Bermuda Police Service release: There has been a serious two vehicle road traffic collision involving a micro rental car and a motorcycle at the junction of Knapton Hill and South Road, Smith’s.
The motorcycle rider has been transported via ambulance to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment for injuries which are considered life threatening.
The roadway is currently closed while the collision scene is processed.
Motorists are advised to avoid the area and use Harrington Sound Road to get to their destinations.
New plant will focus on electrified models and aim for full production by 2028
International News via Reuters:
China’s SAIC Motor Corp plans to set up a car factory in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia that would be its first production facility in the European Union, the regional government said on Monday.
Galicia’s leader Alfonso Rueda said his administration had given strategic priority to the project, with an initial investment envisaged at around €200 million.
The project, which includes a logistics hub, still requires the central government’s approval for foreign direct investment.
SAIC owns the MG brand, which is popular in Europe and prioritises electrified powertrains.
The plant in the port of Ferrol should create about 1,000 direct jobs and more indirect ones, and will use many locally produced components, the government said in a statement.
Provided all necessary approvals are in place by then, construction should start next year and the plant would become operational in 2028, according to Rueda.
When a second phase is complete, the plant will be able to produce 120,000 cars a year.
Several Chinese car manufacturers are planning to start production in Spain, which has one of Europe’s largest car-making industries. Chinese carmakers have gained market share in Spain amid an aggressive price war by EV makers worldwide.
China’s Chery <9973.HK>, in a joint venture with Spanish carmaker EBRO, plans to start making cars at a former Nissan plant in Barcelona at the end of this year or the first quarter of 2027. The Chery-Ebro venture said in 2024 it would aim to produce up to 150,000 vehicles a year by 2029.
Company seeks US listing as it races ahead of OpenAI and tests investor appetite for AI
International News via Reuters:
AI giant Anthropic has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, the company said on Monday, edging ahead of rival OpenAI in a closely watched race to reach public markets.
The move sets up an early test of whether investor appetite for artificial intelligence, which has fueled lofty private valuations and talk of potential trillion-dollar listings, will hold up under public scrutiny, and which company gets to set the template for how the fast-growing sector is valued.
Anthropic, which makes agentic coding assistant Claude Code, did not disclose the size or the terms of the offering. It last raised $65 billion at a post-money valuation of $965 billion in late May, putting it ahead of OpenAI.
The listing would represent one of the most consequential stock market debuts in years, potentially reshaping benchmark indexes, investor flows and the broader narrative driving U.S. equities.
Reuters reported in May that OpenAI was also preparing to confidentially file for a U.S. IPO in the coming weeks. That follows SpaceX’s mega-IPO filing, which is on course to rewrite the record books as the Elon Musk-led company pursues a $75 billion offering at a $1.75 trillion valuation and could begin trading within two weeks.
Confidential submissions let companies advance IPO preparations while shielding sensitive financial details from rivals and the public.
“Filing shortly after SpaceX allows Anthropic to capitalize on strong investor interest in AI and growth stocks while the window remains favorable,” Kat Liu, vice president at IPO research firm IPOX, said.
“Anthropic’s valuation ambitions appear far less aggressive in comparison (to SpaceX) than they might have looked in isolation.”
RACE FOR AI DOMINANCE
OpenAI and Anthropic have become the face of the AI boom that has redrawn corporate strategies, sparked a global arms race for computing power and talent, and turned AI-linked companies into some of the market’s most richly valued firms.
“For OpenAI, the conventional read is that Anthropic just seized the narrative advantage by filing first,” said Harrison Rolfes, a senior analyst at PitchBook. “The unconventional read is that OpenAI got the better end of this: Anthropic just volunteered to absorb all the disclosure risk first, and OpenAI now has a free option to watch how institutional investors react to audited frontier AI financials before committing to its own price.”
On prediction markets, where traders wager on the outcome of future events, most participants had expected OpenAI to file for an IPO before Anthropic.
Anthropic’s valuation has more than doubled from $380 billion in February, when it raised $30 billion in a funding round.
The company’s rapid rise in early 2026 rattled markets, triggering sharp selloffs in software and IT stocks as investors worried its increasingly autonomous AI tools could upend traditional business models and accelerate disruption across industries.
Its latest funding round drew backing from a mix of Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors, including Blackstone, Brookfield, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, General Catalyst and Insight Partners.
A MARKET MILESTONE
As a slew of blockbuster listings races toward public markets, companies from SpaceX to AI giants are competing for a finite pool of investor capital.
