World economic and finance chiefs want an off-ramp from the worst global trade crisis in a century. Washington makes for a turbulent backdrop to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, headquartered in the U.S. capital as anchors of America's economic and financial clout. President Donald Trump's tariff war hasn't just roiled markets and raised recession fears: it's also called into question U.S. economic and security leadership -- a pillar of the post-World War II global order -- like never before. The stage is set for "one of the most stark and dramatic meetings I can think of in recent history," says Josh Lipsky, senior director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council and former IMF adviser. "You have at this moment a deep challenge to the multilateral rules-based system which the U.S. helped build."

On a misty Saturday afternoon in Shenzhen's Central Park, a gaggle of teenage girls are sheltering from the drizzle under a concrete canopy. With their bags of crisps piled high in front of them, they crowd around a couple of smartphones to sing along to Mandopop ballads. The sound of their laughter rings out across the surrounding lawn – until it is pierced by a mechanical buzzing sound. A few metres away from the impromptu karaoke session is an "airdrop cabinet", one of more than 40 in Shenzhen that is operated by Meituan, China's biggest food delivery platform. Hungry park-goers can order anything from rice noodles to Subway sandwiches to bubble tea.

Travel expert Colleen Kelly shares the hottest travel destinations for this summer and provides tips for travelers planning a cruise. As you rush through busy terminals, juggling bags and boarding passes, your credit cards may be at risk, not just from pickpockets, but from digital thieves using high-tech tools like RFID (radio-frequency identification) skimmers. While today's chip-enabled cards are more secure than old magnetic stripes, it's still wise to take extra precautions, especially in crowded places like airports. Here's how to keep your cards protected while traveling. GET SECURITY ALERTS & EXPERT TECH TIPS – SIGN UP FOR KURT'S'THE CYBERGUY REPORT' NOW WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

US stocks have fallen further after Donald Trump imposed a new trade restriction on the chip designer Nvidia, rattling investors and triggering a sell-off across the semiconductor industry. The S&P 500 index dropped by about 1.3% in early trading, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index down 2.1%. The Dow Jones fell 0.6%. Nvidia, the Californian company at the heart of the revolution in artificial intelligence technology, lost billions of dollars from its market value at the opening bell, with its shares down about 6%. The sell-off, which has spread to semiconductor makers in Asia and Europe, comes after Nvidia said the Trump administration had restricted the sale of its H20 chip in China by means of new licence requirements.

Nvidia has said it expects a 5.5bn ( 4.1bn) hit after Donald Trump's administration barred the chip designer from selling crucial artificial intelligence chips in China, sending shares in one of the US's most valuable companies plunging in after-hours trading. The company said in an official filing late on Tuesday that its H20 AI chip, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market to comply with export controls, would now require a special licence to sell there for the "indefinite future". The US government, which is battling China in the race for AI supremacy, told Nvidia the new rules were designed to address the risk that its products might be "used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China". The chip designer now expects to report 5.5bn in charges in its financial quarter that ends on 27 April, because of stocks of H20 chips and sales commitments. Nvidia, whose chips have helped drive huge developments in artificial intelligence technology in recent years, has produced extraordinary returns for its investors.

The chip designer Nvidia has said it will build 500bn ( 378bn) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US over the next four years, in a sign of manufacturers investing in operations on American soil amid Donald Trump's tariffs. The announcement comes after Trump reiterated threats on Sunday to impose imminent tariffs on the semiconductors that Nvidia makes mostly in Taiwan, and after the chipmaker's chief executive, Jensen Huang, dined at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month. Nvidia, whose chips have helped drive the huge wave of artificial intelligence (AI) development in recent years, will work with its manufacturing partners to design and build factories so it can create "supercomputers" completely within the US. Production of its popular Blackwell graphics processing unit has already started at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's plant in Phoenix, Arizona, Nvidia said. Construction of new plants is also under way with the manufacturers Foxconn in Houston and Wistron in Dallas. Mass production at both plants is expected to ramp up in the next 12 to 15 months.

In the early hours of April 12, 1812, a crowd of men approached Rawfolds Mill, a four-story stone building on the banks of the River Spen, in West Yorkshire. This was Brontë country--a landscape of bleak moors, steep valleys, and small towns nestled in the hollows. The men, who'd assembled on the moors hours earlier, were armed with muskets, sticks, hatchets, and heavy blacksmith's hammers. When they reached the mill, those at the front broke windows to gain entry, and some fired shots into the darkened factory. But the mill's owner, William Cartwright, had been preparing for trouble.

The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years, it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters ("seasteading") or pro-business "freedom cities" such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island. Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, their extreme libertarian dreams kept bogging down: it turns out most self-respecting rich people don't actually want to live on floating oil rigs, even if it means lower taxes, and while Próspera might be nice for a holiday and some body "upgrades", its extra-national status is currently being challenged in court. Now, all of a sudden, this once-fringe network of corporate secessionists finds itself knocking on open doors at the dead center of global power. The first sign that fortunes were shifting came in 2023, when a campaigning Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, promised to hold a contest that would lead to the creation of 10 "freedom cities" on federal lands. The trial balloon barely registered at the time, lost in the daily deluge of outrageous claims. Since the new administration took office, however, would-be country starters have been on a lobbying blitz, determined to turn Trump's pledge into reality. "The energy in DC is absolutely electric," Trey Goff, the chief of staff of Próspera, recently enthused after a trip to Capitol Hill.

Increasingly autonomous AI programs could end up manipulating markets and intentionally creating crises in order to boost profits for banks and traders, the Bank of England has warned. Artificial intelligence's ability to "exploit profit-making opportunities" was among a wide range of risks cited in a report by the Bank of England's financial policy committee (FPC), which has been monitoring the City's growing use of the technology. The FPC said it was concerned about the potential for advanced AI models – which are deployed to act with more autonomy – to learn that periods of extreme volatility were beneficial for the firms they were trained to serve. Those AI programs may "identify and exploit weaknesses" of other trading firms in a way that triggers or amplifies big moves in bond prices or stock markets. "For example, models might learn that stress events increase their opportunity to make profit and so take actions actively to increase the likelihood of such events," the FPC report said.

Jon Stewart roasts Trump over the stock market crash "What are you doing?" By Sam Haysom Sam Haysom Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time. Read Full Bio on April 8, 2025 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Flipboard Watch Next Jon Stewart roasts Trump cabinet for leaking its own military plans via group chat Stephen Colbert brutally roasts Trump for tanking the stock market Jon Stewart weighs in on DeepSeek AI hammering the U.S. stock market Jon Stewart mocks Trump with a'Severance' joke With stock prices cratering following Trump's tariff trade war, Jon Stewart has turned his attention to the economy. In the Daily Show monologue above, the host breaks down everything from Trump disappearing to play a golf tournament while the economy burned down to Trump's shouty "ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!"reaction on TruthSocial.