David Cameron had arrived in China with a plan to secure money for a $1bn UK-China fund that was set to make the former prime minister a rich financier and cement ties between London and Beijing. One of his fundraising targets during trips in 2017 and 2018 was China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment
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Iran’s top diplomat has revealed that Tehran told the US through back channels that it did not want the Israel-Hamas war to spread further, but also warned Washington that regional conflict could be unavoidable if Israeli attacks on Gaza continue. “Over the past 40 days, messages have been exchanged between Iran and the US, via
Shortly after Janet Truncale was picked as the next global chief executive at EY, she dialled in to a video call with executives in the US, appearing alongside two of the people she had beaten in the race and the head of EY’s US business, who had pushed for another candidate. The call with fellow
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Global inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. As prices surged, some pointed the finger at profiteers. Cue a heated debate, which along with inflation has mercifully now cooled. With the benefit of time and data, what have we learnt about “greedflation”? Naysayers
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A year out from the next US presidential election, there are clouds on the horizon for Joe Biden and the Democrats. Two weeks ago, a survey by The New York Times put Donald Trump ahead
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The new head of the UK’s accounting watchdog has signalled he is relaxed about the continued dominance of the Big Four in Britain’s audit market, striking a more conciliatory tone towards the sector than his
In the spring of 2018, the retired general Gal Hirsch stood on a tiny sliver of land occupied by Israel and reminisced about fighting Hizbollah in Lebanon. “I killed Arabs there,” he said, pointing to one hill, with his firearm poking out of his trousers. “I fought them there, and there.” But, he wistfully told
On an industrial estate one hour south of Birmingham, a sign in red Cyrillic letters is the only hint that a small outpost of Russia’s military industrial complex is still quietly operating in the UK. The site is home to the British arm of VSMPO-AVISMA, one of the world’s largest titanium producers, which is part-owned
US stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday after a late afternoon rally, marking three positive sessions in a row despite a steep decline in oil prices, which sent energy stocks lower. The benchmark S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent on Thursday, even as the index’s energy sector dropped more than 2 per cent. Brent crude,
Israel is planning military operations in southern Gaza and has asked residents of some neighbourhoods to evacuate their homes, according to leaflets dropped into the city of Khan Younis that signalled a potential widening of Israel’s invasion. Israel has mainly focused operations in northern Gaza during its war against Hamas, while also carrying out air
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Oil & Gas industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Oil prices slumped to their lowest levels since early July on Thursday, putting pressure on the Opec+ group of major oil producers to consider extending and deepening production cuts when they meet in
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Pensions industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The government is pushing ahead with a controversial proposal to expand the role of the UK’s pension lifeboat fund as it looks for ways to unlock billions of pounds of retirement fund capital to boost
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jeremy Hunt is looking at cutting inheritance tax and business taxes in next week’s Autumn Statement, as ministers confirmed he would have more fiscal “headroom” than expected for giveaways. Hunt is under significant pressure from
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt plans to spend an extra £2.5bn on employment support for people suffering from long-term sickness and joblessness, as part of a broader push to cut the welfare bill and boost the
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. “Remember, remember the fifth of November! Gunpowder, treason and plot.” Thus goes the traditional ditty that British children (such as myself) have chanted in past Novembers, in memory of Guy Fawkes, the rebel who tried
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Alibaba has ditched plans to spin off its cloud business and paused the listing of its supermarket unit amid waning investor enthusiasm for the Chinese ecommerce giant’s radical restructuring plan. After reporting lacklustre earnings on
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is founder of Sifted, an FT-backed site about European start-ups It is rapidly emerging as one of the most important technological, and increasingly ideological, divides of our times: should powerful generative artificial intelligence
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Technology sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Lenovo has reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining revenues but said it was seeing clear signs of recovery in the technology sector that would power a return to growth for the world’s largest PC
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. I grew up in the Netherlands and every time I return, I feel like a time-traveller. The country I have in my head is from the 1970s and 1980s, so when I popped back last
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Home secretary James Cleverly suggested on Thursday that the UK would not have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to force through a new plan to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda. “I believe
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Pet food and confectionery giant Mars has announced it will buy ailing UK chocolate business Hotel Chocolat in a deal worth about £534mn, with a payday of about £280mn for the latter’s founders. The cash