Author: Emmanuel

Downing Street said that UK prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, and had “been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest”.Issuing a read-out of their separate conversations on Friday, No 10 said the leaders “all agreed that an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging”, reports the PA news agency.A spokesperson said the PM “has been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest” and officials will “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”.The spokesperson added:
He discussed this approach with both leaders, acknowledging that while the global economic landscape has shifted this week, it has been clear for a long time that like-minded countries must maintain strong relationships and dialogue to ensure our mutual security and maintain economic stability.”
It is expected that Starmer will take further calls with counterparts over the weekend.Ministers have so far avoided criticism of Donald Trump as they seek to secure a trade agreement with the US which they hope could secure some exemption from the tariffs.However, the government has drawn up a list of products that could be hit in retaliation, and is consulting with businesses on how any countermeasures could impact them.Rachel Reeves said on Friday that the government is “determined to get the best deal we can” with Washington.The chancellor said:
Of course, we don’t want to see tariffs on UK exports, and we’re working hard as a government in discussion with our counterparts in the US to represent the British national interest and support British jobs and British industry.”
The Liberal Democrats have said that the government’s “attempts to appease the White House” are not working, and called on ministers to coordinate a response with allies.Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said in a statement:
We need to end this trade war as quickly as possible, but the government’s attempts to appease the White House and its offers to cut taxes on US tech billionaires simply aren’t working.
Instead, the best way to end this crisis is to stand shoulder to shoulder with our European and Commonwealth friends. We must coordinate our response and strengthen our trading relations with our reliable allies. That’s how we can protect our economy from Trump’s bullying.”
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it will “pause” shipments to the US as it works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs, reports the PA news agency.In a statement on Saturday, a JLR spokesperson said:
The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid to longer-term plans.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Times had reported that JLR would pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the United States for a month (see 11.48am BST)“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Donald Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods.According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Pezeshkian said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the US as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.It came after Trump, who has called on Tehran to hold direct negotiations on its nuclear programme, threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.Away from tariff news, left-leaning organisations in the US say that more than 500,000 people are expected to take to the streets to protest in Washington DC, Florida and elsewhere around the country on Saturday to oppose Donald Trump’s “authoritarian overreach and billionaire-backed agenda”.MoveOn, one of the organizations planning the day of protest they’re calling Hands Off along with dozens of labor, environmental and other progressive groups, said that more than 1,000 protests are planned across the US, including at state capitols.“This is shaping up to be the biggest single-day protest in the last several years of American history,” Ezra Levin, a founder of Indivisible, one of the groups planning the event, said on a recent organizing call.The largest event is expected to be on the National Mall in Washington DC, where members of Congress, including the Democrats Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, are scheduled to speak to crowds.China has said “the market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs, and called on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation.Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most U.S. trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.Trump also closed a trade loophole that had allowed low-value packages from China to enter the U.S. duty-free.This prompted retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34% on all U.S. goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan told public broadcaster RTHK, however, Hong Kong would not impose separate countermeasures, citing the need for the city to remain “free and open”.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said:
The market has spoken.
Now is the time for the U.S. to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, says he is prepared to dance if it means sidestepping some of the worst of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. Last week he sent a letter to India’s president, Droupadi Murmu, urging her to join him in a tango to celebrate 75 years of ­bilateral trade.Xi said it was “the right choice” for the two countries to be “partners of mutual achievement and realise the ‘Dragon-Elephant Tango’”, which, he added, “fully serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples.”Beijing is on a wide-ranging charm offensive, aimed at redirecting its exports away from the US to other willing destinations as Washington erects trade barriers.Tariffs on China imposed by the US president amounting to 20% earlier this year were more than doubled last week to 54% and an effective average rate of 65%, raising the cost of Chinese imports to a level that many analysts believe will be uncompetitive.The response from Beijing was swift. A sell-off on financial markets intensified after China’s finance ministry said it would respond in kind, adding 34% to the tariff on all US goods from 10 April.Investors worry that a recession in the US cannot be ruled out as the trade war intensifies and companies hunker down, cutting investment and jobs to weather the storm.John Denton, head of the International Chambers of Commerce, likens the onset of these tariff wars to the oil shock of the 1970s, such is its seismic importance. “The overriding theme is the battle for supremacy between China and the US for global trade dominance,” he said.China has taken and will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing a Chinese government stance on opposing US tariffs.The US should “stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China’s economy and trade, and stop undermining the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people,” the ministry said, according to Reuters.Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.This prompted retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34% on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Jaguar Land Rover will pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the United States for a month, as it considers how to mitigate the cost of president Donald Trump’s 25% tariff, according to a report in the Times newspaper.Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters on Saturday.A pause in shipments would add to fears over the impact from tariffs on the UK’s car industry, which employs 200,000 people directly. The US is the second-biggest importer of British-made cars after the European Union, with nearly a 20% share, data from industry body SMMT shows, reports Reuters.Jaguar Land Rover, one of the UK’s biggest producers by volume, sells 400,000 Range Rover Sports, Defenders and other models annually. Exports to the US account for almost a quarter of those sales.The US 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks took effect on 3 April. The previous day, Trump announced tariffs on other goods from countries across the globe, upending world trade.The Times said that Jaguar Land Rover is thought to have a couple of months’ supply of cars already in the US, which will not be subject to the new tariffs.Taiwan president Lai Ching-te met tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to new US tariffs, promising to ensure Taiwan’s global competitiveness and safeguard its interests, reports Reuters.President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs on Wednesday with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the US and is facing a 32% duty on its products. The US tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwanese export.Lai met the executives at his official residence to discuss the response to “the global economic and trade challenges brought about by the reciprocal tariff policy”, his spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement. She did not say which companies were present, only that there were several representatives from the information and communications technology, or ICT, industry.Lai “hopes to give industry the greatest support, stabilise the economic situation, ensure Taiwan’s industry’s global competitiveness, and safeguard our country’s national interests and the continued steady progress of our economy”, Kuo said.Taiwan is home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and an important supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia. TSMC did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on whether it attended the meeting. TSMC is in its quiet period ahead of first quarter earnings announcement on 17 April.On Friday, Taiwan’s government announced T$88bn ($2.67bn/£2.07bn) in financial help for companies and industries to deal with the impact of the US tariffs.Taiwan, which says the tariffs are unreasonable, has said it will discuss them with the US and has not announced any retaliatory tariffs.US president Donald Trump has long been an advocate of tariffs – once describing them as the most beautiful word in the dictionary – and his promise to impose them was a central plank of his presidential election campaign. In anticipation, Downing Street developed a defensive strategy that revolved around building a strong relationship with Trump’s White House – despite clear political differences – and launching talks to strike an economic deal that would secure tariff exemptions.Trade talks between the UK and US began soon after Trump’s inauguration, before the prime minister visited Washington in February, with the goal of agreeing a relatively narrow deal focused on advanced technologies. Talks intensified before UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds’ own visit to meet Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, just over two weeks ago.UK officials were assured by their US counterparts that they were in a strong position to negotiate a trade deal with Washington. “By then we knew what the faultlines were, and we were broadly there, so we just had some details to thrash out,” an official said.The two key figures leading the negotiations are Reynolds and Varun Chandra, a corporate strategist turned senior No 10 aide known as the prime minister’s “business whisperer”. Officials have been impressed by how Chandra has navigated the US administration. “He just gets them, and they get him. The talks have been much more corporate in tone than trade negotiations usually are. That’s his world,” one said.A senior trade department official, Kate Joseph, and Keir Starmer’s economic international affairs adviser, Michael Ellam, have been working behind the scenes at home to get the Whitehall machine ready. Multiple scenarios were drawn up depending on what tariff regime Trump imposed.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House on Monday to discuss recently announced tariffs with US president Donald Trump, three Israeli officials said on Saturday, according to Reuters.The impromptu visit was first reported by Axios, which said that if the visit takes place, the Israeli leader would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump in person to try to negotiate a deal to remove tariffs.Netanyahu’s office has not confirmed the visit, that would probably also include discussions on Iran and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.The surprise invite by Trump came in a phone-call on Thursday with Netanyahu, who is on a visit to Hungary, when the Israeli leader raised the tariff issue, according to the Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to Reuters.As part of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, unspecified Israeli goods exports to the US face a 17% tariff. The US is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner.An Israeli finance ministry official said on Thursday that Trump’s latest tariff announcement could impact Israel’s exports of machinery and medical equipment.Israel had already moved to cancel its remaining tariffs on US imports on Tuesday. The two countries signed a free trade agreement 40 years ago and about 98% of goods from the US are now tax-free.When Jonathan Reynolds gathered with officials around the large television screen in his office to watch Donald Trump unleash his global trade war, he knew little more than anyone else about what was to come.It was Wednesday night and the US president was about to upend a century of global trade with the imposition of sweeping taxes on US imports from around the world.Moments before Trump sauntered on stage, Reynolds had been told to expect a universal baseline tariff of 10% – but he did not know whether anything else would be imposed on top. The expectation in government was that the UK would be hit with a 20% rate, which the Treasury watchdog had warned could wipe 1% off UK GDP.As Trump brought out his sandwich board of global tariffs, Reynolds and his team shared the frustration of many viewers across the world – the board kept slipping behind the White House lectern and obscuring the all-important figures next to countries’ names.It quickly became clear that the UK’s rate was 10%, lower than the 20% rate for the EU – but the same baseline as the US had imposed on countries including Brazil and Afghanistan. Within minutes, Downing Street described this as a “vindication” of Keir Starmer’s approach.“When we heard it was a flat 10% there was some relief because it could have been so much worse,” one source said. “It also meant that they were true to their word about where we stood. That trust will be really important going forward.”No 10 has been criticised for “sucking up” to Trump but getting little in return, but government sources argue that the tariff regime could have been substantially more damaging for the UK if they had not worked to develop good relations and put forward their own arguments.They stress that the US was minded to include VAT – which has a standard rate of 20% and has been much maligned by Trump – in their calculations, but that Starmer made the case against this directly and publicly when he visited the White House in February. “We were able to talk them down,” a source said.Ralph Goodale, the high commissioner for Canada in the UK, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme:
Our view is we have to stand firm. The action taken by the US government is completely illogical.
