As anti-migrant sentiment rises across Europe, citizens of sub-Saharan Africa trying to reach the continent are being pushed back by North African governments in proportions unseen in years. Last month, for example, Libya deported more than 600 men from Niger. The E.U. has signed bilateral agreements with Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania that include financial support to curb migrant flows. The strategy appears to be working: Illegal border crossings dropped sharply in 2024, according to recent data. But rights groups say that the methods being used to keep sub-Saharan migrants from traveling to Europe include well-documented human rights violations, such as abandoning migrants in the Sahara without food or water or keeping them in North African prisons.

When two longtime business partners established a subsidiary 50 years ago to make zinc out of an industrial complex set up by South Korea’s government, they settled on an unusual division of power. The new venture, Korea Zinc, would be managed by the Choi family. The existing parent company, Young Poong, would be run by the other founder’s household, the Chang family. Both clans agreed to respect each other’s management. The arrangement came to be known as “two families under one roof.” Korea Zinc went on to become the world’s largest producer of zinc and an essential cog of South Korea’s economy. But now the relationship between the Chois and the Changs has broken down in dramatic fashion. The descendants of the two founders, who died decades ago, are locked in a bare-knuckle fight for control of Korea Zinc.

The former president of the company that operates the South Korean airport where a Jeju Air jet crash-landed last month has been found dead in his home, the police said on Wednesday. Son Chang-wan, who was the president of Korea Airports Corporation from 2018 to 2022, was found in his residence in Gunpo, a city about 14 miles south of Seoul, on Tuesday evening. The police said there was no evidence of murder or intrusion into his home and called his death an apparent suicide. Mr. Son was in office when a renovation of the Muan International Airport, the site of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air disaster in which 179 people were killed, began in 2020. But he was not a subject of an investigation into the crash being conducted by the Jeonnam Provincial Police, according to an agency spokesperson.

Trump's return to the White House has plunged Europe's business leaders and policymakers into a precarious era, and officials have been bracing for it. The European Commission — the European Union's executive arm — formed a never-officially-announced group, sometimes referred to as a "Trump task force," that spent much of 2024 working on possible responses to changes to American trade and foreign policy. There is almost no aspect of European policy that Trump does not seem poised to upend. He is threatening to impose sweeping tariffs and is pressing for much heftier European spending on defense. Two of his first acts as president were to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization. How he will adjust America's stance toward Ukraine is one of the biggest questions.

President Trump moved swiftly to close down a government program created by the Biden administration that had allowed migrants to use an app to make an appointment for admission into the United States. Migrants were shocked as the message flashed on their phones: "Existing appointments have been canceled." Trump has promised to deport millions of people who are living in the country without permission. His team said he would sign 10 executive orders cracking down on immigration and immigrants.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, issued a three-year social bond, raising $2.0 billion to support low-income communities in emerging markets. The transaction represents IFC's largest ever social bond, and the largest US dollar denominated social bond issued by a supranational. The orderbook reached a total size of $11 billion, IFC’s largest ever order book for a single bond issuance. It follows a 1 billion Australian dollar denominated social bond issued by the corporation last week. Announced on Monday, the orderbook grew steadily during the marketing process and continued to do so throughout the bookbuild. “In an era marked by rising inequality and poverty, social bonds have emerged as a crucial tool for directing investments to essential projects in emerging markets,” said John Gandolfo, IFC Vice President and Treasurer, Treasury & Mobilization. “This bond will unlock additional funding for vulnerable communities and underserved groups in emerging markets in areas such as health, education, and food security.”