Minimalist News

CIA Director Held Covert Moscow Talks With Russian Intel Chiefs As Relations Sink Deeper Into "Crisis" Summary: CIA Director Ratcliffe Met With Senior Russian intelligence officials, Not Putin Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Says Meeting Focused On Repairing Bilateral US-Russia Relations In "Deep Crisis " CIA Director Ratcliffe On USAF Cargo Jet Flight To Moscow US Air Force C-17 Makes Mysterious Visit To Moscow New Details On Ratcliffe's Trip To Moscow CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on a US Air Force C-17 transport jet on Tuesday morning for meetings with Russian intelligence officials , according to CBS News .

Q2 GDP Grew At Modest 1.5% According To Latest Revision, As Expected While far less relevant than the rest of today's data barrage, including the core PCE report and Durable Goods data which showed a mixed real-time picture of the economy as core prices rose more than expected while core CapEx missed expectations, the BEA also reported its second revision of Q2 GDP data - yes, for the quarter ended June 30 or almost two months ago - and which came in at 1.5%, right on top of expectations, and unchanged from the previous estimate. According to the BEA, contributors

Fed's Favorite Inflation Indicator Ticks Up In July As Americans Suddenly Start Saving More Following the CPI and PPI internals, this morning's PCE data should not offer too many surprises with expectations for the headline price Index to rise just 0.1% MoM in July (after deflating for the first time since COVID in June). The (old) Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE (a measure of price changes in consumer goods and services that excludes volatile food and energy costs) - printed in line with expectations (+0.2% MoM and +3.3% YoY), a very slight uptick... Services costs continue to dominate

Futures Flat Ahead Of Key PCE Report, Nvidia Earnings Stock futures are are flat and Treasuries slipped while oil stumbled heading into today's PCE report and NVDA earnings. As of 8:00am ET, S&P Futures are unchanged and Nasdaq futures drop 0.2% as NVDA and MRVL both rise 0.2% with Semis flat, Memory down 80bp, Korea down 46bp, Software down 1.3%, but Unprofitable Tech +83bp which point to continued de-risking into NVDA / MRVL where expectations are positive, but a stronger print may mean more for the ecosystem than for the individual stocks. Elsewhere, both Cyclicals and Defensives are mixed with

Colombia's New President Orders Immigration Raids, Vows To Deport Illegal Immigrants Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , Colombia's new president has ordered immigration raids this week and promised deportations of immigrants without legal status. Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella speaks during a press conference at the Palacio de San Carlos in Bogota, Colombia, on August 12, 2026. (Esteban Vega La-Rotta/AFP via Getty Images) President Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in three weeks ago, described the move as a crucial step in reducing crime. The order went out during a security council session in Barranquilla, with police

US-Canada Trade War Threatens Electricity Imports, Prices By Robert Walton of UtilityDive An escalating trade war between the United States and Canada is once again threatening to ensnare the electric power sector at a time when consumers are already stretched thin. Canada is expected to announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian goods went into effect over the weekend, with threats of more on the way. On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told the Associated Press that “ everything is on the table ,” including halting the province’s

Oil Dumps As Iran, Oman Push To Reopen Hormuz; Satellite Image Shows Gulf Producers Ramping Up Brent crude futures dropped for a third session as Iran and Oman advanced plans for a temporary maritime corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent tumbled to $85 a barrel early Wednesday, down more than 9% for the week , while West Texas Intermediate traded around $80. Crude remains up more than 41% this year following the US-Iran conflict and ongoing disruptions at the Hormuz chokepoint. Earlier, Oman's state news agency reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi

Zelensky Continues To Oppose Wartime Democracy Amidst Escalated Election Demands Authored by John Weeks via Antiwar.com , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing mounting pressure to hold elections . The Ukrainian leader was elected to a five-year term in 2019, which expired in May 2024. Last week, Ukraine's former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov publicly called for elections , breaking what has been characterized as a " wartime taboo " within the nation's elite. He continued to demand elections over the weekend and also directly accused the Defense Ministry of corruption. Fedorov is not the first high-profile Ukrainian figure to call

Why Data Centers Favor On-Site Gas Power Most data center developers opting for on-site gas power say that they see it as a “bridge” solution until a grid connection is secured. Yet economics may favor keeping those assets running even after grid power becomes available. A recent BloombergNEF analysis shows the marginal cost of operating an on-site gas plant may be below industrial electricity tariffs, making continued generation from on-site assets the cheaper option in many cases. Marginal generation costs depend on fuel prices and variable operating expenses. BloombergNEF modeled the marginal cost of operating engines, turbines and fuel cells

When Paris Went Hungry Under Government Food Controls Authored by Daniel J. Smith via The Daily Economy , How does Paris get fed? Frédéric Bastiat famously explained in Economic Sophisms (1845) how market exchange reliably provisioned the (then) million people of Paris with agricultural produce from the countryside that they were able to enjoy "peaceful slumbers...not disturbed for a single instant...." In stark contrast, Bastiat predicted that there would be "much suffering within the walls of Paris - poverty, despair, perhaps starvation..." if a presumptuous minister decided to replace the market with their own decision-making for what "should be produced,

