• BMW and Mercedes were outsold at the top of China's car market last year by a domestic brand.
• Aito sold 151,000 vehicles, with its M9 SUV proving popular.
• The brand is owned by Seres, which has tripled sales in three years with its pivot to EVs.

A Chinese electric vehicle brand has overtaken longtime market leaders BMW and Mercedes-Benz at the top of the world's biggest auto market.

Aito, an EV brand launched by Seres Group and tech giant Huawei, topped China's high-end car sales last year with 151,000 units delivered — surpassing BMW's 145,000 and Mercedes-Benz's 127,000, according to data from Shanghai-based consultancy ThinkerCar.

Aito's rise is largely due to the success of its flagship M9, a luxury SUV that went on sale in late 2023.

The M9 quickly proved popular with Chinese drivers thanks to its tech-heavy features, including Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system, a triple-screen dashboard, and premium interior options.

Seres, previously known for low-cost minivans under its DFSK Motor brand, repositioned itself with the Aito brand after forming a strategic partnership with Huawei in 2021.

Since then, rapid growth has resulted. Vehicle sales tripled over three years to about 427,000 units last year, and its stock rose by 120% on the Shanghai exchange over the same period.

Aito's success reflects a major shift in China's premium auto segment, which was once dominated by foreign brands. In 2020, Mercedes-Benz was top with 259,000 sales, followed by BMW on 235,000 and Porsche on 79,000, per ThinkerCar data.

By 2024, Chinese EV makers such as Aito and NIO had broken into the rankings, disrupting what ThinkerCar described as a BMW, Benz, and Audi "monopoly."

Sales of Chinese EVs are also rising outside their home market.

BYD outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time in April, according to JATO Dynamics data released on Thursday.

BYD also outsold Tesla globally in the first three months of the year, selling about 416,000 EVs, compared with Tesla's 336,700 EVs.

• Target reported sliding sales in its first quarter to May 3.
• CEO Brian Cornell said sales "fell short of our expectations" in a "highly challenging environment."
• Cornell also said post-tariff price increases would be a "last resort."

Target sales fell sharply in the three months to May 3, in a period marked by its decision to roll back DEI initiatives in January.

In an earnings call Wednesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the reaction to the DEI changes was one of several "additional headwinds" that had an adverse impact on sales, but the company could not quantify the amount.

Business Insider reported in March that the consumer analytics firm Numerator found customer foot traffic and market share had shifted from Target to Costco, particularly among shoppers who value DEI.

With respect to tariffs, Rick Gomez, Target's chief commercial officer, said on the earnings call that "adjusting prices" was one of several steps the company was taking to manage new import costs.

Comparable sales fell by 3.8%, store traffic was down 2.4%, and the average transaction size decreased by 1.4%.

Store-originated sales declined 5.7%, but were partially offset by a 4.7% growth in digital sales, led by a 36% surge in same-day delivery via Target Circle 360.

"We have many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs and price is the very last resort," Cornell said.

Some alternatives to price hikes include sourcing more products from the US rather than China, negotiating with suppliers, adjusting the timing of deliveries, and eliminating products from the retail assortment, Gomez said.

Bullseye's Playground vow

Gomez also said that about half of the products Target sells are sourced in the US, and that it's on track to reduce its share of imports from China to 25% from the 60% share it imported in 2017.

In addition, he highlighted the low-price section at the front of the store, known as Bullseye's Playground.

"We have made a commitment to keep those at $1, $3, and $5," Gomez said. "It's important to the brand, and it's important to the guests."

Looking ahead, Target said it expects a low-single-digit decline in sales for the full year.

Stock fell more than 6% in premarket trading and was down 28% this year at Tuesday's close.

It also announced an "acceleration office" led by Michael Fiddelke, the company's former CFO and current COO, aimed at speeding up strategic execution and reversing recent declines.

Amy Tu, the chief legal and compliance officer, and Christina Henningon, the chief strategy and growth officer, are both leaving the company.

Net income rose by $62 million to $1.04 billion for the period.

• Home Depot said it would maintain pricing levels despite the impact of tariffs.
• The CFO cited strong supplier ties and productivity for the move.
• The retailer posted a rise in first-quarter sales, while earnings dipped.

Home Depot said it had no plans to pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers despite their financial impact.

"We intend to generally maintain pricing across our portfolio," the home improvement retailer's head of merchandising, Billy Bastek, said during Tuesday's earnings call. "We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward."

Executives said on the call that half of Home Depot's inventory was sourced from within the US, and that no single country will represent more than 10% of its supply base by this time next year.

"We have a number of different levers," Bastek added.

Speaking earlier to CNBC, CFO Richard McPhail cited the retailer's scale, close partnerships with suppliers, and supply chain productivity as key factors enabling it to absorb rising costs.

Bastek said on the earnings call that maintaining prices could help Home Depot (and its supplier brands) take market share from competitors that end up charging more.

The comments follow Walmart's announcement that it would raise prices in the coming weeks in response to the financial impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Retail analysts told Business Insider that Walmart's move gave other retailers air cover to follow suit, if they so choose.

McPhail's comments come as Home Depot posted a 9.4% rise in first-quarter sales to $39.9 billion, although comparable sales fell by 0.6% due to the impact of foreign exchange rates.

