Minimalist News

Pentagon Weighing Permanent Smaller US Presence In Gulf (Just Don't Call It Retreat) Already US officials have signaled they may just abandon hard-hit bases in the Middle East altogether, in the wake of Iran's retaliation as a result of Operation Epic Fury, and a conflict that's dragged on for nearly six months. On Tuesday The Washington Post reviews the damage control underway , as the Pentagon 'evaluates' its future military footprint . All of this is framed as if Washington has a choice and full control over the matter, when it seems that all along the Trump administration was woefully

Maryland Court Strikes Down Nation's First State Tax On Digital Advertising Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times , A state tax court in Maryland invalidated the nation's first state tax on digital advertising and directed state officials to refund tax payments already collected from major tech companies. People pass a building on the Google headquarters campus in Mountain View, Calif., on July 23, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The legal dispute had been closely watched by other states that are considering taxing online advertisements. The Annapolis-based Maryland Tax Court ruled on Aug. 14 that the digital advertising gross revenues

Jefferies Identifies High-Quality Energy And Materials Stocks As Cyclical Rotation Accelerates Jefferies analyst Lloyd Byrne wrote in a note on Monday that surging refined-product margins, stronger gas-fired power demand, and improving earnings estimates are providing clear tailwinds for energy stocks , even as valuations and technicals appear stretched. Byrne showed that the clearest source of strength in the energy market is refining . The six-month New York Harbor diesel-to-crude spread topped $100 (HOCL1 Index on Bloomberg) and has moved in close tandem with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE). Included in the " 10 Charts That Mattered " report

Iraq-Syria Pipeline To 'Bypass' Hormuz Likely To Take Four Years, $15BN To Build Via The Cradle Iraq's plan to build a pipeline to export oil through Syria and partially bypass the Strait of Hormuz ​will likely take four years to complete and cost $15 billion , Reuters reported on Monday. Iraq urgently seeks new outlets for its oil exports, which have plummeted since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israel war on the Islamic Republic that started in February. via Axios In July, Baghdad exported only 35.5 million barrels through its Basra ports via the Strait

Here's Where The Nation's Hottest Housing Markets Are The US housing market's top 10 hottest ZIP codes this year are all located in the Midwest and Northeast for the fourth consecutive year - as tight inventories due to limited homebuilding has fueled competition, according to a Monday report from Realtor.com. A builder works on a commercial property under construction in Peabody, Mass., on Jan. 12, 2015. Peabody is the nation's hottest housing market, according to Realtor.com. Elise Amendola/AP Photo The top 10 - as measured by buyer demand gauged by unique views and how quickly homes are selling are located

Federal Judge Halts Move Of FBI Headquarters To Ronald Reagan Building Rather Than Maryland Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times , A federal court on Aug. 17 blocked a Trump administration plan to move the proposed new FBI headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington instead of a site in nearby Greenbelt, Maryland, that was chosen in 2023. The former United States Agency for International Development building is seen at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC, on July 08, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images Congress passed laws requiring the General Services Administration (GSA),

"Strain Is Spreading": FT Exposes Private Credit Distress At Decade Highs Since last fall, we have repeatedly flagged the private credit sector’s growing vulnerabilities. Earlier coverage detailed how the asset class ballooned into a $2-3 trillion opaque market after banks retreated from riskier lending, only to face a wave of high-profile defaults (First Brands, Tricolor) , surging redemptions that forced gates at major vehicles , rising PIK usage, and AI-related risks to software-heavy portfolios . In February, the red flag got about as red as it gets... Private Credit Rocked By UBS Shock Outlook: Record "Cascading Defaults" And Widespread Contagion

Mark Walter Probe Puts Wall Street's Insurance-Private Credit Machine Under DoJ Scrutiny An ongoing federal investigation into billionaire Mark Walter's business empire is raising alarm bells about Wall Street's use of insurance capital to finance private credit and other illiquid investments. Bloomberg reported that Walter's TWG Global holding company said in a filing that it will wind down its exposure to affiliated businesses by up to $6.5 billion after the transactions drew scrutiny from federal investigators. This comes after the Department of Justice homed in on loans that should've been marked as affiliated transactions . Walter's TWG Global holding company

DOJ Seeks Reinstatement Of Criminal Charges Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an opening brief on Aug. 17 seeking to reinstate human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia after a district court found the prosecution to be vindictive. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. dismissed the charges against Abrego Garcia on May 22, ruling that prosecutors brought the case against him in retaliation for his legal challenge to his wrongful removal to El Salvador last year. In an Aug. 17 brief, the DOJ asked the U.S. Court of

Moscow Swarmed By 600+ Ukrainian Drones In Massive Overnight Barrage Ukraine has launched another massive overnight drone wave on Russia. While this is nothing new or unusual, the number of drones concentrated specifically on the Moscow region was much larger than prior attacks. Over 600 drones were sent on Moscow and the surrounding region overnight into Tuesday morning , Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. It ranks among the single largest assaults on the capital of the war. Regional reports say it's the largest drone attack on Moscow of the last two years. Moscow on Tuesday. @exilenova_plus/Telegram, The Moscow Times At least

NSA Blocked Reports Of China Interference In US Elections From Reaching Trump: Declassified Docs Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times, Newly declassified intelligence emails reveal that decisions were made by National Security Agency (NSA) leadership to block reports of Chinese influence in American elections from reaching President Donald Trump. Four pages of emails, all dated March 13, 2020, were released on Aug. 18 by the White House Government Transparency Task Force. According to one email—written by an unidentified NSA employee following a meeting about intelligence reporting foreign efforts to target the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections in the

The US Is Forcing Others To Take Sides, As Is China By Michael Every of Rabobank The Heat You Feel Isn't Just The Summer Sun There is a lot of geopolitical heat out there right now; and markets may get burned by it. The 60-day US-Iran Memorandum of Misunderstanding has lapsed, with Trump and Iran both rejecting any extension while claiming control of Hormuz. In our view, the US is unlikely to restart major military action until after the November midterms. (Note the US just awarded a $23bn contract to Raytheon to accelerate annual Tomahawk missile production to over 1,000

US Issues Rare Condemnation Of Israeli Strikes On Syrian Airbase: 'Unnecessary Escalation' A top regional Trump envoy has said the US is "deeply concerned" after major new Israeli airstrikes on Syria overnight, following months of an absence of such attacks, and in the context of the broader Iran conflict. The Syrian government and US Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack said the attacks hit Abu al-Duhur military airfield in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. Barrack blasted it as an unnecessary escalation that threatens regional stability. Source: Aawsat Additionally the Syrian Foreign Ministry of the new Sharaa/Jolani government blasted the

Meta Faces Unprecedented Legal Reckoning Over Youth Mental Health As Massive Multistate Trial Begins Meta Platforms is facing a critical juncture in its battle over youth online safety . Just weeks after suffering a massive legal defeat in New Mexico, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is now defending itself in a California federal court against a bipartisan coalition of 29 states. The states say Meta deliberately designed its platforms to addict children and harvested their data in violation of federal law. The California Showdown A sweeping multistate trial opens Tuesday in Oakland, California, overseen by U.S. District Judge

Nvidia Confirms It Will Back Massive 4.25GW SoftBank Data Center In Ohio For $105 Billion Nvidia has confirmed reports that it is financially backing SoftBank's massive data center at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, with up to $105 billion in financing, a securities filing revealed on Monday. The project, led by SB Energy, is set to be fully leased to OpenAI. The facility could grow to 10GW, making it the world's largest data center, but Nvidia will initially support the first 4.25GW, DataCenterDynamics reported . In a LinkedIn post , Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang confirmed that

US Pending Home Sales Plunge Back Near Record Lows In July Following another disappointment in existing home sales in July , weak homebuilder sentiment, and plunging housing starts , pending home sales tumbled for the second month in a row in July (-2.3% MoM vs 0.0% exp - below thew worst forecast), dragging sales down 2.5% YoY - the biggest annual drop since April 2025... This decline matches the second-worst reading in data back to 2001... “The highest mortgage rates of the year hit right in the middle of summer, and that’s pulling back contract signings,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence

Home Depot Earnings Offer Glimmer Of Hope As Small Projects Offset Renovation Downturn Home Depot reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter sales and profit as homeowners spent money on smaller do-it-yourself projects, giving the home-improvement retailer enough confidence to reaffirm its full-year outlook. The frozen housing market, combined with elevated borrowing costs, has deterred homeowners from financing larger renovations, such as replacing exterior windows and doors or installing a new deck, and has also pressured Home Depot shares over the past year and a half. However, second-quarter demand showed signs of resilience in smaller projects, including ceiling fan replacements, landscaping, gardening, and electrical

Trump Drops Map Of Hormuz As "New US Territory" Amid No Talks, Declares Strait "Open & Operating"; UAE Under Missile Alert Summary No talks: Trump confirms US-Iran negotiations are off. Hormuz attack: Tanker hit, injuring a crew member. Houthis escalate: Attacks shut Yemen’s Mokha port. Diplomacy stalled: Qatar says not mediating until Oman-Hormuz deal finalized. Iran hardens: Tehran says it maintains an offensive posture. Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by September 30? Yes 9% · No 92% View full market & trade on Polymarket * * * UAE Under Missile Alert While initial details and the precise nature

