From April 2029, pension contributions made through salary sacrifice above £2,000 a year will no longer be exempt from national insurance contributions (NICs) – a move announced in the Budget.

Salary sacrifice schemes, widely used by employers, allow workers to swap part of their pay for higher pension contributions, cutting NICs while keeping take-home pay steady and boosting retirement savings.

But under the new rules, any pension contributions sacrificed above £2,000 will be treated like ordinary pension payments and hit with both employer and employee NICs, slashing the tax advantage.

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb has now sounded the alarm, pointing to a new document from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggesting the fallout could spread far wider.

Sir Steve says: “This was a huge Budget change that will force employers to rethink pay and pensions. The OBR makes clear the impact won’t stop at those contributing over £2,000.”

Millions already set to lose

Figures released by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) show around 3.3 million pension savers are already on course to be directly affected.

In total, 7.7 million employees currently use salary sacrifice to pay into their pension, with 3.3 million sacrificing more than £2,000 in salary or bonuses each year.

The OBR warned that how employers and workers respond is “highly uncertain”, opening the door to unintended consequences.

Warning: even those under £2,000 could be hit

Sir Steve, now a partner at consultants Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP), said the changes could backfire badly.

“Far from ordinary workers being ‘protected’, we could see millions of people on modest incomes losing out, further undermining their incentive to save into a pension,” he said.

He added that some workers contributing less than £2,000 could still lose out if employers respond by holding down future pay rises or reducing contractual salaries.

Employers may freeze pay or rethink pensions

The OBR noted that firms could try to recreate tax benefits by increasing pension contributions instead of wage growth, or by lowering base pay in exchange for higher employer pension payments.

It also highlighted the risk of costs being “passed through” to workers – affecting salaries, bonuses or pension generosity.

In some cases, employers may scrap salary sacrifice schemes altogether, hitting entire workforces rather than just higher earners.

Industry fears ‘new era of under-saving’

Daniel Gallon, head of taxation at the Association of British Insurers, said the changes could ripple across the workforce.

“The OBR’s analysis shows the impact could reach far more people than expected,” he said.

A survey by the ABI and Reba found 99% of businesses expect to be affected, with many bracing for extra admin, reduced benefits and pressure on pension contributions.

“It’s a clear warning sign that constant tinkering with the tax system risks opening the door to a new era of pension under-saving,” Mr Gallon added.

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A Treasury spokesperson defended the move, saying behavioural impacts were already factored in.

“Our reforms protect 95% of workers earning under £30,000 who use salary sacrifice, while tackling costs that were set to treble to £8 billion as high earners piled in bonuses tax-free,” they said.

But critics warn the real-world impact may be far broader – and that ordinary workers could pay the price.

UK broadband provider VISPA has ceased trading and plans to commence liquidation proceedings, sending an email to customers advising them to cancel direct debits and find a new ISP immediately.

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UK broadband company VISPA has informed its customers that it has ceased operations and advised them to ‘cancel direct debits’. The long-standing provider announced plans to “commence liquidation proceedings” in an email sent to its subscribers.

Established in 1999, VISPA instructed its customers to “immediately” find an alternative broadband provider, as reported by ISPreview.

The company offered a variety of Openreach-based broadband packages and had recently branched out into full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks, while also running its own Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network.

However, ISPreview had previously pointed out several issues plaguing the company, including outstanding debts, complications with the firm’s registered address, and negative reviews on Trustpilot, reports the Express.

The publication has now disclosed that numerous VISPA customers received an email from the company’s chief executive, which read: “We are writing to inform you that Vispa Limited has ceased trading and decided to commence liquidation proceedings.

“As a result, we regret to advise that Vispa will no longer be able to continue providing broadband services. To avoid any interruption to your connectivity, you will need to immediately choose a new Internet Service Provider (ISP) as soon as possible.

“Most providers on the Openreach network are able to take over your existing line with minimal disruption. You can find a list of alternative suppliers here: https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/service-providers-on-our-network.

“We also strongly recommend that you cancel any active Direct Debit or standing order you have in place with Vispa Limited to prevent any further payments being taken.

“We understand this news may be inconvenient and we sincerely apologise for the disruption this causes. We would like to thank you for your custom and support over the years.”

