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• Wall Street traded mixed on Wednesday morning, with the S&P 500 down 0.1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 235 points or 0.5% at 9:35 a.m. ET, and Nasdaq up 0.2% amid a technology sector rebound. • Tech stocks like Micron Technology surged 4.3% and Nvidia rose 2.4%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, following a pause in AI-driven momentum; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was invited by President Trump to discuss AI chip shipments to China. • A wholesale inflation report showed prices significantly higher than expected last month, following Tuesday's consumer inflation acceleration, driven by rising fuel, transportation, food prices from tariffs, weather, and oil disruptions from the Iran war.

• U.S. stock markets declined Tuesday with the S&P 500 falling 0.9% from record highs as technology stocks weakened and oil prices continued rising amid uncertainty over the Iran conflict. • Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $3.43 to $101.50 per barrel, while Brent crude climbed $3.62 to $107.83 per barrel, as President Trump said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was on "life support" after rejecting Iran's latest peace proposal. • Brent crude has surged 50% from pre-war levels around $70, contributing to inflation pressures globally and straining U.S. households through higher gasoline and goods prices tied to new tariffs.

• Over the last 7 days, the US market rose 3.2% and is up 31% over the past year, with earnings forecast to grow 16% annually, spotlighting undiscovered gems based on debt-to-equity, revenue growth, earnings growth, and health ratings. • Top picks include First Bancorp (68.27% debt/equity, 1.25% revenue growth, -3.09% earnings growth, ★★★★★★), Southern Michigan Bancorp (108.80% debt/equity, 7.38% revenue growth, 0.84% earnings growth, ★★★★★★), and Cashmere Valley Bank (31.63% debt/equity, 5.07% revenue growth, 1.43% earnings growth, ★★★★★★). • Other notables are ASA Gold and Precious Metals (12.65% revenue growth, 41.20% earnings growth, ★★★★★★), Anbio Biotechnology (-30.09% revenue growth, -3.45% earnings growth, ★★★★★★), and Affinity Bancshares (41.71% debt/equity, 1.36% revenue growth, -0.22% earnings growth, ★★★★★★).

Plans to install tougher netting and window grilles set back because walls cannot take extra weight, prison governors sayWeak and crumbling walls in Victorian prisons are hampering attempts to halt drones from delivering drugs and weapons to inmates.Plans to install tougher netting and window grilles to stop drones from entering have been hampered because the walls have been unable to take the extra weight, prison governors said. Continue reading...

Company reported $111.2bn in revenue in first earnings report after announcement of Cook’s pending departureApple blew past Wall Street expectations in its first earnings report since it announced CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down.Cook reported Apple’s “best March quarter ever” and “double-digit growth across every geographic segment”. He also noted “extraordinary demand for the iPhone17 lineup”. Continue reading...

Winston Marshall, former member of Mumford & Sons, says those crossing are ‘economic migrants’ not refugeesThe son of the Spectator owner, Paul Marshall, has said Britain should construct a mine-laden “floating wall” as a radical measure to stop Channel crossings.Winston Marshall, a former member of the band Mumford & Sons who is now establishing himself as a rightwing online influencer, said that while the idea “might sound ridiculous”, it should be explored because previous attempts to stop the crossings had failed. Continue reading...

Scotland Yard says incident in area that is home to large Jewish community is not being treated as terrorism Police said on Tuesday they were investigating a suspected arson attack at a memorial wall in a north London area that is home to a large Jewish community.London’s Metropolitan police said the investigation was being led by counter-terrorism policing, though it was not being treated as a terrorist incident. No arrests have yet been made and the memorial wall was not damaged. Continue reading...

Former Scottish Labour leader says she understands that expressing respect for author caused ‘worry, anger and upset’The incoming chair of the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, says she is “truly sorry” after she expressed “huge respect” for JK Rowling in an interview with the Guardian.Kezia Dugdale, the former leader of Scottish Labour, said she understood that her words had caused “worry, anger and upset and I am truly sorry about that”. Continue reading...

Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things upSteve Green, a boat engineer from Cornwall, was pulled over by the police just before Christmas. He was driving a decrepit-looking VW campervan and towing an even more dilapidated yacht up to Truro. He hadn’t broken any laws, but he admits that Cecil the campervan, which runs on donated chip oil from local pubs and has a crane and a winch on the front, “wasn’t quite what VW intended”.Green (and Cecil) are on a mission to rid the beautiful hidden creeks of Cornwall’s Helford and Fal rivers of 166 abandoned fibreglass yachts, which are leaking plastic and toxins into the predominantly marine waters. Marine biologists have likened the thousands of shards of fibreglass they have found embedded in the flesh of sea-creatures in areas with wrecks such as these to asbestos, a substance known to have a noxious effect on humans.Green uses a detachable crane system at the front of his van to move around bags of plastic after they have been weighed. Cecil is upholstered in recycled denim Continue reading...

