News & Current Events

[ad_1] Ackman now says he was wrong to blame Howard Lutnick for the tariffs. Donald Trump-backer hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said Monday it was unfair of him to lash out at Donald Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. The comment came after Ackman created a meltdown almost equal to the market meltdown -- criticizing the Trump tariffs in a series of caustic social media posts. On Sunday, Ackman said he just figured out why Lutnick was indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing. "He profits when ou economy implodes. It's a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It's an irreconcilable conflict of interest," Ackman wrote.Hours later on Monday, Ackman changed his tack and said he does not think Lutnick is pursuing self-interest."I am sure he is doing the best […]

[ad_1] Markets turned green riding on rumors that Trump would consider a 90-day pause on tariffs. Stock markets turned green for a brief moment Monday morning after reports claimed that President Donald Trump is not ruling out a pause on the tariffs. To be more specific, it was reported that a 90-day pause is what the bleeding markets can expect. But moments later, the White House denied the reports and markets tanked again. "This looks a lot like a pump and dump scheme," an X user commented as Trump aide Kevin Hassett came under fire. What did Kevin Hassett say on Fox? Kevin Hassett went to Fox, where he was asked if Trump would consider a 90-day pause in tariffs. Hassett did not say 'yes'; he did not say 'no'. "I think the president is gonna decide what the president […]

[ad_1] US storms, 'devastating' flooding death toll climbs to 17 (AFP Image) Violent storms battering the central-eastern United States have killed at least 17 people, officials said Sunday, with the National Weather Service warning of "devastating" flash flooding.Flood warnings remain in effect, particularly in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, according to forecasters. Tennessee has been the hardest hit, with 10 deaths recorded in the western part of the state. Kentucky and Missouri each report two deaths, while Arkansas, Indiana, and Mississippi each count one, with tolls that could still rise.In Jeffersontown, Kentucky, buildings were left destroyed by a reported tornado, an AFP correspondent saw.Photos shared on social and local media showed widespread damage from the storm across several states, with homes torn apart, toppled trees, downed power lines and overturned cars.The National Weather Service said Sunday that "there is still some […]

[ad_1] Howard Lutnick clarified why penguin islands have been taxed. Donald Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that a 10% baseline tax on the Heard and McDonald islands -- which are literally inhabited by only penguins -- was not a mistake and not an AI thing. As Lutnick appeared on CBS' Face the Nation, host Margater Brennan asked him why those Penguin-inhabited islands, which do not export anything to the Unites States, were featured on the list. "Did you use AI to generate this?"Lutnick said the idea was that there should be no countries left off. "If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us. Any country- like we had tariffs, the President put tariffs on China, right, in 2018, and then what China started doing is they […]

[ad_1] Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is pleading with President Trump to hit the brakes on sweeping new tariffs, warning that the global economy is teetering on the edge of a “self-induced economic nuclear winter.”In a lengthy post on X Sunday night, Ackman—once a vocal Trump backer—urged the president to call a temporary timeout.“The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system,” Ackman wrote. “Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down. May cooler heads prevail.”Ackman’s remarks come as Trump pushes ahead with a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports, despite mounting concern from global markets and corporate leaders. While Ackman acknowledged the need to reform a global system that has disadvantaged US industries, he said the […]

[ad_1] On April 5, Saturday Night Live opened with James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump standing at a podium, selling the American public on his latest economic strategy: tariffs, or as he calls them, “short for terrific idea.” The sketch was inspired by Trump’s real-life April 2 press conference, where he used a baffling chart to explain how his tariff plan was going to save the US economy — and possibly defeat China using the power of geometric confusion.Standing next to a chart that looked like it was pulled from a group project gone wrong, Johnson’s Trump attempted to decode its symbols. “That’s a triangle,” he said. “I don’t know what that is, but up here, that’s Xi from China, and that’s me stabbing him with the sword. And then down here, that’s some sideways b****— anyway, you get it, your […]

[ad_1] Several schools in the German city of Duisburg remained closed on Monday as a precaution after warnings that they would be targeted with criminal actions.The messages contained "threatening and right-wing extremist statements," police in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said.What do we know about the threats?Police said a German comprehensive school had received a letter from an unknown individual on Friday. It threatened criminal actions to take place Monday.The same school on Sunday received another letter also containing threats, but this time linked to 13 other schools in the city.Experts from Duisburg's State Security Service do not believe the "seriousness of the announced offenses," they added.However, state government officials suspended in-person classes at all secondary and comprehensive schools and one grammar school in Duisburg. Some of these schools would offer online classes, officials announced.A total of about […]

[ad_1] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his military to deliver a “strong response” after around ten rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in the largest barrage since Israel resumed its offensive.As Netanyahu headed to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump, his office issued a statement confirming the prime minister had spoken with defence minister Israel Katz mid-flight and had “approved the continuation of intensified IDF operations in Gaza against Hamas.”Shortly after the statement, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of several neighbourhoods in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, where it said the rockets had been launched from. “To all residents of the Gaza Strip located in the Deir el-Balah area... this is a final and urgent warning before the attack,” said Avichay Adraee, the army's Arabic-language spokesman, on X. “We will launch a severe strike […]

[ad_1] Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic (Pic credit: AP) A simple phone contact error by US national security adviser Mike Waltz led to a journalist being accidentally added to a private Signal group chat discussing potential US military strikes in Yemen, according to people familiar with the matter.The group chat, created last month and titled "Houthi PC small group," was meant for senior US officials coordinating a response to Houthi rebel actions in the Middle East. However, instead of adding national security council spokesperson Brian Hughes, Waltz mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, according to a report from The Guardian. Goldberg is a journalist critical of US President Donald Trump.How the Goldberg ended up in Signal groupThe error traced back to an incident during the 2024 election campaign. In October, Goldberg had emailed the […]

[ad_1] US President Donald Trump (Pic credit: AP) US President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that a deal over the future of TikTok in the United States was nearly finalised but China pulled back in response to new American tariffs.Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said Beijing's change of stance came after Washington slapped an additional 34 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports last week. "The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they'd approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs," he said.The president's comments follow his decision on Friday to extend the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer by another 75 days. The […]