South Korea will ditch all remaining social-distancing measures next week while downgrading Covid-19 to a “Class 2” disease alongside conditions such as tuberculosis and cholera. The east Asian country’s decision to remove restrictions offers a stark contrast with neighbouring North Korea and China, both of which continue to wrestle with variations of their zero-Covid approach.
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Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell group has become the third company to sue the UK’s gambling regulator over its decision to award the next National Lottery licence to Czech operator Allwyn, making it the most contested award in the competition’s history. Northern & Shell, which owns The Health Lottery, and The New Lottery Company, another
The seven movements of composer/vibraphonist Joel Ross’s The Parable of the Poet, his third album for Blue Note, use personal experiences as a springboard for collective endeavour. Solos emerge, but the dominant sonorities are the rich tones of four-brass layering overlapping melodies across a bed of rhythm. Titles like “Guilt”, “The Impetus (To Be and
During the long years when women composers were largely ignored the name of Ruth Gipps was never entirely absent. As an oboist, conductor and founder of two orchestras, she had a varied career that kept her in the public eye even if her music was only rarely getting performances. That neglect stemmed not only from
The first outing for Jon Balke’s collective Siwan, a 2009 album of the same name, saw a wide range of texts set for the Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui and a baroque ensemble. Its soundscape, with Jon Hassell’s trumpet wobbling behind a scree of percussion on the prison love song “Itimad”, was mystical without being slavishly
Small protests have broken out in Shanghai as residents grow increasingly frustrated with Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, just as Beijing looks to widen national support for its commitment to eliminating the coronavirus outbreak. Shanghai residents in the Zhangjiang compound in the eastern Pudong district pleaded with police on Thursday to let them stay in their rented
Good morning. Who cares if Elon Musk buys Twitter, the whole thing is stupid and annoying, let’s all do our best to ignore it. So it’s the US economy, and more on Russian oil, below. Also, we’re taking Monday off. While we’re away, try other good FT Newsletters, like Moral Money (sign up here) and
In aviator shades and a brightly coloured jacket, Natalia Sindeyeva is not a person to let life’s troubles stand in her way. The 50-year-old was treated successfully for breast cancer in 2020; today she puffs happily on miniature cigarettes from a heated tobacco device. A competitive dancer, she is in Istanbul to take part in
My personal style signifiers are minimalist, comfortable clothing – black jackets, sometimes by Issey Miyake, and always T-shirts. My clothes are like my own designs: spare and simple. The last thing I bought and loved was a Danish chair for my furniture collection. The design is human and intimate. I have Mies van der Rohe and Hans
Bookings for UK holiday parks and cottages in far-flung locations have been hit by holidaymakers’ concerns over rising fuel prices even though operators have reported a last-minute surge in reservations for the Easter weekend. Promises of unseasonably warm weather and travel chaos at airports have prompted a rise in late bookings for UK destinations, according
‘Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice From the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs’, by Frederic Kerrest In 2011, as co-founder and chief operating officer of a failing business and facing bankruptcy, Frederic Kerrest received some advice from one of his board members who had been through it all before. Acting on it saved
Russia’s defence ministry has said the Moskva naval missile cruiser, its flagship vessel in the Black Sea, has sunk, dealing a significant blow to Moscow’s offensive in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said on Thursday that the Russian vessel had been hit by one of their anti-ship missiles, causing an explosion on board. The Pentagon assessed
BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink’s pay increased 21 per cent to $36mn last year, after the asset management group reported record profits as a tide of money flowed into its funds. The bumper 2021 pay award for BlackRock’s 69-year-old founder includes cash and equity incentives, as well as a $1.5mn base salary. The world’s biggest
Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter with a bid that values the company at $43.4bn, a move that could turn the Tesla chief executive into a social media mogul. Musk’s offer of $54.20 a share comes days after he took a 9 per cent stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder
Wall Street banks detailed billions of dollars in potential losses from the war in the Ukraine this week, while warning that they saw no end in sight for the market turbulence unleashed by the Russian invasion. Industry analysts and executives described the losses as manageable, but expressed worries about the potential for spillover effects of
A US jury has convicted an Isis fighter accused of abducting hostages from the US, Europe and elsewhere in Syria, some of whom were gruesomely executed for propaganda videos. El Shafee Elsheikh, a former British citizen, on Thursday was found guilty of all counts in the case, including hostage-taking resulting in death and conspiracy to
Brazilian oil major Petrobras sought to end weeks of turmoil on Thursday by appointing a new chief executive, after two previous bosses were removed within a year following tensions with President Jair Bolsonaro. The state-controlled company said its board had elected José Mauro Coelho, a public sector official specialising in the energy sector, as chief
Pakistan’s military establishment has dismissed ousted prime minister Imran Khan’s claims that he was the victim of a US-led conspiracy, and described his visit to Moscow on the day Russia invaded Ukraine as “embarrassing”. In rare public comments on Thursday, Major General Babar Iftikhar, the army’s spokesperson, denied Khan’s assertions that Pakistan’s national security committee
Belvedere Island, Marin County, $60mn Where On the southern tip of Belvedere Island in the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco airport is a 45-minute drive via the Golden Gate Bridge, in clear traffic. What A dramatically positioned three-bedroom home spread across four floors with a detached one-bedroom guest house. The building follows the contours of
Hurrah for Mario Draghi, prime minister of Italy. A decade ago, he promised to do “whatever it takes” to protect the euro, an iconic phrase that shaped policymaking in subsequent years. Now he has produced another pithy salvo. Last week, he was challenged about what Italy might do if the EU boycotted Russian energy, given
A former Coca-Cola manager who received bribes of more than £1.2mn as part of a corrupt scheme to award contracts to favoured companies has been given a suspended jail term of 20 months by a London court. Noel Corry, 56, who worked at soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises UK Ltd (CCE), pleaded guilty to five