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Authorities in the southern US state have called the blast ‘devastating’, with many of the missing presumed dead.

An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant has left 19 people missing and feared dead, authorities said.

The blast occurred on Friday at Accurate Energetic Systems, a manufacturer in rural Tennessee, a state in the southern United States. People reported hearing and feeling the explosion miles away.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said it was one of the most devastating scenes he’s ever seen. He did not specify how many people were killed, but referred to the 19 missing as “souls” and said officials were still speaking to family members.

The company’s website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 97 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Nashville.

The cause of the explosion, which Davis called “devastating”, was not immediately known, and the investigation could take days, the sheriff said.

Aerial footage of the aftermath from the news channel WTVF-TV showed the explosion had apparently obliterated one of the facility’s hilltop buildings, leaving only smoldering wreckage and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.

There’s no further danger of explosions, and the scene was under control by Friday afternoon, according to Grey Collier, a spokesperson for the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone. He didn’t have any details on casualties.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday morning.

“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email. He referred further comment to a county official.

Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, said they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said by phone. “I live very close to Accurate, and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

State Representative Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighbouring town of Dickson, was worried about the possible economic impact because the plant is a key employer in the area.

“We live probably 15 miles [24km] as the crow flies, and we absolutely heard it at the house,” Barrett said. “It sounded like something going through the roof of our house.”

Ukraine claimed it attacked a major electronic connector production facility with R-360 Neptune ground-launched cruise missiles early Monday morning. The Elektrodetal plant, located in eastern Bryansk Oblast, was attacked from well inside northern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, who are still working to determine the extent of the damage.

“We are adjusting the work of the Russian defense factories,” the Ukrainian Navy stated on Telegram. “At night, our ‘Neptune’ successfully struck the Russian Karachevsky ‘Electrodetal’ plant. Another link in the enemy’s supply chain is down.”

The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff offered more details about the strike and the target.

The attack involved four Neptunes fired from a distance of roughly 240 kilometers (about 150 miles). That would put the launch site about 25 miles across the border in Ukraine.

The Karachev Electrodetal Plant “manufactures various electrical connectors for military and general industrial applications, including low-frequency, high-frequency, and combined connectors,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff explained. “The products are used in aerospace, electronics, instrument engineering, and other industries. These include connectors for printed circuit boards, military equipment, aircraft, antennas, base stations, and other systems, as well as components for various measuring instruments.”

“Explosions and a fire have been recorded on the premises of the facility,” the general staff added.

The plant produces “most of the inter-block connections of Russian cruise and ballistic missile wings,” the Ukrainian Colonel General Staff Telegram channel reported on Monday. In addition, its products are also used in the production of first-person view (FPV) drones such as the Chimera, the Ukrainian Militarnyi news outlet reported.

Ukraine’s forces famously used Neptunes to sink the Russian Navy’s Project 1164 Slava class cruiser Moskva in 2022 and reportedly began employing a new land-attack version in 2023. The R-360 is derived from the Soviet-era Kh-35 and is very similar externally to that missile, which remains in service in Russia and elsewhere today. You can read more about what is known about this variant of the missile here.

Earlier this year, Ukraine showed off another variant, called the Long Neptune. In the past, the maximum stated range of the anti-ship version of Neptune has been said to be around 190 miles (300 kilometers). A Ukrainian defense official told TWZ that the original land-attack version could have a range of up to 225 miles (360 kilometers). With its extended body having capacity for additional fuel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Long Neptunes can strike targets at a range of about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). Zelensky said that the new version has already been tested in combat.

The attack on the Elektrodetal facility came shortly after Ukraine struck an energy plant inside Russia’s Belgorod region, reportedly launched by a U.S.-made Army High Mobility Rocket System (HIMARS).

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed off on Ukraine using American-made standoff weapons inside Russia on a case-by-case basis, Keith Kellogg, a White House special envoy to Ukraine, told Fox News on Saturday. He did not say what weapons Ukraine might use, but confirmed the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile (TLAM), which the Trump administration is considering sending to Ukraine, was not one of them. 

That the administration is now considering giving TLAMs to Ukraine highlights the ephemeral nature of Trump’s support for Kyiv, which may have to rely on U.S. weapons for years to come. As we recently noted, after saying long-range munitions were off the table and throttling the supply of weapons and intelligence to Ukraine, the American president has reversed course on both, as we noted in our recent story, which you can read here.

Meanwhile, as we have frequently reported, the U.S. wants to restock its own supply of a wide array of long-range missiles.

“The Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, is urging its missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production rates on a breakneck schedule,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The brainchild of Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, this new effort is called the Munitions Acceleration Council. It is focusing “on 12 weapons that the Pentagon wants on hand for a potential conflict with China,” the publication reported, citing unnamed sources. “The list includes Patriot interceptors, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, the Standard Missile-6, Precision Strike Missiles and Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missiles. Patriot is a particular priority because Lockheed has struggled to keep pace with surging global demand.”

Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth “are exploring extraordinary avenues to expand our military might and accelerate the production of munitions,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told the Journal, when asked about the plan. “This effort has been a collaboration between defense industry leaders and senior Pentagon officials.”

However, some involved in the effort, both inside and outside of the government, “worry that the government’s targets aren’t realistic,” according to the newspaper. “Individual missiles can take two years to fully assemble. It can take several months and hundreds of millions of dollars to test and qualify weapons from new suppliers as safe and reliable enough for U.S. service members to use.”

