US’s Rubio shrugs off market falls at Nato press conference – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. US state secretary Marco Rubio appeared to play down the impact of US global tariffs, saying “economies are not crashing – their markets are reacting to a dramatic change in the global order in terms of trade” (14:05). Ireland reported feeling first effects of US tariffs, with companies putting staff on reduced hours starting from this weekend, as the impact filters through to businesses (16:19) amid on-going debates about the EU’s response and whether it should target the US big tech giants, among others (12:21). Speaking after a Nato ministerial summit in Brussels, he also signaled Washington’s growing impatience with Russia, as he said we should know within “weeks” if Moscow was serious about the prospect of peace in Ukraine, adding “president Trump is not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations” (14:16). Earlier, French and British foreign ministers also accusing Russia of dragging its feet (13:54). Rubio also indirectly clashed with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen’s defence on Greenland (10:29), insisting the decision belongs to the Greenlanders, and the US was ready to partner with them at an opportune moment (14:09). Nato secretary general Mark Rutte faced an awkward press conference as he repeatedly declined to answers journalists’ questions on US policies on trade, Russia and Greenland, seemingly to avoid a public disagreement with US president Donald Trump (13:41). And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

‘Another nail in the coffin’: Germany’s car industry faces up to Trump’s tariffs

Emerging into the springtime sun from gate 17 at Volkswagen’s main factory in Wolfsburg at the end of his shift, Carsten, 63, pulled heavily on a cigarette and shook his head when asked about Donald Trump’s US tariff policies. “It’s just another nail in the coffin for the German car industry,” the assembly line worker said on Thursday. He cited managers’ plans to slash jobs and close factories earlier this year, and a decade before that the “dieselgate” scandal –costly financially and reputationally – when Germany’s largest carmaker was found to have falsified CO2 emissions tests. Now that the US has put a punishing 25% tariff on car imports (until now it was 2.5%) “we’re swimming in shit”, he said, giving a husky chuckle. “You have to laugh or you’d not survive,” he added. He declined to give his full name, but said he had been at the company for more than 15 years, adding he was “glad to be going into retirement” in two years’ time “so I don’t have to watch the carnage from the factory floor”. Ahmed, talking as he dashed to the nearby station to catch the train home to pick up his children after finishing the early shift on the VW Golf assembly line, said he was proud of his job, but feared for the future. “The mood inside is not good,” he said. “We already felt bamboozled by our bosses after all the mistakes they’ve made. Now even bigger arseholes are deciding our future.” Stephan, towards the end of his first week working in electrical infrastructure at the plant, said he was sure that “initially this is going to be very bad for the German car industry, and for Germany in general, but long term it might serve us well, to learn to be more independent from the US. We just have to hope that short term, our new government quickly starts to set us on the right course.” Germany’s new government, under the probable leadership of the conservative former banker Friedrich Merz, which is still being painstakingly negotiated behind the scenes following a February election, suddenly faces a new and almighty challenge, on top of the already towering problem of how to steer Europe’s largest economy out of its deep economic woes. Demand for German goods in the US is high, in particular cars – BMW, Mercedes, VW and Porsche – as well as machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plenty of luxury goods from Montblanc pens to Hugo Boss suits. As a result, Germany’s trade deficit with the US is larger than most other countries’ and the impact of the tariffs will hit its economy particularly hard. “Trump’s economic war is in full flow and Germany is stuck smack bang in the middle of it,” ran a headline in the tabloid Bild this week. The leading economic institute IW predicted in a study published on Thursday that the loss to Germany’s economy would amount to an estimated €200bn (£170bn) stretched over the four years of a Trump tenure, or a drop of 1.5% in GDP. The study’s authors, Jürgen Matthes and Samina Sultan called it “an economic catastrophe for Germany”. Annual sales of VW vehicles in the US amounted to almost 380,000 last year, or 8% of its total global sales, consisting mainly of its higher-end vehicles. According to the Association of German Car Makers (VDA), overall exports of German vehicles and parts reached a total value of almost €37bn. VW said this week it would not take the punishment lying down. It said it had provisionally halted rail shipments of vehicles from its factory in Puebla, Mexico into the US, and had also put a hold on the transport of its