USA - The American economist Thomas Sowell once wrote: “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right – especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.” So it seems with President Trump. He has been proven right about pretty much everything and now he is trying to do something about it, the elite is howling with indiscriminate outrage.

USA - The FDA allows food manufacturers to introduce new additives without independent safety testing, meaning thousands of chemicals are in the US food supply with little oversight. Many food additives, including emulsifiers and preservatives, disrupt gut bacteria, leading to inflammation, metabolic disorders, and immune dysfunction. The Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) loophole allows companies to self-certify chemicals as safe, even when long-term health effects are unknown. Heavy metals like arsenic and lead are present in common foods due to weak enforcement standards, contributing to cognitive decline and increased disease risk. Avoiding ultraprocessed foods, choosing organic when possible, and learning how to read ingredient labels will drastically reduce exposure to harmful additives.

USA - An earthquake has struck California with locals warned about it via text message moments before it happened. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.2 and was near the mountain town of Julian, east of San Diego, according to the US Geological Survey. Locals took to social media to share advice and comment on the new use of text alerts. Marty Caswell from San Diego wrote on X: "I can't recall ever getting a text alert before an earthquake. Came in 5 seconds before apartment started swaying." Another text sent to @AGraceMorgan63 read: "Earthquake detected! Drop, Cover, Hold On. Protect Yourself." The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said it received no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The earthquake swung light fittings and rattled shelves in the city. It was felt as far away as Los Angeles, a distance of 120 miles.

UK - Strong independent countries have big steel industries. They are the sinews of a highly-industrialised nation, one able to build its own defences. We had plenty of such sinews once. They transformed our industrial power into world power and helped to keep us free and prosperous. Now we have no such sinews. We buy them from someone else.

UK - The Royal Navy could be deployed to deliver an essential fuel shipment to Scunthorpe’s blast furnaces after MPs voted to seize control of British Steel from Chinese owners. A senior source said the government was considering the extraordinary move to ensure the cargo reached the UK without being intercepted or redirected, according to the Times. Yesterday, the day in Westminster started with MPs scrambling back from their Easter breaks into a packed Commons chamber – and ended with Government officials swooping in to take control after King Charles gave Royal Assent to the emergency law.

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.