The Babcock-built weapon system will join the military’s operational fleet

The final British Army Jackal 3 vehicle has rolled off the production line at Devonport Dockyard. Defence giant Babcock said it had completed the delivery of the weapon system, hailing the end of the programme as a “landmark moment”.

The company has built and delivered 123 Jackal 3 and Jackal 3 Extenda (E) vehicles, which were designed by Honiton-based engineering firm Supacat.

The last vehicle to roll off the line was a six-wheeled Extenda variant, which will undergo testing before joining the British Army’s operational fleet.

Defence minister Lord Coaker said the Plymouth-built vehicles would give the UK military “one of the most capable” platforms available.

“The Defence Investment Plan reconfirms the vital role that land vehicles play in our armed forces’ capability – ensuring land forces can seize or defend ground in all environments and conditions,” he said.

“It is exactly this kind of collaboration between British industry and our armed forces that helps support local industry and demonstrates that defence is an engine for growth.”

Louise Atkinson, chief executive, land and mission systems, said the programme demonstrated Babcock’s “commitment and expertise” to delivering high-quality military vehicles to the armed forces.

“This critical programme required a large amount of collaboration, and I’d like to thank everyone for their tireless work in making it a success,” she said.

The first Jackal 3 E vehicles for came off the production line at Devonport in December last year. The variant has an extra axle that will allow it to carry a heavier load even while off road.

The completion of the programme builds on the delivery of the initial 70 Jackal 3 vehicles to the British Army.

“This achievement is testament to the strength of our enduring partnership with Babcock and Supacat,” said Major General Lizzie Faithfull-Davies CB CBE, director land environment, national armaments – material.

“Their responsiveness, engineering expertise and collaborative approach has been central to delivering a platform that meets operational needs while maintaining pace and quality. We look forward to continuing this close relationship as we develop and sustain capability into the future.”

The news comes less than a month after Babcock reported a rise in revenues for the full year and announced another £200m share buyback scheme.

The group posted revenues of £5.1bn – up eight per cent on a year earlier – driven by its nuclear and aviation divisions.

The Port of Dover has done “absolutely everything” to prepare for the summer getaway amid fears of more delays from new EU border checks, its boss said.

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Kent port, said it was “very disappointing” a new Entry Exit System (EES) processing facility – built as part of a £40m investment – was not being used for cars because the technology had not been activated.

EES, rolled out fully in April, involves passengers having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area.

The port declared a “critical incident” in May half-term after waiting times reached four-and-a-half hours on a day with about 8,500 outbound vehicles.

For most UK travellers, the process happens at foreign airports, but it is also carried out at the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel’s Folkestone terminal and London St Pancras railway station, which all have juxtaposed border controls.

Bannister recently told MPs the port would “face repeated episodes of severe congestion” this summer unless the EU permits more flexibility in EES, which had not happened.

Most schools in England and Wales break up for the summer holidays at the end of this week or early next week, while the academic year has already ended in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Port of Dover expects to have about 7,500 outbound cars on Friday, rising to nearly 10,000 on Saturday.

The end of next week will be even busier, with about 10,500 outbound cars on both 24 and 25 July.

It was previously hoped many of these would complete their EES registrations at the new Western Docks facility, which is equipped with 84 kiosks to record biometric details.

But the French authorities have not switched the kiosks on, and no date has been set for when that will happen.

Conor McGregor turned to his Christian faith in the aftermath of a devastating, injury-forced loss at UFC 329, vowing to attend church and declaring unwavering confidence in God after his long-awaited return to the octagon ended just 69 seconds into the first round.

McGregor, 37, suffered an apparent knee injury almost immediately after his welterweight bout against Max Holloway began Saturday in Las Vegas, marking his first fight in five years. Referee Mike Beltran stopped the contest and ruled a TKO due to injury after McGregor was unable to continue fighting effectively.

In the hours following the loss, McGregor posted a series of messages on X reflecting on the sudden setback. “My head gasket is gone. Destroyed. I had no injury/injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell,” McGregor wrote early Sunday morning.

