Who is the biggest purchaser of the world’s biggest safe haven asset – gold?

China? Japan? One of the Gulf countries, perhaps?

In fact, the single biggest buyer of the precious metal last year was a company you’ve probably never heard of – a crypto firm called Tether

The El Salvador-based company runs USDT, the world’s biggest stablecoin, which is a form of crypto backed up by hard currency.

It serves as a conduit between riskier, volatile cryptocurrencies and the conventional finance system, essentially used as an offshore dollar.

Yet Tether bought more gold last year than anyone, according to European Central Bank data.

It keeps it stored in a James Bond-style Swiss former nuclear bunker, according to Tether’s boss.

Tether says it also owns as much US Government debt as some G20 nation states, some $135bn (£101bn), which is more than South Korea.

It is a huge player, almost taking on the characteristics of a private central bank. Yet it employs just 200 people.

It is also, perhaps inadvertently, entangled in the questions around the funding of Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

One of Tether’s significant shareholders is Christopher Harborne.

Last August, Harborne gave £9m in cash to Farage’s Reform party – the biggest party donation in British history. He gave a further £3m to Reform in October and an additional £3m in January. All the donations were declared.

Harborne had given £5m directly to Farage, a previously undisclosed personal gift which was the subject of parliamentary investigations, before Farage resigned as an MP.

Farage and Harborne have both said there were no strings attached to the personal gift, nor to the political donations to Reform.

The Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey recently confirmed that Farage raised the issue of cryptocurrency regulation and the related issue of central bank digital currencies with him in September last year.

He said Farage made his views “very clear”, but the “intervention” did not change the Bank’s policy, and that in general he could spot “lobbying” and knew how to discount it.

There was a specific issue Farage was concerned about – speculation that the Bank of England would push ahead with a limit on holdings of potential sterling stablecoins of between £10,000 and £20,000.

The industry was lobbying hard against it.

My understanding is that Farage did not raise Tether specifically with the governor, but he did talk about stablecoin regulation in general.

It raises reasonable questions about the precise details of that conversation and the scope for any possible benefit to Tether and its shareholders from shifts in Bank of England policy.

The Reform leader had already spoken openly about embracing cryptocurrencies,

“Tether is about to be valued as a $500bn company,” he told LBC presenter Nick Ferrari in September, the day before meeting Bailey

“This world is enormous, and I’ve been urging for years that London should embrace it. We should become a global trading centre for this stuff under proper regulation.”

On the wider conversation, Farage’s team say that “his remarks to Andrew Bailey are consistent with his long-held belief that the UK should be a global hub for regulated cryptocurrency innovation and investment”.

To that end, last May when Reform was ahead in the polls, the only piece of draft legislation it had published was its Cryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill.

It had a fleeting reference to stablecoins, and no reference to the Bank’s existing plan to limit personal holdings.

I read it and downloaded it.

It has since disappeared from the Reform website and from the web generally.

Tim, a teacher at a private school in Cheltenham, says what means the most to him is when students have written a card or a note themselves.

“I’m a physics teacher and I’ve got a terrible sense of humour,” he confesses, so he particularly likes it if the students pick up on his fondness for corny puns.

Tim, like plenty of teachers, says he doesn’t want parents to feel any obligation to give a gift.

Most schools have rules over the value of gifts teacher can accept, limited to £30 or £50 typically, and discourage cash gifts altogether.

“I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea for schools to point that out and say, look, if you’re going to buy something, make sure you keep below X amount,” says Tim.

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is set to undergo a minor knee procedure during the All-Star break after lingering irritation in his left knee forced him to skip both his final pitching start of the first half and Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, the team confirmed this week.

Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled Friday start against the Arizona Diamondbacks due to continued discomfort in his left knee, a team statement said. He remained available as the Dodgers’ designated hitter throughout the weekend series, homering in his very first at-bat after being pulled from the pitching rotation, his 21st home run of the season and eighth leadoff blast, tied with Washington’s James Wood for the most in the majors. Following Sunday’s series finale against Arizona, Ohtani is scheduled to have fluid drained from his left knee, followed by a cortisone injection intended to relieve the inflammation.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the decision to use the All-Star break for treatment was a proactive one rather than a response to any acute setback. “He’s been managing this quite well, the knee,” Roberts said. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were going to do that.” Roberts confirmed the procedure does not involve surgery and said he does not believe the injury will prevent Ohtani from continuing to pitch in the second half of the season, though the team has not yet finalized exactly where he will slot back into the rotation following the break.

Ohtani’s knee issue traces back to at least June 11, after he experienced inflammation following a stolen base attempt during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He missed only one game immediately following that incident and had continued playing through the discomfort in the weeks since, with the Dodgers monitoring the injury closely and limiting his stolen base attempts as a precaution. The injury involves the same left knee that underwent surgery in 2019 to repair a bipartite patella, a rare congenital condition in which the kneecap develops as two separate bones rather than one.