US-bound cars via ship at the western German seaport of Emden. In a memo to its North American retailers, it said it would introduce an “import fee” on affected vehicles. This was “to make sure on the label it’s clear to our customers it’s not us who’s fleecing them, but their own government”, a US car dealer told German media on condition of anonymity. As to Trump’s wish that manufacturers will be forced to move their operations to the US, the large German carmakers like VW, Mercedes, and BMW have long since done so, producing 900,000 cars on US soil last year, according to the VDA. Major car part suppliers, including Continental and Bosch, have done the same. In total, at 2,110 locations in the US the German car industry employs about 138,000 people. But this by no means makes them immune to the tariffs because plenty of parts, to which tariffs will also apply, have to be imported. As a result, cars are expected to rise in price on average between $5,000 (£3,840) and $10,000 dollars, and by as much as $50,000 in the luxury sector, experts predict. While car sales soared ahead of the tariff announcement as buyers sought to beat the price rise, already a sales war between foreign and domestic manufacturers is making itself felt, with the US carmaker Ford reportedly planning to offer customers its cutdown prices hitherto reserved for its employees, under the campaign banner: “From America for America.” Hildegard Müller, president of the VDA said the punitive taxes turned existing trade policy on its head. “This marks the departure of the US from the rules-based global trading order … it is not America First, this is America alone,” she said. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, founder of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), known as Germany’s “car pope” owing to his expertise in the industry, told German media that German car manufacturers and suppliers would be “extremely damaged and heavily punished”. “If this ends up being ongoing, German car manufacturers will increasingly move their production to the USA, leading to a further loss of jobs in Germany,” he predicted. “By forcing the companies into making losses and sucking the jobs away, economically speaking Trump is an even worse enemy for us than [Vladimir] Putin.” On Friday, the leading economist Marcel Fratzscher said Germany’s best response to the tariff turmoil was to “fortify itself” from within, urging the new government to use the opportunity of crisis to carry out much-needed reforms and, with the EU, to hit the US where it hurt most by imposing a reciprocal tax on digital companies. “The future isn’t being made in the US; our own future is being made here in the country. And I would like the coalition partners [of the future government] to have more courage,” he said, calling for a radical change of course in economic policy.

Anti-abortion campaigner convicted of breaching buffer zone outside UK clinic

An activist whose case had been cited by the US state department over “freedom of expression” concerns in the UK has been convicted of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic. Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner, went on trial at Poole magistrates court last month accused of breaching a public spaces protection order on two days in March 2023 near to a clinic in Bournemouth. On Friday she was found guilty of two charges of breaching the order. Tossici-Bolt was given a conditional discharge and ordered not to commit any additional offences over a two-year period. She was ordered to pay costs of £20,000 towards what the judge said had been the “considerable” resources expended by the local authority, along with £26 towards a victim surcharge fee. A delegation from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), an office within the US state department, met Tossici-Bolt last month during a visit to the UK, along with a US-backed anti-abortion group, which had been supporting her case. Judge Austin said it was beyond reasonable doubt that Tossici-Bolt was engaging in an act of disapproval of abortion services on the days in question. “She lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public,” the judge said. Tossici-Bolt had stood with a sign reading “Here to talk, if you want” facing the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinic, which was previously targeted by anti-abortion activists who had gathered nearby before Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council put the order in place. There was no immediate reaction from the US state department after the DRL’s recent statement that it was monitoring the case and that it was “important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression”. A Downing Street spokesperson said it was vital that women using abortion services could do so “without being subject to harassment or distress” and that the right to protest did not “give people the right to harass others”. Asked whether there was a problem with free speech in the UK, the spokesperson said Britain had “a very proud tradition of free speech over many centuries, and we remain proud of it today”. The court previously heard evidence from council