FirstFT: Biden tells Congress to stand up to Putin

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Joe Biden has vowed to fight for “democracy and freedom” in the US and around the world in a fiery, unabashedly political speech to Congress in which he took on Donald Trump and Republican critics to make his case for re-election.

During the address, which lasted more than an hour, the US president did not mention Trump by name but repeatedly attacked his “predecessor” for being too lenient towards Russia, blocking a bipartisan deal to curb immigration and paving the way for strict abortion curbs across the country.

Biden also laid out his plans for a second term, including populist measures such as higher taxes on big companies and the wealthy, and vowed to drive down house prices and cut drug costs, while hailing the US as the most envied economy in the world.

The delivery of the speech, which was closely watched following criticism that he was too old to serve a second term, was punchy and loud and included several off-the-cuff interactions with Republican lawmakers.

At the outset, Biden said freedom and democracy were “under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time” — and called on Congress to “stand up” to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and approve more funding for Kyiv.

“If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not,” Biden said. Read the full story.

Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: The EU publishes revised gross domestic product and eurozone employment data for the fourth quarter today, while Germany releases January industrial production numbers.

• Corporate earnings: UK publisher Informa and insurance company Royal London report full-year results today.

• African Games: The 13th Games begin today in Ghana, with sporting events in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast.

• Oscars: The ceremony for the 96th Academy Awards will be held in Hollywood on Sunday.

• Daylight saving time begins: Clocks go forward one hour in the US on Sunday.

• International Women’s Day: To mark the occasion, the Financial Times is hosting a free one-hour digital event at 12.30pm GMT featuring prominent campaigners who will discuss the impact of childcare costs on women’s finances, careers and future earnings potential. Click here to register.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. Instagram overtook TikTok in new app downloads last year, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Downloads of Instagram jumped 20 per cent to 768mn, while TikTok edged up a mere 4 per cent to 733mn. The growth of Meta’s photo-sharing platform has been powered largely by copying its Chinese rival’s success with short-form videos, after chief Mark Zuckerberg identified TikTok as among the biggest threats to his social media empire.

2. An influential committee of MPs has found a “shocking” level of misconduct in the UK’s financial services sector and heard that non-disclosure agreements are still being “misused” by employers to “cover up” allegations of abuse, harassment and discrimination. The House of Commons Treasury select committee has called for banning the use of NDAs in sexual harassment cases. Read more from the committee’s inquiry into sexism in the industry.

3. Ireland votes today on constitutional amendments to scrap language that says a woman’s “life” and “duties” lie in the home. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the referendums could delete “some very old-fashioned, very sexist language” mostly written by men born in the 1800s. The proposals would axe references to women’s “life within the home” and change the definition of family, but polls show many voters have yet to make up their minds.

4. The UK has no “credible plan” to deliver the military capabilities it seeks over the next 10 years, according to a cross-party group of MPs. The committee said the Ministry of Defence faced a £17bn deficit in its plans to equip the military over the coming decade and warned that this figure could grow by another £12bn — a shortfall that they said left the country in an “alarming place”.

5. UK asset manager Jupiter is considering dumping £1bn of holdings in its own funds as one of its star managers prepares to leave the company. David Lewis, a manager of Jupiter’s Merlin range, which invests in other funds, said the firm was considering pulling the money from Ben Whitmore’s mandates when he leaves the company later this year.

Personal finance

After the tweaks made by chancellor Jeremy Hunt to the UK’s tax and investment regime this week, many Britons are asking: Will the Budget leave me better off? Second-home owners looking to sell, middle earners with children, investors with a spare £5,000 and people moving overseas for at least a decade are among those who gained. But pensioners, owners of furnished holiday lets, “non-doms” and the wealthy will all see their finances take a hit.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

More than 7,300 timepieces were reported stolen to London’s Metropolitan Police last year, with a total value of £44mn, up from 6,015 in 2022, according to the crime prevention database Watch Register. The luxury watch crime wave, driven by the comparative ease with which they can be stolen and a recent boom in the pre-owned market, is impinging on the UK capital’s image, with shadow foreign secretary David Lammy slammed by the business elite during a trip to India over a Rolex robbery in Mayfair and the alleged lack of police response.

Take a break from the news

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and giant sandworms return in Dune: Part Two. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel now moves with a certain vindicated ease, assured in its Machiavellian intrigue, gooey romance and battle aggro, writes FT film critic Danny Leigh.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm

Correction: Yesterday’s FirstFT misstated the size of Brookfield’s assets under management. It should be more than $900bn, not $900mn