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The Taliban interior ministry said on Thursday the case against a detained British couple wasn’t “serious” and that officials hoped it would be resolved “soon”, as a source said diplomatic missions were working for their release. 

Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who are in their 70s, were detained in February with visiting Chinese-American friend Faye Hall and their Afghan translator, as they travelled to their home in central Bamiyan province. 

Hall, a US citizen, was released at the end of March not long after a rare visit by US officials to Kabul and the removal of millions of dollars of bounties on multiple Taliban leaders. 

“Their case isn’t anything serious,” interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP, adding that they would be “treated according to sharia”, or Islamic law.

“We hope their case will be resolved soon, their matter isn’t anything big to worry about.” 

The justice ministry spokesman would not share any information on the Britons when contacted by AFP on Wednesday and the Taliban authorities have not detailed the reasons for their arrest.

A source familiar with the couple’s case told AFP it was “more complicated” than Hall’s. 

“Several (non-Islamic) religious books had been found in their home, which is the remaining allegation currently being examined by Taliban courts,” the source said. 

“Diplomatic engagement of various missions on the ground is ongoing to expedite the case.” 

The Reynolds, who married in Kabul in 1970, have run school training programmes in the South Asian country for 18 years. 

Qani confirmed the Britons, who remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021 when the British embassy withdrew its staff, both held Afghan passports and national IDs.

Their daughter has expressed grave fears for their health and treatment in detention, sharing recorded calls with Britain’s The Sunday Times in which Peter Reynolds describes “shocking” conditions and limited food. 

The Taliban authorities have imposed sweeping restrictions in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law.   

In 2023, an American woman was among more than a dozen staff of an international NGO who were arrested by the Taliban authorities, accused of carrying out Christian missionary work.

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Italian fashion house Prada announced Thursday it had reached a deal with US group Capri Holdings to buy its flashy rival Versace for 1.25 billion euros ($1.38 billion).

The acquisition will create a luxury group with revenues of over six billion euros that could better compete with industry giants such as the French conglomerates LVMH and Gucci owner Kering, amid a slowdown in the sector worldwide.

“We are delighted to welcome Versace to the Prada Group and to build a new chapter for a brand with which we share a strong commitment to creativity, craftmanship and heritage,” Prada group chairman and executive director Patrizio Bertelli said in a statement.

In 2018, Capri paid 1.83 billion euros (then $2.1 billion) to acquire Versace, which was previously owned 80 percent by the Versace family and 20 percent by the US investment fund BlackRock.

Amid declining sales at the Milan-based label, it put Versace up for sale, and began exclusive negotiations with Prada at the end of February.

Capri, which also owns Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors, had to accept a reduced price from Prada amid the market turmoil caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The Financial Times reported that the price was initially expected to be about $1.6 billion but had been negotiated downwards in recent days.

Last month, Donatella Versace stepped down as creative director after more than 30 years, a move widely seen as a prelude to the accord.

She took over in 1997 following the murder of her older brother Gianni, who founded the label in 1978.

But on April 1 she was replaced as creative director by Dario Vitale, who has overseen soaring sales at Miu Miu, Prada’s sister brand targeting a younger clientele.

Donatella Versace, who turns 70 in May, is now the label’s chief brand ambassador.

Long journey

While still a label associated with the jet set, some of Versace’s luster has waned in recent years. 

It posted $193 million in revenue in its fiscal 2025 third quarter, down 15 percent. 

By contrast, Prada, under the creative helm of Miuccia Prada, the 76-year-old granddaughter of group founder Mario, is in robust health.

Despite the global slowdown in sales of luxury goods, Prada’s net profit jumped 25 percent to 839 million euros in 2024, with revenues up 15 percent to 5.4 billion euros.

Andrea Guerra, Prada’s group chief executive officer, said on Thursday that Versace had “huge potential” but warned there was work to do.

“The journey will be long and will require disciplined execution and patience. The evolution of a brand always needs time and constant focus,” he said.

