Ceasefire under threat after Hamas accused of violation

Good morning and welcome again to the ultimate version of FirstFT Americas this week: Right here’s what we’re masking right now: 

• Hamas accused of ceasefire violation

• Japanese court docket Tesla over Nissan

• Trump’s first month in workplace in charts

• And the FT’s annual bonus survey

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas would “pay the total value” for returning the physique of an unidentified girl and never that of the mom of two younger boys in yesterday’s hostage swap, threatening the delicate ceasefire settlement.

Hamas was alleged to have handed over the stays of 4 Israeli hostages yesterday, together with two younger boys, in a grim alternate that originally signalled progress for the shaky ceasefire settlement.

However early this morning, the army stated that whereas it had confirmed the physique of peace activist Oded Lifschitz and the stays of two brothers — Kfir and Ariel Bibas — the final physique was not that of the boys’ mom Shiri Bibas.

In a video assertion revealed this morning Netanyahu stated Israel would “act with willpower to carry Shiri residence” and stated Hamas would pay “for this merciless and evil violation of the settlement.”

Hamas stated that the physique of Shiri Bibas was combined with different human stays from the rubble after an Israeli air strike hit the place she was held in. It launched the names of the six hostages it intends to launch tomorrow.

The occasions threaten to derail the delicate ceasefire settlement reached with the backing of the US final month.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has invited the leaders of Egypt and Jordan to Riyadh right now for talks to debate Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza strip which contain resettling Gaza’s 2mn Palestinian inhabitants and redeveloping the enclave as a resort. He has referred to as on Jordan and Egypt to take the resettled Palestinians. Here are more details.

And right here’s what else we’re preserving tabs on right now and over the weekend:

• Markets: European share costs rose right now, following friends in Asia, which hit a three-month excessive on AI optimism. At present’s strikes come as European shares outpaced the US within the month since Donald Trump’s inauguration.

• Financial information: S&P International releases flash Buying Managers’ Index information for the US manufacturing and providers sector, whereas Mexico’s nationwide statistics company releases ultimate fourth-quarter GDP information.

• Fed communicate: The president of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of San Francisco and the Federal Reserve vice-chair Philip Jefferson communicate at a convention in San Francisco. Financial institution of Canada governor Tiff Macklem can also be because of seem at a public occasion.

• German election: Europe’s largest democracy goes to the polls on Sunday. Berlin bureau chief Anne-Sylvaine Chassany visited the centre-left SPD stronghold of Ruhr and located voters shifting to the far-right AfD.  

How nicely did you retain up with the information this week? Take our quiz.

5 extra high tales

1. A high-level Japanese group that features former prime minister Yoshihide Suga has drawn up plans for Elon Musk’s Tesla to put money into the struggling carmaker Nissan, following the collapse of its merger talks with rival Honda. The group is hopeful Tesla will turn into a strategic investor since they consider the world’s largest pure electric-vehicle maker is eager to amass Nissan’s vegetation within the US. Read the exclusive story.

2. Australia has warned industrial airways that Chinese language warships are conducting “live-fire” army workouts off the nation’s east coast, prompting them to reroute flights. Qantas and Air New Zealand confirmed they’d adjusted some flights to keep away from the realm which was in worldwide waters. Learn extra on the manoeuvres removed from Chinese language territory.

3. Meta’s oversight board has clashed internally over Mark Zuckerberg’s “free speech” overhaul of content material moderation, because it rushes to search out methods to carry the social media big to account over the adjustments. The impartial physique tasked with ruling on delicate moderation points was not consulted on Zuckerberg’s U-turn, in line with individuals acquainted with the matter. Read the full report.

4. The US is against calling Russia the aggressor in a G7 assertion supposed to mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in line with western officers. The Trump administration doubled down on its criticism of Zelenskyy yesterday, with nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz accusing Kyiv of hurling “unacceptable” insults on the US president, and likewise demanding that Ukraine agree to a minerals deal.

5. Citigroup is scaling again its insurance policies round range, the newest US firm to retreat from targets to advertise a extra inclusive workforce. Trump’s return to the White Home has intensified a backlash to range, fairness and inclusion targets, main firms to abandon goals they had put in place only a few years ago. 

• Opinion: As US firms dial again DEI efforts, the College of Chicago’s Raghuram Rajan asks: was social duty all the time simply performative political theatre?

At present’s Huge Learn

Eric Adams, mayor of New York Metropolis, was as soon as a rising star within the Democratic Social gathering however his fame is now in tatters, as critics accuse him of getting into a Faustian pact with Donald Trump’s administration to crackdown on immigration in alternate for federal corruption fees in opposition to him being dropped. The clamour for him to step down is growing.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

Chart of the day

The primary 30 days of Donald Trump’s second spherical within the White Home have been a whirlwind of government orders, lawsuits and controversy. Right here’s a have a look at the numbers behind the president’s first month in office.

Take a break from the information . . . 

Our annual survey of FT readers exhibits bonus payouts are on the rise. Of the greater than 1,000 readers who answered the questionnaire over half stated they anticipated an even bigger or considerably larger payout than final yr but there was uncertainty about the next 12 months.