Author: Press Room

Two months after President Trump ordered his administration to prepare the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay for up to 30,000 migrants, about 400 migrants have been held there at a cost to taxpayers of more than $40 million.At one point in February, the administration held 178 Venezuelans at the base, the largest group to be kept there at one time. The operation has been staffed with 1,000 government workers, 900 of them members of the U.S. military and the rest immigration service agents or contractors. That means a ratio of five staff members for each migrant in that group.Senior…

Quebec tree rings dating back nearly 200 years indicate snowpack in the Gaspésie mountains has declined considerably in recent decades, Concordia University researchers suggest in a study that could give further insight into dwindling caribou herds and hydro energy forecasts. The tree ring study goes back to 1822, extending by more than 100 years the records otherwise kept by local weather stations and river gauges. It underlines how climate change has already reshaped the region, the study said.“This reconstruction may prove useful for wildlife, fisheries and hydroelectric reservoir management,” said the study, published in Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies.By studying the tree rings in the Sainte-Anne River basin,…

Middlesbrough have climbed up to fifth in the English Championship with a 2-0 win over beleaguered Blackburn that piled pressure on Valerien Ismael and the club’s hierarchy at a febrile Ewood Park.Against a backdrop of angry fan protests against the Venky’s Group that has owned Rovers since 2010, Boro struck twice in the opening eight minutes to take control.Tommy Conway needed less than 90 seconds to beat Aynsley Pears with a fine opener before a deflected strike from Samuel Iling-Junior swiftly followed.A fifth win in seven lifted Middlesbrough above both West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City and into the play-off…

USING A FIG LEAF OF LEGITIMACY The latest disaster comes as the junta is again attempting to push for elections. Just a day before the earthquake, Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing confirmed plans for a December national vote and called on opposition parties to participate. But the proposed election in Myanmar is widely seen as a face-saving strategy for both the Myanmar military and, I would argue, an international community that has done little of any significance to end the civil war. In this context, elections would allow the generals to cover their 2021 power grab with a fig…

Some Republican senators on Capitol Hill, including one of President Trump’s most ardent supporters, have signaled their uneasiness to the sweeping global tariffs that the president announced this week and that sent global markets reeling.Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, warned on Friday that a future where other countries slap retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, as China has already done, was a “very real possibility” and would be a “terrible outcome” for the country.“It’s terrible for America,” Mr. Cruz said on the latest episode of his podcast. “It would destroy jobs here at home and do real damage to the…

The cryptocurrency market showed notable resilience on April 4, 2025, as Bitcoin (BTC) bounced amid a broader dip for stocks and gold.Ethereum (ETH) and XRP also posted gains despite global macroeconomic pressures, particularly amid tariff jitters since US President Donald Trump’s shocker earlier in the week. Michael Saylor on Bitcoin As the crypto community reacted positively amid China’s retaliatory tariffs, Michael Saylor, the prominent Bitcoin advocate and co-founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), continued his bullish forecast for BTC by stating that the digital asset is showing significant resilience.“Today’s market reaction to tariffs is a reminder: inflation is just the tip of the…

Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell has warned that Donald Trump’s tariffs will stoke “higher inflation and slower growth” as the president’s plans for steep levies on the US’s trading partners shake global financial markets.“It is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected,” Powell said in prepared remarks to a conference in Virginia on Friday. “The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.”He also highlighted that risks to unemployment, which has remained subdued in recent months, were rising. Powell’s remarks come after Trump’s announcement…

Stock markets in the United States have seen another day of losses as President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs continue to cause global economic uncertainty. At the close of markets on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 5.5 percent, the Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8 percent, and the S&P 500 was down nearly 6 percent. All told, the three indices saw their worst two-day stretch since March 2020 when the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The sharp drops, which mirrored plunges in markets across the world, followed Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of wide-ranging reciprocal…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldHedge funds have been hit with the biggest margin calls since Covid shut down huge parts of the global economy in 2020, after Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered a powerful rout in global financial markets. Wall Street banks have asked their hedge fund clients to stump up more money as security for their loans because the value of their holdings had tumbled, according to three people familiar with the matter. Several big banks have issued the largest margin calls to their…

Former President Barack Obama sought to distance himself from the Democratic Party after leaving it in shambles following his departure from the White House, according to a new book. The book, “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” published by William Morrow and Company, claims that Obama was never a Democratic Party loyalist. Instead, the authors allege, Obama curried favor from a group of “Black professionals” for his campaigns, unlike former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and former President Joe Biden. Additionally, Obama’s creation of Organizing for Action — a nonprofit that…