Category: FT

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has hailed the country’s “great successes” as he opened a rare national party congress with a triumphalist address that highlighted the reclusive regime’s increased confidence. The 5,000-delegate congress, which takes place every five years over several days and opened on Thursday, is Pyongyang’s biggest political event and is used to set policy goals and codify major shifts in ideology, foreign policy, economic planning and…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US and Indonesia have finalised a trade deal to slash tariffs and have Jakarta purchase more than $33bn of American agriculture, energy and aviation products. President Donald Trump and Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto on Thursday “confirmed their strong commitment to implementing” the trade deal initially agreed in July, according to a White House statement that hailed “a NEW GOLDEN AGE” of a US-Indonesian alliance. The agreement would “help both countries…

Twilight is creeping over the jungle, hot and steamy as a sauna. Cicadas screech. Frogs beep-beep. Overhead, macaques cackle in the canopy. Ahead, a lake dissolves into the darkness, its shores fringed by towering trees. Fireflies float in the gloom. It’s the kind of jungle scene anyone who’s spent time in south-east Asia will recognise, but tonight, for once, I’m not sleeping in a sweaty hammock or camping out in a bug-ridden tent. I’m sitting beside a rooftop infinity pool, dangling my toes into the water, sipping a Singapore sling.…

For individuals Discover all the plans currently available in your country For multiple readers Digital access for organisations. Includes exclusive features and content. Financial Times

For individuals Discover all the plans currently available in your country For multiple readers Digital access for organisations. Includes exclusive features and content. Financial Times

This article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. It’s been an eventful week, with a power-packed but chaotic AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. While countries and companies have announced big plans and deals to make the best use of the technology at the gathering, we will have to wait to see how much of this translates into real action. On the capital’s streets, where people…

Good morning, happy Friday and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter: South Korea’s ex-president escapes the death penalty Former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested The US court case over a junior banker’s need for sleep We start in Seoul, where former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life in prison for insurrection over his failed attempt to impose martial law. What to know: A three-judge panel at Seoul Central District Court yesterday found Yoon was guilty of leading an insurrection in late 2024 that…

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 announced a framework for an interim trade agreement in February, following stalled negotiations between Narendra Modi’s government and the Trump administration. India strove to protect its politically sensitive foodgrain and dairy markets, but the Asian giant agreed to open its economy to imports of most US industrial goods and some food products. Was this a capitulation or a mutually beneficial opportunity? And what does this say…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote speech at a high-profile global AI summit in India, as the Gates Foundation continues to manage the fallout from its chair’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. The philanthropic body on Thursday said the last-minute decision was made “after careful consideration” and “to ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities”.  The Microsoft co-founder’s withdrawal comes following controversy over Gates’s involvement with…