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Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In immediately’s publication:
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Modi addresses the lethal New Delhi explosion
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SoftBank sells its Nvidia stake for $5.8bn
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How the world’s largest mining challenge boosts China
We start with Monday’s lethal automotive blast in New Delhi, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has blamed on unnamed “conspirators” as he vowed the perpetrators would “not be spared”.
The most recent: “Our agencies will get to the bottom of this conspiracy,” the Indian prime minister mentioned yesterday from Bhutan throughout an official go to. “The conspirators behind this will not be spared. All those responsible will be brought to justice.” Eight individuals died in Monday’s explosion close to the historic Purple Fort — a extremely symbolic website utilized by Modi for his annual Independence Day tackle. Indian safety officers confirmed with the FT that the case had been handed over to the nation’s counterterrorism regulation enforcement company.
Terrorism considerations: India has suffered quite a few assaults in latest many years. The final main assault within the capital occurred in 2011, three years earlier than Modi took workplace for the primary time. In April, gunmen killed 25 Indians and a Nepali citizen in Pahalgam, a vacationer hub in India-administered Kashmir, in an assault that spurred cross-border navy skirmishes with Pakistan, which India accuses of harbouring terrorists. Islamabad denied involvement within the Pahalgam bloodbath and in flip accused New Delhi of backing militants in its territory.
Learn extra in regards to the investigation into the New Delhi blast.
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Suicide bombing in Islamabad: Pakistan has accused India of pursuing “state terrorism” after a suicide bombing yesterday killed at the least 12 individuals exterior a judicial advanced in its capital Islamabad.
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Thailand-Cambodia tensions: The south-east Asian neighbours have suspended their peace deal, which was brokered by US President Donald Trump, lower than three weeks after it was signed.
Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on immediately:
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Financial knowledge: India releases October inflation knowledge.
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Outcomes: Tata Metal, Foxconn and Asahi Group report earnings.
Ask an Skilled: Will China win the AI race? Submit your questions to the FT’s John Thornhill and Eleanor Olcott forward of their stay Q&A on November 13.
5 extra prime tales
1. Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group has bought its complete stake in Nvidia for $5.8bn because the Japanese firm appears for methods to fund its rising investments in synthetic intelligence. SoftBank’s announcement that it had bought 32mn shares of the AI chipmaker final month got here because it reported web income doubled to ¥2.5tn ($16.2bn) within the quarter to the top of September.
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Extra Japanese enterprise: Elliott Administration, one of many world’s most distinguished activist buyers, has taken a major stake in Toyota Industries, placing itself in the midst of a controversial take-private try.
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Extra AI information: Buyers have been promoting off the debt of US tech heavyweights, exhibiting how jitters over Silicon Valley’s AI spending increase have spilled into the bond market.
2. A crypto fugitive who orchestrated a multibillion-pound Ponzi scheme to defraud buyers in China earlier than she fled the nation on a moped and made her strategy to London has been jailed within the UK. Zhimin Qian was sentenced to greater than 11 years after defrauding 1000’s of victims out of £4.6bn in whole.
3. Outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie has advised employees that Britain’s nationwide broadcaster should “fight” for its journalism as its board weighs up calls for for compensation within the threatened $1bn lawsuit by Trump. Learn extra in regards to the deepening disaster on the UK establishment.
4. Taiwan is hailing a overseas coverage breakthrough after a flurry of abroad visits by senior figures, saying the ties present welcome help within the face of China’s persistent menace. Former president Tsai Ing-wen capped the outreach with a speech in Berlin on Monday, her first go to in 15 years to a rustic that has been cautious in participating Taipei to keep away from damaging its relationship with Beijing.
5. Indonesia is contemplating issuing its first “panda bonds” subsequent 12 months, as China works to develop the renminbi’s position in worldwide finance and steps up de-dollarisation efforts. Right here’s why abroad debtors are more and more tapping Chinese language markets.
The Huge Learn
A $23bn mine in Guinea might tilt the steadiness of energy within the international iron ore market — one of many world’s most traded commodities — decisively in the direction of China. The mine has additionally been known as the “Pilbara killer” as a result of it poses a probably existential menace to the Australian iron ore producing area. And to the 15mn individuals of Guinea, the Chinese language-led enterprise provides hope that the west African nation of 15mn can change its fortunes. Learn extra in regards to the world’s largest mining challenge.
We’re additionally studying . . .
Chart of the day
Rising circumstances of malaria in Myanmar and throughout the border in Thailand threaten to imperil dramatic progress in efforts to eradicate the illness within the wider Mekong area. Specialists concern the scenario might worsen as a result of worldwide funding cuts and the unfold of mosquitoes brought on by rising world temperatures.
Take a break from the information . . .
David Szalay was awarded the 2025 Booker Prize for fiction on Monday for Flesh, his portrait of a person from adolescence on a Hungarian social housing property to the world of London’s super-rich. The judges praised the Hungarian-British writer’s “creative courage” for his sparseness of language and dialogue.
