New anti-fraud rules introduced at Companies House have led to a sharp drop in the number of new companies being registered in the UK, according to early data, as ministers claim the reforms are beginning to bite. Weekly incorporations have fallen by around 30 per cent since November, when legislation came into force requiring all new company directors and people with significant control to verify their identity. Acting as a director without verification is now...
FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency has surged additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of an ongoing effort to ‘dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.’ Patel said Sunday that the bureau moved resources into the state before recent online attention intensified, pointing to the Feeding Our Future investigation, which uncovered a $250 million scheme that siphoned federal food aid intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case has already...
The government is facing renewed political pressure to disclose whether Jeffrey Epstein played any role in discussions surrounding the sale of a taxpayer-backed commodities business during Labour’s last period in office. Senior Conservatives have tabled a series of parliamentary questions demanding clarity on the $1.7bn (£1.35bn) sale of parts of Royal Bank of Scotland’s Sempra joint venture to JP Morgan in 2010, when Lord Mandelson was business secretary. The intervention follows disclosures contained in an...
Generally speaking, nobody outside of Washington, D.C., brunch spots cares very much what happens at think tanks. But recent upheavals at the Heritage Foundation are not only making news, they are potentially framing what the Republican Party will look like after President Trump leaves office. The current kerfuffle at Heritage, the nation’s leading conservative think tank, began on Oct. 30, when its president, Kevin Roberts, gave a speech defending Tucker Carlson for interviewing a snarky...
Millions of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), spending Christmas under the reported threat of persecution, kidnapping, sexual violence and in some cases, death from Islamist militants, have seen Friday’s U.S. strikes on Islamic State militants in Nigeria as a real sign that President Trump is serious in his efforts to stop the killing of Africa’s Christians. Over 16 million Christians are estimated to have been displaced and ripped from their homes across the region. The alleged...
Let’s be absolutely candid: the siren song of easing off climate commitments is tempting the corporate class and it stinks. If 2025 was indeed the year business quietly began retreating from net zero, watering down pledges or scrapping them outright, then 2026 must be the year UK firms rediscover backbone and purpose. After all, the alternative isn’t merely inconvenient; it is recklessly self-defeating. The Guardian’s recent investigation suggests that, from retailers to banks, carmakers to...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country is engaged in what he described as a ‘total war’ with the U.S., Israel and Europe. In an interview published Saturday by Iranian state media, Pezeshkian said that he believes the Western powers want to bring Iran ‘to its knees,’ The Times of Israel reported. ‘In my opinion, we are at total war with the United States, Israel and Europe,’ Pezeshkian said. ‘They want to bring our country...
It was an off-year when it comes to elections, but 2025 was on fire on the campaign trail, as next year’s looming midterm showdowns took shape. While it was never expected to match the intensity of the tumultuous 2024 battles for the White House and Congress, this year’s off-year elections grabbed outsized national attention and served as a key barometer leading up to the 2026 midterm contests for the House and Senate majorities. Here are...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Saturday that his country ‘is willing to do whatever it takes’ to end its war with Russia ahead of a meeting Sunday in Florida with President Donald Trump. In a series of posts on X, the Ukrainian leader said, ‘If the whole world – Europe and America – is on our side, together we will stop Putin,’ but, ‘if anyone – whether the U.S. or Europe – is on Russia’s...
This year has had no shortage of alarming Chinese espionage efforts targeting the United States that were uncovered by government officials. 2025 saw the conviction of a former active-duty military member accused of selling Navy secrets to Chinese intelligence, the arrests of Chinese nationals accused of trying to recruit active-duty service members as intelligence assets and smuggle dangerous toxins into the United States, the disruption of a Chinese ‘Hacker-for-Hire’ ecosystem, and more. ‘President Trump is...
