Author: Fatimah Idera

Britain’s government kicked off the 2025/26 financial year in April by borrowing more than expected, suggesting no let-up in the pressure on the public finances ahead of a major review of spending. Public sector net borrowing was 20.155 billion pounds ($27 billion) in April, according to official data. Economists have routinely underestimated the extent of Britain’s budget deficit each month over the past year. Finance minister Rachel Reeves is due to deliver her first multi-year spending review on June 11 to set the budgets for public services. She outlined her first annual tax and spending plans last October when she…

United States of America singer Chris Brown has been freed on bail by a court in London after being charged with inflicting an unprovoked attack in a nightclub in 2023. The Grammy-winning star, who has not yet been asked to enter a plea in the case, is able to begin his world tour next month as planned as part of his bail conditions. Recall that he was arrested last week and later charged with grievous bodily harm over an incident in which he allegedly attacked a music producer with a tequila bottle at the Tape nightclub in London’s Mayfair. The…

Deloitte has warned staff that it will slash bonuses and scale back hiring in response to a slowdown in profits this year. The accountancy giant unveiled the cost-cutting plan in an email to UK staff as bosses said they were responding to an underwhelming performance across its audit and consulting business. The senior partner at Deloitte’s UK,Richard Houston told staff that the firm’s consulting arm had “faced a particularly challenging year”, which led to a worse-than-expected performance. Staff in Deloitte’s consulting business will see their bonuses cut by 20% after the unit fell materially short of its performance goals, Mr.…

President Donald Trump announced the selection of a design for the $175 billion Golden Dome Missile Defense shield, a satellite network aimed at detecting, tracking, and intercepting incoming missiles from China and Russia. The program, initiated in January, will be led by US Space Force General Michael Guetlein. Trump told a White House press conference that Golden Dome will “protect our homeland,” adding that Canada had expressed interest in joining the initiative. In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said they’re discussing a new security and economic relationship with the US, including strengthening NORAD and initiatives like Golden…

Companies importing goods from China into the US are rapidly converting warehouses into bonded facilities to defer paying tariffs until the goods are sold. The US has over 1,700 bonded warehouses where imported goods can be stored without immediate customs duty payment. With the current 30 per cent tariff on Chinese shipments, this move allows businesses to manage funds more effectively amidst trade policy volatility. Many bonded warehouses are now at full capacity, and prices for space have skyrocketed. According to WarehouseQuote, bonded storage space now costs four times more than standard storage rates, up from twice the cost in…

Spain experienced widespread phone and internet blackouts on Tuesday, just weeks after a massive power failure plunged the country into darkness. The outage, which began around 2 am, affected landline and mobile services across the country, with fixed-line internet services being the most impacted. According to Downdetector, 18 per cent of users reported no signal, while 10 per cent experienced a total outage. The regions affected by the blackouts include the Basque Country, Andalusia, Aragon, and Extremadura, with major cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia also impacted. Emergency call operators faced significant disruptions, with some callers being cut off…

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to join the congressional debate over his sweeping tax bill, as House Republicans struggle to maintain their fragile majority ahead of a crucial vote. Trump will attend a Tuesday morning meeting with the 220-member House Republican caucus, including hardline conservatives who previously stalled the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and Republicans from New York seeking help with raising the deduction cap for state and local taxes. Read also: House Republicans take full U.S. control as Trump returns to White House House Speaker Mike Johnson anticipates extensive discussions within the conference over the next 48 hours,…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services terminated $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University, citing the institution’s failure to address antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination on campus. The Trump administration has frozen or ended federal grants and contracts for the university worth nearly $3 billion in recent weeks. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has sought to overhaul U.S. academia, which he believes has been gripped by anti-American, Marxist, and radical left ideologies. The administration accuses Harvard of considering ethnicity in student applications and allowing discrimination against Jews amid pro-Palestinian protests. “Due to Harvard University’s…

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump’s administration to strip temporary protected status from approximately 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, granted under his predecessor Joe Biden. This decision is part of Trump’s hardline approach to immigration, aiming to ramp up deportations. The court granted the Justice Department’s request to lift a San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s order. Chen’s order had halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate deportation protection for Venezuelans under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. However the court’s brief order was unsigned, typical for emergency requests. However, it left open the…

Wendy McMahon, President and CEO of CBS News, is stepping down due to disagreements with the company’s direction. In a memo to staff, McMahon stated that the last few months have been challenging and that it’s clear she and the company don’t see eye-to-eye on the future. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership,” she wrote. This decision comes amid a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against CBS, alleging the network edited an interview with Kamala Harris to favor the Democratic Party in the November election. Trump initially sought $10…