The U.S. is already working to expand its ability to make missiles. It is opening up new plants, expanding work at existing ones and increasing the budget for buying new munitions. These existing efforts include jumpstarting production overseas for certain missiles, as well. How much more all this can be accelerated without using other means, like the Defense Production Act, isn’t clear, but what is clear is that the Pentagon knows this isn’t enough.

The war in Ukraine and fighting in the Middle East have shown the extreme importance of deep stockpiles of long-range strike missiles and air defense interceptors. As China shows increasing belligerence in the Pacific, the need to support Ukraine with weapons has no end in sight, and NATO’s relationship with Russia continues to spiral, as well as a massive spike in demand for these weapons around the globe, the race is on in the U.S. to ensure it can meet these challenges.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Sept. 7 (UPI) — A senior South Korean official said Sunday that the country will charter a plane for the return of hundreds of workers who were detained during an immigration raid at a Hyundai battery factory in Georgia.

Kang Hoon-sik, the South Korean presidential chief-of-staff, said that negotiations with the administration of President Donald Trump had concluded during a speech at a high-ranking ruling party-government meeting, the state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported.

More than 300 workers from South Korea were arrested during the Thursday raid at the factory, which Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution operate. More than 150 other workers were also detained.

The Thursday raid was announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and included officers from other agencies, such as Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It marked one of the largest immigrant raids in modern American history and it was not immediately clear why the ATF participated in the crackdown.

“There are still administrative procedures left,” Kang said. “Once the procedures are complete, the chartered plane will depart to bring our citizens.”

Kang’s comments came after South Korean officials convened an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the issue. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said during that meeting that officials were “deeply concerned” about the arrest of the workers.

In additional remarks reported Sunday by the South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun, Kang added that President Lee Jae-myung stressed that the rights and interests of South Korean citizens and the economic activities of companies investing in the U.S. “should not be unfairly violated” during U.S. law enforcement processes.

“The government will not let down its guard and will do its best until the citizens return safely,” Kang said.

Kang also said that South Korea would pursue measures to improve its visa system and residence permits for business travelers related to U.S. projects in the future.

Hyundai said in a statement Friday that none of the workers detained were directly employed by the carmaker and that it “is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate.”

HIGH streets across the UK are facing more closures as major retailers shut their doors today. 

 Poundland, Game, and The Original Factory Shop are among the chains cutting back on stores, leaving shoppers with fewer options. 

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These closures are part of wider restructuring plans as businesses adapt to changing shopping habits and financial pressures.

Here are all the stores shutting on your local high street today.

Game

Game is closing its Metrocentre store in Gateshead today (September 7).

The closure is part of changes by its owner, Frasers Group.

The company is reducing the number of stores as more shopping moves online and into concessions.

The chain has around 240 stores across the UK. Another store in the Galleries Shopping Centre, Bristol, will close on September 25.

However, a Game concession inside the Sports Direct store in the same shopping centre will stay open.

Both closing stores are holding big sales to clear stock.

Shoppers can get discounts of up to 20%.

Poundland

Poundland’s Pontypool store is set to close today (September 7), followed by the closure of its Irvine branch on 14th September.

Recently, discount chain avoided going into administration by getting creditors to agree to restructuring plans, which included closing stores and cutting jobs.

Poundland’s restructuring will see the chain close a total of 68 stores.

The restructure also includes rent cuts at up to 180 stores and the closure of its frozen food and online shopping.

Meanwhile, the Darton frozen food distribution centre will shut later this year.

This will mean online shopping and frozen food will no longer be offered by Poundland.

The Bilston national distribution centre is also set to close in early 2026.

Come September 16, shoppers will no longer be able to buy products online and its loyalty scheme, Poundland Perks, will be axed.

Customers who have signed up to the Poundland Perks app have until January 15, 2026, to use their reward vouchers.

But Poundland plans to expand its £1 product range and focus on womenswear and seasonal items if the restructure goes ahead.

Original Factory Shop

The Original Factory Shop has been closing stores across the UK as part of a major restructuring plan.

Branches in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Normanton, West Yorkshire, and Kirkham, Lancashire, are among those that have already shut their doors.

Next in line are the Chard store, which closed today (September 7) and the Market Drayton branch, set to shut on September 20.

The Original Factory Shop was bought by Modella Capital, a private equity firm, in February.

Modella is known for taking on struggling retailers and has also recently bought Hobbycraft and WHSmith’s high street shops.

The firm quickly launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 The Original Factory Shop stores.

At the end of April, Modella drew up plans to initiate a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) for the retailer.

Companies often use CVAs to avoid insolvency, which could otherwise force stores to close or trigger the collapse of the entire business.

They allow firms to explore different options, such as negotiating reduced rents with landlords.

But The Original Factory Shop previously told The Press and Journal that a “number of loss-making stores would have to close” in the restructuring.

What else is happening on the high street?

Bodycare, which begun as a market stall in Lancashire back in the 1970s and has 147 UK stores, appointed administrators from Interpath Advisory on Friday.

Exactly 32 stores closed with immediate effect, with around 450 employees made redundant.

Currently, 115 stores remain open and are trading as usual while administrators explore options for the future of the business.

However, if a buyer cannot be found, further store closures may occur.

Like many of its peers, Bodycare has felt the burn of risings cost coupled with shoppers having less money to spend at the till.

