Experts Say

Islamabad has reportedly switched to lower-profile role but believes peace can make progress without face-to-face meetingsPakistan is passing proposals between Iran and the US to keep talks alive behind the scenes and inch towards a peace agreement, officials and experts say.Pakistani officials say that they are conscious of the fact that at stake is not only regional peace, but the health of the global economy and the livelihoods of millions of the poorest people in the world – including in Pakistan, whose monthly energy import bill has almost tripled as a result of the war. Continue reading...

Report calls for tough action to combat ‘escalating and unsustainable burden’ of liver-related problems in EuropeGovernments in Europe should impose much higher taxes on alcohol and unhealthy food to tackle the continent’s 284,000 deaths a year from liver disease, experts say.Taxes on those products should rise sharply enough for the money raised to cover the huge costs they place on health services, the criminal justice system and social services. Continue reading...

US generated more power from renewables like solar and wind than fossil fuels recently for a full month in a firstDonald Trump has wielded the full might of his administration to crush the progress of clean energy, which has called a “scam” and “stupid”. But there are signs this assault is not going to plan.In March, the US generated more of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind than it did via gas, the first time clean energy has surpassed the planet-heating fossil fuel for a full month nationally, according to data from the Ember thinktank. Continue reading...

The firms said last week that they will be reducing parental leave and other benefits for employees starting next yearRecent moves by US companies Deloitte and Zoom to reduce how much paid parental leave they offer employees could signal a larger reduction in benefits in corporate America, according to labor market experts.American workers are already seen as having less benefits and labor protections than many of their counterparts across the world, especially in Europe. Continue reading...

Experts fear losing ground to virus even as the end of the HIV epidemic is in sight, and say decline in infant testing is ‘particularly concerning’The US government released likely the last report from Pepfar (President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) earlier this month and the chief science officer announced his resignation days later as the US moves to a patchwork of individual partnerships with each country, potentially driven by resource extraction.While more leadership with other countries has long been the goal with global HIV efforts, experts fear the US is moving too quickly without being able to monitor its efforts as well as it has done with Pepfar for more than two decades. They fear losing ground to the virus even as the end of the HIV epidemic is in sight. Continue reading...

Analyst who worked on Internet Watch Foundation report says content exists ‘across all social media platforms’ and is ‘very easy’ to findThe number of commercial child sexual abuse websites has doubled in a year as experts say that criminal gangs are making “huge profits” from online sexual exploitation.According to data collected by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), 15,031 commercial child sexual abuse sites were found in 2025, compared with 7,028 found in 2024, a 114% increase. Continue reading...

Tice’s image on X was almost certainly generated or altered using AI, according to Peryton IntelligenceIn a picture of a blue-skyed day in Birmingham, a diverse group of Reform supporters gathered with placards and cheesy grins to knock on doors for their party. Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, posted the picture as evidence of the activists’ commitment through thick and thin.“That is what resilience looks like,” he wrote. “This is what belief looks like.” Continue reading...

Senior climate figures warn North Sea drilling would encourage fossil fuel exploitation by developing countriesOpening new oil and gas fields in the North Sea would “send a shock wave around the world”, imperilling international climate targets, undermining the UK’s climate leadership and encouraging developing countries to exploit their own fossil fuel reserves, experts have warned.The UK government is under stiff pressure from the oil industry, the Conservatives, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, some trade unions and parts of the Treasury to give the green light to new oil and gas fields, despite clear evidence that doing so would not cut prices and would have almost no effect on imports. Continue reading...