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  US President Donald Trump has   again   singled out Ireland's pharmaceutical industry as a target for tariffs. Trump was speaking as he announced  25% tariffs on cars and car parts  imported into the US. Tariffs are effectively a tax on trade , applied to goods as they enter the country. Speaking on Thursday, Trump suggested there would also be specific tariffs on  pharmaceuticals  as the US "doesn't make anything" in terms of drugs and medicines

  Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out her plans for the UK economy in her Spring Statement and is on track to meet her self-imposed rules on the public finances, which she has said are "non-negotiable". On the face of it, that sounds like a good thing. So why are people saying that she may struggle to meet them and the only way she may do so is by raising taxes? It's a complicated picture.

  Popular Indian comedian Kunal Kamra has refused to apologise after jokes he made during a stand-up show angered supporters of a top politician in Maharashtra state. Clips of the jokes - some of them were directed at the state's Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde - had gone viral. Members of the Shiv Sena party, which is led by Shinde, vandalised the hotel in Mumbai - the capital of Maharashtra - where the show was held. A police case was also registered against Kamra and politicians from the state's ruling coalition have asked him to apologise.

  Five-time major champion Iga Swiatek was on the end of a monumental shock as Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala continued her dream run to reach the Miami Open semi-finals. Second seed Swiatek, playing with increased security in Miami after being verbally abused by  an "aggressive and taunting" fan,  was completely out of sorts as she lost 6-2 7-5 to the world number 140. The 23-year-old's serve was broken eight times as she continually struggled to hold serve, while her baseline game was shaky and led to a host of forehand errors. Eala, 19, remained composed and focused as she completed the biggest win of her career. "It might be one of the biggest upsets I'v e been on the side of the court for," said former British number one Tim Henman, watching in his role as a Sky Sports analyst.

  An Algerian court has sentenced an 80-year-old writer to five years in prison after accusing him of undermining the country's territorial integrity. Boualem Sansal was arrested last year after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that, during the colonial era, France gave too much land to Algeria and too little to Morocco. He had also said that the disputed territory of Western Sahara was historically part of Morocco. During his detention the French-Algerian author has spent time in hospital for ill-health.

  A two-finger gesture by an Irish Parliamentarian has been prominent across social and mainstream media this week. The politician in question, a highly controversial member of the country's national parliament, subsequently insisted that he meant no offence. Michael Lowry explained that it was taken out of context, was "not made with malicious intent" and he said it was "not intended to be offensive or to cause offence". By then, for many people in Ireland, it was too late, and his explanation didn't really matter A two-finger gesture by an Irish Parliamentarian has been prominent across social and mainstream media this week. The politician in question, a highly controversial member of the country's national parliament, subsequently insisted that he meant no offence. Michael Lowry explained that it was taken out of context, was "not made with malicious intent" and he said it was "not intended to be offensive or to cause offence". ...

  The detention of South Sudan's First Vice-President Riek Machar has effectively collapsed the 2018 peace deal that ended the country's five-year civil war, his party has said. An armed convoy led by top security 😄😄officials😄 😄, including the defence minister, entered Machar's residence in the capital, Juba, and disarmed his bodyguards late on Wednesday, said the Sudan People's Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM/IO). Machar was detained alongside his wife Angelina Teny, who is the country's interior minister, the party added. "The arrest and detention of H.E Dr Riek Machar effectively brings the [peace] agreement to a collapse," said SPLM/IO deputy leader Oyet Nathaniel Pierino.