Yellen warns on global turbulence, Fukushima clean-up faces huge hurdles and how your 'smart' devices could spy on you

Fed chair Janet Yellen warned that global market turbulence could stifle US growth and corporate hiring if it persists, using language that suggests a near-term interest rate rise has become less likely.

Ms Yellen pointed to risks to the US from China and said financial conditions had become “less supportive” of US growth, citing the recent slide in equity prices, higher credit costs for riskier borrowers and the rise in the dollar, which has battered exporters. (FT)

In the news

Stormy seas

Danish shipping-to-oil conglomerate AP Møller-Maersk has warned that it was facing conditions significantly worse than the financial crisis when it plunged to a large net loss last year. The company has been hit by the slump in petroleum prices and container freight rates in what its chief executive called a “massive deterioration” in its business. Here is Lex’stake. (FT)

Death in Syria

More than 11 per cent of the country’s population have been killed or injured since the conflict erupted in 2011, according to a new report. The number of wounded is at nearly 2m and life expectancy dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55 last year. (The Guardian)

US redoubles efforts on foreign bribery cases

Prosecutors are deploying a carrot-and-stick approach to foreign bribery probes after a fallow year for corporate corruption cases. The justice department is pushing companies to turn over evidence against executives while simultaneously bolstering staff in units that investigate and prosecute violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (FT)

Christie ends White House bid

Republican Chris Christie has dropped out of the US presidential race after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary. The New Jersey governor spent heavily and campaigned the longest in the state but still finished in sixth place. The decision came just two hours after former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina ended her presidential bid. (BBC, CNN)

IMF warns Ukraine to step up reforms

Kiev risks losing billions of dollars of IMF financial support unless it makes a “substantial new effort” to invigorate reforms and fight corruption, the international lender’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, warned on Wednesday. (FT)

Fukushima clean-up faces huge hurdles

Nearly five years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, the wreckage that litters the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant underscores themassive undertaking of decommissioning the reactors that is expected to take decades. (NAR)

It’s a big day for

Einstein’s legacy

Scientists are expected to confirm the existence of gravitational waves in what would be one of the biggest scientific discoveries in years and confirmation of one of Einstein’s last unproven theories. (The Verge)

Google

The head of the company’s Emea business and UK tax agency head Lin Homer will appear before a parliamentary committee to discuss Google’s controversial agreement to pay £130m in back taxes. (FT)

Food for thought

Death in Aleppo, victory in Russia, havoc in Europe

The FT’s Roula Khalaf on the metastasising crisis in Syria, and why the west can no longer afford to look the other way. “Syria’s civil war has sparked the worst refugee crisis since the second world war. It has fed into the xenophobia peddled by Europe’s far right and poisoned the political battles over the EU. Now, the crisis is about to grow bigger, and probably nastier, as tens of thousands of Syrians are made homeless.” (FT)

The strain in Spain

The country’s parliament is more fragmented than at any point in its recent history — and neither the left nor the right has a clear path to power. The political manoeuvring may seem bewildering but there are profound challenges lurking behind the deadlock, ranging from the decline of the middle class to the resurgence of separatist movements. (FT)

How your TV, car and toys could spy on you

The ever-widening array of “smart” web-enabled devices — the so-called internet of things — is a boon for spy agencies, the US director of national intelligence said this week. But it’s not just spooks who might eavesdrop on your living room; knowing where you are and what you have is valuable information for thieves — and possibly even divorce lawyers. (The Guardian)

March of the ‘super-confessors’

The Pope has dispatched more than 1,000 Missionaries of Mercy, also known as the super-confessors, to forgive grave sins that typically he may only pardon. Such sins include plotting to kill a pope. (BBC)

Government-regulated happiness

Can a government regulate happiness? That’s the question being asked now by many in the United Arab Emirates, after the government announced that it would be creating a “minister of state for happiness” — as part of a broader leadership shake-up. The FT’s Alan Beattie on why we should be careful about governments who tell us what makes us happy. (WaPo, FT)

Video of the day

We need to talk about dividends

The FT’s Alan Livsey discusses the importance of energy and mining companies’ dividends in the FTSE as a whole. (FT)