An ancient gummy-looking worm-like creature with a vicious hunting method that involves projecting sticky goo from its head has been crowned New Zealand’s bug of the year. The Peripatoides novaezealandiae is from the family of velvet worms, or Ngāokeoke in the Māori language. The invertebrates have rows of pudgy legs and skin speckled like a…
Major savings providers have pledged to fight any attempts to cut tax breaks on cash Isas after it emerged the government was considering a proposal to slash the maximum amount that people can put into them from £20,000 a year to £4,000. In recent weeks a row has broken out over whether ministers should scale…
Mexico will never tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty by the United States, Claudia Sheinbaum has warned after Washington designated Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. “This cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade our sovereignty,” the Mexican president said. “With Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even…
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country beginning on Thursday, a person familiar with the plans told the Associated Press. The layoffs affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments, according…
The advertising regulator has found Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting misled consumers with an unsubstantiated claim that gas was clean, in an online advertisement in The Australian last year. Ads for Hancock Prospecting’s recruitment webpage futureaustralianjobs.com ran in the digital edition of the Weekend Australian in October 2024. The ads featured the text: “Our clean gas…
They may be the footwear of choice for Hollywood A-listers and pop stars, but Birkenstock sandals are not works of art, Germany’s top court ruled on Thursday. The German sandal maker had sought a ruling that its footwear, known for its cork and latex soles, could be classified as art and thus afforded strong copyright…
The companies behind Great Britain’s gas pipes and power lines have pocketed a windfall of nearly £4bn from household bills during the energy and cost crisis, according to a report. The analysis, by Citizens Advice, argued that energy network owners were able to make the “excess profits” over the past four years after the industry…
Airbus has said it aims to make 820 planes this year as the world’s biggest aerospace manufacturer attempts to overcome problems in its supply chain. The European company said that deliveries would rise by 7% compared with the 766 planes made last year, as it reported an 8% drop in income for 2024 excluding various…
Lloyds Banking Group has been forced to put aside a further £700m for potential compensation over the ballooning car loan commission scandal, in a move that knocked its annual profits by 20%. The latest provision marks a notable jump in the bank’s estimates for the potential cost of the scandal and brings the sum it…
Village officials in the Philippines are handing out cash rewards to residents who capture mosquitoes in a bid to combat an outbreak of dengue. At the Wednesday launch, residents from the village of Addition Hills in metropolitan Manila lined up with plastic cups and bags containing their captures as they waited to receive their bounty:…
