Minimalist News

Modi Urges Indians To Conserve Fuel As Oil Shock Spreads India’s Prime Minister called on the nation to work from home, travel less, and conserve fuel to help the government save foreign exchange, OilPrice reported . “In the current situation, we must place great emphasis on saving foreign exchange,” Narendra Modi said, as quoted by Reuters. The prime minister also urged Indians to stop buying gold, again to conserve foreign exchange. Modi also called on farmers to reduce their fertilizer use by as much as 50%. CNBC recalls that India spent $174.9 billion on crude oil and refined product imports

No, AI Won't Make Money Obsolete Authored by Peter Earle via the American Institute for Economic Research , The notion that artificial intelligence (AI) at full bloom might eliminate the need for money reflects a deep confusion about what money is and does. Money is not merely a barter-avoiding convenience layered onto an otherwise frictionless world. It is a solution to fundamental problems of exchange, profound difficulties in coordination, and comparison of alternatives under scarcity. Even in a hypothetical future defined by extraordinary productivity gains and broadly collapsing prices , those underlying problems do not disappear. Instead, they change form,

Billionaire Bucks Co-Owner Alleges $1 Billion Blackmail Plot After Affair With China-Born Entrepreneur Wesley Edens, billionaire investor and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, replied to a 2022 LinkedIn message from Changli Sophia Luo, a China-born founder of a small Manhattan nonprofit that produced interview videos. Their exchanges turned personal; by June 2023 they met at her apartment and had sex, according to the Wall Street Journal , citing prosectuors. What followed, authorities say, became an extortion case. Luo was indicted for allegedly trying to extract over $1 billion by threatening to release explicit images and videos . Prosecutors claim she

Netanyahu Says He Wants To End Annual US Military Support For Israel Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 10 that he hopes to wean Israel off U.S. military support within a decade. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Israel, on March 19, 2026. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters In 2016, under the Obama administration, the United States agreed to give Israel $38 billion in military assistance. The memorandum of understanding covered U.S. fiscal years 2019–2028. “ I want to draw down to zero the American financial support , the financial

Watch: Lockdown Architect Deborah Birx Smirks Over PCR Testing For Hantavirus The former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator who helped shape the 6-foot rule, extended lockdowns, school closures, and “15 Days to Slow the Spread” (that somehow became much longer) is once again on television recommending widespread PCR testing - this time for hantavirus. In recent appearances on mainstream outlets, Dr. Deborah Birx discussed a hantavirus situation linked to a cruise ship. She suggested offering PCR tests to passengers who had already disembarked and were scattered around the globe, calling it “21st-century technology” and arguing it would catch early or

Buckle Up For A Wild Week Authored by James Howard Kunstler, The Earth Moves Just a Bit “Operation Epic Fury was the loud one. Operation Economic Fury is the quiet one. . . . While the carriers were on television, Treasury was doing the actual demolition.” - Jesús Enrique Rosas on X Expect a consequential week. The Persian Gulf remains closed and colossal oil slicks leak out of Kharg Island while Iran blusters and stomps its feet. No one can even try to buy its oil anymore, not even China. The sanctions are too onerous. Iran’s wells must be shut

Chief Justice Roberts Has No Spine Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , He’s a judicial pimp who pragmatically defends the Establishment’s bottom line. I do not like Chief Justice John Roberts. I think his loyalties lie more with defending the entrenched powers of the political Establishment than with defending the Constitution of the United States. I find his jurisprudence squishy. Although his decisions could be described as advancing, more often than not, conservative viewpoints, Roberts does not seem to have a consistent philosophy guiding his opinions. Roberts is a pragmatist. He surveys the mood of the country and

