Author: staff

European countries are increasingly split about whether they should be changing their digital tax laws to avoid tariff penalties from US President Donald Trump. Rachel Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, told the BBC on Sunday that the British government is considering tweaks to its 2 per cent Digital Services Tax (DST) on US-based tech companies. While the UK government is reconsidering its options, its counterpart in Poland is seemingly doubling down on efforts to implement its own tax, despite threats from American officials. Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s deputy prime minister, told Polish TV on Monday that he “intends to go hard” on…

It’s the 1996 Eurodance classic which has become a football match and protest march mainstay, a resurging pop banger whose catchy “Na-na-na-na-na” chorus is inescapable.  We’re talking, of course, about Gala’s ‘Freed From Desire’ – a worldwide hit which has sold well over 6 million copies.   As joyful and vibrant as the 90s anthem is, the behind-the-scenes story is far less cheerful. Gala – whose full name is Gala Rizzatto – has been unable to reap the financial rewards of her song and its renewed success. The 49-year-old Italian singer spoke to French magazine Paris-Match about how she has been robbed of royalties and…

But Ferracci argued that such a visit risks playing into Trump’s strategy, which the French minister claimed is aimed at preventing a united European response to the U.S. president’s severe tariff regime that has brought the world to the brink of an all-out trade war. Trump has imposed huge 20 percent tariffs on the European Union, and the European Commission is currently considering slapping tariffs of up to 25 percent on a broad range of exports from the United States. In a separate interview with French public television, Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad also stressed that Europe’s strength lies in its…

Billionaire Elon Musk announced on Friday that he has sold social media site X, formerly known as Twitter when he bought it over two years ago, to his own artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI in a $33 billion (€30.5 billion) all-stock deal.Both companies are privately held, which means they are not required to disclose their finances to the public.Musk, who is also head of astronautical company SpaceX and carmaker Tesla, said in a post on X that the move will “unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach”. “xAI and X’s futures are…

Many new tariffs, announced by Trump on April 2, took effect on Wednesday morning. They target a wide range of imported goods and have triggered a global trade war, as major economies plan retaliatory measures. Trump’s tariffs include massive 104 percent duties on Chinese goods, while dozens of other nations, plus the European Union, will face tariffs ranging from 11 percent to 50 percent. Asian stocks collapsed Wednesday morning as the new tariffs kicked in with key markets already open. In Japan, the Nikkei index dropped over 5 percent, while the broader TOPIX index fell by 4.6 percent. Hong Kong’s…

The moon seemed to take bites out of the sun this weekend during a partial solar eclipse in the Northern Hemisphere.The spectacle, only visible for a few minutes unfolded on late morning Saturday, with the eclipse visible across Europe, western Africa, eastern North America, and northern Asia.In London, spectators watched from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Catherine Muller, an astronomer at the Observatory, called the event “really special.” She said such occurrences are rare, with the next one visible in the UK not expected until September 2026.NASA estimated that the area of the sun’s disk covered were Lisbon 27%, Dublin 31%,…

A high court in Colombia has ruled that the reggaeton song ‘+57’ by urban music stars J Balvin and Karol G violated the rights of children because its lyrics “sexualized” minors.In a 14-page ruling, the court ordered Karol G, J Balvin and several other reggaeton singers – including Feid, DFZM and Maluma – who helped to record the song last year to refrain from publishing music that violates the rights of children and teenagers.“Sexualizing minors reduces them to becoming objects of desire, and exposes them to risks that can affect their development,” the court said.The song generated controversy in Colombia when it…

And this isn’t an isolated incident. Of the 690 postgraduate researchers who responded to a poll in the publication Nature, 548 said they were considering leaving the U.S. One even responded: “This is my home, I really love my country, but a lot of my mentors have been telling me to get out, right now.” Moreover, as McFall-Ngai pointed out, there are countless stories of international students frightened to leave the U.S.: “I have grad students and postdocs who are Slovenian, Belgian, Portuguese, French, Austrian, Mexican, Chinese and Irish.” Several, she said, wanted to go on vacation to see their…

“The hatred of women is everywhere and dictates the way men behave online,” one young Gen Z person said in a recent poll when asked about misogyny on social media, while a young man said, “it isn’t that deep. It’s all a laugh”. According to the Amnesty International survey released this week, 73 per cent of Gen Z social media users (those aged 13-28) in the UK have witnessed misogynistic content online, with half encountering it every week. The poll comes as social media has been placed under an even brighter spotlight following the release of the Netflix drama Adolescence, which follows…

Ever since he released his first film Bottle Rocket in 1996, Wes Anderson has been a constant presence in the cinematic world. In the course of 12 feature films and almost as many shorts, the American director has imposed his distinctive formula of eccentric aesthetics supported by ever-growing, star-studded casts.His next picture, The Phoenician Scheme, should follow a similar path. The recently released trailer reveals familiar faces from Anderson’s universe, including Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray, as well as newcomer Mia Threapleton.The Phoenician Scheme is scheduled for a theatrical release in the United States on 30 May…