China’s strict Covid lockdowns are exacerbating serious shortages of fertiliser, labour and seeds, just as many of the country’s biggest agricultural provinces prepare for their crucial spring planting season. According to official data, as many as a third of farmers in northeastern Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces have insufficient agricultural inputs after authorities sealed off
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Milestones are not always the key moment of change, but the point at which history says it can no longer be ignored. February 24 was the date Russia invaded Ukraine. It will also mark the point at which the world undeniably split into blocks. Whatever the outcome of Vladimir Putin’s war, geopolitics is now divided
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Top UK housebuilder Redrow has increased the amount of money it has set aside to fix fire safety issues to more than five times an original estimate, in response to tougher demands on developers laid out by housing secretary Michael Gove.  Housebuilders have been trying to move on from a long-running building safety crisis that
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Volodymyr Zelensky has intensified his call for the international security system to be overhauled as new evidence emerged of alleged crimes by Russian forces in areas that were recently recaptured by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian president intensified his criticism of the global community in a late-night video address after lambasting the UN for failing to
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Good morning and welcome to Europe Express. Two days after Viktor Orban’s re-election, Ursula von der Leyen delivered her harshest message yet regarding the rule of law in Hungary. Not only is the European Commission starting a process that could freeze billions of euros the country is set to receive from the EU budget, but
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Good morning. We’re excited to bring you the third and final collaboration with Adam Tooze of Chartbook tomorrow, this time on Europe’s future. Today, Brainard and bitcoin. Email us: robert.armstrong@ft.com and ethan.wu@ft.com. Brainard’s comments and the yield curve Lael Brainard, who is lined up to be Fed vice-chair and has been dovish on monetary policy
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Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. US and eurozone government debt sold off on Tuesday as traders weighed the prospect of stronger sanctions against Russia and comments from a top policymaker at the Federal Reserve signalling more aggressive action, President Joe Biden
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Investors are buying more US farmland in search of a hedge against inflation as commodity shortfalls caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drive world food prices to record highs. Land values in the Midwest grain belt have gained 25-30 per cent in the past year while auctions draw intense bidding for available ground. Demand for
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A feeling of déjà vu hangs over the French presidential election this year, with the same cast for the run-off as in 2017: incumbent Emmanuel Macron against far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. Yet there are subtle differences in this year’s rematch, including how the two leading candidates have altered their clothing and styles to convey
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Volkswagen, the pioneer of the “people’s car” that epitomised the auto industry’s obsession with expansion, will axe dozens of combustion engine models by the end of the decade and sell fewer cars overall to concentrate on producing more profitable, premium vehicles. “The key target is not growth,” said Arno Antlitz, chief financial officer, in a
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Regarding Larry Davis’ suggestion (“A neighbourhood name change that might catch on”, Letters, FT Weekend, March 26) that his San Francisco Russian Hill neighbourhood name should be changed to “Ukrainian Hill”, we’ve been here before. San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden, in Golden Gate Park, conceived in 1894 from a World’s Fair exhibit, was developed into
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Joseph Cotterill’s article on the Chagos islanders (“Chagos islanders push Mauritius and UK to heal history’s wounds”, Special Reports, FT.com, April 1) notes that Mauritian officials have asked Google Maps to “mark the [Chagos] islands as Mauritian”. If the experts at Google decline this request from Port Louis, the Mauritian capital, I wonder if they
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