France signals June recognition of Palestinian State at UN conference — (LINK) — ground.news: 167 media reports — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq soar as Trump announces '90 day pause' on tariffs for most countries, ups levies on China to 125% — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

EU takes revenge on Trump's tariffs as countries approve €20B+ retaliation — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Trump's sweeping new tariffs in effect, including 104% on China — (LINK) — ground.news: 74 media reports — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

China to raise tariffs on US goods from 34% to 84% in response to Trump tariffs — (LINK) — ground.news: 501 media reports — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Asian markets resume slide and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 drops 5% as Trump's latest salvo of tariffs takes effect — (LINK)

European stocks plunge 2.6% at the open as Trump's reciprocal tariffs take effect — (LINK)

BBC: Is the US making $2bn a day from tariffs? BBC Verify cannot find any published figures which show this. The US Treasury Department publishes a daily statement on how much money from customs duties goes to the federal government. Data from 7 April - which includes the impact of some of Trump's earlier tariffs - amounted to $215m (£168m). — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

— It is possible that Trump has based it on forecasts for the year ahead. The US imported $9bn (£7bn) worth of goods per day last year. Some analysts have calculated that the average rate of Trump's tariffs (as of 2 April) is 22%. Applying this to these import figures would get you to $2bn (£1.6bn) a day. But this calculation assumes that the volume of US imports would stay at this level.

Switzerland faces more income losses than France or Germany from US tariffs: 0.2-0.6%, says ETH Zurich: "If tariffs were imposed on pharmaceutical products, the real income losses would rise sharply." — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Trump administration freezes $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University, $790 million for Northwestern University, in relation to a federal statute that prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

— Last Friday, Harvard University received a letter outlining policy demands in order to keep $9 billion in federal funding. Some of the requests included the elimination of Harvard's diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a ban on masks at campus protests, student-run newspaper The Harvard Crimson and other outlets reported. Brown University also learned last week that $510 million in grant money was at risk as the Trump administration reviewed the university's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and its response to antisemitism. Princeton University and Columbia University have also suffered funding losses in recent weeks. On Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce announced Princeton University would lose nearly $4 million in federal funding for climate research programs. The administration announced last week it has suspended research grants totaling $210 million to Princeton University as part of an ongoing investigation into antisemitism on campus.

Mike Johnson scuttles MAGA budget vote after fails to win over holdouts — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Judge finds Newsmax aired false and defamatory claims about voting-tech company Dominion Voting Systems in the 2020 presidential election: jury trial slated for late April. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit: order punishes Susman Godfrey, which helped Dominion Voting Systems get millions from Fox for 2020 election lies. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

— The order is limiting its attorneys from accessing government buildings, revoking security clearances and essentially making it impossible for it to represent anyone who has business before the federal government.

FBI director Kash Patel removed as director of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: Decision transfers control of ATF away from US justice department to the Defense Department for first time. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

2 judges in Texas and New York limit Trump's bid to deport 'alien enemies' in back-to-back rulings — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

India's central bank cuts policy rate by 25 basis points to 6% to boost slowing growth — (LINK) — ground.news: 21 media reports — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Oil prices have crashed to their lowest point since 2021 due to the escalating US-China trade war. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Keystone oil pipeline shutdown after it ruptured in North Dakota could quickly lead to higher gasoline prices — (LINK)

Ukraine says more than 150 Chinese mercenaries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

Musk rival US firm SpinLaunch plans to launch 250 satellites and smash SpaceX record but has skeptics: SpinLaunch has emphasized the cost effectiveness and environmentally positive impact of forgoing rocket fuel for kinetic tech but their planned Meridian Space project will be operated by traditional rocket engines. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

— Musk was recently awarded a mega contract by the US government to launch military satellites into space, and he's previously claimed that Starlink will be able to provide high-speed internet for the upcoming private space station.

Who falls for fake news? Study reveals surprising patterns — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

— Those in Generation Z (aged 23-28), women, conservatives, and less-educated individuals were more likely to believe misinformation. Interestingly, many were accurate in assessing their own limitations: Gen Z and women, in particular, recognized their weaknesses, while those with more education tended to overestimate their skills.

Famously reclusive American writer Thomas Pynchon is publishing a new novel on 7 October: Shadow Ticket, his first since 2013. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

"The hidden reason your phone needs to be in airplane mode while flying": clear communication between pilots and air traffic control. — 9 April 2025 (LINK)

China vows to "fight to the end" with retaliation over Trump's tariffs threat as trade war ramps up — 8 April 2025 (LINsK)

Trump threatens new 50% tariffs on China if Beijing doesn't remove retaliatory duties (LINK) — ground.news: 390 media reports (LINK)

Acting IRS commissioner resigning after agency reaches data-sharing deal with immigration authorities — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

— Decision to accept the agency's deferred resignation offer comes on the heels of the IRS and Department of Homeland Security finalizing an agreement Monday to provide sensitive taxpayer data to federal immigration authorities to help the Trump administration locate and deport undocumented immigrants.