The deal, funded through 1.5 billion euros of new debt, is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

‘Complementary addition’

The two fashion labels have starkly different styles, with Versace’s exuberance contrasting with Prada’s sophisticated minimalism.

Prada said its new acquisition “constitutes a strongly complementary addition” to its portfolio.

It said Versace will “maintain its creative DNA and cultural authenticity”, while benefitting from Prada’s “industrial capabilities, retail execution and operational expertise”.

The deal bucks the trend of recent years, which has seen major names in Italian fashion such as Gucci, Fendi, and Bottega Veneta fall under the control of their French competitors. 

“Prada will be able to bring light back into a brand that was dying and infuse it with new life,” Antonio Bandini Conti, a design consultant, told AFP.

However, a previous attempt to expand the Prada portfolio — which also includes luxury footwear brands Car Shoe and Church’s — offers a cautionary tale.

In 1999, the family group acquired the German brand Jil Sander and the Austrian label Helmut Lang before selling them in 2006 as they were weighing down its financial results. 

In 2000, Prada jointly acquired a 51 percent stake in the Roman label Fendi with LVMH, but sold its 25.5 percent stake to the French luxury giant a year later.

With the Versace acquisition, “I see a risk for Prada to become distracted from its core business,” Luca Solca, an analyst at Bernstein, told AFP.

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US President Donald Trump’s 10 percent tariff for almost all countries except China will likely remain in place going forward, his top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said Thursday.

A day earlier, Trump announced a 90-day pause on higher tariffs against all countries except China, reversing a policy that had roiled global stock markets and spooked the American bond markets — a key barometer of investors’ faith in the US government’s ability to pay its debts.

Trump’s announcement leaves China facing a steep 125 percent tariff, and almost all other countries facing a baseline tariff of 10 percent.

Speaking to CNBC before markets opened on Thursday, Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said that the 10 percent was likely here to stay. 

“I think everybody expects the 10 percent baseline tariff is going to be the baseline,” he said. “And it is going to take some kind of extraordinary deal for the president to go below there.”

Hassett said the sharp rise in bond market yields in recent days had added “perhaps a little more urgency” to Trump’s decision to roll back some tariffs, but insisted that the decision would have ultimately have happened anyway. 

“The president recognizes that in order to get the big change that we need for America’s workers… we need to create enough pressure on our trading partners that things that American presidents have been asking for for the last decades are actually offered at the table,” he said.

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The Trump administration has introduced a new policy requiring immigration officials to screen social media accounts for antisemitic content, which could lead to the denial of immigration benefits. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism — think again,” she added. “You are not welcome here.”

The policy applies to immigrants seeking lawful permanent residence, foreign students, and those “affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity”. Officials will assess social media content indicating endorsement, promotion, or support of antisemitic terrorism, organisations, or activities, and positive findings may negatively impact immigration applications.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the policy will consider social media content that indicates an immigrant is “endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organisations, or other antisemitic activity” as a negative factor in their application. This means that immigrants who have expressed support for groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah (also known as the Houthis) on social media may be denied immigration benefits.

Free speech advocacy groups, such as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), argue that the policy may punish individuals for expressing political opinions, creating a chilling effect on speech, according to a report by The Washington Post. Tyler Coward, lead counsel for government affairs at FIRE, stated, “The government already does a lot of screening of individuals seeking to enter the country, but with this policy, it seems to basically punish individuals for expressing political opinions.” Coward also noted that the policy leaves too much room for interpretation, which could lead to potential abuse.

Immigration attorneys, like Stephen Yale-Loehr, note that the policy’s discretionary nature may lead to inconsistent application and severe consequences for immigrants. Yale-Loehr stated, “When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denies an application based on its own discretion, it’s very hard to overcome that. You have to try and litigate those, and that’s always time-consuming and expensive”, per the report by The Washington Post.

In a statement on BlueSky, a non profit organisation called the Nexus Project, which fights antisemitism and defends free speech, said: “Treating antisemitism as an imported problem does not fight antisemitism. Using politically malleable language like ‘terrorist sympathizer’ to go after immigrants does not fight antisemitism. Doing this while elevating antisemitism, as this administration is doing, does not fight antisemitism.”

