Category: World

Flames pushed across scrub and recreational land east of Moreno Valley on Friday, forcing evacuation orders in Riverside County as a fast-moving wildfire spread under strong winds and sent smoke across nearby communities. The Springs Fire was reported around 11 a. m. on 3 April near Gilman Springs Road, and authorities said its cause was under investigation.Officials described the fire as burning in an unincorporated area that is populated but not densely built, close to Moreno Valley, a city

America’s labour market delivered a stronger headline performance in March, but the underlying picture still points to a jobs backdrop that remains exposed to shocks. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 178,000 and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, offering relief after February’s revised loss of 133,000 jobs. Yet the rebound was flattered by temporary factors, including the return of striking healthcare workers and weather-related gains in construction, while broader measures of

Iran struck Gulf energy infrastructure again overnight into Friday, setting fire to Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi refinery and damaging a power and water desalination plant, as US President Donald Trump warned that Washington could escalate by targeting more of Iran’s infrastructure if Tehran did not yield. The attacks sharpened fears that a conflict already disrupting shipping and fuel markets is moving deeper into the economic core of the Gulf.Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said the refinery attack caused fires in operating units

A Japanese-owned liquefied natural gas tanker has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, offering the clearest sign yet that tightly controlled commercial traffic may be resuming through one of the world’s most sensitive energy corridors after weeks of disruption linked to the war involving Iran. The vessel, SOHAR LNG, is the first Japan-linked LNG carrier confirmed to have made the passage since the conflict began on 28 February, according to shipping and company information published on Friday.The crossing matters far

 U. S. defence shares have failed to sustain the geopolitical bounce that often accompanies armed conflict, with the sector sliding in March even as tensions around Iran intensified. The NYSE Arca Defense Index, which tracks 34 large and small-cap companies, fell nearly 8% during the month, a steeper decline than the S&P 500’s roughly 5% drop, underscoring how investors have become more cautious about paying up for war-linked expectations.That retreat marks a contrast with the pattern seen after Russia’s full-scale

A powerful undersea earthquake off Indonesia’s eastern islands killed at least one person, damaged homes and public buildings, and triggered a tsunami warning that was later lifted after small waves were recorded along parts of the coast. Authorities said the magnitude 7.4 quake struck northwest of Ternate in North Maluku at a depth of about 35 km, sending residents into the streets in Ternate, Bitung and Manado as strong shaking spread across northern Sulawesi and nearby island groups.The fatality

Rising global energy prices are adding a fresh inflation risk to the United States even as the International Monetary Fund said the world’s largest economy remains on a solid growth path, with trade and fiscal changes expected to narrow the current-account deficit only modestly over the medium term.The IMF’s latest assessment said growth in the US is projected to reach 2.4 per cent in 2026, while employment growth is slowing and unemployment is expected to stay near 4 per cent.

U. S. Treasuries fell across the curve after President Donald Trump used a televised address to harden his stance on Iran, unsettling investors who had been looking for signs of de-escalation and instead got a warning of heavier military action that sent oil prices sharply higher and revived fears of another inflation pulse through the global economy.The move in government debt reflected a quick reassessment of the inflation outlook. Brent crude climbed to around $108 a barrel and U.

Britain has sharpened its language on security, raised its military ambitions and promised a larger defence budget, but the test now lies in whether those commitments produce forces that can respond quickly and credibly to a widening arc of threats from Europe to the Middle East. The question has come into sharper focus after London moved a nuclear-powered submarine into the Arabian Sea about a month into the Iran war, a deployment that underlined both its willingness to signal resolve

Cordros Securities has projected a calmer but still constructive second quarter for Nigeria’s equities market, arguing that the sharp gains posted in the first three months of 2026 may give way to more selective buying, with bank stocks likely to remain at the centre of investor attention. That view comes after a powerful first-quarter rally on the Nigerian Exchange, where banking counters were among the strongest performers and recapitalisation momentum continued to reshape sentiment.The brokerage’s stance suggests the market

Uganda’s Parliament has stepped up pressure on the government over a health cooperation deal with the United States that includes provisions for sharing pathogen specimens and certain health-related data, opening a wider argument about privacy, sovereignty and whether ministers gave lawmakers enough visibility before signing. The agreement sits inside a five-year Uganda–US health framework worth nearly $2.3 billion, signed on December 10, 2025, under which Washington is set to provide up to $1.7 billion while Kampala increases domestic health spending.

Copper and other industrial metals fell on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump renewed threats to strike Iran’s power plants and other civilian infrastructure if talks fail to halt a war that has entered its second month, adding another layer of risk to commodity markets already strained by conflict in the Gulf. Bloomberg reported the move across metals markets on April 2, while Reuters and AP reporting over the past week showed Trump had repeatedly tied any pause in attacks

North Korea is sharpening its nuclear posture after the military battering of Iran reinforced Kim Jong-un’s long-held argument that smaller states without an ultimate deterrent risk coercion, attack and political humiliation. In a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly on March 23, Kim declared the country’s nuclear status “irreversible”, said Pyongyang would permanently strengthen its “self-defensive nuclear deterrent”, and framed the global order as one in which sovereign states can be violated by force unless they can impose costs on

Donald Trump’s administration is making a fresh attempt to draw U. S. oil companies into Venezuela, offering regulatory relief and political backing as Washington tries to turn the country’s vast crude reserves into a strategic and commercial prize. Yet the campaign is meeting resistance from executives wary of sinking billions into a battered industry still shadowed by political risk, legal uncertainty and years of neglect.The push comes almost three months after Nicolás Maduro was removed from power in a U.

