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Round two of the Republican primary season takes us to New Hampshire this week, and former president Donald Trump is once again the runaway favourite. The pressure at this Tuesday’s caucuses is on the also-rans, particularly Nikki Haley. She finished third in Iowa last week, underperforming polls, and is facing pressure from her backers to

A week ago in Iowa, Ron DeSantis scathingly described how Donald Trump was forcing Republican politicians to “kiss the ring” of the former president in order to earn his praise and avoid public humiliation. But on Sunday afternoon the Florida governor wasted no time in bowing down to Trump, endorsing him as he exited the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US corporate bond markets are “on fire” as companies have sold a record $150bn of debt since the start of this month, the busiest opening to the year for more than three decades. Investment-grade groups

This time last year Murray Auchincloss appeared to have little ambition to ever be chief executive of Britain’s most storied oil company. The Canadian former tax analyst had carved out a highly successful, quiet career inside BP, but as finance chief he was destined to be the numbers guy keeping his more flamboyant boss in

The US House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill on Thursday that will avert a partial government shutdown and free up lawmakers to focus on contentious negotiations over aid to Ukraine. Passage in the House came after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill earlier on Thursday. The bill will now go to President Joe

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Pakistan carried out a pre-dawn attack on suspected militant bases in Iran on Thursday, a retaliatory strike that threatened to escalate tensions after Iran attacked a jihadi group in Pakistan this week. Pakistan’s foreign ministry

Rishi Sunak’s election supremo Isaac Levido this week issued a stark warning to Tory MPs, telling them: “Divided parties fail.” But the Conservative rebellion over the government’s Rwanda asylum bill over the last 48 hours is an ominous sign for the prime minister that the warning is not being heeded. Tory MPs may have pulled

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. European stocks and bonds fell after European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde signalled that interest rates would come down in summer rather than spring and UK inflation rose unexpectedly for the first time in 10

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is author of ‘Black Wave’, distinguished fellow at Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics and an FT contributing editor Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, made a startlingly frank admission of powerlessness

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US foreign policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Those parochial Democrats. Those globalist Republicans. Last week, when US forces struck Houthi rebels in Yemen, some Congressional left-wingers objected to the action itself or to the lack of legislative consent for it, or

Donald Trump was forced to cancel all but one of his planned rallies in Iowa this weekend after a brutal winter storm ripped through the Midwestern state, bringing strong winds and record low temperatures. But when the former president appeared before a standing-room-only crowd at Simpson College, a small undergraduate school in Indianola, Iowa, on

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the German economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. German output contracted 0.3 per cent last year as high inflation, rising interest rates and elevated energy costs made Europe’s largest economy one of the weakest performers in the world, according to an initial estimate

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Security officials from 83 countries gathered in Davos on Sunday to discuss Ukraine’s demands for ending the war with Russia, in talks marked by rising non-western participation but limited progress towards peace. Held on

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Donald Trump is the first choice of just under half of likely Republican caucus goers, according to a new poll that underscores the former president’s dominance heading into the Iowa caucuses on Monday. The poll,

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. China’s military has vowed to “smash” any Taiwan independence “plots”, sending a stark reminder of its threat to use force against the island just hours before Taiwanese voters head to the polls to elect a

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Oil myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Crude oil prices rose on Friday after the US and UK launched air strikes against Yemen-based Houthi rebels whose attacks against ships in the Red Sea threatened the flow of goods through one of the world’s

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. An oil tanker linked to a dispute between Iran and the US has been seized off the coast of Oman, in a raid UK maritime authorities said was carried out by individuals in black military-style

Botlhokwa Ranta had never flown before, and she was frightened of both the flight and what awaited her when she landed. By the time the wheels of the aeroplane touched the tarmac in Nairobi, she was drunk. She was 26, and it was her first time outside South Africa. Ranta’s faux-leather handbag was filled with small

Astrobotic Technology on Tuesday confirmed there was “no chance” its lunar lander would be able to land successfully on the Moon, marking the end of a mission that was to have brought the US back to the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years. The Pittsburgh-based space company, which had hoped to be the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Prices of cryptocurrencies swung sharply on Tuesday after a false post on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s official X account claimed the regulator had approved the first ever US spot bitcoin exchange traded funds.