Category: Media Library

‘Hermès orange’ iPhone sparks Apple comeback in China 

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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. Chinese consumers are snapping up Apple’s new iPhones, with a flashy “Hermès orange” premium model going viral and helping reverse a lengthy sales decline in one of the Silicon Valley company’s largest markets. Chief executive Tim Cook recently touted Apple’s record-breaking iPhone sales in China in the fourth quarter, when revenue jumped 38 per cent year-on-year to $26bn, contributing nearly a fifth of total sales. Analysts said a design refresh…

US and India reach interim trade deal

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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. The US and India said they had reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, ending a months-long impasse between Narendra Modi’s government and Donald Trump’s administration. The confirmation of the agreement came days after Trump spoke to Modi and said India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil, which had prompted his administration to impose a 50 per cent tariff on imports from India. India will open its market…

China overturns death sentence of Canadian in sign of diplomatic thaw

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China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as prime minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced on Friday by China’s highest court. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived after the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou. That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians…

The three-way race for Brazil’s rare earths heats up

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A global race for Brazil’s vast deposits of rare earths is heating up, with the US, China and EU all vying for access to the minerals that are vital for an array of 21st-century technologies. The Latin American nation’s reserves of the metals, the second-largest in the world, are in the crosshairs of both Washington and Brussels as they try to reduce dependence on China, the dominant producer which has a chokehold on supplies. The EU is in talks to reach an agreement with Brazil for joint investments into critical…

China warns US arms sales to Taiwan could threaten Trump visit

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world The US is compiling a large arms sale of Patriot missiles and other weapons for Taiwan that Beijing has privately warned could jeopardise President Donald Trump’s state visit to China in April. The Trump administration is developing a package of four systems for Taiwan to purchase on the heels of the record $11.1bn arms package it unveiled in December, according to eight people familiar with the situation. China…

Japan’s KDDI finds up to $1.5bn in fictitious revenues

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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. KDDI, one of Japan’s big three telecoms providers, said that as much as ¥246bn ($1.5bn) of revenue came from fictitious transactions, marking the latest scandal for a leading Japanese company. The telecoms group postponed the release of its third-quarter results on Friday because of an ongoing probe into “suspicions regarding inappropriate transactions” at its subsidiaries Biglobe and G-Plan, which provide internet connections and advertising services. It added that it “confirmed…

Menstrual blood test could offer alternative to cervical screening for cancer

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A pioneering test of period blood for signs of cervical cancer could be a convenient, non-invasive and accurate way of screening for the disease, researchers have said. A regular sanitary pad topped with a blood sample strip can pick up human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cervical cancer, and could be used by women at home, the results of a study indicate. Currently, most women undergo cervical screening under the care of a clinician, who collects a sample via a brush inserted into the vagina. But millions of…

Islamabad mosque bombing kills more than 30 people

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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. A bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad has killed more than 30 people and injured at least 160, police in Pakistan’s capital said. The attack during Friday prayers was the deadliest blast in Islamabad in over a decade, and came just three months after a suicide blast at a judicial complex in the city killed at least 12 people. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Friday’s bombing in a statement,…

Neighbours of proposed Chinese ‘mega’ embassy seek judicial review

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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. Residents living next to China’s proposed “mega” embassy in London have taken the first formal step in pursuit of a judicial review of the UK government’s approval for the diplomatic complex. Residents of Royal Mint Court have written to the UK government legal department on Thursday night, issuing a pre-application letter setting out grounds for the embassy to be reviewed by a judge. In 2018 when the Chinese government bought…

Toyota replaces chief executive

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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. Toyota Motor has appointed its chief financial officer to take over from Koji Sato as chief executive of the world’s largest carmaker as it navigates global trade disruption and rising competition from China’s electric vehicle champions. The Japanese group said on Friday that Kenta Kon would take over as president and chief executive from the start of April, with Sato moving to the vice-chair role and a newly established position…