The world’s first sperm race will take place before a live audience of more than 1,000 in Los Angeles next week. Ironically, even though thousands of spectators are expected for the match-up, they won’t be able to actually see the participants without a microscope.
The world’s first sperm race. It’s just what it sounds like: a race between sperm. Over on its website, Sperm Racing—the name of the startup organizing the sperm races—explains that it’s built a special microscopic racetrack to face off two sperm samples.
What makes the racetrack unique is that it mimics the reproductive system, copying “chemical symbols, fluid dynamics, [and] synchronized starts.”
Importantly, you won’t be able to actually see the sperm in the race without a microscope, since they’re really small. Not to worry, though Sperm Racing says it’ll be tracking each sperm’s movement with high-resolution cameras to track their microscopic moves.
The winner of the race will be the first sperm to cross the finish line.
A spectacle. Of course, it wouldn’t exactly be a noteworthy event if there wasn’t some spectacle, and that’s exactly what the startup promises to offer.
“We’re turning it into a spectacle. Think press conferences. Weigh-ins. Live-streamed races with play-by-play commentary,” Eric Zhu, one of the startup’s founders, writes in its manifesto. “[A]nd, of course, betting.”
The hype will be experienced in person, too. The startup says that the world’s first sperm race will be held in front of a live audience at the Hollywood Palladium on April 25. More than 1,000 seats are available and the event is expected to sell out, though whether it actually does is still up in the air.
A $1 million investment. If you thought this was a huge joke, you’re not alone. I also thought the founders of Sperm Racing were just out to troll us all.
However, according to Traded, an outlet that publishes news about venture capital and other investments, the startup recently raised $1 million for its sperm race. The round was led by Karatage with participation from Figment Capital and Karman.
A matter of health. While Sperm Racing does place a lot of emphasis on the race itself, the startup says the project is about something much bigger: male fertility.
In its company’s manifesto, Zhu cites that male fertility is declining, adding that “nobody’s really talking about it.” He’s not wrong about the declining part. A 2022 study found that human sperm count had fallen by more than 50% around the world over the last 50 years, sparking controversy and alarm among male fertility experts.
The Trump administration now claims Kilmar Abrego Garcia wasn’t deported by mistake, as the Justice Department said, but was “the right person sent to the right place.”
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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told reporters during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday that he wouldn’t return a man the Justice Department said it had mistakenly deported to his country.
“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” Bukele said, sitting beside Trump in the Oval Office, when he was asked whether he’d return Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
Asked whether he’d be released in his own country, he said, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.”
Trump then turned to Bukele and said of the assembled reporters: “They’d love to have a criminal released into our country. These are sick people.”
Trump also said he wants Bukele to take in as many criminals “as possible.”
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Monday.Win McNamee / Getty Images file
Abrego Garcia has never been charged criminally in the United States or El Salvador, according to court filings.
Justice Department officials have acknowledged that Abrego Garcia shouldn’t have been sent to El Salvador because of an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring him from being sent there, and the Supreme Court has called his removal illegal and directed the administration to “facilitate” his return while being respectful of the president’s authority.
In a court filing later Monday, the administration, which has maintained it doesn’t believe the United States has the authority to get Abrego Garcia back, cited Bukele’s comments at the White House.
“DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation,” Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a sworn declaration.
In the Oval Office meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he didn’t understand “the confusion” over the Supreme Court’s order. He argued that “the foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court, and no court in the United States has a right to conduct a foreign policy of the United States.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “If they want to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane. That’s up for El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”
Top White House adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News on Monday morning that Abrego Garcia was “sent to the right place.”
“He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador,” Miller said, pushing back on the Justice Department’s repeated assertions in numerous court filings that Abrego Garcia was sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison last month because of “an administrative error.”
“This was the right person sent to the right place,” Miller said, despite the Supreme Court’s criticism of the removal in a ruling last week.
“The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal,” the high court found, noting that the Justice Department acknowledged the removal was the result of an “administrative error.”
Miller said that if Bukele were to return Abrego Garcia, “he would be deported the second time to El Salvador.”
President Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador hold a meeting in New York on Sept.25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president and self-styled “world’s coolest dictator,” is due to visit President Trump at the White House on Monday. He’s the first Latin American leader to get an official invite to the Oval Office since Trump took office.
Bukele is one of Trump’s most crucial regional allies and no one has embraced his anti-immigration policies as enthusiastically. With Bukele’s support, over the past few weeks the Trump administration has deported and imprisoned hundreds of alleged Venezuelan and Salvadoran gang members to El Salvador.
Last month’s inaugural deportation flight to El Salvador and transfer to the country’s notorious mega prison was carefully choreographed and filmed in a slick video that Bukele shared on social media.
More deportations flights have taken off since then — the latest on Sunday — despite continued questions about the lack of transparency, due process and denials that many of those imprisoned have any gang ties at all.
So, what do we know about Bukele and why has he been so readily embraced by the Trump administration and invited to the White House?
The rise of the Bukele doctrine
Bukele was first elected president in 2019 after a campaign focused on combating corruption.
In 2022, he declared a state of emergency to tackle gang crime and sky-high homicide rates. Under the law, which remains in place, Bukele has arrested some 85,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Only 1,000 of those arrested were convicted of crimes, with many innocent people allegedly incarcerated.
“Under Bukele, El Salvador has become the newest autocracy in the Americas,” said Noah Bullock, executive director at Cristosal, a Salvadoran human rights NGO.
Despite being widely condemned for rights abuses, many in the Americas — including President Trump — admire Bukele for successfully reducing the number of homicides in a country that for years had one of the highest murder rates in the entire world. Homicides fell from over 2,000 in 2019 to just 114 last year.
Only last week, the State Department upgraded El Salvadors travel safety rating to a much-coveted Level 1, a gesture that didn’t go unrecoqnised by Bukele, who repeatedly tweeted the news.
“Exercise normal precautions in El Salvador. Gang activity has decreased over the last three years,” the advisory stated. The level 1 rating is only held by a tiny handful of Latin American countries and is above the Level 2 travel rating recommended for countries like the U.K., Sweden and France.
“Politicians throughout the region trying to look for quick solutions for the violence coming from organized crime, are attempting to use the Bukele discourse,” said Juanita Goebertus Estrada, director of the Americas Division at HRW.
All this has helped bolster his popularity at home. The president enjoys up to 80% approval and won his reelection in 2024 by a landslide. Though Bullock notes that many are too scared to publicly oppose him.
A MAGA alliance
Among Bukele’s many regional fans are MAGA Republicans. Donald Trump Jr. attended Bukele’s second-term inauguration in June 2024. The MAGA faithful cheered him on as he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington in February of last year.
The Trump administration also has close diplomatic ties to El Salvador. Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem paid visits to the country on their first overseas trips.
“El Salvador is the only country, at least in Central America, that has shown 100% willingness to do everything that the United States has required,” said Ana María Méndez Dardón, Central America director at the Washington Office on Latin America.
This willingness has most notoriously extended to sending hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants accused of alleged gang affiliation to Bukele’s infamous mega prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT — in part invoking the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act to target alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang.
The deportations have been widely condemned and continue to be heavily scrutinized in the U.S. courts. HRW calls them “forced disappearances” to a center “known for its abusive conditions.”
President Trump railed against CBS on Sunday night, saying the network should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light.
Pic: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
“Almost every week, 60 Minutes … mentions the name ‘TRUMP’ in a derogatory and defamatory way, but this Weekend’s ‘BROADCAST’ tops them all,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post after watching Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast.
“They did not one, but TWO, major stories on ‘TRUMP,’ one having to do with Ukraine, which I say is a War that would never have happened if the 2020 Election had not been RIGGED, in other words, if I were President and, the other story was having to do with Greenland, casting our Country, as led by me, falsely, inaccurately, and fraudulently,” he continued.
Trump sued CBS News in October over a “60 Minutes” interview with his campaign opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, that aired shortly before the 2024 presidential election. In the lawsuit, Trump claimed the network deceptively edited the interview to portray Harris in a positive light.
CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, has said the president’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact,” claiming Trump is trying to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.”
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Trump and Paramount are set to begin mediation in the $20 billion lawsuit, in the hopes of reaching a settlement.
The Hill has reached out to CBS News for comment on Trump’s latest remarks.
It’s unclear exactly what prompted Trump’s ire, but both segments quoted foreign leaders criticizing Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the interview, told correspondent Scott Pelley that “Russian narratives are prevailing in the U.S.” and welcomed Trump to visit the country.
“We want you to come, and, I think, to come and to see. You think you understand what’s going on here. OK, we respect your position. You understand. But, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelensky said.
The “60 Minutes” report on Greenland featured various political and business leaders criticizing Trump’s ambitions to control the territory.
“When he mentioned Greenland like it was a toy or … something,” Aqqaluk Lynge, an elder Inuit statesman, told Jon Wertheim, referring to Trump’s address to Congress last month.
“You noticed that?” Wertheim asked.
“We all noticed that in Greenland, all of us. And it was ugly,” Lynge said.
China has stopped shipping some heavy rare earth metals and magnets critical to US production of everything from cell phones to fighter jets as Beijing’s trade war with Washington simmers, leaving American industry in a bind.
Effective April 3, China is no longer exporting seven heavy rare earth metals processed exclusively in the Asian power, as well as heavy rare earth magnets — of which about 90% of the world’s supply are also synthesized on Beijing’s territory.
The export halt applies to all countries, but access to elements like dysprosium and yttrium are critical to US industry — especially in the tech, electric vehicle, aircraft and defense sectors, according to Drew Horn, who served as the top US official on strategic minerals and energy supply chain development in President Trump’s first administration
“Rare earths are in everything,” he told The Post Monday, singling out “the EV and auto space … [and] everything from cell phones, defense key components, [and] space travel.”
“China,” Horn added, “has essentially created an all-powerful monopoly with them.”
A mining machine is seen at the Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia, China on July 16, 2011. REUTERS
Instead of only hiking the price US companies have to pay to sell goods inside China via tariffs, Beijing also appears to be using its export capability to move the needle against Washington.
“The Chinese have been threatening this because they do have that leverage to basically cut us off and cut the world off, which essentially cuts us off through all sorts of different means, and now they’re doing it,” said Horn, whose consulting firm GreenMet Advisory works to expand the US mining industry.
Beijing had previously threatened to stop shipping the rare earth elements during Trump’s first administration, with President Xi Jinping making a public visit to a magnet factory in Ganzhou during a time of tense US trade relations in 2019.
Nearly a decade earlier, in 2010, China did suspend the export of heavy rare earths to Japan during a territorial dispute.
“Beijing’s rare earth play is a card they’ve used before — and overplayed,” says Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies “The US response this time is less panic, more resolve. Washington sees these latest moves as further justification to fast-track domestic production and friend-shoring strategies, thereby reducing China’s ability to escalate today’s tariff fight to other domains, like rare earths, where it has leverage.”
Becoming independent — or at least less reliant — on China for rare earths has been a growing interest of Trump’s since before he took office a second time this past January.
His recent pursuits of both a mineral deal with Ukraine and a partnership or takeover of resource-rich Greenland have been motivated by an understanding of overreliance on China for key manufacturing components, insiders have told The Post.
But even if the US got its hands on the pure rare earths, experts say it would still need to build facilities to process the elements, which could take years.
“In a lot of ways, the midstream processing is the most difficult to do, not necessarily from a technology perspective, but because China owns all of it, or controls all of it,” Horn said. “So even if you dig it up, you have to ship to [Chinese refineries] exclusively.”
Hungary’s parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the constitution that allows the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, a decision that legal scholars and critics call another step toward authoritarianism by the populist government.
The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed along party lines with 140 votes for and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Ahead of the vote — the final step for the amendment — opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament parking garage. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.
The amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including that to peacefully assemble. Hungary’s contentious “child protection” legislation prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.
The amendment codifies a law fast-tracked through parliament in March that bans public events held by LGBTQ+ communities, including the popular Pride event in Budapest that draws thousands annually.
That law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify people who attend prohibited events — such as Budapest Pride — and can come with fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).
Dávid Bedő, a lawmaker with the opposition Momentum party who participated in the attempted blockade, said before the vote that Orbán and Fidesz for the past 15 years “have been dismantling democracy and the rule of law, and in the past two or three months, we see that this process has been sped up.”
He said as elections approach in 2026 and Orbán’s party lags in the polls behind a popular new challenger from the opposition, “they will do everything in their power to stay in power.”
Opposition lawmakers used air horns to disrupt the vote, which continued after a few moments.
Hungary’s government has campaigned against LGBTQ+ communities in recent years, and argues its “child protection” policies, which forbid the availability to minors of any material that mentions homosexuality, are needed to protect children from what it calls “woke ideology” and “gender madness.”
Critics say the measures do little to protect children and are being used to distract from more serious problems facing the country and mobilize Orbán’s right-wing base ahead of elections.
“This whole endeavor which we see launched by the government, it has nothing to do with children’s rights,” said Dánel Döbrentey, a lawyer with the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, calling it “pure propaganda.”
Constitution recognizes two sexes
The new amendment also states that the constitution recognizes two sexes, male and female, an expansion of an earlier amendment that prohibits same-sex adoption by stating that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.
The declaration provides a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities of transgender people, as well as ignoring the existence of intersex individuals who are born with sexual characteristics that do not align with binary conceptions of male and female.
In a statement on Monday, government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács wrote that the change is “not an attack on individual self-expression, but a clarification that legal norms are based on biological reality.”
Döbrentey, the lawyer, said it was “a clear message” for transgender and intersex people: “It is definitely and purely and strictly about humiliating people and excluding them, not just from the national community, but even from the community of human beings.”
The amendment is the 15th to Hungary’s constitution since Orbán’s party unilaterally authored and approved it in 2011.
Facial recognition to identify demonstrators
Ádám Remport, a lawyer with the HCLU, said that while Hungary has used facial recognition tools since 2015 to assist police in criminal investigations and finding missing persons, the recent law banning Pride allows the technology to be used in a much broader and problematic manner. That includes for monitoring and deterring political protests.
“One of the most fundamental problems is its invasiveness, just the sheer scale of the intrusion that happens when you apply mass surveillance to a crowd,” Remport said.
“More salient in this case is the effect on the freedom of assembly, specifically the chilling effect that arises when people are scared to go out and show their political or ideological beliefs for fear of being persecuted,” he added.
Revellers dressed in colourful shirts and goggles fired water guns at each other at the start of the Thai New Year on Sunday, a festival that is marked with water as a symbol of renewal, cleansing and a fresh start.
Some sprayed water from the back of pickup trunks, and everyone expected to get soaked as the Songkran festival got underway.
“Today I came well-prepared. I have my weapons – four (water) guns. I’ve got goggles and a hat for protection, and a waterproof phone pouch ready to go,” said Teera Rachapol, 50.
The celebrations are a bright spot for the country’s tourism industry, with the government expecting an 8% increase in foreign visitors for the week.
“This is totally different. And we didn’t know what to expect, but it’s very fun. I love it. I love the water,” said Tinke Stockman, 20, from the Netherlands.
The festivities are taking place just weeks after a powerful earthquake rattled neighbouring Myanmar in March, killing more than 3,500 people and flattening communities. The quake also caused the deadly collapse of a building under construction in Thailand.
Some revellers in Bangkok said they were hesitant to join large crowds, but others said it felt safer than they had expected.
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with foreign business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for stronger industrial and supply chain cooperation with Vietnam and wider collaboration in emerging fields, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday, amid heightened trade tensions prompted by hefty U.S. tariffs.
Xi starts a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia this week, beginning his state visits with Vietnam from April 14 to 15.
The trip comes with an aim to consolidate economic ties with some of China’s closest neighbours at a time when the world’s top two economies are locked in a tariff tussle.
China hiked its levies on imports of U.S. goods to 125% on Friday, hitting back at U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to single out the world’s No. 2 economy for higher duties.
Xi also urged strengthening coordination and cooperation through regional initiatives such as the East Asia Cooperation and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, the ministry said, citing an article by the Chinese leader published in Vietnam media.
He called such efforts necessary to “inject more stability and positive energy into a chaotic and intertwined world”.
“There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars, and protectionism has no way out,” Xi said, without mentioning the U.S. specifically.
“We must firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and maintain the international environment for open cooperation,” he said.
Last week, China sought to get ahead of U.S. negotiators, holding video calls with the EU and Malaysia, which is chairing ASEAN this year, as well as Saudi Arabia and South Africa, by way of reaching out to Gulf countries and the Group of 20 and BRICS nations.
In hope of avoiding punishing U.S. tariffs, Vietnam is prepared to crack down on Chinese goods being shipped to the United States via its territory and will tighten controls on sensitive exports to China, according to a person familiar with the matter and a government document seen by Reuters.
In the article, Xi said China welcomes more high-quality imports from Vietnam and encourages more Chinese enterprises to invest and start businesses in the Southeast Asian country.
Lauren Sánchez’s journey into outer space with her handpicked all-female team will certainly be historic, but amid the current economic uncertainty and political turmoil, some are questioning if it sends out the right message.
Sánchez, 55, the pneumatic fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will make her first ever visit to space in reusable rocket New Shephard, owned by her man’s Blue Origin space company.
Sánchez will be joined by pop princess pal Katy Perry, with whom she has shared many luxury vacations, CBS morning news host Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist and astronaut Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
Sánchez will be joined by Perry and King in space on Monday, alongside aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist and astronaut Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn. Celeste SlomanSánchez’ – who will wed Jeff Bezos this summer in a star-studded celebration in Venice, Italy – picked Gayle King and Katy Perry to join her in space on Monday. WireImage for Vanity Fair
Their 11 minute flight will blast off early Monday morning from Blue Origin’s Van Horn, Texas base.
The flight crew are spending the weekend finishing training and preparing, Page Six is told. The mission will allow them to experience zero gravity – but they have raised eyebrows after joking they will fly while fully glam, complete with fake eyelashes, lipstick and blowouts.
Indeed, Perry, 40, who said she has wanted to go to space for 20 years, boasted she planned to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut, prompting Olivia Munn to question the flight’s relevance while so many people are struggling economically.
During a recent episode of “Today with Jenna & Friends,” guest host Munn mocked the girl power space trip, calling it “gluttonous”.
“I know this is not the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now… if you want to go to space, why do you need to tell us about it?
“Just go up there, have a good time, come on down. I know this is probably obnoxious, but like, it’s so much money to go to space, you know? And there’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs.”
“It was all organic – nothing was preconceived,” a TV insider told Page Six of Munn’s comments, “The hosts know the topics beforehand, but the producers really want that element of surprise and I think Olivia just said what everybody else is thinking. People appreciate that.”
To this, an insider familiar with the mission pointed out that no-one had mocked GMA host Michael Strahan or Star Trek icon William Shatner when they flew to space on previous Blue Origin flights.
“Why do people always have to go for that stereotype and tear down other women?” questioned the insider, “This crew shouldn’t have to leave behind who they are to go to space.”
“Who would not get glam before the flight?!” asked Sánchez, whose fiancé founded the spaceflight company in 2000. “We’re going to have lash extensions flying in the capsule!”
“Will the lashes stay on? I’m curious,” asked King, to which Sánchez replied during a cover shoot with Elle magazine, “Mine are glued on. They’re good.”
Perry added: “Space is going to finally be glam.”
Bowe shared that she already has a makeup look and hairstyle in mind. “I skydived in Dubai with similar hair to make sure I would be good — took it for a dry run,” she revealed.
“I think it’s so important for people to see us like that,” said Nguyen, “This dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion. We contain multitudes. Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”
Perry admitted her first thought was, “What am I going to wear?” (We’re told the crew will be wearing Blue Origin uniforms).
The whole conversation was “light hearted”, the insider stressed, “This is a group of people who are challenging themselves with new opportunity. But it doesn’t mean they can’t bring joy, humor and even glam to the experience.”
Blue Origin is touting it as the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, when the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space on a three-day solo mission.
Each spaceflight takes passengers just past the Kármán line — 62 miles above Earth, which is considered the threshold of space, where they can experience zero gravity.
Despite the chat about fake lashes, Dr. Patrick Binning, Space Engineering Instructor at Johns Hopkins University told Page Six, “These are cultural moments that are shifting our attention to the stars and where our country is taking humanity.
A declassified Cold War-era file from the CIA has gone viral over its coverage of a supposed clash between Soviet soldiers and a UFO, whose passengers reportedly turned the troops to stone before blasting off.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CIA acquired a 250-page KGB report recounting the events that transpired after a platoon fired at a flying saucer over Ukraine.
The report included eyewitness accounts and pictures of the aftermath, which one American agent described as “a horrific picture of revenge on the part of extraterrestrial creatures, a picture that makes one’s blood freeze.”
The report claims Soviets conducting a training exercise in Ukraine spotted a “low-flying spaceship in the shape of a saucer” soaring above their heads.
During the encounter, one of the Soviets fired a surface-to-air missile, which struck the UFO and sent it crashing to the ground.
“It fell to Earth not far away, and five short humanoids with ‘large heads and large black eyes’ emerged from it,” the report claims.
After escaping the debris of their ruined ship, the beings huddled together and “merged into a single object that acquired a spherical shape,” the surviving soldiers recalled.
A Soviet soldier reportedly fired at the UFO with a missile, taking it down and causing the aliens to retaliate, according to the report. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
“In a few seconds, the spheres grew much bigger and exploded by flaring up with an extremely bright light. At that very instant, 23 soldiers who had watched the phenomenon turned into… stone poles,” the report states.
“Only two soldiers who stood in the shade and were less exposed to the luminous explosion survived,” it added.
The KGB allegedly took custody of the “petrified soldiers” and the ruined spacecraft, which were transported to a secret base near Moscow.
The Soviet scientists found that whatever the light was, it somehow transformed the soldier’s living cells into a substance that was identical to that of limestone.
“If the KGB file corresponds to reality, this is an extremely menacing case,” the CIA concluded. “The Aliens possess such weapons and technology that go beyond all our assumptions.
LADY Gaga fans have delivered their verdict following her elaborate Coachella performance which included a dance battle.
The beloved hitmaker and actress, 39, headlined Friday night’s festival in Indio, California.
Lady Gaga fans have given their verdict following her Coachella performanceCredit: Supplied
The hitmaker topped the bill for the second time in her careerCredit: Getty
Her performance began with Bloody Mary, from her 2011 album Born This Way.
For this number, Lady Gaga wore a red dress high up as she sang in front of an angels and gargoyles-infused backdrop.
The star later performed her classic Poker Face while on a giant chess board, with back-up dancers portraying chess pieces.
And during the set, Gaga informed fans she “wanted to make a romantic gesture” by building you “an opera house in the desert”.
The star’s fans went online to X and shared their thoughts on her performance.
One wrote: “Oh Lady Gaga easily one of the best headliners in Coachella history.”
Another remarked: “Lady Gaga absolutely devoured her opening to Coachella with Bloody Mary, Abracadabra, Judas & Scheiße this was more amazing then anything I could imagined.”
A third said: “Lady Gaga is serving vocals, choreo, visuals, and a STORY all in one performance. this deserves a grammy in itself idgaf.”
While a fourth wrote: “Satanic rituals, fighting doppelgangers, chess queen dance battles, zombies, unsettling crutch walks…
“It’s a Lady Gaga opera at Coachella. Our girl is back.”
Earlier this month, some fans were left furious – with some even boycotting Gaga’s Mayhem Ball tour.
This came as the beloved hitmaker charged “insane” prices for her hotly anticipated tour.
The How Bad Do U Want Me singer will be kicking off her tour in Las Vegas on July 16 and concluding in Sydney on December 12.
Charging $600 for nosebleed seats, fans were unimpressed by Lady Gaga’s ticket pricing.
