Minimalist News

Drought Engulfs 60% Of U.S. As Farmers Begin Spring Planting A massive drought has emerged across large swaths of the US agricultural belt, threatening crops and livestock and eventually affecting food prices, at a time when fertilizer and diesel costs are soaring. As of early April, 60% of the Lower 48 is in drought as the Northern Hemisphere growing season begins and farmers begin plantings, according to NOAA.  The southern US is already experiencing severe, extreme, and even exceptional drought conditions, putting pressure on key crops such as sugarcane, rice, and peanuts, while fruit trees have also been damaged by extreme temperatures. Across

Why The Crash Was Delayed Authored by Robert Aro via Mises Institute, Whatever happened to the mother of all crashes that was supposed to arrive when the Federal Reserve began tightening its balance sheet back in 2022? For several years, I’ve been scratching my head, convinced that draining the balance sheet by trillions of dollars should have triggered a systemic banking failure or some other Black Swan event. In the past, crises like Lehman/AIG or the 2020 lockdowns took the blame, when in reality, the root cause was always monetary. From the peak in June 2022 to the trough in December 2025, the asset

US Army Trials Unmanned Hunter Wolf Robot With Gun, Radar In Combat Drills The U.S. Army is quietly putting armed robots through their paces alongside real soldiers - and new footage suggests these machines could soon be a regular sight on tomorrow’s battlefields. Wolf-X robotic combat vehicle by HDT Global.Blade HDT Fresh imagery dropped on Monday by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service shows a Hunter Wolf unmanned ground vehicle rolling with the 101st Airborne Division during a full-on combat simulation at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Louisiana. The display amounted to a serious stress test in one of the Army’s

IMF Warns Australia Set For One Of Highest Inflation Rates In Developed World Authored by Rex Widerstrom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Australia is on track to have one of the highest inflation rates in the developed world. Australian dollars coins in Melbourne, Australia, on April 4, 2024. AAP Image/Joel Carrett In the latest edition of its World Economic Outlook, the global lender said economies around the world “face repercussions [from] the direct impact of higher commodity prices, indirect second-order effects on inflation expectations—which tend to be especially sensitive to energy and food prices—and amplification effects coming

DOJ Launches Investigation into Sexual Assault Allegations Against Eric Swalwell The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations against former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), federal officials confirmed Thursday, marking the latest escalation in a scandal that has already forced the longtime congressman to resign from the House and suspend his bid for California governor. Swalwell, who represented California's 14th District since 2013, stepped down from Congress on Tuesday amid bipartisan pressure and a House Ethics Committee probe into claims that he engaged in sexual misconduct, including toward a staffer under his supervision. The

CBP Says It Seized More Than 60 Pounds Of Cocaine From US Citizen At Border Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the U.S.–Mexico border prevented more than 60 pounds of cocaine from entering the country, allegedly smuggled by an American citizen—a “trusted traveler”—the agency exclusively told The Epoch Times on Wednesday. At California’s San Ysidro Port of Entry, a 25-year-old man was arrested on April 7 for allegedly concealing more than $1.1 million of the illegal narcotics within his vehicle and now faces federal prosecution. The man was not named by CBP. He was categorized

Space Nuclear Power Initiative Sends Reactor Companies Flying An announcement from the administration's Science and Technology Director, Michael Kratsios, regarding the establishment of the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power sent reactor development companies higher over the following trading days.  > The time has come for America to get underway on nuclear power in space🇺🇸 https://t.co/fLrM4MtNbM > > — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 14, 2026 Oklo and NuScale have been soaring...   Investors are betting on reactor development companies being involved in multiple different nuclear-related applications in space missions to include propulsion, shuttle electrical power, and power for bases on the moon

California Offering Taxpayer-Funded Gender Surgeries To Homeless, Illegal Immigrants: Report Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, The California government may struggle to provide basic housing for the homeless, but it appears willing to fund gender-transition procedures with taxpayer dollars, including illegal aliens, according to a new report. A Wednesday report from City Journal found that San Francisco homeless shelters, with the assistance of state and local governments, are facilitating transgender surgeries for males who identify as female. One such shelter, St. Vincent de Paul’s MSC-South, entered into a $66 million contract with the city to house homeless individuals, including illegal aliens. A pair of Honduran nationals living at the shelter, Lyca and Alondra,

Gulf Shock May Spark Shortage Of World's Most Critical Industrial Chemical, Used Heavily In Mining  Goldman analysts Kyle Shaffer and Amanda Ross provided clients with a broad overview of industrials and natural resources amid energy disruptions in the Gulf area. In the note, they stated that the well-known Gulf energy shock is set to disrupt LNG production in Qatar for years to come. However, they also highlighted another emerging supply crunch that has received far less attention: sulfuric acid. "Some long-lasting consequences have also started to emerge, including a 3-5 years production loss for LNG facility in Qatar, a 6-12 month re-starting time

Scientist Suggests Dark Matter Could Be Black Holes From A Different Universe Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, While the scientific establishment has spent decades chasing invisible particles that never quite show up, a leading cosmologist has dropped a theory that turns everything on its head: dark matter isn’t some exotic new particle. It could be ancient black holes that survived from an entirely different universe. This idea, laid out by Professor Enrique Gaztanaga of the University of Portsmouth, doesn’t just tackle one cosmic puzzle. It offers a clean fix for the Big Bang’s thorniest problems and lines up with fresh observations that have

Bankrupted Spirit Airlines Faces Imminent Liquidation Bankrupt Spirit Airlines "could liquidate as early as this week," according to a new CNBC report. The troubled carrier, stuck in years of turbulence, has failed to emerge from its second bankruptcy in less than a year and is now being squeezed by soaring jet fuel costs. > NEW: Spirit Airlines could liquidate and shut down as soon as this week, @lesliejosephs of @CNBC reports, citing “people familiar with the matter.” > > Latest round of chatter about a deeply troubled airline … but rising fuel prices could be its death knell.… > > — Kyle Potter (@kpottermn)

Secret Service Targets Thieves Stealing SNAP Benefits In Texas Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Fraudsters used special devices to skim card information from electronic devices used to read food stamp cards in northern and central Texas, the U.S. Secret Service’s Dallas Field Office reported April 15. A U.S. Secret Service agent, in this file photo. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times The Secret Service worked with local law enforcement to prevent an estimated $13.5 million in losses to Dallas-area consumers this week as part of a two-day outreach operation targeting illegal payment card skimming and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) fraud. “EBT fraud

From Supply-Chain Risk To National Security Imperative: U.S. Government Embraces Anthropic's Mythos AI In a striking reversal that underscores the breakneck pace of the AI arms race, the White House has directed federal agencies to begin using Anthropic’s most dangerous new model - Claude Mythos - despite months of public friction between the Trump administration and the San Francisco-based AI company (read on to see how we reconcile this with the Pentagon's "supply-chain risk" designation).  The move, detailed in an internal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo circulated this week, marks the first formal green light for Cabinet-level departments to tap

Netflix Plunges After US Revenues Miss, Dismal Q2 Guidance, Hastings Stepping Down As Chairman After staging a powerful rebound in the past two months, when first weak Q4 earnings sent the stock plunging to multi-year lows, which however was offset by the end of the company's expensive pursuit of HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery , and which sent the stock almost 50% higher from $75 to $108,moments ago Netflix reported Q1 earnings which were mixed but guidance was especially poor and rekindled the same fears as those unveiled three months ago, and coupled with the news that Reed Hasting was stepping down from

Wall Or Sieve? Attacks Raise Doubts About U.S. Immigration System Authored by Benjamin Weingarten via RealClearPolitics, In the wee hours of Sunday, March 1, a Senegalese immigrant clad in a sweatshirt bearing the words “Property of Allah” opened fire outside an Austin, Texas beer garden, killing three and leaving 14 others wounded. On March 12, at Old Dominion University, a former Virginia National Guard member from Sierra Leone – released early from an 11-year prison sentence for attempting to provide material support to the ISIL – yelled “Allahu Akbar” before shooting and killing a beloved college professor and wounding two other people. That same

Trump Says 'Probably, Maybe' Iran Talks To Resume This Weekend, 'Not Sure' About Ceasefire Extension SUMMARY * Trump says "probably, maybe" Iran talks resume this weekend, "not sure" about ceasefire extension. Iranian report (unconfirmed) says Bab al-Mandab could be forced close tomorrow. * Trump unveils 10-day Lebanon ceasefire, but which Hezbollah has not signed on for, amid heavy IDF attacks on south. BBG reports on potential 6-month timeframe for comprehensive Iran deal, oil spikes. * Iran seeks to boost rial through toll payment scheme; vessels pay Hormuz passage through Iranian banks. * US Navy: vessels seeking entry into Hormuz Strait now

California Supreme Court Disbars Former Trump Attorney For Aiding Challenge Of 2020 Election Results Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times, The California Supreme Court decided to disbar former Trump attorney John Eastman over his aiding the president in challenging the 2020 presidential election results. The court has not yet handed down an opinion to explain the April 15 decision, which affirmed the California Bar court’s recommendation for disbarment for alleged attorney ethics violations. Eastman, a former Chapman University law professor, gained national attention for advising President Donald Trump on constitutional challenges to election procedures in several battleground states after the president alleged

Major Advertising Agencies Settle Media Censorship Lawsuit With FTC Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and eight states secured a settlement on April 15 that will prevent three major advertising agencies from engaging in unlawful media censorship. An American flag flies at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) headquarters in Washington on Nov. 24, 2024. Benoit Tessier/File Photo/Reuters The defendants Dentsu US, Inc., GroupM Worldwide LLC (doing business as WPP Media), and Publicis, Inc. will no longer enter into deals that require them to restrict working with certain clients, according to the settlement. “A coordinated group of

House Effort To End Trump's Iran War Fails By One Vote: Guess The Lone GOP Dissenter Two parallel war-related votes in the House and Senate reveal growing dismay and political fractures over President Trump's Iran war, as the Strait of Hormuz remains locked down and ceasefire still seems distant. The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to reject a resolution ordering the White House to end the war with Iran, as Memorial Day approaches and Americans are anxious over gas prices and general rising costs at the grocery store. The vote was 213-214, almost entirely along party lines, with dominant Republicans overwhelmingly sticking with Trump -

Taiwan Semi Slides Despite Record Results In Warning Sign For Chip Companies Taiwanese chip giant, Taiwan Semiconductor Manfuacturing Co, said Thursday its net profit surged to a fresh record in the first quarter, fueled by the global artificial intelligence race despite the war in the Middle East. Massive demand for AI hardware means business is booming for TSMC -- the biggest contract maker of microchips used in everything from Apple phones to Nvidia processors. TSMC's net profit for the first three months of the year jumped 58.3% YoY to NT$572.5 billion ($18 billion), beating analyst estimates of NT$540.20 billion as governments and tech

Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name – and others have fought off the lawsuits The actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal. David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants. Continue reading...

Wednesday’s strike brings the total of those killed in US military strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 177 Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced. US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post. Continue reading...

Sheinbaum has recently been taking a firmer stance with the US, defying pressures where other countries have caved The Mexican government has voiced concern about the deaths of its citizens in US custody, with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum also pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba. The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting US requests to crack down on cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and US military action against

Byelection wins and defections push Canada’s Liberals into majority government under the prime minister Mark Carney has said he will govern with “humility, determination and a clear understanding of what this moment demands” after his Liberals swept three byelections Monday evening, forging a parliamentary majority just more than a year after he took power. Carney has achieved only the third majority government in two decades – and has done so in a highly unusual fashion, cobbling together both ballot box wins and defections from rival parties. Continue reading...

Brian Hooker told police that Lynette Hooker fell overboard and that strong currents carried her away Police in the Bahamas have released without charges a Michigan man who said his wife disappeared after falling overboard from a small boat in waters off the Caribbean island country, authorities said on Monday. Brian Hooker, of Onsted in southern Michigan, had been in police custody since 8 April – five days – after being questioned by authorities. Continue reading...

Elderly people take advantage of courses on how to navigate mobile devices and avoid ‘analogue isolation’ It’s not only young people whose gaze is fixed on tiny screens. But for these users in Tokyo, clicking and scrolling is anything but second nature. “I can’t deal with all of the apps that jump out at me,” says one. “How do I know if I’ve definitely ended a call?” asks another. Continue reading...

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month. “Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.” Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people were in shelters across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as Sinlaku moved away * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Super Typhoon Sinlaku hammered the Northern Mariana Islands, flipping over cars, toppling utility poles and ripping away tin roofs. Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by the typhoon, which first hit the islands on Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rains for hours on Wednesday. So far, there have been no reports of deaths. Continue reading...

Beijing may be reaping some diplomatic benefit but Trump’s war holds risks for its energy security and economy Two months ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, promised it would be a “big year” for China-US relations. He was right, but perhaps not in the way he expected. Wang was speaking before a planned visit by the US president to Beijing in March, which would have been Donald Trump’s first trip to China since 2017. But the trip, and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was kicked back by several weeks after Trump decided to launch strikes with Israel against Iran,

Pyongyang making ‘very serious’ progress on producing weapons, with rapid rise in activity at main nuclear complex North Korea has made “very serious” progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said, in another sign that the regime is seeking to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure its survival. North Korea is thought to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, although some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them so they can be attached to long-range ballistic missiles. Continue reading...

Follow updates live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia secures extra fertilizer and 100m extra litres of fuel, PM says Albanese has also provided an update on Australia’s talks with its allies in Asia to shore up imports of fuel and other goods affected by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The advice that we have received today is that 80% of diesel production is continuing, 80% of aviation fuel is continuing, ongoing. It has been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there, but 60% of petrol production [is] proceeding today

Former SAS corporal to be released from Silverwater prison ahead of potential trial on charges relating to alleged killing of civilians in Afghanistan * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail under strict conditions while he awaits a potential trial on alleged war crimes. The Victoria Cross recipient, once Australia’s most lionised soldier, faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

How much fuel does Australia have left today, and when could we run out? Track how much petrol and diesel prices have risen near you in Sydney, Melbourne and across the country. * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The federal government has released fuel reserves, cut fuel excise taxes and rolled out a national fuel security plan as Australia battles a fuel crisis. While we know there have been outages and price increases, it can be difficult to get a full picture of what is happening – this is partly due to the thousands of independent

Man initially charged in July but Australian federal police uncovered dozens more alleged offences after reviewing files on his devices * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A former childcare employee accused of abusing children in his care has been hit with another 129 charges after investigators say they identified more victims. The man, aged in his 30s, was initially charged with eight counts of online child abuse material offences in July 2025 after years of alleged offending. Continue reading...

Prime minister says Corio refinery fire will not push Australia into stage 3 restrictions, despite reduced production of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Track Australia’s fuel prices, service station outages and shipments in charts * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese says petrol production has fallen 40% at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries but the damage caused by fire at the Geelong facility will not lead to fuel restrictions. Petrol prices have fallen below $2.10 a litre and diesel below $3 a

EU economy commissioner says Iran war is feeding Russia’s war machine; Trump condemns massive strikes on Ukraine. What we know on day 1,513 The EU expects to start releasing a new €90bn loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc’s economy chief told AFP on Thursday. The EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to Washington. “Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia was very much part of the agenda,” Dombrovskis said. He

Thieves believed to have escaped into sewers after holding staff and customers in Crédit Agricole branch for two hours Armed robbers held 25 people hostage at a bank in Naples for two hours on Thursday, before fleeing through a tunnel. The three thieves entered a branch of Crédit Agricole in the southern Italian city at about 11.30am, taking hostage staff and customers, who were freed by police a couple of hours later. Continue reading...

Individuals such as Matt Goodwin and Lord Frost benefited from largesse of self-styled ‘illiberal democracy’ * UK politics live – latest updates The last 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule have been kind to a number of British political figures – from the Tory peer David Frost to Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and James Orr. All benefited from largesse extended by the self-styled “illiberal democracy” established by the Hungarian leader’s ruling Fidesz party, which took a particular liking for those on the harder right of British conservatism. Continue reading...

Critics say efforts to rescue the animal, nicknamed Timmy, unlikely to succeed and could lead to further harm A last-ditch effort to rescue a wayward whale that has transfixed Germans for weeks has begun in the Baltic Sea despite criticism it has little chance of success and could further harm the 12-tonne creature. The male humpback whale was first spotted last month near Timmendorfer Strand on the northern coast of Germany, giving rise to its nickname Timmy. It has repeatedly become stranded and then freed itself after human assistance but it is now stranded again, with rescuers saying it is fighting a

Ukrainian president says nearly 700 Russian drones and 19 ballistic missiles mostly targeted Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin are now speaking at a press conference after their meeting in Berlin. Let’s listen in. Continue reading...

António Guterres welcomes truce and says through spokesperson he hopes halt in fighting will ‘pave the way for negotiations’ Australia’s prime minister has been forced to rebuff another swipe from Donald Trump and reiterate there has been no direct requests from the US – the country’s most important ally – for military support in the Middle East. As Lebanon and Israel agreed to their 10-day ceasefire, Donald Trump said in Washington that Australia had not supplied military aid to help reopen the strait of Hormuz. They were not there having to do with Hormuz. So I’m not happy. I’m not happy with them.” There’s

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here Iran has stopped all petrochemical exports to prioritise domestic supply and prevent shortages of raw materials, Reuters reported. The state-owned National Petrochemical Company ordered firms to suspend exports until further notice. Continue reading...

Lebanese health ministry says killing of 91 healthcare workers shows ‘total disregard’ for international law * Middle East crisis – live updates When they received the call to respond to an Israeli airstrike in the city of Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon, most of the paramedics held back, having previously seen colleagues killed by double-tap attacks targeting rescuers. But the medics from the Islamic Health Association (IHA) rushed to the scene. By the time the other emergency workers arrived at the site, they found the IHA medics had indeed been caught in a second strike. They started evacuating their wounded colleagues, only for

US defense secretary says Iran’s energy infrastructure is ‘not destroyed yet’ while also lambasting the media Iran’s energy infrastructure is “not destroyed yet” and the US is “locked and loaded” to finish the job, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said on Thursday as he called many of the press corps gathered the moral equivalent of the Pharisees who conspired to destroy Jesus Christ. Hegseth’s comments from the Pentagon podium came as a naval blockade of Iranian ports began this week and he called on Tehran to accept a nuclear deal or face consequences for its remaining infrastructure, power generation and energy industry. Continue

Guardian readers describe how their lives have been upended by cost hikes stemming from Trump’s Iran war With the US and Israel’s war on Iran now in its seventh week, with a fragile ceasefire in place since earlier this month, Americans are continuing to feel the effects at the pump as global fuel prices rise. For several readers who spoke to the Guardian, the impact has forced difficult trade-offs – from accessing essential medicines and groceries to facing the brink of homelessness amid an already rising cost of living. Continue reading...

Two-time Grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood cinema and whose career spanned almost eight decades, has died in Mumbai at the age of 92. Bhosle, who recorded more than 12,000 songs, became her country’s pre-eminent exponent of playback singing – recording tracks that were then lip-synced on film by actors. She also boldly embraced cabaret and western-influenced melodies to forge a distinctive musical identity. Continue reading...

In Pakistan’s capital, the army has been deployed, a public holiday has been declared and the streets are eerily empty * Middle East crisis – live updates The streets of Islamabad were on strict lockdown as Pakistan’s capital prepared to play host to historic negotiations between Iran and the US that have dangled the promise of an end to war that has devastated the Middle East. Even as the US-Iran ceasefire looked increasingly precarious, amid Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and disputes over the terms of the talks, Pakistani officials insisted that the make-or-break peace negotiations would be going ahead over the

Israeli PM says he will continue to attack Hezbollah ‘with full force’ after attacks that killed more than 300 people * Middle East crisis – live updates Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is “no ceasefire in Lebanon” and Israel would continue “to strike Hezbollah with full force” as the country’s military launched fresh strikes. The Israeli prime minister’s remarks and latest attacks on what the IDF called “Hezbollah launch sites” came shortly after Donald Trump said he had asked Netanyahu to be more “low-key” in Lebanon. Later on Friday, a US state department official said Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington

Analysts say Pakistani officials’ efforts led to breakthrough that has helped avert catastrophe, at least for now * Middle East crisis – live updates Pakistan’s leaders had almost lost hope. After more than two weeks of frantic negotiations, phonecalls and diplomatic summits to try to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, it looked like the conflict might instead be escalating into Islamabad’s worst nightmare. In a cabinet meeting held at about 5pm on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was morose. “We should brace ourselves for the impact of the war,” he told his cabinet ministers. “The situation has really become very

Two-week ceasefire comes after Trump spoke to Pakistan’s leaders, with China also believed to be exerting influence over Tehran * Middle East crisis – live updates * US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire with Tehran saying it will reopen strait of Hormuz The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday barely an hour before Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate Iran was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the strait of Hormuz. Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. As Trump announced he was suspending his plans to escalate attacks across Iran, the

Technology secretary plays down fears over jobs and cyber security as stake taken in British startup The UK technology secretary has urged the country to “make AI work for Britain”, brushing off fears about its impact on jobs and cybersecurity as the government announced its first investment under a £500m sovereign AI fund. Liz Kendall said the UK had to “seize” the opportunity offered by AI despite concerns underlined this month when US startup Anthropic revealed it had developed an AI model that posed a potentially significant cyber threat. Asked how the government makes the case for embracing a technology that could disrupt

Campaigners organise open letter to director demanding ‘fair day’s wage’ for all workers at V&A museums A row over pay has broken out at the V&A before the opening of its newest site , with thousands of people calling for it to become a living wage employer. On Saturday, V&A East will open its doors in Stratford, east London, showcasing stunning fabrics, photos and black British music. It joins a wider group of V&A museums including its original site in South Kensington, Young V&A in Bethnal Green and V&A Dundee. The V&A describes its latest opening as one of the most significant

Keir Starmer understood to have lost confidence in official over decision to override security vetting failure * Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has been forced out of his post after the decision to fail Peter Mandelson during his security vetting was overruled by his department. Robbins was the Foreign Office’s most senior official in late January 2025 when the decision was made, paving the way for Mandelson to become the US ambassador. Continue reading...

Officers looking into attacks on Iran International media offices, synagogue and Jewish charity ambulances Counter-terrorism investigators are examining three separate arson attacks in London against an Iranian dissident and Jewish targets amid fears the Iranian state may be behind them. The latest attack happened at about 8.30pm on Wednesday, outside the offices of Iran International, a Persian-language news channel that opposes the regime in Tehran. Continue reading...

Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote ‘probably quite reasonable’ Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform. Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May. Continue reading...

Musician, born David Anthony Burke, arrested in Los Angeles over the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who went missing in 2024 R&B singer D4vd has been arrested in connection with the killing of a teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in his Tesla, Los Angeles police said on Thursday. The 21-year-old musician, who was born David Anthony Burke, is being held without bail, according to city authorities. Continue reading...

Lyons, who led agency since March 2025, to resign after turbulent year carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda Todd Lyons, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is stepping down after a turbulent year carrying out Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Lyons, who has been leading the agency since March 2025, will resign at the end of May and move to the private sector, Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...

Victory means Democrats hold on to the 11th district seat in the House, where Republicans hold a thin majority Democrat Analilia Mejia won a New Jersey special election for the US House on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway on a message of standing up to Donald Trump. Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance who had support from the senator Bernie Sanders, will fill the seat previously held by the Democratic governor Mikie Sherrill and serve until January. Continue reading...

Authorities identified Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains in car in Columbia River DNA analysis has identified the remains found in a car in the Columbia River as those of an Oregon family that went missing in 1958 while on a trip to find Christmas greenery, authorities said Thursday. The state medical examiner’s office identified Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains located in the river within the wreckage of the car, according to the Hood River county sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office said it concluded its investigation and found no evidence of a crime. Continue

New York mayor, ‘C-list rapper’ who went by Mr Cardamon and Young Cardamon, collected $1,643 in royalties last year The New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is still making money from his short-lived career as a multilingual rapper, tax filings show. But the 34-year-old Democrat’s meteoric rise as a celebrity politician has brought only a modest increase in hip-hop profits: he took home $1,643 in music royalties last year, up only slightly from $1,267 in 2024, according to the filings. Continue reading...

A senior US lawmaker called on Peru’s next government to reclaim the Chinese-controlled port of Chancay, describing the deepwater facility as a direct military threat to the western hemisphere. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said during a hearing on Thursday that Washington would help Peru wrest the megaport from Chinese hands. “The new Peruvian government, which will be elected next June, must take it back, that...

Dubai has completed its first flying taxi station, with commercial operations expected to begin by the end of the year, authorities in the Gulf emirate announced on Thursday. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, crown prince of Dubai and United Arab Emirates deputy prime minister, visited Dubai’s “first purpose-built electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) Air Taxi Station”, the emirate’s media office said in a statement. The facility, described by the emirate’s authorities as the “first of its...

Britain’s top foreign ministry official will leave his post after Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper lost confidence in him, a source said on Thursday, following a row over the security vetting of Peter Mandelson. The disclosure of the vetting failure has intensified pressure on Starmer over his appointment of Mandelson, Britain’s former US ‌ambassador, who is under police investigation for allegedly leaking government documents to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,...

For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole. The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported on Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 540 million km/h (355 million mph) – half the speed of light. Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole – the first one ever identified more than a half-century...

Israel and Lebanon began a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday that could ease some of the tension straining Washington’s temporary truce with Tehran. Announcing the ceasefire, which came into effect at 5pm EST, US President Donald Trump said it followed what he described as “excellent conversations” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. “These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries,” he wrote on social media. In a...

China has assured the United States that it will not supply weapons to Iran during the current ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, as Washington stepped up pressure on Tehran to agree to a broader peace deal brokered by Pakistan. Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said Beijing had conveyed the assurance directly, amid heightened concerns in Washington about external support for Iran during the fragile pause in fighting. “Trump has a...

Trade tensions between the US and China have made companies around the world less keen to invest in either country, with the United States almost twice as unpopular, according to a new report from Allianz Trade. The report, based on an annual survey by the Paris-based international insurance company, said US-China decoupling had not materialised, but investment intention towards China had dropped “significantly” to 24 per cent of survey respondents, down from 53 per cent a year ago. The survey...

Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US President Donald Trump attacked him again on social media. Leo, the first US pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a “decisive change of course” in a meeting in the biggest city ‌in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, where a simmering conflict going back nearly a decade has left...

The quiet conclusion of US and Iranian backchannel engagements in Islamabad left more than diplomatic ambiguity. It crystallised a striking image: a financially strained, politically volatile Pakistan briefly positioning itself as a facilitator in one of the world’s most combustible rivalries. Substantive or symbolic, the episode underscores a deeper churn in West Asian geopolitics – one in which agility trumps credibility. Pakistan’s role was not incidental. Islamabad offered itself as a...

Europe has “maybe 6 weeks or so [of] jet fuel left”, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Thursday in a wide-ranging interview, warning of possible flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war. IEA executive director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced”, stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. “In the...

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a blunt critique of US President Donald Trump in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Thursday, saying world leaders should seek respect rather than ‌rule by fear. “Trump has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country,” Lula told El Pais, referring to the president’s public threat on April 7 to wipe out Iranian civilisation as part of the US-Israeli war on Iran. “He wasn’t elected for that, and his...

Russia unleashed its deadliest attack so far this year on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities overnight, killing 17 people, including a 12-year-old child, and wounding scores, in drone and missile strikes, officials said on Thursday. In Russia, a major Ukrainian drone attack on the Black Sea port of Tuapse killed two people, including a 14-year-old girl, injured seven, and sparked a large fire, Russian ‌officials and media reported. The port is home to a major oil refinery as well as an...

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this series, SCMP Fact-Check, the South China Morning Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A video circulating online amid the US-Israel war on Iran falsely claims to show a downed American pilot captured alive by Iranians. “Iranians Captured F35 Pilot alive,” read the caption of a Facebook reel. The video appeared to show a...

Lebanon’s president will not speak to Israel’s prime minister in the near future, Lebanese officials said on Thursday, dealing a blow to US efforts to expand contacts between the enemy states as Pakistan said peace in Lebanon was vital to ending the Iran war. The US-Israeli war with Iran spilt into Lebanon on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict. “Peace in Lebanon is essential...

The health of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is critical after she suffered a heart attack last month, supporters warned on Wednesday. Her Iran-based family and legal team were on Saturday allowed a second in-person visit with Mohammadi in her prison in northern Iran where “clear signs of a deterioration in her general condition were observed, and her physical state was described as critical”, her foundation said in a statement. The latest meeting came after an earlier...

The BBC said on Wednesday that the British broadcasting corporation is set to cut up to 2,000 jobs amid a challenging media landscape. The BBC’s interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies said in a statement to staff that “while we still have to work through the detail, we anticipate the overall number of jobs will fall by 1,800-2,000”. The BBC reported the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, saying they amount to “almost one in 10” jobs, since it has about 21,500 employees. The acting director...

A US jury on Wednesday found that entertainment giant Live Nation wielded monopoly power at its Ticketmaster business, violating federal and state antitrust laws, according to California’s attorney general. A verdict that could have profound repercussions in the concert world came after four days of deliberations, and remedies could include breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for anticompetitive conduct that harmed the music industry and...

Having invested significant diplomatic capital into ties with Russia in recent years, North Korea now seems to be pivoting back to China. Leader Kim Jong-un said his country places “the greatest value” on improving ties with Beijing. This shift came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to North Korea last week, where he met Kim and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Notably, Wang’s visit marked his first to North Korea since 2019. In the intervening years of the...

A Ukrainian unit said on Wednesday that it has carried out more than 100 attacks on the front using ground robots, after President Volodymyr Zelensky recently hailed the capture of a Russian position thanks to this new method. “In total, there have already been over 100 such operations,” said a source within the NC-13 company, which specialises in the use of these combat machines and is part of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade. “These operations include the elimination of enemy personnel, the...

Newly released video shows a high school principal in Oklahoma tackling and disarming a former student who entered the lobby of the school and began firing a pistol. Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore was shot in the leg during the April 7 attack but managed to wrestle the suspect onto a bench, disarm him and remain on top of him until law enforcement officers arrived, according to court records. The video, released by the school district in response to an Open Records Act request,...

The White House on Wednesday dismissed as untrue reports that the US had sought to extend a ceasefire with Iran, while confirming that discussions over a second round of in-person negotiations were under way after marathon talks in Islamabad last week ended without a breakthrough. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that discussions were under way about a further round of talks with Tehran but “nothing is official”, adding that the negotiations would “very likely” be held...

US President Donald Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him on Wednesday, as a war of words between his administration and the pope showed little sign of abating. The image, reposted to Trump’s Truth Social account, shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post ‌had a caption that included the words: “God might be playing his Trump card!” Trump’s repost...

Israel’s security cabinet ⁠will convene on Wednesday to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official has said, more than five weeks into a war with Hezbollah that spiralled out of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet would meet ‌at 8pm local time, the official said. Senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters that diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional states could produce a ceasefire soon, saying...

Pope Leo has said the world needs to hear a message of peace and coexistence, after US President Donald Trump attacked him for a second time this week on social media. Speaking on Wednesday during his flight from Algeria to Cameroon for the second leg of a whirlwind 10-day ‌Africa tour, the first US pontiff urged respect for all people and said his travels so far had shown the importance of pursuing dialogue between different communities. “Although we have different beliefs, we have different...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added. In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain...

US President Donald Trump has said he will fire Jerome Powell if the Federal Reserve chair does not step down “in time”, adding that he will not drop the Justice Department investigation into the central bank leader. “I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time. I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “I want to be uncontroversial. But he will be fired,” he said in the interview taped on...

Though high-level officials in Washington have accused China of undermining global energy security by “hoarding” oil during the US-Israeli war on Iran, import and inventory data suggest Beijing is facing its own supply pressures as the conflict drags on. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday labelled China an “unreliable global partner,” alleging that Beijing has prioritised stockpiling crude over easing global shortages triggered by the war, according to a Reuters report. He also...

A 14-year-old armed with five guns opened fire at a Turkish school on Wednesday, killing nine people, wounding 13 and sparking scenes of mayhem as students jumped out of windows to escape. The attack in the southern province of Kahramanmaras was Turkey’s second such incident in as many days, shocking a country where school shootings are a rare occurrence. Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed nine deaths, with 13 wounded – six in intensive care, three of them in a critical condition. The...

The US-Israeli war on Iran and the current Iranian and American blockades of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are likely to overshadow China’s first-quarter economic performance, analysts said, with questions looming large about how the world’s second-largest economy will handle their impact. Many observers said they expect the leadership in Beijing will adopt a wait-and-see approach, with little likelihood of an immediate stimulus to guarantee the country’s annual economic target is...

The fraying of the ceasefire in the US-Israel war against Iran reflects grim patterns of history. Truces are often doomed because they focus on stopping battle-related violence and rarely begin to address the underlying struggles that ignited hostilities. A pause without a shared common endgame often resets the battlefield as reasons harden for prolonging warfare. Viable political solutions seldom follow and take hold for peace to endure. Over the past decade, we’ve seen the perils. The Minsk...

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that an EU-developed age-verification app was ready to go, as the bloc pushes to better protect children from online harm. Brussels has been under pressure to come up with more stringent measures to safeguard children online as several EU capitals move ahead with plans to ban social media under a certain age. To that end, five EU countries including France and Italy last year started testing an age-check app that von der Leyen said on...

Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that is being called an “abandoned crisis” as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes. Sudan has been described as the world’s largest humanitarian challenge, notably in terms of displacement and hunger. There is no end in sight to the fighting between the military and the paramilitary...

China’s leading steelmakers are stepping up coordinated efforts to adjust export strategies, compliance systems and pricing models in response to this year’s full implementation of the EU’s tariff-like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which imposes direct carbon-linked costs on imports. “China’s indirect steel exports to the EU are substantial, and a significant portion consists of high value-added products,” said Jiang Wei, vice-chairman and secretary general of the China Iron and...

As Islamabad prepares to host a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran, Pakistani mediators are seeking ways to extricate the Gulf monarchies from the conflict, according to a well-placed diplomatic source. While the success of those efforts depends largely on the outcome of talks that US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday could resume by the end of the week, Pakistan’s mediation has produced a second confidence-building phone call in a week between the Iranian and...

Russia can help China and other nations weather energy supply disruptions stemming from the war in Iran, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. “Russia can, without a doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen”, Lavrov told reporters in response to a question about the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that Chinese-Russian ties are “unshakeable in the face of any storms”. Lavrov confirmed that Russian...

Hungary’s election winner Peter Magyar said on Wednesday he will suspend state media news broadcasts, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under Viktor Orban, ‌and restore media freedoms after his cabinet takes power. Magyar’s TISZA (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, ending Orban’s 16-year rule that became a prototype for “illiberal” conservative rulers across the Western world. “Every Hungarian deserves a public service media...

