Reform deputy leader tells Britons to ‘enjoy’ heat amid record drought
Richard Tice’s call for people to ‘celebrate’ hotter weather comes as farmers warn of one of the worst harvests on record
Ferrari’s first EV auctioned off at record $40mn
The Luce’s auction price sets a record for a new car
UK government to pay KPMG and EY up to £456mn to train civil servants
Deal marks largest contract awarded to Big Four firms in at least a decade
Barclays shakes up investment bank less than 3 years since last overhaul
Mike Joo hired from Bank of America to lead investment banking
Can Democrats seize Congress from Trump?
The races, the money and the issues that will determine the final half of Trump’s second term
Carlsen supreme in Paris at Esports World Cup
Puzzle: can you find Capablanca’s win?
Trump’s war on customs fraud will be costly and difficult
The US administration has incentivised the tariff cheating, mislabelling and misvaluation it complains about
Angels in America — this acclaimed Aids epic remains grim, angry and timeless
Ivo van Hove’s esteemed production of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work finally premieres in the UK at Edinburgh International Festival
Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of US-Iran negotiations
US president’s remarks follow talks between Gulf state and Tehran over provisional arrangement to manage Strait of Hormuz
Reform UK vows to block foreign nationals from claiming benefits if it wins power
Party’s Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick says current welfare system is ‘a strange perversion of compassion’
How online fandom shaped our world
What looks like random algorithmic attention can actually be the work of obsessive digital devotees
FirstFT: Jared Kushner and Benjamin Netanyahu meet in push for Gaza peace
Also in today’s newsletter: private credit doldrums and the AI super-rich
Virgin wins approval for cross-Channel trains despite Eurostar complaints
Regulatory clearance brings competition on rail services to the continent a step closer
Meta and BlackRock’s $14bn data centre exposes lenders to insurance gap
Investors in gigawatt-scale campuses face billions in underinsured risks as insurers balk at cost of full coverage
Smoking is back, brilliant new road bikes and the rise of the one-carat ring – don’t miss HTSI’s most popular reads
Catch up on our most clicked stories
And the FTAV chart quiz winner is . . .
Giving a shirt
Japanese second-quarter growth weaker than expected
Households and businesses pulled back in the worst months of the Iran energy shock
People are worried about America’s solvency
But not worried enough to actually do anything about it
China investment slump deepens as economy shows signs of weakness
Industrial output growth slows and retail sales nearly flat as policymakers face calls to step up support
What I read on my holidays
Muddled thinking about vocational education and fixing the driving test backlog
Kushner holds talks with Netanyahu after meeting Hamas leader
Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy is pushing Washington’s peace plan for Gaza
Burnham exchanged texts with person posing as Trump’s chief of staff
UK prime minister was contacted by someone claiming to be Susie Wiles
Trump orders Pentagon to scale back military drills with South Korea
US president claims joint exercises send a ‘hostile’ message to North Korea
A leaderboard of the biggest trading losses of all time
Well, some of them, anyway