Markets plunge with S&P 500 down 6%, Dow down 2,200 as their worst crisis since covid deepens
NEW YORK — Wall Street’s worst crisis since covid slammed into a higher, scarier gear Friday. The S&P 500 lost 6% after China matched President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs announced earlier this week. The move increased the stakes in a trade war that could end with a recession...
How tiny Lesotho ended up with the highest U.S. tariffs in the world
JOHANNESBURG — If you have ever bought a pair of jeans from an American brand like Levi’s or Wrangler, chances are they were manufactured at a factory in the small southern African nation of Lesotho. Textile manufacturing is one of Lesotho’s key industries, exporting some 75% of its output to...
Federal Reserve chief says Trump tariffs likely to raise inflation and slow U.S. economic growth
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Trump administration’s expansive new tariffs will likely lead to higher inflation and slower growth, and the Federal Reserve will focus on keeping price increases temporary, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday. Powell said that the tariffs, and their impacts on the economy and inflation, are “significantly...
Israeli strikes kill at least 17 in Gaza as ground troops enter Palestinian territory’s north
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza — Israeli strikes killed more than a dozen people in the Gaza Strip early Friday, as Israel sent more ground troops into the Palestinian territory to ramp up its offensive against Hamas. At least 17 people, some from the same family, were killed after an airstrike...
U.S. added a surprising 228K jobs in March as economy shows resilience in Trump trade wars
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a surprising 228,000 jobs last month, as the American labor market continues to show resilience as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges federal workers and deports immigrants working in the United States illegally. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. The hiring numbers were...
South Koreans are still puzzling over why their leader declared martial law
SEOUL — Dancing and consoling hugs. Wild whoops and anguished screams. Tears, both of joy and rage. Reaction to the court verdict ousting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol from office Friday was a vivid window into the nation’s deep political divisions, as tens of thousands of Yoon opponents and...
A church in England opens its doors to pro wrestling in a bid to attract converts
SHIPLEY, England — Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle. This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears...
Danish leader tells U.S. ‘you cannot annex another country’ as she visits Greenland
NUUK, Greenland — Denmark’s prime minister has told the U.S. during a visit to Greenland that “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument that international security is at stake. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said on Friday that Copenhagen “should focus on the fact that the...
Yoon Suk Yeol removed as South Korea’s president over short-lived martial law
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously removed Yoon Suk Yeol from office Friday, ending his tumultuous presidency and setting up a new election, four months after he threw the nation into turmoil with an ill-fated declaration of martial law. The verdict capped a dramatic fall for Yoon,...
Trump’s tariff push is a race against time, and potential voter backlash
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s expansive new tariffs reverse a decades-long global trend of lower trade barriers and are likely, economists say, to raise prices for Americans by thousands of dollars each year while sharply slowing the U.S. economy. The White House is gambling that other countries will also suffer...
Trump says things are ‘going very well’ after worst stock market drop in years over tariffs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump offered a rosy assessment after the stock market dropped sharply Thursday over his tariffs, saying, “I think it’s going very well.” “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he said when asked about the...
Europe and Canada say they’ll spend more on defense, but are cool on U.S. demands
BRUSSELS — European NATO allies and Canada on Friday said they are willing to ramp up defense spending but are cool on U.S demands for the size of their military budgets, particularly given President Donald Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. U.S. allies have spent billions...
China imposes 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products starting April 10
BEIJING — China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures following U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” slate of double-digit tariffs. The new tariff matches the rate of the U.S. “reciprocal” tariff...
10 dead as landslide hits passing cars on Indonesia’s Java island
SURABAYA, Indonesia — Indonesian rescuers recovered 10 bodies after a landslide struck vehicles on a hilly road on the country’s main island of Java, police said Friday. Torrential rains pushed mud, rocks and trees down the mountainside road on Thursday, burying a van with seven people aboard and a pickup...
Top Democrats protest after reported firing of National Security Agency director
WASHINGTON — Top congressional Democrats on Thursday protested the reported firing of Gen. Tim Haugh as director of the National Security Agency, with one lawmaker saying the decision “makes all of us less safe.” The Washington Post reported late Thursday that Haugh and his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy...
Brown University to see half a billion in federal funding halted by Trump administration
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is planning to halt more than half a billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, adding to a list of Ivy League colleges that have had their federal money threatened as a result of their responses to antisemitism, a White House official...
Police say a 17-year-old was fatally stabbed by another student at a Texas track meetVideo
FRISCO, Texas — A 17-year-old student was fatally stabbed by another student during an altercation at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas on Wednesday, police said. The suspect, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, was taken into custody and charged with murder, according to police in Frisco, about 30 miles north...
Trump says Musk will probably leave in ‘a few months’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that Elon Musk would likely leave his administration in “a few months,” the clearest sign that his most powerful and disruptive adviser will be wrapping up his work inside the government. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that “Elon is fantastic” but...
Storms kill 7 in the South and Midwest as forecasters warn of catastrophic rain, floods this weekVideo
LAKE CITY, Ark. — Standing alongside the twisted steel tractors on his family farm in northeast Arkansas on Thursday, Danny Qualls looked on while friends and relatives helped him begin cleaning up. The home where he spent his childhood but no longer lives was flattened by one of many tornadoes...
Judge says U.S. government may have ‘acted in bad faith’ as he weighs contempt over deportation order
WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration may have “acted in bad faith” by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country before a court could block their deportations to El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg in Washington pressed a Justice Department lawyer to...
Senate confirms Mehmet Oz to take lead of Medicare and Medicaid agency
WASHINGTON — Former heart surgeon and TV pitchman Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed Thursday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz became the agency’s administrator in a party line 53-45 vote. The 64-year-old will manage health insurance programs for roughly half the country, with oversight of Medicare,...
North Dakota mayor resigns after sending lewd video to city attorney by mistake
MINOT, N.D. — The mayor of one of North Dakota’s largest cities resigned after an investigation into him mistakenly sending a lewd video to the city attorney. Minot Mayor Tom Ross, who is nonpartisan, resigned Tuesday, the same day an investigative report was made public that found Ross sent a...
Pentagon watchdog to review Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal app to convey plans for Houthi strike
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted...
Records reveal Shapiro admin stopped tracking why older adults die during abuse, neglect investigations
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — The Shapiro administration last year stopped collecting information on why older adults in Pennsylvania die during open abuse and neglect investigations, and no...
Trump’s tariffs aren’t strictly reciprocal. Here’s how he calculated them
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump promised tariffs that would raise U.S. import taxes high enough to mirror what other assess as trade penalties on American goods. What he’s actually imposing is based on far more complicated math. Here’s a look at how the White House got its numbers: Why do...
