Elon Musk's Vindication, British Version
Elite progressive conformity is a problem across the Western world, and a telling example was exposed this week in the United Kingdom. A hat tip to Elon Musk for prodding the Brits to confront the scandal of so-called grooming gangs.
These are men who shower adolescents with attention and gifts before coercing them into having sex. Louise Casey, a member of the House of Lords, released an audit Monday that confirms what the public has long suspected: The gangs are disproportionately Asian, such as Pakistani—and the government has tried to obfuscate this fact.
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Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Tried and tested in war: For European drone manufacturers, Ukraine is the place to be
LE BOURGET, France (AP) — About once a month, French drone manufacturer Henri Seydoux makes what has become a necessary pilgrimage for many in his business — he goes to Ukraine. Because for drone technology, there is no harder place to survive than the frontlines of the war against Russia's invasion, where both sides are using unmanned aerial machines of all shapes and sizes to kill and to observe, reshaping modern warfare. And because the battlefields also bristle with electronic countermeasures and weapons to confuse, jam and shoot down drones, Ukraine has also become an extreme real-life proving ground for advances in drone technology, some of which has started to spill over into non-military sectors. For manufacturers, being able to say that their drones and related equipment have been battle-tried and tested by Ukrainian forces is becoming a sales pitch as they market their wares not just to national defense departments, but also to police forces, border authorities, rescue services and civilian users. 'When we say, 'This is a good machine, it works,' people can believe us or not. But when it's guys in Ukraine and others saying they're happy, it has greater value,' says Bastien Mancini, president and co-founder of French drone manufacturer Delair, which has teamed up with European defense contractor KNDS to supply Ukrainian forces with 100 exploding drones. KNDS' sales literature notes that they are 'combat-proven.' Mancini says civilian users of Delair's other non-military drones 'see things that work in Ukraine and say to themselves, 'It resists jamming, it resists the loss of a radio connection and whatnot and so it's going to be fine for civilian use, like inspecting electric cables or whatever.' 'It really has helped us win markets. It gives people confidence,' he told The Associated Press at the Paris Air Show, a major shop-window for the aviation and defense industries. 'Drones saved Ukraine' Henri Seydoux, the founder and head of French drone maker Parrot, says Ukraine is 'fascinating' from a drone-technology perspective because 'it changes so quickly, there are new ideas non-stop.' He's been making regular trips since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 to meet Ukrainian drone manufacturers, drone software developers and the military authorities. 'Every quarter, the situation changes completely,' he said in an interview. 'Every company, let's say, that makes military equipment or every army is very interested by drones. But the ones that really use them and understand how to use them is the Ukrainians.' For Ukraine, trying to defend against swarms of Russian drones that target cities and waves of drone-supported Russian troops is a matter of survival. So, too, is finding workarounds to counter electronic warfare systems that Russia deploys to jam and disable Ukrainian drones, igniting what has become a drone-technology arms race between the two sides and for manufacturers outside of Ukraine, too. Small drones that drop bombs and explode against targets — mass-produced at a fraction of the cost of other more complex weapons systems that its allies have supplied — have become increasingly vital for Ukraine's resistance. Its Defense Ministry has said that it plans to buy 4.5 million drones this year, all Ukrainian-made, that allow their operators to see what the machines see, so they can guide the flights in real time — exploding in a Russian trench, for example, or even against a single enemy soldier. That's three times more drones than the ministry bought last year, it says. 'Drones saved Ukraine,' said Alex Vorobei, the Ukrainian sales representative for Ailand Systems, a Ukrainian start-up developing a drone that detects land mines. Vorobei and others in the drone business say that manufacturers not involved in Ukraine risk being left behind. 'If you're in the defense field and still not in Ukraine, it means you are nowhere,' Vorobei said at the Paris show. Civilian uses for Ukrainian lessons A micro surveillance drone unveiled by Parrot at the Paris show has a nod to Ukraine in its name — the Anafi UKR — and also has been field-tested in what Seydoux describes as the 'very harsh environment' on the frontline. It's equipped with artificial intelligence technology to enable it to find its way when radio and navigational signals are jammed. Parrot says the drone's ready-for-war resilience and features also make it a good fit for law enforcement operations, such as monitoring crowds, tracking suspects or keeping watch over borders, and for rescue services in remote areas or during fires and accidents when navigational signals might go down. Ukraine has been 'a real laboratory or test for us, to see if our products worked,' said Delair's Mancini. Its Oskar exploding drone, which has polystyrene wings, carries a half-kilogram (one pound) warhead to detonate against troops and lightly armored vehicles. Delair developed it in under a year, repurposing one of its civilian drones that was already used in France for mapping and inspecting power cables, and hardening it for Ukraine with technology to resist Russian jamming. 'Five or 10 years ago, lots of people were asking themselves, 'Are drones really useful for something?' No one is asking that question today,' he said. ___ Associated Press writer James Brooks in Odense, Denmark contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
London Seeks More Chinese Listings as City Battles IPO Drought
