Family of New Zealand woman detained by ICE pleads for government help to secure her release

Everlee Wihongi, 37, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles on 10 April. She moved to the US with her family aged six and has a green card. She was detained because she had a conviction for possession of marijuana dating back more than a decade. The family visited New Zealand in March for an uncle’s 80th birthday, but when they flew back to Los Angeles, she was detained. She is being held in a room with 46 people for 22 hours a day. Her recall date is set for 10 June.

In Coal Country, Black Lung Surges as Federal Protections Stall

Justin Smarsh, 42, has progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease. He used to work in a coal mine in Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania. There is no cure for the disease. Between 2013 and 2017, hundreds of cases of severe cases were identified at three Virginia clinics. The disease is on the uptick at a time when the Trump administration is calling for the expansion of coal production.

Iberdrola Posts Higher Adjusted Profit on UK Power Growth

Iberdrola on Wednesday reported EUR 1.87 billion in net profit adjusted for nonrecurring items for the first quarter (1Q), up 11.4 percent from the same three-month period last year. The year-on-year increase was mainly due to electricity distribution in the UK growing 72.6 percent to 14,687 gigawatt hours (gWh). Power and gas distribution generated EUR 5.65 billion in revenue for the January-March 2026 quarter. The other segment, "power and customers", also declined to EUR 6.44 billion.

Oil prices soar on fears of long supply disruption, US siege of Iran ports

Brent crude futures for June continue to rise to $119.94 per barrel as of 00:57 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures are at $107.51 per barrel. The US-Israel war on Iran has cost the US military $25 billion so far. The United Arab Emirates announced it would leave OPEC effective on May 1.

Bitcoin Long-to-Short Ratio Shows Pro Traders Cautious Over Fed, Inflation

Inflation concerns and tech corporate earnings remain the biggest drivers for Bitcoin traders’ sentiment. The Bitcoin perpetual futures funding rate turned negative on Wednesday. The long-to-short ratio for professional traders on Binance was 0.80, showing a minor improvement from the 0.75 level recorded on Tuesday.

Birth rates at an all-time low: the gap between regions is widening

The demand for living space varies depending on the region. The vacancy rate in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia is higher than in the city states of Berlin and Hamburg. The birth rate has been falling for years and there were fewer babies born in Germany last year than at any time since the Second World War.

China Defense Blog: Capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the day: Hawking cheap ATGM (AFT-11E/Red Arrow 11E/GTS9)

The blog of China defense is a forum where analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power in China. It is written by professional analysts and enthusiasts. It's written by a professional analyst and a serious defense enthusiast, who are interested in China's military power.

NY Rally Marks 27 Years Since Falun Gong’s April 25 Appeal Amid Ongoing Persecution

Thousands gathered in Flushing, New York to mark the 27th anniversary of the peaceful appeal by Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing’s Zhongnanhai on April 25, 1999. The Chinese Communist Party launched a sweeping campaign against the group in July 1999. Hou Gaiying, assistant to the chair of the New York committee of the China Democracy Party and representative of the Tuidang Movement spoke during the rally.

Mali turmoil tests Russia’s image as a security guarantor in Africa

Mali's military junta turned to Russia for support after expelling French and UN troops following coups in 2020 and 2021. The junta was rocked at the weekend by an offensive by West Africa's al-Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group. Russia's Africa Corps was forced to withdraw from Kidal and Moscow used helicopter gunships and strategic bombers to hold insurgents back.

Trump, Putin talk Iran and Ukraine, US energy exports up: here’s what happened overnight

The US-Israel war on Iran has cost an estimated $25 billion so far. US crude exports achieved a record surge of more than 6 million barrels a day last week. US companies and the US are expanding their energy footprint abroad. China agrees to cooperate with Australian business on jet fuel shipments to ease the energy shortage caused by the war in the Middle East.

In the president’s mission to rebuild Washington, it could be judges who hand him stop-work orders

A federal judge in Washington heard arguments this week about the renaming of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and closing it for two years of renovation. A coalition of preservation groups, including the group that brought a lawsuit over the construction of the White House ballroom, is also challenging the president's construction projects. In October, without consulting Congress, the president demolished the East Wing and began building the ballroom in its stead.

