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Shares in US film studios slid on Monday following a threat by US President Donald Trump to impose 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made productions.Meanwhile oil prices tumbled after OPEC+ countries announced an output hike despite oversupply concerns and growing fears that Trump’s trade war could weaken demand.Globally, stock markets were mixed in holiday-thinned trading ahead of central bank decisions on interest rates later in the week.Wall Street indices finished a choppy session lower, with the S&P 500 losing 0.6 percent to snap a nine-day streak of gains.US stocks are coming off two strong weeks, with gains last Friday driven by strong jobs data and improving sentiment about US-China trade talks. Monday’s retreat “was indicative of consolidation after the market’s solid run off April lows,” said Briefing.com, which pointed to “ongoing resilience” that limited Monday’s losses.Shares in entertainment firms slid after Trump said Sunday he was ordering new tariffs on all films made outside the United States, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of US filmmakers and studios working abroad.Lionsgate Studios dropped five percent, while Netflix, whose foreign productions for its subsidiaries have often become popular globally, saw its shares fall around two percent.Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery also retreated.Shares in Berkshire Hathaway fell around five percent after influential investor Warren Buffett said Saturday that he would retire from leading the firm he built into a conglomerate worth more than $1 trillion.In Europe, Paris ended lower while Frankfurt climbed as Germany’s conservatives and center-left Social Democrats reached a coalition deal for governing.London was closed for a public holiday, as were Tokyo and Hong Kong in Asia.Investors are waiting for interest rate decisions this week, with the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England holding policy meetings on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.”Our US economists expect the Fed to keep rates steady and avoid explicit forward guidance about the policy path ahead,” Deutsche Bank analysts said.- Brent below $60 per barrel -Oil prices fell sharply after Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other members of the OPEC+ oil cartel announced an output increase of 411,000 barrels a day for June, a month after a similar move had already caused prices to fall.Brent’s international benchmark crude fell below $60 per barrel for the first time since 2020 before rebounding somewhat.The price of crude has also been sliding because of fears of a global economic slowdown on the back of Trump’s tariff onslaught.Analysts were still trying to pinpoint the oil cartel’s motivation.”The weekend news wasn’t a shocker but the reasons behind the move remain uncertain,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.”The official communication says the group is bringing barrels back to the market because ‘fundamentals are healthy and inventories are low,'” Ozkardeskaya said.”Yet global growth expectations have been crumbling due to a heated trade war between the US and the rest of the world, and rising output only worsens oversupply concerns,” said Ozkardeskaya.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.0 percent at $57.13 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.7 percent at $60.23 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 41,218.83 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.6 percent at 5,650.38 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 17,844.24 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 7,727.93 (close) Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.1 percent at 23,344.54 (close)London – FTSE 100: closed for holidayTokyo – Nikkei 225: closed for holidayHong Kong – Hang Seng Index: closed for holiday Shanghai – Composite: closed for holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1319 from $1.1297 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3296 from $1.3270Dollar/yen: DOWN at 143.72 yen from 144.92Euro/pound: UP at 85.10 pence from 84.10burs-jmb/bjt

Ford reported a 65 percent drop in first-quarter profits Monday, citing a near-term drag on auto sales from new vehicle launches, as it withdrew its forecast amid tariff uncertainty.The carmaker estimated a full-year hit of about $1.5 billion in adjusted operating earnings following President Donald Trump’s myriad tariff actions since returning to the White House in January.Profits came in at $471 million, beating analyst expectations but just over a third of the level in the 2024 period, with revenues falling five percent to $40.7 billion.In the first quarter, Ford wholesale units fell seven percent from the year-ago level, a drop the automaker had previously telegraphed due to slowed output at plants in Kentucky and Michigan where new vehicles are being launched.In March, Ford began shipping the new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator to customers.Profits fell in Ford’s “Pro” division, which is geared toward fleet and sales to businesses, and in its “Blue” division, which consists of conventional internal combustion engine cars. But losses declined in Ford’s electric vehicle division.Ford described its underlying business as “strong,” saying it had been on track with the prior projection of between $7 and $8.5 billion in adjusted operating earnings, excluding tariff-related impacts.Ford is “suspending” its guidance due to myriad uncertainties. Besides tariffs and potential retaliatory tariffs, Ford cited other “material near-term” risks as including potential supply chain disruption and uncertainty over emissions policy changes in Washington.”These are substantial industry risks, which could have significant impacts on financial results, and that make updating full year guidance challenging right now given the potential range of outcomes,” Ford said.The company expects 2025 pricing to be flat to slightly higher.As far as car sales, “we’re seeing a strong first half in the industry,” Chief Financial Officer Sherry House said of a period that included an uptick in sales to buyers who wanted to get ahead of tariffs.House expects “some potential compression” in sales in the second half of 2025 when prices could tick higher amid tariffs, resulting in a net for all of 2025 of flat or up about one percent.Ford fell 2.2 percent in after-hours trading.