VISPA director James Ormerod, who penned the letter, advised customers to “cancel your direct debit”. VISPA’s announcement did not provide its remaining customers with a specific date for the termination of the service. Currently, the VISPA website’s service status page reads “down for maintenance”.

It states: “The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.”

According to the Companies House website, Vispa Limited has an “active proposal to strike off”, indicating it is in the process of being removed from the register and dissolved.

One customer, Dr Fender, vented his frustration on X: “My c***** internet service provider that hosts my domain and email, @vispainternet, has yet again gone down and they’re unresponsive. How do I complain? They’re not registered with the ombudsman or any of the schemes (of course). #Vispa #ISP #complaint.”

Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) is reportedly going to find himself caught up in a love triangle storyline in EastEnders soon – involving Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) and her twin brother.

Jasmine was confirmed as Zoe Slater’s (Michelle Ryan) long-lost daughter towards the end of last year.

Shortly after Zoe returned, a flashback episode aired that allowed us to learn she gave birth to a baby girl and boy in the early 2000s.

The boy was put up for adoption, and it was believed the girl died.

However, as Jasmine’s identity was revealed, we learnt that if Zoe never ran out of the hospital when her daughter’s heart stopped, she would’ve seen staff resuscitate her.

Jasmine was then adopted, but made her way to Walford after seeing an article about Zoe in the paper.

During Jasmine’s time in Albert Square, she’s had an on/off relationship with Oscar, Max Branning’s (Jake Wood) son.

As if Jasmine’s life wasn’t complicated enough, things are about to get even worse, as her twin brother will eventually arrive – and take a shining to Oscar as well!

It’s said that actor Joshua Vaughan has joined the BBC One soap as Jasmine’s twin and Zoe’s son.

It seemingly won’t be long until the character picks up on the chemistry between him and Oscar, but what will that mean for Jasmine?

During the flashforward episode on New Year’s Day, Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) told Oscar that he’s ‘a Trueman now’. Due to the fact Jasmine didn’t feature in the episode – which was set in 2027 – does that mean Oscar is going to start a relationship with her brother?

‘This is going to be one of the hottest love triangles the soap world has ever seen. Oscar is happy with Jasmine but when her twin arrives the chemistry between them is something neither can ignore’, a source said to The Sun.

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‘It’s going to set temperatures soaring in Walford. But with Jasmine having bumped off her dad Anthony Truman at Christmas the pair had better watch out.’

After getting kicked out of her adopted parents’ home, Jasmine came across, potentially, the worst person she could’ve, when she met the fabulous-but-evil Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), who used her well-honed powers of manipulation to twist the poor girls mind further, ensnaring her in a revenge plot against Zoe.

She then made an enemy of another super-bitch, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) in the mean time, driving a big, fat wedge between herself and Oscar’s family, before finally revealing her true identity to Zoe in a toxic Christmas Day showdown…moments after the murder of her dad, Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey).

Though Zoe and Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) are convinced that Chrissie is to blame for Anthony’s death, with Zoe unconscious before the killing blow took place, Zoe is reluctant to tell the police.

She’s terrified that Chrissie’s inevitable vengeance would put Jasmine in mortal danger and, knowing Chrissie, it definitely would. Meanwhile Kat and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) have gone above and beyond to make Jasmine feel like a part of the Slater/Moon family, she’s struggled to integrate into the crumbling clan.

MORE: EastEnders character Jake Moon stages return as part of murder story – with ‘unexpected’ twists ahead

MORE: EastEnders ‘confirms’ who saves Zoe from prison – and its unexpected

MORE: There are far too many villains in soap – the bad guy fatigue is real

Michael Carrick has been urged to keep the ‘raw’ Benjamin Sesko on the bench for Manchester United’s clash with Tottenham despite his late winner last weekend.

Sesko came off the bench to spark jubilant scenes at Old Trafford when he scored an injury-time winner to secure a 3-2 win for United against Fulham.

The striker, signed for a hefty fee over the summer, has struggled for minutes since Carrick’s arrival, playing just 27 minutes in his first three games in the dugout.

Carrick has instead preferred to use Bryan Mbeumo as his central striker, who was on target in the wins over Manchester City and Arsenal.

But Sesko’s impact off the bench against Fulham has led to some calls for the 22-year-old to be given more minutes, with Gary Neville suggesting that the striker’s late winner could be a springboard to finally kickstart his Old Trafford career.

