FirstFT: US diplomat Henry Kissinger dies at 100

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Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state and national security adviser who helped open up relations with China, usher in a detente with the Soviet Union and end America’s war in Vietnam, has died aged 100.

Kissinger’s death at his home in Connecticut was confirmed by Kissinger Associates, his consultancy, which described him as a “respected American scholar and statesman” in a statement last night.

His stints in government came during the 1970s, when he served Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, at a time when cold war rivalries were evolving and economic tensions were consuming US foreign relations.

But his influence on world affairs and politics continued well past his days in the White House, Kissinger Associates noted, as he was consulted by American presidents of both political parties and foreign leaders.

While Kissinger’s push for more productive dialogue with China and the Soviet Union set the stage for a less tense phase of the cold war, he drew fierce criticism for adopting positions and taking actions that he deemed to be in US interests even if it meant supporting dictators and violating human rights around the world. Read more on the life of this polarising figure in American foreign policy.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• ECB forum: The two-day event on banking resilience includes speeches by European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and Federal Reserve vice-chair for supervision Michael Barr.

• COP28 summit: The highly anticipated climate conference starts in the United Arab Emirates amid allegations that the host nation used its position to discuss oil and gas deals. Follow developments here.

• Economic data: The eurozone has flash November inflation and October employment figures, Germany publishes October retail and labour data, and France has consumer spending and provisional inflation numbers.

• Results: Dr Martens, Rémy Cointreau, SAS and Victoria’s Secret report.

Five more top stories

1. Global bank executives have rounded on US regulators’ plans for new industry capital rules, warning that the Basel III endgame proposals are “fighting yesterday’s war” and putting financial market liquidity at risk. In interviews at the FT Global Banking Summit this week, US executives argued the current proposals would force lenders to cut back on credit and products, while their European counterparts echoed calls for a rethink despite standing to benefit from the EU’s less onerous interpretation of the standards.

2. Exclusive: The Taliban have carried out hundreds of floggings over the past year, an analysis from open-source project Afghan Witness has revealed. Since October last year, the Taliban-controlled Supreme Court has announced punishments for more than 400 people, all of whom were flogged except for two who were executed for murder. Read more on the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment under sharia law to consolidate control.

3. US federal prosecutors have accused an unnamed Indian government official of orchestrating a “murder-for-hire” plot to kill a Sikh activist in New York. The Financial Times has confirmed that the target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen who is general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, a US-based group that is part of a separatist movement pushing for the creation of an independent Sikh state in India. Here’s how the allegation complicates Washington’s efforts to deepen relations with New Delhi.

4. Microsoft will have an observer role on OpenAI’s new board as the artificial intelligence start-up aims to strengthen its corporate governance following a week of chaos in which five out of its six directors, including chief executive Sam Altman, were ousted or quit. The new board will include Microsoft, a key investor, as a non-voting observer, alongside “individuals whose collective experience represents the breadth of OpenAI’s mission — from technology to safety to policy”, the start-up said.

5. Elon Musk delivered a diatribe against advertisers who have halted spending on X due to his endorsement of an antisemitic post, deepening a rift between him and the companies that generate most of the social media platform’s revenue. In a rollercoaster interview at The New York Times Dealbook Summit yesterday, the mercurial billionaire called a recent exodus of big brands including IBM, Apple, Walt Disney, Comcast and Warner Bros “blackmail” and said it was “going to kill the company”.

Deep dive

Eight years after the world’s largest oil and gas producers made commitments to cut their emissions in Paris, the role of the hydrocarbon industry in the shift towards clean energy has become more contested. While the biggest oil and gas companies, particularly in Europe, are investing in greener products to lower their emissions, the energy crisis sparked by resurgent demand and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been used by some leaders to justify continued investment in fossil fuel production.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

A strike by 130 Tesla mechanics in Sweden to protest against the US carmaker’s refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement has rapidly escalated, attracting sympathy action from other sectors. Now, the fervour risks spreading to other Nordic countries, where union membership remains high but is declining.

Take a break from the news

Influence — the power to persuade, advocate for change and imagine better ways of doing things — takes many forms. Nowhere is this more clear than in the FT’s 25 most influential women of the year. Meet the women at the helm of the world’s most profound transformations.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm