Minimalist News

US Universities Had Extensive Ties With Chinese Defense Research Labs, Air Force Study Finds Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times , Thirty U.S. academic institutions have until Aug. 31 to examine specified foreign research ties or risk losing eligibility for future federal research funding. A model of a Chinese-made J-35A stealth fighter is displayed at an AVIC (China Aviation Industry Corporation) stand during the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, in southern China's Guangdong province on Nov. 14, 2024. Hector Retamal / AFP via Getty Images Seven days after the Pentagon ordered the reviews, an

Secret Service Aware Of Iranian Video Threat Against Barron Trump Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times , The U.S. Secret Service confirmed on Aug. 25 it is aware of a video aired by Iranian state-run media that appears to threaten President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron, and places a $10 million bounty on him. "The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees," spokesman Nate Herring told The Epoch Times in an email. "Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of

Putin To Escalate Ukraine War In Wake Of CIA Chief's Visit, Report Speculates Update1505ET : In the wake of yesterday's unusual visit by the Director of the CIA to Moscow for mystery 2-hour talks, Bloomberg says that President Putin is preparing for a major escalate against Ukraine : Russia is preparing to escalate attacks on Ukraine after concluding that negotiations for a peace deal have reached a dead end, according to three people close to the Kremlin. For now, Russia is weighing an intensification of powerful conventional ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, including the center of the capital, and infrastructure

Coinbase CEO Considers Joining California Exodus Over "Deeply Un-American" Wealth Tax Proposal Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong could be the next Silicon Valley billionaire to flee California over a union-backed, draconian wealth tax scheme that critics slam as a radical wealth grab. “I think it’s deeply un-American to seize people’s assets. It might be unconstitutional,” Armstrong, who has an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion, said of the proposal during an interview on the “The Katie Miller Podcast.” “It’s against my values, I would say. I think it’s bad for the state and for America. So we’re considering any and all

The Reason For The Tech Backlash Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times , The backlash against data centers has shocked political and financial elites. It's because it seems to stretch across the left-right divide. Indeed, it seems like the one thing most Americans can agree on: these centers need to be curbed and controlled. Part of this backlash is also targeting the Flock cameras taking over urban areas with new forms of police surveillance. Looking at this without much on-the-ground knowledge, one might be quick to judge these movements as a revival of Luddism that came with

Glacier Wall Collapse May Have Sparked Deadly Flash Flood That Swallowed Nepal-Tibet Border Crossing Summary: Glacier Collapse May Have Sparked Nepal Flash Flood 100 Dead, 300 Missing , according to Nepal's government ( 54 Americans among hundreds missing) Deadly Flash Flood Near Nepal's Border with Tibet Swallows Entire Border Crossing Experts Say Glacier Collapse Sparked Deadly Flooding Reuters reports that the massive, "Day After Tomorrow"-like flash flood along Nepal's border with Tibet, which completely wiped out a border crossing, could have been triggered by a massive glacier collapse. Planet Labs satellite imagery reviewed by scientists showed that the lower section

Wheat Futs Surge To Three-Year High As JPMorgan, HSBC Warn Global Food Shock Is Brewing Wheat futures surged to a three-year high on Wednesday morning as traders repriced a nasty convergence of supply risks across the global agricultural supply chain. Ongoing drone and missile attacks on critical Black Sea shipping and port infrastructure are constraining Russian and Ukrainian exports, while severe Northern Hemisphere heat waves and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are amplifying concerns that another food-inflation cycle could rear its ugly head next year. Bloomberg reported that the most-active Chicago wheat contract jumped as much as 2.4% to

Trump Admin Defends Kennedy Center Name Plan, Warns Of Demolition Risk Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The Trump administration told a federal judge that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington could face demolition without major renovations. Lawyers for the Justice Department made the case in a late Monday filing in defense of a recent board resolution that would add language recognizing President Donald Trump on the building and rename the grounds. The board of trustees for the center voted Aug. 13 to place the words "Restored and Renovated by President Donald