Recently, River Island avoided going into administration by getting creditors to agree to restructuring plans, which included closing stores and cutting jobs.

River Island will close up to 33 stores in January to help write off the fashion brand’s debts.

Locations in major UK cities including Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford, Brighton and Perth are all expected to close.

Meanwhile, fashion retailer New Look has closed a dozen sites in the UK this year and also exited Ireland.

Last month, Claire’s also collapsed into administration and stopped online orders for its customers.

Plus, H&M-owned fashion chain Monki closed the last of its high street stores in August.

A SMALL British carmaker behind a motor Jeremy Clarkson said could “destroy your face” is set to build a huge new factory in the UK.

Ariel – best known for its Atom motor – will build the new structure to the east of Crewkerne in Somerset on a recently acquired 43-acre site.

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The carmakers gained the land after five years of negotiation, with the new building set to open before the end of 2028 at the cost of “a few million”, Ariel boss Simon Saunders said.

Simon said the cost of building a new factory had rapidly risen since the idea was first floated, meaning the firm may need to seek external funding.

Ariel currently sells two vehicles, the Atom and the Nomad, as well as the Dash bicycle, according to its website.

The Ariel Atom, tested on Top Gear in 2005, was described by Clarkson as “so quick, it can destroy your entire face“.

Since its launch in 2000, it has gone through a number of alterations, with the Ariel Atom 4 – released in 2018 – being the most recent version available to customers.

It was awarded Britain’s Best Driver’s Car by Autocar in 2020.

With building the new site, Simon said he wanted to “move to no ordinary industrial unit”, keeping in style with the unique designs of Atom’s motors.

He explained: “While we’ve been waiting to do the land deal, we’ve investigated quite a few styles – circular buildings that might work well for production efficiency, or others whose design is reminiscent of old farm buildings you already find in this area.

“We need space for what we do now, plus a museum, a showroom and a design office. And it’s got to be efficient.”

The new site will be placed close to Atom’s existing factory, meaning Ariel will be able to keep its pre-existing workforce while also adding around 60 new staff.

It also means production capacity should be able to almost double from just 80 units per year to around 150, reports Autocar.

The huge new complex will house Ariel’s expanded manufacturing operation as well as a showroom, a spacious service and spares operation, long-term parts storage, a museum, and an office space for design and administration.

Ariel is also putting an emphasis on environmental efficiency for its new vehicles, Simon said.

The new factory will be capable of carbon capture, its roof will gather solar energy, water will come from a borehole, and there are plans to plant 8000 trees on the site.

Ariel started out in a tiny studio in Simon’s home before moving to its current site in 2007.

However, since Ariel handles advanced design as well as spares, servicing, repairs and used car sales on top of manufacturing, it has been constrained on space for years.

This comes after a 2020 Ariel Atom went to auction last year.

Describing a previous version of the car in 2005, Clarkson said he had “never, ever driven anything that accelerates so fast,” describing the Atom as being “fast on an entirely new level”.

The motor started life as a student project at Coventry University before it was originally launched in 2000.

Other iconic versions include the Ariel Atom 500, which is one of the fastest accelerating production cars ever made – taking just 2.3 seconds to get from 0-62mph.

The Ariel Atom was also voted one of Britain’s 50 best cars ever made by a panel of 10 judges earlier this year.

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WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that he ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and threw the now-disgraced financier out of his private club in Florida after Epstein betrayed him more than once by hiring people who had worked for him.

Trump did not say what the people’s jobs were or where they worked, and the White House had no immediate comment. But with the fresh comments, Trump shed a little light on the reason why he has said he had ended the relationship with Epstein, though Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, recently said on X that, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

Epstein killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death before Trump returned to power and are now struggling to manage the fallout after the Justice Department said Epstein did in fact die by suicide and that it would not release additional documents about the case.

The president and his allies, some of whom are now in the administration, had promised to release the files.

The case has dogged Trump at home and abroad and even followed Vice President JD Vance during an appearance in his home state of Ohio on Monday. A small group of protesters assembled outside a factory in Canton that Vance toured, holding signs that spelled out “JD Protects Pedophiles” and indicating that “GOP” stands for “Guardians Of Pedophiles.”

The Republican president spoke at his golf property in Turnberry, Scotland, as he sat with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the leaders had met and were answering questions from U.S. and U.K. journalists. Asked to explain why the relationship had faltered, Trump said, “That’s such old history, very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it.”

He then explained, saying he stopped talking to Epstein after “he did something that was inappropriate.”

“He hired help and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’” Trump said. “He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.”

“I threw him out and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth,” Trump added.

Trump recently directed Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to seek the public release of sealed grand jury transcripts in the case. One federal judge has denied that request; a second judge has yet to rule.

Vance on Monday visited the factory to promote Trump’s tax cut and border bill, but also addressed the Epstein matter, saying the president wants “full transparency” in the case.

“The president has been very clear. We’re not shielding anything,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question. “The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.”

“Some of that stuff takes time,” Vance said, adding that Trump has been “very clear. He wants full transparency.”

Trump had said back in 2019 that Epstein was a fixture in Palm Beach but that the two had had a falling-out a long time ago and he hadn’t spoken with Epstein for 15 years.

Trump on Monday also denied contributing to a compilation of letters and drawings to mark Epstein’s 50th birthday, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said the letter believed to be from Trump included a drawing of a woman’s body.

“I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you,” Trump said.

