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The end of an exemption on tariff duties for low-value packages coming into the United States is causing multiple international postal services to pause shipping as they await more clarity on the rule, Associated Press reported.

The exemption, known as the “ de minimis” exemption, allows packages worth less than $800 to come into the U.S. duty free. A total of 1.36 billion packages were sent in 2024 under this exemption, for goods worth $64.6 billion, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency. 

It is set to expire on Friday. On Saturday, postal services around Europe announced that they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid confusion over new import duties, according to Associated Press

A man working on the hit show Emily in Paris has died during filming in Venice for the fifth season, BBC reported.

La Repubblica named the man as 47-year-old Diego Borella, who was an assistant director on the show.

Medics were called to Hotel Danieli in the city at around 19:00 local time (18:00 BST) on Thursday, but were unable to save him, the newspaper said.

"We are deeply saddened to confirm the sudden passing of a member of the 'Emily in Paris' production family," a spokesperson from Paramount Television Studios, who produce the show for Netflix, told BBC News.

Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including people sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food, local hospitals said as a famine in Gaza’s largest city puts new pressure on Israel over its 22-month offensive, Associated Press reported.

Israel’s defense minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation perhaps just days away, even as famine spreads there.

Aid groups have long warned that the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation.

Israel has rejected the data-based famine declaration as “an outright lie.” Ceasefire efforts are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps, according to Associated Press.

Sri Lanka’s former president was admitted to hospital on Saturday, a day after he was charged with using public funds to finance private international travel, as the government intensified its crackdown on corruption, The Guardian reported.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76, was remanded in custody on Friday after being accused of using taxpayers’ money to pay for a two-day visit to the UK in September 2023 to attend a ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton granting an honorary professorship to his wife.

Wickremesinghe has denied the misuse of state money, and said his wife paid her own travel expenses. The visit took place upon Wickremesinghe’s return from the G77 summit in Havana and the UN general assembly in New York, according to The Guardian.

The offences carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail and an estimated fine of 16.6m rupees (£41,000).