Man charged with murder of healthcare executive

Good morning. On as we speak’s agenda: 

• Lula is in intensive care after mind surgical procedure

• We go inside a infamous Assad regime jail

• Javier Milei’s first yr in cost

• And the FT pronounces its Enterprise E book of the Yr

However we begin with the arrest of Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, who has been charged with the homicide of Brian Thompson, a senior UnitedHealth Group govt who was killed forward of an investor occasion in New York final week.

New York prosecutors charged Mangione late final evening. He made a quick preliminary court docket look in Pennsylvania the place he was arrested and initially charged with weapons violations, forgery and false identification, amongst others. He was detained in custody in Pennsylvania and is predicted to be moved to New York.

Mangione was an engineering graduate of the College of Pennsylvania, in keeping with a LinkedIn profile of an individual matching his description. He was born and raised in Maryland, and his final identified handle was Honolulu, Hawaii, the NYPD mentioned.

The event comes after a five-day manhunt by which NYPD detectives and federal investigators have criss-crossed the town and close by states in an try to resolve the homicide that shocked New York and company America. Learn extra on Mangione, including a three-page document he was carrying when arrested.

Right here’s what else we’re maintaining tabs on as we speak:

• Outcomes: GameStop is predicted to report a pointy fall in third-quarter income.

• Financial information: Brazilian statistics company IBGE publishes client value figures relative to November.

• Benjamin Netanyahu seems in court docket: The Israeli prime minister will testify for the primary time in his long-running corruption trial. Observe updates here.

• Nobel day: This yr’s laureates obtain their Nobel Prizes in a ceremony in Stockholm.

• Investing in America: The FT hosts the third Investing In America summit in New York. Register now and browse the special report that coincides with the occasion.

Immediately marks the launch of the FT’s India Enterprise Briefing e-newsletter, a must-read for Indian professionals on enterprise and coverage on this planet’s fastest-growing massive financial system. Sign up here in case you’re a premium subscriber or improve your subscription here.

5 extra prime tales

1. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in intensive care after mind surgical procedure however is recovering “properly”, the federal government mentioned. The 79 yr outdated, generally known as Lula, underwent a craniotomy process to empty a haematoma after an MRI scan confirmed an “intracranial haemorrhage”. Read the full story.

2. Rupert Murdoch’s try to amend his family belief to depart his eldest son Lachlan in command of the household media empire has been blocked by a Nevada court docket. A sealed determination launched by the court docket’s commissioner mentioned that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had acted in “dangerous religion”. Rupert Murdoch, 93, said he would appeal.

3. Traders’ “relentless” urge for food for juicy returns has triggered the largest increase on Wall Avenue in advanced monetary merchandise for the reason that lead-up to the worldwide monetary disaster in 2007. The worldwide quantity of structured finance transactions has hit $380bn this yr, up by more than a fifth from the same period a year ago.

4. The insurgent chief who toppled Bashar al-Assad in Syria has pledged to pursue “warfare criminals” of the ousted regime because it seeks to consolidate its management of the nation. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the chief of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the one-time al-Qaeda affiliate, is now making efforts to type a brand new authorities in Damascus. Here’s the latest on Syria.

5. AllianceBernstein is making ready to sue Switzerland for $225mn over the choice to wipe out $17bn of debt when UBS took over Credit score Suisse final yr. The US asset supervisor would be the first massive institutional investor to affix the case and argues the deal was an unlawful encroachment on investors’ property rights.

Be a part of us tomorrow as Monetary Occasions editor Roula Khalaf and different FT specialists talk about their predictions for the world in 2025. Register here.

Immediately’s large learn

After a yr in workplace, Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has reduce inflation, slashed public spending and stabilised the peso — with out triggering widespread protests threatened by his opponents. The reforms have made him highly effective associates overseas, together with within the incoming Trump administration, and the darling of hedge fund managers and personal fairness executives alike. However large challenges loom. Ciara Nugent and Michael Stott take a look at the tests facing the unorthodox leader in his second year.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Boeing: A brand new FT movie investigates the broken safety culture on the US plane producer.

• Omnicom-Interpublic: The tie up of the US promoting giants fulfils a long-held ambition of Omnicom boss John Wren because the trade seeks to fights off Silicon Valley giants.

• Christie’s dinosaur public sale: Scientists have been priced out by billionaires within the international marketplace for fossils, writes John Gapper, as three prehistoric skeletons estimated to be value as much as £13mn go underneath the hammer.

Graphic of the day

Ukraine is racing to complete a number of strains of defence that might halt Russia’s advance, however efforts have up to now been marred by delays and a scarcity of co-ordination. With Russia threatening to breach a brand new Ukrainian area for the primary time since 2022 an FT reporter visited Dnipropetrovsk, near Donetsk, and located gaps in the region’s fortifications.

Take a break from the information

Supremacy, Parmy Olson’s ebook exploring the rivalry between OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google DeepMind, has gained the Monetary Occasions and Schroders Enterprise E book of the Yr Award. FT editor and chair of the judging panel, Roula Khalaf, mentioned the ebook “brilliantly frames the development of artificial intelligence”.