Author: James Harden
On a UK military test flight over southern England in May 2024, a team of British and American physicists carried a briefcase-sized object containing one of the strangest substances in the universe: a cloud of atoms cooled so close to absolute zero temperature that they merged into a single quantum state. Known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, it is a new form of matter first created in a laboratory in 1995. The experiment, carried out by BAE Systems, Infleqtion, a Colorado-based tech company, and UK-based defence company QinetiQ, marked the first time such an object is known to have survived intact aboard…
The EU is set to ban the use of social media, certain gaming platforms and AI chatbots by children under 15 without parental supervision, as part of a wider push to protect them online.“No social media under the age of 13. No personal account under the age of 15,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech on Wednesday. “Europe has the power to act. It is us who decide the rules, not big tech.”Details of the measures will be unveiled in a so-called Kids Act on Thursday, in response to political pressure from several EU countries.…
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney listens to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivering a speech during her annual State of the Union address at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France on September 16, 2026.Jean-christophe Verhaegen | Afp | Getty ImagesEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said the European Union is opening the door for Canada to become the first associate member of the 27-nation bloc.Speaking in her annual state of the European Union address in Strasbourg, France, the EU chief said the bloc wants to bring the relationship with Canada…
Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Renewable energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Europe must act against Chinese wind turbine makers that benefit from “unfair” state support, but cannot afford to close itself off from global supply chains, the boss of Danish wind farm developer Ørsted said.Rasmus Errboe hailed the wind power sector as a “European industrial success story” as he backed efforts by the EU to clamp down on Chinese manufacturers with access to large government subsidies.“Competition needs to happen on fair and equal terms,” he told the FT. “We’ve in recent years seen…
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Scotch whisky backers have attacked the UK government’s decision to grant geographical indication status to English whisky, arguing that new rules in England risk hurting the reputation of Scotland’s most valuable goods export.Last week, UK ministers approved legal protection for English whisky, bringing it in line with Scotch, Welsh and Irish counterparts. The change, which takes effect next month, means “English Whisky” and “English Whiskey” will be legally protected names under the UK Spirit Drinks Geographical Indications (GI) scheme and officially recognises the…
Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsGet Mike Santoli’s Market Memo in your inbox first. SUBSCRIBE HERE”We’ll never laugh again,” said a young admirer of John F. Kennedy in 1963 as she mourned his sudden death.”We’ll laugh again,” answered the JFK aide Daniel Patrick Moynihan. “It’s just that we’ll never be young again.”At the risk of seeming to conflate a president’s assassination with an investment motif, this is where the AI theme sits right now. There will be cheer and thrills and profits generated by the burgeoning technology in the years to come. But the youthful phase of AI – when promise was…
A Saudi Aramco gas station in Santiago, Chile, on Friday, March 27, 2026. Saudi Arabia’s crucial East-West pipeline that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz is pumping oil at its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cristobal Olivares | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe global oil market is running out of safety nets. Prices are unlikely to fall below $100 per barrel anytime soon, analysts said, with traders increasingly pricing in a significant loss of regional supply as Saudi Arabia scrambles to restore a crucial pipeline.Saudi Arabia’s closure of the East-West pipeline,…
Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the European banks myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Germany’s finance minister has told UniCredit chief Andrea Orcel that Commerzbank should remain headquartered and listed in Frankfurt as the Italian lender moves closer to taking control of its German rival.In the first face-to-face talks between the German government and UniCredit over the Milanese lender’s hostile push to acquire Commerzbank, Lars Klingbeil called for the interests of the Frankfurt-based group’s 40,000 employees to be safeguarded, according to a finance ministry spokesperson. He also told Orcel, one of Europe’s most prominent dealmakers, that…
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.How many assisted deaths are too many? One striking argument made during the defeat of the UK’s proposed assisted dying law was that the projected figure — that it would account for 1 per cent of all deaths — showed that the law was either too cavalier or else perfectly judged, depending on the perspective of the speaker. Canada, whose medical assistance in dying (Maid) programme is the subject of pro-life demonology, has a 5 per cent figure. The defeated UK law would…
Satellite photos show the extent of the damage caused by a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, a highly strategic network that transports crude oil from Abqaiq on the kingdom’s eastern Gulf coast to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.The images, released by Vantor and published via Getty Images on Sunday, show a bird’s-eye view of fire damage and extensive blackened areas in and around a pumping station on the pipeline. Saudi Arabia on Friday temporarily closed the roughly 750-mile system, or Petroline, as a precautionary measure following multiple attacks by drones launched from Iraq. Several people…