Rand falls after president singles out Brics nation over expropriation of properties Donald Trump has vowed to halt all future US assistance to South Africa over its land expropriation policies, triggering a fall in the rand. The US president claimed recent measures enabled the government to confiscate property unfairly and accused South African authorities of treating “certain classes of people VERY BADLY”. He added: “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump’s comments, made on Truth Social, sparked a 1.6 per cent fall in the South…
Author: Alade Adisa
Some 60 per cent of Britons are getting no more than six hours of sleep a night, despite NHS guidelines suggesting that a healthy adult usually needs between seven and nine hours, a survey suggests. More than four fifths of people (83%) say that getting a regular, good night’s sleep is the most important factor in their general wellbeing, the poll for wool bedding firm Woolroom found. Two fifths of those polled (40%) reported heightened stress levels after a bad night’s sleep and 36% said they felt anxious, with 40% saying they felt this way one to two times a week and…
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could take upwards of 60 seats from Labour if a general election was held now, alarming polling has found. A survey of over 17,000 voters, commissioned by Hope Not Hate, suggested the hard-right party would win 76 seats – and the number could be far higher. The campaign group said the findings must be viewed as a “wake-up call”. Projections released by Hope Not Hate found Mr Farage’s party could take 60 seats from Labour, 10 from the Tories and one from the Lib Dems. Since the General Election polling has suggested Reform has overt taken the Tories and is closing…
System disperses trillions of dollars in US government spending each year, including social security Elon Musk has vowed to unilaterally cancel hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of government grants after apparently gaining access to review the US Treasury’s vast payments system, a move that prompted the sudden resignation of one of the department’s most senior officials. The world’s richest man, who bankrolled Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and was tasked by the president with running the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on his social media site X that he was “rapidly shutting down . . . illegal payments” after a list of grants…
Bloc warns of ‘unnecessary economic disruption’ after US president hits China, Canada and Mexico with trade measures Trump sparked a global trade war this weekend in announcing the measures against three of the US’s largest trading partners after the EU, which has the largest trade deficit with Washington. The Trump administration has so far refrained from imposing tariffs on the EU despite the US president saying on Friday that he would “absolutely” do so. A spokesperson for the EU’s executive said that the bloc’s trade and investment relationship with the US was the biggest in the world, adding: “There is…
China’s movie box office took in record revenue during the Lunar New Year holiday, as sequels to popular Chinese hits drew theatregoers at a time when other types of spending have suffered during a period of relatively sluggish economic growth. Box office revenue for the four days of the week-long holiday starting Jan. 29 topped 5.74 billion yuan ($791.65 million), exceeding the previous high of 5.73 billion yuan in 2021, showed data from box office tracker Beacon. Part of the boom was driven by government handouts as part of an economic stimulus package. Local governments in Beijing, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong…
A study found that burning wood in our homes is one of the most dangerous types of air pollution. Here’s what you need to know Wood burning stoves have become a classic British middle class status symbol. Despite the fact that they cost around £3,000 to buy and install, 1.9 million people in Britain now have one in their homes. In fact, we’re so fond of their glowing embers that an episode of a virtual fireplace was Netflix’s most-watched Christmas show in 2024. But recently a report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that burning wood in our homes is…
Beijing attacks ‘arbitrary’ moves and says it will file WTO lawsuit Beijing has hit out at new 10 per cent tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese exports, saying it will “take necessary countermeasures to defend its rights and interests” as trade tensions between the two powers enter a new phase. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that China opposed the tariffs, which it said were introduced “under the pretext of the fentanyl issue”. “The US needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary…
US president fires starting gun on trade war with levies of up to 25% on goods imported from trading partners Trump issued an executive order applying additional tariffs of 25 per cent to all imports from Canada and Mexico, with the exception of Canadian oil and energy products, which will face a 10 per cent levy. Canada is by far the biggest foreign oil supplier to the US, accounting for about 60 per cent of its crude imports. Imports from China will face a 10 per cent tariff over and above existing US tariffs. Posting on Truth Social, Trump said…
With chronic renal problems often diagnosed too late, here’s how to stay vigilant and get yourself checked over The UK is facing an unprecedented kidney disease crisis, one which could cost the NHS up to £11 billion per year by 2033 if left unchecked. This is due to the number of patients with chronic kidney disease ending up on dialysis machines, due to one or both kidneys failing, a growing demand which threatens to overwhelm the health service. According to a report from the charity Kidney Research UK, there are currently 30,000 people in the UK who require dialysis, a number which…
