Nottingham Forest, Everton, Leeds United and Leicester City are all fighting to stay in the Premier League. Nottingham Forest faces potential issues with Financial Fair Play following heavy spending this season and most of the squad will have their wages reduced if the club is relegated, leading to potential sales of players. Meanwhile, Everton would face a financial nightmare as the club already has a precarious fiscal situation, and financially and emotionally a relegation by Everton would be catastrophic. Leeds United has implemented wage reductions for its players in case of relegation, and would likely face a firesale of major player assets to make up the financial shortfall. Leicester City players would have their salaries slashed between 35% to 50%, with its best players James Maddison and Harvey Barnes almost certain to be sold if the club is relegated.
Overnight missile strikes against Ukraine by Russia failed, with the Ukrainian military stating it had shot down 29 Russian cruise missiles out of 30. The strikes targeted areas including Kyiv and the southern city of Odessa. The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine has described Kyiv as "Putin's relentless and unachievable target". The council also claimed that the fact the hypersonic missiles have been neutralised so easily served "to burst the nuclear bubble."
The Spanish government has launched a domestic labour-tracking app for women to monitor their husbands’ housework and ensure tasks are split equally. The yet-to-be-developed software is part of Spain’s central government's attempts to cut down on gender inequality within heterosexual relationships and is expected to track current domestic workload, assign tasks and record progress. A recent Instituto Nacional de Estadística study found half of women in straight relationships believe they carry out the majority of household chores, compared to 4% of men. An additional 40% of women are also primary carers for children, compared to 5% of men.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak wore socks of the Japanese Prime Minister's favourite baseball team during a diplomatic dinner, held in celebration of the 'Hiroshima Accord'. The agreement seeks to build closer defence, cyber, and security ties. Sunak, who removed his shoes to comply with Japanese etiquette, joked about his poor football team while wearing the red and white colours of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
Ingrid Haebler, the Austrian pianist known as “Madame Mozart”, has died at the age of 96. Haebler was widely acclaimed for her interpretations of Mozart’s music, in recordings with the English Chamber Orchestra, though her repertoire ranged from Bach to Bartók. She was also one of the first pianists to use period instruments, recording works by Bach on the fortepiano. Records aimed at reproducing the warmth and clarity of her playing continue to be popular to this day.
Four children from the indigenous Huitoto community in the Colombian Amazon jungle have survived for 18 days after their plane crashed and killed three adults. The children, the eldest of whom is 13, lived off fruit and drank river water while using sticks and branches to build a shelter. One of the three helicopters involved in the search received a message from the children’s grandmother, asking them to wait for help. The crash happened while they were travelling to visit their father in the capital, Bogota. The country's president Gustavo Petro described the rescue as a joy to the country.
French producer Marc Missonnier has said he was refused delegates access to the Cannes Film Festival because of his outspoken criticism of Le Retour, a film dogged by allegations of on-set misconduct and a sex scene involving an actor under 16. Missonnier had raised fears about the film, which is in contention for the Palme d’Or, and was quoted by a Cannes official as calling for a boycott. Mistreatment of crew members during production and the film’s selection at Cannes have prompted protests and led to a discussion about the festival’s role in promoting those accused of wrongdoing.
The US Supreme Court has thrown out a case aimed at making Google and Twitter liable for videos that endorsed terrorist group Islamic State. Two similar but separate cases against the companies were considered. The Supreme Court upheld the Communications Decency Act's Section 230, which prevents websites from being held liable for content posted by users. The family of Nohemi Gonzalez, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, had claimed Google shared advertising returns from YouTube videos containing Isis propaganda. The court rejected the case and related claims against Twitter.
Queen Elizabeth II joined primary school students in Bristol for a draw-along session with illustrator Rob Biddulph, in which they drew Queen Mary’s Crown. The event launched an initiative to create 50 “coronation libraries” and represented the Queen's first solo engagement since the state visit to Germany in March. Biddulph conducted a step-by-step demonstration of how to draw the crown and encouraged everyone to decorate theirs as they saw fit. The Queen coloured in her crown and added embellishments, while Camilla laughed at the suggestion of a “great big square” at the bottom for comfort.
British Chambers of Commerce president, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, has claimed TikTok's addictive content is causing teens to lose ambition and motivation. Baroness Lane Fox says the app feeds Western teens “dumbed down” content, while presenting Chinese young people education-orientation, embedding "motivation and wider information collection". The comments come amidst increased global concern's surrounding TikTok's Chinese associations in terms of censorship, propaganda, espionage, and product tie-ins with equipment produced by companies such as Huawei. Western democratic leaders are being forced to evaluate how they can hold Chinese tech companies liable for inappropriate behaviour and establish international standards through regulatory controls.
Footage has emerged allegedly showing that a Ukrainian tank fired at Russian positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine, after using a drone to locate them. This came as the Ukrainian military claimed to have made further gains in one of the most fiercely contested front line cities. The area is estimated to have shifted by 7.7 square miles.
