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This is the world in brief from The Economist.

Thank you. This is the world in brief from The Economist. Our top stories.

America's economy added 177,000 jobs in April, as the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%.

Economists, polled by Bloomberg, had expected a gain of 138,000 jobs.

The better-than-expected data comes amid concerns about the effect of Donald Trump's trade war.

GDP figures released on Wednesday showed that America's economy shrank at an annual pace of 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025.

Reform UK beat Britain's governing Labour Party by just six votes in a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby,

overturning a huge labour majority in the constituency in

North West England. Reform, a hard-right party led by Nigel Farage, a cheerleader for Brexit,

also made big gains in elections for English local councils and mayors, chiefly at the expense of the Conservative Party.

Germany's domestic spy agency labelled the hard-right alternative for Germany Party a, quote,

proven right-wing extremist organisation. The classification, backed by a report detailing breaches of the Constitution and

the rule of law, is the first for any mainstream modern German party in Parliament. The agency

may increase surveillance of the AFD, which notched up its best ever national result in elections

in February.

Mr Trump proposed cutting $163 billion from America's federal budget next year,

...