One wrote on Reddit: “I’m sorry, but no concert is worth that amount for such bad seats.
Brian Ach/(Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images for The Lasker Foundation)
Melinda French Gates has seemingly soured on billionaire ex-husband Bill Gates.
Melinda is gearing up to release a book, The Next Day, which chronicles the beginning of the end of their marriage in 2019. She claimed the relationship had “reached fever pitch” after the New York Times released a damning report on his connections to disgraced child sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
She wrote that the article about Epstein, whom she referred to as “evil personified” in the interview, “raised serious questions about Bill’s conduct—questions that suggested he had betrayed not only our marriage but also our values.”
Although Gates has since tried to separate himself from the business dealings with Epstein, it didn’t change the outcome of his marriage.
“It was something that was necessary,” Melinda told the outlet. “If you can’t live your values out inside your most intimate relationship, it was necessary.”
When asked her thoughts about Gates claiming that their separation was his biggest regret, she responded bitterly, claiming that the two have their own lives now.
“I don’t even quite know what to make of that statement,” Melinda told the Sunday Times, “So I’m not going to comment on what he says.”
Despite the two moving on from their 2021 divorce, Gates has said his biggest regret was letting Melinda go.
Jean Marsh — a longtime British star who appeared in several hit ’80s movies — has passed away … TMZ has confirmed.
Lesley Duff — Marsh’s longtime agent — tells us Jean did indeed pass away Sunday while also sharing a statement from Michael Lindsay-Hogg — a pioneer in the music video industry and pal of Marsh’s — revealing she passed at her home in London Sunday due to complications of dementia.
Lindsay-Hogg says he and Marsh were close for 60 years, speaking almost daily over the last 40 … adding she was a wise, funny, pretty, kind person — talented as both an actress and writer — who was loved by everyone who met her.
Marsh began her screen career in the late 1940s … appearing in a series of uncredited roles in smaller shows before grabbing bit parts on “The Twilight Zone” and “I Spy” as well as a small role in the Elizabeth Taylor-led flick “Cleopatra.”
Jean grabbed Britain’s attention in the mid-1970s by creating the show “Upstairs, Downstairs” … a drama following the affluent Bellamy and their servants — not unlike “Downton Abbey.”
The show — on which Marsh played the character Rose Buck — ran in England from 1971 to 1975 and in the United States from 1974 to 1977 … netting Marsh two Golden Globe nominations and three Emmy nods — winning one of the latter awards in 1975.
During the 1980s, Marsh grabbed several prominent roles … including playing the villain Queen Bavmorda in Ron Howard and George Lucas’ fantasy drama ‘Willow” and playing several recurring characters in the classic “Doctor Who” series.
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates LP, speaks at the Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio said on Sunday that he is worried that the turmoil resulting from President Donald Trump’s tariff and economic policies will threaten the global economy.
“Right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession,” Dalio said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “And I’m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn’t handled well.”
The hedge fund billionaire said he’s more concerned about trade disruptions, mounting U.S. debt and emerging world powers bringing down the international economic and geopolitical structure that has been in place since the end of World War II.
“We are going from multilateralism, which is largely an American world order type of thing, to a unilateral world order in which there’s great conflict,” he said.
Dalio said five forces drive history: the economy, internal political conflict, the international order, technology and acts of nature such as floods and pandemics. Trump’s tariffs have understandable goals, Dalio said, but they are being implemented in a “very disruptive” way that creates global conflict.
The president’s rapidly changing tariff policies have upended international trade. Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal tariffs,” but he stood firm on 10% baseline duties and 145% reciprocal tariffs on China.
Then, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced an exemption from the reciprocal tariffs for Chinese-made consumer electronics like smartphones, computers and semiconductors late Friday, though the products remain subject to a 20% tariff imposed earlier in the year. But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick backtracked on Sunday and said the exemption was not permanent.
In a Wednesday post on X, Dalio called for the U.S. to negotiate a “win-win” trade agreement with China that would appreciate the yuan against the dollar. He also called for both countries to address their growing debts.
Dalio on “Meet the Press” said on Sunday that Congress should reduce the federal deficit to 3% of gross domestic product, echoing comments he made at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event in March.
“If they don’t, we’re going to have a supply-demand problem for debt at the same time as we have these other problems, and the results of that will be worse than a normal recession,” Dalio said.
Two children were killed in the strike. Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
At least 34 people – including two children – have been killed after a Russian missile attack on a Ukrainian city.
The country’s state emergency service said another 117 people have been injured, with 15 children among them, in the northeastern city of Sumy.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry later added that one of the children injured was a baby girl born this year, saying “even newborns are targets for Russia’s crimes”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also shared videos on Telegram of the aftermath of the attack on social media, showing dead bodies in the middle of a city street near a destroyed bus.
Russia ‘dragging out this war’ – Zelenskyy
The Ukrainian president said on social media “only scoundrels can act like this” and that “tough reaction from the world is needed”.
“Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war,” he added. “Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible.
“Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs. We need the kind of attitude towards Russia that a terrorist deserves.”
Andriy Kovalenko, a security official who runs Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, noted the strike came after a visit to Moscow by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
US President Donald Trump said late Sunday evening he was trying to get the war stopped.
Referring to the attack, he said: “I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.”
US official: ‘This is wrong’
Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s envoy for the Ukraine war, said the attack crosses “any line of decency” and that “there are scores of civilian dead and wounded”.
He added: “As a former military leader, I understand targeting and this is wrong. It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war.”
In response to Mr Kellogg, Mr Zelenskyy’s communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvynm asked: “Don’t you think it’s time to smack the Moscow mule across the nose with a 2X4?”.
Later, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the strike was “horrifying” and a “tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve durable peace”.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy added he was “horrified” by Russia’s “barbaric strike” on Sumy, and called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “cruelty struck again” and called the strike a “blatant violation of international law”.
It came hours before a separate Russian strike killed three people in the central district of the southern city of Kherson.
The local governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said a 68-year-old woman was injured and died in hospital and that a 48-year-old man also died after “the occupiers dropped an explosive device from a drone”.
A 62-year-old woman was also killed “as a result of the shelling”.
On Saturday, a Russian guided bomb hit a house in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk on Saturday, injuring four people.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram that three others could be trapped under rubble.
It comes after Russian diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure.
Chinese officials are calling on US President Donald Trump to “completely cancel” his so-called reciprocal tariffs, as a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies grinds on.
This week, Trump announced a 90-day pause on a host of global tariffs he had planned, but increased levies on Chinese imports to 145%.
“We urge the US to take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and return to the right path of mutual respect,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
The Trump administration seemed ready to offer a concession on Friday by announcing that some electronic products – including those produced in China – would be exempt.
But US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News on Sunday that such exemptions would only be temporary.
He said the administration planned to impose such levies in a separate “semiconductor tariff”, which he said would be announced at a later date.
“We need to have these things made in America,” Lutnick said.
President Trump chimed in on social media, saying there was no exemption for these products and called such reports false. Instead, he said that “they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket'”.
Trump added: “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.”
The comments inject uncertainty into the just-announced tariff exemptions for technology products such as smartphones, computers and semiconductors.
The Chinese commerce ministry had called the exemptions a “small step” by the US, and said that Beijing was “evaluating the impact” of the move.
But the suggestion by Trump administration officials of plans for future levies may dampen hopes of a thaw in the two rivals’ protectionist posture.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was asked on Sunday whether there were any plans for Trump to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
“Right now we don’t have any plans on that,” he said during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Trump imposed a tariff amounting to 54% on imports of products from China at the beginning of April, before escalating to the current 145% rate.
In its own tit-for-tat tariffs, China imposed levies of 34% on US goods, before increasing it to 84% and then 125%, which took effect on Saturday.
In announcing its latest tariffs, China’s commerce ministry said last week that it would “fight to the end” if the US “insists on provoking a tariff war or trade war”.
Late on Saturday, while travelling to Miami, Florida, Trump said he would give more details of the exemptions at the start of next week.
The health secretary has chipped away at the idea that immunizing children against measles and other diseases is a public health good.
Under the leadership of secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services has cut billions of dollars needed to modernize state programs for childhood immunization.Credit…Niki Chan Wylie for The New York Times
During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety, public health experts say.
The National Institutes of Health halted funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it. It also canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shelved an advertising campaign for the flu shot. Mr. Kennedy has said inaccurately that the scientists who advise the C.D.C. on vaccines have “severe, severe conflicts of interest” in promoting the products and cannot be trusted.
The Health and Human Services Department cut billions of dollars to state health agencies, including funds needed to modernize state programs for childhood immunization. Mr. Kennedy said in a televised interview on Wednesday that he was unaware of this widely reported development.
The Food and Drug Administration canceled an open meeting on flu vaccines with scientific advisers, later holding it behind closed doors. A top official paused the agency’s review of Novavax’s Covid vaccine. In a televised interview last week, Mr. Kennedy said falsely that similarly created vaccines don’t work against respiratory viruses.
Some scientists said they saw a pattern: an effort to erode support for routine vaccination, and for the scientists who have long held it up as a public health goal.
“This is a simultaneous process of increasing the likelihood that you will hear his voice and decreasing the likelihood that you’ll hear other voices,” Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, said of Mr. Kennedy.
He is “decertifying other voices of authority,” she said.
H.H.S. disagreed that Mr. Kennedy was working against vaccines.
“Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine; he is pro-safety,” a department spokesman said in a statement. “His focus has always been on ensuring that vaccines are rigorously tested for efficacy and safety.”
The statement continued, “We are taking action so that Americans get the transparency they deserve and can make informed decisions about their health.”
After attending the funeral of an unvaccinated child who died of measles in West Texas on Sunday, Mr. Kennedy endorsed the measles vaccine on X as “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
But he has also described vaccination as a personal choice with poorly understood risks and suggested that miracle treatments were readily available. On Sunday, he praised two local doctors on social media who have promoted dubious, potentially harmful, treatments for measles.
SHOCKING videos show a riot in Athens as a Molotov-wielding mob turned part of the city into a warzone overnight, torching cars and clashing violently with riot police.
Street battles broke out just after midnight on Saturday as a group of around 50 people hurled petrol bombs, stones and fireworks at officers outside a police station in Exarchia.
Cops responded with tear gas and flash grenades, but the violence spiralled out of control, with fires raging across Kallidromiou, Benaki, Charilaou Trikoupi and Methonis streets.
Dramatic footage shows cars exploding in fireballs as thick black smoke choked the sky.
Stunned residents, meanwhile, watched the chaos unfold from windows.
A total of 21 cars were torched, with five completely destroyed, and a house and a shop were damaged.
Athens was turned into a warzone overnight after violent protesters clashed with riot police
The entrance and ground floor of an apartment building on Emmanuel Benaki Street caught fire and had to be evacuated.
Fire crews scrambled to contain the inferno, with 18 firefighters and seven engines tackling the blazes.
Garbage bins were also set alight and used as makeshift barricades as the mob battled police in running street fights that lasted over an hour.
Cops detained 72 people and reported one officer injured during the mayhem.
Reporters on the ground for Greek media said the explosion of unrest calmed as rapidly a it started – and was over by early on Sunday.
Cops suspect the riot – which began after crowds spilled out of a local concert hall and turned on a nearby police station – may be linked to ongoing fury over a 2023 train disaster.
Greece has been gripped with fury over the Tempi crash that saw a passenger train slam into a freight train killing 57 people.
Anger has boiled over regarding the crash – with the government accused of mismangement and a cover-up.
It has manifested in numerous angry protests and clashes with police – and a bomb attack on Friday night is also linked the the outrage.
“Incidents occurred on Saturday night in Exarchia where unknown persons attacked police forces,” Greek Police said.
“According to ELAS, the incidents began shortly before midnight when groups of unknown persons attacked police forces at the intersection of Kallidromiou and E. Benaki streets with Molotov cocktails and stones, with the police responding by using chemical weapons.”
Police are now investigating to identify the attackers, as scorched vehicles and charred debris litter the streets of Exarchia.
It comes just a couple of days after a bomb exploded in central Athens after authorities received a tip from an anonymous caller.
The blast took place outside the Hellenic Train offices – Greece’s main railway company that was involved in the tragic 2023 rail disaster.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Trump administration has terminated temporary deportation protections for thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians in the U.S., a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said on Friday, building on Trump’s far-reaching immigration crackdown.
An estimated 14,600 Afghans eligible for Temporary Protected Status will now lose it in May. Some 7,900 Cameroonians had access to the status but will lose it in June under the termination.
U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January pledging to deport record numbers of migrants in the U.S. illegally. At the same time, he has swiftly moved to strip migrants of temporary legal protections, expanding the pool of possible deportees.
Trump has criticized high levels of illegal immigration under Democratic former President Joe Biden and said Biden programs offering legal status overstepped the bounds of the law.
The TPS program is available to people whose home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. The status lasts 6-18 months, can be renewed by the Homeland Security secretary, and offers deportation protection and access to work permits.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem found that the conditions in Afghanistan and Cameroon no longer merited the protected status, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Trump tried to end most TPS enrollment during his 2017-2021 presidency but was thwarted by federal courts. A U.S. district judge in late March blocked his attempt at ending the status for Venezuelans, saying that officials’ characterization of the migrants as criminals “smacks of racism.” PAROLE REVOKED
The U.S. evacuated more than 82,000 Afghans from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, including more than 70,000 who entered the U.S. with temporary “parole,” which allowed legal entry for a period of two years.
The Temporary Protected Status offered another avenue of protection. DHS said in 2023 that it was warranted due to armed conflict and insurgency in Afghanistan.
Megan King revealed how she was left ‘internally decapitated’ after she fell to the ground while playing footballCredit: instagram//thetravelinghaloofhope/
DOCTORS have successfully reattached a woman’s head after her skull became detached from her spine while playing football.
Megan King revealed how she was left “internally decapitaded” after she fell to the ground while playing football in 2005.
Ms King, who was just 16 at the time, said the fall severely damaged her spine and tore off her shoulder muscles.
She had to go through more than 30 surgeries and was forced to spend more than a year on crutches.
However, over the years, her injuries got worse,
She said her bone joints became weak, and her muscles began to tear apart, leaving her in unbearable pain.
Doctors were left baffled by her medical condition as to why she was not able to heal.
Finally in 2015 – a decade after her disastrous fall – medical experts were able to diagnose her with hypermobile Ehler ‘s-Danlos syndrome (hEDS).
It is a rare genetic disorder that stops the formation of collagen, which works as major tissue holding the bones together – in her body.
In 2016, Ms King’s neck was fitted with a halo brace – a metal device that is directly screwed into her skull – to keep her head uprght.
However, her skull almost got internally detached from her spine while doctors were attempting to remove the device.
The rare condition is called Atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) – or internal decapitation in non-medical terms.
Ms King, who is now 35, told DailyMail: “I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me.
“My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands. I couldn’t stand. My right side was shaking uncontrollably.”
Doctors rushed to conduct an emergency surgery to fuse her skull back to her spine and save her life.
Uncommon detainees are bringing new attention to the U.S. immigration detention system
A British backpacker. A Harvard researcher. A Canadian actress. An Australian mixed martial arts coach. Dozens of international college students.
The Trump administration’s sweeping immigration-and-visa crackdown has begun ensnaring a class of people long-accustomed to being welcomed with open arms into the United States.
And those uncommon detainees are bringing new attention to the often-harsh U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention system, where people can be held without charge indefinitely, sometimes in shocking conditions, or abruptly removed from the country.
This type of treatment has long been the case in ICE detention, but the people held by the government often didn’t have the resources ‒ the access, language or middle-class expectations ‒ to denounce the conditions.
Now, with President Donald Trump’s crackdown, native English speakers, people with PhDs, and others are getting the word out to a broader public about a system they describe as arbitrary and punishing ‒ although ICE detention is not supposed to resemble prison.
“It’s insane how easily someone can take away your freedom, lock you in a federal prison, without a clear reason. No explanation. No warning,” Australian MMA coach Renato Subotic wrote in an Instagram post after being detained in early April. “Just like that, you’re treated like the worst criminal.”
Like the other detained travelers, Subotic said he was trying to enter the U.S. with a visa and was handcuffed after customs officers identified a paperwork problem. Instead of being refused entry to the United States and put on a flight back home, Subotic said he was taken to a chaotic federal detention center for 24 hours.
Trump campaigned on tough new immigration enforcement, particularly targeting violent offenders living illegally within the United States. But the crackdown has swept in everyday foreign travelers and tourists, too ‒ resulting in detention for infractions that previously would have gotten a severe glare or a $500 fine.
“I believe in respecting the rules. But putting someone in federal prison over a missing detail in a visa application?” Subotic wrote in his post. “Now I’m back in Australia, I’ll speak with my lawyers. Something has to be done about the way I was treated. Hope this never happen to nobody else.”
USA TODAY asked ICE whether foreign travelers should expect to be detained on an infraction of customs or immigration law. The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding its detention practices.
Not supposed to be punishment
Because immigration and visa violations are civil, not criminal matters, ICE detention is supposed to be “non-punitive,” according to the agency’s own guidelines.
But conditions vary widely in the sprawling detention network overseen by ICE, which includes government-run and contracted facilities, said Deb Fleischaker, a former ICE official who served under the Biden administration and the first Trump administration.
“Legally, it is civil detention, not criminal detention,” Fleischaker said. But “by and large, people are treated like they are in jail.”
When the system gets overcrowded, conditions can deteriorate, she said. ICE held nearly 48,000 people in detention in early April, according to agency data. Last year, Congress provided funding for a daily average maximum of 41,500 immigration detention beds.
“Obviously, things get worse when the system is overburdened, when ICE contractors are overwhelmed and overworked,” Fleischaker said, adding that problems used to be detected and fixed by internal review systems.
But the Trump administration recently eliminated two key oversight offices, the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman.
Detention or ‘kidnapping’?
Canadian entrepreneur-turned-actress Jasmine Mooney described an experience similar to Subotic’s, but far longer. She described her 12-day ICE detention in The Guardian newspaper as a “kidnapping.” She was shuffled from site to site after she tried to enter the U.S. at the Mexican border, as she’d done many times before.
ICE officials left her shivering in cold rooms as she tried to make sense of her detention, she wrote.
Legally, immigration officers couldn’t send her back to Mexico, because she’s a Canadian citizen. But in years past, agents might have escorted her to the San Diego airport and put her on a one-way flight to Vancouver, experts told USA TODAY.
“One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the U.S.,” she wrote. “The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an ICE detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer.”
When the first two rounds of 10% tariffs hit, Zou Guoqing, a Chinese exporter, groaned but didn’t find the barriers insurmountable. He gave up some of his profits and offered his client, a snow-bike factory in Nebraska, price cuts ranging from 5% to 10%. It seemed to work: The factory agreed to a new order of molds and parts.
But when President Donald Trump announced an additional 34% universal tariff on Chinese goods on April 2, Zou, who’s been exporting to the U.S. for more than a decade, was incredulous.
“There’s not a thread of feasibility,” said Zou, who does business in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo. “It looks like I would have no choice but give up trading with the U.S.”
Then came 50% more from Trump, followed by another hike — pushing the universal tariff on Chinese goods to the sky-high 145%, and Zou said he now could only hope that the two leaders can communicate. “We are pausing the shipments,” he said, “until the leaders talk.”
The 145% tariff from the United States and the retaliatory 125% tariff from China are putting businesses doing trade between the U.S. and China on edge. They’re fretting not only about their next orders, but also the viability of their business if there’s no quick relief. Experts are worried the decades-long trade ties that have underpinned the relationship between the world’s two largest economies could be unraveling.
Trade ties are tested
If the high tariff is sustained for the next six months or longer, “that would actually lead to a real effective decoupling between the American and Chinese economies,” said Chen Zhiwu, professor of finance at Hong Kong University Business School.
Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, said the sky-high tariff, if kept in place, amounts to “almost a trade embargo,” making it impossible for China to export low-value items such as apparel to the U.S. It also would force U.S. businesses to source elsewhere, away from China, if there should be alternatives, he said.
In a turn, the Trump administration late Friday said it would exclude electronics like smartphones and laptops from reciprocal tariffs, which means they won’t be subject to the 145% tariffs levied on China. The exemption seemed to reflect Trump’s realization that his China tariffs are unlikely to shift more manufacturing of smartphones, computers and other gadgets to the U.S. any time soon.
In China, the central tariff office flat-out declared there was “no possibility for market acceptance” of U.S. goods exported to China” at the current tariff level.
“Everyone’s pretty worried,” said Hu Jianlong, founder of Brands Factory, a consultancy that works with Chinese companies trying to break into overseas markets. “At this point in time, there’s no good way forward. This situation has not resolved … there’s no final number. And so everyone’s still waiting to see how this will develop.”
The high-stakes tariff war has come more than 20 years after China — with the help of the United States — joined the World Trade Organization and began to see its economy soar on luring foreign investments and exporting to the U.S. and other Western markets. By last year, China-U.S. trade was $582 billion, but tensions have flared over China’s widening trade imbalance with the U.S. That led to the first tariff skirmish during the first Trump term.
The trade deficit has since narrowed but stayed stubbornly high, at a time when the U.S. and other Western markets have also grown concerned about another onslaught of Chinese products such as electric vehicles.
Decouple or ‘de-risk’?
During his four-year term, former President Joe Biden stressed that the U.S. was not trying to decouple from China but to “de-risk.” He took the “small-yard, high-fence” approach, under which his administration put up barriers in targeted sectors such as advanced chips, artificial intelligence and quantum computing that have national security implications.
Now, Trump is declaring universal tariffs on all Chinese goods but has said he’s also willing to talk with Beijing. It remains unclear what his goals might be.
“What are they looking for in those negotiations? How much is it possible to reduce these tariffs? What are the other demands apart from China removing its retaliatory tariffs that the United States wants to put forward. We don’t know what that would be,” said Greta Peisch, who served as the general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 2021-2024.
The message from China’s leadership is loud and clear. It will talk only when the U.S. stops “maximum pressure and capricious and destructive behavior,” said Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
Li Cheng, professor of political science at the University of Hong Kong, said the Chinese leadership is upset over being singled out by Trump when the U.S. president paused “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days for all other countries. Beijing wants to make sure that “Donald Trump not state one thing in the morning and say other things in the evening,” Li said, and that Trump’s policies on China are not hijacked by his anti-China, hawkish advisers.
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse represents Bath. She has been an MP since June 2017.
A Liberal Democrat MP has spoken of her “shock” after being barred from entering Hong Kong this week.
Wera Hobhouse said she flew to the Chinese region with her husband on Thursday to visit their newborn grandson but she was detained at the airport, questioned, and then deported on the first flight home.
The MP for Bath, who is one of more than 40 parliamentarians on the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China that scrutinises Beijing’s human rights record, told the Sunday Times she had been given no reason as to why she was refused entry.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We will urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation.”
He added, it would be “unacceptable for an MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views as a parliamentarian”.
In a letter to Mr Lammy, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey asked him to summon the Chinese Ambassador.
“We are sure you will agree that this is a deeply concerning situation,” Sir Ed wrote in the letter seen by BBC News.
“The UK cannot allow the Chinese government to attempt to undermine our democracy by intimidating our parliamentarians.”
The Sunday Times reported that Ms Hobhouse’s husband was allowed to enter but decided to return to the UK. The couple had travelled to visit their son who has lived in Hong Kong since 2019.
Sir Ed said the bar was “apparently simply because she is a British Member of Parliament”.
It comes after after two Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, were refused entry to Israel while on a trip to the occupied West Bank this month.
Ms Hobhouse’s treatment is likely to raise further questions about the government’s engagement with China.
In 2021, Beijing sanctioned five MPs who had been critical of China.