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said on Monday, two days before they gather in a conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group — summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — is the largest and the most international ever.At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is struggling to adapt to the modern world and recover its reputation after the scandal of widespread child sex abuse by priests.The 133 cardinals who will vote — all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons — will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.They are sworn to secrecy, risking excommunication if they reveal what happens — as are their support staff, from medics to lift operators, canteen and cleaning staff, who took their oath on Monday.The Vatican announced on Monday that it would also cut the phone signals within the tiny city state for the duration of the conclave, although this will not cover St Peter’s Square, where thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather to see the new pope.On Monday morning, technicians installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica overlooking the square, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance.Cardinals of all ages had met earlier on Monday for the latest in a series of closed-door preparatory meetings.Discussions so far have covered everything from the Vatican’s finances to the abuse scandal and Church unity.On Monday morning “the focus was on the missionary nature of the Church: a Church that must not withdraw into herself”, the Vatican said.Cardinals discussed the profile of the next pope — “a figure who must be present, close, capable of being a bridge and a guide, of favouring access to communion for a disoriented humanity marked by the crisis of the world order”.He should be “a shepherd close to the real life of the people”, the Vatican added.- ‘Spectacular’ conclave -Francis was an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires who helped open up the Church during his 12-year-long papacy but was accused by critics of failing to defend key Catholic doctrine.The question now is whether his successor will follow a similar progressive line, or take the Church on a more conservative, traditionalist path.Francis appointed 80 percent of the current cardinal electors — but experts caution that they may not choose someone in his mould, with many warning that there could be surprises.Vatican affairs specialist Marco Politi told AFP that, given the unknowns, the conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.  The conclave begins on Wednesday afternoon and could continue for days, weeks or even months — although both Francis and his predecessor were elected within two days.The cardinals will vote once the first day and four times a day thereafter until one of them has the two-thirds majority to be elected pope.They will stay at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse and are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have made their choice.Under a centuries-old ritual, they will inform the waiting world of their progress by burning their ballots, with black smoke indicating no winner, and white smoke signalling a new pope.- ‘Tough pope’ -Italy’s Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis, is one of the favourites, as is Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Amongst the so-called “papabili” are also Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Hungarian conservative Peter Erdo.But many more names have been discussed and a surprise candidate could emerge, as was the case when Francis — then an Argentinian known as Jorge Bergoglio — was picked in 2013.Amongst the pilgrims and sightseers who gathered in St Peter’s Square on Monday, opinions varied widely about who could or should take over.”Maybe more of Pope Francis than Pope Benedict,” said German visitor Aurelius Lie, 36.”As long as he’s not too conservative (and) influenced by modern political leaders — (Giorgia) Meloni, (Donald) Trump,” he said, referring to the Italian prime minister and the US president.”Maybe the Church will be thinking: ‘We need a tough pope now to deal with these people’. But their terms will end in a couple of years.”burs-ar/db/bc