Net earnings fell $200 million to $3.4 billion compared with the same period last year.

CEO Ted Decker said in a statement that the first-quarter results were in line with expectations.

"We feel great about our store readiness and product assortment as spring continues to break across the country," he said.

Home Depot maintained its full-year guidance of a 2.8% rise in total sales and an approximately 1% increase for comparable sales.

The stock rose 0.3% in afternoon trading and is down 2% this year.

• Honda plans to reduce EV investment by $20 billion to focus on hybrids amid a global sales slowdown.
• Its CEO cited regulatory changes and slowing EV growth as key reasons for a strategic shift.
• The abandoned merger with Nissan adds pressure on Honda to safeguard its future.

Honda is dialing back its ambitious EV push and doubling down on hybrids amid slowing demand.

On Tuesday, CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the automaker would cut its EV investment by 30% from $69 billion (10 trillion yen) to $48.4 billion (7 trillion yen) through the 2031 fiscal year. The move is aimed at stabilizing Honda's future in a slowing EV market.

The Japanese company will focus on ramping up its hybrid lineup, citing "changes in environmental regulations" and "a slowdown in EV market expansion" as key drivers.

"Due to the recent market slowdown, our EV sales ratio in 2030 is now expected to fall below the previously announced target of 30%," Mibe said.

The shift comes amid broader turbulence in the auto industry.

In the first four months of 2025, EV sales in North America — the US, China, and Mexico — rose by just 5% compared to 25% in Europe and 35% in China, according to data from EV research firm Rho Motion.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said in its Global EV Outlook 2025 that higher tariffs could further raise EV prices and slow down sales growth.

In response, Honda plans to launch 13 new hybrid models globally starting in 2027, with the aim of selling 2.2 million hybrids annually by 2030. Despite the pivot, Honda said it remains committed to reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2040.

The announcement follows the collapse of a proposed $50 billion merger with Nissan that would have created the world's third-largest automaker. Nissan rejected the deal over concerns about being treated as a subsidiary.

Honda is also ordering US employees back to the office at least 80% of the time by October, saying in-person work is key to "facing a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions."

• Incat launched the world's largest electric ship — the biggest EV ever built — this month.
• Electric vessels are only suited to routes of less than 200 miles, Incat's founder told Business Insider.
• Demand is rising, but scaling up production poses a major challenge for Incat, Robert Clifford said.

Electric shipping has reached a major milestone, but long-haul routes remain a distant dream.

This month Australian shipbuilder Incat launched Hull 096, a 427-foot fully electric ferry built for South American operator Buquebus.

The vessel, now docked in Hobart, Tasmania, is the largest electric vehicle ever built. It is designed to carry 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles across the Río de la Plata between Buenos Aires and Uruguay and is powered by about 275 tons of batteries.

Incat's chairman and founder, Robert Clifford, said ships like Hull 096 are still best suited for short distances — not the open ocean.

Density dilemma

"There's not the slightest doubt that under 50 miles, electric will be virtually 100%," Clifford told Business Insider. "When you're talking 200 miles, it might only be 50%. Over that, it'd be zero at the moment."

He said the main issue was the limited energy density of batteries, which still don't offer the same storage capacity per weight and volume as fossil fuels.

That's why Incat is focusing on ferries for high-density, relatively short routes like those in the English Channel or the Baltic Sea instead of oceangoing ships.

"We're ferry boat builders," Clifford said. "Even a very large ferry for most routes would not go over about 160 meters."

Still, Clifford believes Hull 096 marks a turning point for clean maritime transport.

"The ship changes the game," he said in a press release earlier this month. "We've been building world-leading vessels here in Tasmania for more than four decades, and Hull 096 is the most ambitious, most complex, and most important project we've ever delivered."

The ferry boasts a 40 megawatt-hour battery — the largest installed on a ship — feeding eight waterjets designed by Finnish firm Wärtsilä.

The interior, which includes a 2,300-square-meter duty-free shopping deck, is set to be completed this year ahead of trials on Tasmania's Derwent River.

Buquebus had originally commissioned Hull 096 as a liquid natural gas-powered ferry, but Incat convinced the company to go electric.

And while Clifford is bullish on the tech, he said real-world adoption depends on port infrastructure and customer readiness. "We simply need the shipowner to do their sums."

He said there's been strong demand since Hull 096's launch and was in talks with a dozen "serious" clients from Europe and South America.

"I've been in this entrepreneurial business for 30-odd years, and we've never had so many serious potential orders," he said.

Growth challenge

Still, scaling production in Tasmania is a massive leap. "We've been building one or two boats a year," Clifford said. "Building four or more large boats a year is a massive increase in the size of the company," which would require going from 500 to 3,000 staff, he said.

"That's today's challenge — how do we transition to a significant shipbuilder?"

Whether Tasmania becomes a global hub for electric shipbuilding remains to be seen.

William "Boeing, for instance, had a small shipyard in Seattle," Clifford said. "It probably wasn't the best place in the world to start building airplanes. But he did, and then he sold 100 to the US Army.

"He suddenly went from a small boat builder to a leading aircraft manufacturer all in a period of about a year or two. That sort of challenge is ahead of us."

