The world’s best sprinters head to China this weekend to compete for titles and qualification places for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September.
You can watch the action on the BBC as Guangzhou hosts the seventh edition of the World Athletics Relays.
The mixed 4x100m and 4x400m relay events are set to make their global debut in Guangzhou, while athletes will compete in a total of six events, including the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay and the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay.
World track stars to look out for
Olympic legends Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Wayde van Niekerk, Letsile Tebogo and Shericka Jackson will join 730 athletes from 43 countries in Guangzhou.
Canada’s men’s 4x100m gold-medal winning squad from Paris 2024 remains unchanged, led by the country’s joint-most decorated Olympian Andre de Grasse.
He and his team-mates will be battling for their nation’s first World Relays title after finishing second to the United States last year.
The USA squad includes Kenny Bednarek and fellow world medallist Erriyon Knighton.
World Championships qualification up for grabs
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Qualification places for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo are available on both days of action in Guangzhou.
The top 14 teams in each of the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m, as well as the 4x400m relay, will secure their place for September.
The two remaining spots in each event will be determined by the World Athletics ‘top list’, which is the global governing body’s points-based system of ranking athletes.
On Saturday, the top two teams in each of the four heats will progress to the final, while securing their qualification for the Worlds.
Trump’s Middle East trip will help to raise money for the US, but Iran and Gaza are also in the mix.
Other issues are at stake, according to University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami, who plans to promote trillions of dollars in Arab investments as a significant accomplishment.
If Hamas’ ceasefire negotiations are unsuccessful, Israel is threatening to continue destroying the Gaza Strip. For more than two months, Israel has obstructed any food from entering Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
United States President Donald Trump is expected to announce the framework of a trade deal between the US and the United Kingdom on Thursday, according to people familiar with the plan.
On Wednesday, Trump said he was preparing to announce “a major trade deal with representatives of a big and highly respected country”. In a post on Truth Social, he promised it would be the “first of many”.
Investors have been waiting for Trump to ease his global trade war amid fears that prolonged uncertainty over tariffs could inflict serious damage to the world’s biggest economies.
An agreement with the UK would mark Trump’s first trade deal since he imposed tariffs on dozens of countries on April 2, a move he called “liberation day”. Separately, Trump has introduced bespoke tariffs on certain US imports, including cars and steel.
Trump has long accused other countries of exploiting the US on trade, casting his tariffs as necessary to bring jobs back to the US. He also wants to use tariffs to finance future tax cuts.
US President Donald Trump holds a letter from Britain’s King Charles as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on February 27, 2025 [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
What could be in a US-UK trade agreement?
At the moment, most imports from the UK to the US face a blanket 10 percent tariff. The UK, like other countries, has also been hit with 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium exports to the US, as well as a 25 percent tariff on cars and car parts.
The broad outline of a proposed deal has been clear for some time – significant reductions in US tariffs on steel and cars, with an expectation that Trump’s 10 percent general tariff will remain in place.
The UK would then be expected to reduce its own 2 percent digital services tax on US tech firms and its 10 percent tariff on car imports, and varying duties on US agricultural goods.
However, Jonathan Haskel, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, told the BBC: “Deals are limited and short-term and partial, just covering a few items. Trade agreements are broad-based and long-term.”
Today’s announcement, he suggested, is more likely to be a deal and may amount to little more than a carve-out – exemptions on certain trade barriers that Trump introduced last month.
On Thursday morning, however, Trump said the agreement was “a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come”.
While both governments will likely present any agreement announced today as a significant win, it is essentially about returning to the status quo – removing the newly imposed tariff barriers.
It remains to be seen how much any agreement will contribute to both countries’ economic output.
What and how much do the US and UK trade?
In 2023, the UK had an overall trade surplus with the US. The UK reported a surplus of 71.4 billion pounds ($95bn) in goods and services. Most of that headroom came from services, however.
On the goods side, the UK exported 15.3 percent of its goods to the US in 2023 – amounting to roughly 60 billion pounds ($80bn).
Machinery and transport equipment accounted for the largest share, at 27 billion pounds ($36bn), ahead of chemicals at 14 billion pounds ($19bn).
On the flipside, the US exported $77.2bn of goods to the UK in 2023. Ten percent of all goods imported by Great Britain came from the US in that year, second only to Germany.
Machinery and transport equipment accounted for the largest share, worth nearly 20 billion pounds ($27bn), followed by fuel – amounting to 18.7 billion pounds ($25bn).
On the services side, the US exported $76bn in services – things like advertising and banking – to the UK in 2023, and imported $170bn in British services. These are unaffected by tariffs.
Could the US deal serve as a blueprint for other US negotiations?
Trump’s top negotiating officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trade partners since the president’s “liberation day” tariff announcement on April 2.
Although Trump delayed implementing “reciprocal” tariffs for most countries by 90 days on April 9, he did raise them for China to 145 percent. Beijing, in turn, slapped a 125 percent tariff on US goods.
The reciprocal tariffs, which varied from 10 percent to 39 percent, were designed to hit countries with which Washington has large trade deficits, or that impose heavy tariffs on US goods.
Though Britain was not among the countries hit with these reciprocal tariffs, today’s announcement could set a precedent for other bilateral trade deals.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would review potential trade agreements over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept. Last week, he said that “we [already] have potential trade deals” with South Korea and Japan.
Following his 90-day reprieve, steep reciprocal tariffs are due to be imposed on US trade partners in early July, leaving country representatives racing to avoid a full-blown trade spat with the world’s number one economy.
What stage of talks has the US reached with other countries?
China
According to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the total goods trade between the US and China stood at an estimated $582.4bn in 2024.
US exports of goods to China totalled $143.5bn while US imports from China totalled $438.9bn. The upshot is that America’s trade deficit with China was $295.4bn last year, 5.8 percent higher ($16.3bn) than in 2023.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend for talks, which may be the first step in resolving a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Meetings will take place in Geneva, and are expected to address reductions on broad tariffs, duties on specific products, export controls and Trump’s decision to end “de minimis” exemptions on low-value imports.
China’s commerce ministry said last week that it was “evaluating” an offer from Washington. The Geneva meeting will be the first between the two since the announcement of Trump’s trade tariffs in April.
On Tuesday, Bessent told Fox News that “we [the US and China] have a shared interest that isn’t sustainable. And 145 percent and 125 percent is the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple. What we want is fair trade.”
Trump has accused China of manipulating its currency to make its exports cheaper. He has also slammed Beijing for adopting what he says are market-interfering practices, such as direct government support for Chinese companies, as well as tax breaks and preferential financing.
European Union
In 2023, the EU exported 502 billion euros worth of goods to the US and imported 344 billion euros of goods from America, amounting to a goods trade surplus in the EU’s favour of 157 billion euros ($177bn).
After Trump temporarily dropped his 20 percent reciprocal tariffs on the EU in April, the EU paused retaliatory duties on 21 billion euros ($24bn) of US goods until July 14, including on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, chicken and clothing.
Since then, Brussels has said it wants to increase US goods imports by 50 billion euros ($57bn) to address the “problem” in their trade relationship.
Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s top negotiator, recently told The Financial Times that the bloc is making “progress” towards striking a deal.
But Sefcovic suggested that the EU would not accept an indefinite 10 percent tariff on its exports as a fair resolution to trade talks. He added that his “ambition” was still to strike a “balanced and fair” deal with the White House.
He also said he wants his US counterparts to take into account US services which are exported to the EU.
The EU experienced a services trade deficit of 109 billion euros ($123bn) with the US in 2023 in terms of services. Brussels exported 319 billion euros ($361bn) in services to the US that year, while importing 427 billion euros ($483bn).
Taking this into account would bring the US overall trade deficit with the EU to about 50 billion euros ($57bn), he said.
The new $57bn US deficit could be closed quickly, Sefcovic added, with deals to purchase more US gas and agricultural products. Talks are currently continuing.
India
In the first three months of 2025, India exported $27.7bn of goods (mainly pharmaceutical and engineering products) to the US, while importing $10.5bn of goods (mainly aircraft and medical goods), meaning a US trade deficit of $17.2bn.
On Tuesday, Trump revealed that India had agreed to drop all tariffs on US imports “to nothing”. New Delhi has not yet issued an official statement confirming Trump’s remarks.
At a White House event alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said, “India has one of the highest tariffs in the world. We are not going to put up with that. They have agreed to drop it to … nothing. They wouldn’t have done that for anybody else but me.”
According to Bloomberg, India has reportedly proposed eliminating tariffs on select US imports – including steel, car parts and pharmaceuticals – as part of ongoing bilateral trade talks with Washington.
India currently imposes tariffs on US imports ranging from 5 percent to 30 percent, depending on the product category.
One Direction became the biggest band in the world and racked up impressive bank balances due to their success – but just how much are they actually worth?
One Direction’s net worth as Liam Payne leaves huge fortune to Cheryl Tweedy(Image: Getty Images)
One Direction achieved astronomical success, which saw their bank balances also rocket. Since finding fame in 2010, the group have sold over 70 million records across the globe, with the band being worth an estimated £749 million.
Despite having soaring success as a group, the band have gone on to achieve success as solo artists following the departure of Zayn Malik in 2015 and his remaining bandmates going on an indefinite hiatus the following year. It’s not just music that the band have cashed in on as they’ve also signed for dozens of brand deals, as well as endless merchandising and releasing their own movie and perfumes.
