US and Ukraine report progress on peace plan

Good morning and welcome again to the working week. In immediately’s e-newsletter:

• US peace plan for Ukraine progresses

• Insurance coverage teams search to exclude AI legal responsibility

• Interview with CEO of US quantum computing firm IonQ

• The FT launches its seasonal enchantment

We start in Geneva, the place US and Ukrainian officers reported progress in efforts to finish the warfare with Russia.

Weekend talks: Following negotiations with Ukrainian and European officers, US secretary of state Marco Rubio stated a “super” quantity of progress had been made, including that it was probably the most productive days in talks. “I really feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a really cheap time frame,” stated Rubio. The secretary of state stated the talks would proceed.

Unresolved factors: Rubio wouldn’t say if any breakthroughs had been made on among the extra contentious components of the 28-point plan, together with the demand that Ukraine cede territory within the Donbas area and a ban on Ukrainian membership of Nato in addition to a cap on the nation’s navy measurement. Learn extra on yesterday’s talks which capped a weekend of chaotic diplomacy.

Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on immediately:

• US-EU commerce: US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US commerce consultant Jamieson Greer meet EU ministers in Brussels to debate commerce relations.

• Financial knowledge: Mexico’s nationwide statistics company will publish knowledge on client worth modifications within the first half of the month.

5 extra prime tales

1. BHP has stated it doesn’t intend to bid for Anglo American after trying to gatecrash its smaller rival’s impending $50bn merger with Teck Assets of Canada in latest days. BHP walked away after being rebuffed for the second time in 18 months by Anglo.

2. Estée Lauder’s new chief govt stated he was “doubling down” on China as a part of a brand new strategy to doing enterprise within the nation that was the principal reason behind the sweetness group’s weak post-pandemic efficiency. “There’s an infinite quantity of recent shoppers which can be coming into the center class . . . the following China is China,” Stéphane de La Faverie informed the FT. Read the full interview.

• Extra on China: Premier Li Qiang has referred to as for a world alliance for the development of rare earths, as Beijing steps up competitors with Washington to regulate the availability chain of crucial minerals.

3. AIG, Nice American and WR Berkley are among the many insurance coverage teams which have not too long ago sought permission from US regulators to supply insurance policies excluding liabilities tied to companies deploying artificial intelligence tools, together with chatbots and brokers. The insurance coverage business’s reticence to supply complete cowl comes as corporations have rushed to undertake the cutting-edge expertise.

4. Cohen & Gresser, the New York regulation agency that represented Sam Bankman-Fried and Ghislaine Maxwell, is in talks about promoting a stake to a non-public fairness group. The agency has mentioned choices together with the sale of a $40mn convertible observe, which might finally be swapped for fairness within the enterprise, according to people familiar with the matter.

5. A push by greater than 80 nations for plans to give up fossil fuels at a divided UN COP30 summit in Brazil failed, after two weeks of negotiations had been capped by threats of a collapse by the ultimate evening. Right here’s extra on the clashes and one key area of progress.

The Monday interview

For Niccolo de Masi, synthetic intelligence is previous information. The short-talking, bespectacled 45-year-old chief govt of US quantum computing firm IonQ is concentrated on the following technological frontier. “Quantum computing is the final part of the pc revolution,” he tells Anjli Raval.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Markets: Latest falls within the worth of bitcoin have gotten an early warning system that markets usually are not properly, writes Katie Martin.

• New York and California: The large hubs for finance and innovation are losing their appeal to enterprise, writes Tej Parikh.

• CEO one-upmanship: The viewers that chief executives are sometimes most anxious to impress is their friends.

• Good informal: The world’s most confusing dress code is even worse within the steamy COP30 tropics, writes Pilita Clark.

Chart of the day

The problem for the UK chancellor on this week’s Price range is to treatment the catastrophe that Brexit has been for the UK. The nation’s openness to commerce in items has dropped sharply relative to that of enormous EU member states since leaving the bloc. A better relationship with Brussels is crucial to tug the nation out of its economic hole, writes Martin Wolf.

Take a break from the information . . .

Towards an ever-widening hole between the haves and have-nots, immediately the FT launches its seasonal enchantment in assist of FLIC, the Monetary Literacy and Inclusion Marketing campaign seeded by the Monetary Occasions in 2021. The charity goals to advertise a foundational understanding of cash amongst each youngsters and adults and over the following eight weeks, we’ll convey you tales concerning the communities that FLIC has already reached. Deputy editor and chair of FT FLIC Patrick Jenkins has more.