enforcement officers who said they had asked Tossici-Bolt to leave the area on both days after they received calls from a member of the public and from staff inside the clinic. Tossici-Bolt told one of the officers that she had located herself outside the clinic “because from my experience women come here in a very lonely state”. The order prohibited protests and other direct or indirect activities that could influence users of the abortion clinic and was in place on weekdays until 7pm. She had been asked to leave the area within that period. Austin said Tossici-Bolt could have gone somewhere else given that people who were lonely could be found everywhere. “I accept her beliefs were truly held beliefs. Although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views, it’s important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO (public spaces protection order),” she said. The verdict was welcomed by the BPAS, which said the result would protect women and the staff who provided abortion care. The chief executive of BPAS, Heidi Stewart, said: “The clinic in Bournemouth has been subjected to decades of anti-abortion protests which resulted in more than 500 reports of harassment before this local safe access zone was brought into force. “This case was never about global politics but about the simple ability of women to access legal healthcare free from harassment.” During a discussion of costs, the hearing was told that Tossici-Bolt had significant assets and received a grant from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a registered charity in the UK, backed by a conservative US organisation of the same name. Kuljit Bhogal KC, for the council, said ADF UK had an income of more than £1.3m in the year up to June 2024 and that at least one member of staff had a salary of more than £100,000, according to records filed at Companies House. The Guardian reported on Wednesday on those filings on how the ADF has been expanding UK operations.

‘I fear for my loved ones’: Russian BBC journalists shaken by ‘foreign agents’ label

Russian BBC journalists who have been labelled “foreign agents” by Vladimir Putin’s regime have spoken of being unable to see their children, forced to sell homes and in effect being banished from their home country. They are now meant to report their finances to the state, down to supermarket receipts, while there have already been practical effects for family members inside Russia. The journalists said the label was designed to make them “toxic” to any Russians thinking about speaking to independent media. The designation in effect bars them from returning to their home country because of the risk of arrest. The tactic of branding journalists as foreign agents is now regularly deployed by the Russian authorities. Seven BBC journalists have been given the label, most of them since January. Six spoke to the Guardian. They all now live outside Russia, as the BBC moved operations out of the country after the 2022 Ukraine invasion. Ilya Abishev said his “big personal problem” was that he could not see his adult children. He explained they had no automatic right to settle in the EU, “while I can’t go to Russia because it is quite dangerous”. “I don’t rule out that, in the near future, my family may face problems in Russia – as children of an ‘enemy of the people’, to use the Soviet-era phrase,” he said. “It is necessary for me to resolve the issue of personal property in Russia because it can be confiscated at any time.” Anastasia Lotareva is also experiencing serious practical implications. “I no longer have a proper bank account and I cannot help my mother in Russia,” she said. “Returning is no longer an option for me.” While there is no official entry ban, in practice it is too risky for journalists listed as foreign agents to travel to Russia. “My dad is a professor of chemistry at a university,” said Olga Ivshina, who has written extensively about Russian military losses in Ukraine. “Within just an hour of my designation, his name was all over the local media. By the next day, some neighbours had stopped greeting him in the morning. “It was very painful on a personal level, because some people – even some people I considered friends – stopped talking to me, fearing retribution from the state.” Anyone given the label is obliged to mark all their online communications, including in WhatsApp groups or Instagram posts unrelated to their work, as coming from a foreign agent. Failing to do so leads to fines and eventual criminal prosecution. “In about a year’s time I will be charged with a criminal offence for failure to comply with this law,” said Andrey Kozenko. “It is discriminatory. If I lived in Russia, for me it would mean a massive defeat of my rights: from a ban on participation in elections to a ban on teaching. “Every three months I have to report to the Russian authorities how I spend ‘foreign’ money, right down to my supermarket receipts. If I transfer money to my mother or sister, they, too, potentially will be given the ‘foreign agent’ status.” Lotareva said it had affected her relationship with Russia. “I love it deeply,” she said. “Every single night, I dream about my home. And yet, I will