Today’s agenda: England’s risk from lead mines; EU births drop to new low; Nvidia and the AI boom; why we’re all suffering from ‘qualitynesia’; and how darts became a global phenomenon
Good morning. We start with an exclusive interview with Nato’s new secretary-general Mark Rutte, who told the Financial Times that the US would face a “dire threat” from China, Iran and North Korea if Ukraine were pushed to sign a peace deal on terms favourable to Moscow.
What Rutte told Trump: “We cannot have a situation where we have [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un and the Russian leader and Xi Jinping and Iran high-fiving because we came to a deal which is not good for Ukraine, because long-term that will be a dire security threat not only to Europe but also to the US,” Rutte said, adding that he made this point to Donald Trump when they met in Florida on November 22. The meeting was part of an effort to persuade the US president-elect to remain engaged with western allies and continue American support for Ukraine.
On Ukraine’s potential Nato membership: The secretary-general said increasing military support to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of any potential peace talks was more important than debating when Nato membership could be offered to Kyiv. “The most important thing now is to make sure that whenever Zelenskyy decides to get into peace talks, that he can do this from a position of strength,” Rutte said. “That for me is now priority number one.”
Brussels bureau chief Henry Foy has more from Rutte’s first interview as head of the western military alliance ahead of a meeting today with Nato foreign ministers.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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Results: British bank Paragon and US-based software group Salesforce report.
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Turner Prize: The winner is announced at London’s Tate Britain, as the award for British or UK-based artists marks its 40th anniversary.
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FT Global Banking Summit: The two-day event featuring speakers such as Barclays chief CS Venkatakrishnan and Deutsche Bank chief Christian Sewing opens in London.
Join us from December 4 to 6 at The Global Boardroom, where more than 100 experts including Steven Alan Barnett, senior resident representative in China for the IMF, will tackle topics from the impact of a second Trump term to AI, trade, and climate change. Register for free here.
Five more top stories
1. Exclusive: Local authorities in England are to be probed on whether they are meeting legal obligations to identify lead-contaminated land in the wake of an FT investigation into the risks of abandoned metals mines. More than 3,600 mines in England continue to disperse the metal into the environment each year. Read the full report.
2. A wave of industrial job cuts is setting a grim tone in the early stages of Germany’s election campaign, with politicians describing the economic conditions as the most challenging they have ever faced for a federal vote. Planned lay-offs, including 11,000 at Thyssenkrupp and 3,800 at Bosch, will loom large over a snap poll in February.
3. The UK’s top financial watchdog has opened the door to China’s fast-fashion group Shein joining the London Stock Exchange, saying its decisions on whether companies can list in the UK are based only on their disclosures. “What parliament has not asked us to do is to be a broad regulator around every aspect of corporate behaviour,” Nikhil Rathi, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the FT.
4. US president-elect Donald Trump yesterday warned there would be “all hell to pay in the Middle East” if Hamas did not release remaining hostages in Gaza before his inauguration in January. Trump’s signal that he wants to see an agreement reached before he takes office could provide new momentum in the talks.
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Middle East strikes: Israel bombed dozens of targets across Lebanon yesterday night after Hizbollah fired rockets at Israeli-controlled territory, in an exchange of fire that put a truce between the two sides under severe strain.
5. A judge in Delaware rejected Tesla’s attempt to restore Elon Musk’s $56bn pay package after previously striking it down as a breach of the carmaker board’s fiduciary duty. Lawyers for the shareholder who brought the original suit were also awarded $345mn, instead of the $5.6bn in Tesla shares that they had requested. Read more about the decision.
The Big Read
While last month’s US election was fought against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis, the country’s economic performance in recent years has been the envy of the developed world, a record rooted in faster productivity growth. But with Donald Trump set to enter the White House in January, economists ask: could his policies endanger the US’s lead?
We’re also reading and listening to . . .
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‘Qualitynesia’: Borne along on the tide of technology, it is far too easy to forget that some things really were better quality in the past, writes Sarah O’Connor.
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UK criminal justice: Old convictions are holding too many back, writes Paula Harriott, head of a charity that campaigns for reformed offenders, who argues that disclosure of minor offences should be reformed.
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Tech Tonic 🎧: Amid the artificial intelligence boom, demand for AI chips has exploded. In today’s episode, James Kynge visits a data centre to find out how advanced AI chips are reshaping the industry.
Chart of the day
Births across the EU’s 27 member states fell to 3,665,000 in 2023, according to figures updated last month, the lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1961 and the largest annual decline on record. The dearth of children is expected to heap pressure on state finances, as working-age populations shrink and the cost of spending in areas such as healthcare and pensions rises.
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Take a break from the news
The Professional Darts Corporation has spent decades transforming darts from a boozy pastime into a global enterprise and a rightfully respected sport. Here’s how a radical reinvention — and a certain 17-year-old — have helped the game of darts hit the bullseye.
