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China is building sophisticated cyber weapons to “seize control” of enemy satellites, rendering them useless for data signals or surveillance during wartime, according to a leaked US intelligence report. The US assesses that China’s push to develop capabilities to “deny, exploit or hijack” enemy satellites is a core part of its goal to control information,

Google plans to introduce generative artificial intelligence into its advertising business over the coming months, as big tech groups rush to incorporate the groundbreaking technology into their products. According to an internal presentation to advertisers seen by the Financial Times, the Alphabet-owned company intends to begin using the AI to create novel advertisements based on

UK inflation remained in double digits in March with annual price rises of 10.1 per cent, raising the chances of further interest rate rises from the Bank of England. Consumer price inflation had been 10.4 per cent in February and was expected to drop to 9.8 per cent last month. Although petrol and diesel prices

China’s gross domestic product expanded 4.5 per cent year on year in the first quarter, as strong growth in exports and infrastructure investment as well as a rebound in retail consumption and property prices drove a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. The official figure, which exceeded analyst expectations of a 4 per cent rise,

Global regulators are considering imposing tougher rules on smaller lenders and requiring all banks to ready themselves for faster runs on deposits as officials search for lessons from the recent turmoil that led to the failure of several midsized US institutions. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which sets global standards, promised in March to

The head of the IMF’s Africa department has called for a significant increase in international support to help countries overcome a funding squeeze that is jeopardising the continent’s economic development. Abebe Selassie told the Financial Times that reform of the current mechanisms for dealing with unsustainable debts of African countries was “desperately needed”. “Do we

The CBI needs to become “sharper and more focused” to reclaim the confidence of its members and the government after “devastating” allegations of rape, sexual harassment and bullying, the organisation’s president said on Friday. Speaking publicly for the first time after a week of bruising headlines questioning the future of the UK’s premier business lobby

The FBI arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard as part of an investigation into the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents. Attorney-general Merrick Garland identified the suspect as Jack Teixeira in a brief statement to reporters on Thursday. “FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident,” Garland

Andrew Bailey has said the Bank of England is working on reform of Britain’s bank deposit insurance guarantee scheme, raising the prospect of increased protection for customers. Speaking in response to high-profile bank failures on both sides of the Atlantic, the BoE governor suggested the UK might need to increase its limit for guaranteed deposits

Tens of thousands of Hongkongers who moved to the UK are being blocked from accessing as much as £2.2bn of pension assets, as activists accuse the city’s government of retaliating against those deemed “unpatriotic” following a political crackdown. The figures, released by UK advocacy group Hong Kong Watch on the eve of the first visit

Low-income countries will face their biggest bills for servicing foreign debts in a quarter of a century this year, putting spending on health and education at risk. Repayments on public debt owed to non-residents for a group of 91 of the world’s poorest countries will take up an average of more than 16 per cent

China’s financial sector is reeling from a series of new corruption probes and a surge in surprise audits of venture funds, as President Xi Jinping sharpens his focus on an industry he sees as failing to serve the broader economy. With Beijing’s graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection warning against “hedonism” and “high-end lifestyles”, banks

ByteDance raked in a record underlying profit last year, overtaking China’s long-reigning tech giants Tencent and Alibaba for the first time even as losses mounted for its fast-growing TikTok business unit. The world’s most valuable private company posted a 79 per cent surge in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, its preferred metric for

A British business registered to a terraced house in a north London suburb appears to have arranged the sale of about $1.2bn of electronics into Russia since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the start of 2022. Mykines Corporation LLP, a company based in the London borough of Enfield, is listed in Russian records

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

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

Donald Trump has arrived at a Manhattan courthouse to be formally charged in connection with payments made to buy the silence of a porn actress ahead of his 2016 campaign for the White House. The arraignment of Trump marks the first criminal case against a former or sitting US president and will fire the starting

The UK is no longer investigating two of the three initial allegations against Mikhail Fridman four months after arresting the sanctioned Russian oligarch at his London mansion. The National Crime Agency, which tasked over 50 officers to raid Fridman’s multimillion home in north London in December, has stopped probing the 58-year-old businessman on suspicion of

Saudi Arabia and other members of the Opec+ group announced surprise oil production cuts totalling more than 1mn barrels a day, putting Riyadh on a collision course with the US as the kingdom attempts to boost prices amid fears of weaker demand. Saudi Arabia will implement a “voluntary cut” of 500,000 b/d, or just under

Two years on from the January 6 Capitol riots, and following a familiar call to arms from former president Donald Trump, it was widely feared that crowds of his supporters might swarm the streets of New York to protest his indictment by the Manhattan district attorney. But by Friday afternoon, the anticipated hordes were conspicuously absent.