World

World news from every region: conflicts, elections, diplomacy, disasters and the people at the centre of them.

7522 articles · page 4 of 157 · The World front page

US Politics

No Surprises Act prevents about 50 million surprise bills as arbitration's four-year cost is estimated at $22.4 billion

The No Surprises Act has prevented about 50 million surprise medical bills since taking effect in 2022, but the law's arbitration process for resolving payment disputes between providers and health plans has grown far beyond expectations, generating over 2 million disputes last year compared with an initial government estimate of 17,000. Murtagh says arbitration is adding to insurance costs and could lead to higher premiums for consumers.

·2 min
World

Police Scotland confirms inquiries; report links them to Balmoral

Police Scotland has confirmed it is carrying out active inquiries into the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor at Balmoral. The force said it had received information and that inquiries were at a 'very early stage', adding that all inquiries are evidence-led with the needs of victim survivors at their heart. The Scottish Daily Express reported that the probe relates to claims women were trafficked to the Aberdeenshire estate.

·3 min·24 sources
Geopolitics

Sudan commanders linked to wartime rape in new investigation

A new investigation by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has linked 25 commanders from Sudan's warring factions to sexual violence in the country's three-year war, as the United Kingdom imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 15 senior commanders over suspected atrocities. The findings cover both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), examining reported abuse across five locations.

·3 min
World

Five charged in US ghost-student probe, DOJ credits detection measures

The US Department of Justice has charged five individuals in an alleged scheme to defraud the federal student aid system, identifying potentially fraudulent aid identification numbers associated with nearly $130 million over two months. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald credited new fraud-detection measures implemented by the Trump administration for the arrests, the first charges in an investigation codenamed Operation Ghostbusters.

·3 min·3 sources
US Politics

Early voting surge in competitive states as more than 43 million cast midterm ballots

Early voting in the US midterm elections has surged in states with competitive Senate races, with more than 43 million Americans casting ballots so far, nearly 10 million more than in 2022. Texas has seen a pronounced increase, with more than 6.3 million votes cast early as of Wednesday, a 50% rise from four years ago, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data. In South Carolina, early voting is up 83% as voters choose a successor to the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

·3 min·3 sources
World

Spain rail minister refuses to resign as PM says trust is broken

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Friday that public trust in the country's high-speed rail network has been 'broken' after a second deadly crash this year, while transport minister Óscar Puente rejected growing calls to resign over the disaster that has killed at least 69 people and left dozens missing. Sánchez, speaking alongside Castilla-La Mancha regional president Emiliano García-Page, said emergency services had confirmed only 13 identities so far, with a further 31 body bags containing partial remains awaiting identification in a process he described as 'very complex'. He said up to 27 nationalities may be among those affected, and 39 of the 110 people hospitalised remained in care.

·3 min·18 sources
World

Student-backed election winners demand mass resignations in Serbia

Serbia's victorious student-led movement has called for top figures in the police, intelligence and judiciary to stand down, days after ousting ex-president Aleksandar Vučić's party from power. Newly elected MPs, standing in Pioneers' Park opposite parliament, demanded the immediate dismissal of all police officers who had broken the law, singling out the heads of the police, the BIA security agency and the anti-terror unit.

·4 min·3 sources