Speaking with reporters, Ohtani offered his most detailed public explanation yet of the injury, describing the discomfort as centered specifically around his kneecap. “It’s more around the kneecap. My range of motion is a little limited, and that’s why we’ve been monitoring it over the last few weeks,” Ohtani said. He indicated the decision to treat the knee now, rather than continue pushing through it, was based on how the joint had responded over recent starts. “There’s a lot of just up and down, just seeing how the knee really handled the last couple weeks. And really, the decision was made to do the injection after seeing how the knee reacted over the last couple weeks.”

Ohtani made clear he believed he could have taken the mound Friday had the situation called for it, but said the team ultimately opted for a longer-term approach given the timing within the season. “If I had pushed it, I probably could have pitched today. But the goal is to use these extra days to be in a better place for my next start,” Ohtani said. He explained that pitching, rather than hitting, places the greater strain on the injured knee. “Pitching puts much more stress on it than hitting. At the plate, I’ve basically been able to do everything without any problems.”

Ohtani attributed part of the issue to his pitching mechanics rather than viewing it as an isolated injury, describing the broader physical toll of returning to full two-way duty this season. “I see the overall wear and tear. What’s been happening over the course of this year, I believe it’s more of a wear and tear,” he said. “But in terms of the knee, I think it’s more of my pitching mechanics. So that’s something I need to work on.” He added that he plans to adjust his mechanics, potentially related to how he plants his foot during his pitching motion, in order to reduce pressure on the joint going forward.

Roberts emphasized that the team’s cautious approach reflects a broader philosophy of prioritizing Ohtani’s long-term health over short-term results, even amid Ohtani’s pursuit of individual accolades this season. “I think that No. 1, he’s always said, we’ve always said, the goal is October, for all of our players,” Roberts said. “With that, yeah, he’s had the Cy Young in mind, and understandably so. But nothing is going to come in front of being healthy for October.” Roberts also noted that Ohtani likely would have continued pitching through the discomfort had the injury occurred later in the season, during the postseason push. “The knee flared up; sometimes it calms down,” Ohtani said of the injury’s inconsistent pattern over recent weeks.

Despite the injury, Ohtani’s production has remained remarkable through the first half of the season. He enters the break with a .290 batting average, a .943 OPS and 21 home runs, alongside an 8-2 record and 1.79 ERA as a starting pitcher, a mark that ranks second in all of Major League Baseball among qualified starters. Ohtani was the leading vote-getter among National League players heading into this year’s All-Star Game and remains a heavy favorite to win his fourth consecutive Most Valuable Player award, despite now being sidelined for the Midsummer Classic itself. He was originally expected to serve as the NL’s starting designated hitter and to potentially get one or two at-bats in the game, though he was not expected to pitch or participate in the Home Run Derby even before the knee issue was disclosed.

Ohtani has also been managing other minor physical issues this season, including a tweaked right biceps that forced an early exit from a July 3 game and a blister on his right hand, though the Dodgers have said neither factored into the decision to treat the knee during the break. The Dodgers enter the second half of the season with the best record in Major League Baseball, sitting at 61-36 and holding an 11.5-game lead in the National League West despite having just been swept by the Diamondbacks to close out the first half.

With the procedure scheduled for after Sunday’s game and the All-Star break providing several days of additional recovery time, the Dodgers remain optimistic that Ohtani will return to his usual pitching schedule shortly after the break, though the club has said further details on his exact return timeline and rotation slot will be finalized as he responds to the treatment in the coming days.

With a packet of biscuits in one hand and her smartphone in the other in the biscuits sucrées aisle of her local Hyper U supermarket west of Paris, Nathalie sees red. Literally.

“Look at that!” she says showing me her phone. 0/100 is marked in red lettering.

“This is one of Malo’s [her 12-year-old son’s] favourites but it’s not only full of sugar and saturated fats, there are four additives as well including one health risk,” she says.

Nathalie clicks on the additive in question: E450. “A mineral which, taken in excess, can lead to bone marrow and kidney problems,” she reads.

“Honestly, that they can put this sort of thing in food aimed at children drives me nuts!” she says.

We scan an Italian alternative whose packaging gives you the impression those biscuits have been hand-made by peasant women wearing black shawls.

The score is not much better: “Malo hates shopping with me now,” says Nathalie. “You spend ages scanning and he can never have what he wants.”

The app, having activated the red alert, suggests a healthier alternative. It’s organic, containing wholewheat, fruit and fibre.

“You end up buying a lot more organic stuff so it’s more expensive,” she says.

Nathalie is one of a growing number of people using Yuka, an app developed in France, to shop more healthily. Not just for food but cosmetics and toiletries too.

