Minimalist News

Justice Department Sues California Over Glock Ban, Handgun Roster Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times , The Justice Department (DOJ) on July 1 sued California over its ban on "machinegun convertible pistols" and its "handgun roster." A Glock handgun and two magazines in a file photograph. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo The law bans the purchase of Glock pistols and guns with similar firing mechanisms, according to a DOJ press release. The handgun roster limits the handguns California citizens can legally buy. The DOJ claims both are unconstitutional. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation known as Assembly Bill 1127 in October

SAP Slows Hiring, Freezes Travel As AI Push Accelerates Not even a day after reports swirled that Microsoft was preparing to cut thousands of employees, and as the broader tech sector continues to hemorrhage white-collar workers replaced by chatbots, the latest AI-related job-displacement news is coming from Europe's largest software company. Bloomberg reports that German enterprise software giant SAP, best known for software that supports large corporations running core business operations, is preparing to slow hiring and cut travel costs as it diverts more capital toward developing AI tools . More color from the report: Going forward, SAP will "exclusively

FDA Allows Label Saying Zyn Nicotine Pouches Less Harmful Than Cigarettes Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , The Food and Drug Administration is letting Philip Morris International market its Zyn nicotine pouches as being safer than cigarettes. Zyn nicotine cases and pouches on a table in New York City on Jan. 29, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images The FDA said on June 30 that the pouches can now feature the statement, "Using Zyn instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis." The authorization of

Blue Owl Gates Investors Again After Top BDCs Hit With Massive 38%, 19% Redemption Requests After a catastrophic Q1 for private credit BDCs, Q2 is proceeding just as many had expected: just as bad. After alternative asset manager titans such as Apollo, Blackrock, Blackstone and Cliffwater all gated their investors for a second straight quarter following a surge in redemption requests that easily surpassed what took place in Q1, earlier today we learned that the ground zero of the private credit implosion - Blue Owl Capital - was also slammed with redemption requests in the second quarter. Sure enough, it

Judge Blocks USPS Ballot Rule Tied To Trump's Election Integrity Order Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing a Trump administration proposal to boost election integrity by enhancing ballot tracking and verification, finding it conflicted with a 2021 settlement requiring the agency to prioritize the timely delivery of election mail. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled on July 1 that USPS could not move forward with the proposed rule, which would have required states using the mail for federal absentee and mail-in voting to adopt standardized ballot

Vance Explains How US Will Use Iran MoU To Replenish Global Oil Supply Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on "The Michael Knowles Show" published Tuesday that the US would u se the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran to "refill" global oil supplies and stockpiles and to prepare for more potential military action against the Islamic Republic. "I think what the president has told us to do is use this MoU to sort of refill the world's oil economy, to refill some stocks, and then to see where the hand is ,"

Sin(a)tra By Michael Every of Rabobank Sin(a)tra Let’s be Frank: the central banker pow-wow at Sintra had a touch of Sinatra . Fed Chair Warsh belted out “ I’ll do it MYYYYYY way ,” and everyone else chimed in that they’d had a few regrets about how they’ve run monetary policy and were coincidentally now mentioning them. Markets swooned when Warsh stated the case for Fed independence and that anyone expecting tolerance for inflation above 2% “would be disappointed.” Yet he also sang with an AI autotune . While the current “AI shock” is driving a boom in capex, i.e.,

FDA Staffers Oppose Proposed Clearance Of Peptides Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , Food and Drug Administration staffers said in newly released documents that they do not support letting compound pharmacies manufacture seven popular peptides. The Food and Drug Administration in White Oak, Md., on June 5, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times FDA personnel said in documents posted online on June 29 that there are safety concerns with the peptides, including the possibility of triggering immune responses that could lead to "life-threatening and catastrophic reactions." They do not favor classifying BPC-157, KPV, TB-500, MOTS-c, Emideltide, Epitalon, or

Minnesota Gov Walz Pardons Convicted Child-Molester, Blocking Deportation A Minnesota pardon board that includes Gov Tim Walz among its three members has issued a full pardon to a convicted Laotian child-molester, torpedoing Homeland Security's effort to deport him . The 42-year-old convict, Tou Lue Vang, submitted a letter to the board saying he regretted what he did -- and just like that, his criminal record is now clean as a whistle via unanimous decision. “Governor Tim Walz's decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis.

What Did He Just Say? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , In a parliamentary clash exposing deep failures in the justice system, Conservative MP Katie Lam confronted the Government over whether grooming gang perpetrators would serve their already lenient prison terms in full. The minister's reply has sparked widespread fury, highlighting a complacency that victims and the public find utterly unacceptable. When Lam asked for assurances on full sentences, Justice Minister Jake Richards pointed to prison capacity, stressing the need to ensure serious offenders "serve time at all" amid prison shortages and building programs. Yesterday, I asked the

Europe Capitulates, Sees Iranian Hormuz Fee Collection As 'Inevitable' Europe capitulates at a moment Washington and Tehran (and possibly Oman) continue to be directly at odds over how future shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz energy chokepoint will be administered. Bloomberg reports Thursday, "Some leading European powers now accept that ships transiting the vital Strait of Hormuz will have to pay fees to Iran and Oman, according to people familiar with the matter." " The prospect of some sort of service fee in the aftermath of the US and Israeli war with the Islamic Republic was described as a

America Bets $50 Billion On Coal And Gas Power, More Than China, As Electricity Demand Soars By Irina Slav of OilPrice.com US companies are set to spend some $50 billion on power generation from coal and natural gas this year, the International Energy Agency has said, as quoted by the Financial Times. This would be the first time in decades that US spending on coal and gas generation would be higher than what China is investing in the two fuels, with the difference at $3 billion. The surge in spending will come mostly from much stronger demand for gas turbines

Vegas Cops Disrupt Alleged Casino Terror Plot By Trans Gunman As Pattern Of Left-Wing Violence Raises Alarms The nihilistic accelerationism spreading through the revolutionary left is becoming an increasingly visible security threat, as years of radical rhetoric and political demonization by Democrats and their aligned, billionaire-funded NGOs bleed into real-world violence. The pattern is becoming increasingly troubling and harder to ignore: left-wing extremists are taking their grievances into an active phase, targeting wealthy individuals, capitalism, law enforcement, and right-leaning political figures. What was once overlooked because the Biden-Harris FBI was too focused on White Catholics is now manifesting in assassination

Yen Surges As Jittery Traders Expect Imminent Intervention After Japan Reveals New Strategy To Wipe Out Shorts After plunging to a fresh 40 year low overnight, the yen strengthened sharply against the dollar amid rising speculation that the currency’s continued weakness may prompt a fresh round of intervention by Japan. The yen then surged again after the June US jobs report showed a much weaker picture than expected. But let's focus on the first, more unexplained move, which took place just after 2:30am ET, when the Yen rose as much as 1% against the greenback, the most since Japan intervened

Core Durable Goods Orders Soar Most In 4 Years US durable goods orders plummeted 4.5% MoM in May (as expected), dragging orders down 4.3% YoY - the worst annual decline since Nov 2024 ... Source: Bloomberg However, ex-transports, orders rose 1.4% MoM - up for the 14th straight month - with orders soaring over 10% YoY, the strongest annual surge since May 2022... Adding more confusion, US factory orders fell 1.3% MoM in May (better than the 2.0% MoM decline expected) but dramatically divergent from the 4.8% MoM surge in April (revised down from +5.3%). ...but factory orders ex-transports rose

US Adds Only 57K Jobs, Missing Estimates, As Unemployment Rate Slides On Plunge In Workers In our jobs preview post we quoted Goldman Delta One head, Rich Privorotsky, who said that "equities marginally want something weaker than consensus: with no forward guidance, hot NFP means hikes in play, which is unfriendly for pockets of equity risk. " Well, they got it because moments ago the BLS reported that in June the US added just 57K workers, half the 113K expected, and the worst monthly print since the big February drop. Except for an outlier 25K forecast from Citi, the jobs

'Something Has Gone Completely Wrong': Palantir's Alex Karp Goes Ballistic On OpenAI, Anthropic On Wednesday, Palantir CEO Alex Karp delivered a blistering critique of frontier AI labs, accusing them of having an "effing insane" business model that leaves enterprises paying escalating token costs for limited value while risking their proprietary data and intellectual property. He said that top AI labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI were misleading corporate partners - "overselling" the risks of AI while at the same time offering their most powerful models to companies and governments worldwide. When CNBC host Becky Quick said "You sound pretty angry,"

Buried On The 4th Of July: Mediators Pledge Quiet Between US, Iran To Allow For Ayatollah Khamenei's Funeral President Trump by mid-week told reporters that the "denuclearization of Iran is moving along well" and that "very good meetings" are being held in Doha - even though no direct talks have taken place, but only an exchange of messages via mediators. On Wednesday US officials told regional media that no frozen Iranian funds have been released , nor will they be until Iran complies to what's been laid out in the MoU. And so each side continues accusing the other of

Tesla Reports 480,126 Q2 Deliveries, Crushing Estimates Tesla delivered a much stronger-than-expected second quarter, reporting 480,126 vehicle deliveries, well ahead of Wall Street forecasts of roughly 406,600. The company also produced 451,758 vehicles during the period, signaling a meaningful improvement after a slow start to the year, according to CNBC . Shares were volatile on the news and have settled near unchanged into the cash open… The delivery total marked a sharp increase from 358,023 vehicles in the first quarter and was also significantly higher than the roughly 384,000 deliveries Tesla recorded in the same quarter last year. As has

Egg Producers Reach State And Federal Settlement Over Price-Fixing Allegations Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness, Three major egg producers have reached a $3.3 million settlement to resolve allegations of price fixing after being sued by the Justice Department (DOJ) and 17 U.S. states’ Attorneys General. Just the News reports that the complaint—filed in Iowa’s Northern District Court—contends that the defendants conspired to artificially inflate the daily price quotations of market reporting company Urner Barry Publications. According to the DOJ Office of Public Affairs , a civil lawsuit was filed against Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (Cal-Maine); Hickman’s Egg Ranch Inc.

Security guard Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, 43, initially told rescuers not to tell his wife in case he did not survive A 43-year-old security guard who survived last week’s devastating earthquakes in Venezuela thanks to a pocket of air in his workstation cabin has been pulled from the collapsed basement of a shopping centre amid huge cheers from international rescue teams. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores had been trapped for eight days under the rubble of the Galerías Playa Grande in the hard-hit coastal port city of La Guaira since the back-to-back quakes struck. Continue reading...

Eleven-year-old developed symptoms 19 days after encounter in Ontario in ‘exceedingly rare’ case Doctors in Canada say a child who awoke to find a bat resting on his nose and mouth while visiting an Ontario cottage later died of rabies, in an “exceedingly rare case” that highlights the need for better public awareness. In a report published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, infectious disease physicians confirmed that the 11-year-old boy died from rabies, a fatality they said probably could have been prevented with greater awareness of how the virus is transmitted. Continue reading...

Trump and US officials opted to keep USMCA alive on short leash of annual reviews rather than longer term renewal Donald Trump has refused to renew the North American trade pact he once championed as his signature deal, opting instead to keep it alive on a short leash of annual reviews rather than committing to another 16 years. Wednesday was the deadline built into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for the three countries to jointly decide its fate, which is set to expire in 2036. Continue reading...

Three of the victims died from suffocation More than a million people gathered in Mexico City Four people died, three ⁠from suffocation, as thousands of fans crowded Mexico City streets during World Cup celebrations, the capital’s health secretariat ⁠said in the early ⁠hours ​of Wednesday. The deaths occurred near the Angel of Independence landmark, where thousands of fans had gathered to ⁠celebrate Mexico’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador in the last 32. Continue reading...

Country is first to join since Australia in 2015 as event director says it ‘continues to welcome the world’ Canada will ​join the Eurovision song contest in 2027, becoming the first new ⁠participant since Australia in 2015, organisers have announced. Participation is not limited to countries in geographic Europe and instead is open to all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which Canada joined last week. Australia is an associate member. Continue reading...

Charges yet to be filed over incident in Mukdahan involving 11-year-old, as police seek to establish circumstances An 11-year-old boy has driven his parents’ truck into a Buddhist procession in Thailand, killing at least nine monks. CCTV footage shared by a local rescue group showed the moment the monks, wearing orange robes, were run over as they walked in procession along a road. The timestamp on the footage was shortly before 11am local time on Thursday. Continue reading...

Rebels shoot pilot and set his civilian ⁠plane on fire amid long-running low-level battle for independence in region Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian ⁠plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments. Sebby Sambom, ⁠a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his ⁠plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province. Continue

Unmarried man and woman whipped 21 times each because they had violated province’s version of Islamic law A young couple in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province have been publicly caned after a Sharia court convicted them of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream. The court ordered the couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, to be whipped with a rattan cane 21 times each for kissing without being married. At least 100 people witnessed the caning, carried out by a group of people wearing robes and hoods on a stage in Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh.

Law comes into effect that critics fear will further erode rights of Uyghurs and Tibetans, as well as allow Beijing to pursue dissidents abroad A new ethnic unity law has come into effect in China despite warnings from Taiwan, the United Nations and rights groups that it could threaten freedoms, especially for minorities. The Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress aims to forge a “shared” national identity among ethnic groups, for example by strengthening the status of Mandarin as the official language. But overseas campaigners have argued it will further degrade the rights of ethnic minorities, such as Uyghurs

Beijing, whose stockpiles and renewables industry allowed it to withstand energy shock, is now gaining from global solar and EV push China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the geopolitical consulting firm Asia Group concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. Continue reading...

Claims against Israel Defense Forces battalion include deliberate targeting and destruction of residential buildings in 2023 and 2024 without military justification Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian federal police investigators are assessing a brief detailing alleged war crimes committed by an Australian citizen serving in the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. A 61-page brief has been handed to the AFP by the Australian Centre for International Justice detailing alleged war crimes committed by an IDF battalion in Gaza across 2023 and 2024. Continue reading...

Poll also finds perception of Donald Trump has soured since his re-election, with fewer than a third of respondents viewing him positively Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australians have a more negative view of Israel than of China, the latest Guardian Essential poll has found, with women and middle-aged people exhibiting the least positive perception of Israel. The poll also finds Australians’ perceptions of Donald Trump have tumbled since his re-election, with fewer than a third of voters having a positive response to the US president. Continue reading...

Swiss bank UBS finds ‘growing divide between the wealthiest and the broader population’ as country adds more than 25,000 more millionaires Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Middle Australia’s wealth is going backwards while the richest claim an ever-greater share of the pile, according to new research that shows more than 25,000 people across the country became millionaires last year. The latest global wealth report from the Swiss bank UBS said 2025 marked “an extraordinary year”, in which close to a million new millionaires were created worldwide – a record increase in a single

Julie Inman Grant singles out X when giving evidence to royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Mainstream platforms are fighting to distribute and monetise “gore” and “fringe” content, the eSafety watchdog has told the antisemitism royal commission. Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Thursday singled out X, telling the inquiry her office has to fight its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, to try to keep footage – including some posted of the Bondi terror attack – restricted or off the platform. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Eight weeks to shred documents’: Wells on social media law delay The main reason for Anika Wells ’ media appearances this morning is to kick the Coalition and the Greens for sending that social media bill – increasing fines for platforms and handing the eSafety commissioner more power – into an eight-week inquiry. It’s not complex, and I think Angus Taylor should explain why he is honestly giving big tech eight more weeks to prepare their case, eight more weeks to get their

Yorgen Fenech said to have spent €400,000 on fees for men convicted of car bombing that killed investigative journalist A businessman accused of commissioning the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia spent more than €400,000 (£343,000) on legal fees for the hitmen convicted of her killing, prosecutors claim. Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to one of Malta’s largest fortunes, arrived in court for the second day of his trial on Thursday in an unmarked armoured police vehicle. He is on house arrest having pledged a record bail estimated at €50m. Continue reading...

NCA says offenders arrange to sexually assault and film victims via online networks with crimes often taking place in trusting relationships Criminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted. The National Crime Agency [NCA] has said online networks, “many as yet unidentified by law enforcement”, were allowing offenders to arrange to rape and abuse victims or arrange for sexual assaults to be filmed. Continue reading...

Damage recorded in 30 locations across in the city from overnight attacks, with ‘most of them ordinary residential buildings’ in Dublin Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes not to wait too long for the results of an Irish government investigation into alumina exports to Russia thought to be feeding the Kremlin’s war machine. “Unfortunately there are companies in Europe that are owned or effectively controlled by Russia and its sanctioned oligarchs. They keep supplying the aggressor with essential materials even now.” Continue reading...

More than 70 missiles fired at Ukraine capital as Russia faces fuel shortages after strikes against its oil refineries At least 21 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in Kyiv, local authorities said, in what the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, called the worst Russian attack on the capital during more than four years of air assault on Ukraine. Russia used nearly 500 drones and more than 70 missiles in the hours-long attack on Kyiv and other parts of the country in the early hours of Thursday. Loud explosions shook the capital for several hours as waves of drones as

Indictment against alleged leader of gas pipeline attack claims former Ukrainian army officer was directed by state German prosecutors have accused Ukrainian “state authorities” of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Europe, a charge likely to ignite tensions between Kyiv and Berlin, its biggest military backer. The sabotage in the Baltic Sea by a team of assailants almost entirely destroyed the seafloor infrastructure of the key source of Russian gas to Germany. Continue reading...

US president posts that meeting will take place on Tuesday in Qatari capital after exchange of fire in strait of Hormuz Iran is jealously competing with Oman as decision-maker over strait of Hormuz Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has agreed to hold talks in Doha after the US and Tehran traded fire in the strait of Hormuz this weekend, threatening the collapse of a ceasefire meant to keep the strait open and pave the way for peace talks. In a terse post on Truth Social, the US president claimed the meetings would take place in the Qatari capital, as

Tehran believes it should control the shipping route but its neighbour has its own plans for reopening it The strait of Hormuz is Iran’s chief bargaining tool in the negotiations with the US and so it was always likely to be the greatest point of contention. Every inch of the 24-mile-wide waterway is being contested in a test of wills and patience. For Iran, the continuation of the dispute is not a problem so long as it does not lose control. Continue reading...

Tehran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait amid efforts to open strait of Hormuz without Iran’s direct oversight Fresh hostilities in Gulf suggest US-Iran memorandum was too broadly worded A new round of escalating strikes between Iran and the US has continued, further undermining the fragile interim peace agreement between the two countries, and prompting Donald Trump to threaten violence that would ensure Iran “will no longer exist”. On Sunday, Tehran launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait after new US strikes on sites in southern Iran, and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations to end the war. Trump said

Document appears to have been subject to conflicting interpretations on key issues of Lebanon ceasefire and strait of Hormuz The sudden eruption of fresh hostilities in the Gulf – just 10 days after Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict – threatens to put the two countries back on the path to war . It appears the deliberately opaque wording in the memorandum has been unable to withstand the pressure of conflicting interpretations, and as a result supporters of the deal inside Tehran are on the back foot. Statements to the effect that Iran’s

Iran attacked Bahrain and Kuwait after US strikes, and threatened a ‘complete halt’ to talks US and Iran trade strikes as both sides accuse the other of endangering ceasefire We will soon be closing this liveblog, but you’ll be able to stay up-to-date with our ongoing coverage of the Middle East here. Here is a summary of today’s events: Iran launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic , and threatened a “complete halt” in negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. US president Donald

Local officials said preliminary reports showed the centre was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential building Fourteen children died after ⁠the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan’s eastern city of ⁠Lahore on Tuesday, ⁠rescue ​officials have said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence ⁠investigation. Punjab’s emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher ⁠under the rubble of the private after-school facility. The ​children killed were aged ‌five to ‌16 with most below nine. Continue reading...

Government hopes for 30% of city’s fleet to be electric by 2030, in move hailed as ‘gamechanger’ on air pollution The unruly chaos of Delhi’s roads would be unrecognisable without the rickshaws and scooters that zip through India’s capital in their millions, emitting toxic fumes in their wake. But now, ambitious policies aim to give the city’s most recognisable vehicles an environmental makeover. On Monday, Delhi’s government announced plans to eventually ban petrol scooters, motorbikes and autorickshaws in favour of those running on electricity, in an attempt to bring down dangerously high pollution levels in the city by the end

Exclusive: Activist tells of his life as one of India’s most prominent political prisoners and his opposition to the government of Narendra Modi Prison is hardest at sunset. As the thousands of prisoners incarcerated in Delhi’s most infamous jail are cast out of their cells and forced into the dank yard until darkness falls, prisoner number 626714 feels the punishing dread begin to rise. Yet the inmate – better known as Umar Khalid – was recently moved to discover that another political prisoner, exiled at a camp thousands of miles from India, wrote of the very same feeling more than

Pakistan says strikes were aimed at a terrorist group while Taliban condemn ‘cowardly act of aggression’ Pakistani airstrikes in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan killed 36 civilians and wounded 163 others, Afghan officials have said, as attacks between the two countries showed no sign of abating. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the operations on Sunday night were aimed at a terrorist group his country blamed for a deadly militant attack in Karachi that killed three security personnel over the weekend. Continue reading...

Fears hard-won gains in reducing child mortality over 20 years are at risk after end of USAID funding for nutrition programmes Child malnutrition in Nepal has reached “alarming” levels, according to the largest ever survey of under-fives in the country. The new figures came just over a year after USAID, the former US flagship agency closed by the Trump administration in 2025, stopped funding work on child nutrition in Nepal. Continue reading...

Makerfield MP said he would consider reducing business rates as part of a package that could also include freeze on private rents Andy Burnham promised to ease the cost of living if he becomes prime minister in his first interview since returning to parliament. The Makerfield MP told LBC that if he became prime minister later this month, as expected, he would look at reducing business rates for some high street businesses, bringing down water and energy costs by de-privatising companies and making bus travel free for 16- to 18-year-olds. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Findings cast doubt on Keir Starmer’s claims that reallocation of funds to MoD will boost British jobs Keir Starmer’s decision to cut billions of pounds of infrastructure spending to pay for more defence equipment will end up costing the UK 10,000 jobs, according to an analysis of the government’s own figures. The prime minister announced this week he was putting an extra £15bn into defence investment to revamp the country’s armed forces and boost British manufacturing. Continue reading...

NEC told it must take steps to address fears – including not hiring Everton stadium to announce new leader before nominations even open Labour chiefs have been warned they must placate disgruntled Labour members who are angry at the lack of party democracy because Andy Burnham is not expected to face a challenge to become Labour leader. MPs have told the party there are growing complaints from members about the lack of involvement from members if Burnham does not face a leadership contest from any other MP. Continue reading...

Study suggests even light activity such as ironing could reduce health risks linked to prolonged sedentary behaviour Sitting for longer than half an hour at a time each day raises the risk of dying from cancer, a study suggests. Researchers who tracked more than 90,000 people over a decade found that sitting or lying down while awake for more than 30 minutes in one period each day was associated with an increased risk of cancer death. The risk increases for every additional hour of continuous inactivity, the findings suggest. Continue reading...

Culture secretary says her department will stop using platform, citing concerns over far-right content fuelling violence and division The UK’s culture and media department will stop using X because the site “now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate”, Lisa Nandy has announced. The culture secretary’s department is the UK’s second to quit the Elon Musk-owned platform over increasing concerns about the way it highlights and prioritises often inaccurate far-right and racist content and is used to incite violence and division. Continue reading...

US attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro accuses David Hearn of ‘forcefully and violently’ pulling up and removing bottom liner of landmark site US Olympian indicted after Trump alleged ‘vandalism’ at DC reflecting pool Sign up for the Breaking News US email OpenAI is reportedly in early stage talks to give a 5% stake in the ChatGPT developer to the US government as artificial intelligence companies attempt to smooth relations with Donald Trump’s administration. The OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman , has argued that giving the US public a financial stake in the company is the best way to share the

National Weather Service warns heat index could reach 115F as heat grips midwest, Ohio valley and east coast Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A “prolonged, dangerous heatwave” was sweeping across parts of the central and eastern United States on Thursday, with forecasters warning that extreme record-breaking temperatures are expected to continue into the holiday weekend for millions of Americans. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Thursday that temperatures between 95F (35C) and 105F (40.5C), combined with high humidity, will push heat index values across parts of the region to between 100F and 115F. Continue reading...

Canoeist David Hearn was arrested in June after touching a peeling piece of liner in the pool from renovation project David Hearn, a three-time US Olympian and canoeist, has been indicted by a grand jury in Washington DC after Donald Trump blamed vandals for damaging Washington’s reflecting pool following a $14.7m renovation project. The ‌indictment accuses Hearn, 67, ‌of “maliciously” breaking or destroying lining material on the bottom of the reflecting pool on 19 June. Lawyers for Hearn denied ‌the allegations following his arrest, accusing the ​Trump administration of treating ordinary conduct as criminal. Continue reading...

Couple pledges millions to children’s hospitals, food banks and educational programs in advance of their big day Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are donating $26m to charities in advance of their rumored wedding at New York’s Madison Square Garden this weekend, a representative for the couple has confirmed to the Guardian. The 20 named charities include organizations in meaningful locations to the couple such as Nashville (where Swift got her start in music), Kansas City (the home of Kelce’s Chiefs NFL team) and New York City, where Swift and Kelce’s wedding is reported to take place. Continue reading...

Critics condemn decision by education board aligned with hard-right Ron DeSantis to block access to college system Immigration advocates in Florida have decried a “cruel and harmful” new rule by education officials aligned with hard-right Republican governor Ron DeSantis to ban undocumented students from state colleges and universities. The Florida board of education voted on Tuesday to bar access to its 28 state-funded institutions to anybody not a US citizen or “lawfully present” in the country. It follows Florida’s move last year to strip discounted in-state tuition rates for certain immigrant students. Continue reading...

Hundreds of rescuers in Venezuela cheered and embraced on Thursday after pulling a 43-year-old man alive from the ruins of a collapsed building eight days after deadly twin earthquakes. With the official death toll nearing 2,300 and huge numbers of people still missing, the rescue of security guard Hernan Gil after so long under the rubble was greeted as a miracle. Gil was brought out on a stretcher after a painstaking operation to extract him from the collapsed seven-storey building where he...

The United States posted weaker-than-expected job growth in June as new data showed the labour market is facing headwinds ahead of the testing midterm election for President Donald Trump’s Republicans. Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 57,000 and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2 per cent, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) said in a statement on Thursday. After months of seesawing growth and contraction, the US job market posted strong gains in the last three months, but...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin American relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘I will sell to someone else’: Brazil’s Lula hits back at US after China beef win Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva thanked China for clearing the country’s beef of foot-and-mouth disease and fired a barb at US President Donald Trump, saying “I will sell to someone else”,...

China is trying to “infiltrate” the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement via Mexican automotive investments, a US manufacturing trade group said, as Washington indicated it would not renew the agreement that comes up for review this month. However, analysts cautioned that full decoupling from China’s automotive industry remains difficult, given North America’s continued dependence on Chinese-sourced motor vehicle components and Mexico’s legacy of export manufacturing plus quick access to the US...

Hundreds of people were besieging Lidl supermarkets in and around Paris on Thursday, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units before the next heatwave hits the French capital. With few air conditioners on sale elsewhere for less than €1,200 (US$1,400), police were called to at least two stores as huge crowds descended on Lidl supermarkets trying to get their hands on basic models on sale for as low as €179. Mousa...

The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X and said any lay believers who “formally adhere” to the group would suffer the same fate. The Vatican decree comes a day after the traditionalist breakaway group consecrated four new bishops, defying a plea from Pope Leo not to do so. The decree called the ceremony “an act of schismatic nature”. For the Holy See, consecrating bishops without the approval of the pope is a direct act of...

It’s the 1000th day of war since a Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Other conflicts have emerged in the region, and fragile ceasefires show scars of persistent attacks. Both Israelis and Palestinians are weary of the strain. The fate of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain. Israeli forces controlled over half of the territory under the ceasefire that took effect on October 10, but Israel’s government has expanded...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s trip to Canada highlights deepening ties at a time when Ottawa is seeking to court middle powers and establish its presence in the Indo-Pacific. Marcos is in the Canadian capital for a four-day visit that started on Wednesday, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney in an effort to strengthen cooperation on trade, labour, energy and tourism, and enhance defence and maritime ties. He is also slated to meet Canadian business leaders and...

Doctors said Wednesday they feared the aftermath of Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes could trigger a widening medical crisis marked by untreated injuries, infectious diseases and a healthcare system already on the brink. Thousands of displaced Venezuelans are sleeping in crowded shelters or outside without access to clean water amid dismal sanitary conditions following the June 24 earthquakes which officials say killed at least 2,295 and left more than 11,000 injured. Aid workers said...

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours on Thursday, killing at least 21 people, wounding scores more and damaging around 130 buildings in one of the biggest attacks of the war. Multiple explosions shook buildings and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations. The attack caused the widest destruction in Kyiv so far this year, and was the...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that indirect talks with Iran in Qatar were making progress, offering a tentative sign that diplomacy was holding after recent exchanges of fire threatened efforts to end the Middle East war. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who led Tehran’s delegation, later said the talks had concluded and that the sides had agreed to establish a communication channel by Thursday to report and record violations of their initial memorandum of...

Martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco, will become the first Chinese-American in California history with an annual namesake day. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Tuesday afternoon officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day, according to the office of state Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco. An 18-year-old Lee returned to San Francisco on May 17, 1959, after spending his childhood in Hong Kong. Lee’s daughter, Shannon, who is CEO of the Bruce...

The United States confirmed on Wednesday it would not renew its North American trade pact, its trade chief blaming Canada’s pursuit of Chinese investment. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the three governments met virtually and that Washington would not endorse the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its current form. “The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form. As a result, the USMCA is not renewed,” Greer said in a statement. The refusal did...

When people speak of the Great Game, they usually mean the 19th-century rivalry between the British and Russian empires for influence over Central Asia. It conjures up images of spies crossing deserts, mountain fortresses and imperial intrigue – an era vividly brought to life in Peter Hopkirk’s books, which first awakened my fascination with the region. A century and a half after the Great Game, another contest is unfolding across the same region. To the north is Russia, the region’s traditional...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will celebrate their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the security plans. The festivities will kick off with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thursday night, the official said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the events. Speculation about the superstar singer and American football player’s nuptials has built to a frenzy in...

A ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz while using a route not approved by Iran, state television in Tehran reported on Wednesday. The vessel was identified as a foreign container ship, with no other details. The report appeared aimed at underlining Tehran’s claims to control the strait, which the world has long considered an international waterway. A fifth of all oil and natural gas passed through it in peacetime. Since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, Iran...

A Russian couple of daredevil artists climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s towering spire in New York City on Wednesday to unfurl a large banner urging world peace in what appeared to be an elaborate marriage proposal that ‌ended in their arrests. Dressed in sleeveless black outfits and documenting their time in the sky on social media, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus hung onto the landmark skyscraper’s antenna spire near the glowing red light at its tip some 443 metres (1,454 feet)...

A Maltese tycoon went on trial on Wednesday accused of ordering the murder of a hard-hitting investigative journalist that rocked the island nation, brought down a government and drew global condemnation. Suspect Yorgen Fenech is charged with orchestrating the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, a prominent public figure and vocal critic who was killed by a bomb placed in her car near her home. “Nine years after my mother’s murder, the man accused of commissioning it stands trial,” the...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday took his maiden voyage on a new Air Force One – a retrofitted Boeing 747-800 worth US$400 million gifted by Qatar that embeds his personality more deeply into the institution of the American presidency. Gone is the trademark light blue hull that helped Air Force One blend into the sky. The refurbished jet is painted in Trump’s preferred colour scheme: a navy-blue belly with red and gold stripes. It has the luxury features that the president believes a...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. With no team in World Cup, Chinese fans root for Ronaldo, Messi … and a referee Among the hundreds of thousands of fans who travelled to North America for the World Cup are countless Chinese supporters. Yet while China remains one of the world’s largest football markets, its presence at the...

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their attack on El-Fasher city between 2024 and 2025, Amnesty International alleged Wednesday. Sudan has been mired since April 2023 in a brutal war between the army and the RSF, which has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, according to the United Nations. Both sides have been accused of atrocities, with a UN independent fact-finding mission in February concluding...

At least five people have been killed and many injured in a fire in an apartment block in the Belgian city of Antwerp, police said on Wednesday. The blaze broke out mid-morning on the eighth floor of the building, where more than 200 people live, in the city’s Linkeroever neighbourhood, sending vast plumes of smoke into the air, Antwerp police said in a statement. An evacuation of the 10-storey building was under way. “Right now, unfortunately, at least 5 people have died in the fire. There are...

Power has historically been measured by indicators such as territory, population, industrial production, military capability and economic scale. Those foundations remain indispensable. But each technological revolution has changed the nature of geopolitical competition. The Industrial Revolution rewarded manufacturing capacity. The 20th century rewarded industrial scale, military mobilisation and ideological reach. Globalisation rewarded efficiency, integration and financial connectivity. The...

Indirect talks in Doha, Qatar, between officials from the United States and Iran aimed at ending the Middle East war have started, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks said on Wednesday. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, confirmed negotiations were under way after they earlier said the US and Iran were to hold “indirect technical talks on Wednesday in Doha with Qatari and Pakistani mediators”. The Doha talks are based “on the memorandum of...

Victor Willis, lead singer of the disco group Village People whose hit Y.M.C.A. became a fixture at rallies for US President Donald Trump, has died, his spouse said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, VICTOR WILLIS. Victor passed away on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, as a result of a short, but aggressive illness,” the post on Willis’s official page said. The Texas-born musician, who was 74, was a co-founder of the Village People...

Spain recorded 1,029 excess deaths last ⁠month attributable to ⁠heat, official data showed ⁠on Wednesday, as a five-day heatwave with temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) made it the second-hottest June on record. Data on the Health Ministry’s ‌daily mortality monitoring system MoMo showed this June had the most deaths attributed to heat since the same month in 2015. Average temperatures last month were 3.2 degrees higher than normal, weather agency AEMET said,...

Giant portraits of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader killed in US-Israeli air strikes, have been hung from Tehran’s Grand Mosalla as workers raced to prepare for his grand funeral ceremony. His funeral, initially delayed at the height of the Middle East war, will take place as Iran and the United States observe a fragile ceasefire after signing a preliminary deal to halt the conflict. Khamenei, a spiritual figure for many Shias, was killed aged 86 at his compound in the centre...

It was the deadliest reported strike in the US-Israeli war against Iran, and most of the victims were children. Yet over four months since a US missile struck an Iranian primary school, there is no final accounting of what happened. The Trump administration has not directly accepted the blame, though the military possessed evidence almost immediately that the site had been struck, a US official with knowledge of the situation told Associated Press. Drawing from interviews with US officials,...

The US military has established a robust footprint of US forces in and around Venezuela to support relief operations, with over 900 personnel inside the country and another roughly 800 in Caribbean hubs Puerto Rico and Curacao, according to the top US general for Latin America. General Francis Donovan, the commander of US Southern Command, said US forces had participated in search-and-rescue operations, helped get the airport up and running and mobilised air and naval assets to ‌allow for the...

Oman Air is looking to capitalise ⁠on the Gulf ⁠state’s appeal as a largely ⁠untapped tourism destination as it launches flights from Muscat to Singapore on Thursday and considers an expansion to North Asia over the next year. The new nonstop Singapore service was underpinned by a lower cost ‌base and the airline’s year-old membership in the Oneworld alliance to aid with connections, as serving the city state with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur failed nine years ago, Oman Air CEO Con Korfiatis said...

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the leaders of Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Belarus in June. He also travelled to North Korea on his first overseas journey this year and his first visit to Pyongyang since 2019. In total, 20 national leaders have met Xi in Beijing this year, including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The long list shows China’s growing global influence amid rising geopolitical tensions. Xi may meet Trump three more times this year. He...

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan will undoubtedly mark a significant milestone for the city. The public consultation launched last month covers a range of issues, such as economic development, innovation and technology, housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and regional cooperation. The exercise offers a chance not only to discuss what Hong Kong hopes to achieve by 2030, but also how its success should be measured. That second question is perhaps the more important one. Hong Kong has...

A technical error caused a Tel Aviv-bound flight to report a hijacking Tuesday that led to Israeli and Bulgarian jets scrambling to intercept the aircraft, Bulgaria’s transport ministry said. An airport official earlier said that the Bulgarian company operating the Airbus A320 blamed pilot error. Bulgaria’s transport ministry said, however, in a statement: “The reason for the diversion is a technical failure of the aircraft’s transponder, which transmitted a false signal of unlawful...

US President Donald Trump reported more than US$1.4 billion in income from his ⁠family’s crypto ventures last year, showing how he now derives most of his income from digital assets that have benefited from his policies, according to a review of his latest financial disclosures on Tuesday. The filings, his annual disclosure for 2025 with the US Office of Government Ethics, disclosed that his companies received almost US$800 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons...

A person admitted to hospital in Scotland with suspected Ebola has tested negative, as central Africa continues to face a deadly outbreak of the virus. The person arrived at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday, according to a BBC report. A representative for the hospital declined to comment. Public Health Scotland (PHS) said in a statement a person was tested for Ebola as a precautionary measure. The government health agency said there are no confirmed cases in the...

When I was still working from the South China Morning Post’s office in Hong Kong, I fought with my expat colleagues throughout the summer over control of the thermostat. There were basically two tribes. I generalise here a bit, but essentially the locals wanted it freezing, which admittedly was bad for the environment and rather excessive. The expats, however, wanted it just a few degrees lower than outside, which seemed to defeat the purpose of air conditioning. When my late boss Simon, who was...

The United States was expected to formally decline to extend its free-trade agreement with Mexico and Canada on Wednesday, starting a years-long process that could wind down the trade zone unless the three governments agree on sweeping changes. Trade chiefs from the three countries were due to meet virtually on the sixth anniversary of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, with Washington widely expected not to confirm that it wants to keep the pact in its current form. The move stops short...

Blake Lively is seeking US$8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after resolving their dispute over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly US$7.5 million in lawyers’ fees from two law firms that represented her and about US$500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing on Tuesday. Lively and Baldoni settled last month just before a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan on Lively’s...

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday against a renewed debate in favour of the death penalty and said he was appalled by the rising number of executions around the world. Addressing the ninth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, Macron said opposition to capital punishment is needed “because today this debate is resurfacing in our societies”. “Because today many in our societies once again believe that the death penalty is a solution, amid a confusion of principles...

Almost 1,700 British ⁠investors are suing ⁠Binance and founder ⁠Zhao Changpeng for at least £150 million (US$200 million), alleging the crypto trading platform sold them risky, complex derivative products without regulatory authorisation. The claimants, some ‌of whom said they had lost tens of thousands of pounds, allege Binance entities knowingly sold investments such as leveraged products, which can amplify gains or losses, from late 2019 and promoted ⁠them in breach of the Financial Services...

Britain said on Tuesday it could intervene in Paramount Skydance’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, potentially holding up the US$110 billion deal after the US and China gave it the green light. The move could see the deal referred to the UK’s antitrust regulator, which made headlines in 2023 when it blocked Microsoft’s US$69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard to the fury of the two US companies. It later changed its mind after Microsoft amended its...

The US Supreme Court has again struck down campaign spending limits, this ⁠time rejecting federal restrictions on coordinated spending between political parties and their candidates on free speech grounds. The ruling on Tuesday comes as major Republican committees head towards the November midterm elections with a significant cash advantage over their Democratic counterparts. Siding with Vice-President J.D. Vance and other Republican challengers, the court ruled 6-3 that a cap on the amount of...

The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for ⁠states to impose restrictions on transgender student athletes, upholding laws in West Virginia and Idaho banning them from female sports teams. It delivered a major victory to conservatives in one of the country’s most fiercely contested culture-war battles. The justices overturned decisions by lower courts siding with transgender students who challenged the bans in the two states as violating the US Constitution and a federal...

Almost a week after two devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, survivors were still being found alive by rescuers that have come from abroad to help. Salvadorean rescuers reached a 44-year-old man trapped under the rubble of a shopping centre in the coastal city of Maiquetía in the early hours of Tuesday, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele wrote on the platform X. The man had been supplied with water through a tube while rescuers found a way to reach him safely. Workers from the Ecuadorian...

The Russian luxury yacht Graceful, said to be the personal vessel of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has appeared on radar for the first time in almost four years, Danish public broadcaster DR reported. According to data from Marinetraffic.com, the vessel sailed along the northern coast of Denmark on Monday. DR reported that from Sunday morning it had been accompanied by two Russian warships as well as alternately by the Danish navy and the German coastguard. “The armed forces routinely...

At least 27 people were killed in drone and missile strikes on Kyiv that damaged several residential buildings across the city, the authorities said.

Moscow can still inflict serious damage, but its forces are suffering higher casualties than their Ukrainian counterparts, analysts say.

David Hearn, a former canoeist, is accused of vandalizing the algae-challenged pool, which President Trump has said he would repair and beautify with fresh sealant. But the algae returned and the paint peeled.

Event Strategies, Inc., a longtime vendor to President Trump’s campaigns, is organizing the Great American State Fair and the July 4 celebrations.

Any Israeli attempt to kill Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, or Mohammad Ghalibaf, the Parliament speaker, would have derailed peace talks, American officials feared.

The 44-year-old security guard was pulled alive from a pancaked basement, offering a fleeting moment of hope amid a soaring death toll.

What one aerial image of a collapsed building tells us about the aftermath of an earthquake in La Guaira, Venezuela.

A Muslim mother’s plan for an Eid swim party near Dallas drew backlash, then threats that upended her quiet life.

More than six million have been signed up for the investment accounts, which open for contributions July 4, but there are barriers to uptake.

Across New England, a writer traveled down dirt paths and into historic homes to find the forgotten stories of the enslaved men who fought for freedom on two fronts.

The America250 time capsule will hold dozens of historical treasures. Avoiding dampness and other dangers requires lots of engineering.

The chief justice faced down the president, forged unlikely coalitions and achieved long-sought goals.

Catherine Herridge, a former Fox News reporter, was held in civil contempt by a lower court after she refused to reveal her sources for articles she wrote about a scientist who was investigated by the F.B.I.

Fourth of July weekend is shaping up to be a cultural moment of contrasting and comparing two of the most famous Americans, Taylor Swift and Donald Trump.

About two dozen reporters and editors from several desks are leading The Times’s coverage of the anticipated festivities in Manhattan this week.

For generations, writing up a summary of a patient exam was a vital step for physicians trying to make an accurate diagnosis. What happens when A.I. does it for them?

The Supreme Court seesaw is swinging hard.

Why am I dreading the Swift-Kelce wedding?

Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, extreme climbers who have illegally scaled buildings around the world, were arrested after getting engaged atop the Manhattan landmark.