The author is English managing editor at OVD-Info, a group monitoring human rights in Russia More than a year into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my western friends often ask me: why don’t Russians protest? The answer is that some do — but protest is largely futile in the face of a decade-long Kremlin crackdown.
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The UK’s household energy price cap is expected to drop by more than £1,200 in July following a sharp fall in wholesale gas and electricity prices, a move that will bring relief to the government as it tackles the cost of living crisis. The final estimate from investment bank Investec for the price cap in
Germany’s Dax index rose to a record intraday high on Friday as growing investor confidence in corporate earnings made it Europe’s second-best-performing main equity market this year. The index, a measure of Germany’s 40 biggest listed companies, added 0.9 per cent to more than 16,320, surpassing its previous high of 16,290 set in November 2021.
Tesco’s chair, John Allan, is to step down next month after eight years in the role, following allegations about his behaviour towards women that risked “becoming a distraction” to the UK’s largest supermarket chain. Allan, also a former president of the CBI business lobby group, denies three separate allegations of inappropriate conduct. He has “unreservedly”
When the histories of the war in Ukraine are written, it seems a fair bet that the African mediating mission announced by South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa this week will struggle to make a footnote. Would-be mediators are two-a-penny these days, and anyway South Africa has marked its card as being rather too cosy with
James Gorman plans to step down as chief executive of Morgan Stanley within the next year after more than a decade at the top of the Wall Street bank he turned into a wealth management juggernaut. Gorman, 64, told the bank’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday that the “specific timing of the CEO transition has
The writer is director of British Future, a think-tank. His new book is ‘How to Be a Patriot’ There is a simplistic populist narrative about high immigration — a story of betrayal. The claim is that political and economic elites ignore the persistent public demand for lower immigration. But changing attitudes towards immigration make that story ever
Lunch doesn’t usually happen at 11am, but MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu is an efficient man. We are meeting early and close to his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that he can jet off immediately afterwards to record a podcast to discuss his new book. Our venue, a Hunan restaurant called Sumiao, is something rare
G7 leaders have called for the formulation of “guardrails” around the development of artificial intelligence, at a summit of the grouping that is tackling the emerging technology for the first time. Rapid advancements in AI in recent months have sparked calls for greater oversight of its myriad applications, but there is little concrete agreement between
European stocks rose on Friday, pushing Germany’s Dax close to a record high, as investors awaited speeches by central bankers later in the day for clues on the future direction of interest rates. The benchmark index in Frankfurt gained 0.3 per cent in early trade, putting it less than 100 points off the 16,290 high
UK consumer confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month in May to the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a closely watched barometer. Research group GfK said on Friday that its consumer confidence index rose by three points to minus 27 this month, continuing the improvement since it hit a low
Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, is to distribute £340mn to members as rising rates boosted profits by nearly 40 per cent. The UK lender on Friday posted pre-tax profits of £2.2bn for the year to April 4, an increase of 39 per cent year on year. Revenues for the year were £4.7bn, a 20
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the G7 summit this weekend in person, four people briefed on the preparations told the Financial Times. Zelenskyy is expected to participate in meetings in Hiroshima on Sunday, they said. His unexpected attendance is aimed at bolstering western support of Ukraine as the war with Russia heads towards its
David McKelvey had the relaxed dress of a former police officer whose days of sprinting after suspects are well behind him: shorts, Crocs, a polo shirt. I met him last summer at the headquarters of his company, TM Eye, which investigates shoplifters and counterfeiters for private clients. The office is located in a small suburban
If Zoom, Peloton and pet shops were some of the unexpected winners of the early phase of the global pandemic, one of the biggest losers was apartment living. From March 2020 onwards, trends in house and flat prices diverged dramatically as lockdowns and remote working put a premium on domestic space. So ubiquitous was this
Russia’s flagship economic forum in St Petersburg has named former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt as a participant at this year’s event in a draft programme that is disputed by many of the supposed attendees. Several people listed on the document, dated Tuesday and seen by the Financial Times, said they did not plan to
There is a definite whiff of “something must be done” in the air. UK supermarkets were last week discussing food prices with the Treasury. This week came a Downing Street summit on the food industry and the launch of a “farm to fork” parliamentary inquiry. Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, had called
The writer is prime minister of Japan When I visited Ukraine in March and met President Zelenskyy, I expressed to him my commitment to maintaining the unwavering unity of the G7 for strict sanctions against Russia and our robust support for his country. At my invitation, he will participate in discussions at the G7 summit
G7 summit: The gathering of world leaders will open in Hiroshima today. The summit will seek to affirm the rule of law in the international order, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said. As well as leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, those from Australia, South Korea and India will
G7 countries are preparing new sanctions against Russia, covering ships, aircraft, individuals and diamonds, officials say, as they seek to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin’s war machine. The plan to curtail imports of diamonds from Russia — which comes as G7 leaders meet in Hiroshima, Japan — targets one of Moscow’s few remaining export
Allies of Ukraine gathering in Japan this week for the G7 summit may approach the next round of sanctions talks with trepidation. An agreement on restricting the Russian diamond trade is welcome but, from here, many of the grander proposals to stem the flow of money and critical goods to Russia raise diplomatic problems. The