It’s the first Monday in May, which means it’s time for the Met Gala, the extravagant Manhattan charity ball that this year spotlights Black style through the lens of dandyism’s subversive history.The blockbuster night’s theme explores the rich and complicated history of the sharply tailored dandy aesthetic and its sociopolitical layers.It also celebrates the opening of a corresponding exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.But for the fashionistas, the Met Gala is simply one of the world’s top red carpets with blinding star power.Musician and designer Pharrell Williams, rapper A$AP Rocky, Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton are the co-chairs of fashion’s marquee event overseen by Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue.Basketball legend LeBron James was named as an honorary chair, but withdrew Monday from appearing at the event, confirming reports that he suffered a knee injury last week and saying on X: “Hate to miss an historical event!”A host committee featuring OutKast’s Andre 3000, star gymnast Simone Biles, rapper Doechii, sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and director Spike Lee promise a memorable style parade.The evening comes five years after the enormous anti-racist uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, which pushed a number of cultural institutions in the United States to grapple with their representation of race and diversity.This Met theme is years in the making but now coincides with Donald Trump’s recent efforts to quash institutional initiatives to promote diversity — a push to keep culture and history defined on the Republican president’s terms.The Met Gala and its exhibit promises a sharp contrast to that notion, a deep dive into Black dandyism from the 18th century to today.- ‘Freeing and invigorating’ -Guest curator and Barnard professor Monica Miller’s book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity” was the Met’s inspiration.Her book details how dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, when well-dressed “dandified” servants became a trend.But Black men throughout history subverted the concept as a means of cultivating power, transforming aesthetic and elegance into a means of identity establishment and social mobility.During the vibrant Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, men wore sharp suits and polished shoes as a show of defiance in racially segregated America.”Whether a dandy is subtle or spectacular,” Miller said at the theme’s announcement last fall, “we recognize and respect the deliberateness of the dress, the self-conscious display, the way in which this reach for perfection might seem frivolous, but can pose a challenge to… social and cultural hierarchies.””Superfine” is a rare Costume Institute exhibition to spotlight men and male fashion, and the first to focus on Black designers and artists.”Black men have always been on guard. They had to be,” wrote longtime Washington Post critic Robin Givhan of the show.”Yet fashion was also a way of amplifying their voice when it was deliberately muted or readily ignored. It was freeing and invigorating.”Monday’s red carpet is sure to include odes to the late Andre Leon Talley, Vogue’s first Black creative director and one of fashion’s towering figures.At the theme’s announcement ceremony, Williams — Louis Vuitton’s creative director of menswear — called the exhibit “a dream.””As an artist who was literally born and raised in the shadow of where the African diaspora expanded into the country that would become America, celebrating an exhibit centered on Black dandyism and the African diaspora is really, for me, a full circle moment,” said Williams, who is from Virginia. Not only did members of the Black diaspora survive the horrors of slavery, he said, “but we carried the music, the culture, the beauty and the universal language across an ocean and over a quadruple century.”The Met Gala was first organized in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society — until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.It remains a fundraiser for the Costume Institute, but it’s also a social media extravaganza where stars and sponsors mingle at a party that celebrates fashion in its most over-the-top form.According to The New York Times, a seat at the dinner in 2024 cost $75,000 and a full table went for $350,000. The famed Manhattan museum reported last year’s edition raked in some $26 million.

Situated on a tiny island off San Francisco, Alcatraz prison for years held high-profile criminals — most famously mob boss Al Capone — before it was decommissioned and turned into a popular tourist attraction.Here are five things to know about the notorious California jail that US President Donald Trump wants to see brought back into operation.- Isolated -The prison sits on Alcatraz Island, a rocky slab of just 22 acres in San Francisco Bay, two kilometers (1.25 miles) from the mainland.The jail, which closed its doors in 1963 after 29 years in operation, is flanked by cold water with strong currents.It was rumored to be surrounded by man-eating sharks, but the sharks that live in the bay are actually only bottom-feeders.- Infamous inmates -Several notorious criminals were held at Alcatraz after it was transformed in 1934 from a military jail to a maximum-security federal prison.They included Al Capone — the Chicago crime boss of the Prohibition era — as well as George “Machine-Gun” Kelly and Alvin Karpis, once declared “Public Enemy No. 1” by the FBI.- Escape attempts -From 1934 to 1963, a total of 36 men were involved in 14 separate escape attempts, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).In 1962, three inmates fled the prison after they put paper-mache model heads into their beds and broke out through ventilation ducts before leaving the island on a raft.Their fate remains a mystery, and the getaway was recounted in the 1979 film “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood as the ringleader Frank Morris.- Expensive operation -Alcatraz was almost three times more expensive than any other federal prison due to its remote location, according to the BOP.Costly necessities included food shipments to the island and the weekly delivery of one million gallons (3.8 million liters) of drinking water.It never reached its capacity of 336 inmates and at any given time held less than one percent of the federal prison population, the BOP says. – Tourist hotspot -After it shuttered in the 1960s due to operating costs, Alcatraz Island became part of the National Parks network and opened to the public in 1973. More than a million people visit the island each year, with many drawn to exploring its morbid past.

The Trump administration said Monday it will pay for the travel and give $1,000 to undocumented migrants who “self-deport” back to their home country.US President Donald Trump said some of the undocumented migrants who take advantage of the self-deportation scheme will be given a path to legally return to the United States.”We’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.”We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people, if they’re the kind of people that we want in our (country),” he said. “It will give them a path to coming back into the country.”Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, announcing the travel assistance and $1,000 stipend program, said “self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.”The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is “offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”CBP Home refers to an app already created by the DHS through which people can deport themselves.DHS said the stipend of $1,000 will be paid after a person’s return to their home country has been confirmed through the app.”Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the US and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” the department said in the statement.DHS said that even with the payment of travel assistance and the stipend “it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent.”It said that the average cost currently to arrest, detain, and remove an undocumented migrant is $17,121.DHS said an undocumented migrant from Honduras had already taken advantage of the program to return home.Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to carry out mass deportations and claimed during the White House event that there are as many as 21 million undocumented migrants in the United States.However the number of undocumented migrants stood at 11.0 million in 2022, according to Pew Research Center estimates based on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Jury selection was underway Monday in New York in the blockbuster federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands accused of years of harrowing abuse.Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual, but prosecutors say for years he coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.”Come on up, don’t be shy,” judge Arun Subramanian said as the first batch of prospective panelists entered.Jurors were given a supplementary 14-part questionnaire about their ability to fairly hear evidence from hip-hop artists, sex workers, and people involved in the use and distribution of drugs.They had already undertaken an exhaustive questionnaire on their ability to serve before arrival.Combs faces one charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.Over the decades, Combs — who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — amassed enormous wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry.He was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times. Combs is being held at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.Combs has appeared in pre-trial hearings looking remarkably aged, his once jet-black, styled coif now overgrown and gray.The jury selection start date is notably the first Monday in May — which annually marks New York’s Met Gala, a glittering celebrity charity bash where Combs was once a red carpet mainstay.Just two years ago, he posed for the cameras at that event uptown — but on Monday, he will be downtown as the panel of citizens tasked with determining his fate face a barrage of questions from lawyers on both sides.- ‘Freak-offs’ -Core to the case is Combs’s relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was widely broadcast by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.On Monday one prospective juror was struck out for cause by the judge after describing the video as potentially “damning.”It is unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence — the footage’s quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams — but Judge Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.Prosecutors say that encounter occurred following one of the “freak-offs” they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.The so-called “freak-offs” were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.- ‘Perfect storm’ -In 2023 Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.It was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed.Industry watchers are monitoring Combs’s case as a potential inflection point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood.Caroline Heldman — co-founder of the Sound Off Coalition, which is focused on sexual violence in music — said Combs’s case is a flashpoint of a broader pattern of industry tolerance and cover-up of abuse.”In the music industry, I think it’s the perfect storm of what celebrity does to people and what power does to people. It gives them an empathy deficit where the rules don’t apply to them,” she said.Opening statements are tentatively scheduled for May 12. The proceedings will last an estimated eight to 10 weeks.

Oil prices slumped on Monday after OPEC+ countries announced a production hike despite oversupply concerns and growing fears that US President Donald Trump’s trade war could weaken demand.Stock markets were mostly down in holiday-thinned trading ahead of central bank decisions later in the week, while shares in film companies fell after Trump announced tariffs on movies made outside the United States.Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other members of the oil cartel announced over the weekend an output increase of 411,000 barrels a day for June, a month after a similar move had already caused prices to fall.The price of crude has also been sliding because of fears of a global economic slowdown on the back of Trump’s tariff onslaught.The OPEC+ move “confirms a stark turnaround away from the production cuts that have persisted since 2022″, said a Deutsche Bank research note.Oil prices fell almost four percent before paring back some losses. Brent, the international benchmark, briefly fell below $60 per barrel for the first time since 2020.Analysts were still trying to pinpoint the oil cartel’s motivation.”The weekend news wasn’t a shocker but the reasons behind the move remain uncertain,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.”The official communication says the group is bringing barrels back to the market because ‘fundamentals are healthy and inventories are low’,” Ozkardeskaya said.”Yet global growth expectations have been crumbling due to a heated trade war between the US and the rest of the world, and rising output only worsens oversupply concerns. So the real reason must be something else,” she added.She said some argued that the Saudis were “punishing” OPEC members who had not complied fully with the previous policy of cutting production.Other theories include that Trump has pressed for lower oil prices to hurt Russian finances and speed up the end of the Ukraine war, or that Riyadh wants to push out US shale businesses and increase its market share.”We don’t know for sure. The exact motive remains unclear,” Ozkardeskaya said.- Fed move -On stock markets, Wall Street’s three main indices slid lower at the opening bell.US stocks are coming off two strong weeks, with gains last Friday driven by strong jobs data and improving sentiment about US-China trade talks.Shares in Berkshire Hathaway fell more than five percent after influential billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Saturday he would retire from leading the firm which he built into a conglomerate worth more than $1 trillion.Shares in entertainment firms slid after Trump said Sunday he was ordering new tariffs on all films made outside the United States, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of US filmmakers and studios working abroad.Shares in Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery were down around three percent, while Lionsgate fell more than five percent.Shares in Paramount dropped more than two percent and Disney 1.5 percent.In Europe, Paris was down in afternoon deals while Frankfurt pushed higher.London was closed for a public holiday, as were Tokyo and Hong Kong in Asia.Investors are waiting for interest rate decisions this week, with the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England holding policy meetings on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.”Our US economists expect the Fed to keep rates steady and avoid explicit forward guidance about the policy path ahead,” Deutsche Bank analysts said.The dollar fell against other major currencies.But the Australian dollar gained against the US dollar after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s election victory on Saturday, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell almost one percent.- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.7 percent at $57.29 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.5 percent at $60.37 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 41,107.23 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 5,647.28New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 17,832.95Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 7,726.57 Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.8 percent at 23,273.07London – FTSE 100: closed for holidayTokyo – Nikkei 225: closed for holidayHong Kong – Hang Seng Index: closed for holiday Shanghai – Composite: closed for holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1359 from $1.1299 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3329 from $1.3268Dollar/yen: DOWN at 143.67 yen from 144.97Euro/pound: UP at 85.21 pence from 85.14burs-rl/lth

American investor Warren Buffett, 94, will remain as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors once he steps down as chief executive at the end of this year, the conglomerate announced Monday.Following a vote at the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors over the weekend, Buffett will step down as chief executive of the world’s 8th-largest company by market capitalization on January 1, 2026, and hand over the reins to the group’s current vice-chairman, Greg Abel. The vote, which was proposed by Buffett, will bring to and end the revered investor’s more than half-a-century running the group, which he turned into a financial behemoth. “The time has arrived where Greg (Abel) should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett, 94, told an annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, the city in the Midwestern state of Nebraska where Berkshire is based. Abel, 62, had been nominated to succeed Buffett in 2021. The Board of Directors voted unanimously on Sunday to appoint him to his new position, according to a statement from the group published Monday.Berkshire Hathaway, a former small textile company, has grown over the years into a gigantic conglomerate under Buffett’s leadership, and is now worth over $1 trillion on Wall Street — a first for an American group outside the tech sector.Warren Buffett preferred to invest for the long term in stable companies whose accounts he had closely scrutinized, enabling him to build up the world’s fifth-largest fortune over the decades. Today, his conglomerate owns dozens of businesses, from Duracell batteries to US insurer Geico, and shares in carefully selected companies, from Coca-Cola to Bank of America. Shortly before financial markets opened on Wall Street, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares were down around 3.2 percent in pre-market.