Women Flee Ceuta After 15 Rapes Recorded Since Migrant Invasion Via Remix News, The Spanish Civil Guard has now confirmed there have been 15 rapes in Ceuta since the mass migrant invasion at the end of July, which has continued to shake Europe. In response, women are now reportedly fleeing the city in greater numbers as sexual violence spreads and scenes from the city portray a government unable to contain the growing chaos on the beaches and streets. The latest rape reportedly occurred on Friday night on Lisboa Street, where three migrant brothers reportedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl. An

Agricultural Commodity Prices Break Out As JPMorgan's Food Crisis Warning Gets Louder JPMorgan analyst Nora Szentivanyi's warning last week that the next global food crisis could begin as early as next year has been a major wake-up call for some, adding to the growing voices on institutional desks warning that food inflation is poised to re-accelerate. Remaining extra watchful about agricultural prices, Bloomberg reported earlier that US corn futures moved higher after preliminary results from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour indicated weaker-than-expected yields in parts of critical growing belts across the Midwest. Corn yield estimates were about 3% below last

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro ,

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills . Continue reading...

Grifols, which runs private chain of clinics, to temporarily stop taking donations after new government investigation A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices. Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs 17 clinics in Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Move will be one of first large-scale foreign investments in country since US ousted leader Nicolás Maduro in January BP has answered Donald Trump’s call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a large offshore gasfield. BP will partner with two oil firms with close links to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield, in one of the first large-scale foreign investments in Venezuela since the US ousted its leader Nicolás Maduro in January. Continue reading...

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity. Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week , is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night

Country’s second fatal school shooting in two months took place in southern city of ⁠Zamboanga A student livestreamed himself shooting and killing another pupil in a classroom in the southern Philippines before taking his own ⁠life, ​the second school attack in the country in less than two months. The shooting took ⁠place at a school attached to Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern city of ⁠Zamboanga, a Catholic private institution in western Mindanao. Zamboanga city’s mayor, Khymer Adan Olaso, told the DZMM radio station that the ‌shooter “managed to enter carrying a high-powered firearm and a .45-calibre pistol”. Continue

Lee Jae Myung reiterates desire for full command back in Seoul’s hands after Donald Trump cuts joint exercises, citing warm ties with Kim Jong-un ‘Inane, haphazard decision’ by Trump to gut South Korea alliance South Korea’s president ⁠has renewed his push to regain independent control of the military from the US in the event of war and urged faster progress in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines after Donald Trump’s order to cut joint drills. On Sunday night, Trump instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” this week’s joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the nuclear-armed North “has been unthreatening and respectful” and

Person dies after landslide hits apartment building in southern city of Geoje as torrential rains lead to power cuts and mass evacuations Torrential downpours that pounded southern parts of South Korea since Saturday have killed one person and injured four others, officials have confirmed. Heavy rains have been recorded in South Gyeongsang province, including the city of Geoje, where an 800mm (31in) deluge over the weekend triggered a landslide, the interior and safety ministry said. The rain continued on Monday, bringing the cumulative rainfall total to 912mm by 6pm. Continue reading...

US president’s abrupt order to scale back joint exercises with Seoul is meant to ‘flatter’ North Korea’s dictator, top Democrat says Donald Trump’s move to gut Washington’s 73-year-old military alliance with Seoul has been called “inane” and “shortsighted” as lawmakers warned it risked strengthening Russia’s hand in Ukraine. The US president abruptly ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles, justifying the decision by citing his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong-un, the nuclear-armed dictator such exercises exist to deter. Continue reading...

Industrial output and retail sales slump in July after one of the country’s weakest quarterly growth rates ever China’s economy is showing signs of extending a slowdown with a slump in industrial output and retail sales in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to intervene with measures to support activity. After the world’s second largest economy posted one of its lowest quarterly growth readings on record in the three months to June, the latest figures suggest it continued to falter in July. Continue reading...

Bill passed Senate on Wednesday evening and is due back in lower house today. Follow today’s news live Follow our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Government ‘very confident’ in Treasury’s forecasts on rent prices Mark Butler says the Labor is still confident of Treasury’s forecasts of the rental market, that showed rents would only increase around $2 per week due to the budget changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. We’re very confident in our forecast. As Jim Chalmers has said, it’s important to give these sorts of changes some time to settle down

Triptorelin, already listed for prostate cancer, should have unrestricted use, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee says Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The federal government should fund treatment for thousands of women with breast cancer or endometriosis, and children with gender dysphoria, according to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme’s advisory committee. The committee met urgently in July in response to AstraZeneca’s announcement it would remove Zoladex from the market, risking leaving more than 7,500 women with breast cancer without an alternative treatment. Continue reading...

