China’s army builds huge wartime command centre

Good morning and welcome again to the tip of what has been a really busy week. Right here’s what we’re masking at present:

• Particulars of a large new army complicated beneath development close to Beijing

• Canadian international minister’s warning for the US

• A refreshed information quiz

• Specialists give recommendation on discover “the one”

Satellite tv for pc pictures obtained by the Monetary Instances which can be being examined by US intelligence present that China is constructing a large new army complicated in western Beijing to guard the nation’s management, within the occasion of a battle — together with potential nuclear struggle.

The roughly 1,500-acre development website is 30km south-west of Beijing and has deep underground tunnelling and closely bolstered concrete that army specialists say will home massive, hardened bunkers.

If the US army evaluation is right the location can be the world’s largest army command centre — and at the least 10 instances the dimensions of the Pentagon. In accordance with the evaluation, main development started on the website, dubbed the “Beijing Army Metropolis”, in mid-2024 and comes because the Folks’s Liberation Military develops new weapons and tasks forward of the power’s 2027 centenary. Learn what occurred when FT journalists visited the location.

And right here’s what you ought to be conscious of at present and over the weekend:

• Financial information: The Commerce Division’s Bureau of Financial Evaluation updates the Private Consumption Expenditures worth index, a measure of inflation intently watched by the Federal Reserve. Canada releases GDP information for November 2024.

• Outcomes: Exxon, Chevron and Philips 66 are among the many firms reporting outcomes at present. For a full record enroll to our Week Forward publication.

• Brexit: Immediately marks 5 years because the UK formally left the European Union after 2016’s bitter referendum. Right here’s how the nation is adjusting to life exterior the bloc.

• Marco Rubio: The brand new US secretary of state begins his first official journey tomorrow when he travels to Central America, together with Panama and El Salvador.

• Trump tariff risk: The US president has promised to slap 25 per cent tariffs on items imports from Mexico and Canada beginning tomorrow. In an FT interview Canada’s international minister warned America can be compelled to import oil from Venezuela if tariffs have been launched on Canadian oil.

• Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift will likely be one of many stars presenting a prize at Sunday’s ceremony in downtown Los Angeles.

5 extra prime tales

1. With out citing proof Donald Trump blamed his Democratic predecessors and variety, fairness and inclusion insurance policies for a collision between a industrial jet and army helicopter that killed 67 folks simply exterior Washington. Federal crash investigators stated it was too early to say what precipitated the collision. Right here’s the newest on the investigation.

2. The Trump administration’s embrace of cryptocurrencies helps gas a speculative mania that would trigger “havoc” when costs collapse, the hedge fund Elliott Administration has warned. In an investor publication, Elliott additionally stated supporting digital belongings that would marginalise the greenback was “profoundly harmful”. The fund, which manages belongings value $70bn, stated “it has by no means seen a market like this”.

3. OpenAI is in talks with buyers, together with SoftBank, to lift $40bn, which might push the ChatGPT-maker’s valuation to $300bn. In October the corporate raised $6.6bn at a valuation of $157bn, which made it probably the most extremely valued personal start-up on this planet. The most recent funding spherical suggests buyers haven’t been delay by this week’s information from DeepSeek.

4. Apple’s quarterly earnings and income crept previous Wall Avenue forecasts, regardless of a steep fall in iPhone gross sales in China. The December quarter was the primary since Apple rolled out Apple Intelligence, its suite of synthetic intelligence options that embrace a partnership with OpenAI. Right here’s extra on the outcomes.

5. Former Barclays boss Jes Staley mentioned confidential offers and purchasers with the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, based on a courtroom submitting by the UK monetary watchdog. Emails Staley despatched to Epstein have been cited by the Monetary Conduct Authority at a pre-trial evaluation yesterday. Learn extra particulars of the e-mail visitors between Staley and Epstein.

The Large Learn

Late-night buying and selling periods have fuelled a rising curiosity in organising round the clock mainstream operations. The New York Inventory Alternate is now trying to provide for much longer buying and selling home windows, widening to 22 hours a day. However the improvement is elevating thorny questions on how fairness markets work.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Trump’s good begin: A sequence of early strikes has breathed new life into the enterprise neighborhood, writes Michael Pressure of the American Enterprise Institute.

• Household inheritance: Trillions of kilos will likely be handed down in coming many years as a part of the Nice Wealth Switch — however some mother and father are opting out.

• China lab leak idea: The CIA’s judgment on Covid has reignited the search for a solution to the origins of the virus that precipitated a world pandemic.

• Immigration: The US and UK have been underestimating inhabitants development however with diverging implications, writes John Burn-Murdoch.

Quiz of the day

How a lot was wiped off Nvidia’s market worth throughout Monday’s tech sell-off? Take a look at your information of this week’s information in our up to date quiz.

Take a break from the information . . . 

HTSI spoke to relationship specialists and relationship coaches about fashionable romance. Listed here are 15 ideas they shared on discover “the one”. In case you have already discovered your life-long love and need to inform different FirstFT readers about it e mail me at firstft@ft.com and your phrases could seem in print. Have an excellent weekend, Gordon