US and Ukraine report progress on peace plan

Good morning and welcome again to the working week. In right this moment’s publication:

• US peace plan for Ukraine progresses

• Insurance coverage teams search to exclude AI legal responsibility

• Interview with CEO of US quantum computing firm IonQ

• The FT launches its seasonal attraction

We start in Geneva, the place US and Ukrainian officers reported progress in efforts to finish the warfare with Russia.

Weekend talks: Following negotiations with Ukrainian and European officers, US secretary of state Marco Rubio stated a “great” quantity of progress had been made, including that it was some of the productive days in talks. “I really feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a really affordable time frame,” stated Rubio. The secretary of state stated the talks would proceed.

Unresolved factors: Rubio wouldn’t say if any breakthroughs had been made on among the extra contentious components of the 28-point plan, together with the demand that Ukraine cede territory within the Donbas area and a ban on Ukrainian membership of Nato in addition to a cap on the nation’s navy measurement. Learn extra on yesterday’s talks which capped a weekend of chaotic diplomacy.

Right here’s what else we’re retaining tabs on right this moment:

• US-EU commerce: US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US commerce consultant Jamieson Greer meet EU ministers in Brussels to debate commerce relations.

• Financial information: Mexico’s nationwide statistics company will publish information on shopper value modifications within the first half of the month.

5 extra high tales

1. BHP has stated it doesn’t intend to bid for Anglo American after making an attempt to gatecrash its smaller rival’s impending $50bn merger with Teck Sources of Canada in latest days. BHP walked away after being rebuffed for the second time in 18 months by Anglo.

2. Estée Lauder’s new chief government stated he was “doubling down” on China as a part of a brand new method to doing enterprise within the nation that was the principal explanation for the wonder group’s weak post-pandemic efficiency. “There’s an infinite quantity of recent shoppers which are coming into the center class . . . the subsequent China is China,” Stéphane de La Faverie advised the FT. Read the full interview.

• Extra on China: Premier Li Qiang has referred to as for a world alliance for the development of rare earths, as Beijing steps up competitors with Washington to regulate the provision chain of essential minerals.

3. AIG, Nice American and WR Berkley are among the many insurance coverage teams which have lately sought permission from US regulators to supply insurance policies excluding liabilities tied to companies deploying artificial intelligence tools, together with chatbots and brokers. The insurance coverage business’s reticence to supply complete cowl comes as corporations have rushed to undertake the cutting-edge know-how.

4. Cohen & Gresser, the New York regulation agency that represented Sam Bankman-Fried and Ghislaine Maxwell, is in talks about promoting a stake to a non-public fairness group. The agency has mentioned choices together with the sale of a $40mn convertible observe, which might in the end be swapped for fairness within the enterprise, according to people familiar with the matter.

5. A push by greater than 80 international locations for plans to give up fossil fuels at a divided UN COP30 summit in Brazil failed, after two weeks of negotiations have been capped by threats of a collapse by means of the ultimate night time. Right here’s extra on the clashes and one key area of progress.

The Monday interview

For Niccolo de Masi, synthetic intelligence is outdated information. The fast-talking, bespectacled 45-year-old chief government of US quantum computing firm IonQ is concentrated on the subsequent technological frontier. “Quantum computing is the final section of the pc revolution,” he tells Anjli Raval.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Markets: Latest falls within the worth of bitcoin have gotten an early warning system that markets aren’t effectively, writes Katie Martin.

• New York and California: The large hubs for finance and innovation are losing their appeal to enterprise, writes Tej Parikh.

• CEO one-upmanship: The viewers that chief executives are sometimes most anxious to impress is their friends.

• Sensible informal: The world’s most confusing dress code is even worse within the steamy COP30 tropics, writes Pilita Clark.

Chart of the day

The problem for the UK chancellor on this week’s Finances is to treatment the catastrophe that Brexit has been for the UK. The nation’s openness to commerce in items has dropped sharply relative to that of enormous EU member states since leaving the bloc. A more in-depth relationship with Brussels is crucial to tug the nation out of its economic hole, writes Martin Wolf.

Take a break from the information . . .

Towards an ever-widening hole between the haves and have-nots, right this moment the FT launches its seasonal attraction in help of FLIC, the Monetary Literacy and Inclusion Marketing campaign seeded by the Monetary Occasions in 2021. The charity goals to advertise a foundational understanding of cash amongst each youngsters and adults and over the subsequent eight weeks, we are going to deliver you tales in regards to the communities that FLIC has already reached. Deputy editor and chair of FT FLIC Patrick Jenkins has more.