Fire Erupts At HF Sinclair Refinery In Tulsa Local media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, report that the HF Sinclair refinery, which has a crude-processing capacity of 125,000 barrels per day, has suffered a fire. This comes just days after another refinery fire in the New Orleans area. Fox 23 News reports that the Tulsa Fire Department is currently on the scene after a fire broke out at the refinery in West Tulsa earlier today. The refinery is critical because it primarily processes sweet crude, can handle some sour Canadian crude, and markets refined products to the Mid-Continent states. Its products include

Hegseth: Senator Mark Kelly Revealed Classified Information On US Munitions Stockpiles Via American Greatness, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) voiced concerns Sunday about the state of US weapons stockpiles following the recent conflict involving Iran, describing the extent of depleted munitions reserves as “shocking” during an appearance on CBS News’s Face the Nation . “I think it’s fair to say it’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” Kelly said, arguing that the United States had exhausted significant amounts of military hardware without a clearly defined strategy. “Because of that, we’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means

Why Bernie Sanders Is Wrong About Gas Prices Authored by Robert Rapier via OilPrice.com, Gasoline prices can diverge sharply from crude oil prices due to refining and logistical constraints. Tight refinery capacity and geopolitical disruptions have created bottlenecks throughout the fuel supply chain. Policies that discourage energy infrastructure investment could worsen future fuel price volatility. When lawmakers propose solutions to complex economic problems, the first requirement should be a clear understanding of how those problems actually work. A recent Facebook post by Bernie Sanders comparing today’s oil and gasoline prices to those in 2011 suggests that oil companies are “ripping

Trump Wants To Slash Child Care Costs By Getting Government Out Of The Way Child care in America has become a significant financial burden. For many families, it now rivals rent, a mortgage, or student loan payments. Democrats have been framing child care as a key issue for them heading into the midterms. “Child care continues to get more expensive," said Jaelin O'Halloran, a DNC spokesperson. "While Trump and Republicans have offered no plans to follow through on their promises to lower costs, Democrats are focused on bringing down costs and making life more affordable for working families." "House Republicans

American Bankers Attempt Last Ditch Effort To Kill Crypto Market Structure Bill Regarding Stablecoins American Bankers Association (ABA) CEO Rob Nichols sent an emergency Sunday letter to every bank CEO in the country, urging “immediate engagement” against what he called a stablecoin yield loophole in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act , days before a Senate Banking Committee markup scheduled for Thursday. The letter, dated May 11 — Mother’s Day — and addressed to ABA member bank CEOs, asked bank leaders to contact their senators and mobilize their employees to do the same before the committee convenes for a scheduled

Target Hospitality Jumps As Data Center Boom Fuels Demand For Worker Camps Target Hospitality shares jumped in premarket trading after the company announced a new contract to provide mobile housing solutions and related hospitality services for workers at data center construction projects. The 48-month contract could generate upward of $750 million in revenue for Target Hospitality, which builds, owns, leases, and operates large temporary or semi-permanent "communities" for workers of major projects. The contract covers 3,370 beds. Historically, Target Hospitality generated revenue from energy, natural resources, and government-related customers, but since the data center buildout boom, its temporary housing solution

Zelensky Touts That 20 Countries Seek Ukraine Drone Deals Ukraine is emerging as a global drone export powerhouse, coming fresh off vast experience gained in over four years of war with Russia - or at least that's the image Kiev is seeking to present to the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that nearly 20 countries are pursuing drone agreements with Ukraine , with four deals already finalized. via Reuters Agreements already confirmed include deals with Germany , Norway and the Netherlands , alongside ‌long-term security partnerships with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates which were inked

Tyson Sinks, Walmart Falls After Trump Moves To Temporarily Lower Beef Import Tariffs Tyson Foods and Walmart shares moved lower around noon in New York, while major Brazilian meatpacker Minerva Foods moved higher on a Wall Street Journal report that says the White House will temporarily cut beef import tariffs According to the WSJ report, the plan would suspend the annual tariff-rate quota, which imposes higher duties once import limits are reached, allowing more foreign beef to flood the U.S. at lower tariff rates to suppress soaring prices. The move comes as the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to a