In a follow-up post, McGregor pushed back on speculation surrounding the injury while weaving in a reference to his religious faith. “I was so sharp and so ready for this fight I cannot believe what has happened. The talk of me being off while walking into the fight is nonsense. I was calm, ready, and confident. I am in shock what has taken place. The devil is literally staring at me right in front of my face here. I am not engaging,” McGregor wrote. He then committed to a specific next step. “I will be at church tomorrow,” he vowed. “I will overcome this. I will not be deterred. I will return.”

In a third post shared on X, McGregor quoted the Nicene Creed in full, a foundational statement of Christian belief dating back to the fourth century, further underscoring the religious framing he applied to processing the sudden defeat.

McGregor followed through on his commitment, sharing details of his church visit in an Instagram post published Monday. “Church was intense today, my heart is heavy but through Christ my mind is STRONG! I am so grateful to see my family fall more in love with God each day!” he wrote. McGregor went on to describe his faith as absolute. “I am thankful I get to prove it!” he added, before elaborating further on his outlook. “My lifestyle changes are permanent and not just until. I am thankful I get to prove it. I am in sin city and remain completely devoid of all sin. I will not open that door nor crack its seal! I am already back to collecting wins! In Jesus name I pray!”

McGregor continued the post with an extended reflection on his religious identity and outlook heading into recovery. “I am a child of God. I am a friend of God. God makes a way for me where there seems to be no way. I am not a victim of my circumstances; I overcome them. God is at work in me to will and to work his good pleasure! My youth is being renewed like the eagles! In Jesus I am thoroughly loved, cherished, adored. I walk in divine health. I live under supernatural protection. All things work out for my good! All things are possible for me because I am a believer!”

The post closed with McGregor laying out a practical roadmap for his recovery and eventual return to competition. “Surgery. Prehab. Return to martial arts practice. Go again. Final fight of the contract. Please God!” he wrote, followed by a final expression of trust. “I trust in You Lord! Show me Your way. Thank you God,” McGregor wrote, accompanying the message with an emoji of praying hands.

While McGregor built his public profile primarily through his career in mixed martial arts, he has become increasingly outspoken about his Christian faith in recent years. Speaking at a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship press conference last year, McGregor described how his religious commitment deepened following a previous UFC loss in 2021. “Since around that time that you mentioned, at the last event, I’ve engaged on a spiritual journey and I’ve been saved. I’m saved. I am healed,” McGregor said at the time. “I’m not here just by chance. There is a higher power, God, that dictates my journey and all of our journeys. And I live my life by God’s Word.”

That emphasis on faith has remained a consistent presence across McGregor’s public persona in the years since. The biography sections of both his X and Instagram profiles currently read, “Pray EVERYDAY!! #GOD #FAMILY #COUNTRY #TRUTH,” reflecting how central the theme has become to how he presents himself publicly, separate from his identity as a professional fighter.

UFC officials, including President and CEO Dana White, said ringside doctors suspected McGregor had suffered a torn ACL during Saturday’s bout, though the diagnosis was pending confirmation through imaging as of this week. The injury struck McGregor’s right knee, a different joint from the left ACL he tore during his original 2013 meeting with Holloway, a fight he went on to win by unanimous decision after recovering from that earlier injury in roughly 11 months.

Saturday’s loss marked McGregor’s second consecutive defeat and came in a bout that had been billed as one of the most significant comebacks in UFC history following his lengthy layoff since a leg break suffered in his 2021 trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier. Despite the setback, McGregor’s public statements in the days following the loss have consistently framed the injury not as a career-ending development but as a challenge he intends to overcome through both physical recovery and the religious conviction he has increasingly woven into his public identity in recent years.

Tehran said it had targeted US military facilities in Bahrain and Jordan after earlier hitting two United Arab Emirates tankers.

The ongoing strikes have underscored the strategic importance of the Strait. Iran accuses the US of interfering in its management of Hormuz – but controlling it means Tehran can also threaten the global economy.

Trump on Monday declared that the US was now the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz, and vowed to impose a 20% charge on all cargo shipped through the waterway to pay for protecting it.

Raising the stakes further, Trump said the US would also reimpose its naval blockade on Iran, in a bid to further squeeze the country’s struggling economy.