ICE Begins Deporting Illegal Immigrants To Dangerous African Countries Imagine entering the US illegally and enjoying the fruits of the American economy for years, only to wake up one day in the darkest of Africa in a country known for cannibalism? The strategy might be ugly, but it might also be ingenious. Last year, illegal Cuban immigrant Yasmany Moreno de Armas was working and living in Florida. He's now in the Central African Republic, after the Trump administration sent him and dozens of deportees to the deeply impoverished and conflict-ridden nation. The 31-year-old said he only learned the U.S. government

US Removes Syria, Including Al-Nusra Front, From Its List Of Terrorism Sponsors Following a decade-and-a-half of a Washington-led full economic siege of the Syrian state, and after a fierce CIA-backed proxy war ( Timber Sycamore ) to oust Assad over that same period, this week has witnessed the huge milestone of the United States finally removing Syria from its state sponsors of terrorism list . The designation itself had stretched back several decades, and it placed major hurdles in the way of international investment, but with the Monday move by the State Department many of the related sanctions have now

Normal Brits Are Unwittingly Funding Pro-Illegal Migrant Charities Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Every week millions of ordinary Brits buy a National Lottery ticket hoping for a life-changing win. What most never realise is that a chunk of that money has been systematically channelled into pro-migrant activist charities that push open borders and far-left ideology. A GB News exclusive has revealed that the National Lottery has handed more than £140 million in donations to these organisations. The figure draws on the Lottery's own Good Causes data showing over 2,500 projects and organisations have collectively received more than

Pitch For Defense Treaty And Moving US Military To Israel Is Insane Authored by Jennifer Kavanagh via Responsible Statecraft , On August 18, Israel bombed a non-operational Syrian air base , reportedly to derail Turkish plans to deploy military forces to the installation. The move drew swift condemnation from the United States, which did not receive prior notification despite its growing support for Syria, its alliance with Turkey, and the presence of thousands of U.S. military personnel based nearby, in Jordan and other parts of the region. Is this the behavior of a " model ally "? The Jewish Institute

This Is The Income A Family Needs To Live Comfortably In Every US State Here’s the short version of what it takes for a family of four to live comfortably in 2026 by state: In Massachusetts, you’d need nearly $330,000 a year - the highest figure in the entire country. Only three states clear the $300,000 mark: Massachusetts, Hawaii, and California. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi is the most affordable at about $188,000. That’s a full $142,000 less than what you’d need in Massachusetts. So… how much does a family of four need in your state? This

DEA Seized 47 Million Fentanyl-Laced Counterfeit Pills In 2025 Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times , The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confiscated more than 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and almost 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2025. Just two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose. Courtesy of the DEA The seized narcotics are equivalent to 369 million lethal doses of fentanyl, according to an announcement made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in an Aug. 21 post on X as part of the National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. So far this year, the

Scandal-Plagued KPMG To Cut Australian Workforce Following Government Contract Suspension A major consultancy firm under fire for misconduct in its audit business is cutting its local workforce following a suspension from applying for new government contracts. KPMG’s U.S. headquarters at Two Manhattan West. Photo via Emily Louick Photography and Entropy Film Works Inc. KPMG - one of the "Big Four" accounting firms alongside Deloitte, PwC, and EY - revealed on Aug. 24 that its annual revenue dipped 1 percent to $2.26 billion (US$1.62 billion) in fiscal 2026 . The firm also warned of a rocky road ahead, with new CEO

Is ICE Investigating Ilhan Omar? Trump 'Truths' Report On Withheld Fraud-Probe Records President Donald Trump drew fresh attention to a long-running controversy on Sunday when he reposted a Just the News article on Truth Social headlined "ICE refuses to disclose records on Ilhan Omar fraud probe, cites ongoing 'enforcement proceedings .'" His decision to amplify the report, without comment, renewed scrutiny of allegations that have dogged Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for years - though ICE's response stops short of confirming she is personally the target of any active proceeding. The Trump administration has said for months it possesses evidence that

Macroeconomic Data Is Really A Tool For Government Intervention Authored by Frank Shostak via Mises Institute , It is common for commentators and economists to refer to something called the "economy," which sometimes performs well and, at other times, poorly. The "economy" is presented as an entity apart from individuals. Within this framework, the "economy" is assigned paramount importance, while the role of individuals is barely mentioned. It must be realized that, at no stage, does the so-called "economy" have a life of its own, independent from individuals. According to this way of thinking, the "economy" produces goods and services.

Limits On Border Patrol Arrests In California Lifted By Federal Appeals Court Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times , A federal appeals court on Aug. 24 rescinded a preliminary injunction that limited U.S. Border Patrol stops and arrests in California's Central Valley. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a federal district court failed to properly analyze whether the plaintiffs had standing to seek forward-looking relief based on alleged harms in the past. Standing refers to the right of someone to sue in court. The parties must show, among other things, a strong enough

Paper products among hardest-hit sectors after trade negotiations broke down, with 25-50% tariffs estimated Are you a Canadian boycotting US products? We’d like to hear from you Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the US and Canada enter a full-fledged trade war that threatens to flush away decades of peaceful trading between the two nations. After trade negotiations broke down between the two countries last weekend , Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, vowed to match US tariffs “dollar for dollar” and unveiled a list of nearly 900 American

Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, deported to Honduras, is latest military spouse to face removal amid Trump 2.0 The wife of an active-duty US soldier was deported on Monday to her native Honduras , according to her family and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty US soldier to be deported under the immigration crackdown during Donald Trump ’s second presidency. Continue reading...

