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President announced increase from 10% using different authority from mechanism that supreme court struck down on FridayDonald Trump announced on Saturday that would raise a temporary tariff rate on US imports from all countries from 10% to 15%, less than 24 hours after the US supreme court ruled against the legality of his flagship trade policy.Infuriated by the high court's ruling on Friday that he had exceeded his authority and should have got congressional approval for the tariffs, the US president railed against the justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and ordered an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, in addition to any existing levies. Continue reading......

Families are navigating the tough choice between unimaginable riches and the identity that comes with landWhen two men knocked on Ida Huddleston's door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries.According to Huddleston, the men's client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company”, sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement. Continue reading......

Refunds were not addressed by supreme court ruling, and they'll likely play out in lower courts over extended periodTop associations of American businesses are demanding to be repaid for Donald Trump's tariffs following Friday's supreme court ruling.The US National Retail Federation, which represents a number of US retailers, from Walmart to small brands and manufacturers, called for “a seamless process to refund the tariffs to US importers”. Continue reading......

Labour MPs may clamour for bolder spending, but – like their Tory and Reform counterparts – they ask for the unaffordableToo many Labour MPs want it all, and no amount of pleading from the top of government about the depleted public finances seems to make a difference.The mainly leftist MPs want all the wrongs of the last 15 years put right and quickly. Their next opportunity to demand more cash arrives when Rachel Reeves delivers her spring statement on 3 March. Continue reading......

The US supreme court ruled against the president. Let's hope the court removes its pro-Trump glasses on other issues and stands up for the rule of lawThere's no denying that the US supreme court's long-awaited ruling that overturned Donald Trump's global tariffs is important, and if the ruling turns out to be a harbinger that the court is ready to abandon its startling sycophancy toward the US president, it could prove hugely important. The ruling this Friday is the first time during Trump's second term that the justices have struck down one of his policies. Not only that, the policy they struck down is Trump's signature economic policy – he has used tariffs to bash, lord over and terrorize dozens of other countries and make himself the King of the Economic Jungle.In the court's main opinion, joined by three conservative justices and three liberals, chief justice John Roberts used some sharp language to slap down Trump's tariffs, writing that the constitution specifically gives Congress, not the...

With waits for council plots in England decades-long, Roots is renting out green space – but some communities are digging inWhen police arrived at the field outside Bristol in October 2023, two old cars, wheels removed, were blockading the gates. Protesters had hauled them across the entrance to stop developers building on the slice of north Somerset green belt. The threat was not housing or industry, but a company building vegetable patches.Roots builds privatised allotments to give city dwelling customers a place to grow food. It was co-founded in 2021 by Christian Samuel, Ed Morrison and William Gay, who were frustrated by a 28-year waiting list for a plot in their area of Streatham, south London. “We thought: 'This is crazy',” says Samuel, 32. “'Why don't we just build our own?'” Continue reading......

Omar Yaghi's invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every dayA Nobel laureate's environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought, could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says.The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water even in arid and desert conditions. Continue reading......

Research project warns fall in homeworking roles could undermine efforts to reduce unemploymentA decline in the number of jobs for people who need to work remotely, including those with disabilities, could undermine the government's efforts to reverse rising unemployment, according to a two-year study.More than eight in 10 respondents to a survey of working-age disabled people by researchers at Lancaster University said access to home working was essential or very important when looking for a new job. Continue reading......

Court in Madrid will soon decide whether developers are using construction to force people out of their homesWhen the Madrid building where Jaime Oteyza had lived since 2012 was sold to an investment fund two years ago, a local tenants' union swiftly warned him what to expect.First the tenants would be told that none of their rental contracts – regardless of their expiry date – would be renewed, the union said. Then, as the 50 or so families in the building grappled with what to do next, a series of construction projects would probably be launched in the building to ramp up pressure on them to leave. Continue reading......

Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influentialIn the timeless week between Christmas and the new year, two Spanish men in their early 50s – friends since childhood, popular around town – went to a restaurant and did not come home.Francisco Zea Bravo, a maths teacher active in a book club and rock band, and Antonio Morales Serrano, the owner of a popular cafe and ice-cream parlour, had gone to eat with friends in Málaga on Saturday 27 December. But as the pair drove back to Alhaurín el Grande that night, heavy rains turned the usually tranquil Fahala River into what the mayor would later call an “uncontrollable torrent”. Police found their van overturned the next day. Their bodies followed after an agonising search. Continue reading......

