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Good morning. Vladimir Putin’s forces have rehearsed using tactical nuclear weapons at an early stage of conflict with a major world power, according to leaked Russian military files that include training scenarios for an invasion by China.
The classified papers, seen by the Financial Times, describe a threshold for using tactical nuclear weapons that is lower than Russia has ever publicly admitted, according to experts who reviewed and verified the documents.
The cache consists of 29 secret Russian military files drawn up between 2008 and 2014, including scenarios for war-gaming and presentations for naval officers, which discuss operating principles for the use of nuclear weapons.
Criteria for a potential nuclear response range from an enemy incursion on Russian territory to more specific triggers, such as the destruction of 20 per cent of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines. Read the full story.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
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Events: Bank of England monetary policy committee member Catherine Mann speaks at the FT’s Future Forum online event and the FT Live Business of Football online conference kicks off.
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UK protests: Campaign group Liberty begins a High Court challenge over new police powers that broaden the definition of “serious disruption” in relation to peaceful protests.
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Economic indicators: The US issues revised fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth figures.
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Results: Aston Martin Lagonda, Groupe Casino, Co-operative Bank, Just Eat Takeaway, Reckitt Benckiser, St James’s Place and Taylor Wimpey report.
Five more top stories
1. McKinsey claimed in marketing materials that it had advised the Chinese central government on boosting domestic consumption and reforming healthcare policy, raising fresh questions over the consulting firm’s denial that it ever worked for Beijing. McKinsey is facing calls from some US lawmakers to be barred from contracting work for the federal government. Read the latest on the consulting giant’s engagement with China.
2. Thames Water is lobbying the UK government and regulators to let it increase bills, pay dividends and face lower fines as it seeks to avoid a potential multibillion-pound taxpayer bailout. Britain’s largest water monopoly is trying to avoid being taken over, which could leave taxpayers on the hook and undermine investor confidence.
3. England’s town halls are being “forced to the pawnshop” in an unsustainable fire sale of assets aimed at temporarily staving off bankruptcy, councils and experts have warned. Local authorities are preparing to sell off hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of land and buildings as a result of a long-term funding squeeze, with at least 10 councils applying to the government for “exceptional financial support”.
4. Creditors of the two most important companies in the bankrupt Signa property group are pushing to oust management and hand over control to independent auditors, over fears their interests are being sidelined in favour of a tightly knit group of investors based in Austria. Read the latest on the unravelling of the group that co-owned Selfridges in London and the Chrysler Building in New York.
5. Ecommerce giant Amazon’s lobbyists are to be banned from the European parliament as part of an escalating dispute over transparency and working conditions. The European parliament said the company had repeatedly refused to engage with it about its approach to workers’ rights and labour conditions. It is only the second time that a company’s lobbyists have been banned from entering the European parliament.
News in-depth
The FT takes a look inside the miracle of modern chip manufacturing in a special visual data feature. After coming up against the limits of physics, scientists are rethinking chip architecture like never before. With parts of transistors reaching atomic levels of scale, engineers are having to come up with increasingly innovative ways of ensuring progress, such as vertical, tower-like construction and rethinking the way chips are packaged.
We’re also reading and listening to . . .
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Israel-Hamas war: Hamas has demanded the release of a leader seen by many Israelis as rightly jailed for his role in the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s as a condition for freeing its remaining hostages in Gaza.
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European stocks: The continent’s markets have unfulfilled potential, given their range of defensive and growth stocks, yet they are missing out on trillions of euros of capital, writes the FT’s editorial board.
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Unhedged 🎧: In the past few weeks, markets have hit highs in the US, Europe, and Japan. The hosts of Unhedged try to understand what has powered the results.
Chart of the day
The number of international students taking up postgraduate places at UK universities has fallen sharply, according to commercial data, sparking further warnings about the financial health of the higher education sector. Figures from Enroly, used to manage one in three offers to overseas students, showed a 37 per cent drop in international offers for UK postgraduate courses in January 2024 compared with January last year.
Take a break from the news
Scarves are a bold statement piece, whether tied as high as you like and wrapped around, or leaving a sliver of flesh showing from the chin to the Adam’s apple, or in the very French and utterly timeless look of a silk square, folded into a triangle and secured with a knot. Our Ask a Stylist feature shows off a range of chic neckwear.
Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm
