75 m. ago US dollar ‘at risk of confidence crisis’ as Trump tariffs rattle global markets – business live

Ursula von der Leyen says tariffs a ‘major blow’ to world economy, as US dollar falls to six month low after US President Trump’s ‘liberation day’Full report: Trump announces sweeping new tariffsAnalysis: Trump’s tariffs likely to raise prices and cause chaosWhat are tariffs and why do they matter?The new US tariffs “will only create losers” with US consumers particularly hard hit, the German Automotive Industry Association (VDA), has said in a statement, calling on the EU “to act together and with the necessary force, while continuing to signal its willingness to negotiate.”The body, which represents the powerful German auto industry, said the tariffs markedthe United States’ departure from the rules-based global trade order – and thus a departure from the foundation for global value creation and corresponding growth and prosperity in many regions of the world.This is not America first; this is America alone. Continue reading...

Economics

19 h. ago I don’t want to die with a freezer full of seeds. It’s time to rethink biodiversity and preservation | Chris Smith

Hurricane Helene proved a hard truth: a freezer of seeds is the literal version of putting all your eggs in one basketAbout a month after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina last fall, Roger Wynn and I met in an Asheville, North Carolina, supermarket parking lot. He’d driven two hours from Little Mountain, South Carolina, where the passing storm had also left its destructive mark.“When the power finally came back on,” Wynn said, “two of my freezers didn’t work.” Wynn was worried not about spoiled food inside, but his seed collection. On that autumn day, in an act of forced downsizing and seed philanthropy, Wynn handed over two boxes filled with seeds. He wanted me, as founder of the non-profit Utopian Seed Project, to share the seeds with farmers across the region. The boxes contained a trove of Appalachian varieties: speckled field peas, white mountain half-runner beans, purple-podded bush beans and lots of butterbeans. Continue reading...

Events

49 h. ago Eurozone inflation falls for the second month in a row to 2.2%

March figure comes as ECB rate-setters consider whether to slow the pace of interest rate cuts

Economics

50 h. ago Eurozone inflation fell for the second month in a row in March to 2.2%

Figure comes as ECB rate-setters consider whether to slow the pace of interest rate cuts

Economics

2 w. ago Who else has been stuck in space? A short history of long spaceflights

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aren’t the first to run late in space, and their 9 ½-month mission falls short of any endurance record

Politics

2 w. ago Why is Donald Trump crashing the US economy? Because he’s high on his own supply of fake news | Jonathan Freedland

Addicted to Fox News and outlets even more extreme, the president finds support and justification for actions disastrous to Americans and the worldNot content with shattering the post-1945 international order, which delivered prosperity and power to his country for eight long decades, Donald Trump is seemingly set on destroying the US economy. And he’s doing it because he, and the American right, have lost their ability to grasp reality.Start with the economic vandalism, unfolding in real time and mesmerising to watch. For weeks, you could see the US stock market falling and falling until on Thursday the S&P index passed an unwanted milestone: it stood more than 10% down from the peak it had reached less than a month earlier, a fall that meets the Wall Street definition of a “correction”. In other words, even if the market eventually rallies, this is no blip. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Asda cuts fuel prices by 4p per litre amid drop in wholesale costs

It comes after the RAC said fuel prices should fall from a six-month high.

Economics

3 w. ago ‘That’s for Michael’: Marine Nationale leads poignant day at Cheltenham

Jockey O’Sullivan’s double from 2023 repeated at festivalJazzy Matty completes emotional second day at meetingAt the moment of his greatest racing triumph, after a lifetime in the sport as a spectator, an amateur jockey, owner and now a trainer, Barry Connell’s thoughts after Marine Nationale’s victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday turned, immediately and inevitably, to Michael O’Sullivan, who rode the same horse to victory in the Supreme Novice Hurdle here two years ago and died last month, from injuries sustained in a fall.“The obvious thing is how raw and poignant it’s all been over the last four weeks,” Connell said. “Michael and myself went on a journey with this horse, he rode him in all his races in his novice season over hurdles. He started as a 7lb claimer with us and I asked him to turn pro, and he ended up winning three Grade Ones as a claimer and was leading rider [with two wins] on the first day [at ­Cheltenham two years ago]. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Met Office reveals where snow will fall this month as weather maps show 9 inches

Weather modelling maps show as much as nine inches of snow could soon fall in the UK as the Met Office has revealed where is most likely to see more of the white stuff

Society