Brussels on lockdown, Argentina’s new president and a time for technologists

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT. 

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Brussels will remain under a security lockdown on Monday after Belgium’s prime minister said that the risk of a Paris-style attack remained “serious and imminent”.

“What we fear is an attack similar to what happened in Paris, with multiple individuals, maybe even that strike in several locations at the same time,” Charles Michel said, announcing the closure of schools and the city’s metro system. (FT)

In the news

Pfizer and Allergan near deal The more than $150bn deal would create the world’s largest drugmaker and mark a fresh pinnacle in an intense year of dealmaking across the pharma sector. (FT)

Argentina’s new president Mauricio Macri, the centre-right mayor of Buenos Aires, won presidential elections on Sunday. The shift to the right in Argentina comes as many leftwing leaders in Latin America, especially in Brazil and Venezuela, suffer plunging popularity ratings and tanking economies. (FT)

Cameron diverts billions to defence UK Prime Minister David Cameron is set to pump an extra £12bn into strengthening Britain’s defences against Isis and Russia when he reveals today a five-year defence review with a focus on counter-terrorism and cyber warfare. However, the bill will be met by spending cuts elsewhere with police, welfare and business grants in the line of fire. (FT)

A time for technologists Hedge funds and asset managers are scrambling to poach talent from Silicon Valley and attract computer scientists fresh from college to quench the investment industry’s thirst for increasingly powerful coding. “Traders used to be first-class citizens of the financial world, but that’s not true any more. Technologists are the priority now,” said one headhunter. (FT)

Jade mine tragedy in Myanmar Nearly 100 bodies have been pulled from a landslide in the northern Kachin State, with hopes dwindling that any of an estimated 100 people still missing would be found alive. (Reuters)

It’s a big day for

Chinese equities The country’s two mainland stock exchanges, in Shanghai and Shenzhen,double margin requirements to 100 per cent in an effort to discourage leveraged wagers and prevent equity-market bubbles. (Bloomberg)

Food for thought

The women who left Isis Three former members of the jihadi group’s all-female morality police detail their lives in Raqqa, a city that activists say is being slaughtered silently. (NYT, New Yorker)

The fall of the house of Blatter The inside story of the moves being made by football’s governing body to survive amid massive US and Swiss corruption investigations. (FT)

Feeling useless ensures you never are Contrary to what the emotional intelligence movement may tell us, the most successful people are the ones who underestimate how good they are at their jobs, writes the FT’s Lucy Kellaway. “The more confident you are of your feebleness, the harder you have to try, and therefore the better the work you produce.” (FT)

Molenbeek broke my heart A former resident reflects on his struggles with Brussels’ most notorious neighbourhood. “When it became clear the [Paris] attacks were planned in Molenbeek, I was not surprised. The real surprise? That Belgium expressed shock at the connection.” (Politico)

Time immemorial A look at the 10,000 Year Clock — a huge monolith being constructed in a mountain in west Texas. “I want to build a clock that ticks once a year. The century hand advances once every 100 years, and the cuckoo comes out on the millennium,” says the project’s leader. (The Atlantic)

Video of the day

Paris attacks — moves to track jihadis The FT’s Sam Jones and Hugh Carnegy discuss thelatest developments one week after the Paris terror attacks, focusing on moves by EU interior ministers to tighten security and the diplomatic developments in Russia and Iran. (FT)

Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: European Union flags fly. REUTERS/Thierry Roge.