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, stated, “There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathisers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here.” 

The policy is effective immediately, with immigration officials beginning to screen social media accounts for antisemitic content.

In addition, the policy may also have a chilling effect on free speech, as individuals may be less likely to express their opinions or engage in online discussions for fear of being denied immigration benefits. FIRE’s Coward stated, “Unfortunately, that chill appears to be the administration’s aim.” 
 

Stocks markets rocketed and the dollar fell Thursday after Donald Trump paused steep tariffs on most countries, while investors appeared to brush off the US president’s decision to ramp up duties on China.

Trump’s shock decision Wednesday to delay most of the new tariffs by 90 days drove the European Union to put its counter-tariffs on hold, boosting European and Asian indices.

Trump’s announcement came after European stock markets had closed down by around three percent Wednesday, but in time to send Wall Street soaring.

Trump back tracked on the punishing tariffs after global equities plummeted and US Treasuries — considered the safest option in times of crisis — showed signs of cracking.

But he kept a baseline 10 percent tariff intact and ramped up his trade war with Beijing by hiking duties Chinese goods to 125 percent after facing strong retaliation.

Global stock markets soared in response.

Paris and Frankfurt cruised almost six percent higher in afternoon deals Thursday while London advanced around 4.5 percent.

In Asia, Tokyo surged nine percent.

While the tariffs pause was welcomed by investors, “the lack of long-term clarity may become more of an issue as time goes on”, said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Chinese markets also gained support Thursday from optimism that Beijing will unveil fresh stimulus measures to support its economy.

Hong Kong rose more than two percent — a third day of gains after collapsing more than 13 percent on Monday, its worst trading day since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Shanghai ended up more than one percent Thursday.

“Crucially, we are currently still on course for a disorderly economic decoupling between the world’s two largest economies, with no immediate signs of either US or China backing down,” said Jim Reid, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

US Treasury yields have edged down after a successful auction of $38 billion in notes.

That eased pressure on the bond market, which had fanned worries that investors were losing confidence in the United States.

Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul, Singapore, Jakarta, Sydney, Saigon and Bangkok climbed between four and 6.6 percent.

Tech firms were the standout performers, with Sony, Sharp, Panasonic and SoftBank chalking up double-digit gains, while airlines, car makers and casinos also enjoyed strong buying.

Europe’s banking sector soared, with Barclays and Deutsche Bank up 10 percent while French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale gained around eight percent.

Gold climbed almost three percent to $3,120 an ounce — around $50 short of its record touched last month — thanks to the weaker dollar and the metal’s safe-haven status.

Trump’s trade war is causing a headache for the Federal Reserve as it weighs cutting interest rates to protect the economy, or holding them steady to ward off the inflation many analysts say tariffs will fuel.

Investors are awaiting data later in the day that is expected to show US inflation slowed in March.

Oil prices dropped after bouncing more than four percent Wednesday, though they remain under pressure amid concerns about the global economy and its impact on demand.

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Russia’s FSB security service on Thursday said that Arthur Petrov, who was facing up to 20 years in a US jail for violating export controls, was released in exchange for ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina.

The prisoner exchange is the second since US President Donald Trump came to office in January and called for rapprochement with Russia.

“Petrov was exchanged for US citizen Ksenia Karelina, who also has Russian citizenship, sentenced to 12 years in jail for treason,” the security service said in a statement.

The FSB released a video reportedly showing the exchange in an Abu Dhabi airport with about a dozen people in suits, their faces blurred, overseeing the prisoner swap.

Petrov said on the video he was feeling “not bad”, but was very tired after a tough flight and not sleeping for two days.

The Kremlin declined to comment.

Arthur Petrov, 33, a Russian and German national, was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 and later extradited to the United States for seeking to export American-made electronics to Russia for military use. 

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said Petrov sought to buy microcontrollers and integrated circuits while knowing they could not be lawfully exported to Russia.

The United States and its allies imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive on pro-Western Ukraine.

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China’s Film Administration said on Thursday it would “moderately reduce” the number of US films it imported into the country, as a standoff between the world’s two largest economies escalates. 

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent, while China has imposed retaliatory levies of 84 percent. 

And on Thursday, the effects of the trade war spread to China’s huge and lucrative film market, the world’s second largest. 

“The wrong action of the US government’s indiscriminate tariffs on China is bound to further reduce the favourable impression of domestic audiences on American films,” a statement from the film administration said.

“We will follow the law of the market, respect the choice of the audience, and moderately reduce the number of US films imported.”   

Beijing already limits the number of foreign films shown in cinemas through a system of quotas.

However, the sheer size of the Chinese market means that losing more of even that limited access would be a blow to US studios. 

Showcase Hollywood blockbusters often fare well at the Chinese box office. 

Warner Bros and Legendary’s “A Minecraft Movie” took the top spot last weekend, with ticket sales of around $14.5 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen.

China reaffirmed its support on Thursday for peace efforts in Ukraine and said relevant parties should avoid “irresponsible remarks”, in an apparent jab at President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s comment about Chinese citizens fighting there for Russia.

Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Ukrainian intelligence had information about 155 Chinese citizens fighting in Ukraine. He was speaking after the capture of two Chinese nationals in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been advancing.

“I would like to reiterate that China is not the initiator of the Ukrainian crisis, nor is China a participating party. We are a firm supporter and active promoter of a peaceful settlement of the crisis,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

“We urge the relevant parties concerned to correctly and soberly understand the role of China and to not release irresponsible remarks,” he told a regular news conference, without naming Zelenskiy or any other officials.

China, which has declared a “no-limits” partnership with Russia, has tried to position itself as an actor in attempts to negotiate an end to the war. It has refrained from criticising Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said Russia was recruiting Chinese citizens via social media, that Chinese officials were aware of it and that Ukraine’s security service had compiled lists of names, birth dates and the Russian military units where they were assigned.

Zelenskiy also said on Wednesday that Ukraine was trying to assess whether the Chinese recruits had been receiving instructions from Beijing.

Reuters could not independently verify Zelenskiy’s claims, which China dismissed on Wednesday as “groundless”.

Spokesperson Lin reiterated that the Chinese government always requested its citizens to stay away from armed conflict zones, “and in particular to refrain from participating in military action on either side”.

Zelenskiy decried the deployment of Chinese nationals as Russia’s “second mistake” in the war, after what Ukraine and Western countries have described as the dispatch of more than 11,000 North Korean troops to Russia’s Kursk region.

Russia has made no public comment on Zelenskiy’s statements about Chinese fighters and has never explicitly confirmed deploying North Korean troops in its Kursk region.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called US President Donald Trump’s pause on global tariffs a “welcome reprieve” and said Ottawa will begin negotiations with Washington on a new economic deal after elections.

After days of turmoil in global markets, the mercurial US president abruptly announced Wednesday a pause for 90 days on tariffs on most countries except China.

Carney took to social media platform X and called it a “welcome reprieve for the global economy”.

He added that Canada and the United States will “commence negotiations on a new economic and security relationship immediately following the Federal election” on April 28.

Tensions over trade and foreign policy have soured the relationship of the two traditionally close allies, who were also each others’ biggest trading partners.

Canada was mostly spared in the latest round of Trump’s tariffs but had already been targeted by US tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.

It also began imposing a 25 percent tariff on certain US auto exports starting Wednesday, announced last week in retaliation to Trump’s levies on imported autos and parts.

Trump on Wednesday also said that trade deals could be made with every country, which Carney warned in his X post could “result in a fundamental restructuring of the global trading system”.

“In that context, Canada must also continue to deepen its relationships with trading partners that share our values, including the free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas,” he said.

Carney, who last month succeeded Justin Trudeau as prime minister, is from the Liberal Party, which is largely expected to win.

The Liberals trailed in polls earlier this year but pulled back thanks to a defiant stance to Trump’s trade war, with their Conservative rivals seen as more accommodating to the US president.

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