Club’s board meets on Tuesday night to decide penalties after league boss calls reports ‘deeply concerning’ The Sydney Swans AFL club will decide on sanctions for players for “serious breach” of standards over an incident that led to a report of sexual assault. Victorian police on Tuesday confirmed the sexual crimes squad was investigating a reported sexual assault at Melbourne’s Pullman Hotel early on Monday morning. No arrests have been made and no charges have been laid. Continue reading...

David Pocock says legislation still includes ‘indiscriminate cut’ impacting thousands of participants but will pass lower house on Wednesday Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The government’s controversial NDIS bill will pass after “substantial” amendments were agreed to in a deal between Labor and the Coalition, with some of the changes attracting heavy criticism from the Greens, the ACT senator David Pocock and the disability community. The Albanese government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme bill is designed to dramatically curb the growth of the $50bn-a-year scheme by first reducing budgets and then the number of

Lyndel Ningella was last seen leaving home in Butler on Saturday evening prompting concerns about her safety Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Western Australia police have appealed for help in finding a 10-year-old girl who went missing from Perth’s outer northern suburbs on Saturday. Lyndel Ningella has not been seen since early Saturday evening when police said the young girl was seen leaving a home in Butler at about 5:45pm on 15 August. Continue reading...

Migration minister asked how he intends to stop deportations of people ‘who had lived in Sweden for decades’ The deportation and removal of British citizens from Sweden over Brexit residency rights is damaging relations with the UK amid efforts to improve links with London, a Swedish MP has said. Häkan Svenneling, representative for Vârmland, where a 78-year-old British widow, Joyce Thomas, has been given four weeks to leave Sweden after 21 years of residency, has written to the migration minister, Johan Forssell, asking what he “intends to do to stop the deportations”. Continue reading...

The blaze charring peatland, pine trees and hiking trails grew over the weekend to half the size of Manhattan Some first pictures from this morning’s earthquakes in Granada are emerging on social media… Andalusian president Juanma Moreno urged residents to maintain “maximum caution” as more seismic movements and aftershocks may happen. Continue reading...

Marie Ebert, Alexander Cromie and their pilot died when their aircraft crashed on island of Sifnos Greek police believe a mechanical fault may have caused a helicopter to crash moments before it was due to land on the island of Sifnos, killing a British couple on honeymoon and the pilot. Authorities were focusing on Tuesday on the “strange noise” the aircraft, a privately chartered Bell 206, is reported to have made before falling to the ground and exploding on impact. Continue reading...

Prime minister responds to Russian anger over Kyiv’s use of British-made drones in ‘deep strike’ campaign UK politics live – latest updates Europe live – latest updates Andy Burnham says the UK will continue to “support Ukraine 100%” after Russia threatened consequences after strikes by British-made drones. The Russian embassy to the UK said on Monday that Britain had been deliberately escalating the Ukraine conflict and the deeper its involvement, “the higher the price it will pay”. Continue reading...

Creators of chase compilations reject any moral qualms and say they show ‘death is waiting’ for those who join war To many observers they will appear dehumanising and offensive. To many Ukrainians, however, they are a brutal reminder of the fate that awaits Russian soldiers who take part in Vladimir Putin’s invasion, as well as a potent propaganda weapon. Over the past year and a half, videos of kamikaze drones chasing Russian service personnel to their deaths have become a distinctive genre on social media. They are the brainchild of Robert Brovdi , the head of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces

Picture showing White Helmets volunteer unconscious and with bruises on his body went viral Syrians have protested over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces, sparking widespread anger at a practice thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. A crowd gathered in the city of Aleppo, demanding accountability for the security forces who are alleged to have carried out the torture, with participants holding signs and slogans such as: “Do not repeat the same oppression that we revolted against.” Protests were also planned to take place in front of Syria’s

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack. Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach. Continue reading...

Likud’s depiction of Zohran Mamdani is latest move in spat between Israel’s prime minister and New York City mayor Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has compared the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to the leaders of Iran and Hezbollah on a campaign billboard. The billboard in central Tel Aviv depicts Mamdani alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and the chief of the militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. Continue reading...

US president makes threat in comments to Fox News, as his son-in-law meets the Israeli leader in Jerusalem in effort to push Gaza peace plan Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of ending Iran war Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen , urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms. An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza. Continue reading...

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power , an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his home Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021. Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years

An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome back to This Is India. For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a

A man, woman and teenage girl have died, while a younger girl is in a critical condition, say Sussex police A couple and their teenage daughter have died after getting into difficulty in the sea off the West Sussex coast, police said on Tuesday. A man, a woman and a teenage girl died after the incident in Shoreham-by-Sea, the chief superintendent of Sussex police, James Collis, said. Continue reading...

