Minimalist News

Hormuz And The Law Of Diminishing Returns: When Leverage Burns Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times , For months, the assumption that the Strait of Hormuz was Tehran's ultimate card dominated commentary on the war. Vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Aug. 10, 2026. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images As a narrow waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and a substantial share of liquefied natural gas had historically passed, it appeared to be a chokepoint Iran could close or severely disrupt at

Pennsylvania Reports Two Deaths From Measles As US Cases Hit Highest Level Since 1991 Two people have died in connection with measles in Pennsylvania, state health officials announced on August 25. A health worker prepares a measles vaccine at a government health center amid a vaccination campaign, in Nejapa, El Salvador, on April 10, 2026. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas The Pennsylvania Department of Health said the deaths were "related to measles." Both individuals lived in Lancaster County and had not received a measles vaccine. Officials declined to release further details, citing the need to protect the privacy of the deceased and their

Waste Of The Day: Deficit Could Surpass $2 Trillion Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations , The federal deficit will be $2.1 trillion when fiscal year 2026 ends on Sept. 30, the Congressional Budget Office projected in its monthly budget review . The deficit - the gap between what the government spends and what it collects from taxes and other revenue - has never surpassed $1.8 trillion, except during the Covid-19 pandemic. Key facts: Federal revenues are up 3% in 2026 compared to last year. Even though corporate income tax revenue has declined, income and payroll tax collections increased. But

US Officials Reveal Reason For CIA Chief's Surprise Moscow Visit Update(2030ET) : The Wall Street Journal has late in the day Wednesday revealed the reason for CIA John Ratcliffe's surprise visit to Moscow yesterday where he met with top Kremlin intelligence leaders, citing officials. It was to warn against attacking NATO countries , says the Journal : The surprise visit by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency to Moscow this week was to deliver a warning to Russia not to attack NATO countries, according to people briefed on the visit. The trip was spy-agency chief John Ratcliffe’s first publicly

How Many $2,500 Foldable iPhones Will Apple Ship In Year One? IDC Has The Answer Apple is set to unveil its first foldable iPhone at the company's September 9 product event at 1300 ET. Ahead of what could be Apple's biggest handset launch in many years, technology market research firm International Data Corporation, better known as IDC, issued a new forecast estimating just how many foldable iPhones Apple could ship during the device's first year. Bloomberg first reported IDC's estimate that the $2,500 foldable iPhone could generate more than 10 million shipments during its first year. JUST IN: Apple sets

Japan Holds Off On New Oil Reserve Release Despite September Import Drop Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com , Japan expects its oil imports next month to be lower than this month's but has no plans to release additional crude from storage , the country's economy minister said. Oil imports next month are seen at 80% of the average monthly for 2025, Ryosei Akazawa said, as quoted by Reuters. The report noted that the August import rate had been 100% of the 2025 monthly total. The change is prompted by the redirection of tanker traffic from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Iran Says Persian-Language Media Outlets 'Funded By CIA' Are Military Targets One key tool Washington has long utilized for influence operations and covert regime change plotting abroad has long been the establishment of foreign media for political messaging . The idea is that a foreign language satellite news channel gets presented as 'independent' while in reality it beams propaganda onto a unsuspecting population within a so-called 'rogue' state being targeted by the US. For example, WikiLeaks previously revealed that US intelligence invested heavily in such projects to bolster anti-Assad forces and sentiment in the context of last decade's proxy war

India's Crude Import Bill Surges As Hormuz Shipping Rates Soar Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com , India's crude oil import bill has soared since the Iran war choked Middle Eastern oil supply, raised benchmark crude prices, quadrupled freight rates, and boosted insurance on a single Strait of Hormuz voyage to never-before-seen highs. India has been paying elevated prices to import Middle Eastern crude not only because of the spike in oil prices, but also due to the surging costs to bring supply from the nearest region from which it can import crude. The freight rates on the key route

Activist Obama Judge Bends The Knee, Lifts Block On Trump's Mail-In Ballot Restrictions After USSC Ruling A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday lifted her own order blocking the postal service from implementing election integrity measures for mail-in ballots . US District Judge Indira Talwani issued the block after the League of Women Voters challenged proposed USPS rules that said states had to provide a list of voters who are eligible to receive mail-in ballots, and had to get their ballot designs pre-approved . Talwani's decision comes after the Supreme Court overturned a similar block by the same judge in

Another Major Russian Refinery Up In Flames As Diesel Nears Historic Highs On Wednesday Ukrainian forces struck a Wildberries facility deep inside of Russian territory for the second time this summer. The warehouse in the central Tambov region city of Kotovsk was first targeted in July, but this time the large complex has been "completely" destroyed in the resulting fire , Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed . Wildberries plant burns. @exilenova_plus/Telegram The city's mayor, Alexey Plakhotnikov, wrote on social media that "A massive fire at the Wildberries warehouse complex, smoke and smog are quickly spreading throughout the city ." He urged

Israel Developing Offensive Space Capabilities Authored by Ioannis Vlahos via Antiwar.com , Israel is currently prepared to begin development of offensive space capabilities, including systems designed to defend Israeli satellites from hostile spacecraft, and weapons (including lasers ) capable of striking targets from space. It is part of the Defense Ministry's multiyear budget plan for the space sector, which will include upgrading and expanding IDF (Israel Defense Forces) intelligence and communications capabilities. The plan will also dedicate a budget to support offensive space operations, which will focus on weapons designed to protect Israeli satellites as well as weapons designed to

Chinese Hackers Broke Into NASA, Federal Reserve, DOJ & Senate: FBI Announces The United States Department of Justice has on Wednesday announced US authorities thwarted a major state-sponsored hack which saw a temporary intrusion into NASA, the Federal Reserve, Senate, the DOJ, Department of Energy , and the Department of Health and Human services, along with four unnamed companies in the US and South Korea. "Today we announced the disruption of a global botnet and hacking platform used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to target U.S. critical infrastructure ," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "These tools were used by PRC cyber

You Know Things Are Bad When This Has To Be Referred To The DOJ... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Texas Governor Greg Abbott is escalating the fight against what he calls discriminatory religious facilities at two of the state's busiest airports. After DFW Airport scrapped plans for more Islamic ablution stations under pressure, Abbott has referred both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding investigation and corrective action over existing foot-washing stations and an adjoining prayer room. "These ablution stations single out one subset of the population

Don't Trust The Midterm Polls Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via The Epoch Times , This is a lightly edited transcript of an Aug. 24 segment of the "Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words" podcast. Let's have a periodic check on the status of the midterms that we're now less than 80 days away from. The Democrats are riding high. They feel that historical trends, i.e., 39 out of the last 41 midterms, the party in the White House loses seats, and there's not very many seats Republicans can afford to lose, and they may lose the House and

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

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

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

From the 1950s to the 2020s, Kusama produced vivid paintings, sculptures and vast installations that often drew on her experience of hallucinations Kusama – a life in pictures Was Kusama the world’s favourite artist? Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese outsider artist who reached superstar status after decades living in a psychiatric hospital, has died aged 97. Kusama died in a Tokyo hospital on 14 August, her company Yayoi Kusama Inc announced in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...

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 flash floods – live 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

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...

Follow today’s news live Nepal flash flood disaster – live updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The prime minister, Anthony Albanese , says Dfat officials are ready to provide consular assistance to Australians in Nepal, after the devastating flooding in the country. A local tourism official said they believed 34 Australians were missing in the area, among hundreds of foreign nationals. Australian officials were not confirming numbers at this stage, and were working to check on the welfare of people they know were in the affected region. Australians in the affected area should

Nepali tour operator fears 15 Australians who had been on a trek near the border with China have died after devastating flood Nepal flash flood live updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Nepali tour operator says he fears that 15 Australians trekking with his company in a valley ravaged by flash flooding have died. Sagar Pandey, the founder and chief executive of Himalayan Glacier Trekking, said he had lost all contact with his tour group of 47 people, which included 15 Australians. Continue reading...

Airline declines to predict impact of new carry-on luggage charge on Jetstar revenue or ticket sales, saying it is offering customers ‘choice’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Qantas could increase ticket prices and plans to expand add-on fees at its low-budget carrier Jetstar, after the company said fuel costs contributed to its lowest pre-tax profits in four years. After delivering the airline’s annual results on Thursday, the Qantas chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, said the company could push for more revenue because passenger demand remained

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. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Thursday morning there were 34 Australians missing. Continue reading...

Premier confirms levy, which was intended to help pay for the multibillion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, will be abolished Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A levy secretly slapped on Victorian public transport users – designed to help pay for the Suburban Loop and other Big Build projects – will be scrapped, the state premier has announced. Ben Carroll announced on Thursday that he would move to abolish the levy “because there was no transparency in its creation and implementation”. Continue

Allegations Nathan Cofnas was unqualified for Ghent role and would cause ‘negative impact’ made to senior leaders months ago Nathan Cofnas, the academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism , has been accused of having “very limited expertise” for his academic role by professors also working at Ghent University, who say he has a “far-right agenda”. Cofnas secured a postdoctoral research role “on the future of liberalism” at Belgium’s Ghent University in March. Weeks later, Ghent’s department of philosophy and moral sciences handed a 19-page statement to university officials, setting out why it believed it was “improbable” that Cofnas was

Comté, beaufort and abondance makers can temporarily supplement cows’ diets as there is ‘no grass left to eat’ Strict production rules will be loosened for some of France’s most famous cheeses after drought and repeated heatwaves dried out grazing pastures, threatening the livelihoods of traditional dairy workers. Comté , a hard cheese made from raw cows’ milk in the Jura mountains, is France’s top-selling traditional cheese, with more than 62,000 tonnes produced last year. The government announced on Wednesday that its producers would be granted a temporary change to strict rules on grazing after farmers said extreme heat had scorched

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...

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...

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credible Tehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”. In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and the UAE. Continue reading...

At least 165 people have died, while officials say hundreds of foreign nationals from India, the US, UK, Australia, Malaysia and Ukraine among those missing. Follow the latest news Flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border leave scores dead and hundreds missing Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border , with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port. “Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the

Entire populated areas swept away after glacial collapse causes catastrophic flood in mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims Follow latest updates live Nepal-Tibet flash flood: what we know so far Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? More than 1,000 people are missing – the majority of whom are tourists – after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet, roaring down valleys, wiping out entire villages and leaving a preliminary death toll of 165, authorities said on Thursday. Rescuers are racing to locate people missing in the mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims, including

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...

Horticulturalists begin moving and propagating plants before the rusty and warped Palm House begins renovation – but some are too tall to save It will be a gut-wrenching moment for the horticulturalists at Kew Gardens when some of the magnificent trees in the Palm House have to be felled. “There are some sad moments ahead,” said Palm House manager, Will Spoelstra, who knows all the plants inside the cathedral-like greenhouse. Continue reading...

Exclusive: utility company wants to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from Thames and replace it with treated effluent Levels of a toxic “forever chemical” rose to 13 times the legal limit during Thames Water pilots for a controversial multimillion pound water recycling scheme that will pump millions of litres of treated sewage into the River Thames during drought. The data from the pilots is in stark contrast to public comments from Thames Water that their water recycling project in south-west London will not harm the riverine environment. Continue reading...

Findings from research into illnesses associated with bathing in lakes and rivers come amid boom in hobby Wild swimming has been linked to a higher risk of stomach bugs and skin rashes, according to the largest ever controlled study of illnesses associated with bathing in rivers and lakes. The research found that swimmers at locations in Hungary were more than twice as likely to develop skin problems, while the risk of contracting a stomach bug rose significantly in water with higher concentrations of E coli and other bacteria linked to faecal pollution. Continue reading...

Parliamentary committee welcomes fact most of 472 missing have been found but ‘extremely concerned’ for rest Forty children who went missing from hotels housing asylum seekers in the UK have still not been found, according to a parliamentary report. Ministers are facing calls from MPs and peers to explain what they are doing to locate the group, two of whom are believed to still be under 18. The figure emerged in a report on Thursday by the joint committee on human rights on how the social care system is failing young adults. Continue reading...

