Inflation rebounded in France and Spain in February, sending European governments’ borrowing costs up as doubts increased over how quickly the European Central Bank will stop raising interest rates. French consumer prices rose 7.2 per cent in the year to February, driven to the highest rate since the euro was launched in 1999 by faster
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“I am the Zionist dream!” So said Ivo Spiegel, shouting with passion and fury above the din of drum beats and chants of “no to dictatorship” as Israelis gathered in Jerusalem to protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The point Spiegel wanted to make was that he was no radical, but a patriot: a
Chipmakers must agree not to expand capacity in China for a decade if they are to receive money from a $39bn US federal fund designed to build a leading-edge US semiconductor industry, according to new commerce department rules. The department on Tuesday called for applications for funds from the Chips Act passed by Congress last
European equities dipped on Tuesday after the release of stronger than expected French and Spanish inflation data, which has increased investor uncertainty over the pace of interest rate rises by key central banks. The region-wide Stoxx 600, German Dax, France’s Cac 40 and FTSE 100 all fell 0.5 per cent. Inflation in France was 7.2
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Tuesday to sell his post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland to business leaders after the region’s main unionist party welcomed progress but said concerns remained. Sunak unveiled the so-called Windsor framework with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, hailing it as a “new
The Swiss financial regulator has concluded its two-year investigation into Credit Suisse’s failings over the collapse of specialist finance firm Greensill Capital, finding there had been a “serious breach of Swiss supervisory law”. The implosion of Greensill in March 2021 caused Credit Suisse to suspend and close $10bn worth of funds that had lent money
It is often said that you have to understand the root cause of a problem before you try to fix it. I’m not convinced. Take the unexpected trend in the UK of people dropping out of the workforce in recent years — something that hasn’t happened in nearby countries such as France and Germany. It
Charity appeals normally conjure up images of bucket rattling at village fetes or glitzy gala dinners where the great and the good can display their largesse. But the UN has a more ambitious request: one supertanker, slightly used, that it can use to stop an impending environmental catastrophe off the coast of Yemen. The FSO
Shell’s top executives explored moving the Anglo-Dutch energy group to the US in a proposal that threatened to deliver a hammer blow to the City of London. Wael Sawan, the oil and gas group’s new chief executive, was among a group of top managers who in 2021 discussed the advantages of shifting the company’s listing
A consortium of British data companies is taking on US-based Palantir, in the bid for a £480mn NHS contract to build the health service’s operating system. The companies, which include Voror Health Technologies, Eclipse and Black Pear, told the Financial Times they could provide software at a fraction of the cost budgeted, while also safeguarding
Hong Kong, one of the last places in the world to impose tight Covid-19 restrictions on face coverings, will drop its mask mandate from Wednesday. John Lee, the Chinese territory’s leader and former top cop, said requirements to wear a mask indoors, outdoors and on public transport would be scrapped. “With the lifting of the
After months of secret negotiations the UK and the EU on Monday published the text of their new deal to refine post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. Totalling more than 100 pages, the deal — called the Windsor Framework — sets out ways to smooth the working of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which has soured
Since Britain’s exit from the EU in 2020, special trading rules for Northern Ireland have been the source of rancour and division. The so-called Northern Ireland protocol was poorly negotiated, then partially disowned, then nearly overridden by the UK, threatening a trade war with the EU. Reforms to the protocol agreed by Prime Minister Rishi
British scientists on Monday welcomed the prospect of the UK’s long delayed re-entry into Horizon Europe, the EU’s €96bn science programme, following the deal between the two sides over post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland. At a press conference setting out the “Windsor framework”, Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, described the accord as
Rishi Sunak has much to gain from securing today’s deal with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol. There are serious policy wins available as a result: a less confrontational relationship with the bloc during a time in which the democracies of Europe face an existential threat in the shape of Vladimir Putin, Britain’s possible
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, has said he would take time to study the new Brexit trade deal announced by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday. The reaction of the region’s main unionist party to the reforms of the so-called Northern
A heart attack, a handwritten note and 1,000 shipping containers full of unknown material — the details of one of London’s biggest commodity fraud cases read like a thriller. Singapore-based trading house Trafigura has accused metals tycoon Prateek Gupta and his companies of selling it fake nickel cargoes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, in
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is to claim he has negotiated “fundamental” changes to EU rules for Northern Ireland trade, as Brexiters hit out at a planned meeting between the European Commission president and King Charles. In a bid to end the row that has overshadowed UK ties with the EU since Brexit three years
Rishi Sunak’s hopes of selling his Northern Ireland deal to his party were given a boost on Monday when a senior Eurosceptic Conservative MP said the UK prime minister had “done very well” in negotiations with Brussels. Jacob Rees-Mogg, former business secretary, gave a cautious welcome to the outline agreement to overhaul Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit
For only the second time in Goldman Sachs’ 154-year history, investors will gather on Tuesday to ponder the future of a Wall Street giant that seems to have lost its way. The bank whose dominance was once so assured it gained notoriety as the “Vampire Squid” is now more of a damp squib. A nosedive
If home is where the heart is, then the UK’s broken rental market often feels like an exercise in romantic rejection. For many years, being a renter in the UK has meant feeling abandoned, unwanted and unloved by policymakers and the public. But for users of flat-sharing apps and websites, the sensation of being spurned