Ms Hobhouse, 65, told the Sunday Times: “My son was waiting at the other end at arrivals…
“I couldn’t even see him and give him a hug and I hadn’t seen him in a year.
“When I was given the decision my voice was shaking and I was just saying: ‘Why, please explain to me?'”
She added that she was not given an explanation – something she described as “cruel”.
“I am obviously devastated. I was obviously looking forward to holding [my grandson] and cuddling him and… establishing a relationship,” Ms Hobhouse continued.
Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke has left Celebrity Big Brother after “further use of inappropriate language” and “instances of unacceptable behaviour”, ITV has said.
On Saturday, Rourke, 72, used behaviour and language considered to be threatening and aggressive towards fellow housemate Chris Hughes, the BBC understands.
No physical altercation took place between the pair.
Just days ago, the Bafta-winning star of The Wrestler received a formal warning from Big Brother for “unacceptable language and behaviour” directed at another housemate, JoJo Siwa.
Siwa accused Rourke of being “homophobic” for saying he was “going to vote the lesbian out real quick” and making other comments about her sexuality.
Love Island star Hughes, 32, had comforted Siwa, 21, in Wednesday’s episode after Rourke’s comments.
A spokesperson for the ITV show said: “Mickey Rourke has agreed to leave the Celebrity Big Brother House this evening following a discussion with Big Brother regarding further use of inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behaviour.”
The Oscar-nominated star entered the ITV reality show on Monday alongside TV and social media personality Siwa, Hughes and 10 other celebrities.
According to a transcript released by ITV ahead of Wednesday evening’s episode, Rourke first asked Siwa if she liked boys or girls. She replied: “Girls. My partner is non-binary.”
He then told her: “If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay any more.”
She responded: “I can guarantee I’ll still be gay and I’ll still be in a very happy relationship.”
He then made the comment about voting her out, and apparently referred to an earlier conversation about the smoking area when he said: “I need a fag,” before gesturing to Siwa and adding: “I’m not talking to you.”
After being told he couldn’t say that by Hughes, Rourke claimed: “I know. I was talking about a cigarette.”
US envoy Steve Witkoff (left) and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took part in the talks
Iran and the US have concluded a first round of talks in Oman over Tehran’s nuclear programme – the highest-level meeting between the two nations since 2018.
Both countries described the meeting as “constructive” and confirmed a second round of discussions will take place next week – with the US hailing the “direct communication” as being key to striking a possible deal.
President Donald Trump pulled the US out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers in 2018, and has long said he would make a “better” deal.
The talks are seen as an important first step in establishing whether a deal can be done.
At two-and-a-half hours, the first meeting was brief, reportedly respectful – and set the stage for a second round.
That was probably as good as it could get when Iranian and US officials sat down in Muscat, the capital of Oman – whose top diplomat mediated the primarily indirect negotiations.
They were the most significant talks since Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 during his first term in office.
The verdict of Iran’s lead negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, was positive.
“In my opinion, as the first meeting, it was a constructive meeting held in a very peaceful and respectful environment, because no inappropriate language was used,” he told Iranian state TV.
His diplomatic tone suggests the US team led by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff did not reiterate some of the president’s threats that Iran would face “great danger” if this dialogue did not succeed. He has repeatedly warned of possible military strikes.
This meeting ran with the delegations in separate rooms, relaying messages through Oman’s foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.
Witkoff, who is leading the US delegation, had previously only spoken of meeting face-to-face.
But Araghchi and Witkoff did speak for a few minutes in the presence of Busaidi – not the direct talks US officials said would happen but what could be a small but significant opening.
Iran, mindful of pressure from hardliners at home, underlined how limited their face-to-face exchange was, with no photographs taken.
In a statement following the talks, the White House said the discussions “were very positive and constructive”, noting that Witkoff had emphasised to Iran that he had instructions to resolve the adversaries’ “differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible”.
“These issues are very complicated, and special envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” the statement added.
Araghchi had said ahead of the discussions that his country wanted a “fair agreement”.
After the talks concluded, he said discussions next week may not happen in Oman, but would still be mediated by the Middle Eastern nation. The White House said they would take place next Saturday.
“Neither we, nor the other party, want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions’ sake, time wasting or talks that drag on forever,” Araghchi told Iranian state television.
The most important issue at stake is what kind of deal each side would be willing to accept.
Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader via the United Arab Emirates last month, saying he wanted a deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to avert possible military strikes by the US and Israel.
Iran hopes for a deal to limit, but not dismantle, its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
An unnamed source in Oman told news agency Reuters that the talks would seek to de-escalate regional tensions and secure prisoner exchanges.
Trump revealed the talks would take place during a visit by Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Monday. The Israeli prime minister said on Tuesday that both leaders had agreed that Iran “will not have nuclear weapons”.
Donald Trump swapped a portrait of former US President Barack Obama that hung in the White House with one of himself.
The new painting of Trump appears to be based on an iconic photo from the AP news agencyImage: Evan Vucci/AP/picture allianceUS President Donald Trump has replaced an official portrait of former US President Barack Obama with a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.
The new painting hanging in the foyer of the State Floor in the White House shows the moment when a bloodied Trump pumped his clenched fist in the air after he was shot at during a campaign rally in July 2024.
The White House announced the unexpected change in a video post on X along with the words: “Some new artwork at the White House.”
The portrait of Obama, who was president from 2009 to 2017, has been rehung on the opposite side of the foyer.
Several news agencies called it “unusual” to replace a previous president’s portrait with one of a sitting president.
White House portrait ceremony typically tradition at end of presidential term
Most presidents wait until they leave office before getting their portrait hung in the historic 200-year-old building.
“The Obama portrait was just moved a few feet away,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said on X, while telling a critic of the move to “Pipe down, moron.”
Trump has involved himself with paintings outside of the White House, too.
Last month, a painting of Trump that had hung with other presidential portraits at the Colorado state Capitol was taken down after the president complained that his likeness was “purposefully distorted.”
Potentially record-breaking winds were predicted in capital Beijing and northern China over the weekend. Almost 700 flights had to be canceled and 300 trees were toppled by severe weather.
No injuries have been reported so far despite the adverse weatherImage: STR/AFP/Getty ImagesResidents in parts of northern China were warned not to go outside on Saturday as gale force winds caused hundreds of flights to be canceled.
State media reported rail services were also suspended as potentially record-breaking winds came from a “cold vortex system” that formed over Mongolia.
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said the severe weather conditions began on Friday and were expected to last through the weekend.
“The strongest winds are expected during the daytime of April 12, with wind speeds at some observation stations approaching or even surpassing historical records for the same period since 1951,” the CMA said in a statement.
Beijing also issued its first orange alert, the second-highest tier possible, in a decade warning of strong winds over the weekend.
What were the impacts of the winds?
Up to 699 flights were cancelled at Beijing’s two airports by Saturday afternoon, while high-speed rail lines saw services suspended, state broadcaster CCTV said.
More than 1,000 visitors to the Miniatur Wunderland tourist attraction, which is home to what is believed to be the world’s largest model railway, had to be evacuated. It was unclear who was behind the suspected attack.
The building in downtown Hamburg had to be evacuated [FILE: May 27, 2021]Image: Jonas Walzberg/dpa/picture alliance
Tear gas was released at one of Hamburg’s most popular tourist attractions on Saturday, the city’s fire department officials said.
In a statement, the Hamburg Fire Department said it had responded to an alert at Miniatur Wunderland, “where several visitors complained of eye and respiratory irritation.”
After arriving at the scene, firefighters detected “an irritant gas leak” and “immediately” ordered the more than 1,000 visitors in the building to be evacuated.
What do we know about the incident?
Forty-six people were treated at the scene, the fire department said. One person was brought to a nearby hospital.
Visitors were allowed to return about half an hour later after firefighters ventilated the building.
It is unknown who is behind the leak, although a police spokesman said a used canister was found at the scene, according to dpa news agency.
Police have taken over the investigation, the fire department stated added.
Where did the incident take place?
The model railway at Miniatur Wunderland covers more than 1,600 square meters (17,222 square feet) and has a track that is around 17,000 meters (10.5 miles) long.
Miniatur Wunderland, in Hamburg’s city center, was started in 2001 by brothers Gerrit and Frederik Braun.
Almost 1.6 million people from all over the world visited last year.
DAZED and Confused actor Nicky Katt has died at 54, his attorney confirmed.
Nicky also featured in School of Rock, alongside dozens of well-known shows and movies over the past five decades.
Nicky in a still from The Brave One (2007)Credit: Avalon.redFurther details surrounding Nicky’s passing, including his cause of death, are not yet known.
His career started out as a child actor back in the late 1970s at the age of 7.
Over the years, he worked alongside a number of high-profile celebs including George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Meryl Streep, Alicia Silverstone and Renee Zellweger.
He played Clint Bruno in Dazed and Confused – Richard Linklater’s 1993 coming-of-age comedy – which starred Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey and Ben Affleck.
Nicky was born in South Dakota on May 11, 1970, and made his acting debut at 7 when he appeared on the 1977 TV series CHiPs.
He starred in one episode of Fantasy Island in 1980, and made appearances in other shows throughout the early part of the decade, such as Father Murphy and Herbie, the Love Bug.
In 1992, he portrayed a waiter in Sister Act – which starred Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith and Wendy Makkena.
It was the following year, 1993, that he gained wider recognition for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused.
In the late 90s, the actor took on roles in films including A Time To Kill (1996), SubUrbia (1996) and Batman & Robin (1997).
Further notable films include The Way of the Gun (2000), Insomnia (2002), and School of Rock (2003).
He also guest-starred in a number of shows like Friends, The Guardian, King of the Hill, Monk and Law and Order.
His last TV credit was in 2018 on the Hulu original series Casual.
In 2020, Nicky joined his Dazed and Confused co-stars for a virtual reading of the film’s old script.
This was to raise money for the Voto Latino Foundation and March for Science.
He was married for two years to Annie Morse, from 1999 until their divorce in 2001.
Tributes for the much-loved actor have poured in from industry figures.
Beau Flynn, CEO of Flynn Picture Company, wrote: “Heartbroken to learn about the way too early passing of the seriously talented actor Nicky Katt – God bless you my friend.
Defense attorneys for Luigi Mangione are arguing that Attorney General Pam Bondi is seeking the death penalty for their client as “content” for a new Instagram account, according to a Friday court filing.
“She ordered the death penalty and publicly released her order so she would have ‘content’ for her newly launched Instagram account,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote.
The defense team is asking the court to block the government from seeking the death penalty. They argue that Bondi’s announcement of the move was a “political stunt” and that she failed to indicate Mangione’s presumption of innocence.
They say that her death penalty media blitz on April 1 has “prejudiced” the potential pool of grand jurors against their client, who has yet to be indicted on federal charges.
“The stakes could not be higher,” the lawyers said. “The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Mangione, 26, a former Ivy Leaguer, stands accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a Manhattan hotel last December. The software engineer was arrested in a high-profile manhunt after the brazen shooting.
In announcing that she would seek the death penalty against Mangione, Bondi issued a press release, appeared on Fox News, and posted on a new Instagram account.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson—an innocent man and father of two young children—was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi wrote in a statement. “After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
The defense argues Bondi’s words would be “inappropriate and prejudicial in any context” but are especially improper for an attorney general issuing a direction to prosecutors, which they say could have been done out of the public eye.
Parker Lewis speaks at the Bitcoin Commons, where he helps lead educational efforts around bitcoin adoption and policy. Rod Roudi/Bitcoin Commons
AUSTIN — On a Friday morning last spring, Mark Suman called out sick from his job as a senior engineering project manager at Apple and made his way downtown to a place called the Bitcoin Commons, a sort of clubhouse for enthusiasts of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, situated a few blocks south of the Texas State Capitol.
At the time, Suman was, in his words, “an active hobbyist,” tinkering with the technology in his spare time. “I actually played around with it a bit within Apple as well,” he says. “There’s not a lot I can say, other than we were always exploring new technologies, and so I was playing around with some of the open-source bitcoin tools within Apple and doing some exploratory work.”
Suman was there for the annual ‘Bitcoin Takeover’ event. He had followed many of the speakers online and when he saw the gathering pop up on his feed, he took the day off to see it for himself.
“I was sitting in the crowd wanting to get into the space and really build something new and build something novel,” Suman recalled.
What happened instead was the beginning of a professional pivot: he struck up a conversation with a developer after a talk at the Commons, and was introduced to other coders who were winding down a project called Mutiny. Within a few months, Suman handed in his notice at Apple and with the developers he’d met, pivoted into something bigger — co-founding Open Secret, a startup reimagining how user data is stored in the cloud. Instead of relying on centralized databases, the company encrypts data to each individual user — even after it’s uploaded. So if there’s a breach, there’s nothing to steal, Suman explained. No honeypot.
The leap was not without stakes.
“There are plenty of sleepless nights,” he said. “I’ve got a family, I’ve got kids, I’ve got a kid off at university.”
He had spent years working on privacy infrastructure — tackling tough technical problems around user protection at scale — but saw a way to do it better with blockchain. “Apple likes to talk a big game about privacy,” he says. “And having been there, I’ve seen very deep within a lot of their systems that they do care about privacy at every level.”
That vision — and the Commons — helped give him conviction. The builders there were all laser focused on creating something that mattered.
Inside Austin’s bitcoin clubhouse
Bitcoin Commons sits on the second floor of the Littlefield Building at the corner of Congress Avenue and Sixth Street — where the broad boulevard to the Capitol collides with the noisy sprawl of Austin’s nightlife district. It’s an apt metaphor for the space itself.
By day, it serves as a clean, open-plan coworking hub for bitcoin operators and builders. At night, it transforms into a gathering place for rogue developers and off-the-record meetups. Events here draw a blend of venture capitalists, open-source contributors, off-grid energy technicians, and Lightning engineers — developers who build software to make bitcoin faster and cheaper to use. On some afternoons, once happy hour hits, the kitchen in the back converts into a bar.
″Bitcoin is the most important technological innovation in any of our lifetimes, and it needs its due,” said Parker Lewis, one of the stewards of the Commons and the author of a new book on bitcoin called “Gradually, Then Suddenly.”
“And so while bitcoin has no CEO and no marketing team, we here at the Bitcoin Commons and Bitcoiners all over the world help educate people about bitcoin, why it’s important, what’s being built, and present a vision for the future,” continued Lewis.
“The vibe, it’s always high signal,” said Dan Lawrence, CEO of OBM, which manages energy use for industrial-scale mining farms. Lawrence said he was “thankful” that the U.S. government had become a little more pro-bitcoin under the new administration, but added, “No matter what happens anywhere, everybody here is always going to bleed bitcoin.”
This year, the Commons feels different — not because bitcoiners have changed, but because the world around them has. The mood is bullish. Strategic. Triumphant, even.
Bitcoin
’s price mirrored this optimism, surging to an all-time high of nearly $110,000 in January, coinciding with Trump’s inauguration. By early April, it had retraced to the low $70,000s before rebounding to nearly $85,000 as of Saturday morning — volatility that underscores the market’s sensitivity to political developments and investor sentiment.
Just a year ago, the vibe in the Commons was cautious. Even bitcoin — the asset largely spared by securities law — felt the chill of an aggressive regulatory regime. Developers were being arrested around the world. Wallet providers were being pressured. Open-source projects landed on sanctions lists. The question then was, who would be next?
Then came the election. Trump’s return to the White House brought with it a full-court press of pro-bitcoin policy moves. Within his first 100 days, he’d pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and three co-founders of the BitMEX crypto exchange, established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and appointed a “crypto czar” to oversee the federal government’s digital asset efforts. Even skeptics found themselves nodding.
“I was in Nashville when Trump spoke,” Suman recalled of the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Tennessee, where Trump made his first major address to the crypto industry. “I wasn’t planning on going. But you know, when someone like that is in town, you go see it.”
Suman says he feels Trump has delivered on his promises to the crypto community for the most part. Still, he remains cautious. “I am not one who embraces politicians,” Suman said. “I’m kind of apolitical as far as which side. So I only trust them until I see how it’s actually playing out in our life. So far, I think it’s going well, but it could really change.”
Kevin Hurley, CTO at Lightspark, says Washington’s stance toward crypto appears to be shifting, with regulators like the SEC taking a less combative approach — moving away from lawsuits and toward clearer capital markets rules. “Hopefully now we’re actually going to have some clarity on what is and what isn’t a security, what can actually be done,” he said.
But even in a friendlier political climate, caution over government involvement remains a feature, not a bug, of the crypto community.
Joe Kelly, CEO of Unchained — a startup that helps clients store bitcoin securely by holding their own private keys — said it’s smart to be careful what you wish for when it comes to the U.S. government owning a lot of bitcoin. “That can go other ways,” he said.
To date, the government’s so-called Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has underwhelmed some digital asset advocates, since it’s limited to bitcoin previously seized in enforcement actions — not newly purchased assets or sovereign investment. Still, the administration has directed the Treasury and Commerce Departments to explore budget-neutral ways to acquire more bitcoin.
Kelly acknowledges a shift in the regulatory atmosphere, but he’s also wary of premature celebration, even with big market wins like the launch of exchange-traded funds that allow investors widespread access to bitcoin.
“If something like the ETF had launched too soon, I think it could have distracted from the people building on the actual technology itself,” Kelly said. “We’ve had the fortune that for most of Unchained’s life there wasn’t an ETF,” he added of the firm’s efforts to educate investors on how to store their crypto.
The exemption on laptops and smartphones could help keep prices down as they are mainly produced in countries like Taiwan and China – among the hardest hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Smartphones and laptops will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs, the Trump administration has said. Pic: APElectronics such as smartphones and laptops will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs, the Trump administration has said.
US Customs and Border Protection listed 20 product categories in a notice to shippers, including the very broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops, disc drives and automatic data processing.
It added that semiconductor devices and equipment, memory chips and flat panel displays would also be exempt.
The move could help keep prices down for popular consumer items that are mainly produced in East Asian countries and China, which is the country hardest hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said: “President Trump has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops.
“That’s why the President has secured trillions of dollars in US investments from the largest tech companies in the world, including Apple, TSMC, and Nvidia.
“At the direction of the President, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible.”
Tech firms, including Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, have struggled in the stock market since the levies were first announced.
Earlier this week, the head of the trading floor at Currencies 4 You told Newspage Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports “could significantly impact iPhone pricing globally”.
Prem Raja said analysts suggested “US prices might surge by up to 43% if Apple passes on the costs” to consumers.
A popstar, a journalist, a civil rights activist, rocket scientist and filmmaker are heading into space. And the mission is being led by Lauren Sanchez, an author and the fiance of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Katy Perry gears up for spaceflightIt’s been more than 60 years since a woman travelled into space without a man. And now six of them are blasting off from Earth.
Popstar Katy Perry, author Lauren Sanchez, journalist and TV presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn are due to launch in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket on Monday.
It will be the latest flight of the New Shepard programme, named NS-31, and is aiming to “create a lasting impact that will inspire generations”, with the women forming the first all-female crew since Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight to space in 1963.
The trip is only expected to last around 11 minutes, with the reusable self-driving rocket taking off from Launch Site One in West Texas, at 8.30am local time (2.30pm BST) on Monday.
It will reach a maximum height of 100km (62 miles) above Earth, with the women technically entering space as the capsule crosses the Karman line, which is internationally recognised as the boundary of space.
They will not, however, be classed as astronauts by the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA or US military, which all have different eligibility requirements for people to become commercial astronauts.
While in space, the crew will have about four minutes of weightlessness to float around and take in the views of Earth from the capsule’s large windows.
The crew capsule will then descend back to Earth using three parachutes.
So far, 52 people have been taken into space as part of billionaire and Amazon chief Mr Bezos’s programme, including the man himself, who joined the New Shepard’s maiden voyage in 2021.
Star Trek actor William Shatner became the oldest person in space when he joined the mission at the age of 90.
How the crew was picked
Mr Bezos’ fiancee is leading the mission. Sanchez told Elle magazine she chose her fellow crew members because each had “proven their ability to inspire others”.
She said all the women will be able to spread the word on what they felt like during the trip, and also expand on ideas of what the next generation of space explorers will look like.
Perry, who is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, told Elle that she has been wanting to go to space for almost 20 years, so it was a no-brainer when she got the call.
She said: “Even when Blue Origin was first talking about commercial travel to space, I was like, ‘Sign me up! I’m first in line’. And then they called me, and I was like, ‘Really? I get an invite?’.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks, ahead of signing executive orders, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. Nathan Howard | Reuters
President Donald Trump exempted smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from his reciprocal tariffs, new guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows.
The guidance, issued late Friday evening, comes after Trump earlier this month imposed 145% tariffs on products from China, a move that threatened to take a toll on tech giants like Apple
, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China.
The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, and memory cards.
The White House said on Saturday the exemptions were made because Trump wants to ensure that companies have time to move production to the U.S.
White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump “has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops.”
“At the direction of the President, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible,” Desai said.
The 20 product categories listed in the CBP guidelines are apparently exempt from the 125% tariff imposed by Trump on Chinese imports and the 10% baseline tariff on imports from other countries. A 20% tariff on all Chinese goods remains in effect.
CNBC has asked the White House and CBP to confirm the total effective tariff rate on the exempted products but so far has received no definitive answer.
The exemptions are a win for tech companies like Apple, which makes the majority of its products in China. The country manufactures 80% of iPads and more than half of Mac computers produced, according to Evercore ISI.
“This is the dream scenario for tech investors,” Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC. “Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs.”
He added that the tariffs have been a “black cloud over tech since the day of liberation, because no sector was going to be more hurt than big tech.”
“I think ultimately big tech CEOs spoke loudly, and the White House had to understand and listen to the situation that this would have been Armageddon for big tech if were implemented,” Ives said.
In the days since Trump’s tariff announcement, Apple lost over $640 billion in market value, CNBC previously reported. The cost of an iPhone under Trump’s tariff plan could have ballooned to as high as $3,500 under some estimates.
Since Trump’s tariffs announcement, stocks have sold off sharply as uncertainty and volatility on Wall Street spiked. The S&P 500 plunged more than 5% during the period until Friday’s close.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield soared more than 50 basis points during the week, one of its largest jumps on record, as the whiplash from Trump’s trade policy led investors to sell off U.S. assets.
A growing measles outbreak in the US has led to over 700 cases across six states, with Texas reporting the most. Three deaths, including two children, have been linked to the virus. Health officials and the CDC urge Americans to get vaccinated as the disease spreads rapidly.
US Measles Outbreak Turns Alarming—CDC Recommends Booster Shot For Some Travellers (Image Credits: iStock)
A dangerous measles outbreak is sweeping across parts of the United States, with more than 700 confirmed cases reported across six states. Health officials say this might just be the beginning — and they’re racing against time to contain the spread. Texas is the hardest hit, reporting 541 cases, and tragically, two children have died from measles-related complications. Texas Hit the Hardest
The outbreak, which began in Texas in late January, is spreading rapidly. So far, 22 counties in the state have reported infections, with the majority of cases coming from West Texas. In just the past week, Texas health officials announced 36 new cases. A total of 56 people have been hospitalized in Texas alone.
To make matters worse, the U.S. has now recorded three deaths related to the outbreak: two children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. These are the first recorded measles deaths in the country since 2015.
Despite his past scepticism of vaccines, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now urging Americans to get vaccinated against measles. “This is not the time to question the science,” he said in a recent address. “The evidence is clear: the measles vaccine saves lives.” Outbreaks Reported in Multiple States
Public health experts are warning that the virus is highly contagious and spreading fast. In addition to Texas, outbreaks are active in Indiana, New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Health authorities are particularly concerned about community-wide transmission in these areas. CDC Issues New Guidance for Domestic Travellers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stepped in with new travel recommendations. According to the letter released on April 8, people travelling to outbreak areas within the U.S. should check their MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination status. This is one of the first times such precautions have been strongly recommended for domestic travel.