Yields Hit Session High After Subpar 5Y Auction Tails For 10th Consecutive Time As Foreign Buyers Shrink While yesterday's 2 Year auction was absolutely blockbuster, today's sale of 5Y paper left quite a bit to be desired. Starting at the top, today's sale of $70BN in 2Y paper priced at a high yield of 4.393%, which was modestly below last month's 4.408% if at the high end of all auctions in the past few years. It also tailed the When Issued 4.391% by 0.2bps, which was the 15th consecutive auction without a Stop Through, and the 10th tailing auction in

The Unsustainable $40 Trillion National Debt Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times , The national debt has now passed $40 trillion. It stands at 120 percent of GDP. That should alarm us and probably does but let's just be honest: no one can conceive of such figures. They are just floating zeros and no one has any sense of whether and to what extent this portends economic doom for us. Maybe it does or maybe it doesn't. An electronic display shows the national debt in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 19, 2026. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images You

Trump Sends Saudi Nuclear Accord To Congress, With Israel Normalization Still Attached It's official - a proposed agreement with Saudi Arabia on civil nuclear energy has been submitted by the White House to Congress . The landmark nuclear accord would mean that uranium enrichment would eventually take place on Saudi territory . However, President Trump has included a major bombshell condition: he has not backed off requiring Saudi normalization with Israel. Saudi state media sources "The president's position has not changed that the agreement will only move ‌forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords ," an admin official has

Yet Another Church Torched: Cause "Unknown" Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Yet another century-old house of worship has been wiped from the map. The former Friendship Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio - a structure dating to the mid-1890s that began life as a synagogue before becoming a Baptist sanctuary - was engulfed in a massive early-morning blaze last week. Nearly sixty firefighters fought the inferno for hours. The roof collapsed. The remnants were later demolished. Officials initially listed the cause as unknown. BREAKING: Historic church (100+ years old) just "caught on fire" in Cleveland, unknown cause The

The Great Games Afoot By Michael Every of Rabobank Brent oil is lower today at $86 on a bundle of news : US Secretary of State Rubio told allies strikes against Iran were off the table --for now -- and sanctions were on it; the US was reported to be returning some diplomats to Middle East embassies withdrawn over security fears; and Iran and Oman said they had discussed a Hormuz temporary corridor and mine-clearing – though Iran reiterated that the strait is still closed and just attacked another ship. There’s a Great Game afoot there, obviously. The regional view

Democratic Party Panics As Top Lieutenants Move In Lockstep To Denounce Hasan Piker The higher-ups in the Democratic Party establishment are clearly terrified of Hasan Piker, one of the most influential media surrogates for the Democratic Socialists of America - whose members want to "dismantle the empire from within." Piker specifically instructed his followers to kill capitalists and "let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood." Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists: “Yeah kill them! KiII those motherfuckers and murder those motherfuckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood,

SoftBank Credit Risk Rises As Firm Mulls $20 Billion Bond Sale For OpenAI Stake SoftBank Group's 8.5% notes due 2036 fell as much as 2.5 cents to about 98 cents on the dollar after Bloomberg reported that Masayoshi Son's conglomerate is considering a $10 billion to $20 billion bond offering , prompting traders to price in additional leverage and supply risk as the investment firm plans to refinance the massive bridge loan backing its OpenAI investment . Sources familiar with SoftBank's plans said the potential bond offering could be denominated in dollars and euros , though they stressed that its

Trump Admin Pauses All Visa Appointments Worldwide Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The Trump administration has paused visa appointments for applicants worldwide as the State Department launches a global training initiative at all U.S. embassies and consulates, according to a department spokesperson. Appointments for visa services will be rescheduled to accommodate the training. The State Department offered no specific details on the training or its timeline. Officials said the initiative aims to help consular officers screen out applicants deemed likely to become dependent on U.S. public benefits. It is also intended to ensure evaluation of visa

