IMF moves to avert oil-led defaults, Sweden to expel 80,000 migrants and triumph of the machine

Officials from the IMF and World Bank are headed to Azerbaijan to discuss a possible $4bn emergency loan package in what risks becoming the first in a series of bailouts stemming from the tumbling price of oil.

The Baku meeting, which follows a currency crisis triggered by the collapse in crude, comes amid concern at the two global institutions over emerging market producers from central Asia to Latin America. (FT)

In the news

Fed stands back The Federal Reserve held fire a month after a historic rate rise, leaving interest rates unchanged at 0.25-0.5 per cent following weeks of turmoil in equities and plunging commodity prices. The central bank said it was assessing what the gyrations around the world meant for the risks facing the US economy. (FT)

China’s communication breakdown The opacity of the Communist party is making it difficultfor Beijing to explain policymakers’ thinking to investors concerned about turmoil in the country’s equity and currency markets that has reverberated around the world. (FT)

Jury acquits five of six Libor brokers A broker nicknamed “Lord Libor” was one of five men cleared of acting as middlemen between convicted former UBS trader Tom Hayes and others to help them manipulate bank rates, in a significant setback for the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. (FT)

Sweden to expel 80,000 migrants Anders Ygeman, interior minister, said the country expected to expel up to 80,000 asylum-seekers whose applications had been rejected. More than 163,000 migrants applied for asylum in Sweden last year, the highest per capita number in Europe. (BBC)

Eichmann pleaded for life after killing millions A newly released 1962 handwritten letter reveals that Adolf Eichmann begged for mercy after he was sentenced to death in Israel for his role in the Holocaust. “I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty,” he wrote. He was executed by hanging two days later. (NYT)

It’s a big day for

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, who arrives in France for the second leg of his state visit to Europe after three days in Italy. As well as a deal for Airbus planes, contracts are likely to be signed with car manufacturers Peugeot and Renault. (BBC)

Read our full coverage of the Week Ahead.

Food for thought

US naval history offers clues to China’s intent All the focus may be on crumbling equity markets and the plummeting renminbi. But the FT’s Jamil Anderlini argues that a less well-covered story emanating from China threatens to have just as much impact on the rest of the world: the country has quietly changed its guiding military doctrine. (FT)

Tax apocalypse Apple may soon be instructed to pay billions in European back taxes. John Gapper argues that that would trigger a “showdown between Europe and the US and apotential breakdown of the international tax system” formed under the League of Nations in 1928. (FT)

Triumph of the machine A computer has comprehensively beaten a human champion playing Go, the board game that has been called the world’s most complex — achieving “ahistoric milestone in artificial intelligence”. (FT)

Murdoch v Trump: Fox and The Hair Donald Trump has gone to war with an unlikely enemy. The Republican frontrunner has pulled out of Fox News’ presidential debate over a spat with one of the network’s biggest stars, Megyn Kelly. It would have once been unthinkable that a candidate could win the GOP nomination while waging such a feud with Fox, but in this campaign normal rules no longer apply. (FT)

China’s cities could learn from Tokyo The use of cars and taxis by Beijing residents is 27 percentage points higher than that of Tokyo residents; their use of buses and subways 29 percentage points lower. Why do they use buses and subways so much less? (NAR)

Video of the day

Worst yet to come for Apple Apple has confirmed that its once-unstoppable iPhone has finally hit the skids. FT telecoms correspondent Daniel Thomas says there are worries that the world’s love affair with the iPhone is waning. (FT)