Economy

Alcohol-related deaths in UK hit record high of 10,473

Alcohol-related deaths in the UK have hit a record high, with 10,473 people dying in 2023 as a result of heavy drinking, statistics have revealed. That is an increase on the 10,048 deaths the Office for National Statistics recorded across the four countries of the UK during 2022, the first time more than 10,000 such…

Economy

Trump dismisses USAid direct-hire workers around the world

The Trump administration is placing US Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave, except those deemed essential. A notice posted online on Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home, upending the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas. Thousands of USAid employees already had been laid off and programs worldwide shut…

Economy

Alleged ‘Pam the Bird’ graffiti creator denied bail as court hears of social media-driven reoffending risk

A Melbourne man alleged to be the creator of the prolific “Pam the Bird” graffiti will remain behind bars, with a magistrate saying there was a risk of him continuing to target prominent locations to boost his social media notoriety if released. Jack Gibson-Burrell, 21, appeared in the Melbourne magistrates court on Wednesday morning where…

Economy

Doge staffers enter Noaa headquarters and incite reports of cuts and threats

Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency. “They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my…

Economy

Democrats join protest against Musk’s ‘hostile takeover’ of federal payment systems

Hundreds of protesters and a contingent of Democratic lawmakers rallied outside the Department of the Treasury in Washington on Tuesday, denouncing what they called Elon Musk’s “hostile takeover” of federal financial systems, as demonstrations spilled on to, and took over, the street outside the building. The protests targeted reports of the “department of government efficiency”…