Council proposal to use glyphosate to tidy up pavements criticised over potential harm to humans and wildlifeCornwall is famed for its glorious gardens and verdant landscapes but a bitter row has broken out over a plan to tackle a less glamorous type of vegetation – roadside weeds.The unitary authority has announced plans to use the controversial herbicide glyphosate to tidy up pavements and kerbsides, after largely phasing out its use over the last decade amid concerns about potential harm to humans and the peninsula’s rich ecosystems. Continue reading...

Experts say US market ‘may have run ahead of itself’, while the ASX 200’s more modest recovery is due in part to Australia’s reliance on fuel importsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne day the IMF warns of a global recession, the next day stocks on Wall Street hit a record high.From looking at the complete U-turn in fortunes in America, you wouldn’t know the world was in the grips of an unprecedented energy shock. Continue reading...

The S&P breached 7,000 points for the first time in history, in a rally that erased stark losses incurred at start of warWall Street scaled a fresh all-time high on Wednesday amid growing optimism among investors that the US-Israel war on Iran will soon be over.The benchmark S&P 500 breached 7,000 points for the first time in history, after climbing 0.8% over the course of the day, finishing at 7,022.95. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also rose 1.6% to 24,016.02, its own record high, while the Dow Jones industrial average remained broadly flat. Continue reading...

US government reverses course on removing LGBTQ+ Pride flag from New York monument after efforts from advocatesThe Trump administration agreed Monday to keep flying a rainbow Pride flag at the Stonewall national monument, reversing course after removing the banner in February.The government revealed the decision as it seeks to settle a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ and historic preservation groups who had sought to block the removal. A judge must still approve the agreement. Continue reading...

Judge rules complaint fails to outline malice after Trump argued lewd drawing allegedly sent to Epstein at heart of story was fakeA Florida judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed last summer by Donald Trump over a Wall Street Journal report that he had sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, though the judge has given the US president two weeks to re-file the case.Trump, who has had a habit of suing media companies both inside and outside the White House, had argued that a lewd drawing at the heart of the story was fake. The lawsuit was especially notable because one of the defendants was Rupert Murdoch, one of Trump’s top media allies, whose News Corporation media empire owns the Journal. Continue reading...

• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened Wall Street leaders on April 7 to warn about Anthropic's new Mythos AI model, which can identify software vulnerabilities that have evaded decades of human review and millions of automated security tests. • Mythos is being released only to carefully selected partners for defensive security work, as Anthropic fears the tool could provide ransomware gangs and hostile governments with powerful weapons to steal data or disrupt critical infrastructure. • The model represents a significant leap in AI cybersecurity capabilities, with the potential to both protect systems through accelerated penetration testing and pose risks if misused by malicious actors.

• Wall Street stocks closed mixed on Friday, April 10, 2026, with S&P 500 down 0.1% at 6,816.89, Dow dropping 0.6% to 47,916.47, and Nasdaq up 0.4% to 22,902.90 amid anticipation of U.S.-Iran talks post-ceasefire. • Healthcare stocks led declines with Eli Lilly falling 1.8% and Johnson & Johnson down 1.3%, offset by tech gains including Nvidia up 3% and Broadcom rising 5.3%. • Oil prices slipped while major indexes recovered most March losses from Iran conflict, now just 2.3% below S&P 500's January all-time high, though volatility persists on war news.

• President Donald Trump declared a national emergency from the White House on April 9, 2026, citing a crisis at the southern border as a national security threat. • The executive action bypasses Congress to redirect Department of Defense funds for immediate border wall construction and enhanced security measures. • The announcement triggered immediate constitutional debates and fierce opposition from political rivals, potentially unlocking significant federal resources.

Rally met with bipartisan support after US border patrol revealed plans for steel wall across parts of beloved parksThousands of people gathered at the steps of the Texas capitol on Saturday to protest against the construction of a border wall through Big Bend, in a show of bipartisan opposition to the White House’s plans.More than 2,000 people attended the rally, according to Texas Public Radio, holding signs with slogans such as “No Big Bend NP Wall,” “Big Love for Big Bend” and “No al Muro” – Spanish for “No to the Wall.” Organizers gathered postcards from protesters to deliver to Greg Abbott, the Texas governor who has yet to weigh in publicly on the border wall expansion plans at Big Bend. Continue reading...

