Trump previously claimed he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine ‘within 24 hours’.

UK-made, invisible radio wave weapon has knocked out drone swarms for the first time.

If you’ve always wanted to try out the Metro series, a remastered version of the first game is currently a free download.

Philip Ingram MBE addressed the question ‘When Will World War 3 Start?’

‘Only a scoundrel can act like this’, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

A soldier walks through the city of Pokrovsk which is now almost on the front line on April 8, 2025 (Picture: Getty)

Ukraine could be divided ‘almost like Berlin after World War II’ as part of a deal to end Russia’s full-…

Gold has hit an all-time high surpassing levels seen during the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The trigger? Not a confluence of factors, as it is generally, but one person – Donald Trump – and his full-blown trade war that has ended ‘the world as we know it’.

One product of this 21st century gold rush is a TikTok, that has racked up millions of views, of a man casually unloading a gold bar he purchased inCostco to sell.

‘Last year, I bought this one ounce (28 grams) gold bar for $2,359 (£1,805) from Costco,’ video creator Humphrey Yang explains. ‘Today I am going to sell it…’

He eventually manages to sell it for $2,955 (£2,258), profiting a whooping $596 (£450).

It is an example of the market right now as the precious metal surpassed £2,442 per ounce on Friday morning – its highest ever price.

This spike has also prompted discussions on Reddit’s r/investing forum, where people are debating whether gold’s rally is actually sustainable.

‘Is this the start of a larger trend?’ ‘What other alternative investments are there?’ ‘What is going to happen in the next few months?’ These are some of the questions users are anxiously asking.

Shift towards gold ‘well underway’

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, told Metro the shift toward gold is already well underway.

‘The surge in popularity is already happening. The gold price is up by about 21%. That is just this year, and it is constantly testing new record highs,’ he said.

What is unusual this time is the influence of one person, the US president.

Hunter said: ‘There are so many factors at play, but at a high level, market crises are usually caused by a confluence of issues. This time, rather oddly, it is largely down to one person.

‘The “tariff trauma” we are seeing is escalating daily and it is triggering a backlash against the States.’

That uncertainty has reignited interest in traditional ‘safe havens’ like gold.

‘What investors have been doing is searching for haven alternatives where they hope they can ride out some of this storm,’ Hunter explained.

‘What we have seen in the currency markets is particular strength in Swiss franc and Japanese yen. And arguably, the ultimate haven asset is gold.

‘There has been, as we discussed, a real meaningful amount of investment flowing into gold.’

‘Almost guaranteed’ volatility in next 90 days

As for what is next, Hunter stressed he can ‘almost guarantee’ volatility for the next three months as Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs with the exception of China.

While the rest of the world has the period to negotiate another deal, China – the second largest economy – will have its tariffs increased to 125% from 104%.

This came after the country announced additionaltariffs against the US earlier Wednesday.

Hunter commented on this development: ‘When you have got the world’s two largest economies at loggerheads, it is going to show cracks in the system. And that is exactly what is happening.’

British shoppers flock to buy gold

It is not just investors pivoting toward ‘safe haven’ gold, British shoppers are as well.

Dan Rennie, director at jeweller Rennie & Co in London, told Metro that the demand for gold jewellery has spiked despite the price surge.

‘Ironically, with the price of gold going up, we are actually selling more of it, especially when it comes to wedding rings.’

‘Over the last decade or two, platinum dominated. But in the last year, we are definitely seeing a shift back to 18 karat yellow gold.

‘Whether it is a fashion trend or the perception of exclusivity, people are drawn to it.’

For jewellers like Rennie & Co, the cost of gold is becoming much harder to ignore.

Over the past year, Rennie said he has had to raise prices three or four times, not because of labour or other costs, but purely due to gold itself.

‘We last adjusted maybe a month or two ago, and even now we are starting to fall behind again. So I am sure at some point we will need to reassess.’

Gold has a long track record of surging during times of crisis, with people rushing to buy as trust in institutions wobbled.

Prices soared in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the 2008 financial crash, and hit previous record highs again during the pandemic.

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A report that Britain is considering deploying soldiers to Ukraine for five years has been described as ‘pure speculation’.

