Author: DW

Electronics such as smartphones and laptops will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs, the Trump administration has said.US Customs and Border Protection added that machines used to make semiconductors and flat-panel monitors would also be exempt. The move could help keep prices down for popular consumer items that are mainly produced in countries like Taiwan and China – among the hardest hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.Tech firms, including Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, have struggled in the stock market since the levies were first announced.Earlier this week, the head of the trading floor at Currencies 4 You told Newspage that Mr Trump’s…

Many of the world’s largest shipping nations agreed on Friday to what is effectively the first-ever global tax on greenhouse gas emissions for the industry, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said. At a meeting in London, they decided to impose a minimum fee of $100 for every ton of greenhouse gases emitted by cargo ships above certain thresholds. The European Union (EU), Brazil, China, India, and Japan all voted in favor of the agreement. Major oil producers, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia voted against it, while the United States abstained from voting. Shipping accounts for almost 3% of…

Authorities in Nigeria have banned a song critical of President Bola Tinubu from being broadcast on radio and TV. “Tell Your Papa” by Eedris Abdulkareem sharply criticizes Tinubu’s economic record after two years in office, which has seen major protests over rising inflation and fuel prices. Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission sent a memo to TV and radio stations describing the content as “inappropriate for broadcast.” It also claimed the song violated a clause in the country’s broadcasting code that prohibits content that is in “breach of public decency.” Abdulkareem has hit back at the claims and urged his fans to…

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a “massive testing and research effort” that will determine “what has caused the autism epidemic” by September, its Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday. “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” Kennedy said in a cabinet meeting. The number of autism diagnoses in the US has been rising for decades. About 1 in 36 children were identified with autism spectrum disorder in 2020. That’s up from 1 in 150 children in 2000, according to data from…

“Sport should be fun and make people want to perform. It keeps you healthy, imparts values and gives our society the cohesion it needs,” says the negotiated coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD which will form Germany’s new government. “That’s why we want to strengthen it with targeted measures – at the top and across the board. We are firmly opposed to doping, manipulation and all forms of violence and abuse.”  But, what does that mean in concrete terms? Minister of State for Sport The CDU/CSU has incorporated their demands about sport into the coalition agreement. At a press conference on…

A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, can be deported because his beliefs threaten national security. Judge Jamee Comans said the government provided sufficient evidence, citing a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Khalil’s activism could harm US foreign policy — even if his speech and activism were “otherwise lawful.” Addressing the court, Khalil quoted Comans’ earlier assertion that lawfully nothing was more important than due process and fairness. “Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil…

The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the Arctic island.Colonel Susan Meyers distanced herself from remarks made by vice president JD Vance when he visited the Pituffik base on 28 March. Ms Meyers, commander of the 821st Space Base Group, emailed all base personnel on 31 March, days after Mr Vance’s visit, Military.com said. Image: Colonel Susan Meyers (L) with US vice president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance (2L) at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in March. Pic: AP She told them she “spent the weekend thinking…

The US-China trade war has reached new heights as Beijing raised its retaliatory tariffs on US goods to 125%, hitting back against US President Donald Trump’s decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to 145%.  Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday made his first public comments on the escalating trade conflict, telling Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing that “there are no winners in a trade war, and going against the world will only lead to self-isolation.” Xi also stressed that Beijing is “not afraid” and expressed confidence in the nation’s ability to overcome the challenges posed by US…

She probably would have been a thorn in the side for current US President Donald Trump. When Susan Sontag died in 2004 at the age of 71, she was a prominent writer. The cultural world in the USA and Europe held her in high regard for her astute social criticism. She intervened in political debates and many of her ideas are more relevant than ever. In the current political context, “Sontag would undoubtedly have had a powerful voice,” says cultural historian Bernd Hüppauf, who was a long-time researcher at New York University. “But would Trump be impressed? Hardly.” “Many people often…

A common anti-anxiety drug, which has been found to pollute the world’s waterways, seems to be influencing the migration behavior of wild Atlantic Salmon, according to a  study out of Sweden.  The study, published in the journal Science, found that wild salmon became less risk-averse when they were exposed to the psychoactive drug clobazam. That, in turn, changed the way the fish migrate. “[Salmon exposed to clobazam] were more likely to complete their migration to the sea, and they passed through man-made barriers like hydropower dams faster than fish that were not exposed,” said Jack Brand at the Swedish University…