Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, January 9th, and this is your Ftini's briefing.

It looks like the deal frenzy of 2025 is extending to 26, and Iran is experiencing its biggest

protest in years over its economy. It's hard to imagine how the poorest segments of the society are managing

at all. I just cannot imagine how they manage to survive. Plus, we'll take a look at whether

there's a right way for CEOs to say goodbye. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to

start your day.

Glenn Core says that it's restarted preliminary merger talks with Rio Tinto to create the world's largest mining company. It would have an enterprise value of more than $260 billion.

The discussions come as demand for copper is growing.

The material is used heavily in the booming construction of AI data centers. But many of the world's major mines are becoming less productive as they age. Because of that, mining companies are

investing more to find new resources.

Glencore has recently rebranded itself as a copper growth company.

Rio Tinto declined to comment.

Living standards in Iran have fallen to historic lows,

and frustration with the situation has erupted onto the streets.

The protests, now in their second week, are the biggest in several years.

I'm joined by Najme Buzorgbeir in Tehran to talk about this.

Hi, Najee.

Hi, hello.

So how do these protests compare to previous unrest in Iran? These protests were initially driven by economic hardships that traders have been feeling in

Iran's electronics markets, particularly those who have been dealing with mobile phones and computers, whose businesses have been hard hit by the sharp fold in the parity rate of the national currency against the US dollar.

The unrest then quickly spread to poorer neighborhoods in major cities and then to provincial cities and towns.

Now, you touched a little bit on the economic situation driving these protests.

...