Author: staff
When Democrats were grappling with sky-high inflation just a couple of years ago, Donald Trump called their plans to fight price gouging by American companies tantamount to communism. Now that it’s the Republican Party in the affordability hot seat, Trump Cabinet members — and GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill — are doing much the same, laying into CEOs and calling for new regulations and antitrust suits. “They are making money hand over fist,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said of insurance companies at a Thursday Ways and Means Committee hearing. Later, he agreed with House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)…
Iran warned Saturday it would again close the Strait of Hormuz should Washington persist in blocking Iranian ports. The threat was issued just hours after Tehran declared the strategic waterway open following a Lebanon ceasefire. The potential for the resumption of transit had lifted stock markets on Friday and prompted optimism from Washington, with President Donald Trump telling reporters a broader US-Iran peace deal was “very close” and saying Tehran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium – a key sticking point in negotiations. “We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” Trump…
By Roselyne Min with AP Published on 18/04/2026 – 8:00 GMT+2 Japan is stepping up efforts to compete in the humanoid robotics race, focusing on software and data. At the Humanoid Robot Expo in Tokyo, Japan’s first humanoid-focused event, a human-sized machine is picking up a bottle of tea from shelves and turning to its audience with a quip. “In the future, would we robots get a holiday? … Oh well. I don’t want to get sunburn,” said the humanoid robot called Galbot. Like Galbot, most of the humanoid robots on display were developed by Chinese companies, reflecting the country’s growing dominance in…
Padel is no longer just one of the world’s fastest-growth sports – it has also become one of travel’s fastest-growing trends. According to the International Padel Federation’s 2025 report, the racquet sport now counts more than 35 million players worldwide, with courts increasing by more than 15% in a single year and surpassing 77,000 globally. Europe sits at the centre of this boom, accounting for more than 60% of participation and roughly two-thirds of all courts worldwide. Looking to capitalise on this growing trend, hotels and resorts around the world are adding padel courts as headline amenities, while destinations are…
Published on 18/04/2026 – 7:14 GMT+2 Determined to disrupt, Hublot want to make it crystal clear to any doubters that they are a force to be reckoned with. With only 45-years of high-end watchmaking experience, the Swiss brand is relatively young compared to many of its rivals but it’s by no means overawed. It counts some of the world’s most popular sports stars among its roster of ambassadors and their, albeit, paid goodwill goes a long way to help the young brand punch well above its weight. Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic medalist, Usain Bolt, is one of Hublot’s main attractions when…
Anthropic’s recent financial trajectory has stunned market observers, with venture capital offers now placing the firm’s value at $800 billion (€678.3bn), on par with its main rival OpenAI. According to various reports, the company has seen its private valuation more than double in a matter of months, supported by a revenue run-rate that has reportedly climbed to $30 billion (€25.4bn). As the San Francisco-based AI developer prepares for a potential IPO, rumoured to happen as early as next autumn, it finds itself at the centre of an industry-wide debate regarding the balance between rapid growth and responsible scaling. The company’s…
Gordon Repinski spaziert mit Forschungsministerin Dorothee Bär (CSU) durch das Berliner Regierungsviertel. Zwischen Ministeriumsbalkon und Charité erklärt Bär ihre Agenda: von Milliarden für die Kernfusion bis hin zum ersten Europäer mit deutscher Flagge auf dem Mond. Im Gespräch geht es unter anderem auch darum, wie die Ministerin den Gender Data Gap in der Medizin schließen will und warum die europäische KI-Souveränität für sie Priorität hat. Dazu gibt Bär persönliche Einblicke in ihr bayerisches Machtbewusstsein, klärt Söder-Zitate auf und verrät, warum ihr Puls beim FC Bayern auf 130 steigt. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr.…
“There is a clear preference on the U.S. side to stick to the deal as we agreed it. And it’s also their preference on our side,” Šefčovič said. In D.C. patience with the EU’s slowness in enacting the deal has worn thin. The commissioner only this week began negotiations with EU capitals and lawmakers to find a compromise on implementing the EU’s side of the bargain, under which the bloc would scrap all tariffs on U.S. industrial goods. The European Parliament has proposed several amendments to the two legal texts that would lower the U.S. tariffs: It added a so-called…
But the EU doesn’t agree. “There have been some reports in these two previous days suggesting Europe could be close to running out of jet fuel. That is not an accurate reflection of the situation,” Tzitzikostas said during a press conference in Nicosia. Some European airlines like Lufthansa, KLM and SAS have cut back on flights, while ticket prices are rising in response to the fuel price surge. Airlines “have chosen in these past days to cancel some of their lines because they were already not profitable,” Tzitzikostas said. Even if Iran’s Friday announcement restores normal shipping out of the…
But the exact details of a potential international mission remain sketchy. After the meeting in Paris on Friday, which included leaders from more than two dozen countries via videoconference, Meloni offered to deploy Italian frigates to the region. Germany on Thursday said it would contribute minesweepers. “It’s going in the right direction, even if the opening of Hormuz is conditional to coordination by the Iranian authorities and the United States has said it is going to maintain a targeted blockade,” Macron said. “Recent developments are encouraging but we must take them with caution,” the French leader added. But Europeans are…