Chinese investment in Europe hits $23bn, mission to Mars and the ‘work till you drop’ world

China’s investment in Europe and the US has reached record highs, despite the slowdown in its domestic economy.

Overall, state-owned and private businesses invested an unprecedented $23bn in Europe — including Norway and Switzerland as well as the EU — in 2015 while investing $15bn in the US, according to a report by Baker & McKenzie, a law firm, and Rhodium Group, a consultancy. (FT)

In the news:

Amazon takes on FedEx and UPS

The ecommerce company has agreed to lease 20 cargo jets in its boldest step yet to control its own logistics operations. (FT)

US interrogates top Isis chemical weapons expert

Officials said the detainee — identified as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari — told his captors about how the jihadi group had weaponised mustard gas into powdered form and loaded it into artillery shells. (NYT)

Volkswagen’s US chief steps down

Volkswagen’s emissions scandal has claimed its highest-ranking scalp so far in the country where the crisis started, as Michael Horn said he would step down as head of the US operations “to pursue other opportunities”. (FT)

Mission to Mars

A postponed mission to probe beneath the surface of the Red Planet will launch in two years, Nasa has announced. The InSight spacecraft was initially supposed to launch this month, but was delayed over leaks in a vacuum enclosure. (NYT)

Moody’s to withdraw from Russia

The rating agency is pulling out of the country’s domestic market following “legislative changes and other potential restrictions” that affect its business. The decision from Moody’s marks the most drastic reaction so far to new Russian regulation of credit rating agencies. (FT)

Triumph of the machine

Google has hit a milestone for artificial intelligence, as its AlphaGo computer outwitted the world champion of the ancient Chinese board game of Go. Lee Se-dol, the South Korean who has been the top Go player for a decade, said after the game that he was in “shock” and did not expect the machine to play “in such a perfect manner”. (FT)

It's a big day for:

Myanmar

The fledgling democracy is expected to reveal its new leader. The decision comes as Aung San Suu Kyi — who is herself barred from the presidency — appeals for more aid from Japan in an early sign of the likely battle for influence between world powers in the frontier market. (FT)

European rates

Some of the continent’s most senior bankers have warned the ECB of the dangers of negative interest rates ahead of a widely anticipated cut at the bank’s policy meeting on Thursday. (FT)

Food for thought:

Flight of the non-doms

Experts cite several reasons for the slowdown in London’s previously red-hot luxury property market, including changes to stamp duty and concerns about a UK exit from the EU. But for some property agents, one other factor looms large: a potential change to a special tax status for residents known as non-doms. (FT)

The ‘work till you drop’ world

A new report on pensions makes for some grim reading: many people are saving too little for retirement and face working until they keel over. This means the traditional career trajectory will no longer apply. Here are five scenarios of how things could change. (FT)

When restoration goes awry

The renovation of medieval castle in southern Spain has sparked incredulity and mockery for its, well, less than authentic finish. (The Guardian)

Universal donor

Doctors in the US have successfully altered patients’ immune systems to allow them to accept kidney transplants from previously incompatible donors in a study that has been heralded as “revolutionary”. (NYT)

FBI iPhone motive questioned

Edward Snowden has described the FBI's claimthat Apple has the "exclusive" means to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter as "bullshit". Alternative methods could be used to extract the data, say experts, leading many to conclude that a key motivation behind the FBI's claim was to force the enactment of new legislation against encryption. (TheNextWeb)

Asia’s ‘last frontier’

With a population of 20m and a wealth of natural resources, the growth potential of Mindanao has never been in question. But 40 years of armed conflict between Muslim separatists and the Philippines government have meant it has largely gone untapped — until now. (NAR)

Video of the day:

The end of the Chinese miracle

The country’s economy is under threat from a slump and a dwindling labour force. In this short documentary, the FT investigates how the world’s most populous country has reached a critical new chapter in its history. (FT)