Download it and you can use your phone to scan the barcodes of any one of the six million products on the Yuka database (about 1,200 new ones a day) and it’ll tell you immediately – green for good, red for bad, yellow for could be better. If you want to know more, you can delve further. Pages and pages if you want.

Started in 2015, Yuka now has 85 million users in 12 countries: numerous European ones plus the US, Canada and Australia.

The third-biggest user is the UK with around five million, second is France with six million, but the biggest by a very long way is the US with 28 million.

Yuka has some high-profile fans in the US. For example, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, says it’s his favourite app.

No, Lee Jung-hoo did not make the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, despite putting together one of the finest offensive seasons of any outfielder in the National League through the first half of the year, leaving the San Francisco Giants center fielder off the roster for what would have been his first career selection.

The Giants will instead be represented by just two players at Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia: right-hander Logan Webb, who earned his third consecutive selection after being named the National League’s starting pitcher of the month for June, and second baseman Luis Arraez, who has continued hitting well above .300 while showing defensive improvement at his position. Lee, despite arguably outperforming both teammates by several statistical measures relative to his position, was passed over entirely.

Lee’s absence from the roster comes during a breakout season that many around the Giants organization view as the long-awaited fulfillment of the promise that led San Francisco to sign him out of the KBO, South Korea’s top professional baseball league, to a six-year, $113 million contract two winters ago. Through 80 games this season, Lee has slashed .317/.348/.452 with five home runs and 33 RBI, numbers that place him among an elite group of hitters across all of Major League Baseball. According to figures cited by SI.com’s OnSI network, Lee is one of only a handful of qualifying hitters in the majors with a batting average of .300 or better, ranking third in the National League behind Miami’s Otto Lopez, at .431, and Arraez, at .330, both of whom did make this year’s All-Star team. Lee also ranked sixth in the National League with 96 hits and seventh with 68 singles.

Lee’s early-season form was even more dominant than his current numbers reflect. As of June 9, Lee was hitting .338 and comfortably in the conversation for the NL batting title, according to Just Baseball. His production cooled somewhat over the remainder of June, but his overall body of work remained among the best of any NL outfielder heading into the All-Star break.

SI.com’s Matthew Postins argued directly that Lee deserved a spot on the roster given his production relative to the reserve outfielders who were ultimately selected. “Giants right fielder Jung Hoo Lee has a right to have beef with MLB over not making his first All-Star Game. He has the numbers to be in the mix,” Postins wrote. He noted that the National League’s reserve outfielders, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, St. Louis’ Jordan Walker and Washington’s James Wood, were all recognizable names, with all but Walker having made previous All-Star appearances. “Lee could make the argument that MLB could have spread the wealth. Maybe next year. But Lee has the right to feel snubbed,” Postins wrote.

Just Baseball similarly identified Lee, along with third baseman Casey Schmitt, as a player who had a legitimate case for All-Star inclusion despite San Francisco’s overall struggles this season. “While he’s slowed down a bit over the last few weeks, Jung Hoo Lee has finally played like the player the Giants were expecting when they signed him to a $113 million deal a few winters ago,” the outlet wrote, noting that Lee was the best player in the KBO at the time of his signing and appears to finally be showcasing that ability in the majors.

Lee’s path to this breakout season has not been smooth. He missed the majority of his first year with the Giants in 2024 due to shoulder surgery and posted only a slightly above-average campaign in his second season last year. This year, at age 27, Lee appears to have finally found consistent footing at the major league level, delivering the kind of all-around offensive production that had made him such a prized international free agent target when he signed with San Francisco.

Ironically, Lee’s strong individual season has come during one of the more difficult team-wide stretches in recent Giants history. San Francisco has been among the worst teams in baseball through the first half of 2026, currently tied for the third-most losses in the sport and sitting roughly 15 games below .500. That poor overall record has fueled speculation about the team’s direction heading toward the trade deadline, with some outlets floating the possibility that the Giants could look to move Lee as part of a broader rebuild, while others have argued the opposite, that Lee should be viewed as a core cornerstone the team builds around rather than trades away.

Giants fans had pushed for Lee’s inclusion during the earlier phases of All-Star voting, with fan blog McCovey Chronicles specifically encouraging supporters to direct votes toward Lee during Phase 1 balloting, citing the tear he had been on at the time. Ultimately, however, that support was not enough to secure him a spot on the final roster, whether through fan voting, the players’ ballot, or the additional selections made by league offices and team representatives to fill out reserve and injury-replacement spots.

With Webb and Arraez set to represent the Giants at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, Lee will instead spend the All-Star break away from the festivities, continuing to build on what has already become the best offensive season of his young major league career. Barring a late add due to injury replacements elsewhere on the National League roster, a scenario that remains at least theoretically possible before the game, Lee’s first All-Star selection will have to wait until at least next year, even as his 2026 numbers stand as strong evidence that the recognition may simply be a matter of time.