Stunned resignation and foreboding: a week in Trump’s shadow at IMF

Kristalina Georgieva’s favourite film, the International Monetary Fund boss told the audience at a packed panel event in Washington on Thursday, is Tom Hanks’s cold war romp Bridge of Spies.In one of the stranger digressions in a frequently strange week, Georgieva recalled the moment when Hanks’s character, a US lawyer, tells the Soviet spy he has been appointed to defend that he will probably be executed. “You don’t seem alarmed,” Hanks says to him; to which the spy – played by Mark Rylance – replies, “Would it help?”Georgieva mentioned the vignette to underline the fact that this week’s spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank were not swept up in panic, despite the mayhem emanating from the Trump administration.Instead, the reaction to the uncertainty of many of the hundreds of policymakers present has been a kind of stunned resignation.Trump was barely mentioned by name at the scores of public events where policymakers chewed over how to respond to the challenges thrown up by his chaotic tariffs

Reeves holds ‘positive and upbeat’ trade talks with Bessent

Rachel Reeves discussed what she called a “prosperity deal” with the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in a meeting her team claimed was “upbeat and positive” on Friday.“Today I met with Scott Bessent to discuss the UK-US economic prosperity deal and our goal of reaching an agreement that is in both our national interests,” Reeves said, after meeting the treasury secretary.The UK has been negotiating hard in the hope of securing exemptions from some of Donald Trump’s harshest tariffs, including the 25% levy on car imports, but Reeves left Washington without being able to claim any tangible progress.The US has made fresh demands in recent days, including calling for tariffs on car imports to the UK to be cut; and the chancellor was forced to concede earlier in the week that she was “not going to rush a deal”.UK Treasury sources said trade negotiators from the two countries would continue to work hard on a deal

Elon Musk’s xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company is stirring controversy in Memphis, Tennessee. That’s where he’s building a massive supercomputer to power his company xAI. Community residents and environmental activists say that since the supercomputer was fired up last summer it has become one of the biggest air polluters in the county. But some local officials have championed the billionaire, saying he is investing in Memphis.The first public hearing with the health department is scheduled for Friday, where county officials will hear from all sides of the debate

Google reports strong earnings amid DoJ antitrust lawsuits and Trump tariffs

Google’s parent company Alphabet reported strong first quarter earnings on Thursday, despite being embroiled in antitrust lawsuits brought by the US government and seeing a 17% drop in its stock price since the beginning of the year. This is the company’s first earnings report since Donald Trump levied tariffs on trade partners around the world.Despite the upheaval for Alphabet, it exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, reporting revenue of $90.23bn, up 12% since the same time last year, and $2.81 in earnings per share

Derrick Harmon’s mother dies shortly after learning son selected in NFL draft

Tiffany Saine, the mother of Derrick Harmon, died shortly after learning the Pittsburgh Steelers had selected her son with the 21st pick of the NFL draft.Harmon was visibly emotional as he was picked, and the ESPN broadcast showed a video in which the defensive tackle spoke about his mother’s health issues and paid tribute to the positive effect she had on his life. Saine was on life support when Harmon was selected and the 21-year-old told reporters he was going to see her in hospital after Thursday night’s ceremony.“It was a little bittersweet, man,” Harmon said of the moment he was selected. “My mom wasn’t with me, she’s at the hospital right now on life support, so that was a little bittersweet, because she worked as hard just as me to get to this moment

Mark Allen hits 147 then loses as Barry Hearn warns Crucible ‘not fit for purpose’

Mark Allen wrote his name into Crucible history with a maximum 147 break at the World Snooker Championship – but fell to a 13-6 defeat in his second-round match against Chris Wakelin.Resuming 6-2 behind, Allen endured a nightmare first half of the morning session, losing all four frames to fall 10-2 down and at risk of going out with a session to spare. Wakelin hit breaks of 119, 71 and 75 as his opponent failed to pot a ball for three frames, immediately heading to the practice table at the interval.In the next frame, Allen sank a long red to end his drought and quickly manoeuvred his way to a maximum chance. After potting 15 reds and 15 blacks, the world No 8 almost snookered himself behind the blue, but was able to dispatch the yellow – and a tricky pink – before rolling in the final black to huge cheers