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Cheryl was recently made the power of administrator(Image: Getty Images for Chopard)
Earlier this week, it emerged that following Liam Payne’s tragic death last year, he had left a sum of £28million behind to his son, Bear Payne, eight, and his ex-girlfriend, Girls Aloud singer, Cheryl Tweedy. Despite having no will, Liam’s estate totalled £24,279,728 after various deductions.
Here, we take a look at the band’s net worths and how the lads including Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik have made their hefty fortunes.
Liam Payne
Liam Payne previously said his money is going to his son(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Universal Music)
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In an emotional interview from 2022, Liam suggested all of his money was going to his son Bear. The Strip That Down singer said: “My life now is his, my money is his. I have actually got several companies that are up and running that I know he can run one day if he wants to or [he can sell them].”
Liam also helped pay for a £4million home for Cheryl and Bear in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter. When he split with Cheryl, Liam then splashed out on a home nearby.
The star didn’t have a will when he fell to his death from the third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Wednesday, it was revealed his ex and mother of his child, Cheryl Tweedy, was granted the power of administration of the late Liam’s estate. He left behind £24.3million. According to court documents filed on May 1, music lawyer Richard Bray was also named as an administrator. He left behind £28.6million, which after expenses and debts were paid, went down to £24.3million.
While a lot of his wealth came from One Direction, he also made a name for himself as a solo singer, releasing his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019. After leaving the group, Liam made sure to invest in property despite struggling with addictions.
Louis Tomlinson
Louis is said to have a net worth of £54million(Image: CBS via Getty Images)
One Direction once earned £45million in one year alone, according to The Sunday Times’ list of richest musicians aged 30 and under.
Four years after the lads met, the members had an individual net worth of £15 million. And now, years after they went on hiatus, Louis is said to have a net worth of £54million.
The singer, who also has solo work, previously bought himself an £80,000 Porsche Boxster, a £90,000 Range Rover and a £2.5million property in north London.
He released debut studio album, Walls, in 2020 and his second studio album, Faith in the Future, in 2022 – which debuted at No. 1 in the UK
Not only does he earn money from music, touring and merchandising, he also has three companies: 78 Production, LT Publishing and LT Media. Last year, LT Publishing had assets totalling a staggering £229,908. Meanwhile, 78 Productions had assets of £3.57million.
Niall Horan
The singer reportedly has a net worth of £52 million(Image: Getty Images for Boston Calling)
Niall Horan was last with Liam weeks before his death when the latter attended his concert in Buenos Aires. Reflecting on their time together, he said at the time, “We got to live out our wildest dreams together and I will cherish every moment we had forever. The bond and friendship we had doesn’t happen often in a lifetime.”
The singer reportedly has a net worth of £52 million, which he earned through 1D, solo work and touring. He completed his The Show Live On Tour recently, with millions of fans supporting him.
The 31-year-old released three solo albums and even followed his passion by finding a golf management company called Modest Golf with Mark McDonnell, which had a profit of £125,000 between 2022 and 2023. He even has a stake in the Irish athleisure brand Gym+Coffee
In 2023, he was one of the coaches of The Voice, with him returning the following season much to the delight of fans. Niall also has a touring firm called BAI which profited £2.08million between 2023 and 2024.
Zayn Malik
Zayn has an estimated net worth of £56.2million(Image: Getty Images for ABA)
Zayn has an estimated net worth of £56.2million, which is unsurprising as he enjoyed a successful solo career after leaving One Direction in 2015.
His debut solo single, Pillow Talk, reached No. 1 in several countries, with the debut album Mind of Mine receiving positive reviews. He went on to release three more solo albums.
Zayn tried his hand at many businesses, including releasing a shoe line with Giuseppe Zanotti. He collaborated with may fashion houses for several campaigns and even became the creative director for a men’s and women’s capsule collection called Zayn x Venus for Versace.
In 2018, he designed a backpack for The Kooples. Not only does he earn money from fashion, but his account also fills up thanks to his touring and merchandise.
The star, who shares a child with Gigi Hadid, is the co-owner and Chief Creative Officer of Mixoloshe, a non-alcoholic cocktail brand.
Harry Styles
He reportedly has a net worth of £150 million(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Harry Styles has the biggest net worth of them all, coming out on top at £150 million. The 31-year-old’s solo albums were wildly successful, with Fine Line debuting atop the US Billboard 200 with the biggest ever first-week sales by an English male artist.
His widely acclaimed third album, Harry’s House (2022), broke many records and saw him bag the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. As It Was, the lead single, became the number-one song of 2022 globally. The singer also received six Brit Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Ivor Novello Awards, three AMAs and four MTV VMAs. Not only is a fan-favourite singer but he also ventured into acting.
The star had roles in Dunkirk, Don’t Worry Darling and My Policeman. He even became the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue. His Love On Tour tour, which ended in the summer of 2023, became the fifth-highest-grossing tour of all time earning £463million.