Superville writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Julie Carr Smyth in Canton, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Another 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries after the blast and fire at the Sigachi factory.

At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

“The condition of the bodies is such that we’ve had to deploy a specialised medical team to carry out DNA tests,” said Health and Medical Cabinet Minister of Telangana Damodar Raja Narasimha on Tuesday.

A government panel has been formed to investigate the cause of the disaster.

The blast, which erupted on Monday afternoon at a facility run by Sigachi Industries, took place in the plant’s spray dryer unit – a section used to convert raw materials into powder for drug manufacturing. The factory is located roughly 50km (31 miles) from Hyderabad, the state capital.

Authorities recovered 34 bodies from the debris, while two more workers succumbed to injuries in hospital, according to Telangana’s fire services director, GV Narayana Rao.

“The entire structure has collapsed. The fire is under control and we’re continuing to clear the rubble in case more people are trapped,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

Twenty-five of the deceased are yet to be identified, a district administrative official, P Pravinya, said.

About 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries. Police officials said that more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.

Local residents reported hearing the blast from several kilometres away.

The incident has raised new concerns about industrial safety in India’s booming pharmaceutical sector. Despite the country’s reputation as a global supplier of low-cost medicines and vaccines, fatal accidents at drug manufacturing units are not rare, particularly in facilities handling chemicals or solvents.

Sigachi Industries, which has its headquarters in India, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrient blends, and operates manufacturing plants across the country. It also runs subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to its website.

Officials say rescue and recovery efforts will continue until the entire site has been cleared. The factory’s operations have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Another 26 are injured in blast near the city of Changde, Hunan Province, Xinhua News Agency says.

An explosion at a fireworks factory in southern China has killed nine people and injured 26 others, state media has reported.

The blast occurred at Shanzhou Fireworks Co, located near the city of Changde, Hunan Province, shortly before 8:30am on Monday, state-run Xinhua News Agency said on Tuesday.

During rescue efforts, 28 water tankers and two drainage vehicles were dispatched to the scene, Xinhua said.

Firefighters at the site of the blast reported “secondary hazards” and the risk of further explosions, adding to the difficulty of rescue efforts, according to the state news outlet.

“During more than 20 hours of uninterrupted and ongoing rescue work, firefighters used remote-controlled water cannons to extinguish flames at the site to prevent rescue personnel from approaching closely and reduce risks of secondary hazards,” Xinhua said.

The Hunan provincial government has established an inquiry panel to determine the cause of the explosion and “pursue accountability according to the law,” according to the report.

The incident is the latest industrial accident to draw attention to workplace safety standards in China.

Last month, at least five people were killed and 19 others injured in a chemical plant explosion in Weifang, Shandong province.

In April, at least 22 people were killed when a fire broke out at a restaurant in the northern city of Liaoyang.

THE Original Factory Shop has launched a closing down sale at yet another store.

A branch in Heswall is the latest store to announce its closure, leaving shoppers heartbroken.

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The Merseyside branch has launched closing down sale to help shift stock before it shutters for good.

Shoppers have a chance to grab up to 70% off selected lines, and 50% off electrical products.

The Henswell store opened two years ago in June 2023.

The exact date the store is closing has not yet been confirmed but The Sun will update this piece when we hear more.

Up to 11 TOFS stores are already to set to close this month, including sites across Worcestershire, Durham and Cumbria .

Meanwhile, another five stores across Nairn, Market Drayton, Troon, Blairgowrie and Castle Douglas have been placed up for sale.

The Original Factory Shop has told The Sun that negotiations are ongoing with landlords – making it unclear whether these shops will remain open.

It comes as part of a major restructuring carried out by new owner Modella Capital with a number of loss making stores having to close as result.

Over June nine of these stores will close, including sites in Dorest and Durham.

Another site in Middlewich is also set to close however a date is yet to be confirmed.

You can see the full list of store closures here:

• Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire – June 26
• Perth – June 28
• Chester Le Street, County Durham – June 28
• Arbroath, Angus – June 28
• Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire – June 28
• Pershore, Worcestershire – June 28
• Normanton, West Yorkshire – June 28
• Peterhead, Aberdeenshire – June 28
• Shaftesbury, Dorset – June 28
• Staveley, Cumbria – July 12
• Middlewich – TBC
• Heswall – TBC

The following stores are also up for sale:

• Nairn
• Market Drayton
• Troon
• Blairgowrie
• Castle Douglas

What’s been happening with The Original Factory Shop?

Private equity firm Modella bought The Original Factory Shop back in February and has since launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 TOFS stores.

Modella is known for picking up struggling retailers, having also recently acquired Hobbycraft and WHSmith‘s high street shops.

It is set to rebrand all WHSmith high street stores to TGJones, and has brought in advisers to look at potential options for Hobbycraft.

At the end of April, Modella drew up plans to initiate a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) for TOFS.

Companies often use CVAs to prevent insolvency, which could otherwise result in store closures or the collapse of the entire business.

They allow firms to explore different strategies such as negotiating reduced rent rates with landlords.

TOFS previously told The Press and Journal that a “number of loss-making stores will have to close” as part of the restructuring.

It said at the time: “Closing stores is always a tough decision and we are committed to keeping as many stores open as possible.

And it is not only TOFS that is facing hard times. Hobbycraft is set to close nine stores come June 21.

Orders tumble by 3.7 percent after a rise in March when businesses increased purchases in anticipation of tariffs.

