News & Current Events

[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 […]

[ad_1] The Trump administration this week levied sweeping tariffs across the globe, provoking retaliation from other countries and sending the stock market tumbling. An unexpected consequence? Penguin memes. Images of the flightless birds have waddled their way across the internet this week after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Australian territories near Antarctica that are home to many penguins but no people. One meme featured an altered photo of the explosive February White House meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly clashed with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Instead of a fiery confrontation with the wartime leader, however, Trump and Vance sit next to a black-and-white bird. One person who posted the meme wrote, "Maybe it didn't say thank you?" in a possible reference to Vance's accusation that Zelenskyy had not appropriately […]

[ad_1] File photo: US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins (Pictur credit: AP) US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins, who took up the charge previous month, has stirred fresh debate over the future of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs after her recent TV appearance. Rollins was seen dodging direct questions on whether the levies would remain in place.Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, the agri secretary repeatedly stepsided anchor Jake Tapper’s attempts to pin down the administration’s long-term trade strategy.Tapper asked, “How long do you expect this tariff chaos is going to be going on? Thirty days? Sixty days? Ninety days?”However, rather than commit to a timeline, Rollins reiterated the administration’s stance on putting American interests first.She said that Trump’s tariff policies marked the beginning of a “new American order, the new American economic plan.”“So I think we’ll see in short […]