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Good morning. India’s Supreme Court has struck down a fundraising scheme that allowed corporations and individuals to make anonymous political donations, in a decision seen as unfavourable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party ahead of national elections.
A five-judge bench headed by chief justice DY Chandrachud ruled yesterday that “electoral bonds” — the country’s main legal mechanism for corporate and individual donations to political parties — violated the right to information and could lead to “quid pro quo” arrangements between donors and political parties.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party is widely expected to overcome a divided opposition to secure a third five-year term in a staggered election to be held during April and May.
“It’s a historic verdict,” said Zoya Hasan, professor emerita at the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. “It’s a big blow to the BJP because so much of their political control has depended on money power and much of this money has come through anonymous electoral bonds.” Read the full story.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
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Economic data: France releases final January CPI and harmonised index of consumer prices inflation rate data, while the US publishes PPI inflation rate data for last month.
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Singapore: Finance Minister Lawrence Wong delivers this year’s budget statement.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Japan’s economy has contracted for a second straight quarter, recording “broad-based” falls in domestic demand and public spending and adding to pressure on the Bank of Japan as it considers raising interest rates for the first time since 2007. Here’s more on the disappointing fourth quarter data.
2. Donald Trump will next month become the first former US president to face a criminal trial, after a New York state judge declined to dismiss or delay the “hush money” case brought against him over payments allegedly made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election. The Manhattan court will begin selecting a jury on March 25, for a trial expected to last six weeks.
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More US news: The White House yesterday said it had received “troubling” intelligence that Russia is developing an advanced “anti-satellite capability”, confirming reports that had raised alarm bells among defence hawks on Capitol Hill.
3. Exclusive: Brussels should incentivise Europe’s defence industry to ramp up production and promote consolidation, the president of the European Commission has said, as she warned that the “world has got rougher”. In the face of rising threats from Russia, Ursula von der Leyen told the FT, “We have to spend more, we have to spend better, we have to spend European.”
4. Exclusive: The world’s biggest solar panel manufacturer has warned western countries not to cut out suppliers from China, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of global solar manufacturing. An executive from Longi Green Energy Technology told the FT that Europe and the US risked slower decarbonisation of their economies if they restrict Chinese companies from their renewable energy supply chains.
5. JPMorgan Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors both confirmed they were quitting Climate Action 100+, an investor group set up to prod companies over global warming, while BlackRock is pulling out as a corporate member and transferring its participation to its smaller international arm. The moves deal a major setback to the ambitions of the climate group and highlight a growing split between the largest US-based asset managers.
The Big Read
OpenAI’s revenues surpassed $2bn on an annualised basis in December, making it one of the fastest-growing technology companies in history. Since the launch of its viral chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI has become one of only a handful of Silicon Valley companies, including Google and Meta, to post revenues of $1bn within a decade of being founded. But the long-term viability of its revenue stream is under question.
We’re also reading . . .
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Indonesia’s next president: Former general Prabowo Subianto is expected to adopt a more populist stance than predecessor Joko Widodo for south-east Asia’s biggest economy.
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Hong Kong cinema: What happened to the days of iconic Hong Kong films and pop culture influence? Chan Ho-him explores why Hong Kong’s cinema has gone quiet.
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Sundar Pichai: Artificial intelligence has the potential to strengthen rather than weaken the world’s cyber defences, writes the Google CEO.
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Long Covid: With millions unwell, scientists fear that the condition’s range of symptoms and link to chronic diseases will have a lasting impact on health systems.
Chart of the day
Emerging markets investors in the US are snapping up exchange traded funds with no exposure to China and dumping those focused on the world’s second-largest economy, where a weakening growth outlook has left stocks lagging behind other markets.
Take a break from the news
Fastelavn used to mark the beginning of the Lent period of fasting in Denmark. Catholicism did not stick, but the holiday did, as did fastelavnsbolle, the sweet treat associated with the festival. FT Magazine’s Imogen West-Knights explores how the normally poised residents of Copenhagen go mad for the cream-filled buns every February.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith
