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Germany’s two main parties are neck and neck after Sunday’s election, according to first exit polls from voting to determine who will succeed Angela Merkel as leader of Europe’s largest economy. An exit poll from public broadcaster ARD put both the left-of-centre Social Democrats and the centre-right CDU/CSU on 25 per cent, with the Greens

US president Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are gearing up for a frantic dash to pass their multitrillion dollar economic agenda, avert a debt default, and salvage their worsening prospects in the 2022 midterm elections. Eight months after he entered the White House, Biden must overcome a series of hurdles in the coming weeks if

US prosecutors have reached an agreement with Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the Chinese tech giant’s founder, to resolve fraud charges against her. The details of the agreement are set to be announced in a court hearing in Brooklyn at 1pm, Eastern time, according to a letter from Nicole

Deepening worries over Evergrande have ignited selling in a $428bn corner of the Asian debt market, underscoring how the crisis at the Chinese property developer is spreading to other assets as traders and investors brace for a crucial payment deadline on Thursday. Yields on US dollar-denominated bonds issued by riskier Asian borrowers have soared to

A growing number of Federal Reserve officials expect an interest rate increase next year as the central bank prepares to withdraw its enormous stimulus programme as early as November. At the end of the two-day meeting on Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee kept its main interest rate on hold at the rock-bottom range of

The International Energy Agency has called on Russia to send more gas to Europe to help alleviate the energy crisis, becoming the first major international body to address claims by traders and foreign officials that Moscow has restricted supplies. The Paris-based body said that while Russia was fulfilling its long-term contracts to European customers it

Shares in Chinese and Hong Kong property groups fell to their lowest levels in half a decade as an escalating liquidity crisis at developer Evergrande showed signs of spreading beyond the sector. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, faces obligations of more than $300bn to creditors and other businesses and a crucial interest payment

The world’s largest technology companies have snapped up smaller rivals at a record pace this year in a buying spree that comes as US politicians and regulators prepare to crack down on “under the radar” deals. Data from Refinitiv analysed by the Financial Times show that tech companies have spent at least $264bn buying up

Australia has been thrust into the limelight after signing a trilateral defence partnership with the US and the UK that is set to provide its navy with nuclear-propelled submarines. But the intention behind Aukus goes far beyond those submarines and Australia. The new pact is an essential building block in Washington’s attempts to prevent China

France has recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultations, in a diplomatic protest against a new security pact under which Australia will buy nuclear-powered submarines from the US and cancel its existing contract with Paris.  Jean-Yves Le Drian, French foreign minister, issued a statement on Friday night saying he had been told to

Taiwan and Japan have hailed the potential for a new security pact between Australia, the UK and US to offset an increasingly assertive China, even as France reacted with fury to Canberra’s cancellation of a $90bn submarine programme to agree the deal. The US allies said the new AUKUS partnership, under which Canberra will procure

Washington has launched a new trilateral security partnership with London and Canberra which will support Australia’s plan to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, a move that will strengthen the allies’ ability to counter China. The move is US president Joe Biden’s latest effort to bolster alliances amid increasing tensions with China over disputes ranging

US government bonds rallied while bank shares weighed on major stock markets on Tuesday, as moderating US inflation warmed investors to the view that the Federal Reserve would have more time to remove crisis-era stimulus. Data released on Tuesday showed headline US consumer prices rose 5.3 per cent in the year to August, a slight

Apple has issued an emergency software update after cyber security researchers said they had uncovered a new vulnerability allowing hackers to deploy Israeli company NSO Group’s spyware tool through iMessage.  The iPhone maker issued a patch on Monday to fix the flaw, which was discovered by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab after

Europe’s economy is roaring back from the coronavirus crisis. Growth in the euro area outpaced both the US and China in the last quarter, more than 70 per cent of EU adults have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, investment is booming and unemployment is falling. However, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde sounded a cautious

The failure by the US to bring Covid-19 cases under control is scrambling business expectations of a rapid economic revival, forcing companies to reset plans and revise forecasts as they also grapple with a new federal vaccine mandate.  Revenues have fallen at a quarter of US small businesses in each of the past three weeks

Apple’s iron grip on its App Store has been loosened by a US federal judge, who ordered the iPhone maker on Friday to stop interfering with apps that wished to take payments outside of its store. Until now, Apple has forbidden apps from including links, or even informing their customers, that they can subscribe or

The Biden administration will demand that companies force their employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to weekly testing as part of a new plan that will also result in government workers being fired if they refuse to take the jab. The US president will announce the new measures on Thursday evening as part

Janet Yellen has warned that the US Treasury will run out of cash next month unless Congress increases the borrowing limit, as Joe Biden’s administration grows increasingly worried about a possible debt default. In a letter to congressional leaders on Wednesday, the US Treasury secretary said she could not offer “a specific estimate” of when

The Taliban formed its first caretaker government in Afghanistan since it swept to power last month, featuring several members that have been sanctioned by the UN for terrorism and an interior minister on the FBI’s most wanted list. Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a close adviser to the late Taliban founder Mohammed Omar, will be acting prime