It will damage the United States itself. It will raise costs in the United States. It will eliminate jobs in the United States, it will reduce growth in the United States and we have to make it abundantly clear not just that that this is going to happen rhetorically, but the US has to feel the pain because ultimately it will be Americans who will persuade their government to stop this foolishness.”
He said Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s firm stance was “strongly supported” by the Canadian population:
I have never seen Canadians more united and more determined around an issue before.
Mr Carney’s approach is very thoughtful, it’s very measured and it is one that enjoys huge support from the Canadian population. Canadians are standing together on this like I’ve never seen before.”
He added:
When we are attacked we fight back and we stand up for ourselves in the world and we build our own economy to ensure that we are more insulated from this kind of abuse in the future.”
Donald Trump’s vast overhaul of US trade policy this week has called time on an era of globalisation, alarming people, governments and investors around the world. No one should have been surprised, the US president said.The announcement of 10% to 50% tariffs on US trading partners tanked stock markets after Trump unveiled a “declaration of economic independence” so drastic it drew comparison with Britain’s exit from the European Union – Brexit.But Trump, who won re-election promising that tariffs would make America great again, has advocated for the return of widespread tariffs with “great consistency” for decades. “I’ve been talking about it for 40 years,” he noted in the White House Rose Garden.Many businesses, economists and politicians believe Trump’s trade plan is wrongheaded, flawed and risky. Some have even suggested it might have been written by ChatGPT. But he is unquestionably right when it comes to the number of decades he has argued for it.“This is so unusual for Trump. He’s a conventional politician in one way: he doesn’t believe in much deeply,” Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Tariffs are different. “This one thing, he seems to deeply believe in.”Nissan Motor is considering shifting some domestic production of US-bound vehicles to the US, the Nikkei reported on Saturday, as president Donald Trump ramps up trade tariffs on nations worldwide.As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the US to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.The Japanese automaker’s Rogue SUV, a popular model in the US market, is now produced in Fukuoka and the US, the report said, according to Reuters.On Thursday, Nissan said it would not take new orders from the US for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs after earlier Trump tariff announcements, marking, a drastic scale-back of its operations at a joint venture plant.The automaker now plans to maintain two shifts of production of the Rogue at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant after announcing in January it would end one of the two shifts this month.Nissan sold about 920,000 vehicles in the US last year, of which about 16% were exported from Japan, the Nikkei said, adding the planned production shift could hit local suppliers’ businesses.Italian economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti warned on Saturday against the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the United States in response to president Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on trade partners.Speaking at a business forum near Milan, Giorgetti said Italy was aiming for a “de-escalation” with the US, reports Reuters.“We should avoid launching a policy of counter-tariffs that could be damaging for everyone and especially for us,” Giorgetti said.Under Trump’s plans Italy, which has a large trade surplus with the US, will be subject to a general tariff of 20% along with other European Union countries.“This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Donald Trump’s first term.According to Reuters, Shaw told a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries sought to negotiate lower rates. “But this is huge. This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on Earth.”Trump’s Wednesday tariff announcement shook global stock markets to their core, wiping out $5tn in stock market value for S&P 500 companies by Friday’s close, a record two-day decline. Prices for oil and commodities plunged, while investors fled to the safety of government bonds.Among the countries first hit with the 10% tariff are Australia, the UK, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin to shippers indicates no grace period for cargoes on the water at midnight on Saturday.But a bulletin from the agency did provide a 51-day grace period for cargoes loaded on to vessels or planes and in transit to the US before 12.01am ET Saturday. These cargoes need arrive to by 12.01am ET on 27 May to avoid the 10% duty.Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on some of the US’s largest trading partners, upending decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he has dubbed “liberation day”.The president said he will impose a 10% universal tariff on all imported foreign goods in addition to “reciprocal tariffs” on a few dozen countries, charging additional duties onto countries that Trump claims have “cheated” the US.You can listen to his comments in the below video:Downing Street said that UK prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, and had “been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest”.Issuing a read-out of their separate conversations on Friday, No 10 said the leaders “all agreed that an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging”, reports the PA news agency.A spokesperson said the PM “has been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest” and officials will “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”.The spokesperson added:
He discussed this approach with both leaders, acknowledging that while the global economic landscape has shifted this week, it has been clear for a long time that like-minded countries must maintain strong relationships and dialogue to ensure our mutual security and maintain economic stability.”
