USA - On April 2, 2025, President Donald J Trump didn't just unveil tariffs — he sparked a revolution. In the Rose Garden, surrounded by proud union workers, the president proclaimed America's "Liberation Day," smashing the free-trade orthodoxy that had devastated our middle class and shipped our jobs overseas. These tariffs aren't some meek adjustment; they're a rebuke to the smug elites who've hawked "free trade" as our savior while raking in the profits. Liberation Day was the moment we stopped groveling and started winning — the day a nation gutted by betrayal entered a golden era of American greatness.

USA - The White House said China is facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the US "as a result of its retaliatory actions," as the trade war between the world's two largest economies continues to heat up. The top potential tariff was referenced in a fact sheet published by the White House late on Tuesday. It accompanied an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that launched an investigation into the "national security risks posed by US reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products." A White House official told Newsweek the calculation reflects the maximum potential rate some Chinese goods could face, combining the reciprocal tariff, the fentanyl tariff, and existing Section 301 tariffs that go up to 100 percent. Electric vehicles, for example, have outstanding Section 301 tariffs of 100 percent dating back to the Biden Administration, meaning these products would face a 245 percent rate in total.

USA - While America fells its own corporate giants, China’s tech powers are only growing stronger. It’s the company that, outside the excitable world of tech and stock market obsessives, few had ever heard of before all the recent hoopla over artificial intelligence. That company is Nvidia, the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of advanced computer microchips. On Monday night, the company announced a $5.5 billion (£4.1 billion) hit to profits after Trump’s White House announced new controls on the sale of stripped-down Nvidia chips to China.

GERMANY - A new Chancellor of Germany is due to be sworn in on May 6, but cracks are already starting to show in the coalition of parties forming the new government. The mask of mutual agreement appears to be slipping from political parties set to form a coalition government in Germany by the end of this month - with a defence minister saying he "never" backed a proposal made by the likely future Chancellor to send missiles to Ukraine. It's a sign trouble could be brewing in the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, ahead of Friedrich Merz swearing in as the new leader of the country on May 6.

GERMANY - Germany has announced it will turn asylum seekers away from its borders as part of a raft of new measures to curb illegal migration agreed by the nation's incoming coalition government. The new rules will see asylum seekers refused entry at Germany's land borders. It comes as Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, promised a “repatriation offensive” against illegal immigrants. The coalition deal, finalised this week, includes a raft of pledges aimed at restoring economic confidence, boosting defence spending and tightening immigration controls. Mr Merz said: “Germany will suspend family reunifications for many migrants, designate more ‘safe countries of origin’, and launch a return offensive for rejected asylum seekers."

RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that the EU’s attempts to pressure candidate states not to attend the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II in Moscow are tantamount to a revival of Nazism. On Monday, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned the leaders of EU members and candidate states against taking part in the event in the Russian capital on May 9. British daily The Telegraph later wrote that candidate states such as Serbia could be barred from joining the bloc if their leaders attend the Victory Day celebrations. “If this is true, then Euro-Nazism is being reborn before our eyes,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram, citing the article. “This is how the fascists 80 years ago forced those they considered ‘second-class people’ to renounce their homeland, ethnicity, and faith,” the spokeswoman added. Victory Day honors the 1945 triumph of the USSR over Nazi Germany, as well as the estimated 26.6 million Soviet lives lost in the conflict.

UK - The King has praised the ethics of Judaism and the “human instinct” of Islam in his Easter message. In a message issued on Maundy Thursday, the King wished the public a “blessed and peaceful Easter”, saying the greatest virtue the world needs is “love”. On Thursday, he and the Queen will join the congregation at Durham Cathedral for a service before he distributes “Maundy Money”, a royal tradition. In an Easter message published ahead of the service, the King said: “On Maundy Thursday, Jesus knelt and washed the feet of many of those who would abandon Him."

UK - It’s pretty straightforward to decide who comes out best from the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict on, believe it or not, “what is a woman?” Obviously, and certainly in my opinion, the vast majority of women everywhere will reckon they do and, of course, so will the four women who took their fight all the way to the UK’s highest court and won. But right at the top of the list of victors should go good old-fashioned common sense. That’s what Wednesday’s learned judgement delivered. It is a ridiculous situation that should never have reached the highest court in the land: it shouldn’t have been judges deciding what is or isn’t a woman. Biology and nature, combined with common sense, should have made that abundantly clear to everyone.

UK - In a clear and unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that sex in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex. A Gender Recognition Certificate does not change that. Certification does not equate to biological sex. To put it bluntly, trans women – men who identify as women, however they have modified themselves – are not biological women and can therefore not enter spaces reserved for us.

UK - Public bodies are under pressure to tear up pro-trans guidance after a ruling that only biological women are women. The decision by the Supreme Court that laws against sex-based discrimination should only apply to biological women will lead to a raft of changes. They are expected to include who can access single-sex NHS wards, which police officers can carry out strip searches, and who can join female teams in elite sport.