likely never see it again until these repressive laws are repealed. I cannot take the risk of imprisonment. I have two children and, unfortunately, I cannot make this decision just for myself. It is painful. “I haven’t seen my mother for three years, and I know that I won’t see her for a long time to come – travelling to third countries to meet with me is not an option for her. And no one will grant her a visa to come to Europe because, due to sanctions, it is extremely difficult for Russians to get these visas.” BBC executives are concerned about the journalists travelling abroad to meet family, because of the risk of being extradited to Russia. Some journalists had to leave the BBC when the corporation moved its operations out of Moscow to Riga. “Many of us retained an inner faith and hope that once the war ends, the situation inside Russia could somehow normalise, and we would then be able to return home,” said Ilya Barabanov, who was labelled a foreign agent last year. “After receiving the status of a foreign agent, it became clear that this would definitely not happen in the foreseeable future. “At the moment, approximately every third ‘foreign agent’ in Russia has a criminal case instigated against them. Criminal prosecution is accompanied by searches that can take place at your previous place of residence or at your relatives’. So, first and foremost, I certainly fear for my loved ones.” Elizaveta Fokht, labelled a foreign agent in January, said it affected their work, because it risked making them “toxic for other people” inside Russia – which she said was the regime’s aim. “They want to break this connection between us and our audience and to stop other people from becoming independent journalists,” she said. “It’s an effective tool, but the good news is that we’ve proved that we’re resilient. There are still people who need us to do our job. This is the only way to fight back.” In response to the latest foreign agent designations earlier this year, Jonathan Munro, the BBC News global director, said: “The BBC wholly condemns this ongoing attempt to intimidate and silence our journalists. Aimed at having a disruptive and damaging effect, these arbitrary designations can’t stop our journalists doing their jobs. Journalism is not a crime, and our reporters will continue serving our Russian-speaking audiences just as they have done for almost 80 years: independently, fairly and fearlessly. We are proud of all our journalists. We will challenge these actions by the Russian authorities in the courts. These journalists have our total support.”

‘People scream in shock’: the US woman with the world’s longest tongue

Party tricks are second nature to Chanel Tapper, who has long wielded the Guinness World Records title for woman with the globe’s longest tongue. The California native can easily use the 3.8in (9.75cm) organ to remove Jenga blocks from a stack. She can flip red plastic cups with it; touch the tip of her nose as well as under her chin; and raise a spoon by curling it around the utensil. But nothing quite beats showing her tongue to people and watching them shriek in terror as they realize it is longer than a medium-sized lightbulb – or a credit card. “Honestly, the best reaction I could ever get when someone sees my tongue is screaming,” Tapper, 34, said recently in an interview published on the Guinness World Records website. “People yell or scream in shock, or horror sometimes, [and] that’s probably my favorite because it’s funny to me because it’s a dramatic response.” Tapper’s comments to the organization whose database of 40,000 records is a constant source of public fascination came about two decades after acquaintances first clued her into her uniquely prodigious tongue. She once recounted how she was about 11 when she got into the habit of teasing people around her by sticking her tongue out, and the common reaction was for them to comment on its length. Then, about a couple of years later, she achieved early internet virality after YouTube users spotted her sticking her tongue out on a video and became transfixed by its elongation. Guinness World Records finally invited her to an event in Los Angeles in 2010 to measure her tongue and see if she merited a spot in the organization’s database. She closely beat two other competitors for the distinction, surpassing the average tongue length for women by about 1.9cm (roughly three-fourths of an inch) – and for men by some 1.2cm (a half-inch or so). Tapper’s record still stood as of her 31 March interview with Guinness. Even though more than one online commenter has compared her to the slimy-tongued, fictional Marvel Comics villain Venom, she said she held the mark dearly. “I like little fun, silly things like that,” Tapper said. Furthermore, the recognition had given her the chance to travel internationally. One such trip involved visiting the fashion capital Milan and being photographed with her tongue painted blue and green in photos for the Welcome Successful Living campaign from the Italian brand Diesel. Other Guinness World Record holders participated in the campaign, too. “It’s fun – I get to see the parts of the world I’ve never seen before,” Tapper said.

Friday briefing: The pain from Donald Trump’s tariffs is already kicking in – will there be any gain?

Good morning. Donald Trump advocated for tariffs not just in the 2024 presidential campaign but for decades prior, so his pledge to impose them if re-elected should come as no surprise. Yet when the US president finally unveiled his plans on Wednesday, the measures were even more sweeping than most had anticipated. No one has been spared, not even Percy Pig. Standing on the White House lawn, flanked by a comically giant cardboard chart, Trump announced a blanket 10% tariff on virtually all imported goods, along with what he termed “reciprocal” tariffs on countries he claims are unfairly exploiting the US. China has been hit particularly hard, with the total levy on Chinese imports reaching 54%. Unsurprisingly, Beijing has vowed to retaliate. But even America’s allies have not been spared: the EU faces a 20% tariff, the UK faces 10%. Japan, hoping to avoid Trump’s ire by pledging to boost US investment to $1tn, has had no such luck, facing tariffs of 24%. Canada and Mexico have been exempted from this round of tariffs, though they have faced their own trade battles with the president. The news was received incredibly poorly by global financial markets. All three major US stock markets closed down in their worst day since the Covid pandemic and Asian markets opened with further losses this morning. For today’s newsletter, I spoke with Dr James Scott from the political economy department at King’s College London on the potential fallout of Trump’s tariffs. That’s right after the headlines. Five big stories South Korea | Yoon Suk Yeol has been officially removed from the presidency after South Korea’s constitutional court voted unanimously to uphold parliament’s decision to impeach him over his ill-fated declaration of martial law in December. UK news | At least £22,000 was spent by the Home Office on hiring lawyers in a failed attempt to prevent the release of a hard-hitting internal report that found that the roots of the Windrush scandal lay in 30 years of racist immigration legislation, officials have acknowledged this week. Education | Girls in England say they feel less safe at school and are more disenchanted with their education, research has found. Using data from an international study of pupils at primary and secondary schools, researchers said the steep fall in girls’ “emotional engagement” compared with the years before the Covid pandemic has become a pressing issue for schools. Environment | The climate crisis is on track to destroy capitalism, a top insurer has warned, with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate. Europe | Hungary will leave the international criminal court because it has become “political”, the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said as he welcomed his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanhayu – the subject of an ICC arrest warrant – to Budapest for an official visit. In depth: ‘The market reaction so far has been overwhelmingly negative’ The tariffs are the most full-throated expression yet of Trump’s “America First” protectionism, and potentially marks a new era of global trade war. The administration has promised a transition period, acknowledging the likelihood of economic pain for US consumers while insisting that things will all work out in the end. However, it is unclear that US politicians are willing to weather this storm as the first signs of a political backlash in the president’s own party emerge. *** Does Trump’s rationale make any sense? Trump has cited various reasons over the years for his fixation on tariffs, but this latest iteration is largely driven by “good old-fashioned nostalgia”, says Scott – specifically, for the 1950s, when the US dominated global manufacturing. Trump’s vision is that these tariffs will spark a revival of that manufacturing boom. However, there are several major flaws in his reasoning. Firstly, that era was a unique moment in American history that cannot be recreated. “All of its competitors, namely Europe and Japan, had been completely flattened during world war two, whereas the US hadn’t, so it found itself in an extraordinary position where there was massive demand for its manufacturers,” Scott explains. Secondly, shifting production to the US would be prohibitively expensive for many companies. Will they be willing to take that risk when there is no guarantee tariffs will remain in place for months, let alone years? While some firms have begun exploring US manufacturing expansion, many may simply wait out the uncertainty and see what happens once the dust settles. Another challenge is the majority of manufacturing job losses over the past 40 to 50 years, driven by productivity growth and technological advances. “You simply do not need as many people now to make stuff as you used to,” Scott says. A rough calculation by the Centre for European Economic Policy and Research found that even if Trump were somehow able to eliminate the US trade deficit solely by boosting manufacturing (an unlikely scenario), it