US officials focus on identification and rapid action as measles cases rise

Tariffs are annoying and disruptive, but this round is less impactful – and business owners are taking them in their strideRebounding from his defeat at the supreme court in February, Donald Trump has recently announced a new round of tariffs, invoking sections of various trade acts to levy amounts on industries and countries based on reasons ranging from “forced labor” to “excess capacity”.And how are small and medium-sized businesses in the US reacting? One word: snoozefest. Continue reading...

The president’s minions have trawled the statutes to restore roadblocks to trade. The invocation of Smoot-Hawley looks especially dangerousDonald Trump may have found the killer weapon to punish countries at will: by imposing tariffs on their exports to the United States.The president has been looking for a new tool since February, when the supreme court struck down tariffs he slapped on virtually all of America’s trading partners based on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, on the spurious grounds that the US faced a variety of national emergencies. It’s become a parlor game among policy wonks to predict what new legal justification he would deploy to replace them.Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...

Convicted killer seeks to withdraw guilty plea and go to trial – but that could put death penalty sentence back in playCould Bryan Kohberger, convicted 13 months ago of the murders of four University of Idaho students, now find himself on death row? That’s one potential outcome of a perplexing petition he filed last week in which he claimed he was misled by his defense attorneys into pleading guilty.A new trial could grant the wishes of family members who hoped to see the 31-year doctoral criminology student convicted by a jury in open court and sentenced to death. Or is Kohberger simply following the example of many serial killers in attempting to gain control of the narrative and extend the suffering of his victims’ families? Continue reading...

Climate scientist urges better planning as southern England had just 1% of long-term average rainfall last monthHalf of England and the whole of Wales are officially in drought and July is set to be the driest month on record as extreme heat intensified by the climate crisis continues to grip the UK and Europe this summer.The announcements this week by England’s Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales mark the third such event over the past five years, and come in the wake of four record-breaking heatwaves since May which have fuelled huge wildfires and left farmers, wildlife and protected habitats running out of water. Continue reading...

Investors scramble to make sense of a shock Chinese challenge to the dominance of western chipmakersEven for the rollercoaster world of AI, last week was particularly volatile as investors scrambled to keep up with developments that threatened the dominance of the largest western chipmakers.It began with a double whammy. On Monday, the Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT floated on the Shanghai stock market, soaring by 466% in value to 3.3tn yuan (£365bn). Continue reading...

David Crisafulli says ‘Queenslanders will enjoy for generations’ as opponents point to lack of detailGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Queensland government has released new concept images for a parkland precinct to surround the 2032 Olympic stadium, as it seeks to quell concern at the loss of Brisbane’s largest inner-city parkland.But opponents of the plans – now entering the early construction phase – to build a stadium at Brisbane’s Victoria Park say the concept images are a “fantasy vision” with no detail, and which overlook the likely need for carparks, roads, transport links and plazas to accommodate large crowds. Continue reading...

The EU is using a currency redesign as an opportunity to be less neutral and try some finely balanced identity-buildingIs Europe best represented by the bold intellect of Marie Curie, the sprawling imagination of Miguel de Cervantes and the intense musical genius of Ludwig van Beethoven? Or by a migrating stork and a bee-eater, swooping across borderless plains and enjoying freedom of movement across European countries?The quest to settle this issue has engaged a surprising number of people across the continent, after more than 6 million people voted in a survey within just a week of its launch to determine whether the newly redesigned euro bank notes should depict either cultural figures or birds and waterways. Continue reading...

Security lapse leaves sensitive information and contact details of 51 government officials exposed for 40 hoursThe public body in charge of the UK’s state investments has been pushed to improve its internal security after a data breach left “high-level management information” publicly accessible for nearly two days.UK Government Investments (UKGI), the agency that manages the taxpayers’ interest in a swathe of companies including Channel 4 and the Post Office, said the security failure also left more than 50 government officials’ personal details exposed for nearly 40 hours. Continue reading...

Council leaders say crumbling infrastructure and lack of water are jeopardising government’s plans for new homesThe government’s housebuilding agenda is hitting the stark reality of a lack of water and crumbling infrastructure across the east and south-east of England.Half the country was declared to be in serious drought this week, for the second consecutive year, with the Environment Agency warning of dire consequences for the economy, environment and wildlife. Continue reading...

Exclusive: At a launch site in the Ukrainian countryside, members of the elite ‘Magyar’s Birds’ brigade are turning Russia’s vast size into a weaknessSparrows were cheeping as the sun set over a field of tall yellow sunflowers when a moped-like growl suddenly disturbed the evening calm. The noise rose, dipped, and rose again. Lt Col Ray – a Ukrainian commander with the 414th aviation brigade – took cover in a leafy ditch.Seconds later a Ukrainian drone roared into a mauve sky. It jerked upwards at a 45-degree angle, orange flames fizzing, and then motored serenely onwards. The flying object resembled a sleek grey biplane with a wooden propeller and tail. It left behind clouds of billowing black smoke and a whiff of gunpowder. Continue reading...

Australians bought EVs and hybrids at nearly same rate as petrol cars between April and June, Australian Automobile Association data showsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralians are now buying electric and hybrid vehicles at the same rate as traditional petrol-powered cars, according to new data that shows EV sales doubled in the months after the peak of the fuel price spike.Fuel prices are again on track to top $2 a litre, after the federal government’s fuel excise reductions – introduced to offset the impact of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East – came to an end on Sunday. Continue reading...