All posts tagged: reaches

Start Up Loans programme reaches £25m milestone for Hampshire

Start Up Loans programme reaches £25m milestone for Hampshire

Published by skeptic

Small business founders in Hampshire have benefitted from over £25 million (m) of loans since 2012 from Start Up Loans, the government-backed small business lending programme, it has emerged. The scheme has delivered 2,292 loans in the southern county, with an average loan value of £11,172. Louise McCoy, commercial managing director of small business lending at the British Business Bank said: “Reaching the £25m milestone in loans to entrepreneurs in Hampshire is a testament to the diverse and vibrant business landscape of the region.” Meanwhile, across the South East region as a whole, more than 12,200 aspiring entrepreneurs have taken out a Start Up Loan since 2012 amounted to over £130m in funding, with an average loan value of £10,690. Based on analysis for each of Hampshire’s parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth was shown to be an entrepreneurial hotspot with the highest number of Start Up Loans being handed out in Portsmouth South (217) with Portsmouth North (163) in third place. Southampton Itchen came in at second place, with 152 loans made worth around £1.9 million. Loans …

German Museum Reaches Settlement with Heir Over Pissarro Painting

German Museum Reaches Settlement with Heir Over Pissarro Painting

Published by skeptic

After nearly a decade of negotiations, a Pissarro painting sold under duress by a Jewish family during the Second World War will remain in a German museum as part of a settlement. The agreement stipulates that the Kunsthalle Bremen, which has owned the painting Le Repos (Girl Lying in the Grass) since 1967, will publish a book that details the persecution of its original owners, the van den Bergh family, including the forced sale of their art collection. The Pissarro was sold to fund the family’s flight from the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. The parents, Jaap and Ellen, survived the war, however, their two young daughters, Marianne and Rosemarie, who had been hid in a separate, presumed safer location, died in Auschwitz. Related Articles The museum reached a financial settlement that was privately mediated with a surviving van den Bergh heir, the details of which have not been disclosed, according to the Times. Nine years ago, Dutch restitution researchers found a legal claim from the 1940s filed by Jaap van den Bergh. “I …

James Blunt says he will legally change his name to whatever fans choose if his album reaches No 1 | Ents & Arts News

James Blunt says he will legally change his name to whatever fans choose if his album reaches No 1 | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

Singer James Blunt has promised to legally change his name to the most popular suggestion from the public – but there’s a catch. The 50-year-old musician vowed that if the re-release of his debut album Back to Bedlam hits number one in the charts, he will change his name by deed poll. In a video message posted on X, Blunt said the album – which features hits like You’re Beautiful, Goodbye My Lover and High – is being re-released on 11 October to mark its 20th anniversary. “I’ll let the people decide,” Blunt is heard saying in the short video. He adds: “But if it doesn’t go to number one, I’m not changing my name.” Writing alongside the video message, the singer used the hashtag #jameswho and asked fans to comment their name suggestions below the post, with the most-liked becoming the winner. And fans did not disappoint. Within hours of being posted on Wednesday, it racked up over 800,000 views and more than 2,000 comments. Read more from Sky News:Daniel Day-Lewis to come out …

Death toll in Nepal flooding reaches at least 100 : NPR

Death toll in Nepal flooding reaches at least 100 : NPR

Published by Sam

In this aerial image of the Kathmandu valley, Bagmati River is seen flooded due to heavy rains in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Gopen Rai/AP hide caption toggle caption Gopen Rai/AP KATHMANDU, Nepal — The death toll from flooding and landslides in Nepal has reached at least 100, with dozens of people still missing. Police on Sunday morning warned the death toll was expected to rise further as reports come in from villages across the mountainous country. The weather in Nepal was improved on Sunday and rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts were underway. Rescuer workers recovered 14 bodies overnight from two buses headed to Kathmandu that were buried in a landslide on a highway near the capital city. At least one other bus and other vehicles were still buried at the same spot, and rescuer workers were digging through rocks and mud trying to find people. People gather at the edge of the Bagmati River in spate after heavy rains in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Gopen Rai/AP hide caption toggle caption Gopen …

EU reaches tentative deal on Ukraine aid coming from profits of frozen Russian assets

EU reaches tentative deal on Ukraine aid coming from profits of frozen Russian assets

Published by skeptic

BRUSSELS —  European Union nations reached a tentative breakthrough deal to provide Ukraine with billions in additional funds for arms and ammunition coming from the profits raised from frozen Russian central bank assets held in the bloc. The agreement among the 27 EU ambassadors was announced by Belgium, which holds most of the frozen assets in the bloc. It came after weeks of tough negotiations among member states, which were made more complicated by the stringent financial limits on using such funds. The deal should free up to $3.2 billion a year for Kyiv, of which 90% could be spent on ammunition and other military equipment. Officials said a first installment of the funds could reach Kyiv in July. The EU is holding around $225 billion in Russian central bank assets, most of it frozen in Belgium, in retaliation for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Kyiv has long been urging that those funds be used to get vital military supplies as it struggles to stave off renewed Russian attacks. A small group of member states, especially …

Ireland reaches Eurovision final for first time since 2018 as UK’s Olly Alexander delivers first performance | Ents & Arts News

