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Covid-19 is spreading rapidly through China’s biggest cities, leading to widespread medicine shortages and exposing Beijing’s lack of preparation after authorities reversed strict pandemic controls. Residents of Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities reported pharmacies have sold out of fever medicine and Covid tests, while social media images contrast long queues outside Covid clinics with otherwise

David Cameron, Britain’s former prime minister, is returning to public life with a new job teaching politics at a university in the Gulf state of Abu Dhabi. Cameron will lecture students on “practising politics and government in the age of disruption” for a three-week course in January at the New York University Abu Dhabi. It

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 UK’s health minister on Thursday said that the government had no realistic way of meeting nurses’ pay demands as the first day of historic strikes got under way. Nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will stage industrial action for 12 hours, after ministers refused to negotiate with the Royal College of Nursing over

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

Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of US government prosecutors who have filed criminal charges against the disgraced crypto entrepreneur. Bahamian attorney-general Ryan Pinder said the country’s police force had taken Bankman-Fried into custody after receiving “formal notification” from the US government that it had filed criminal charges and was

Microsoft has agreed to buy a £1.5bn stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10-year strategic partnership between the US software company and the 300-year-old UK exchange. The deal, announced on Monday, marks the latest tie-up between finance and Big Tech. In November, Google invested $1bn in Chicago-based CME as part of

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

Jeremy Hunt has warned trade unions not to jeopardise Britain’s recovery, saying that high pay demands will hit the fight against inflation and harm the workers they are trying to protect. In an interview with the Financial Times, the UK chancellor did not deny that ministers had blocked a potential 10 per cent pay offer

UK ministers blocked a possible deal to call off this month’s rail strikes by preventing the industry from offering unions higher pay deals and adding tough new conditions at the last minute. Employers had planned to offer a 10 per cent pay rise over two years to the RMT union, but were blocked by the

Trafigura is handing more than $1.7bn to its top traders and shareholders after its net profit more than doubled from already record levels last year, fuelled by the energy crisis stoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Swiss-based commodities trading company, which is owned by 1,100 shareholders mainly made up of executives and traders at

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

The Treasury is finalising plans for a package of sweeping rules to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, including limits on foreign companies selling into the UK, provisions for how to deal with the collapse of companies and restrictions on the advertising of products. Ministers will shortly launch a consultation on the new regulatory regime, after the

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

Chinese cities accelerated the loosening of zero-Covid restrictions over the weekend, building expectations that Beijing could ditch the pandemic policy that has kept the country isolated for nearly three years and battered the economy. Several Chinese cities have eased controls, even as Covid continues to circulate. China reported 31,824 infections on Sunday for tests taken

Russia has quietly amassed a fleet of more than 100 ageing tankers to help circumvent western restrictions on Russian oil sales following its invasion of Ukraine, according to shipping brokers and analysts. Shipping broker Braemar estimates Moscow, which relies heavily on foreign tankers to transport its crude, has added more than 100 ships this year,

Blackstone has limited withdrawals from its $125bn real estate investment fund following a surge in redemption requests, as investors clamour to get their hands on cash and concerns grow about the long-term health of the commercial property market. The private equity group approved only 43 per cent of redemption requests in its Blackstone Real Estate

UK house prices fell more than expected in November and at the fastest pace since June 2020, as rising borrowing costs weighed on sentiment, according to mortgage provider Nationwide. House prices fell 1.4 per cent between October and November — the biggest fall since the country was in the depths of a coronavirus-related lockdown more

Britain is poised to relax one of the biggest restrictions on the banking sector as part of “Big Bang 2.0”, the long promised liberalisation of post-Brexit financial services rules. The “ringfencing” of banks with retail and investment arms was introduced after the 2008 financial crash with the aim of reducing risk and preventing banking collapses.

The US is pushing European allies to take a harder stance towards Beijing as it tries to leverage its leadership on Ukraine to gain more support from Nato countries for its efforts to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. According to people briefed on conversations between the US and its Nato allies, Washington has in recent