Analysts, including D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria, said the two companies were racing to go public before capital on Wall Street ran out, and to set the agenda for how a frontier AI model – one that pushes the boundaries of what machines can do in language, reasoning, or coding – reports financials in a way that is favorable to their financial model.
“The combined demand for capital from SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic will be so considerable that it is likely to create disruptions in the capital markets, so going early will be a great advantage,” Luria said.
At a valuation of close to $1 trillion, Anthropic would vault to the top tier of the S&P 500, alongside a handful of elite companies that dominate global equity markets.
The IPO market has regained momentum in recent weeks, with companies raising $87.5 billion through May 26, the highest year-to-date global total since 2021, according to Dealogic data.
Several sizable U.S. IPOs are also set to hit the market later this week, including Honeywell-backed quantum computing firm Quantinuum, Blackstone-backed Liftoff and gas engine manufacturer Innio.
Reporting by Manya Saini and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Pritam Biswas, Deepa Seetharaman and Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh, Shinjini Ganguli and Matthew Lewis
He denied reports Tehran had suspended negotiations and said he was willing to wait
International News via Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were ongoing, despite a report that Tehran had suspended indirect negotiations with the United States to end hostilities.
“Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported earlier that Tehran was halting indirect negotiations with the U.S. after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon.
In telephone interviews with news outlets after that report, Trump said he had not been told that Iran was suspending talks with Washington.
“They haven’t informed us of that,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
Trump said that silence between the two sides would be fine and he was willing to wait.
“I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time,” he told NBC.
A suspension in negotiations would not mean the U.S. would start bombing Iran, Trump told the network, adding that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Trump had said he did not mind if the talks were over.
“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly … I couldn’t care less,” CNBC quoted him as saying.
Shortly after those media interviews were reported, Trump issued his social media post saying talks with Iran were continuing.
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Ryan Jones and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Doina Chiacu
Wall Street Journal reports clash preceded removal over governance concerns
International News via Reuters:
BP’s recently ousted chairman Albert Manifold clashed with fellow director Simon Henry earlier this year over the handling of sensitive talks related to a potential deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
BP ousted Manifold on Tuesday and expressed serious concerns about his governance standards, oversight and conduct. Manifold said he was removed without warning and disputed the characterisation of his conduct.
The Journal reported that Manifold privately accused Henry of overstepping his authority and excluding other directors from communications, while Henry denied any mishandling of talks, arguing that Manifold was mischaracterising conversations.
A spokesperson for Manifold said he denied making any such allegations about Henry.
“Assertions that he accused Mr Henry of overstepping his authority or excluding fellow board members from communications are false,” Manifold’s spokesperson said.
Henry, who joined BP in September, was among those who left under Manifold as his board shrank.
There were also tensions last year between Manifold and then-CEO Murray Auchincloss, the Journal said.
BP declined to comment, while Henry and Auchincloss could not be reached for comment.
Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
Senior official says operations will target money laundering via fintechs and smuggled cigarettes
International News via Reuters:
Brazil’s government is in the final stages of preparations to launch operations targeting organized crime in the online betting and tobacco sectors, a senior government official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.
The move follows a strategy to choke off criminal organizations financially, said the source, adding that the plan would not change after the United States decided to designate the country’s two biggest gangs as terrorist organizations.
Criminal groups are believed to be involved in cigarette smuggling and the illegal sale of tobacco products, as well as infiltrating unlicensed betting platforms that continue to operate despite regulation of the sector in Brazil.
In both cases, small financial institutions, including fintechs, are allegedly being used by criminals for money laundering, said the source, who asked not to be named because the discussions are not public.
“These operations could take place at any moment,” the person said, noting it was still not possible to determine exactly when they would be launched due to the need to coordinate with police authorities, prosecutors and the judiciary.
Reporting by Bernardo Caram; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Joe Bavier
Despite the current ceasefire between the United States and Iran, it remains too risky to move the thousands of sailors stuck in the Gulf, the head of the U.N.’s shipping agency said.
“We will not be able to activate anything until the root causes are addressed and there is more of a final agreement, a ceasefire, or complete agreement, between the parties involved in the conflict,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, told Reuters on Sunday ahead of the start of the Posidonia shipping industry week in Athens.
There are an estimated 20,000 seafarers aboard vessels stuck in the Gulf as Iran imposes restrictions on movements through the Strait of Hormuz.
“In the meantime, it’s going to be too risky to take any actions in moving the seafarers because there are no guarantees on their safety,” Dominguez said.
Eleven seafarers have been killed in the Gulf since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28, according to IMO data.
