FT Big Read

China’s online services sector is red-hot as customers turn to their smartphones to order services such as taxis, massages and food deliveries. But with an estimated Rmb50BN being spent a year on subsidies as competitors race to win market share, some see parallels with Silicon Valley in 1999

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Growth and prosperity had come to be seen as the hallmark of President Vladimir Putin's reign. But after two years of recession, Kathrin Hille says the social wellbeing that replaced the hardships of the post-Soviet Union era is wearing thin. Sanctions, the falling oil price and an ageing population are all increasing pressures on the economy

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It is more than a game to the Chinese. President Xi Jinping's plan to create a 'great sports nation' is spurring a tide of investment in foreign star players and stakes in overseas clubs, say Ben Bland and Charles Clover. There are worries, though, over the financial foundations of the country's latest binge

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The $3tn debt mountain built up when the global oil and gas industry believed high prices were here to stay threatens further destabilisation, says Ed Crooks

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Surging mergers and Y10tn in outbound deals in 2015 are being cited as evidence that the once-mighty interventionist ministry of international trade — reborn as Meti — is reclaiming power, boosted by the Abenomics stimulus project and seeking to compete more effectively with China, say Leo Lewis and Kana Inagaki

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An FT investigation by David Crow and Robin Kwong has found that, despite post-crisis anger at expensive benefits for corporate bosses and their subsequent reining in, S&P 500 company aircraft are still being used for personal trips. Additional reporting by Jennifer Bissell

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The country's huge, inefficient and indebted state-owned companies are crying out for reform as growth slows. But few believe that Beijing's approach of merging them to create even bigger giants will solve the problem, says Gabriel Wildau

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Could Europe's great postwar project fall apart? Peter Spiegel and Richard Milne say populist parties on the continent are watching as Euroscepticism becomes mainstream in British political dialogue. Contagion is seen as a risk if the country votes to leave the EU

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The German chancellor must disarm hostility among her partners at the EU summit when she seeks agreement on a deal over the refugee crisis, says Stefan Wagstyl

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UK newspaper groups are re-evaluating their business model as they seek online revenues to replace lost print sales and new digital ways to promote content - such as Google, Facebook and Apple, says Henry Mance

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