would only increase manufacturing employment by one percentage point. “You’re not going to see mass manufacturing employment as it existed in the 1950s, in the same way that we’re never going to see mass agricultural employment like we had 200 years ago,” Scott adds. *** What about everyone else? The reciprocal tariffs will not take effect until 9 April, but when they do, there is a strong likelihood that retaliatory measures will drive up prices across a wide range of goods. The UK’s business secretary has launched a formal process to retaliate against Donald Trump’s tariffs if Britain does not secure a trade deal with the US. Europe and the UK will likely also face indirect pain. A surplus of low-cost goods, displaced by US tariffs, may flood European and British markets, making it harder for local companies to compete. Some of the world’s poorest countries have been hit with some of the steepest tariff rates. Lesotho, Cambodia, Laos, Madagascar, Vietnam and Myanmar have been slapped with rates between 45% and 50%, which could inflict severe economic damage during a time when the US has already withdrawn aid to many countries. *** The fallout in the US No one knows exactly how this will play out long term, in part due to Trump’s mercurial nature, but the market reaction so far has been overwhelmingly negative. The Nasdaq fell 6%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow dropped 4.8% and 3.9% respectively. The US dollar weakened against other major currencies, hitting a six month low, while oil prices tumbled. However, Paul Diggle, chief economist at Aberdeen, told the Guardian that market turmoil may not be enough to sway the administration. “So far, the administration appears far more tolerant of market weakness than in Trump’s first term,” he said. The vice-president, JD Vance, said the stock market reaction “could be worse” and faulted critics as taking a short-termist view. The Wall Street Journal found that if the tariffs remain in place, inflation could rise from 2.5% in February to 4.4% by year’s end, while unemployment could climb from 4.1% to 5.5%. The risk of recession is also increasing, all of which could harm the very people Trump claims to be fighting for. “The US is already suffering from a loss of consumer and business confidence, and this will only exacerbate that,” Scott says. “Businesses hate uncertainty, and, frankly, consumers don’t like it either – they’ll just hunker down and stop spending.” Beyond the bravado and the clear attempt to wield economic leverage, the broader critique of globalisation is not without merit, Scott says. “Blue-collar workers have faced wage stagnation and rising inequality for decades. But the tragedy is these policies, supposedly intended to address that, are unlikely to succeed – and the very people they aim to help will be hardest hit by inflation. That could deepen the general disillusionment with politics, which is deeply concerning.” What else we’ve been reading Here’s a revealing piece from an anonymous Tesla owner on how his dream car has become a living nightmare to own. It was bought before Elon Musk proved so problematic, and the writer now wants to be rid of the vehicle … but secondhand prices are dropping fast, leaving him feeling trapped. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters The news of the 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers who were killed by Israeli forces and put in a mass grave shocked the world. This visual guide created by Lorenzo Tondo, Malak A Tantesh, Julian Borger, Bryony Moore and Tural Ahmedzade provides some more insight into what happened. Nimo “I’m so pleased I was brave enough to move. I feel like I’m being challenged every day” – exclusively for our women’s football newsletter, Tom Garry catches up with Lionesses hero and now PSG shotstopper Mary Earps on adjusting to life in Paris. Charlie Glee, a series that I binged over one Christmas period six years ago, is having a comeback online, it seems. Anya Ryan takes a look at what is fuelling the renewed interest in this fever dream of a show a decade after its finale. Nimo From elderly orchids to bounce-back rubber plants, Guardian readers share their stories of unkillable houseplants. Kate Edmonds writes in that her 26-year-old dracaena “tolerates being forgotten for weeks at a time and always looks really healthy”. Wish I could say the same for myself. Charlie Sport Football | Enzo Fernández’s header from Cole Palmer’s cross gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Tottenham to boost their Champions League qualification hopes. Formula One | Max Verstappen, speaking in the buildup to this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, has intimated he was unhappy with the way his Red Bull team suddenly sacked their driver Liam Lawson after just two races and replaced him with Yuki Tsunoda from sister team Racing Bulls. Football | The United Kingdom appears certain to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup after Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, announced it is the sole bidder for the tournament. The