logo
Race Across the World-inspired challenge raises hospice funds

Race Across the World-inspired challenge raises hospice funds

Yahoo15-07-2025
A Pocklington-based firm's Race Across the World-inspired charity event has raised four times its target amount for charity.
Phoenix Software's four-day 'Race for a Reason' competition saw 30 employees, split into ten teams of three, compete to reach checkpoints in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) region.
Their efforts have resulted in more than £20,000 being raised for St Leonard's Hospice in York.
Points were awarded based on the difficulty of each location, as well as daily challenges, meaning that crossing the finishing line first didn't necessarily guarantee first place.
The competitors received a hero's welcome and breakfast upon returning to their office on Thursday, July 10.
Team Legacy was declared the fastest team after time deductions, and also raised the most funds (£3,748) of any team.
Team Copley achieved the most social media engagements.
Team movements were tracked live, and can still be viewed at https://www.phoenixs.co.uk/race-for-a-reason-2025/
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nvidia and AMD's ‘special treatment' from Trump is shaking up an already tangled global chip supply chain
Nvidia and AMD's ‘special treatment' from Trump is shaking up an already tangled global chip supply chain

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Nvidia and AMD's ‘special treatment' from Trump is shaking up an already tangled global chip supply chain

Donald Trump's decision to let Nvidia and AMD export AI processors to China in exchange for a cut of their sales will have repercussions far beyond the semiconductor supply chain is global, involving a wide array of non-U.S. companies, often based in countries that are U.S. allies. Nvidia's chips may be designed and sold by a U.S. company, but they're manufactured by Taiwan's TSMC, using chipmaking tools from companies like ASML, which is based in the Netherlands, and Japan's Tokyo Election, and using components from suppliers like South Korea's SK Hynix. The U.S. leaned on these global companies for years to try to limit their engagement with China; these efforts picked up after the passage of the CHIPS Act and the expansion of U.S. chip-export controls in 2022. Washington has also pressured major transshipment hubs, like Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, to more closely monitor chip shipments to ensure that controlled chips don't make their way to China in violation of U.S. law. Within the U.S., discussion of Trump's Nvidia deal has focused on what it means for China's government's and Chinese companies' ability to get their hands on cutting-edge U.S. technology. But several other countries and companies are likely studying the deal closely to see if they might get an opening to sell to China as well. Trump's Nvidia deal 'tells you that [U.S.] national security is not really the issue, or has never been the issue' with export controls, says Mario Morales, who leads market research firm IDC's work on semiconductors. Companies and countries will 'probably have to revisit what their strategy has been, and in some cases, they're going to break away from the U.S. administration's policies.' 'If Nvidia and AMD are given special treatment because they've 'paid to play', why shouldn't other companies be doing the same?' he adds. Getting allies on their side The Biden administration spent a lot of diplomatic energy to get its allies to agree to limit their semiconductor exports to China. First, Washington said that manufacturers like TSMC and Intel that wanted to tap billions in subsidies could not expand advanced chip production in China. Then, the U.S. pushed for its allies to impose their own sanctions on exports to China. 'Export controls and other sanctions efforts are necessarily multilateral, yet are fraught with collective action problems,' says Jennifer Lind, an associate professor at Dartmouth College and international relations expert. 'Other countries are often deeply unenthusiastic about telling their firms—which are positioned to bring in a lot of revenue, which they use for future innovation—that they cannot export to Country X or Country Y.' This translates to 'refusing to participate in export controls or to devoting little or no effort to ensuring that their firms are adhering to the controls,' she says. Paul Triolo, a partner at the DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, points out that 'Japanese and Dutch officials during the Biden administration resisted any serious alignment with U.S. controls,' and suggests that U.S allies 'will be glad to see a major stepping back from controls.' Ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. and its trading partners could weaken export controls further. Chinese officials may demand a rollback of chip sanctions as part of a grand bargain between Washington and Beijing, similar to how the U.S. agreed to grant export licenses to Nvidia and AMD in exchange for China loosening its controls on rare earth magnets. Japan and South Korea may also bring up the chip controls as part of their own trade negotiations with Trump. 'Expect continuing diversions' A separate issue are controls over the transfer of Nvidia GPUs. The U.S. has leaned on governments like Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to prevent advanced Nvidia processors from making their way to China. Scrutiny picked up in the wake of DeepSeek's surprise AI release earlier this year, amid allegations that the Hangzhou-based startup had trained its powerful models on Nvidia processors that were subject to export controls. (The startup claims that it acquired its processors before export controls came into effect). As of now, the two chips allowed to be sold in China–Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308–are not the most powerful AI chips on the market. The leading-edge processors, like Nvidia's Blackwell chip, cannot be sold to China. That means chip smuggling will continue to be a concern for the U.S. government. Yet 'enforcement will be spotty,' Triolo says. 'The Commerce Department lacks resources to track GPUs globally, hence expect continuing diversions of limited amounts of GPUs to China via Thailand, Malaysia, and other jurisdictions.' Triolo is, instead, focused on another loophole in the export control regime: Chinese firms accessing AI chips based in overseas data centers. 'There is no sign that the Trump Commerce Department is gearing up to try and close this gaping loophole in U.S. efforts to limit Chinese access to advanced compute,' he says. How much will the global supply chain change? Not all analysts think we'll see a complete unraveling of the export control regime. 'The controls involve a complex multinational coalition that all parties will be hesitant to disrupt, given how uncertain the results will be,' says Chris Miller, author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology. He adds that many of these chipmakers and suppliers don't have the same political heft as Nvidia, the world's most valuable company. Yet while these companies may not be as politically savvy as Nvidia, they're just as important. TSMC, for example, is the only company that can manufacture the newest generation of advanced chips; ASML is the only supplier of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines used to make the smallest semiconductors. 'I don't believe it's leverage that the Trump administration will easily give away,' says Ray Wang, a semiconductor researcher at the Futurum Group. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry reveals fresh bets on Meta, Alibaba, and UnitedHealth
'Big Short' investor Michael Burry reveals fresh bets on Meta, Alibaba, and UnitedHealth