So far, only Texas and Kansas have officially updated their state guidelines in line with CDC advice. If you’re planning to visit affected counties in these states, you may need another vaccine dose.
Who Should Get Vaccinated Now
The CDC advises that anyone living in or travelling to outbreak zones should double-check their vaccination status:
Infants aged 6–11 months should get one early dose of the MMR vaccine before travel.
Children aged 12 months and older who have only had one dose should get their second dose early if at least 28 days have passed since the first.
Adults born between 1957 and 1968 may have received an older version of the vaccine and could need a modern MMR shot for full protection.
A U.S. immigration judge ruled on Friday that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to proceed with its effort to remove the Columbia University student from the United States a month after his arrest in New York City.
The ruling by Judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Louisiana was not a final determination of Khalil’s fate. But it represented a significant victory for the Republican president in his efforts to deport foreign pro-Palestinian students who are in the United States legally and, like Khalil, have not been charged with any crime.
Citing the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Trump-appointed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined last month that Khalil could harm American foreign policy interests and should be deported for his “otherwise lawful” speech and activism.
Comans said that she did not have the authority to overrule a secretary of state. The judge denied a motion by Khalil’s lawyers to subpoena Rubio and question him about the “reasonable grounds” he had for his determination under the 1952 law.
The judge’s decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court located inside a jail complex for immigrants surrounded by double-fenced razor wire run by private government contractors in rural Louisiana.
Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that has roiled Columbia’s New York City campus, was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, holds Algerian citizenship and became a U.S. lawful permanent resident last year. Khalil’s wife is a U.S. citizen.
For now, Khalil remains in the Louisiana jail where federal authorities transferred him after his March 8 arrest at his Columbia University apartment building some 1,200 miles (1,930 km) away. Comans gave Khalil’s lawyers until April 23 to apply for relief before she considers whether to issue a deportation order. An immigration judge can rule that a migrant cannot be deported because of possible persecution in a home country, among other limited grounds.
In a separate case in New Jersey, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz has blocked deportation while he considers Khalil’s claim that his arrest was made in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.
KHALIL ADDRESSES THE JUDGE
As Comans adjourned, Khalil leaned forward, asking to address the court. Comans hesitated, then agreed.
Khalil quoted her remarks at his hearing on Tuesday that nothing was more important to the court than “due process rights and fundamental fairness.”
Muslim protestors pray outside the main campus of Columbia University during a demonstration to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at the university, in New York City, U.S., March 14, 2025. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, a thousand miles away from my family.”
The judge said her ruling turned on an undated, two-page letter signed by Rubio and submitted to the court and to Khalil’s counsel.
Khalil’s lawyers, appearing via a video link, complained they were given less than 48 hours to review Rubio’s letter and evidence submitted by the Trump administration to Comans this week. Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil’s lead immigration attorney, repeatedly asked for the hearing to be delayed. Comans reprimanded him for what the judge said was straying from the hearing’s purpose, twice saying he had “an agenda.”
Comans said that the 1952 immigration law gave the secretary of state “unilateral judgment” to make his determination about Khalil.
Khalil should be removed, Rubio wrote, for his role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
Rubio’s letter did not accuse Khalil of breaking any laws, but said the State Department can revoke the legal status of immigrants who could harm U.S. foreign policy interests even when their beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise lawful.”
After Comans ended the hearing, several of Khalil’s supporters wept as they left the courtroom. Khalil stood and smiled at them, making a heart shape with his hands.
Prince Harry is still having nightmares over his and wife Meghan Markle’s lack of security.
“[My] worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case — and that’s really sad,” the Duke of Sussex told People just moments after leaving court for his latest legal battle in London Wednesday.
Harry, 40, went on to say that he feels “exhausted and overwhelmed” after spending two full days at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
He was in court for proceedings attempting to appeal “the removal of automatic state-backed security for him and his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020,” per the outlet.
Prince Harry admitted his “worst fears” are coming true after another “sad” legal battle in London.
REUTERSThe father of two is currently challenging a previous ruling by the UK High Court that allowed the government to pull back on his protection detail when he is traveling in Britain.
Harry’s security was pulled after he and Markle, 43, quit their jobs as working members of the royal family in 2020. They abruptly left the UK — dubbed “Megxit” — and moved to the US. They currently reside in Montecito, Calif., with their two children: Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
While Harry was busy in court this week, Markle traveled to New York City.
The “With Love, Meghan” star was spotted out and about in the Big Apple Thursday night. Photos obtained by Page Six showed that she beefed up her security with a four-car motorcade (including three SUVs and an unmarked police vehicle) to catch “Gypsy” on Broadway.
A paparazzi source later told Page Six that the security measures put in place for Markle seemed “absolutely abnormal, totally over-the-top and excessive.”
“It’s ridiculous if the city is paying for this,” the insider argued. “And if NYPD was not on duty, then they shouldn’t be allowed to run lights. Somebody’s got to be paying for it.”
A spokesperson for the NYPD and a rep for Markle did not immediately respond to our requests for comment over the extravagant security measures.
The “Spare” author and Markle have both previously been vocal about feeling unsafe due to lack of security since leaving the UK.
Back in May 2023, a source claimed to Page Six that the couple was “extremely upset and shaken” after what their rep described as “a near catastrophic car chase” with paparazzi.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” their publicist alleged at the time.
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety.”
For most people, using the internet is an essential part of daily life, but not for the estimated 4% of Germans who have not once gone online.
The age group between 65 and 74 years old comprises the largest cohort of offlinersImage: Ute Grabowsky/photothek/picture alliance
In the internet age, simple tasks like booking a plane ticket or hotel room, even buying groceries, are done online. And many important services are exclusively available online.
Nevertheless, 2.8 million people between the ages of 16 and 74 in Germany have never used the internet as of 2024, according to numbers recently released by the German Federal Statistical Office, which refers to the group as “offliners.”
The age group between 65 and 74 years old comprises the largest cohort in the statistics, and the younger you go, the fewer “offliners” there are.
The figures are taken from an annual survey on the use of information and communication technologies based on data collected throughout the EU.
Germany just about average on internet use in Europe
The statistics show that Germany’s 4% is just below the EU average of 5%.
The Netherlands and Sweden had the highest number of internet users, with offliners coming in at less than 1% of the population.
Croatia and Greece had the highest number of citizens who have never used the internet, with 14% and 11% respectively.
Germany has pledged new deliveries of weapons systems at a meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters. And US special envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia for talks with Russian officials.
Acting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius led the ‘Ukraine Contact Group’ meeting in BrusselsImage: Anna Ross/dpa/picture allianceUS special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Friday to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The meeting lasted more than four and a half hours, the Kremlin said. No details of their discussion have been released.
According to Russian media outlet Interfax, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not rule
out the possibility of another phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump following the discussions.
After Witkoff landed in Russia, Trump ramped up the pressure on Moscow, posting on his Truth Social platform that “Russia has to get moving” and end the war in Ukraine.
“Too many people [sic] ere DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!,” Trump said.
The US president has been pushing for Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire deal since returning to the White House in January.
While Ukraine has agreed to a US truce proposal, Russia has yet to make any concessions despite repeated talks between Russian and US officials.
Ukraine and several of its Western allies suspect Russia of stalling the talks on purpose.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned last week that the Trump administration would not tolerate “endless negotiations” with Russia over the conflict.
Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump was inaugurated for his second term this year.
The resentencing hearing of Menendez brothers can move forward despite opposition from the district attorney, a Los Angeles court has ruled.
The brothers’ attorneys are attempting to have them resentenced to a lesser term, which could potentially make them eligible for freedom.
Erik and Lyle were convicted of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, a notorious case that still divides Americans. They are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in California.
Friday’s ruling means a pair of high-profile hearings next week to decide whether the convicted killers will be resentenced, will continue.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has voiced fierce opposition to resentencing the pair, after his predecessor put the process in motion just before the November election.
The brothers’ effort is based on a California law that allows certain inmates who were aged under 26 at the time of their crimes to seek resentencing and potential parole eligibility – recognising that brain development continues into a person’s mid-20s.
If the brothers are resentenced to 50 years to life as they have requested, it would make them immediately eligible for parole.
Lyle and Erik Menendez appeared for hearing remotely via a video stream from a San Diego prison. Both were dressed in blue prison jumpsuits and appeared nervous at times – looking down, rocking in chairs and taking deep breaths – as prosecutors recounted graphic details of the killings.
The district attorney’s office argued that while prosecutors can recognise inmates have rehabilitated while behind bars, the act of resentencing someone should be used with care.
Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian criticised the former DA George Gascón, whose backing of the resentencing effort allowed it to move forward.
He said the decision by Gascón to announce his support for the brothers to be resentenced just before the November election, which Gascón lost to Hochman by a wide margin, was politically driven.
The DA’s office has argued the brothers have not fully taken responsibility and have continued to grasp at alleged lies in the case to shed blame.
Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Menendez brothers, argued that the district attorney’s office was more concerned with re-litigating the previous trial and hadn’t examined what the pair had been doing the last 35 years in prison.
The pair had completed schooling while behind bars and worked to start rehabilitation programs for disabled and elderly inmates, along with incarcerated individuals suffering with trauma, he said.
The judge ruled that prosecutors failed to show why the resentencing effort should not continue and emphasised the importance of maintaining consistency even with shifts in leadership.
“There’s no new information,” the judge said. “None of this is really new. They’ve stuck with their story. It goes to whether they’ve been rehabilitated.”
The case was thrust back into the public eye last year as new evidence emerged and the release of a new Netflix drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
The series introduced the case to a new generation and garnered attention from celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell – who called for the brothers to be released.
The winds are expected to be stronger than anything the region has seen in years
Workers have been told to hurry home, classes have been suspended and outdoor events have been cancelled as northern China braces for extreme winds this weekend.
Millions have been urged to stay indoors, with some state media outlets warning that people weighing less than 50kg (110lbs – about eight stone) may be “easily blown away”.
Winds reaching 150kph (93mph) are expected to sweep Beijing, Tianjin and other parts of Hebei region from Friday to Sunday, as a cold vortex moves southeast from Mongolia.
For the first time in a decade, Beijing has issued an orange alert for gales – the second-highest in a four-tier weather warning system.
Strong winds sweeping from Mongolia are not uncommon, especially at this time of the year. But the impending winds are expected to be stronger than anything the area has seen in years.
Temperatures in Beijing are expected to drop by 13C within 24 hours, when the strongest winds hit on Saturday, authorities said.
“This strong wind is extreme, lasts for a long time, affects a wide area, and is highly disastrous,” the Beijing Meteorological Service said.
China measures wind speed with a scale that goes from level 1 to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.
The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13.
Several sporting events slated for the weekend have been suspended, including the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon, which will now be held on 19 April.
Parks and tourist attractions have been closed as authorities have told residents to avoid outdoor activities, while construction works and train services have been suspended.
Thousands of trees across the city have been reinforced or pruned to prevent them from falling.
Officials have warned people to avoid entering mountains and forests, where gusts are expected to be especially strong.
The original Dubai chocolate bar has become popular for its thick pistachio filling and Knafeh dessert-like taste
While on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week, there was only one mission on my mind – getting my hands on the viral “Dubai chocolate” bar.
If you’re on TikTok, you will have seen the bar, which combines the flavours of chocolate, pistachio and tahini with filo pastry, and is inspired by the Arab dessert Knafeh.
The original, called Can’t Get Knafeh of It, by FIX Chocolatier, has been sold exclusively in the UAE since 2022. It become so popular on social media that it’s only on sale for two hours a day and often sells out within minutes.
But now imitations, known by the nickname “Dubai chocolate”, have hit UK supermarkets including Waitrose, Lidl and Morrisons, with some supermarkets limiting the number of bars customers are allowed to buy.
Yezen Alani, who co-owns FIX with his wife Sarah Hamouda, told the BBC the global attention Dubai chocolate was getting was “flattering and humbling”.
Strong winds sweeping from Mongolia are not uncommon, especially at this time of the year. But the impending winds are expected to be stronger than anything the area has seen in years.
Temperatures in Beijing are expected to drop by 13C within 24 hours, when the strongest winds hit on Saturday, authorities said.
“This strong wind is extreme, lasts for a long time, affects a wide area, and is highly disastrous,” the Beijing Meteorological Service said.
China measures wind speed with a scale that goes from level 1 to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.
The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13.
Several sporting events slated for the weekend have been suspended, including the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon, which will now be held on 19 April.
Parks and tourist attractions have been closed as authorities have told residents to avoid outdoor activities, while construction works and train services have been suspended.
Thousands of trees across the city have been reinforced or pruned to prevent them from falling.
Officials have warned people to avoid entering mountains and forests, where gusts are expected to be especially strong.
A MYSTERIOUS tower at Area 51 has been spotted on Google Earth, leading social media users to insist it’s “alien technology” straight out of a famed sci-fi film.
Area 51 – a highly classified US Air Force base in Nevada – has been shrouded in alien conspiracies, so it’s no wonder that onlookers are now suspecting something extraterrestrial is afoot with the peculiar installation.
A mysterious tower at Area 51 has been spotted on Google Earth, leading social media users to insist it’s ‘alien technology’ straight out of a famed sci-fi filmCredit: Google MapsThe triangular tower created a shadow in the photo taken by Google Maps.
People on Reddit and Facebook were quick to make assumptions about the mystifying building.
“Obviously alien technology. It pops out when the Earth is done,” one Reddit user said.
In a Facebook discussion about the bizarre tower, one person referenced the hit sci-fi film 2001: A Space Oddessy.
“A Monolith just like in 2001 a Space Oddessy,” the Facebook user said.
Another wrote: “Marker for aliens it is safe to land here.”
“UFO charging dock,” a third said.
One Facebook user was convinced that the tower was a radar cross-section test pylon held at the Tonopah Test Range.
“It is part of a classified U.S. military installation used for stealth and radar signature testing,” he claimed.
Multiple people jested that it was a Carvana car vending machine.
While the tower image sparked a lot of jokes, it adds to the ever-growing conversation about the possibility of alien life and whether the US government knows more about it than they are letting on.
DOC REVEALS NEW ALIEN INFO
An alien documentary titled The Age of Disclosure premiered at South by Southwest last month.
It delved into 80 years of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) research and included reporting of an alleged top-secret program in which US officials have been working on reverse-engineering alien tech, per The Washington Post.
The film, directed by Dan Farah, included dozens of interviews with government officials, scientists and other experts.
Marco Rubio, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, said in the film, “We’ve had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it’s not ours.”
“And we don’t know whose it is…Just that statement alone deserves inquiry, deserves attention, deserves focus,” he said.
The film shows a bipartisan call on the government to declassify certain UFO studies for the advancement of society.
Beyoncé coming face-to-face with a drugged-up guy wearing a penis mask must’ve been a crazy-ass fever dream — the Diddy accuser who claimed Bey and Jay-Z saw him at a “freak off” has changed his mind.
Manzaro Joseph, who sued Diddy earlier this month, just filed an amended lawsuit — and while he’s still going after Diddy in court, he’s very noticeably dropped the Carters from his narrative.
In the new docs, Joseph makes ZERO mention of Jay or Beyoncé — and as far as we can tell, that’s the only change he’s made to the lawsuit. TMZ broke the story … Joseph originally claimed the couple saw him in one helluva state during a 2015 birthday party in Miami for Diddy’s son, King Combs.
Joseph alleged Diddy drugged him and paraded him around the party while forcing him to wear an X-rated mask … and when Jay and Beyoncé saw him, she said, “Why is this half-naked white man with a c**k mask standing here in front of me?”
There’s a reason that story does not appear in the new version of the lawsuit. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, warned Joseph’s attorney about making false allegations in the lawsuit — after proving to him Jay and Bey were nowhere near Miami at the time of the alleged incident.
Justin Bieber’s trying something new at Coachella this year … hosting a private party for his wife and some Hollywood friends … and it’s on the festival fairgrounds.
Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Justin goes to Coachella every year and this time he thought it would be fun to host his own private event for his friends.
We’re told the party is going down tonight … and it’s going to be a fun, private time with Hailey Bieber and their friends.
Justin won’t be grabbing the mic and there aren’t any performers booked, but that’s for a reason … the festival will still be going on, and Justin and his buddies will be able to hear the music.
Luigi Mangione says Uncle Sam wants to kill him as a political stunt … and his defense is calling on a judge to stop the feds from pursuing the death penalty if he’s convicted.
In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Luigi’s attorneys claim the federal case against him is political, arbitrary, capricious and breaks from established death penalty protocol.
Photo: Instagram / @thejusticedept
Luigi’s defense also rips a social media post from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department … claiming the post makes it look like Luigi’s already been found guilty.
The post reads … “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America. After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
Luigi’s lawyers say Bondi is tainting the potential grand jury pool with her public statements … and they claim she’s only seeking the death penalty because the man Luigi is accused of killing is a health care CEO.
Sam Altman, left, and Elon Musk. Muhammed Selim Korkutata | Anadolu | Getty Images
A group of 12 ex-OpenAI staffers, in support of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the artificial intelligence startup, asked a court’s permission on Friday to share their concerns about the company’s transformation into a for-profit entity.
The individuals collectively worked at OpenAI between 2018 and 2024, which covers “the organization’s formative years through its more recent development,” the request said. The brief was filed with a district court in California by Lawrence Lessig, who is representing the group.
The purpose of the request is to support Musk’s arguments in his case against OpenAI and his effort to keep the AI research project, which Musk co-founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, from transforming into a for-profit entity.
“If the OpenAI Nonprofit agreed to a change in the OpenAI corporate structure which took away its controlling role, that would fundamentally violate its mission,” the filings says.
OpenAI, led by CEO Sam Altman, has been commercializing products in recent years, most notably its viral ChatGPT chatbot, which was launched in late 2022. The company is still overseen by a nonprofit parent and has faced significant hurdles in its goal to restructure into a for-profit, due largely to Musk, who has become one of Altman’s chief adversaries and now has his own rival startup, xAI.
A Musk-led group offered to buy OpenAI in February for $97.4 billion, an bid that was swiftly rejected. Last month, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank at a $300 billion valuation, the largest private tech funding on record.
OpenAI’s hybrid structure includes a capped-profit limited partnership created in 2019. The original nonprofit is the controlling shareholder and would be spun out as an independent entity if the company restructures. OpenAI’s venture backers have received convertible notes that would turn into equity.
In the Friday brief, Lessig wrote that, in addition to abandoning its original mission, the conversion to a for-profit company would “breach the trust of employees, donors, and other stakeholders who joined and supported the organization” based on its commitments.
The ex-staffers named in the brief are Steven Adler, Rosemary Campbell, Neil Chowdhury, Jacob Hilton, Daniel Kokotajlo, Gretchen Krueger, Todor Markov, Richard Ngo, Girish Sastry, William Saunders, Carrol Wainwright and Jeffrey Wu. Some have spoken out about their experiences at OpenAI in the past.
The filing said the named parties also “have a significant interest in this litigation as it addresses fundamental questions about OpenAI’s mission and organizational structure that they helped shape during their employment.”
Despite Russia playing down expectations of a breakthrough at the talks, Sky’s Ivor Bennett believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Vladimir Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress”.
Putin meets US envoyDonald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Russia – as the US president called on Moscow to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, visited Mr Putin in St Petersburg after earlier meeting the Russian leader’s international co-operation envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Mr Witkoff at the city’s presidential library at the start of the latest discussions about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine.
Before Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down expectations of a breakthrough and told state media the visit would not be “momentous”.
However, Sky News Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said he believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Mr Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress on peace talks”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump issued his latest social media statement on trying to end the war, writing on Truth Social: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Dialogue between the US and Russia, aimed at agreeing a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war, has recently appeared to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause.
Secondary sanctions could be imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, Mr Trump has said, if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a deal.
Mr Putin has said he is ready in principle to agree a full ceasefire, but argues crucial conditions have yet to be agreed – and that what he calls the root causes of the war have yet to be addressed.
The Russian president wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas, and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and for the size of its army to be limited.
Zelenskyy renews support calls after attack on home city
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot air defence systems after the deaths of 20 people, including nine children, who were killed when a Russian missile hit apartment buildings and a playground in his home city of Kryvyi Rih last week.
Speaking online at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of about 50 nations that provide military support to Ukraine, named after a previous meeting at America’s Ramstein air base in Germany in 2022, Mr Zelenskyy said recent Russian attacks showed Moscow was not ready to accept and implement any realistic and effective peace proposals.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance walks with Col. Susannah Meyers, commander of the U.S. military’s Pituffik Space Base, as they tour the base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Col. Susannah Meyers, commander of the US military’s Pituffik Space Base, was removed from command on April 10, 2025, according to a statement released by the Space Operations Command. JIM WATSON/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
The U.S. military has fired the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland following a visit there by Vice President JD Vance and said it would not tolerate actions that “subvert” President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The Pentagon did not specify what exactly Colonel Susan Myers did but her dismissal, disclosed late on Thursday, followed publication of an email she wrote that questioned Vance’s assertions during his visit to the base last month.
Vance had accused Denmark of failing to protect Greenland from “very aggressive incursions from Russia, and from China and other nations,” without detailing the alleged aggression.
“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” Myers wrote, according to the news website military.com.
Reuters could not reach Myers for comment.
Trump has frequently said that the United States has a security imperative to acquire the island, which has been controlled by Denmark since 1721.
The Pentagon said she was fired due to a loss of trust and confidence. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, wrote on X: “Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.”
The Pentagon has been firing officers since Trump took office in January, in what appears to be a widening national security purge that has included the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy admiral and the military’s top lawyers. Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-fires-greenland-base-commander-after-vance-visit-2025-04-11/
A woman gestures, near tributes for victims of Jet Set nightclub roof collapse, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Dominican government released a report on Friday on the deadly roof collapse at a packed nightclub earlier this week that left at least 221 people dead.
The report did not clarify the causes of the tragedy, while a team of national and international experts is expected to continue investigating the structural failure.
The collapse occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday at the Jet Set nightclub during a crowded concert by merengue singer Rubby Perez, who was among those killed.
More than 4,500 emergency workers were deployed to the scene, working for nearly 59 hours after the tragedy to search for survivors, recover bodies and assist families.
A total of 189 people were rescued from the rubble, while 17 people still remain hospitalized, the national health service said.
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) said the venue was at full capacity, though the exact number of attendees and the cause of the collapse remain under investigation.
Local media and ticketing sites indicate the club could accommodate between 700 and 1,000 people.
As families continue to mourn their loved ones, the National Institute of Forensic Pathology is still working to identify the victims and return remains to relatives.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the creation of an annual competitive Academy Award for achievement in stunt design, beginning with the 100th Academy Awards in 2028 for films released in 2027.
Director and producer David Leitch (“The Fall Guy,” “Bullet Train,” “Deadpool 2”) led the initiative on behalf of the stunt community to institute the new official Oscar category. Leitch started as a stunt performer and coordinator before making the leap to directing, as well as founding his 87North Productions banner with Kelly McCormick. Leitch and stunt coordinator and designer Chris O’Hara of Stunts Unlimited and others made several presentations to the Academy, leading to the Board of Governors approving the new awards category today.
“Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of filmmaking,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang. “We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.”
In a statement, Leitch said, “Stunts are essential to every genre of film and rooted deep in our industry’s history—from the groundbreaking work of early pioneers like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin, to the inspiring artistry of today’s stunt designers, coordinators, performers, and choreographers.” He went on to say, “This has been a long journey for so many of us. Chris O’Hara and I have spent years working to bring this moment to life, standing on the shoulders of the stunt professionals who’ve fought tirelessly for recognition over the decades. We are incredibly grateful. Thank you, Academy.”
Chad Stahelski (“John Wick”) told Variety, “It’s humbling and we feel very honored to be honored where some of the best in the industry go.” He went on to say, “I think it’s much more of an achievement. You’re talking over 100 years of stunt performances. The department has been around since the very inception of films. It’s very nice to see that the Academy has really heard the voices of the stunt committee, and not only did they come back with an award, I think they did a really interesting thing with giving a Stunt Design Award, as opposed to an individual performer, because our department is one of the most collaborative and intricate of all the departments.”
Category rules for eligibility and voting for the inaugural award will be announced in 2027 with the complete 100th Academy Awards Rules. The specifics of the award’s presentation will be determined by the Academy’s Board of Governors and executive leadership at a future date.
More than 100 stunt professionals are members of the Academy’s production and technology branch. The last new award category created was achievement in casting, established in 2024. It will begin with next year’s 98th Academy Awards for films released in 2025.
In a statement to Variety, Jeff Wolfe, president of the Stuntmen’s Association, said, “I can’t express enough how thrilled and proud we are to see the Academy recognize the art and craft of stunt action design with its own Oscar category. This is a historic moment for our community. For decades, stunt performers, coordinators, and action designers have played a crucial role in shaping the cinematic experience, often putting their bodies on the line to bring unforgettable moments to the screen. This recognition validates the passion, innovation, creativity and hard work that go into every fall, fight, and fireball. It’s not just a win for our industry — it’s a win for storytelling.”
A woman in Australia has unknowingly given birth to a stranger’s baby, after her fertility clinic accidentally implanted another woman’s embryos into her.
The mix-up at Monash IVF in Brisbane, Queensland has been blamed on human error, Australian media reports.
“On behalf of Monash IVF, I want to say how truly sorry I am for what has happened,” CEO Michael Knaap said, adding that everyone at the fertility clinic was “devastated” at the mistake.
Last year, the same clinic paid a A$56m (£26.8m) settlement to hundreds of patients whose embryos were destroyed despite them being viable.
According to a spokesperson for Monash IVF, staff became aware of the problem in February when the birth parents asked to transfer their remaining frozen embryos to another clinic.
Monash has confirmed that an embryo from another patient had been mistakenly thawed and transferred to the wrong person, resulting in the birth of a child.
The clinic has launched an investigation and Mr Knaap said the clinic was confident it was an isolated incident.
Monash said when the incident was discovered it activated its crisis management team and within a week the Brisbane clinic started meeting affected patients to apologise and offer them support, the firm said.
The company has also reported the incident to relevant regulators, including the
Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee, and also voluntarily reported the incident to the new Queensland assisted reproductive technology regulator.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin is the UK’s most senior military officer
The head of the British armed forces has visited China for the first time in a decade.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin discussed “issues of common concern” with China’s military leaders in Beijing, its defence ministry said in a short statement.
“We agreed that in an unstable world we must play our part as responsible nations with global interests,” Sir Tony wrote on X, “and we reflected on the importance of military-to-military communications”.
The last time a Chief of the Defence Staff visited China was in 2015. Since becoming prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer has sought to strengthen ties with the country.
The admiral’s visit coincided with the escalation of an intense trade war between China and the US after President Trump’s announcement of higher tariffs.
Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed on Thursday that the trip had happened earlier this week.
“It’s always good to have military to military engagement and that is what he was establishing”, Healey told reporters in Brussels.
He said that the admiral’s visit followed in the footsteps of one made recently by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who became only the second foreign secretary to visit China in six years when we went in October last year.
Healey said that in the discussions the admiral was “very firm in the arguments about peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific” region “and concerns about any use of military aggression or assertiveness to pursue political ends”.
Healey did not specifically mention Taiwan, where China has launched major military drills which have been seen as provocation towards the island and wider region.
Barack and Michelle Obama have faced divorce rumours for months
Michelle Obama has spoken out against rumours that her marriage to Barack Obama might be in trouble.
The former first lady has not accompanied her husband to several high-profile events – including Donald Trump’s inauguration and the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter – fuelling speculation that they might be separating.
Without explicitly mentioning these occasions, Mrs Obama told the Work in Progress podcast hosted by actress Sophia Bush that she was now in a position to control her own calendar as a “grown woman”.
She said that people were not able to believe that she was “making a decision” for herself and instead “had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing”.
Mrs Obama shared that she felt some guilt for stepping back from certain duties.
“That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with like disappointing people,” she said.
“I mean, so much so that this year people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”
Mrs Obama also said in the podcast: “I chose to do what was best for me. Not what I had to do. Not what I thought other people wanted me to do.”
While her absence from President Trump’s inauguration was seen as a break from tradition, she did give a high-profile speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this past summer.
“Hope is making a comeback,” she told a Chicago crowd of thousands at the DNC, as she urged them to throw their weight behind then-presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs, and possibly sanctions against Mexico, if it continues to rob South Texas farmers of Rio Grande water promised under a decades-old treaty.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump proclaimed that Mexico owes Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, though Mexico was violating their obligation.
“This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly,” the president wrote. “Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers. Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed, but Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the Farmers. THAT ENDS NOW!”
Trump continued, saying he will make sure Mexico does not violate treaties with the U.S. and hurt farmers in Texas.
President Donald Trump threatened sanctions and tariffs on Mexico if it fails to comply with the 1944 Water Treaty, which guarantees water into South Texas for farmers. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“Just last month, I halted water shipments to Tijuana until Mexico complies with the 1944 Water Treaty,” he said. “My Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas Farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!”
Texas farm groups warned of a disastrous season ahead of them for citrus and sugar, last year, as Mexican and U.S. officials tried to resolve a dispute over the 1944 water treaty that supplies U.S. farmers with critical irrigation.
The two countries have tussled over the treaty before, but the drought-driven water shortages were the most severe in nearly 30 years.
Under the treaty designed to allocate shared water resources, Mexico is required to send 1.75 million acre-feet of water from the Rio Grande to the U.S. over a five-year cycle.
Texas’s half-billion-dollar citrus industry is heavily dependent on water from Mexico, especially with drought conditions growing more severe in the region. In fact, Texas is the third-largest citrus state behind California and Florida.
Last month, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted that it was denying a request from Mexico to deliver water to Tijuana.
Excellent. As I said yesterday, this option is absolutely what the Trump administration needs to pressure Mexico to fulfill its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty.
Texas farmers are in crisis because of Mexico’s noncompliance. I will work with the Trump administration to… https://t.co/s5sf7DYPg6
“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture – particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley,” the agency wrote on X. “As a result, today for the first time, the U.S. will deny Mexico’s non-treaty request for a special delivery channel for Colorado River water to be delivered to Tijuana.”
The day before, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., said South Texas was facing a water crisis, which he called a “man-made crisis.”
He also noted that he was leading the fight in the Senate to hold Mexico accountable and abide by the treaty to deliver water to farmers in South Texas.
He shared the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs’ post, calling the move, “excellent.”
In February, Elon Musk made a $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s acquisition. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well for the tech billionaire as Sam Altman replied with a cold “No, thank you” response.
The ChatGPT maker wants to teach Musk a lesson. Recently, it sued Musk in a countersuit that alleges that the Tesla owner is engaged in bad-faith practices to stall the company’s progress and hijack its AI technology for his own benefit.
In a recent document, OpenAI lawyers contend that Musk’s persistent onslaught against the company, a recent “hostile takeover bid” included, is a concerted effort to impede OpenAI’s mission and future development.
The countersuit, which was brought on Wednesday, April 9, claims Musk should be restrained from taking any additional illegal action and held liable for the damage already done to the AI company.
Elon Musk, formerly a co-founder of OpenAI, has been in “bad terms” with the company since last year. In his first lawsuit, he accused OpenAI of becoming detached from its purpose of creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for humanity and becoming interested in generating profits.
Musk’s role, which has continuously questioned the direction of the company, eventually led to him taking legal action against OpenAI.
OpenAI For-Profit Mission
In December, OpenAI released a blog post titled “Elon Musk Wanted an OpenAI for-profit,” which underlined the sharp contrast in vision between Musk and the present leadership. The post presented evidence that Musk’s aspiration for a more profit-oriented model had been a key factor in the legal conflict, The Verge reported.
Musk’s $97 Billion Offer Was Rejected
In early 2025, Elon Musk made another significant move, offering a staggering $97.4 billion to purchase OpenAI. Musk framed the offer as an opportunity to restore OpenAI’s original mission to be an open-source, safety-focused organization. However, the offer was swiftly rejected by OpenAI’s board, calling it a “sham bid.”
He even threatened to drop the takeover bid if OpenAI’s nonprofit status remained.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te speaks at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou, on Kinmen island, Taiwan, on Oct 25, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Annabelle Chih)
Taiwan is to be included in the first batch of trading partners to hold talks with the United States, President Lai Ching-te said on Friday (Apr 11), vowing to be ready for the discussions.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries while further ramping up pressure on China. Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer, was due to be hit with 32 per cent tariffs.
Countries around Asia have already said they have begun or are preparing to begin talks with Washington over the tariffs, and the White House has said nearly 70 countries have reached out to begin negotiations.
“We are in the first batch of negotiations, and the government will be well prepared,” Lai told business leaders in the central Taiwanese city of Taichung, in comments broadcast live by local media, without offering a timeframe.
“Taiwan’s desire to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with the United States over the past years can be (fulfilled) by taking this opportunity,” he added.
The office of the United States Trade Representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of office hours in Washington.
Lai on Sunday offered zero tariffs as a basis point for talks with the United States, saying Taiwan would buy more from and invest more in the country.
Taiwan, home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker TSMC, has long sought a free trade deal with the United States.
Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino looks on as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signs a bilateral agreement, in Panama City on Apr 9, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Franco Brana)
US troops will be able to deploy to a string of bases along the Panama Canal under a joint deal seen by AFP on Thursday (Apr 10), a major concession to President Donald Trump as he seeks to reestablish influence over the vital waterway.
The agreement, signed by top security officials from both countries, allows US military personnel to deploy to Panama-controlled facilities for training, exercises and “other activities”.
The deal stops short of allowing the United States to build its own permanent bases on the isthmus, a move that would be deeply unpopular with Panamanians and legally fraught.
But it gives the US broad sway to deploy an unspecified number of personnel to bases, some of which Washington built when it occupied the canal zone decades ago.
Trump, since returning to power in January, has repeatedly claimed that China has too much influence over the canal, which handles about 40 per cent of US container traffic and 5 per cent of world trade.
His administration has vowed to “take back” control of the strategic waterway that the US funded, built and controlled until 1999.
The US has long participated in military exercises in Panama.
However, a longer-term rotational force – such as the one the US maintains in Darwin, Australia – could prove politically toxic for Panama’s center-right leader Jose Raul Mulino.
“COUNTRY ON FIRE”
Mulino was on Thursday in Peru, where he revealed that the US had asked to have its own bases.
Mulino said he had told visiting Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that US bases, allowed under an earlier draft, would be “unacceptable”.
He warned Hegseth: “Do you want to create a mess, what we’ve put in place here would set the country on fire.”
In the watered-down “Memorandum of Understanding”, signed by Hegseth and Panama’s security chief Frank Abrego on Wednesday, Panama won its own concessions.
The US recognised Panama’s sovereignty – not a given following Trump’s refusal to rule out an invasion – and Panama will retain control over any installations.
Panama will also have to agree to any deployments.
But given Trump’s willingness to rip up or rewrite trade deals, treaties and agreements, that might offer little succor to worried Panamanians.
The country has a long and difficult relationship with the US.
They have close cultural and economic ties, despite the decades-long US occupation of the canal zone and US invasion 35 years ago to overthrow dictator Manuel Noriega.
That invasion killed more than 500 Panamanians and razed parts of the capital.
A US ballerina who was locked up under Vladimir Putin’s evil regime and sentenced to 12 years in jail has been released in a prisoner swap deal.
Ksenia Karelina has been in a Russian jail since last year after pleading guilty to donating just £40 to a pro-Ukraine charity.
Karelina was handed over to the US as part of a prisoner exchange deal in Abu Dhabi.
Russia were handed Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen, in return.
He was arrested in 2023 for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and a senior Russian intelligence official arranged the deal, according to a CIA official.
After greeting Karelina in the Middle East, Ratcliffe released a statement where he praised both Donald Trump, the United Arab Emirates government and the CIA for securing the release of the ballerina.
He told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ): “Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia.
“I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of UAE for enabling the exchange.”
The latest in a range of prisoner exchanges between the US and Russia in recent months comes as the two nations continue to grow closer to securing peace in Ukraine.
Despite the latest swap being a success a CIA spokesperson was clear that the US will continue to apply pressure on Moscow to release all US citizens imprisoned.
They announced: “The exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.
“While we are disappointed that other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russia, we see this exchange as a positive step and will continue to work for their release.”
Why was Karelina jailed?
Russia accused Karelina of committing treason after she donated the £40 to a charity which had links to the Ukrainian military.
The Los Angeles resident pleaded guilty at her closed trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last week.
Her case was heard by the same court that wrongfully convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July.
Ballerina and aesthetician Karelina was visiting family in Russia in January when she was snatched by the FSB and detained.
She was later seen in footage released by Russia handcuffed and with a beanie over her eyes as she awaited a hearing.
Last year, wrongly imprisoned WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich was finally freed after being held by the Russian government for 491 days.
Evan was wrongfully detained in March 2023 while working as a journalist in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused him of spying for the US and he was convicted during a sham trial last month.
He faced up to 16 years in a Russian prison.
But the journalist finally journeyed home with two other Americans unfairly held in Russia as part of a prisoner swap this month.
Russian-American editor for Radio Free Europe, Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, and former US Marine Paul Whelan, 54, accompanied Evan in his release from Russian custody.
American school teacher Marc Fogel was also released from a Russian prison after being jailed over trumped-up drug charges in February.
An Australian comedian has canceled her visit to the U.S. over concerns that she could be targeted at the border because of her past jokes about Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Alice Fraser, who has appeared on the BBC and undertaken previous international tours, had planned to come to New York City in May to promote her book, according to The Guardian. She was going to apply for an 0-1B visa, which allows individuals with “extraordinary ability” in the arts to live and work in America.
However, she sought the input of an immigration lawyer after seeing that people had been denied entry to the U.S. for criticism of the president.
Some people have even been detained while trying to take a vacation.
“I asked [the lawyer] what I thought was a ridiculous question—that I do political satire and have a fair few jokes floating around on Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and whether that would be a risk,” she told The Guardian.
While Fraser thought she was being “paranoid,” the lawyer told her that increased scrutiny of those entering the U.S. was a real concern. The authorities were likely to Google her, and there was a possibility it could pose a risk.
Fraser said that she might have been more open to accepting that risk if she didn’t have two children to take care of.
“The vision of me being there with a baby strapped to me and held up and hassled, or worse,” she said, “I’m not up for that.”
She had made jokes about Trump on publicly visible podcasts. “I wouldn’t take an IOU from Trump if he wrote it on the money he owed me,” she said in 2020.
A helicopter plummeted from the skies above New York City on Thursday, crashing into the Hudson River — and the terrifying incident was caught on video.
Multiple people have been killed, according to various local reports. Several shocked eyewitnesses recorded the chopper on video — a portion of it can be seen at the surface of the water …. while the rest appeared to be submerged.
According to police, the helicopter came down near Pier 40 at Hudson River Park, but closer to the New Jersey side of the river, shortly after 3 PM local time.
Witnesses reportedly described hearing a “loud thumping noise” at the time of the crash.
Val Kilmer’s cause of death has been revealed … the legendary actor died from pneumonia, TMZ has learned.
TMZ has obtained the death certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Health. Kilmer’s immediate cause of death has been confirmed as pneumonia. Underlying causes listed on the death certificate are acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure, and squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue.
Other contributing factors include malnutrition, and a tracheocutaneous fistula. We’ve also learned he was cremated on April 7.
Kilmer’s daughter told the New York Times he passed away on April 1 after battling pneumonia.
Kilmer had been dealing with serious health issues for years — after a throat cancer battle in 2015, he lost much of his voice. By the time of his final film role, “Top Gun: Maverick,” which came out in 2022, they had to use A.I. to recreate his voice.
TMZ also learned his health got increasingly bad in his final years — Kilmer was bedridden for months before he died.
A thunderstorm warning was in place when the incident took place, Japan’s NHK public television has said.
File pic: iStock
A lightning strike at a school playground has injured five students, leaving one unconscious, according to local media.
Students were playing football at a school in Nara, near Kyoto in western Japan, when the lightning struck and all five of those injured are believed to have been taken to hospital.
Quoting the police, Japan’s NHK public television said one 14-year-old boy was unconscious.
The other four students reported numbness in their limbs and were unable to speak smoothly, NHK added.
The channel said a team supervisor told police the lightning struck after a sudden downpour.
Zaya Perysian, a 22-year-old trans woman who is suing the Trump administration over the sex designation in her passport, poses for a portrait in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole Purchase Licensing Rights
When Zaya Perysian received her new passport in the mail in late January, she knew exactly who to blame for why it listed her, a transgender woman, as male: U.S. President Donald Trump.
First the California social media influencer took to TikTok to express her frustrations with what she called the “big ugly M” the U.S. State Department under Trump mandated her new passport feature. And then she sued, along with six other transgender and non-binary people who argue the policy is unconstitutional.
The 22-year-old is now waiting to see whether a federal judge in Boston agrees. The closely watched case is challenging a policy the department adopted in accordance with an executive order signed by the Republican president on his first day back in office.
That executive order directed the federal government to recognize only two, biologically distinct sexes – male and female – and directed the State Department to change its policies to only issue passports that “accurately reflect the holder’s sex.”
“This is something that has been forced upon me, basically,” Perysian said, in an interview with Reuters with her lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union present. “And it’s really unfair and kind of crazy, but that’s why we’re fighting it.”
The U.S. State Department declined to comment. The U.S. Department of Justice, which is defending the policy in court, did not respond to requests for comment.
The administration has argued the policy does not constitute unlawful sex discrimination, does not prevent transgender people from traveling abroad, and is vital to addressing the concerns Trump’s executive order raised that indeterminate definitions of sex undermine “longstanding, cherished legal rights and values.”
Perysian has lived as a transgender woman in all aspects of her life since 2020, according to court papers. She said she has had surgical procedures and had secured changes to other government documents like her driver’s license to match her gender identity.
She had submitted on January 23 an expedited application to update the sex designation on her passport to female. But by then, Trump was in office, and less than a week later her passport was returned to her with a notice stating her sex was “corrected on your passport application.”
“At the end of the day, I’m a woman, and I don’t care how many people agree or disagree,” she said. “I live every day as a woman. I surround myself with people who see me and respect me as a woman.”
The lawsuit she joined was filed by lawyers at the ACLU, who argued the policy unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender people and exposes them to potential harm if they travel abroad with passports reflecting a different sex designation to their gender identity.
“This executive order made it impossible for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans to have accurate federal identity documents, including their passports,” said ACLU attorney Sruti Swaminathan.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the policy reversed decades of practice at the State Department, which for more than 30 years allowed people to update the sex designation on their passports.
In 2022, Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration allowed passport applicants for the first time to choose “X” as a neutral sex marker on their passport applications, as well as being able to self-select “M” or “F” for male or female.
A man opens the door to a Prada store in New York City, U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper Purchase Licensing Rights
Prada struck a $1.38 billion deal to buy smaller rival Versace from Capri Holdings (CPRI.N), opens new tab on Thursday in a move that unites two of the biggest names in Italian fashion and offers the prospect of enhanced revenues.
Prada is seeking to expand, having defied a slowdown in luxury demand, while Versace has been operating at a loss in recent quarters.
Owning Versace, with its bold, baroque-style prints, will bring new customers to Prada, known for its minimalist style.
“There are no overlaps in terms of creativity, in terms of customers,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing director and a member of the family that controls Prada.
The merger strengthens Italy’s hand in a luxury industry led by French conglomerates, the biggest being Louis Vuitton owner LVMH (LVMH.PA), opens new tab.
“We will provide (Versace) with a strong platform, reinforced by years of ongoing investments and rooted in longstanding relationships,” Prada Chairman Patrizio Bertelli said in a statement.
Bertelli is the husband of Prada designer Miuccia Prada, and the couple are leading shareholders in the company.
Prada and Capri braved the uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and market volatility to sign the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Capri needed to divest Versace to focus on turning around its Michael Kors fashion brand, one of the sources said. For Prada, the bet on Versace comes at a time when it is looking to revive growth as its existing stable of brands start to mature, the source added.
Both Prada and Versace, which have global supply chains and boast of a widespread customer base, were willing to “swallow a bunch of geopolitical risk” to get the deal done, the source said.
The acquisition is a long-term project for Prada and is aimed mainly at expanding revenues rather than cost-savings, Prada Chief Executive Andrea Guerra told analysts in a conference call.
It follows the announcement on March 13 that Donatella Versace was stepping down as the chief creative officer of the brand founded by her late brother Gianni in 1978.
“Gianni and I have always had a huge admiration for Miuccia, Patrizio and their family,” Donatella said. “I am ready to support this new era for the brand in any way that I can.” DISCOUNT PRICE
Capri Holdings’ shares tumbled 9% in New York and are down nearly 30% since the start of 2025, with analysts noting the deal valuation was lower than expected.
The price Prada has agreed to pay for Versace, which includes debt, is a big discount to the roughly $2.15 billion including debt that U.S.-based Capri, then known as Michael Kors, paid for Versace in 2018 when it was sold by the Versace family and Blackstone.
Prada started to explore a deal for Versace last year when Capri’s sale to Tapestry (TPR.N), opens new tab, whose brands include Coach and Kate Spade, was scrapped after being challenged by antitrust regulators, a second source said.
The purchase price of $1.4 billion for Versace barely changed since negotiations progressed seriously in January, the sources added.
“This transaction reflects our commitment to increase shareholder value, strengthen our balance sheet and power the future growth of Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo,” said Capri CEO John Idol.
Prada said it had committed to 1.5 billion euros of new debt to fund the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of the year.
The deal comes at a time when several acquisitions and IPOs have been scuttled in the wake of a global equity sell-off and fears of recession triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs this month.
The island’s population might not be easily convinced as the president tries to clinch one of history’s greatest real estate deals.
Greenland’s economic and strategic value have grown as warming temperatures melt Arctic ice.Credit…Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated PressPresident Trump’s longtime goal of claiming Greenland for America has shifted from rhetoric to official U.S. policy as the White House moves forward on a formal plan to acquire the Arctic island from Denmark.
The plan mobilizes several cabinet departments behind Mr. Trump’s years of talk about wanting Greenland, whose economic and strategic value have grown as warming temperatures melt Arctic ice.
Greenland’s size — 836,330 square miles — also offers Mr. Trump, a former Manhattan developer, the chance to clinch one of history’s greatest real estate deals.
Danish officials angrily insist that the sparsely populated island is not for sale and cannot be annexed. But Mr. Trump has made clear his determination to control it.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it,” he said in an address to Congress last month.
“One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Mr. Trump added.
The White House’s National Security Council has met several times to put Mr. Trump’s words into action, and recently sent specific instructions to multiple arms of the government, according to a U.S. official.
The plan’s full details are unclear. But despite Mr. Trump’s allusions to the possible use of force, the deliberations led by the security council never seriously considered military options, the official said.
The policy instead emphasizes persuasion over coercion, and features a public relations effort aimed at convincing Greenland’s population of 57,000 that they should ask to join the United States.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have discussed using advertising and social media campaigns to sway public opinion on the island, according to another person briefed on the matter.
It may be an uphill battle. In an election last month, an opposition political party that favors quick independence and closer ties with the United States finished in second place but with just a quarter of the vote.
The U.S. messaging campaign will include an unlikely appeal to Greenlanders’ shared heritage with the native Inuit people of Alaska, nearly 2,500 miles away, the official said.
Greenland’s Inuit population is descended from people who migrated from Alaska hundreds of years ago, and the island’s official language is derived from Inuit dialects that originated in Arctic Canada.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have already begun making their public case, arguing that Denmark has been a poor custodian of the island, that only the United States can protect it from encroachment by Russia and China, and that America will help Greenlanders “get rich,” as Mr. Trump has put it.
The Trump administration is also reminding Greenland that the United States has defended it before.
Last month, Mr. Trump posted a slick 90-second video on social media celebrating the “blood and bravery” of U.S. troops who took positions on the island during World War II to prevent a feared Nazi invasion after Germany occupied Denmark.
Although Denmark hoped that American forces would leave after the war, they never did, and the United States still maintains a military base there.
The Trump administration is also studying financial incentives for Greenlanders, including the possibility of replacing the $600 million in subsidies that Denmark gives the island with an annual payment of about $10,000 per Greenlander.
Some Trump officials believe those costs could be offset by new revenue from the extraction of Greenland’s natural resources, which include rare earth minerals, copper, gold, uranium and oil.
Trump officials argue that American capital and industrial might can gain access to the island’s largely untapped mineral wealth in a way that Denmark cannot. “This is about critical minerals,” Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, told Fox News in January. “This is about natural resources.”
Marina Kausar wasn’t sure what to call the three-month break she took after quitting her job.
After working in a series of jobs in finance and technology, Ms. Kausar, 30, was feeling stressed and overworked. In December 2023, with a bit of savings built up, she quit without another position lined up to focus on things that had fallen to the wayside while she was focused on work.
“I had more time to work out. I was eating better, sleeping better. It was just like a full reset,” said Ms. Kausar, who lives in Houston. “For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have this looming cloud of ‘work.’”
Eventually, she came across a term for her hiatus that resonated with her: “micro-retirement.”
For most people in the United States, being able to save enough money to not have to work is a faraway ideal. That anxiety, especially for people closer to retirement, has only risen as stock markets have grown more volatile in response to President Trump’s global tariffs.
Discontented employees who do not have the means to leave the work force have turned to “quiet-quitting,” “acting your wage” or simply using their vacation days.
Now, many younger workers are opting not to wait until retirement, and are leaving an extended gap between jobs to invest in other parts of their life. But not everyone wants to call it a sabbatical: Some people prefer the term “mini-retirement” or “micro-retirement.”
“Sabbaticals are seen as the thing that an organization offers to you for paid time off, and then you come back to that job,” said Kira Schabram, an assistant professor at the University of Washington who is researching such breaks. “People are just taking it into their own hands.”
A “mini-retirement” can take on many forms: taking extra time after being laid off to consider other paths, asking for unpaid leave (and not necessarily with a guarantee of a return) or building in a long stretch after voluntarily leaving a job.
Of course, many people cannot afford to take time out of the work force, and Dr. Schabram said that those who do take these breaks tend to be much more financially stable.
But for the workers who can manage it, she believes the “micro-retirement” is on the rise.
‘I have less fear of change.’
Sandra De La Cruz was 25 when she took about four months off work in 2015. She was an assistant project manager in the construction industry at the time, and had saved about $12,000 while living with her parents.
Her parents thought she could put that money toward buying a home, but Ms. De La Cruz, who was born in Peru and now lives in Hartford County, Conn., wanted to travel to South America instead. “This might be the only period in my life that I could just pick up and go without really hurting anyone,” she thought to herself at the time.
After paying about six months’ worth of her student loans in advance, she went to Peru to see her relatives for a month and then hopped around hostels in South America.
“There’s been a few times in my life that I felt that happy,” Ms. De La Cruz, now 35, said. “You don’t dread waking up and having to go to work. You just wake up and see where the day takes you.”
She was careful not to burn any professional bridges, and said her parents were willing to cover her student loans as a last resort if she ended up using all her savings. She found a job back in construction a month after she returned.
These days, Ms. De La Cruz is working as a contract analyst. She credited her break in 2015 with giving her the confidence to navigate uncertainty in the workplace.
“I have less fear of change because I know that there are just so many other possibilities,” she said. “That was life-defining.”
‘I’m still trying to do what makes me happy’
In late 2022, Isabel Falls was living in New York City and feeling adrift.
“I just felt like I lost my inner compass,” said Ms. Falls, 27, who was working as a design researcher at the time and missed being closer to nature. “I wanted to feel a bit more like I was alive and living,” she said. She turned her attention to building up her savings and quit her job in May 2023 to take a year off.
“It’s a huge privilege to have been able to do it, and I really recognize that,” she said. But she wanted to put her savings toward traveling while she felt physically fit.
Ms. Falls did not have significant debt, and she knew she could move in with her parents if she ran out of money. While she traveled on a backpacking budget, she considered other directions for her career.
Almost two years later, Ms. Falls is in Mexico — at least for the time being — and working on a freelance basis for a travel agency. The flexibility of the job was enticing, she said, and she is still figuring out what her future looks like. Most of her belongings are still in a shed at her mother’s house in Washington State, she said.
“I’m making definitely less than I was before,” she said. “I’m not in the mind-set of, ‘Let me grind as hard as I can right now so that I can retire at 55,’ or whatever.” She sometimes compares herself to her peers who have more traditional career paths and wonders if she is behind.
But she is confident, she said, that she made the right decision for herself. “I can work and I can make money and I can save, and I can also live my life now,” she said. “I’m still trying to do what makes me happy rather than being in the grind of it all.”
THE president of Siemens’ Spanish branch Agustín Escobar, and his family have been identified as five of the six victims of the Hudson chopper crash.
Mr Escobar, along with his wife and three kids, tragically died after the tourist helicopter broke apart mid-air and crashed into icy cold water.
Helicopter wreckage bubbled under the surface of the Hudson River in New York City after a terrifying crashCredit: X/AvirbhawRakeshA video appeared to show the helicopter shattering into pieces before falling into the watersCredit: Bruce Wall
They died along with the pilot of the helicopter.
Terrifying videos show the chopper completely upside down and bubbling underneath the 50-degree water’s surface after the wreck.
The cause of the wreck hasn’t been confirmed, but eyewitness video showed the chopper shatter into pieces mid-air before it fell into the waters near the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey.
Fire crews first heard reports of the crash at 3:17 pm and rushed to the site to search for survivors on land and in the water, FDNY told The U.S. Sun.
Footage taken from the shore showed the bottom of the helicopter partially sticking out of the water as New York Police Department boats cruised to the wreck.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams has spoken at a press conference to give updates on the crash.
He said that “three adults and three children”, including the pilot, were on board the helicopter that took off from the Downtown Skyport about 3pm.
Adams said that initial information suggested the pilot and the family were visiting from Spain.
He continued: “All six victims have been removed from the water, and sadly, all six victims have been pronounced deceased.”
NYPD Comissioner Jessica Tisch said “the aircraft lost control” and crashed into the river.
A shaken witness described hearing a loud “snap” before he turned around and watched the tragedy unfold.
“I looked over […] and I could see a helicopter falling on its side and splash into the water,” he told WABC.
“I didn’t see anyone come out.”
Another witness, Sara Jean Raymond, said she was out training for a half marathon when she saw the crash.
“I was in shock. I tried to call 911, I could not reach anyone,” she told the local outlet.
“They were very fast, though. They were very fast to come here.
“I don’t know what happened, if the people survived or anything, but oh my God, you don’t see that very often.”
Eric Campoverde, who was also near the crash scene, said the entire incident lasted mere seconds.
“It was going fast. It fell in seconds, like the motor lost power. It took seconds to fall from the sky,” he told the New York Post.
“After the splash, the helicopter was above the water for a slight second, but it submerged very quickly. It was maybe on top of the water for three or four seconds before it went under. It was fast.”
The chopper has been identified as a Bell 206 by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A tour company called New York Helicopter owned and ran the helicopter, its CEO confirmed to Newsday.
Michael Roth said: “I am devastated… But you have to remember: It is a machine. Sometimes machines break.”
Flight data shows the helicopter took off from a Lower Manhattan heliport and then circled around Governor’s Island for a view of the Statue of Liberty.
Then, the chopper traveled up the Manhattan side of the river to the heights before moving back down along the Palisades to Jersey City.
This is a well-traveled tourist path that has dozens of trips a day.
The NYPD has warned that emergency vehicles are flocking the scene, and traffic may be backed up.
The Coast Guard has closed the Hudson River near the crash site.
That means vessels will not be able to pass through that stretch of the water.
According to the NYC emergency management department, “the US Coast Guard has established a safe zone on all navigable waters of the Hudson River one mile north and one mile south of the Holland Tunnel Ventilators.”
Boaters have been urged to find an alternative route until further notice.
Elon Musk took part in Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.
Elon Musk took part in the cabinet meeting (Image: Getty)
A handwritten message on a notepad spotted in front of Elon Musk during a televised Trump administration Cabinet meeting has left people baffled. Images posted on social media show the Tesla co-founder sitting around a table with senior members of US President Donald Trump’s Cabinet with the cryptic scribbling “top secret” in full view before him and the cameras.
It could be seen as a public riposte from the tech billionaire after a New York Times report published in March claimed Mr Musk was going to be briefed on “top secret” military plans drawn up in the event of a war between the US and China. According to the publication’s report, the briefing was to include 20 to 30 slides explaining how the US would fight a war with China. The Times cited two US officials it didn’t identify. Mr Trump dismissed the report. It raised conflict of interest questions, as Mr Musk has interests in China and with the Pentagon through some of his businesses.
The White House has said before that Mr Musk would recuse himself if any conflicts of interest were to arise because of his business interests and role in spearheading efforts to cut US federal government spending.
Alternatively, the “top secret” note may have been in reference to the announcement Mr Musk made during the Cabinet meeting.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.
It comes after a string of rulings on the court’s emergency docket where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda.
In Thursday’s case, Chief Justice John Roberts had already pushed back Xinis’ deadline. The justices also said that her order must now be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad. The court said the Trump administration should also be prepared to share what steps it has taken to try to get him back — and what more it could potentially do.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.
“The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by her two colleagues.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.
One of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenburg, said “tonight, the rule of law prevailed,” and he encouraged the government to “stop wasting time and get moving.”
In the district court, Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless.” There is little to no evidence to support a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang, Xinis wrote.
Videos show the US President, Vice President and Tesla CEO working on a production line
AI-generated videos depicting Donald Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk as factory workers have gone viral on social media.
The video shows the US President, Vice President and Tesla CEO working on a production line in an apparent dig at the White House’s attempt to revive American manufacturing.
Chinese accounts have been promoting the video amid an increasingly bitter trade war between Washington and Beijing.
It comes after the US president’s surprise announcement of a 90-day pause to hefty tariffs imposed on some countries brought respite to battered stock markets across the globe, including London’s FTSE 100.
But Trump has kept the pressure on China, the world’s No. 2 economy and second-biggest provider of US imports, by increasing tariffs on Chinese imports even higher to 145% in response to Beijing’s own 84% counter-tariffs.
China has rejected what it calls threats and blackmail from Washington.
Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yongqian told a regular press briefing on Thursday that China’s door was open to dialogue, but this must be based on mutual respect.
Beijing may again respond in kind after already imposing 84% tariffs on US imports on Wednesday to match Trump’s earlier salvo.
Trump, who claims the tariffs aim to fix US trade imbalances, said at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting that he thinks the US and China will work out “something that’s very good for both countries.”
China’s yuan hit its lowest level against the dollar on Thursday since the global financial crisis.
Last week, China’s state-run media shared AI-generated videos featuring dancing robots and fraught consumers to mock Trump over his tariffs.
Nineteen people survived the fire and were taken to hospital for observation
Twenty people have been killed in a fire at a nursing home in north-east China, state media report.
The blaze in Chengde city, Hebei province, broke out on Tuesday night local time and was extinguished in about two hours.
Nineteen people survived the fire and were taken to hospital for observation, reports say.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze, and a person in charge of the home has been detained. No other details were immediately available.
On social media, some called for a thorough investigation while others expressed sympathy for the elderly victims.
A full-scale trade war with China and the US is in prospect after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of more than 100% on Chinese goods imports.
China has said it will “fight to the end” rather than capitulate to what it sees as US coercion, and will hike its own tariffs on American goods from 34% to 84% in response to the White House’s latest move.
What does this escalating trade conflict mean for the world economy?
How much trade do they do?
The trade in goods between the two economic powers added up to around $585bn (£429bn) last year.
Though the US imported far more from China ($440bn) than China imported from America ($145bn).
That left the US running a trade deficit with China – the difference between what it imports and exports – of $295bn in 2024. That’s a considerable trade deficit, equivalent to around 1% of the US economy.
But it’s less than the $1tn figure that Trump has repeatedly claimed this week.
Trump already imposed significant tariffs on China in his first term as president. Those tariffs were kept in place and added to by his successor Joe Biden.
Together those trade barriers helped to bring the goods the US imported from China down from a 21% share of America’s total imports in 2016 to 13% last year.
So the US reliance on China for trade has diminished over the past decade.
Yet analysts point out that some Chinese goods exports to the US have been re-routed through south-east Asian countries.
For example, the Trump administration imposed 30% tariffs on Chinese imported solar panels in 2018.
But the US Commerce Department presented evidence in 2023 that Chinese solar panel manufacturers had shifted their assembly operations to states such as Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and then sent the finished products to the US from those countries, effectively evading the tariffs.
The new “reciprocal” Trump tariffs imposed on those countries will therefore push up the US price of a wide range of goods ultimately originating in China.
What do the US and China import from each other?
In 2024, the biggest category of goods exports from the US to China were soybeans – primarily used to feed China’s estimated 440 million pigs.
The US also sent pharmaceuticals and petroleum to China.
Going the other way, from China to the US, were large volumes of electronics, computers and toys. A large amount of batteries, which are vital for electric vehicles, were also exported.
The biggest category of US imports from China is smartphones, accounting for 9% of the total. A large proportion of these smartphones are made in China for Apple, a US-based multinational.
The US tariffs on China have been one of the main contributors to the decline in the market value of Apple in recent weeks, with its share price falling by 20% over the past month.
Justin Bieber went on a wild, unprovoked tirade against the paparazzi while heading into a coffee shop with friends.
In a video obtained by TMZ, the “Yummy” singer, who is in Palm Springs, Calif., ahead of weekend one of Coachella, immediately covered his face when he noticed photographers with their cameras and phones recording him.
“Good morning,” one photog said to Bieber, who replied, “No! Not good morning! You already know. Why are you here?”
The pop star then walked over to the paps and told them that they just “want money.”
Justin Bieber went on a wild, unprovoked tirade against the paparazzi while heading into a coffee shop with friends.
BACKGRID“Money, money, money, money, money,” he repeated while making the pay me gesture with his fingers.
“Get outta here, bro. Money, that’s all you want. You don’t care about human beings,” Bieber shouted while covering a man’s phone from recording him.
The “Peaches” crooner, 31, then told the men to leave.
“That’s all you care about, guys. Is money. You don’t care about people. Only money. … You don’t care about human beings,” he said as the photographers backed up from the coffee shop.
Bieber — who was sporting a tie-dye hoodie off one of his arms, dark-colored shorts, lime green-and-white checkered socks and lime green clogs — then turned around and walked into the eatery with his friends.
Page Six has reached out to Bieber’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The two-time Grammy winner’s rant comes less than a month after he admitted he had “anger issues” in a cryptic post online.
“I got anger issues too, but I wanna grow and not react so much smh,” he captioned the post with a facepalm emoji.
The photos he chose for the post included one of him with his face down wearing a hoodie, a snap of him when he was younger and one of cargo shipping containers on a screen with a small image of who appears to be his and wife Hailey Bieber’s 7-month-old son, Jack Blues.
The “Baby” singer has made headlines over the last few months over his concerning behavior, alleged drug use and the state of his marriage to Hailey.
In February, fans went into a frenzy when Justin exhibited “strange” behavior at the model’s Rhode skincare pop-up event in LA by shifting his weight back and forth and clinching onto his clothing.
An insider told Page Six that month that Hailey, 28, was “really concerned” for Justin and was not “sure how to manage things at this point.”
“Justin is going through a hard time, and Hailey is doing her best to be there for him, but there’s only so much she can do,” the source added.
Weezer bassist Scott Shriner’s wife, Jillian Shriner, was shot and booked for attempted murder in Los Angeles on Tuesday. jillianlauren/Instagram
Weezer bassist Scott Shriner’s wife, Jillian Shriner, was shot by cops and booked for attempted murder after interfering with a wild police chase in Los Angeles.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a hit-and-run on a freeway near the Eagle Rock neighborhood, according to a press release obtained by Page Six.
Three suspects involved fled the scene and headed toward a residential neighborhood where cops quickly barricaded off the area.
A woman, identified as Jillian, then allegedly came out of her home with a handgun.
The 51-year-old writer was allegedly told several times to drop her weapon. However, she refused and pointed it at officers.
She was then shot in an undisclosed area and ran into her home.
Jillian was later treated for her non-life-threatening gunshot wound at a local hospital and booked for attempted murder.
Her reps weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.
Jillian is a New York Times Bestselling author with several titles, including her 2010 novel “Some Girls: My Life in a Harem” and her 2023 book “Behold the Monster: Confronting America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer.”
Mark Zuckerberg (C), seen here attending the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, is expected to take the stand as Meta goes to trial over antitrust claims Photo: AFP
Barring any eleventh-hour intervention, social media juggernaut Meta will stand trial next week facing serious US government allegations that it abused its market power to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp before they could become competitors.
By moving forward, the trial in a Washington federal court dashes any hopes from Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg that the return of Donald Trump to the White House would see the government let up on the enforcement of antitrust law against Big Tech.
The Meta case is being made by the Federal Trade Commission, the powerful US consumer protection agency, and could see the owner of Facebook forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyout.
The case was originally made in December 2020, during the first Trump administration, and all eyes were on whether Trump would soften his stance against Big Tech during his second stint in the White House.
Zuckerberg, the world’s third-richest person, has made repeated visits to the White House as he tries to persuade the US leader to choose settlement instead of fighting the trial, a decision that would be extraordinary at this late stage.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson downplayed such possibilities, telling The Verge: “I think that the President recognizes that we’ve got to enforce the laws, so I’d be very surprised if anything like that ever happened.”
Zuckerberg’s lobbying efforts have included Trump inauguration fund contributions and overhauled content moderation policies favoring Republicans.
Even so, “I’m not sure Trump is persuaded that Zuckerberg is worthy of redemption,” said George Hay, an antitrust law professor at Cornell Law School.
While a White House intervention remains technically possible, it would require both presidential and FTC agreement that the case lacks merit, he added.
The Meta lawsuit represents just one of five major tech antitrust actions initiated by the US government recently. Google was found guilty of search market dominance abuse last August, while Apple and Amazon also face cases.
Zuckerberg, his former lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg, and a long line of executives from rival companies will be taking the stand over a trial that will last at least eight weeks and kicks off on Monday.
Central to the case is Facebook’s 2012 billion-dollar purchase of Instagram — then a small but promising photo-sharing startup designed for mobile phones that now boasts two billion active users.
An email from Zuckerberg cited by the FTC reveals the concerns: “The potential impact of Instagram is really scary and why we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this.”
The FTC argues Meta’s $19-billion WhatsApp acquisition in 2014 followed the same pattern, with Zuckerberg fearing the messaging app could either transform into a social network or be purchased by a competitor.
Meta’s defense will argue that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the blockbusters they are today, bearing little resemblance to their original versions.
They’ll also highlight that the FTC initially approved both transactions and shouldn’t be permitted a redo.
Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister slams US-led efforts to take away North Korea’s nuclear weapons, saying the idea of denuclearising the country was a ‘daydream’ Photo: AFP
Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister slammed US-led efforts to take away North Korea’s nuclear weapons, saying the idea of denuclearising the country was a “daydream”.
Her remarks come after the top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and the United States issued a statement on the sidelines of a NATO meeting last week in which they “reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearisation” of the isolated state.
In a statement published Wednesday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KNCA), the sister of ruler Kim Jong Un said that any discussion of convincing the North to give up its nuclear weapons is “nothing but a daydream that can never come true”.
“If anyone openly talks about dismantling nuclear weapons… it just constitutes the most hostile act of denying the sovereignty of the DPRK,” Kim Yo Jong said Tuesday.
“It only fully exposed the uneasiness of the US, Japan and the ROK, in a desperate plight of having to talk about ‘denuclearization’ in chorus,” she said, referring to the South by its official name.
The statement was Kim’s second in a little over a month.
In early March, she condemned Washington over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan, accusing US President Donald Trump’s administration of “carrying forward the former administration’s hostile policy”.
THIS is the terrifying moment a driver plunged a staggering 40ft from an unfinished bridge after following Google Maps on his phone.
CCTV footage shows the BMW flying over the bridge, slamming bumper-first onto the pavement and nearly flipping into oncoming cars.
The horror moment a driver is about to drive off an unfinished bridge while trying to follow Google MapsCredit: ViralPressThe shocking crash happened in Indonesia when the driver, Rudie Heru Komandono, accidentally took the wrong turn while following Google Maps.
The video captures the moment after 61-year-old Rudie shot through a gap in the concrete barriers.
His luxury sedan can be seen flying off the unfinished bridge and crashing onto the road 40 feet below.
Rudie had his smartphone set up on the dashboard of his black BMW 3 Series and was following directions to a friend’s address.
Google had mapped the new road and rerouted him away from the incomplete bridge.
But the changing directions on the car display confused Rudie so he drove on, resulting in him and his passenger, Endang Sri Wahyuni, 47, plunging off the bridge.
Medics later arrived at the scene on April 9 to treat Rudie and Endang, who both miraculously survived the crash.
Rudie said: “The road suddenly became dark and there were no other cars.
“Then I realised there was a problem when the car started falling and crashed on the ground.
“My friend said she is not getting in the car with me again. But it was not my fault – I was trying to follow the GPS on my phone, but it was confusing.
“I’m worried about the insurance for the car – I don’t think it can be repaired.”
Inspector Aswoko, Head of Gresik Police Traffic Unit’s Law Enforcement, said Rudie slipped into the restricted area through a gap in the traffic barriers.
As opposed to taking the lanes on either side to exit the elevated expressway, Rudie drove on to the unfinished bridge on the JI Tol Manyar – Mojokerto road.
Inspector Aswoko said: ‘The driver of the car was too focused on looking at Google Maps. He didn’t realise he had passed the barrier that was blocking access to the unfinished toll road.
“The driver and passenger have been treated by a doctor at the hospital and did not suffer serious injuries.
“They have been allowed to go home.”
He added: “Traffic officers have taken measures to prevent an incident from happening again.
“The construction company will also be interviewed to discover why the bridge was not fully sealed off.”
Since the incident, officers said they have closed the gap that the car had passed through and put up warning signs.
This comes as a motorcyclist fell to his death after a giant sinkhole unexpectedly opened up before him in the middle of a Seoul street.
Harrowing dash cam footage from a vehicle travelling behind him shows the biker plunging right into the sinkhole.
Meanwhile, a huge flammable tanker overturned and crashed on a highway in Brazil – drenching cars in a highly-flammable liquid.
CCTV footage shows the tanker erupting in a massive ball of flame before setting dozens of cars ablaze.