Judge Who Oversaw Utah Gerrymander Resigns For Affair With Plaintiff's Attorney Authored by Ben Sellers via HeadlineUSA , With partisan battle lines being drawn nationwide in a legal showdown over redistricting, Utah may be next in line after the judge who forcibly gerrymandered a congressional seat for Democrats stepped down in disgrace. Diana Hagen, a justice on the Utah Supreme Court resigned Friday in a letter to Gov. Spencer Cox. Utah News Dispatch: Utah Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen announces her resignation from the court. Hagen faced allegations she had a relationship with an attorney involved in a case about

ASP Isotopes Subsidiary Signs MOU With European Nuclear Technology Company For Fuel Supply ASP Isotopes said its subsidiary Quantum Leap Energy LLC has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with an unnamed European nuclear technology company to explore a potential long-term partnership to supply fuel for advanced nuclear reactors, according to a company press release Monday morning. The agreement focuses on high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a type of nuclear fuel enriched to more than 10% uranium-235 that is expected to play a key role in powering next-generation reactors. Under the proposed arrangement, the European company would provide uranium feedstock to

Parabolic Semiconductor Rally Is Pricing In 2028 Already Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, The parabolic semiconductor rally crossed a line this week. SOXX, the iShares Semiconductor ETF, closed Friday at $509.77 after touching a fresh intraday high of $511.68. That’s a gain of roughly 244% from the April 2025 low of $148.31. Most of that move has been compressed into the last two months alone. Since mid-March, SOXX has tacked on another 58%. The chart is now textbook parabolic. And parabolic charts almost never end politely. If you wanted a real-time stress test of how fragile this move is,

Moderna Extends Rally After Two More Cruise Ship Passengers Test Positive For Hantavirus Moderna shares are up another 7% in premarket trading, as renewed alarm over the hantavirus-plagued MV Hondius cruise ship energizes investor focus on the company's vaccine pipeline. The latest news catalyst : Two passengers evacuated from the cruise ship on Sunday tested positive, reinforcing concerns that the outbreak remains active. The Hondius is moored at a port in Spain's Canary Islands. On Sunday, passengers were escorted off by personnel in protective gear before being flown home on government and military aircraft. Seventeen Americans were taken to the

Energy Secretary Open To Suspending US Gas Tax As Pump-Rage Surges With Americans increasingly incensed over the steadily climbing cost of refueling their vehicles, the US Energy secretary says he's "open to all ideas" to bring down the price at the pump, to include suspending the federal gas tax . This is bad, right? pic.twitter.com/Sw3UGcW31q — Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) May 11, 2026 “All measures that can be taken to lower the price of at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” Chris Wright told Meet the Press on Sunday. "We’re releasing oil from

Violence in Guerrero state has driven as many as 1,000 households from their homes, rights group says Hundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico by intense attacks from a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday . A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they started to intensify last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress said, forcing between 800 to 1,000 families to flee to

Discovery was made by Union Pacific employee inspecting stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Rail workers in Texas found six people dead inside a boxcar at a yard close to the Mexican border on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The discovery was made by a Union Pacific employee inspecting the stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north, a spokesperson for the Laredo police department said, citing the railroad freight company. Continue reading...

Kevin González, 18-year-old who had terminal colon cancer, died shortly after reuniting with his parents in Mexico A Chicago-born teen who advocated for his parents’ release from US immigration authorities’ custody while fighting terminal cancer has died shortly after reuniting with them in Mexico, his family has told media outlets. The parents of 18-year-old Kevin González had been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) custody in Arizona in mid-April after they crossed the US border from Mexico without permission in an attempt to see him in Chicago as his health waned. González since then traveled to be

Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of study Levels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective. Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals’ use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell. Continue reading...

Debates over secession overshadowed by revelations separatist-linked group gained access to list of electors The illegal use of voter information by rightwing separatists in the province of Alberta has raised fresh fears over Canada’s electoral integrity by making valuable and “incredibly confidential” personal data easily accessible to malicious actors, security experts have warned. The data breach, one of the largest in Canadian history, has prompted warnings of a “truly terrifying” new battleground over information, persuasion and foreign interference in already weakened democratic systems. Continue reading...

Taiwan, tariffs and the strait of Hormuz are on the meeting’s agenda for Beijing – but will the US president be forced to ask for help in ending his war with Iran? On 20 February, a White House official confirmed that US president Donald Trump would be travelling to Beijing the following month to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Top of the agenda: the US-China trade war. One week later, Trump approved joint strikes with Israel against Iran, starting a new war in the Middle East. Its ramifications have spread far beyond the region and caused alarm in Beijing.

Vice-president is accused of misusing public funds and threatening the lives of President Marcos Jr and his wife The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has been impeached over allegations she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, in a case that could complicate her presidential ambitions. Duterte, the daughter of the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, was impeached by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos. Continue reading...

US leader enters talks with superpower rival from vulnerable position, but will be hoping for economic wins amid turbulent backdrop If all goes to plan over the next few days – and that is a big if – Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a highly anticipated summit with Xi Jinping , China’s leader. The trip will mark the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade. The last visit was also made by Trump , during his first term, in 2017. Continue reading...

Woman recovered after volcanic eruption on remote island, while operation to find two missing Singaporeans goes on Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said. Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre (4,445ft) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 6 miles (10km) into the air. Continue reading...

Carmaker gives one of biggest warnings yet of conflict’s impact on businesses while Trump tariffs also take toll Toyota has reported a £3bn hit from costs from the war in Iran, as prices of parts and materials soared and sales dropped. The world’s biggest carmaker said profits declined in its financial year to March as it was “likely unable to absorb newly added impact from the Middle East”, in one of the largest warnings yet of the war’s impact on businesses. Continue reading...

Treasurer says housing market ‘isn’t working’ and tax system around it is ‘out of whack’. Follow the latest updates Federal budget 2026: what we know so far See all our Australia budget 2026 coverage Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Let’s build more houses … not start taxing them’, shadow finance minister says Claire Chandler , the shadow minister for finance, spoke a moment ago. You don’t make more of something by increasing taxes on it. Taxes are inherently a disincentive to create more of something. If we need more houses in this country,

Survey of 27,000 Australian supermarket items found some products boasting environmental benefits had significantly higher emissions than unlabelled counterparts Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Foods in supermarkets boasting environmental terms such as “natural” or “sustainable” are mostly just using marketing speak, rather than verified claims, Australian researchers have found. More than 27,000 packaged foods sold at Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, IGA and Harris Farm supermarkets in Sydney were assessed by researchers from the George Institute for Global Health. Continue reading...

Exclusive: state is now without caps on political donations or disclosure requirements, months out from November election Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast “Unlimited dark money” will keep flooding into Victorian politics after Labor failed to reach agreement with the Liberals or the Greens about donation reforms the Allan government vowed to fast-track through parliament. Victoria is now without caps on political donations or disclosure requirements, months out from the November election after the high court struck down the state’s donation laws last month .

Labor’s anticipated reforms are not a panacea but they could nudge Australia toward a more equitable trajectory Federal budget 2026 LIVE updates: Australia government budget announcement and speech – latest news Explore all of our 2026 Australia federal budget coverage Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Albanese government is preparing to unveil a budget that will recast housing as shelter – rather than a financial tool – in changes that have already sparked heated warnings that rents will rocket and housing supply will be curtailed. Those warnings are best ignored. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Push to register unaffiliated party with identical name to grassroots group follows Avi Yemini’s plan to use ‘Free Palestine party’ to funnel votes to One Nation Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Muslim Votes Matter (MVM) has complained to the Victorian Electoral Commission over an anonymous bid to register a political party under the same name before the state election, accusing it of deliberately misleading voters. MVM was established before the 2025 federal election as a grassroots advocacy and lobbying movement, responding to concerns

Trump reportedly involved in securing visa for Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted in Warsaw on criminal charges Poland has said it expects Washington to extradite a former justice minister wanted on criminal charges after reports emerged that he had fled to the US from Hungary, where the former prime minister Viktor Orbán had granted him asylum. “You can’t hide these days. You can flee, you can delay it for a while, but eventually your options run out,” Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said on Monday in reference to Zbigniew Ziobro. Continue reading...