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry reveals fresh bets on Meta, Alibaba, and UnitedHealth

Michael Burry warmed to stocks last quarter, switching out bearish put options for bullish calls. The "Big Short" investor bet on the likes of Meta, Alibaba, and UnitedHealth. Burry's Scion fund owned calls on nine stocks worth a notional $522 million at the end of June. Michael Burry bet big on stocks in the second quarter, swapping out bearish put options for bullish call options and adding several fresh holdings to his portfolio. The investor of "The Big Short" fame revealed in a quarterly filing on Thursday that he purchased calls on Alibaba, ASML, Estee Lauder, Lululemon, Meta, Regeneron, UnitedHealth, and VF last quarter. Burry's Scion Asset Management also built direct stakes in Bruker, Lululemon, Regeneron, UnitedHealth, and MercadoLibre, while cutting his direct wager on Estee Lauder from 200,000 shares to 150,000. The UnitedHealth wager is notable as Warren Buffett, one of Burry's key influences, also invested in the health insurer last quarter via his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate. Call options give investors the right to buy a certain number of a company's shares at a fixed price within a set period, allowing them to lock in a purchase price that may be lower than the market price. Similarly, investors can use put options to lock in a selling price, allowing them to profit from if the stock price declines. Scion is known for making big changes to its portfolio between quarters, but this was a particularly striking overhaul. At the end of March, it owned puts on Alibaba, Baidu, Nvidia, PDD, and worth a notional $186 million, plus a roughly $13 million stake in Estee Lauder. Three months later, it held calls on nine stocks worth a notional $522 million, and a further six direct stakes valued at $56 million. It's worth underscoring that Burry may have rejigged his stock bets in recent weeks, and his disclosures may not paint a full picture of his investment strategy. Quarterly portfolio updates known as 13Fs only provide a snapshot of a firm's holdings with a six-week lag and exclude shares sold short as well as investments in private companies, foreign-listed assets, and non-stock assets such as bonds and real estate. Burry shot to fame after predicting and profiting from the collapse of the mid-2000s US housing bubble — a wager that was immortalized in "The Big Short" book and movie adaptation. He's also known for making grave predictions of market crashes and recessions, investing in GameStop before it became a meme stock, and betting against popular assets such as Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, and the entire S&P 500 index. Read the original article on Business Insider

Years at work: Which European countries have the longest average working life?
Years at work: Which European countries have the longest average working life?

