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CNN's Dana Bash on Thursday mocked President Donald Trump for leveling tariffs against an island that are inhabited solely by penguins."No one is safe from President Trump's new tariffs, not even penguins," she said. "A remote island near Antarctica that is home to mainly penguins, no humans, is now subject to a 10 percent American tariff. This is not a joke. We are not kidding. These penguins, who do not trade goods or services with the United States as far as we know, are on the receiving end of a new tax."Bash said that there were serious questions, however, raised by Trump's decision to launch a trade war against a penguin island."In addition to it just being ridiculous, there is the question of how did this even happen?" she wondered.Trump's tariffs actually included two places, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, that are Australian territories near Antarctica and have no human inhabitants.ALSO READ: 'For what purpose?' Ex-officials question DOGE staffer accessing children's private dataNPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith said that the inclusion of the penguin island in the tariff package was an indication that "essentially, this was put together very quickly even though Donald Trump has been talking about this very thing for years."Conservative panelist Jonah Goldberg argued that the slapdash nature of the tariff rollout would spell big political trouble for Trump going forward."We heard [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick, just before the show, came on saying... 'Trust Donald Trump to run the global economy,'" he said. "And there are lots of people, small businesses. they're going to go out of business. There are small businesses that are going to suffer. There are lots of consumers who are going to have to pay more at the grocery store. And we're supposed to trust them to run the global economy, and they're taxing penguins. And it goes to the credibility of the administration."Watch the video below or at this link. - YouTube www.youtube.com

Mette Frederiksen, who met island’s new and outgoing PMs, says she wants to cooperate with Trump on Arctic securityThe Danish prime minister has put on a show of unity with Greenlandic leaders in her first visit to the Arctic island since Donald Trump’s renewed threats to acquire the territory, telling the US: “You cannot annex another country.”Speaking onboard an inspection ship in front of a military helicopter, alongside Greenland’s new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and its outgoing prime minister, Múte B Egede, Mette Frederiksen switched from Danish to English to address the diplomatic standoff with the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee from southern city of Rafah in one of war’s biggest mass displacementsAn Israeli bombing of a school turned shelter in Gaza City has killed at least 27 people, rescuers said, and hundreds of thousands in the Rafah area are fleeing in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war amid Israel’s newly announced campaign to “divide up” the Gaza Strip.Three missiles hit Dar al-Arqam school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon, the civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said, killing several children and wounding 100 people. Continue reading...

Multimillion-pound project will also boost capacity by 20% and improve wheelchair accessibilityDifferent generations of tennis fans may disagree on its name – to traditionalists it will always be Henman Hill, millennials probably plump for Murray Mound and gen Z may know it as Raducanu Rise or even, regrettably, Jack’s Stack – but all ages can agree that bringing a little shelter to Wimbledon’s most famous viewing area can only be a good thing.Wimbledon’s Hill – which since 1997 has allowed tennis fans with a grounds pass to watch the action on No 1 Court live atop its grassy knoll – is getting a makeover, the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced. Continue reading...

Conservative commentator and MAGA critic Ana Navarro-Cárdenas had some sharp words for Secretary of State Marco Rubio's praise of the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs that may well spark a global trade war.Navarro-Cárdenas claimed she has known Rubio for 30 years, from their early days in Miami, FL, politics. She has been highly critical of Rubio's descent into MAGA policies, where he once called Donald Trump a "con artist" who "hijacked the conservative movement."Rubio was present in the Rose Garden Wednesday when Trump declared "liberation day" and signed an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs affecting some 65 countries.Shortly after the event, Rubio posted on X, "Thank you, @POTUS! 'Made in America' is not just a tagline — it’s an economic and national security priority."ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldNavarro-Cárdenas immediately jumped on the tweet, writing, "Marco, you are a free-trader. You argued against tariffs until like 5 minutes ago. Did you have a lobotomy, or does your servility just have no limits?"A search of Rubio's past stance on free trade showed that he challenged Trump's desire to start a punitive trade war against countries he believed treated the United States unfairly. During a 2016 Republican debate, Rubio said, "About the trade war — I don't understand, because your ties and the clothes are made in Mexico and in China. You're going to start a trade war against your own ties and suits. Why don't you make them in America?" Also, in 2016, when Trump argued for 45% tariffs on Chinese goods, Rubio retorted, "I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff: it gets passed on in the price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger. It begins with tax reform. It continues with regulatory reform."Another person who questioned Rubio for going all-in on tariffs was Kyle Matthews, with the Montreal Institute for Global Security. He posted under Rubio's tweet, "Best of luck in your diplomacy. You are going to need it."

