Author: Press Room

Port Adelaide’s Sam Powell-Pepper has defended teammate Jason Horne-Francis and his emotional reaction during a mid-game discussion with coach Ken Hinkley.

A brief scene in the new musical “Real Women Have Curves” is as harrowing as anything in the most serious drama on Broadway: a group of terrified workers in a small Los Angeles dress factory, hiding in the dark as they listen to an immigration raid taking place next door.When the raid is over, the first sounds to break the quiet are soft weeping and breath laden with fear.It’s a jolt of somber realism in a show that opts, ultimately, to lean in a feel-good direction. Yet such is the balancing act of “Real Women Have Curves,” which opened on…

MANILA: The Philippines on Monday (Apr 28) slammed an “irresponsible” Chinese state media report claiming a disputed reef in the South China Sea was under Beijing’s control, saying the status quo was unchanged. The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Saturday that the country’s coast guard had “implemented maritime control” over Tiexian Reef, part of Sandy Cay, in mid-April. The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly…

This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. While the financial world has been laser-focused on one geopolitical crisis — the trade war — two others are heating up in Asia. China is provoking the Philippines in the South China Sea, and tensions between India and Pakistan are high after killings in Kashmir. Unhedged tends to play down the market impact of geopolitics. But this is, at the very least, seriously bad…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Mediobanca has launched a €6.3bn takeover offer for Italian rival Banca Generali, as efforts to consolidate the country’s banking industry intensify.Milan-based Mediobanca said on Monday that a combination of the two lenders would create a “European market leader”. The move comes as Mediobanca seeks to fend off a hostile bid from smaller rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena.Mediobanca is the biggest shareholder in Assicurazioni Generali, Banca Generali’s parent company. To fund its proposed takeover of Banca Generali, Mediobanca said it would sell…

Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesSouth Korea’s data protection authority has concluded that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek collected personal information from local users and transferred it overseas without their permission.The authority, the Personal Information Protection Commission, released its written findings on Thursday in connection with a privacy and security review of DeepSeek.It follows DeepSeek’s removal of its chatbot application from South Korean app stores in February at the recommendation of PICP. The agency said DeepSeek had committed to cooperate on its concerns. During DeepSeek’s presence in South Korea, it transferred user data to several firms in China and the U.S.…

Pakistan’s closure of its airspace to Indian airlines Thursday is forcing carriers to alter some routes that link India to Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Middle East.Indian carriers — including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet — must now fly longer, and thus costlier, flights on some westbound routes. The detour could push some flights to add a refueling stop or cancel certain routes altogether.IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share, said it expects a few international flights to be affected, while Air India said some of its flights to or from North America, Europe and…

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has ordered the building of a monument for its soldiers who were killed fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine, state media reported on Monday, confirming the North’s military role in the European conflict for the first time.Mr. Kim’s decision to start sending North Korean troops last year to fight for Russia opened “a new chapter of history which demonstrated the highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between the two countries, ​the Central Military Commission ​of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party said in a statement carried in its state media on Monday.The…

Trump administration border czar Tom Homan argued Sunday that “due process” was applied when a two-year-old child who is a U.S. citizen was removed to Honduras along with her mother, who was deported.Louisiana Federal District Court Judge Terry Doughty wrote in an order Friday that there was a “strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process,” after the 2-year-old was sent to Honduras with her mother and 11-year-old sister.But Homan said “the judge was due process,” adding on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the two-year-old’s mother “had due process at great taxpayer…

Textile manufacturing workers in Binzhou, Shandong, China, on April 23, 2025.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese manufacturers are pausing production and turning to new markets as the impact of U.S. tariffs sets in, according to companies and analysts.The lost orders are also hitting jobs.”I know several factories that have told half of their employees to go home for a few weeks and stopped most of their production,” said Cameron Johnson, Shanghai-based senior partner at consulting firm Tidalwave Solutions. He said factories making toys, sporting goods and low-cost Dollar Store-type goods are the most affected right now.”While not large-scale…