Financial Times24 Sept 2026 · 2 minSoftBank pays up to 9.75% to turn its OpenAI equity bet into bondholder riskThe record $11bn junk-bond sale shows that capital remains available for AI exposure—at a price that assumes a future liquidity event can outrun today’s interest bill.
Financial Times24 Sept 2026 · 2 minMeta’s keychain-sized Charm makes Muse a separate piece of cellular hardwareA two-inch screen and its own 5G connection give Meta another route around Apple and Google, while asking users to carry a dedicated device for an assistant their phone already hosts.
Financial Times & Semafor24 Sept 2026 · 2 minOracle invoked force majeure at Project Jupiter—but cannot hand the financing risk backA blocked gas pipeline has delayed the New Mexico data centre, exposing how tightly AI leases, permits, bank loans and private equity have been stacked together.
Financial Times23 Sept 2026 · 2 minNscale’s unnamed 2025 anchor customer was ByteDance—and the contract routed scarce Nvidia chips through NorwayThe relationship supplied 73% of Nscale’s 2025 revenue but was not prominent in its IPO pitch. It adds geopolitical and disclosure risk to a listing already built on customer concentration and future capacity.
Financial Times22 Sept 2026 · 2 minPlanet Labs’ Berlin factory makes European space autonomy a production questionThe US satellite company will build up to 60 high-resolution Pelican satellites a year in Berlin as German military demand and distrust of US-controlled intelligence access increase.
Financial Times22 Sept 2026 · 2 minMerz’s domestic collapse threatens the EU’s €2tn budget timetableGermany was supposed to broker the bloc's next seven-year settlement; regional election losses have weakened the chancellor just as national vetoes harden.
Financial Times22 Sept 2026 · 2 minAI power demand accelerates China’s nuclear and fusion build-outChina is coupling its data-centre expansion to an energy strategy that spans conventional reactors, small modular designs and state-backed fusion startups.
Financial Times21 Sept 2026 · 2 minThe oil shock is pushing governments back into expensive fuel subsidiesWith Brent near $110 and the Houthis striking Saudi Arabia, 38 countries are subsidising fuel and another 57 have cut taxes—measures that protect households now but strain budgets quickly.
Financial Times21 Sept 2026 · 2 minBerlin’s Linke victory and the CDU’s eastern collapse redraw German politicsDie Linke won Berlin on a housing mandate while the CDU fell below 5% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, leaving Friedrich Merz under pressure from opposite ends of eastern Germany.
Financial Times21 Sept 2026 · 2 minBig Tech is quietly guaranteeing up to $300bn of AI infrastructure debtResidual-value guarantees let data-centre ventures borrow against chips and buildings while much of the associated obligation stays outside technology companies’ headline debt figures.
Financial Times18 Sept 2026 · 2 minThe Bank of Japan raises rates to 1.25%—and the yen still weakensJapan’s policy rate reached a 31-year high, but a split vote and cautious guidance convinced markets that tightening may remain gradual.
Financial Times18 Sept 2026 · 2 minBug hunters used Claude to reach an OpenAI employee account and private codeA sanctioned bug-bounty exercise crossed from a third-party community forum into OpenAI’s authentication and GitHub systems, exposing how ordinary web flaws become more dangerous when AI can assemble the exploit chain.
Financial Times18 Sept 2026 · 2 minMedical AI is spreading faster than evidence that it improves patient outcomesHospitals increasingly deploy diagnostic and alert systems validated on retrospective datasets, while real-world trials showing better care remain scarce.
Financial Times18 Sept 2026 · 2 minBerlin’s election has become a test of whether housing anger can put Die Linke in chargeElif Eralp has taken Die Linke to the top of the final Berlin polls by centering rent pressure and a disputed plan to expropriate 220,000 homes from large landlords.
Financial Times17 Sept 2026 · 2 minThe Houthi capture of Mocha reopens Yemen’s war at the gate of the Red SeaThe offensive displaced at least 125,000 people and exposed the fragmentation of Saudi-backed forces near the Bab al-Mandeb shipping chokepoint.
Financial Times16 Sept 2026 · 1 minOpenAI tests investor appetite for a $1.2tn valuation before an eventual IPOEarly fundraising conversations would put OpenAI above its $852bn March valuation as revenue accelerates—but after $34bn of spending last year, capital need remains part of the story.
Financial Times16 Sept 2026 · 1 minTwenty donors now supply more than a third of US midterm money—and most back RepublicansSixteen of the 20 largest donors support the GOP, while Musk, crypto groups and tech founders finance parallel vehicles that can shape the agenda as well as individual races.
Financial Times16 Sept 2026 · 2 minThe US war with Iran has cost $38bn and exposed bottlenecks in replacing advanced munitionsOfficial assessments put the continuing conflict at another $2bn–$3bn a month and identify rocket motors, explosives and skilled labour—not congressional appropriations—as the binding constraints.
Financial Times16 Sept 2026 · 2 minFusion’s $3.8bn funding boom is running far ahead of evidence for a viable power plantLaboratory gains have revived fusion investment, but no system has yet produced net electricity once the whole plant is counted—and fuel, materials and maintenance remain unresolved.
Financial Times16 Sept 2026 · 2 minOld ties to Moscow are helping the AfD turn eastern Germany’s alienation into votesIn Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, unusually warm views of Russia combine with post-reunification grievance and weak establishment parties to give the AfD a commanding lead.
Financial Times15 Sept 2026 · 2 minPoland’s Orlen lost at least $230m in a crypto-funded hunt for Venezuelan oilA state-backed trader prepaid an inexperienced intermediary during a brief sanctions window; USB-stick transfers, opaque brokers and almost no oil followed.
Financial Times15 Sept 2026 · 2 minSupreme Court blocks Trump’s mail-ballot restrictions for the midterms, but leaves a future openingThe justices kept a Postal Service rule from disrupting voting already under way; Kavanaugh’s concurrence suggests similar restrictions could return after 2026.
Financial Times15 Sept 2026 · 2 minChina turns informal travel controls into a sweeping national-security regimeA new law formalizes passport restrictions and exit bans for officials, state-company staff and people in sensitive private-sector jobs.
Financial Times15 Sept 2026 · 2 minAI lets auditors scan full ledgers—but cannot absorb their accountabilityBig Four firms are moving from transaction samples to models that inspect entire ledgers; the opportunity is broader detection, the danger is automation without explainability.