At the Oscar Nominees Luncheon: Glamour, Griping and Gluten-Free Meals

At the annual event for nominees and their guests, everyone was happy to be meeting face to face, but the plan to pretape several awards on Oscar night was a sore subject.

By Kyle Buchanan

Biden's energy policies exhibit a 'reckless disregard for reality': Rick Perry

Biden must push back on the climate crazies: Rick Perry

Former energy secretary slams the president’s energy agenda on ‘Hannity.’

Former Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry joined “Hannity” Monday to address the Biden administrations reluctance to boost U.S. oil production as gas prices surge past $4 a gallon.

RICK PERRY: We knew this was coming as soon as we saw the Biden administration start putting a stop to our fossil fuel production in the United States. We knew that the Russians were going to use energy as a weapon. We talked about it ad nauseam over in Europe when we were delivering American liquefied natural gas. We were basically calling it “freedom gas” and that’s exactly what it was. We are seeing the reality of reckless disregard of reality, and that’s what this administration is doing. Reckless disregard for reality. The reality was, when you gave the Russians the weapon of energy, they were going to use it.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Fresnillo FY21 Profit Rises, Declares Dividend; Backs FY22 Production View – Quick Facts

Fresnillo PLC (FRES.L) reported Tuesday that its fiscal 2021 profit before income tax grew 11 percent to $611.5 million from last year’s $551.3 million.

Earnings per share excluding post-tax Silverstream effects were $0.572, compared to $0.440 a year ago.

Total revenue increased 11.2 percent to $2.70 billion from $2.43 billion last year. Adjusted revenue increased 9.2 percent over 2020 primarily due to better prices for precious metals.

Silver production of 53.1 moz, including Silverstream, edged up 0.1 percent from last year. Gold production of 751.2 koz was down 2.4 percent.

Further, the company declared a final dividend of 24.0 US cents per Ordinary Share. This brings the total for the year to 33.9 US cents per share.

Looking ahead, the company issued cautious 2022 outlook, and said confident in longer term prospects.

The 2022 attributable silver production remains in the range of 50.5 to 56.5 moz (including Silverstream) while attributable gold production continues to be in the range of 600 to 650 koz.

Seth Meyers Skewers Trump for a ‘Looney’ Idea on Russia

Meyers said the former president’s suggestion that the U.S. paint Chinese flags on planes and bomb Russia was “a slightly stupider version of Bugs Bunny dressing up as a sexy lady to distract Elmer Fudd.”

By Trish Bendix

Sunak shamed for ‘foolhardy’ Universal Credit uplift cut ‘Would have offset costs!’

Martin Lewis urges Rishi Sunak to 'rethink' energy levy

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Rishi Sunak brought in a reduction of Universal Credit’s taper rate from 63 percent to 55 percent in his latest budget last November. However, Dr Miatta suggested the uplift introduced as a mitigating measure at the start of the pandemic would have helped millions of Britons cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis and growing energy costs. The British economist slammed the Chancellor’s decision as “foolhardy” as she noted the extra money could have helped many “offset the costs” of ballooning bills.

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Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence Plunges In March

Eurozone investor sentiment declined dramatically to a 16-month low due to the Ukraine war, survey results from the behavioral research firm Sentix showed on Monday.

After two consecutive improvements, the investor confidence index plunged to -7.0 in March from +16.6 in February. This was the lowest score since November 2020 and well below the economists’ forecast of 5.3.

Both current assessment and expectations weakened notably in March. The current situation index declined 11.5 points to 7.8, the lowest since last May.

At the same time, the expectations index fell sharply by 34.8 points, which was the biggest fall in the survey history. The index reached -20.8 in March, the weakest since August 2012.

The survey showed that the German economy suffered a severe setback with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The investor sentiment index slid 23.1 points to -5.2 in March, the weakest since July 2020.

The dependence on Russian energy and the geographic proximity to the crisis region weighed on the confidence, Sentix said.

The current situation index declined to 10.0 from 20.0, while the expectations indicator logged a marked fall in March, to -19.3 from +15.8 in February.

The survey was conducted among 1,216 investors between March 3 and 5.