The 80-seat venue at Edinburgh fringe combines sauna rituals with theatre, music, storytelling … and sweat Tucked away behind the Summerhall arts centre is the hottest new venue at the Edinburgh fringe … quite literally. The Sauna theatre has proved popular among theatregoers at the world’s largest performing arts festival, with shows inside its purpose-built, 80-seat sauna drawing sweaty, swimwear-clad crowds. Visitors may be forgiven for thinking the sauna is a gimmick, especially at the fringe where absurd, experimental and ludicrous performances are not uncommon. This year they include a man drinking his own urine , someone singing the same

This live blog is now closed. 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...

Actor says she had the ‘weirdest six months of my life’, after being diagnosed days after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of cancer Busy Philipps has revealed she had a brain tumour removed, which was diagnosed shortly after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died from bowel cancer. The 47-year-old, born Elizabeth Philipps, starred in the hit US teen drama as Audrey Liddell opposite Van Der Beek, who died in February aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said outcome ‘is not an all clear to say the product is safe’ Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram in settlement The star witness in the US government’s landmark trial against Meta believes that a multibillion-dollar settlement reached on Wednesday does not go far enough to stop the social media giant’s harms to young users. “The limitations that are in the agreement are the equivalent of saying: ‘Well you can smoke as many cigarettes as you can in two hours a day,’” said whistleblower and ex-Facebook employee Arturo Béjar.

Democrat Eric Hafner, to be released in 2036, also ran for seat in 2024, securing spot on that general election ballot A man who is serving time in a federal prison in New York advanced on Wednesday from the primary for Alaska ’s lone US House seat. Eric Hafner, a registered Democrat, also ran for the seat in 2024 and secured a spot on the general election ballot that November despite a challenge brought by the Alaska Democratic party. Continue reading...

Then House candidate joined Democratic Socialists of America in 2018 but didn’t renew membership after a year Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rejoined the Democratic Socialists of America after not renewing her membership for seven years, amid speculation that she might run for president in 2028. The 36-year-old New York representative and one of the country’s most prominent democratic socialists renewed her membership in the group’s national organization after reports emerged earlier this month that it had lapsed. Ocasio-Cortez initially joined the group in 2018. Continue reading...

Brazil has not answered two American proposals to formalise cooperation on critical minerals, a senior US diplomat said at Latin America’s largest mining fair, leaving Washington without a bilateral deal as it races to build rare earth supply chains outside China. Matthew Lowe, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Brasilia, said Washington invited Brazil years ago to join the Minerals Security Partnership, a US-led grouping that coordinates investment in mineral supply chains, but never...

Meta agreed to pay a coalition of US states as much as US$16.7 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, according to a court filing on Wednesday that ends a landmark trial in California. The settlement, which a federal judge quickly approved, resolves claims by 29 states that Meta deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13. Texas reached a separate...

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...

Young people said the platforms could be a space for gathering, but also a waste of time.

The Silicon Valley company agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties as part of a landmark settlement with states over social media addiction claims.

The Japanese artist’s polka-dot covered paintings, phallic sculptures and public performances caused a stir in New York City and Europe in the 1960s.

In her mass-produced ubiquity, Kusama became one of her own dots, spreading her image into every corner of our culture.

Relatives of a family killed by a semi truck say they were not consulted about the ad, which connected the crash to illegal immigration.

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.

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

He was a blast to watch, whether playing a mad scientist in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a butler in “Clue” or a singing King Arthur in “Spamalot.”

Years of long-distance division between Prince William and his younger brother will be tested now that Harry has returned to Britain.

What led to the surprising return of Meghan and Harry to Britain? What will it mean? Our journalists, and many competitors, are seeking answers.

The former political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is unpacking 4,000 paintings he brought to Miami from Cuba and dodging criticism from exiles who once welcomed him.

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

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.

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

China is the real problem, and Washington needs all the allies it can find.

Lèse-majesté, American-style.

A Florida man is facing three felony charges over the Aug. 20 vandalism of a plastic reproduction of one of the automated license plate readers, the authorities said.