FirstFT: EU and US turn up the heat on Elon Musk

Elon Musk is underneath renewed pressure from the US and EU over his possession of Twitter, as regulators clamp down on the billionaire’s push to rework the social community right into a freewheeling haven of free speech.

The European Fee yesterday threatened Musk with a ban until Twitter abided by strict content material moderation guidelines, whereas US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen indicated that Washington was reviewing his buy of the social community.

The warning from Brussels got here in a video name between Musk and Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner in command of implementing the bloc’s digital guidelines, in keeping with folks with information of the dialog.

Breton informed Musk that Twitter should adhere to a guidelines of guidelines, together with ditching an “arbitrary” method to reinstating banned customers, pursuing disinformation “aggressively” and agreeing to an “in depth impartial audit” of the platform by subsequent yr.

• Twitter/Apple row: Musk says he spoke with Apple chief government Tim Prepare dinner about his declare that Twitter could possibly be faraway from the App Retailer and has “resolved the misunderstanding”.

• Lex: The dangerous spat ought to immediate the erratic billionaire to chop debt.

5 extra tales within the information

1. Rising market shares and bonds stage highly effective rebound rally Rising market shares and bonds are staging a strong rebound as hopes China will loosen its Covid-19 curbs and a greenback sell-off have helped relieve a few of the strain on creating economies. JPMorgan’s broad gauge of dollar-denominated rising market debt climbed round 7 per cent in November, its finest month since 2008.

2. Sunak units up strikes unit as extra vote to stroll out British prime minister Rishi Sunak has created a dedicated strikes unit to co-ordinate the federal government’s response to a threatened “winter of discontent”, as greater than 10,000 ambulance staff grew to become the newest public-sector workers to vote for industrial motion.

3. EU to lift considerations over UK’s freeports scheme The EU fears the UK’s new freeport regime could lure investment away from the bloc. The UK has designated eight areas as freeports, permitting them to profit from tax breaks and simplified customs controls. London hopes they may develop into manufacturing hubs, with elements imported tariff-free.

4. Amazon’s {hardware} groups first to face axe Workers engaged on Alexa, Kindle and Halo are the primary to go because the tech large downsizes with dismissals this month. However traders need additional cuts, with Wall Avenue unimpressed by Amazon administration’s incapacity to tame a workforce that doubled through the pandemic.

5. Lukoil resumes talks to promote Italian refinery US personal fairness group Crossbridge Vitality Companions has resumed talks to buy Italy’s largest petroleum refinery from Russia’s Lukoil, folks briefed on the matter have informed the Monetary Instances. An settlement would worth Sicily-based ISAB refinery at €1bn-€1.5bn.

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The day forward

EU chief in China European Council president Charles Michel meets China’s Xi Jinping, however the long-awaited encounter comes with the unfortunate timing of coinciding with unrest over the nation’s zero-Covid coverage. (Politico)

Financial knowledge The EU publishes October unemployment knowledge, whereas the Nationwide Home Worth index for November is out within the UK. Brazil releases third-quarter gross home product figures.

Earnings Kroger and Peel Hunt have third-quarter and first-half outcomes, respectively.

England vs Pakistan cricket match England are scheduled to play their first Take a look at match in Pakistan in 17 years. Nonetheless, the sport could be postponed due to illness within the England group. (BBC)

Olympic draw Registration begins for the ticket draw of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Video games.

Countdown to Christmas The Norwegian spruce at London’s Trafalgar Sq. might be lit within the annual tree lighting ceremony.

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What else we’re studying

Brexit has had a ‘considerably detrimental’ impression on UK financial system Nearly two years after Britain left the EU, economists have reached a consensus: Brexit has significantly worsened the country’s economic performance. However thus far, ministers have largely rejected the proof.

Taking up China as south Asia’s favorite lender As China’s Belt and Street Initiative has proliferated throughout south Asia, India has additionally ramped up its infrastructure lending within the area. Whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration lags far behind Beijing in its abroad lending, New Delhi has stepped up its efforts, offering tens of billions of {dollars} in credit score to neighbouring international locations.

The FT’s 25 most influential ladies of 2022 Abigail E Disney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marina Silva, Beth Mead, Christiane Amanpour, Marina Abramović, Nicola Sturgeon and different contributors spotlight the women who made their mark in 2022, exploring their achievements throughout cultures, industries and artistries. “It’s a celebration,” writes Monetary Instances editor Roula Khalaf, and “additionally a manner of interrogating the methods wherein energy and affect are altering”.

Scholar housing: the bubble that received’t burst Finances squeezes aren’t any match for a sector with a structural provide shortfall, writes Cat Rutter Pooley, to not point out resilient demand from rich international college students and well-off middle-class mother and father who prioritise spending on their offspring’s schooling.

The deflating of the nice money cushion Economists have been forecasting contraction for the US financial system since no less than April, shortly after the Federal Reserve started elevating rates of interest. Credit score the money cushion American customers and companies constructed through the pandemic. However that can finally disappear, after which the financial system will nosedive, writes Megan Greene, international chief economist at Kroll.

Property

Overseas demand for property in Spain hit an all-time excessive within the third quarter of this yr, in keeping with Spanish land registry knowledge. The Costa del Sol has emerged as a selected haven. A part of the draw stems from a new fiscal incentive that’s encouraging the rich to contemplate the southern Spanish coast.