United host Tottenham on Saturday, but former Red Devils defender Danny Simpson believes Sesko is still best used as an impact player off the bench, especially when compared to his more polished attacking teammates.

‘I feel like everyone at the club, the players, his teammates, the fans, the coaching staff, it’s like they all scored because they obviously want him to have a big moment like that, and I hope that will kickstart his Man United career now,’ Simpson told Metro via Kiwislots.nz when asked about Sesko.

‘But because he’s still young and raw, I still think coming off the bench 20, 30 minutes is probably good for him at the moment.

‘I still believe that the front four, the pace, the relationship they are building up, I still think Sesko coming off the bench is where he is at, and hopefully he can keep doing that and making an impact off the bench. 

‘There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. Some of our best strikers used to do that, obviously. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used to do that, so I think at the moment it’s nice that there’s no pressure on him.

‘He just comes on and gives his best for the 20, 30 minutes that he plays.’

On Carrick’s impressive use of subs, Simpson added: ‘Last week he brings Cunha on, he scored the winner, then against Fulham he brought on Sesko, he scored the winner.

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‘I think that’s always been Man Utd’s DNA as well. People coming off the bench and having an impact, and getting a point or getting a winner.

‘For me, that’s the encouraging thing. Even at 2-2 normally, all the lads would get their heads down and go, ‘oh God’. They didn’t, they kept going, and that’s what I think I’ve liked about this team.’

United are looking to make it four wins in a row under Carrick on Saturday, but have a torrid recent record against Spurs, having failed to win any of the last six league encounters between the two sides.

But Simpson is confident his former side will put those demons to bed and continue their remarkable start to life under Carrick.

‘Tottenham’s away form is actually pretty good so you can’t take this game lightly,’ he said.

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‘Whatever it is at Tottenham, they clearly feel better playing away from home. Maybe less pressure from the fans, so it will be a tough game.

‘But I’m actually really confident. I’d probably just go with a nice, safe 2-0 win for United, and just hopefully keep pushing.

‘They’ve still got a massive chance to get in the Champions League, which is what the club needs for the finances for everybody.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

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When Savannah Guthrie made a heart-wrenching plea to the kidnapper of her 84-year-old mother to send “proof of life,” she addressed the possibility of people creating deepfakes.

“We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” she said.

Before artificial intelligence tools proliferated — making it possible to realistically impersonate someone, in photos, sound and video — “proof of life” could simply mean sending a grainy image of a person who’s been abducted.

That’s no longer true.

“With AI these days you can make videos that appear to be very real. So we can’t just take a video and trust that that’s proof of life because of advancements in AI,” Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said at a news conference Thursday.

Hoaxes — whether high or low-tech — have long challenged law enforcement, especially when it comes to high-profile cases such as Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance last weekend from her home in the Tucson area.

As technology has advanced, criminals have grown savvy and used it to their benefit, confusing police and the public and masking their identities. The FBI in December warned that people posing as kidnappers can provide what appears to be a real photo or video of a loved one, along with demands for money.

Police have not said that they have received any deepfake images of Guthrie. At least three news organizations have reported receiving purported ransom notes that they have given to investigators, who said they are taking them seriously.

Investigators said they believe she’s “still out there,” but they have not identified any suspects.

Separately, a California man was charged Thursday with sending text messages to the Guthrie family seeking bitcoin after following the case on television. There’s no indication that he’s suspected of having a role in the disappearance, according to a court filing.

She appeared in an emotional video on Instagram Wednesday, sitting in between her sister and brother. Her voice cracked as she spoke directly to the kidnapper, saying the family is “ready to talk” and “ready to listen” but also wanted to know that their mother is alive.

Images of Nancy Guthrie, publicly shared by family, could be used to create deepfakes, said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit.

She said ransom demands over history have evolved from phone calls and handwritten notes to email, texts and other digital tools. A century ago, ransom notes were analog. For example, when the toddler son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped, a piece of paper demanding $50,000 was found on a windowsill.

“Investigative techniques accumulate over time,” Schweit said. “There’s never less to do as years go by; there’s more to do. Digital and forensic work is a perfect example. It just adds to the other shoe-leather work we would have done in years past. … Nothing can be dismissed. Everything has to be run to ground.”

Schweit said directly addressing a kidnapper, like Savannah Guthrie did in her video, is a tactical move.

“The goal is to have the family or law enforcement speak directly to the victim and the perpetrator, and ask the perpetrator: What do you need? How can we solve this? Let’s move this forward,” she said.

Janke suggested to reporters that the FBI may have had some influence on Guthrie’s decision to release a video message.

“We have an expertise when it comes to kidnappings, and when families want advice, consultation, expertise, we will provide that,” he said. “But the ultimate decisions — on what they say and how they put that out — rests with the family itself.”

Former financial crime investigator turned MP for Bolton West Phil Brickell says that crimes like these could also pose threats to attempts to regenerate the town.

Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate this week Mr Brickell thanked Cllr John McHugh, of Westhoughton South, for is work talking anti-social behaviour in the town.

Mr Brickell said: “John has worked extensively with me and with Greater Manchester police, and many of his efforts are not publicly commended but they should be.

“Our town centres are the hearts of our communities, which is why I welcome the Government’s new Pride in Place funding for Bolton West.

Bolton West MP Phil Brickell was speaking at a Westminster Hall debate (Image: Office of Phil Brickell MP)

“But regeneration, whether in Bolton or Blackrod, Horwich or Westhoughton, will only succeed if we resolutely confront one of the biggest threats to our town centres, high street economic crime.

“In towns across this country, cash-intensive businesses are being used to launder criminal money, evade tax and undercut legitimate traders.

“These acts are not victimless. They are predatory. They enable organised crime and drug dealing, drain the public finances, and drive honest businesses out.”

Mr Brickell has long raised concerns about financial crime, having spoken to The Bolton News back in January 2025 that he believes “dark money” is blighting both politics and the high street.

Back in September last year, Mr Brickell told the House of Commons that there had been an “explosion” of cash intensive businesses laundering dirty money on high streets in recent years.

The following month, police officers working with Operation Machinize visited several shops around Bolton to investigate suspected money laundering.

In November, Mr Brickell proposed creating an Economic Crime Fighting Fund to try and tackle offences like these.

This week he has now said the government’s attempts to make the streets safer must include tackling economic crime.

Mr Brickell said: “If there is one thing I know after tackling bribery and corruption for more than a decade, it is that if we want safer streets, we must follow the money.

“It is not just an issue of putting more police officers on the streets.

“Having met officers from Greater Manchester police’s economic crime unit, it is clear to me that any lasting efforts to address and increase safety in our towns must also rely on provision for specialist financial investigators within the police, to go after the same criminal actors who feed off our high streets, carrying out their business in plain sight.”

Mr Brickell said he welcomed the government establishing a high street criminality task force but said more needs to be done.

He said this could include linking regeneration funding to enforcement and bringing in tougher licencing regimes with better data sharing between different agencies.

In response, policing and crime minister Sarah Jones MP said many other MPs had raised similar concerns and she agreed that more action was needed.

She said: “Many Members talked about the increase in the number of vape shops or other shops that we know are actually laundering money.

“I know the police are dealing with that, I have been on a raid with them to tackle it, but my honourable friend is right that more needs to be done.”

Willow Poppy Forest’s parents have been left without answers after her tragic, sudden death

A couple who tragically lost their 17-month-old daughter without any prior warning signs have spoken of their struggle to find “answers” for her sudden death, describing the experience as “surreal”.

Ella McNally, a 23 year old nurse, and her partner Josh Forrest, a 24 year old joiner, were overjoyed when they welcomed their “beautiful daughter” Willow Poppy Forrest into the world on June 4, 2023.

However, on the night of November 11, 2024, Ella put Willow to bed as usual, keeping an eye on the baby monitor throughout the night. But when she called out to wake her daughter the next morning, there was no response.

Despite immediate efforts to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and calling for an ambulance, Willow was rushed to hospital where it was confirmed she had died on November 12, 2024, at just 17 months old.

Following a post-mortem examination and further tests, Willow’s cause of death was determined as Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI), leaving Ella and Josh without “any answers”.

Now, in Willow’s memory, the couple are preparing to take on the London Landmarks Half Marathon in April to raise awareness and funds for the charity SUDC UK.

“We were waiting and hoping we’d get answers,” Ella said.

