News

Five drones were shot down over the suburbs of Moscow around dawn on Tuesday, authorities said, causing no casualties or damage but marking at least the third drone incident this year and bringing Russia’s war in Ukraine closer to its own capital. In video footage shared on social media, explosions could be heard in New

Central banks have been raising interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1990s, but the most severe bout of inflation in a generation is yet to be tamed. While many were late to spot just how big a problem this wave of inflation would prove, officials representing the world’s 20 largest economies have now

More than has been the case for many years, France appears deeply divided. Last week’s police killing of a teenage driver of North African descent triggered unrest across the country, with stark images of cities ablaze providing evidence of anti-government sentiment caused by a range of inequality issues. President Emmanuel Macron has been accused of

Swiss authorities are probing a prominent Geneva-based oil trader’s legal arrangements to sidestep Russia sanctions, in a sign the country has begun actively policing its large commodity industry’s ties with Moscow. The regulatory questions to Paramount, posed in April in a letter seen by the Financial Times, are one of the first known efforts by

Hedge fund manager Chris Rokos has reached a settlement with Deloitte over claims he received bad advice on a failed investment scheme that left him with a £40mn tax bill. The billionaire had sued the Big Four firm in London’s High Court, alleging Deloitte was in breach of its duties when it advised him on

As Chinese stocks rocketed higher in January after stringent Covid restrictions were lifted, strategists at Goldman Sachs made the case that a 46 per cent rise in a matter of weeks was only the beginning. “China looks well positioned across the growth, policy and inflation cycles in a global context in 2023,” they argued, noting

Britain’s energy regulator has warned suppliers not to pay dividends unless they are financially stable, as it seeks to avoid a repeat of last year’s energy crisis. Jonathan Brearley, the chief executive of Ofgem, has written to company bosses warning them to “behave responsibly” as the price pressures ease in the wholesale energy markets. The

Australia: The Reserve Bank of Australia will announce its cash rate target. Economists are split over whether the central bank will raise the cash rate to 4.35 per cent or pause, according to a Reuters poll. Thailand: Parliament is expected to choose a House speaker. Progressive opposition party Move Forward and the biggest partner in

The UK’s financial watchdog has summoned bank chief executives to address concerns that savings rates are lagging behind the surging cost of mortgages. Top bankers at HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays are expected to attend a meeting at the Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday amid accusations they are profiteering from rising interest rates, according to

Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin called on the Russian public to stand up for his Wagner paramilitaries on Monday as the group continued to recruit troops for the war in Ukraine, in apparent contradiction of the terms of a truce with the Kremlin. Speaking on the Telegram messaging app for the second time since leading an

The former finance chief of Carillion has been barred from holding company directorships for more than a decade, marking the first boardroom ban on an executive of the collapsed construction company. Zafar Khan, who served as Carillion’s finance director before its implosion in early 2018, has been disqualified from working as a director of a

Former senior UK government official Sue Gray committed a “prima facie” breach of civil service rules when she failed to declare her initial contact with the opposition Labour party over a job offer, according to an internal probe by the Cabinet Office. The finding comes days after Gray, who is best known for leading the

The government has begun the search for a new BBC chair after appointing headhunters Saxton Bampfylde to oversee the job of replacing former board head Richard Sharp who resigned over a “potential perceived conflict of interest”.  The hunt for the next head of the public broadcaster has assumed greater significance after criticism of the process

Asda and Morrisons have both raised their margins on fuel since their takeover by private equity firms, according to the UK competition watchdog, which warned that weakening competition was pushing up motorists’ costs. The two retailers have “significantly increased” the targeted gap between what they pay for petrol and diesel and how much they sell

The writer is an FT contributing editor The successive shocks we’ve experienced over the past three years have had a lasting impact on the global economy. But according to John Williams, president of the New York Federal Reserve, and his co-authors Kathryn Holston and the late Thomas Laubach, the economy may not have transformed as

Currency speculators have boosted bullish wagers on the pound to the highest level for nine years despite recent signs that sterling’s strong rally this year is flagging. The growing consensus among speculative investors, such as hedge funds, comes after sterling has already rallied strongly this year, driven by the Bank of England’s effort to lift

A spectre is haunting Europe. The spectre of Donald Trump. Many European decision makers admit that they were caught unprepared by Trump’s election as US president in 2016. They are determined not to make the same mistake again. But knowing that Trump might win the presidency back in 2024, and knowing what to do about

European stocks and US futures rose on Monday, after better than expected data from China added to bullish momentum driven by large US technology stocks such as Tesla. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 added 0.2 per cent, lifted by strong performance in energy and basic materials stocks. London’s energy-focused FTSE 100 rose 0.3 per cent and

Apple has been forced to make drastic cuts to production forecasts for the mixed-reality Vision Pro headset, unveiled last month after seven years in development and hailed as its most significant product launch since the iPhone. The complexity of the headset design and difficulties in production are behind the scaling back of targets, while plans

Every now and then a “feel good” story pops up on American morning TV that would make most Europeans spit out their tea in horror. Good Morning America, for instance, ran a piece about a “trendy co-worker baby shower gift”: donating some of your limited paid leave to your pregnant colleague, so she can have