CHINA - Two decades ago the Starbucks café at the heart of Beijing’s Forbidden City, the former seat of imperial power, was a symbol of globalisation, how trade could unite hostile political systems for the common good. The outlet has long since closed, a victim of rising nationalism and a preference for historical authenticity. But the long march of milky coffee seemed inexorable, branches opened elsewhere, and Starbucks’ global ambitions never paused. Now they may have to. “Trump is a lunatic,” said Mr Liu, himself an example of two historical trends brought together. The Chinese state-owned company worker was sipping at the fount of a Starbucks branch off Tiananmen Square, China’s present-day centre of power.

USA - The tariff doomsday machine is roaring again. This time, it’s over talk of a 50% tariff on certain imports. Predictably, the panic-peddlers are out in force, warning that such a tariff means retail prices will skyrocket 50%. It’s an easy line to chant, but it’s wrong — flat wrong — and anyone with a basic grasp of economics should know better. Let’s make one thing clear: a tariff applies to the transaction value, not the final retail price. The transaction value is what the importer pays the exporter, plus freight and insurance. That cost is just the first step in a long supply chain. By the time a product reaches the consumer, it’s been marked up to cover domestic shipping, warehousing, employee wages, utilities, sales tax, and profit margins for every hand it passes through. The tariff is just one input among many.

USA - President Donald Trump declared that the United States possesses secret military weaponry far beyond anything the world has ever seen. Trump didn’t mince words, touting America’s unmatched military might while slamming decades of weak leadership for allowing adversaries like China to exploit the US economically. "...And we’re very powerful. This country is very powerful. It’s far more powerful than people understand. We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have — more powerful than anybody — not even close. Nobody’s going to do that."

CHINA - China announced on Friday that it will hike tariffs on American imports from 84% to 125%. The move represents the latest escalation of an ongoing trade war between the US and China, which is led by the Chinese Communist Party. China indicated that it made the move in response to the US raising tariffs but indicated it does not plan to retaliate against any potential additional US tariff increases. “The US’s imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international economic and trade rules and also violates basic economic laws and common sense. It is a completely unilateral bullying and coercive practice,” the Chinese finance ministry asserted. “Given that at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China, if the US continues to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it.”

GERMANY - The fans of the German soccer club 1. FC Kaiserslautern have enacted a Satanic performance, summoning Lucifer during one of their home games. During the match against Fortuna Düsseldorf on March 29, fans of Kaiserslautern shocked the sports world by performing a satanic choreography that featured what appeared to be a summoning ritual of Satan in Latin. After a countdown, black foil transformed the West Curve of the Fritz Walter Stadium into a black surface from which a red, upside-down pentagram emerged. Below the satanic symbol, a banner was unveiled, stating the Latin words: “Exaudi Nos, Lucifer, Et Surge Ex Abysso, Sume Animas Nostras” (“Hear us, Lucifer, rise from the abyss and accept our souls”).

GERMANY - The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has topped a major nationwide public support poll for the first time, outpacing Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz’s alliance. According to a new Ipsos survey released on Wednesday, the AfD has 25% of public support, while the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc trails at 24%. Compared to the previous poll in early March, the AfD gained three points, while the conservatives dropped by five. Support for outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) remained unchanged at 15%, while the Greens slipped to 11%, and are now tied with the Left Party, which gained two points to reach its highest level since December 2016. AfD leader Alice Weidel celebrated her party’s showing in a post on X: “For the first time in the AfD’s short history, we are the strongest party in Germany… Citizens want political change – not a ‘business as usual’ coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD!”

GERMANY - The US-China tariff escalation is moving the global financial system into “unchartered territory,” and could cause “outright financial war,” George Saravelos, Deutsche Bank’s global head of foreign exchange research, has warned. Saravelos issued the warning in a note to clients on Wednesday, which was quoted by multiple media outlets. The analyst, who has repeatedly warned about a looming dollar crisis and a global loss of trust in the US currency, described the current situation as a “collapse” in markets. “We are witnessing a simultaneous collapse in the price of all US assets, including equities, the dollar versus alternative reserve FX and the bond market. We are entering unchartered territory in the global financial system,” he wrote.

