Washington Financial News

The latest federal data found that the pay gap between employees who remain in their positions and those who switch jobs has fallen to its lowest point in a decade, the Wall Street Journal reported. During the first two months of 2025, workers who remained with their previous employers received a 4.6% bump in pay, while job switchers received about a 4.8% hike, as per the report. While the fall in hike started from 2025, yet the difference was slightly more, job switchers gained an average of 7.7% in salary compared to the job stayers' 5.5% bump, according to Wall Street Journal.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a 35-year-old New York congresswoman, could become the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2028 US elections after she has recently gained popularity as she might best represent the Democratic voters, according to the Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt, reported The Wrap.

Prince Harry's US visa records will be partially unsealed, reigniting speculation about whether he misrepresented his past drug use. While some believe this could lead to deportation, the controversy continues to elicit debate. The decision comes after a legal battle over whether the Duke of Sussex received special treatment during his immigration process.

Savage Pet has recalled some products that are feared to be contaminated with bird flu. Savage Pet is in the process of recalling several boxes of cat food chicken from a specific lot as it may contain H5N1, or the bird flu, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The brand is recalling 66 of its 84-oz Large Chicken Boxes and 74 of its 21-oz Small Chicken Boxes bearing the lot code/expiration date «11152026», the FDA said in a press release.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India is focusing its US engagement on a trade deal rather than Washington's contentious plans to impose reciprocal tariffs. According to three senior government officials, India is not engaging with the US on reciprocal tariffs; instead, discussions remain centered on shaping a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).

aluminum tariffs as Washington edges towards an all-out trade war with major partners. Since January, Trump has imposed levies on multiple trading partners and imports — including steel and aluminum — roiling financial markets and fanning fears that his plans could tip the world's biggest economy into a recession. The president told reporters aboard Air Force One he did not plan to make exceptions to the tariffs, saying: «No, I have no intention of that.» He instead doubled down on a pledge to impose reciprocal levies as soon as April 2 to remedy trade practices Washington deems unfair, raising the potential for more products and trading partners to be specifically targeted. «April 2 is a liberating day for our country,» he said.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designated South Korea as a 'sensitive' country. The U.S. department has not explained why South Korea was added to the list, which can cause curbs on cooperation, though a DOE spokesperson said Seoul faced no new limits on bilateral cooperation in science and technology from the designation. In a statement relayed by the finance ministry after a ministerial meeting, Choi called on South Korean agencies to actively foster understanding with Washington, and for the industry minister to meet with the U.S. Secretary of Energy this week. Despite the DOE assurances over bilateral cooperation not being impacted, politicians in Seoul have traded blame over the sensitive country designation. The main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday criticised the current South Korean government, calling the U.S. move a «perfect diplomatic failure» which is feared could limit cooperation between the countries in the high-tech field.

Venezuelan gang to be imprisoned in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele said Sunday, after US counterpart Donald Trump invoked wartime authorities to expel migrants. Trump signed an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Friday, but it was not publicly announced until Saturday. The wartime authority allows a president to detain or deport citizens of an enemy nation, but has been invoked only three times before during major international conflicts. Civil rights groups sued to block the order, with a federal judge Saturday granting a temporary suspension of the order, apparently as planes were already headed to El Salvador. «Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country,» Bukele said on X. Bukele, in a meeting last month with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, had offered to house prisoners from the US in his country. He said in his post that the alleged gang members had been sent to the country's maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center. The detention and expulsion order will apply to all Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members who are over 14 and not naturalized US citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A Microsoft executive made a compelling pitch to mountaineer and physics professor Chetan Nayak in 2000: Join the Redmond, Wash., company and together they would scale nearby Mount Rainier—and build a quantum computer. He summited Washington’s highest peak within two years.

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, has unexpectedly caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite initial skepticism, Trump recently called her “tough” and praised her leadership, particularly on migration and fentanyl trafficking. But what exactly did Sheinbaum do to earn this recognition?

The bill, passed by the House with rare GOP unity, funds the government until September but omits safeguards against Trump’s unilateral agency closures and budget slashing. Progressive lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna slammed Schumer’s pivot as a betrayal, arguing it surrenders congressional oversight and empowers Trump’s austerity agenda. The legislation mandates $1 billion cuts to Washington, DC, risking layoffs for teachers and police, while past shutdowns saw federal workers furloughed and services disrupted. Schumer defended his decision, claiming a shutdown would grant Trump unchecked authority to define “essential” operations, though critics like Sen. Chris Van Hollen argue the bill still enables executive overreach. With Democrats divided, the move highlights tensions over balancing fiscal responsibility with resisting Trump’s dismantling of federal programs, as the administration continues sidelining agencies like Social Security without congressional input.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A mineral-rights deal that the Trump administration says will make the U.S. vested in Ukraine’s defense has an instructive historical precedent in Washington’s unofficial oil-for-security pact with Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump delivered what sounded like one of his typical meandering, grievance-laden campaign speeches on Friday, but it was where he did it — inside the U.S. Department of Justice — that mattered. The appearance marked Trump's clearest exertion yet of personal control over the country's federal law enforcement apparatus, which is normally run by appointees who keep at least an arm's length from the president to avoid the appearance that politics are governing prosecutorial decisions. Trump, instead, embraced the notion of the agency as his own personal tool of vengeance. «As the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,» Trump told the audience, with Attorney General Pam Bondi (who is technically the country's chief law enforcement officer) and FBI Director Kash Patel in the audience. One of Trump's favorite campaign songs, «YMCA,» played after he wrapped up his nearly hourlong address inside the department's ceremonial Great Hall. Here's a look at what Trump said, what the reality is and the significance of his words.