WTI Rises After Big Product Draws, Tiny Crude Build, SPR Nears 'Tank Bottoms' Oil prices extended their declines for a third straight day after the US plan to ramp up economic pressure on Iran spared the country’s trading partners from harsher measures for now, while mediators said they were continuing efforts to end the conflict. “There was a lot of buildup around the announcement but what we got was more a warning about where policy is heading than an immediate shock to physical supply,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Karobaar Capital LP. “Until secondary sanctions start changing

"This Is Crazy" - FTC Chair Responds To Soaring Chip Costs, Floats Possible Antitrust Action We’ve covered soaring “ chipflation ” for months and the trend does not seem to be abating. Nvidia is reportedly informing its largest customers to expect price hikes of at least 15% for next year, possibly to set expectations of a still larger move upward… and meanwhile the semi component in the PPI looks like a 2021 memecoin: All this has earned the attention of FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, who apparently enjoys building his own personal computers. In an interview last week in Aspen, Ferguson

Meta Settles With US States For $16.7 Billion Over Social Media Harms To Children Meta Platforms has reached a $16.7 billion settlement to resolve a landmark claim brought by several states that the company designed Instagram and Facebook to addict children , improperly collected children's personal data, and misled consumers about their safety. The deal was in a Wednesday court filing in California after a lawsuit was brought by 29 states - with attorneys for Colorado, California, New Jersey and Kentucky - leading the group. The states argued that features like infinite scroll were purposely engineered to keep young users

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

The US president expected Ottawa to bow to tariff demands, but Canada is striking back – and it could cost Americans This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday Earlier this year, a survey found that Canada , along with Switzerland , was the best-liked country in the world. We all know this kind of polling is about as scientific as a high school popularity contest, but at least anecdotally, Canadians have a reputation for being friendly and welcoming, respectful and polite. Many people would find it difficult to

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

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

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

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

More than 400 travellers are said to be missing after flood on Tibet border, including 33 Britons Flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border – latest updates Thirty-three British citizens including a 13-year-old girl are among more than 400 travellers missing after a flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to Nepal’s tourism board. The sudden flood happened on the Tibetan side of the Bhote Koshi River at about 8.30am local time on Wednesday. The 33 UK citizens are among at least 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for. Continue reading...

At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away Nepal-Tibet floods – latest updates At least 157 people have been killed and hundreds, including large numbers of foreign tourists, are missing after flash floods ⁠hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and Tibet in China, police have said, with parts of India also at risk. The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away

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

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

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

Powerful floods in Himalayan border area sweep away houses, roads and bridges. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Plibersek says government still determining how many Australians in Nepal Tanya Plibersek , the minister for social services, said the federal government is very concerned about the flooding in Nepal. The images are very disturbing indeed. We do know that there are Australians in the area. We don’t know exactly how many. Continue reading...

Powerful floods in Himalayan border area sweep away houses, roads and bridges Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Dozens of Australian tourists are reportedly missing in the deadly flash floods that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border, as the Australian government says it is urgently working to confirm their welfare. According to the Nepal Tourist Board, as reported by Press Association, at least 403 people have been reported missing, with 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for. Continue reading...

Research finds just 0.1-0.4% of the total insured population will ditch insurance, while the government will save as much as $940m a year Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Removing the higher private health insurance rebate for people aged 65 and over is good policy that is unlikely to place additional pressure on public hospitals, according to health economists. The proposed changes, set to take effect in April 2027, will mean the private health insurance rebate will depend only on how much money a person

Concerns over planning process as George Town council gives go-ahead for 288MW AI factory despite opposition from locals Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The day before Anthony Albanese secured agreement with states and territories to develop national datacentre standards , a small council in Tasmania was grappling with the existing regulations in the face of strong community opposition to a new AI factory planned for its town. The George Town council voted 6-1 to approve the plans of Australian developer Firmus to build a