Gang leader threatens to kill hostages after attack in Kenscoff in which homes were also set alight ‘A massacre’: Haiti gangs carrying out mass killings At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped when armed men attacked a once peaceful community near Haiti’s capital at the weekend, the UN has said. A gang leader has threatened to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community of Kenscoff, nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince. Continue reading...

US president has been obsessed with restricting the ability to vote by mail, despite using it himself. Plus, why we are still fascinated with Meg from the White Stripes Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. The US supreme court has sided with Donald Trump in his effort to crack down on mail-in voting , though it is unclear whether or not his administration will be able to take action before the midterm elections in November. The court’s justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines to lift an injunction that a judge in Massachusetts had

Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes. In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes. Continue reading...

More than 380 tourists among those unaccounted for after homes, roads, bridges and power plants swept away Nepal-Tibet floods – latest updates At least 95 people have died and hundreds are missing after flash floods ⁠hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and Tibet in China, with officials saying areas of India were also at risk. The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Nepal, ⁠while officials in Tibet said they feared

Heavy rain expected in parts of Vietnam and southern ‌China, as another storm system, Typhoon Saudel, heads for Japan and Taiwan Widespread flooding triggered by Typhoon Narra has submerged homes and forced mass evacuations in southern China, as another storm system tracked towards Japan and Taiwan. Authorities in Chongzuo, in China’s Guangxi region – famous for its giant waterfalls and karst limestone mountains – on Tuesday evacuated more than 15,000 people after water ⁠levels surpassed a record high set in 2008. Continue reading...

Among those charged are two Super Micro employees and one from Nvidia, marking another flashpoint in US-China AI rivalry Taiwanese prosecutors charged nine people Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting “high-end AI servers” to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI ​​rivalry between China and the United States. Prosecutors said the servers involved were graphics processing units known as “B300,” which have been banned from sale to China. Continue reading...

Beijing says it will take ‘all necessary measures’ to protect its interests as US steps up efforts to isolate Tehran Explainer: could US sanctions threaten China-Iran ties? China has denounced the threat of US sanctions for its trade with Iran , saying any such measures would be illegal, and warned it would take “all necessary measures” to protect its national interests. Beijing’s rejection of the US threat of secondary sanctions for any country or entity continuing to trade with Tehran had been predicted. China buys an estimated 80% of Iran’s oil exports and has defied previous US efforts to limit

Gao Zhen sentenced to three years in prison after already spending two years in detention Gao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups. The case has attracted international condemnation , largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the

Anita Perrottet tells an inquiry hearing that hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to her were for ‘strategic and marketing advice’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The sister-in-law of Dominic Perrottet has rejected the suggestion she had been put in an “impossible situation” and lied under oath to cover illegal donations to her husband, an inquiry has heard. Anita Perrottet, wife of Charles Perrottet , told the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to her were for “strategic and marketing

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Angela Jackson, the commissioner of the Productivity Commission, said the body stands by the interim report into the GST, which found the deal with Western Australia to be a costly mistake that should be reversed. Jackson spoke to RN this morning after WA premier Roger Cook said “east coast clowns” didn’t understand the state and any changes would “rip $6bn out of the Western Australia economy”. We are aiming, of course, to inform public policy debate, which can often get heated. Our view

About 400,000 juvenile Sydney rock oysters were taken from an oyster farm on state’s mid-north coast earlier this year, police say Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Police are on the hunt for a seafood swindler after 400,000 oysters were allegedly stolen from a farm at a river on the New South Wales mid-north coast. About 320 bags of juvenile oysters, worth an estimated $350,000, were taken from an oyster farm in Scotts Creek, Oxley Island, earlier this year, according to NSW police. Continue reading...

Commissioner Angela Jackson also said it was ‘disappointing’ that Anthony Albanese had ruled out changes to Western Australia’s GST arrangements Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Productivity Commission has condemned attacks on its integrity as “unacceptable” after its scathing assessment of Western Australia’s sweetheart GST deal as a costly mistake sparked a fierce political backlash and name-calling. Angela Jackson, a productivity commissioner and co-author of the report, said the country’s leading independent economic advisory body welcomed criticism and comments on its work. Continue reading...

