Wall Street shrugs off Trump after he vows Mexico and Canada tariffs
Financial markets largely shrugged after Donald Trump outlined plans to impose punitive tariffs on Mexico and Canada as soon as next month while signing scores of executive orders on his first day in office. US markets were closed for Martin Luther King Day on Monday, so Asian markets were the first to respond. US stock futures pointed to modest gains on Wall Street when markets open for trading at 2.30pm GMT. Gold – seen as a safe haven asset – was back in favour, hitting a two-month high amid uncertainty over US tariffs. On Monday, Trump said he wanted to reverse the US trade deficit with the EU through tariffs or more US energy exports.
Source:The Guardian
January 21, 2025 21:17 UTC
‘We don’t want to be Americans,’ says Greenland prime minister – as it happened
Greenland’s future will be decided by Greenland,” prime minister Múte B. Egede told a press conference. Greenland's prime minister Mute Bourup Egede, here pictured at another press conference earlier this month. View image in fullscreen Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and deputy prime minister Denisa Sakova attend a no-confidence vote in Bratislava, Slovakia. Greenland’s future will be decided by Greenland,” prime minister Múte B. Egede told a press conference. View image in fullscreen Greenland's prime minister Mute Bourup Egede, here pictured at another press conference earlier this month.
Source:The Guardian
January 21, 2025 21:00 UTC
‘Sowing seeds for next pandemic’: Trump order for US to exit WHO prompts alarm
Lauterbach said the new US president’s announcement was “a serious blow to the international fight against global health crises”. Members of the global health community said that Trump’s decision could backfire on the US. Dr Pete Baker, deputy director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development thinktank, said the decision to withdraw was “highly regrettable”. “It undermines global health security and risks progress on critical issues like pandemic preparedness and antimicrobial resistance,” he said. “The political support of the US for the global health security architecture is irreplaceable.
Source:The Guardian
January 21, 2025 05:43 UTC
Wealth of world’s billionaires grew by $2tn in 2024, report finds
The wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by $2tn (£1.64tn) in 2024, three times faster than in 2023, amounting to $5.7bn a day, according to a report by Oxfam. The latest inequality report from the charity reveals that the world is now on track to have five trillionaires within a decade, a change from last year’s forecast of one trillionaire within 10 years. In the UK, wealth climbed by £35m a day to £182bn in 2024, it said. The wealth of the world’s 10 richest men grew on average by almost $100m a day and even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires. The report argues that most of the wealth is taken, not earned, as 60% comes from either inheritance, “cronyism and corruption” or monopoly power.
Source:The Guardian
January 21, 2025 03:24 UTC
William Tell review – Claes Bang misses the target in action-packed portrayal of the Swiss folk hero
Presumably intended to capture the same audience as recent French literary adaptations such as The Count of Monte Cristo, this wildly uneven English-language action adventure taps into the legend of the apple-skewering archer William Tell and celebrates the feisty, radical spirit of those well-known political subversives – checks notes – the Swiss. The famous apple incident is a taut centrepiece for Nick Hamm’s picture, and the action sequences are propulsive. The casting, however, is questionable. As William Tell, Claes Bang aims for stirring oration but ends up with something that sounds more like half-stirred word porridge.
Source:The Guardian
January 19, 2025 17:30 UTC
Shettima departs for World Economic Forum in Switzerland
Vice President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja to represent Nigeria at the 2025 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) scheduled for Davos, Switzerland. The Vice President will join world leaders, top business executives, and representatives of development partners at the meeting to discuss the state of the world economy with a view to improving its conditions. Among the events slated for Vice President Shettima is a workshop entitled, “Roadmap to Co-create Investment Opportunities for Africa’s Frontier Markets,” organized by the African Development Bank in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. Senator Shettima will also co-chair a forum on “Turning Digital Trade into a Catalyst for Growth in Africa,” scheduled for the Pischa Congress Centre. Vice President Shettima will attend, as a panellist, a Stakeholder Dialogue entitled “Global Risks 2025.” The Global Risks Report highlights an increasingly volatile global landscape, marked by accelerating geopolitical, technological, and environmental challenges.
Source:The Guardian
January 19, 2025 17:09 UTC
Chloe Kim, Maddie Mastro make history with double cork 1080s at Laax Open
Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro became the first women to land a double cork 1080 in snowboard halfpipe competition during a US one-two finish at the Laax Open on Saturday in Switzerland. Kim, the first woman to win two Olympic golds in halfpipe, secured her fifth Laax Open title with a standout performance, earning a score of 96.50 on her first run that included a cab double cork 1080. Mastro followed with an impressive score of 94.50 for a second-place finish, landing a frontside double cork 1080 to join Kim in the record books. “It’s rewarding to just ride for fun.”In the men’s event, Australia’s Scotty James captured his fourth Laax Open title. The Laax Open also marked the first US one-two finish in a World Cup snowboard halfpipe since Kim and Mastro achieved it at the 2018 Copper Mountain Grand Prix.