It is expected that Starmer will take further calls with counterparts over the weekend.Ministers have so far avoided criticism of Donald Trump as they seek to secure a trade agreement with the US which they hope could secure some exemption from the tariffs.However, the government has drawn up a list of products that could be hit in retaliation, and is consulting with businesses on how any countermeasures could impact them.Rachel Reeves said on Friday that the government is “determined to get the best deal we can” with Washington.The chancellor said:
Of course, we don’t want to see tariffs on UK exports, and we’re working hard as a government in discussion with our counterparts in the US to represent the British national interest and support British jobs and British industry.”
The Liberal Democrats have said that the government’s “attempts to appease the White House” are not working, and called on ministers to coordinate a response with allies.Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said in a statement:
We need to end this trade war as quickly as possible, but the government’s attempts to appease the White House and its offers to cut taxes on US tech billionaires simply aren’t working.
Instead, the best way to end this crisis is to stand shoulder to shoulder with our European and Commonwealth friends. We must coordinate our response and strengthen our trading relations with our reliable allies. That’s how we can protect our economy from Trump’s bullying.”
Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK products came into force on Saturday, as global stock markets continued to fall in response to the imposition of import taxes.The FTSE 100 plummeted on Friday in its worst day of trading since the start of the pandemic while markets on Wall Street also tumbled.Keir Starmer is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be “extremely damaging”, reports the PA news agency.The initial 10% “baseline” tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT), ushering in Trump’s full rejection of the post-second world war system of mutually agreed tariff rates.Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU which will be hit with a 20% rate. A 25% tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.Trading across the world has been hammered in the aftermath of the US president’s announcement at the White House on Wednesday.Accoding to the PA news agency, London’s top stock market index shed 419.75 points, or 4.95%, to close at 8,054.98 on Friday, the biggest single-day decline since March 2020 when the index lost more than 600 points in one day. The Dow Jones fell 5.5% on Friday as China matched Trump’s tariff rate.Beijing said it would respond with its own 34% tariff on imports of all US products from 10 April.All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday, with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.

Mobile phone footage has emerged that appears to contradict Israel’s account of why soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck on March 23,

Mobile phone footage of the last moments of some of the 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers killed by Israeli forces in an incident in Gaza last month appears to contradict the version of events put forward by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).The five-minute video, which the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Saturday was recovered from the phone of one of the men killed, appears to have been filmed from inside a moving vehicle, and shows a red fire engine and clearly marked ambulances driving at night, using headlights and flashing emergency lights.The vehicle stops beside another that appears to have been driven off the road. Two men get out to examine the stopped vehicle, and then gunfire erupts before the screen goes black.The Israeli military has said its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any ambulances, insisting they fired on “terrorists” approaching them in “suspicious vehicles”.Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said troops opened fire on vehicles that had no prior clearance to enter the area, and were driving with their lights off.Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one UN employee, were killed in the incident in Rafah on 23 March, in which the UN says Israeli forces shot the men “one by one” and then buried them in a mass grave.According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), the PRCS and civil defence workers were on a mission to rescue colleagues who had been shot at earlier in the day, when their clearly marked vehicles came under heavy Israeli fire in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan district. A Red Crescent official in Gaza said there was evidence of at least one person being detained and killed, as the body of one of the dead had been found with his hands tied.The shootings happened one day into the renewed Israeli offensive in the area close to the Egyptian border after the breakdown of a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Another Red Crescent worker on the mission is reported missing.