Labor put ‘levy on all public transport fares in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria’ since January 2025, auditor general finds, as questions raised over premier’s involvement Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Questions have been raised about Ben Carroll’s knowledge of a “secret tax” the Victorian government has slapped on public transport fares to help pay for the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects. The existence of the levy was revealed in an auditor general report tabled in parliament on Wednesday, which also

Lethal temperatures ​and wildfires have exposed a widening gulf between voters demanding ​action and politicians unwilling to confront the long-term choices global heating requires • Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here The climate crisis means “we’re going to have to change everything – the way we live, the way we produce, the way we trade,” France’s veteran radical-left firebrand, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, told the summer congress of his France Insoumise party last weekend. The term “climate change”, said Mélenchon – the most likely rival to Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential run-off, according to

Sophie Lainault, who worked for Air France, wins legal case linking illness to more than 12,600 hours on flights A flight attendant in France has succeeded in having her breast cancer recognised as an occupational disease, a first for the country’s aviation industry, her lawyer and a trade union said. The ruling, which recognised that Sophie Lainault, a former flight attendant for Air France , had frequently worked at night and been exposed to passive smoking, could pave the way for similar claims, the lawyer and the CFDT union said. Continue reading...

Neil Gilson completes 230-mile challenge after a ‘tough’ 22-hour crossing of Lac Léman He staggered rather than sprang out of the lake but it wasn’t surprising. Neil Gilson , a former international athlete, could be forgiven for feeling a little wobbly, having become the first person to swim the 10 largest lakes in Switzerland, a total of about 230 miles (370km). Continue reading...

Protests and petitions planned amid growing concerns over impact of climate crisis on numbers of Alpine rodent Animal rights campaigners are gearing up for protests and petitions aimed at persuading the French government to ban the hunting of Alpine marmots. Open season on the rodents, members of the squirrel and groundhog family, begins in September, a few weeks before they go into a long winter hibernation. Continue reading...

Yorgen Fenech tells jury he had nothing to do with killing and alleges top adviser to Malta’s then PM was instigator A businessman on trial for the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has spoken about the charges for the first time in court since his arrest seven years ago, telling the jury he was framed by police and had nothing to do with the killing. During four days of questioning by defence and the prosecution lawyers, Yorgen Fenech, 44, accused the most senior adviser to Malta’s prime minister of giving the go-ahead for the murder. Continue reading...

Efforts to rebuild domestic food production face severe challenges and have come at deadly cost As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive. With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly. Continue reading...

As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”. For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests . Continue reading...

Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions? It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world

Washington launches campaign to isolate Tehran but it is unclear whether it will apply measures to China The US has threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, hoping to achieve with economic measures what military means have so far failed to do. It is unclear, however, how far the Trump administration is prepared to go in confronting China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, which has signalled its resistance to US economic pressure to cut off links with an ally. Continue reading...

Incident marks apparent escalation by Tehran in its in retaliation against UK over allowing US to use British bases Hackers linked to Iran have been blamed for a cyber-attack that caused a British power plant to be temporarily shut down. The incident involved a small-scale energy generator, according to the UK government, which said that at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system. Continue reading...

Authorities at biggest state hospital in Islamabad say 15 babies were in the ward when fire broke out At least 14 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out in the maternity ward at one of Pakistan’s most prominent state hospitals. The blaze began in the early hours of Wednesday and engulfed the ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the biggest state hospital in Islamabad. Continue reading...

The flagship environmental initiative has achieved ‘negligible’ results. Why so little progress, and what are the risks as the planet gets hotter? Plus, fusion dance pioneer Usha Jey • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here India set out to expand its forested areas a decade ago. Last week, however, we learned that the forest cover programme had barely taken root when the government’s auditors released their findings of the flagship Green India Mission. The shortfall of 97.57% from India’s initial pledge in 2014 was stark enough to alarm the government’s own auditor, who described

Supreme court ordered transfer of ex-leader whose health is reportedly deteriorating, but he was returned to prison several hours later Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was briefly taken to a hospital in the country’s capital on supreme court orders after weeks of uproar about his deteriorating health. Khan, 73, was transferred to the hospital in the early hours of Friday, but then moved back to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi after a ⁠few hours, a spokesperson for his party said on Friday. 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...

Sentiment in hospitality and brewing sectors more positive since business rates action, trade bodies’ survey finds Business live – latest updates Pubs, bars and hotels have reported a “Burnham bounce” in optimism as a result of the prime minister’s overtures to the sector, polling suggests, but they warn that the goodwill could evaporate without further tax relief. Andy Burnham has positioned himself as a staunch ally of the UK’s hospitality industry before and since his arrival at No 10, announcing a discount last month on business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. Continue reading...

Murder inquiry launched after blaze in Grangetown area, amid investigation into collision in which seven died A murder investigation has been launched after two people were killed in a house fire in Middlesbrough, with police not ruling out links to organised crime or the fatal crash on the A66 that killed seven people including two police officers on Saturday. The blaze in the early hours of Wednesday came as police continued to investigate the wider circumstances around the collision. Continue reading...

Prime minister spoke to press while on visit to a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London this morning Over 40,000 more people died on the hottest days in England between 1988 and 2025 than would be expected, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday. The figures do not include this summer, when England has sweltered under a succession of heatwaves and is on track to record its highest ever number of heat-related deaths . The UK Health Security Agency announced on 30 July that an estimated 2,877 people had died in the May and June heatwaves alone.

Academic was found unresponsive by family members, inquest told, as coroner adjourns proceedings to later date A coroner has formally opened an inquest into the death of Jason Arday, who resigned as a professor at the University of Cambridge amid allegations of plagiarism. Arday, 41, died at his home in Battersea, south London on 14 August, nine days after his resignation. Family members watched the 10-minute hearing at London inner south coroner’s court via a video link. Continue reading...

