Mexico sues Google for adopting Trump’s Gulf of America

Mexico sues Google for adopting Trump’s Gulf of America

Mexico has sued tech giant Google over its labelling of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, a change made by US President Donald Trump via executive order.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not provide details of the lawsuit during her daily press briefing on Friday, but said that Google had been sued.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations ministry had previously sent letters to Google asking it not to label Mexican territorial waters as the Gulf of America.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The body of water has shared borders between the United States and Mexico. 

Donald Trump with a map
Mexico is unhappy that tech giant Google has gone with Trump’s name change. (EPA PHOTO)

Trump’s order only carries authority within the US. 

Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognise the name change.

Mexico argues that Gulf of America should only apply to the part of the gulf over the United States continental shelf.

In February, Sheinbaum shared a letter from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, stating that Google will not change the policy it outlined after Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as Gulf of America within the United States, as Gulf of Mexico within Mexico and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere. 

Turner in his letter said the company was using Gulf of America to follow: “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions”.

The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. 

The Associated Press refers to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. 

The White House moved in February to block the AP from being among the small group of journalists to cover Trump in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One, with sporadic ability to cover him at events in the East Room.

The AP sued three Trump administration officials over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists.

A federal judge ordered the White House last month to restore the AP’s full access to cover presidential events, affirming on first amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organisation for the content of its speech. 

The judge’s decision granted emergency relief while the lawsuit proceeds.

Albanese demands unity to build on famous election win

Albanese demands unity to build on famous election win

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants his party to show cohesion after Labor’s thumping election win, while his rivals risk tearing themselves apart to find a new leader.

Speaking to the largest Labor caucus ever elected on Friday, Mr Albanese acknowledged his place in history alongside the 21 people who have led the Australian Labor Party since its inception in 1901.

His election win one week ago is Labor’s biggest on a two-party preferred basis since John Curtin during the Second World War.

The lower house haul of 91 seats, which could go as high as 95 as counting continues, is the largest in the party’s history.

But Mr Albanese already had an eye on growing his party’s numbers at the next election.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese believes Labor can build even further on the election win. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

“If the Labor Party is focused, if the Labor Party is united, if the Labor Party is always thinking not about the people in the room but the people outside of the room … there is no reason at all why, not only can everyone return here after the next election in 2028, but that more people can’t be elected with Labor next to their name as well,” he said.

Partly driving Labor’s success in the election was a backlash against the coalition’s proposal to gut the public service, which Mr Albanese described as “frankly juvenile, anti-Canberra rhetoric”.

But Labor’s internal cohesion has been tested by its success.

Senior cabinet ministers Mark Dreyfus and Ed Husic have been cut from the 30-person ministry by factional bosses, with Victorian MPs Sam Rae and Daniel Mulino and Senator Jess Walsh elevated instead.

“Politics is a tough game, and they (Mr Dreyfus and Mr Husic) would be feeling very, very hurt right now,” frontbencher Mark Butler told Sky News.

Mr Albanese will decide assign portfolios next week.

Unity is in short supply in the Liberal Party.

The Liberals’ moderate and conservative wings have fallen in behind deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, respectively, as the duo vie for the party leadership vacated by Peter Dutton.

The party room meets on Tuesday to settle the issue.

Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor (file image)
Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor will battle it out for leadership of the Liberals. (Lukas Coch, Diego Fedele/AAP PHOTOS)

Meanwhile, the Greens will vote for a new party leader on Thursday after Adam Bandt was booted from his lower house seat of Melbourne.

Deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and manager of business in the Senate Sarah Hanson-Young are early frontrunners, but fellow senators Larissa Waters, David Shoebridge and Jordon Steele-John have also been touted.

Interim leader Nick McKim has ruled himself out of the race. 

He defended the Greens’ stance on Gaza, saying it was important to call out genocide, amid criticism that it alienated voters.

Global stocks rise as trade hopes feed risk appetite

Global stocks rise as trade hopes feed risk appetite

World stocks have hovered around their highest prices in six weeks after a US trade deal with Britain fuelled guarded optimism for progress in tariff talks with other countries.

MSCI’s broadest index of world shares gained 0.1 per cent on Friday after jumping about 0.8 per cent the previous day to levels seen just before Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariff announcements.