Orders from United States factories have tumbled in April after a surge in March when businesses had front-loaded purchases in anticipation of tariffs.

New orders for US manufactured goods dropped by 3.7 percent on a monthly basis, worse than economists had expected, according to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday.

Economists polled by the Reuters news agency expected a 3.1 percent drop. Dow Jones forecast a 3.3 percent drop. On an annual basis, however, factory orders rose by 2 percent.

April’s report is in sharp contrast to the 3.4 percent increase in March, which topped five straight months of increases.

Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2 percent of the US economy, has been put under pressure by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. Trump sees the tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised extension of tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, a feat that economists argued was impossible in the short term because of labour shortages and other structural issues.

Hardest hit sectors

Orders in the transportation sector fell 17.1 percent, led by a sharp drop in the commercial aircraft sector. Aircraft orders fell by 51.5 percent in April. Orders for motor vehicles, parts and trailers dropped 0.7 percent.

Electrical equipment, appliances and component manufacturing fell by 0.3 percent. But manufacturing for computers and other electronic products actually grew by 1 percent.

Machinery orders also rose 0.6 percent. Excluding transportation, which led the surge in March orders, orders fell 0.5 percent, matching March’s decline of non-transportation goods.

The government also reported that orders for nondefence capital goods excluding aircraft, a measure of business spending plans on equipment, decreased 1.5 percent in April rather than 1.3 percent as estimated last month.

Shipments of these so-called core capital goods fell by an unrevised 0.1 percent, or $1.8bn.

An Institute for Supply Management survey showed manufacturing contracted for a third straight month in May and suppliers took the longest time in nearly three years to deliver inputs to factories.

SEONGNAM, South Korea  — South Korean President-elect Lee Jae-myung has always described his politics as deeply personal, born of the “wretchedness” of his youth.

In his last presidential run three years ago, when his conservative opponent Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor, appealed to the rule of law, Lee told a story from his childhood: how his family’s poverty pushed him into factory assembly lines while his peers were entering middle school — and how his mother would walk him to work every morning, holding his hand.

“Behind every policy that I implemented was my own impoverished and abject life, the everyday struggles of ordinary South Koreans,” he said in March 2022. “The reason I am in politics today is because I want to create … a world of hope for those who are still suffering in the same puddle of poverty and despair that I managed to escape.”

Lee Jae-myung, foreground center, joins a rally against then-President Yoon Suk Yeol at the National Assembly in Seoul in December 2024.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

Although Lee lost that race by 0.73 of a percentage point — or 247,077 votes — it was Yoon who set the stage for Lee’s comeback. Impeached halfway into his term for his declaration of martial law in December, the former president is now on trial for insurrection.

In the snap presidential election that took place Tuesday, the liberal Lee emerged the winner, with South Korea’s three major television broadcasters calling the race just before midnight here.

On the campaign trail, Lee framed his run as a mission to restore the country’s democratic norms. But he also returned to the theme that has, over the years, evolved from childhood yearning into his signature political brand: the promise of a society that offers its most vulnerable a “thick safety mat” — a way out of the puddle.

Born in December 1963, the fifth of seven siblings, Lee grew up in Seongnam, a city near the southeastern edge of Seoul that, by the time his family settled there in 1976, was known as a neighborhood for those who had been evicted from the capital’s shantytowns.

The family rented a single semi-basement room by a local market, where his father made a living as a cleaner. At times his family lived on discarded fruit he picked up along his route. Lee’s mother worked as a bathroom attendant just around the corner.

Lee spent his teenage years hopping from one factory to another to help. His first job, at 13, was soldering lead at a jewelry maker for 12 hours a day, breathing in the acrid fumes. At another job, the owner skipped out without paying Lee three months’ worth of wages.

A few years later, while operating a press machine at a baseball glove factory, Lee suffered an accident that permanently disfigured his left arm.

Banners featuring ruling and opposition presidential candidates hang over a street in Seoul days before an election in March 2022.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

Lee then began studying for middle school and high school at night after getting off work. He proved to be a gifted student, earning himself a full ride to Chung-Ang University to study law.

After passing South Korea’s bar exam in 1986, he was moved by a lecture given by Roh Moo-hyun, a human rights lawyer who went on to become president in 2003, and the 26-year-old Lee opened up his own legal practice to do the same.

Seongnam by then was rapidly developing, becoming the site of several projects, and Lee threw himself into local watchdog activism.

Ha Dong-geun, 73, who spent a decade organizing in the city with Lee, recalled the day they met: The latter wore an expression of great urgency — “like something bad would happen if he didn’t immediately hit the ground running.”

He added: “He wasn’t afraid of what others thought of him.”

Ha remembered Lee as a keen strategic mind, with a knack for “finding out his opponent’s weaknesses.” Yet despite the noise they made, substantive change proved harder to achieve, leading to Lee’s political awakening in 2004.

A year earlier, two of the city’s major hospitals had shut down, threatening the accessibility of emergency care in its poorest neighborhoods. But though Lee’s campaign had gathered nearly 20,000 signatures from residents to build a public hospital in their place, the proposal was struck down almost immediately by the city council.

“Those in power do not care about the health and lives of people unless there are profits to be made,” Lee wrote in 2021 of his reaction then. “If they won’t do it, let’s do it ourselves. Instead of asking for it from someone else, I will become mayor and do it with my own hands.”

