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Merz meets China’s Xi as trade tensions mount

German chancellor’s two-day trip to Beijing aimed at combating ‘distortions’ due to Chinese exports

Take part in a live Ask an Expert Q&A with Ben Hall, the FT’s Europe editor, on Thursday February 26 at 1pm (GMT)

Breakthrough in Gorton and Denton would show Zack Polanski’s insurgent party is not a wasted vote in some cases

New chief Luke Miels swoops on Canada’s 35Pharma in push to replenish pipeline and boost revenues

Laurence des Cars quits in wake of theft that exposed poor security at Paris museum

South Korea passes law ending practice that investors say has helped owner families at expense of minority shareholders

Boost to UK bank comes after $14bn privatisation of Hang Seng

Typical households will pay £1,641 per year, down from £1,758 after energy-efficiency scheme scrapped

Commodity-linked currencies acting as ‘canaries in coal mine’ for shift towards rises in borrowing costs

Dave Lewis moves to reduce shareholder payouts to build ‘financial flexibility’

Academics favouring lower interest rates could challenge governor Kazuo Ueda’s efforts to normalise policy, analysts say

Marc Filippino talks to Simon Foy and Humza Jilani

Plus AMD and Meta

AI and policy; AI and workers; Russian imports; farmers; PE ratios; backstops; SRTs; celebrations; billionaires; Venezuela; El Mencho

Also in this newsletter: New Italian far-right party joins European parliament’s fringe

Baby, it’s cold outside

Also in today’s newsletter: Germany’s arms deals and Paris mayoral race

President warns Islamic republic is rebuilding nuclear weapons programme amid huge US military build-up

Michela Tindera talks to Peter Andringa

Cristina Criddle talks to Megan Garcia and Karandeep Anand

Investment banks capitalised on volatility in 2025, with Barclays and Deutsche Bank leading the pack

Senior figures in both sectors worry that latecomers are pushing into ever-riskier assets

A recent trial shows the difficulty of disentangling medical hope from hype

Ministers also planning to link patient data to benefit claims and employment statistics