“The deal between the US and UK was more style over substance,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.

The “general terms” agreement leaves in place a 10 per cent tariff on goods imported from the UK but lowers prohibitive US duties on UK car exports. Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8 per cent from 5.1 per cent and provide greater access to US goods.

“However, it feeds the narrative that the US is looking to bang out rapid-fire trade deals and reduce tariffs – at the margins – and other trade barriers,” Rodda said.

Last week, Trump said he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.

Trump pushed back against seeing the UK deal as a template for other negotiations, perhaps, including those due Saturday when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China’s economic tsar He Lifeng in Switzerland.

European stock markets opened higher on Friday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.4 per cent, with all regional bourses trading higher.

An investor rush from safe assets such as government bonds into riskier ones such as stocks might meant markets are getting ahead of themselves on optimism, said James Rossiter, head of global macro strategy at TD Securities.

“The trade deal isn’t really a trade deal. It’s an agreement on a few narrow topics. Still, it shows there is a degree of movement and that some tariffs could be mitigated,” Rossiter said.

Even so, “tariffs are not going away”.

Reaction to the UK trade agreement yesterday and the optimistic trade figures that emerged yesterday from China have pushed markets higher temporarily, but “the fundamentals behind what markets are seeing are not as robust”, Rossiter said.

Safe-haven German Bund prices fell on Friday, driving yields 5.2 basis points higher as investors dropped their bonds for assets with higher returns.

Bitcoin soared to the highest since January and US crude ticked up after a more than three per cent surge on Thursday.

Brent crude added 85 cents to $US63.70 a barrel following Thursday’s 2.8 per cent rally.

NYMEX US crude skipped up 84 cents to $US60.76 a barrel on Friday, building on the previous day’s surge.

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, edged away from Thursday’s one-month peak to be down 0.3 per cent.

The euro rose from its one-month trough at $US1.1257, and sterling ticked up 0.2 per cent to $US1.3270.

Mainland China blue chips closed down 0.2 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.4 per cent higher.

Japan’s Nikkei soared 1.6 per cent and Taiwan’s equity benchmark advanced 1.8 per cent, with technology shares the strongest performing sector.

Catholics pray for Pope Leo’s mission, Australian visit

Catholics pray for Pope Leo’s mission, Australian visit

Australian Catholics’ hopes are high for a papal visit as they express delight in the election of American-born Robert Prevost as the church’s global leader.

Cardinal Prevost will be known by the name Pope Leo XIV and is the first American and first native English-speaker to be appointed to lead the faith.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said he had been impressed during their previous meetings and always thought the Chicago native was a “rough chance” to become Pope.

“But I was surprised when I woke early to the news of his election as Pope Leo XIV – I was also delighted,” he said.

People pray at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney
Parishioners are attending churches to mark the elevation of a new pope. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Archbishop Coleridge said despite a rapid rise, Pope Leo wasn’t a man to “rush things” and had an air of calm that would serve him well.

“He struck me as a man who … was hard to fluster, a good driver in heavy traffic … he will be his own man,” he said.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Andrew Comensoli has met Pope Leo several times, saying he was a “great listener” with “wide experience and great depth of faith”.

“Clearly the cardinals were confident that they chose Cardinal Prevost,” Archbishop Comensoli told AAP.

“We have a chief shepherd and we will all look forward to getting a sense of him, as he begins his ministry.”

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said the Chicago native’s “missionary heart” would make him a unifier and peacemaker.

“He’s in a very divided world and the divisions in culture, politics, diplomacy and the rest of the world have infected the church too,” Archbishop Fisher said.

“This Pope is a very centrist kind of Pope and so that might make him less controversial.”

The Sydney archbishop sees no reason why Australia won’t soon have its first sovereign pontiff visit since Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has invited Pope Leo to visit Sydney in 2028 for the International Eucharistic Congress. 

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher says Pope Leo’s “missionary heart” will hold him in good stead. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Archbishop Fisher is confident the pontiff will travel down under after backing Australia’s candidacy to host the event. 

“So we’ve got a foot in the door for making sure he comes to our Eucharistic Congress,” the Archbishop said. 

Leo spent decades as a missionary in Peru, before Pope Francis appointed him to lead the Vatican’s bishop selection process.