Global energy markets are facing a supply shock more severe than the oil crises of 1973 and 1979 combined with the gas disruption that followed Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol, who said mounting losses of oil and liquefied natural gas from the Middle East were set to intensify through April.Birol said more than 12 million barrels of oil had already been lost since the conflict widened around Iran and the

Ryanair has warned that jet fuel supplies into Europe could come under pressure from May if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues, with chief executive Michael O’Leary saying as much as a quarter of the airline’s fuel could be at risk during May and June if disruption around the Strait of Hormuz is not resolved by the middle or end of April.The warning, made on April 1, comes as Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers said it had not

 Berkeley Group is halting new land purchases and slowing construction, marking one of the sharpest signals yet that Britain’s housing recovery remains vulnerable to higher costs, planning friction and tighter development economics. The FTSE 100 housebuilder said the pressure from taxes, regulation and wider market uncertainty has made fresh land buying harder to justify, even as it tries to protect margins and preserve cash.The decision matters beyond Berkeley because the company is one of the country’s most closely watched developers,

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday, with the war involving Iran and the growing scramble for critical minerals set to dominate talks that reach far beyond bilateral ties.The meeting comes as Japan and France face the same strategic question from different angles: how to protect economic security in a world where energy supplies, shipping routes and industrial inputs are increasingly exposed to conflict and geopolitical pressure. Officials in Paris

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop work on a planned $400 million ballroom at the White House, ruling that such a major alteration cannot move ahead without approval from Congress. The order, issued on Tuesday by U. S. District Judge Richard Leon, marks the sharpest legal setback yet for President Donald Trump’s attempt to reshape one of the country’s most recognisable public buildings.The ruling came after preservationists challenged the project, arguing that the administration overstepped

Coca-Cola and its authorised bottling partners in South Africa have set out plans to invest 17.6 billion rand, about $1 billion, in the country through 2030, betting that wider production capacity and a stronger distribution network will deepen their footprint in one of the group’s most important African markets. The announcement was made in Johannesburg at the sixth South Africa Investment Conference and covers Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa and Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages alongside the parent company.The scale of the

Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi service suffered a sharp setback in Wuhan after a system failure caused more than 100 driverless taxis to stop on roads across the city late on March 31, stranding passengers, disrupting traffic and triggering a wave of police calls that has revived scrutiny of autonomous vehicle safety in China’s biggest testing grounds. Police said no injuries were reported, but the scale of the stoppage and the time some passengers spent trapped inside vehicles have raised fresh

Questions over staffing and tower procedures at New York’s LaGuardia Airport have intensified after documents indicated air traffic control roles may have been combined before the time allowed under local operating rules on the night an Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck, killing both pilots. The collision took place at about 11:37 pm local time on March 22, when Air Canada Express Flight 8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, struck the vehicle on Runway 4.The focus of

Nigeria has forfeited a potential revenue surge from elevated crude prices during the Iran war because it could not raise production enough to match the market opportunity, according to Dele Oye, chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, who said the lost upside could amount to about $20.2 billion a year. He argued that Brent’s climb far above Nigeria’s budget benchmark should have delivered a major fiscal cushion, but weaker output left the country exposed instead of enriched.

Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has begun to edge higher for ships deemed acceptable by Tehran, but the Gulf’s main maritime chokepoint remains tightly controlled and effectively shut to most commercial operators without Iranian clearance. Tracking data cited by Bloomberg showed a gentle rise in signal-on transits, while Reuters and other maritime reports indicate that only a narrow stream of ships linked to countries Iran considers non-hostile has been able to move through.That shift does not amount

Warren Buffett has left open the possibility of making further donations to the Gates Foundation, even as renewed scrutiny of Bill Gates’ past dealings with Jeffrey Epstein complicates one of the most prominent relationships in modern philanthropy. The 95-year-old investor said he is watching developments before deciding whether his long-running annual gifts should continue.The remarks mark a careful shift rather than a clean break. Buffett said he would “wait and see what unfolds” after the United States Department of

South Africa will cut a fuel tax for April to soften the hit from surging global oil prices, as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana moves to contain a steep rise in petrol and diesel costs that threatens to feed inflation across Africa’s most industrialised economy. The step comes as oil markets remain under strain from conflict-linked supply disruption in the Middle East and as the rand has weakened against the dollar, compounding the pressure on imported fuel.Godongwana said the levy

Nasdaq is accelerating the route into its flagship Nasdaq-100 index for large newly listed companies, a rule change that could materially benefit future market debuts such as SpaceX by shortening what has often been a wait of many months. The exchange said the revised methodology will take effect on May 1, allowing certain newly public companies to be assessed by their seventh trading day and, if they qualify, enter the benchmark after their 15th trading day.The change marks a