As we approach the Christmas break there are plenty of items left in the hamper to keep you reading the Financial Times. First, there are election results to digest, starting with Egypt. Sitting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to be a shoo-in, largely, say opposition candidates, because of problems they have had getting heard.
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Italy’s rightwing prime minister admitted on Sunday that she had not been able to fulfil her campaign pledge to curb the inflow of irregular migrants, calling migration “the most complex phenomenon I’ve ever had to
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The head of the IMF has urged Ukraine’s allies to rapidly unlock tens of billions of dollars for the country, as she warned delays in providing the extra funding would jeopardise Kyiv’s tentative economic
At first the tunnel sloped gently downhill, and there was enough natural light to see the concrete-reinforced walls, dodge the tangle of electric cables and avoid the ventilation pipe hanging loosely from a wall. But only 30 metres inside, the shadows thickened, the air grew hot and clammy, and the tunnel began a sharp descent
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Global Economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. We tend to think about the economy in binary terms. Recession: yes or no? Will markets be up or down? Will interest rates rise or fall? The answer to the latter question, at least in
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is chief executive of the charity Crisis Passed in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, the UK’s 1824 Vagrancy Act was introduced as a direct response to growing levels of street homelessness, mostly
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, has vowed to work with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to review international rules on asylum, claiming that a wave of clandestine migration threatens to “overwhelm our countries”. Sunak was speaking at
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. This week’s rally in global bond markets has shattered investors’ months-long assumption that interest rates in the US and elsewhere will remain higher for longer. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield, seen as a proxy
The sultry western province of Kongo Central is loaded with Congolese history. It contains the seaports at the mouth of the Congo river from which Belgian colonisers siphoned off the exploited riches of the country and it was where Joseph Kasavubu, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first president post-independence, was born and died. So it
Two months into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, I warned about “Ukraine fatigue”. In the event, western leaders and their publics surprised everyone by how resilient their support for Ukraine turned out to be — morally, financially and (although always several steps too late) militarily. But while it took much longer than I feared, Ukraine
How would you pronounce Kristalina Georgieva? The first name of the managing director of the IMF is easy enough for English speakers. The second is another matter entirely. For years, I have heard people pronounce it with one and often two soft Gs, like the sound of the ‘s’ in measure, as in Zhore-zhee-ay-vah. But
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary is on track to earn a €100mn bonus after the low-cost airline’s shares hit a record high this week. Shares rose to €18.99 on Friday, bringing their gains for the year
Sky will aim to capitalise on its biggest investment in sport in over 30 years with plans to show as many as 1,200 football matches a year, and more funding for innovative in-game coverage. The UK-based group is hoping that sports will be a key differentiator in the fight — not just against other broadcasters
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. National Grid has started removing components supplied by a Chinese state-backed company from Britain’s electricity transmission network over cyber security fears, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move by the FTSE 100
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Israeli army misidentified shirtless male hostages waving a white flag in Gaza and shot all three in violation of its rules of engagement, a military official said on Saturday. The killing of Yotam Haim,
More than one in 20 MPs have been suspended from the House of Commons, left parliament altogether or been stripped of their party whip in the wake of misconduct allegations since the last general election. A total of 34 MPs out of 650 have quit or been disciplined by their party or by parliamentary colleagues
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Lloyd’s of London has agreed with its landlord Ping An to stay at its One Lime Street headquarters until at least 2035, in a mark of commitment to in-person trading at the heart of the
Joe Biden’s upbeat forecasts for the US economy have been validated by the Federal Reserve’s signal that it will consider interest rate cuts next year, delivering respite to American households through lower borrowing costs after two years of high inflation. For months, Biden administration officials have been betting on a “soft landing” — one in
This article is an onsite version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday and Saturday morning A “remarkable strategic own goal by us” — that’s how Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, this week described the risk of a lapse in
Something strange but awesome happened last week in Columbia Road, east London. Seven thousand people, who’d seen the street’s annual Christmas carol service on TikTok, turned up to join in. This shows the remarkable power of social media: the event was overwhelmed and had to be cancelled. But I like to think it also shows
The hardest question in the world is something to do with quantum physics. The second hardest is, “How are you?” Sure, there are easy answers, but they are not good ones. Saying you are fine just puts the onus on your interlocutor to find something worth discussing. It should be a punishable offence. If instead