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

Albanian criminal has cut bars, descended sheets and even used human pyramid in escapes in Italy and Belgium Police in Spain have arrested a dangerous Albanian criminal nicknamed the “escape wizard” who has managed to break out of four jails in Italy and Belgium by sawing through bars, clambering down knotted sheets and even using a human pyramid to breach prison walls. The fugitive, who has not been officially named, was arrested after officers from the Policía Nacional force discovered he was living in the north-eastern Spanish city of Tarragona. He was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andy Burnham stops short of pledging further help as gas and electricity prices due to increase by 4% in October Households are unlikely to receive further energy bills support before the October price cap, though more targeted measures could be looked at if there is a further shock in January, government sources said. Gas and electricity prices will rise by 4% from October under the new cap . The government has already removed VAT from domestic electricity bills to save average households £45 a year, a move announced in Andy Burnham’s first week in office. Continue reading...

Paid employment can boost confidence and wellbeing, says Pat McFadden as jobs guarantee scheme gets under way Work must be “part of the answer” to the mental health crisis among young people, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has said as he met some of the first beneficiaries of Labour’s youth jobs guarantee scheme . He was speaking on a visit to Boots’s headquarters in Nottingham on Wednesday, where several 18- to 21-year-olds were taken on under the job guarantee – with their wages paid by the taxpayer for six months. Continue reading...

DIY system will be stocked by big retailers, starting with Argos, enabling more homes to lower bills by generating own electricity Plug-in solar panels will go on sale in the UK for the first time from Thursday, allowing households unable to use rooftop panels to also generate their own cheap electricity. Households across the country will be able to join the millions across mainland Europe who generate their own renewable electricity using “balcony solar panels”, which will be stocked by some of the UK’s biggest retailers. Continue reading...

PM said he would set bar at £500k, but trade unions say funding reforms could undermine their ability to donate to Labour Andy Burnham has dropped his support for capping political donations, causing anger among activists and Labour MPs who have long campaigned for change to the way parties are funded. The prime minister has decided not to back amendments to the elections bill, which would cap the amount a person or an organisation can give in a single donation, according to government sources. Continue reading...

Streeting says role is chance to show strength and challenge stereotype that ‘persists in dark corners of internet’ Wes Streeting has described receiving a mass of homophobic abuse since he was made defence secretary last month, while also saying his appointment had been welcomed by some in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a sign of change. Until 2000, gay men and lesbian women were banned from serving in the UK military, with about 200-plus personnel thrown out of the forces each year due to their sexuality – an estimate, as proper records were not kept. Continue reading...

Two dozen states file lawsuit days after supreme court lifts one injunction blocking part of president’s order Sign up for the US Breaking News email A US military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday killed four people, officials said. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike targeted a vessel “operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.” Continue reading...

Christian Castro charged with assault after allegedly shooting Venezuelan man and remains in custody in Texas Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg is caught in an interstate extradition dispute between Texas and Minnesota – and could walk out of a Texas jail as soon as Wednesday after a federal judge refused to intervene. Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another, in relation to the incident in

FBI psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff says he’s treated only two women with postpartum psychosis, both decades earlier The Lindsay Clancy trial was heading for closing arguments on Wednesday, as a final witness for the prosecution laid out that he believed the Massachusetts mother knew right from wrong when she took the lives of her three young children before attempting to commit suicide in 2023. An FBI psychiatrist, Dr Gregory Saathoff, testified in court in Plymouth that he does not believe Clancy’s account that she heard a voice ordering her to kill the children – five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan

FDA officials approve first-of-a-kind pill called daraxonrasib to fight one of the deadliest types of cancer The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a groundbreaking new drug for the most common form of pancreatic cancer, offering US patients a more effective treatment against one of the deadliest types of the disease. FDA officials gave expedited approval to the first-of-a-kind pill, called daraxonrasib, that blocks a mutated protein which fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases. It’s an approach that has eluded drugmakers for decades. Continue reading...

