Russia’s army and its weapons factories are sucking in a growing number of workers as Moscow braces for a long war in Ukraine, leaving civilian sectors with painful labour shortages and destabilising the broader economy. “The labour market is extremely tight,” the head of a big Russian mining company told the Financial Times. “It is
For two years, Menachem Gida wrestled with a dark sense of foreboding. The communications hobbyist was part of a team of volunteers who, using a “satellite farm” in southern Israel, compulsively monitored Gaza’s communications networks and Arab media, passing on nuggets of information to the Israeli military. It was a semi-formal relationship. But when they
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jeremy Hunt has been warned by senior Conservative MPs not to create space for tax cuts by announcing “perverse” real-terms reductions to the benefits paid to the poorest in society. The UK chancellor is under
Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings saw its revenue surge $670% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, amid a nearly five-fold increase in Bitcoin production. The results saw Marathon also swing to a quarterly profit, with $64.1 million of net income in the third quarter, according to the firm’s Nov. 8 results filing. The
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission could approve all 12 of the pending spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange traded fund (ETF) applications within the next eight days. Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas wrote that starting from Nov. 9 the SEC has a “window” to approve all 12 spot Bitcoin ETF filings —
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is chief executive of Ofcom When Tim Berners Lee, the web’s feted inventor, was asked to assess the greatest impact of being online, he replied “I hope we will use the net to
Electric-car maker Polestar needs to raise an additional $1.3bn and cut costs further in order to break even by 2025, it said on Wednesday. As it raised $450mn from owners Volvo Cars and Geely, the Nasdaq-listed group said it aims to make gross margins in the “high teens” in 2025, while selling 155,000 to 165,000
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel claimed to have helped foil an attack on Jewish targets allegedly planned by Hizbollah in Brazil, where authorities arrested two people on terror charges. Police in Brasília on Wednesday said the arrests in São
Chainlink’s LINK (LINK) token experienced a remarkable 26% surge between Nov. 2 and 8, approaching $14, a level not seen since April 2022. This solidified its position as the 10th largest cryptocurrency (excluding stablecoins) by market capitalization. While the price action is a welcome sight for traders, is Chainlink’s current valuation of $8.1 billion justified?
In a troubled world, booming demand for American military weaponry has left the country in need of billions of dollars more in armaments than it can currently produce. West Virginia is trying to meet that need. Though its footprint in the national defense sector is small, representing just .1% of the $558.7 billion in defense contracts
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The UK’s tax authority has warned that it faces additional costs this year as 1.2mn extra people are pulled into the tax net because of higher earnings and savings rates. Jim Harra, chief executive of
Municipals strengthened Wednesday for the sixth consecutive session while U.S. Treasury yields fell throughout most of the curve with the largest gains seen out long. Equities ended mixed. Triple-A yield curves were bumped four to nine basis points, depending on the curve, while USTs saw some weakness on the front end while yields fell up
Lido’s governing body has approved the deployment of Lido’s Wrapped Staked Ether (wstETH) to Coinbase’s Base network, according to a Nov. 8 announcement. The token is now live and can be traded or used in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on the Base network. Lido is on @BuildOnBase You can now bridge your staked ETH to
In this week’s newsletter, we dive into the dynamic world of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and their impact on the digital landscape, as NFT sales have skyrocketed to an impressive $129 million in November, according to data from Nansen. Despite the surge in sales, OpenSea has laid off a substantial amount of staff as it prepares
A debate over Amtrak funding derailed the House of Representative’s fiscal 2024 transportation bill Tuesday as opponents, many of them Republicans from the northeast, criticized the bill’s deep cuts to the train agency. The House was set to vote Tuesday on the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development measure, one of 12 appropriation bills that GOP leaders
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sanjeev Gupta’s Australian steel business InfraBuild is offering to pay high interest rates to regain access to the bond market, in a deal that could help unlock funds to repay some of the metal magnate’s
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Joseph Schumpeter shocked many with his forthright views about the power of free markets. The early 20th century Austrian economist once told his students at Harvard University: “Gentlemen, a depression is for capitalism like a
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The EU said it was in “complete disagreement” with Turkey’s stance on Hamas after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to the Palestinian militant group behind the October 7 attack on Israel as a “liberation” movement.
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US’s top diplomat has provided Washington’s most detailed plan for the postwar future of Gaza, saying the enclave should be politically unified with the West Bank under the administration of the Palestinian Authority. Antony
Bitcoin’s (BTC) rally stalled near $36,000, but the bulls have not hurried to book profits. According to Glassnode analysis, the Long-Term Holder metric, which are addresses holding Bitcoin for at least 155 days, supply is near an all-time high, while the Short-Term Holder, addresses holding coins for less than 155 days, supply is near an
The developers of the Near and Polygon networks are teaming up to create a zero-knowledge (ZK) prover for Web Assembly (WASM) blockchains, according to a joint announcement on Nov. 8. The new prover, called “zkWASM,” will for the first time allow WASM-based networks to join the Polygon ecosystem. Zero-knowledge, meet Web Assembly. The NEAR Foundation