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an hour ago
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The Future Queen of Norway Looks Like Your Everyday College Student in Start of School Year Pics
Princess Ingrid Alexandra is starting her studies at the University of Sydney Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway is swapping tiaras for textbooks. The 21-year-old royal is in Australia as she gets ready to start her studies at the University of Sydney. Although Princess Ingrid Alexandra is set to become queen of Norway one day, she looked like any other college student in new photos shared on the royal family's Instagram page on July 25. Dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a blue sweater, she posed for photos around the University of Sydney. She said in a statement shared along with the images, "I'm looking forward to starting my studies at the University of Sydney. It will be exciting to become a student, and I'm looking forward to gaining new perspectives on both European and international politics. I'm sure that I will learn a lot." The palace announced in May that Princess Ingrid Alexandra will pursue a three-year Bachelor of Arts program with a focus on international relations and political economy. The palace added that she would be living in a student residence on campus. King Harald, 87, was recently asked about his granddaughter's decision to study abroad. He said, "You get this back with compound interest when she gets home, so I think that's just an advantage. She must be allowed to study and get an education before she starts representing," according to local newspaper VG. Both King Harald and his son and heir, Crown Prince Haakon, studied abroad as young adults as well. The King studied history, economics and politics at Balliol College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, while Haakon studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the London School of Economics. Her studies at the University of Sydney come after Princess Ingrid Alexandra completed 15 months of military service with the Engineer Battalion in Brigade North in the spring. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Just last month, Princess Ingrid Alexandra was sporting a very different look from her latest photos. The royal joined her parents, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and grandparents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, at a gala dinner during French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Norway. For the event at the Royal Palace in Oslo, Princess Ingrid Alexandra wore a tiara paired with a red Vivienne Westwood gown and white opera gloves. She once again chose to wear Princess Ingeborg of Sweden and Denmark's Boucheron Pearl Circle Tiara. The Royal Watcher reports that Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, bought the accessory in Paris and gave it to Princess Ingeborg, who wore it over the next 58 years and also loaned it out to other royal women. Princess Ragnhild of Norway inherited the tiara, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra was gifted the headpiece in 2022. She's worn it on several occasions since, including her 18th birthday banquet. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Three-quarters of small businesses will raise prices - yet nearly half are seeing profits shrink
A new survey among small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) has found that a huge majority expect to be raising prices over the next year, with optimism split on whether they will survive or thrive amid challenging economic conditions. Business owners have been hit this year by raised National Insurance Contributions and a higher minimum wage, while a new pensions review could ultimately see them have to contribute more in the future as well. Meanwhile inflation from raw materials and higher energy costs have meant that their own prices have been on the increase, contributing to overall UK inflation levels. In addition, tariff uncertainty impacted those exporting to the US in the earlier part of the year before a trade deal was agreed. It all amounts to a difficult backdrop for companies this year, with SMEs typically harder-hit than larger businesses when consumer spending drops. Unsurprisingly, that means shoppers can expect to see another price hike coming in many places across the rest of 2025 and beyond, as detailed in a report by Simply Business, an insurance firm representing close to a million SMEs across the UK. A massive three-quarters (74 per cent) of more than 2,300 business owners surveyed said they'll need to raise prices in the coming year, an increase from the two-thirds who said so in 2024. More than three in five (63 per cent) businesses anticipate raising prices up to 20 per cent, but only 2 per cent expect prices to decrease in the coming 12 months. Despite those price increases, the businesses are not making more money. Nearly half (44 per cent) see profits decreasing in 2025, with fewer than two in five (17 per cent) expecting to see a rise in profits. Almost as many (16 per cent) say their profits will go down by more than a quarter. High street at stake An ongoing trend has been concerns about the long term future of the UK high street. Smaller businesses are increasingly despondent about its future, with a huge 82 per cent of SMEs saying their local high street has declined, 74 per cent saying shopper numbers are down and nearly two-thirds - 63 per cent - believing the notion of the national high street will be obsolete within ten years. As a result of this, more than a third of small business owners (37 per cent) are considering selling up or closing their doors this year for good. Government support is needed, the majority feel, to ensure a turnaround. Fewer 'chains' and more independent shops are seen as the best way to aid a reversal of fortunes, with free or cheap parking and more events of wider options of things to do also high on the list. The survey further revealed a quarter of small business owners expected to have to use their savings to prop up their business - yet despite these apparent hardships, more than half, 57 per cent, still feel optimism about their business' future. That is backed up by figures showing the number of new businesses registered in the first three months of this year was up almost 3 per cent compared to the same time last year. Small businesses contribute more than £2.8tn in turnover to the economy and account for more than half of the UK's private sector employment. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Beef inflation: 3 reasons your burger is more expensive
Beef prices have risen more than 8% since the start of 2025. Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute chief agricultural economist Michael Swanson joins Market Catalysts to break down the rise in prices. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts here. Well, move over eggs, beef is the new highly inflated grocery store item on the shelves. Prices have increased over 8% so far this year, hitting $9.26 per pound as of June. That's according to the USDA. Here to break down the catalyst behind these rising prices is Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist for the Wells Fargo Agri Food Institute. Thanks for being here. It's good to see you. So, you know, I don't know that beef and eggs are directly comparable, right? The egg prices were very volatile as we were seeing them sort of go up and then come back down. What's going on with beef that's causing these issues? You know, it's interesting, you know, if you think about analogy, you know, eggs are kind of a sports car, they really move in a hurry. Beef is more of a train. It kind of goes slowly. You can see things out in the future and you anticipate that. What we saw was a drought two or three years ago, low prices really hurt their performance in terms of the profitability, and today they're just short cattle, and it's going to take two or three years to fix the problem. What effect if any do tariffs have on the U.S. cattle business? You know, typically none in the past, but we're kind of in a new moment right now. We used to be kind of a net neutral for exporting, importing beef. We sent out high-end steaks to Japan and China, brought in ground beef from Australia. Right now, we're 8% of our supplies coming from overseas. So that's a, that's not normal. That's kind of new. So we're going to have to wait and see what this means to the consumer at the end of the day price wise. Well, I was also interested as I was reading into this, Michael, it's almost like, um, oil, that there are certain kinds of beef that we consume in the U.S., ground beef, for example, that's sort of a different mix that is not necessarily all produced in the U.S.. Can you explain that for viewers? Absolutely, it's a great observation. So we usually finish the beef in a cow yard, and give them a super ration of corn and soybean meal and just basically they're going to turn pretty fatty. And on the other side, a lot of the cattle that we're importing from outside the beef is grass fed, it's out on the range, walking around, getting its exercise, so it's pretty lean. So we kind of blend the two together to get exactly what we want.