Scientists found those who had used hormone replacement therapy were 10% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia Hormone replacement therapy may reduce the risk of dementia, a study has found. Scientists tracked more than 180,000 postmenopausal women in the UK in the largest study of its kind. They found that those who had used HRT were 10% less likely to develop any type of dementia and 16% less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form, compared with those who had never used it. Continue reading...

Trump administration had not formally announced John Ratcliffe’s trip, but various outlets captured the flight tracking data of the US jet and the Kremlin confirmed the meeting Darline Graham wins Republican primary for US Senate Sign up for the US Breaking News email A US military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday killed four people, officials said. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike targeted a vessel “operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.” Continue reading...

Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg is caught in an interstate extradition dispute between Texas and Minnesota – and could walk out of a Texas jail as soon as Wednesday if a federal judge does not intervene. Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another, in relation to the incident where he

All US immigrant visa applications halted as state department moves to tighten restrictions and limit access. Plus tributes pour in for Dolly Parton, who has died aged 80 Good morning. All US immigrant visa applications have been paused by the Trump administration as the state department moves to tighten restrictions and limit access to applicants whom they deem could need US assistance. The agency launched the initiative at all embassies and consulates in early August. Applicants with scheduled interviews were sent emails that their appointments had been canceled. Agency officials claim this will ensure visa applicants will not end up

Piketon datacenter promises to generate thousands of jobs, but environmental groups voice concern over project On a winding road tucked away behind forests in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio is where OpenAI, Nvidia and Japanese investors are set to spend $500bn on one of the largest artificial intelligence datacenters on the planet. Last March, the energy secretary, Chris Wright, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick and a host of Japanese and other dignitaries briefly descended on Piketon to enthusiastically break ground on a project to build 8GW worth of AI computing power. Continue reading...

Exposure to two compounds approved can result in ‘sudden death’ and range of other serious health risks, lawsuit warns The Trump administration has approved two new datacenter chemicals to which exposure can result in “sudden death” and a range of other serious health risks, like cancer, eye corrosion, neurological damage and reproductive harm, a new lawsuit warns. The two compounds approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for import and immediate use in facilities across the US are photoacid generators that also appear to be Pfas “forever chemicals”, though it is unclear because much of the EPA documents are redacted.

A man killed eight of his relatives, including four children, as they gathered for Sunday dinner at a home outside Billings, Montana, weeks after his parents asked him to move out, a family member told Associated Press. Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, identified the shooter as 44-year-old Alan Smith. Smith’s parents, who were also killed, had asked him to move out, but he returned on Sunday and opened fire, Ireland said. The victims represented four...

A prominent Sikh separatist said Tuesday that the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have warned him that he faces a new credible threat to his life even as a man from India faces sentencing later this year for a 2023 death plot against him. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for Sikhs For Justice, said he was warned by FBI agents who visited him August 12 that he should not travel until the threat is resolved, and, if he does, the agency should be notified in advance of his...

A taboo-breaking book about Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and private life, written by two exiled Russian journalists, won a newly established French literary prize on Tuesday. The book, titled The Tsar in Propria Persona: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All, draws on more than two decades of investigative reporting by journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin. The work won a newly established literary award called the Prix Strasbourg awarded by EBRA, France’s largest regional newspaper group,...

The gaffe at last month’s Aids 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, where a US State Department presentation displayed a map of Africa with every country mislabelled, serves as more than a source of embarrassment. It was a potent symbol of the distance between Washington’s rhetoric and its real stance regarding the African continent. Earlier this year, Nick Checker, a senior US State Department official, spoke of “resetting” US relations with Africa, pivoting away from dependency and towards...

The US Secret ⁠Service is aware ⁠of a video ⁠broadcast by Iranian state television discussing a potential plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump’s youngest son, a spokesman said on ‌Tuesday. “The US Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees. “Out of concern for operational security, we ⁠do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,” Secret Service spokesman Nate Herring wrote in an email. A three-minute...

Six Chinese nationals were killed and nine ‌more are missing after a fire broke out at a gas chemical complex in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, the plant said on Wednesday. A total of seven people died and 152 people were treated for injuries, including 36 ⁠who were rushed to hospitals, the plant said on the Telegram ‌messaging app on Wednesday. The fire, which broke out on Tuesday, was extinguished, it added. An emergency services ‌plane had arrived to transport the injured to other...

A shipper needing to transit the Panama Canal bid a record US$5.3 million to secure its spot, according to people familiar with the matter. South Korea-based SK Gas Ltd agreed to pay the sum to travel the canal on September 1, said the people, who could not be identified as the information was confidential. The fee, determined through an auction run by the canal authority this week, breaks the previous high of US$4.6 million set earlier this month, also paid by a shipper controlling a South...

Dolly Parton, the country music star who rose from grinding poverty in Tennessee to become a rhinestone-studded cultural icon with hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5”, has died at 80, her family said on Tuesday. Parton was more than a singer – she wrote 3,000 songs, acted in major Hollywood films and donated millions of dollars to charities in her home state and beyond. She was also an accomplished businesswoman, with her interests spanning from her popular Dollywood theme park to cosmetics, pet...