Patrons at two of the chain’s London pubs were all for Tim Martin’s ban on playing music or taking calls on speaker The terrace of the Moon Under Water Wetherspoons pub in Leicester Square was full of people enjoying the warm weather and chatting between tables – without a TikTok video or speakerphone call in earshot. At Wetherspoons, the convivial atmosphere can no longer be punctuated by rude customers taking phone calls on blast, or playing videos without headphones after Tim Martin, the owner of the pub chain, banned both on his premises . Continue reading...

The prime minister says the ‘absolutely massive’ move would protect thousands of jobs Moscow has threatened the UK with “consequences” after reports that British drones have been used to strike targets on Russia’s mainland for the first time. Ukraine used drones made by two UK companies as part of a so-called deep-strike campaign, the Sunday Times reported. Buses in Manchester and London are franchised (ie owned by a private company but operated under a local authority brand.) It seems strange that the Government didn’t try and facilitate this or encourage another private operator to take over the enhanced partnership operation

Bonnier Books will no longer publish UK’s top-selling true crime author following Guardian investigation The main publisher of the bestselling true crime writer Christopher Berry-Dee has dropped the author after a Guardian investigation into allegations of violence and sexual abuse against him, which he denies. Waterstones has also removed his books from sale. “We are shocked and appalled by the very serious allegations relating to Christopher Berry-Dee, and our thoughts are with those affected,” said the publisher Bonnier Books in a statement to the Guardian. Continue reading...

‘First meaningful rain for a long time’ is forecast but water firms continue to ask customers to restrict use Floods and drought could hit the UK at the same time this week, with heavy rain forecast to fall on hard, parched soil. While some parts of the UK will have the “first meaningful rain for a long time” in the coming days, it will not reverse widespread drought conditions that have put pressure on wildlife, farmers, firefighters and water resources. Continue reading...

William Heidmeyer recounts hearing ‘three volleys’ of gunfire and seeing one man holding a pistol What we know about Tupac Shakur’s death and what to expect from murder trial District Court Judge Carli Kierney relayed a few questions directly from the jury to medical examiner Dr. Lisa Gavin. “Where there any wounds to the head that you or Dr. Jordan observed or noted?” Continue reading...

The Democratic senator, who is currently running for re-election in Georgia, says Trump ‘has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win’ Sign up for the US Breaking News email President Donald Trump posted an image of a map of the strait of Hormuz on his social media platform Truth Social, with a circle around the strait and the words “New US Territory” as the title on Tuesday morning. This follows comments made on Friday at a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, where Trump said “After we

Larry Montes, already facing state charges, allegedly attacked 63-year-old woman and security guard on Friday The man accused of attacking a woman and security guard at a New York City synagogue during Shabbat services Friday has been charged with hate crimes in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said. Larry Montes, who is already facing state-level hate crime charges, allegedly struck a 63-year-old woman as security was trying to boot him from Central Synagogue. He allegedly spat at, and head-butted, a security team member and damaged synagogue property, authorities said. Continue reading...

Tributes paid to ‘great friend and collaborator’ who played with band for 56 years and died in hospice care in Texas The ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has died at the age of 77. A spokesperson for the band confirmed that Beard died on 17 August in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas. His family were by his side. Continue reading...

Almost 45m acres of national forests could be potentially opened to road construction, drilling and logging The Trump administration said on Tuesday it plans to rescind the “roadless rule” that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years, potentially opening up almost 45m acres of national forests to road construction, drilling and logging. Conservationists had feared the announcement was coming since last summer after Brooke Rollins, Trump’s secretary of agriculture, targeted a rule brought in by Bill Clinton’s administration, describing it as “overly restrictive” and an “absurd obstacle” to development. Continue reading...

US President Donald Trump said that Tuesday that no talks with Iran were under way or scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution. Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than any previous epidemic of the disease and risks spreading to more countries, the head of the World Health Organization has warned. “We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting on the outbreak on Tuesday. “It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.” His comment came after the DR Congo on Monday said the outbreak...

Some women who entered Spain’s ⁠North African enclave of Ceuta on July 30 as part of a mass migrant crossing say the ⁠hardships of sleeping rough as they wait to be registered are compounded by the threat and fear of sexual harassment. More than a dozen women have set up camp on a wooded roadside running up to the barbed wire fencing that surrounds the government-run migrant reception centre, near the urban beach of El Trampolin. The facility is sheltering about 700 people, 200 more than...

The Israeli military is touted as the most powerful in the Middle East, striking targets deep into enemy territory. But for more than a week, Israeli troops have somehow failed to evict a small group of settlers sitting on rocks in the occupied West Bank. Experts say the military has long shown inertia when its task is stopping surging violence against Palestinians, due to government backing for the settlement movement and the increasing influence of settler ideology within the army’s...

