By Isabella Gallagher Rattan
Here’s a whirlwind tour of all the headline news over the Easter holidays!
Controversy continued to surround Trump’s imposed tariffs, with charges on China’s imports at an all time high. What Trump intends to do is encourage Americans to buy more American-made goods and to collect even more tax money, with a 10% tariff on goods imported from the majority of countries, but even higher for others. However, this is actually decreasing economic growth, raising prices, and worsening inequality. Other countries, who Trump says are “cheaters” that are “pillaging” the US’ own economy, are not responding favourably to the tariffs. China has retaliated against the US’ 145% tariff against Chinese goods being imported into America with a 125% tariff against American goods.
Mickey Rourke was threatened to be taken off the highly popular TV show ‘Big Brother’ due to his homophobic comments towards singer and dancer Jojo Siwa. These threats came after the US actor mentioned they should “vote the lesbian out”, referencing Jojo Siwa, said “I need a f**, I’m not talking about you” gesturing to Jojo Siwa, and told her that “if I stay longer than 4 days, you won’t be gay anymore”, comments that Jojo Siwa, who is 51 years younger than him, found insulting. He later apologised to her, but was then removed from the show following sexual comments to Emma Rae Wise, 48 years younger than him, and aggressive behaviour to Chris Hughes.
A helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, killing all 6 people onboard, who were a family of tourists and the pilot. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but it is being handled by the US National Transport Safety Board.
Eric Dane, who played ‘McSteamy’ on Grey’s Anatomy and Cal Jacob’s on Euphoria, announced he was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the most common form of motor neurone disease. He “feels fortunate” to be able to keep working on the set of Euphoria and asks for privacy for him and his family.
The government took over a steel plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in “the coming weeks” to stop it from closing down whilst they look for a permanent solution. The plant is the only one in the UK to produce virgin steel, so it’s important to keep it running, but it’s difficult to turn off the blast furnaces (that help make the steel) without rendering them permanently unusable. MPs were called into parliament on Saturday the 12th to fast track an emergency legislation that means government is able to order raw materials for the furnaces and to direct the company’s workforce and managers, however the plant remains under the Chinese company Jingye’s ownership for now. The likely outcome of this situation is the plant will be publicly owned, as no one is willing to buy it due to the money it was losing.
A Russian missile strike in the North-Eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy has injured 117 and killed 36 people, including 2 children, and potentially hope for a peace deal. It is Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukrainians since 2023. Zelensky said that “only completely deranged scum can do something like this”, and urged for other nations to give a “tough” response, as “talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs”.
Katy Perry has faced online backlash after participating in an all-female space flight onboard the Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that lasted 11 minutes. Questions were raised about the necessity of the space flight, the damage to the environment, and the affordability of it. The founder of the company said they were “building the road to space”, so taking a quick flight to space and hearing Katy Perry sing What a Wonderful World may become as ‘common’ as a private jet flight.
The UK Supreme Court has legally changed the definition of a woman in the equality act, in order to make it consistent. They ruled that sex must be binary, and a woman is someone who was born a biological female, regardless of if they have legally changed their gender. This sparked controversy and protests in many parts of the country, but others called it “common sense”.
The strongest evidence yet of life of another planet has been found on K2-18b, a planet 124 light years away (700 trillion miles away) from us. A team of scientists from Cambridge have detected signs of molecules that, on earth, are produced by simple molecules. This is the second, and more authentic, time that these chemicals have been found using the James Webb Space Telescope, however scientists are still cautious about the reliability of this discovery, as more evidence is needed to make a conclusive discovery.
On Easter Monday, Pope Francis sadly passed away, aged 88, following a stroke. Less than 24 hours before his death, he appeared to the crowd in a wheelchair to make his Easter address in St Peter’s Square. Pope Francis had been persevering through a period of sickness, having spent 5 weeks in hospital with double pneumonia. Cardinal Kevin Farrell released a statement that said the pope had “returned to the home of the Father”, and that “he taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.”