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Good morning from the newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Thursday, December 19th,

and this is your FT news briefing.

The Bank of England admits that high-speed traders have been able to listen in on market sensitive press conferences.

Plus, the man who came to be a symbol of corporate corruption is granted early release

from his 25-year sentence. And pressure on European carmakers sees Fiat Chrysler and the owner of Pujo strike a deal to create

the world's fourth largest car company.

But first, I'll take a look at a historic and rare moment for the

United States, the impeachment of President Donald Trump. I'm Mark

Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump became just the third US president to be impeached.

Article 1 is adopted.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against the President.

The first article accuses Mr. Trump of abusing the

powers of the presidency by seeking to apply pressure over the investigation of a

political rival, Joe Biden. The second accuses him of obstructing the impeachment inquiry.

The House voted almost entirely along party lines.

Now there are several questions facing the United States Senate as it prepares for the impeachment trial which is likely to start in January.

Which if any Republicans will vote in favor of removing Mr. Trump from office.

It's widely expected that the Senate won't get the two-thirds majority it needs to remove the President.

...