Mr Albanese said the appointment brought joy and hope to Catholics.

“May the papacy of Pope Leo advance the cause of peace and social justice for all humanity,” he said.

Churchgoers in Sydney celebrated the new Pope by attending mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. 

“I’m not even Christian … but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these events,” Shantipack Chomsin told AAP. 

“It feels like everything is right again and we have something to look forward to, so it’s fantastic news,” Lauren Walker said.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe offered heartfelt congratulations. 

“Cardinal Prevost brought to his most recent role as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops an approachability and willingness to listen which were no doubt developed throughout his many years as an Augustinian missionary in Peru,” he said.

Mass for new Pope in Sydney
The appointment of Pope Leo brought joy and hope to Catholics everywhere, the prime minister said. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Catholic Social Services Australia executive director Jerry Nockles said Pope Leo’s appointment came at a critical time when the world yearned for compassionate leadership grounded in gospel values of justice, dignity and solidarity with the vulnerable.

Cardinal Mykola Bychok was the sole Australian representative at the conclave in Rome. 

Archbishop Costelloe and Sale Bishop Greg Bennet have indicated they will travel to Rome for the installation, representing the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the church in Australia.

Multiverse of motherhood shines brightest in Archibald

Multiverse of motherhood shines brightest in Archibald

Julie Fragar has won the $100,000 Archibald Prize with a portrait of fellow artist Justene Williams to “honour the incredible multiverse of artworks that seems always to be exploding from her”.

The winning work is titled Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene), and depicts the artist floating among the stars above the materials of making art, her daughter looking on.

Fragar has been a finalist in the Archibald four times, and burst into tears when Art Gallery of NSW director Maud Page called Friday morning to tell her she had won.

Artist Julie Fragar (left) and fellow artist Justene Williams
Julie Fragar with artist and friend Justene Williams, the subject of her award-winning portrait. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

“It feels unbelievable, can you imagine? I’m from a small country town originally, I moved to Sydney to go to art school, so to win the Archibald is amazing,” Fragar said after the announcement in Sydney.

She described the win as an incredible honour and her longtime friend and colleague Williams as an extraordinary artist.

“I wanted to honour the incredible multiverse of artworks that seems always to be exploding from her, spinning not quite out of control,” the Brisbane artist said.

“The work is a reflection on the experience of making art to deadlines and the labour and love of being a mother.”

Jude Rae won the Wynne Prize
Jude Rae won the Wynne Prize for her oil on linen work depicting Port Botany container terminal. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

The title of the winning work comes from Williams’ recent endurance performance in New Zealand, titled Making do rhymes with poo, about juggling a day job with art making and motherhood.

It’s the third year in a row a female artist has won the Archibald, making Fragar the 13th woman to win since the prize started in 1921.

“Here are two of Australia’s great artists in conversation about what matters most to them,” said Page, who was announced in March as the gallery’s new director.

Fragar conducted a photo session with Williams and spent three months in the studio working on the painting, which she hoped would communicate her subject’s singularity and otherworldliness.

Artist Gene A'Hern won the Sulman Prize for his work Sky Painting.
Artist Gene A’Hern won the Sulman Prize for Sky Painting, beating a record field of 732 entries. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

The winner was selected from 903 entries and 57 finalists, with works painted in the past year from at least one live sitting.

The award, widely regarded as Australia’s most prestigious art prize, is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW, who made a unanimous decision on Friday.

Jude Rae has won the $50,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting or sculpture, for the oil on linen work Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal.

The $40,000 Sulman Prize for genre painting went to Katoomba-based artist Gene A’Hern for Sky painting, beating a record field of 732 entries.

For the first time in 2025, women artists made up the majority of finalists in each of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize competitions.

Earlier in May, the $3000 Packing Room Prize selected by the gallery’s art handling staff went to Abdul Abdullah for a portrait of his friend Jason Phu.

The finalists for all three prizes will be on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from Saturday until August 17, before touring Victoria and NSW.

Australians hail Pope Leo as ‘own man’ and missionary

Australians hail Pope Leo as ‘own man’ and missionary

American Robert Prevost’s elevation to the papacy is being welcomed by Australian Catholics, who say he “will be his own man” in the role.

