Level

Appliance giant slashes earnings forecast and hikes prices by 10% with another 4% spike plannedWith the war in Iran and economic concerns putting pressure on consumers and how they spend their money, Whirlpool is having to adjust to Americans delaying big-ticket purchases while also raising prices to help stabilize its North American business.The company known for brands such as KitchenAid, Maytag and its namesake, said that the Iran war led to a “recession-level industry decline” in America as consumer confidence collapsed in late February and March. Revenue dropped nearly 10% in the quarter as sales of major appliances in North America declined more than 7%. Continue reading...

• Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam in April 2026, marking To Lam's first international trip in his new role and signaling Beijing's emphasis on party-to-government relations with Hanoi. • The two countries signed 32 bilateral agreements, more than double the 14 agreements reached during To Lam's 2024 visit, covering trade, investment, and strategic cooperation across multiple sectors. • Beijing is leveraging Vietnam's socialist governance model as common ground for deepening ties, while also pursuing enhanced regional connectivity through infrastructure projects like Malaysia's East Coast Railway Line to bind Southeast Asia closer to China.

• Average US gasoline prices have climbed to $4.50 per gallon, marking the highest level since 2022 and reflecting broader energy market pressures linked to Middle East tensions and OPEC production decisions. • The price surge comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Trump administration and Iran, which have created uncertainty in global oil markets and affected domestic fuel costs. • Energy analysts attribute the increase to geopolitical risk premiums, reduced supply confidence, and reduced refinery capacity following seasonal maintenance.

Rise in bond yields due to fuel prices and stability concerns will eat away at Rachel Reeves’s fiscal headroomBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK government’s long-term borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 1998, amid rising fuel prices and concerns about political stability.The yield – effectively the interest rate – on 30-year UK government bonds (gilts) hit 5.76% at lunchtime on Tuesday, up 0.11 percentage points – exceeding the 27-year high reached last autumn. Continue reading...

Government’s anti-slavery commissioner says traffickers are exploiting a growing pipeline of vulnerabilitySlavery in the UK is at record levels and is expected to worsen over the next decade, the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned.According to the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism, which assesses potential victims of slavery and provides support to victims, numbers have almost doubled in the last five years from 12,691 referrals in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest ever number. Continue reading...

Louisiana’s cultural hotspot could be surrounded by Gulf of Mexico before end of this century, authors sayThe process of relocating people from New Orleans should start immediately as the city has reached a “point of no return” that will see it surrounded by the ocean within decades due to the climate crisis, a stark new study has concluded.Ongoing sea level rise and the rampant erosion of wetlands in southern Louisiana will swallow up the New Orleans area within a few generations, with the new paper estimating the city “may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century”. Continue reading...

• The American Heart Association released a Presidential Advisory on April 30, 2026, declaring U.S. health care affordability at a crisis point due to rising costs driven by chronic diseases. • Costs are forcing Americans to delay or avoid care, worsening health outcomes and increasing medical debt; a Gallup survey shows widespread worry about accessing affordable care. • A McLaughlin & Associates poll found 51% of voters cite health insurance as their top concern, followed by hospital bills (11%) and medicine costs (10%).

Analysts say Americans have now paid $21.7bn more to fill their tanks since the start of the US war on IranExxon and Chevron quarterly earnings fall despite soaring oil pricesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe average price for a gallon of gas in California rose to $6 this week as fuel prices across the US reached their highest level in almost four years.The American Automobile Association reported on Friday that California consumers were paying an average of $6.06, while the national average hit $4.39. The Golden state is the most expensive US market for gas but costs have also risen nationally with a 27-cent rise this week following two weeks of falling prices, AAA said in a statement. Continue reading...

Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre’s assessment means terror attack ‘highly likely’The UK terrorism threat level has been raised to “severe” by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre after the Golders Green stabbings, meaning a terror attack is thought to be “highly likely”.The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, described Wednesday’s attack as a vile act of terrorism. “Today, the national threat level has increased to ‘severe’, which means a terrorist attack is considered highly likely,” she said. Continue reading...

