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Ukrainian troops have completed training in the fastest anti-aircraft missile in the world that will present a severe threat to Russian aircraft, the British defence secretary has confirmed.
Ben Wallace said the advanced Starstreak weapon that travels at more than 5,000kph and is made in Belfast had been deployed into the war zone for the first time and would be used imminently against the Russian offensive.
Britain’s defence industry is benefitting significantly from the Ukraine conflict with shares soaring among companies supplying missiles and other hardware.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the more you go up in sophistication of weapons systems, the more training you require to use them,” he told The Mail on Sunday. With Britain providing more than 10,000 anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, it was “doing more than pretty much anyone else” to help Ukraine's military, he said.
Ukraine’s troops are understood to have been trained in the more challenging Starstreak system via remote online learning and potentially by British instructors operating in Eastern Europe.
Unlike other surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), Starstreak, built in Northern Ireland, follows a laser beam-guidance system rather than heat-seeking that can be deterred by magnesium flares.
It is incredibly fast, reaching a maximum velocity of three times the speed of sound, or Mach 4, much faster than the top speed of a Stinger anti-aircraft missile which can travel at Mach 2.5. It also has a range of seven kilometres, with each missile carrying three tungsten-alloy darts each weighing 450g.
Ukraine’s medium range SAM threat has largely forced Russian jets to fly low and fast, which will make them vulnerable to the shoulder-launched weapon. Starstreak will prove particularly deadly for helicopters, giving pilots little time to react.
The weapon that is proving decisive in hitting Russian armour is the British-made Next Generation Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW). A Ukraine army official has said up to 40 per cent of all Russian tanks destroyed in the conflict have been hit by NLAWs.
Defence minister James Heappey argued in the Commons on Monday that small detachments of Ukrainian troops armed with NLAWs had proven highly capable at attacking the large, slow-moving Russian armoured formations.
“We have seen on the footage of Ukrainians, interrupting activities of fast armoured columns, that small bands of determined people with the right missile technology are far more lethal than any opposing armoured force might prove to be,” he said.
Britain has sent more than 4,000 of the advanced but easy-to-use missiles, which at £20,000 ($26,170) each are significantly cheaper than US-made Javelin, estimated at £156,000.
The NLAWs and Starstreaks are both made at the former Shorts factory in Belfast that is now owned by Thales, a French company.
With the company advertising 22 jobs, including one for a “missile architect”, it is clearly experiencing a post-pandemic boon in which share prices for some defence companies have increased by up to 72 per cent in a day. Thales’s share price has risen by 42 per cent in the past month.
With the German defence budget leaping to $100 billion a year, it is expected that more military items will be bought from British companies, including the Eurofighter Typhoon and meteor air-to-air missiles, which are made in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
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Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
A cryptocurrency primer for beginners
Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies – by Kiana Danial
There are several primers for investing in cryptocurrencies available online, including e-books written by people whose credentials fall apart on the second page of your preferred search engine.
Ms Danial is a finance coach and former currency analyst who writes for Nasdaq. Her broad-strokes primer (2019) breaks down investing in cryptocurrency into baby steps, while explaining the terms and technologies involved.
Although cryptocurrencies are a fast evolving world, this book offers a good insight into the game as well as providing some basic tips, strategies and warning signs.
Begin your cryptocurrency journey here.
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Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
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Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
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Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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The Penguin
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Emergency
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The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
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Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
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Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.