Canada announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50 per cent on US$19.94 billion (C$27.6 billion) of American goods on Tuesday, escalating its trade confrontation with Washington days after negotiations collapsed and the Trump administration imposed sweeping new duties on Canadian products. The tariffs, which take effect on September 8, will apply to more than 700 categories of US goods at rates of 15, 25 or 50 per cent, according to the Canadian government. The targeted products range from steel,...

Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a federal judge Tuesday who said the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and long-time associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless”. Maxwell filed a habeas petition last December seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, claiming exonerating information was withheld and false testimony presented at her trial,...

US CIA Director ⁠John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow ⁠on Tuesday for meetings ⁠with Russian officials, US media outlets reported, citing unnamed sources. The visit would be the first known visit to the Russian capital by a US spy chief since Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, ‌held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2021. About three months after that meeting, the Russian president launched Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. CBS News and Axios reported the visit by Ratcliffe,...

Brazil’s data protection authority fined ByteDance US$30 million on Tuesday over its handling of children’s data on TikTok, the largest penalty it has imposed since it was created in 2020. The National Data Protection Authority, known as the ANPD, found five breaches of Brazil’s data protection law and gave ByteDance 10 working days to appeal. The company must also erase the records of users aged 13 to 18 whose parental authorisation is not regularised within 60 working days, instruct every...

Long queues formed at petrol stations in Tehran on Tuesday after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into submission. Washington has turned to pulling economic levers six months into a war on Iran that has ground to a stalemate militarily, with peace talks stalled and most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz blocked. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday laid out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, saying the “objective is to sever...

The Mecca security pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan stipulates that an armed attack against one shall count as an attack against all three. Yet the real message is directed at the United States: if being an American ally offers no immunity against attack, there is little point in waiting for Washington to honour its security guarantees. That there has been no official White House statement casts some doubt on whether Donald Trump is really “very happy to see that Saudi Arabia,...

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is considering changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as the trade war between the United States and Canada intensifies. Such a change would be reminiscent of the Republican president’s unilateral action last year by executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The US and Canada are locked in a trade dispute, with Canada expected on Tuesday to announce retaliatory measures after the Trump administration enacted...

China and the US should strive for “normal stability with controllable disagreements” in their relations, a senior Chinese official has urged in the latest semi-official dialogue with Washington. During the talks on Tuesday, Liu Haixing, head of the Communist Party’s International Department, said the two countries should expand the “pie” of shared interests to achieve positive stability anchored in cooperation. “[Both sides] should reject zero-sum games to achieve healthy stability with...

Like many Kuwaitis, Ghanim Alsulaimani still vividly remembers Iraqi tanks rolling through his hometown when his small Gulf state faced extinction had US troops not liberated it from invasion. Now, decades later and six months into the US-Iran war, some are seeing those same American troops as more of a liability than an asset, as their presence has put Kuwait in Tehran’s line of fire. Since the Middle East conflict first erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Islamic...

A coalition may call itself a commitment. It still has to say what that commitment is. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to send a letter to dozens of countries, pressing them to choose sides in the US-China artificial intelligence race. Those that join Beijing’s proposed AI cooperation framework would be excluded from the US-led AI coalition. “To be part of everything is to be part of nothing,” the draft says. An American official summarised the message more bluntly: countries...

Israel’s escalating campaign to stop Syria rebuilding its military with Turkish help looks set to backfire, after Damascus signalled it was considering joining the new mutual-defence pact formed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Securing a Washington-mediated security deal with Israel was still Damascus’ top priority, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani reportedly told Roman Gofman, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, at a meeting in Amman on Sunday. Such a deal would see...

For months, Masoumeh Zakeri has endlessly replayed the last night she spent with her nine-year-old daughter before she was killed in a strike on her school during the opening hours of the US-Israel war with Iran. Motahreh excitedly talked about coming holidays, planned weddings and the clothes she wanted to buy. She had a Ramadan pre-fast meal shortly before dawn and then Zakeri tucked her into bed. “I never saw her again. (That was) the last time,” the 44-year-old mother told Agence...

At least 47 people were killed and 22 more injured in an overnight gang raid on a neighbourhood overlooking Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, the UN said on Monday, prompting anger over the lack of protection from repeated deadly attacks. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti ‌said estimates could still change. The hillside community of Kenscoff, in a strategic position overlooking routes into the capital, has suffered a dozen attacks by armed gangs since last year, forcing thousands to...

Scientists have recorded the highest temperature ever measured in the world’s oceans, as climate change combines with a powerful El Nino in the tropical Pacific. The global average sea-surface temperature hit a record 21.1 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) on August 22, according to Europe’s Earth observation agency Copernicus, which has been tracking the metric daily since 1979. The previous single-day record of 21.09 degrees was measured in March 2024. “El Nino is adding heat to the system, but...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had attempted to assassinate one of his two sons, without offering further details. “Something incredible happened: Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill one of my sons,” Netanyahu said during a phone interview with Israel’s Channel 14. The claim came during a discussion about reports that the Shin Bet domestic security agency had declined to provide a security detail for Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who is...

