News

€69 per month Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. What’s included Global news & analysis Expert opinion FT App on Android & iOS FT Edit app FirstFT: the day’s biggest stories 20+ curated newsletters Follow topics & set alerts with myFT

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Vladimir Putin has apologised to Azerbaijan for what he described as a “tragic incident” involving an Azerbaijani aircraft in Russian airspace on Christmas Day. Moscow phoned Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and the Russian president expressed

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Global corporate debt sales soared to a record $8tn this year, as companies took advantage of red-hot demand from investors to accelerate their borrowing plans. Issuance of corporate bonds and leveraged loans climbed by more

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Private equity myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The wealth of US private capital bosses jumped by more than $56bn in 2024 as shares of Blackstone, Apollo and KKR hit new highs, fuelled by rapid growth and their addition to the main US

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Finnish authorities are investigating an oil tanker that is part of Russia’s shadow fleet over whether it cut an electricity cable between Finland and Estonia. The Eagle S was stopped by Finnish authorities after the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Russian anti-aircraft fire may have caused a plane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, according to defence experts and officials in the region. The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku

Every night without fail, a mobile phone rings in the Holy Family church in Gaza, and a parish priest answers. The voice at the end of the line is that of Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and spiritual leader to a global flock of 1.4bn people. For more than a year, the pontiff

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. De Beers Group has amassed its biggest stockpile of diamonds since the 2008 financial crisis, laying bare the group’s challenge in reviving demand for jewels long seen as the pinnacle of luxury. A slump in

Sir Keir Starmer’s friends say the prime minister needs a holiday. After a year of electoral triumph followed by a precipitous drop in support — with no time off in between — the UK Labour party’s high command appears exhausted. “He needs a break, they all need a break,” said one confidant. “These are people

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US companies are defaulting on junk loans at the fastest rate in four years, as they struggle to refinance a wave of cheap borrowing that followed the Covid pandemic. Defaults in the global leveraged loan

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s former pick for US attorney-general, was accused by the House ethics committee of having sex with an underaged girl, paying women for sex and using illegal drugs in an

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy failed to grow in the third quarter, in the latest blow to a government already under fire from businesses for its tax-raising Budget. GDP did not register any growth in the three

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Nick Candy, the new treasurer of Nigel Farage’s rightwing Reform party, has promised Britain “political disruption like we have never seen before” as he claimed to have several other billionaire backers in addition to Elon

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Sovereign bonds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Investors poured record amounts into global bond funds this year as they bet on a shift towards easier monetary policy by major central banks. Bond funds attracted more than $600bn in inflows so far this

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. As I pack my bags after nine years in Berlin, I’m leaving a city that seems to be trapped in a narrative of its own decline. Veterans say it has jumped the shark. Flats

€69 per month Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. What’s included Global news & analysis Expert opinion FT App on Android & iOS FT Edit app FirstFT: the day’s biggest stories 20+ curated newsletters Follow topics & set alerts with myFT

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, killing at least two and injuring dozens more in what local officials said they

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Novo Nordisk, one of Europe’s largest companies, lost more than a quarter of its value on Friday after its latest obesity drug missed the drugmaker’s goal for an average of 25 per cent weight loss.

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Leading central banks have warned that inflation is proving stickier than expected and that they will only cut borrowing costs gradually in 2025, in a shift that hit bond markets on both sides

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent as it seeks to contend with both stubborn inflation and lacklustre growth. In a split decision, most members of the Monetary