front pages This morning’s Guardian leads with “Tariff turmoil wipes trillions of dollars off global stock markets”. The Times says “Trillions lost as Trump tariffs hit global stock” while the i goes with “Britain threatens America with new ‘Tesla tax’ as stock markets tumble”. “MELTDOWN” howls the Daily Mail’s splash headline. The Financial Times is all caught up with events today: “World reels from Trump trade shock”. The Telegraph throws it forward with “Britain must copy Singapore, says Hunt” explaining how the former Tory chancellor wants Starmer to exploit post-Brexit freedoms to challenge Trump with low taxes and free trade. Other news is available: it’s “Harry charity probe” in the Daily Mirror while the Metro’s version is “Harry: It’s all lies” and the Express quotes the prince with “Heartbreaking to witness such blatant lies”. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now Music Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong | ★★★★☆ The last time Black Country, New Road released a studio album, in 2022, it was accompanied by a strange feeling: frontman Isaac Wood had announced his departure four days prior. The others had resolved to continue without him, but many thought the band’s future was uncertain at best. On Forever Howlong, they continue to be impressively industrious and able to turn Wood’s departure into an opportunity for rejuvenation. Their sound has moved in a more gentle, bucolic direction, driven by trilling piano and acoustic guitar, flecked with banjo, mandolin and woodwind. Long-term fans may still mourn the passing of Black Country, New Road v1.0. There’s something exploratory about Forever Howlong and not every approach it tries works. But at its best, it’s surprising, captivating and unique. Alexis Petridis TV Twitter: Breaking the Bird | ★★★★☆ This 75-minute CNN film chronicles the rise, fall and possibly end of the social media site that was launched by a group of eager young things in 2006 amid a widespread belief – at least in the Valley – in the power of the internet to remake the world in radically better ways. It’s a compelling tale – albeit told without flair – of how idealism and ignorance, willed and unwilled, combined to bring down a potential empire. It is an illustration of the profound difficulties we will face if we continue to let young, confident, unformed and uninformed men shape and rule the internet – which is to say our society – without making them look at what they are doing and examine the consequences. Lucy Mangan Film Mr Burton | ★★★☆☆ The career of Richard Burton seemed mythic at the time, and more so in retrospect. It’s the subject of this heartfelt, vigorously acted, enjoyable, if slightly naive movie. Toby Jones stars as the spaniel-eyed Mr Burton and Harry Lawtey is Richard, a lanky, needy kid morphing into that insufferably haughty and sonorous prince of the English stage. It tells a uniquely painful and dysfunctional story, and does its best to show how Burton’s pride always coexisted with shame and self-hate. Jones certainly shows Mr Burton’s sad and dignified loneliness. Peter Bradshaw Podcast Invisible Hands: The History Podcast David Dimbleby takes on the history of capitalism. It’s a slick listen that opens in a barrage of air raid sirens and rumbling aircraft engines as Anthony Fisher watches his brother die while they both fly planes during the second world war – before going on to found the free-market thinktank the Institute of Economic Affairs. The half-hour episodes don’t allow for deep dives but are as hugely listenable as anything featuring its host’s voice is. Alexi Duggins Today in Focus How the Beatles helped my autistic son find his voice John Harris on how music helped him connect with his autistic son James Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad La Petite Ceinture, a long-abandoned railway line encircling Paris, is undergoing a transformation into green walkable spaces. Since 2006, efforts have been made to regreen sections of the railway line, with some areas developed into paths and gardens while others remain wild to foster biodiversity. Different sections of the Ceinture reflect the personality of their respective arrondissements – some tranquil and residential, others lively with clubs and trendy cafes. Community-driven projects, such as urban farm and eco-centre La REcyclerie, thrive along the tracks, supporting sustainability and social initiatives. The revitalised railway provides a rare escape into nature a stone’s throw from Paris’s bustling streets. “In a very dense neighbourhood with few green spaces, it seems important to let nature reclaim its rights and help agriculture in the city,” says Marie-Eugénie Chanvillard, La REcyclerie’s eco-cultural project manager. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

Celebrations as president’s impeachment is upheld – as it happened

