Amazon

IF you’re an over-packer who constantly battles to zip your suitcase shut, this Amazon find is a game-changer.

Shoppers are rushing to buy these compression packing cubes that do far more than just organise your holiday outfits – they actively squeeze your clothes down into compact bundles, too.

While regular packing cubes can save you around 15% luggage space, compression cubes can save you up to 50% – effectively giving you another half a suitcase to fill.

Travel Compression Packing Cubes, £19.99 (was £29.99)

The cubes are slashed to nearly half-price on Amazon, where you can snap them up for just £19.99 – 33% down from the usual £29.99.

These compression cubes come in handy for all sorts of holidays, whether you’re heading off backpacking or want to pack as many Ibiza party outfits as possible.

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They even have a waterproof compartment to separate any dry and damp clothes from after your travels.

One pleased shopper said “These travel compression packing cubes were a game changer when I was travelling around Thailand with just a backpack.

“The sizes are really well thought out, making it easy to separate clothes, keep everything organised, and maximise space”.

Another shopper said “Really good packing cubes for the price I paid.

“Makes packing much easier and more organised. I wish I had bought them years ago!”

Travel Compression Packing Cubes, £19.99 (was £29.99)

These packing cubes have rip-resistant double stitching and zip smoothly, even when you’ve stuffed them full.

Plus you’re even doing your bit for the environment by picking these cubes, as they’re made from recycled plastic bottles.

The compression packing cubes come in six different colours: grey, beige, blue, black, green and red.

As well as condensing down your clothing into tightly-packed bundles, packing cubes can be a great organising tool.

You can pick an item to bundle into each section – t-shirts, trousers, dresses, socks, toiletries – then pick a cube to pop each of them into.

That way when you need to grab something on holiday, you won’t be rummaging around in your suitcase – you’ll know exactly where to find it.

Travel Compression Packing Cubes, £19.99 (was £29.99)

Prices correct at time of publication.

An Amazon MGM Studios executive allegedly solicited kickbacks from an aspiring vendor in exchange for post-production contract awards on shows, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Joe Eckardt, owner and president of Hollywood-based postproduction services firm Unbreakable Post, alleged that the studio’s head of postproduction, Frank Salinas, told him during a business lunch in 2023 that Salinas could “ensure” Unbreakable Post would be included as an approved vendor to bid on Amazon-affiliated projects.

Salinas would give Eckardt the target budget number for his company’s bid and “effectively guarantee that Unbreakable would be awarded the work,” the lawsuit states.

After the contract was awarded, Eckardt would then pay Salinas a percentage of the project value as a kickback, the lawsuit says.

After Eckardt refused, he alleges that his contract opportunities with Amazon dried up.

He states in the lawsuit that although he had done “substantial” work, served as a postproduction consultant or selected vendor on shows such as the Mexico, Brazil and Argentina productions of the reality series “Temptation Island” and the third season of documentary series “Coach Prime,” he was not selected by Amazon for a contract with those projects.

In 2025, Eckardt alleges that he reported Salinas’ conduct to Amazon and after six months of information gathering, the company told him that “its investigation had concluded and that the allegations were ‘not substantiated.’”

Amazon MGM Studios did not respond to a request for comment. Salinas declined to comment.

Eckardt’s lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He alleges that he lost more than $1 million in contracts, income and future business opportunities. He is seeking a jury trial.

May 5 (UPI) — The Center for AI Standards and Innovation, part of a U.S.government agency, announced Tuesday that it will test artificial intelligence models from some top firms before release to vet them for security risks.

CAISI has deals with Microsoft, xAI and Google DeepMind for this testing and targeted research “to better assess frontier AI capabilities and advance the state of AI security,” it said in a release. The center is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This follows similar deals in 2024, under the Biden administration, with prominent AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, which have been “renegotiated” to fit Trump administration directives, Politico reported.

The government has increasingly shown interest in matters of AI technology and security. CNBC also reported Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering an executive order to create a process for AI oversight by the White House.

Some of this interest has been heightened by the announcement last month of Anthropic’s new Mythos AI model. The company described the model as excelling “at identifying weaknesses and security flaws within software” and limited its initial use to certain companies. These companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, will use it as part of defensive security work and as part of Project Glasswing, a cybersecurity initiative, Anthropic said.

The announcement Tuesday from CAISI said that the center has completed more than 40 evaluations of AI models so far.

“Independent, vigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications,” CAISI director Chris Fell said in a statement. “These expanded industry collaborations help us scale our work in the public interest in a critical moment.”

May 4 (UPI) — Retail giant Amazon announced Monday that it will open its supply chain networks to other businesses as part of its new Amazon Supply Chain Services, which includes freight, distribution, fulfillment and shipping aspects.