The bloc’s foreign policy chief said recent remarks from the Russian leader suggested the war may be coming to an end Russian affairs reporter The EU on Monday dismissed Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

French woman taken to Paris in serious condition while American flown to Nebraska is asymptomatic, say officials Europe live – latest updates A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive for the virus, as the complex operation to repatriate those onboard continued on Monday. The French woman was one of five French passengers who disembarked from the ship in Tenerife on Sunday before being flown to a hospital in Paris. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Britain expected to be allowed to keep ban on live animal exports, sources say, in fillip for Keir Starmer UK politics live – latest updates Brussels is preparing to offer Keir Starmer a key concession in talks over an agricultural deal, giving the beleaguered prime minister an important victory in his efforts to move closer to the EU. European officials have conceded that the UK can keep its ban on live animal exports as part of any joint deal on food and agricultural products, according to sources on both sides of the talks, even though the EU has not

Casting director urges Keir Starmer to intervene in case of Paata Burchuladze, 71, jailed for seven years after singing at anti-regime demonstrations The Royal Opera House in London has urged Keir Starmer to intervene in the case of Paata Burchuladze, a world-renowned bass singer who has been imprisoned in Georgia since October on a charge of leading a coup against the country’s authoritarian leader. The 71-year-old has performed at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and collaborated with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. He was arrested after joining a

US president said Iran’s response to the US peace proposal was ‘stupid’ and that the ceasefire is ‘unbelievable weak’ Trump calls Iran’s response to peace plan ‘totally unacceptable’ as ceasefire frays Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, will visit Qatar later today for talks on the war, its impact on the region and efforts to ensure navigational safety in the strait of Hormuz is resumed, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency. Turkey, which neighbours Iran, has been in close contact with the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the conflict. It condemnded the US and

US president says he is considering restarting naval escorts in strait of Hormuz in attempt to end Iranian blockade Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has said the ceasefire with Iran is on “life support” and that he is considering restarting US navy military escorts of ships through the strait of Hormuz in an attempt to end the Iranian blockade of the vital waterway. The US president dismissed Iran’s peace proposals as stupid, and denied he was under any domestic pressure to reach a deal. Continue reading...

IDF says two soldiers will spend weeks in military prison over incident it said was viewed with great severity Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to be denounced as anti-Christian. Continue reading...

US president expresses ire at Tehran’s reported demands, as drones strike Gulf nations and Israel warns war ‘not over’ Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian response to a US peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”, on a day the month-old ceasefire showed signs of fraying as drone strikes were reported around the region and Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over”. The Iranian counter-proposal was passed to Washington through Pakistani mediators. Continue reading...

Writing by Narges Mohammadi, arrested 14 times for activism, offers a disturbing insight into treatment Read an exclusive excerpt here: ‘Blindfolded, I sat down slowly. Then the interrogation began’ In an exclusive extract of writing smuggled from prison in Iran, the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has described the “torture” of solitary confinement, and her systematic medical neglect by the prison system. The writing from the past decade will be part of a soon to be published memoir, A Woman Never Stops Fighting, that gives a rare and alarming insight into the treatment of Mohammadi, who is in critical

Stone being paid $50,000 a month to ‘rebuild’ relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government The US lobbyist Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of Donald Trump, has been condemned for accepting $50,000 a month to “rebuild” relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government. Myanmar’s leaders have been internationally isolated since seizing power in a coup in 2021 , and have repeatedly been accused of atrocities that may amount to war crimes . Activists say the military rulers, which recently held widely condemned “sham” elections , are now trying to reassert themselves abroad. Continue reading...