As the Iran war spills over into the Red Sea – a crucial chokepoint for Asia-Europe trade – China has marked a milestone by launching its first regular service through the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route (NSR), a development welcomed by Russia. The route, which runs along Russia’s northern Arctic coast, slashes travel time compared with alternative paths. A journey from Ningbo city on China’s southeast coast to Felixstowe in the United Kingdom takes just 20 days – about half the time required for...

A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage. The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers in March last year to Ukraine. The plan was aimed at scoping out possibilities for “disrupting transport and infrastructure” and was ultimately directed by a...

A Syrian court on Tuesday handed a death sentence to Wassim al-Assad who appeared in the dock, a cousin of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad who was himself sentenced to death in absentia last week. The 46-year-old relative of Assad was convicted over atrocities committed under the autocrat’s rule during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Assad’s cousin was convicted of multiple murders and “murder accompanied by torture and brutality … classified as crimes...

The Milky Way, a ⁠large and spiral-shaped galaxy that is home to hundreds of billions of stars including our sun, has taken a long and complicated path to achieve its current dimensions, as illustrated by new research documenting a milestone event early in its history. Scientists observing clusters of stars congregated near the Milky Way’s centre have discovered evidence that our galaxy swallowed a smaller galaxy roughly 11.8 billion years ago, when the universe was less ‌than 15 per cent of its...

A Russian attack on a village in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine killed 10 people, Kyiv said on Tuesday, vowing to respond. The strike comes amid a surge in civilian deaths in the four-and-a-half-year war. Russian forces “carried out a rocket strike on Pechenihy”, a village around 40km (25 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on social media. “According to preliminary information, 10 people were killed,” he added, with 17 people wounded. Ukrainian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian leader seeks an economic reboot for his war-ravaged country and fresh supplies of fertiliser, oil and weapons. A pariah to much of the West over his 2021 coup and role as army chief during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, Min Aung Hlaing has nonetheless found friends in Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok over recent months. That followed a heavily criticised election won...

Peace prospects in the Middle East faded, with US President Donald Trump ruling out a renewed ceasefire deal with Iran and more fighting breaking out in Lebanon. Trump said “no” when asked whether he wanted a new Iran accord to replace a 60-day agreement that expired on Monday. “They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of deal that I feel is necessary,” he told reporters at the White House. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose above US$91 per barrel, having gained...

Aboard his boat moored along the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian fisherman Mohammad Amin mended a torn fishing net after a long day in waters that have long sustained his livelihood, but are now shadowed by the threat of death. It has been less than a month since the 47-year-old resumed his routine of waking before dawn, heading out to sea and returning hours later with the day’s catch – a routine he had to put on hold during months of fighting between Iran and the United States in and around the...

US President Donald Trump cited India’s election system as a model for the US, bringing the world’s largest democracy into a contentious American debate over voter access and election security. Trump said the identification requirements make elections secure and pressed Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to vote. The measure has stalled in the Senate as Trump and his Republican allies push for...

Women working in US President Donald Trump’s White House were not surprised that press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced last week she was leaving her job – and they do not think it was just because she wants to spend time with her young children. In an interview with the Daily Mail, several anonymous White House employees spoke of the pressure that Leavitt, executive assistant Natalie Harper and other female staff are under to adhere daily to a “Maga perfect” standard of beauty that requires...

China cut its holdings of US Treasuries to a nearly 18-year low in June, as Beijing continued to diversify its foreign exchange reserves amid heightened geopolitical tensions and growing uncertainty over the policy outlook in the United States. Holdings fell to US$633.4 billion in June from US$659.3 billion in May, data released by the Treasury Department of the United States showed on Monday. The amount in June marked the lowest level since September 2008, when holdings fell to US$618.2 billion...

President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea does not just slight a long-time ally but raises broader concerns about the security interests of the United States in Asia and elsewhere. Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator Kim Jong-un, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined...

Colombia’s new housing minister has come under fire after it emerged that he took his family on a Caribbean holiday while the country was reeling from a devastating earthquake that left thousands homeless. The August 10 earthquake, which killed nearly 300 people in western Colombia, struck just three days after right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella took office. The 7.4-magnitude tremor was the most powerful in Colombia in nearly half a century. Over the weekend, photos and videos emerged...

The US diesel crack, a key measure of refining profitability, hit an all-time high of US$102.20 a barrel on Monday as global supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine run into peak agricultural consumption season. Measured as the premium ‌of US diesel futures over US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, the US diesel crack was trading at US$99.82 a barrel, up 2.4 per cent from Friday. The crack has hit new intraday record highs in five of the last six sessions, reflecting...

