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At this time’s agenda: G20 summit begins; ECB report on financial institution capital necessities; monitoring the German election; stealth sackings; and offshore oil is again
Good morning. We kick off the week with information that US President Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to launch restricted strikes into Russia utilizing US-made long-range missiles, two folks acquainted with the choice stated.
What brought on the coverage shift? Biden is shifting his stance in response to the deployment of hundreds of North Korean troops to help Moscow’s conflict effort and after a barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities on the weekend.
The transfer comes after months of resisting pleas by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to raise restrictions on the usage of western-made, long-range weapons inside Russia, and about two months earlier than the tip of Biden’s White Home time period in January.
Why it issues: “Even when restricted to the Kursk area, ATACMS [Army Tactical Missile System] missiles put in danger excessive worth Russian techniques, meeting areas, logistics, command and management,” stated Michael Kofman, senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace think-tank. “They might allow Ukraine to carry on to Kursk for longer and lift the prices to North Korea for its involvement within the conflict.”
Invoice Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, stated Biden’s choice made “Ukraine stronger and will increase the percentages of a simply finish to the conflict” and “might also unlock British and French missiles. Probably even German”. Read the full story.
And right here’s what else we’re conserving tabs on immediately:
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G20 summit: Officers from the world’s richest nations collect immediately in Rio de Janeiro, with Donald Trump’s re-election threatening to disrupt worldwide initiatives on local weather change and taxation. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer can even urge G20 leaders to “double down” on support for Ukraine.
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UK-China ties: Starmer holds the first face-to-face talks by a British prime minister with China’s President Xi Jinping since 2018.
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UK weapons lawsuit: London’s Excessive Court docket begins listening to a case in opposition to the earlier UK authorities’s choice to proceed arms gross sales to Israel.
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UK financial information: Rightmove releases its November home value index and S&P World publishes its UK client sentiment index.
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Corporations: Boohoo is because of announce the outcomes of its retail provide of recent bizarre shares. Massive Yellow Group, Cerillion and Sirius Actual Property have outcomes.
5 extra prime tales
1. Iran has stored the door open to negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration, however warned that any try to reimpose “most strain” will fail to extract concessions from the Islamic republic. Learn the Financial Times’ interview with deputy overseas minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who stated the 2015 nuclear deal — from which Trump withdrew — “may nonetheless function a basis”.
2. Unique: The European Central Financial institution is debating whether or not to publish delicate analysis exhibiting capital necessities for giant EU lenders would rise by a double-digit share in the event that they confronted the identical guidelines as massive Wall Avenue rivals. Right here’s what else we know about the ECB report, which some senior policymakers are pushing to publish to counter heavy lobbying to water down the principles.
3. The UK authorities may power pension funds to speculate extra in British belongings if reforms fail to drive financial savings into home infrastructure and firms. Pensions minister Emma Reynolds advised the FT: “We’re an outlier by way of our personal pension schemes.” Read the full report.
4. European plastics producers are closing crops amid a deep decline in manufacturing as EU firms battle to compete with a world glut of low cost materials. Plastic production in Europe declined 8.3 per cent in 2023, in sharp distinction with a 3.4 per cent improve globally as international locations together with China and the US scaled up manufacturing.
5. US enterprise leaders are warning that Donald Trump’s plan to deport tens of millions of undocumented staff may create mass labour shortages, closing eating places, crippling farms and small companies and elevating costs. One immigration lawyer stated: “Persons are anxious in regards to the value of meals now? Wait until [food producers] can’t get workers.”
Sign up for our White Home Watch publication for extra updates from Washington because it braces itself for Trump’s second time period.
The Massive Learn
Years after one of many worst spills in historical past within the Gulf of Mexico, oil firms are drilling even deeper into the seabed looking for discoveries. However whereas the business heralds a new era in offshore drilling, the rise in exercise — with virtually $104bn anticipated to be invested this yr — has raised considerations.
We’re additionally studying and listening to . . .
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Investability hole: UK banks are bracing themselves for a competitive threat from Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda that’s set to deliver many advantages for US banks, writes Patrick Jenkins.
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EU problem: Leaders throughout the Atlantic know they need to make Europe great again. However the place is the cash going to come back from?
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Stealth sackings: Small-scale dismissals — over seemingly minor violations — are prompting questions on whether or not cost savings are being disguised.
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Economics Present
: Soumaya Keynes asks Kimberly Clausing, a professor at UCLA and previously Biden administration economist: would Trump’s tariffs really be that bad?
Chart of the day
The German federal election on February 23 will decide the destiny of Europe’s largest economic system. Voters will go to the polls seven months sooner than deliberate after the ruling coalition collapsed this month. Follow the FT’s live poll tracker here.
Take a break from the information
The Who’s 1966 observe that cemented the band’s pivotal function in rock’s growth — ‘Substitute’ — is a witty snapshot of an insecure British youth negotiating the last decade’s radical social change. The song typified the harder, louder ‘rock’ genre, and was later coated in a number of types.