A 15-year-old boy has died after he “got into difficulty” in a lake in south-east London.Metropolitan police, the fire service and paramedics were called to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham, shortly after 3pm on Friday 4 April after reports of a boy going missing.The police said on Saturday that the search for the boy, who they originally thought to be 16 but have now confirmed to be 15, had stopped.He was recovered from the lake at 10.42pm on Friday and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious.“His family are aware and continue to receive support,” police said.

Baseball Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins joined the ongoing discussion this week about the use of torpedo bats that has taken the big leagues by storm after the New York Yankees’ strong outing over opening weekend.During an appearance on OutKick’s “The Ricky Cobb Show,” Jenkins, 82, discussed how torpedo bats have become the latest innovation in the sport and could favor hitters. “Well, when you look back at the game when I played in the ‘60s, ’70s, ’80s, the pitcher was pretty much dominant, and now we are like second-class citizens. Everything has been done for the hitter. Like, you say the clock, the bases are bigger, you have an over glove which gives you an extra 3–7 inches sliding into the bag ahead of the throw,” Jenkins said.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins waves after being introduced during the 2016 MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center July 24, 2016.  (Gregory J. Fisher/USA Today Sports)In addition to the rule changes that favor hitters, Jenkins said the torpedo bats are just the latest thing in baseball that will help them.”There is more of a hitting surface for the hitter, and I think it might increase the batting average a little bit, but you will get a better piece of wood on the ball and the ball will maybe travel a little further,” he said. “Who knows? A couple of extra base hits, and now one hitter sees one of his teammates use it. Now, he wants to use it. I can believe before the All-Star break every ball club is going to have a half-dozen hitters using that torpedo bat.”TORPEDO BATS HAVE TAKEN MLB BY STORM; WHAT ARE THEY? Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Fergie Jenkins throws the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds at the Field of Dreams baseball field in Dyersville, Iowa, Aug. 11, 2022. (Imagn)While the overall hitting surface is not increased with the torpedo bat, the barrel of the bat is moved to a different location. The goal of shifting the barrel is to move the thickest part of the bat to where the player makes the most contact.Jenkins said players who use the torpedo bat could see an increase in their numbers. “I think the batting average, you might see maybe an extra 20 points on each player’s batting average. Instead of them hitting .255, .260, it might be .280,” Jenkins said.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fergie Jenkins catches the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the 2023 World Series at Globe Life Field Oct. 28, 2023, between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports)While the bat has taken baseball by storm this season, New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo, including in the postseason, when he mashed seven home runs in 14 games. Jenkins, who pitched from 1965-1983, did not have to deal with any of the new rules in his days. He pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies in his 19-year career.Jenkins won the 1971 NL Cy Young with the Cubs and was named an All-Star three times. Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

The Trump administration is quietly carrying out a plan that aims to kill hundreds of bans on highly toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds in consumer goods.The bans, largely at the state level, touch most facets of daily life, prohibiting everything from bisphenol in children’s products to mercury in personal care products to PFAS in food packaging and clothing.If successful, the public would almost certainly be exposed to much higher levels of chemicals linked to a range of serious health issues such s cancer, hormone disruption, liver disease, birth defects, and reproductive system damage, the plan’s opponents say.The Trump Environmental Protection Agency move involves changing the way the agency carries out chemical risk evaluations, which would also pre-empt state laws that offer the one of few meaningful checks on toxic chemicals in consumer products.The plan could also largely undo California’s effective Proposition 65 law, and could spell the end of meager federal prohibitions, including an early 2024 ban on asbestos.“This will increase health risks to consumers by exposing them to toxic chemicals,” said an EPA employee who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.“It also allows the market for toxic chemicals to continue, because it maintains the financial incentive for them to be made for all these consumer products.”Although the risk presented by most chemicals in individual consumer products is often low, the public is typically exposed to a wide range of toxic substances throughout the day, and those combined daily exposures over the long term present a serious health risk.Industry has largely succeeded in heading off federal limits on chemicals in consumer products, in part because, public health advocates say, it has captured parts of the EPA. Still, under Joe Biden, the agency began putting in place some bans, such as on the use of formaldehyde in consumer goods, including leather.PFAS are among the most widely used and toxic chemicals in consumer products, and many states have zeroed in on the chemical class. Maine in 2021 passed a ban on PFAS for all non-essential uses, while across the country about 15 states have enacted a patchwork of prohibitions for clothing, menstruation products, cookware, food packaging, playground equipment, and cosmetics, among other goods.Massachusetts and Connecticut banned PFAS in firefighting turnout gear after firefighters demanded action in response to high cancer rates likely connected to the chemicals.Beyond PFAS, Washington prohibited lead in cookware; Nevada banned flame retardants in children’s toys; and Maryland prohibited some phthalates in cosmetics, among other actions.“The states are on the front lines and they’ve been stepping up because communities want these laws,” said Sarah Doll, the national director of Safer States, which pushes for state level restrictions on toxic chemicals. “People don’t want toxic chemicals in their homes. Firefighters don’t want to be exposed to PFAS in firefighting foam.”The state laws are also effective because they create pressure on industry to stop using dangerous chemicals. PFAS is banned for use in clothing in California, Colorado and other states, so it makes logistical sense for producers to stop using the chemicals instead of producing some clothing treated with it and some untreated.Chemical giant 3M announced it would stop making PFAS in part because state laws banning the chemicals complicates their use.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe laws’ effectiveness and pressure have put them on industry’s hit list, and the Trump EPA submitted a rule that reworks how risk evaluations are performed.The Biden EPA approach stated that if any specific use of a chemical – clothing, cosmetics, or food packaging, for example – presents an “unreasonable risk”, the entire chemical should be considered a risk. States can regulate chemicals that are considered an unreasonable risk.The Trump EPA’s new rule would require the agency to evaluate whether a chemical presents a risk for each intended use. Formaldehyde, for example, has 63 uses. The agency plans to claim most chemicals do not present an “unreasonable risk” in consumer goods because they make up such a small part of products, the EPA employee said.Industry scored a major victory in a 2016 rewrite of the nation’s laws around toxic chemicals by working in a provision that says if the EPA finds that a substance does not present an “unreasonable risk” then states cannot write laws banning or limiting its use.“They are going to exclude a huge number of consumer products from being considered for risk management,” the EPA employee said.They added that an individual television may contain a small amount of PFAS, “but when you produce 50m televisions, it adds up” – especially for the environment, or for workers producing them.However, the laws will not go into effect overnight. The EPA, with its limited staff, has to regulate one chemical at a time, and the process for each could take as much as three years. In the meantime, more state laws will be passed, and pressure on goods producers to move away from toxic chemicals will continue to mount, Doll said.“The market is moving, adapting and innovating … and in three years it will to great effect have already shifted,” Doll added. “It’s a potential threat, but I don’t think it’s going to have a chilling effect on states responding to demands from communities on the ground who are saying, ‘We are dealing with this challenge.’”

A US neo-Nazi terrorist group with a Russia-based leader is calling for targeted assassinations and attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine in an effort to destabilize the country as it carries out ceasefire negotiations with the Kremlin.The Base, which has a web of cells all over the world, was founded in 2018 and became the subject of a relentless FBI counter-terrorism investigation that led to several arrests and world governments officially designating it as a terrorist organization.Now, with the Trump administration pulling the FBI from pursuing the far right, the Base, left unchecked, is trying to export its violence abroad.This is the first time the Base has openly allied itself with the Kremlin’s broader geopolitical goals, a sudden change experts say signals its likely involvement in Russian sabotage and propaganda operations now being carried out across Europe.The Base founder and leader, Rinaldo Nazzaro, a semi-defected American who worked with US special forces during the war on terror and now lives in Saint Petersburg, has for years garnered suspicions of being a Russian intelligence asset. Even members of the Base mused that he was a spy and grew weary of the source of his cash flow.View image in fullscreen“Given Russia’s connections to the leadership of the Base, including offering sanctuary to its leader Rinaldo Nazzaro, there is a strong chance that this could very well be a Russian intelligence operation,” said Colin Clarke, a geopolitics expert and director of research at the Soufan Center.“Supporting and directing violent non-state actors, including racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists, is just another tool in the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare toolkit, and one which Moscow has repeatedly demonstrated that it’s willing to use.”In posts on Telegram, the Base is offering cash for volunteer operatives and recruits to carry out attacks on, “electric power stations, military & police vehicles, military & police personnel, government buildings, [Ukrainian] politicians”, specifically in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.The Base previously demonstrated it can obtain funding from cryptocurrency vectors and allegedly from Nazzaro’s own unknown funds.