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said on Monday, two days before they gather at a conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group — summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — is the largest and the most international ever.At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is battling to adapt to the modern world and recover its reputation after the scandal of widespread child sex abuse by priests.The 133 so-called “Princes of the Church” who will vote — all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons — will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.Voting once that day and four times a day thereafter until a pope is chosen, they will stay at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse but are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have made their choice.They will inform the waiting world of their progress by burning their ballots and sending up smoke — black if no candidate has reached the two-thirds majority of votes, or white if they have a winner.On Monday morning, technicians installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance.At issue is whether the new pontiff will follow the popular Argentine pontiff’s progressive line or whether the Holy See will pivot towards a more conservative traditionalist leader. Francis, an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, ran the Church for 12 years and appointed 80 percent of the current cardinal electors.But experts caution they may not choose someone in his model, with many warning there could be surprises.Vatican affairs specialist Marco Politi told AFP that, given the unknowns, the conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.  – ‘Calm the waters’ -Cardinals met on Monday morning for the latest in a series of preparatory meetings, so-called general congregations, and will gather again in the afternoon.All cardinals are invited to these, not just those eligible to vote in the conclave, taking the opportunity to discuss the issues that will face Francis’s successor.”Nobody campaigns, for crying out loud. That would be extraordinarily stupid and indiscreet, and improper and counterproductive,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.”But you just want to get to know folks, and it works well,” he said on his own podcast.Among the pilgrims and sightseers who gathered in the square on Monday, opinions varied widely about who could or should take over.”Maybe more of Pope Francis than Pope Benedict,” said German visitor Aurelius Lie, 36.”As long as he’s not too conservative (and) influenced by modern political leaders — (Giorgia) Meloni, (Donald) Trump,” he said, referring to the Italian prime minister and the US president.”Maybe the Church will be thinking: ‘We need a tough pope now to deal with these people.’ But their terms will end in a couple of years.”But Canadian priest Justin Pulikunnel did not hide his frustration at the direction Francis tried to take the Church, saying he personally sought a return to a more traditional leadership.”Well, I hope and I pray that the new pope will kind of be a source of unity in the Church and kind of calm the waters down after almost a dozen years of destabilisation and ambiguity,” he said on Sunday.- ‘Changing world’ -The conclave begins on Wednesday afternoon and could continue for days, weeks or even months — although both Francis and Benedict XVI — who was pope from 2005 until his resignation in 2013 — were elected within two days.Italy’s Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis, is one of the favourites, as is Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Among the so-called “papabili” are also Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Hungarian conservative Peter Erdo.But many more names have been discussed, and just like when Francis — then an Argentinian known as Jorge Bergoglio — was picked in 2013, a surprise candidate could emerge.Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako of Iraq told reporters before Monday’s meetings that he wanted “a pastor, a father who preserves the unity of the Church and the integrity of the faith but who also knows the challenges of today”.”The world is always changing. Every day there is news. The pope must read the signs of the times to have the right answer and not be closeted in his palace.”burs-ar/ams/sbk