The tranquility of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a small Israeli community just a mile from the Gaza border, was shattered Oct. 7, 2023, by a brutal Hamas-led assault that left 67 residents dead, 19 kidnapped and almost every household scarred by violence. The attack was one of the deadliest in the nation's history and exposed the vulnerability of a community that had been defined by its optimism and hopes for peace.

The U.S. car company Stellantis has announced that it will stop producing vehicles at plants in Mexico and Canada as President Donald Trump's tariffs take effect. Trump announced a 25% tax on automobiles, and according to one MSNBC host, Trump's tariffs are already hitting Americans. NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Cheung explained that Stellantis, which manufactures Jeep, will "have ripple effects to even their U.S. operations." ALSO READ: 'Decimated for 60 years': GOP senator warns tariff backlash has dearly cost RepublicansAbout 900 U.S. employees at Stellantis plants are getting temporarily laid off this week. In Canada, about 4,500 hourly workers are being cut, CNBC reported. "Again, this is something that we have been warned about when it came to the auto tariffs, which, by the way, were announced last week," said Cheung. "The auto tariffs are a bit separate from what was announced yesterday, but nonetheless, it would be a 25% tariff on any sort of automotive product that is imported into the United States, which could include exactly those that are made in plants, like in Mexico and Canada. But you're seeing the intertwined nature of it, such that when they shut those down, they have to shut down the stamping plants as well." Host Ana Cabrera was shocked, repeating "900 layoffs they're already putting out there as a result of all of the tariff trickle down."She then welcomed Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi, who said, "My reaction [to the markets]? Ugh. I mean. Really. The damage this is doing is, you know, clearly evident. And it's just going to continue to mount. I mean, if these tariffs are fully implemented and implemented quickly, it's going to push the U.S. economy, the global economy, into recession. I just don't see any other way around it."He went on to call it a "massive tax increase on American consumers and businesses."See the clip below or at the link right here. - YouTube www.youtube.com

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle reminded viewers Thursday morning that, for all of his bragging, President Donald Trump was always a terrible businessman. Speaking to "Morning Joe's" Jonathan Lemire, she proclaimed, "Donald Trump is not trusted in a business sense." "What is he great at? He's great at branding. He's great at marketing. He's a phenomenal politician. What he's not great at is business," said Ruhle. "As a business person, we all know this; he went bankrupt six times," she recalled. "The one business he tried to operate was a casino that he drove into the ground. And the reason he didn't do business with big U.S. banks is because they were unwilling to do business with him. I know this because I worked at Deutsche Bank, the bank that actually did do business with him."ALSO READ: 'Chaos': Small biz owner hit by Trump’s last tariff reveals key flaw that hurts companiesShe also told viewers that Trump is also known for not committing to deals he's made and contracts that he has signed. "And now he's doing that on American soil with American trading policies," she said. "And this could put our country in grave risk when it comes to being the superpower that we are. And if you don't believe me, listen to what Rand Paul has to say, right? An elected official who knows what this will do politically and economically, and it's hugely dangerous."She noted that in trade, there are long-term partnerships and investments, and "for years," the U.S. urged manufacturers to stop doing business in China. "They're our adversary. Go to Vietnam. Now look what we're doing to Vietnam," she said, pointing to Trump's tariffs. "In Trump's first administration, it was Trump and Jared Kushner who renegotiated NAFTA to create the USMCA, a 'better' NAFTA. Now they're tearing it up. We're losing trust with our global partners. And that's a huge problem."Finally, she said that the White House has been saying that it will be "short-term pain" but long-term gain. She said she hasn't heard "one single CEO" saying that they will build a new plant in the U.S.Ruhle explained that building a plant typically takes three to five years. "Three to five years from now, Donald Trump is not going to be in office. Who knows if he'll retract on these tariffs? And in order for you to make any sort of investment, a long-term investment, you have to trust the information. You have to trust your counterparty."Even the math doesn't make sense, she said. "This idea that having a trade deficit means all these other countries are ripping us off, that's not the case."See the video below or at the link right here. - YouTube youtu.be