Alibaba’s latest AI model puts it back in the great game
The ecommerce and cloud company hopes to recoup some of its lost shine with Monday’s release
FT Crossword: Number 18,446
Google shifts AI power back to Brin as DeepMind’s Hassabis steps aside
Silicon Valley parent consolidates control as the London lab’s scientific culture gives way to urgency to build AI products
Rail users face further disruption after Manchester power cut
Hundreds of trains were cancelled in north-west England after a 90-second outage at a critical train signalling centre
Mexico deploys hundreds of troops to secure avocado heartlands
Violence in Michoacán state prompts US to withdraw its inspectors and suspends imports of the fruit
FirstFT: US scientists use AI to create first synthetic viruses
Also in today’s newsletter: Jane Street in talks to refinance $11bn debt load and SoftBank beats analysts’ expectations
Tories vow to ban foreign nationals from accessing UK social housing
Party leader Kemi Badenoch pledges to implement policy if she forms next government as she tries to outflank Reform
Jane Street in talks to shift its $11bn in debt to investors including Pimco
Private credit deal would allow the secretive trading firm to make further investments in AI
Honeywell Aerospace shares plunge on failure to overcome supply snarls
Group slashes outlook as bottlenecks limit ability to convert strong demand for advanced parts into sales
The Economics Show: China wanted western tech. Now, the tables have turned.
Today, we're bringing you an episode from another podcast in the FT stable: The Econ…
Argentine company accuses US of meddling in Huawei project
Incident underscores duelling pressures on rightwing president Javier Milei from Washington and Beijing
Uefa doubles down on World Cup boycott in effort to oust Infantino
Europe’s football governing body reiterates threat despite Fifa ditching plan to sell stake to external investors
California sues DuPont over alleged effort to avoid ‘forever chemicals’ liabilities
State’s attorney-general says lawsuit involves ‘first-of-its-kind’ litigation
AI creates first synthetic viruses
Genomic language model has huge potential to redesign organisms such as bacteria
Airtable’s cut-price sale is just the start for software also-rans
Once high-flying start-up is selling itself to Bending Spoons for just under $2.3bn
The shrinking space for democracy in Africa
Authoritarians are gaining ground in an era of more transactional diplomacy
Google seeks a sharper focus in AI after Hassabis move
New role for the DeepMind co-founder comes as the competitive frontier in the technology is shifting
EasyJet agrees to £5.7bn Apollo takeover as Castlelake backs away
Two US private capital groups had vied to buy low-cost carrier in months-long battle
Diageo boss Dave Lewis stakes revival on canned cocktails and Guinness
New chief unveils plans to restore growth along with suite of cost cuts
Trump allowed to delay release of financial details in $10bn BBC defamation case
US court agrees with emergency stay requested by lawyers acting for president’s investment trust
The hidden financial world of ancient Rome
How ordinary people survived Roman Egypt’s brutal economy
Six films to watch this week
Stranger-than-fiction tale ‘A Child of My Own’; ‘Love Me Tender’ stars a brilliant Vicky Krieps; surreal, animated feature ‘Bouchra’; Glenn Close is a twinkly grandmother in ‘The Summer Book’; Tom Holland dons his suit for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’; spectacular childhood tale ‘Ish’. Reviews by Dan
Middlemen by Laura B McGrath — literature’s power brokers
An insider’s look at publishing argues that literary agents have shaped genres, global reputations and the economics of modern fiction
The Summer Book — a twinkly turn from Glenn Close in Tove Jansson adaptation
The actor has fun as a placid powerhouse in this atmospheric but uneventful film