In total, 22 cars and three trucks were affected, and five people were injured.
Chinese fighter Zhang Renbo said it was his first combat experienceCredit: Telegram
MORE than a hundred Chinese soldiers are fighting alongside the Russians after being recruited on TikTok, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.
He said that Kyiv had details of more than 150 Chinese nationals deployed at the frontlines after claiming Ukraine’s army captured two Chinese citizens fighting in the eastern Donetsk region.
A video shared by Zelensky today showed a snippet from interrogations of the two captured Chinese fighters.
The clip also showed pictures of two Chinese passports – understood to belong to them.
In the short five-minute clip, one of the Chinese fighters, named Zhang Renbo, revealed details about his fight against the Ukrainians.
He said: “It was my first combat experience. I was given an AK-47. Before that I have never had a weapon.”
Zelesnky claimed Russia was seeking to recruit Chinese fighters by openly advertising on TikTok and other Chinese social networks.
The Ukrainian intelligence released a document containing the alleged names and passport details of 168 Chinese citizens that Kyiv said had been recruited by Russia’s army.
Zelensky said he believed there were “many more” and that further information was being gathered.
“It is clear how they recruit them. One of the schemes is through social media, in particular TikTok and other Chinese social networks, where Russians distribute commercials,” Zelensky said.
He did not accuse Beijing of having directly sent the soldiers, but said Chinese authorities were “aware” they were being recruited.
The president said: “The ‘Chinese’ issue is serious. There are 155 people with names and passport details who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine.”
“Beijing is aware of this.”
Zelensky had earlier published a video of one of two alleged captured Chinese citizens wearing military fatigues and with their hands tied off.
In the video, the prisoner mimicked combat sounds and uttered several words in Mandarin.
The Ukrainian army said Chinese ID cards and contracts for Russian military service had been found on them.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian had earlier rejected Zelensky’s previous claim that “many” Chinese citizens had been recruited by Russia to fight as “absolutely groundless”.
He said: “The Chinese government has always asked its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict [and] avoid involvement in armed conflicts in any form.”
He added that Beijing was verifying relevant information about the captured Chinese citizens with Kyiv.
Zelensky said he had received signals that Washington viewed Chinese nationals fighting for Russia as “unacceptable”.
It comes at a time when both the countries are involved in a brutal tit-for-tat war of trade.
The president added that China’s involvement in the war is a “clear signal” that Putin wants to drag the war.
“He is looking for a way to continue the war. This definitely requires a reaction. A reaction from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who wants peace.”
China is one of the biggest allies of Russia and has been accused by the West of helping Vladimir Putin with weapons.
However, Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations that it has helped the Kremlin fight against the Ukrainians.
An American Airlines flight was forced to turn around mid-way through its journey after a passenger began causing a disturbance over a wrong meal. Passengers on a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Milan on Monday said that a man began causing a commotion four hours into the flight, launching himself at an air stewardess and attempting to force his way into the pilot’s cabin. “Apparently, the whole thing started because of a meal choice they didn’t get. I guess they asked for it ahead of time,” Krystie Tomlinson, a passenger on the flight, said. Tomlinson said that the passenger also wanted to sit in the exit row but was denied since he had a baby with him, and “those two things are what pushed the person over the edge.” Passenger Michael Scigliano recalled that passengers were only being told there were technical issues on the plane, “which is even scarier.” As the flight made its way back to New York, he said that “we’ve got this crazy man” in the back of a full plane “unprotected, unrestrained,” with no air marshal on board. The flight left New York at around 7 p.m. and landed back in JFK International Airport at 3 a.m., the delay lasting around the same length as the approximately eight-hour journey from New York to Milan. Scigliano said that once back on solid ground, the airline “offered us nothing.” Tomlinson added: “I asked to use the American Airlines lounge to breastfeed and change. They said you can go in if you pay $79.” After spending the night at the airport, passengers were able to take off on a new flight Tuesday, 16 hours after their original departure time. Aviation trial attorney Robert Clifford said that “we don’t know all the things that the pilot knows,” and his decision to turn back was probably what he thought was “best.” A police source told CBS News that the man was released with no charges. More than 1,800 unruly passenger incidents were recorded in 2024, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
FBI Director Kash Patel has been quietly removed as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after he stopped showing up to facilities there, according to a report.
Patel, who remains in his FBI role, had not been “seen inside an ATF facility for weeks” and has been replaced by the U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, sources told NBC News. Driscoll will reportedly continue working in both roles.
Glenn Thrush, a New York Times reporter based in Washington, called the hush-hush swap of Patel for Driscoll “unusual.” He later reported the change was because Patel’s “plate was too full” at the FBI. A Department of Justice official confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that the change occurred.
NBC reported that workers at the bureau were “shocked and confused” by Patel’s removal. The network said an exact reason for the change is unknown, but it “had nothing to do with job performance.”
Patel, 45, was was sworn in as ATF’s acting director on Feb. 24, just days after he was sworn in as FBI director.
The nature of the FBI’s work makes it harder to gauge how busy Patel is behind the scenes, but he has gotten around a bit. He was dolled up in a camouflage vest, gray windbreaker, large gray sunglasses, and a matching camo baseball hat for a photo op last month that he proudly posted to X.
“I am 1000% behind this FBI,” he said.
Patel also found time on Friday to pop over to D.C.’s Capital One Arena to watch Alex Ovechkin tie Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals in NHL history. He was photographed in the owner’s box chatting with Gretzky.
News of Patel’s ATF departure came a day after NBC News reported his No. 2 at the FBI, the ex-MAGA podcaster Dan Bongino, had requested a security detail of as many as 20 FBI agents to protect him around the clock. His predecessors had no security detail.
Patel’s name and headshot were still on ATF’s website—which still listed him as acting director—as of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. He was also called out by name by Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday when she ordered him to review Joe Biden’s ban on pistol braces in his role of ATF’s acting director.
No need for Festival FOMO, ‘cuz TMZ has you covered … we’re taking you up close and personal to iconic Coachella landmarks The Rainbow Tower, AKA “Spectra,” and the Ferris Wheel, AKA “La Grande Wheel.”
Posing in front of the spiraling tower, you’ll stumble upon lots of reality TV stars like “Bachelor” babe Tayshia Adams and “Love Island”s Courtney Lynn. And don’t knock out sexy singers like “American Idol’s David Archuleta from gettin’ in on the fun!
Celebs like Alix Earle and Teresa Giudice are joining in for your VIP experience with our two trippy photo galleries that will hype you up and brighten your day!
Phones party first for the stars, so photo-proof of their presence in front of the seven-story tower … is #necessary!
Apple CEO Tim Cook inspects the new iPhone 16 during an Apple special event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Apple shares skyrocketed 15% on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on his administration’s “reciprocal tariffs,” which would have affected the company’s production locations in Vietnam, India and Thailand.
The rally added more than $400 billion to Apple’s market cap, which now stands just under $3 trillion. It was Apple’s best day since January 1998, when late founder Steve Jobs was the interim CEO and three years before the company unveiled the first iPod. At the time, Apple’s market cap was close to $3 billion.
Apple has been the most prominent name to get whacked by Trump’s tariffs. Before Wednesday, it was on its worst four-day trading stretch since 2000. Investors worried about Apple’s outlook because the company still makes the majority of its revenue from selling physical devices, which need to be imported into the U.S.
Most of Apple’s iPhones and other hardware products are still made in China, which was not exempt from tariffs on Wednesday. In fact, Trump increased tariffs on China to 125% on Wednesday, up from 54%.
China issued an 84% tariff on U.S. goods this week, raising the possibility that Apple could get caught up in a trade war and lose ground in China, its third-largest market by sales.
Apple has worked to diversify its supply chain to lessen reliance on China in recent years.
In a studio tucked inside a Shanghai mall, Shirley Chen is living out her K-pop idol dreams.
The 28-year-old is at Chen Go, a K-pop-inspired “idol experience centre”, where customers get a chance to live like their favourite stars, if only for a day.
Chen Rong, owner of Chen Go, poses at her shop where visitors dress up as K-Pop idols, in Shanghai, China, April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Opened last year by entrepreneur Chen Rong, the centre attracts about 40 customers daily who dance choreographed routines and pretend to sign autographs for imagined fans at a mock meet-and-greet.
Guests can choose from more than 200 outfits — some imported from South Korea, others custom-made — and step into carefully designed sets designed to resemble backstage dressing rooms and South Korean music programmes.
A full package, including the outfit, shoes, hair, and makeup, set visitors back 329 yuan ($45.01).
“This place is great because they prepared a lot of backgrounds, you can change clothes, put together some videos by yourself, and accomplish your dreams of being an idol,” said Chen, who travelled from Ningbo, south of Shanghai, to celebrate her upcoming birthday at Chen Go.
“When I was a child, I liked to dance. So you could say that I wanted to develop on a similar (idol) path. However, as I got older, my parents wanted me to do something that could make money. So they kind of killed my childhood dreams in the cradle.”
The two Chens are unrelated.
Founder Chen Rong is a K-pop fan too and her original plan was to open a photo studio mimicking an idyllic classroom with blackboards and desks, a nod to popular Korean reality TV shows where idols dress like high school students.
Global markets bounced back following the US president’s announcement, which he said came after people “were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid”.
US-China trade war takes another turnAsian markets have reacted positively after Donald Trump paused his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on most of America’s trading partners for 90 days, despite the US president increasing those on China to 125%.
There have been fears of a global recession and stock markets around the world had plummeted after Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday 2 April.
However, Japan’s Nikkei share average was up 8.2% by 3.50am BST, while the broader Topix had risen 7.5%.
Similarly, the S&P 500 stock index had jumped 9.5% and global markets bounced back following Mr Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the increased tariffs on nearly all trading partners would now be paused.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the “90-day pause” was for the “more than 75 countries” who had not retaliated against his tariffs “in any way”.
He added that during this period they would still have to pay a “substantially lowered” 10% tariff, which is “effective immediately”.
It is lower than the 20% tariff that Mr Trump had set for goods from the European Union, 24% on imports from Japan and 25% on products from South Korea.
The UK was already going to face a blanket 10% tariff under the new system.
Mr Trump said the increased 125% tariff on imported goods from China was “effective immediately”.
He added: “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
Hours after Mr Trump announced the pause on tariffs for most countries, a White House official clarified that this did not apply to the 25% duties imposed on some US imports from Mexico and Canada.
The tariffs were first announced in February and Mexico and Canada were not included in the “Liberation Day” announcements.
Hours before the 125% tariff on China was revealed, Beijing said it was increasing tariffs on US goods by 50%.
It meant tariffs of 84% would be enforced on US goods – up from the 34% China had previously planned.
China ‘want to make a deal’
Asked why he posted “BE COOL” on Truth Social hours before announcing his tariff pause, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House: “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line.”
“They were getting yippy, you know, were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” he added.
Mr Trump continued: “China wants to make a deal, they just don’t know how to go about it.
“[They’re] quite the proud people, and President Xi is a proud man. I know him very well, and they don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out.
“They’re in the process of figuring out, but they want to make a deal.”
With fewer people choosing the traditional route of tying the knot and starting a family, it’s no secret that the number of marriages and births is declining around the world. As a result, the fertility rate in the U.S. alone is at a historic low of 1.7 births per woman—lower than the 2.1 births needed to maintain a stable population.
Many countries are trying to tackle this by incentivizing couples to have children, but it seems the problem runs deeper—there’s been a dramatic uptick in people refraining from relationships altogether and choosing to remain single instead. In 2023, the number of single-person households in the U.S. peaked at 38.1 million, a record high at the time. Additionally, data from Pew Research Center revealed that 42 percent of adults were unpartnered in 2023, with women more likely than men to be single. In 2024, the number of single-person households rose to 38.5 million—29 percent of all U.S. households. For comparison, in 1974, one-person households represented just 19 percent of all households.
Monalyn Gracia/Corbis/VCG/GettyWhat’s causing this burgeoning singles movement? Robert VerBruggen, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and research fellow with the Institute for Family Studies, told Newsweek that, simply put, “single life has become more feasible and attractive” to younger generations.
He believes this cultural shift is a result of people’s options expanding, allowing millennials and Generation Zers to feel unafraid of following their own path, rather than the one they may feel has been set for them. Falling birth rates are a symptom of what’s been dubbed the “relationship recession,” leading to a singles pandemic.
Why Are People Staying Single?
One of the key reasons for the rise in singledom is how attractive it looks. Many view single people as the epitome of being young and carefree, and why should that be given up for marriage and children? “As marriage has been pushed later into life, our culture has glamorized the single life and made it unremarkable for people to be single for longer,” VerBruggen, of Wisconsin, told Newsweek.
TV shows like Friends and Sex and the City sold millennials the cosmopolitan dream of being unwed and liberated. Young women wanted to be independent like Carrie Bradshaw (if not for her shoe collection), while men wanted to be more like lothario Joey Tribbiani than monogamist Ross Geller.
For a long time, marriage was regarded as an insurance policy for women as they relied on men for income and stability. Fast-forward to now and women are forging their own paths and providing for themselves.
“Women can be far more financially stable alone than was once the case. Even among married couples, the trade-offs associated with having kids shift when both partners have good job opportunities,” VerBruggen continued.
“A rising standard of living and new technology contribute to the single life looking more attractive. Some men have fallen behind economically and even dropped out of the labor force, making them less attractive and marriageable in the eyes of potential wives.”
Multiple studies over the past decade have shown that poor and working-class men in the U.S. are the least likely of any group to be married and the most likely to be single.
What Are the Drivers Behind the Singles Trend?
While technology and social media provide us with an expansive world at our fingertips, it can also close us off from the real one. Many researchers agree that it plays a pivotal role in people struggling to forge relationships in the modern world.
VerBruggen suggested that it has “broken young people’s social lives” by changing how they interact. They don’t need to go out and see friends to stay connected anymore. They stay in touch by sending memes and Instagram Reels—that’s become the modern love language.
“Some of the clearest effects are in the dating market, where there’s been an overwhelming shift toward meeting partners online. That can help people find better matches from a bigger pool, but it can also make them cynical about the seemingly endless options. That can’t be good for relationships,” VerBruggen told Newsweek.
Another factor is that young people face a delayed entry into adulthood, according to Kent Bausman, professor of sociology at Maryville University, Saint Louis. Graduates are lumbered with student debt and low wages and often move back in with their parents.
As a result, Bausman suggested people are delaying marriage because they’re not moving into adulthood in their early 20s anymore. It takes longer for young people to find their feet in the world—and for many, a relationship is the last thing on their mind.
He told Newsweek: “The decision to remain single or delay romantic commitments isn’t [just] an individual choice, but it’s influenced by larger societal forces. Marriage has gone from a rite of passage to a capstone experience. Wages haven’t grown or kept up with the cost of living, so with that financial vulnerability, marriage seems like a much bigger step which people are resisting.
“Marriage has been pushed through economic restructuring and some of that is also pushing singlehood. Another thing that’s pushing singlehood is the increased dependence on electronic devices, which causes this growing disconnectedness,” Bausman continued. Ultimately, young people have reimagined what they perceive as a fulfilling life, and Bausman said the conventional dream of starting a family “no longer serves as the default path.”
We’ve also witnessed a major swing toward female empowerment. Women’s expectations have risen because the parameters of what they can achieve are far greater now. Whether it’s climbing the career ladder or traveling the world, more women are taking control of their own lives. In fact, Bausman dubbed it “a Renaissance for women.”
He said: “Women are more empowered, and it’s now an expectation for them to have their own career. I think there’s actually a stigma attached to homemaking as a career option now. Young girls can aspire to be whatever they want.”
Suit accuses Qatar-backed network of ‘providing substantial assistance’ to Hamas and aims to hold its US office accountable
Photos of Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images), Al Jazeera America (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Al Jazeera has long courted controversy for platforming terrorists across the Middle East, where it is banned from operating in Israel and some Arab countries for promoting extremist ideologies. But the Qatar-funded network’s support for Hamas terrorists isn’t just confined to the region, according to a new lawsuit from October 7 victims, which alleges for the first time that Al Jazeera’s American arm directly supports the terror group’s operations.
American victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror spree sued Al Jazeera and its American affiliate—Al Jazeera International, a limited liability company registered in Delaware—in February. Among the plaintiffs is Maurice Shnaider, whose niece, Shiri Bibas, was kidnapped and killed along with her two small children, Ariel and Kfir.
The victims are petitioning the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to hold Al Jazeera’s American enterprise liable for “providing substantial assistance” to Hamas and its militant ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), both of which are U.S.-designated terror outfits. The suit identifies at least a half-dozen Al Jazeera employees who double as Hamas and PIJ operatives and accuses the outlet of conspiring with these terror groups from the lead-up to October 7 until now.
While Al Jazeera is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, where senior Hamas members lived in luxury, it operates 70 bureaus worldwide, including one in Washington, D.C. Its hub in the nation’s capital hosts more than 100 staffers, many of whom are credentialed to cover Congress. The outlet’s presence on Capitol Hill has long driven concerns among GOP lawmakers, who have unsuccessfully tried for years to revoke its privileged status and force it to register as a foreign agent.
Since Hamas is not designated as a terrorist organization in Qatar, the October 7 victims are turning to the American court system, where they can seek financial penalties against Al Jazeera under the Anti-Terrorism Act. By naming Al Jazeera International as a defendant in the case, they are hoping to prove that the network’s Washington, D.C., branch knowingly provided material support to Hamas and PIJ.
“There are far too many coincidences and connections between the Hamas terrorists who attacked innocent Israelis and the reporters from Al Jazeera who mysteriously were amongst the first to breach into the Jewish State from Gaza and accompany the murderers as they killed, maimed and raped innocent Jews,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the lawyer handling the case, told the Washington Free Beacon. “We intend to prove that Al Jazeera is the communication arm of the Gaza terror groups.”
If successful, Darshan-Leitner said, the suit “will financially devastate Al Jazeera and shut down its operations in the United States and beyond.”
The suit points to evidence that the Al Jazeera channels accessible within D.C. promote terrorism. The network’s UpFront program, for instance, has repeatedly aired “terrorist-related content” via Al Jazeera English and other channels owned by the company, most of which are accessible within the district, according to the lawsuit. In other cases, Al Jazeera “featured interviews with individuals affiliated with terrorist organizations and showcased Al Jazeera employees who are Hamas operatives,” the lawsuit alleges.
UpFront, a show produced and broadcast in D.C., has featured interviews with “designated terrorists,” including Osama Hamdan, a Hamas leader who is believed to have been killed by Israel in September 2024. Interviewees routinely receive payment from Al Jazeera, including from its D.C. office, the lawsuit alleges.
Through these broadcasts, the complaint states, Al Jazeera “further incited violence and impacted viewers nationwide,” establishing a “direct connection between” the outlet’s radical overseas activity and that in America.
Additional evidence presented in the lawsuit seeks to establish that Al Jazeera had prior operational insight into the October 7 attacks. While these plans were closely guarded by Hamas—with only five leaders fully briefed on the operation—Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Abu Omar began broadcasting footage live less than 10 minutes after the attack began.
Omar is one of seven Al Jazeera reporters identified in the lawsuit as Hamas operatives. Israel has also accused him of serving as a Hamas training company commander in the terrorist group’s East Khan Younis Battalion. Omar’s alleged ties to Hamas could explain why he began “sharing coverage of the attacks” as early as 6:31 a.m., nine minutes after the assault began, the lawsuit states.
Additional footage from that day shows Omar “entering Israel on October 7 and riding towards Kibbutz Nir Oz with multiple armed Hamas men,” according to evidence outlined in the lawsuit. Omar remains an Al Jazeera employee, nearly six months after Israeli intelligence first identified him as a Hamas operative.
Additional Al Jazeera employees named as terrorist operatives include Muhammad Washah, an Al Jazeera Live correspondent, and Ismail Al-Ghoul, a Gaza-based Arabic-language correspondent since November 2023.
Washah was found to be a “prominent commander” in Hamas’s anti-tank missile unit. Facebook photos from February 2024 show Washah “training Hamas members on how to use Rocket-Propelled Grenades (‘RPGs’), as well as preparing RPGs, other weapons, and drones,” according to the complaint.
Al-Ghoul, meanwhile, was originally hired in November 2023, well after he “publicly stated his commitment to Hamas” during a rally held by the terror group in 2021. Israeli intelligence subsequently found that Al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas’s Nukhba terror unit, which participated in the October 7 attack. He was killed in a July 2024 Israeli strike in Gaza near the home of slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 became law in the Australian state of New South Wales on April 4, raising alarm among Christians.
Christians in Sydney and throughout the rest of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, could now face five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for offering counseling to or praying for “LGBTQA” individuals, even if they say their same-sex attraction or gender confusion is unwanted.
On April 4, legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 became law, raising alarm among Christians who by merely explaining the Good News of Jesus’ power to heal, the immutable definition of marriage, or timeless truths about the complementarity of man and woman, risk being punished as criminals in NSW.
As such, this is a major step toward criminalizing Christianity and the fullness of the Gospel message in “the land down under.”
While the NSW government has been careful to assert that the new law has no impact on religious freedom, that is a misleading statement. It will have an enormous chilling effect on non-woke, orthodox Christians who reject neo-Marxist identity politics and the teachings of affirmation-only religious denominations and sects.
Australian commentator Ben Davis described the new law introduced by the NSW government as modern “LGBTQA apostasy laws.”
“What are we, China?” asked fellow conservative commentator Evelyn Rae. “This is straight out of China. It criminalizes Christianity.”
“The state has literally become the arbiter of truth and authority and they are now deciding what Christianity is allowed to say and do,” she said, adding:
The LGBTQ community is just as much a religion as Christianity, because they’re taking a stance right now on what Christians can and can’t say. They’re taking a moral stance on sexuality and gender. They are just as much a religion as Christianity and the state has said, ‘You know what? That religion trumps Christianity.’
“This is straight out of China. It criminalises Christianity… The state has literally become the arbiter of truth and authority and they are now deciding what Christianity is allowed to say and do.” Evelyn Rae pic.twitter.com/IVuniV1rP4
A video introducing the new law makes authoritative-sounding statements that are demonstrably untrue, declaring that “so-called conversion practices are deeply harmful, they don’t work, and they are damaging to the whole community,” and “it’s damaging to say that LGBTQA people should be fixed, and it’s inaccurate to say they can be healed.”
The NSW government goes so far as to overtly dismiss Christianity as nothing more than a “harmful ideology when it comes to homosexuality or transgenderism: “Beyond legal protections, we all have a role to play in challenging harmful ideology.”
These government-sanctioned Brave New World-like proclamations have been proven false time and again by countless individuals over the years.
The law, while attempting to present itself as tolerant of Christianity, is nonetheless explicit in its attack on not only Christianity, but on easily observable natural law:
The Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 does not prohibit prayer. However, praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identify is unlawful. It is unlawful even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity.
General comments about celibacy and abstinence in broad statements of belief are not unlawful. However, telling a person in a same-sex relationship that they must stop being sexually active and become celibate could be regarded as suppressing a person’s sexuality and may be unlawful, depending on the circumstances.
Similarly, telling an LGBTQA person that they should remain celibate and never marry or have a sexual relationship with a person of the same sex, could be regarded as suppressing a person’s sexuality and may be unlawful, depending on the circumstances.
Healthcare professionals and counselors are limited to solely providing “affirming care to members of the LGBTQA community across NSW,” and are sternly warned “to act within legal, professional and ethical standards” as outlined by the new law.
Ironically, “LGBTQA individuals” are to be encouraged to live “authentically” and with “pride,” while rejecting the authentic nature of their manhood and womanhood.
