Shoppers pass along the high street in Maidstone, UK, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The International Monetary Fund downgraded the U.K.’s 2025 growth forecast in its latest economic outlook released on Tuesday, warning that U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, higher borrowing costs and increased energy prices will dent…
Reuters Tsereteli was known for his larger-than-life sculptures, including this one of Russian President Vladimir Putin Georgian-Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, known for his gigantic and often controversial monuments, has died aged 91. The Tbilisi-born sculptor, painter and architect divided opinion with a series of large-scale projects in Moscow, including a massive 98m (321ft) monument to…
Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in front of St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican says. The date was decided after cardinals met in Vatican City on Tuesday morning to discuss the funeral’s timing. Ahead of the funeral, Pope Francis’s body will lie in an open casket in…
Burkina Faso’s military government has said it foiled a “major plot” to overthrow junta leader Capt Ibrahim Traoré, with the army alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the coup attempt was led by current and former soldiers working with “terrorist leaders”. The intention was to attack the…
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 17, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Yesterday’s edition of this newsletter cautioned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to intervene in the Federal Reserve, as he…
A photo showing the logo of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche in Basel. SEBASTIEN BOZON | AFP | Getty Images Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Tuesday said that it would invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, amid concerns about the impact of possible new White House tariffs on pharma goods from…
Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop billions of dollars in proposed cuts. The suit filed Monday is part of a feud that escalated last week when the elite institution rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at…
Nikita Yadav BBC News, Delhi @MEAIndia/X Vance (left) and Modi discussed matters related to trade, defence and bilateral cooperation India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi. Vance is currently on a four-day…
Getty Images Born in Dublin, Farrell spent over 30 years working in the US When the world learned of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, an Irish-American cardinal, little known in the wider world, was the one to break the news. After announcing that the pope had “returned to the home of the Father”, Irish-American…
China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC. Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The case had sent shockwaves through…
