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Good morning.
Today we bring you an exclusive interview with Narendra Modi, who has for the first time responded to allegations of an Indian assassination plot in the US.
India’s prime minister sought to play down the diplomatic impact of a US indictment last month that claimed an Indian official directed the attempted murder of a Sikh separatist on American soil, saying he will “look into” any evidence but a “few incidents” would not derail US-India ties.
“If someone gives us any information, we would definitely look into it,” Modi said. “If a citizen of ours has done anything good or bad, we are ready to look into it. Our commitment is to the rule of law.”
The target of the attempted assassination was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen who is general counsel for the separatist group Sikhs for Justice, according to people familiar with the case. India in 2020 designated Pannun as a terrorist, which he denies.
Read Narendra Modi’s full interview with Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf.
And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:
Economic data: US consumer confidence is expected to have improved so far in December, according to the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index. But sales of existing homes in the US are projected to have ticked down.
Politics: Donald Trump faces a deadline to respond to the US Department of Justice’s petition seeking a ruling from the Supreme Court on whether the former US president is immune from federal prosecution for crimes allegedly committed while in office. Joe Biden is in the swing state of Wisconsin to speak about Bidenomics at an event in Milwaukee.
Elections: The Democratic Republic of Congo, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country by area, holds general elections. Here’s what’s at stake.
Five more top stories
1. Donald Trump has been disqualified from Colorado’s Republican presidential primary ballot due to his involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The decision by the state’s supreme court is a landmark legal ruling that could have significant implications for the 2024 race. The Trump campaign said it would appeal the decision in the US Supreme Court.
Opinion: Democrats need to find more compelling ways of asking people to vote for them beyond warnings about Trump, writes Edward Luce.
2. AP Møller-Maersk, which operates the world’s second-largest container shipping fleet, yesterday became the latest to reroute its vessels around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea amid mounting attacks from Iranian-backed rebels in the region. The waterway accounts for 30 per cent of all container ship traffic and is a vital conduit for crude oil shipments. Here’s how shipping route changes are having an impact on global supply chains and the oil price.
Israel-Hamas war: Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said his country is open to agreeing a new temporary truce with Hamas to secure the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.
3. Three of the world’s biggest pornography sites — Xvideos, Pornhub and Stripchat — will from April be hit by new EU regulatory curbs. The sites will be subject to obligations of “very large online platforms” under the Digital Services Act which has so far been applied to tech groups such as Facebook, Wikipedia and TikTok, according to three people familiar with the move. Read the full story.
4. A push by Elon Musk’s X to bring in $100mn from political advertising in 2024 is being met by scepticism from industry insiders. Earlier this year, X’s billionaire owner reversed a ban on political advertising instituted by former chief executive Jack Dorsey. It has since courted potential political clients in Washington to promote its advertising services. The Financial Times has seen a letter sent to those companies.
5. Goldman Sachs is planning to increase bonuses in its trading business despite revenues in the division falling this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Bonus discussions at Wall Street banks typically start in late November but final decisions on pay at Goldman have yet to be made. Read more on the internal pay discussions at Goldman.
The Big Read
A recent surge in asylum numbers in Europe is pushing voters into the hands of populist and far-right parties, which are on course to make significant gains in European parliament elections in June and exert more sway over EU policymaking. Fearing an electoral backlash, governments are reaching for ever more drastic solutions, testing the limits of EU and international law and tying themselves in knots in the process.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
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Efforts to manage a surge of northbound migrants at the US-Mexico border are disrupting trade flows between the countries after authorities shut down two rail crossings this week that handle tens of billions of dollars in goods each year. Shippers and railroad industry groups warned that the closures were hitting industries from carmaking to farming.
Take a break from the news
. . . and go inside the rich visual world of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Japan’s godfather of animation is back with his latest film The Boy and the Heron, which soared to number one at the North American box office on its release.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm
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Source: Economy - ft.com
