetokun as well as the propriety of the amendment made to the Nigeria Police Act in the face of clearly stipulated legislative procedures guiding the entirety of our age long laws. This intellectual debate became quite popular with the courageous media salvo on the IGP by the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore. Sowore has over the years commissioned himself as a trenchant voice of the people, particularly in the light of his vigorous…

You have heard of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. Now welcome to the age of neoimperialism. The most striking moment in Donald Trump’s inaugural address last month was his pledge that the US “will once again consider itself a growing nation — one that increases our wealth, expands our territory”. Hopes that Trump’s talk of territorial expansion was an empty rhetorical flourish have faded. The president’s references to foreign territories that he would like to acquire are too frequent to be ignored or dismissed. Trump has confidently asserted that America will “get Greenland”. He has vowed to “take back” the Panama Canal.…

Report offers rare insight into how Moscow sees invasion of Ukraine harming ties with close allies Russian officials believe western pressure is hampering Moscow’s efforts to draw former Soviet nations closer into its orbit and build economic ties with the global south, according to a leaked government report. The internal presentation, shown at a strategy session led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last April, offers a rare insight into how Russia’s war in Ukraine has harmed ties with some of its closest allies. The analysis notably concedes that western sanctions pressure, as well as economic overtures, had succeeded in driving…

Esma chair says national pushback to harmonising rules risks undermining its push to become a European SEC The EU’s top financial markets regulator has warned that Brussels’ efforts to streamline bureaucracy are likely to face resistance from national watchdogs as it pushes to become a European equivalent of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) is pressing for greater powers to harmonise rules, including oversight of the EU’s largest exchanges, clearing houses and settlement systems that operate across borders — a role similar to that of its US counterpart. But Esma chair Verena Ross…

The township of Fateng Tse Ntsho houses some 7,000 Black South Africans, its huddle of corrugated metal roofs surrounded on all sides by vast tracts of mostly empty grassland owned by prosperous white farmers. The contrast illustrates the gaping land inequalities that persist more than three decades after the end of white minority rule – and which an expropriation act President Cyril Ramaphosa signed last month partly seeks to redress. That law, which allows the government to confiscate land – in rare cases without compensation – has reignited racial tensions that have dogged Africa’s southernmost tip ever since European settlers began arriving nearly four…

The billionaire’s aggressive efficiency drive has critics warning of a constitutional crisis. Allies say he’s just getting started Before Donald Trump re-entered the White House last month, his top donor Elon Musk’s grand plan to slash trillions of dollars in US government spending appeared to consist of little more than a logo of a dog wearing sunglasses, and a stream of provocative social media posts. But behind the scenes, the richest man on the globe had quietly recruited tech executives and a slew of young coders, who would quickly deliver shock treatment to one of the world’s largest bureaucracies.…

Beijing may be better prepared this time for renewed trade conflict with Trump, analysts say  China’s embassy in Washington said on Sunday that it has imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US,hitting about $14bn worth of goods and dashing hopes that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies could be avoided. Beijing announced the tariffs last week in response to a US decision to impose an additional 10 per cent levy on Chinese products, which US President Donald Trump called an “opening salvo” in a renewed trade offensive against China. Compared with the blanket US tariffs, China’s measures —…

He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying – Donald Trump The war in Ukraine may be approaching a resolution as former U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding ending the conflict, according to an exclusive report from the New York Post. During an interview aboard Air Force One, Trump acknowledged multiple discussions with the Russian leader but refrained from revealing specific details about their conversations or the number of times they had spoken. “He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Trump stated, reinforcing hopes that peace negotiations could soon take…