The World Press Freedom Index, which assessed 180 countries, finds established journalism is ‘being asphyxiated’Press freedom around the world is at its lowest ebb in a generation, according to an influential annual index that highlights growing authoritarian pressure on the media.The average score for the 180 countries assessed by the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), was the lowest in the index’s 25-year history. Continue reading...

Oil prices surged after negotiators remained gridlocked over reopening of strait of Hormuz, sending prices $1 higher than last yearUS gas prices rose to their highest level in four years on Thursday, reaching an average $4.18 a gallon at the pump as US-Israeli peace talks with Iran remain at a standstill.The last time average US gas prices breached $4.15 a gallon was in April 2022, when oil prices soared shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Average gas prices are now $1 higher than just a year ago, when they were closer to $3.15 a gallon. Continue reading...

30m adults hitting 150 minutes moderate activity a weekBut report shows progress not being felt equallyLevels of physical activity in England have broken new records, with more than 30 million adults now meeting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, the latest Active Lives survey has revealed.The 10th edition of the gold standard report finds a striking rise in activity among older people with 11% growth among the over-75s in the past decade. There is also a consistent improvement among people with disabilities. But other inequalities have proven stubborn, with no change among black and asian communities in 10 years and a decline in activity among the least affluent over that period. Continue reading...

Iranian intelligence services apparently recruiting via intermediaries to mount attacks aimed at sowing chaosIranian intelligence services and Revolutionary Guards operatives are recruiting teenagers through criminal intermediaries to launch a wave of low-level “hybrid warfare” attacks in Europe and the UK, according to investigators, security officials, analysts and police documents.A first wave of attacks was launched in early March, 10 days after the US and Israel began strikes on Iran, and targeted Jewish community sites in Belgium, the Netherlands and US banks. A second wave has focused on the UK, with a series of arson and attempted arson attacks on synagogues, a Jewish charity and the offices of an Iranian opposition TV network in London. Continue reading...

• Cavaliers defeated the Raptors in Game 2, pulling away late to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA playoff series. • The win positions Cleveland strongly in the first round, showcasing their late-game execution. • This outcome heightens pressure on Toronto as the series shifts locations.

American Lung Association report comes amid Trump EPA’s expansive rollback of environmental protections Nearly half of children in the United States are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, according to a new report, as experts warned Donald Trump’s expansive rollback of protections will make the situation worse.The 27th annual air quality report from the American Lung Association (ALA) released on Wednesday evaluates pollution across the country by grading levels of ground-level ozone – also known as smog – as well as year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution, commonly referred to as soot. The report analyzed quality-assured data collected between 2022 and 2024. Continue reading...

Civil rights group logs 300% yearly rise from before war and says ‘authoritarian repression … went into overdrive’A civil rights group dedicated to the defense of pro-Palestinian speech said that requests for legal assistance linked to Palestine-related activism in the US continues to far surpass pre-2023 levels, having logged 300% more requests for support last year than in any year prior to Israel’s war in Gaza.Palestine Legal logged some 1,131 requests in 2025. That was less than the record 2,184 requests it received in 2024, amid the peak of student protests and encampments, but well above its yearly average prior to the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s response in Gaza. Continue reading...

• Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources announced Friday that the Nile River has reached its lowest water level in five decades, threatening agricultural production for 105 million people and jeopardizing regional hydroelectric power generation. • The drought, attributed to prolonged upstream precipitation failures and upstream dam construction by Ethiopia, could reduce Egypt's wheat harvest by 18% this season, prompting emergency grain imports. • Egypt's government appealed to the UN and international donors for humanitarian assistance, warning of potential food security crisis and mass displacement in rural farming communities by summer.