Lee Jae-myung was attacked and injured during a January 2024 visit to the city of Busan in South Korea.

(Sohn Hyung-joo / Yonhap / AP)

Lee was mayor of Seongnam from 2010 to 2018. During that time, he repaid over $400 million in municipal debt left behind by his predecessor. He moved his office down from the ninth to the second floor, frequently appearing in person to field questions or complaints from citizens.

But he was best known for his welfare policies, which he rolled out despite intense opposition from the then-conservative central government: free school lunches, free school uniforms for middle-schoolers and financial support for new mothers seeking postpartum care. For all 24-year-old citizens, the city also provided an annual basic income of around $720 in the form of cash vouchers that could be used at local businesses.

In 2016, when the plight of a high school student who couldn’t afford sanitary pads using a shoe insole instead made national headlines, the city also added a program that gave underprivileged teenage girls cash for female hygiene products. A few years later, Lee also made good on his campaign promise to build the public hospital that had first propelled him into politics.

“My personal experiences made me aware of how cruel this world can be to those who have nothing,” he said in 2021.

Though it has been years since Lee left the city to become the governor of Gyeonggi province and to stage three presidential runs, his track record still inspires fierce loyalty in Seongnam’s working-class neighborhoods, where Lee is remembered as a doer who looked after even the little things.

“His openness and willingness to communicate resonated with a lot of people,” said Kim Seung-man, 67, a shop owner in Sangdaewon Market, where Lee’s family eked out a living in the 1970s. “Working-class people identify with him because he had such a difficult childhood.”

People shout slogans during a rally on April 4, 2025, to celebrate impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s removal from office by the Constitutional Court.

(Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

And while the Seongnam Citizens Medical Center — which opened in 2020 — is deep in the red and has become a target for Lee’s critics who dismiss his welfare policies as cheap populism, Kim says it is a lifeline to this working-class neighborhood.

“It was a treatment hub for COVID patients during the pandemic,” he said. “Serving the public good means doing so regardless of whether it is profitable or not.”

Beyond Seongnam’s working-class neighborhoods, Lee has provoked in many an equally intense dislike — a fact that cannot be explained by his policies alone.

Some have attributed this to his brusque, sometimes confrontational demeanor, others to classist prejudice. Lee has pointed to his status as an “outsider” in the world of South Korean establishment politics, where the paths of most ambitious young politicians follow a script he has eschewed: getting in line behind a party heavyweight who will open doors to favorable legislative seats.

“I have never become indebted to anyone during my time in politics,” Lee said at a news conference last month.

He has faced attacks from within his own party, and conservatives have cast him as a tyrant and a criminal, noting allegations against him in legal cases. Former President Yoon cited the “legislative tyranny” of the Lee-led liberal opposition as justification for declaring martial law in December.

“There are still controversies over character or ethics trailing Lee,” said Cho Jin-man, a political scientist at Duksung Women’s University. “He doesn’t have a squeaky clean image.”

Since losing the 2022 election, Lee has faced trial on numerous charges, including election law violations and the mishandling of a real estate development project as mayor of Seongnam — indictments which Lee has decried as politically motivated attacks by Yoon and his allies.

Lee Jae-myung speaks during a Dec. 15 news conference about the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

(Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

Few of the allegations against Lee have stuck. Others, like an election law clause that prohibits candidates from lying during their campaigns, is an oft-abused technicality that would leave few politicians standing were it consistently enforced.

“On the contrary, these have only led to perceptions that there are problems with the prosecution service,” Cho said.

In recent months, Lee has tried to smooth the rougher edges of his public persona, vowing to mend the country’s increasingly combustible partisan rifts.

Last year, after he survived an assassination attempt in which the assailant’s blade nicked a major vein in his neck, Lee denounced the “politics of hate” that had taken root in the country, calling for a new era of mutual respect and coexistence.

In his recent campaign, Lee has billed his welfare agenda, which includes pledges for better labor protections as well as more public housing and public healthcare, not as class warfare but as commonsense pragmatism, reflecting his efforts to win over moderate conservatives.

But there are still questions whether Lee, whose party now controls both the executive and legislative branches, will be successful.

”He now has a clear path to push through what he wants very efficiently,” Cho said. “But the nature of power is such that those who hold it don’t necessarily exercise restraint.”

Although Lee has promised to not seek retribution against his political enemies as president, he has also made it clear that those who collaborated with former President Yoon’s illegal power grab will be held accountable — a move that will inevitably inflame partisan discord.

His working-class background has not staved off criticisms from labor activists, who say his proposal to boost the domestic semiconductor industry would walk back the rights of its workers.

That background will also do little for Lee’s first and most pressing agenda item: dealing with President Trump, whose tariffs on South Korean cars, steel and aluminum are set to fully go into effect in July.

“I don’t think Lee and Trump will have good chemistry,” Cho said.

“They both have such strong personalities, but they are so different in terms of political ideology and personal upbringing.”

AN ICONIC carmaker has been thrown a £1billion lifeline from the UK Government. 

The struggling car maker had announced plans to axe over 20,000 members of staff due to soaring production costs and disappointing sales. 

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Nissan is looking to raise £5.2billion to stay afloat, with UK Export Finance underwriting a £1billion loan – which will support the beleaguered company. 

The manufacturer is planning to cut its number of factories from 17 down to 10. 

This has prompted fears that the brand’s Sunderland factory could be under threat. 