A leaked plan to grant the US military sweeping overflight access to Indonesia’s airspace has triggered a domestic backlash over concerns that Jakarta is “colluding with the aggressor” amid Washington’s war on Iran. Analysts say the defence document, first reported by New Delhi-based newspaper the Sunday Guardian, raises concerns that President Prabowo Subianto may be trading away Indonesia’s strategic independence. The proposal, which reportedly emerged following a meeting in February between...

Israel’s spy chief has pledged more covert efforts to try to topple Iran’s government, a tacit acknowledgment the countries’ conflict would continue even as the US pursued a new round of peace negotiations with the Islamic Republic. David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, said Israel had not expected that its bombardment of Iranian military, nuclear and infrastructure sites, waged in concert with the United States, would be enough to end Iran’s 47-year-old clerical-led rule. “Our mission has yet...

Britain’s King Charles will have tea and a private meeting with ⁠President Donald Trump during his US state visit later this month, as the UK government hopes his “soft power” can heal a damaging rift between the allies caused by the Iran war. The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla head across the Atlantic on April 27, a four-day trip ostensibly to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain but one that now has far greater significance amid a growing spat between Trump and ‌Prime...

The US military said on Tuesday that four people had been killed in a strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fourth such deadly attack in as many days. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike – just as the previous three – occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It posted aerial video on social media showing a vessel bobbing in the water before being struck by a projectile and exploding. The four new fatalities raise the total death toll of the...

Taiwan’s political pendulum is reversing. The government led by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai Ching-te is increasingly discredited, not least for selling out the jewel of its semiconductor industry to the United States under pressure from President Donald Trump. The Legislative Yuan is controlled by the opposition led by the Kuomintang (KMT). Party politics is now institutionalised into a sustained confrontation between the island’s presidency and its legislature. Now, budgets...

As the US imposes its own blockade on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of talks with Iran at the weekend, we take a look at how major economies in Asia and Europe could be affected by further restrictions on passage through one of the world’s most critical choke points for energy supplies. Who is most vulnerable in this energy crisis? According to a recent report by Japanese investment bank Nomura, the regions most exposed to the tensions in the Persian Gulf are Asian...

The retrial of disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein on a rape charge on which a jury was previously deadlocked started on Tuesday, although he will remain imprisoned for other offences regardless of the verdict. Weinstein is accused of the third-degree rape of Jessica Mann, who starred in the 2015 romantic comedy This Isn’t Funny. The judge declared a mistrial last June after the jury foreman refused to return to deliberate the case amid a jury-room feud. Weinstein is being retried on that...

Russia and China’s top envoys met in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss the Iran war, Ukraine and Taiwan as Beijing stepped up its Iran war diplomacy and tensions with Washington increased. In a jab at Washington and US President Donald Trump that did not mention either by name, a Chinese readout of the meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov noted that the world is increasingly marked by turmoil and instability. The two top diplomats also discussed plans...

A Parisian man could not believe his luck on Tuesday when he found out he had won a Pablo Picasso painting worth US$1 million with a US$117 raffle ticket. “How do I check that it’s not a hoax?” said Ari Hodara, 58, after organisers called him following the draw at Christie’s auction house in the French capital. Hodara described himself as an art amateur fond of Picasso and said he bought his ticket over the weekend after finding out about the charity raffle by chance during a meal in a...

The singer was detained in connection with the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who died before her 15th birthday. D4vd’s lawyers said they would vigorously defend his innocence.

The musician is known for creating the anthem for Fortnite. He was touring for his major-label debut when Ms. Rivas Hernandez’s remains were found in his car, officials said.

You could walk in them like gym shoes, but if you rocked back on your heels the wheels emerged, turning them into roller skates. In the early 2000s, the company sold millions.

In their 2025 joint tax return, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, reported a combined income of roughly $145,000, including about $10,000 that she earned from art work.

In an interview with the local news outfit Hell Gate, the New York mayor framed his decision to avoid the glamorous fund-raiser as a way to keep his focus on affordability.

After Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé’s husband died, an inheritance battle exploded. Her stepson then used his influence to have her arrested, an Alabama probate judge said.

A harrowing incident involving Clavicular, ambassador to the “looksmaxxing” community, was captured on the same platforms that made him a star.

The donations, from the philanthropist Connie Ballmer and an anonymous donor, will support the network’s long-term strategy.

The co-founder of the streaming giant will leave its board in June, the company said.

With carefully positioned cameras and user input, the website Damn Lines hopes to address the worst part of visiting popular restaurants.

The number of eateries with permits for sidewalk and roadway tables has dwindled to about a third of its pandemic-era peak.

Workers in Cheboygan hurried to shore up a dam in danger of being overtopped, part of a “slow-moving disaster” threatening communities across the state.

The profit motive was on trial. The verdict was scathing.

A conservative court watcher explains why the president has failed to bend the judicial branch to his will.

An officer from the Police Department’s Mounted Unit raced through the Upper West Side of Manhattan, chasing a woman accused of snatching a purse.

Britain’s foreign office overruled vetting officials in granting Peter Mandelson, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, the highest level of security clearance, the government said.

The suspect is accused of carrying out a string of attacks in the Atlanta area that killed two women and injured a homeless man. The authorities described the attacks as random.