One of a number of options on the table being discussed by Western allies was said to be a European-led force dispatched to the war-torn nation to deter Russia from breaching any agreement of a ceasefire.

But a ministry of defence spokesperson criticised the report, telling Metro: ‘This is pure speculation.

‘As defence secretary John Healey said on Thursday when convening the latest meeting of the 30 countries supporting the Coalition of the Willing, we are stepping up as one to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to protect its sovereignty.

‘We must put more pressure on Putin to end his war, and we must step up our support for Ukraine, which is why we have announced a further £450 million of military support today to deliver hundreds of thousands of drones and other urgently needed equipment.’

The claims, originally reported by The Telegraph, citing unnamed sources, said the main aim of the deployment would be to immediately start helping to train and rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces.

The force would later withdraw in stages with final troops to leave around the five year mark. 

Away from deploying British and French soldiers on the ground in Ukraine European allies are focusing on military aid to help support the depleted army.

They pledged a record £18.2 billion of help as Healey warned that 2025 was ‘the critical year’ for the war.

The commitments follow a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) chaired by the UK defence minister and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Healey said: ‘This UDCG could not meet at a more important time, because 2025 is the critical year for this war in Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war.’

Opening the meeting, he had urged allies to ‘step up our support for Ukraine’, adding: ‘Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.’

The support announced on Friday includes a £450 million package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Ukraine.

Drones have come to play an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war, with Healey saying on Friday that 70-80% of battlefield casualties were now inflicted by the technology – significantly outnumbering those caused by artillery.

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Hi absence coincides with Trump’s criticism of Russia’s ongoing bombing of Ukraine.

A former ballerina who was imprisoned in Russia for donating £39 to a charity collecting money for Ukraine has finally been freed.

Ksenia Karelina, a US-Russian dual national, was supposed to spend the next 12 years of her life behind bars after being convicted of treason last year and branded an ‘American spy’.

The 34-year-old was today released in a prisoner exchange with the US government, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

Rubio confirmed in a statement on X earlier: ‘American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States.

‘She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and president Trump secured her release.

‘He will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.’

Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said: ‘She was exchanged. She contacted her relatives two hours ago.’

He confirmed that she was flying to the US from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the exchange took place.

Who is Ksenia Karelina?

Karelina was born in Russia and emigrated to the US back in 2012 with her childhood friend Kristina via a work-study programme, receiving American citizenship in 2021.

At first, she pursued dance as a ballerina, but later moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles, where she took on a job as a receptionist at the luxury Ciel Spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.

In 2022, she graduated from esthetician school and continued working in the spa until she was jailed in Russia.

Family members described her as someone who ‘loves to travel to US national parks, hikes, does yoga every Sunday and takes boxing classes’.

A statement on the ‘Free Ksenia’ website said: ‘She is a kind and generous woman who is very close to her family. Since her arrest, her boyfriend Chris has been the lead advocate for Ksenia, coordinating everything we do to support Ksenia and bring her home.’

Why did the Kremlin target the former ballerina?

She had travelled from Los Angeles to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, parents and younger sister in their home in southwestern Russia when she was detained in February.

Three days before she was scheduled to return home, she was handcuffed in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, and convicted of state treason later in 2024.

This was also the same location where Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had been arrested the previous year.

Russia’s FSB searched her mobile and found that she had made a donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Authorities accused her of ‘proactively collecting money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organisations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces’.

The US authorities have called the case against her ‘absolutely ludicrous’.

Who else was part of the prisoner exchange?

The prisoner exchange was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the exchange at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

‘Today, president Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,’ Ratcliffe said.

‘I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the government of UAE for enabling the exchange.’

It is understood that the US in exchange freed dual German-Russian citizen, Arthur Petrov.

He was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the US for allegedly exporting more than $225,000 worth of electronic components to manufacturers supplying weaponry and equipment to the Russian military.

Petrov worked for Russia-based supplier LLC Electrocom VPK, according to court documents cited by the US Department of Justice.

It was alleged that alongside two accomplices who also worked for Electrocom Petrov fraudulently procured microelectronics from US distributors using a network of shell companies, based in Cyprus and other third countries, to disguise that the ultimate destination for the equipment was Russia.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian or US authorities.

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Two Chinese nationals were captured this week, Ukraine said.