South Korea and the US agreed to maintain close coordination on efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea, days after Pyongyang rebuffed President Donald Trump’s overtures and launched a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call late on Monday that Seoul would work to ensure that Trump’s recent messages lead to renewed US-North Korea discussions and peace on the Korean peninsula, Seoul’s Foreign...

“Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen.” Donald J. Trump It would be easy to write off the regular word salads of America’s 47th president as the increasingly incoherent ramblings of an elderly man in obvious mental and physical decline. However, one can also argue that Trump’s seemingly dyslexic struggles with the English language reflect a deliberate disregard for grammar rules that resonates with his support base. It’s the level of language that up to half of Americans happily use...

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he and other European leaders plan to travel to the US next month to lobby President Donald Trump to let Ukraine access some of its Patriot air defence missile stocks ahead of the winter. “I’m looking forward to going to New York in September,” Burnham said in an interview with Bloomberg in Kyiv on Monday evening, referring to the coming UN General Assembly meeting in New York. It would be his first trip to the US since becoming prime minister. “I’ve not fully...

A federal judge on Monday postponed a trial in the US for a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, citing the discovery of new evidence that defence lawyers want to examine in the nearly 40-year-old case. Jury selection was scheduled to begin Wednesday for the federal trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi in Washington DC. His trial will be the first in the US for the December 21, 1988, bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270...

The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the United States. If it happens, the move would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in US history and would likely face legal challenges. Unless challenged or revised, the State Department was expected to announce in the coming weeks the revocation of so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose...

The US Supreme Court gave President Donald Trump a temporary victory on Monday, lifting a lower court block on his executive order curbing the use of mail-in ballots. The Republican president signed an order in March seeking to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections but it was immediately met with multiple legal challenges. Democratic-led states sued the administration on grounds that under the US Constitution, states – and not the federal government – retain broad...

US President Donald Trump invested as much as US$50,000 ⁠in Elon Musk’s SpaceX in June, according to a public financial disclosure, giving him a financial stake in a major government contractor run by his former adviser. Trump bought between US$15,001 and US$50,000 in shares on June 23, according to a financial disclosure signed ‌by him on August 12 and made public on August 22. The purchase was part of more than 1,000 stock trades the president made in June. SpaceX priced the biggest-ever US...

The United States on Monday removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, rescinding a decades-old designation that came with severe economic restrictions and marking another step in warming ties between the countries. The US Department of State also revoked its designation of al-Nusra Front – latterly known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – as a global terrorist organisation. The Treasury Department announced corresponding sanctions relief. Rebels led by HTS overthrew long-time...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed optimism she can reach a trade deal with US President Donald Trump as her chief negotiator leads talks in Washington, just after negotiations between the US and Canada collapsed. “As President Trump said, we hope to reach an agreement with the US,” she told reporters on Monday after being asked about the escalating US-Canada impasse. “I’m optimistic an agreement can be reached.” Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Sheinbaum’s top trade negotiator, will...

China has condemned fresh US “Economic D-Day” sanctions imposed on Chinese entities over their ties to Iran, pledging “all necessary measures” to protect its interests. Launching the measures on Monday against Iran and its trading partners, the United States unveiled new sanctions against 60 entities, individuals and vessels around the world, including some in mainland China and Hong Kong, and demanded “immediate action” from nations maintaining economic and commercial ties with Iran. The...

The football with which Diego Maradona scored his “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup has sold at auction for US$3.35 million. The sale price achieved by Heritage Auctions in the United States was around US$6.7 million below the US$10 million estimate. The Dallas-based auction house had placed a US$2.5 million starting price on the Adidas Azteca ball. Maradona scored twice in Argentina’s quarter-final victory over England on June 22, 1986 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. He...

US authorities are conducting a national security review of Shein Global Holdings’ purchase of American clothing retailer Everlane after Shein sought approval for the deal, people familiar with the matter said, adding to a growing list of regulatory hurdles for the China-founded fast-fashion giant in one of its most important markets. The review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (Cfius), an inter-agency panel led by the Treasury Department, began after the US$80 million...

After a pause of more than two months, the US military announced Monday that it once again carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people accused of trafficking drugs. It brings the overall death toll to 223 people killed in 67 strikes during the nearly year-long US campaign of bombing alleged drug boats off Latin America’s Caribbean coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. US Southern Command says the campaign has resulted in the destruction of 64 speedboats,...

British police have arrested 12 people after a car pursued by police crashed while driving the wrong way on a major road, killing five youths and two officers. The deaths on Saturday came as officials warned of a trend for young people to carry out dangerous driving stunts to post on social media. However, police on Monday denied the collision was linked to filming for the TikTok online platform. Police in the Cleveland area of northeast England said there was “no evidence to indicate that...

The French government said on Monday it would press ahead with a ban on mobile phones in high schools from next month, but trade unions warned that the measure might be hard to implement quickly. In July, France’s parliament approved legislation banning both social media access for children under 15 and mobile phone use in high schools. It is part of a push by President Emmanuel Macron for children to spend less time in front of screens, which the government fears is arresting their...