The IMO has been trying to arrange a safe maritime corridor to enable vessels to exit, including discussions with parties involving Iran in Oman in recent weeks, Dominguez said.
“You get announcements that the Strait of Hormuz is open, and then a few hours later, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. We can’t take the risk until we have something more secure,” he said.
Traffic through the strait, which normally carries 20% of the world’s daily supply of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, has slowed to a handful of tankers.
Ship operators say after three months stranded, ship crews need a negotiated, safe way out.
“The seafarers on board are missing out, not only on seeing their families but also on births, on deaths, on marriages,” Pankaj Khanna, CEO of Heidmar Maritime Holdings Corp, told Reuters on the sidelines of a Capital Link shipping conference in Athens on Monday.
He said Heidmar has a vessel that has been stuck in the Gulf for three months.
“What we need is obviously a framework, rules, regulation, whatever tells us exactly how we can go in and get out. So even if a peace deal was signed, that needs to be clarified.”
Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Renee Maltezou; editing by Jason Neely
Middle East tensions push oil higher and hit markets
International News via Reuters:
The main UK indexes kicked off June on a sombre note on Monday, as investors digested new signs of economic damage from the Middle East conflict, although a couple of M&A updates helped lift some stocks.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.68%, while the midcap FTSE 250 was down 0.77%. Both the indexes marked a second month of gains in a row on Friday.
• EasyJet shares jumped 10% after U.S. investment firm Castlelake said it was considering a potential takeover bid for the British budget airline.
• Bluefield Solar Income Fund surged 16% after power group Drax agreed to buy the renewable energy-focused investment company in a deal valued at about £561 million ($755.3 million). Drax’s shares rose 1.8%.
• Bluefield Solar and EasyJet were the top gainers in the FTSE 250 index.
• Energy stocks, including BP and Shell, rose more than 2% each, tracking higher oil prices, after Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported Tehran’s negotiating team has halted message exchanges with the U.S. and its allied “Resistance Front” is considering measures to completely block the Strait of Hormuz. [O/R]
• British manufacturers raised their prices last month at the fastest rate since June 2022 in response to a big increase in costs as the Iran war disrupts supply chains, according to a survey likely to concern the Bank of England.
• The BoE is closely watching the degree to which higher energy prices caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz spread through the economy, but it has kept interest rates unchanged for now.
• ME Group International plunged 27% to a more-than-three-year low after the instant-service equipment group cut its profit before tax forecast for the full year 2026, as a shift in consumer spending patterns due to the Middle East conflict hurt its revenue in April.
• Wise’s London-listed shares tumbled 8% after a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said the money transfer company is being investigated by prosecutors in Belgium over €500 million ($582.5 million) worth of suspicious transactions.
Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Chris Reese
Stoxx 600 falls 0.8% as crude rises and easyJet climbs
International News via Reuters:
European stocks fell on Monday as escalating tensions in the Middle East dampened hopes for a near-term resolution to the Iran war, while investors also digested dealmaking headlines involving Britain’s easyJet.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended a volatile session down 0.8% to a more than one-week low of 621.24.
The benchmark opened weaker after the U.S. and Iran said they had exchanged fire over the weekend, with losses deepening after Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported Tehran had halted talks with Washington over attacks on Lebanon.
Tasnim also reported that Iran and its allied “Resistance Front” were considering measures to block the Strait of Hormuz and disrupt other key waterways, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Crude prices rose more than 6.5%, adding to concerns for energy-dependent Europe.
“Markets know that oil stockpiles are being rapidly run down. And the rosy assumptions around the renewal of supplies involved the straits being open by June, no such opening is in sight, and each day brings the crunch point closer,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.
Most major sectors finished in negative territory. Energy stocks, by contrast, climbed 1.7%.
Despite the uncertainty, analysts said corporate earnings and forecasts have held up better than expected this reporting season, with Goldman Sachs raising its 12-month target for the benchmark STOXX to 660.
“The commentary out of quarter one from a lot of these companies was positive around sales and margins and consumer behaviour, but they all mentioned uncertainty,” said Michael Field, a strategist at Morningstar.
“So I would expect when we see earnings being reported for quarter two, we’re going to see a stagnation at the very least, if not a pullback,” he said, noting that consumer sectors were especially vulnerable.
The luxury sector, which most investors categorise as consumer discretionary, is down more than 18% this year.
In M&A news, easyJet jumped 10% after Castlelake said it was considering a potential takeover bid, with the British budget airline calling the U.S. investment firm’s timing “highly opportunistic” given the impact of the Iran war.
