Author: Press Room

In most countries, working as a housekeeper or nanny is a relatively safe profession.Yet as we traveled across Kenya and Uganda, from crowded and poor urban neighborhoods to far-flung farming villages, we heard many variations on the same horror story: Young, healthy women set off for domestic jobs in Saudi Arabia, only to return beaten, scarred or in coffins.At least 274 Kenyans, nearly all of them women, have died in Saudi Arabia in the past five years. At least 55 died just last year, twice as many as the previous year.Autopsies only raised more questions. The body of a woman…

A federal judge on Saturday night temporarily blocked President Trump from removing immigrants under a wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 after the president announced earlier in the day that he would enforce the law. The judge’s ruling was in response to a federal civil lawsuit filed Saturday by a group of five Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Texas and New York local jails against President Trump and other administration officials. Mr. Trump invoked the 227-year-old wartime law earlier Saturday. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by attorneys with the ACLU and Democracy Forward argues the Alien…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Europe needs a “big bang moment” to boost long-term investment in companies and capitalise on this year’s surge in the region’s stock markets, according to the head of Germany’s stock exchange.Stephan Leithner, chief executive of Deutsche Börse, told the Financial Times that EU officials should make the most of investors switching into European markets away from the US as worries over tariffs rise.He wants Brussels to speed up plans to make the bloc more competitive by pushing forward on reforms to encourage…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Pensions industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.UK pension funds are “not taking anywhere near enough risk” and need to invest billions of pounds annually to help reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to a senior executive at the National Wealth FundIan Brown, NWF head of banking and investments, told the Financial Times that funds needed to invest in the construction of infrastructure projects involved in the energy transition, rather than simply backing them once operational.“Pension funds are prepared to invest in very large so-called transition funds.…

Arena band Journey abruptly stopped a concert Friday evening at the Houston Rodeo mid-song, but the crowd kept the show going. The band was performing its 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” when, about 30 seconds into the song, the music cut off and TV screens showing the band in the arena went dark. Still, the devoted crowd continued, fittingly singing the next line, “It goes on and on and on and on,” social media video shared by guitarist Neal Schon and fans showed. DONNY PARTON SURPRISES FANS WITH FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE SINCE HUSBAND’S DEVASTATING DEATH The Houston crowd continued to sing “Don’t Stop…

Here are some things I believe about artificial intelligence:I believe that over the past several years, A.I. systems have started surpassing humans in a number of domains — math, coding and medical diagnosis, just to name a few — and that they’re getting better every day.I believe that very soon — probably in 2026 or 2027, but possibly as soon as this year — one or more A.I. companies will claim they’ve created an artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is usually defined as something like “a general-purpose A.I. system that can do almost all cognitive tasks a human can…

A federal judge on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to cease use of an obscure wartime law to deport Venezuelans without a hearing, saying that any planes that had departed the United States with immigrants under the law needed to return.As of early Sunday morning, it was unclear whether any such planes had departed or returned, or if the Trump administration would follow the judge’s order.On Saturday, the administration published an executive order invoking the law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to target Venezuelan gang members in the United States.But shortly after the announcement, James E. Boasberg, a federal…

Charlotte Caslick’s SuperW debut has ended in defeat after the NSW Waratahs posted a 36-14 win over the Queensland Reds.The Reds scored the first try of Sunday’s match via Kahli Henwood, but the Waratahs took control in the second half to run away with the six-tries-to-two victory.Hooker Adiana Talakai and winger Maya Stewart scored two tries apiece for the Waratahs.The bonus-point win lifted NSW (10 points) to the top of the table after three rounds, while the Reds (four points) are third but have one game in hand.Caslick is a Rugby Sevens star for Australia, but she has committed to…

BEIJING: China’s Baidu said on Sunday (Mar 16) it has launched two new artificial intelligence (AI) models, including a new reasoning-focused model that it said rivalled DeepSeek’s model, as it vies to stand out in a fiercely competitive AI race. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s roll-out of AI models which it says is on par with, or even better than, industry-leading models in the United States at a fraction of the cost, has roiled the industry and re-energised the global AI race. “ERNIE X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price,” Baidu said of one of…

Hedge funds slashed their positions at the fastest pace in years as tariffs and signs of softer economic growth sent stocks on a roller coaster ride. Professional money managers who make both long and short wagers cut back risk exposure by selling stocks and covering shorts in a dramatic fashion on Friday and Monday. Combined, the so-called de-grossing activity was the largest two-day move in four years, according to data from Goldman Sachs’ prime brokerage unit. Hedge funds were retreating at a time when the macroeconomic environment suddenly grew less sure. President Donald Trump ‘s aggressive tariff charges on imports…