Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:
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Alleged gunman Cole Allen to make court appearance
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China blocks Meta’s planned $2bn purchase of AI group Manus
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The fastest-growing sector in the US economy
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Sabastian Sawe sets new marathon world record
You can listen to today’s top news stories with the FT News Briefing podcast.
Cole Allen, the alleged gunman at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington on Saturday night, will appear in court and be formally charged later today. Here’s the latest on the investigation.
The motive: US attorney-general Todd Blanche said yesterday that federal investigators were “still looking into” the shooter’s motivations for the attack, but said they believed he had been “targeting members of the administration” and acted alone. President Donald Trump, who was uninjured, was rushed offstage with first lady Melania and vice-president JD Vance after shots were fired at a Hilton Hotel gala dinner.
Officials believe the alleged shooter travelled from Los Angeles to the US capital by train via Chicago and that he had purchased two firearms in recent years. They also think he checked into the Washington Hilton a day before the event and are reviewing security footage to try to understand how he brought firearms into the complex.
Allen, 31, is from Torrance, California. In a LinkedIn profile that appears to be his, the suspect lists his career as a “game dev, engineer, scientist, teacher”. His most recently listed present employment on the profile was a part-time teaching post at C2 Education, a tutoring and college test-preparation company where he said he had worked for six years. He was named teacher of the month in December 2024 by the company, according to a Facebook post. (Here’s more on what we know about the suspect.)
Fresh security concerns: Saturday’s incident raises fresh concerns about the president’s security. This was the third suspected assassination attempt since the 2024 election campaign. In a social media post on Sunday morning, Trump said the shooting was “exactly the reason” why he wanted to build a new ballroom on the White House grounds. (Here’s more on the controversial project.)
There were also fresh security concerns surrounding King Charles’s state visit to the US, which begins today. Buckingham Palace said the visit would go ahead “as planned” with minor adjustments to the arrangements.
The shooting confirmed Trump’s status as one of the most targeted presidents in US history and the reaction reflected the deep divisions and mutual mistrust that are increasingly scarring America’s body politic. (Guy Chazan has more on this.)
The suspect was charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. Blanche said the suspect could face additional charges beyond the two outlined late on Saturday by US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro. Read more on the investigation.
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Edward Luce: Even in a country with a grim history of political violence, Donald Trump certainly seems to attract a higher share than others of would-be assassins, writes the FT’s US national editor.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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Altman vs Musk: A high-stakes trial between the two tech titans begins today in Oakland, California, with jury selection. Elon Musk is claiming $134bn in damages, arguing that OpenAI and chief executive Sam Altman defrauded him by abandoning its non-profit roots after he had made charitable donations to the AI lab a decade ago.
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Middle East war: Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is in Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin, days after Trump cancelled a planned trip by US negotiators to Pakistan for talks with members of the Iranian negotiating team.
Five more top stories
1. China has blocked Meta’s $2bn acquisition of AI platform Manus, after regulators reviewed whether the deal violated Beijing’s investment rules. Manus, which develops AI agents, was founded in China but last year moved its headquarters and core team to Singapore and was subsequently bought by Meta.
2. Goldman Sachs has raised its oil price forecast as disruptions to energy production in the Gulf drag on amid the Middle East conflict. The investment bank’s commodity analysts now project that Brent crude, the international benchmark, will trade at about $90 a barrel in the last three months of this year, up from an earlier projection of $80.
3. Big private equity backers have raised concerns that some of their peers may be waving through controversial deals where buyout firms sell companies to themselves through so-called continuation vehicles. Private equity groups have turned to continuation vehicles in recent years, either to avoid selling companies at lower valuations in a difficult economic environment or to stay exposed to their best-performing assets.
4. Apollo’s former risk chief has warned that some Wall Street-backed life insurers will be ill-prepared to manage policyholder funds in a downturn, raising doubts about one of the past decade’s biggest financial trends. Chak Raghunathan said some newer life insurers could struggle to stay afloat. Read the full interview.
5. Efforts to revive a historic climate deal for the global shipping industry are foundering in the face of US and Saudi opposition, with negotiators expecting a “real fight” this week. Opponents also say the UN has no authority to administer an international carbon revenues fund. Alice Hancock and Attracta Mooney have more on the discussions.
The decision by US prosecutors on Friday to drop their criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell clears the way for the confirmation of Donald Trump’s nominee, Kevin Warsh. The FT’s US Economics Editor Claire Jones will answer readers’ questions about the future of the US central bank in a special edition of FirstFT Americas. Email [email protected] with your questions or hit reply to this email.
Visual investigation
From seizing satellites to striking Earth from orbit, China is developing dual-use capabilities in an intensifying arms race with the US. After reviewing training manuals for Chinese military officers and nearly 100 papers by scholars, the FT takes you inside China’s plans to fight a space war.
We’re also reading . . .
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US healthcare: When we think about what’s driving the US economy, we tend to think about AI, technology and all things digital. But as Americans get older and less healthy it is healthcare that is growing fastest, writes Rana Foroohar,
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Should your board appoint a bot? Andrew Hill and Ashley Armstrong report on the new AI tools helping chairs and directors with prep and research.
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Tariff paradox: On paper, a German maker of industrial bolts and screws was among the hardest hit by Trump’s “liberation day” last year. In practice, the levies have barely affected sales.
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Business travel: The seats in economy that so many of us use are finally getting an upgrade.
Chart of the day
The world’s leading central banks are widely expected to hold off on inflation-fighting interest rate rises this week. The US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada and Bank of England are among the institutions that will set rates under the shadow of the second big energy price shock in five years. Here’s more on what’s informing rate-setters’ decision making.
Take a break from the news . . .
Sabastian Sawe yesterday became the first person to complete a competitive marathon in under two hours. The Kenyan crossed the finish line at the London marathon in 1:59:30, breaking the previous world record set in Chicago in 2023 by Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash in early 2024.