The ruling Liberal Party overwhelmingly backed Carney to replace Justin Trudeau, betting his experience leading two central banks through historic crises will re-assure Canadians facing a potentially devastating trade war. Carney, who turns 60 on Sunday, is a political novice who has never won an elected public office but his campaign skills will be tested soon with Canada likely headed for a general election in weeks. The threats posed by Trump are expected to dominate the vote. The US president has sought to bludgeon Canada, imposing sweeping import tariffs and threatening further levies while claiming the country is not «viable» on its own and should be annexed by Washington.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is planning to invoke a sweeping wartime authority known as the Alien Enemies Act in an effort to speed up deportations, according to an official familiar with the discussions. Here’s what to know: The Alien Enemies Act was first passed in 1798 and has been seldom used since.

Russia's foreign intelligence service calling Britain «a warmonger.» And a threat from a top ally of Vladimir Putin to seize UK assets inside Russia. As the U.S. under Donald Trump seeks to reset ties with Moscow and broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been granted the status of Russia's public enemy number one. It's a mantle it has held on and off over the past two centuries. «London today, like on the eve of both World Wars of the last century, is acting as the main global 'warmonger',» Russia's foreign intelligence service said in an unusually charged public statement on Monday. It accused London of trying to derail Trump's efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. «The time has come to expose them and send a clear message to 'perfidious Albion' and its elites: you will not succeed,» the agency, known as SVR, said.

Treasury Department releases numbers on how much money the US government took in and paid out the previous one. You can get them straight from the source, or in simplified form at the Hamilton Project’s Tracking Federal Expenditures in Real Time site. What they show so far is that, despite all the noise from Washington about layoffs and canceled programs and other cutbacks, the federal government has been spending money faster since President Trump took office on Jan.

Putin expressed gratitude to Donald Trump and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, among other world leaders, for their «noble mission» to resolve the conflict. Speaking at a joint press briefing in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin said he is «grateful» to all the leaders for their efforts towards the goal. «As for Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, I will tell you how I view it, of course. But I would like to start by thanking the President of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement. We all have enough of our own domestic affairs to attend to,» Putin told reporters. «But many leaders of states, among them the President of the People's Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, the Presidents of Brazil and the Republic of South Africa are addressing this issue and give it a lot of their time. We are grateful to all of them for that because this activity is aimed at achieving a noble mission — the mission of ending hostilities and loss of life,» Putin said. It may be recalled that Modi had repeatedly called for peace over the last three years while resisting huge pressure from the Western powers to take sides in the war.

Iran's clerical leaders, engaging with the «Great Satan» to hammer out a nuclear deal and ease crippling sanctions may for once be the lesser of two evils. Though it harbours deep mistrust of the United States, and President Donald Trump in particular, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials said. That's why, despite the unyielding stance and defiant rhetoric of Iran's clerical leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran's corridors of power to strike a deal with Washington, the people said. Tehran's concerns were exacerbated by Trump's speedy revival of his first term's «maximum pressure» campaign to drive Iran's oil exports towards zero with more sanctions and bring the country's already fragile economy to its knees, they said. President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly highlighted the severity of the economic situation in the Islamic Republic, stating that it is more challenging than during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and pointing this month to the latest round of U.S. sanctions targeting tankers carrying Iranian oil.

commerce ministry on Thursday assured domestic exporters, particularly those in labour-intensive sectors like leather and textiles, to protect their interests amid the US tariff threats, industry officials said. The issues related to the country's exports were discussed during a virtual meeting chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. «Held a stakeholder consultation meeting with Export Promotion Councils and Industry Associations to discuss strategies for strengthening India's export ecosystem. »The optimism among our industry stakeholders in transforming global challenges into opportunities is truly encouraging. With an evolving global trade landscape, we explored ways to expand into new markets and strengthen competitiveness to drive India's export growth," the minister said in a post on X.

Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter. While Russia has publicly encouraged the use of crypto and last summer passed a law to allow digital currency payments in international trade, its use in the country's oil trade has not previously been reported. Some Russian oil companies are using bitcoin, ether and stablecoins such as Tether to smooth the conversion of Chinese yuan and Indian rupees to Russian roubles, the sources said, adding that it is a small but growing part of Russia's overall oil trade, which according to the International Energy Agency was worth $192 billion last year. All the sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Cryptocurrencies have already helped enable countries under U.S. sanctions such as Iran and Venezuela to keep their economies running while avoiding use of the dollar, the preferred currency for transactions in the global oil market.