Allegra Stratton: We're so Back (to the Office)
While we thought work from home was here to stay and our cities were going to become doughnuts — the middles hollowed out while bustling suburbs served the new WFH army — it seems like that trend is now reversing. Certainly around Bloomberg's London's headquarters, it feels pretty bustly indeed.
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CNN
9 minutes ago
- CNN
The EU nearly triples entry fee for visitors, before it even starts
Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay. In our travel roundup this week: the luxury death trap that was the world's first passenger plane, a forgotten but beautiful Bauhaus airport, and the rising cost of travel entry fees. The must-have travel accessory du jour is a big fat wallet. You likely have heard about the United States introducing a new $250 'visa integrity fee' for international visitors. The European Union has also been busy on the travel fee front, recently raising its upcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) fee from 7 to 20 euros (about $23). The fee will apply to non-EU nationals from visa-free countries — so that means the US, the UK, Canada, Japan and more — and the plan is for it to be up and running by late 2026. The European Commission attributes this hefty increase to rising inflation, additional operational costs — and also to bringing it in line with other travel authorization programs, such as ESTAs in the US (with a price tag of $21) and ETAs in the UK. The UK hiked up the cost of its Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in April, going from £10 to £16 (also around $21). Making a permanent move to another country proved just the change these Americans needed. Retired US veteran Christopher Boris was struggling to cope with the rising cost of living, so in 2024 he and his wife Maria Jesus moved from Maryland to Brazil. 'I could not afford the American Dream,' Boris tells CNN. 'But here, it's not about making money. It's establishing other factors, like friendships.' Janet Blaser, originally from New York, relocated from California to Mexico nearly two decades ago. As a single mother of three 'living paycheck to paycheck,' she says she always felt like she 'didn't have enough.' She started a magazine business and got herself a permanent resident visa. 'I feel like I succeeded here,' she tells CNN. 'I've given myself a wonderful life.' Nashville woman Linda Leaming was blown away by the beauty of the Kingdom of Bhutan when she visited in 1994. 'I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life here,' she tells CNN. Three years later, she made the move, and has since found love and happiness in the Himalayas. 'Moving to Bhutan taught me to live mindfully,' she says. The de Havilland DH106 1A Comet was the world's first passenger jet. It was the height of 1950s luxury — but it was also a death trap with a fatal design flaw. Now it's been brought back to life. Read its incredible story here. Not long before the Comet took to the skies, a 20-minute flight between Hong Kong and Macao became a record-breaker in a different way. The world's first airplane hijacking took place on the Miss Macao seaplane in 1948. The goal? Rob the passengers and then hold them for ransom. Finally, aviation fans passing through Budapest would do well to squeeze in a visit to Budaörs, a beautiful but forgotten Bauhaus airport that's an aviation time capsule. It's been operating continuously since 1937, with its grassy airfield now used by hobby pilots, private planes and helicopters. China is telling its 1.4 billion people to abandon the nearly universal practice of 'stand right, walk left' on escalators. Instead, authorities are offering what they say is a safer and better alternative. Might the experiment catch on elsewhere? Watch the video and see what you think. If you're hitting the city streets, comfortable walking shoes are always a necessity. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have a guide to the best, according to podiatrists and shoe experts. It's not just countries imposing new fees for entry. Fed-up Italian farmers have set up mountain turnstiles to charge access to Instagram hot spots. This former Soviet state is one of the world's most isolated countries. Now it's showing signs it's ready for more tourists. The new nudity. Read our 21st-century guide to taking off your clothes. Swim to work? See how Swiss residents switch up their commute.
