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
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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
The US launched a drone strike to protect the Kabul evacuation effort on Sunday, as the Biden administration and its European allies promised to help people leave Afghanistan after Tuesday’s deadline for withdrawal. The US military said it had carried out a “self-defence” air strike on a vehicle in the Afghan capital, which posed an “imminent
The US has carried out a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan against an Isis-K “planner” behind the deadly attack on Kabul airport on Thursday, as countries wrap up desperate efforts to evacuate thousands of Afghans trying to flee. According to US Central Command on Friday night, American forces conducted an “over-the-horizon counter-terrorism operation” in Nangarhar
Jay Powell has sent his strongest signal yet that the Federal Reserve could start dialling back its massive pandemic-era stimulus programme this year, declaring “clear progress” in the recovery of the US labour market. In a closely watched virtual speech at the Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers on Friday, Powell said the US central
The US has warned American citizens to avoid Kabul airport because of security threats, just hours after secretary of state Antony Blinken urged the Taliban to ensure “safe passage” for people seeking to flee Afghanistan. The deteriorating security situation at the airport has been a mounting concern for US and western officials trying to evacuate
Delta Air Lines said it would start charging unvaccinated employees enrolled in its healthcare plan an additional $200 a month, becoming the latest US company to cajole workers into having the Covid-19 jab. The first fully-fledged approval of a vaccine this week by the US Food and Drug Administration, which gave a green light to
Joe Biden is sticking by his plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the month, defying international pressure, including from key European allies, to allow more time for evacuations. The US president’s decision caps days of uncertainty about the fate of the August 31 deadline for the final pullout of American
Nato members’ hopes that the US will extend the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan beyond August 31 were in doubt because of the risk of Taliban opposition, a British defence minister admitted on Monday. James Heappey said the Taliban “gets a vote” on whether to allow the air bridge out of Kabul to continue beyond the
Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, will on Tuesday host crisis talks on Afghanistan with world leaders, as Britain presses the US to extend the evacuation timetable amid chaos and deaths at Kabul airport. Johnson, as chair of the G7, will hold talks that will include evacuation arrangements for western nationals and Afghan citizens, with Britain
Seven Afghan civilians have been killed around Kabul international airport as chaos continued to hamper western efforts to evacuate people from the country, one week after the Taliban retook control. Confirming the civilian deaths, the UK defence ministry acknowledged on Sunday that “conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging”, as the US warned its citizens
Tsai Hui-chun has lived under the roar of fighter jets her whole life. In her hometown Hualien, on Taiwan’s east coast, they can be seen and heard everywhere, taking off from the local air base. But over the past year, the patrols and exercises have grown almost constant. “They used to do a couple of
Vaccinating children against Covid-19 would be a “very marginal decision” and it is hard to predict whether that would go ahead in the UK, a government adviser has said. Meanwhile, a decision on a booster jab is imminent, said Adam Finn, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the
The FT Weekend Magazine sent Jon Boone, the Financial Times’ formerKabul correspondent, to Afghanistan in early August. Because theTaliban’s conquest of the country potentially puts their lives injeopardy, we have not photographed most of the subjects and some nameshave been changed. There is less than a minute to go before Afghanistan’s most-watched news broadcast goes