Oil nears $100 as US launches new strikes on Iranian tankers
American military hit ‘multiple’ ships linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response to more attempted missile attacks on a US Navy warship
US bans Canadian dairy, motorcycles and most alcoholic beverages
Move comes a day after Ottawa imposes $20bn in retaliatory tariffs on US goods
Fundraising frenzy for China AI lab DeepSeek spawns costly shadow market
New investment round triggers rush of vehicles with escalating fees and five-year lock-ups
CVC hires TPG’s second-in-command Todd Sisitsky as co-CEO
Private equity group brings on executive as part of succession plan for chief Rob Lucas
Art thieves get away with four Renoirs
‘I’ve always thought of art as interactive’
Last Seen — Patrick Brammall searches for his long-lost daughter in this Harlan Coben-esque thriller
Set in small-town Australia, this dreary Apple TV series is studded with explosive melodrama and preposterous plot twists
Letter: Dementia sufferers fear identity loss more than the condition
From Jonathan de Jong, Film-maker, author and founder of SUPER7EVEN Productions, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Letter: The branding power of the Heinz gherkin
From Nir Wegrzyn, Founding Partner and CEO at brand agency BrandOpus, London EC2, UK
Letter: US had to look to Britain for this mining technology
From Alan Kaye, Former CEO and Chairman, Dobson Park Industries, Carnforth, Lancashire, UK
Letter: Innovation debate must avoid London-centric lens
From Professor Rebecca Riley, Co-Director, City-REDI; Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement University of Birmingham, UK
Letter: Berkshire Hathaway’s no dividend policy works
From Anson J Glacy, New York, NY, US
Letter: Those ‘crazy’ lawyer salaries should actually be higher
From Mark C Olie, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
Letter: Another reason that students are missing out
From Farah Mendlesohn, Professor Emerita, Anglia Ruskin University, Perth, Scotland, UK
OpenAI faces competing claims around maths breakthrough
Chief executive Sam Altman says the lab was threatened with ‘unfounded accusations of plagiarism’
War and weather threaten another burst of UK inflation, BoE governor warns
Comments by Andrew Bailey add to problems facing Andy Burnham ahead of next month’s Budget
FT Crossword: Number 18,475
FirstFT: Singapore’s PM Lawrence Wong receives $1mn pay raise
Also in today’s newsletter: Meta unveils AI personal assistant and offshore borrowing in China’s currency hits record high
Transcript: Unhedged Live — How Katie was “right all along”
Katie Martin speaks to Robert Armstrong
LIV Golf files for bankruptcy with at least $500mn in liabilities
Saudi Arabia-backed league confirms preliminary deal with BC Partners to fund LIV 2.0
Heathrow and Gatwick flights disrupted by air traffic control failure
National Air Traffic Services says its systems are ‘starting to recover’ but tens of thousands of passengers remain stranded
Anthropic and OpenAI bankers push for top-tier credit ratings post-IPO
Investment-grade designation would unlock cheaper financing for AI labs and their infrastructure partners
Meta unveils AI personal assistant linked to WhatsApp and Instagram
New ‘agent’ called Muse designed to make customised suggestions based on chats and social media activity
Investors led by L Catterton to buy controlling stake in Hyrox
German fitness company has become a global phenomenon since the Covid pandemic
Unhedged Live: How Katie was “right all along”
Why the Dutch are pulling their gold out of America