Source:The Guardian
January 19, 2025 05:26 UTC
Uncharted territory for the WHO if Trump withdraws US membership
The World Health Organization (WHO) could see lean years ahead if the US withdraws membership under the new Trump administration. Photograph: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty ImagesThe same day, the WHO made an “emergency appeal” for funds, citing the threats of climate breakdown and conflict to world health. A US funding withdrawal would also put pressure on the WHO Foundation to make up the shortfall. after newsletter promotionTrump’s renewed efforts to withdraw funding and support from the WHO were first reported in December – one of many potential day-one actions. Trump argued WHO was overly deferential to the Chinese government during the pandemic, and announced he would withdraw the US in May 2020.
Source:The Guardian
January 19, 2025 04:26 UTC
Lost Ella Fitzgerald recordings to be released – including her take on 60s pop
Lost recordings of a 1967 Ella Fitzgerald concert, including her spin on the era’s pop songs such as Alfie and Music to Watch Girls By, have been rediscovered and prepared for release. That label is now releasing them for the first time, under the title The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum. Fitzgerald performs a series of jazz song standards, including Mack the Knife, Bye Bye Blackbird, Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) and You’ve Changed (made famous a decade earlier by Billie Holiday). A different live rendition has been previously heard – albeit as a muffled bootleg – but this is the first time a Fitzgerald version appears on record. Unlike some unearthed live recordings that suffer from muddy sound or distant vocals, The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum is remarkably clean, having been mixed and mastered from multitracked analogue tapes.
Source:The Guardian
January 17, 2025 19:00 UTC
At Davos, Trump will face a less friendly brand of billionaire – but their dominance is waning | Larry Elliott
On Monday, as Donald Trump returns to the White House, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual talk fest kicks off in Davos. The Davos elite have a love-hate relationship with Trump: they despise him, but when he showed up at the WEF as president he was the hottest ticket in town. Most of the WEF attenders have grown up believing that trade barriers should be torn down, not erected. Yet a quick look around the world shows that Trump is not a lone voice. Nor is Trump the first occupant of the White House to be a staunch protectionist: Abraham Lincoln held similar views.
Source:The Guardian
January 17, 2025 04:14 UTC
William Tell review – limbs fly as Claes Bang’s medieval hero rallies a Swiss army
Nick Hamm lets rip with some gonzo Game of Thrones craziness in his retelling of the William Tell myth with a blue-chip cast. Limbs get chopped off in a style I haven’t seen since the days of Monty Python’s Black Knight. Ben Kingsley is the evil Austrian king with a deliriously designed eyepatch and Jonathan Pryce is the correspondingly decent Swiss monarch. Jonah Hauer-King plays the Swiss courtier Rudenz, who is fatefully tempted into making some sort of collaborationist (neutral?) It’s entirely ridiculous, but performed with absolute seriousness and the result is an innocent amusement.
Source:The Guardian
January 15, 2025 19:25 UTC
‘What joy! What damn joy!’: vanilla boom transforms fortunes of Colombia’s farmers
Traditionally, artisanal fishing and intermittent tourism have been the mainstay for El Valle residents, providing a modest living. View image in fullscreen Vanilla pods lying out to dry in a specialised chamber at the Río Valle community council, which represents the town’s vanilla farmers. Local farmers ventured into the unfamiliar realm of vanilla cultivation with support from Swissaid Colombia. Photograph: Charlie Cordero/The GuardianFor the vanilla farmers of Chocó, the fragrant crop is more than just a spice – it is a lifeline. “The day someone pours this vanilla into what they’re eating, they will know it came from the hands of the vanilla farmers of El Valle,” Murillo González says.
Source:The Guardian
January 15, 2025 15:32 UTC
European jitters about Trump 2.0 not shared by much of world, poll finds
European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not. “Europeans need to recognise the advent of a more transactional world. Rather than attempt to lead a global liberal opposition to Trump, they should understand their own strengths and deal with the world as they find it,” the report said. Moreover, the bloc was widely seen as an “ally” or “necessary partner”, including in countries such as Brazil, India and South Africa. The recent EU-Mercosur trade agreement “shows the kind of deals” a more united EU could make, the report said.
Source:The Guardian
January 15, 2025 05:11 UTC
Cost to clean up toxic PFAS pollution could top £1.6tn in UK and Europe
The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” are a family of more than 10,000 human-made substances. The UK Environment Agency has identified up to 10,000 high-risk sites in the UK that are contaminated with PFAS. The RSC is calling for public protections from toxic PFAS to be enshrined in the recent water special measures bill, which is now at the committee stage. “These figures show that the cost of regulatory inaction on PFAS pollution is staggering,” said a spokesperson for environmental charity ChemTrust.
Source:The Guardian
January 14, 2025 12:30 UTC
‘It’s a continuation of hope’: Paris-based TV station provides a lifeline for women in Afghanistan
“For us, it’s a way to provide hope,” said Hamida Aman, the Afghanistan-born, Swiss-raised entrepreneur behind the satellite channel Begum TV. “For women in Afghanistan, television is their only window into the world. All the Begum TV journalists and presenters are Afghan women who sought political asylum in France after fleeing the Taliban regime. “We know that some of our colleagues are worried about their families in Afghanistan, so they do not feel 100% free. “Our hopes and every hope we had for a brighter future for Afghanistan and all the women of Afghanistan might have turned into ashes,” she said.
Source:The Guardian
January 13, 2025 19:21 UTC