US and France lead international call for 21-day Lebanon ceasefire

Today’s agenda: Saudi Arabia rethinks oil price target; OpenAI shake-up; Putin’s nuclear threat; women for Trump; and ‘stealth bomber’ aviation

Good morning. We start with an update from New York, where the US and France have just led calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. US officials hope a temporary truce will avert a wider regional war and put pressure on Hamas to accept a separate Gaza ceasefire deal.

Details of the proposal: The 21-day truce, backed by the G7, the EU, Australia and Arab partners, would apply to fighting between Israel and the militant group along a demarcation boundary known as the “blue line” along the Israel-Lebanon border. The US is not speaking with Hizbollah directly, but officials say they expect Lebanon’s government to ensure that the Iran-backed group would abide by the deal.

Looking ahead: No deadline was set, but US officials expect responses from the parties in “the coming hours”. France’s foreign minister will visit Beirut later this week as part of the diplomatic push. It is not immediately clear if either side will agree to halt hostilities. Just hours before the proposal was announced, Israel had told its troops to prepare for a “possible entry” into Lebanon in its most explicit threat of a ground offensive since it started air strikes days ago. The Israel Defense Forces also said it had recalled two reserve brigades. Read the full story.

And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The US reports its final second-quarter GDP while Gfk has its consumer climate survey for Germany.

• Defence: Volodymyr Zelenskyy presents Joe Biden with a “Victory Plan” against Russia at the White House. The UK, US and Australian defence ministers meet to discuss the Aukus security pact in London.

• Pope Francis: The head of the Catholic church starts a four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium.

• Results: Accenture and H&M report.

Thank you for reading FirstFT. What do you think of the new format for the top story of the day? Let me know at [email protected], or simply hit “Reply”. — Tee

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: Saudi Arabia is ready to abandon its unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude as it prepares to increase output in a sign that the kingdom is resigned to a period of lower oil prices, according to people familiar with the country’s thinking. Tom Wilson has the full story.

2. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, is one of several employees leaving the company, triggering a leadership shake-up as it discusses changing its corporate structure. It is the latest blow to the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence start-up, with only two of its 11 founders remaining.

3. Global companies have stepped off the sidelines in recent months to pursue blockbuster takeovers of rivals, with high-profile transactions such as Mars’s purchase of Kellanova and Verizon’s takeover of Frontier Communications spurring hopes of a dealmaking revival. But the overall number of deals sank to a nine-year low.

4. Vladimir Putin has said he would expand Russia’s nuclear doctrine to potentially cover attacks against his country using advanced western missiles, in a clear message to Ukraine’s Nato allies as the UK and US deliberate on letting Kyiv hit targets within Russia with western-made Storm Shadow missiles. Here’s more on Putin’s stark threat.

• Trump vs Kyiv: The former US president has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of refusing to strike a deal to end the war with Russia and casting “aspersions” against him.

• Russian retaliation: Putin faces constraints in how to escalate his war, but that makes him no less dangerous, writes Hanna Notte of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

5. Exclusive: Just six businesses are using customs sites at “freeports” across the UK, more than three years after the tax-free import scheme was announced as a way to bolster Britain’s economy after leaving the EU. The meagre take-up of the customs sites has raised questions in Whitehall about spending on the tax breaks amid budget cuts elsewhere.

The Big Read

The scale and pace of China’s transition away from fossil fuels has smashed international forecasts, exceeded Beijing’s own targets and put the rest of the world on notice. But to wean the country off coal, Chinese authorities need to push through a politically toxic shake-up of the electricity system, a long and thorny process that has already dragged on for decades.

We’re also reading and watching . . . 

• Hermès: Executive chair Axel Dumas tells the Financial Times that the Parisian house, largely unscathed from a luxury slowdown, is considering a push into haute couture.

• Hone Capital: Shan Xiangshuang sought to build a “direct train” from Silicon Valley to China. Now, the Chinese billionaire’s splurge on US start-ups has caught the FBI’s attention.

• Eight minutes: Is that too long a walk from workplace to metro? Apparently so, according to many of Tokyo’s office workers, writes Leo Lewis.

• 🎬 Women for Trump: Our latest FT Film explores why, despite Donald Trump’s crass language, legal troubles and abortion politics, Republican women still back the former president.

Chart of the day

Could this radically shaped plane change the future of commercial flying by 2030? Inspired by the US Air Force’s B-2 stealth bomber, JetZero’s new aircraft promises to be both less noisy and more fuel-efficient.

Take a break from the news

We’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of our iconic Lunch with the FT with a free, pop-up newsletter. Receive our favourite Lunches from the archives in your inbox, featuring fresh insights from the interviewer. Join us for a weekly serving of Lunch starting this Sunday, until November.

Additional contributions from Gordon Smith and Benjamin Wilhelm