CNN
10 minutes ago
- CNN
The EU nearly triples entry fee for visitors, before it even starts
Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay. In our travel roundup this week: the luxury death trap that was the world's first passenger plane, a forgotten but beautiful Bauhaus airport, and the rising cost of travel entry fees. The must-have travel accessory du jour is a big fat wallet. You likely have heard about the United States introducing a new $250 'visa integrity fee' for international visitors. The European Union has also been busy on the travel fee front, recently raising its upcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) fee from 7 to 20 euros (about $23). The fee will apply to non-EU nationals from visa-free countries — so that means the US, the UK, Canada, Japan and more — and the plan is for it to be up and running by late 2026. The European Commission attributes this hefty increase to rising inflation, additional operational costs — and also to bringing it in line with other travel authorization programs, such as ESTAs in the US (with a price tag of $21) and ETAs in the UK. The UK hiked up the cost of its Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in April, going from £10 to £16 (also around $21). Making a permanent move to another country proved just the change these Americans needed. Retired US veteran Christopher Boris was struggling to cope with the rising cost of living, so in 2024 he and his wife Maria Jesus moved from Maryland to Brazil. 'I could not afford the American Dream,' Boris tells CNN. 'But here, it's not about making money. It's establishing other factors, like friendships.' Janet Blaser, originally from New York, relocated from California to Mexico nearly two decades ago. As a single mother of three 'living paycheck to paycheck,' she says she always felt like she 'didn't have enough.' She started a magazine business and got herself a permanent resident visa. 'I feel like I succeeded here,' she tells CNN. 'I've given myself a wonderful life.' Nashville woman Linda Leaming was blown away by the beauty of the Kingdom of Bhutan when she visited in 1994. 'I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life here,' she tells CNN. Three years later, she made the move, and has since found love and happiness in the Himalayas. 'Moving to Bhutan taught me to live mindfully,' she says. The de Havilland DH106 1A Comet was the world's first passenger jet. It was the height of 1950s luxury — but it was also a death trap with a fatal design flaw. Now it's been brought back to life. Read its incredible story here. Not long before the Comet took to the skies, a 20-minute flight between Hong Kong and Macao became a record-breaker in a different way. The world's first airplane hijacking took place on the Miss Macao seaplane in 1948. The goal? Rob the passengers and then hold them for ransom. Finally, aviation fans passing through Budapest would do well to squeeze in a visit to Budaörs, a beautiful but forgotten Bauhaus airport that's an aviation time capsule. It's been operating continuously since 1937, with its grassy airfield now used by hobby pilots, private planes and helicopters. China is telling its 1.4 billion people to abandon the nearly universal practice of 'stand right, walk left' on escalators. Instead, authorities are offering what they say is a safer and better alternative. Might the experiment catch on elsewhere? Watch the video and see what you think. If you're hitting the city streets, comfortable walking shoes are always a necessity. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have a guide to the best, according to podiatrists and shoe experts. It's not just countries imposing new fees for entry. Fed-up Italian farmers have set up mountain turnstiles to charge access to Instagram hot spots. This former Soviet state is one of the world's most isolated countries. Now it's showing signs it's ready for more tourists. The new nudity. Read our 21st-century guide to taking off your clothes. Swim to work? See how Swiss residents switch up their commute.
