Rate watching, will iPhone sales keep growing and is this the end of the Merkel era?

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

The US commenced a high-stakes pushback against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea on Tuesday morning by sailing a warship through waters that Beijing claims as its own.

The manoeuvre by the USS Lassen is aimed at demonstrating that Washington does not recognise any territorial claims over artificial islands in the region but is likely to anger Beijing. A Chinese admiral said this month that the People’s Liberation Army would hand a “head-on blow” to any foreign forces that violated Chinese sovereignty. (FT)

In the news

Deutsche Bank cleans house Chief executive John Cryan is set to cut tens of thousands of jobs, shrink the bonus pool, shed billions of dollars of unwanted assets and overhaul thecreaking computer systems he blames for many of the company’s problems. The moves follow a series of scandals for the bank, including an international money laundering probe and a $6bn “fat finger” slip-up. (FT)

Toyota dethrones VW The Japanese company has regained its crown as the world’s biggest carmaker by sales, displacing Volkswagen, which is grappling with the fallout from its emissions cheating scandal. (FT)

Is Apple losing its shine? When the tech group reports its earnings this week, Wall Street wants to know just one thing: will iPhone sales keep growing? Most analysts predict that unit growth — the metric watched most closely by investors — will slow from about 35 per cent over the past year to low single-digits for the next few quarters. But given the strength of its performance a year ago, concerns remain that even that may be a stretch. (FT)

Valeant defence In a chaotic call with analysts, the pharma company called on regulators to investigate “completely untrue ” allegations made by a short seller and distanced itself from a tangled network of pharmacies that distributes its drugs, in an attempt to arrest the precipitous decline in its share price. (FT)

Massive quake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan A powerful magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least 135 people and causingwidespread damage and panic across much of South Asia. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Rate watchers The Fed begins a two-day meeting to decide whether to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. Policymakers are expected to stand pat while keeping options open for a pivotal December meeting. (FT)

Read more about upcoming events this week.

Food for thought

The end of the Merkel era The refugee crisis that has broken over Germany is likely to spell the end of the golden era for Angela Merkel, writes the FT’s Gideon Rachman. “With the country in line to receive more than 1m asylum-seekers this year alone, public anxiety is mounting — and so is criticism”. (FT)

‘Not fit for human consumption’ A city in eastern China that broke the world record for cooking up the largest serving of fried rice has been stripped of its title after some of the food was used as pig feed. About 150kg of the 4,200kg rice dish was found to be inedible, according to a Guinness World Records spokesperson. (BBC)

Old crimes, older criminals The fastest-growing group in British prisons is men aged 60 or over. They require more care than constraint, and their special needs are putting a financial strain on a prison service already struggling with deep cuts under the government’s austerity programme. (FT)

Weirder than paradise Sarasota, the cultural capital of Florida, is ranked the number one US city for wellbeing. Leyla Boulton explores what makes a former fishing village such an attractive place to live for wealthy people and workers from around the world, while beneath a glittering surface lurk social ills common across the US — with a peculiar Floridian twist. (FT)

Cool running A Kenyan man who breezed past exhausted competitors to a second-place marathon finish in Nairobi has been arrested after police realised he had simply hidden in the crowd and only joined in the final stretch of the race. Officials became suspicious when 28-year-old Julius Njogu showed no signs of fatigue and was not sweating. (The Guardian)

Freedom from fries As consumers opt for healthier, organic fare, chock full of quinoa and kale, big restaurant chains try to catch up. But can fast food be good for you? (New Yorker)

Video of the day

Modi tested in Bihar vote Elections in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, could test Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity as his BJP tries to wrest control there. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Image: A German national flag is seen atop the Reichstag building, the seat of the German lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch.