IRS-ICE Immigrant Data Sharing Agreement Betrays Data Privacy and Taxpayers’ Trust

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently reached an agreement allowing the IRS to share with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) taxpayer information of certain immigrants. The redacted 15-page memorandum of understanding (MOU) was exposed in a court case, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos v. […]

Continue Reading

WH Smith once shaped the travel experience – and now it’s returning to its roots

After 124 years as a familiar fixture to generations of customers, there will no longer be a place for WH Smith on UK high streets. Modella Capital – a specialist retail investment company – is the new owner of the chain’s high street locations. For a purchase price of £76 million, it will take over […]

Continue Reading

Trust collapsing as job fears surge worldwide, warns UN

According to the World Social Report 2025 launched on Thursday, the sobering sentiment indicates a widespread lack of confidence in the future. Despite people living longer, being better educated and more connected than ever before, many believe that life today is worse than it was 50 years ago. Close to 60 per cent of people […]

Continue Reading

Florida’s Anti-Encryption Bill Is a Wrecking Ball to Privacy. There’s Still Time to Stop It.

We’ve seen plenty of bad tech bills in recent years, often cloaked in vague language about “online safety.” But Florida’s SB 868 doesn’t even pretend to be subtle: the state wants a backdoor into encrypted platforms if minors use them, and for law enforcement to have easy access to your messages. This bill should set […]

Continue Reading

President Trump’s obsession with trade deficits has no basis in economics. And it’s a bad reason for tariffs

Those of us who study trade and investment for a living are, I suspect, becoming exasperated with both the White House stance on tariffs and the way that this is reported in much of the media. US president Donald Trump believes that if a country has a trade surplus with the US it is somehow […]

Continue Reading

Roche Unveils $50B U.S. Manufacturing Expansion, Marking Largest-Ever Investment in U.S. Operations

Swiss pharmaceutical leader Roche is making a historic bet on the U.S. life sciences sector, announcing a $50 billion investment over the next five years to dramatically expand its American manufacturing and research footprint. The move underscores a strategic pivot that could soon see the U.S. become a net exporter of Roche medicines, according to […]

Continue Reading

Health, education, opportunity at stake, amid stubborn digital gender divide

Closing this gap is not optional. There were189 million fewer women than men online in 2024.   The disparity is about more than access, it reflects deeper systemic barriers, according to ​Doreen Bogdan-Martin who heads the UN telecommunications agency, ITU. “That’s too many missed opportunities to learn, to earn and to shape our shared digital […]

Continue Reading

White House Weighs Major China Tariff Cuts to Ease Trade Tensions

The Trump administration is reportedly considering a significant rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports in an effort to de-escalate long-standing trade tensions with Beijing, according to sources cited by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. People familiar with internal deliberations say the White House is exploring the possibility of cutting tariffs by more than 50% […]

Continue Reading

Digital Identities and the Future of Age Verification in Europe

This is the first part of a three-part series about age verification in the European Union. In this blog post, we give an overview of the political debate around age verification and explore the age verification proposal introduced by the European Commission, based on digital identities. Part two takes a closer look at the European […]

Continue Reading

Tim Cook’s Behind-the-Scenes Diplomacy Helped Shape Trump’s Tariff Policy on iPhones

Apple CEO Tim Cook quietly met with top Trump administration officials to express concern over proposed tariffs on Chinese-made electronics—moves that could have significantly raised the price of iPhones for U.S. consumers. According to The Washington Post, Cook engaged directly with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other senior figures during the tariff standoff, opting for […]

Continue Reading