Software stocks advanced, extending a recovery as gains in U.S. peers eased concerns over AI-driven disruption.
SAP, Europe’s largest software company by market value, rose 8.1%, while Sage, Dassault Systemes, Nemetschek and Temenos gained between 7% and 8%, helping lift the European tech sector.
Among other major movers, Wise tanked 8% on news that the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the digital money transfer company for suspicious transactions worth half a billion euros.
Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Utkarsh Tushar Hathi and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Janane Venkatraman and Joe Bavier
Bermuda’s premier pickleball star Gavin Manders fell just short of a magnificent singles title after a clinical final defeat to home favorite Joshua Arnold at the Pickleball Paradise ANSA Bank Open.
Manders enjoyed a spectacular, dominant run through the Men’s A Singles Open draw in Trinidad and Tobago, but was ultimately undone by the tournament’s top seed, who claimed the championship match 11-5.
The Bermudian national director got his campaign off to a flying start at the Pickleball Paradise courts, showing immense grit to edge past Novak Malcolm 11-9 in a tense opening encounter.
With his rhythm established, Manders shifted into overdrive. He produced a ruthless 11-0 shutout against Akeam Charles before comfortably dismissing Jake De Costa 11-6 to reach the knockout rounds.
The clinical form carried straight into the business end of the tournament. Manders put on a clinic of baseline precision to brush aside Liev Khan 11-1 in the quarter-finals, before showing great composure to defeat Joshua Ackin 11-6 in the semis.
However, the final hurdle in Trinidad proved one too many. Up against local star Arnold, Manders found himself under relentless pressure early on as the home favorite took absolute control of the kitchen line. Despite a spirited fightback from the Bermudian, Arnold dictated the pace to wrap up the match 11-5 and keep the trophy on home soil.
Three days of high-octane racing reached a thrilling conclusion at the National Sports Centre as Bermuda’s finest aquatic talents were officially crowned at the Ascot Bermuda National Championships 2026.
The premier event on the domestic long-course calendar lived up to its heavy billing, delivering blistering sprint times and dominant multi-discipline displays across both the junior and senior tiers.
The marquee 13 and Over divisions saw the island’s elite step up to the blocks under immense pressure, but it was Sam Williamson who stole the headlines.
Williamson put on a clinical display of raw power and versatility, racking up a massive, weekend-high 695 points to comfortably secure the 13 & Over Boys Individual Championship and solidify his status as one of the region’s top long-course competitors.
On the girls’ side, Katherine Wheddon proved untouchable in the senior tier. Wheddon compiled an exceptional tally of 624 points, mixing sharp technical execution with tactical maturity to cruise to the individual crown.
The future of Bermudian swimming looks exceptionally bright if the 12 and Under categories are any indication.
Eva Desjardins produced a stellar, dominant display to claim the 12 & Under Girls Individual Championship, amassing 435 points to leave her closest rivals trailing in her wake. Meanwhile, Walker Smith dug deep to claim the 12 & Under Boys title. In a highly competitive field where margins were incredibly tight, Smith’s tactical execution earned him 295 points to bring the trophy home.
With the domestic curtain coming down in Devonshire, Bermuda’s elite will now turn their focus to the international stage, armed with a host of fresh personal bests and championship silverware.
Rain forced a sluggish, delayed start to day two of the Bermuda Smash Invitational, but the action quickly reached boiling point at the National Sports Centre North Field.
Smith Sixers 145/4 (13 overs) lost to Sandys Spartans 150/3 (12.3 overs) by 7 wickets
In an opening clash shortened to 13 overs, twin half-centuries from Brett Hampton (51) and Anthony Mosca (51) anchored the Sixers to a formidable 145/4. Delray Rawlins was the pick of the Spartans’ attack, taking 2 for 37.
Rawlins then shifted into overdrive with the bat, blasting a magnificent 81 to systematically dismantle the Sixers’ bowling and steer the Spartans home with three balls to spare.
Pembroke Panthers 130/9 (20 overs) beat Hamilton Parish Hurricanes 76 all out by 54 runs
The Pembroke Panthers cruised to a dominant 54-run victory to dethrone the defending champion Hurricanes. Dominic Sabir top-scored with a vital 41 for the Panthers, despite a sharp spell of 3 for 34 from the Hurricanes’ Marcus Bean.
The Hurricanes’ chase never got going, collapsing to a catastrophic 76 all out against Fabian Allen. The West Indian international turned the pitch into a minefield, taking an astonishing five wickets for just two runs to end the contest.
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