Cardinal Prevost will be known by the name Pope Leo XIV and is the first American and first native English-speaker to be appointed to the lead the faith.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said he had been impressed during their previous meetings and always thought the Chicago native was a “rough chance” to become Pope.

“But I was surprised when I woke early to the news of his election as Pope Leo XIV – I was also delighted,” he said.

People pray at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney
Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says Pope Leo’s sense of calm will help him well in the role. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Archbishop Coleridge said despite a rapid rise Pope Leo wasn’t a man to “rush things” and had an air of calm that would serve him well in his new role.

“He struck me as a man who … was hard to fluster, a good driver in heavy traffic … he will be his own man,” he said.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Andrew Comensoli had also met Pope Leo several times, saying he was a “great listener” with “wide experience and great depth of faith”.

“Clearly the cardinals were confident that they chose Cardinal Prevost,” Archbishop Comensoli told AAP.

“It’s great news. We have a chief shepherd and we will all look forward to getting a sense of him, as he begins his ministry.”

The Chicago native’s “missionary heart” would hold him in good stead, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said.

“Like the late Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV will bring to the church the experience of being part of a religious order with an emphasis on simplicity and community,” he said.

“It was very moving that the Holy Father opened his first address to a watching world with a greeting of peace, and repeated the central truth of the gospel, that God loves all of us ‘without any limits or conditions’.”

Leo spent decades as a missionary in Peru, before Pope Francis appointed him to lead the Vatican’s bishop selection process.

Archbishop Fisher, along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, invited Leo to the International Eucharistic Congress, to be hosted in Sydney in 2028.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher says Pope Leo’s “missionary heart” will hold him in good stead. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Mr Albanese said the appointment brought joy and hope to Catholics everywhere.

“May the papacy of Pope Leo advance the cause of peace and social justice for all humanity,” he said.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe offered the Catholic church in Australia’s heartfelt congratulations.

“Cardinal Prevost brought to his most recent role as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops an approachability and willingness to listen which were no doubt developed throughout his many years as an Augustinian missionary in Peru,” he said.

Portrait of Pope Leo XIV at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane
The appointment of Pope Leo brought joy and hope to Catholics everywhere, the prime minister said. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

Catholic Social Services Australia executive director Jerry Nockles said Pope Leo’s appointment came at a critical time when the world yearned for compassionate leadership grounded in gospel values of justice, dignity and solidarity with the vulnerable.

“Pope Leo’s election offers a beacon of hope and a powerful reminder that the church stands firmly for peace and with those on the margins,” Dr Nockles said.

Cardinal Mykola Bychok was the sole Australian representative at the conclave in Rome.

Archbishop Costelloe and Sale Bishop Greg Bennet have indicated they will travel to Rome for the installation representing the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the church in Australia.

PM rallies troops, urges caucus to focus on Australians

PM rallies troops, urges caucus to focus on Australians

Anthony Albanese has warned Labor MPs not to let the government’s dominant election victory go to their heads as fresh faces joined the party room.

The prime minister called for unity and discipline, and for his members not to focus inwards in a speech twice interrupted by a ringing phone.

It follows a brutal move by internal powerbrokers to dump two cabinet ministers.

Anthony Albanese arrives at a meeting of the Labor Party Caucus
Anthony Albanese warned Labor’s expanded caucus to focus on all Australians, not on themselves. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

“We don’t seek power for its own sake, not to decide who’s in what part of the building,” Mr Albanese told a caucus meeting in Canberra on Friday, in a reference to people sitting in the ministerial wing or backbench offices.

“We seek power in order to deliver for the people who need Labor to be in government and to develop a better nation.”

The prime minister urged his party to focus on Australians who voted for them, each and every day. 

“My final ask of you is that over the next three years, we remain laser-like focused on them.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Industry Minister Ed Husic have been axed from the ministry as Labor’s more progressive left and more conservative right factions carve up the 30 spots.

Mr Dreyfus will be replaced in the ministry by Victorian MP Sam Rae, a factional ally of deputy prime minister Richard Marles who hails from the same state.

Mr Husic brushed the first caucus meeting, after being dumped to rebalance the ledger between the NSW and Victorian right, with the former over-represented in cabinet as spots are decided on a proportional basis between factions and states.

Labor senators Jess Walsh and Tim Ayres will also be promoted, as will MP Daniel Mulino.