Meanwhile, Harry owns Erskine and a publishing firm called HSA. In one year, Erskine made a proft of £31million between 2021 and 2022, bringing the total cash at bank and in hand to £74,738million. He is also co-founder and owner of Pleasing – a unisex nail care, beauty, and lifestyle brand – which had a £1.2million profit between 2021 and 2022.
HSA Publishing also had £14.14 million in the bank
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Action man Tom reveals the surprising food that fuelled the daredevil scenes as his eighth movie in the franchise hits cinemas this month
Tom Cruise shares the unexpected meal he started every day of filming for his new Mission: Impossible film with(Image: Getty Images)
Action icon Tom Cruise has revealed a traditional English breakfast is the key to daredevil antics. The Hollywood legend says he scoffed a dozen eggs a day with his fry up to provide him energy for his death-defying Mission: Impossible stunts.
Actor Tom, 62, is a huge fan of the UK, shooting many of the film’s franchises here, where he also has a home. He was in London at the weekend for good friend David Beckham’s 50th birthday party. And it would seem anglophile Tom has grown accustomed to our cuisine too. Asked how he prepares for the dangerous scenes in upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the Top Gun star confessed: “I actually eat a massive breakfast.
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Tom Cruise has revealed how an English breakfast powered him through dangerous Mission: Impossible scenes(Image: WireImage)
“The amount of energy it takes – I train so hard for that wing-walking. I’ll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids.
“Oh, I’m eating! Picture: It’s cold up there. We’re at high altitude. My body is burning a lot.”
Tom’s not the first actor to devour multiple eggs as a pre-filming diet. Mark Wahlberg, 53, once admitted to eating 12 eggs a day in order to pile on the pounds for movie Stu. And Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, 53, previously boasted about eating 12 whole eggs and eight egg whites as part of his post-workout meal.
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A trailer for his eighth MI film shows Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt risking his life on the wings and body of a 1940s biplane mid-air. Cruise, whose desire to entertain audiences has seen him risk his life in insane stunts for three decades, dreamed of the scenes since he was a kid.
Tom Cruise flying a World War II biplane amid as practises for dog fight scenes in Mission: Impossible 8(Image: Stephen Keeler / SWNS)
“I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking,” he explained to US magazine People. “Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don’t know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realising that it takes your breath away.”
Director Christopher McQuarrie, who directed and co-written the last three films, added: “He’s basically a one-man film crew: operating the camera, acting and flying.”
Co-star Simon Pegg said his friend was crazy for putting his life on the line for film stunts so often. The Shaun Of The Dead star said: “I’ve said, ‘You’re absolutely nuts’ many times to him. But he just cares that much about it.”
Tom as Ethan Hunt hangs of for dear life in a scene from Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning(Image: AP)
Tom told how he showed his late mother Mary Lee footage of the stunt before she passed away in 2017 – but didn’t tell her about his plans to recreate it.
Fans will see Cruise say farewell to Ethan Hunt in what he insists is the last ever installment, The Final Reckoning, which comes to UK cinemas on May 23.
Tom confirmed his relationship with actress Ana De Armas, 37, at the weekend when they attended David Beckham’s celeb-packed party at Core by Clare Smyth in Kensington, West London.
Tech billionaire Bill Gates has said that he will give away 99 percent of his wealth in the next two decades, funding his philanthropy the Gates Foundation long enough for it to close in 2045.
In a statement published on Thursday, Gates also firmly criticised the way his fellow centibillionaire – Elon Musk, an adviser to US President Donald Trump – is pushing to slash United States funds for essential things like food and medical assistance in poor countries.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times, referring to Musk’s work with the Trump administration to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Gates, who has a current estimated net worth of about $108bn, has long been among the most recognisable figures in the field of philanthropy, with an emphasis on medical assistance in poor countries.
He has also become a symbol of the enormous influence that such wealth can have on everything from politics to global health.
Pandemic vaccine criticism
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates was a vocal opponent of loosening patent protections around COVID-19 vaccines in order to allow poorer countries to manufacture their own versions and distribute them to their populations more quickly, arguing that doing so would harm innovation and intellectual property rights.
Critics accused him of promoting a vision of “vaccine apartheid”. They have also questioned whether Gates, through his substantial funding of groups such as the vaccine group Gavi and the World Health Organization, wields disproportionate influence in the field of global health without the same oversight and accountability that a public institution would face.
Over the years, Gates has stated that he is determined to give away most of his enormous fortune. While he is currently worth about $108bn, he expects the foundation to spend a total of around $200bn by 2045, depending on inflation and markets.
“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” the 69-year-old co-founder of Microsoft said in a post on his website.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people,” he added.
Gates also lamented that the US has pulled back from involvement in global health and humanitarian assistance around the world, offering a subtle rebuke of the Trump administration.
“It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” he said.
