China’s President Xi visits North Korea to talk nuclear programme
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Iran and Israel trade fire testing a two-month ceasefire, and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Pyongyang for his first trip to North Korea in seven years. Plus, software buyout deals have collapsed to the lowest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic, and the head of the OECD has warned governments around the world not to go it alone in taxing large multinationals.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Israel launches retaliatory air strikes on Iran
Trump says Netanyahu will have ‘no choice’ but to accept a deal with Iran
Software buyout deals collapse to lowest level since pandemic after AI rout
Xi Jinping heads to North Korea for first trip in 7 years
OECD chief urges governments not to go it alone on digital taxation
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The FT News Briefing is produced by Victoria Craig, Sonja Hutson, Saffeya Ahmed, Katya Kumkova, and Fiona Symon. Our editor is Marc Filippino. Our show was mixed by Alex Higgins. Additional help from Peter Barber. Our intern is Cole van Miltenburg. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Flo Phillips is the FT’s global head of audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, June 8th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:10.9 | Israel and Iran trade fire in fresh escalation of the Middle East War, and China's president heads to |
| 0:17.8 | North Korea today as Pyongyang ramps up its nuclear rhetoric. |
| 0:22.4 | Plus, the head of the OECD is warning countries about implementing their own taxes on big |
| 0:28.3 | multinationals. If you start to see kind of fractured, fragmented approach, it could create more |
| 0:34.9 | trade tensions and so it could end up being bad for business |
| 0:38.3 | and bad for trade and bad for everyone. I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start |
| 0:43.1 | your day. |
| 1:02.2 | In the early hours of this morning, Israel said that its Air Force struck military targets in western and central Iran. |
| 1:08.2 | The attack came hours after Iran launched multiple rounds of ballistic missiles at Israel. |
| 1:12.8 | The exchange of fire is the most serious test so far of a fragile truce that went into effect between the two adversaries in April. The escalation began after |
| 1:18.7 | Israel carried out a strike in Beirut on Sunday that it said targeted Iranian-aligned militant |
| 1:24.3 | group Hezbollah. Iran's Revolutionary Guard earlier warned that if Israel retaliated, |
| 1:30.0 | the country and its supporters will face more forceful and devastating attacks. U.S. President |
| 1:35.9 | Donald Trump told the F.T. negotiations are still on track between the U.S. and Iran to extend a ceasefire |
| 1:42.6 | between those two countries and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. |
| 1:46.4 | He also said Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept |
| 1:51.7 | whatever deal is hammered out. |
| 1:59.5 | China's president Xi Jinping is landing in North Korea today. |
| 2:03.3 | It's his first visit to the country in almost seven years and comes just days after North |
| 2:08.9 | Korea's leader Kim Jong-un reiterated a commitment to a, quote, exponential expansion of his |
| 2:15.0 | nation's nuclear arsenal. |
... |
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