The new ministers would be highly effective and work hard but this would not diminish the pain of the two dumped senior MPs, health minister Mark Butler said.

There were democratic processes where people put themselves forward to colleagues which “can mean that a whole lot of people who either have a lot of experience or a lot of potential miss out,” he told reporters.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus attends a Labor caucus meeting
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was dumped from cabinet in a factional move that has drawn criticism. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

But Labor luminary and former prime minister Paul Keating blasted “factional lightweights” for demoting Mr Husic as the cabinet’s sole Muslim member and Mr Dreyfus as the most senior Jewish MP.

It showed contempt for the Muslim community who supported Labor, he said, while savaging Mr Albanese for failing to intervene.

The prime minister will allocate portfolios over the weekend ahead of the ministry being sworn in on Tuesday.

Labor’s first caucus was all men and now women will outnumber them in the party room, Mr Albanese said to resounding applause.

Women are set to hold at least 46 of Labor’s 90 seats.

Anthony Albanese embraces Ali France
Women are set to hold 46 of Labor’s 90 seats, outnumbering men. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

“I also see people of different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different experiences, different faiths,” he said.

Across the dispatch box, the Liberals are also looking for a refresh after Peter Dutton became the first opposition leader to lose his seat, with deputy leader Sussan Ley officially throwing her hat into the ring on Friday.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is also contending, with rumours Jacinta Nampijinpa Price could run as his deputy after defecting from the Nationals party room to sit with the Liberals.

The party’s immigration spokesman Dan Tehan ruled himself out of any leadership role.

Greens MPs will meet on Thursday to choose a new leader after Adam Bandt lost his Melbourne seat.

Julie Fragar’s flagship mother portrait wins Archibald

Julie Fragar’s flagship mother portrait wins Archibald

Brisbane artist Julie Fragar has won the $100,000 Archibald Prize with her portrait of fellow artist Justene Williams.

The winning work is titled Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene), and is painted in grayscale, showing the artist floating among the stars.

The title comes from Williams’ recent endurance performance in New Zealand – Making do rhymes with poo – about the labour of juggling a day job with art making and motherhood.

Artist Justene Williams
Artist Justene Williams was the subject of Julie Fragar’s winning Archibald Prize portrait. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

Fragar has been a finalist in the Archibald four times, and burst into tears when Art Gallery of New South Wales director Maud Page called Friday morning to tell her she had won.

“To be the winner of the Archibald Prize is a point of validation. It means so much to have the respect of my colleagues at the Art Gallery. It doesn’t get better than that,” she said.

She also paid tribute to her subject, Justene Williams, describing her as a dear friend and an extraordinary artist who has a “multiverse of artwork” spinning from her.

“Justene is incredible. I feel very fortunate that she allowed me to do this portrait. There is nobody like her,” said Fragar.

“The work is a reflection on the experience of making art to deadlines, and the labour and love of being a mother.”

The winner was selected from 903 entries and 57 finalists, with entries painted in the past year from at least one live sitting.

The award, widely regarded as Australia’s most prestigious art prize, is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Jude Rae has won the $50,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting or sculpture, for the oil on linen work Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal.

The $40,000 Sulman Prize for genre painting went to Katoomba-based artist Gene A’Hern for Sky painting, beating a record field of 732 entries.

Ms Page, who was announced in March as the new director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, said the winning work showed two of Australia’s great artists in conversation about what matters most to them.

“Julie Fragar has a sumptuous ability to transcend reality and depict her subjects technically but also psychologically,” she said.

“Justene Williams is a larger-than-life character, a performer – cacophonous and joyous.”

For the first time in 2025, women artists made up the majority of finalists in each of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize competitions.

Earlier in May, the $3000 Packing Room Prize selected by the gallery’s art handling staff went to Abdul Abdullah for a portrait of his friend Jason Phu.

The finalists for all three prizes will be on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from Saturday until August 17, before touring Victoria and across NSW.

Japanese stocks jump, dollar firms on trade hopes

Japanese stocks jump, dollar firms on trade hopes

Japanese stocks jumped on Friday, supported by the dollar’s surge against the yen, after a US trade deal with Britain fuelled hopes of progress in tariff talks with other countries.

