News

The European Central Bank made no profits for the first time in 15 years in 2022 after suffering writedowns on its bond investments, with analysts predicting years of losses following the reversal of its ultra-loose monetary policies. The ECB said on Thursday it would have made an annual loss of more than €1.6bn if it

Citigroup has forecast that UK inflation will plunge from the current double-digit rates to close to 2 per cent by the end of this year as rapid falls in gas prices give Rishi Sunak’s government hope of solving some of its biggest economic challenges. Citi said on Wednesday that consumer price inflation was likely to

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will suspend its participation in its only remaining nuclear arms treaty with the US, scaling up tensions to a level unseen since the cold war as his invasion of Ukraine nears its first anniversary. In a state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday, the Russian president claimed the US had effectively forced him

Rishi Sunak is pressing to seal a deal with Brussels on post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade rules early this week, rejecting calls from former prime minister Boris Johnson to take a more confrontational approach. Sunak’s officials held talks with their Brussels counterparts on Sunday on how to give Northern Ireland politicians a say in the application

Good morning. There are decades when nothing happens. Then there are weeks when decades happen. With unerring timing, my holiday happened to coincide with one of those weeks. My apologies (and thanks!) to Jude, Jen, Miranda, Robert, Chris, Lukanyo, and George for filling in with such aplomb. Some thoughts on some of the aftershocks in

European stocks gave up early gains on Monday, as investors weighed the prospect that the world’s biggest central banks would keep interest rates higher for longer to curb inflation. The region-wide Stoxx 600 traded flat while France’s Cac 40 eased 0.2 per cent. Trading activity was more muted as US markets are closed for Presidents’

It is not often that a Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist gives the keynote speech at a competition policy conference. But last week in Washington, I introduced PEN America president Ayad Akhtar before he gave the lunchtime address at a conference on monopoly policy sponsored by the Open Markets Institute. The pairing wasn’t as random as it

Friday marks the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an event that shocked the world by bringing large-scale conflict to European soil. US president Joe Biden’s visit to Poland at the start of the week will serve as a show of strength to Ukrainian and Nato allies in the face of Russia’s long-expected

There comes a point in many wars where the warring sides wonder what they have got themselves into. By some accounts, Vladimir Putin reached that stage in September. After a series of military setbacks, the Russian leader was showing anger — and even panic. Putin is now said to have regained his equanimity. With the

Good morning. It was a busy weekend in Munich as the world’s defence and security community digested almost a year of horrendous war in Ukraine, an increasingly tense US-China relationship and three ballistic missile tests by North Korea. What a time to be alive. Plus, Poland’s president Andrzej Duda used an interview with the FT’s

Jaime Puerta remembers the last night his life felt normal. He had dinner with his son Daniel and they joked around while flicking through old family photographs. The next morning, the former marine found Daniel unconscious on his bed with ashen skin and a blue tint on his lips. What looked like half a tablet

Polish president Andrzej Duda has called on Nato powers to give postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, on the eve of a visit to Warsaw by his US counterpart to reaffirm the west’s support for Kyiv a year into Russia’s war. Duda told the Financial Times that promises of security guarantees “would be important” for Ukraine

US president Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday in a dramatic show of American commitment to Ukraine ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. His stopover, shrouded in secrecy owing to security concerns, comes at a pivotal moment in the war as Ukraine is gearing up for a counteroffensive

One of the leading contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister has said he will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest, as other Conservative MPs prepare to launch their campaigns. Defence secretary Ben Wallace was the favourite among the Tory grassroots, with a net approval rating of +86 among party members according to

Rishi Sunak, who quit as Boris Johnson’s chancellor this week, launched his bid to lead the Conservative party on Friday with a pledge that he will avoid “comforting fairy tales”. His video to launch his campaign appeared a coded attack on what many MPs have seen as the prime minister’s Panglossian approach to policy. “Someone

Conservative party grandees intend to install a new UK prime minister by early September when the House of Commons returns from its summer break, according to MPs with knowledge of the plans. Boris Johnson’s resignation announcement on Thursday triggered an internal contest for electing a new party leader, who will in turn be appointed prime

Boris Johnson’s turbulent three-year premiership was nearing its end on Wednesday night after he was urged to quit by a delegation of his closest cabinet allies. The UK prime minister was warned that unless he stepped down there would be further cabinet resignations, followed by an inevitable humiliating defeat by Tory MPs in a no-confidence

Boris Johnson’s premiership was teetering on the brink on Tuesday night, after chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid dramatically resigned from the cabinet. Downing Street was braced for more ministers quitting with many Tory MPs believing the dual resignation of two senior ministers could signal the beginning of the end for Johnson. Sunak

Protesters brought parts of the UK’s motorway network to a standstill on Monday in a demonstration over high fuel prices. Police warned drivers that a “slow-moving rolling roadblock” was causing delays on parts of the M4 motorway near the border between England and Wales and on the M5 near Bristol. There were also “significant delays”

Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday signal that Labour is willing to fight Boris Johnson over his Brexit legacy at the next election, setting out a five-point plan to tackle the economic pain caused by Britain’s EU exit. In a big tactical shift, Starmer will use a speech to denounce the “mess” created by the