“But even now, it has been nearly 15 months since she passed away, so she’s almost been gone as long as we had her, and the questions still nag because there aren’t any answers.

“I’m doing (the marathon) for Willow, and for any other family who has experienced this, and I know she’ll be with me all the way.”

To donate or find out more, visit the JustGiving page here.

SUDC UK says Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) is the sudden and unexpected death of a child, between one and 18 years of age, which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation is conducted.

Approximately 40 children in the UK are affected by SUDC each year, and the charity says no-one can predict or prevent these deaths, neither parents nor medical professionals, at this time.

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If a child is under 24 months, some guidelines use the term Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) instead of SUDC, and therefore this may be listed as the cause of death.

Ella said Willow was born on June 4, 2023, with “no complications” and she had no health issues, other than one case of hand, foot and mouth disease, which is a common childhood illness.

Describing Willow, Ella said: “She was bubbly, clever and really cheeky. She had everyone wrapped around her finger.”

On November 11 2024, Willow spent the day with Ella’s parents while she was on placement for her nursing degree and Josh was away for work, and they noticed she had a higher temperature.

However, by the evening, Willow’s temperature had returned to normal after taking the medicine Calpol.

“She had a bath and she was splashing around and singing nursery rhymes, so she seemed totally fine,” Ella, from Nottingham, explained.

Ella and her sister brought Willow home, read her bedtime stories and gave her a bottle of milk before putting her to bed.

Ella kissed her goodnight, said “I love you” and put on some calming white noise with her Tonie device, checking the baby monitor several times throughout the night.

In the morning, Ella checked the baby monitor again and said, from the angle of the monitor, it just looked like Willow was asleep and “nothing was out of the ordinary”. However, when she went to wake Willow up, she said her name a few times and she did not respond.

“I thought she was just messing about at first,” Ella said.

“I didn’t think anything of it because I was just stood at her door, but by the fourth time I’d said it and she didn’t respond, I rushed to get her.”

With Willow “unresponsive”, Ella rushed her downstairs and said she “screamed at (her) sister to ring the ambulance” before performing CPR. Willow was blue-lighted to King’s Mill Hospital and Ella was transported in a police vehicle, and Ella had to call Josh to explain what was happening.

‘The whole day was surreal’

Not long after their arrival, Ella said she was called into a room by medical professionals and told Willow had died that morning.

“I feel like my heart just dropped when Willow wasn’t replying because it was very unusual,” Ella explained.

“I couldn’t really believe it. It was just a normal morning and she was fine the night before. With my healthcare background, I knew that there wasn’t anything more we could do, but I didn’t want to accept that. It’s just surreal.”

Ella and Josh were able to see Willow to say their goodbyes in the hospital, and they were given a 4Louis memory box, which offers a way for bereaved families to store meaningful keepsakes and mementos.

In the following days, the couple and family members visited Willow while she was in the mortuary for around an hour each day, and they read her books, including one of her favourites, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.

Her funeral was held in December 2024, when she was buried with her favourite elephant blanket that she called “her baby”, a pink bunny toy and her Crocs, among other cherished possessions.

“It was just a blur, the whole day was surreal,” Ella said.

“Seeing how many people were there to say their goodbyes, that’s what set me off and it hit me – this is real.”

Ella said she and Josh underwent genetic testing afterwards to see if that would provide any answers but the results came back as normal.

Months after her death, the couple received a coronial post-mortem report, which ruled Willow’s cause of death as SUDI, and they said “nothing was flagged” other than her being a “healthy, happy child”.

“I don’t think anything’s ever going to be answered or eased, and to be honest, most of the time it doesn’t actually feel like it’s happened,” Ella said. “It just feels like the time we had with her is like a fever dream.”

She added: “You can try going back to normal, but I feel like with grief, it sneaks up on you when you least expect it.”

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Ella explained that she and Josh have not moved or rearranged Willow’s possessions in their home, even leaving her snacks in the cupboard and her water bottle in the fridge, as they want to “memorialise it”.

Ella said she returned to university to finish her degree, as she knew Willow would not want her to “wallow at home”, and she graduated in September 2025 and was nominated for the most inspirational student award.

‘We will never stop talking about Willow’

The couple know they have to “keep going” and have found comfort “leaning” on each other and family members, and they want to speak out to help other families affected by SUDI or SUDC.