Moscow said on Monday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador after Tokyo condemned President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Russia’s far-eastern Kuril Islands, which are also claimed by Japan. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Putin, 73, travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, prompting Japan to summon Russia’s ambassador in...

Thousands of people gathered in central London late on Monday to hold a vigil for black academic Jason Arday, blaming racism and relentless media pressure for his death last week. The vigil in central Trafalgar Square came as the head of Cambridge University on Monday condemned a “racist feeding frenzy” prompted by plagiarism claims against Arday. Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead on Friday aged 41, after mounting accusations he...

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans ‌concerned the US war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday. Just 33 per cent of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, while 64 per cent disapproved. Trump’s approval rating, down from 35 per cent in a poll that closed earlier this month and lower...

Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of gang revenge ordered by a mobster who later boasted of it, jurors heard on Monday, as one of America’s most anticipated trials got under way, 30 years after the murder. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, one of a patchwork of gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, ordered the killing after his nephew had been beaten by a rival mob, prosecutor Binu Pilal told a Las Vegas court. “On September 7, 1996,...

The theft ⁠of four paintings by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina may have involved organised crime and raised troubling questions about security at a museum in the Sicilian artist’s hometown, a local official said on Monday. Enzo Caruso, Messina’s councillor for culture, said it was difficult to understand how thieves could have removed the works in a matter of minutes without detailed ‌knowledge of the museum’s layout. “It’s a very, very strange affair,” Caruso said. The theft on...

Nvidia has agreed to provide a ⁠guarantee of up to US$105 billion ⁠to help ⁠OpenAI lease a sprawling data centre in Ohio being developed by SoftBank-backed SB Energy, in one of the chipmaker’s largest infrastructure financing commitments. The Jensen Huang-led firm said on Monday it will also invest US$1.5 billion in SB Energy, months after a US$1 billion investment from OpenAI and SoftBank to expand data centre infrastructure. The new deal is the latest example of Nvidia financing the...

A Russian court on Monday convicted a prominent opposition politician for speaking out against the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison in the latest crackdown leading up to next month’s parliamentary election. The verdict against Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Yabloko party, was another step by the Kremlin to stifle dissent since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022. Yabloko is the only official political party overtly opposing the war. In a...

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone posing as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, it was reported on Monday. According to Politico, which broke the story quoting anonymous sources, the British leader sent a “few messages” via an unspecified communication channel to a person he believed to be Wiles before becoming suspicious. The incident was deemed serious enough for the British embassy in Washington to raise the matter with the White House, according...

Since Chinese container ships began plying the Northern Sea Route three years ago, the Arctic shipping lane has gained global importance. Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea later that year disrupted traffic through the Suez Canal – the fastest route between Europe and Asia – in what was the most serious conflict-driven disruption since the Arab-Israeli war nearly six decades earlier. The 5,600km (3,480-mile) Northern Sea Route spans Russia’s Arctic coast, from the Barents Sea to...

Three people have been shot dead in a suspected revenge attack linked to the drug trade in southwestern Spain, the authorities in the Andalusia region said on Monday. The three victims were a pregnant woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, a 62-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy. The unborn child also did not survive, the authorities said, adding that two other people were injured in the attack. According to official statements, the attack took place in Isla Cristina, a town of 21,000...

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of an American deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, and called for Iran to surrender. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks. Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements...

The US Supreme Court on Monday again rebuffed President Donald Trump’s push to throw out a jury’s US$5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The Republican president’s lawyers had asked the justices to reconsider their refusal to hear his appeal. It is unusual – although not unheard of – for the court to grant such requests. Trump paid the judgment shortly after the court declined to take up...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US-China ‘Board of Investment’ stalls before expected Trump-Xi meeting The US-China Board of Investment, one of the key outcomes of the May summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is unlikely to be among the deliverables for their expected meeting next month...

Last month, two Chinese companies released artificial intelligence models most people outside the industry know little about: Kimi K3 by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-Max by Alibaba Group Holding (which owns the South China Morning Post). The markets reacted even before publicly auditable evidence about the performance claims – detailed benchmark table, model card and licence – was made fully available. In the weeks that followed, global chip stocks shed about US$3 trillion in market value. That...

The European Union intends to significantly expand sanctions against Russia in the coming months over its war in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told a ‌German newspaper. “EU sanctions have already cost Russia dearly, depriving Russia’s war machine of over €1 trillion (US$1.16 trillion) and for autumn I am putting forward the most far-reaching sanctions listings since the start of the war,” she told Die Welt. “Once adopted, they would immediately raise the total number of...

Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday wrapped up two days of meetings with Israeli and Hamas leaders to break a stalemate over the US president’s Gaza plan, but no breakthrough appeared imminent as both sides dug in. Kushner met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, a day after meeting Hamas’ political leader in Egypt to revive the plan, which has ‌stalled as Israel has carried out air strikes and grabbed more territory in Gaza despite an October ceasefire, while...

