Weekly News Recap - April 17th 2025
Here are all the news you might have missed this week: Ukraine peace talks, a struggling world economy and a movie-going highlight.
In this week’s news recap:
IMF cuts global growth forecast
Rubio considers abandoning Ukraine peace-talks
Sen. van Hollen meets with mistakenly deported man
China looks for new partners
Culture: “Sinners” has movie-critics in awe
IMF cuts global growth forecast - ECB slashes rates
The International Monetary Fund has lowered its global growth forecast. The organization named Trump’s tariffs, and especially the trade war with China, as the main reason. While the IMF stopped short of projecting a global recession, they expect inflation to rise worldwide.
The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rates to 2.25% (from 2.5%) to help boost Europe’s stagnating economy. In contrast to the FED, which won’t cut rates at the moment due to anticipated tariff inflation in the US, the ECB sees less risk of inflation rising again in Europe.
US Secretary of State Rubio talks about abandoning Ukraine
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US should “move on” if peace talks don’t deliver any progress soon. Without US support, Ukraine would face a near-impossible fight against Russia’s war machine.
European leaders like Mark Rutte and Emanuel Macron vow to continue to support Ukraine. Peace talks with Ukraine leaders, hosted by the French president, had shown promising results just a day before Rubio’s comments.
Despite the US and Europe pushing for peace, Russia has continued its attacks. Last Sunday, two Russian missiles struck the city of Sumy, killing at least 36 people, most of them civilians. The strike has led to international outrage while Russia downplayed criticism, saying they targeted Ukrainian officials.
Sen. van Hollen meets with mistakenly deported man from Maryland
On Thursday, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland met with Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and detained in a high-security prison. Despite a U.S. Supreme Court order mandating Ábrego García's return, both the Trump administration and Salvadoran authorities have resisted compliance.
The meeting underscores escalating tensions between U.S. executive actions and judicial directives and came after van Hollen was denied entry to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison.
China is looking for new trading partners
In light of the escalating Trade war with Donald Trump, China is looking to strengthen ties with countries in Southeast Asia. President Xi hopes to patch the hole from the trade war with the US, advocating for free trade among its neighbors.
The move comes as China faces its own economic difficulties, including a real estate collapse and persistent deflation.
Culture: “Sinners” has movie critics in awe
Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying action-horror film “Sinners” is hitting the box office this weekend. The film stars Michael B. Jordan and has left critics stunned, receiving positive ratings from across the world.
"Sinners”, an R-rated film, is expected to reign in around $45 million in its opening weekend.