Peter Mandelson has been rebuffed for saying Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be more supportive of US peace efforts and that Ukraine should unilaterally call a ceasefire, with a UK defence minister saying this was “not government policy”. The overnight comments by Lord Mandelson, the UK ambassador to Washington, were also criticised by opposition parties, with the…
Prada is in talks to buy the Versace fashion brand from the US investor Capri Holdings for a price that could reportedly reach nearly €1.5bn (£1.2bn). Milan-based Prada and the New York-listed Capri could reach a deal for Versace this month, Bloomberg reported, although the talks could still fall apart. A deal would bring the…
In a high emissions future, the world’s strongest ocean current could slow down by 20% by 2050, further accelerating Antarctic ice sheet melting and sea level rise, an Australian-led study has found. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current – a clockwise current more than four times stronger than the Gulf Stream that links the Atlantic, Pacific and…
China is preparing countermeasures against fresh US import tariffs that are set to take effect on Tuesday, China’s state-backed Global Times reported, with American agricultural exports likely to be targeted. Donald Trump last week threatened China with an extra 10% duty, resulting in a cumulative 20% tariff, while accusing Beijing of not having done enough…
More than 1 million of the lowest-paid UK workers are to be guaranteed sick pay worth up to 80% of their weekly salary from the first day of sickness, under changes intended to boost living standards. The UK has one of the stingiest rates of statutory sick pay in the developed world, according to the…
Police have shut down the alleged medicinal cannabis operation of one of New Zealand’s most renowned “green fairies”, prompting an outpouring of support from a prominent politician and the hundreds of people who rely on such products to ease their pain. Police raided the rural Northland property of 66-year-old Paul Smith – more widely known…
The West Bank-based film No Other Land has won this year’s best documentary feature Oscar. The film, which is made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, won out against competition from Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War and Sugarcane. No Other Land premiered at the Berlin film festival last year where it won the Berlinale documentary award. The…
The Latvian adventure Flow has won the Oscar for best animated feature. The dialogue-free film, which debuted at the Cannes film festival, triumphed in a category that included the higher-profile blockbusters Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot. It is the first Latvian film to ever be nominated for an Oscar. The story follows the…
A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves. Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat. HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne Royal…
A defiant but tactful President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to apologise to Donald Trump after Friday’s spat in the White House, and declared that the row in the Oval Office “did not bring anything positive” to peace for Ukraine. Speaking to journalists only in Ukrainian at the end of a two-day visit to the UK, the…
