U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa’s policies as anti-American. Instead, Rubio was headed back to the United States on Wednesday from his first trip to the Middle East as America’s chief diplomat, and after leading a U.S. delegation in talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia over the war in Ukraine.
Florence Makumene held a plastic container of HIV medication and wondered if it would be her last as fears swelled of a return to a time decades ago when millions across sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS. As a young adult in Zimbabwe, Makumene watched loved ones succumb to a diagnosis of HIV that was viewed back then as a death sentence. But the 53-year-old didn’t have to suffer the same fate when she tested positive in 2016. A community group funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, ensured she enrolled in lifesaving treatment.
Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, a pioneer of African cinema with a career spanning 50 years, has died at age 84, Malian television announced Wednesday. The cause of Cissé's death was not announced. The Malian government said Cissé “had just held a press conference to present two trophies as a prelude to the 29th edition of Fespaco, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), which will open this next weekend in the capital of Burkina Faso.”
Federal Reserve officials at a meeting last month pointed to rising risks that inflation could worsen, a key reason they kept their benchmark interest rate unchanged. According to minutes of the Jan. 28-29 meeting, which were released Wednesday, Fed officials said that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, were factors that could push inflation higher this year.
A Pakistani separatist group claimed responsibility on Thursday for the killing of seven bus passengers in an attack earlier this week, saying the victims were affiliated with the military and intelligence services. The attack occurred late Tuesday night when ethnic Baloch militants armed with guns intercepted several passenger buses on a highway in southwestern Pakistan. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army group said in a statement its fighters attacked the buses and killed the men in Rakhni, a town in Balochistan province.
Pope Francis is continuing his recovery from pneumonia, eating breakfast out of bed on Thursday morning after a sixth peaceful night at the hospital, the Vatican said. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a new update after confirming late Wednesday that new blood tests showed a “slight improvement” in some inflammation indices for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.
If tariffs proposed by the Trump administration materialize and directly impact the automotive industry, General Motors believes its experience dealing with past crises will help it find solutions, CFO Paul Jacobson said Wednesday. “We can’t be surprised where we are today,” Jacobson said at an investor conference. Throughout the campaign, President Donald Trump indicated a priority was to address the U.S. trade deficit. Since taking office, he has announced tariffs on imports from select countries, as well as on raw materials including aluminum and steel, and now a 25% duty on automotive imports.
Asian shares traded mostly lower Thursday after a quiet day on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 added to its record. Worries about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies remain high on regional investors’ minds. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2% to finish at 38,678.04. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.2% to 8,322.80, while South Korea’s Kospi lost nearly 0.7% to 2,654.06. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.3% to 22,640.18, after China left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a move it said was meant to maintain financial stability. The Shanghai Composite shed less than 0.1% to 3,349.60.
President Donald Trump has signed an order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally, the White House said Wednesday, his latest in a blizzard of moves to crack down on immigration. The White House said the order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens,” but it was not clear which benefits will be targeted. People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling.
The polar vortex hit its peak across much of America on Wednesday, with an icy grip that made Arctic Greenland seem like a toasty vacation spot in comparison. Even Mars has been warmer than North Dakota this week. But there’s hope. Some of the coldest parts of the United States are forecast to see as much as a 90-degree warmup early next week, before the expected return of yet another polar plunge of freezing air the first week in March, meteorologists said.