Author: Press Room

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating a new agreement to refrain from attacks on energy targets hours after it was agreed by presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin but a prisoner swap touted as a confidence-building step went ahead.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was on a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, had earlier urged the United States to monitor a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.Putin had agreed to pause attacks on energy infrastructure, a proposal Zelenskiy accepted despite denouncing Russia for rejecting a more comprehensive truce. Today is another day when Ukraine brings its people back.…

“It is wholly inconsistent with Louisiana’s pro-life values, as it quite literally promotes a culture of death,” Mr. Edwards said in 2023, boosting the hopes of activists who wanted to end the death penalty in the state and prompting clemency requests from nearly every prisoner on death row.Mr. Landry, then the state’s attorney general, argued that many of those prisoners were not eligible for clemency. More recently, he said the state needed to follow through on their sentences. The state currently has 56 people on death row.“These capital punishment cases have been reviewed at every judicial level, have had decades…

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted March 19, 2025 10:31 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size The federal government is promising billions in low-cost financing to help build thousands of rental homes in Toronto, including more than a thousand affordable units. Ottawa says it will provide $2.55 billion in financing through its Apartment Construction Loan Program, to be administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.The city says the money will go toward building more than 4,800 rental homes, of which at least 1,075 will be affordable housing.Toronto, meanwhile, says it will offer nearly $235…

Judge Jesse Furman says effort to deport Palestinian rights advocate is ‘exceptional’ and requires ‘careful’ review.A federal court in the United States has dismissed an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismiss Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil’s legal challenge against his detention and deportation. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident, has been held by the government since March 8 in a push to deport him over his participation in campus protests for Gaza last year. On Wednesday, Judge Jesse Furman ruled that Khalil’s legal request for a judicial review against his detention, known as a…

Details on government staff reinstatement ruling Details on judge’s ruling that some government workers must be reinstated after mass firings 03:31 Washington — More than 24,000 workers at 18 federal agencies who were fired as part of President Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of the government are now in the process of being rehired following a federal judge’s order last week.The Trump administration provided a detailed accounting of the number of probationary employees, generally considered those who were in their jobs for less than one year, who were targeted in the president’s drastic plans to scale back the federal workforce in…

President Trump fueled new speculation this week about a meeting with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, when he told reporters that Washington needed to be cleaned up to prepare for a summit between the two leaders in the “not too distant future.”Mr. Trump provided no details, and China has said nothing publicly about any such meeting. The stakes of a visit would be high: President Trump has imposed 20 percent tariffs on China’s shipments to the United States, and may order another round next month. China wants to try to head off further escalations in the trade war that would…

As the cryptocurrency market gears up for another bullish cycle, investors are on the lookout for assets that offer both stability and high return potential. Among the standout contenders, Mutuum Finance (MUTM) and Ripple (XRP) are emerging as two of the most promising investments for 2025. While XRP continues to strengthen its role in global payments, Mutuum Finance is rapidly gaining momentum in decentralized finance (DeFi), offering a structured lending and borrowing ecosystem that is attracting investors looking for long-term value.Mutuum Finance (MUTM)Mutuum Finance is redefining DeFi by introducing an efficient and secure way for users to engage in lending…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The European Commission is making a fresh push for integration of EU capital markets that it says could free up investment from trillions of euros stashed in European savings accounts. The EU executive on Wednesday proposed a raft of measures including tax incentives for savers to invest in European assets, a review of capital requirements for lenders and insurers, and more centralised market supervision. “It is about building the solutions that allow us to access the pool of European resources which are…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Cinven has sold German life insurance group Viridium to a consortium including Allianz, BlackRock and Japan’s T&D Holdings in a €3.5bn deal, a year after the business faced scrutiny from regulators because of its private equity ownership.The British buyout group will exit its majority investment in the insurance consolidator in a transaction that values Viridium at €3.5bn including debt. Viridium’s other backers, Generali Financial Holdings and Hannover Re, will remain invested, while Japanese insurance group T&D Holdings will hold the largest share.…

An international United Nations staffer has been killed and five others wounded in a strike on a United Nations guesthouse in the Gaza Strip, a UN official says.Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, declined to say who carried out the strike but said the explosive ordnance was “dropped or fired” and the blast was not accidental or related to de-mining activity.He did not provide the nationalities of those killed and wounded.The UN body, known as UNOPS, carries our infrastructure and development projects around the world.The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave…