Minimalist News

Large US Refueling Aircraft Down In Western Iraq In First Of Iran War Summary: * State media: Iran claims responsibility for shooting down US refueling plane, says US refueling plane was downed with all crew killed in Western Iraq. * CENTCOM confirms search and rescue operation underway after large KC-135 refueling tanker goes down over Western Iraq. * Trump: Iran paying a 'big price' right now; situation 'moving along rapidly' * Netanyahu confirms hitting IRGC and Basij checkpoints, in effort to 'topple regime' * Iran's top security official to Trump: 'we will not relent until you are sorry' * Oil pares

Feminist Monster Film "The Bride" Is Biggest Box Office Bomb Of 2026 According to polls, around half of the US population identifies with feminism and feminist activism (though, this stat is in steep decline among Gen Z men).  But if this is truly the case and there is such a large population of feminist allies out there in the ether, why don't they ever show up to movie theaters to support films with blatant feminist messaging?  The obvious conclusion is that the public has been lied to and there is no vast feminist movement.  It's a paper tiger, a fantasy, a mirage.  We

UK Govt Urges Schools To Snitch On 'Anti-Muslim Hostility' In Orwellian Crackdown Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The UK government is ramping up its assault on free expression, now urging schools, councils, and workplaces to monitor and report “anti-Muslim hostility” as part of a broader strategy that critics slam as a tool to silence legitimate debate. Under Labour’s plans, institutions will be encouraged to track incidents of ‘prejudice’ against Muslims, with a new definition adopted to clarify unacceptable behavior. This comes amid a surge in hate crimes, but opponents warn it could muzzle criticism of Islamism or immigration policies. Schools are at the forefront, with

"Consumer Sentiment Going Down": EU Auto Heads Begin Blaming Iran Conflict For Industry Woes The first-order effect of the U.S.-Iran conflict was widespread disruption across the Middle East. The second-order effect was an energy price shock that drove gasoline and diesel prices at the pump sharply higher. The third-order effect could be a deterioration in consumer sentiment amid higher energy costs, rising inflation fears, and broader economic/geopolitical uncertainty. The transmission of the energy shock to consumers appears to have materialized just 12 days into Operation Epic Fury, according to executives at Volkswagen and Volvo Car, who report that consumer sentiment has already

Germany's Industrial Collapse: Degrowth And Ideology At Work Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Even with some temporal distance and broader perspective, the election result in Baden-Württemberg makes no sense. That the two eco-socialist parties, fused into a kind of political twin planet—Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and the CDU—could claim almost two-thirds of the votes cast is staggering given the economic situation in the country. It raises a fundamental question: Can—or will—Germans no longer connect economic decline with political responsibility in any meaningful way? Baden-Württemberg’s capital, Stuttgart, is notably at the epicenter of this decline. The city serves, in a way, as a blueprint for the

Saudi Aramco To Buy Ukrainian Interceptor Drones To Defend Oil Fields Low-cost interceptor drones are poised to see massive demand across U.S.-aligned Gulf states as the conflict with Iran grinds deeper into its second week, exposing the absurdity of expending multi-million-dollar interceptor missiles to eliminate IRGC drones that cost roughly $20,000 to $30,000 each. One day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia is in talks with Ukrainian counter-drone firms to acquire low-cost interceptor drones, the outlet provided additional color on Thursday on the companies involved and how the interceptors would be fielded. Apparently, oil giant Saudi Aramco is in talks

Volkswagen Plans 50,000 Job Cuts Due To Plunging Profits; Board Members Grab €1.75MM Each In Bonuses Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, German automaker Volkswagen plans to cut around 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 as profits slump and the company struggles with rising costs, tariffs, and declining margins. The job cuts were announced alongside the company’s 2025 financial results, which showed net profit falling 44 percent to €6.9 billion — the lowest level since the fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal. At the same time, Volkswagen’s board has come under fire after securing additional bonus payments tied to the 2025 financial year. According

Pro-War Republican Senator Apologizes For Iran Girls' School Massacre After Trump Blames Tehran Authored by Brett Wilkins via Common Dreams A Republican senator apologized this week for what US military investigators have reportedly determined was an American missile strike on a girls' school in southern Iran that killed around 175 people—mostly children—amid continued sidestepping by President Donald Trump, who has blamed Tehran for the massacre. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.)—who supports the US-Israeli war on Iran—first apologized for the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab during a Monday interview with NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur. "It was terrible," Kennedy said. "We made a

Indian H1B Scammers Found Guilty In Multi-Million Dollar Fraud In Pennsylvania A federal jury in Philadelphia has delivered a resounding guilty verdict against two Pennsylvania brothers and a longtime associate, convicting them of masterminding one of the most elaborate and prolonged racketeering operations uncovered in recent years. The scheme, which prosecutors say drained more than $32 million from Pennsylvania's Medicaid program while exploiting vulnerable foreign workers through the H-1B visa system, spanned over a decade and involved layers of deception across multiple states. At the center of the criminal enterprise - self-dubbed the “Savani Group” - were brothers Bhaskar Savani, 60, a trained

FDA Unveils New Platform For Tracking Side Effects Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Food and Drug Administration on March 11 made public a new, consolidated platform for tracking side effects experienced by people following receipt of vaccines and drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, Md., on June 5, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times Officials are folding a number of existing platforms into the Adverse Event Monitoring System, which they are describing as a unified system that will be easier to search on. “The FDA’s previous adverse event reporting systems were outdated and fragmented and

