China has signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands just days ahead of a visit by US government officials to the South Pacific country, exacerbating western fears over Beijing’s growing influence in the region. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele signed the deal “in recent days”, the Chinese foreign

Russia plans to take legal steps to recover $300bn of its foreign currency reserves frozen by western governments in a bid to overturn one of the most painful measures imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The pledge to mount a legal challenge against the measure was announced by the head of

The yen is making history, but in a bad way. Tuesday marks the 13th straight day Japan’s currency fell against the dollar. It is the currency’s longest losing streak in at least five decades. Record short bets on the yen normally mean a boost for local exporters. They now spell trouble. The yen has hit

Gunvor has reported a more than doubling of its full-year profits, becoming the latest commodity trader to reveal bumper earnings for 2021 when it cashed in on rising demand for energy as lockdown restrictions eased. The Geneva-based company controlled by billionaire Torbjorn Tornqvist said on Tuesday its net income hit $726mn in the year to

In 2002 Fiona Fox, head of the newly founded UK Science Media Centre visited Wellcome, the research charity. When she started to say why she was there, a horrified receptionist put a finger to her lips and whispered: “We don’t mention the A word.” A stood for animals, whose use in research at the time

Part-scores skirmishes are the primary battleground at Duplicate bridge, but if similar principles are applied to social bridge, the game becomes increasingly interesting. BiddingDealer: SouthGame: All North East South West — — 1C NB 2C NB NB Dbl 3C Where North-South were allowed to play in 2C, they made it. On the principle that if

Passive funds are set to become investors of last resort in UK fossil fuel companies, a trend that could create stewardship “inertia” and threaten the climate transition, a think-tank has claimed. Common Wealth argued that passive, index-tracking funds should bolster their stewardship activities to help support the transition to a decarbonised economy as they become

Binance is a curious company. Founded in China and registered in the Cayman Islands, it is by far the world’s largest platform for cryptocurrency trades. It also has no official headquarters and operates outside regulatory control. That may not stop spin-off Binance.US from targeting public markets, after it raised funding at a $4.5bn valuation this

The UK government’s top law officer should have a better idea by the end of next month of the extent of the problems at the Serious Fraud Office that led to the quashing of two convictions in one of the agency’s biggest corruption cases. Attorney-general Suella Braverman is due to receive the results of a

Elon Musk is the living embodiment of a Twitter feed — a rapid-fire mix of jokes, arguments and ideas. Chaos is part of the appeal. Trying to apply financial norms to his proposed takeover of Twitter is pointless. In two weeks Musk has disclosed a major stake in Twitter, agreed to join its board, reversed

In early 2020, British oncologist Dr Sheeba Irshad was preparing to start a trial of three new treatments for patients with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Then Covid-19 derailed years of planning. Only three of the study’s nine prospective sites have since resumed recruitment. The remainder have faced staff shortages as hard-pressed teams in

One podcast to start: A year after the collapse of Greensill Capital, DD’s Rob Smith and the FT’s Marc Filippino look back on how a slick pitch bamboozled investors and landed Britain’s former prime minister David Cameron in hot water. Listen to Monday’s episode of the FT News Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, FT.com or

Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. Bank of America gave a bullish revenue outlook as the second-largest US lender reported better than expected earnings, and Mexico’s opposition politicians helped defeat a radical energy reform bill backed by President López Obrador. Plus, the

Last week, Bank of England researchers published a blog outlining a new study into the predictability of exchange rates. They stumbled over a simple strategy that appears to churn out results that would be the envy of any hedge fund trader. It’s simple: buy currencies against the dollar which attract little interest in options markets,

Senior US officials will this week be forced to defend Joe Biden’s record on combating climate change after a string of setbacks has thwarted the president’s sweeping agenda. On Monday, a US official told reporters: “The press and the pundits may like to declare President Biden’s climate agenda dead, but this week we will show

While the UK government launches a search for Brexit opportunities, one group has already discovered them: Dutch warehouse owners. An influx of British-based companies to the Netherlands has swelled as they struggle with the disruption of a customs border across the North Sea. More than 90 investors have built or rented distribution space since 2017,

When Rachel* got Covid, her employer expected her to carry on working remotely rather than take a sick day. “I was very, very tired,” she says. “[It] was very difficult to focus.” The special needs teacher based in the south-east of England delivered her lessons from home to pupils in the classroom, helped by a

Rugby union’s governing body is considering external investment to fund the sport’s growth in the US ahead of the men’s and women’s World Cups in the early 2030s. World Rugby is set to confirm next month that the US will host the men’s tournament in 2031 and the women’s in 2033, having entered exclusive negotiations

DIOSynVax, a UK start-up founded by a vet-turned-vaccinologist, is hoping genetic sequences of viruses discovered in animal faeces will give vital clues for creating a vaccine to help prevent future pandemics. The Cambridge university spinout is working on two vaccines that it believes will outlive the current crop of Covid-19 jabs, including the one created

“Modernise or decline”. A service under threat from “the explosion of digital media”. A company in need of “commercial confidence, capital and corporate experience”. Those were warnings not about Channel 4, though they chime with the tone of last year’s not exactly open-minded consultation about its future. They were instead made almost 14 years ago