• Netflix reported earnings that missed analyst estimates, yet broader market indices maintained record highs as investor focus remained on Iran ceasefire developments and energy market normalization. • The streaming giant's earnings disappointment was overshadowed by positive sentiment around geopolitical deescalation and reduced energy price pressures benefiting the wider market. • Market participants are weighing mixed corporate earnings results against macro-level improvements in global risk sentiment and supply chain stability.

Conflict is pushing up price of energy and food, fuelling higher borrowing costs and hitting growth, report saysIran war escalation could trigger global recession, IMF warnsBusiness live – latest updatesThe Iran war risks triggering a rise in global debt levels, forcing governments to choose between cushioning a cost of living shock and maintaining sound public finances, the International Monetary Fund has warned.Against a volatile backdrop of the Middle East conflict, the Washington-based fund said the war could add to the already strained position of government finances throughout the world. Continue reading...

Stephen Doughty says US withdrawal of support means bill cannot complete passage through parliamentA treaty over ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has become “impossible to agree at political level” and the corresponding bill will not complete its passage through parliament, a Foreign Office minister has said.Stephen Doughty told the Commons that the agreement with Mauritius was initially negotiated in close coordination with the US, but Donald Trump’s position “appears to have changed”. Continue reading...

• Influenza cases are peaking for a second time this season, with at least 41 states reporting high or very high flu activity. • This surge coincides with ongoing respiratory illness pressures documented by health authorities. • Increased hospitalizations strain healthcare systems, particularly affecting unvaccinated children and adults.

Even as a triumphant moon flyby primes agency for a 2028 landing, Trump’s proposed budget cuts cast pall on US space programThe astronauts on board Artemis II were “almost poets”, Nasa’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, declared on Friday, referring to their inspiring words as they swung above the lunar surface.They were, he said, “ambassadors for humanity” as they became the first humans to travel to the moon and return safely to Earth since 1972, on a mission that broke a distance record. Continue reading...

Government allocated 0.43% of national income to aid in 2025, with total spend down £1bn on previous yearThe UK government’s spending on foreign aid has hit its lowest level in nearly two decades, figures show, as humanitarian experts warn the cuts are costing lives.Provisional data shows the government allocated 0.43% of national income to official development assistance (ODA) in 2025, a decrease from 0.5% in 2024 and matching the level in 2008. Continue reading...

• US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva on April 8, 2026, to discuss de-escalating trade tensions after new US tariffs on Chinese EVs and semiconductors. • The talks addressed a $50 billion US trade deficit with China and Beijing's retaliatory duties on US agricultural goods, with both sides agreeing to a 90-day tariff freeze. • The negotiations matter as they could avert a global economic slowdown, with IMF warning of 0.8% GDP hit if tensions worsen; Wall Street rallied 1.2% on the news.

• US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on April 4, 2026, announcing plans for bilateral talks on trade imbalances and semiconductor export restrictions amid rising tensions. • The agreement includes a framework for reducing tariffs on $50 billion in goods and joint cybersecurity standards, with Sullivan stating, 'This is a step toward stabilizing our economic relationship without compromising security.' • The deal matters as it averts potential escalation in US-China tech rivalry, potentially boosting global markets and easing supply chain disruptions affecting US consumers.

Experts say brutal March heat has left critical snowpack at record-low levels – and key basins in uncharted territorySnow surveys taking place across the American west this week are offering a grim prognosis, after a historically warm winter and searing March temperatures left the critical snowpack at record-low levels across the region.Experts warned that even as the heat begins to subside, the stunning pace of melt-off over the past month has left key basins in uncharted territory for the dry seasons ahead. Though there’s still potential for more snow in the forecast, experts said it will likely be too little too late. Continue reading...

• Crude oil prices have climbed to their highest levels since 2022, driven by geopolitical tensions from the ongoing Iran war and uncertainty over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. • President Trump extended his self-imposed deadline to "obliterate" Iran's power plants to April 6, contingent on Iran allowing oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. • The elevated oil prices are contributing to market volatility, with Wall Street experiencing daily fluctuations as investor sentiment shifts between hopes for war resolution and renewed concerns.