Iran's Hormuz Naval Mines: A Powerful Asymmetric Weapon Paralyzing Tanker Traffic Iran's asymmetric warfare in the Strait of Hormuz has shifted from kamikaze drone strikes on tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships to littering the world's most important maritime chokepoint with naval mines. Even though much of Iran's conventional naval capability has  been severely degraded in the 12 or so days of the Operation Epic Fury campaign, IRGC forces retain asymmetric leverage in Hormuz and the Gulf region through sea mines, drones, small vessels, and missile threats. "It's a good tool of asymmetric warfare," Jahangir E. Arasli, a senior research fellow at Baku-based

Will Johnny Ever Learn To Read? Pushback Against Science Of Reading Mandates Authored by Vince Bielski via RealClearInvestigations, Half a century after the book “Why Johnny Can’t Read” sounded an alarm about the rise of illiteracy in the U.S., it has only gotten worse: A quarter of all young adults, many of them high school graduates, are now functionally illiterate. Unable to read more than basic, short sentences, their prospects in today’s information economy are bleak.  This crisis gave rise to a movement that embraced the science of reading and produced a surprising success story in the Deep South, a region dogged by the

Eric Swalwell Rents Room Linked To Former Staffer To Claim California Residency Rep. Eric Swalwell has primarily been living in Washington, D.C. for years, and now that he’s running for governor of California, he’s hit a snag over residency.  According to reports, Swalwell is renting a single room in a home in the eastern Bay Area that’s occupied by a family of three to claim residency in the state. Public records show it’s a three-bedroom, 1,350-square-foot home owned by Nicolas and Kristina Mrzywka. It is unlikely that Swalwell has ever truly lived there. And now, one of his Democratic primary rivals is

Paging Nostradamus: You Have A Margin Call Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, If conditions change beneath the surface, the folks behind the curtain will be powerless to do anything but make it worse. This just in: predicting is hard, especially about the future. One solution is ambiguity: couch predictions in poetic allusions that are open to interpretation. What's hard is making an unambiguous prediction that turn out to be correct. Recency bias often trips us up, as making predictions based on projecting the recent past seems to work well until trends and dynamics change. But due to recency bias, we tend to ignore these

Senate Republicans On Iran War Ending: Sooner The Better The ongoing U.S. military operation against Iran, which began February 28th with strikes aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missile capabilities, navy, and other strategic assets, has prompted a range of reactions from Republican senators. While most GOP lawmakers initially supported President Trump's actions - evidenced by the Senate's largely party-line vote on March 4th to block a bipartisan war powers resolution that would have curtailed or required congressional approval for the conflict - several prominent voices have emphasized the need for a swift conclusion rather than a prolonged engagement. Senator Josh

US Court Clears State Medicaid Ban On Transgender Surgeries For Adults Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), West Virginia’s ban on Medicaid coverage of surgical procedures for people with gender dysphoria is legal, a federal court ruled on March 10. A sign in support of Medicaid rests in a walking device on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 27, 2025. Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images A 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision means the ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause or the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Circuit Judge Julius Richardson,

Ben Affleck Once Criticized AI, Now Netflix Is Buying His AI Startup For $600 Million Ben Affleck—who has previously warned about the risks artificial intelligence poses to Hollywood—has sold his own AI filmmaking startup to Netflix in a deal that could reach $600 million, according to Bloomberg. The cash portion of the acquisition is smaller, with additional payments tied to performance targets, but it still ranks among the largest AI-focused deals by a major studio. The startup, InterPositive, developed software designed to help directors edit footage after filming, such as removing stray objects or changing elements in the background. The tools are intended

White House Disputes ABC Report Claiming Iran Wants To Launch Drones At West Coast Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The White House and FBI on Thursday disputed claims of an internal government alert saying Iran wants to launch drones to attack the West Coast of the United States, saying that ABC News should move to retract its reporting. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 18, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images A report and social media post from ABC News

Centrus Partners With Palantir As Wright Pushes End To Russian Imports In a move underscoring America’s drive for nuclear fuel sovereignty, Centrus Energy and Palantir announced an AI-powered partnership aimed at slashing costs and fast-tracking the multi-billion-dollar expansion of U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. The collaboration, showcased at Thursday's AIPCon 9 event, deploys Palantir's Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform across Centrus' operations. Early work since late January has already pinpointed nearly $300 million in potential cost savings and efficiencies. This would be on top of the $900 million they were recently awarded for their expansion efforts.  Further gains are expected to compress manufacturing lead

Crypto Whale Beached, Loses Nearly $50 Million Swapping USDT For AAVE Authored by RT Watson via The Block, QUICK TAKE * Aave Labs founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said a crypto user “attempted to buy AAVE using $50 million in USDT through the Aave interface” but only received about $36,000 worth of the token in return. * CoW Swap said the “transaction executed according to the parameters of the signed order” and that “clear price impact warnings” were given. When someone in crypto loses millions of dollars in an instant, it's usually due to a hack or an exploit. But, on Thursday, one

Negotiations aimed to ‘find solutions to the bilateral differences’ between the countries, Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuban officials have held talks with the US government to seek solutions to the blockade imposed on the Caribbean nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel has said in a video broadcast on national television. “These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel, the Cuban president, said in the video, which aired on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to address Cuban media in a rare appearance that comes amid a severe economic crisis and as the Communist

Oscar, Ana and their children fled violence for safety in the US. Now Oscar, afraid and alone, is back in Honduras – ‘at the mercy of God and his will’ As soon as Oscar’s deportation flight landed at the La Lima airport in Honduras, he put on his baseball cap. On the airport shuttle toward the terminal, he pulled his cap even lower – trying to obscure his face at various police checkpoints. His parents picked him up in a car, and drove him to a lodging they had arranged for him – miles away from his family home. He has hardly

Company that runs the sites says it has ‘no reason to believe there is a correlation between the donors’ passing and plasma donation’ Two people have died in Canada after donating plasma at a chain of clinics that has been under scrutiny by federal inspectors for failing to keep accurate records, screen donors or maintain its machines. While experts say the deaths are exceedingly rare, critics say Canada’s embrace of private companies to handle blood products reflects a “slow collapse of a system that has been the envy of the world”. Continue reading...

