Author: Press Room

Brazil’s government is preparing to auction off stakes in offshore oil fields this year, focusing on uncontracted portions of its lucrative pre-salt deposits.According to Reuters, two sources familiar with the matter said the initiative serves both as a financial strategy and as a response to the shifting global economic landscape, which threatens Brazil’s fiscal stability.The auction will cover smaller, non-contracted sections of the major Tupi, Mero, and Atapu fields, the sources said.The government aims to raise around 20 billion reais (US$3.4 billion) in a “worst-case” scenario, according to the sources.While Brazil’s Finance Ministry and Ministry of Mines and Energy have…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Amid markets’ relief rally following President Donald Trump’s trade climbdown, one country mustered a more muted reaction: China. That’s understandable, since the US leader raised tariffs on the People’s Republic even as he lowered them almost everywhere else. But with 90 days for other countries to try and strike a deal with the White House, China’s markets are a useful gauge of what might happen to them if the clock runs out. On Thursday, while equity benchmarks in Japan and Taiwan soared…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The chair of UBS has criticised proposed reforms to bank capital rules in Switzerland, calling the measures “extreme” and saying they would force the lender to hold 50 per cent more capital. Colm Kelleher said on Thursday that new rules being proposed by the Swiss government and financial regulators would significantly push up the lender’s capital requirements and could damage its ability to compete internationally. “Finma and the Swiss National Bank stipulate additional capital requirements, which would lead to a 50 per…

On the open 15th floor of a loft building in Midtown Manhattan, about a dozen skilled workers make their way through piles of pants, stitching each piece together with focus and precision. Some of the items are designed by Outlier, a fashion brand that produces its smaller runs and experimental products with the garment district’s ecosystem of contract manufacturers.It’s the kind of work that should get a boost from the stiff tariffs newly imposed on products entering the United States from nearly every other country. But the storeroom where Outlier keeps its fabric tells a more complicated story.The rolls of…

The House on Thursday narrowly adopted a Republican budget blueprint for slashing taxes and government spending, after hard-line conservatives concerned that it would balloon the nation’s debt ended a revolt that had threatened to derail President Trump’s domestic agenda.Approval of the plan, which was in doubt until nearly the very end, was a victory for Republican leaders and Mr. Trump. It allowed them to move forward with crafting major legislation to enact a huge tax cut, financed with deep reductions in spending on federal programs, and pushing it through Congress over Democratic opposition.“President Trump’s promises will be fulfilled,” Speaker Mike…

Canada should seize the opportunity to turn the U.S. brain drain of doctors and scientists into its own “brain gain,” the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says. In a statement posted Thursday, CMA president Dr. Joss Reimer said that many American medical professionals, feeling undervalued due to mass layoffs and cuts to health programs and research positions under the Trump administration, may be seeking new opportunities.And Canadian politicians should take notice, she said.“While this period brings with it many challenges for Canada, it also offers unique opportunities,” Joss stated.As political tensions and health-care layoffs roil the U.S., a surge of American doctors appears to…

Jack Nicklaus can’t fault Rory McIlroy’s Masters plan and says “it’s about time” he joined him in the green jacket club.Honorary starters Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson have all backed the Northern Irishman to triumph, after getting the 89th Masters under way earlier on Thursday.World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is eyeing a third title in four years as he aims to become just the fourth back-to-back winner.But world No.2 McIlroy is the sentimental favourite in hot form, chasing a career grand slam that’s been in the reckoning since he won his fourth major in 2014.Player revealed on Thursday that McIlroy…

Companies can set such high prices because of a quirk in Medicare pricing rules, industry experts said. For the first six months of a new bandage product’s life, Medicare will set the reimbursement rate at whatever price a company chooses. After that, the agency adjusts the reimbursement to reflect the actual price paid by doctors after any discounts.To circumvent the reimbursement drop, some companies simply roll out new products.In April 2023, Medicare began reimbursing $6,497 for every square inch of a bandage called Zenith, sold by Legacy Medical Consultants, a company in Fort Worth, Texas. Six months later, Zenith’s reimbursement…

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesInflation throttled back in March, largely on the back of lower gasoline prices — but tariffs threaten to reverse that downward trend in coming months while trouble also lurks in certain categories like groceries, economists said.The consumer price index rose 2.4% for the 12 months ended in March, down from 2.8% in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday, indicating that inflation decelerated.Additionally, “core” CPI — a measure that strips out food and energy prices, which can be volatile — fell from 3.1% to 2.8%, the lowest level since March 2021. Economists prefer to…

The action spectacle “G20” offers up an absurd fantasy: What if the President of the United States were a gunslinging, martial-arts hero? “Air Force One” (1997) may be the ur-text of this shamelessly jingoistic subgenre, but Viola Davis’s President Danielle Sutton raises the bar on sheer brawniness.The script, in any case, aims for relevance. The bulk of the story takes place in a digitally-enhanced hillside hotel in Cape Town, where President Sutton and her family — including her doting husband, Derek (Anthony Anderson), teenage daughter, Serena (Marsai Martin), and son, Demetrius (Christopher Farrar) — have arrived for the Group of…