The recent surge in gold prices underscores a profound shift in how global investors are assessing risk and value amid escalating geopolitical and economic uncertainty — a shift triggered largely by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade policies.

Gold, traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation and a store of value during turbulent times, has now firmly stepped into a more dominant role as the global safe-haven asset of choice. This particular flight to safety is distinct in that investors are not just flocking to gold — they are actively abandoning U.S. Treasurys and the dollar, long considered pillars of financial security. In effect, gold is filling a vacuum left by the eroding confidence in America’s fiscal trajectory and institutional stability.

France is undertaking its most significant defense spending overhaul in decades, directing a substantial portion of a thirty-six-billion-euro increase toward munitions stockpiling and drone acquisition as Paris recalibrates its military posture for a strategic environment defined by active wars on two fronts and growing doubt about the reliability of American security commitments to Europe.

The revised multi-year defense bill, presented to cabinet on Wednesday by Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin, allocates 8.5 billion euros to a fifty-four percent expansion in munitions spending and two billion euros specifically for drone programs, reflecting the two most urgent operational lessons drawn from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf.

Norwegian energy company Equinor has received approval from the New York State Public Service Commission to commence construction of its Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, as announced by Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday. This approval marks a significant milestone in the development…