Hayden Panettiere, star of popular television series including Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36. Panettiere’s father, Skip, announced the actress’ death in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” his statement said. No cause of death was...

An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media. Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticised Israel’s recent...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Why Chinese youth are turning to an 84-year-old Cambridge professor for support 2. Chinese officials rattled by White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi-Trump summit 3. How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region 4. Hong Kong policewoman facing probe over viral video of her...

“Horrific, horrendous, unbearable, unsafe.” That is how medical professionals describe the impact of this year’s heatwaves on Britain’s healthcare system, in response to a survey by the Doctors’ Association UK. In hospitals built for a cooler climate, staff are now dealing with patients too sweaty to receive intravenous drips, medication at risk of degrading in high temperatures and colleagues collapsing on the job with heat fatigue. The past few months have revealed the extent to which...

A top US military commander said mental health was a valid concern after meeting crew deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where conditions aboard the aircraft carrier have led to complaints during its long deployment in the Iran war. Admiral Brad Cooper’s visit to the carrier in the Arabian Sea followed outrage among family members about reports of food shortages, water contamination, mouldy showers and long shifts in wartime aboard the vessel, which has been deployed without a port call for...

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday that its joint military exercise with the United States had started after President Donald Trump’s announcement it would be scaled back. “The UFS exercise is proceeding as planned,” the ministry said in a brief statement to reporters, referring to the annual drill named Ulchi Freedom Shield. As always, North Korea has reacted sharply to the annual exercise involving about 18,000 South Korean military personnel. The 11-day joint drill is scheduled to...

In 2022, Ukraine asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to activate Starlink coverage around Sevastopol to support an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. He refused, saying SpaceX would become “explicitly complicit in a major act of war”; he later also cited US sanctions covering Crimea. At the moment that mattered, one private actor had the final say. It exposed a question hidden inside every chokepoint. We usually ask where dependence is concentrated: a strait, mineral, technology, network. But three...

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said ⁠on Sunday that ⁠he backs top Washington prosecutor ⁠Jeanine Pirro, who was criticised by US President Donald Trump for the way she handled a case of alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I absolutely support US Attorney Pirro, as does President Trump,” Blanche said ‌on NBC’s Meet the Press programme. The Trump administration fast-tracked a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s Fourth of July...

Five teenagers have died and four others have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a highway in Ireland, police said. Commissioner Justin Kelly described the head-on collision between two cars on the M9 as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” cars are being driven on the wrong side of highways for social media likes. Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash at junction 3 at about 3am on Sunday. One of those seriously...

Thieves stole four works attributed to Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina worth millions of euros from the regional museum in the city of Messina in Sicily while crowds gathered across town for the traditional Assumption holiday celebrations, cultural officials and Italian media said on Sunday. The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems on Saturday evening at the MuMe museum, making off with three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated to 1473, as well as...

US negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet Israel’s prime minister on Monday. The talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, US-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and the reconstruction of the...

Republicans previously sued Google claiming its spam filter was biased, but the case was dismissed. The company will now allow verified campaigns to more easily bypass the spam filter.

Voters may select an “R” or a “D” next to a candidate’s name, but their political views are often more nuanced than a binary choice represents.

The power grid relies on thousands of aging, hand-built transformers. If enough fail, the blackout could last years.

As he looks for The One, Joseph Pascaretta is investing in pricey matchmaking services. Will it help him find love?

President Trump is installing his allies in the offices of inspector general, which are meant to provide independent government oversight.

Canada is seeking a deal to dodge further economic pain at the hands of the Trump administration on midnight Tuesday. But at what cost?

Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen were adopted from India by families in the Netherlands and grew up less than 100 miles apart.

Texas Tech is using A.I. to cut left-leaning content in its curriculum. Some say the effort to ferret out forbidden topics is a dystopian academic nightmare.

The consequences of A.I. for the budget will largely hinge on whether — and to what extent — the technology reshapes the labor market.

After he was diagnosed with “silent” epileptic seizures, doctors were able to treat his memory loss and confusion.

The “Heroes” and “Nashville” star, who died Sunday at 36, endured personal struggles that were compounded by her public profile.

The only member of the Texas power trio without a beard, he propelled the band’s blend of boogie, Southern rock and blues for more than a half-century.

We aren’t the only animals that like to take care of other species. A new study finds that the roots of keeping a pet may stretch deep into our primate past.

The damage was real and long-lasting.

Step 1: Take it seriously, not literally.

A reworking of the spacecraft’s power systems could extend the nearly 50-year-old Voyagers’ exploration of interstellar space into the early 2030s.