US tariffs on all cars and trucks, automotive parts and steel would be increased to 50 per cent starting January 1 next year, President Donald Trump said in a social post on ‌Monday after trade talks with Canada collapsed over the weekend. “Build in the US and there are ZERO TARIFFS. Canada will be treated like a State no longer!” Trump wrote. “On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in ⁠the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, WE ‌DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY...

Police have arrested four suspects in an investigation ⁠into the deaths ⁠of 18 elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli ⁠ecosystem, where authorities also seized assorted substances including chemicals, the tourism and wildlife ministry has said. A Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesperson told Reuters on Monday that the four had since been released on bail. Preliminary laboratory ‌results pointed to the probable involvement of a toxic substance, the ministry said in a statement released on Saturday, with...

There is no shortage of Western commentary on US President Donald Trump’s second term. What’s missing is an honest account of how 1.4 billion of us in China see it – or at least how China’s officials and scholars do, since that’s who I can speak for here. I’ve spent a decade watching that view change, from real alarm in 2017 to something closer to a shrug today. Four things now count as consensus among Chinese scholars. One, Trump is undermining America’s alliance system. His first term rattled...

⁠Ukraine wants peace but will not just give in to Russia at any price, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a defiant speech as foreign leaders gather in Kyiv to mark its Independence Day celebrations. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and European Council President Antonio Costa were among the foreign dignitaries present on Monday for celebrations of the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s break from the Soviet Union. Burnham, making his first visit to the Ukrainian capital as prime minister,...

The Netherlands will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, its broadcaster has said, adding that the event can “no longer be considered neutral” given divisions over the Gaza war. “It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the contest, undermining its neutral character. The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division,” said Taco Zimmerman, director general of AVROTROS in a statement from the broadcaster on Monday. The...

Military officials from Uganda and Burundi visited Israel last week to discuss deploying troops to Gaza as part of an international security force envisioned by US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” for the fragile ceasefire, according to officials. An official with the board said that Ugandan officials had joined a Burundian military delegation and that Uganda was finalising details of its participation after its parliament approved the troop contribution this month. Nothing has been...

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 foreign minister’s trip to South Korea ‘dealt a low blow’ to Seoul 2. How much of an impact will retiring expats have on Hong Kong’s luxury property? 3. Electrochemist Liu Jiawei moves from Singapore to Hong Kong to start her own lab 4. Malaysia’s Anwar traded reform for power. Now...

The Personal Consumption Expenditure index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation tracker, held steady in July.

After facing low approval ratings and endorsement setbacks, the president made a show of force in lifting Darline Graham to the Republican nomination for Senate in South Carolina.

President Trump went all in for Senator Darline Graham in a primary runoff on Tuesday. It worked, preserving his undefeated streak in Republican Senate primaries this year.

A long-shot candidate with the same name as the incumbent Republican senator will be on the ballot in November. That could be a problem for the G.O.P.

The former Democratic-turned-independent senator and his daughter are backing independent bids for the House and the Senate to try to weaken the two-party grip on the Capitol.

Parton gave hopeful expression to songs she wrote about the hard times and hard-won triumphs of her life.

Parton made her mark in the country arenas of Nashville, and then crossed over into the pop world, Hollywood and beyond.

A collision of American popular culture and public health is on display in the N.F.L.

Many families are engaged in tense debates after a new study found a high percentage of N.F.L. players had developed degenerative brain disease.

At least one in four N.F.L. players, and likely a much higher percentage, had the brain disease when they died. Will anything change?

While the president remains the most dominant figure in the world, other leaders and institutions are pushing back more vigorously than at the beginning of his second term.

Business owners are preparing for financial pain after the latest U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed. But many Canadians are embracing a show of resistance.

Foreign ambassadors were promised free food and drinks, misting fans and shaded seats during the event. Then some of them were uninvited.

The Delta system pulls together battlefield data to identify targets, creating a miles-wide “kill zone.” The technology is credited with helping to cut Russian advances to a near standstill.

The United States threatened sanctions for any country or entity that engages with Iran’s gold, digital assets, aviation, shipping and tech industries. Here’s why that matters.

Forced away from the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the Saudis turned to the Red Sea. Now they are relying on a less dangerous but more complicated detour via the Suez Canal.

Iran and Oman said they would create a temporary shipping lane and clear mines in the waterway. Global oil prices eased after the joint announcement.

Bank Melli, Iran’s largest lender, already faces sanctions that severely limit its ability to operate abroad. Every foreign branch must be shut down, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Participants, often in vulnerable states, have little recourse if mistreated or injured.

A pioneering architect’s archive, long thought lost, was preserved by his family. Now, three museums are featuring the work of a man who broke California’s color barrier.

In an hourlong interview, he said his industry was downplaying the risks, which he believes include mass unemployment and bioterrorism.

We might have worked on different sets, for different directors, in different eras, but every child actor bears the same recognizable wounds.

Lèse-majesté, American-style.

We look at Canada’s opposition to the president.

A surrogate refused to have an abortion after the fetus was diagnosed with a serious heart problem. She fled to Texas and had the child. Now she wants a judge to give custody to her instead of the biological parents.