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When Antony Blinken came to Paris on June 25, French leaders told the US secretary of state that France attached the “utmost importance” to its strategic submarine deal with Australia — a deal now sunk by the new Aukus pact, according to senior French officials. Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, also stressed that he

France has recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultations, in a diplomatic protest against a new security pact under which Australia will buy nuclear-powered submarines from the US and cancel its existing contract with Paris.  Jean-Yves Le Drian, French foreign minister, issued a statement on Friday night saying he had been told to

The European Central Bank expects to hit its elusive 2 per cent inflation target by 2025, according to unpublished internal models that suggest it is on course to raise interest rates in just over two years. This would be at least a year earlier than most economists expect the ECB to raise its deposit rate

Washington has launched a new trilateral security partnership with London and Canberra which will support Australia’s plan to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, a move that will strengthen the allies’ ability to counter China. The move is US president Joe Biden’s latest effort to bolster alliances amid increasing tensions with China over disputes ranging

America’s fledging offshore wind power industry risks being left “dead in the water” if US authorities clamp down on the use of foreign materials and equipment, according to the Spanish-owned company jointly building the country’s first big project. Bill White, head of offshore wind at Avangrid, part of Iberdrola, said that strict demands for local

Chinese police are using a new anti-fraud app installed on more than 200m mobile phones to identify and question people who have viewed overseas financial news sites, according to individuals summoned by the authorities. The app was launched in March by the public security ministry’s National Anti-Fraud Centre and blocks suspicious phone calls and reports

Beijing wants to break up Alipay, the 1bn plus-user superapp owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, and create a separate app for the company’s highly profitable loans business, in the most visible restructuring yet of the fintech giant. Chinese regulators have already ordered Ant to separate the back end of its two lending businesses, Huabei,

The failure by the US to bring Covid-19 cases under control is scrambling business expectations of a rapid economic revival, forcing companies to reset plans and revise forecasts as they also grapple with a new federal vaccine mandate.  Revenues have fallen at a quarter of US small businesses in each of the past three weeks

The US judge presiding over Epic Games’ high-profile antitrust case against Apple declined to give either side a full victory. Kate Adams, Apple’s chief counsel, called the verdict “a huge win”, pointing to the court’s ruling that “Apple is not a monopolist under ‘either federal or state antitrust laws’”. However, the iPhone maker is being

Joe Biden has held his second call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since becoming US president in an effort to break an impasse in the relationship between the countries after two rounds of top-level meetings produced little progress. The White House said the two leaders had a “broad, strategic discussion” and that Biden had “underscored

Janet Yellen has warned that the US Treasury will run out of cash next month unless Congress increases the borrowing limit, as Joe Biden’s administration grows increasingly worried about a possible debt default. In a letter to congressional leaders on Wednesday, the US Treasury secretary said she could not offer “a specific estimate” of when

An executive with responsibility for Apple’s secretive car project has left for Ford in a stinging departure that potentially spells the end of the iPhone maker’s automotive ambitions. Doug Field, who joined Apple in 2018 as vice-president for special projects from Tesla, will become Ford’s chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer with immediate effect, the

Germany has accused Russia of launching a spate of cyber attacks on politicians amid suspicions that Moscow is interfering in this month’s election to decide who succeeds Angela Merkel as chancellor. Germany’s foreign ministry said it held Russia responsible for illegally targeting a number of national and regional politicians with “phishing” emails to gain access

A frantic summer of dealmaking has put 2021 on track to break records, with almost $4tn of deals already agreed since the start of the year, as companies rush to exploit cheap financing and bumper profits. There were $500bn of transactions globally in the usually quiet month of August, up from $289bn in the same

Seneca, the ancient Roman philosopher, got to the core of our troubles with time in a famous letter known by the title On the Shortness of Life. We complain about how little time we have, he observed — we feel hounded by its onward march and terrified to contemplate the day when our portion of

A sharp slowdown in US jobs growth precludes the possibility that the Federal Reserve will announce plans this month to begin scaling back its pandemic-era stimulus, economists say, as the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant muddies the economic outlook. Following very strong payrolls reports in June and July, the US central bank readied for

Top executives of Renaissance Technologies and their spouses have agreed to pay about $7bn in back taxes and penalties to federal authorities in connection with trades made by the quantitative hedge fund in the largest tax settlement in US history, according to people briefed on the matter. Jim Simons, a mathematician and former cold war

YouTube’s paid music streaming services have amassed 50m subscribers, a milestone for Google as it competes with Amazon, Apple and Spotify in the fiercely competitive market. After a slow start since launching in 2018, YouTube’s music streaming services have attracted millions of new paying users in recent months to reach 50m subscribers in August, according

Joe Biden is poised to launch his most forceful defence yet of America’s chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, a day after the last US troops flew out of Kabul airport ending their 20-year military presence in the country. In remarks scheduled for 2.45pm local time at the White House, the US president will attempt to put

The US dramatically scaled back its evacuation mission in Afghanistan on Monday with the number of civilians being airlifted out of Kabul falling sharply as its forces scramble to withdraw ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to end the 20-year war. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said military commanders were sharing some drawdown logistics with Taliban commanders to