US Central Command (Centcom) on Monday said that the US naval blockade on Iranian ports would be in effect from 16:00 Eastern Time (20:00 GMT/21:00 BST) on Tuesday.

But in his latest post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.

“Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.” The US president provided no further details.

He also said that the Strait “is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran” and that “oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military”.

Speaking later after talks in Washington with the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Mr Trump said: “I don’t like the concept of a fee, but at the same time, it’s not fair that we’re protecting this Strait for the entire world.”

He said he had changed his initial fee plan after receiving numerous calls from Gulf leaders.

Meanwhile, shipping data shows traffic through the Strait has slowed to a two-months low. The benchmark Brent Crude oil price has also risen sharply.

Iran effectively shut down the waterway – through which some 25% of the world’s oil and 20% of global liquefied natural gas previously passed – after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on 28 February.

In a separate development on Tuesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country’s retaliation against Iran would be “much more powerful” if it is attacked first.

“I will say it to the leaders of Iran: Do not count on things remaining quiet if you attack us,” he said in a video published on his social media.

SK Hynix’s American depositary shares surged more than 24% Tuesday, climbing to fresh highs since the memory chipmaker’s Nasdaq debut, reversing much of the damage from Monday’s historic single-day plunge in Seoul. Here are five factors driving Tuesday’s dramatic rebound.

1. Newly launched leveraged ETFs amplified trading volume. The most immediate catalyst behind Tuesday’s sharp move was the debut of geared, single-stock exchange-traded funds tied directly to SK Hynix. GraniteShares launched both a 2x Long SK hynix Daily ETF, trading under the ticker SKUU, and a 2x Short version, SKDD, while ProShares introduced its own 2x long single-stock fund, ProShares Ultra SK hynix, trading as SKHU. The introduction of those geared products pulled in heavy trading volume that amplified underlying moves in the stock throughout the session. Analysts at 24/7 Wall St noted that follow-through in related memory names such as Micron, SanDisk and Western Digital would help confirm whether the broader rally reflected genuine sector rotation rather than a one-day squeeze tied specifically to the ETF launches.

2. Options trading began on U.S. exchanges for the first time. Tuesday also marked the first day options on SKHY shares became available to trade on U.S. exchanges, a development that drew significant speculative interest almost immediately. The most actively traded contract as of Tuesday afternoon was a $185 strike call option, with volume around 2,900 contracts, followed closely by a $145 strike put, while August calls with a $200 strike price also saw heavy interest, exceeding 1,500 contracts in volume. Daniel Kirsch, head of options at Piper Sandler, said the new market was likely to draw a wave of short-term speculative positioning. “Traders are expected to aggressively position for short-term trades betting on further gains in SK Hynix ADR this week,” Kirsch said, adding that demand for short-dated call options was expected to heat up further, with contracts expiring Friday potentially attracting a rapid influx of retail investors.

3. A cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation report lifted broader risk sentiment. Tuesday’s rally in SK Hynix unfolded against a backdrop of broader market strength following the release of June’s consumer price index, which came in well below Wall Street’s expectations. The softer inflation data helped ease bond yields and fueled a risk-on mood across technology and chip stocks generally, with the Nasdaq 100 rising roughly 1% on the day. That improving macro backdrop gave investors additional confidence to step back into AI-linked chip names like SK Hynix following Monday’s steep selloff, which had been driven in part by broader concerns about rising rates and geopolitical tensions tied to the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran.

4. Comments from SoftBank’s CEO dismissed AI bubble concerns. On the same day, at the annual SoftBank World conference held in Tokyo, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son predicted that the artificial intelligence sector would require $5 trillion in annual investment by 2040 and flatly dismissed market concerns about an AI bubble. According to TradingKey, those comments significantly bolstered sentiment and helped support the afternoon rebound across Asia-Pacific chip stocks more broadly, including South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index, which staged its own V-shaped recovery Tuesday after Monday’s steep decline. Analysts noted that SK Hynix’s fundamental narrative, built around soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI accelerators, had not experienced any material reversal despite the stock’s wild price swings, with UBS reiterating a buy rating on the shares earlier in the month and raising its price target on the Korean-listed stock to 3.2 million won.