Global heating linked to rising risk of extreme rain that causes devastating landslides and rising coffee prices The record floods that have brought death and destruction to the heartland of Brazil’s coffee industry are expected to intensify if people continue to burn fossil fuels, analysis has shown. Dozens of residents in the state of Minas Gerais have been buried alive in landslides or swept away as roads turned into rivers over the past month. Thousands more have been forced to evacuate their homes, while the wider, longer-term effects are likely to include higher prices for coffee across the world. Continue reading...

Experts documented murder, torture and disappearances under Nayib Bukele’s policy targeting gangs The draconian mass incarceration policy of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, may have led to crimes against humanity, according to a new study by legal experts. By locking up 1.4% of the population without due process, Bukele turned El Salvador from one of Latin America’s most violent countries into one of its least violent – but at the cost of human rights and the rule of law. Continue reading...

In China, one social media trend hangs on the idea that a life in the US is always one step from disaster, while another in the US has gen Z revelling in Chinese lifestyle hacks Across two online worlds that are normally splintered, over the last few months there has been a mirroring of sorts. On TikTok and Instagram, young people are diving into the joys of Chinese culture – from drinking hot water to playing mahjong – all under the banner of “Chinamaxxing”. On the Chinese internet, however, the US is losing its decades-long grip on soft power, and is

Viral video of girl being shoved by fellow pedestrian has reignited debate over butsukari – with experts blaming stress and gender dynamics It starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother. This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of

From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up supplies Donald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained. Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon. Continue reading...

New legislation will require schools to use Mandarin by default, taking priority over minority ethnic languages such as Tibetan, Uyghur and Mongolian China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the state legislature, will vote on Thursday on a suite of new laws agreed at this year’s annual two sessions gathering, including a piece of legislation that will diminish the role of minority ethnic languages in the education system. NPC delegates are expected to approve a new ethnic unity law, along with a new environmental code and the 15th five-year plan, the economic planning document for 2026-2030. Delegates have spent the last week debating Beijing’s

Crew of Thai-registered bulk carrier forced to flee fire, as US says it has destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels * Middle East crisis live – latest updates Three merchant ships have been struck in and around the strait of Hormuz, including a Thai registered bulk carrier that caught fire after leaving a port in the UAE, forcing crew members to evacuate for their safety. The Mayuree Naree was struck on Wednesday by “two projectiles of unknown origin”, its owners said, as it sailed about 11 nautical miles north of Oman, marking the end of a four-day lull of attacks in the strategic

NSW premier says latest distribution calculation, with a reduction in the state’s share of revenue relative to its population, is unfair and ‘past its use-by date’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s richest state will receive an extra $5.5bn in GST revenue thanks to a sweetheart deal struck with Western Australia in 2018, as the New South Wales premier attacked the latest distribution calculation as unfair and “past its use-by date”. The Commonwealth Grants Commission on Friday released its recommendations on how a projected $102.5bn in goods and services tax should be carved up between

This blog is now closed * Australia to release nearly 20% of fuel stockpile as Bowen insists country ‘nowhere near’ running out * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Joyce says surge in support for One Nation reflects will of the people, not political jostling Barnaby Joyce spoke to RN Breakfast this morning about One Nation’s targets in the next federal election. We want to win seats wherever they are. We have no real target against National seats or Liberal seats, but we want to give people the option to vote for

In an essay for Crikey, the former Australian of the Year says the PM is a ‘turncoat’ who is ‘capitulating to foreign powers’ amid the US-Israel war on Iran * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Grace Tame has said “we’re living in an Orwellian nightmare” in a scathing critique of the prime minister and his government’s position on the war in the Middle East. In an essay published in Crikey on Friday, the advocate for sexual abuse survivors and human rights activist accused Anthony Albanese of being a “coward” and a “turncoat” for refusing to condemn

NT government says the rent freeze will be ‘applied automatically for eligible housing tenants’ as floodwaters break records in the Big Rivers region * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Northern Territory government will freeze rental payments for public housing tenants affected by historic floods spreading across the Big Rivers region. Monsoonal rainfall has inundated remote Aboriginal communities in the region over the past two weeks. The Daly River area was hit hardest on Wednesday, with Dorisvale Crossing reaching 23.93 metres by 1.30pm, the highest level

Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s former charge d’affaires in Canberra, sought protection in 2023, government source confirms * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast One of Iran’s former top diplomats in Australia has defected from the theocratic regime, with the revelations only coming to light this week after six members of the Iranian women’s football squad were granted protection. London-based news outlet Iran International, which is not tied to the Islamic Republic’s regime, reported on Friday that Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s charge d’affaires in Canberra until at least 2023, had

Traditionally jovial affair poses potential debacle for Irish leader at odds with US over foreign policy, tax and immigration For Ireland’s leaders, it has long been the highlight of the political calendar: a love-fest in Washington with hosts who sport shamrocks and toast Saint Patrick. Irish delegations are traditionally received on Capitol Hill and at the White House in a blaze of goodwill and backslapping that has them wishing every day was 17 March. Continue reading...

Calls for Alexandra Căpitănescu’s Choke Me to be banned as campaigners say lyrics are ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’ Romania’s Eurovision entry Choke Me has been labelled “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation, an unsafe practice that can lead to brain injury and death. Campaigners against sexual violence said the entry, in which the words “choke me” are repeated 30 times during the three-minute song, was “playing fast and loose with young women’s lives”. Continue reading...

Austrian officials took action after airline ignored court order to pay €890 to unnamed women Bailiffs have boarded a Ryanair aircraft after the airline refused to pay compensation to a passenger whose flight was delayed. Austrian officials took action after the budget carrier ignored a court order to pay the unnamed woman €890 (£742) in legal costs and compensation for a delayed flight two years ago. Continue reading...

Robert Habeck says world has moved on from weaponising energy to using tariffs, technology and more to inflict harm The weaponisation of energy when Russia invaded Ukraine has given way to “weaponising everything” since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Germany’s former economy minister has said. Robert Habeck, the Green politician responsible for keeping the lights on during the last energy crisis, said the belief gas “would never be a political weapon” led successive German governments blindly into Putin’s trap by building the Nord Stream pipelines and selling strategic reserves to Gazprom, which Russia emptied before the invasion. Continue reading...

Supporter mistakenly travelled to St James Park ground instead of Newcastle namesake (save for an apostrophe) The two stadiums are 366 miles apart. One holds more than 50,000 people, the other less than 10,000. The buzz as you walk up to the two grounds is a little different. But nevertheless, one Barcelona fan appeared not to have realised that he was at the wrong ground and tried to get through the turnstiles at Exeter City’s modest stadium (St James Park), rather than Newcastle United’s hulking one (St James’ Park). Continue reading...

Rescue efforts continue for remaining two crew members from refuelling plane that crashed in western desert * Middle East live blog – latest updates * US politics – live updates Four of the six crew members onboard a US military aircraft that crashed in western Iraq were killed, the US military has said as rescue efforts continued for the remaining two. The KC-135 military refuelling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed – our live coverage of the Middle East crisis continues here * Follow live for latest news and updates in the Middle East crisis An Iranian source is denying the country will allow India-flagged tankers to pass through the vital strait of Hormuz, Reuters is reporting. The news agency a little earlier quoted an Indian source as saying Iran would in fact allow such tankers to pass through the strait, a key artery for global oil trade. Continue reading...

US already spent more than $11.3bn in first six days of conflict, but price tag does not include all spending * Middle East crisis – live updates Pentagon officials told top lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday that the cost of the war against Iran has already exceeded $11.3bn in its first six days, but the true cost of the opening days of the conflict is likely far greater, according to two people familiar with the matter. The estimate, presented during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill, appeared largely limited to munitions expenditures and does not capture the full cost of

Five soldiers were indicted over alleged violent abuse and rape of Palestinian man at detention centre in 2024 Israel’s top military lawyer has dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of the violent abuse and rape of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza. The military advocate general, Itay Offir, said prosecutors lacked key evidence after the victim was sent back to Gaza, and that the conduct of senior officials had affected the chance of holding a fair trial. Continue reading...

Pilots reportedly adopting Russian tactics as statement in name of new Iranian supreme leader vows continued attacks on US bases * Middle East crisis – live updates Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq. John Healey was speaking after British officers at the UK’s military headquarters in north-west London told him that drone pilots from Iran and Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”. Continue reading...

Under new Taliban laws, a husband is allowed to beat his wife as long as it is not done with ‘obscene force’, which the woman must prove in court The shocking level of physical violence against women permitted under the Taliban’s new laws has been revealed this week by the case of a woman in northern Afghanistan, who said she was beaten with a cable wire by her husband and told by a judge: “You want a divorce just because of that? … A little anger and a few beatings won’t kill you.” Farzana* said her husband was quick-tempered and often resorted

Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra party secures thumping victory in first poll since gen Z protests that toppled government Balendra Shah, the rapper turned politician and popular figurehead of a gen Z revolution, looks set to become Nepal’s next prime minister after his party won by an unprecedented margin. Shah, known widely as Balen, and his Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP) secured a rare landslide victory in the first election since youth-led protests during which dozens were killed and the former government was toppled. Continue reading...

‘Stopgap measure’ designed to keep oil flowing into global market as Middle East crisis disrupts crude shipments * Business live – latest updates The US has temporarily allowed India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases. The US treasury has issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil, having previously imposed heavy sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Urgent request to dock is submitted by vessel after US submarine sank Iranian warship in same area on Tuesday * Middle East crisis – live updates Sri Lanka has evacuated 208 crew members from an Iranian navy vessel that made an emergency request to dock, a day after a US submarine strike sank another Iranian frigate, killing more than 80 people on board. Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, on Thursday confirmed that the country’s navy would take over Iranian military support ship IRIS Bushehr and allow it to dock at the north-eastern port of Trincomalee. Continue reading...

Early results may be released from Friday after first election since gen z protests forced Nepal’s then-PM to quit Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented gen Z-led protests forced Nepal’s then prime minister to quit, people have voted in a general election that is shaping up to be a high-stakes showdown between the entrenched old guard and a powerful youth movement. “The voting process has been concluded peacefully and enthusiastically,” said the chief election commissioner, Ram Prasad Bhandari. It appeared the turnout was only about 60%, according to initial estimates, the lowest in more than two decades. Continue reading...

