Officials draft declaration to help tackle ‘fluctuations’ in world economy
The UK is offering the EU a “new strategic partnership” aimed at bolstering trade and presenting a united European front when Donald Trump is threatening to upend decades of transatlantic alignment.
A draft declaration being drawn up by London and Brussels ahead of a UK-EU summit on 19 May points to a “common understanding” on a number of shared interests.
Continue reading...Revealed: Sources say bosses at R&A, which organises the annual golf tournament, were quizzed about 2028 event
Senior Whitehall officials have asked golf bosses whether they can host the 2028 Open championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course after repeated requests from the US president, sources have said.
Officials had asked senior people at the R&A, which organises the world’s oldest major golf championship, what the hurdles would be to hosting the 2028 Open at Turnberry.
Continue reading...Fashion revival and warm weather had boosted the retailer – but the attack has halted website sales
Marks & Spencer was enjoying a strong start to 2025 thanks to a fashion revival and the warm spring weather. That has now been seriously undermined as the retailer scrambles to deal with disruption caused by a massive cyber-attack it first revealed a week ago.
At a time when M&S – alongside most big retailers – are pushing more automation on its customers and workers, industry insiders say the retailer’s staff have been forced to return to pens, paper and clipboards to check stock in stores as internal systems have been put on hold.
Continue reading...Hack has wiped more than £500m off Marks & Spencer’s stock market value in the past week
Marks & Spencer has been forced to pause deliveries of some packaged food items to the online grocery site Ocado as the high street stalwart continues to battle the consequences of a cyber-attack that began a week ago.
The latest issue is understood to affect a small number of items listed on Ocado, which is co-owned by M&S, which halted all orders through its M&S.com website and apps on Friday. M&S did not confirm the number of items affected but said it had worked with Ocado and its suppliers “to minimise any disruption to the small proportion of the range delivered through our network to Ocado”.
Continue reading...Chancellor-designate vows to tackle Russian aggression and appoints Johann Wadephul, an ex-soldier, to key role
Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraine at the heart of his government after announcing that a pro-Kyiv foreign policy expert and former soldier will be the new foreign minister.
Speaking days before he is due to take power, Merz said on Monday it was “no time for euphoria” as his conservative CDU met to approve an agreement to form a coalition government with the Social Democrats.
Continue reading...Police declare ‘mass casualty incident’ due to the number of injuries, and say boat that caused accident fled the scene
A boat crashed into a ferry transporting 45 people on the final day of a sand-sculpting festival in Florida, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.
The crash late on Sunday in calm waters off Clearwater on the western Florida coast set off an emergency response due to the high number of possible casualties.
“We were just enjoying the ride and all of a sudden we heard the first mate yelling: ‘Hey, hey, hey,’” Marco Vacheco, who was on the ferry with Brenda Alvarez and their two young children, told WFTS. “And we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat.”
The boat then fled the scene, authorities said.
The Clearwater police department posted on X that there were multiple injuries and the crash had been declared “a mass casualty incident” by the Clearwater fire & rescue department due to the number of injuries.
Continue reading...Food from brands such as Ella’s Kitchen and Heinz are often nutritionally poor, researchers say
Top brands such as Ella’s Kitchen and Heinz are making sugar-heavy, nutritionally poor baby food that fails to meet the needs of infants, a study has found.
The discovery has spurred groups to call for ministers to strengthen regulation in the market, saying that the current state of affairs will negatively affect child growth and development.
Continue reading...PM says supporters of both groups are being misled and a tie-up would be a ‘disaster’ for Britain. This live blog is closed
Downing Street has described the alleged comments by the band Kneecap in the ‘kill MP’ footage (see 12.10pm) as “completely unacceptable”.
At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson described the comments as “completely unacceptable”.
We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding.
That’s up to the group, but clearly the PM rejects the views expressed … does not shy away from condemning them.
I don’t want to see strike action, I don’t think anybody wants to see strike action.
And certainly here we are in a healthcare environment with all the staff working really hard. The last thing they want to do is to go into dispute again.
Continue reading...Musk’s Doge targets National Labor Relations Board with cuts and terminated leases as union speaks out
Democrats have warned that cuts to the US’s top labor watchdog threaten to render the organization “basically ineffectual” and will be “catastrophic” for workers’ rights.
The so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has targeted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for cuts and ended its leases in several states.
Continue reading...Liberals favored to beat Conservatives as US president issues fresh threats to annex Canada
Canadians head to the polls in a federal election overshadowed by fury at Donald Trump’s threats to the country’s sovereignty and fears over his escalating trade war.
In the final days of a month-long campaign – described by all party leaders as the most consequential general election in a lifetime – the US president yet again re-inserted himself into the national discussion, with fresh threats to annex the country. “We don’t need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state,” he told Time magazine on Friday.
Continue reading...Marks & Spencer has halted orders on its website and apps, giving customers a refund for those placed after Wednesday
The cyber-attack at Marks & Spencer is continuing to cause chaos for shoppers, with no clarity yet as to when the retailer’s systems will be fully back up and running.
Website orders remain on hold for the fourth day in a row, and those affected also include customers waiting to collect orders or wanting to spend or buy M&S gift cards, as well as users of the retailer’s Sparks customer reward scheme.
Continue reading...Several countries in Europe have been scrambling to restore electricity after a huge power cut caused blackouts
Spain, Portugal and some of south-west France suffered a massive power cut on Monday, with major cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon among those affected.
Houses, offices, trains, traffic lights and even the Madrid open tennis tournament were all hit, causing chaos for millions of people and prompting a scramble by the Spanish and Portuguese governments and network operators to understand the problem and race to fix it.
Continue reading...Virginia representative says he will not seek re-election in Congress, citing return of esophageal cancer
Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ key oversight committee, has announced he will not run for re-election and resign his committee post, citing a return of the cancer for which he previously been successfully treated.
The Virginia Democrat was elected as the party’s ranking member on the high-profile committee last December, after its former chair, the Maryland representative Jaime Raskin, moved on to the judiciary committee.
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