“The remnants of the Ukrainian authorities understand their weakness, we understand it too,” said the Base. “The time is now.”The plan was unveiled online last week and is in support of a wider bid to carve out a white nationalist enclave in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, something the Base describes as having “rugged mountainous terrain which is a force multiplier for an unconventional paramilitary force”.Uploaded alongside several of the posts were approximately 50 videos, beginning in late March, captured using an automatically generated geotagging app. They generally show assumed members capturing spray-painted symbols of Ukraine’s Base cell on various walls in urban locales, the first sets being in Kyiv and in the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea.A recent set of videos shows eight from the southern city of Mykolaiv and ten showing locations in Kharkiv, a city close to the frontlines and where Ukrainian intelligence has kept a particularly close eye on Russian saboteurs.View image in fullscreen“A financial reward for successful action is possible,” said the caption with the Kharkiv post.The latest post from the Base’s Ukraine cell is now soliciting donations to an anonymous Monero wallet.The Guardian reviewed all of the videos for their authenticity and they appeared to be recently taken in each of the cities.The Base’s Ukrainian ambitions fall in line with a major Kremlin talking point since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine: casting aspersions on the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself a Jewish man, as a sort of new Third Reich. While Russia has long sought to portray Ukraine as a bastion for the far right – even though it harbors Nazzaro, uses a neo-Nazi militia alongside its military and makes alliances with European fascists.Emails to the Russian Foreign Ministry, asking about the Base and Nazzaro’s presence inside Russia, went unanswered.How real the Base’s actual presence in Ukraine currently is, remains unclear and is unlikely to be significant. In 2019, Ukrainian security services deported one of the Base’s members for his neo-Nazi activities and trying to enlist in their military. Though they have tried and failed, it is rare for stateside far-right groups to export any real influence into Ukraine.Nazzaro has repeatedly maintained that he is not affiliated with any spy agencies, even making an uncanny appearance on Kremlin state television in 2020, telling a reporter that he “never had any contact with any Russian security services”.But, curiously, the posts calling for attacks on Ukraine first appeared on the Base’s VK account, which is hosted in Russia and run by Nazzaro. The chief recruitment email for the Base is also a Mail.ru address – the email provider of a well-known ally of Russian president, Vladimir Putin.No public charges have been laid against Nazzaro, but he was the subject of an FBI investigation and was once called a justice department “matter” by a US government official.“I think this means that Nazzaro remains under the thumb of Russian intelligence,” said Clarke, about Nazzaro’s latest ploy in Ukraine. “Russia likes to collect these kinds of ‘useful idiots’ that it can then employ to do its dirty work.”Clarke continued: “Nazzaro simply must do what Russian intelligence makes him do, as he has extremely limited options given his role as the head of a transnational neo-Nazi organization.”Reached on Telegram, Nazzaro said the Base’s Ukrainian operations are “not directed by the Russian government” nor is he.“I have never had any contact with the security services of Russia,” he added.View image in fullscreenThis isn’t the first time the Base, which has made recent strides in rebuilding its American membership, started appearing in Europe. Last year, members were arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands, and in Italy where authorities cracked down on a Base cell that it said had ties to a network of Russian far-right terrorists recruiting from Telegram.“While neo-Nazi accelerationists often exaggerates their reach, there is no denying the Base’s resurgence,” said Steven Rai, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who monitors global extremism for the watchdog organization who spotted the Base’s Ukraine posts online.Rai pointed out the Base is “not bluffing” and that since 2023, it has shown itself in nearly 10 countries, including in February when UK counterterrorism police arrested a 15-year-old boy for plotting attacks on synagogues.“The Base’s operations in Ukraine need to be taken seriously,” said Rai, “as they have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to attract new recruits who then proceed to plan acts of catastrophic violence”.

Bagayoko and his wife, the blind duo Amadou and Mariam, became one of Africa’s best-selling and beloved music industry performers.Grammy-nominated Malian musician Amadou Bagayoko, who won global fame by moulding traditional West African sounds with Western rock and pop influences as one half of the blind duo Amadou and Mariam, has died aged 70.
The Malian Ministry of Culture “learned with concern of the passing of artist Amadou Bagayoko this Friday,” it said in a statement read on state television on Saturday.
“Amadou was a blind man who made his mark on the Malian and international scene.”
Bagayoko died in the city of Bamako, his birthplace. His stepson Youssouf Fadiga told AFP news agency the musician “had been ill for a while” but did not specify what the ailment was. He is survived by Mariam, who was also his wife, and son, Sam, also a musician.
‘The blind couple from Mali’
Dubbed “the blind couple from Mali”, Amadou and Mariam became one of Africa’s best-selling and beloved couples, playing alongside the likes of Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour – a childhood idol.