With anger stoked by Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business, we look at what has happened to some of the main players Water companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years. As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been revealed to the public over the past six years, key figures working for the regulators and the privatised companies

The chancellor is set to meet with energy bosses over concerns that companies are profiteering from oil and gas prices Miliband has unveiled plans to cut regulations, costs and bureaucracy by the end of next year to speed up the development of nuclear power generation. The UK government said the changes, to be carried out this year, would deliver a “win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment”. Continue reading...

Figures recorded by Femicide Census in past 12 months indicate highest rate of matricide in 16 years The names of 19 women believed to have been killed by their sons in the last year were read out in parliament on Thursday, as research showed that almost one in five women killed by men since the last International Women’s Day were suspected victims of matricide. For the 11th year running, Jess Phillips read out the names of the 108 women killed in the UK by men – or where a man has been charged – in the past 12 months. In keeping with

Ministers face accusations of carrying out ‘irresponsible deregulation’ as they push through ‘clean energy’ proposals Ed Miliband has unveiled plans to cut regulations, costs and bureaucracy by the end of next year to speed up the development of nuclear power generation. The UK government said the changes, to be carried out this year, would deliver a “win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment”. Continue reading...

More than 20% of weekend availability lost in England since 2022, forcing some to turn to A&E, says national association People who need to obtain medication at the weekend are having to undertake long trips because more pharmacies are cutting their opening hours on Saturdays and Sundays. One in six pharmacies in England have reduced their hours at weekends since 2022, with some shutting altogether, as a result of “unsustainable” pressures on their budgets. Continue reading...

Experts warn of ‘attack on Americans’ lungs’ from cuts to health programs, environmental rollbacks and other plans Donald Trump’s policies are likely to drive soaring rates of lung disease and premature death, according to a wide-ranging new study by pulmonary specialists and public health experts. The analysis, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, examines policies adopted during Trump’s second term across 10 areas, including healthcare access, environmental regulation, workplace protections and vaccine uptake. Continue reading...

Large explosions heard across Iranian capital as the US and Israel threatened to intensify airstrikes * Middle East war creating ‘largest supply disruption in history of oil markets’ * How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events? Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry is saying that two drones have been intercepted and destroyed in the eastern region. More now after reports of explosions in Dubai on Friday morning: thick black smoke rose over the financial hub’s skyline after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area of the city-state. Continue reading...

President posts on Truth Social to ‘watch what happens today’ and says it is an ‘honor’ to be killing regime’s leaders * Sign up for the Breaking News US email for newsletter alerts in your inbox * Middle East liveblog – latest updates The question, asked during a 4 March press briefing with Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Gen Dan Caine, was a good one: if the US had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities during an operation last June, “what was the intelligence that suggested that somehow they became a threat once again that required us to

Exclusive survey finds negative economic impacts felt across party lines as White House doubles down on tariffs Seven in 10 Americans say Donald Trump’s tariffs have led to them paying higher prices, according to an exclusive new poll for the Guardian. The Harris Poll survey presents Republicans with a major problem in the battle for the upcoming midterm elections. The majority of all voters (72%) believe Trump’s tariffs have had a negative rather than a positive impact and 67% said tariffs aren’t the right solution for improving the economy. 64% of Republicans agreed that Trump’s tariffs had led to higher prices compared with

New pro-Trump press corps has surprised some skeptics with tough questions, though sycophancy fears remain The question, asked during a 4 March press briefing with Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Gen Dan Caine, was a good one: if the US had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities during an operation last June, “what was the intelligence that suggested that somehow they became a threat once again that required us to get involved with Operation Epic Fury?” It was asked by Heather Mullins, who works for LindellTV, the television network founded by Mike Lindell, the pillow entrepreneur, Trump cheerleader and 2020 election denier. Continue

The United States has imposed sanctions on two companies and six individuals for their roles in operations that used information technology workers in foreign countries to raise money for North Korea. The Treasury Department said the schemes, orchestrated by the North Korean government, had systematically defrauded US businesses and generated revenue to fund North Korea’s weapons programmes, including nearly US$800 million in 2024. The department also accused workers associated with North Korea...

California Governor Gavin Newsom said there was no imminent threat to the state, despite a warning from the FBI that Iran could send drones to the west coast in retaliation for war. Newsom said drone issues “have always been top of mind”. “We’ve been aware of that information. … It’s all about a posture of preparedness for worst-case scenarios,” the governor said on Wednesday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently warned police departments about Iran and a possible California...

Four US crew members were killed when an American KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, the US military said on Friday, adding that the incident was not caused by “hostile fire”. “Four of six crew members on board the aircraft have been confirmed deceased as rescue efforts continue,” US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement on social media. An investigation was under way into Thursday’s crash, it added....

Serbia’s president confirmed late on Thursday that his country possesses Chinese supersonic surface-attack cruise missiles, after photos of the weapons attached to Serbian fighter jets leaked online. Photos, which began circulating on social media and defence blogs earlier this week, showed missiles believed to be Chinese-made CM-400AKG cruise missiles attached to Serbia’s Russian-made MiG-29 planes. “We have things we do not show,” President Aleksandar Vucic told Serbia’s national broadcaster...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday issued ⁠a veiled threat to kill Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei even as he acknowledged that Israel’s joint air war with the US may not lead to a collapse of Tehran’s clerical government. Holding his first press conference since the start of the war, ‌the Israeli leader said that Iran was “no longer the same” after nearly two weeks of bombardment and that Tehran had suffered blows to its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps and Basij...