• Global EV sales surged 29% in the first four months of the year, led by China and Europe.
• North America posted growth of just 5% according to data from Rho Motion.
• China's 35% sales boost was driven by trade-in schemes, while EV sales jumped in Europe too.

EV sales are booming globally — but growth in North America lags the rest of the world.

Global EV sales jumped 29% to 5.6 million in the first four months of the year compared with the same period in 2024, according to data released Wednesday by EV research firm Rho Motion.

In April alone, 1.5 million EVs were sold worldwide.

However, EV sales in North America — the US, China, and Mexico — rose by just 5%, or 600,000 vehicles. Battery electric vehicle sales in the region rose 7%, while plug-in hybrid sales increased only 1%.

Tesla sold 128,100 vehicles in the US in the first quarter of the year, down 8.6% from the same time last year and 21% lower than 2023, per Cox Automotive data.

It remains the biggest EV brand despite its market share falling from 51% to 44% over the past year.

Mexico, meanwhile, was a bright spot, with EV sales nearly doubling. Unlike their American counterparts, Mexican drivers can buy Chinese-made vehicles.

In Europe, stricter emissions targets pushed sales up 25%, with growth of more than 40% in countries including Italy, Spain, and Germany.

"The EU is certainly the success story for EV sales in 2025 so far," said Charles Lester, data manager at Rho Motion.

"In China, that year-on-year sales increase is even greater at 35%, spurred on by the vehicle trade-in scheme."

• Some European consumers appear to be avoiding US brands amid tariffs and rising anti-American sentiment.
• Apps and labels now help shoppers avoid American products in supermarkets and online stores.
• One commentator said boycotts in Europe rarely gain enough traction to significantly affect sales.

What began as a backlash in Canada has spread across the Atlantic as US companies face growing consumer resistance following President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and provocative rhetoric.

While his 20% tariffs on imports from the European Union have been reduced to 10%, the damage to consumer sentiment may already have been done.

European consumers appear increasingly inclined to turn away from US brands, and the data suggests it may not be just a passing trend.

Apps that offer alternatives to US products have gained traction across the continent.

Just over a month ago, Dutch entrepreneurs Xander Kanon and Gerben Houtsma launched Brandsnap, which lets users scan products to check for European origin.

It had been in the works before April, but they told Business Insider that Trump's move "accelerated" the app's release and boosted demand.

"The spikes in growth are closely tied to political actions taken by Trump, particularly around tariffs," Houtsma said. He cited a surge in downloads from Denmark after Trump again floated a takeover of Greenland in an NBC interview earlier this month.

Backed by the Go European movement, a grassroots volunteer network promoting European-made alternatives, Brandsnap has logged more than 14,000 downloads and 60,000 scans as of early May.

"We're not trying to start a trade war," Kanon told BI. "We just want people to know where their money is going."

Similarly, in France, computer engineer Sacha Montel launched "Detrumpify Yourself" — a free, open-source app designed to help consumers identify hidden US ownership behind everyday products.

"Everyone knows Coca-Cola or Heinz are American, but many don't realize Lu, Milka, or Le Petit Marseillais are too," he told BI, naming three widely consumed brands in France.

Montel said the app is a symbolic protest against what he described as Trump's "aggressive economic and geopolitical policies."

Companies respond

European companies are also getting involved. Danish retail giant Salling Group introduced a black star label on electronic price tags to indicate products of European origin.

CEO Anders Hagh said in a March LinkedIn post that the move came after a "number of inquiries" from customers seeking to buy more European products. He stopped short of linking it to Trump's policies.

Some responses have been more dramatic. Haltbakk Bunkers, Norway's largest oil bunkering operation company, said in a since-deleted Facebook post in March that it would no longer refuel US Navy ships after Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized President Zelenskyy for failing to acknowledge the extent of American support in Ukraine's war effort.

Although Norway's defense minister walked back the decision, the episode underscored rising discomfort with US leadership.

Some US brands are already seeing the fallout.

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, who has voiced support for far-right parties in Europe, recorded a 42% drop in European sales in January and February, as some European showrooms suffered arson attacks.

McDonald's posted a 1% decline in global sales in the first quarter compared to the previous year, with CEO Chris Kempczinski citing an "uptick in general in anti-American sentiment," especially in Northern Europe and Canada.

In Denmark, brewer Carlsberg said sales of Coca-Cola, which it bottles in the country, declined in the first quarter amid what CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen described as a "level of consumer boycott around US brands."

Travel has also been affected, with bookings by Europeans visiting the US this summer down by 25%, hotel giant Accor's CEO Sébastien Bazin said last month.

Support for boycotts and retaliation

Polls suggest that this shift is not isolated.

A March survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion found that 62% of 1,000 French respondents supported calls to boycott US brands.

Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Five Guys, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks ranked among the top 20 US brands most likely to be affected.

A study in March of 1,000 Swedes conducted by Lund University in Sweden found almost 20% of respondents said they had boycotted a US brand.

Meanwhile, a YouGov EuroTrack survey released in April found that 75% of Germans believe US tariffs will significantly impact their economy, the highest figure among seven European countries surveyed.

A structural shift?

Some experts think the backlash could signal a lasting change.

In its March Consumer Expectations survey, the European Central Bank reported that 44% of about 19,000 respondents preferred to switch away from US brands, regardless of tariff levels.

The bank warned that this suggested a "possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from US products and brands."

Lucia Reisch, director of the El-Erian Institute of Behavioral Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, echoed that sentiment.

She told BI the trend reflects skepticism of "cold American capitalism," which she said increasingly clashes with European values of sustainability, inclusion, and human rights.

While some US companies may retain market dominance, she warned that long-term backlash could reshape transatlantic trade around contested standards and value-based preferences.

Not all economic analysts are convinced, however. Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, told BI that boycotts in Europe rarely gain enough traction to significantly dent sales.

"European consumers are much less principled than they claim to be," he said, adding that online protests did not tend to carry over into real-world shopping habits.

He described Tesla's European sales decline as more a product of market dynamics than a political backlash — a reminder that European outrage may be loud but not long-lasting.

• Elon Musk said humanoid robots would unlock "universal high income" and help boost productivity.
• He predicts tens of billions of personal robots, likening them to C-3PO from "Star Wars."
• Musk warned that AI could lead to a "Terminator"-style future if not handled responsibly.

Elon Musk thinks the future belongs to robots.

Speaking on Tuesday at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, the Tesla CEO predicted that humanoid robots could eventually number in the tens of billions, transforming the global economy.

"Everyone will want their personal robot," Musk said. "You can think of it like having your own personal C-3PO or R2-D2 — but even better," he said, referring to "Star Wars" characters.

With that scale of automation, Musk said productivity could soar and usher in what he called a "universal high income," where goods and services become so abundant that "no one wants for anything."

Musk has skin in the robot game. He called Tesla's humanoid Optimus potentially the "biggest product ever of any kind" during a launch event for its robotaxi last October.

He said Tesla aimed to make a million robots a year, although the project still faced technical and geopolitical hurdles.

Musk has been making similar predictions about robots for some time. In a February interview at Dubai's World Government Summit, in which he said humanoid robots and deep intelligence will unlock the global economy's potential by providing "quasi-infinite products and services."

He also made a comparable statement at an AI safety summit in the UK in 2023 that AI would eventually do "everything," making jobs optional and turning work into something done purely for "personal satisfaction."

Still, in Riyadh on Tuesday, he acknowledged the risks.

"You can have a James Cameron sort of movie — you know, 'Terminator.' We don't want that one," he said. "But having sort of a 'Star Trek' future would be great."

Musk told the All-In podcast last year he estimated there was a 20% risk of "human annihilation" from AI.

The CEO wants to bring Tesla's robotaxis to Saudi Arabia.

"You can think of future cars as being robots on four wheels," Musk said.

He didn't provide a timeline, though the company has said it aims to begin a robotaxi pilot in Austin in June.

Saudi officials have embraced the idea, citing autonomous vehicles as part of their Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy away from oil.

Uber is already moving ahead with robotaxi plans in the kingdom, partnering with Chinese firm Pony.AI and signing a new agreement with the kingdom's transport authority.

Uber also owns Careem, the dominant ride-hailing app in the Middle East.

• The US government will require all federal retirement applications to be submitted online starting June 2.
• For decades, it has processed retirement paperwork in a converted salt mine in Pennsylvania.
• Elon Musk has targeted the mine through DOGE, calling the old system "crazy" and inefficient.

The US government said it's finally bringing federal retirement into the digital age and leaving behind one of the strangest government facilities still in operation.

In a major shift announced on Monday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said that it will begin processing all new federal retirement applications digitally starting June 2.

Paper applications will no longer be accepted from July 15, ending a 50-year bureaucratic tradition.

"Retirement from federal service is finally entering the digital age," said OPM interim director Chuck Ezell. He called the move a "transformative step that honors the service of federal employees" with a retirement process "worthy of the 21st century."

For decades, the federal government has stored and processed retirement paperwork in a converted mine 230 feet below Boyers, Pennsylvania.

With more than 400 million records housed in 26,000 filing cabinets, the process was slow, manual, and reliant on the elevator's shaft — a system that Elon Musk described as "insane."

"The elevator breaks down sometimes, and nobody can retire," Musk said at a White House press conference in February.

Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, has been one of the loudest critics of the system, calling the paper-based process a symbol of government inefficiency and saying the aim was to "rightsize" federal bureaucracy.

Federal retirement processing has long been a bottleneck, capping out at roughly 10,000 applications a month.

In February, OPM released a promotional video showing that, under a DOGE challenge, it had successfully processed a retirement application digitally in just two days without printing a single page.

Now, with the launch of the Online Retirement Application (ORA) system, OPM says retirement will be faster, more accurate, and less costly to taxpayers.

But the modernization effort may have consequences. The limestone mine, a Cold War-era facility that employs hundreds in rural western Pennsylvania, could face an uncertain future.

In February, a senior OPM source told Business Insider that many employees feared losing their jobs and that shutting down the mine would devastate the local economy.

OPM didn't immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comments made outside working hours.

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the cost of prescription drugs.
• Prices will be cut by as much as 80%, and some immediately, he said at a press conference.
• Trump teased the announcement on Sunday as one of the "most consequential" orders in US history.

President Donald Trump announced sweeping action to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the US.

