WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Tariffs escalation, Tory donorship, and Slovakia's growing bear problem

 
today's international story

Trump threatens new 50% tariffs on China

What happened
Donald Trump has warned China that he'll impose an extra 50% tariff on its imports unless it withdraws its own retaliatory measures to his initial announcement last week. Global markets fell for a third straight day, with the S&P 500 briefly entering bear market territory after dropping 20% from its recent peak just two months ago.

Who said what
Trump urged Americans to hold their nerve despite the market turmoil. In an apparent jab at his own Republican Party, he told critics not to be a "Panican", a term he coined that he described as "a new party based on weak and stupid people".

The US president's threat to levy an extra tariff of 50% on top of the 34% announced on "liberation day" last week "amounts to economic shock and awe", said The Times. Trump is forcing a "trial of strength with a rival not known for submission" and the world can "only wait to see if the No.2 economic power bows to No.1". For its part, China said it would "fight to the end" following the warning.

What next? 
US stocks briefly surged 8% yesterday after a false rumour spread that Trump was considering a three-month delay on his tariffs. The bounce, which quickly reversed once the rumour was debunked, "represented a potential off-ramp that we rarely (never?) see in a market sell-off this severe", said CNN. The jolt highlighted that "it was Trump – not a pandemic, or a war, or the collapse of a financial house of cards – that created this mess", said the broadcaster. And also that "with one sentence, he could undo all of it".

 
 
today's politics story

Tories lose major donor in new blow to Badenoch

What happened
The Conservative Party has lost the support of Richard Harpin, founder of the home repairs business HomeServe and one of its largest donors. Harpin gave the party nearly £850,000 last year, according to Electoral Commission records, and has donated £3.8 million to the Conservatives since 2008.

Who said what
According to The Guardian, an unnamed source close to Harpin (pictured above) said while he had paused his donations, he remained a firm supporter of the Conservatives.

Losing Harpin's support represents the "latest blow to Kemi Badenoch", said The Telegraph. The withdrawal "could mean the Tories' northern HQ – which has until now been funded by Mr Harpin's donations – has to close".

What next?
Despite financial struggles, the Conservatives raised nearly £2 million in the final quarter of last year – double Labour's total and seven times more than Reform UK. A party source told The Guardian they expect another strong quarter from early this year.

 
 
Today's health story

Cheap blood test could stop thousands of heart attacks

What happened
A simple £5 blood test could prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes, new research suggests.

Troponin tests are already used in hospitals to diagnose heart attacks after they occur, but the study – funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology – found that they could also detect "silent" heart damage, "helping to predict a patient's future risk of cardiovascular events", said The Guardian.

Who said what
Professor Anoop Shah, the study’s lead author, said the test "provides an extra layer of information" that improves risk prediction. "We want to identify as many high-risk people as possible so that no one misses out on the opportunity to get preventative treatment."

What next?
Modelling suggests that, for people currently found to be at intermediate risk on existing cardiovascular health assessments, the tests would prevent one heart attack or stroke for roughly every 500 people checked.

 
 

It's not all bad

Family, friends and public figures have gathered in Salt Lake City to honour Mia Love, the trailblazing former congresswoman and first Black Republican woman elected to the US House of Representatives. Love, who died last month at the age of 49 from brain cancer, was remembered as a devoted mother, fearless leader and uplifting presence. Her husband recalled her "superpowers", while her children read her final op-ed calling for unity. Love's legacy, both political and personal, was also celebrated by state leaders who visited Utah's capitol to pay their respects at her flag-covered coffin.

 
 
under the radar

Slovakia's growing bear problem

Environmentalists have criticised Slovakia's plans to cull about a quarter of the country's brown bears following the latest in a string of fatal attacks. The remains of a 59-year-old man were found in the town of Detva in central Slovakia, where he had gone missing while walking in the woods. Slovak authorities said he had suffered "devastating" head injuries and that his wounds were "consistent" with a bear attack, reported the BBC.

There are an estimated 20,000 brown bears now living in Europe following successful rewilding measures, about 1,300 of them in Slovakia's forests where experts say the population remains "more or less stable". In approving the cull, Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba said the number of bear attacks had been on the rise, reaching 1,900 last year. Prime Minister Robert Fico also defended the decision, arguing that Slovakia couldn't become a country "where humans will become food for bears".

Recent victims of bear attacks include a 31-year-old woman who died  after falling into a ravine while being chased by a bear, as well as five people who were hurt when a bear ran through the town of Liptovsky Mikolas, "bounding past cars", said the BBC.

Slovakia's bear population has become a "political issue", added the BBC. Indeed, said Politico, the attacks were a "vote-winner" for Taraba and his Slovak National Party in the 2023 elections, who blamed them on EU regulations. After the death of the woman in the ravine, Taraba claimed to know "immediately" who was to blame, according to the site: "The bloodless bureaucrats in Brussels."

 
 
on this day

8 April 1990

The centre-right New Democracy party, led by Constantine Mitsotakis, won Greece's election. His son Kyriakos Mitsotakis was elected prime minister in 2019, and last month narrowly survived a vote of no confidence after hundreds of thousands protested against the government, demanding justice for victims of the 2023 train crash that killed 57 people near the Tempi gorge in central Greece.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The FT leads on fears of an escalatory tariff war between China and the US after Donald Trump threatened additional 50% tariffs on China if Beijing did not withdraw its retaliatory levies. Trump has urged Americans not to panic, says The Telegraph, but, as global markets plummet, Metro says that the president's medicine "helps the world's economy go down". Meanwhile, the Daily Mail leads on the landmark moment of the British woman who gave birth to a healthy baby girl after having her sister's womb transplanted into her.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Slow and steady wins the fertility race

A Galapagos tortoise named Mommy has become a mother for the first time at 100 years of age. Philadelphia Zoo said it was "overjoyed" by the arrival of four hatchlings, which are the first to be born there in its history. Mommy, who has called the zoo home since 1932, is thought to be the oldest Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise on record to have babies, although the species can live for up to 200 years.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Sorcha Bradley, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images; Jose Sarmento Matos / Bloomberg / Getty Images; PhotoAlto / Frederic Cirou / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.