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Israeli fighter jets bombed the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday, amid a sharp escalation of violence after militants in Lebanon and Gaza fired a volley of rockets at Israel. The Israeli military said that it had hit four targets — including two weapons manufacturing sites and two tunnels — belonging to the

Jes Staley’s lawyer has described “slanderous” allegations that he aided and abetted Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes as “baseless but serious”, after the executive was sued by his former employer JPMorgan Chase. Brendan Sullivan, who is representing Staley, asked a federal judge in New York for more time to review tens of thousands of documents relating to

Bank of America has cut short an online client conference on geopolitics and apologised to attendees after some balked at what they saw as pro-Russian comments about the war in Ukraine, according to three people who attended the event. The conference was designed as a two-day event beginning on Tuesday, but BofA Securities cancelled three

The US is pushing back against efforts by some European allies to offer Ukraine a “road map” to Nato membership at the alliance’s July summit, exposing divides in the west over Kyiv’s postwar status. The US, Germany and Hungary are resisting efforts from countries such as Poland and the Baltic states to offer Kyiv deeper

Any appraisal of the Good Friday Agreement, which is passing its 25th anniversary, must start with one fact. Up to 1998, 3,488 lives were claimed by Northern Ireland’s grinding conflict. And then, for the most part, the campaigns of killing stopped. All criticisms of the deal are mere footnotes to that. The principles of the

The IMF’s managing director has warned that the global economy is facing years of slow growth, with medium-term prospects their weakest in more than 30 years. Speaking in Washington ahead of the World Bank and IMF spring meetings next week, Kristalina Georgieva said the world economy would expand at an average annual rate of about

Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday warned against any escalation of the crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and repeated a call for peace talks, but did not publicly commit to playing a more active role in influencing Moscow. He spoke after a first round of meetings in Beijing with French president Emmanuel Macron,

The writer is executive director of American Compass Joe Biden has done an impressive job of undermining his own approach to governance in recent months. On a number of fronts, bipartisan policy has granted the federal government new authority to address some vital national problem, and each time the White House has made a point of

I have worked blissfully alone for 25 years. But this winter, my small tumbledown work flat in Paris — my safe space away from the wife and kids — finally had to be renovated. Since January I’ve been paying €358.80 a month to rent a desk in a WeWork co-working space. It has been a

European stocks edged higher on Thursday while Wall Street futures slipped after a flurry of weaker than expected jobs data heightened investor concerns about a looming US recession. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 added 0.2 per cent in early trading. Germany’s Dax was steady as industrial production in the eurozone’s biggest economy advanced 2 per cent

Advertisers are increasing their spending on TikTok, despite the threat of an imminent US ban of the Chinese-owned viral video app over national security concerns. Advertising on TikTok in the US grew by 11 per cent in March, with companies including Pepsi, DoorDash, Amazon and Apple among the top spenders, according to data from app

A few weeks ago, I went to dinner in Manhattan with friends who work in finance on America’s East and West coasts. Nothing odd about that, you might think. But this gathering was memorable: over wine, my companions traded tales about the tactics they and their colleagues had used the previous day to yank deposits

For most of the past two centuries, if you asked a young adult in the west whether they had a better standard of living than their parents enjoyed at the same age, you would have been drowned out by a unity of yesses. More money, more things to spend it on, longer and healthier lives

Private equity group KKR is nearing a deal to buy a large stake in FGS Global that will value the WPP-backed financial communications company at about $1.4bn, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The deal, which may be announced as soon as next week, will mark the latest big investment by buyout groups

A Hollywood business manager whose clients have included Madonna and Drake has sued Goldman Sachs alleging it tricked him into handing over business secrets as part of an effort to agree a $7bn deal with a private equity firm. Show business impresario Mickey Segal’s lawsuit focuses on the Wall Street bank’s role when Clayton, Dubilier

Regulators have appointed BlackRock’s advisory arm to help sell a $114bn portfolio of securities inherited in the takeovers of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank when the pair collapsed within days of each other in March. The fate of the holdings, which consist of mortgage-backed securities, collateralised mortgage obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities, have rattled

Kyiv is willing to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if its forces reach the border of the Russian-occupied peninsula, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the Financial Times. The comments by Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, are the most explicit statement of Ukraine’s interest in negotiations since it

Hedge funds made more than $7bn in profits by betting against bank shares during the recent crisis that rocked the sector, their biggest such haul since the 2008 financial crisis. The bumper gains came during a bleak month for banks, with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the emergency sale of Credit Suisse affecting

This was not the start Humza Yousaf wanted. Just a week after taking office as Scotland’s first minister, Yousaf was on Wednesday responding to the arrest of the husband of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon by police investigating the finances of his governing Scottish National party. For Scotland, the arrest of Peter Murrell, chief executive of

Poland’s president on Wednesday pledged to send 14 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine after welcoming president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Warsaw for a state visit to strengthen ties between the neighbouring nations. The fresh pledge follows Poland’s delivery of four of its Soviet-built jets after it agreed last month to make the first shipment of combat

The Swiss government has cut bonuses for about 1,000 senior bankers at Credit Suisse, with the executive team losing their outstanding variable pay entirely, after the lender’s rescue by its rival UBS last month. Following a meeting on Wednesday, the federal council, Switzerland’s executive body, called on the finance ministry to cut bonuses at Credit