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Behind the glittery facades of London’s Selfridges and New York’s Chrysler Building, Austrian property billionaire René Benko assembled a financial time bomb. Benko’s Signa Group, which bought stakes in the two trophy assets and amassed a €27bn ($29bn) property portfolio, racked up at least €13bn in debt during the years when the cost of borrowing

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK ministers are set to pick veteran TV executive Samir Shah as BBC chair to replace Richard Sharp, the former Goldman Sachs banker who resigned this year.  Shah has had a 40-year career in TV

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The head of Airbus has said the group “might need some support” from European governments for a new, multibillion-dollar commercial aircraft programme as it gears up for a successor to its best-selling A320 family of

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is chair of Rockefeller International Though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in his 10th year in office, his position is as strong as ever. The Bharatiya Janata party’s overwhelming election victories in

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The White House has issued a blunt warning that the US is set to run out of funds to aid Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that a failure by Congress to

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Defaults by Chinese borrowers have surged to a record high since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the depth of the country’s economic downturn and the obstacles to a full recovery. A total of

Israel is planning a campaign against Hamas that will stretch for a year or more, with the most intensive phase of the ground offensive continuing into early 2024, according to several people familiar with the preparations. The multi-phase strategy envisages Israeli forces, who are garrisoned inside north Gaza, making an imminent push deep into the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s military has restarted fighting against Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday, ending a week-long truce that international mediators had hoped to extend to an eighth day. “Hamas violated the operational

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state and national security adviser who helped open up relations with China, usher in a detente with the Soviet Union and end America’s war in Vietnam, has died

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Charlie Munger, the vice-chair of Berkshire Hathaway, died at the age of 99 on Tuesday morning at a California hospital, the US investment conglomerate announced. Warren Buffett, Berkshire’s chief executive, said in a short statement

Barclays is exploring a plan to drop thousands of clients at its investment bank as part of a strategic overhaul that is meant to boost profits and cut £1bn of costs. Barclays executives have met several times this year to thrash out the restructuring, codenamed Minerva after the Roman goddess of wisdom, according to people

Turkey’s exports to Russia of goods vital for Moscow’s war machine have soared this year, heightening concerns among the US and its allies that the country is acting as a conduit for sensitive items from their own manufacturers. The growing trade, and the corresponding rise in imports to Turkey of 45 civilian materials used by

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hamas is expected to release at least a dozen more hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as a four-day truce stretches into its second day. Israel and Hamas conducted the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hamas has released 24 hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip, according to Qatar, as the Palestinian militant group’s truce with Israel took hold. The group were transferred to the International Committee of

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A senior intelligence officer in the Israeli military dismissed as an “imaginary scenario” the contents of a detailed warning predicting Hamas’s raid of October 7, two people familiar with the discussions said. Sentries on Israel’s

Donald Trump is planning to gut US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year. Senior campaign officials and advisers to the former president said he would seek to radically overhaul US climate and

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Ousted OpenAI chief Sam Altman is poised to return to run the company under the supervision of a new board, following days of speculation and turmoil at the leading generative artificial intelligence start-up. In a

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The future of OpenAI remains uncertain after extraordinary efforts by employees and investors to oust the board failed to persuade its directors to resign and reinstate co-founder Sam Altman. By the end of Monday, 747

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. OpenAI’s board has selected Emmett Shear, co-founder of video streaming service Twitch, as its interim chief executive in an unexpected move which is likely to deepen rifts at the company exposed by the sacking of

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. OpenAI investors are working to get rid of the company’s board and reinstate Sam Altman as chief executive of the generative AI start-up, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation, in what would