Bitcoin soared to the highest since January and US crude ticked up after a more than 3.0 per cent surge on Thursday, when President Donald Trump announced the agreement with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – the first in the month since Trump started a 90-day pause on trade tariffs to allow room for negotiations.

At the same time, concerns that the limited trade agreement with London may not provide much of a blueprint for additional deals cooled optimism around the outcome of Sino-US trade talks set for Saturday in Switzerland.

Mainland blue chips started the day 0.2 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei and broader Topix each climbed about 1.2 per cent, with the Topix set to extend its winning streak to an 11th session, the longest run since October 2017.

Taiwan’s equity benchmark advanced 1.0 per cent, while Australian stocks added 0.4 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was broadly flat.

“The deal between the US and UK was more style over substance,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.

“However, it feeds the narrative that the US is looking to bang-out rapid fire trade deals and reduce tariffs – at the margins – and other trade barriers,” Rodda said.

“Constructive language and statements of intent will likely be enough to drive stocks higher off the back of the US-China trade talks.”

Trump pushed back against seeing the UK deal as a template for other negotiations.

The “general terms” agreement leaves in place a 10 per cent tariff on goods imported from the UK but lowers prohibitive US duties on UK car exports. Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8 per cent from 5.1 per cent and provide greater access to US goods.

Last week, Trump said he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.

Nymex crude ticked up 0.2 per cent to $US60.02 ($A93.75) per barrel early on Friday, building on the previous day’s 3.2 per cent surge. Brent crude added 0.3 per cent to $US63 ($A98) per barrel, following Thursday’s 2.8 per cent rally.

Safe-haven gold continued its slide, weakening 0.5 per cent to around 3,288 an ounce, after dropping 3.6 per cent in the past two sessions.

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, edged up 0.1 per cent to reach a one-month peak at 100.77.

The euro sagged to a one-month trough at $US1.1210 ($A1.7510)5, and sterling slipped to a three-week low of $US1.3220 ($A2.0650)5.

The yen ticked up slightly to 145.77 per dollar, but that was after a 1.5 per cent tumble on Thursday, when it touched a one-month low of 146.175.

Higher US Treasury yields helped support the greenback, with the 10-year yield steady at 4.3687 per cent following Thursday’s 10-basis point jump as demand for the safety of bonds ebbed.

Bitcoin was also buoyed by the improvement in market sentiment, rising to the highest since January 31 at $US103,090.17 ($A161,025.89), and closing the distance with the all-time high from January 20 at $US109,071.86 ($A170,369.24).

Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick no longer sees risk sentiment as the main driver for the world’s biggest cryptocurrency.

“It is now all about flows, and flows are coming in many forms,” said Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, pointing to an influx of cash into bitcoin ETFs, as well as buying by so-called whales.

“I think a fresh all-time high for bitcoin is coming soon,” he said. 

“I apologise that my $US120,000 ($A187,000) Q2 target may be too low.”

Julie Fragar’s black and white portrait wins Archibald

Julie Fragar’s black and white portrait wins Archibald

Julie Fragar has won the $100,000 Archibald Prize with her portrait of fellow artist Justene Williams.

The winning work is titled Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene), and is painted in grayscale, showing the artist floating among the stars.

The title comes from Williams’ recent endurance performance in New Zealand – Making do rhymes with poo – about the labour of juggling a day job with art making and motherhood. 

Artist Justene Williams
Artist Justene Williams was the subject of Julie Fragar’s winning Archibald Prize portrait. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

The winner was selected from 903 entries and 57 finalists, with entries painted in the past year from at least one live sitting.

The award, widely regarded as Australia’s most prestigious art prize, is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Jude Rae has won the $50,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting or sculpture, for the oil on linen work Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal.

The $40,000 Sulman Prize for genre painting went to Katoomba-based artist Gene A’Hern for Sky painting, beating a record field of 732 entries.

Maud Page, who was announced in March as the new director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, has congratulated all of the artists who entered the 2025 awards.

For the first time in 2025, women artists made up the majority of finalists in each of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize competitions.

Earlier in May, the $3000 Packing Room Prize selected by the gallery’s art handling staff went to Abdul Abdullah for a portrait of his friend Jason Phu.

The finalists for all three prizes will be on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from Saturday until August 17, before touring Victoria and NSW.

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