President Donald Trump on Wednesday revealed plans to install two ‘beautiful’ 100-foot flagpoles on the White House lawns that will each fly an American flag. Trump told reporters about the plans after he was spotted touring the North Lawn of the White House with Dale Haney, head White House groundskeeper. ‘We’re putting up a beautiful, almost 100-foot-tall American flag,’ Trump said, adding that the two flagpoles will be ‘top of the line.’ ‘And they’ve needed...
Made Smarter, the Government-backed programme helping manufacturers embrace digital technologies, has launched a new £1 million funding round aimed at accelerating digital transformation across the North West’s manufacturing sector. The initiative, now in its seventh year, is offering match-funded grants of up to £20,000 to help small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt cutting-edge technologies such as robotics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and additive manufacturing. Alongside the financial support, eligible businesses gain...
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas demanded Hamas disarm, relinquish power and release the hostages. The Palestinian leader said that by letting the hostages go, Hamas would ‘shut down’ Israel’s ‘excuses’ to continue the war that began after the terror group’s massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. ‘The first priority is to stop the war of extermination in Gaza. It must be stopped – hundreds are being killed every day,’ Abbas said, according to the Times...
Deborah Lipstadt, who served as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during much of the Biden administration, has indicated that she is ‘pleased’ the Trump administration is seeking to tackle antisemitism. ‘I’m pleased that they’re addressing it, because that’s what I did for the past three years, which was to really push the Biden Administration to seriously address it. So I am very, very pleased that it’s on their agenda,’ she told the New...
Vice President JD Vance told reporters in India that the U.S. had offered Russia and Ukraine ‘a very explicit proposal’ to end the war that has been ongoing for over three years: make a deal or risk the U.S. walking away. ‘We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the U.S. to walk away from this process. We’ve engaged in...
President Donald Trump this week said he is ‘very’ optimistic that Ukraine and Russia will enter into some sort of deal in the coming days, but security experts are still sounding the alarm that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace. A feeling of geopolitical whiplash is surrounding Washington after the Trump administration last week said it would abandon peace efforts if a ceasefire cannot be secured, though days later Trump said there is...
President Donald Trump’s administration is firing or reassigning over 450 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a larger push to eliminate ‘environmental justice’ programs. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the employee moves on Monday, saying 280 staffers were being fired, and 175 others would be reassigned. The cut roles were in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, and EPA regional offices. ‘EPA is taking...
The UK’s office market may have reached a turning point, with vacancy rates falling for the first time since the start of the pandemic. New data reveals a modest but symbolically significant drop in the amount of empty office space, suggesting that businesses are beginning to reclaim the desks they once deserted. According to commercial property data provider CoStar, the national office vacancy rate edged down to 8.6 per cent at the end of March,...
The UK government has put on hold controversial plans to relax rules around high-stakes slot machines in adult gaming centres (AGCs), in a move that signals growing caution over the industry’s impact on vulnerable players. The decision marks an unexpected setback for the rapidly expanding AGC sector, which had anticipated a shift in regulation that would allow more lucrative machines in high street venues. Industry figures had hoped the government would scrap or amend the...
Rachel Reeves faces mounting pressure to either raise taxes or announce deeper spending cuts after official figures revealed that UK borrowing for the last financial year exceeded forecasts by nearly £15 billion. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that public sector borrowing in the 12 months to March reached £151.9 billion—£14.6 billion more than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) just weeks ago and over £20 billion higher than the previous year’s...