The conservative-heavy court had largely given Trump everything he desired – until now, when two of his three nominees turned his back on himAfter an agonising year in which the US supreme court has stood aside and watched while Donald Trump has run roughshod over the constitutional separation of powers, the highest judicial panel has finally stirred itself to set boundaries on the president's increasingly regal pose.Friday's supreme court ruling declared Trump's sweeping tariffs unlawful, yanking from the president the bloodied cudgel which he has used to beat foreign friend and foe alike. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy says treating these objects as collectors' items 'should be looked at in horror'An antiques auction selling chains linked to the enslavement of African people in Zanzibar has been accused of “profiting from slavery”.Neck irons dated to the Omani-Arab dominated trade in enslaved people in east Africa, which ended after African resistance and British pressure in the late 19th century, will go on sale this weekend in Scotland. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Project Giving Back, set up in 2022 to help charities exhibit show gardens, says this year will be its lastChelsea flower show is looking for new charity sponsors after the mystery philanthropic couple who have spent more than £23m on show gardens end their support.Project Giving Back was set up by two anonymous donors in 2022, and since then it has paid for 63 gardens at the most prestigious horticultural event in the world, held each summer at the Royal Hospital gardens in south-west London. Continue reading......

After meeting with unspecified tech leaders, senator calls for urgent policy action as companies race to build ever more powerful systemsBernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”. Continue reading......

City minister Lucy Rigby acts after woman faced repossession of house burned down by controlling husbandA woman who was nearly killed by her abusive husband has been invited to advise the government on measures to support victims of financial abuse after the Guardian highlighted her story last weekend.Francesca Onody was left homeless and penniless when her husband doused their cottage with petrol while she and her two children were inside. Her husband, Malcolm Baker, died when the property exploded. Continue reading......

McDonald's, Wagamama and others scale back plant-based choices in the UK in favour of 'high-margin' meat-led dishesIn 2021, vegetarianism and veganism were booming and menus reflected it. Restaurants and fast-food chains rapidly expanded their meat-free offerings, racing to meet growing demand from diners. McDonald's launched its first plant-based burger, joining a wave of operators embracing non-meat options.Fast forward to 2026 and the landscape looks markedly different. Last month, the fast food chain announced it was axing most of its vegetarian range – sparing only its McPlant burger – owing to weak sales. Wagamama has removed some vegan dishes from its menu, while Domino's has also scaled back its plant-based options. The final Veggie Pret, a standalone concept store from the high street sandwich chain that started in 2016, closed in February 2024. Continue reading......

MPs will meet on Tuesday to discuss the former prince, as it emerged he pestered ministers for a bigger government roleAn influential committee of MPs could launch an inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's role as a UK trade envoy despite his arrest, it is understood, as it emerged that the disgraced former royal pestered ministers about getting a bigger government role.After his arrest on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the cross-party business and trade committee said it would meet next Tuesday to discuss a possible investigation into the role he held from 2001 to 2011. Continue reading......

Backed by Labour and Conservative figures, he was a controversial choice when appointed in 2001Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, bringing his former role as the UK's special representative for international trade and investment into focus. He denies any wrongdoing. But what was that role? Continue reading......

The decision adds to economic uncertainty, as deals Donald Trump struck with other countries are upendedIt is refreshing to witness the US supreme court recover its spine and stand up to Donald Trump's most extreme caprices. The 6-3 decision on Friday to strike down his barrage of tariffs on imports from virtually everywhere based on the preposterous argument that they addressed national emergencies will reassure the world that the US's system of government – based on the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the rule of law – has not collapsed entirely.But let's hold the (imported) champagne. The court's ruling will not restore the United States to its former place as a reasonable, trustworthy player in the world economy. The rules-based economic architecture that underpinned the integration of the world economy over the decades that followed the second world war remains fractured. Trump is still intent on its disintegration. And he retains power to do so. Continue reading......

Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costsThe Trump administration announced on Friday it would roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for the most vulnerable groups in the US.Donald Trump's EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of datacenters used for artificial intelligence. Continue reading......