At a White House press conference on Monday, he said an executive order would cut the cost of prescription drugs by between 59% and 80%, or "even 90%."

"The United States will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma," Trump said.

The order mandates that drug prices for US consumers be capped at the lowest price available in any comparable developed country, a price model known as the "most favored nation" rule.

While the White House did not specify which medications would be subject to the new arrangements, the order sets a 30-day deadline for federal agencies to begin communicating pricing targets to pharmaceutical companies.

If drugmakers fail to comply, the administration has laid out a series of escalating actions, including regulatory reforms, antitrust enforcement, and even potential revocations of approvals for drugs found to be "unsafe, ineffective, or improperly marketed."

Trump said Americans paid 70% more for prescription drugs than they did in 2000, and roughly three times as much as people in many developed countries.

A survey by Gallup and West Health published in April found that over one-third of Americans reported being unable to afford quality medical care.

Trump teased the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, referring to it as one of the "most consequential" executive orders in American history.

The comments prompted a flurry of X posts from Mark Cuban. In 2022, he launched Cost Plug Drugs, an online pharmacy that delivers drugs to consumers at a lower cost than Big Pharma.

"Gotta be honest. The @realDonaldTrump EO on healthcare and in particular, drug pricing could save hundreds of billions," Cuban wrote.

He outlined six ways the executive order could save consumers money, and ended the tweet by writing: "Put me in coach! I'm here to help."

Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders in his second term, with 100 of them coming in his first 100 days in office.

• Elon Musk says Trump's "gold card" immigration program is already in quiet testing.
• The new program offers fast-tracked US residency to foreign investors paying $5 million upfront.
• Trump intends the program to replace the current EB-5 immigrant investor visa.

Elon Musk said on Sunday that President Donald Trump's new "gold card" immigration program is already being tested.

"We're doing a quiet trial to make sure the system works properly," he said in an X post. "Once it is fully tested, it will be rolled out to the public with an announcement by the President."

Trump's gold card program is intended to replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa, which has allowed foreign nationals to apply for US residency by investing a minimum of $1.05 million — or $800,000 in rural and high-unemployment areas — in a commercial enterprise that creates American jobs.

Trump's version significantly raises the price of admission: $5 million upfront, no job creation requirement, and faster access to work and residency privileges.

"You have a green card, this is a gold card," Trump told reporters in February, adding that wealthy investors would help boost the US economy by "spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes, and employing a lot of people."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who helped craft the program, said the current EB-5 system is "full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud," and said the new plan would attract only "world-class global citizens."

Critics have raised concerns about transparency, favoritism, and national security — especially after Trump said he wouldn't rule out selling gold cards to Russian oligarchs, insisting some are "very nice people."

Lutnick pushed back, saying there would be a vetting process to ensure only acceptable applicants are approved.

Programs offering residency or citizenship in exchange for investment aren't new.

Countries like the United Arab Emirates and several Caribbean nations offer so-called "citizenship by investment" options, but Trump's proposal has reignited a debate over whether US immigration policy should cater to the ultrawealthy.

• Escalating tensions between India and Pakistan have sparked mass flight reroutes across Asia.
• Flightradar24 data shows nearly empty skies over Pakistan amid the cross-border conflict.
• Airlines including Korean Air, EVA Air, and Thai Airways have rerouted flights to avoid the airspace.

Air travel across South and Central Asia has been thrown into disarray as tensions between India and Pakistan escalated into open conflict, prompting major airlines to reroute or cancel flights that typically go through Pakistan's airspace.

Indian carriers, including Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, had already been barred from flying over Pakistan, leading to major detours and European refueling stops on long-haul flights.

After India launched missile strikes on Wednesday, airlines have increasingly either canceled flights or adjusted international routes to bypass Pakistani airspace.

Several Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern carriers have issued advisories, with reroutes affecting travel between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air announced suspensions of routes involving Pakistani airports, citing operational and security concerns.

Korean Air, EVA Air, and Thai Airways have altered their flight paths to avoid the region.

Despite the near-complete shutdown, flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows one Ethiopian Airlines flight traveling through Pakistani airspace early Wednesday, en route from Addis Ababa to Seoul, South Korea.

At 1:50 p.m. local time, only four aircraft operated by Pakistani carriers were visible over the country.

Escalating tensions

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since an attack against tourists last month in Indian-administered Kashmir left 26 people dead.

India has blamed Pakistan for the incident, calling it an act of terrorism sponsored by Islamabad. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

In response, India launched a series of airstrikes early Wednesday, saying it had hit nine nonmilitary targets across Pakistan and the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

India's Ministry of Defense described the attacks as "precision strikes" in retaliation for the Kashmir massacre, which it said left 25 Indian nationals dead. The 26th person killed in the attack was from Nepal.

Pakistan swiftly condemned the strikes as an "act of war." Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed a "forceful response," while Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told state television that his country had shot down five Indian fighter jets and a drone and destroyed several Indian checkpoints. India has not responded to Pakistan's claims.

At a press conference later that night, a spokesperson for Pakistan's armed forces said eight Pakistanis had been killed and 33 injured in India's attack.

"India has no evidence whatsoever to link Pakistan to this incident," Tarar told Sky News of the Kashmir attack in April.

