London’s Heathrow airport said it would reopen after a fire at a nearby electrical substation caused it to close for most of Friday. Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, said it hoped to run a “full operation” on Saturday. Counterterrorism police, who are leading the investigation into the blaze, said there was no indication of foul play.
The upper house of Germany’s parliament approved the creation of a €500bn ($542bn) fund for infrastructure and the loosening of the “debt brake”, the country’s legal limit on government borrowing, to allow for greater defence spending. The centre-right Christian Democrats, led by Friedrich Merz, the probable next chancellor, passed the bill with the support of the centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens.
Shares in Nike dropped to a five-year low after it issued a weak earnings forecast on Thursday. The sportswear giant is struggling to compete with Adidas, a German firm, and other rivals, and warned that tariffs on imports to America could weigh on its sales. Nike has factories in China and Mexico, both of which have been targeted by Donald Trump.
Mr Trump awarded Boeing a contract to develop a next-generation fighter jet. The aerospace giant’s shares rose by more than 5% following the announcement. America’s 47th president said that a prototype of the plane, the name of which he revealed as the F-47, had been tested in secret for five years. Boeing has been beset by safety and production problems in recent years.
Johnson & Johnson announced investments of $55bn in its American manufacturing capacity over the next four years—an increase of 25% on the previous four. The drugmaker has begun building a plant in North Carolina and said it would build three more. The announcement comes as Mr Trump’s tariff plans threaten to raise the price of imported drugs.
Lawmakers in Peru voted to oust the country’s interior minister as it battles a surge in crime, pointing to his “inability” to address the violence. A popular singer was murdered on Sunday, prompting Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, to declare a national emergency in Lima, the capital, and send troops into the streets. Murders were up by 36% in 2024 compared with a year earlier.
Conor McGregor declared his candidacy in Ireland’s presidential election later this year. The mixed martial-arts fighter plans to campaign against immigration. He may struggle to secure the nominations needed from 20 lawmakers (or four local councils). Mr McGregor, who was found liable for rape in a civil suit in Ireland last year, on Monday met Mr Trump, a fan, in the White House.
Word of the week: Jingwai, the ambiguous word that Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president, used to refer to China on March 13th. Read the full story.
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