UK Firms are encouraged to self-report suspected wrongdoing to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and cooperate with investigators as they get a chance to avoid prosecution, according to guidance published by the SFO on Thursday. The SFO, which has a remit covering complex financial crimes, fraud and corruption, said companies that flag potential breaches would be offered the chance to negotiate a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), except in exceptional circumstances.…

President Donald Trump slammed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian control of Crimea, calling the remarks very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia. In his post on Truth Social which reads; It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire. He can have Peace…

Global aid funding cuts, led by the United States, are disrupting efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases almost as much as the COVID-19 pandemic did, the United Nations said on Thursday. Outbreaks of infectious diseases, including measles, meningitis, and yellow fever, have been increasing globally. According to reports from World Health Organization offices in 108 largely low and lower-middle income countries, Emergency and routine vaccinations meanwhile were significantly affected…

Florida on Tuesday sued photo-sharing app Snapchat for allegedly employing features that addict children and opening accounts for children age 13 and younger. The complaint said Snapchat features including infinite scrolling, push notifications, auto-play videos, and metrics that provide user feedback violate a 2024 state law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, and designed to protect children’s mental health from compulsive social media exposure. Florida called Snap’s conduct “particularly egregious”…

President Donald Trump on Tuesday backed off from threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after days of intensifying criticisms of the central bank chief for not cutting interest rates. “I have no intention of firing him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” he added. The…

Pay increases granted by British employers stayed at three per cent in the three months to March, according to figures from human resources data firm Brightmine that are likely to be welcomed by the Bank of England. It marked the fourth consecutive rolling quarter of pay awards at that level and the joint lowest pace of increase since December 2021. BoE officials are watching closely to see how employers react…

The Fund manager City Of London Investment Group on Tuesday reported a $170 million outflow from emerging markets in the three months to March 31, citing uncertainty from tariffs imposed by the U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump’s tariffs have caused turbulence in global markets, creating volatile trading swings across asset classes, clouding the global economic outlook, and prompting recession fears. Read also: Trump may shut down US embassies in Africa,…

Starmer British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a landmark ruling that the legal definition of a woman under equality laws should be based on biological sex provided much-needed clarity and a clear position to underpin gender policies. Recall that the Supreme Court ruled on April 16 that single-sex services for women, such as refuges, hospital wards and sports, could exclude trans women, clearing up legal ambiguity. Read also: UK Supreme…

With the death of Pope Francis, announced by the Vatican on Monday, Roman Catholics around the globe will start speculating on who among the red-robed cardinals will succeed him. Given the nature of cardinal appointments Francis made during his papacy, there will inevitably be some expectation that the Argentine pontiff’s successor will be another non-European, and that like Francis he could be another progressive, opposed to the Church’s conservative wing.…

Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen met on Thursday with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador in a case that has pitted a defiant Trump administration against the courts and fanned the prospect of a constitutional conflict. The senator posted on X an image of himself in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia, dressed in a collared shirt, jeans and a baseball cap, a day after being…

Sainsbury’s Britain’s second largest food retailer after Tesco forecasted flat profit this year as it pledged to sustain its competitive edge if a price war emerges. Last month, Asda, the number three player, flagged the start of a potential price war, saying it would take a hit to profits to finance price cuts aimed at reversing a slide in its market share. Tesco responded last week, forecasting 2025/26 adjusted operating…

London risks becoming an “ageing city” as Labour hammers landlords with red tape, experts have warned. Average private rents in London jumped by 9.1pc to £2,243 per month in April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The typical house price in the capital stands at £556,000, according to the latest UK House Price Index. Rents have been surging since the pandemic, with a tax…