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Syria’s Bashar al-Assad piled almost $400m in cash onto planes and fly them to Russia, before his regime fell.

How Assad secretly sent 21 planeloads of Syria’s cash to Moscow

The near-broke central bank sent almost $400 million in bulk shipments between 2018 and 2019 to Russia when the dictator was indebted to the Kremlin.

  • Miles Johnson, Mehul Srivastava and Chloe Cornish
Incoming Westpac CEO Anthony Miller has lunch with Lucas Baird at the Palace Hotel in Mortlake.

Suburban pub grub suits Westpac’s new CEO

Living in Sydney’s inner west makes Anthony Miller an outlier among big bank chiefs. The former investment banker is determined to make his firm stand out, too.

  • Updated
  • Lucas Baird
Donald Trump is a child king cum tycoon cum rabble-rouser.

Autocrats rise as Trump scorches the land of the free

Strongman leaders have lit a bonfire of the orthodoxies: the role of the state, neoliberalism, globalisation and the international “rules-based” order.

  • James Curran
Plenty of CEOs have been to the US to consider how AI could change their businesses this year.

How CEOs are using AI, from driverless forklifts to bird counts

Everyone’s doing it, but are they doing it properly? Here is a fascinating snapshot of what Australian companies are doing with artificial intelligence.

  • Anthony Macdonald and James Thomson
“Who feels nervous about tomorrow?” Murray Rodgers asked the entrepreneurs who came to a recent psychedelic retreat he led in Western Canada. Three hands shot in the air.

The CEOs are tripping. Can psychedelics help the C-suite?

A growing cottage industry is dedicated to the theory that mind-altering drugs can improve business leadership.

  • Emma Goldberg
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The state of your hands can reveal a lot about you.

The signs of poor health that your hands, nails and knuckles reveal

The clues to fighting illness, from eczema and psoriasis to arthritis and Parkinson’s, could be right before your eyes.

  • Marina Gask
Investigators stand at the site where Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, were killed by an explosive device.

The vast spy agency behind Russian general’s death

The assassination of Igor Kirillov marked the latest strike in a shadow war between Kyiv and Moscow. It was carried out by Ukraine’s intelligence service, the SBU.

  • Christopher Miller and Max Seddon
Sausage roll from Ganache patisserie at Castlecrag.

Six surprising things I learnt from a Gen X gap year in London

We expected this to be a memorable time, but it was the workarounds and unknown unknowns that made it even better than we hoped.

  • Andrew Hobbs
The Financial Review’s Primrose Riordan interviewing Andrew Forrest.

I sent Andrew Forrest 50 hard questions. He invited me to have a talk

After months of reporting, and only carefully worded written responses from Fortescue, I found myself with the iron ore billionaire on the company jet in the Pilbara.

  • Primrose Riordan
Andrew Forrest.

Fortescue’s Game of Thrones moment

When the firm’s troubled Iron Bridge mine blew its budget and fell behind schedule, Andrew Forrest called a meeting likened to the series’ “red wedding” scene.

  • Primrose Riordan

Inside the ‘unending chaos’ at Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue

After a frenetic world tour, the billionaire had to wind back his hydrogen plans. A Financial Review investigation looks at what led to an exodus of executives.

  • Primrose Riordan
The weight loss and diabetes drug Ozempic is in short supply.

The five-day diet that cuts belly fat

Professor Valter Longo’s eating plan called “Pro-Lon” was awarded the first patent for “promoting longevity and health span”.

  • Jessica Salter
This image provided by the New York City Police Department shows a man wanted for questioning in connection to the investigation of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (New York City Police Department via AP)

Manhattan murder frightens executives everywhere

Many companies view investor meetings such as the one that the UnitedHealthcare boss was walking to as security risks because they are highly publicised.

  • Adam Geller and Cathy Bussewitz

November

All smiles: Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher and Anthony Albanese on Friday. The government ended the year on a high, in stark contrast to last year.

Labor plans to kick with the wind for a second time

The dynamic could not be more different to this time last year when parliament wound up with the government blowing smoke and the PM resembling a shot duck.

  • Phillip Coorey
Chris Ellison, Mineral Resources managing director.

Inside Chris Ellison’s brutal executive meetings

A whistleblower claims the Mineral Resources founder ordered a female lawyer to stand in front of a meeting and say, “I am a f--ing idiot”. He told another she “just needs a good f--k”.

  • Neil Chenoweth
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Yenna Ong has resigned from MinRes after being confronted by directors over her personal work for the company’s founder Chris Ellison (right).

Meet Chris Ellison’s personal accountant

Yenna Ong, the number cruncher who managed the Mineral Resources founder’s private affairs, rapidly gained great power. Then just as suddenly, she was gone.

  • Neil Chenoweth
Mineral Resources was founded by Chris Ellison, pictured leaving his Perth head office on Monday evening. He says he will leave the company in the next 18 months.

Inside the two-week unravelling of Chris Ellison’s hold on MinRes

Monday’s attempt to draw a line in the sand still leaves unanswered questions for shareholders and investigators about the goings-on at Mineral Resources.

  • Mark Di Stefano and Neil Chenoweth

October

Mineral Resources chief executive Chris Ellison.

How Chris Ellison’s secrets came to light

Allegations of serial tax evasion have raised questions about how the miner Mineral Resources is being run.

  • Neil Chenoweth
Chris Kourtis, portfolio manager at Ellerston Capital, is on a hot streak.

Chris Kourtis is on a winning streak. Here’s his next ASX pick

The renowned value investor is preparing his stock selection for the Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference. It’s not Star Entertainment.

  • Joshua Peach
Property developer Tim Gurner (centre), tennis player Iga Świątek and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland are among those who tape their mouths shut at night to get better sleep.

Why are athletes and rich people taping their mouths shut at night?

Rich Lister Tim Gurner and Manchester City footballer Erling Haaland are among those who swear it promotes better sleep. But medical experts are not convinced.

  • Euan Black

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/feature-articles-1ru