Oxford University has pushed back against allegations that it is restricting freedom of speech. The University issued a statement saying that both the university and its associated colleges hold “hundreds of events each term” and that freedom of speech is “alive and well at Oxford,” with a policy of allowing “difficult views” to be heard. The statement added that although student union had concerns about the activities of the Oxford Union debating society, it would continue to encourage open discussion and dialogue. The remarks followed a letter from former Oxford Union President Nick Gallagher, who said that the union had been barred from last year’s freshers fair because of action by the student union.
Nudges on takeaway delivery apps could result in consumers cutting their calorie intake by 15%, according to research by the University of Oxford. Changes tested in three trials included re-positioning healthier restaurants and ingredients to encourage their selection and promoting low calorie options. Smaller portions as the default choice also led to a decrease in calorie consumption of 12.5%, while displaying nutritional information cut intake by between 2% and 8%. Around 25 million people a year in the UK use delivery apps to make food purchases, a rise of 55% since 2015.
American photo agency Backgrid has refused a request from lawyers representing Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to release all footage and images taken during an alleged car chase of the couple on Tuesday night. The request followed a claim from the couple’s representatives that they were followed by photographers for over two hours after leaving an awards ceremony in Manhattan. Backgrid responded to the demand, stating that “property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do.”
Britain will announce a ban on Russian diamond sales and block import of “industrially significant metals” later today, alongside specific sanctions on another 86 senior figures and companies in Vladimir Putin's military industrial complex. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began last year, countries such as Belgium have opposed plans to ban the country’s diamonds. The UK has previously taken the lead on action against Russian diamonds, sanctioning Alrosa, the state-owned company, and increasing tariffs by an additional 35%. The ban will disrupt an industry worth $4bn in exports in 2021.
Workers should "actively fight back" if their employers seek to roll back remote working after the pandemic, according to Microsoft executive Lucy Cooper. Speaking at a conference, Cooper insisted that such a step would hit parents, young people and those with non-standard working environments particularly badly. Workers at main UK bank Lloyds have criticised the company at its AGM over plans to tighten rules on flexible working arrangements. Microsoft has so far committed to a hybrid model of work, requiring staff to come into the office for around 50% of their working time unless they have permission to work from home.
The No Surprises Act, which came into effect in January 2022, aimed to eliminate surprise medical bills for patients who received non-emergency medical care at network facilities or emergency services at a hospital. The legislation barred physicians from billing patients for the cost difference between the insurer’s payment to the non-network doctor. It left the question of how much the insurer should pay the non-network doctor for such services. The Act established an untested system that mandated doctors and insurers, who have no contractual relationship with each other, to submit unresolved disputes to binding arbitration.
Federal regulatory bodies have iterated regulations and sub-regulatory guidance while defending the existing rules against legal challenges. The process has resulted in vacated critical provisions and a lack of clear standards to guide decision-making. The government’s unprecedented intrusion into the negotiations between non-contracting parties could have unforeseen consequences. While the law aimed to protect patients from surprise medical bills, it generated confusion among arbiters and regulators.
Lawmakers and economists argue that, instead of the complicated and poorly defined dispute-resolution process, the Congress should adopt a truth-in-advertising approach to enforce consumer protections. The proposed approach would protect consumers by obligating providers and insurers to represent a facility as in-network and would liberate doctors, insurers, and arbiters from a flawed system for resolving payment disputes that the disputing parties can best resolve themselves. Special interest groups who lobbied Congress developed a highly flawed system that affected patients, clinicians, hospitals, and insurers. The unprecedented government intrusion could have unforeseen and lasting consequences.
The European Commission has proposed a new regulatory program of patents that will benefit China and hit Western innovators in Europe and the US. The plan would impose the setting of patent rates on standardized technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi, known as "standard essential patents." As a result, it is likely that the regime will lower prices unilaterally and enable China to force western innovators to lower its royalty fees for its domestic operations. The losers of this will be West-based research-intensive innovators, while primary beneficiaries will be China's domestic phone makers. The European Commission is a trademark, not a patent, office in the European Commission. Its director conceded last year that it has no competency in patent law.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being accused of using flawed science to implement new regulations on ambient levels of tiny particulate matter in the air. Critics argue that the EPA will continue to increase its authority over American life if such rules are passed, with states risking the loss of highway funds if they do not comply. Regulators could thus control daily activities, such as whether or not a person can burn wood in a fireplace, and anything that results in particulate matter, including the use of coal-fired power plants. The proposal comes at a time during which the EPA’s standards for PM2.5 are among the strictest in the world, with some claiming that the alleged danger of the particles may have been overblown.
A car rammed a Vatican gate and sped past Swiss Guards into a palace courtyard before the driver was apprehended by police. Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the speeding car’s front tyres after it rushed the gate but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said in a statement. The driver, who was about 40 years old, was in a “serious state of psychophysical alteration”. It was not clear if the Pope was anywhere near the incident. He lives on the other side of Vatican City. The Apostolic Palace, which houses the papal apartments, key reception rooms, the Vatican archives and offices, is guarded around the clock by Swiss Guards and gendarmes who staff various checkpoints. It not the first time that security at the Vatican has been scrutinised. During a 2009 Christmas Eve Mass, a woman jumped the barricade of St Peter's Basilica and tried to attack Pope Benedict XVI. He was not harmed.
