WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Universal tariffs, Letby case 'flaws', and why more Brits than ever are now gym members

 
today's international story

Trump imposes tariffs on virtually all imports

What happened
Donald Trump has announced a universal 10% tariff on all imports into the US, with certain countries being subject to much steeper rates – some as high as 50%. The UK will face a 10% tariff on goods while the EU's rate will be 20%.

Who said what
In a 50-minute speech from the White House Rose Garden with his full cabinet in attendance, Trump described the move as "liberation day" – part of his plan to make America "wealthy again".

He singled out several countries, saying that they were "cheating" Americans. Australia refuses to buy US beef, the EU rejects American poultry while Asian countries "don't want us to sell our rice there", said Trump.

The US president is "building a wall made of tariffs, enclosing the whole US", said Heather Stewart in The Guardian. He is promising liberation, "yet the immediate impact could be rising shop prices and corrosive uncertainty for firms". For some US-dependent counties the result is "likely to be devastating".

"And so the great experiment in US economic policy begins," said Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph. Trump "wants to rescue US jobs, but 'America first' will backfire" and "some of the biggest victims of the president's protectionism will be his own voters".

What next?
Built into the announcement is a "provision to hit back even harder if other countries retaliate", said BBC economics editor Faisal Islam. "The question now is how the rest of the world responds."

 
 
today's uk story

Letby case evidence was 'flawed', experts say

What happened
Seven leading medical experts have said the evidence behind Lucy Letby's conviction for poisoning babies was "flawed", according to a dossier set to be submitted to the miscarriage of justice watchdog.

Who said what
The 86-page report it expected to submit to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) today cast "serious doubt" on her convictions, the former nurse's legal team said. The analysis, by a panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists, concluded that there was no evidence that Letby had harmed any babies.

What next?
Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others – one twice – between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The CCRC began examining criticism of the prosecution evidence in February, but "given the complexity of the case" the review could take years to complete, said The Guardian.

Letby's legal team is now seeking to have her case referred to the Court of Appeal for a full hearing.

 
 
Today's crime story

Prince Andrew accuser Giuffre to face court

What happened
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, is due in court in Australia next week despite the fact that she is recovering in hospital from a car crash.

This week she claimed on Instagram that she was in renal failure and had been given "four days to live" after a bus hit her car, the post accompanied by a photograph of her bruised face. But her spokesperson later said the post was a mistake.

Who said what
Giuffre has been charged with breaching a family violence restraining order in Ocean Reef, near Perth, on 2 February.

"Concerning her Instagram post, Virginia thought that she had posted on her private Facebook page," said her spokesperson. He added that she remained in a "serious condition while receiving medical care".

What next?
The matter was first heard in Joondalup Magistrates' Court in Perth on 14 March, where Giuffre did not enter a plea. The case is due back in court on 9 April.

 
 

It's not all bad

A record 11.5 million Brits now hold gym memberships, with Gen Z leading the charge. Younger adults are reportedly swapping pub nights for workouts, making fitness a key part of their social lives. The UK health and fitness market has grown to £5.7 billion annually, fuelled by a rising demand for strength training and group exercise. With gyms now seen as essential for wellbeing, experts believe this generation could become the healthiest yet.

 
 
under the radar

Kill the Boer: Elon Musk and the anti-apartheid song

South Africa's highest court has rejected a renewed bid to outlaw a controversial song from the country's apartheid era that has been condemned by Elon Musk as promoting white genocide.

The Constitutional Court has rejected an application to appeal its 2022 ruling that the song "Kill the Boer" does not "incite violence", but is a "historic struggle song".

Following the decision, the Black nationalist Economic Freedom Fighters party released a video of its leader Julius Malema singing the apartheid-era song at a political rally – prompting Musk to tweet his outrage at the "whole arena chanting about killing white people".

To its defenders, the song "commemorates the fight against apartheid and shouldn't be taken literally", said The Associated Press.

Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, but left before the end of apartheid, has railed against "Kill the Boer" multiple times over the years, and even called for a boycott of The New York Times after it published an article in which South African historians defended the song.

For US President Donald Trump, "Kill the Boer" is one of several South African "political hotcakes" that can be used to stoke indignation within the Maga movement, said Al Jazeera.

Both Musk's and Trump's reactions to "Kill the Boer" have been noticeably "more extreme" than that of AfriForum, the Afrikaner rights group that lost its appeal application, added the broadcaster. AfriForum has declined to suggest any kind of "white genocide" is taking place in South Africa. "They have to paint within the lines," said historian Thula Simpson. "Trump and Musk, however, have no such limitations."

 
 
on this day

3 April 1948

US President Harry Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act, which became known as the Marshall Plan. It provided $13.3 billion in aid to 16 European countries to help them rebuild after World War II. Now America has radically changed tack, with Donald Trump imposing punitive tariffs on Europe as part of an increasingly isolationist agenda.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Donald Trump has started a trade war on what he calls "foreign scavengers", says the Daily Mail. The Telegraph says the UK's lower 10% figure is possibly due to Keir Starmer's "conciliatory approach" to Trump. The Sun says that a British man who admitted to plotting to set up an extremist training camp in the US and was jailed there until 2022, is expected to be released from custody in the "relatively near future". Meanwhile, the FT says that US's hopes of making the Chinese owners of TikTok sell to US investors have been "boosted" by a US venture capital firm.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Touching tale ends

Dublin City Council will hire stewards to stand next to a statue of Molly Malone in the Irish capital to discourage people from touching the figure's breasts. The sculpture was erected 37 years ago in tribute to a legendary Dublin woman who sold shellfish, but recently campaigners have complained that the bronze artwork has been groped so many times over the years that its breasts have become discoloured. "A pilot week of stewarding will occur in May," said the council.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden.

Image credits, from top: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images; Cheshire Constabulary / Getty Images; Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg / Getty Images; Saul Loeb / Getty Images.