• Australia just launched the world's largest fully electric ship, the biggest EV ever built.
• The 130-meter ferry will carry 2,100 passengers across South America solely on battery power.
• Incat's vessel featured a 40 MWh battery, the largest energy system ever installed on a ship.

An Australian shipbuilder has launched the world's largest fully electric ship, marking a turning point for clean maritime transport.

Incat, a Tasmania-based manufacturer, said the 400-foot-long Hull 096 vessel — the biggest electric vehicle ever built — runs entirely on battery power.

Built for South American ferry operator Buquebus, it will carry 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles between Buenos Aires and Uruguay without using any fossil fuels.

The ship's energy system includes more than 250 metric tons, or roughly 275 tons, of batteries and delivers over 40 megawatt-hours of capacity — four times as large as any previous maritime installation.

It powers eight electric-driven waterjets supplied by Finnish tech firm Wärtsilä, which partnered on the project.

"This ship changes the game," said Incat Chairman Robert Clifford. "We've been building world-leading vessels here in Tasmania for more than four decades, and Hull 096 is the most ambitious, most complex, and most important project we've ever delivered."

Buquebus initially planned to operate the ferry on LNG but pivoted to electric power after Clifford proposed the switch.

Tasmania's premier, Jeremy Rockliff, praised the launch as a landmark moment for Australian manufacturing.

"Tasmania has long been a leader in maritime innovation, and Incat's latest achievement is a testament to our state's world-class shipbuilding capabilities and proud seafaring heritage," he said.

The vessel also features a 2,300-square-meter duty-free shopping deck — the largest retail space on any ferry worldwide. Crews will complete the interior fit-out and begin sea trials later this year on Tasmania's River Derwent.

"Hull 096 proves that large-scale, low-emission transport solutions are not only possible, they are ready now," said Incat CEO Stephen Casey.

Incat didn't respond to Business Insider's request for comments made outside working hours.

• Europe launched a $566 million fund to lure scientists as Trump slashes research budgets.
• Its Commission President called the rollback of scientific support a "gigantic miscalculation."
• Researchers told BI that federal cuts could trigger a brain drain with long-term negative consequences.

Europe is making an aggressive play for global scientific talent, and is actively aiming at US researchers.

Speaking at the Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a $566 million funding package designed to turn Europe into a global hub for scientific research. French President Emmanuel Macron promoted the initiative on LinkedIn last month.

The move comes just weeks after the Trump administration froze or slashed billions of dollars in federal funding for US universities and research institutions, triggering hiring freezes, layoffs, and fears of a long-term brain drain.

Without naming the US or Trump, von der Leyen took direct aim at cuts to research budgets, calling the rollback of scientific support "a gigantic miscalculation."

"Science holds the key to our future," she said. "Because as threats rise across the world, Europe will not compromise on its principles. Europe must remain the home of academic and scientific freedom."

The new "Choose Europe" initiative includes "super grants" for top-tier scientists through the European Council Research, longer contracts and expanded incentives for early-career scientists, and doubled relocation bonuses for researchers who choose the EU as their base.

"To every researcher, at home or abroad, to every young girl and boy who dreams of a life in science," von der Leyen said, "our message is clear: Choose Science. Choose Europe."

American researchers, scientists, and education policy experts told BI last week that Trump's freezing of billions of federal dollars could trigger a brain drain, weakening the US position as a global science leader.

The National Institutes of Health, which was one of the organizations to have funding cut, has supported 174 Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Many fear that those kinds of breakthroughs are now at risk.

Shutting off funding so abruptly "absolutely endangers the United States' position as the global leader in medical research," said Peter Lurie, a researcher suing the Trump administration for cutting National Institutes of Health funding for various projects, including research on Alzheimer's, reproductive health, cancer, and diabetes.

"And for that, we will pay," Lurie told BI last week.

The Trump administration has already frozen $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard University, suspended dozens of federal research grants at Princeton University, and signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.

Glenn Altschuler, a professor of American studies at Cornell University, told BI last week that the cuts' long-term impact on US scientific innovation could be devastating.

"It'll take a very long time to come back," he said.

• EU regulators hit TikTok with a $600 million fine for unlawful data transfers to China.
• They said TikTok failed to ensure EU-level data protection under Chinese law.
• The social media giant said on Friday that it disagreed with the fine and planned to appeal.

European regulators have fined TikTok $600 million after concluding that the social media giant unlawfully transferred users' personal data from the EU to China and failed to meet key transparency obligations under European data privacy laws.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which acts as the lead EU watchdog for many global tech firms headquartered in Dublin, led the investigation.

It said TikTok failed to ensure that data accessed by employees in China was protected at a level "essentially equivalent" to EU standards, as required under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Regulators also said the company misled users by failing to name China as a data destination and not disclosing the extent of remote access from countries like China, breaching GDPR's transparency rules.

"As a result of TikTok's failure to undertake the necessary assessments, TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to EEA personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage, and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards," Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said.

The $600 million penalty includes about $550 million for unlawful data transfers and about $50 million for transparency violations. The penalty is the third-largest ever under the GDPR and part of a growing European scrutiny targeting Big Tech's data practices.

TikTok may face a suspension of data transfers to China if it doesn't comply within six months.

