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https://archive.ph/tY2SI

Ukraine said on Thursday that it had failed to reach a deal with holders of $2.6bn of its debt, in a blow to its hopes of securing a restructuring ahead of a payment deadline next month.

The country’s finance ministry said it would “consider all available options” and continue negotiations after the failure of opening talks in Washington this week with holders of its so-called GDP warrants.

Last month the IMF said that “if left untreated” the warrants “constitute an important risk” for the stability of an ongoing $15.5bn bailout and Kyiv’s restructuring of more than $20bn in bonds last year.

“The GDP warrants were designed for a world that no longer exists,” said Ukraine’s finance ministry on Thursday. “Ukraine’s modest economic growth in 2023 was not a sign of surging prosperity but a fragile rebound from a nearly 30 per cent downturn caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion.”

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Beijing has called on the US to “completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures” if it wants trade talks, in some of China’s strongest comments yet on the impasse between the world’s two economic superpowers.

“The unilateral tariff measures were initiated by the US,” said He Yadong, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson. “If the US truly wants to solve the problem, it should . . . completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue.”

Beijing has maintained that the US must make the first move to de-escalate the crisis, which is threatening to spark a hard decoupling between the two countries’ economies.

Chinese analysts argue that the US imposition of high tariffs make it difficult for Beijing to find a way to defuse the crisis.

China’s President Xi Jinping would find it difficult to engage personally with Trump on the trade war unless this was preceded by extensive negotiations to hammer out a deal, they say.

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China is preparing to lift sanctions on European lawmakers as it tries to revive an investment deal with the EU after losing most of its access to the US market in Donald Trump’s trade war.

A spokesperson for Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, confirmed the move, first reported by German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Beijing took the measures against several MEPs in 2021 after the EU placed sanctions on some Chinese entities because of alleged human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

The European parliament then refused to ratify an EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment that would have deepened trade ties between the two.

“The president will first inform group leaders once the Chinese authorities officially confirm that sanctions have been lifted. It has always been the European parliament’s intention to have the sanctions lifted and resume relations with China.”

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News.

The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures.

Sharon Osbourne has urged US authorities to revoke work visas for Kneecap after the Irish language rap group used a performance at Coachella to denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The TV presenter accused the band of hate speech and supporting terrorist organisations and said it should not be allowed to perform in the US. “I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa,” she exhorted followers on X on Tuesday.