While Nissan has not confirmed the fate of its only UK factory, its CEO Ivan Espinosa has insisted that more electric cars will be produced there. 

It is hoped that the £1billion loan from Nissan’s lenders, underwritten by The Government, will protect the site. 

The huge cash injection is just a fifth of the 1Trillion Yen needed by the company to survive. 

It will also look to issue as much as 630billion yen in convertible securities and bonds, including high-yield and euro notes.

Reportedly, the firm is looking to sell-and-lease-back its Yokohama headquarters alongside several properties in the United States.

The Yokohama site is valued at £500 million and was first opened in 2009.

It has 22 floors and a glitzy gallery, along with thousands of workers who use the site every day. 

Finally, the struggling car manufacturer is eyeing a sale of its stakes in Renault and battery maker AESC Group.

Mr Espinosa has commented in the past on Nissan’s urgent cost-cutting mission. 

He said: “In the face of challenging full-year 2024 performance and rising variable costs compounded by an uncertain environment, we must prioritise self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume.”

He added: “As new management, we are taking a prudent approach to reassess our targets and actively seek every possible opportunity to implement and ensure a robust recovery.”

Development on some Nissan models has been paused, whilst the company tries to balance its books. 

Work on all “advanced and post-FY26 product activities” has been paused, though Nissan has not confirmed which particular vehicles will face suspension. 

Mr Espinosa has previously issued a full statement about Nissan’s financial woes.

He said: “This is not something that happened in the last couple of years.

“It’s more of a fundamental problem that probably started back in 2015, when management thought this company could reach [annual global vehicle sales] of around eight million.

“There were heavy investments both in terms of planned capacity as well as in human resources, but the reality today is we are running at around half that volume. And nobody did anything to fix that until now.”

The United States and China are locked in a standoff with no resolution in sight. The U.S. wants to reshore manufacturing, and China wants to sell its manufactured products into the American market. It will take a creative solution to overcome this impasse, but it’s very possible.

President Trump himself has already previewed what a winning formula could look like. During his 2024 campaign, he repeatedly pledged to lure other countries’ factories to the United States. At a rally in Michigan, he said: “China has to build plants here and hire our workers. When I’m back in the White House, the way they will sell their product in America is to build it in America. They have to build it in America, and they have to use you people to build it.”

When China began embracing a market economy in the 1970s, its leaders made a similar demand to American companies. In order to get access to the Chinese market, American firms would have to manufacture in China, hire Chinese workers and teach the Chinese the underlying technology. But times have changed. China is no longer America’s pupil. When it comes to automobile and battery manufacturing, Chinese companies are years ahead of their American competition. It’s time for us to learn from them.

Gotion Inc., an advanced Chinese battery manufacturer, is currently building two plants in the United States. The Gotion plants in Michigan and Illinois together will employ 5,000 American workers and also train American engineers in the latest lithium battery technology. CATL, another Chinese battery company, is looking to build factories in partnership with American automakers. Their proposed factory in Michigan, a joint venture with Ford, would employ 2,500 Americans.

These companies are attempting to build here because they want access to the U.S. market. By building in the U.S., they can avoid tariffs and more easily sell their batteries to American companies. In return, the U.S. gets good-paying jobs, the best batteries in the world and a more advanced manufacturing sector.

But instead of embracing this as a victory, Republicans have brutally attacked both Gotion and CATL because they’re Chinese. For them, every company from China is a national security threat, even if there’s no specific evidence against them. According to the hawks, merely being Chinese-owned means the company is part of a covert operation directed by the Chinese government. Evidence to the contrary is simply ignored.

In Gotion’s case, they’re a global company whose largest shareholder is Volkswagen; the U.S. operations are run by American executives; and the U.S. plants will be staffed by American workers. In CATL’s case, it won’t own the U.S. plant it helps build, but instead will be licensing technology to Ford, which will own the plant. But when it comes to China, such inconvenient facts are thrown out the window because politicians need to score political points.

The China bashing has become so prevalent that Trump has had to clarify his position. At a recent Cabinet meeting, Trump said that he welcomes Chinese investment in the United States, and that he doesn’t understand why some people have the impression that he doesn’t. Of course, people have that impression because his underlings have been working overtime to prevent Chinese companies from investing here. Not only has Trump not slapped them down, but also he contradicted his own position by signing an executive order that makes it harder for the U.S. and China to invest in each other.

If this current trajectory continues, there won’t be more Gotions or CATLs announcing investments in America. Trump needs to make it clear that victory in the trade war includes Chinese manufacturers setting up shop here. If he doesn’t, his staff may continue to sabotage what could be openings to defuse tensions with China.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has wisely called for an economic rebalancing with China. That will require adopting a rational approach, not one based on paranoia. It’s time to turn this standoff into a victory.

James Bacon was a special assistant to the president during the first Trump administration.

SEOUL — In South Korea, the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on imported cars has sent local automakers Hyundai and Kia scrambling to protect one of the country’s most valuable exports. But General Motors, which last year shipped 418,782 units from its factories here to American consumers — or 88.5% of its total sales — may be facing a much larger predicament.

Unlike Hyundai and Kia, which control over 90% of the domestic market here, the Detroit-based automaker produces budget SUVs like the Chevrolet Trax or Chevrolet Trailblazer almost exclusively for the U.S. market. The Trax has been South Korea’s most-exported car since 2023.