The war in Iran is not just another Middle Eastern crisis. It is a window into what world politics looks like when rules are weakest and power is most concentrated. Washington has spoken in the language of surrender and coercion, European governments have called for restraint and respect for international law, and Asian powers have scrambled to keep energy flows moving through a Strait of Hormuz that has nearly ground to a halt. What this reveals is not a functioning rules-based order. It is a...

ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) students in an Old Dominion University classroom subdued and killed the shooter who killed one person and wounded two others, the FBI announced on Thursday. Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Norfolk field office, said at a news conference that the suspect identified by authorities as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh shouted “Allahu akbar” before the shooting. Then the ROTC students stopped him, showing “extreme...

A 41-year-old man was killed Thursday after ramming his pickup truck into a synagogue on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, causing a blaze and triggering a huge police response. US media reported the assailant had recently lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, as part of the ongoing Middle East war. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security identified the assailant as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon, came to Detroit in 2011 on a visa granted to...

A UK judge on Thursday jailed for 13 years a mother-of-10 who forced a vulnerable woman to work as a “house slave” for more than two decades. Amanda Wixon subjected the woman, who was a teenager when the ordeal began, to more than 25 years of abuse at her squalid home in Gloucestershire, western England. The 56-year-old forced the victim, who has a learning disability, to do manual labour, regularly assaulted her and deprived her of food and healthcare, it emerged during an earlier 13-day...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has taken responsibility for his “mistake” in sending Peter Mandelson to Washington as ambassador, as Downing Street denied there was a “cover-up” in the release of files related to the appointment. The prime minister is facing fresh questions about his judgment in giving Mandelson the ambassadorship despite being warned of a “general reputational risk” because of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In his first public appearance since the...

Iran’s new supreme leader has vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz, attack US bases and avenge the blood of its martyrs in his first statement since succeeding his father. US President Donald Trump responded with an insult and threat soon after. “The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,” Mojtaba Khamenei said about the strategic waterway, which carries about a fifth of global oil shipments. Khamenei urged Iran’s Gulf neighbours to close US military bases in the...

A man was arrested with more ⁠than 2,200 live ⁠garden ants in his ⁠luggage at Nairobi’s main airport this week amid a rise in cases of smuggling of the insects in Kenya. Chinese national Zhang Kequn, 27, was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta ‌International Airport on Tuesday while he was trying to leave the country, court filings on Thursday showed. Immigration officials flagged a “stop order” on Zhang’s passport after he evaded arrest in Kenya last year. Ant aficionados pay large sums to ⁠maintain...

The opening week of the war against Iran cost the United States more than US$11.3 billion, lawmakers were told in a Pentagon briefing, according to a New York Times report underscoring the pace at which the conflict is consuming weapons and resources. The Times, citing unnamed sources familiar with Tuesday’s closed-door briefing, said members of Congress were told that the figure excludes many costs connected with the build-up to the strikes – suggesting the final tally for the first week could...

Airlines around the world are increasing fares and raising fuel surcharges as the Iran war sends oil prices swinging wildly and stokes fears of jet fuel shortages if the fighting persists. The cost of plane tickets may jump as much as 9 per cent, said Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association industry group. Fuel costs account for about a quarter of the expenses paid by carriers. Demand for alternative routes that bypass the Middle East is also surging,...

Zhao Tong is a senior fellow with the Nuclear Policy Programme at Washington-based think tank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and its East Asia-based research centre on contemporary China, Carnegie China. His research focuses on strategic security issues, including nuclear weapons policy, deterrence, arms control, non-proliferation, missile defence, hypersonic weapons, regional security in the Asia-Pacific and China’s security and foreign policy. SCMP Plus readers get early access...

A Tehran resident in her 30s agreed to share her thoughts with Agence France-Presse about the ongoing war and daily life. Her identity has been withheld for her protection. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation. How is daily life in Tehran? People left in waves, especially those who were next to targets. The financial situation is very bad. My job has been halted and I am spending out of my savings. Going away has costs too, so this may be one of the reasons why people are leaving...

Filipino sailor George Miranda was racing to help a stricken vessel aboard the tugboat Mussafah 2 when he last spoke to his wife and young daughter. The 46-year-old, whose small ship was struck by a pair of missiles this week in the Strait of Hormuz, is the only seafarer from the Philippines known to be missing in the Middle East war, the government says. But more than 6,000 others from the country that supplies a quarter of the world’s sailors are still working in the conflict zone and...

A UN-backed panel of independent experts focusing on racial discrimination has said that racist hate speech by US President Donald Trump and other American political leaders, along with a crackdown on immigration in the United States, have led to “grave human rights violations”. The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its decision on Wednesday and urged the US to suspend immigration enforcement operations at, and near, schools, hospitals, and faith-based...

Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out a deadly missile strike on a junior school in Iran that killed over 165 people, many of them children, in the opening hours of the conflict, according to a US official and a second person briefed on findings of a preliminary US military investigation into the incident. The bombing of the school and its casualties involving children has become a focal point of the war, and if ultimately confirmed to be at the hands of the US,...

Since the war in the Middle East began nearly two weeks ago, the phone at Ron Hubbard’s bomb shelter company in Texas has not stopped ringing. Foreign and US clients are rushing to buy his bunkers, seeking refuge in case of air raids, nuclear fallout or apocalypse. With the United States and Israel pounding Iran, and Tehran retaliating with strikes across the region, Hubbard has seen demand for his product soar, mostly from Gulf nation clients in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab...

