Discover today’s global news headlines and insights into all the latest Current Affairs, Sports, Health, Weather, Entertainment, Business and Travel News from around the world.
‘I freaked out and spent $400 online’: US consumers on cheap shipping changes
Earlier this year, Deborah Grushkin, an enthusiastic online shopper from New Jersey, “freaked out”.
US President Donald Trump had signed an order to stop allowing packages from China worth less than $800 (£601) to enter the country free of import taxes and customs procedures.
It was a move, backed by traditional retailers, that had been discussed in Washington for years amid an explosion of packages slipping into the US under the limit.
Many countries, including the UK, are considering similar measures, spurred in part by the rapid ascent of Shein and Temu.
But in the US, Trump’s decision to end the carve-out while ordering a blitz of new trade tariffs, including import taxes of at least 145% on goods from China, has delivered a one-two punch that has left businesses and shoppers reeling.
US-based e-commerce brands, which were set up around the system, are warning the changes could spark failures of smaller firms, while shoppers like Deborah brace for price hikes and shortages.
With the 2 May deadline bearing down, the 36-year-old last month rushed in some $400 worth of items from Shein – including stickers, T-shirts, sweatshirts, Mother’s Days gifts and 20 tubes of liquid eyeliner.
“I felt like maybe it was my last sort of hurrah,” she says.
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Maga says Pope Leo may be American, but he’s not ‘America first’
Catholicism has rarely been more prominent in US politics as the Trump administration openly embraces advisers and officials who proudly say faith has shaped their politics.
But any jubilation on the American Make America Great Again right about the new Pope this week quickly dissipated as key voices from Donald Trump’s Maga movement came to a disappointed conclusion: the first American Pope does not appear to be “America first”.
Little is known about the political leanings of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago.
He has voiced concerns for the poor and immigrants, chosen a name that may reference more liberal church leadership, and he appears to have both supported the liberal-leaning Pope Francis and criticised the US president’s policies on social media.
But the president so far has said only that Leo’s election was a “great honour” for the US. Still, some of Trump’s most prominent supporters were quick to attack Pope Leo, lambasting him as a possible challenge to Trump and on the perception that he will follow Pope Francis in areas like immigration.
“I mean it’s kind of jaw-dropping,” Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon told the BBC on Friday, speaking of Leo’s election.
“It is shocking to me that a guy could be selected to be the Pope that had had the Twitter feed and the statements he’s had against American senior politicians,” said Bannon, a hard-right Trump loyalist, practising Catholic and former altar boy.
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The US and China are finally talking. Why now?
The US-China trade war could be letting up, with the world’s two largest economies set to begin talks in Switzerland.
Top trade officials from both sides will meet on Saturday in the first high-level meeting since US President Donald Trump hit China with tariffs in January.
Beijing retaliated immediately and a tense stand-off ensued as the two countries heaped levies on each other. New US tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 145%, and some US exports to China face duties of 125%.
There have been weeks of stern, and sometimes fiery, rhetoric where each side sought to paint the other as the more desperate party.
And yet this weekend they will face each other over the negotiating table.
So why now?
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Families of Hamas-held hostages tell of growing concern for their fate
Families of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza in the 7 October attacks have expressed their increasing concern about the fates of loved ones, as doubts grow about how many are still alive.
One family said the hostages were at risk “every day” they continued to be held captive by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week there was “uncertainty” over the condition of three of the 24 hostages previously believed to be alive.
He was reacting to US President Donald Trump’s statement on Tuesday that only 21 of those taken in the Hamas-led attacks were still alive.
The BBC spoke to two families – including the brother of a hostage released by Hamas this year – after Israel’s security cabinet approved an expanded offensive in Gaza.
Netanyahu said ministers had decided on a “forceful operation” to destroy Hamas and rescue the hostages, and that Gaza’s 2.1 million population “will be moved, to protect it”.
One family told the BBC they hoped the troops would only be used to help with the aim of freeing the hostages, not for any other reasons.
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Trump administration considers suspending habeas corpus
Donald Trump’s administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus – the right of a person to challenge their detention in court – one of the US president’s top aides has said.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters on Friday that the US Constitution allowed for the legal liberty to be suspended in times of “rebellion or invasion”.
His comments come as judges have sought to challenge some recent detentions made by the Trump administration in an effort to combat illegal immigration, as well as remove dissenting foreign students.
“A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” Miller said.
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Taylor Swift criticises Lively-Baldoni court summons
Taylor Swift’s representatives have told the BBC she is being brought into a legal row between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively to create “tabloid clickbait”.
The 35-year-old singer was summoned to a US court after it was alleged she encouraged Baldoni to accept script re-writes by Lively for It Ends With Us, a film that both starred in and is the centre of a sexual harassment case.
Baldoni says he was invited to Lively’s New York home in 2023 to discuss script changes, where Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Swift were there to serve as her “dragons”.
Representatives for Swift said “she was not involved in any casting or creative decision” and “never saw an edit or made any notes on the film”.
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No water, no power – Port Sudan reeling after week of attacks
A massive increase in the price of water is just one consequence of a week of aerial attacks on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
Once seen as a relatively safe haven from Sudan’s devastating civil war, Port Sudan is now reeling from days of bombardment from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.
After six days of drone attacks, smoke is still rising from three fuel depots which were targeted. Rescue teams are gathered around the destroyed sites, but they are struggling to put the fires out.
The conflict, which began as a struggle between the leaders of the RSF and the army more than two years ago, has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and forced more than 12 million people from their homes.
One of those who fled to Port Sudan is 26-year-old Mutasim, who did not want his second name published for safety reasons.
The BBC spoke to him after he had waited hours for a water vendor to turn up.
The vital commodity has become scarce. The explosions at the fuel depots have left Port Sudan without the diesel used to power the pumps that bring up the groundwater.
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Rohit Sharma: Indian cricket star who made batting look like art
Rohit Sharma’s abrupt retirement from Test cricket has jolted Indian fans, leaving the team without its captain and most seasoned opener just weeks before a pivotal five-Test series starts in England.
India haven’t won a Test rubber in England since 2007. To lose their captain and most experienced opening batter will compel a rethink of selection strategy for the tour.
A charismatic leader and dashing batter, Sharma is widely regarded as a modern day great.
His stats in Test cricket – 4,301 runs in 67 matches at an average of 40.57 are not imposing.
But the aplomb and authority, tactical acumen and lead-from-the-front derring-do which he has displayed has won him admiration and respect all over the cricket world.
Sharma’s decision to retire from Test cricket, announced via a subdued Instagram post, has sparked widespread speculation. While various factors may have influenced his choice, his prolonged slump in Test form appears to be the primary catalyst.
In his last six Tests – three against New Zealand at home, three against Australia Down Under – Sharma’s form was woeful. In 10 innings in these matches, he could muster a paltry 122 runs.
To compound the problem, India lost all these Tests. Being whitewashed by New Zealand 3-0 at home – unprecedented in Indian cricket – put Sharma under harsh scrutiny in the ensuing Border-Gavaskar series in which too he found no relief. He took the laudable, but extreme step of dropping himself from the playing XI for the last Test at Sydney.