Gold climbs above $3,500 for first time as Wall Street rallies after slide

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Dollar also recovers after Monday’s sell-off prompted by Donald Trump’s attack on Federal Reserve chair

Gold has climbed above $3,500 an ounce for the first time while stocks on Wall Street and the dollar rose following Monday’s sell-off prompted by Donald Trump’s blistering attack on the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell.

Spot gold reached the record price of $3,500.01 (£2,620) on Tuesday, extending a rally that has pushed bullion up from $2,623 an ounce at the start of this year.

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Trump Tore Up Obama’s Iran Deal. Is He Now Negotiating Something Worse? – The Free Press

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  1. Trump Tore Up Obama’s Iran Deal. Is He Now Negotiating Something Worse?  The Free Press
  2. US and Iran express optimism following second round of nuclear talks  CNN
  3. Opinion | The Iranian Negotiating Tactic the Trump Administration Doesn’t Get  Politico
  4. What to know about the tensions between Iran and the US before their second round of talks  AP News
  5. Iran, US to hold expert-level talks on Saturday, not Wednesday, Tehran says  Reuters
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Canada election sees record high early voting, figures show

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About 7.3m people have cast ballots over four days of advanced voting in sign of elevated interest in 28 April poll

A record 7.3 million people have cast their ballots over four days of advanced voting in Canada’s election, official figures showed on Tuesday, in a possible sign of elevated interest in the 28 April poll.

Elections Canada said its estimated tally for voting from Friday through Monday marked a 25% increase over the 5.8m advanced ballots cast in the 2021 vote.

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Brazilian judges accept coup plot charges against more Bolsonaro allies

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Panel unanimously accepts charges against six more key allies of ex-president over alleged plan to keep him in office

A panel of Brazil’s supreme court justices has unanimously accepted criminal charges against six more key allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former rightwing leader to stand trial.

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Ukraine ready to negotiate with Russia — if it agrees to ceasefire first – politico.eu

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  1. Ukraine ready to negotiate with Russia — if it agrees to ceasefire first  politico.eu
  2. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 22, 2025  Institute for the Study of War
  3. The Kremlin’s 30-hour truce was designed to shift blame to Ukraine. Did Trump buy it?  CNN
  4. Ukraine presses for ceasefire as Russia reported to offer concession  Reuters
  5. Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,154  Al Jazeera
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UK ministers face questions over supreme court gender ruling repercussions

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Labour backbenchers demand clarity on practical impact of transgender people’s use of toilets and hospital wards

Ministers have come under pressure to provide answers on how last week’s supreme court ruling on gender identity will affect the daily lives of transgender people, amid confusion over issues such as toilet provision and hospital wards.

Keir Starmer said he welcomed what he called “real clarity” and “a welcome step forward” in his first response to the court decision, which ruled that “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman.

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Russia ‘may be willing to drop claims to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy’

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David Lammy to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks in London amid encouraging speculation

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.

The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.

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Badenoch says Labour’s claims to have always defended single-sex spaces are a ‘shameless work of fiction’ – UK politics live

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Minister for women and equality makes statement after supreme court ruling on gender recognition

Some MPs and peers are calling for President Trump not to be invited to address parliament when he visits the UK. In 2017, during Trump’s first presidency, the then Speaker, John Bercow, vetoed a proposal for Trump to address parliamentarians in Westminster Hall.

In an interview with Times Radio this morning, Stephen Morgan, an education minister, said Trump should be allowed to give a speech in parliament. Asked if Trump should be allowed to address MPs and peers, Morgan said:

I look forward to the US president addressing parliament in due course.

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Manchester van driver pleads guilty to killing three-year-old girl

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Rawal Rehman had been on a cocaine binge when his van collided with Louisa Palmisano and her parents on 22 February

A convicted drug dealer has pleaded guilty to killing a three-year-old girl while driving recklessly, shortly after being released from prison on licence.

Rawal Rehman, 35, had been on all-night cocaine binge when his van collided with Louisa Palmisano and her parents in Manchester city centre on 22 February.