Now, they are preparing for the London Landmarks Half Marathon to raise more awareness and funds for the charity SUDC UK, with a current target of £3,000, and Ella said it will be an “emotional” day.

“We had never heard of SUDC until it happened to us… but we just want every child to be remembered and for the message to be put across,” Ella said. “We will never stop talking about Willow.”

Pascale Harvie, president and general manager at JustGiving, said: “Ella’s decision to run the London Landmarks Half Marathon is a deeply moving tribute to Willow’s memory.

“By championing the work of SUDC UK, she is turning her personal grief into a lifeline for other families. Everyone at JustGiving is in awe of her strength and resilience, and we’ll be cheering her on every step of the way.”

To donate or find out more, visit the JustGiving page here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking back on the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump boasts that he has resurrected the American economy by imposing big import taxes on foreign products. He made his case in a recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, chiding the paper and critics, including mainstream economists, who predicted that tariffs would backfire, raising prices and threatening growth. “Instead,’’ he wrote, “they have created an American economic miracle.”

But the proof he offers is often off-base or wrong altogether.

Here’s a look at the facts around Trump’s assessment of tariffs.

CLAIM: “Just over one year ago, we were a ‘DEAD’ country. Now, we are the ‘HOTTEST” country anywhere in the world!’ ’’

THE FACTS: This is a standard statement from Trump. But the U.S. economy was hardly “dead’’ when Trump returned to office last year. And in Trump’s second term, it’s performed strongly — after getting off to a bumpy start.

In 2024, the last year of the Biden presidency, American gross domestic product grew 2.8%, adjusted for inflation, faster than any wealthy country in the world except Spain. It also expanded at a healthy rate from 2021 through 2023.

The numbers for all of 2025 aren’t out yet. But during the first three quarters of the year, Trump’s tariffs — or the threat of them — delivered mixed results for the American economy.

From January to March, U.S. GDP actually shrank for the first time in three years. The main culprit was easy to identify: a surge in imports, which are subtracted from GDP, as American companies rushed to buy foreign products before Trump could impose tariffs on them.

But growth rebounded in the second half of the year. From April through June, the economy expanded at a healthy 3.8% pace. And from July through September, it grew even faster — 4.4%. A big part of the surge was a drop in imports, likely reflecting Trump’s tariffs as well as the fact that importers had already stocked up at the start of the year. Strong consumer spending also drove economic growth.

Trump also likes point to solid gains in the U.S. stock market. He noted that stocks hit new highs 52 times in 2025. It’s true that the American stock market did well last year. But it underperformed many foreign stock markets. The benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 17% — a nice gain but short of a 71% surge in South Korea, 29% in Hong Kong, 26% in Japan, 22% in Germany and 21% in the United Kingdom.

___ CLAIM: “Annual core inflation for the past three months has dropped to just 1.4% — far lower than almost anyone, other than me, had predicted.”

THE FACTS: The president is using cherry-picked data to vastly exaggerate where inflation stands.

His figure for annual inflation in the past three months — which excludes the volatile food and energy prices — is low, but reflects data distorted by the government shutdown in October and November, which disrupted the government’s data collection and forced the agency that compiles the figures to plug in rough estimates in some categories that artificially lowered overall inflation.

Annual core inflation for the final six months of 2025 is higher at 2.6%. That is down from January 2025’s level but about where it was in October 2024. Overall, inflation has leveled off this year, and was 3% in September before the government shutdown, the same as it had been in January 2025.

It’s true that inflation hasn’t been as high as many economists worried it would be when Trump started rolling out tariffs last spring, but that is partly because many of the “Liberation Day” tariffs were withdrawn, reduced or riddled with exemptions. When Democrats won some high-profile elections last year by highlighting “affordability” concerns, the administration rolled back existing or planned tariffs on coffee, beef and kitchen cabinets, for example, a backhanded acknowledgment that the duties were raising prices.

The impact of tariffs can be more clearly seen in core goods prices, which also exclude food and energy. Before the pandemic, core goods costs typically barely rose — or even fell — each year, but last December they were 1.4% higher than a year earlier. That was the largest increase, outside the pandemic, since 2011.