That business model has made GM, which operates three factories and employs some 11,000 workers in the country, uniquely exposed to Trump’s auto tariffs, resurfacing long-running concerns in the local automobile industry that the company may ultimately pack up and leave.

Until last month’s tariffs, cars sold between the U.S. and South Korea were untaxed under a bilateral free trade agreement. That helped South Korea become the third-largest automobile exporter to the U.S. last year to the tune of $34.7 billion — or around half of its total automobile exports. In contrast, South Korea bought just $2.1 billion worth of cars from the U.S.

Earlier this month, GM executives estimated that the tariffs would cost the company up to $5 billion this year, adding that the company would boost production in its U.S. plants to offset the hit. With additional factories in Mexico and Canada, GM currently imports around half of the cars that it sells in the U.S.

“If the U.S. tariffs remain in place, GM will no longer have any reason to stay in South Korea,” said Lee Ho-guen, an automotive engineering professor at Daeduk University.

“The tariffs may add up to $10,000 to the sticker price on cars shipped to the U.S., while GM sells less than 50,000 units a year in South Korea. There is very little room for them to adjust their strategy.”

Kim Woong-heon, an official in GM Korea’s labor union, said that the union is approaching current rumors of the company’s potential exit with a dose of caution, but added that broader concerns about the company’s long-term commitment remain.

“The cars we’re manufacturing here are on the lowest end of GM’s price range so labor costs will make it impossible to immediately shift production to the U.S.,” he said.

“But we have painful memories of GM shutting down one of its factories in 2018, so we get nervous every time these rumors surface.”

GM Chevrolet automobiles bound for export sit parked at the Port of Incheon in South Korea.

(SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This isn’t the first time that GM’s prospects in the country have come under question. The company first established itself in South Korea in 2002 by acquiring the bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. in a government-backed deal that some at the time criticized as “GM taking the cream off Daewoo for almost nothing.”

Struggling to compete with the likes of Hyundai, GM briefly positioned itself as a production base for European and Asian markets until its bankruptcy in 2009.

Amid the global restructuring efforts that followed, concerns that it would close its South Korean operations led the government to once again intervene. In the end, GM stayed after receiving $750 million in financing from the country’s development bank on the condition that it would remain open for at least 10 more years.

But in 2018, the company closed its factory in the city of Gunsan, which had employed around 1,800 workers, and spun off its research and development unit from its manufacturing base — a move that many saw as the company strategically placing one foot out the door.

In February, shortly after President Trump announced the 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars, Paul Jacobson, GM’s chief financial officer, hinted that the company may once again be facing similarly tough decisions:

“If they become permanent, then there’s a whole bunch of different things that you have to think about in terms of, where do you allocate plants, and do you move plants.”

In recent weeks, executives from GM Korea have sought to assuage the rumors that the company’s South Korean operations would be affected.

“We do not intend to respond to rumors about the company’s exit from Korea,” said Gustavo Colossi, GM Korea’s vice president of sales, at a news conference last month. “We plan to move forward with our sales strategies in Korea and continue launching new models in the coming weeks and months, introducing fresh GM offerings to the market.”

The union says the company’s two finished car plants have been running at full capacity, with an additional 21,000 units recently allocated to the factory in Incheon, a city off the country’s western coast — a sign that business will go on as usual for now.

But with GM’s 10-year guarantee set to expire in 2027, Kim, the union official, said that their demands for measures that prove the company’s commitment beyond that have gone unanswered.

These include manufacturing GM’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in South Korean factories, as well as making a greater range of its products available for sale in South Korea and other Asian markets.

”If the company intends to continue its operations here, it needs to make its business model more sustainable and not as reliant on imports to the U.S.,” Kim said.

“That will be our core demand at this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations.”

GM’s immediate prospects in the country will depend on the ongoing tariff talks between U.S. and South Korean officials that began last month with the goal of producing a deal by July 8.

Although South Korean trade minister Ahn Duk-geun has stressed that cars are “the most important part of the U.S.-South Korea trade relationship,” few expect that Seoul will be able to finesse the sort of deal given to the U.K., which last week secured a 10% rate on the first 100,000 vehicles shipped to the U.S. each year.

Unlike South Korea, which posted a $66-billion trade surplus with the U.S. last year, the U.K. buys more from the U.S. than it sells. And many of the cars that it does sell to the U.S. are luxury vehicles such as the Rolls-Royce, which Trump has differentiated from the “monster car companies” that make “millions of cars.”

“At some point after the next two years, I believe it’s highly likely GM will leave and keep only their research and development unit here, or at least significantly cut back on their production,” Lee, the automotive professor, said.

In the southeastern port city of Changwon, home to the smaller of GM’s two finished car plants, local officials have been reluctant to give air to what they describe as premature fearmongering.

But Woo Choon-ae, a 62-year-old real estate agent whose clients also include GM workers and their families, can’t help but worry.

She says that the company’s exit would be devastating to the city, which, like many rural areas, has already been under strain from population decline.

GM employs 2,800 workers in the region, but accounts for thousands more jobs at its suppliers. The Changwon factory, which manufactures the Trax, represented around 15% of the city’s total exports last year.

“People work for GM because it offers stable employment until retirement age. If they close the factory here, all of these workers will leave to find work in other cities, which will be a critical blow to the housing market,” she said.

“Homes are how people save money in South Korea. But if people’s savings are suddenly halved, who’s going to be spending money on things like dining out?”