Author: Press Room

South Sudanese forces have arrested the petroleum minister and several senior military officials allied with First Vice President Riek Machar, Machar’s spokesperson said, jeopardising a peace deal that ended a five-year civil war.The arrests on Wednesday follow intense fighting in recent weeks in the strategic northern town of Nasir between national forces and the White Army militia, a loosely-organised group mostly comprising armed Nuer, Machar’s ethnic group.The White Army fought alongside Machar’s forces in the 2013-2018 civil war that pitted them against predominantly ethnic Dinka troops loyal to President Salva Kiir.Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol, who hails from Nasir, and…

U.S. and Hamas officials held talks in Qatar about hostages held in the Gaza Strip, breaking with a long-running American policy of refusing to directly engage with the militant group, according to an Israeli official and a diplomat briefed on the matter. Adam Boehler, President Trump’s nominee to be special envoy for hostage affairs, participated in the talks this week with Hamas officials, the diplomat said. Both people discussed the meetings on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive diplomacy. The scope of the discussions was not immediately clear, but mediators have been…

Trump touts sweeping immigration crackdown Trump touts sweeping immigration crackdown in address to Congress 04:27 Washington—Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are at the southern border Wednesday to highlight the Trump administration’s efforts to combat illegal crossings and drug trafficking, the day following President Trump’s joint address to Congress in which immigration played a prominent role. The top administration officials are in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, roughly 100 miles west of San Antonio. Vance and Hegseth represent the highest-ranking administration officials to visit the southern border since Mr. Trump’s…

Just about every week since taking office, President Trump has called Thomas D. Homan, the enforcer of his immigration agenda, looking for an update on mass deportations.How is it going at the border? What do the arrest numbers look like? Are sanctuary cities still standing in the way of the crackdown?Mr. Homan’s typical response serves as something of a reality check for the president, whose campaign promise to deport millions of people is colliding with the practical difficulties of detaining immigrants and then transporting them across the globe.“We need to increase the arrests,” Mr. Homan said he has told Mr.…

Descrease article font size Increase article font size After the U.S. triggered a trade war, Ottawa will move to prevent the “predatory” takeover of Canadian businesses by foreign entities, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says. This comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that the aim of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s tariffs was to weaken Canada economically to make the country easier to annex.“We actually have to fold back on the one thing he [Trump] has said repeatedly — that what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex…

Almost every day, Grant Lee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, hears from investors who try to persuade him to take their money. Some have even sent him and his co-founders personalized gift baskets.Mr. Lee, 41, would normally be flattered. In the past, a fast-growing start-up like Gamma, the artificial intelligence start-up he helped establish in 2020, would have constantly looked out for more funding.But like many young start-ups in Silicon Valley today, Gamma is pursuing a different strategy. It is using artificial intelligence tools to increase its employees’ productivity in everything from customer service and marketing to coding and customer research.That…

As anticipation of a crypto bull run builds up steam, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) remain in the limelight, buoyed by their strong communities.However, Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is proving to be a promising option, with its decentralized lending protocol and simple-to-use narrative picking up steam. This analysis discusses how the three tokens could provide exciting investment opportunities in the run-up to the next market surge.Shiba Inu (SHIB)Shiba Inu was created in 2020 as a meme coin on the Ethereum blockchain. With the nickname “Dogecoin Killer,” it has a lighthearted brand and is popular with communities. Over time, new features,…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the German economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.German borrowing costs surged by the most in 28 years on Wednesday, as investors bet on a big boost to the country’s ailing economy from a historic deal to fund investment in the military and infrastructure.The yield on the 10-year Bund surged 0.31 percentage points to 2.79 per cent, its biggest one-day move since 1997, with markets braced for extra government borrowing.Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz late on Tuesday agreed with the rival Social Democrats (SPD) to exempt defence spending above 1 per cent…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Pensions industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Pensions minister Torsten Bell has publicly challenged the industry’s prevailing view that trustees who increase their investment in the UK economy risk jeopardising the outcomes for their members.Trustees have a fiduciary duty to invest in the best interests of their members, primarily maximising returns. This has drawn many schemes to invest more in overseas markets where returns have been higher. But Bell said investing in the UK and optimising outcomes were deeply compatible, arguing for the wider economic benefits of domestic spending.“I…

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen.The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and CVS Health’s Caremark, companies that oversee prescription drugs for employers and government programs.It remained unclear why the state was ordering the submission of so much data. In a letter to one benefit manager reviewed by The New York Times, the regulator said the…