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Kevin McCarthy was in the fight of his political life on Tuesday after he lost an initial vote to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, becoming the first majority party leader in a century to falter in the early ballot. At the end of the first round of voting on Tuesday afternoon, McCarthy

Moscow said a Ukrainian air strike on army barracks in the Russian-occupied town of Makiivka killed 63 soldiers, in one of the bloodiest blows to the Kremlin’s ground forces since the start of the war. The defence ministry said four high-explosive missiles struck the town’s temporary deployment base — a school building that stood near

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, European Union and China are all slowing simultaneously, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing director, said. “We expect

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 are set to register losses of more than $30tn for 2022 after inflation, interest rate rises and 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 nearly a fifth of its value

The EU has rejected an Italian demand to reimpose travel restrictions on arrivals from China, as capitals across the world take divergent approaches to surging numbers of coronavirus infections in the country. EU officials at a meeting on Thursday did not endorse a call from Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, for the bloc to collectively

ExxonMobil is suing the EU in a bid to force it to scrap the bloc’s new windfall tax on oil groups, arguing Brussels exceeded its legal authority by imposing the levy. The lawsuit is the most significant response yet against the tax from the oil industry, which has been targeted by western governments amid a

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

Hedge funds trading bonds and currencies are on track for their best year since the global financial crisis, boosted by the steep interest rate rises that have inflicted heavy losses on equity specialists and mainstream investors. So-called macro hedge funds, made famous by the likes of George Soros and Louis Bacon, endured a barren period

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

Hospitals in Beijing are being overwhelmed by sick elderly Covid-19 patients just weeks after China abandoned its tough coronavirus containment measures with little preparation for the exit wave now ripping through the country. Emergency rooms have run out of portable beds for patients, the infirm are waiting hours for ambulances and many doctors are too

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 — which include 37mn people who were infected on Tuesday alone, or 2.6 per cent

The UK economy contracted by more than previously estimated in the third quarter and lagged further behind other advanced economies, as households struggled with high inflation. Data published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday also suggested that consumers are not dipping into their savings as much as forecast, suggesting the UK’s recession could

UK health secretary Steve Barclay on Wednesday doubled down on the government’s decision not to negotiate on pay with striking NHS staff, as he accused ambulance unions of jeopardising patient safety. Barclay accused the unions of making a “conscious choice to inflict harm on patients” and criticised them for failing to provide sufficient cover of

Health chiefs have warned that they cannot guarantee patient safety as ambulance workers prepare to walkout on Wednesday against the backdrop of a surge in “critical incidents” across the NHS. The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, bodies that represent health organisations across England and Wales, have written to Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, to warn

Twitter users have voted for Elon Musk to step down as the social network’s chief executive, adding to turmoil over the future of the San Francisco-based company. The billionaire entrepreneur, who bought Twitter for $44bn in October, launched a poll via the platform on Sunday asking whether he should remain at the helm, adding: “I

The government remains “resolute” in its determination to face down the unions, cabinet minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday ahead of what is set to be the most widespread week of strike action in recent British history. On Tuesday, nurses from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to take part in their second

The EU’s trading partners have hit out at the bloc’s plan to introduce the world’s first carbon border tax, saying it is protectionist and puts export industries at risk, as negotiations to complete the deal stretch into the weekend. According to two people familiar with the discussions, several developing nations have already begun to negotiate

Evidence of a wave of Covid-19 deaths is beginning to emerge in Beijing despite official tallies showing no fatalities since an uncontrolled outbreak began sweeping through China’s capital this week. Staff at one crematorium in Beijing said they cremated the bodies of at least 30 Covid victims on Wednesday and Financial Times reporters saw two

The Bank of England raised interest rates on Thursday by half a percentage point to 3.5 per cent, the highest level in 14 years, and warned that further tightening of monetary policy was likely. In a vote showing a majority on the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee for “forceful” action against high inflation, six of

UK inflation dipped to 10.7 per cent in November as an easing in the rise in petrol prices helped to lower the rate from a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent last month. The figure was better than an expected 10.9 per cent and economists said the annual inflation rate had now probably passed its

US consumer price inflation fell more than expected in November to its lowest level in a year, bolstering the Federal Reserve’s plans to slow down the rate of interest rate rises and sending US stock futures and government bonds soaring. The consumer price index (CPI) moderated to an annual pace of 7.1 per cent last

Microsoft has agreed to buy a £1.5bn stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10-year strategic partnership, marking the latest incursion by Big Tech into the operation of global markets. Under the agreement, Microsoft will acquire a 4 per cent stake in LSEG worth about £1.5bn from Blackstone, Thomson Reuters, Canada Pension

The White House’s chief energy adviser has described as “un-American” the refusal of US shale investors to ramp up drilling, even as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine causes havoc on global oil and gas markets. US oil groups have been under pressure from Wall Street to funnel record profits back to investors this year, despite repeated

Blackstone has warned of the risk of delays to the launch of a new private equity fund designed for wealthy individuals, as it copes with heavy investor withdrawals at two other funds in real estate and credit aimed at a similar clientele. The New York-based investment manager has been preparing to open a fund called

Jeremy Hunt has defended his overhaul of UK financial services rules, which relaxes some of the measures introduced after the financial crisis of 2008. The UK chancellor, speaking at the Financial Times’s Global Boardroom event, rejected suggestions that the government was abandoning the lessons learnt following the financial crisis more than a decade ago. “We

Beijing is running out of medical supplies as the Chinese capital combats a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, health workers said, putting stress on limited resources just as authorities lift pandemic restrictions. Clinics designated for Covid-19 patients are quickly filling up and some hospitals in the city of 22mn people have begun rationing ibuprofen and paracetamol.

China has announced wide-ranging relaxations to President Xi Jinping’s contentious zero-Covid restrictions, including for the first time home quarantine, as further evidence emerged of the economic damage from the pandemic controls. The new measures, outlined on Wednesday by the State Council, China’s cabinet, were foreshadowed by a meeting of the Chinese Communist party’s politburo that

Meta has been told its treatment of high-profile users, such as former US president Donald Trump, left dangerous content online, serving business interests at the expense of its human rights obligations. A damning report published on Tuesday from the company’s oversight board — a “Supreme Court” style body created by the parent company of Facebook,

EU countries cut gas demand by a quarter in November even as temperatures fell, in the latest evidence that the bloc is succeeding in reducing its reliance on Russian energy since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Provisional data from commodity analytics company ICIS showed gas demand in the EU was 24 per cent below the