St Michael’s Mount and the people who live near it are still healing from the scars left by storm’s 100mph windsThree months after Storm Goretti battered St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, the signs of the storm’s power are still evident in the scars left by uprooted trees, piles of logs and the shaking of heads from islanders who have lived there for decades and never seen the like.“It really was something,” said Jack Beesley, a senior gardener. “We were shocked the morning after when we saw what had happened. We had been caring for these trees for years and to see so many of them down was very sad. We’ve worked hard to get the place ready for the Easter visitors but it will still be a month or more until we’re back straight.” Continue reading...

From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher’s viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 piecesSome of the UK’s smallest public murals are on bollards in Shrewsbury while one of the biggest is on a 1960s 16-storey block of flats in Gosport.Perhaps the funniest though is in Cardiff. Ahead of last summer’s Oasis concerts it was a straightforward copy of Liam Gallagher’s viral post on X declaring: “Because Cardiff is the bollox.” Continue reading...

• US stock markets opened higher on March 30, 2026, with the S&P 500 up 0.33% or 21 points, Dow up 0.46% or 209 points, and Nasdaq up 0.2% or 41 points amid optimism over Trump-Iran negotiations. • President Trump stated Washington is in serious discussions with a more reasonable regime to end the war, warning Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its oil infrastructure, boosting sentiment. • Energy stocks led gains with S&P 500 Energy Index up 1.5%, Exxon Mobil climbing 3%, and Chevron adding 1.5%, while oil rose $2.44 to $102.10.

• U.S. stocks deepened losses on Friday, with the S&P 500 falling 1.7% or 108.31 points to close at 6,368.85, marking its fifth straight losing week—the longest streak in nearly four years. • The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 793.47 points or 1.7% to 45,166.64, now more than 10% below its recent record, while the Nasdaq composite sank 459.72 points or 2.1% to 20,948.36. • Big Tech weighed heavily on the market, including drops of 3.1% for Amazon and 3.5% for Meta Platforms, amid ongoing volatility from geopolitical tensions.

• Major US indices declined Thursday amid caution over Trump's Iran pause and U.S.-Iran talks: Nasdaq fell 2.4% to 21,408.08, S&P 500 lost 1.7% or 114.74 points to 6,477.16, Dow dropped 1% or 469.38 points to 45,960.11. • Eight of 11 S&P sectors ended negative, led by Communication Services (XLC) -3.5%, Tech (XLK) -2.7%, Industrials (XLI) -2.3%; Energy (XLE) gained 1.6%. • NVIDIA (NVDA) led Dow losers down 4.2% despite Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy); trading volume at 16.50 billion shares below 20-session average of 20.54 billion.

• Marquis Software Solutions filed a lawsuit against SonicWall, blaming it for a August 2025 cybersecurity breach that exposed data of over 400,000 people. • The suit claims hackers used credentials stolen in a prior SonicWall incident to bypass Marquis' firewall. • Marquis seeks damages for negligence, unjust enrichment, and indemnity, highlighting supply chain vulnerabilities in cybersecurity.

• U.S. stock markets closed lower Thursday as an energy shock continued weighing on investor sentiment, with the S&P 500 falling 0.27%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.44%, and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.28%. • Commodity-linked stocks experienced severe selloffs: gold fell 4.94%, aluminum dropped over 5%, mining shares plummeted with Hycroft Mining sliding 12.4% and Century Aluminum falling 10.3%. • Asian markets showed mixed performance Friday, with South Korea's Kospi rising 0.6% and China's Shanghai Composite edging 0.2% higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, and Taiwan's Taiex declined 0.2%, with Japan's markets closed for a holiday.

• Wall Street experienced a sharp selloff on Wednesday, March 19, 2026, driven by intensifying geopolitical conflicts between the U.S.-Israel force and Iran, sending major indices to their lowest closes of the year. • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% or 768.11 points to 46,225.15, with 28 of 30 components declining; the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% to 6,624.70; and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.5% or 327.11 points to 22,152.42. • The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) surged 12.2% to 25.09, reflecting elevated market fear and uncertainty about Middle East implications for the U.S. economy.

• Wall Street indices declined sharply on Wednesday, March 18, with the S&P 500 falling 1.4% to 6,624.70, Dow Jones dropping 1.6% to 46,225.15, and Nasdaq sliding 1.5% to 22,152.42. • The Federal Reserve decided to keep its main interest rate unchanged, opting against resuming cuts to support the job market and economy amid rising inflation pressures. • Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated, “We just don’t know,” regarding the impact of surging oil prices and President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the economy.

Exclusive: finding out who owns land will become simpler under plans to make the best use of green spaces and hit net zero targetsFinding out who owns land in England is to become much simpler because a paywall will be lifted from large parts of the Land Registry, the government is to announce.A small number of landowners control the majority of land but finding out who owns what is difficult to piece together, even for government departments, owing to the way the Land Registry operates. Freeing up access will make it easier to determine ownership of key areas, such as river catchments, grouse moors and peatland. Continue reading...