The Trump administration on Wednesday opened a new trade investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries – an effort that comes after the Supreme Court struck down US President Donald Trump’s previous use of tariffs by declaring an economic emergency. Trump and his team have made clear that they’re seeking to replace the hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenues after the Supreme Court’s February ruling by using different laws to establish new tariffs. In this case, the...

The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for Iran to halt its attacks on Gulf states, in a resolution that did not mention US or Israeli strikes on Iran, prompting Tehran’s ambassador to decry a “blatant misuse” of the international body. The resolution, passed by 13 votes with two abstentions, “demands the immediate cessation of all attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan”. It also “condemns any actions...

An Iran-linked hacking group claimed responsibility Wednesday for a cyberattack on US medical technology giant Stryker, saying it had extracted 50 terabytes of data in retaliation for military strikes on Iran. “Our major cyber operation has been executed with complete success,” Handala said in a statement. It described the hack as retribution for what it called “the brutal attack on the Minab school” in Iran, where authorities said more than 150 people were killed, and for “ongoing cyber...

From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading AI chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the non-profit watchdog Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the United States and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Meta AI. Testing showed that eight of those chatbots...

Chilean President Gabriel Boric left La Moneda presidential palace for the last time on Wednesday, ending a four-year term with a call for national unity that most observers took as a reference to the Chinese undersea cable dispute that defined his final weeks in office. “I wish success to the incoming government, success for Chile, and may our homeland always come first, above any interest, above any disagreement,” Boric said from the palace courtyard, where he arrived with his partner, Paula...

Norwegian police said on Wednesday that three brothers had been arrested on suspicion of a “terrorist bombing” over a weekend explosion at the US embassy in Oslo that caused minor damage but no injuries. Police prosecutor Christian Hatlo told a press conference the brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo around 3.30pm and that police were investigating the motive. “We are still working from several hypotheses. One of them is whether this is an order from...

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has urged civilians to keep clear of all port facilities in Iran, an announcement that drew a warning from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of Gulf-wide retaliatory strikes if those sites are targeted. On Wednesday, CENTCOM said that the Iran was using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations, which would make the ports legitimate military targets under international law. Civilians should immediately avoid all port facilities, and Iranian...

Iran cannot take part in the 2026 World Cup after co-host the United States launched air strikes against the country alongside Israel, killing its leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said on Wednesday. The US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran almost two weeks ago, killing the Islamic Republic’s ‌supreme leader, leading to a region-wide conflict in the Gulf. “Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we...

Logistics companies in China are feeling the strain from the US-Israeli war on Iran, as volatile crude prices and disrupted transport routes ripple through global supply chains. With e-commerce cargo stranded in the Middle East and freight rates skyrocketing, industry insiders said they expect the fallout to last months, even as US President Donald Trump signalled the war could end soon. While some saw opportunities in alternative Central Asian corridors, Chinese businesses reliant on the region...

Documents released on Wednesday by the British government show officials believed there was a “reputational risk” to appointing Peter Mandelson as the US ambassador because of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The concerns were raised in a document sent to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in December 2024 before he appointed Mandelson to the role, seen as vital to establish a good relationship with the administration of US President Donald Trump. The document also spelled...

Iran said the world should be ready for oil at US$200 a barrel as its forces hit merchant ships ⁠on Wednesday and the International Energy Agency recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s. The war unleashed with joint US and Israeli air strikes nearly two weeks ago has so far killed around 2,000 people, mostly Iranians and Lebanese, as it has spread into Lebanon and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos. Despite what...

The Chilean capital Santiago awoke on Wednesday to a mixture of celebration and tension. As the city prepared for the inauguration of its centre-right president, the new government’s first crisis was already unfolding behind the scenes: an undersea fibre-optic cable linking the South American country to Hong Kong that had enraged Washington and may prove a watershed moment in how Latin America handles critical infrastructure projects and its partnership with Beijing. Jose Antonio Kast was...

For decades, geopolitical risk in the Gulf was largely synonymous with oil. Pipelines, export terminals and processing facilities were viewed as the obvious tender spots in times of regional escalation. In an oil-reliant economy, hydrocarbons were both the engine of growth and the primary vulnerability. Risk assessments, insurance premiums and sovereign spreads were managed accordingly. The episodic risks in the oil and gas industry led to a conventional playbook for navigating crises. Gulf...

Japan and Germany said on Wednesday they would tap into their oil reserves to tackle the rise in crude prices due to the Middle East war, with Berlin saying the IEA global energy body had asked member states to release 400 million barrels. France, the current chair of the Group of Seven countries, said nations were coordinating their steps as G7 energy ministers said they stood ready to take “all necessary measures”. The latest announcement came as leaders of the Group of Seven advanced...

How does a missile strike on a Qatari gas plant end up raising the price of rice in Bangladesh? The answer is fertiliser, an unglamorous commodity that nevertheless sustains much of what the world eats. Qatar burns natural gas to produce ammonia. Ammonia is converted into urea. Urea goes into the ground and out of the ground comes grain. Disrupt the first step, as Iran did when it struck QatarEnergy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility on March 1, and the consequences travel along...

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “safe and sound” despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, said the son of the Iranian president on Wednesday. “I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel. He did not elaborate. State television had called...

Pakistan will come to the aid of Saudi Arabia whenever needed, according to the spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as Iran retaliates against US-Israeli strikes by hitting Gulf nations. Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan, which shares a border with Iran, signed a defence pact in September last year, elevating their long-standing security partnership, which is being tested by the Middle East crisis. There was “no question we might, we will” come to Saudi Arabia’s aid “no matter...

Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf, handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports and any attempt to seize it would mark a major escalation in the conflict, analysts have said. The US and Israel have so far treaded carefully around the island, but an Axios report over the weekend cited Trump administration officials saying capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists. The island, located around 30km (19 miles) off the Iranian mainland, handles...

The Republican candidate backed by US President Donald Trump will advance to a run-off against a Democrat in the Georgia race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in the US House of Representatives, after a special election on Tuesday seen as a test of Trump’s sway over his party. Trump’s preferred candidate, former district attorney for four northwest Georgia counties Clay Fuller, will face Shawn Harris, a moderate Democrat who has sought to court disillusioned Trump voters, in ‌the April 7...

Just as Sri Lanka thought it had bought some time with a one-month visa for the Iranian sailors it rescued, another of Iran’s warships appeared offshore, deepening Colombo’s struggle to stay out of a war that keeps washing up on its doorstep. The vessel was detected nine nautical miles (17km) off the coast on Tuesday, a week after a US submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena and damaged the IRIS Bushehr off the southern port of Galle on March 4. Sri Lanka now hosts hundreds of Iranian naval...

Elon Musk’s estimated US$839 billion net worth has made him the wealthiest individual ever recorded, Forbes said on Tuesday, as billionaires worldwide saw their combined fortunes surge in the past year to an all-time high of US$20.1 trillion. Musk topped the Forbes World’s Billionaires list for the second consecutive year after his fortune swelled by roughly US$500 billion over the past 12 months, driven by rising valuations at Tesla and SpaceX, which is targeting a public offering in 2026. He...

A Florida woman accused of firing gunshots at Rihanna’s home in Los Angeles was charged on Tuesday with one count of attempted murder and other felony offences including 10 counts of assault on a person with a semi-automatic firearm. District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that the singing superstar, her partner A$AP Rocky, their three small children and her mother were all on the property at the time. The district attorney’s office said Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 35, was charged in the shooting Sunday...

US President Donald Trump says the war on Iran may not last much longer. But across Asia, government actions are racing to shield themselves from the fallout – revealing a region gripped by anxiety that an energy shock could revive the spectre of stagflation. Under mounting economic pressure and record oil market volatility, Trump said on Monday that the US-Israeli war on Iran could be over “very soon”, though not within the coming week. The most exposed Asian economies – including South Korea...

Disgraced movie mogul and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein says life in prison is “hell” in an interview where he repeatedly claimed he was not guilty of any crimes. The man who once effectively ruled Hollywood before a spectacular fall from grace at the start of the #MeToo movement said he was trapped in his cell at New York’s Rikers Island, with only guards for company. “It’s too dangerous for me to be around anyone else. Other inmates get to go to the yard. But every time I’m out there, I...

The US launched its war against Iran on February 28, convinced that decapitating Tehran’s leadership would produce swift political capitulation. A week later, Iran was still firing missiles across the Gulf, some 150 oil tankers were stalled at the Strait of Hormuz and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander has threatened to set ablaze any vessel attempting passage. A recent analysis in The Diplomat argues the strikes signal the end of China’s westward strategic march. The diagnosis captures...

The attacker who drove into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, is dead. No one else was killed.

The Texas Democrat has used his perch in Congress to highlight sympathetic cases in his push to free detainees and call attention to the cruel consequences of President Trump’s immigration agenda.

Venezuela gave Trump a taste of success. This isn’t the first time an American president has gotten hooked on overthrowing foreign governments.

In these videos, directors walked us through pivotal sequences from their 2026 Academy Award-nominated films.

Ukraine wants to leverage its defense expertise into security partnerships and to reap potentially vast profits for its arms industry.

Despite ethical concerns about using battlefield videos to train artificial intelligence, Ukraine’s defense ministry said it needs to improve A.I. targeting to compete with Russia.

By suing Republican states and making sharp reversals in old cases, the Trump administration is using courts to fast-track major shifts in policy.

The Trump administration began a trade investigation Thursday into whether dozens of countries have policies to combat forced labor.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would build three bases in the region. The government also plans to improve infrastructure and airports in the north.

Many cybercrime victims are retargeted by online scammers posing as lawyers or other professionals who promise they can recover stolen money.

The Japanese company’s retreat echoes moves by other traditional carmakers as the industry divides between electric vehicle haves and have-nots.

A rare visit to a Khmer temple on Thailand and Cambodia’s border showed how deadly clashes between the two countries have scarred a heritage site.

It’s the first time since 2015 that the combination of the day and date associated with bad luck has recurred three times in a calendar year.

The surge in capital punishment is a cruel and unjust development.

Trump’s plans for Washington bring to mind what Mussolini did — and tried to do — to Rome.

Iran is turning the Strait of Hormuz into a battlefield, proving that a short and surgical war with Iran could be a fantasy.

The “Late Night” host Seth Meyers said President Trump is letting Americans “choose your own adventure” in the war with Iran.

The F.B.I. said the shooting, which wounded two other people at the university, in Norfolk, Va., was being investigated as an act of terrorism.

A study tracks how the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade competition with Mexico led to earlier deaths for American factory workers.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been reluctant to force people indoors, even in dire weather. But conditions, whether on the streets or in shelters, can be dangerous.

A television journalist for four decades with 30 Emmy Awards, Mr. Anastos especially enjoyed delivering good news.