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Mark Carney, who navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada from 2008, and then in 2013 when he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England — helping to manage the worst impacts of Brexit in the U.K. — will now try to steer Canada through the trade war brought by Trump. Mark Carney's path to the top job in Canadian politics has been unusual but, as he said when he launched his campaign to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, so are the circumstances. Former central banker Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister on Friday, and will now try to steer his country through a trade war brought by U.S. President Donald Trump, a threat of annexation and an expected federal election. Carney, 59, replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader. Carney is widely expected to trigger a general election in the coming days or weeks. Carney has called the threats posed by US President Donald Trump «the most serious crisis of our lifetime.»

Hamas said on Friday it agreed to release an American-Israeli dual national, believed to be the last living American hostage held in Gaza, after receiving a proposal from mediators to continue negotiations on the second phase of a ceasefire deal. Hamas said in a statement that it responded «positively» to the proposal that was presented on Thursday to resume negotiations. It will also release the bodies of four other dual nationality hostages, it said without giving further details. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Meetings between Hamas leaders and U.S. hostage negotiator Adam Boehler in recent days sought the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old man from New Jersey, who served as a soldier with the Israeli military.

Facing a Friday night deadline to fund the government or allow it to start winding down, the Senate is set to vote ahead of the midnight cut-off on a Trump-backed bill passed by the House of Representatives. The deal would keep federal operations going for another six months, but Democrats are under pressure from their grassroots activists to defy Trump and reject a text they say is full of harmful spending cuts. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer — who has long insisted that it is bad politics to shut down the government — said he would support the bill, a move seen as improving its chances of success. «President Trump and Republicans leaders would like nothing more than to pull us into the mud of a protracted government shutdown. For Donald Trump, a shutdown would be a gift,» Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Russia said Friday it expected Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would discuss a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine, but that US envoy Steve Witkoff needed to relay Putin's thoughts to the American president first. Witkoff met the Russian president late Thursday to lay out the details of the US plan, which Ukraine agreed to on Tuesday. «When Mr Witkoff brings all the information to President Trump, we will determine the timing of a conversation (between Trump and Putin),» Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. «There is an understanding on all sides that such a conversation is needed. There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic,» Peskov added. «There is still much to be done, but the president has nevertheless identified with President Trump's position.»

NASA and SpaceX on Friday will count down to a long-awaited crewed rocket launch that will allow them to bring home U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months. SpaceX and the U.S. space agency had planned on Wednesday to launch from Florida a replacement crew of four astronauts, a mission called Crew-10, but a last-minute issue with the rocket's ground systems forced a delay. Now slated for liftoff at 7:03 p.m. ET Friday (2330GMT), the Crew-10's arrival to the ISS on Saturday night will allow the return of Wilmore and Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts and U.S. Navy test pilots who in June 2024 were the first humans to test-fly Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS in June. But problems with Starliner's propulsion system during its flight to the ISS delayed what was expected to be an eight-day stay. NASA deemed it too risky for the astronauts to fly home on the Boeing craft, which led to the current plan to bring them home in a SpaceX capsule. It has also become entangled in politics as President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, claim without evidence President Joe Biden left «Butch and Suni» on the station for political reasons.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.7% to $3,013.60.

The premium carmaker expects its earnings margin for cars to be 5-7% in 2025, below an LSEG consensus estimate of 7.3%, dragged down one percentage point by the impact of tariffs already imposed by March 12.

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.

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.

Piyush Goyal on Friday said that he had a «forward looking» discussion with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement. «Our approach will be guided by 'India First', 'Viksit Bharat' and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,» the Commerce Minister wrote on his X timeline, sharing a photograph of the meeting. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US last week. His visit to the US followed US President Donald Trump and PM Modi's plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025. The two leaders had committed to designating senior representatives to advance these negotiations. During the recent meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative, and supply chains more resilient. They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade — "Mission 500" — aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.

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.

Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker came in at T$46.33 billion ($1.41 billion), missing analysts' average forecast of T$54.4 billion, according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

James Fishback, CEO of Azoria, has clarified who would be eligible for the proposed $5,000 DOGE Dividend stimulus checks. Speaking on Steve Ram’s podcast, Fishback explained, «If you file a federal income tax return—if you pay federal income tax, which is to say that you worked—you would receive a DOGE dividend check. That individual and their household would benefit from this payment.» The proposal seeks to use cost savings from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to provide direct payments to taxpayers. Backed by President Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk, the initiative claims to reward working Americans by redistributing government savings.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump and his team are sending a message: Hang in there through the economic turmoil, and better days will come. A little sacrifice for the greater good may not be such a bad thing.

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.

US equity-index futures climbed Friday as signs the US will avoid a government shutdown injected a boost to sentiment. Shares in Japan retraced early losses while those in Australia also climbed higher along with indexes in Hong Kong. Futures contracts for US equities advanced early Friday as a stopgap funding bill looked set to pass and avoid a US government shutdown. The S&P 500 dropped 1.4% on Thursday to a six-month low, bringing its three-week rout past 10% — a correction in trader parlance. The Nasdaq 100, also in a correction, fell 1.9%.

Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for their efforts in addressing the conflict. Speaking at a joint press conference with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin said that Russia agrees with the proposals to cease hostilities but «proceeds from the assumption that this cessation should lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of the crisis.» When asked about Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, Putin said, «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. 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.» He further said, «We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities but proceed from the assumption that this cessation should lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of this crisis.» He also referred to the recent US-Ukraine discussions in Saudi Arabia, suggesting that Ukraine's willingness for a ceasefire was likely influenced by American pressure.

Donald Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked a seemingly simple question about the White House dress code. A reporter pointed out that administration officials were «miffed» that the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had not worn a suit to the Oval Office. And yet, the reporter said, "Elon Musk never wears a suit in there. So what is the dress code?" As with all things in Washington, this was really a question about power. Musk flexes his by dressing down where all others must dress up. He wears his «tech support» T-shirt around town and to meetings with the president. So when the tech mogul wore a suit and tie twice last week, just like any other working stiff in Washington, it seemed like a sign that maybe some of the old rules of this place — and the ones about fashion and etiquette are among the oldest — were suddenly being applied to this most special of government employees.

AI took center stage in many sessions at the world's largest energy gathering. Oil producers are seeking ways to remain profitable in an environment of plummeting oil prices and worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could slow global energy demand. UK oil major BP is using AI to steer drill bits and predict potential problems in wells before they happen, said Ann Davies, BP's senior vice president of wells.

artificial intelligence servers. Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker likely came in at T$54.4 billion ($1.65 billion), according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts, versus T$53.15 billion a year earlier. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

Johns Hopkins University said Thursday it is being forced to lay off more than 2,000 employees in the aftermath of the Trump administration's massive reduction in foreign aid funding. «This is a difficult day for our entire community. The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally,» the school, a leading institution of scientific research, said in a statement. Hopkins, in Maryland's largest city an hour's drive north of the US capital, is eliminating more than 2,000 positions — 1,975 in projects across 44 countries and 247 jobs in the United States. The cuts impact several key programs, including the university's medical school and school of public health, and Jhpiego, a global health non-profit organization founded at the university more than 50 years ago and which works to improve health in countries worldwide. «Johns Hopkins is immensely proud of the work done by our colleagues in Jhpiego, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine to care for mothers and infants, fight disease, provide clean drinking water, and advance countless other critical, life-saving efforts around the world,» the university said.