The US added 73,000 jobs last month - the weakest performance since the Covid pandemic. Economists were caught off guard, and earlier figures have been revised down. Democrats say President Trump’s trade policy is damaging business confidence and stalling hiring.

Meanwhile, tensions with Canada are escalating as Trump hikes tariffs to 35% on some goods, blaming issues from fentanyl to foreign policy.

And in Southeast Asia, some countries learned after the deadline that their tariffs would be lowered - raising questions about transparency.

Plus, is the world signing off early on Fridays? New UK data points to a quiet remote work trend.