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Beijing has lashed out at the US decision to shoot down a Chinese balloon that flew across North America this week, accusing the Biden administration of “seriously violating international conventions”. The Chinese foreign ministry said it “repeatedly” told the US the balloon was for “civilian use” and had entered American airspace by accident due to

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has cancelled his weekend visit to China after the Pentagon said it discovered a Chinese spy balloon that has been flying over sensitive nuclear missile sites in the western state of Montana. The top US diplomat had been set to travel to Beijing where he had been expected to

Apple posted a decline in quarterly revenues for the first time in three-and-a-half years after “significant” supply chain disruptions in China delayed deliveries of iPhones during the important holiday period. The worse than expected performance highlighted Apple’s dependence on China for manufacturing and came after shipments of its high-end iPhones were hit by an outbreak

Shell made a record annual profit for 2022 of almost $40bn, beating market expectations in the final three months of year on the back of a strong performance from its gas trading business. Europe’s largest oil and gas company said on Thursday that adjusted earnings had more than doubled to $39.9bn, smashing the previous record

Rishi Sunak is facing a big test of his authority as he agonises over whether he can sell an outline deal on the Northern Ireland protocol to pro-UK unionist politicians in the region and Eurosceptic Tory MPs. After months of talks, negotiators have briefed Sunak, the UK prime minister, that a deal is taking shape

Britain is the only leading economy likely to slide into recession this year, the IMF said on Tuesday, predicting that UK household spending would falter under the weight of high energy prices, rising mortgage costs and increased taxes. The fund upgraded its forecasts for most leading economies and said the global outlook had brightened. But

Leading central banks are due to raise interest rates this week to the highest levels since the financial crisis, stoking anxiety among some investors that this month’s bond market rally underestimates evidence of persistent inflation. Bond prices have rapidly rebounded since the start of the year from last year’s historic sell-off, as markets bet that

A growing number of Japanese businesses are strengthening their intelligence gathering as the country finds itself increasingly exposed to the mounting tensions between the US and China. Companies in sectors that have historically been less exposed to geopolitical disruptions — including Suntory and Mitsubishi Chemical — have hired risk executives and created new job roles

The UK tax authority has admitted that it gave misleading information last summer when it said no government minister was being investigated, even though Nadhim Zahawi was the subject of a probe. HM Revenue & Customs has now apologised for wrongly stating last June that no ministers were under investigation — mistakes it blames on

The new chief executive of Rolls-Royce has given a brutal assessment of Britain’s flagship engineering group, telling employees it must transform the way it operates or it will not survive. In a global address broadcast to staff, parts of which were shared with the Financial Times, Tufan Erginbilgic warned investors were losing patience with the

EY Germany is planning to cut 40 partners and shed 380 staff as the Big Four firm attempts to improve profitability after the damage caused by the Wirecard scandal. Most of the job cuts are aimed at reducing back-office costs at the German business, one of the largest in EY’s 150-country operations, four people familiar

Rupert Murdoch has scrapped a proposal to combine Fox and News Corp after his attempt to bring the two halves of his media empire back together was resisted by shareholders. Murdoch’s companies announced on Tuesday that the “special committees” established to explore the terms of the putative merger would be disbanded with immediate effect on

Economic officials from several US states have stepped up efforts to lure European clean energy businesses across the Atlantic, touting deep tax breaks available to foreign developers despite a bitter backlash from EU leaders. Delegations from Michigan, Georgia, Ohio and other states have toured Europe armed with details of juicy subsidies offered by the Inflation

Britain must launch a new green strategy to prevent business investment from haemorrhaging to the US as a result of Joe Biden’s huge green stimulus package, the boss of the UK’s largest employers group has urged. Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI, warned that the world had entered a subsidy arms race which could damage

Brazil and Argentina will this week announce that they are starting preparatory work on a common currency, in a move which could eventually create the world’s second-largest currency bloc. South America’s two biggest economies will discuss the plan at a summit in Buenos Aires this week and will invite other Latin American nations to join.

Germany dashed its allies’ hopes that it would approve the dispatch of battle tanks to Ukraine on Friday when a high-profile defence ministers meeting failed to reach an agreement. Many western countries argue that the German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks would greatly help Kyiv mount a counteroffensive against Russia, but Berlin has yet to agree,

Reed Hastings is stepping down as chief executive of Netflix, the company he co-founded 25 years ago, in a shake-up at the top of one of the most powerful studios in Hollywood. Hastings, who launched Netflix in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail service, wrote in a blog post that he has been increasingly delegating management in

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday tell the world’s financial elite in Davos that he wants to improve Britain’s relations with the EU, declaring the post-Brexit trade deal is damaging the UK economy “as every day passes”. Starmer and Rachel Reeves, shadow finance minister, told the Financial Times they would rebuild the UK economy

The Bank of Japan has defied market pressure and left its yield curve control measures unchanged, sending the yen diving and pushing stocks higher as it stuck to a core pillar of its ultra-loose monetary policy. Traders in Tokyo said the BoJ’s decision, which came after a two-day meeting, the penultimate under its longest-serving governor,

China’s population fell in 2022 for the first time in decades, a historic shift that is expected to have long-term consequences for the domestic and global economies. The world’s most populous country has long been a crucial source of labour and demand, fuelling growth in China and the world. On Tuesday, the National Bureau of