Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Wall Street's biggest banks have seen staffing levels surge in Paris despite the fact that many of those firm's top bosses feel constrained by the country's strict labor laws. 

(2) Apple is cancelling a decade long effort to build an electric car, according to people with knowledge of the matter, abandoning one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company.

(3) Central bankers around the world have traditionally been scrupulous about insisting on their independence from politics. But the rise of anti-democratic groups and populists around the world has spurred European policymakers to step into the fray.

(4) The Bank of England may sell all the UK government bonds bought under quantitative easing to better prepare for a future crisis, a move that would put it at odds with the US Federal Reserve.

(5) Deutsche Bank's decision to force workers into the office more frequently has met with fierce internal criticism, demonstrating the challenges in reversing a policy introduced during the Covid pandemic.