‘This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,’ Ken Paxton says A federal judge has, for a second time, struck down a Texas state law banning drag performances in settings where children may be present. In a ruling issued on Tuesday, US district judge David Hittner said Texas cannot enforce its drag show ban. He said that the measure improperly restricts speech and violates the first amendment of the US constitution. Continue reading...

Iran and Oman have reached agreement on their share of the Strait of Hormuz and its revenues, but the vital waterway will not be reopened if the US does not accept their conditions, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday. Iran and Oman have held on-and-off talks for weeks ‌about controlling traffic through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war began in February. Most shipping has since been shut down, driving global energy...

Prince Harry and his family arrived back in Britain on Wednesday, the BBC reported, days after it was revealed the couple were relocating six years after quitting royal duties and moving to the United States. Last week, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, surprised even their close family when it was disclosed that they would move back from California to somewhere ‌outside London for what was described as an extended period of time. Their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess...

Forty years ago, the Stockholm Document turned the political promise of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act into a more practical system of confidence-building. Amid the Cold War, Europe’s East and West did not disarm, abandon deterrence or begin to trust one another. Instead, they agreed that military competition could be made safer through prior notification, observation, information exchange and verification. The lesson was modest but durable: adversaries do not need trust to reduce uncertainty. That...

US President Donald Trump’s administration is starting to send staff back to some diplomatic missions in the Middle East that were evacuated ‌or downsized amid tensions with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The posts in Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Baghdad, Iraq, are among those where staff will return, the sources said. Family members will also be allowed to return to the US post in Riyadh, they added. The move suggests Washington sees a lower risk of the conflict...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

US CIA Director ⁠John Ratcliffe spoke with Russian intelligence ⁠officials during a visit to Moscow but did not meet President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Wednesday of a trip that US President Donald Trump described as “semi-routine”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Putin had been briefed on the outcome of Tuesday’s visit, ‌which came as the war in Ukraine drags on and as efforts to reach a lasting peace between the United States and Iran have stalled. Peskov declined to...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The social media giant settled with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, and agreed to make major changes to its products over claims its platforms endangered children.

Meta agreed to set more time limits and enhance protections in its platforms for young users, but was short on some specifics.

Landmark trials are testing a new legal strategy claiming that Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube caused personal injury through addictive products.

The actor’s gift for garish eccentricity was indelibly appropriate for the outlandish, cross-dressing mad scientist Frank-N-Furter.

Curry thrived onstage and onscreen in meaty roles that brought him widespread recognition and generations of dedicated fans.

Senator Darline Graham has spoken far more about her desire to support President Trump’s agenda than she has talked about her brother’s political goals — or her own.

The conflict with Iran is uniquely salient to the Virginia Beach voters deciding which party will win a critical House contest.

Dean Roy, 15, will appear on the ballot in November as a third-party candidate. He said his generation’s concerns, like affordability and climate change, have been ignored for too long.

Even as her talents and work ethic opened up the world to her, she kept coming home. For many in the complicated region she’s from, that meant a lot.

The country star supported early childhood literacy, disaster relief, the development of the Covid-19 vaccine and more.

Higher revenue and employee limits for small businesses that get federal contracts and loans could disadvantage the smallest companies, their owners say.

In a key clinical trial, patients who got the pill, daraxonrasib, lived twice as long as those who got chemotherapy.

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

The two countries said they would create a temporary shipping lane and clear mines in the waterway. Global oil prices dipped after the joint announcement.

The novelist Michael Connelly knows he is putting his reputation on the line with the podcast “Killer in the Code.” But despite critics’ skepticism, he finds the evidence “completely convincing.”

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

Before a Woke 2 takes over, let the proponents of its predecessor explain how and why they’re moving on.

Lèse-majesté, American-style.

Warmer water off the coast has made things slightly swampy for residents used to a succession of splendid days.