US stock markets expected to recover after Trump drops tariffs on mobiles

US stock markets were expected to stage a recovery on Monday after Donald Trump excluded imports of smartphones and laptops from his tariff regime late on Friday night.Shares in Apple and chip maker Nvidia were on course to soar after tariffs on their products imported into the US were lifted for 90 days.The temporary reprieve was widely seen as a climbdown after pressure from Republican leaders concerned that the soaring cost of smartphones would spark a voter backlash. US retailers import about 80% of all smartphones, many of them from China, which Trump has slapped with tariffs totalling 145%.US Customs and Border Protection said items like laptops, hard drives, smartphones, flat-panel monitors and some chips would qualify for the exemption

Network Rail has stockpiled a year’s worth of rails in case of British Steel disruption

Network Rail has built up a stockpile of rails to last as long as a year in case of disruption in the supply from British Steel’s Scunthorpe works.The company, which manages Britain’s railway tracks, has been stockpiling rails over the past 12 months as British Steel started to contemplate the closure of its two blast furnaces. The rails are stored at depots around the country.British Steel’s Chinese owner, Jingye, last month announced plans to close the blast furnaces, putting 2,700 jobs at risk and threatening the UK supply of long products such as rails and construction beams.The UK government on Saturday stepped in to take control of the Scunthorpe factory with emergency legislation

‘Amazon slayer’: the Dublin minnow taking on the giants in drone deliveries

One drone lifts up into the sky at a shopping centre on the outskirts of Dublin, then another. They rise to 70ft (21 metres), tilt forward and zip away in different directions, each carrying a paper bag.On a sleepy morning in the Irish capital the takeoffs build to a steady one every few minutes, with barely anyone glancing at the constant stream of aircraft buzzing back and forth.“No one’s looking up – no one ever looks up,” says the man responsible, Bobby Healy, the founder of the Dublin startup Manna Aero.People probably should take notice, because the drones are part of an effort to realise an ambition shared by Amazon, the Google sister company Wing and the Californian startup Zipline: instant, autonomous home delivery

Tesla stops taking orders in China for two models imported from US

Tesla has stopped taking orders in China for two models it previously imported from the US, as companies scramble to adapt to prohibitive tariffs imposed in Donald Trump’s trade war.The manufacturer, run by Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, removed “order now” buttons on its Chinese website for its Model S saloon and Model X sports utility vehicle.Tesla did not give any indication of why it had made the changes but it came after the rapid escalation of the trade war between the US and China. In tit-for-tat moves, Trump has raised total tariffs on China to 145%, while China responded on Friday by increasing its levies on US exports to 125%.The border taxes make the goods trade between the two countries prohibitively expensive and mean cars imported from the US are now much less attractive in China than those produced locally

The Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy seals career grand slam after dramatic play-off – as it happened

He was never going to do it any other way, was he? And more power to one of sport’s great entertainers for that. Here’s a final reminder of how the top of the leaderboard looks after all that absurd drama. One of the great Masters Sundays? Without question. Rory did his best to lose it once, twice, three times … but always came back swinging. His astonishing irons into 15 and 17 will surely go down in Masters lore; his dam-busting emotion when he finally secured his holy grail certainly will

Rory McIlroy secures career grand slam with dramatic Masters playoff win over Justin Rose

Rory McIlroy, Masters champion. Four words that belie what this remarkable Northern Irishman achieved on a spine-tingling afternoon at Augusta National. They ignore, too, the torturous process McIlroy endured to realise this lifetime goal.Did he win the 89th Masters the hard way? Too right he did. From a seemingly untouchable position, McIlroy was dragged back into a scrap he was so desperate to avoid