FirstFT: Fatal shooting of British MP leaves UK in shock

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The fatal shooting of a British MP has shocked the country’s political establishment, bringing an abrupt halt to the increasingly heated campaign for next week’s referendum on UK membership of the EU.

Jo Cox, aged 41, a supporter of the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU, was shot and stabbed several times in her constituency town of Birstall, near Leeds in northern England, on Thursday lunchtime outside a local library where she had been meeting local residents.

A former head of policy at Oxfam, Ms Cox spent her career as an aid worker and charity campaigner, including in war zones. Mary Creagh, MP for neighbouring Wakefield, remembered Ms Cox as “independent, fearless, brilliant, clear-headed . . . very warm, very friendly, very down to earth”. (FT)

In the news

EgyptAir black box found Air crash investigators in Egypt retrieved the cockpit voice recorder of flight MS804, which plunged into the Mediterranean last month, killing all 66 people on board. (FT)

Fed eyes lasting impediments to growth Policymakers may have left their predictions of economic growth and inflation largely unchanged on Wednesday, but they now believe the central bank will have to keep rates even lower to sustain that outlook. (FT)

Asia votes Remain Asian companies with a presence in the UK increasingly fear losing unfettered access to the unified European market if voters back Brexit in next week's referendum. (NAR)

Putin seeks to re-engage Europe If the Kremlin is to be believed, Vladimir Putin spent the best part of the past week getting ready for the St Petersburg International Economic Forum — more time than he devotes even to the preparation of DirectLine, his annual heavily scripted televised call-in show. The Russian president intends to use the Davos-style conference to celebrate the return of European neighbours and western investors after two gruelling years of sanctions and hostility. (FT)

Kuroda nervous as yen surges The Japanese currency continued to extend gains against the dollar — surging to Y104, its highest level since August 2014 — after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy on hold. Haruhiko Kuroda, Bank governor, said after the two-day policy meeting: “The yen’s advance not reflecting [economic] fundamentals is undesirable.” (NAR)

Democrat claims gun control victory A marathon Democratic filibuster in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre came to an end in the US Senate on Thursday morning after Republicans apparently agreed to hold votes on tighter gun control measures. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, led the filibuster which lasted for more than 14 hours along with several colleagues. (Guardian)

It's a big day for

Brexit The IMF is set to publish its assessment of the economic costs of Brexit. It is not expected to please Leave campaigners. (FT)

Food for thought

Lunch with Adair Turner Martin Wolf sits down with the former head of the FSA for his thoughts on Brexit, his mistake with the euro and why George Osborne is "a bit of a gambler". (FT)

What happens after Brexit? In a matter of days, the UK electorate faces its biggest choice in more than a generation — whether to remain in the EU. Read a selection of Financial Times news and analysis of the steps after Brexit. (FT)

In Silicon Valley, Trump is a loser Donald Trump is, at least by Silicon Valley standards, “a loser” — both for what he stands for and because of his business performance, writes Michael Moritz. “Silicon Valley winners are people who fashion something from nothing. Many of them are the sort of people Mr Trump wants to keep from entering America and are victims of prejudice and oppression.” Keep track of the race with our daily US politics newsletter. Sign up here. (FT)

What Obama really thinks about radical Islam Rightwing critics have long questioned the president's commitment to the fight against Islamist terrorism. But Jeffrey Goldberg argues that it is clear that the president does not "suffer illusions about the pathologies afflicting the broader Muslim world". (Atlantic)

Times Square, Iraq style News from Iraq tends to focus on conflict, but the citizens of Basra are for now just trying to enjoy the consumerist pleasures of the city’s new mall — Basra Times Square. (BBC Magazine)

Video of the day

A visual explainer to the EU