5. Monday’s selloff was widely viewed as technical rather than fundamental. Analysts covering the stock characterized Monday’s 15.4% plunge in Seoul, the company’s worst single-day decline on record, as reflecting profit-taking and liquidity dynamics following an overheated post-IPO rally rather than any genuine deterioration in SK Hynix’s underlying business. Research firm TradingKey wrote that “SK Hynix’s current decline stems more from technical corrections and liquidity shocks following excessive earlier gains, and the medium-term supply-demand dynamics of HBM have not undergone any directional shift,” referring to high-bandwidth memory, the specialized chip category central to SK Hynix’s role as a key supplier to Nvidia and other AI infrastructure customers. That framing appears to have encouraged buyers to view Monday’s drop as a buying opportunity rather than a signal of deteriorating fundamentals, contributing directly to Tuesday’s sharp rebound.

Tuesday’s volatility caps an extraordinary first week of trading for SK Hynix’s American depositary shares. The stock opened at $170 on its Friday, July 10, debut and closed its first session up nearly 13% at $168.01, part of a $26.5 billion offering that marked the largest-ever U.S. listing by a foreign company. Monday’s plunge, tied to the broader Kospi selloff that also dragged down Samsung Electronics and triggered a market-wide trading halt in Seoul, pulled the ADR down toward the $150 to $155 range before Tuesday’s rally erased much of that damage.

Analysts remain divided on whether Tuesday’s sharp bounce marks a durable recovery or another leg of the extreme volatility that has characterized the stock since its debut. A separate analysis from FX Leaders cautioned that a sustained rebound would require SKHY to reclaim and hold above prior resistance levels near $162 to $168 to fully restore confidence in the post-listing rally, noting that “until the ADR premium narrows or Q2 earnings confirm that expectations remain achievable, investors may continue treating rallies with caution.” That premium has itself become a talking point among market watchers, with Bloomberg reporting the gap between SK Hynix’s American depositary receipts and their Korean-listed shares had swelled to nearly 50% just three days after the stock’s U.S. debut, a spread some analysts attribute to the ADR’s comparatively thin trading float relative to the much larger pool of shares available in Seoul.

With SK Hynix’s formal second-quarter earnings report still pending and major cloud computing providers, including Microsoft, scheduled to report their own results later this month, analysts say the coming weeks should offer clearer signals on whether the underlying AI memory demand story justifies the stock’s current valuation, or whether Tuesday’s sharp rally simply represents another swing in what has already proven to be an unusually turbulent debut for one of the largest foreign listings in Wall Street history.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta believes Paramount’s planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is simply “an illegal merger,” as he appears to be on a crusade to prevent it from happening. 

Paramount CEO David Ellison is seeking to acquire WBD in a $111 billion deal expected to close during the third quarter of this year. But the mega-merger has irked critics who fear combining two major Hollywood studios would hurt the industry while giving too much power to Ellison’s Paramount.

Bonta on Monday led a group of 12 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the merger, claiming it would “lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.” 

PARAMOUNT ADVISERS PUSH FOR CALIFORNIA EXIT AS STATE SUES TO BLOCK WARNER BROS DISCOVERY MERGER: REPORT

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, claims that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal. 

“We determined that law was being broken with respect to three markets, when it comes to wide-release theatrical films, their distribution, the distribution of top-grossing films, blockbusters if you will, and also with respect to the licensing of cable channels to cable distributors,” Bonta said on Matthew Belloni’s “The Town” podcast. 

“It’s our duty to analyze the different markets and make a decision based on each about whether antitrust law is violated or not,” he continued.

Bonta said he feels there is a very “strong case” in the three markets defined in the lawsuit. He said consolidation in those areas gives a small number of people too much power when it comes to dictating terms to movie theaters and cable providers, which could drive up prices while reducing quality.  

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR POINTS TO ‘HEMORRHAGING’ AT CBS TO WARN OF DAVID ELLISON’S POTENTIAL TAKEOVER AT CNN

“This is about affordability, and this is about everyday people’s ability to enjoy and experience some of the joys of life, a movie, a TV series, at home, through cable or satellite… at a movie theater for a night out. This merger will make that experience, the quality, less, and make it eroded, and it will make the price higher,” Bonta said. 

