Author: Grace Johnson

Vintage once ruled the wine world In wine, the vintage has always been king. Every bottle of red, white, or rosé almost always carries the year of harvest on the label. Non-vintage still wine, which blends grapes from several years, has long been seen as cheap and undesirable. It is also far less common. But climate change is now shaking this tradition. Heatwaves, droughts, and extreme weather push winemakers to seek consistency. A small but growing group of respected wineries now release non-vintage bottles. They argue blending ensures quality when nature brings chaos. Napa Valley feels the heat Chris Howell,…

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy troops to Chicago. He said the move is an abuse of power. Pritzker insisted no emergency justifies such action in Illinois. He accused Trump of manufacturing a crisis for political effect. Trump has already stationed about 2,000 troops in Washington DC. The city’s Democratic leadership strongly opposes the measure. Trump frames the deployment as part of a crime crackdown in American cities. On Friday, he announced Chicago and New York could soon face the same plan. Chicago mayor calls plan reckless Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he had…

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced on Friday that Washington will take a 10% ownership share in Intel. “This historic agreement strengthens American leadership in semiconductors. It will grow our economy and secure our technological edge,” Lutnick wrote on X. He added a photo of himself with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. President Donald Trump unveiled the deal earlier in the Oval Office. He described it as “a great deal for them.” Shares of the Santa Clara-based chipmaker jumped more than 5% on Friday. Intel confirmed that the US government will inject $8.9bn (£6.6bn) into its common stock. Funding shift…

Elon Musk and his company X have reached a settlement with former staff. The employees had sued for $500 million in unpaid severance. The agreement was disclosed in a court filing on Wednesday. Both sides asked the San Francisco appeals court to delay a hearing. They said they needed more time to finalize the paperwork. Lawsuit followed mass dismissals The case began after Musk cut around 6,000 jobs in 2022. That number accounted for more than half of the company’s workforce. Many of the dismissed workers challenged the severance conditions. Neither the lawyers for the staff nor X’s representatives have…

Sony will raise the price of the PlayStation 5 in the United States by about $50 starting Thursday. The Japanese tech giant faces rising costs and a slowdown in the global gaming market. Sony executive Isabelle Tomatis explained in a blog post that the company is dealing with a “challenging economic environment.” All three console models will be affected. The Pro version will now retail for $749.99. Tariffs drive consumer costs higher The decision follows tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on several major trading partners, including Japan. These measures have fueled concerns about growing expenses for consumers. Tomatis said:…

The Kremlin has rejected talk of an imminent summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, Donald Trump renewed calls for the two leaders to meet and discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The push for direct dialogue followed Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska last week. On Monday, he welcomed Zelensky and seven European leaders to the White House. Trump admitted the conflict would be hard to solve. He warned that Putin might not want to stop the fighting. “We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks,” he said on…

An Australian court has fined airline giant Qantas 90 million Australian dollars for unlawful sackings during the Covid-19 crisis. The company had dismissed more than 1,800 ground staff in 2020. Australia’s Transport Workers’ Union welcomed the decision. It called the fine the largest in history for breaches of industrial relations law. Court delivers a clear warning Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said the penalty must serve as real deterrence. He stressed that employers must know such conduct has consequences. Qantas accepted the ruling and announced it will pay the fine. The company admitted it caused harm to its workers. “We…

A US senator has opened an investigation into Meta. A leaked document reportedly revealed that the company’s artificial intelligence enabled “sensual” and “romantic” conversations with children. Leaked policy sparks outrage Reuters reported the internal document was titled “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.” Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, described it as “reprehensible and outrageous.” He demanded access to the document and a list of all linked products. Meta rejected the allegations. A company spokesperson said: “The examples and notes in question were erroneous and inconsistent with our policies.” They stressed Meta maintained “clear rules” for chatbot responses. These rules “prohibit content that…