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

County cricket day one: Gus Atkinson’s pace puts Somerset on the back foot

Gus Atkinson had the Surrey faithful purring on the day he was given his county cap. With his tiptoeing, tightrope approach and tightly knit hands, he made the ball spit like an overheated wok against Somerset. In his first over he hit Sean Dickson on the hand, who retired hurt, and later removed a softened-up Archie Vaughan, did James Rew for pace and greeted Kasey Aldridge with a missile at his neck. Jordan Clark, all muscle to Atkinson’s venom, did most of the rest, picking up five wickets, including two in two balls. Some oomplah from Lewis Gregory took Somerset to a first batting point and beyond

First Europe, then the world: Twickenham awaits in year of twin peaks for England

Grand slam clash is vital stepping stone in Red Roses’ quest to reclaim the World Cup crown they last held in 2014There are two games to think about at Twickenham on Saturday, the one the Red Roses will play in, and the one they want to play in. The first is their grand slam decider against France, which kicks off at 4.45pm. The second – at the same venue, five months and one day later – is the World Cup final which, if everything goes as the team hopes at the Stadium of Light, Franklin’s Gardens, Ashton Gate and the other grounds they will visit between now and then, will be the next game they play at the home of English rugby.The Red Roses head coach, John Mitchell, has been around long enough to know the smart thing to do is separate the two