Author: Olivia Carter

When it comes to social climbing, it’s not who you know, or how many people you know, it’s about knowing who knows whom, research suggests.Experts studying social connections made by first-year university students say those who ended up with the most influence were not necessarily the most popular, but those who had a good idea, early on, about who belonged to which clique or community.“Having friends helps, but social influence isn’t just about who you know – it’s also about what you know about the rest of your social network,” said Isabella Aslarus, first author of the study from Stanford…

Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., during a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the JPMorgan China Summit in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesOnce a laggard in the online investing game, JPMorgan Chase now believes it is a leader.The bank on Friday is set to unveil new tools that allow investors to research and purchase bonds and brokered certificates of deposit through its mobile app, CNBC is first to report.Users can set up customized screens and compare bond yields on the same banking app or web…

Musk wrote that the nitrogen COPV appears to have failed below its proof pressure, within conditions that should not have damaged the tank. “If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,” Musk added.Picking Up the PiecesEarlier Wednesday, just hours before the late-night explosion at Starbase, an advisory released by the Federal Aviation Administration showed SpaceX had set June 29 as a tentative launch date for the next Starship test flight. That won’t happen now, and it’s anyone’s guess when SpaceX will have another Starship ready to fly.Massey’s Test Site, named…

It’s hard even to know where to start with Alfred: for any musician of my generation he was simply always there, the very definition of integrity and a kind of unique probing humour.I heard him first in Liverpool, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 22, K482, an unforgettable concert for an impressionable 14-year-old. I could never have imagined then that my first collaboration with him would be in the same city when I was 20. That Beethoven – his first piano concerto – began a long journey of learning and friendship over the subsequent decades. I cannot stress how much I…

LA: What are some of the more memorable encounters you’ve had with some of those women?CMB: Well, they all made a real impression, but there was Maya Angelou who, it’s funny because she come to Chicago, not to see me, but she had come to Chicago for whatever it was. And so as we’re going into the hotel to get lunch, this guy says, “Hi, Carol, nice to see you.” And she stopped him. She says, “No, you mean Senator Mosley Braun,” in this very imposing voice. So she straightened him out and it was like he backed up.LA: As…

The 1969 caper The Italian Job spawned a Hollywood remake, helped drive the cool-factor of the Mini and launched decades of dad-jokes about bloody doors being blown off. It may also have inspired one driver who got stuck trying to travel down the Spanish Steps in Rome this week.The film ended with Michael Caine teetering on the edge of a cliff in a coach, claiming to have a “great idea”. In Rome, the 80-year-old’s navigational error on his way to work ended with emergency services having to bring in a crane to winch his vehicle off the Italian capital’s landmark.But…

John Major did not beat about the bush. In a speech this week to an Institute for Government conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Nolan report on standards in public life, the former prime minister went straight to the heart of the matter. “For many decades,” he said, “Britain enjoyed a global reputation for being free of corruption and bad practice. That is less true today. It is in our national interest to regain that reputation.”That is indisputably true. But it is not just the global reputation that matters. It is also, at least as significantly, the domestic one. Trust in British…

River Island plans to close 33 of its 230 stores and a further 71 are at risk under a restructuring programme that could put more than 1,000 jobs on the line.The family-owned company, which employs about 5,500 people, blamed a “migration of shoppers from the high street to online” and higher costs for the need to make the drastic changes to stem heavy losses.The plan, which is being put together with help from the advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and is to be voted on by creditors in August, involves the closure of 33 stores, with the future of a further 71…

Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesEther ETFs have finally come to life this year after some started to fear they may be becoming zombie funds.Collectively, the funds tracking the price of spot ether are on pace for their sixth consecutive week of inflows and eight positive week in the last nine, according to SoSoValue.The second largest cryptocurrency has become more attractive to institutions in recent weeks largely due to recent regulatory momentum in the U.S. around stablecoins – many of which run on the Ethereum network – the successful IPO of Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin; and…

EPAThe BBC says it has decided not to broadcast a documentary about doctors working in Gaza, due to impartiality concerns it has surrounding the production.Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the BBC but produced by an independent production company. It was originally scheduled for broadcast in February, but has not yet aired on any BBC outlet.In a statement, the BBC said it was “determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly”. Basement Films said it was “relieved that the BBC will finally allow this film to be released”. The BBC confirmed it…