FirstFT: BP chief steps down over past relationships with colleagues

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Good morning. Now we have a scoop as we speak on BP chief govt Bernard Looney, who has resigned after admitting he had did not disclose the extent of previous private relationships with colleagues.

Looney, 53, is to get replaced by Murray Auchincloss, the oil main’s chief monetary officer, “on an interim foundation,” the corporate mentioned in a press release on Tuesday.

Looney had advised the corporate earlier on Tuesday that “he was not totally clear in his earlier disclosures”, BP mentioned. “He didn’t present particulars of all relationships and accepts he was obliged to make extra full disclosure.” Read the full story on Looney’s departure, which is set to rock the 113-year-old energy group.

• Extra vitality information: The world is at “the start of the tip” of the fossil gasoline period, in line with the main international vitality watchdog, which for the primary time has forecast that demand for oil, pure fuel and coal will all peak before 2030.

Right here’s what else I’m protecting tabs on as we speak:

• Financial information: The US releases September client value index, the UK publishes its revised July GDP determine and the EU has its month-to-month industrial manufacturing figures. The Worldwide Vitality Company points its month-to-month Oil Market Report.

• IPO: UK-based chip designer Arm is anticipated to announce the ultimate pricing of its initial public offering, the largest in practically two years.

FT subscribers: Be a part of our webinar as we speak (12:30 — 13:30 GMT +1) on China’s financial slowdown. Register for free and ship in your questions for James Kynge, Yuan Yang, Eleanor Olcott, Yu Solar, and UBS economist Tao Wang.

5 extra high tales

1. North Korean chief Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on his personal prepare on Tuesday for a gathering with Russian president Vladimir Putin “within the coming days”. The go to marks Kim’s first overseas journey for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic and will lead to an arms deal to help Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine. Here’s what analysts expect from the meeting.

2. China’s navy has launched its largest-ever workout routines with an plane provider within the western Pacific. The Shandong, the Folks’s Liberation Military Navy’s second plane provider, was on track on Tuesday to converge with greater than 20 different Chinese language warships in waters between Taiwan, the Philippines and the US Pacific territory of Guam. “They’re expressing their displeasure with the varied army workout routines which have been below approach of their periphery,” said one analyst.

• China’s property woes: The ailing sector has emerged because the biggest threat to the soundness of the worldwide financial system, fuelling a “dramatic shift” out of rising market shares and into the US, in line with a carefully watched investor survey.

• Chinese language diplomacy: Xi Jinping’s absence from the G20 summit left many questioning whether or not China’s chief would choose out of future summits, thereby reducing Beijing’s influence in worldwide diplomacy.

3. Rescue employees recovered a whole lot of our bodies from jap Libya after devastating floods destroyed giant elements of the coastal metropolis of Derna. Tamer Ramadan, head of the Worldwide Federation of Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Societies delegation to Libya, mentioned on Tuesday that 10,000 individuals had been regarded as lacking. “The loss of life toll is big,” Ramadan advised the FT. “I consider the whole quantity will hit some hundreds.” Read the full story.

4. Apple has unveiled 4 new iPhone fashions and two up to date Watches, because it tries to tempt customers in an financial system the place individuals are holding on to their gadgets for longer. Pricing for the brand new iPhone 15 Professional Max fashions will begin at $1,199 — $100 greater than a 12 months in the past — reflecting Apple’s technique of constructing up for stagnant unit gross sales with greater common promoting costs. Our report from the launch has more details.

5. Unique: Rishi Sunak learnt of the arrest of a parliamentary researcher accused of spying for China shortly after the occasion in March, however nonetheless pressed forward with stepping up engagement with Beijing. Sunak has launched into a brand new strategy to China and the UK authorities labelled the nation an “epoch-defining problem” fairly than a “risk” in a defence assessment. Here’s more on the fallout from the spy scandal.

Visible story

Over the previous few years, we now have taken an enormous leap ahead in our decades-long quest to construct clever machines: the appearance of the big language mannequin, or LLM. As generative synthetic intelligence is quickly woven into our lives, understanding the know-how behind it means understanding why these fashions are such versatile cognitive engines — and what else they can assist create. This visual story shows how it works.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

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China is ready to eclipse Japan because the world’s largest exporter of vehicles. However the spectacular export information hides a home market the place demand has peaked for conventional combustion engines and customers are shopping for far fewer vehicles, leading to “massive overcapacity” in the number of vehicles produced in factories throughout the nation.

Take a break from the information

Lake Khovsgol is positioned in one of the vital distant areas of Mongolia and is roughly 136km lengthy. At -12C, it would look like the final place you’ll need to go to. Not so for Tim Moore, who participated within the Mongol 100 bike race, pledging to traverse the frozen lake “by any means necessary”.

Further contributions from Grace Ramos and David Hindley