Alberto Cavallo, an economist at Harvard and the author of a study on the impact of tariffs cited by Trump in his op-ed, has found that Trump’s tariffs have boosted overall inflation by roughly three-quarters of a percentage point. ____

CLAIM: “The data shows that the burden, or ‘incidence,’ of the tariffs has fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen, including large corporations that are not from the U.S. According to a recent study by the Harvard Business School, these groups are paying at least 80% of tariff costs.”

THE FACTS: The study Trump cited appears to conclude the opposite of what Trump claimed. Authored by Cavallo and two colleagues, it finds that “U.S. consumers were bearing roughly 43% of the tariff-induced border cost after seven months, with the remainder absorbed mostly by U.S. firms.” Cavallo said by email that import prices hadn’t fallen much, “which suggests foreign exporters did not reduce their pre-tariff prices enough to shoulder a large share of the burden.″ ____ TRUMP’S CLAIM: “We have slashed our monthly trade deficit by an astonishing 77%.”

THE FACTS: This claim involves more cherry-picking, reflecting the percentage drop from a very high trade deficit in January 2025, when the president took office, to a super-low deficit in October.

The story is more complicated than the president makes it. The trade deficit — the gap between what the U.S. sells other countries and what it buys from them — has actually risen since he returned to the White House.

From January through November in 2025, the U.S. accumulated a trade deficit of nearly $840 billion, up 4% from the same period of 2024. In the first three months of 2025, importers rushed to buy foreign products — before Trump could slap tariffs on them. After that, monthly trade deficits came in consistently lower than they were in 2024. But the January-March import surge was so big that the 2025 year-to-date trade deficit still exceeds 2024’s.

____

CLAIM: “I have successfully wielded the tariff tool to secure colossal Investments in America, like no other country has ever seen before. … In less than one year, we have secured commitments for more than $18 trillion, a number that is unfathomable to many.’’

THE FACTS: Trump did, in fact, use the tariff threat to pry investment commitments from America’s major trading partners. The European Union, for instance, pledged $600 billion over four years.

But Trump hasn’t said how he came up with $18 trillion. The White House has published a figure of $9.6 trillion, which includes private and public investment commitments from other countries.

Researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics last month calculated the investment pledges at $5 trillion from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Persian Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

And they raised doubts about whether the money will actually materialize, partly because the agreements are vague and sometimes because the countries would strain to afford the commitments.

But all the numbers are huge nonetheless. Total private investment in the United States was most recently running at a $5.4 trillion annual pace. In 2024, the last year for which figures are available, total foreign direct investment in the United States amounted to $151 billion. Direct investment includes money sunk into such things as factories and offices but not financial investments like stocks and bonds. ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

The mayor has announced his office will pay for free bus travel to and from school for children placed in temporary accommodation on Thursday (February 5).

Eight Greater Manchester MPs backed the move of a free bus pass for schoolchildren in temporary housing more than 30 minutes’ walk from class after schools with homeless children hit out at government transport rules.

They say youngsters are only eligible for free travel if they live more than two miles from class (three miles for over-eights) and no ‘suitable school’ is nearer. But it’s almost impossible to be further than two miles from a school in the city.

They argued that because most temporary accommodation placements are often miles from home, it presented homeless families a difficult choice: Pay for buses they didn’t need to before, or move a child away from a support network when they need it most.

Mr Burnham confirmed that money will be set aside in his office’s new budget, and free Bee Network bus travel to and from school will be available for children from later this year.

He said: “Temporary accommodation is a symptom of wider housing and inequality issues up and down the country.

“We’re pioneering a new approach in Greater Manchester. It’s amongst the most ambitious in the UK, and we are working hard to reduce homelessness, with better support, early intervention, and, critically, more high-quality, affordable homes. Part of that is reducing the need for families to be in temporary accommodation.

“Using our locally-controlled Bee Network buses to support families when they need it most is the right thing to do. A move into temporary accommodation is often a massive upheaval for families and can be a worrying time. 

“With this measure, the cost of travel to school will be one less thing for families to worry about. It will mean parents and carers don’t have to choose between an extra demand on their household budget and keeping their children with friends and teachers they know and trust.”

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed money is set aside for the scheme in its budget that is ready to be approved next week.

Should it get the green light as expected, TfGM said it will work with the region’s 10 councils to finalise details on eligibility and implement it ‘later this year’.