Belloni asked why streaming giants that also produce movies and television shows, such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon weren’t mentioned in the lawsuit, as Paramount has suggested the merger would put the company in a better position to compete with streaming giants. Belloni noted that 48 percent of viewing in America occurred on streaming services last month, compared to 22 percent for cable channels. 

“We looked at all the impacts … and the streaming market is different, and the cable market is different than the theatrical release market, and each one has its own independent analysis and where we landed was three clean markets where the impact of the merger is presumptively illegal based on a clear threshold that the law has defined,” Bonta said. 

Paramount stated in a Monday press release that the “practical effect of this lawsuit is to shield those dominant streaming platforms like Netflix and technology companies from much-needed competition while preventing the significant benefits this transaction will deliver for consumers, creators, workers, and the broader Hollywood economy.”

After Belloni read the statement aloud, Bonta said it was “painful to hear,” and dismissed the notion that Paramount is “helping” consumers or workers. 

“It’s self-serving, and it’s just not true,” Bonta said, adding that he will not allow a company to do “illegal things” from an antitrust perspective just to compete with streaming giants. 

PARAMOUNT, SKYDANCE COMPLETE $8 BILLION MERGER AS FCC CONTINUES CBS PROBE

Bonta was then asked about a Semafor report that Ellison could potentially move Paramount of California if the state continues to hold up the merger. 

“To threaten a state that is simply doing its job in enforcing the law here, it felt like a somewhat desperate, last-ditch effort to blackmail the states into allowing an illegal merger to go through. And that’s just not going to happen,” Bonta said. 

Paramount fired back shortly after the complaint was filed, saying the lawsuit “reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law.”

“We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The combination of Paramount and WBD will create a stronger, well-capitalized, creative-first media company that is better positioned to compete with companies like Netflix that have come to dominate the industry for audiences, premium content, and creative talent,” the spokesperson continued. “Put simply, any attempt to block this transaction undermines the very principles antitrust law is designed to promote: more competition, more choice for consumers, and more opportunities for creators and workers.”

The Paramount spokesperson said the company will “continue to fight against any attempt to derail” the historic deal.  

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, took control of Paramount last year when Skydance Media and Paramount Global completed an $8 billion merger. Adding WBD to his portfolio would make the younger Ellison one of Hollywood’s most powerful people.

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday announced it has closed its antitrust investigation into Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of WBD, concluding the transaction is not likely to harm competition or American consumers. However, state attorneys general retain independent authority under antitrust laws, and the DOJ’s decision does not itself prevent additional legal challenges to the proposed transaction.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Mylan Inc sold shares worth Rs 1,839 crore in Biocon through a block deal on Tuesday, with several domestic mutual funds, insurers and foreign investors picking up the stock. According to exchange data, Mylan sold 4.59 crore shares of Biocon at Rs 400 apiece. The total value of the sell-side transaction stood at Rs 1,839 crore.

The deal saw strong institutional participation on the buy side. ICICI Prudential MF was the largest buyer, acquiring 1.84 crore shares at Rs 400 each, translating into an investment of Rs 737 crore.

HDFC Mutual Fund bought 58.29 lakh shares for about Rs 233 crore, while Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund purchased 58.29 lakh shares for nearly Rs 233 crore. SBI Mutual Fund bought 18.75 lakh shares worth Rs 75 crore.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company bought 12,50,000 shares each, worth Rs 50 crore apiece. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund each purchased 9,37,500 shares, valued at Rs 37.5 crore.

Other buyers included UTI Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, 360 One Mutual Fund, Bajaj Life Insurance, Axis Max Life Insurance, BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Citigroup Global Markets Singapore, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, Ghisallo Master Fund, Norges Bank and Sanatan Financial Advisory Services.

The deal comes at a time when Biocon remains a closely tracked stock in the pharma and biotechnology space. The company has a presence across generics, biosimilars and research services through its group businesses. Investors have been watching its debt reduction efforts, biosimilars growth, margin recovery and regulatory updates.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

By James Picerno

The case for indexing is well established, supported by academic and empirical research. But while there’s a strong case for passive investing within an asset class, in our view the argument weakens—if not breaks