(Bloomberg) -- London is seeking to attract more Chinese firms to list on its stock exchange as the city struggles with a shrinking equity market and a deal drought across Europe. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports 'We need to get more IPOs happening in London,' Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corp., said in an interview from Shanghai. 'We don't want to lose business across the Atlantic.' The authority for London's Square Mile financial district can provide opportunities for Chinese firms to secure customers and funding in the UK and drive them to list in the city via its connect scheme with Shanghai, Hayward said. The city can also encourage UK firms to raise capital and list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, he said. China introduced its stock connect program with the UK in 2019, allowing listed companies to issue depository receipts on each other's exchanges. It later expanded the program to include Switzerland and Germany. Six years later, only a handful of Chinese firms, including Huatai Securities Co., have listed in London, raising a total $6.6 billion, and trading has been muted. Beijing and London vowed early this year to deepen economic and financial ties, promising efforts to boost the China-UK stock connect. 'You've got to proactively go out there and encourage listings on your exchange,' said Hayward, drawing lessons from Hong Kong's success in igniting a boom in initial public offerings in the first half of this year. Hayward, who was in Shanghai this week for China's annual financial Lujiazui forum, is traveling to Hong Kong later in the week for IPO discussions. Hong Kong's share-sale bonanza this year saw new listings and additional offerings fetch more than $27 billion as of early June. That eclipsed annual totals in the last three years, and is the most since records were reached in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The London bourse, on the other hand, has had just four pending or trading IPOs this year, as its valuation discount to the rest of the world discourages firms. London, as a key offshore yuan center, has also worked with China's central bank to help promote the internationalization of its currency. London established a working group with the People's Bank of China in 2018 to monitor the yuan market in the UK capital. The authority has been pushing global asset managers in the city to issue new products in yuan to facilitate greater use of the currency, said Hayward. He downplayed the potential impact that UK's recent tax for wealthy non-domiciled residents and its immigration crackdown could have on London's appeal as a global financial center, while urging efforts to resolve the non-dom issue. 'I would encourage the government to continue to review this matter,' he said. 'It's important to us to try and keep wealth creators in this country.' Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. 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
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Wind turbine parts supplier to close in threat to net zero supply chains
A major supplier to Britain's green energy industry is set to close after its Japanese owner failed to clinch a rescue deal for the company and its 250 workers. Wigan-based Electric Glass Fiber UK (EGFU), which is owned by Nippon Electric Glass (NEG), makes vital components used in wind turbines and electric cars. Its closure puts net zero supply chains under threat. Both turbines and EVs are seen by the Government as critical to its industrial strategy amid moves to decarbonise the British economy and to build up domestic supplies of critical products at a time of tariffs, wars and mounting geopolitical rivalries. The British operation was profitable as recently as 2022, but made losses of £3m in 2023, mounting to £12m in 2024, according to the Japanese owner, which first invested in the UK arm in 2016. It blamed competition from Chinese imports as well as the rising cost of raw materials, in financial statements published in last year, which could only be partially passed on to customers in the form of higher prices. The business also said rising energy prices were putting pressure on operations. Electric Glass Fiber's closure comes just a day after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's announced £1bn of investment in offshore wind supply chains. The investment is aimed at building manufacturing capacity for turbine blades, cables and the platforms needed for floating wind farms. Britain's manufacturers typically pay far higher bills than competitors in countries including France and Germany, even though much of the Continent has been exposed to higher gas and electricity costs since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. British industry had to pay an additional £29bn for its gas and electricity over the last four years compared to the four years before the pandemic, according to new analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). The UK's iron and steel industry alone spent £1.8bn extra in the four years after the crisis. Its energy bill rose 80pc to £4bn, despite steel and steel mill output falling by 25pc since 2020. The Office for National Statistics has said the UK has some of the world's highest industrial energy prices. High gas prices and green levies such as the climate change levy, renewables obligation and feed-in tariffs have added to energy bills. British and European authorities sought to protect domestic fibreglass manufacturers from perceived unfair competition from China, imposing 'anti-dumping' tariffs on imports from the world's second-largest economy in 2020. The measures are set to run until early next year. Most of the company's sales go to European customers. But the tariffs were not sufficient to preserve the Wigan plant. NEG said the closure of the site, just west of Manchester, came despite intense efforts to find an alternative. Production will cease later this month. The parent company said:'NEG has considered various options, including the possibility of selling EGFU, forming strategic partnerships, or cessation of its business activities during the approximately two and a half month strategic review period. 'In order to quickly rebuild our composites business, we have determined to cease EGFU's operation and proceed with preparations for voluntary liquidation.' The closure comes after Sir Keir Starmer stepped in to rescue British Steel, taking control of the business as the Prime Minister deemed the Scunthorpe site to be critical to the country's industrial security. In that instance, a Chinese owner's planned closure would have threatened the nation's remaining steel production capacity, with ramifications for industries from construction to defence at a time when the Government wants both of those sectors to ramp up output urgently. Last night, the industry minister Sarah Jones said: 'We know this is a concerning time for Electric Glass Fiber UK workers and their families, and we are continuing to work closely with Nippon Electric Glass to understand the challenges and provide support. 'I recently met with the company's leadership to stress the importance of the plant to the area and the UK.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
