Will Germany ban the far-right AfD?
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Telegram leapt to a $540mn profit last year despite the ongoing legal threat to its leadership, yields on the longest-dated Japanese government bonds surged to record highs, and UK inflation rose more than expected to a 15-month high. Plus, Germany is considering banning the far-right Alternative for Germany party, but has it become too big to outlaw?
Mentioned in this podcast:
Telegram jumps to $540mn profit despite founder facing legal peril
Japan’s long-term borrowing costs hit record high on demand fears
UK inflation jumps to 3.5% in April
Will Friedrich Merz ban the far-right Alternative for Germany?
Today’s FT News Briefing was produced by Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian, Lulu Smyth, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Simon Panayi, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. The show’s theme song 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 | We're Equinor, an energy company searching for better. Currently, we supply 27% of the UK's gas, |
| 0:07.0 | 15% of its oil, and we're playing our part in the UK's energy transition. In 2023, we invested |
| 0:14.1 | 20% of our global gross spend in renewables and lower carbon solutions. Today, our wind farms power |
| 0:20.0 | 750,000 homes, |
| 0:22.0 | and we expect this to grow to over 7 million UK households. |
| 0:25.7 | We're an energy company searching for better. |
| 0:28.2 | Equinore.co.uk. |
| 0:34.1 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:36.6 | Today is Thursday, May 22nd, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:41.9 | Telegram's profits beat the odds, and a jump in Japanese bond yields highlight a global risk. |
| 0:49.9 | Plus, Germany is considering a controversial ban on the country's far-right AFD party. |
| 0:56.2 | What do you do with a party that is anti-democratic, that is openly racist, but is also really popular? |
| 1:04.9 | I'm Sonia Hudson, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 1:13.5 | Telegrams profits jumped last year to $540 million. |
| 1:19.7 | That's despite the ongoing threat of a lawsuit against its founder, Pavel D'Urov. |
| 1:25.2 | Durav faces charges from French authorities around the app's alleged failure to address |
| 1:30.4 | criminality on its platform. |
| 1:33.1 | Telegram's bumper earnings were shared with potential backers ahead of a $1.5 billion debt |
| 1:39.4 | sale this week. |
| 1:41.0 | Documents seen by the FT suggests that telegram has been boosted by a surge in paying |
| 1:46.1 | users and gains from the cryptocurrency it founded. |
| 1:55.6 | Yields on the Japanese bond market soared to a record high this week. It comes as the Bank of Japan has embarked |
... |
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