Month: June 2025

Bupa fined $23mn in Australia after ‘unconscionable conduct’

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. British health insurer Bupa has agreed to pay a A$35mn (US$23mn) fine in Australia after it admitted to “unconscionable conduct” by denying legitimate claims made by patients over a five-year period. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the country’s consumer watchdog, began legal proceedings against Bupa after it said the UK company had engaged in “misleading and deceptive” practices between May 2018 and August 2023. The regulator has agreed the…

Ghana at loggerheads with China over rampant illegal gold mining

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China and Ghana, Africa’s largest gold producer, are embroiled in a diplomatic row over the rampant problem of illegal gold mining, known as “galamsey”. Advertisement As global gold prices soar, a growing number of Chinese firms are investing billions of dollars in Ghana’s lucrative gold sector. However, the alleged involvement of Chinese nationals in illicit mining operations has ignited major debate. It has prompted the Chinese ambassador to Ghana, Tong Defa, to push back against accusations that Chinese nationals are solely to blame for the illegal mining activity. He said…

China’s manufacturing activity shrinks for third straight month

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for the third straight month in June, according to official data, highlighting pressure on policymakers to boost domestic demand after a fragile trade truce with the US. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index stood at 49.7 in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, an improvement on May’s reading of 49.5 but still below the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction. China’s manufacturing…

Can China’s partial lifting of Japanese seafood ban aid a post-Fukushima reset?

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China has partially lifted its two-year ban on Japanese seafood imports in the latest step by Beijing to remove a diplomatic roadblock that has strained ties between the two neighbours. Advertisement According to a Chinese customs notice issued on Sunday, shipments of seafood originating from “certain regions” of Japan would resume “conditionally” with immediate effect. The decision was made “under the premise of ongoing long-term international monitoring and independent Chinese sampling of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water discharge with no abnormalities found, and Japan’s commitment to ensuring the quality and safety…

China’s tighter export controls squeeze wider range of rare earths

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese trade myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s export controls are spilling over into products beyond the rare earths and magnets officially identified by Beijing, threatening broader supply chain disruption and undermining US claims that a new trade deal had resolved delays to shipments. Beijing, which dominates global supply of critical minerals, began requiring licences for exports of seven rare earth metals and related magnet materials in April in retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese…

US shoppers ditch Shein and Temu as Trump closes tax loophole

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Online retailers Temu and Shein have seen their once rapid user growth go into reverse in the US after President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on Chinese goods and closed a tax loophole that allowed them to undercut rivals. Temu’s monthly active users, a measure of engagement on its app, plunged by 51 per cent to 40.2mn in the US between March and June, according to data from market intelligence…

European companies look to France for domestic rare earths sector

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European industrial groups are turning to a developing rare earths ecosystem in France as they attempt to cut dependence on China for critical minerals used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Beijing upended supply chains for minerals crucial to the energy transition and fuelled concerns about an impending shortage of permanent magnets when it imposed export controls in April, in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The restrictions led to a 51 per cent drop in China’s rare earth magnet exports that month, compared with March, posing a “critical…

China manufacturing activity shrinks as trade war bites

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for the third straight month in June, according to official data, highlighting the impact of a trade war with the US despite a fragile truce. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index stood at 49.7 in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, an improvement on May’s reading of 49.5 but still below the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction. China’s manufacturing PMIs —…

As attacks on Iran show, Russia can now do very little for its allies

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The recent war between Iran and Israel has laid bare a truth long obscured by Kremlin bluster: Russia is no longer a superpower. Moscow’s muted response to Tehran’s plight is not an anomaly but the latest – and perhaps most telling – chapter in a pattern of strategic neglect that stretches from the Middle East to the Levant and South Caucasus. Advertisement Driven by President Vladimir Putin’s neo-imperialist fantasies, Russia plunged into Ukraine to find itself in a quagmire that has bled its military, hollowed its treasury and crippled its…