We’re wrapping up this live coverage of the momentous ruling ousting Yoon Suk Yeol from the South Korean presidency. You can read our full report here. And below is an overview of today’s events. Thanks for reading. Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted as president by the constitutional court on Friday, which upheld the South Korean parliament’s impeachment motion over his imposition of martial law last December that sparked the country’s worst political crisis in decades. The court ruling – capping months of political turmoil – rejected most of Yoon’s argument that he declared martial law to sound the alarm over the main opposition party’s abuse of its parliamentary majority. There were legally justified avenues to address disagreements, it said. The martial law decree lacked justification and was also procedurally defective, said the court’s acting chief justice, Moon Hyung-bae. He said mobilising the military against parliament to disrupt its functions was a grave violation of Yoon’s constitutional duty to safeguard the independence of the three branches of government. Celebrations broke out among demonstrators rallying for Yoon’s ouster in Seoul, while Yoon supporters reacted with dismay and tears after gathering near his official residence. One protester was arrested for smashing a police bus window, the Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon said after the verdict that he was “very sorry and regretful that I could not live up to your expectations” and that he wanted to “deeply thank all of you who have supported and encouraged me despite my many shortcomings”. South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung hailed the court ruling, saying Yoon “destroyed the constitution and threatened the people and democracy with the guns and knives entrusted to him by the people”, AFP reports. The interim leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power party, Kwon Young-se, apologised to the people, saying the party humbly accepted the court’s ruling and pledging to work with the acting president to stabilise the country. With Yoon’s removal, a presidential election is required to take place within 60 days, according to the South Korean constitution. The prime minister, Han Duck-soo, will continue to serve as acting president until the new president is inaugurated. Yoon’s ousting from office caps months of political turmoil in South Korea that have overshadowed its efforts to deal with Donald Trump’s new US administration at a time of slowing growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The South Korean won was largely unfazed by Friday’s ruling, remaining at about 1% higher v the dollar at 1,436.6 per dollar by 0249 GMT. The benchmark KOSPI was down 0.7%, also unchanged from the morning. – With agencies

New Zealand’s controversial bill to reinterpret treaty with Māori should be scrapped, committee finds

A parliamentary committee has recommended a bill that seeks to radically reinterpret New Zealand’s founding treaty between Māori tribes and the British Crown should not proceed. The treaty principles bill, which was introduced to parliament by the minor coalition Act party, seeks to abandon a set of well-established principles that guide the relationship between Māori and ruling authorities in favour of its own redefined principles. The bill prompted a record number of submissions, including more than 300,000 written submissions. After weeks of hearings, the justice select committee reported back to the house on Friday, more than a month ahead of schedule. In its report the committee said the vast majority of submissions received opposed the legislation. Among the common themes raised by opponents were inconsistency with the treaty, flaws or inadequacies in the bill development process and the negative effect of the bill on social cohesion. The Act party argues that Māori have been afforded different political and legal rights and privileges compared with non-Māori because of the principles that have flowed from the Treaty of Waitangi – New Zealand’s founding document that is instrumental in upholding Māori rights. The bill has sparked strident criticism from lawyers, academics and the public, who believe Act’s principles will weaken Māori rights and remove checks on the crown. It has prompted mass meetings of Māori leaders, and the largest ever protest on Māori rights. The bill’s proponent, Act leader David Seymour, said that high-profile bills often result in committee submissions that “don’t reflect public opinion”. “Opponents will make much of the balance of submissions, but if they believed the public opposed the bill they could call for a referendum where everyone votes,” he said in a statement after the report. As part of its coalition agreement with Act, National promised it would support the bill through its first reading and the select committee process. But both National and the third coalition partner, New Zealand First, have said they will vote it down at the second reading. Prime minister Christopher Luxon told media on Tuesday the committee had been overwhelmed with the number of submissions. “The positions on the treaty principles bill are well known on all sides of that debate and what’s important now is to actually wrap it up and actually move it forward,” he said.