Last month, TikTok acknowledged that limited European user data had been stored on servers in China, contrary to previous claims, and that it has since been deleted.

However, in a statement on Friday, the social media giant said it disagreed with the decision and plans to appeal.

Christine Grahn, TikTok's head of public policy and government relations, said the ruling overlooks significant reforms introduced under its "Project Clover" data security initiative.

She added that TikTok has never received or complied with a request for European user data from Chinese authorities.

This isn't TikTok's first major penalty. In 2023, Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined it $368 million for failing to protect children's data.

That same year, Meta was fined $1.3 billion over concerns that Facebook data transferred to the US could be used to spy on European citizens in violation of the EU's privacy laws.

• A European Central Bank survey shows some Europeans are ready to ditch US products.
• 44% say they prefer to switch away from US brands, regardless of tariff levels.
• President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff baseline on most trading partners, including the EU.

As trade tensions simmer between the US and Europe, Europeans aren't just bracing for higher prices — they're rethinking purchases from American brands altogether.

A new survey by the European Central Bank, released Wednesday, suggests that President Donald Trump's tariffs on EU products could trigger a major, long-lasting change in European consumer habits.

The ECB's March Consumer Expectations survey, which polled roughly 19,000 respondents, asked how likely they were to buy non-US alternatives under hypothetical tariffs of 5%, 10%, or 20%.

Across all scenarios, the median "substitution score" was 80 out of 100, signaling a strong willingness to switch away from US products and services.

44% of respondents cited "preference" rather than price as the main reason for abandoning US products. For this group, the median substitution score shot up to 95 and remained unchanged regardless of how steep the tariff was.

Even more unexpectedly, higher-income households were the most likely to switch, likely motivated more by preference than price concerns.

"It seems that the mere presence of a tariff would prompt a large share of consumers to reconsider what they buy," the ECB's blogpost said, adding that this may signal a "possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from US products and brands."

The survey comes just weeks after Trump announced a 20% baseline tariff on most trading partners, including the EU. The EU then imposed 25% retaliatory tariffs, but later, after Trump cut the tariff on Europe to 10% until July, it paused them for 90 days.

However, this reprieve hasn't stopped the EU from considering broader retaliatory options.

These include finding alternative defense suppliers, rolling out stronger counter-tariffs, and reducing dependence on US tech and intellectual property protections, according to more than two dozen government officials in Europe and Canada familiar with the discussions.

Meanwhile, US brands are already feeling the pinch. Tesla's sales in Europe dropped 42% in the first two months of 2025, and US whiskey and travel to America have also seen consumer boycotts.

• Elon Musk told reporters DOGE had been "effective" but "not as effective as I'd like."
• He was speaking to reporters in the White House on Wednesday.
• DOGE has saved $160 billion and cut 1% of the workforce, but faced resistance, he told reporters.

Elon Musk is tempering expectations for his cost-cutting DOGE initiative, acknowledging it hasn't lived up to his $2 trillion ambition.

"In the grand scheme of things, I think we've been effective. Not as effective as I'd like. I think we could be more effective. But we've made progress," Musk told reporters during a Q&A session in the White House on Wednesday.

Several outlets reported the comments, including the Associated Press, USA Today, and Axios.

He said that so far, DOGE — short for the Department of Government Efficiency — has cut $160 billion in federal spending and eliminated 20,000 government jobs, or about 1% of the federal workforce.

But Musk said resistance from within the administration, public backlash, and protests, including vandalism against his EV company Tesla, have made the initiatives difficult to execute.

"Being attacked is not super fun," Musk said. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."

While DOGE was initially planned to end in 2026, Musk told reporters it may run through the end of Trump's term in 2028.

"I think so," Musk said of a potential extension. "It's up to the president."

Musk, who has faced criticism for splitting his time between Washington and his companies, told Tesla investors last week he plans to scale back his time at the White House to one or two days a week after his EV maker's earnings per share plunged 71% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.

Yet, Musk maintained he believes DOGE's long-term savings potential could still hit $1 trillion.

"It can be done," he said. "But it requires dealing with a lot of complaints."

"DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism," he said. "Buddha isn't alive anymore. You wouldn't ask the question: 'Who would lead Buddhism?'"

• Adidas says Trump's tariffs will hike sneaker prices in the US market.
• Its CEO warned that uncertainty around tariffs is stalling the company's business outlook.
• Adidas joins other major brands preparing for price hikes amid trade fears.

Add sneakers to the growing list of things that tariffs will make more expensive.

Adidas warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs could drive up the costs of all its products in the US, as the company remains reliant on imports to stock American shelves.

"Since we currently cannot produce almost any of our products in the US, these higher tariffs will eventually cause higher costs for all our products for the US market," CEO Bjørn Gulden said.

The warning came alongside Adidas's first-quarter earnings report, which showed strong momentum: revenue rose 13% on a currency-neutral basis to about $7 million, and profits more than doubled to about $495 million. Footwear led double-digit digital growth across all regions and categories.

But Gulden said that momentum may not last if tariffs persist. While the company has moved some manufacturing outside China, it remains heavily dependent on imports from tariff-exposed countries.

"In a 'normal world'," he said, "we would have increased our outlook for the full year both for revenues and operating profit."

