Russia reacts to the US’s ‘new turn of escalation’

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT. Right here’s what I’m masking in the present day: 

The Kremlin has stated the US determination to let Ukraine launch restricted strikes inside Russia with US-made long-range missiles marks a “new flip of escalation” within the battle and stated Moscow would react “appropriately”.

Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to launch restricted strikes into Russia utilizing US-made long-range missiles, generally known as Military Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which have a variety of as much as 300km, or 190 miles.

The transfer is available in response to the deployment of hundreds of North Korean troops to assist Russia in latest weeks and a “massive” strike on Ukraine over the weekend, which included 120 missiles and 90 drones, concentrating on the nation’s energy services.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for months for the US and different companion international locations corresponding to France and the UK to carry restrictions on Ukraine’s use of western-made, long-range weapons inside Russia, arguing the missiles had been essential to hit Moscow’s forces earlier than they may launch new assaults on Ukrainian targets.

President-elect Donald Trump is sceptical of offering extra navy assist to Ukraine and has vowed to convey a swift finish to the struggle — with out saying how precisely he would try this.

What do you consider Biden’s change of heart? Vote on this newest ballot by clicking on the picture and dragging the cursor to the left or proper.

And right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on in the present day:

• G20 summit: Leaders from the world’s richest nations collect in the present day in Rio de Janeiro, with the re-election of Donald Trump threatening to disrupt worldwide initiatives on local weather change and taxation.

• COP 29: Ministers concerned in main UN COP29 negotiations have landed in Baku in a bid to break an impasse over a brand new international finance deal within the closing week of the UN-sponsored local weather summit.

• Financial information: Colombia’s statistics company will launch third-quarter financial development figures.

5 extra prime tales

1. Donald Trump has nominated Brendan Carr to go the Federal Communications Fee, handing a vociferous critic of Huge Tech the job of regulating tv, web providers and radio within the US. Carr, essentially the most senior Republican on the FCC, has beforehand steered curbing the authorized protections for web publishers enshrined in Part 230 of the Communications Decency Act. He also authored a chapter for the controversial Project 2025.

2. US enterprise leaders are warning that Donald Trump’s plan to deport tens of millions of undocumented employees might create mass labour shortages, closing eating places, crippling farms and small companies and elevating costs. One immigration lawyer stated: “Individuals are frightened concerning the value of meals now? Wait until [food producers] can’t get workers.”

3. Iran has saved the door open to negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration, however warned that any try and reimpose “most stress” would fail to extract concessions from the Islamic republic. Learn the Financial Times’ interview with deputy international minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who stated the 2015 nuclear deal — from which Trump withdrew — “might nonetheless function a basis”.

4. Novo Nordisk is making ready to unveil information for a “next-generation” weight-loss drug it believes could lead on the sphere of GLP-1 therapies. The corporate, developer of Wegovy, expects late-stage information for CagriSema, resulting from be revealed subsequent month, to point out that the drug cuts weight by 25 per cent in simply over a 12 months. Here’s more on what we know about the CagriSema trial.

5. An octogenarian oil dealer has been given a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence in Singapore for defrauding HSBC. Lim Oon Kuin, as soon as certainly one of Singapore’s richest males, was accused of encouraging an organization govt to forge paperwork that tricked the financial institution into disbursing almost $112mn. Here’s more on the sentencing of the 82-year-old.

The Huge Learn

Years after one of many worst spills in historical past within the Gulf of Mexico, oil corporations are drilling even deeper into the seabed searching for discoveries. However whereas the trade heralds a new era in offshore drilling, the rise in exercise — with virtually $104bn anticipated to be invested this 12 months — has raised issues.

We’re additionally studying and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

The German federal election on February 23 will decide the destiny of Europe’s largest financial system. Voters go to the polls seven months sooner than deliberate following the collapse of the ruling coalition this month. The FT has launched its German election ballot tracker to track the progress of the parties in contention to win.

Take a break from the information

Essentially the most-watched present in Netflix historical past is again. Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator, talks to the FT about what impressed the present’s ultra-violent critique of capitalism — and why he lost nine of his teeth in the course of the making of season one.