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Andurand Pulls Back From Cocoa Misadventure After ‘Extreme' Volatility Drives Losses
(Bloomberg) -- Famed oil trader Pierre Andurand has pulled back from a bullish bet on cocoa after a series of mistimed trades led to deep losses, according to a letter sent to investors that was seen by Bloomberg. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus Seeking Relief From Heat and Smog, Cities Follow the Wind The gyrations underscore the risk for fund managers that drift away from their core expertise into other markets that carry unfamiliar risks. Andurand, whose main fund was down over 57% through the end of June, began trading cocoa in early 2024 after more than a decade focused primarily on oil. 'Recent performance has been very disappointing,' the recent letter to investors said. 'Pierre Andurand has further reduced long cocoa exposure in all Andurand funds.' A spokesperson for Andurand declined to comment. Andurand's ill-fated foray into cocoa began in January 2024, when an analyst from his firm approached him and proposed a new trade. 'Pierre, you should look at cocoa,' the analyst said, according to a retelling by Andurand on the Odd Lots podcast in May last year. 'Okay, I don't know anything about it, tell me,' Andurand replied. Until that point, Andurand was primarily known for trading energy. He found initial success buying and selling oil at commodities trading house Vitol Group, before leaving to start hedge fund BlueGold Capital Management in 2008 with the firm's former head of trading Dennis Crema. Their new venture returned over 200% in its first year thanks to lucrative bets on the price of oil. BlueGold lasted only a few years, suffering steep losses and returning money to its investors in 2012. Andurand launched his eponymous firm the following year, making bets on oil that drove double-digit gains in its early years. Andurand branched out from oil to invest in other commodities, including metals. His firm also made profitable bets in recent years on a sharp rise in the price of European carbon allowances. Cocoa Strategy The cocoa-trading strategy suggested by the analyst at Andurand's firm was a basic story of a mismatch in supply and demand. A majority of the commodity is grown in just two countries, the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Supplies there looked set to decline for a variety of reasons, such as adverse weather conditions and a fungal disease called Black Pod. Any supply scarcity could have an outsized impact on cocoa futures, because typically demand for chocolate doesn't respond much to shifts in the price of the raw commodity, Andurand said. Chocolate consumption keeps rising 'when you have a recession or not, when prices go up a lot or not,' he said on Odd Lots. Initially, the analyst's assessment of the market proved to be correct. By the end of February 2024, cocoa futures were already up some 50% for the year. Andurand's firm initiated a small position in cocoa the following month, according to a letter sent to investors. By the end of 2024, bets on cocoa helped drive a 50% gain in his flagship Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund. Those profits were short-lived. The fund dropped some 17% in January 2025 and nearly 25% in February, with losses driven by falling cocoa prices due to worries about demand, according to information sent to investors. The less volatile Andurand Commodities Fund is also down 26% through June. In April, Andurand increased the fund's bullish cocoa position in expectation that figures on bean processing set to be published later that month would drive up prices. The prediction proved to be correct, but the trading strategy nevertheless foundered amid the chaos caused by Trump's so-called Liberation Day tariff announcement on April 2. As the US president launched his trade war, Andurand took a short position on the S&P 500 as a hedge against the risk that tariffs posed to the price of commodities. At first it worked, as stocks fell and cocoa rose, but the trend was quickly reversed when Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause. Amid the volatility, Andurand sought to stem losses by unwinding both positions. The bullish cocoa-bean processing data was eventually confirmed, but Andurand's fund missed out on the subsequent price rally and his fund slumped some 18% in April. 'In hindsight, if we had maintained the same positions throughout the month and not traded following Trump's various announcements, the funds could have generated positive performance,' Andurand explained to investors in a letter. 'At the time it was extremely difficult not to react to Trump's tariff announcement.' With Andurand's prediction of bullish cocoa-processing data vindicated, he put his bullish bet back on. 'Our top conviction today is that we will see higher cocoa prices,' according to the letter sent to investors that detailed April's performance. 'The majority of our risk remains in cocoa given our fundamentally bullish view.' While cocoa prices did rise again in May, they slumped in June and July, often with huge intraday swings, as a slowdown in demand from Europe's cocoa factories deepened. Unfamiliar Market Some of Andurand's losses may stem from fundamental differences in the market for cocoa and the much larger oil trade. Cocoa is a relatively small market, so if you make a big bet and the market moves against you there may not be enough buyers to shrink your exposure without drastically reducing prices, said Ole Gjolberg, a professor at the School of Economics and Business at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. 'Cocoa is not like the markets that Andurand has been in before, like oil and gas and metals. So that's also part of the risk picture,' said Gjolberg, who teaches about hedging and speculation in commodities. 'If you're going in big you can be stuck with your positions.' It appears that Andurand has come to the same conclusion — even if his thesis is correct that there's a fundamental mismatch between the supply and demand of cocoa, that doesn't make it a profitable trade. 'We still believe in the constructive cocoa story,' a recent letter to investors said. 'But the price action and volatility has been too extreme.' --With assistance from Mumbi Gitau. How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
