Israelis are being called up in record numbers. Schools have been ordered to close. Streets are deserted. On the pavements outside normally crowded cafés, empty chairs are stacked away: in the days since Hamas militants inflicted the worst-ever death toll in a single attack in Israel, almost no facet of life in the country has
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Misinformation around the Israel-Palestinian conflict sweeping across Elon Musk’s X has prompted fresh scrutiny of the social media platform from European regulators and new concern from global advertisers. As the crisis took hold, researchers raced to debunk false or misleading information on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The posts, which have racked up millions
Investors are stepping up scrutiny of private equity firms’ use of debt and complex financial engineering to generate returns from companies they own, demanding disclosure about the costs and risks. Private equity groups have been increasingly using margin loans and net asset value financing — secured against shares in their listed companies or their asset
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US Treasuries rallied on Tuesday as investors rushed to haven assets following Hamas’s attacks in Israel and comments from Federal Reserve officials who hinted that the US may have reached the end of its rate-rising
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sir Keir Starmer has promised to “bulldoze” the planning system and work with the private sector to unleash a “big build” across the UK as part of radical action to accelerate housebuilding. Starmer used his
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Middle Eastern politics & society myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said members of his governing coalition had authorised him to negotiate a unity government with the opposition in the wake of the worst attack within Israel in the
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is author of ‘Black Wave’ and distinguished fellow at Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics The siege of Gaza has started and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised “mighty vengeance”, vowing to
European stocks surged on Tuesday, boosted by unconfirmed reports that China is considering a fresh round of stimulus measures and by dovish remarks from US Federal Reserve officials. The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.6 per cent, pushed higher by basic materials stocks and on track for its best day since July 2022, LSEG data
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. An Israeli military spokesman on Tuesday offered some advice to Palestinians seeking to flee his country’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip: “get out” through the “open” border with Egypt. The problem is that the Rafah
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was held for five years by Hamas in Gaza before he was extracted in a 2011 prisoner swap. The price: more than 1,000 jailed Palestinians. Now Israel faces a hostage dilemma of a different magnitude. During Hamas’ surprise assault on southern Israel on Saturday, the militant group that runs the Gaza
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Israeli military bombarded more than 200 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and said it had secured its border with the enclave, three days after an incursion by Hamas triggered the worst war on
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. As much of Israel slept on Saturday, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, multipronged dawn assault on the country from the Gaza Strip. The Middle East’s most powerful security force was caught off guard. Hundreds are
The Israeli military bombarded targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and said it had secured its breached border barrier with the enclave, three days after an unprecedented incursion by the militant group Hamas into Israel triggered the country’s worst war in decades. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes, according to the UN, after
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict has itself become a battleground for scholars offering wildly differing accounts. But here is a selection of the best books recommended by FT specialists on the history and global
Switzerland’s government managed to head off a spiralling European banking crisis when it orchestrated UBS’s $3.3bn takeover of Credit Suisse six months ago — but the long-term pain has only just begun, with $9bn of legal claims already filed and more cases in the works. Debt investors lost out when $17bn of Credit Suisse debt
In the decades-long regional hostility between Israel and Iran, Palestinian militant group Hamas has never come fully under the Islamic republic’s sway. It has in recent years taken money from Qatar, learned propaganda lessons from Isis and kept up relations with Egyptian intelligence. But Saturday’s multipronged assault on Israel, cheered on by Iran, has prompted
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Metro Bank myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Metro Bank has struck a financing deal with investors after a weekend of negotiations that should give the UK challenger bank some breathing space and fill a capital hole that had prompted talks with regulators.
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, will on Monday propose planning reforms which she claims will speed up the building of crucial infrastructure to boost Britain’s economic growth rate. Among the proposals that she is expected to
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the The FT View myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Not since 1948, the year of its founding, has Israel suffered such a brazen and bloody assault within its own borders. The surprise dawn onslaught by Hamas comprised attacks by land, sea and air,
Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel struck a blow to US President Joe Biden’s efforts to secure a grand bargain that normalises relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as the fighting is set to reshape the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike many of his predecessors, Biden has made no direct effort to foster peace talks
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Global economic growth myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Momentum in advanced and emerging markets has slowed towards its weakest levels since the world emerged from the Covid-19 lockdowns, with the US standing as one of the few economic bright spots as rising