Author: Press Room

WASHINGTON: India has ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said on Thursday (May 9), adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship.” The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations amid heightened tensions and deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The order, which X said includes demands to block international news organisations and other prominent users, comes a day after Meta banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at New Delhi’s request. “X has received executive…

Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born cardinal selected on Thursday as the new pope, is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans.The pope’s maternal grandparents, both of whom are described as Black or mulatto in various historical records, lived in the city’s Seventh Ward, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and European roots.The grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, eventually moved to Chicago in the early 20th century and had a daughter: Mildred Martinez, the pope’s mother.The discovery means that Leo XIV, as the pope will be known, is not…

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was one of the final senators to question OpenAI chief Sam Altman during Thursday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, and the subject of both Three Mile Island and the Democrat’s penchant for Carhartt outerwear came up.Fetterman said that as a senator he has been able to meet people with “much more impressive jobs and careers” and that due to Altman’s technology, “humans will have a wonderful ability to adapt.”He told Altman that some Americans are worried about AI on various levels, and he asked the executive to address it.In response, Altman said he appreciated Fetterman’s praise.FROM FLOPPY…

Harvard University became the leader of academia’s resistance to the Trump administration — and soaked in acclaim from the White House’s critics — when it refused a roster of intrusive demands and took the government to court last month.Legal experts saw a strong case, built by a team of elite conservative lawyers, to win back billions of research dollars that the government had stripped away. Supporters cheered on Harvard’s unusually sharp public tone.“Congratulations to Harvard for refusing to relinquish its constitutional rights to Trump’s authoritarianism,” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote on social media last month.But behind the scenes, several…

President Trump on Friday suggested that he was open to sharply reducing the tariffs that the United States has imposed on China, as American and Chinese negotiators prepare to meet in Switzerland this weekend for high-stakes trade talks.Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have roiled international markets and the global economy. The negotiations on Saturday and Sunday are intended to de-escalate the situation and set the stage for a broader trade pact between the two economic superpowers.In a post on social media, Mr. Trump said that an 80 percent tariff on China “seems right,” adding that it would be…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sanjeev Gupta is set to call in administrators to place his main commodities trading business into insolvency, marking the final chapter for one of the controversial metals magnate’s oldest companies.Liberty Commodities, which last month renamed itself to 3349135 Limited, on Thursday filed a “notice of intention to appoint an administrator”, according to UK court records.Liberty Commodities once claimed to trade billions of dollars in metals a year and is one of the oldest companies in Gupta’s GFG Alliance conglomerate. It was established…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Having a well thought out financial plan in place can act as a panacea in times of market volatility — but how should you go about building one? This timely topic is the theme of FT Money’s latest free online reader event, to be broadcast online next Wednesday May 14 at 2pm BST, and available to watch on catch-up. Hosted by Claer Barrett, the FT’s consumer editor, this webinar is aimed at readers of all ages, with a particular emphasis on the…

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Air Canada AC.TO is seeing a “low teens” percentage decline in bookings over the next six months for trips across the U.S. border amid trade tensions and a weaker Canadian dollar, the airline’s CEO said on Friday. Canada’s largest carrier on Thursday lowered its annual adjusted core profit forecast and posted first-quarter revenue below analysts’ estimates on softer trans-border traffic.Air Canada previously said its decline in U.S.-bound bookings over the next six months mirrored an industry-wide drop of roughly 10 per cent.“Uncertainty was for sure the main theme during the first quarter,”…

Harry McKay has capped his outstanding game with the match-sealing goal as Carlton beat St Kilda by 15 points in an AFL arm wrestle.McKay kicked his third goal from an acute angle late in the last quarter as the Blues bounced back from last week’s bad loss to Adelaide, winning 11.11 (77) to 9.8 (62).The MCG clash featured a crowd of 65,680 – easily a St Kilda-Carlton home and away record – for the annual “Spud’s Game” in honour of late Saints great Danny Frawley.Carlton were outstanding, rallying from a succession of injuries that left them with one fit player…

OTHER CALLS FOR DE-ESCALATION Countries from around the world, from the United States to China, have urged the two rivals to calm tensions, with US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday reiterating US calls for de-escalation. “We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can’t control these countries, though,” he said in an interview on Fox News. Several countries have offered to serve as mediators, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan. Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir was, meanwhile,…