“The NSW Government encourages individuals to ‘come out’ and ‘proudly’ identify with the LGBTQA community,” explained Davis. “But if, after some time, someone realises it’s not for them – if they discover they were as uncertain about being LGBTQA as others are about being straight – they’re effectively abandoned. Don’t ask for help. You likely won’t find any.”
“The Church’s core business is discipleship – bringing people out of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ,” a pastor told Caldron Pool. “Discipleship is therefore always about suppression and conversion, and this means the suppression and conversion of all desires and thoughts that are opposed to Christ’s kingdom.”
One of the obese “Americans” drawn up by artificial intelligence. TikTok
The art of trade war.
An AI-generated video mocking the prospect of Americans working factory jobs has been viewed over 6 million times in the wake of President Trump’s tariff agenda.
The video — aimed at undermining the Trump administration’s promise to create US manufacturing jobs using tariffs — depicts depressed-looking, larger-bodied “Americans” working in sweatshop-like environments set to a twangy score of traditional Chinese music.
The US workers are depicted as obese, middle-aged and dull-witted as they sit, twiddling at sewing machines, in the video shared by TikTok user Ben Lau, who captioned the AI clip “Make America great again #tariff #america.”
Other “Americans” in the video wear matching gray uniforms, a la Foxconn, as they solder iPhones on an assembly line in a mock-up version of actual Chinese factories.
The TikTok video was reposted to X by user Damon Chen, who punctuated the insulting video with a laughing-crying emoji.
His tweet was seen more than 6 million times, but several people in the comments took issue with the apparent insult to the tariff plan — and the sideswipe at the dignity of factory laborers.
“When manufacturing was here America was great. Why do liberals think this is demoralizing or something?,” one user replied.
“What exactly is your point? My mom worked in a sewing factory for 15 years, she raised us after dad left, stayed off welfare & kept food on the table & a roof over our heads. It was a good job, thankful she had it,” an animated X poster recounted.
“My dad worked in an electronics factory assembling circuit boards when I was a kid on Long Island. It went away in the 1990s. The people seemed jovial and happy,” one user stated.
“Except if the factories are ever built here they will be staffed by robots not people,” an X poster observed.
“Very misleading propaganda post,” an apparent Canadian responded.
Many others took the video to be a direct insult from Chinese nationals directed at Americans — causing an outpouring of criticism about the Eastern power’s alleged use of child laborers.
Markets took another plunge as China announced the increased tariff, the latest move in the escalating trade war between the two super powers that threatens to wipe out billions of dollars of trade
China has said they will bring in an extra 84% tariffs on the US after Donald Trump put a 104% tariff on some Chinese imports to the US which the president later increased to 125%.
This is a 50% increase on top of China’s previous tariff. This comes after an editorial in the state-run newspaper China Daily declared: “Global unity can triumph over trade tyranny.”
The U.S. president has shown few signs of backing down on tariffs despite the mounting pressure in the financial markets. His commitment to tariffs could have devastating effects for the global economy, even though Trump is banking that it will ultimately pay off with manufacturing jobs.
Stock markets have been left reeling in the face of uncertainty brought on by the trade war.
“The situation has dangerously escalated. As one of the affected members, China expresses grave concern and firm opposition to this reckless move,” China said in a statement.
Beijing “firmly opposes and will never accept such hegemonic and bullying practices,” foregin ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Wednesday.
The tariffs will come into effect on April 10. The announcement came after China said it will take “resolute measures” to defend its trading rights.
They previously swore to ‘fight to the end.’
“If the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end” the Ministry of Commerce wrote in a statement.
During his campaign for the White House last year, Trump said tariff was “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
Republican senators are confronting the Trump administration with those worries and many more as they fret about the economic impact of the president’s sweeping tariffs.
In a Senate hearing and interviews with reporters this week, Republican skepticism of President Donald Trump’s policies ran unusually high.
While GOP lawmakers made sure to direct their concern at Trump’s aides , particularly U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
China urges India to join hands as US trade tensions escalate. (ANI FILE )
Amid rising trade tensions with Washington, China on Tuesday urged India to join hands in resisting what it called the “US abuse of tariffs”, after President Donald Trump announced a steep hike, raising cumulative tariffs on Chinese imports to 104 per cent.
Yu Jing, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in India, took aim at the United States’ tariff actions, saying China’s steady economic growth, innovation, and robust manufacturing base have created positive spillovers for the rest of the world.
“China’s economy is underpinned by a system that ensures steady growth, and produces positive spillovers. Chinese manufacturing is built on a complete and continually upgrading industrial system, sustained investment in R&D, and a strong focus on innovation. China is a firm defender of economic globalization and multilateralism, which has injected strong impetus into the world economy, contributing to around 30 percent of global growth annually on average. We will continue to work with the rest of the world to safeguard the multilateral trade system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core,” Yu Jing wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
She also mentioned that India and China, as the two largest developing nations, should stand together against US tariff actions, calling their trade ties complementary and mutually beneficial.
“China-India economic and trade relationship is based on complimentarity and mutual benefit. Facing the U.S. abuse of tariffs, which deprives countries, especially Global South countries, of their right to development, the two largest developing countries should stand together to overcome the difficulties. Trade and tariff wars have no winners. All countries should uphold the principles of extensive consultation, practice true multilateralism, jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism,” she added.
What led to the US-China trade war escalation?
A full-blown trade conflict between the United States and China appeared imminent on Tuesday as President Donald Trump moved ahead with a fresh set of tariffs targeting multiple trading partners.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, the cumulative duties on Chinese goods will now touch 104 per cent.
The sharp increase follows a retaliatory move from Beijing but Trump showed no signs of backing down, even as major US stock indices registered another day of losses on Tuesday.
Trump maintains that his tariff policy is aimed at reviving domestic manufacturing by encouraging companies to shift their operations back to American soil.
However, several economists and industry experts remain sceptical, warning that such moves could drive up inflation and burden consumers with higher prices.
Despite the concerns, Trump defended the strategy on Tuesday, claiming, “The United States was taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.
TOM Brady has added a new accomplishment to his list of accolades.
Not only is he a future NFL Hall of Famer and current broadcaster, but it appears he now has a role in scientific breakthroughs.
Tom Brady is an investor in the company and celebrated the breakthroughCredit: Getty
On Monday, Brady shared his celebration of the “de-extinction” of the dire wolf.
The wolf is a species that has been extinct on the Earth for over 10,000 years.
However, Colossal Biosciences, a company that Brady is on the cultural advisory board as an investor, revived the wolf as part of a scientific breakthrough.
“So proud of the team for the hard work, passion, and countless hours that have gone into this project!!!” Brady said in an Instagram Story.
Using “deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it,” according to TIME.
Two male dire wolves, Romulus and Remus, were born in October using two surrogate domestic hounds.
A female dire wolf, Khaleesi, was born in January via another surrogate.
Colossal Bioscience CEO Ben Lamm shared how proud he was for his team to have made this breakthrough.
“This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” Lamm said in a statement, via Business Wire.
“Our team took DNA from a 13,000 year old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.
“It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
“Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”
Brady isn’t the only GOAT who is invested in the project to revive the dire wolves.
Tiger Woods also bought into the project to restore the legendary animal.
Famous stars from the show Game of Thrones, a series that features dire wolves, also bought into the project.
Actress Sophie Turner, actor Kit Harrington, and author George RR Martin are all bought into the project.
Colossal Bioscience isn’t only focused on reviving the dire wolf.
A RESTAURANT has sparked backlash after offering discounts to skinnier customers.
The diner in Thailand was accused of “fat shaming” as it had a blunt method for examining who would be eligible for offer.
A Thai breakfast spot has sparked fury and been accused of prejudice against plus-sized peopleCredit: amonthego15/Instagram
In a blow to bigger eaters, Chiang Mai Breakfast World, an all-day breakfast cafe, offered the discounts to customers who could complete a bizarre task.
The cafe set up multiple prison bar-like poles, each a different length apart, and challenged visitors to fit through the gaps.
And the smaller the gap was, the bigger the discount.
The smallest gap, which appeared to be about about a foot wide, presented a generous 20 per cent discount to those who were able to squeeze through.
While the widest gap between bars had text above it which read: “Full price. Sorry.”
This meant that larger customers, who could only fit through the biggest gap, were not eligible for a reduced price.
Footage of the diabolical challenge was posted online, before it sparked fury from offended viewers.
The footage in the clip shows multicoloured “skinny discount” bars which a man can be seen trying to fit through.
There are a total of five categories, which range from 20 per cent off for the tiniest gap, to 10 per cent at the medium slots, and finally to full price at the largest hole.
The man in the video is seen flexing his torso through the gate-like structure in an attempt to receive a 15 per cent discount.
Onlookers laugh out loud while one person quips: “You need some butter.”
The same struggling diner then attempts to go through the slightly bigger 10 per cent gap – but still fails this one.
The challenger finally manages to thread the 5% discount slot, admitting, “It’s better than nothing, I suppose”.
In a follow-up clip, a female diner can be seen passing through the 15 per cent space twice.
One of her male pals jokes: “I didn’t think your boobs were gonna get through there.”
Outraged viewers ripped the “skinny body, skinny bill” rule as prejudiced against plus-sized customers.
One critic wrote: “Wouldn’t eat there. That’s really discriminating.”
Another furious user said: “This is so wrong.
One viewer said that the practise could lead to eating disorders.
They said: “What’s wrong with you? This can promote eating disorders. Let people enjoy their food and have a healthy weight.”
But some seemed to like the idea, deeming it “funny”, with some calling it a “brilliant” idea.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, laughs as he attends a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020. Denis Balibouse | Reuters
Apple’s 23% plunge over the past four trading sessions has again turned Microsoft into the world’s most valuable public company.
As of Tuesday’s close, Microsoft is worth $2.64 trillion, while Apple’s market cap stands at $2.59 trillion.
While the market broadly is getting hammered by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan, Apple is getting hit the hardest among tech’s megacap companies due to the iPhone maker’s reliance on China.
The Nasdaq is down 13% over the past four trading days, as President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imports from more than 100 countries has sparked fears of a recession brought on by rising prices. UBS analysts on Monday predicted that the price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max could jump as much as $350 in the U.S.
Both Apple and Microsoft, along with chipmaker Nvidia, were previously valued at upward of $3 trillion before the recent sell-off.
In January, Microsoft issued disappointing revenue guidance. Nevertheless, last week, as Jefferies analysts reduced their price targets on many software stocks, they wrote Microsoft was among the “companies who we view as more insulated” from tariff uncertainty.
Shipping containers and gantry cranes beyond a fishing boat near the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. China’s trade figures are scheduled for release on Dec 7. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In just a few hours, Trump tariffs will kick in — which includes a ghastly 104% duty on Chinese imports.
Despite growing consternation and concern expressed by economists and CEOs, Trump administration officials have been stubborn in defending its trade policies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Tuesday that roughly 70 countries want to discuss deals with the White House, while trade advisor Peter Navarro on Friday said tariffs are not negotiable. (Whether discussing deals is a form of negotiation is apparently debatable.)
But at least one member of the Trump cadre doesn’t seem too happy about the tariffs. Elon Musk, while not addressing the White House’s trade policies specifically, described Navarro — the administration’s top trade advisor — as a “moron” and “dangerously dumb.” Musk is the de facto DOGE leader, a key role in the Trump administration. He is also the CEO of Tesla, a multinational company.
Still, given how staunchly White House officials have been advocating for tariffs, it doesn’t seem likely that Musk’s public feud with Navarro will staunch the wound on global trade.
What you need to know today
Tariffs poised to kick in
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin enforcing President Donald Trump’s new tariffsa April 9, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. EDT, the agency said in a statement. That includes a 104% duty on Chinese imports, which Trump introduced after China retaliated with its own tariffs, a White House official confirmed to CNBC. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday China’s response “was a big mistake” and a “losing hand.”
Early rally in U.S. markets fizzles out
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, giving up gains from a rally earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.84%, even though it was up 3.9% during the day. The S&P 500 declined 1.57% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.15% — the former has lost more than 12% and the latter slumped over 13% in the past four trading sessions. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index added 2.72%, boosted by insurance stocks, which were up 4.08%.
Microsoft the most valuable company again
Apple’s 5% slump Tuesday puts its combined losses over the past four days at 23%, giving the Cupertino-based company a market capitalization of $2.59 trillion. That means Microsoft, which is worth $2.64 trillion, is again the world’s most valuable public company. Apple is getting hit the hardest among tech’s megacap companies because of its reliance on China — and manufacturing iPhones in the U.S. is not “a thing,” according to an analyst.
Musk notches up attacks on Navarro
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday blasted Trump’s top trade advisor Peter Navarro as “truly a moron.” Musk was responding to Navarro’s comment that Tesla is more of a “car assembler” than a car manufacturer. When asked about the feud, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue.” Tesla’s stock is down 22% in the past four trading sessions.
[PRO] Stocks to benefit from trade deals
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said around 70 countries have reached out to the White House to discuss tariff proposals. Some of those countries might come to an agreement first, which could lift the stocks of companies that have close business dealings in those locations.
And finally…
“Right now, we are in troubled times,” Emirates President Tim Clark told CNBC in an interview recorded March 20 — ahead of Washington’s announcement of its latest global levies.
“It’s uncharted because it involves a measure of reset to a level that the global economy probably hasn’t seen since the financial crisis of 2008-2009,” Clark said, pointing to growing pressures on carriers and to the ripple effect across the aviation supply chain.
“Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin scored some serious prehistoric cred, becoming one of the first people to meet some newly resurrected dire wolves IRL — yep, the very same ones that made an appearance on his show.
Ben Lamm, co-founder and CEO of Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences, flew George out in February to meet the pups named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi — and a source tells TMZ that George broke down in happy tears when he came face to face with the dire wolf pups, which were brought to life using ancient DNA.
We’re told Martin told Lamm the wolves are one of the greatest things he’s ever seen — and he even wrote on his blog that despite their mythical reputation, dire wolves have a rich history in shaping the American ecosystem.
The company explains these wolves are packed with the traits of the long-lost canines, who are now touted as one of the world’s first successful de-extinction of an animal as part of the company’s sustainable project. Dire wolves differ from modern wolves in their much larger, muscular bodies and more prominent jaws and teeth.
So, how’d they pull it off, you ask? Well, the company used gene-editing to tweak DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull of a gray wolf — the dire wolf’s closest living relative — to birth a hybrid that looks pretty much like those dire wolf puppies.
Looks like the dire wolves are living their best lives at a secret nature preserve with top-tier fencing, courtesy of the company — which is certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, is not as popular among Thais as his father Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016. [FILE: May 10, 2024]Image: Sunti Teapia/Manager newspaper/dpa/picture allianceA US academic living in Thailand was arrested Tuesday on charges of insulting the Southeast Asian country’s powerful monarchy.
Paul Chambers, who teaches political science at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, reported to a police station in the northern province of Phitsanulok, about 360 kilometers (224 miles) north of Bangkok.
Chambers had been summoned by police last week to hear the charges after a complaint was filed by the Thai Army.
What has Chambers been charged with?
A Phitsanulok police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the US scholar had reported to the precinct to acknowledge two charges: insulting or defaming the monarchy, and a computer crime violation related to online activity.
Chambers was then taken to Phitsanulok Provincial Court for a pretrial detention hearing, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).
Wannaphat Jenroumjit, a lawyer for TLHR representing Chambers, said the charges were related to an online seminar where the US scholar appeared as a speaker. Chambers has denied all the charges.
TLHR also stated that Chambers had been denied bail. No trial date has been set yet.
What are Thailand’s laws protecting the monarchy?
Thailand has some of the world’s strictest laws shielding the monarchy from criticism or defamation.
Under Article 112 of the Thai criminal code, anyone found guilty of insulting, defaming or threatening the king, queen or their heirs face between three and 15 years in prison.
The law has been increasingly used in recent years to clamp down on those who took part in pro-democracy, anti-monarchy protests that swept the nation in 2020.
Since then, some 279 people have been charged with lese-majeste, according to TLHR.
Several prominent protest leaders have been imprisoned, but it is very rare for a foreigner to be charged under Article 112.
According to Human Rights Watch, Thai authorities are known to “restrict fundamental rights — particularly freedom of expression and peaceful assembly — using lèse-majesté (insulting the monarchy), sedition, and cyber-crime laws.”
Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav is accused of performing heart surgeries that resulted in seven deaths
Police in India have arrested a man, who is accused of impersonating a British doctor, for performing surgeries that allegedly led to the death of seven patients.
Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav – also known as Dr N John Camm – worked as a cardiologist at a missionary hospital in Madhya Pradesh state.
Police accuse him of fraud, cheating and forgery and allege that the 53-year-old, who has worked as a doctor for almost two decades, faked his medical degrees.
They are also investigating allegations that he added the name of Prof John Camm, a leading cardiologist at UK’s St George Hospital, to his own to gain credibility. Mr Yadav has denied the allegations against him.
On Monday, just hours before he was arrested, he sent a legal notice of 50m rupees ($580,000; £455,000) to two dozen individuals and publishers for claiming he impersonated “some other cardiologist”.
The Mission Hospital in Damoh city, where Mr Yadav worked for a few weeks, has denied having any knowledge of his alleged fake credentials.
“Nobody suspected him of being a fake doctor. He was good at his job and acted like a big-time professor,” a hospital official told The Indian Express newspaper.
The case first came to light in February, when a child welfare committee in Damoh flagged the deaths to district officials.
“We got suspicious about his expertise and checked his credentials online and found that he had cases against him in at least three states,” claimed Deepak Tiwari, president of the district Child Welfare Committee.
An investigation found that Mr Yadav had quit his job at the hospital earlier that month and “gone missing” without explanation.
He was arrested in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state on Monday evening.
“The accused doctor had worked on a total of 64 cases, including 45 cases of angioplasty, which led to seven patient deaths,” the district’s police chief Shrut Kirti Somvanshi told BBC Hindi.
It’s not yet clear whether his degrees are genuine or fake, but police believe they were likely to be forged as the documents lack key details, such as a unique registration number given to each student.
This is not the first time that questions have been raised about Mr Yadav’s identity.
In a 2019 blog post, he claimed that he trained in the UK under Prof A John Camm and joined St George’s hospital in 2002 as an “Interventional Cardiologist”.
He claimed he first returned to India in 2003 to work at a leading heart hospital in Delhi and had worked in the US, Germany and Spain since then.
In one post shared in 2021, Mr Yadav wrote that he was developing a 5,000-bed John Camm Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in the western state of Rajasthan.
“The hospital is being developed under [the] leadership of Dr N John Camm, renowned Interventional Cardiologist from Germany, and will [be] spread over 100 acres of land and will have world class research and tissue labs,” he claimed.
But public records show that he registered four companies in the UK in 2018 under the name of Dr Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, which he later got changed to Dr Narendra John Camm.
In 2023, a well-known fact-checker in India too had raised questions about his credentials after he allegedly created an X (formerly Twitter) account under the name of “Prof N John Camm”.
After some of his posts went viral, the real Prof Camm put out a statement clarifying that it was not his account and that he was being impersonated.
Beijing has criticised Vance for his ‘Chinese peasants’ remark
China has called US Vice-President JD Vance “ignorant and impolite” after he said America had been borrowing money from “Chinese peasants”.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Tuesday that Vance’s comments – which had already caused a stir on Chinese social media – were “surprising and sad”.
Vance made the comments on Thursday, during an interview on Fox News where he defended US President Donald Trump’s tariffs – which are currently fuelling tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture,” the vice-president said.
On Monday, Trump gave China – one of the world’s largest holders of US Treasury bonds – until Tuesday to scrap its 34% counter tariff or face an additional 50% tax on goods imported into the US.
If Trump acts on his threat, US companies could face a total rate of 104% on Chinese imports – as it comes on top of 20% tariffs already put in place in March and the 34% announced last week.
China has said it will “fight to the end” as it called Trump’s moves “bullying”.
“China’s position on China-US economic and trade relations has been made very clear,” Lin said on Tuesday.
Vance’s comments had already caused a stir among Chinese social media users, some of whom have called for him to be banned from entering China.
“As a key figure in the US government, it is really shameful for Vance to say such things,” one Weibo user wrote.
“Isn’t his memoir called ‘Hillbilly Elegy’?” wrote another user, a reference to Vance’s book which detailed his upbringing in rural America.
The digital scan shows the bow sitting upright on the sea floor
A detailed analysis of a full-sized digital scan of the Titanic has revealed new insight into the doomed liner’s final hours.
The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship ripped in two as it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912 – 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster.
The scan provides a new view of a boiler room, confirming eye-witness accounts that engineers worked right to the end to keep the ship’s lights on.
And a computer simulation also suggests that punctures in the hull the size of A4 pieces of paper led to the ship’s demise.
“Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell,” said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst.
The scan has been studied for a new documentary by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.
The wreck, which lies 3,800m down in the icy waters of the Atlantic, was mapped using underwater robots.
More than 700,000 images, taken from every angle, were used to create the “digital twin”, which was revealed exclusively to the world by BBC News in 2023.
Because the wreck is so large and lies in the gloom of the deep, exploring it with submersibles only shows tantalising snapshots. The scan, however, provides the first full view of the Titanic.
The immense bow lies upright on the seafloor, almost as if the ship were continuing its voyage.
But sitting 600m away, the stern is a heap of mangled metal. The damage was caused as it slammed into the sea floor after the ship broke in half.
The new mapping technology is providing a different way to study the ship.
“It’s like a crime scene: you need to see what the evidence is, in the context of where it is,” said Parks Stephenson.
“And having a comprehensive view of the entirety of the wreck site is key to understanding what happened here.”
The scan shows new close-up details, including a porthole that was most likely smashed by the iceberg. It tallies with the eye-witness reports of survivors that ice came into some people’s cabins during the collision.
Experts have been studying one of the Titanic’s huge boiler rooms – it’s easy to see on the scan because it sits at the rear of the bow section at the point where the ship broke in two.
Passengers said that the lights were still on as the ship plunged beneath the waves.
The digital replica shows that some of the boilers are concave, which suggests they were still operating as they were plunged into the water.
Lying on the deck of the stern, a valve has also been discovered in an open position, indicating that steam was still flowing into the electricity generating system.
This would have been thanks to a team of engineers led by Joseph Bell who stayed behind to shovel coal into the furnaces to keep the lights on.
All died in the disaster but their heroic actions saved many lives, said Parks Stephenson.
“They kept the lights and the power working to the end, to give the crew time to launch the lifeboats safely with some light instead of in absolute darkness,” he told the BBC.
“They held the chaos at bay as long as possible, and all of that was kind of symbolised by this open steam valve just sitting there on the stern.”
A new simulation has also provided further insights into the sinking.
It takes a detailed structural model of the ship, created from Titanic’s blueprints, and also information about its speed, direction and position, to predict the damage that was caused as it hit the iceberg.
“We used advanced numerical algorithms, computational modelling and supercomputing capabilities to reconstruct the Titanic sinking,” said Prof Jeom-Kee Paik, from University College London, who led the research.
The simulation shows that as the ship made only a glancing blow against the iceberg it was left with a series of punctures running in a line along a narrow section of the hull.
Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable, designed to stay afloat even if four of its watertight compartments flooded.
But the simulation calculates the iceberg’s damage was spread across six compartments.
“The difference between Titanic sinking and not sinking are down to the fine margins of holes about the size of a piece of paper,” said Simon Benson, an associate lecturer in naval architecture at the University of Newcastle.
“But the problem is that those small holes are across a long length of the ship, so the flood water comes in slowly but surely into all of those holes, and then eventually the compartments are flooded over the top and the Titanic sinks.”
Unfortunately the damage cannot be seen on the scan as the lower section of the bow is hidden beneath the sediment.
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