Yahoo

time10 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Years at work: Which European countries have the longest average working life?

Life expectancy has been rising across the EU in recent decades and with that retirement ages are increasing in many countries, meaning people are spending more years on the job. In 2024, the average expected working life in the EU was 37.2 years, according to Eurostat. This represents an increase of 2.4 years, or 7%, compared to 2014, when it was 34.8 years. Within the EU, expected working life ranges from 32.7 years in Romania to 43.8 years in the Netherlands. When EU candidates and EFTA countries are included, it varies from 30.2 years in Turkey to 46.3 years in Iceland. But what explains the wide gap in expected working life across Europe? How many years do Europeans work for? While there are some exceptions, the expected duration of working life in Europe generally follows geographical patterns. Northern European countries—particularly the Nordic region—lead with the longest working lives. Iceland tops the list, followed by the Netherlands (43.8 years) and Sweden (43 years). Denmark (42.5 years), Norway (41.2 years), and Finland (39.8 years) also report high figures, all ranking in the top 10 of 35 European countries. Western European countries also tend to have above-average working life durations. Switzerland (42.8 years), Ireland (40.4 years) and Germany (40 years) all exceed 40 years and rank in the top 10. However, France (37.3 years), Belgium (35 years), and Luxembourg (35.6 years) fall closer to, or below, the EU average of 37.2 years. The most recent available figure for the UK is from 2018, when it was 39.2 years. Considering the rising trend across the EU, the current figure is likely to be higher. The figures are more mixed in Southern Europe. While Portugal (39.3 years) and Malta (39 years) show relatively long working lives, Italy (32.8 years), Greece (34.8 years), and Spain (36.5 years) are significantly lower. Eastern European countries mostly fall around or just below the EU average. Hungary (37.4 years) performs moderately, while others—such as Romania (32.7 years) and Bulgaria (34.8 years)—report significantly shorter expected working lives. The shortest durations are observed in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans, including Turkey (30.2 years), North Macedonia (31.5 years), and Montenegro (32.1 years). All three are EU candidate countries, with the figures for North Macedonia and Montenegro based on 2018 data. Related Surviving retirement: Where do older Europeans get their money? Family benefits in Europe: Which countries offer the best social security? Why does the average working life differ? As these figures show, the average expected working life significantly differs across Europe. But, why? Prof. Moritz Hess from the University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein noted that the duration of working life, as well as labour force participation in Europe, differs due to several reasons. 'First, the demand side plays an important role: if employers need workers, this increases labour force participation and extends the duration of working life,' he told Euronews Business. 'Second, the institutional context matters, particularly in relation to pension and labour market regulations. A key factor in this regard is the official retirement age: the higher it is, the longer the expected duration of working life. The fewer early retirement options a pension system offers, the longer people are likely to remain in the workforce,' he added. Prof Hess also explained that ageism—discrimination based on age—also plays a role. In countries where older workers are not discriminated against and their contributions are valued, they are more likely to want to continue working, which leads to longer working lives. Timo Anttila, Senior Lecturer at University of Jyväskylä in Finland, pointed out that the family models of countries, such as single/dual earners, pension systems and family care models are possibly important factors having an impact on work life duration expectancy. Related Warning signs in Europe's job market: Workers now brace for tariff effects Labour force participation rate matters 'Most of the duration of working life can be explained by the labour force participation rate,' Eurostat finds. In general, countries with lower participation rates tend to have shorter average working lives. The chart above illustrates this relationship for the total population, comparing each country's expected working life with its labour force participation rate. The labour force participation rate explains approximately 81.5% of the variance in expected working life according to Eurostat. Several countries have already introduced measures to raise the retirement age. By 2060, the OECD estimates that the average retirement age across the EU will be near 67, with some nations expected to exceed 70. Euronews article —Europe's rising retirement ages— explains the current retirement ages across Europe as well as projections for future increases. Erreur lors de la récupération des données Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille Erreur lors de la récupération des données

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store