But "the uncertainty regarding the US tariffs has currently put a stop to this," he added.

In early April, Trump announced a series of steep tariffs on dozens of countries, including longtime allies, but then paused the highest duties for 90 days, keeping a 10% baseline rate in place for most countries and slapping 145% tariffs on most imports from China.

Adidas isn't the only brand bracing for the fallout.

Companies like Target, Shein, Ford, Volkswagen, and Best Buy have all announced or signaled price hikes tied to tariffs.

Other firms, including GM and UPS, have pulled their financial guidance, citing uncertainty caused by Trump's tariffs. Chipotle, PepsiCo, and luxury giant LVMH, meanwhile, have warned of slowing sales in the second quarter.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the tariffs in a Sunday interview with ABC, describing the shifting tariff plans as designed to create "strategic uncertainty" and give the US leverage in global trade talks.

• Ray Dalio says the global order is "on the brink," in part due to Trump's tariff policies.
• Companies worldwide are already reducing US ties, preparing for long-term decoupling, he said.
• Dalio warns the US may be bypassed as nations form new alliances and trade routes around it.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is once again sounding the alarm: the international order is on the verge of breaking point, and President Donald Trump's aggressive use of tariffs is accelerating the unravelling of global trade and capital flows, according to the billionaire investor.

In a sweeping statement on Monday posted to X, the founder of Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund, issued a warning to those who think the impact of US tariffs can be mitigated.

"I am now hearing from a large and growing number of people who are having to deal with these issues that it is already too late," Dalio, who has made similarly bombastic assertions before, wrote.

In early April, Trump announced a series of steep tariffs on dozens of countries, including longtime allies, but then paused the highest duties for 90 days, keeping a 10% baseline rate in place for most countries, except the 145% tariffs on most imports from China.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Trump's trade policies in an ABC News interview last Sunday, calling his back-and-forth tariff strategy a way to create "strategic uncertainty" and gain "leverage" in trade negotiations with world leaders.

But for Dalio, the impact is destabilizing rather than strategic.

"Many exporters to the United States and importers from other countries that trade with the US are saying they have to greatly reduce their dealings with the United States, recognizing that whatever happens with tariffs, these problems won't go away," Dalio said.

Dalio suggested this could cause a readjustment of global markets around the US, as they find trading alternatives.

He also returned to his long-term criticism of US's debt-fuelled consumption model and questioned its sustainability. "Assuming that one can sell and lend to the U.S. and get paid back with hard (i.e. not devalued) dollars on their U.S. debt holdings is naive thinking," he wrote.

Dalio warned, "We are on the brink of the monetary order, the domestic political and the international world orders breaking down due to unsustainable, bad fundamentals that can be easily seen and measured."

He couched this statement saying today's trajectory is the "contemporary version" of historical events that have led to major power shifts in the past. The argument aligns with his past theses on the historical cycles of world order, and supposedly that of his new book — which he references in the post on X.

In a LinkedIn post on Thursday, Dalio said he dreamed of US-China trade negotiations leading to a "beautiful rebalancing" — an idea he reiterated in his statement on X.

He wrote that investors and policy makers should turn away from reactive positions on daily market changes, and instead focus on planning for "big fundamental changes" to forge a better future.

Bridgewater Associates' three co-chief investors issued a similarly dramatic caution in their latest letter to clients which they included an excerpt of in their company newsletter late last week.

They warned a "new macroeconomic and geopolitical paradigm" was roiling markets and potentially reshaping the global economic status-quo.

• UPS said it would cut 20,000 jobs this year as it overhauls its US network to boost efficiency.
• The shipping giant plans to shutter 73 facilities and save $3.5 billion as demand remains soft.
• The cuts are linked to the "changing trade environment," UPS CEO Carol Tomé said.

UPS plans to slash 20,000 jobs this year as part of a cost-cutting drive amid the shifting global trade landscape triggered by President Donald Trump's tariffs.

The move comes as the shipping giant grapples with soft demand, especially from its largest customers. UPS said it would also look to close 73 facilities by the end of June.

"With our action, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS," the company's CEO, Carol Tomé, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tomé said that the transformation would help UPS adapt to "a changing trade environment" and better position it for long-term growth.

The company said it would save $3.5 billion in 2025 through the cuts.

UPS made the announcement alongside its first-quarter 2025 earnings report, which showed a slight revenue dip to $21.5 billion — down 0.7% from the same period last year — while its adjusted operating profit inched up 0.9% to $1.7 billion.

The parcel giant also pulled its financial guidance for the year, saying that uncertainty around the impact of Trump's tariffs meant it could not provide forecasts.

"Given the current macro-economic uncertainty, the company is not providing any updates to its previously issued consolidated full-year outlook," the company said.

Its supply chain business suffered the most last quarter, with revenue plunging nearly 15%, primarily due to the divestiture of Coyote Logistics.

The cost-cutting drive comes after UPS told investors earlier this year it would reduce its Amazon business by 50% by mid-2026, citing profitability reasons.

"This was not their ask," Tomé said on an investor call in January. "This was us. This was UPS taking control of our destiny."

On Tuesday, UPS said the restructuring could expand depending on further network review. In the first quarter, it said it made $80 million in savings and booked $23 million in related costs.