Emmanuel Macron will face far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French election on April 24, with polling suggesting a much tighter final race than in 2017. Here is what the first round results tell us so far. Macron won the first round by a reasonable margin — but the second

The title of my note today is taken from a new book by former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, which has become ever more timely since it was published a couple of months ago. I had the chance to hear Rudd — who speaks fluent Mandarin and is, for my money, one of the smartest

V, E, S, P, A: five letters with the power to summon a tourist-brochure-perfect Italy. The shadows of cypress trees lengthening in the setting Tuscan sun; the winding roads of the Amalfi coast; the turquoise waters of Sardinia; a land of milk, honey, espresso, sprezzatura, pizza and Negroni. Vespa speaks of an Italy where the

One thing to start: I have always had mixed feelings about Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla. Like many, I salute his bold vision and determination to fight climate change with electric vehicles. But I also wince about his (idiosyncratic) style of corporate governance, among other things. Either way, few can ignore him.

Ericsson has indefinitely suspended all activities at its business in Russia, the Swedish telecoms equipment maker said on Monday, as it seeks to distance itself from a country accused of war crimes in Ukraine and defend itself against the possibility of contravening European sanctions. “Ericsson is engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension

Hello, and welcome to Trade Secrets. What of last night’s first-round French presidential election results from a trade policy perspective? A good result for Macron, obviously, but a lot of votes for far left and far right candidates with various degrees of antipathy to various definitions of globalisation. We’ll probably end up with Macron as

One of world’s largest listings this year has come from an unusual source: Indonesia. Shares in GoTo, a ride-hailing and ecommerce business, rose as much as 23 per cent on their first day of trading on Monday. A lower-than-expected valuation signals that south-east Asian listings are running out of steam. GoTo got off to a

Mindbody, the fitness and wellbeing tech platform that owns exercise subscription service ClassPass, plans to go public as demand for in-person workouts grows following pandemic shutdowns. A flotation would mark a return to the public markets after just four years away from the Nasdaq for California-based Mindbody, which was taken private by Vista Equity Partners in

Lying on my large bed in a light and tranquil room overlooking storm-strewn daffodil lawns, I wondered if I had arrived at the future of work. I was alone at Birch, a hotel occupying a Georgian manor in 55 acres of land on London’s northern fringe, desperate to replenish my energy after my family and

Within the plush splendour of Dior’s new boutique on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, with its haute couture salon and pâtisserie, is a not so hidden gem. Nestled in a display cabinet sits a fancy yellow cushion-shaped diamond named “Le Montaigne”. It has been cut to weigh precisely 88.88 carats to reference the founding of Dior

Forget all the fancy talk about neutral interest rates and output gaps. The two basic questions facing the Federal Reserve are simple to state and complex to answer: is the world’s most powerful central bank finally committed to return monetary policy to serving the real economy rather than financial markets; and can it do so

Oksana Belaya refused to leave her home through eight years of Russian occupation in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas territories. But with Moscow’s forces regrouping for an offensive there that will define the next phase of the war, she has finally had enough. “We had hoped up until the last minute that everything would be fine,” the

Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. Our latest season of Tech Tonic continues, with a deep dive into the semiconductor industry and Taiwan’s unique position as a bastion of computer-chip talent. James Kynge, the FT’s global China editor, looks into the unintended

Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. Incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen will advance to the final round of voting after yesterday’s first round of the French presidential election, and Stefania Palma explains the big themes that have emerged

This is an audio transcript of the Tech Tonic podcast episode: Chips with everything [CHINESE AUDIO CLIP PLAYING]  Chad DuffyI’m based in Taipei, yeah, I’m based in Taipei. The security community here is really, you know, really deeply technical, is a really vibrant security community full of lots of just really talented software developers. James

Battery manufacturers are confronting a severe lithium shortage, highlighting the need to challenge China’s dominance of raw material supply chains, an Australian lithium producer has warned. Stuart Crow, chair of Lake Resources, said western companies and governments had failed to build adequate supply chains for lithium, making the sudden boom in electric vehicle manufacturing unsustainable.

Eon has ruled out extending the life of its nuclear power plant in Germany, even as Europe’s largest economy prepares for the rationing of energy supplies and to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons. “There is no future for nuclear in Germany, period,” said chief executive Leo Birnbaum. “It is too emotional. There will be no

Canada’s top banks more than doubled their financing of highly polluting tar sands oil to $16.8bn in 2021, despite signing up to the UN’s net zero banking alliance on greenhouse gas emissions.  Lenders including Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their financing to the top 30 tar

In 1931, John Maynard Keynes published a short essay entitled “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” in which he considered the feasibility of solving what he called “the economic problem”. According to Keynes, the issue of scarcity ought to have been dealt with by the early 21st century. Decades of capitalist progress would leave society with

Lee Castleton recalls to the last penny the shortfall that flashed on to his post office terminal on New Year’s eve, 2003 — £1,103.68. A week later another loss appeared, this time £4,230. Then another and another. By March, the sub-postmaster was £25,000 short. “I kind of knew from the second loss that this wasn’t