Bacardi Ltd., the spirits maker best known for its rum, is nearing a deal to acquire Ilegal Mezcal

BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said stubbornly high inflation will force the Federal Reserve to raise

Julian Thorn, who had served with the Fusiliers, travelled to Ukraine to help with the war effort.

Watch live as Hakim Jeffries, minority leader of the House of Representatives, and other Democrats hold a news conference ahead of a vote on the US debt ceiling on Wednesday evening (31 May). The House is due to vote on a bill to lift the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, a critical step to avoid a destabilising default that could come early next week without congressional action. Republicans control the House by a narrow 222-213 majority, meaning the bipartisan deal - agreed days ago - will need support from both Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Republicans and Joe Biden’s Democrats to pass. Mr McCarthy has predicted that the vote will succeed. “It’s going to become law,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, Mr Biden took to Twitter to outline what failure to pass the bill could mean for America. “Our bipartisan budget agreement prevents the worst possible crisis: a default for the first time in our nation’s history – an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost,” he wrote. Read More Biden and McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal expected to go to full House vote today – live Australian Parliament takes step toward holding a referendum on Indigenous Voice this year Why Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment fight isn't finished yet

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a Chinese pilot’s “dangerous action” in a close encounter with an

Australia’s house prices climbed for a third straight month in May, suggesting further interest-rate increases may be needed

The prospect of Apple Inc.’s first new product category in nearly a decade could hardly be attracting less

US mortgage rates surged to the highest level since early November last week, stifling demand for home purchases

The Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum has denounced a political spot by Poland's ruling party that uses the theme of the Nazi German extermination camp to discourage participation in an upcoming anti-government march. The state-run museum attacked “instrumentalization of the tragedy” of the 1.1 million people who were murdered at the site during World War II, arguing that it is an insult to their memory. “It is a sad, painful and unacceptable manifestation of the moral and intellectual corruption of the public debate,” the state museum said. The 14-second video published Wednesday by the Law and Justice party shows images of the former death camp, including the notorious “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate, and the words: “Do you really want to walk under this slogan?” The reference is to a now-deleted tweet from journalist Tomasz Lis, who claimed that President Andrzej Duda and ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski deserve to go to prison. He published the tweet amid a heated debate over a law passed by the party lawmakers and signed by Duda that is viewed by the U.S., the European Union and many Polish critics as anti-democratic. “There will be a chamber for Duda and Kaczor,” the tweet said, using a nickname for Kaczynski. He used the Polish word ”komora,” which can be simply a dark cell or chamber but which many in Poland associate with the gas chambers used by Germans in mass murder during the war. Lis has since deleted the tweet and apologized. "It is obvious that I was thinking of a cell, but I should have foreseen that people of ill will would adopt an absurd interpretation. I hope that Mr. Duda and Mr. Kaczynski will pay for their crimes against democracy, but on a human level I wish them health and long life,” Lis said. “I never wished death on anyone.” President Duda weighed in with a tweet that implied criticism of the party that supports him. “The memory of the victims of German crimes in Auschwitz is sacred and inviolable; the tragedy of millions of victims cannot be used in political struggle; this is an unworthy act," he said. The purported aim of the new law is to create a commission to investigate Russian influences in Poland. But critics fear that it will be misused ahead of fall elections to target opponents, in particular opposition leader Donald Tusk. They say the commission could be used by the ruling party to eliminate its opponents from public life for a decade. The law was approved this week by Duda, to widespread criticism in Poland and by the EU and the United States. Critics in Poland have informally dubbed it “Lex Tusk,” and its passage has energized the political opposition. Tusk plans to lead a large anti-government march on Sunday in Warsaw, the capital. The march is to be held on the 34th anniversary of the first partly free elections in Poland after decades of communism, on June 4, 1989. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Poland's president approves law on Russia's influence that could target opposition Migrants with children stuck at Poland's border wall; activists say Belarus won't let them turn back Ukraine soccer league set for a title-deciding game in a remarkable, war-hit season

European government bonds rallied while the euro and risk-sensitive Nordic currencies sank as cooling inflation prints and weak

India’s economy grew faster than the government’s expectations last year, as demand spurred an expansion in the services

The gunman accused of murdering 11 in a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 is now on trial in a federal courtroom in Pittsburgh. On 27 October 2018, Robert Bowers, then 46, entered the synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood armed with three handguns, an AR-15 rifle, and a trove of magazines and ammunition. Inside, he opened fire on congregants in what marks the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. Eight men and three women – aged from 54 to 97 – died in the massacre. After numerous delays, the now-50-year-old is finally standing trial for more than 60 federal charges including obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and hate crimes resulting in death. During opening arguments on Tuesday, Mr Bowers’ attorneys admitted that he was responsible for the massacre but claimed that he acted on “an irrational motive” and had “misguided intent”. Prosecutors meanwhile pointed out that, in the months leading up the shooting, the suspect was spewing bigoted and antisemitic vitriol online. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Read More Who is Robert Bowers: Alleged antisemite on trial for Tree of Life synagogue shooting Police say Robert Bowers had an ‘unthinkable’ thought – then carried out America’s deadliest antisemitic attack