Ireland reaches Eurovision final for first time since 2018 as UK’s Olly Alexander delivers first performance | Ents & Arts News

Published by Sam

Bambie Thug has become Ireland’s first Eurovision Song Contest finalist since 2018. The 31-year-old singer performed their alternative song Doomsday Blue at the Eurovision semi-finals in Malmo, Sweden. Ryan O’Shaughnessy made it to the competition for Ireland with Together in Lisbon, Portugal, six years ago – he came 16th. Image: The UK’s Olly Alexander performs during the semi-final. Pic: Reuters The UK’s Olly Alexander delivered his first performance, which featured an upside-down locker room staging of Dizzy. It was the first time the UK, which is already through to the finals, has performed in a semi-final. Alexander had cameras rotated to make it feel as if he and the dancers were spinning. During their first Eurovision performance Bambi’s dancers appeared devil-like in blue paint, highly exaggerated ears and fake teeth. Halfway through the end of the song they revealed the trans flag on their costume. Image: Pic: Reuters Ukrainian duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil made the final with Teresa & Maria, Finland’s Windows95Man also made it with No Rules! as well as Serbia’s contestant …

Legal Battle Over Mary Miss Installation Reaches Stalemate

Legal Battle Over Mary Miss Installation Reaches Stalemate

Published by skeptic

The fate of an outdoor installation by artist Mary Miss installed at the Des Moines Art Center (DMAC) is still undecided, even after a preliminary injunction blocking its demolition was issued by an Iowa court on Friday. Judge Stephen Locher of the US District Court for the Southern District of Iowa concurred with the artist’s claim that, as outlined in her contract with the museum, her Land artwork Greenwood Pond: Double Site (1996) cannot be demolished without her permission. Locher, however, also determined that the contract allows the museum the right to refuse repairing the installation if a judge deems the cost too expensive. Related Articles The museum has estimated that the cost of repairs surpasses $2.6 million. Miss has disputed this figure.  Through this new ruling, the DMAC cannot begin the demolition, but Miss also cannot force the museum to repair the work. “The end result is therefore an unsatisfying status quo: the artwork will remain standing (for now) despite being in a condition that no one likes but that the court cannot order …

Renewable power reaches record 30% of global electricity | Climate News

Renewable power reaches record 30% of global electricity | Climate News

Published by skeptic

Experts have hailed a “critical turning point” as renewable power generated a record-breaking 30% of the world’s electricity last year, new data has found. It raises hopes that the peaking of global greenhouse gas emissions is on the horizon. But there are concerns many countries are being held up in their switch to clean power because they cannot access the cash needed to fund it. Last year’s renewable power “milestone” was driven by yet another booming year for wind and especially solar. China, Brazil and the Netherlands led the way in terms of fast roll-outs, thinktank Ember said in its annual Global Electricity Review. China alone accounted for 51% of new solar generation and 60% of new wind, even as it continued to build vast amounts of new coal power too. Christiana Figueres, former United Nations climate chief, called 2023 a “critical turning point”. She said “outdated” fossil fuels now can’t compete with the “exponential innovations and declining cost curves in renewable energy and storage”. “All of humanity and the planet upon which we depend …

Condé Nast Union Reaches Deal

Condé Nast Union Reaches Deal

Published by Sam

After negotiations went down to the wire Sunday, Condé Nast has reached a tentative deal with a union representing hundreds of its workers and averted a strike that would have coincided with the Met Gala. The Condé Union — which represents around 550 staffers at brands including Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Bon Appétit, Allure, Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Self and Condé Nast Entertainment — and the company announced the provisional agreement Monday. Details were not immediately available about the deal, which, if ratified by the union’s membership, will be the first labor contract for this group of workers. (Writers at The New Yorker and Wired are represented by different unions.) A source says the deal was sealed after 3 a.m. ET. Negotiators for the Condé Union and management held marathon negotiating sessions in the week and weekend prior to the Met Gala to attempt to avert a work stoppage threatened by the union. The Condé Union was planning a 48-hour strike that would have started Monday and would have included a red carpet-themed protest outside of Vogue‘s …

‘There are people in tents writing dissertations’: UK reaches for scale of US campus protests | Israel-Gaza war

‘There are people in tents writing dissertations’: UK reaches for scale of US campus protests | Israel-Gaza war

Published by skeptic

Students across Britain have said they hope pro-Palestine protests will reach the same scale as those seen on US campuses as they call for universities to divest from companies supplying arms to Israel. Protests have spread across university campuses in Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds, after a crackdown in the US on protests, which led to mass arrests of students and staff. More than 2,000 people have been arrested on university campuses in the US, garnering attention from international media and people in the besieged Gaza Strip, including Bisan Owda, a Palestinian journalist and content creator living in Gaza, who encouraged student protesters “to do more” for this “unprecedented moment” in a video posted on Instagram. Samira Ali, 24, is one of about 100 students who stormed the library at Goldsmiths, University of London this week, occupying the first two floors. Ali, a third-year sociology student and co-organiser for Goldsmiths for Palestine, said 30 students had occupied the building, demanding the university ends “financial complicity” and condemns the war in Gaza. “I think that it’s only …