Top World News

May 7, 2025 - World

Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week. Continue reading...

May 7, 2025 - World

The United States is requiring businesses and government offices in Stockholm, Sweden, to comply with the Trump administration's anti-DEI policies, according to Swedish news outlet Dagens Nyheter. "Stockholm's urban planning office must not work for diversity, equity, and inclusion," according to the outlet's English translation. "The U.S. embassy demands this in a letter with a contract that they expect the city to sign." Stockholm's urban planning councilor Jan Valeskog called the requirement "completely bizarre," adding, "We will never sign this contract." In addition, the U.S. Embassy is requiring Swedish suppliers "to certify that they do not apply certain inclusion programs," the outlet reported. ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreams The X account @ChrisO_wiki translated more of the report in a post, saying the Swedish government was given 10 days to comply."Since February 2025, US embassies around the world have been sending letters to local contractors making similar demands," the post said. "This seems to be the first time that it's been reported that a similar letter has been sent to a foreign government organisation."Valeskog is quoted as saying, "If the U.S. terminates its relationship with the city planning office, the embassy will have difficulty obtaining a building permit if they want to rebuild, for example. That's their headache, not ours."The X account continued, "The Swedish government says that it would violate Swedish law to comply with such a demand. Commenting on similar letters sent to Swedish businesses, Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life Nina Larsson says: 'According to the Discrimination Act, Swedish companies are obliged to work preventively and actively to counteract discrimination and promote equal rights – for example based on gender, ethnicity or disability. Otherwise, there may be penalties. Companies should feel secure in the fact that Swedish law is firm. It is also important that we – both politically and from the industries – are clear about this towards foreign clients.'"

May 7, 2025 - World

All-out war is unlikely but shifting of goalposts amid Gaza and Ukraine conflicts suggests Kashmir crisis could escalateKashmir crisis live – latest updatesIndia’s string of attacks on Pakistan overnight – a response, Delhi says, to the killing of 26 in a terror attack in Kashmir last month – comes at a time when warfare has become increasingly normalised internationally and the restraints of the global diplomatic system weakened.Though flare-ups between the two south Asian powers are nothing new, India’s Operation Sindoor is already notably more aggressive than recent military actions launched by Delhi against its neighbour in 2016 and 2019, raising the stakes for Pakistan’s promised response to what it says was “an act of war”. Continue reading...

May 7, 2025 - World

Fears raised of escalating conflict after Pakistan accused India of ‘igniting an inferno’ in Kashmir and PunjabKashmir crisis live – latest updatesPakistan has warned that it will “avenge” the death of 31 people killed in overnight missile attacks by the Indian air force, raising fears of an escalating conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.In a late night address to the nation late on Wednesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said: “We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs.” Continue reading...

May 7, 2025 - World

Billionaire Mark Cuban offered up his unsolicited advice to the Trump administration on how to reform Medicaid without making any cuts to the entitlement. Congress has been trying to figure out how to give President Donald Trump his "big, beautiful" spending bill without making cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Trump himself has said the entitlements would not be touched. However, DOGE's Elon Musk indicated in a March Fox News interview that entitlements would be on the table, saying, "The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year." ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreams Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks and appears on "Shark Tank" alongside Trump pal Kevin O'Leary, posted on X Wednesday, "I'm against a reduction in benefits for Medicaid recipients. In fact I would like to see them get more benefits. BUT The way the system is currently constructed to move dollars from the fed gov to states and then to beneficiaries, like much of our health care system, is backa-- halfwards." Cuban continued, "States have learned how to arbitrage current laws to increase their receipts (see provider taxes ), insurance companies and their [pharmacy benefit managers] are still in the middle. Both create a lot of room for cost cuts, not only for taxpayers, but for the entire system. However. Talking about cuts and Medicaid is political suicide. What this really needs to be about is Medicaid Process Simplification. We need to make changes. Let's do what needs to be done across all of healthcare. Simplify it. Remove the arbitrage. Start with the patient, rather from the budget and work down. There is no silver bullet, but there are ways to make improvements and save money @HHSGov." According to Investopedia, "Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in different markets to exploit tiny differences in their prices."