USA - US President Donald Trump has indicated he would consider pulling American forces out of Europe if Washington’s NATO allies in the region do not pay more as part of broader negotiations over his sweeping tariff policy. NBC News reported on Tuesday that the US is considering withdrawing up to 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe. Sources noted that while the exact figure is still under discussion, the proposal could affect American forces stationed in Romania and Poland – two NATO members close to the Russian border. As of early 2025, there were nearly 84,000 US troops stationed in Europe, with the largest concentrations in Germany and Poland, and smaller deployments in Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, according to US European Command.

USA - How “free” can international trade be if its proponents depend upon a labyrinthine system of rules that requires thousand-page treaties and guidance from the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, central banks galore, the Bank for International Settlements, international standards organizations, law firms specializing in commercial and maritime law, more law firms specializing in the administrative law of specific nations, even more law firms specializing in the labor and environmental laws of each nation, and an ever-increasing number of national and international regulatory bodies to tell producers what they can and cannot produce, how and when to produce what they are permitted to produce, and whom to pay for the “privilege” of producing it — all while restricting which domestic consumers around the world are permitted to purchase what the aforementioned producers end up producing?

That long question only scratches the surface of the sheer complexity of international trade, yet even in its oversimplification, it smacks of coercion, extortion, overbearing micromanagement, government corruption, and blatant racketeering. It oozes the “command and control” odor we associate with a Soviet-type, socialist, or similarly centrally planned economy. Nothing about “free trade” in practice sounds remotely free.

USA - 'Wolf of Wall Street' Jordan Belfort has told Sky News there's "no way" Donald Trump is guilty of insider trading or market manipulation. Opponents say the president has questions to answer after he said it was a "great time to buy" shares - four hours before the stock market surged on Wednesday when he paused tariffs. Mr Belfort told Gillian Joseph the fact Mr Trump made the statement on social media meant it was public, rather than him tipping off a few people. Mr Belfort told Sky News that while he was against tariffs generally, President Trump's dramatic intervention was necessary as the US has an "insane" trade imbalance and imports far more than it exports. "The United States has been drained of its wealth, drained of its factories," he said.

USA - The fraud within the United States government is so rampant that it is leaving Elon Musk shocked. On Wednesday, The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced its findings from an initial survey of unemployment insurance claims since 2020 and uncovered three stunning discoveries regarding unemployment fraud. What they found will leave you livid:

USA - During an interview with automotive designer and internet personality Casey Putsch last week, Tucker mentioned that he is a lifelong fan of Chevrolet trucks but felt he had to “immediately” sell his latest one after spotting a disturbing message on the car’s dashboard. “I bought a truck last year…A Chevy truck, which I’ve always had, and I was at a gas station," he said. “And all of a sudden at a gas station, it says, ‘Stop, we’re downloading information from the internet.'” “While you were driving?” Putsch asked. “No, I was stopped,” Tucker replied. “I sold the car immediately. I brought it back and sold it.” Tucker last year bought his 1987 Chevy Silverado and revealed the car’s lack of technology was a prime appealing factor to him: “There are no electronics in this. There’s no air conditioning, there’s no radio, and there’s no way for the government to turn off my engine if I’m disobedient,” he said at the time.

USA - President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all countries except for China, which will see an increased tariff of 125%, in a Wednesday Truth Social post. The move comes after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on several nations on April 2, sending shockwaves across international markets. Markets immediately responded by surging following the president’s Wednesday announcement.

USA - Stocks surged to one of their biggest gains since the second world war after Donald Trump paused his tariffs against most nations except China, as investors had desperately hoped he would. Trump, though, did raise tariffs on China to 125%. The S&P 500 soared 9.5%, though the index is still below where it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week. The Dow Jones industrial average flew nearly 3,000 points higher, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 12.2%.

USA - Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers “pay more for yesterday’s energy”. The US president is using emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement to keep producing electricity. The move, announced at a White House event on Tuesday afternoon, was described by White House officials as being in response to increased US power demand from growth in datacenters, artificial intelligence and electric cars.