European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia's invasion, as a U.S. envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the Kremlin's willingness to stop the more than three-year war.
After chairing a meeting of Ukraine's Western backers in Brussels, British Defense Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military aid totaled over 21 billion euros ($24 billion), "a record boost in military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to the frontline fight."

U.S. wholesale prices fell last month in another sign that inflationary pressures are easing. But President Donald Trump's trade wars cloud the outlook as new, punishing tariffs are launched by Beijing and Washington.
The producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — fell 0.4% from February, first drop since October 2023, the Labor Department said Friday. Compared with a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.7%, down from a 3.2% year-over-year gain in February and much lower than the 3.3% economists had forecast. Gasoline prices fell 11.1% from February and egg prices, which had skyrocketed because of bird flu, plummeted 21.3%.

U.S. stocks are shaky Friday as Wall Street's monstrous week veers toward its close, while the rising price of gold, falling value of the U.S. dollar and moves in other financial markets indicate more fear as President Donald Trump's trade war with China escalates even further.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in morning trading after swinging between small gains and losses. It's coming off a sharp slide that gave back a big chunk of its historic gains from the middle of the week, which came after Trump paused tariffs on many countries outside of China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 123 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.
While U.S. President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as "economic bullying" and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.

The one-sided Ligue 1 title race ended with a whimper, but the chase for Champions League places promises to be an intense sprint finish in France.
With at least six teams still in contention and six games left, this weekend's matches could shake up the standings.

Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint.
"Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?" were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator.

When Donald Trump offered some financial advice Wednesday morning, stocks were wavering between gains and losses.
But that was about to change.

President Donald Trump's administration has been predicting its barrage of tariffs targeting China will push Apple into manufacturing the iPhone in the United States for the first time.
But that's an unlikely scenario even with U.S tariffs now standing at 145% on products made in China — the country where Apple has manufactured most of its iPhones since the first model hit the market 18 years ago.

After a long day of rehearsing for her upcoming world tour, Katy Perry decided to peruse a few books to help her unwind before bed.
"I was listening to 'Cosmos' by Carl Sagan and reading a book on string theory," she recalled. "I've always been interested in astrophysics and interested in astronomy and astrology and the stars. We are all made of stardust and we all come from the stars."

After many years of impassioned calls for an Oscar recognizing the art of the stunt, the film academy has decided to give it an official award.
An achievement in stunt design prize will be added starting with the 100th Academy Awards, which will recognize films released in 2027, the film academy said Thursday.