Trump Insists on Nuclear Deal before Lifting Hormuz Blockade

Trump will not lift a naval blockade of Iran's ports until he secures a peace deal with Tehran. US Central Command has asked to send the Army's Dark Eagle hypersonic missile to the Middle East for possible use against Iran. The administration is also looking at enlisting other countries to help restore safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The New Resource Curse

RABAH AREZKI is Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research. FREDERICK VAN DER PLOEG is Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research in the Netherlands. Michael ROSS is Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at University of California, Los Angeles.

Iran war and high fuel prices: consequences for the USA

Since the start of the Iran War, Americans have been paying around $70 more per month for gasoline than before. Poor Americans are feeling the impact of the war on their wallets. Consumer sentiment is poor. This may have consequences for the midterm elections in November.

The city caught in the middle of the big energy shift debate

Iona Macdonald graduated from Aberdeen University in 2000 with a degree in chemistry. She worked in the oil and gas industry for a quarter of a century. She was made redundant two years ago and is now working in a pub on the minimum wage. Iona's friends have gone from six-figure salaries to stacking shelves in a supermarket overnight.

UN report flags disproportionate costs of clean energy transition

A new UNU-INWEH report warns of the environmental and social costs of mineral-producing countries' push toward cleaner energy. It links the extraction of transition minerals used in green energy technologies to water insecurity, livelihood disruptions and health risks for local communities. The report calls for a shift from voluntary standards to binding global governance to ensure human rights and environmental safeguards.

The next great hunger

Biodiversity loss, climate shocks and geopolitical conflicts are fracturing the world food system, according to a report by Anglia Ruskin University and Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA). It comes after a recent British Government report found that biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is a realistic possibility.

Minerals over ideology? US embraces pragmatic diplomacy to break China’s rare earths grip

The Trump administration's interest in rare earths is pushing the US towards pragmatic diplomacy. The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project in South Africa recently received US$50 million in equity funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the American federal government’s development bank.

As a Ukrainian journalist, I’ve covered the US for 20 years. I find it increasingly shocking

In 2008, when she was a reporter for a leading Ukrainian TV station, she followed Barack Obama’s campaign for US president. She went on to cover four more US elections. She was shocked by how the conversation around access to affordable health care and education has become radicalised in the US. In Ukraine, the war claims the lives of soldiers every day and resources are scarce, but the poor contribute what they can to support fellow citizens.

A decade on from its renewables heyday, the data centre yieldco has arrived

Some of the data collected by this provider is for the purposes of personalization and measuring advertising effectiveness. Google DoubleClick registers and reports the website user's actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser's ads. Google AdSense experiments with advertisement efficiency across websites using their services.

The Ocean Also Has Memories: From Our Territories to the Global Seafood Marketplace

Yohana Coñuecar Llancapani is a Mapuche Williche leader from Llanchid Island, Hualaihué, Chile. She is bringing a delegation of Indigenous leaders and small-scale fishers from her territory to the Global Seafood Marketplace in Barcelona.

USA and SIPRI: Arms trade will boom worldwide in 2025

Last year weapons worth almost $2.9 trillion were sold, 2.9 percent more than in 2024. The USA under Donald Trump is driving other countries to arm themselves. F.A.Z. has a premium global economy and arms dealers are well-paid.

New maps provided to aid groups show expanded zone of IDF control in Gaza

New maps of the Gaza Strip were issued by Israel a little more than a month ago. The restricted area, marked on the maps with an orange line, makes up an estimated 11% of Gaza’s territory beyond the “Yellow Line” demarcating the part of Gaza occupied by Israeli troops since an October ceasefire. The expanded zone has stirred fears from displaced Palestinians living there that they could be deemed targets by Israel. Israel has previously moved blocks deeper into Hamas-controlled territory.

Natural Gas and Oil Forecast: Hormuz Crisis Sends Oil to $107 – Is $115 the Next Stop?

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is still causing a lot of problems, with 20% of the world's oil supply grinding to a near complete halt due to the effective closure of the Strait. Middle East’s oil production basically shut down in April at 9.1 million barrels per day and the combined losses over the first two months of the conflict exceed 850 million barrels. US saw its commercial oil stocks drop by 6.2 million barrels in the week leading up to April 24.

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