Man charged with murder of healthcare executive

Good morning. On right this moment’s agenda: 

• Lula is in intensive care after mind surgical procedure

• We go inside a infamous Assad regime jail

• Javier Milei’s first 12 months in cost

• And the FT declares 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 short preliminary courtroom 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 accordance with a LinkedIn profile of an individual matching his description. He was born and raised in Maryland, and his final recognized deal with was Honolulu, Hawaii, the NYPD mentioned.

The event comes after a five-day manhunt during 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 right this moment:

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

• Financial knowledge: Brazilian statistics company IBGE publishes shopper worth figures relative to November.

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

• Nobel day: This 12 months’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 skim the special report that coincides with the occasion.

Immediately marks the launch of the FT’s India Enterprise Briefing publication, a must-read for Indian professionals on enterprise and coverage on the planet’s fastest-growing giant economic system. Sign up here in the event 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 “effectively”, the federal government mentioned. The 79 12 months previous, 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 and amend his circle of relatives belief to depart his eldest son Lachlan answerable for the household media empire has been blocked by a Nevada courtroom. A sealed resolution launched by the courtroom’s commissioner mentioned that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had acted in “unhealthy religion”. Rupert Murdoch, 93, said he would appeal.

3. Traders’ “relentless” urge for food for juicy returns has triggered the most important growth on Wall Road in complicated 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 12 months, 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 “battle 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 getting ready to sue Switzerland for $225mn over the choice to wipe out $17bn of debt when UBS took over Credit score Suisse final 12 months. The US asset supervisor would be the first giant institutional investor to hitch the case and argues the deal was an unlawful encroachment on investors’ property rights.

Be part of us tomorrow as Monetary Occasions editor Roula Khalaf and different FT consultants focus on their predictions for the world in 2025. Register here.

Immediately’s large learn

After a 12 months in workplace, Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has minimize inflation, slashed public spending and stabilised the peso — with out triggering widespread protests threatened by his opponents. The reforms have made him highly effective mates 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 world marketplace for fossils, writes John Gapper, as three prehistoric skeletons estimated to be value as much as £13mn go below the hammer.

Graphic of the day

Ukraine is racing to complete a number of traces of defence that might halt Russia’s advance, however efforts have thus far been marred by delays and an absence 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”.