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Kashmir Attack Leaves 25 Dead in Indian Tourist Spot – WSJ

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  1. Kashmir Attack Leaves 25 Dead in Indian Tourist Spot  WSJ
  2. More than 20 killed after gunmen open fire on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir  BBC
  3. PM Modi holds talks with Saudi Crown Prince, both condemn terror attack in J&K  India Today
  4. Gunmen open fire on tourists in Himalayan region, killing at least 26 people, police say  CNN
  5. At Least 24 Tourists Gunned Down by Militants in Kashmir  The New York Times
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Scottish government abandons plan to fight court ruling on gender recognition

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Social justice secretary says Holyrood ‘fully accepts’ supreme court ruling and would amend guidance

The Scottish government has said it will abandon its plans to change legislation on gender recognition, the high watermark of Nicola Sturgeon’s progressive agenda, as it moved to reassure the trans community that “you are valued”.

In a statement to MSPs on Tuesday afternoon, the social justice secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said Holyrood “fully accepts” the judgment of the supreme court, which ruled against Scottish ministers last Wednesday in the culmination of a long-running legal action brought by the campaign group For Women Scotland.

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FDA suspends milk quality-control testing program after Trump layoffs

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Effective Monday, the agency suspends its proficiency testing program for grade ‘A’ raw milk and finished products

The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality-control program for testing fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The suspension is another disruption to the nation’s food-safety programs after the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, as part of Donald Trump’s effort to shrink the federal workforce.

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UK manufacturers to cut jobs ‘within weeks unless ministers can strike trade deal’

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Bosses from automative, manufacturing and energy warned MPs about effect of Trump tariffs

Britain’s manufacturers will start cutting jobs “within weeks” unless the government can strike a deal to safeguard the UK economy from Donald Trump’s trade war, industry leaders have told MPs.

Senior executives from the UK’s automotive, manufacturing and energy sectors warned a committee of MPs to expect job losses this summer if the US moves ahead with a swathe of global trade tariffs set out by Trump earlier this month.

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British Steel halts redundancy plans after government rescue

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Union welcomes announcement company is closing consultation on laying off up to 2,700 Scunthorpe workers

British Steel will not continue with a consultation on making up to 2,700 steelworkers at its Scunthorpe plant redundant, after the government took control of the firm earlier this month.

The Chinese company Jingye, which promised a “new chapter” when it bought British Steel in 2020, last month proposed closing Scunthorpe’s two blast furnaces, putting the roles under threat and ending Britain’s ability to produce steel from scratch.

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We’re orphans now, say Gaza Catholics the Pope called daily – BBC

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  1. We're orphans now, say Gaza Catholics the Pope called daily  BBC
  2. Who will be the next pope? Here are some possible candidates  CNN
  3. Cardinal Dolan plays 'hooky' from Vatican chats long enough to lead NYC Mass for Pope Francis  New York Post
  4. Pope Francis worried about greeting crowd in St. Peter's Square but was thankful he did, report says  AP News
  5. Pope Will Lie in State for Three Days Before Funeral on Saturday  The New York Times
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‘The devil wants this pattern of mass death repeated’: Actors Guild of Nigeria calls for better regulation after two actors die

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After two actors died in Owerri, Imo State, AGN head Emeka Rollas drew comparisons to events last year, when popular Nollywood actor Junior Pope drowned

The president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria has called for mass prayers and increased unionisation after the death of two actors in Owerri, the capital city of Imo State.

Posting on Instagram, Emeka Rollas advocated spiritual intervention and better workplace regulation to try to prevent future tragedies after the two men, who have not yet been named, died on Friday.

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RFK Jr’s autism study collecting Americans’ private medical records

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The National Institutes of Health claims it is fulfilling RFK’s promise to find cause of autism by September

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is collecting the private medical records of many Americans from several different federal and commercial databases to give to researchers for US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new autism study.

With this information being included in the database, the NIH is also reportedly crafting a new registry to track those with autism, per CBS News.

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Marco Rubio announces sweeping reorganisation of US state department

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Secretary of state says overhaul of department will close a number of overseas missions and reduce staff

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has proposed a sweeping reorganisation of the US state department as part of what he called an effort to reform it amid criticism from the Trump White House over the execution of US diplomacy.

If approved, the reorganisation would cut more than 700 positions and eliminate 132 of 734 offices, according to state department officials. But those officials also stressed that the plan, which was suddenly announced on Tuesday, remained a proposal and would not lead to immediate layoffs or cuts.

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