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The Iranian connection: how China is importing oil from Russia

Networks of brokers and shipowners from Panama to Switzerland are becoming expert at circumventing international sanctions

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Financial Times

The Big Read

The inexorable rise of Latin America’s drug cartels

With the global cocaine business booming as never before, organised crime groups are diversifying into a swath of other illicit activities

yesterday 20

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The Big Read

Does HR still need humans?

AI can perform many of the duties of human resources staff, a symbol of how it is changing companies and the nature of work

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Financial Times

The Big Read

Who should benefit from Kenya’s elephants?

The return of Amboseli National Park to local control has raised fears that efforts to protect the country’s wildlife will be set back

15.08.2025 2

Financial Times

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Is AI hitting a wall?

OpenAI’s underwhelming new GPT-5 model suggests progress is slowing — and competition in the space is changing

15.08.2025 6

Financial Times

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Zelenskyy faces his ‘moment of maximum pressure’

Weakened at home, the Ukrainian president must try to shape the Alaska talks from afar as battlefield losses mount

14.08.2025 40

Financial Times

The Big Read

How the Bayeux Tapestry became a tool of soft power

Months of talks were needed to secure an agreement that has been hailed as evidence of improved Anglo-French relations

13.08.2025 20

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The unprecedented feud between the US and Brazil

Two of the world’s largest countries are at odds over the fate of one man: Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro. Can the rift be mended?

12.08.2025 30

Financial Times

The Big Read

The story behind Spain’s solar power meltdown

Pedro Sánchez calls his country a ‘global benchmark’ in the transition to greener energy, but prices — and profits — have plunged

12.08.2025 10

Financial Times

The Big Read

Why struggling companies are loading up on bitcoin

Biotechs, miners and hoteliers are snapping up crypto to boost their share prices, but experts warn of a crisis if markets crash

09.08.2025 10

Financial Times

The Big Read

How Trump has turned tariffs into diplomatic shakedowns

The US president is increasingly tying trade policy to geopolitics, using economic might to bend countries to his will

09.08.2025 10

Financial Times

The Big Read

Why Taiwanese fear China could take over from within

While the west focuses on the military threat, activists in Taiwan accuse its own politicians of facilitating Beijing’s subversion efforts

08.08.2025 30

Financial Times

The Big Read

Can the world’s beaches survive a sand shortage?

From Miami to Barcelona and Australia’s Gold Coast, governments are trying to save shorelines where climate change is accelerating erosion

07.08.2025 20

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What the closure of USAID is really costing the world

The abrupt withdrawal of American funding has stranded millions of patients and will be felt by countries for years to come

04.08.2025 40

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How carmakers are becoming the biggest losers in Trump’s trade war

The so-called Big Three of Ford, GM and Stellantis say the new tariff regime will cost them a combined $7bn this year

02.08.2025 10

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Is California’s economy heading for a deep slump?

A clampdown on migrant labour is adding to concerns about tariffs, a downturn in Hollywood and cost-of-living pressures

01.08.2025 10

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Ireland awakens to the risk of relying on US investment

The country is one of the most exposed in Europe to Trump’s tariffs, intensifying fears that a golden era of growth will slow down

31.07.2025 40

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China struggles to break its addiction to manufacturing

Local governments are steering investment into new factories, adding to overcapacity and eroding profit margins

30.07.2025 30

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Desalination: the costly solution for a thirsty world

As water scarcity spreads governments are ploughing billions into a technology that comes with its own environmental costs

28.07.2025 30

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How long can the US economy defy expectations?

Despite the tariff shock, inflation is modest, stocks are up, and unemployment is low. Some experts insist it is too soon to tell

26.07.2025 10

Financial Times

The Big Read

Could Hungary’s faltering economy topple Orbán?

Rising prices and declining services for ordinary voters contrast with the excesses of those close to the prime minister

25.07.2025 10

Financial Times

The Big Read

What will it take for robotaxis to go global?

The concept has been proved, but scaling up services beyond a handful of cities will require tens of billions in new investment

24.07.2025 9

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The evolution of Marco Rubio

Once an advocate of US soft power, the secretary of state has embraced Maga values from isolationism to impatience with foreign aid

24.07.2025 8

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How the diamond industry lost its sparkle

The explosion of lab-grown stones from China has shaken up the sector, leaving established players struggling for relevance

22.07.2025 30

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Can Europe break free of American tech supremacy?

