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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

Fighting is raging in Afghanistan’s isolated Panjshir Valley, the last stronghold of resistance to the Taliban, as the Islamist group maintains a military offensive to pacify the last territory holding out against its rule. Amrullah Saleh, vice-president of the former government of Ashraf Ghani, warned of an “overwhelming humanitarian crisis” and pleaded for international relief

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

The US economy created just 235,000 jobs in August, in a sign that the more contagious Delta coronavirus variant is having an effect on hiring plans and worker shortages are still rampant nationwide. Non-farm payrolls data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday marked a sharp deceleration from the upwardly revised 1.1m jobs

WhatsApp has been fined €225m for breaking the EU’s data privacy law by not telling its users how it was sharing their data with its parent company Facebook. In one of the biggest fines relating to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Irish data regulator applied a penalty more than four times the level

The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission is warning that cryptocurrency trading platforms are putting their own survival at risk unless they heed his call to work within the nation’s regulatory framework. Gary Gensler told the Financial Times that while he remained “technology neutral”, crypto assets were no different than any others when

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

Rockets were fired at Kabul’s international airport on Monday as US troops rushed to complete evacuations a day ahead of the deadline for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan. Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson, confirmed that the airport had come under rocket attack but said that “operations continue uninterrupted”. There was no report of

The US warned its citizens to leave the vicinity of Kabul airport immediately due to “a specific, credible threat” of an imminent attack, with the Taliban scaling up its armed presence around the site ahead of an August 31 deadline for the American withdrawal. The alert from the US embassy in Kabul came hours after

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

Joe Biden vowed to plough ahead with the evacuation of those trying to flee Afghanistan and punish the perpetrators of an attack outside Kabul’s airport that killed at least 13 US troops and dozens of Afghans. At the end of what one aide called “maybe the worst day” of his eight-month presidency, Biden attempted to

Investors in the US have started to dial back their use of leverage for the first time since financial markets were rattled by the coronavirus crisis last year, removing some of the borrowed money that has since fuelled a rally in stocks. Investors had borrowed $844bn against their portfolios in July, down from a record

Hedge funds that seek to profit from stricken companies are enjoying their best year since the aftermath of the financial crisis as the stimulus-driven market rally boosts the price of debt that had been skirting with default. Distressed debt funds — specialists in picking up bonds and loans issued by companies in trouble — made

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has warned of increasing risks of attacks on troops and evacuees at Kabul airport, as world leaders prepare to push Joe Biden to extend the US-led evacuation from Afghanistan beyond August 31. At an emergency G7 meeting, the US president will hear calls from allies including Boris Johnson, UK prime

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

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

Joe Biden pledged to evacuate every American trying to leave Afghanistan and insisted the botched US airlift was making “significant progress”, dismissing suggestions his administration had ignored warnings the Taliban would conquer Kabul at lightning speed. “This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” said Biden in a televised address to the

China’s biggest tech stocks are on track for their worst week in four months as groups including Alibaba came under renewed selling pressure on the latest signs that Beijing’s regulatory crackdown was tightening. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon index of large US-listed Chinese stocks closed more than 5 per cent lower on Thursday in New York,

European stocks tumbled at the open on Thursday, with commodities also under heavy pressure on mounting concerns over US monetary policy and the renewed spread of coronavirus. Major bourses across the region slid in early trading, with London’s FTSE 100 dropping about 2 per cent. The broad Europe Stoxx 600 fell 1.4 per cent with

The Taliban is rushing to work out how to govern Afghanistan after the militant Islamist group’s exiled leaders came back to a country that has changed profoundly since it was driven from power 20 years ago. While the Taliban has been setting up shadow governors and administrators to rule its conquered territory, the US has

The Taliban has urged public officials to return to work and renewed a pledge to grant amnesty to government workers a day after Joe Biden blamed Afghan security forces for their rapid capitulation to the insurgents. The Islamist group’s effort to reassure Afghans came as evacuation flights resumed from Kabul, following a chaotic day at

Afghans were bracing themselves for life under strict Islamic rule on Monday after the Taliban drove the US-backed government of Ashraf Ghani from power to establish control of Kabul. Thousands of residents filled the airport and throngs of people tried to push their way on to planes in a desperate effort to flee after the

Britain’s defence secretary has warned that Afghanistan risks descending into civil war and becoming a failed state as the Taliban captures large cities and gains ground in the wake of the hasty US troop withdrawal. The Islamist militia is now in control of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-biggest city, and Lashkar Gah in Helmand province after weeks

The Federal Reserve could start dialling back its ultra-accommodative monetary stimulus by the end of the year, given the strength of the economic rebound, according to a top official at the US central bank. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Fed, expressed confidence that the robust recovery

The rapid pace of US consumer price increases remained at a 13-year high in July as inflationary pressures persisted due to supply-chain constraints and soaring demand. The consumer price index (CPI) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics rose 5.4 per cent in July from a year ago, surpassing the 5.3 per cent expected by

SoftBank’s bets on an increasingly uncertain Chinese technology market have become the prime focus for shareholders as Masayoshi Son’s investment conglomerate reported a sharp drop in quarterly net profits. While listings of its portfolio companies helped the Japanese group’s flagship Vision Fund post a profit, the $100bn vehicle took a $6.3bn hit on nine of

The world is likely to temporarily reach 1.5C of warming within 20 years even in a best-case scenario of deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a landmark report on climate change signed off by 234 scientists from more than 60 countries has concluded. Even with rapid emissions cuts, temperatures would continue to rise until “at

ByteDance, the owner of short-video app TikTok, has revived a plan to go public despite a widening regulatory assault targeting Chinese technology companies, aiming for a Hong Kong listing by early next year. The Chinese group, which raised about $5bn in December at a $180bn valuation, is planning to list in either the fourth quarter

WhatsApp has condemned Apple’s new child safety tools as a “very concerning . . . surveillance system”, even as governments around the world have cheered the decision to proactively search for illegal photos of child sexual abuse. The stand-off sets up a battle between other tech platforms and officials calling for them to adopt similar tools. An Indian government

Retail investors are scooping up funds that track Chinese stocks after sharp falls in recent weeks, marking a contrast to institutions that have remained more cautious as Beijing cracks down on key sectors. A US listed exchange traded fund, which holds big names such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Meituan, has attracted more than $2bn