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China is moving to take “golden shares” in local units of Alibaba and Tencent as Beijng formalises a greater role in overseeing the country’s powerful tech groups. The Chinese government has responded to a stuttering economy by backing away from the tough fines and sanctions that were a hallmark of its campaign to rein in

Activist investor Nelson Peltz will try to force his way on to the board of Walt Disney after the company declined to nominate him as a director, setting the stage for one of the biggest proxy fights in the US in years. Peltz is planning to take his attempt for a board seat directly to

Health secretary Steve Barclay warned there will be “disruption” to NHS services across England and Wales because of walkouts by ambulance workers over pay and working conditions. Workers from GMB and Unison have begun industrial action in ten out the 11 ambulance trusts, following a heated escalation in rhetoric between ministers over the impact of

London and Brussels have secured a breakthrough in the corrosive dispute over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading relations, clearing the way for a new push to resolve the longstanding issue. After months of deadlock and acrimony, the UK and EU issued a joint statement proclaiming a tentative deal that would give Brussels access to the UK’s

Police regained control of Brazil’s main government complex on Sunday evening after thousands of supporters of rightwing former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congress, supreme court and presidential palace. Social media footage earlier showed crowds vandalising the interiors of the three institutions in Brasília in scenes reminiscent of the US Capitol invasion two years ago

India’s central bank governor has expressed concern over growing debt distress among regional trade partners and said he is alert to possible risks to his country’s economy from a global slowdown. Shaktikanta Das said in an interview with the Financial Times that he was optimistic about India’s growth and financial stability despite the deteriorating global

Kevin McCarthy has been elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, ending a tortuous week of wheeling and dealing on Capitol Hill that exposed sharp divisions in the Republican party and raised fresh questions about whether Congress can govern effectively in the years to come. McCarthy was elected Speaker just after midnight on Saturday

Taiwan is courting investors to help it establish its own satellite communications provider, inspired by the role Elon Musk’s Starlink has played in the war in Ukraine, as Taipei ramps up efforts to fortify itself against a potential assault from China. Taiwan is in preliminary talks with several domestic and international investors to raise funds

Inflation in the US has not “turned the corner yet” and it is too early for the Federal Reserve to declare victory in its fight against soaring prices, a top IMF official has warned. In an interview with the Financial Times Gita Gopinath, the fund’s second-in-command, urged the US central bank to press ahead with

Downing Street on Tuesday admitted that some Britons will find it “very difficult” to access the NHS this winter, as Rishi Sunak tried to regain control of the political agenda in the face of an escalating health crisis. Sunak, accused by Labour of going missing during a series of strikes and chaotic scenes at Britain’s

The UK will face one of the worst recessions and weakest recoveries in the G7 in the coming year, as households pay a heavy price for the government’s policy failings, economists say. A clear majority of the 101 respondents in the FT’s annual poll of leading UK-based economists said the inflationary shock caused by the

A third of the global economy will be hit by recession this year, the head of the IMF has said, as she warned that the world faces a “tougher” year in 2023 than the previous 12 months. The US, EU and China are all slowing simultaneously, said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva. “We expect one-third

Pension funds should be “extremely careful” when investing in illiquid assets, as rising interest rates and falling stock markets increase the likelihood of their having to access cash quickly, the OECD has warned. In the recent era of low interest rates, pension funds poured money into alternative investments, such as infrastructure projects and private equity,

Global stocks and bonds lost more than $30tn for 2022 after inflation, interest rate rises and the war in Ukraine triggered the heaviest losses in asset markets since the global financial crisis. The broad MSCI All-World index of developed and emerging market equities has shed a fifth of its value this year, the biggest decline

Global dealmaking suffered a record fall during the second half of this year, as rising interest rates and economic uncertainty brought a period of frenzied activity to an abrupt close. Mergers and acquisitions worth $1.4tn were announced during the six months to December, according to data provider Refinitiv, down from the $2.2tn agreed in the

Silicon Valley workers are rushing to offload stakes in tech start-ups through private share sales after a wave of job cuts, compounding a collapse in valuations. Employees of embattled tech groups are flooding secondary markets — where stakeholders in a private company sell shares to third parties — as the industry’s former darlings such as

Some of the UK’s largest banks have agreed measures with the government to help struggling borrowers as they brace for a surge in late mortgage payments. The so-called forbearance measures, which were used during the 2008 financial crisis, are an attempt by banks including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest to avoid repossessions and

China will remove quarantine requirements for inbound travellers from January 8 as the country dismantles the remnants of a zero-Covid regime that closed it off from the rest of the world for almost three years. The National Health Commission on Monday unveiled the move as part of a wider announcement that downgraded the country’s management

Apple’s business is under threat from a widespread coronavirus outbreak in China, with supply chain experts warning of a growing risk of months-long disruption to the production of iPhones. The US tech giant has had to contend with more than a month of chaos at its main assembler Foxconn’s megafactory in Zhengzhou, China, known as

Chinese officials estimate about 250mn people, or 18 per cent of the population, were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years. The estimates — including 37mn people, or 2.6 per cent of the population, who were infected on