18+ hour, 14+ min ago (763+ words) The high-value council tax surcharge may only raise "400m but it's the best opportunity for a bigger, fairer tax on wealth Rachel Reeves won little credit last week for lifting the lid on one of the most heated tax debates of the past three decades. Who in their right mind would consider engaging in the fight that would inevitably lead to some of the richest people in the land calling for your head? Gordon Brown ran scared and so, too, did countless Tory chancellors. Yet Reeves has put her hand in the fire, saying in the budget that she would revalue about 2.4m of the most valuable homes in England with a view to slapping a "mansion tax" " an escalating surcharge " on about 100,000 of them from April 2028. As a revamp of council tax, it constitutes baby steps, as the Institute for Fiscal…...

20+ hour, 14+ min ago (874+ words) President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the White House Nov. 21. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Image) "Affordability" has become the word of the month as American economic anxieties become a major point of political contention between Democrats and Republicans. Socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani rode to victory in the New York City mayor's race in part due to his promise to address the issue. Of course, he offered what socialists have been selling to the public for more than a century: free stuff, all paid for by the "rich," the "billionaires," or in Mamdani's case, white neighborhoods in the city. But talk is one thing, reality is another. Will the kind of government intervention Mamdani and others are promising deliver positive results for the American people? So far, it hasn't. President Donald Trump and those who seek…...

21+ hour, 5+ min ago (145+ words) Amid such changing geopolitical scenario, he said India has been actively pursuing self-reliance to become a manufacturing base for industries.India has been making exponential advancements in infrastructure as well as in latest scientific developments," he added. He also told the gathering that the rest of the world has been "hedging against all contingencies" to deal with uncertainties in the world today. India, which is in talks with the US to finalise Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), continues to bear the brunt of prevailing uncertainties global trade and geopolitics under the Trump administration." Exporters from India to the US are especially hurt by a steep tariff of 50% that came into effect on August 27. This includes 25% penalty on India for purchasing Russian oil and defence products." Also Read: Defence Secy Rajesh Singh says Indian firms not the only ones missing deadlines"...

21+ hour, 14+ min ago (434+ words) Ben Shapiro / @benshapiro Ben Shapiro is host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and editor emeritus of The Daily Wire. A graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, he is a New York Times bestselling author whose latest book is "The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent." The fate of the Donald Trump administration'and perhaps Republicans in Congress'is tethered to how Americans feel about the economy. And right now, it's hard to find anyone who can say with confidence what the hell is going on. Thursday offered a fresh reminder of the chaos. As The Wall Street Journal noted, "Stocks surrendered gains and closed sharply lower after a whirlwind day of trading that began after Nvidia posted strong results. The Nasdaq composite led indexes lower after being up on the day more than 2%. It closed 2.2% lower. Nvidia…...

23+ hour, 46+ min ago (547+ words) The shift transforms verification from a vulnerability into a competitive advantage. SMX allows industries to authenticate the materials they use regardless of where the refining or processing took place. It decentralizes truth, allowing companies to build their compliance, manufacturing and sourcing strategies on facts that cannot be manipulated or hidden inside the supply chain. Why Western Industries Need Proof to Compete Legacy systems cannot meet these demands. Documentation is lost between jurisdictions. Certificates vary by region. Supply chain records lack uniformity. Risk grows with each transfer point. SMX solves this by embedding identity into the material itself, making verification independent of external paperwork or geopolitical bottlenecks. It gives companies direct control over their own certainty. A New Geopolitical Framework for Material Truth The larger implication is clear. The future of strategic manufacturing will follow the regions and companies that guarantee…...

23+ hour, 47+ min ago (1141+ words) The shift transforms verification from a vulnerability into a competitive advantage. SMX allows industries to authenticate the materials they use regardless of where the refining or processing took place. It decentralizes truth, allowing companies to build their compliance, manufacturing and sourcing strategies on facts that cannot be manipulated or hidden inside the supply chain. Why Western Industries Need Proof to Compete Legacy systems cannot meet these demands. Documentation is lost between jurisdictions. Certificates vary by region. Supply chain records lack uniformity. Risk grows with each transfer point. SMX solves this by embedding identity into the material itself, making verification independent of external paperwork or geopolitical bottlenecks. It gives companies direct control over their own certainty. A New Geopolitical Framework for Material Truth The larger implication is clear. The future of strategic manufacturing will follow the regions and companies that guarantee…...

1+ day, 10+ hour ago (1217+ words) JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to expand UK presence after sector was spared from higher taxes in budget Over canap's of beef and stilton pie, bone marrow gravy and mushy peas, the financiers at JP Morgan's New York headquarters held their champagne flutes aloft for a toast: "His majesty the king. Just days before Rachel Reeves's budget " amid the chancellor's efforts to soothe business fears and bond market jitters " Jamie Dimon, the Wall Street banking company's boss was hosting a birthday celebration for King Charles at it's new $3bn (2.3bn) Manhattan headquarters. Despite the union jack emblazoned on the skyscraper, the king was not there. Varun Chandra, the prime minister's envoy, however, was among the 400 guests. Dispatched, according to the Financial Times, to reassure the JP Morgan boss of Labour's pro-business stance. This week " hours after banks were spared a tax rise…...

1+ day, 11+ hour ago (220+ words) Let's set the record straight on the cause of our economic woes and inability to control immigration, writes Robert Gildea. Plus a letter from Rachel Foggitt A public inquiry on the management of Brexit would set the record straight, and maybe the BBC could run an impartial series for the 10th anniversary of the vote, making it easier for the government to show the courage and leadership to take us back into the EU.Robert GildeaProfessor emeritus of modern history, University of Oxford Jonathan Freedland is right to point the finger at Brexit as the cause of much of our current economic difficulties, and has some'good suggestions for addressing this. However, I disagree with his assertion that we don't have the money to fund our ailing public services. As the sixth-richest country in the world we absolutely do have the money....

1+ day, 11+ hour ago (512+ words) Tourists watch a rainbow at the Grand Canyon near Mather Point on Oct. 9, 2025. (Thomas Frey/picture alliance via Getty Images) Th'r'se Boudreaux is a reporter covering the federal government for The Center Square, with a focus on Congress. THE CENTER SQUARE'The Donald Trump administration announced it is raising prices for nonresidents visiting national parks, a move that worries some tourism advocates but could generate hundreds of millions in extra revenue each year. Beginning Jan. 1, international tourists without an annual pass will have to pay a $100 surcharge to enter the 11 most visited national parks, on top of the parks" standard entrance fees. The annual pass will cost foreign visitors $250, rather than the current $80 price that will stay the same for U.S. residents. The extra revenue will directly go towards park maintenance and repairs. The U.S. National Park Service estimates that the park system…...

1+ day, 11+ hour ago (553+ words) Economists warned it was a mathematical boost from falling imports and the Canadian economy remains "fragile. Canadas economy grew at a much faster pace than expected in the third quarter as crude oil exports and government spending boosted economic activity, data shows, even as business investments and household consumption disappointed due to the lingering uncertainty over United States tariffs. Third-quarter annualised gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.6 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday, escaping what could have been a technical recession after a contraction in the previous quarter of a downwardly revised 1.8 percent. The data strengthened economists view that the Bank of Canada will not cut interest rates on December 10. The quarterly GDP reading is calculated based on income and expenditure, unlike the monthly GDP, which is derived from industrial output. The statistics agency said the third-quarter number could be subjected…...