Hospitality cost squeeze: New research says pubs and the wider hospitality sector are getting crushed by double-digit cost jumps—electricity (+61.7%), insurance (+26.6%), labour (+15%) and wholesale beer (+12%)—with small, low-margin operators least able to absorb shocks. Digital payments momentum: Panama’s Yappy is pushing deeper into everyday commerce, now linking 7 banks, 1.7M users and 30,000+ affiliated businesses. Platform outage hits SMBs: Meta’s Facebook/Instagram went down for many users, disrupting searches and access for businesses relying on social traffic. Supply-chain disruption: US firms report “unprecedented” supply chain disruptions, forcing tougher planning and pricing decisions. Trade war pressure: Trump’s escalating Canada tariffs threaten higher prices on specific Canadian goods, adding another cost layer for US businesses. SME credit support: Daegu (South Korea) approved 500B won in SME help, including guarantee-fee subsidies and interest support for management stabilization loans. Labour cost politics: Ireland’s Small Firms Association urges rejecting a proposed minimum wage increase, warning it could threaten small business survival. Workplace safety rules: New Zealand’s workplace health and safety changes are criticized as potentially increasing deaths at work, raising compliance pressure for SMEs. H-1B scrutiny: The US moves to tighten H-1B oversight, including review of employers with recent or planned layoffs and a renewed $100,000 fee for certain petitions.