Stocks for FedEx and UPS, both competitors in this field, sank about 10% Monday afternoon in response, CNBC reported, while Amazon stocks stayed steady.

The announcement from Amazon said the company has built “one of the most reliable and efficient supply chains on Earth — from freight that moves cargo across air, land and sea, to fulfillment centers that pick and pack millions of orders a day, and a parcel shipping network that delivers packages every day of the week.”

It listed the company’s more than 80,000 trailers, more than 24,000 intermodal containers and more than 100 aircraft operated with carrier partners and said that services will be offered to businesses of all types and sizes.

As part of Monday’s announcement, Amazon also announced that companies Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle Outfitters have signed on to use Amazon Supply Chain Services.

A high number of cases were reported in the last 12 months – with a 5-fold increase in some areas – and 143 deaths

Travellers have been warned about the resurgence of a disease spread by mosquitos with ‘high risk’ in 42 countries. The Foreign Office-backed Travel Health Pro website this week issued an alert over the virus spreading in parts of Africa, Central and South America, and in Trinidad in the Caribbean.

Yellow Fever can cause a serious haemorrhagic illness that can be fatal for humans. Yellow fever vaccination and mosquito bite avoidance are important preventive measures against the disease, officials said. Yellow fevefr virus can cause an illness that results in jaundice , yellowing of the skin and eyes, and bleeding with severe damage to the major organs such as liver, kidneys and heart. The mortality rate is high in those who develop severe disease.

Travel Health Pro said yellow fever is a risk in areas of 13 countries and territories in South and Central America. A high number of cases were reported from this region in 2025, with 346 confirmed human cases (including 143 deaths) from seven countries.

This represents a 5.6-fold increase in cases compared to 2024. Since the beginning of 2026, a total of 41 confirmed cases (including 18 deaths) have been reported from four countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

In 2024, most yellow fever cases were reported from the Amazon region. Officials said: “While YF cases continue to be reported in this area, cases have since been reported in a wider geographic area, outside the Amazon region. This includes in Sao Paulo State in Brazil and Tolima Department in Colombia. In addition, reports suggest recent human YF cases in Venezuela have occurred in an area that had not previously been considered a risk for YF disease.

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“Risk of YF outbreaks in South America remains high. An outbreak in Colombia has been ongoing since mid-2024, with 153 confirmed cases (including 62 deaths) reported. The confirmed reporting of YF cases in a wider geographic area, including cases related to jungle transmission near to urban centres, increases the risk of urban outbreaks [1]. While YF vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions to prevent YF disease, the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors, has led to a reduction of YF vaccine cover in the local population.”

It added that yell;ow fever risk countries in Africa continue to report probable and confirmed cases. During 2024, confirmed cases of YF were reported in countries with no recent history of transmission and suboptimal vaccination coverage.

WHO also advise that in some African countries, there may be under-reporting of YF due to surveillance and data collection issues. The risk of YF transmission remains high in endemic areas of Africa. The mosquitoes (Aedes spp.) that transmit YF are common in many urban areas in Africa. This significantly increases the risk of YF spreading, especially in heavily populated areas, which could lead to the rapid onset of YF outbreaks.

Countries with a risk of yellow fever transmission as defined by the World Health Organization

Africa

• Angola
• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad*
• Congo
• Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Ethiopia*
• Gabon
• The Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Kenya*
• Liberia
• Mali*
• Mauritania*
• Niger*
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• South Sudan
• Sudan*
• Togo
• Uganda

Central and South America

• Argentina*
• Bolivia*
• Brazil*
• Colombia*
• Ecuador*
• French Guiana
• Guyana
• Panama*
• Paraguay*
• Peru*
• Suriname
• Trinidad and Tobago*
• Venezuela*

*Only some parts of this country have a risk of yellow fever disease. Remaining areas either have low potential for yellow fever transmission or no risk.

Signs and symptoms

YF varies in severity. The infection has an incubation period (time from infected mosquito feeding to symptoms developing) of three to six days. Initial symptoms include myalgia (muscle pain), pyrexia (high temperature), headache, anorexia (lack of appetite), nausea, and vomiting. In many patients there will be improvement in symptoms and gradual recovery three to four days after the onset of symptoms.

Within 24 hours of an apparent recovery, 15 to 25 percent of patients progress to a more serious illness. This takes the form of an acute haemorrhagic fever, in which there may be bleeding from the mouth, eyes, ears, and stomach, pronounced jaundice (yellowing of the skin, from which the disease gets its name), and renal (kidney) damage. The patient develops shock and there is deterioration of major organ function; 20 to 50 percent of patients who develop this form of the disease do not survive [22]. Infection results in lifelong immunity in those who recover.