A judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze most federal assistance while it conducts an ideological review of government spending. The order was due to come into effect on Tuesday evening. It sparked confusion among non-profit organisations, schools and others relying on federal grants, as well as people receiving direct benefits from programmes such as Medicaid, America’s health insurance for the poor. The judge’s pause remains in effect until Monday.
American tech stocks recovered some of their losses following Monday’s rout. Shares in Nvidia, America’s chip champion, rose by almost 9% on Tuesday after a 17% drop on the previous day. The Nasdaq Composite index rose by 2% after a decline of 3.1% on Monday. The market panic came after DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, presented an impressive, low-cost large language model.
Israeli troops will remain indefinitely in parts of Syria that they seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, according to Israel’s defence minister. Israel initially said that its incursions into Syria were a temporary move to protect its borders. Earlier this month Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto leader, denounced Israel’s “pretexts” for taking control of the land.
At least 12 people were killed and several more were injured during a stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in India. Tens of millions of Hindus have flocked to Prayagraj, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, for a holy dip in the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, reportedly called for “immediate support measures” for the victims.
America advised its citizens to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo after crowds attacked foreign embassies, including the Rwandan and French consulates, in Kinshasa, the capital. The crowds were protesting against the Rwandan-backed assault on Goma, a city on the border between Congo and Rwanda, by the rebel group M23. At least 100 people have been killed in three days of fighting.
Engine No. 1, a hedge fund, and Chevron, a fossil-fuel company, will partner with GE Vernova, an energy-equipment manufacturer, to make power plants for AI data centres in America. The plants will be fuelled by natural gas, and aim to deliver four gigawatts of energy by 2027. The joint venture comes as Silicon Valley grapples with competition from China’s DeepSeek.
Boom Supersonic, an American startup, broke the sound barrier with its XB-1 test plane for the first time. The company aims to bring back supersonic commercial travel, last experienced by passengers on Concorde in 2003. The XB-1 reached Mach 1, about 1200kph, over the Mojave Desert. But the plane is a fraction of the size of the company’s proposed airliner, which it hopes to launch by 2029.
Figure of the day: 12, the number of the top 20 slowest-moving cities that are in Asia. Read the full story.
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