Amadou Bagayoko and his wife Mariam perform at the Zenith concert hall in Paris in 2010 [File: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP]
Born in 1954, Bagayoko went blind when he was 15 because of a congenital cataract. He studied music at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind where he met his future wife, Mariam Doumbia. The couple formed their band Mali’s Blind Couple in 1980, making their mark locally and internationally. Advertisement
At the start, they sang songs to raise awareness of the problems facing their peers living with blindness and disabilities before their blend of traditional African influences with elements of rock, blues and pop won them a global following.
They produced more than 10 award-winning albums, including France’s Victoire de la Musique, in 2005 for Dimanche a Bamako and again in 2013 for Folila. Dimanche a Bamako also won them one of the BBC Radio Awards for World Music in 2006.
Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam performing at the Glastonbury Festival in southwest England in 2009 [File: Luke MacGregor/Reuters]
Their 2008 album, Welcome to Mali, was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
They opened for British band Coldplay in 2009, and performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert that same year when US President Barack Obama was awarded the prize.
Bagayogo’s last world-class performance with Doumbia was at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
French-born Spanish musician Manu Chao, who produced the album Dimanche a Bamako, offered his condolences online, alongside other international artists. “Amadou! We’ll always be together … with you wherever you go,” he said.
“I will never forget his friendship,” said Senegalese singer-songwriter Youssou N’Dour. “My thoughts are with my dear Mariam.”

A man has been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed in the neck in Huddersfield.Officers were called to Ramsden Street in the town centre at about 2.45pm on Thursday, West Yorkshire police said.The teenager, named by police as Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, from Huddersfield, received a single wound to the neck and died in hospital.Ahmad had only recently moved to Huddersfield from the South Wales area, West Yorkshire police said.Alfie Franco, 20, of Kirkburton, was charged with murder and possessing a knife in a public place, the force said. He appeared at Leeds magistrates court on Saturday and was remanded into custody.He will next appear at Leeds crown court on 8 April.A 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender have been released on bail. Inquiries into the incident are ongoing.A police spokesperson said: “Following the murder of a 16-year-old boy in Huddersfield [on Thursday], we are aware of misinformation circulating on social media, specifically X, regarding the circumstances of the incident and the ethnicities of those involved.“We are limited in what we can say legally, but what we can advise is the incident is not gang-related or linked to any wider dispute between groups.”Alison Lowe, the West Yorkshire deputy mayor for policing and crime, said the teenager’s death was “an absolute tragedy”.She added: “Even though we’ve had several young people die across West Yorkshire by knife crime over the last five years, it is still a very rare event.”

Eighteen people, including nine children, have been killed in a Russian missile strike on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city, a Ukrainian official has said.A further 61 people were injured in the attack on Kryvyi Rih on Friday, including a three-month-old baby and elderly residents, the regional governor, Serhii Lysak, said. Forty remain in hospital, including two children in critical condition and 17 in a serious condition.“The missile struck an area right next to residential buildings – hitting a playground and ordinary streets,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.He blamed the daily strikes on Russia’s unwillingness to end the war: “Every missile, every drone strike proves Russia wants only war,” he said, urging Ukraine’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow and bolster Ukraine’s air defences.“The United States, Europe, and the rest of the world have enough power to make Russia abandon terror and war,” he said.“There can never be forgiveness for this,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s defence council. “Eternal memory to the victims.”The UK’s Europe minister, Stephen Doughty, said attacks on civilian infrastructure were “a sobering reminder that Putin continues to wage his barbaric war against Ukraine”.He added: “Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims. As the prime minister has said, Russia could choose to accept a ceasefire but instead continues to bombard Ukraine and its population.”Local authorities said the strike damaged about 20 apartment buildings, more than 30 vehicles, an educational building and a restaurant.The Russian defence ministry claimed on Friday it had carried out a high-precision missile strike with a high explosive warhead on a restaurant where a meeting had taken place with unit commanders and western instructors.Russian military claimed the strike had killed 85 military personnel and foreign officers and destroyed 20 vehicles. The military’s claims could not be independently verified. The Ukrainian General Staff rejected the claims.A later drone strike on Kryvyi Rih killed one woman and wounded seven other people.The head of the British armed forces, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, met Zelenskyy on Friday alongside the leader of the French armed forces, Gen Thierry Burkhard.“Britain and France are coming together & Europe is stepping up in a way that is real & substantial, with 200 planners from 30 nations working to strengthen Ukraine’s long term security,” Radakin said.The UK and France have been at the forefront of planning for a “coalition of the willing” made up of nations that could help to keep Ukraine secure in the event of a peace deal with Russia.