FirstFT: Congressional committee votes in favour of prosecuting Trump

Good morning. The congressional committee probing final yr’s violent assault on the US Capitol has voted to advocate that the US Division of Justice pursue felony fees in opposition to former president Donald Trump for his function within the failed riot.

Throughout its remaining public listening to right now, the bipartisan nine-member panel unanimously mentioned Trump ought to be prosecuted for aiding the riot, obstructing an official authorities continuing, conspiring to defraud the US and knowingly making false statements to authorities.

The vote is the climax of the panel’s efforts to make clear Trump’s complicity with the mob that stormed the Capitol with a purpose to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory within the 2020 presidential election.

“We’ve by no means had a president of the US fire up a violent try to dam the switch of energy. I consider, practically two years later, that is nonetheless a time of reflection and reckoning,” Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Home Democrat chairing the panel, mentioned at first of the listening to.

“There’s one issue I consider is most essential in stopping one other January sixth: accountability,” he added. “Proof we’ve gathered factors to additional motion . . . accountability that may solely be discovered within the felony justice system,” he mentioned.

The congressional panel’s remaining proceedings and proposals are more likely to deepen the previous president’s authorized woes as he mounts a brand new bid for the White Home. The justice division, the place particular counsel Jack Smith has taken over the federal investigations of the previous president, will make the ultimate resolution on whether or not to indict him.

5 extra tales within the information

1. Twitter customers vote to take away Musk as chief government After a backlash in opposition to banning the promotion of consumer accounts on opponents’ platforms, Elon Musk launched a Twitter ballot asking whether or not he ought to resign as Twitter CEO. A complete of 17.5mn votes have been solid, with 57.5 per cent calling for Musk to step down.

2. Epic Video games pays FTC $520mn to resolve ‘Fortnite’ claims In two separate authorized complaints, the US Federal Commerce Fee has claimed that the Fortnite developer illegally collected knowledge on youngsters and manipulated tens of millions of gamers into making unintentional purchases. The payouts mark the largest win but by regulators tackling so-called “darkish patterns” in apps.

3. EU power ministers attain deal on fuel value cap Regardless of fears that an intervention will fail to calm markets and will threaten Europe’s fuel provides, the EU has reached an settlement to cap fuel costs within the bloc after they hit €180 per megawatt hour for 3 days. Hungary opposed the cap, as did the Netherlands and Austria, which each abstained within the remaining vote. Germany, additionally vocally in opposition to the cap, ultimately agreed on the situation of extra safeguards.

4. Bankman-Fried seems in Bahamas courtroom as US awaits extradition Sam Bankman-Fried had been resisting extradition to New York since his arrest in Nassau final week on US federal fraud and money-laundering fees associated to the collapse of cryptocurrency change FTX. The previous billionaire made a courtroom look right now amid expectations that he would finish his opposition to being extradited.

5. China runs low on blood provides after Covid retains donors away China’s blood banks are battling provide shortages through the present wave of Covid-19 circumstances, including additional stress to an already strained medical system. Well being officers have suggested docs to postpone “pointless” surgical procedures. In the meantime, right now China confirmed two Covid-related deaths, the primary which were formally reported within the nation since December 3.

The day forward

UK nurses strike As much as 100,000 members of the Royal Faculty of Nursing maintain their second one-day strike in per week over pay. MPs on the well being and social care committee will hear proof from NHS executives and union leaders on the nurses’ strikes and ambulance delays.

Verdict on WWII warfare crimes trial A verdict is anticipated right now in a case in opposition to Irmgard Furchner, a 97-year-old German lady charged with committing warfare crimes through the second world warfare.

Power acquisition At the moment is the deadline set by a Excessive Courtroom choose for UK energy provider Octopus Power to take over its collapsed rival Bulb.

Financial indicators Canada releases its October retail gross sales knowledge; China publishes its financial coverage charge resolution; the EU could have its flash shopper confidence figures; Germany releases November producer value index (PPI) inflation charge figures, and Japan will publish its financial coverage committee rate-setting assembly resolution this afternoon.

Company outcomes BlackBerry releases its Q3 outcomes right now, FedEx its Q2 outcomes, and Petrofac has a buying and selling replace right now.

Monday’s version said that Nike’s Q2 outcomes have been launched yesterday. Nike releases their Q2 outcomes right now. We remorse the error.

What else we’re studying

Is the World Cup nonetheless the best present on earth? Gideon Rachman has been to each World Cup, bar one, since 1994. Often his plans are met with pleasure from mates, however when he mentioned he was going to Qatar, many raised an eyebrow. Rachman displays on the Fifa controversy, migrant and LGBT+ rights in Qatar, and the morally questionable historical past of the match.

Nouriel Roubini: ‘I hope I didn’t depress you an excessive amount of’ The famously gloomy economist who warned of a 70 per cent likelihood of a US recession in August 2006 has extra darkish predictions for subsequent yr and past. However Roubini, nicknamed “Dr Doom”, reveals he’s additionally upbeat about know-how in this interview with Henry Mance.

How non-public markets grew to become an escape from actuality The fashion for personal investing started within the early 2000s and personal channels grew to become a manner for cash managers to hide losses from shoppers. However now, with inflation more likely to be stickier than earlier than, we’ve entered an period of tight cash, writes Ruchir Sharma, and there’s nowhere to cover.

At Christmas, airline crews are Santa’s helpers within the skies For many who work as flight and cabin crew, Christmas could be heart-warming but in addition bittersweet, explains British Airways pilot Mark Vanhoenacker.

The cultural predictions for 2023

For its remaining episode of the yr, the FT Weekend podcast talks by way of listeners’ and editors’ cultural predictions for 2023: from canine developments to hurry relationship, to Twitter and what White Lotus says about our collective psyche.