Donald Trump's crypto holdings drop to $1m: crypto portfolio fell from $23M in valuation to a mere $1M since the beginning of this year. — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

Global executions hit decade-high of 1518 in 2024, driven by Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia: Amnesty International (LINK) — ground.news: 40 media reports (LINK) — 8 April 2025

Congo repatriates 3 Americans who had faced death sentences over a failed coup plot — (LINK) — ground.news: 41 media reports — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

At least 184 dead, including former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and singer Rubby Perez, and 155 injured after roof collapses at Dominican Republic nightclub. — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

Nursing home fire kills at least 20 people in China, probe launched — (LINK) — ground.news: 34 media reports — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

As U.S. measles outbreak nears 600 cases, fears grow about spread in day cares and urban areas — 8 April 2025 (LINK)

Trump threatens new 50% tariffs on China if Beijing doesn't remove retaliatory duties (LINK) — ground.news: 390 media reports (LINK) — 7 April 2025

Global markets sink as Trump's tariffs roil trading system: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8% shortly after the market opened and futures trading for the benchmark was briefly suspended. It closed down 7.8% at 31,136.58. Germany's DAX index briefly fell more than 10% at the open on the Frankfurt exchange, but recovered some ground to move down 5.8% in morning trading. In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 5.8%, while Britain's FTSE 100 lost 4.9% in the European morning. — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

Only one of world's top 500 billionaires didn't lose money and profited from Trump's tariffs: Warren Buffet. — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

— He sold off shares of his US companies when Trump took office, with the 94-year-old profiting as a result. While the likes of Elon Musk were $130 billion out of pocket, Buffett made $12.7 billion in profits. Buffett sold $134 billion (£105.2 billion) in equities in 2024 and currently has about $334 billion (£262.4 billion) in cash.

Wall Street could be headed for a bear market. Here's what that means — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

— The last bear market happened in 2022, but this decline feels more like the sudden, turbulent bear market of 2020, when the benchmark S&P 500 index tumbled 34% in a one-month period, the shortest bear market ever. It took less than three weeks for stocks to rise 20% from their low in March 2020.

— The S&P 500, Wall Street's main barometer of health, closed 0.2% lower Monday after having been down by as much as 4.7%. It's now 17.6% below the all-time high it set on Feb. 19.

— On average, bear markets have taken 13 months to go from peak to trough and 27 months to get back to breakeven since World War II. The S&P 500 index has fallen an average of 33% during bear markets in that time. The biggest decline since 1945 occurred in the 2007-2009 bear market, when the S&P 500 fell 57%.

— History shows that the faster an index enters into a bear market, the shallower they tend to be. Historically, stocks have taken 251 days (8.3 months) to fall into a bear market. When the S&P 500 has fallen 20% at a faster clip, the index has averaged a loss of 28%.

US Supreme Court allows Trump to use Alien Enemies Act for deportations — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

— At least 137 people have been deported by the Trump administration under the Alien Enemies Act, a move widely condemned by rights groups. The act, last used in World War Two, grants the US president sweeping powers to order the detention and deportation of natives or citizens of an "enemy" nation without following the usual processes. sIt was passed as part of a series of laws in 1798 when the US believed it would enter a war with France.

U.S. Social Security wrongly told disabled people and some seniors last week that their benefits ended, causing alarm — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

— CBS News: "The SSI issue could be the result of changes happening at the Social Security Administration under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Altman said. Musk has claimed that the system is rife with fraud, and alleged the program is 'the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time'. In recent weeks, the Social Security website has suffered from a number of outages that lasted as long as a day, according to an April 7 Washington Post report. The Social Security Administration told CBS MoneyWatch that the 'brief disruptions' lasted about 20 minutes each, on average. 'Before Trump, Musk and DOGE took over, there were no major crashes or glitches on SSA's website to speak of,' noted Maria Freese, senior Social Security expert at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group focused on retirement issues. 'Certainly there were no messages going out telling people erroneously that their benefits were discontinued.'"

Dominican Republic reinforces border security, migration controls towards Haiti (LINK) — ground.news: 11 media reports (LINK) — 7 April 2025

— Since October, the Dominican Republic has deported more than 180,000 suspected undocumented migrants, with plans to deport 10,000 per week.

Most Venezuelans deported from U.S. to El Salvador had no criminal record, 60 Minutes investigation reveals (LINK) — ground.news: 8 media reports (LINK) — 7 April 2025

At least 1,200 grants canceled as DOGE National Endowment for the Humanities' cuts target programmes across U.S. — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

— On April 1, the New York Times reported that representatives of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the Department of Government Efficiency, told NEH managers it was looking to cut as much as 70 to 80 percent of the agency's roughly 180-person staff. The next day, humanities councils in all 50 states received notice that their grants were being terminated.

The Trump administration is threatening to veto a bipartisan Senate bill to give Congress the ability to review new tariffs — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

Microsoft terminates jobs of 2 engineers who protested use of AI products by Israel's military — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

Zelensky confirms Ukraine troops active in Russia's Belgorod region — 7 April 2025 (LINK)

Keystone oil pipeline shutdown after it ruptured in North Dakota could quickly lead to higher gasoline prices — 8 April 2025 (LINK)