Turmoil and violence rocks state after prime minister Narendra Modi’s party claimed victory in legislative election Tensions have been high in the Indian state of West Bengal after a top political aide from Narendra Modi’s party was shot dead in the street and hundreds were arrested as violence broke out following elections this week. The prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) claimed victory in the West Bengal elections on Monday , defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had ruled over the state legislature for 15 years. Continue reading...

Mamata Banerjee says Narendra Modi’s party ‘forcefully captured’ election that ended her party’s 15 years in power A political showdown is taking place in the Indian state of West Bengal as the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, India’s most powerful female politician, has refused to resign after she lost elections to the prime minister’s party this week. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) won an overwhelming victory on Monday in state elections in West Bengal, where Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party (TMC) have been in power for 15 years. Continue reading...

Result in key Indian state is set to have significant implications for the country’s political landscape Narendra Modi’s party has won a resounding election victory in West Bengal, a state which had been a rare opposition stronghold, expanding his unrivalled consolidation of power across the country. It is the first time that the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has won assembly elections in West Bengal, a large and politically significant state in eastern India. Continue reading...

Jitu Munda says he was refused access to money in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracy The sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India. Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...

More than 100 figures sign open letter criticising closure, just months after MA was launched More than 100 academics, writers and activists from around the world have signed an open letter condemning plans to close an MA in Black studies and global justice at Birmingham City University (BCU), just months after it was first launched. The move follows the controversial closure of BCU’s undergraduate course in Black studies in 2024 , and has prompted warnings that Black studies are being erased from UK higher education. Continue reading...

Dip in credit card spending in April, particularly on travel, suggests Britons preparing for harder times amid Iran war fallout Households cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 18 months, as the conflict in the Middle East provoked fears of another cost of living crisis, a report from one of the UK’s biggest banks has suggested. Barclays, which processes nearly 40% of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, said its data showed there had been a 0.1% fall in card spending last month compared with a year earlier. This was the first year-on-year fall

Research from UCL suggests visiting art galleries or museums, singing and painting can help improve health outcomes Singing, painting or visiting a gallery or museum helps people age more slowly, according to the latest study to link taking an active interest in art and culture with improved health. The findings are the first to show that both participating in arts activities and attending events, such as viewing an exhibition, lead to people staying biologically younger. Continue reading...

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood reported to be among those who have told the PM to consider his position. Botterill says voters she spoke to during the campaign felt the country does not work for them. She is a working-class Yorkshire woman, she says. She knows that the opportunities she has enjoyed would not be there if if had not been for the achievements of Labour government. She says Labour is one of the best vehicles for changing the lives of working people that this county has ever known. Continue reading...

In a rare public appearance, Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams warned of ‘networks of powerful elites’ using wealth and influence to silence dissenting voices Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams and the late Virginia Giuffre have jointly won the Freedom to Publish prize at this year’s British book awards, marking the first time the award has been shared. Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, was recognised for Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism , her bestselling memoir about her years inside Meta, formerly Facebook. The book makes allegations about the company’s internal culture and practices, including its approach to

Map designed to boost Democrats’ US House seats was thrown out by Virginia’s supreme court last week Sign up for the Breaking News US email Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump reiterated that Iran’s peace proposal was “just unacceptable”. The president went on to insist that he had a “very simple plan”, and maintained that Tehran could not have a nuclear weapon, without elaborating on the next negotiating steps. Continue reading...