The continent’s dependence on US groups for digital infrastructure is causing growing concern among executives and policymakers

21.07.2025 20

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Will a return to risk-taking rouse animal spirits?

The drive to deregulate in the UK, US and Europe could unleash growth — or sow the seeds of the next crash

19.07.2025 30

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Chatbots in the classroom: how AI is reshaping higher education

While institutions grapple with the pace of change, technology companies are moving quickly to offer custom learning products

18.07.2025 20

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The fight to revive Europe’s shrinking rural areas

Across the continent, remote villages are fading amid declining births and residents departing for greater opportunity in urban centres

18.07.2025 10

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How BYD caught up with Tesla in the global EV race

The Chinese group is poised to outsell its US rival this year after it dramatically narrowed the technology gap between the two

16.07.2025 30

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Japan faces an era-defining reset with the US

After warm relations during his first term, Tokyo has not adapted to Donald Trump’s transactional approach in trade and defence

14.07.2025 10

Financial Times

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How Elon Musk’s rogue Grok chatbot became a cautionary AI tale

Posts praising Hitler show the risks of accelerating the nascent technology with little stress testing and few guardrails

12.07.2025 10

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How Greece came back from the brink

The country has staged a powerful recovery in the 10 years since it faced near economic collapse

11.07.2025 5

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Can the Fed stay independent under Trump?

The US president has stepped up his criticism of the central bank’s chair, prompting some to question how long it can remain above politics

10.07.2025 20

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The looming ‘patent cliff’ facing Big Pharma

When blockbuster drugs lose IP protections it can wipe out billions of dollars in revenue for companies

10.07.2025 10

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The surprising success story of British fibre broadband

Ofcom’s decision to boost competition in the sector is credited with driving the rollout of a faster, more reliable internet connection

08.07.2025 8

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Bosnia, 30 years on: the looming crisis in the Balkans

Trouble is brewing again in the ethnically divided state, exactly three decades after the Srebrenica massacre

07.07.2025 20

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How trade tensions are really affecting the global economy

Companies are not yet rushing to relocate production to the US, but investment and dealmaking have already slowed

05.07.2025 20

Financial Times

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How to get children reading again

Fewer young people are reading for pleasure than ever before, with broad economic and social consequences. Can the trend be reversed?

04.07.2025 5

Financial Times

The Big Read

Canada’s bid to become an energy superpower

The government has a plan to exploit its abundant fossil fuel resources to help ward off the ill effects of Trump’s tariffs

03.07.2025 10

Financial Times

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Is time running out to fix the NHS?

Britons are growing less fond of their troubled healthcare system. Will Labour’s 10-year plan change their minds?

02.07.2025 10

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The vulnerabilities holding back Chinese industry

Despite its prowess, China has not been able to overcome dozens of ‘choke points’ that are the essential building blocks of modern manufacturing

30.06.2025 40

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What kind of world does Trump want?

Global leaders struggle to understand the impulses and stratagems of the US president

28.06.2025 40

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Turkey’s economic woes catch up with Erdoğan

A cost of living crisis and social unrest are throwing the strongman leader’s plan to stay in power into jeopardy

27.06.2025 20

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The high-tech fight against shoplifters

Companies are building up an arsenal of antitheft technology as organised crime fuels an epidemic of petty larceny

26.06.2025 30

Financial Times

The Big Read

Can HSBC cut its way to growth?

The bank’s latest reorganisation has arguably left it with few options to boost revenue as it faces trade tariffs and lower interest rates

25.06.2025 10

Financial Times

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Europe’s plan to finally make its single market work 

Three decades after it was launched, hundreds of barriers still persist within the EU. In an era of trade wars, Brussels has made it a key priority

24.06.2025 6

Financial Times

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What happens to Nato if the US steps back?

The American military has been the alliance’s bedrock. But shifting US priorities, including in the Middle East, are putting new pressure on...

23.06.2025 10

Financial Times

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Netanyahu’s war with Iran: ‘For him, it’s personal’

The Israeli prime minister’s career looked finished after the October 7 attack by Hamas. But now he is pursuing a conflict he has proposed for years

22.06.2025 20

Financial Times

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Can Mukesh Ambani engineer a smooth transition at Reliance?

Asia’s richest man is facing questions about his family’s succession planning

20.06.2025 8

Financial Times

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Why Big Tech cannot agree on artificial general intelligence

It has been tipped as the next big breakthrough out of Silicon Valley, but is it a scientific goal — or a marketing buzzword?

19.06.2025 30

Financial Times

The Big Read