Author: Press Room

A trade war between the US and its biggest trading partners has begun, sending jitters through markets as impacts and retaliatory measures unfold.

BEIJING: China has announced a 7.2 per cent hike in its defence budget for this year, keeping pace with its 2024 figure as the country marches on with its military modernisation drive amid a troubled geopolitical landscape. The pot is set to grow to 1.78 trillion yuan (US$245.6 billion), according to a draft budget report on Wednesday (Mar 5), as Chinese Premier Li Qiang was set to deliver the government work report at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The headline figure is announced annually at the Two Sessions, which comprises the NPC gathering and the meeting…

Who: Benfica vs BarcelonaWhat: UEFA Champions League round of 16 first legWhere: Estadio de Luz, Lisbon, PortugalWhen: Wednesday, March 5 at 8pm (20:00 GMT) Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream. Five-time winners Barcelona visit Lisbon to face Benfica on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. Barca have not won the competition since 2015 but finished second in the group stage and are among the favourites to lift the trophy. Benfica have reached the final on seven occasions but have only lifted the trophy twice – in 1961 and 1962.…

House Republicans said President Donald Trump should keep a proposed minerals deal with Ukraine on the table, despite the public Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday. “I hope that Zelenskyy will come back humbly to the president, thanking the president for being willing to engage (and) having those business interests,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. He added that it would have been a “really great” way for Ukraine to signal to Russia that America is on its side. “I hope we’ll go down that road,” Roy said of the proposed deal. GOP REBELS FIRE WARNING SHOT IN…

Thirty Los Angeles County probation officers have been charged with child abuse for allegedly staging “gladiator fights” between youth detainees being housed at a troubled juvenile detention facility.California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the charges of child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy and battery on Monday, saying the California Department of Justice began an investigation in January 2024 after receiving leaked footage of a so-called gladiator fight between youths sheltered at the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey. The video shows an unidentified boy being attacked as detention officers stand and watch, Bonta said during a press…

Bryan Garson moved into Kelowna, B.C.’s, first tiny home community last March, shortly after it opened. Step Place is a 60-unit transitional housing development that supports people experiencing homelessness.“I don’t feel homeless now because I have a key to my door,” Garson said. “It makes you feel human again.”The 47-year-old man said he was unhoused for about three years due to some tough life circumstances.“I don’t ever want to experience it again,” Garson told Global News.Now after months at Step Place, Garson will soon be moving into permanent housing.He was recently approved for a rent supplement through BC Housing and…

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing a request for Pete Rose to be removed from MLB’s permanently ineligible list, which could lead to his eventual selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.According to reports published last Saturday, Manfred met with Rose’s daughter, Fawn, and his former lawyer Jeffrey Lenkov about reinstatement in December. A formal petition was submitted on Jan. 8.On Friday evening, one day before that news was reported, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he planned to posthumously pardon Rose and advocated for MLB to rescind Rose’s lifetime ban, which was issued in…

There was a show of faith in Cooper Connolly by Australia in their defeat to India that proves the 21-year-old West Aussie will be a long-term investment for the national team, writes Jackson Barrett.

Israel’s domestic security service on Tuesday assumed responsibility for failing to heed warning signs of a planned Hamas attack before the militants’ devastating strike on Oct. 7, 2023. But the agency also faulted the Israeli government for policies it said had allowed Hamas to quietly amass weapons, collect funds and gain support, among other failures.The conclusions from the Shin Bet, as the security agency is known, were published days after a similar inquiry by Israeli military found that senior officers had vastly underestimated Hamas and misinterpreted early warnings that a major attack was coming.The report published on Tuesday consisted only…

Sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump threatened economic upheaval for consumers and businesses in the United States on Tuesday as the country’s biggest trading partners struck back, raising fears of a burgeoning trade war.Canada and China swiftly condemned the U.S. tariffs and announced retaliatory tariffs against American exports. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said that if the U.S. tariffs were still in place on Sunday, she, too, would announce countermeasures.“This is a time to hit back hard and to demonstrate that a fight with Canada will have no winners,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said in a stern and,…