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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s gross domestic product grew 5.3 per cent in the first quarter against a year earlier, exceeding market expectations as Beijing tries to steer a manufacturing-led revival of the world’s second-largest economy. The strong first-quarter

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Western leaders increased pressure on Israel on Monday to exercise restraint following Iran’s drone and missile attack, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet prepared to reconvene to discuss how it will respond. French President Emmanuel Macron

Benjamin Netanyahu’s initial assessment of how Israel’s aerial defences dealt with Iran’s first direct drone and missile attack on the Jewish state contained more than a hint of satisfaction. “We intercepted. We stopped [the attack]. Together we will win,” the Israeli prime minister wrote on social media platform X on Sunday, after Israel and its

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s war cabinet met on Sunday afternoon to discuss possible responses to a massive overnight Iranian drone and missile attack, with US President Joe Biden urging restraint as the Middle East edged closer to full-blown

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Iran has launched drones at Israel, an Israeli military spokesman said, following a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed several senior Iranian officials. In a statement late on Saturday, Daniel

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Middle Eastern politics & society myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have seized an Israeli-owned container ship in the latest escalation of hostilities between the Islamic republic and Israel. The capture of the ship comes as Tehran has been

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Macquarie, the former owner of Thames Water criticised for loading the utility with debt, is a lender to its stricken parent company. Macquarie’s investors lent about £130mn to the utility’s holding company Kemble Water Finance

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thames Water shareholders backed away from supporting the group after the UK regulator demanded they slash the company’s debt pile and make other structural changes they calculated would cost as much as £8bn. The backtracking

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The US has proposed raising tens of billions of euros in debt for Ukraine secured against the future profits generated by Russian state assets that have been frozen by western countries. The G7 group

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Rishi Sunak’s hopes of going into a general election on the back of lower taxes and cheaper mortgages suffered a blow on Thursday as traders scaled back expectations of interest rate cuts in 2024.

A new rise in US inflation is undermining Joe Biden’s re-election message, threatening the president’s effort to defend his economic record in a crucial phase of the campaign against Donald Trump. The 3.5 per cent annual increase in the March consumer price index followed a 3.2 per cent gain a month earlier, and has made

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Traders slashed bets on imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts on Wednesday after data showed US inflation rose to 3.5 per cent in March, surpassing expectations and marking the second increase in a row. The annual

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. OpenAI and Meta are on the brink of releasing new artificial intelligence models that they say will be capable of reasoning and planning, key steps towards achieving superhuman cognition in machines. This week, executives at

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot is “massively underpaid” and deserves a proposed £1.8mn pay rise, according to one of the drugmaker’s top shareholders. The British pharmaceutical company is preparing for a vote on its long-serving

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Labour will on Tuesday propose to toughen a planned crackdown on tax perks enjoyed by “non-doms” living in the UK, alongside a wider effort to tighten compliance, as the party seeks to plug a hole

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US, UK and Australia on Monday said they were considering working with Japan on advanced technology projects in the trilateral Aukus security pact aimed at boosting deterrence against China. The Aukus defence ministers said

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. President Joe Biden will warn China about its increasingly aggressive activity in the South China Sea this week during summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Two senior US

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The US has warned of “significant consequences” if Chinese companies provide support for Moscow’s war against Ukraine in one of the sharpest messages it has yet delivered to Beijing. Following discussions in Guangzhou on

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US, UK and Australia are to begin talks on bringing new members into Aukus as Washington pushes for Japan to be involved in the security pact aimed as a deterrent against China.  The Aukus

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Joe Biden has almost $100mn more in his election war chest than Donald Trump, the president’s campaign has said, giving him a big money lead over his rival seven months ahead of the election. Biden