The British political strategist drew swift criticism in a state where tacos are practically the official dish Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Polls have shown California voters have been largely disengaged from the upcoming election for governor, but over the weekend one candidate managed to capture the public’s attention – and ire. Steve Hilton, the British political strategist seeking the state’s top office, drew derision after posting a video outside a southern California location of the fast food chain Del Taco while holding the hard-shell tortilla concoction that he referred to as a “street taco”. Continue

The trial has exposed even more details about OpenAI’s fractious corporate past than previously documented OpenAI, despite its name, is usually extremely secretive about its operations. It promotes a carefully crafted image to the world. Over the course of Elon Musk’s case against the startup and its CEO Sam Altman, however, the artificial intelligence firm has been forced to publicly contend with some of the messiest parts of its rise to power in public. The Musk v OpenAI trial , which on Monday entered its third week, has featured a who’s who of Silicon Valley testifying about OpenAI’s past and

Hamilton was fired as acting administrator last year after he opposed plans to abolish the agency at a House hearing Donald Trump has once again nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) after Hamilton was previously fired for publicly opposing plans to abolish the agency. Hamilton was dismissed last year from his role as acting administrator of the disaster relief agency after testifying before a House appropriations subcommittee. During the hearing, he said : “I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Continue

New voting maps flipped four Republican-held seats to give Democrats an edge in redistricting race sparked by Trump Virginia Democrats asked the US supreme court on Monday to revive a congressional map designed to boost their party’s chances in November’s midterm elections, turning to the court as Republicans – including allies of Donald Trump – seek to preserve narrow control of Congress. The case thrusts Virginia into an unusual, mid-decade redistricting showdown, as courts weigh whether lawmakers can remake House districts outside the normal post-census cycle – with control of a narrowly divided Congress potentially hanging in the balance. Continue

The widow of a man killed in last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University is suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI, blaming the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot for giving advice on how to carry out the rampage. The lawsuit comes after state authorities disclosed that ChatGPT gave information to the shooter about what time and location would maximise victims on campus, as well as the type of gun and ammunition to use. Authorities say he was also told that an attack can get more media...

Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces to be denounced as anti-Christian in southern Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this year to target the...

⁠A Bolivian ⁠judge on Monday held former President Evo Morales in contempt after he failed to appear in court ‌for a trial where he faces charges of trafficking a minor, local newspaper La Razon reported. Morales served three terms as Bolivia’s first ⁠indigenous president from 2006 to 2019. He ‌resigned following a disputed election that plunged the country into ‌turmoil. He is accused of having a relationship with a teenager and having a child with her in 2016 while he was in office. Thousands...

A South Texas medical examiner believes heatstroke may have led to the death of six people thought to be immigrants who were found on Sunday afternoon inside a argo train carriage at a Union Pacific rail depot near the Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. The people were found on Sunday as workers were inspecting one of the cars, said Jose Baeza, a spokesman for the Laredo Police Department. Police and fire crews arrived at the scene soon after. They confirmed that there were six people dead,...

Eighty-five Russia-linked people and entities have been sanctioned as part of a UK government crackdown on “pro-Kremlin narratives abroad”. The sanctions, imposed on Monday, were designed to target 29 individuals and organisations thought to have helped Russia forcibly deport and militarise Ukrainian children. More than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia and the territories which it has occupied, according to the UK Foreign Office. A further 56 individuals and organisations have...

The ⁠man accused of attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a White House reporters’ gala last month pleaded not guilty ‌to all charges on Monday. Cole Allen, 31, of California, did not speak in court as his lawyer Tezira Abe entered the plea on his behalf. The charges include attempted assassination of the president, assault on ⁠a federal officer and firearms offences. Prosecutors allege Allen fired ‌a shotgun at a US Secret Service agent and stormed a security checkpoint ‌in a...

Chinese technology companies and researchers turned out in force at a leading global artificial intelligence conference, despite mounting questions over whether they might avoid the event as a consequence of tense relations between Beijing and Washington. Papers with contributors from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for over 51 per cent of accepted submissions, compared with just under 32 per cent from the United States, according to statistics compiled from the listed affiliations for...

A former Polish justice minister sought in his homeland for alleged abuse of power says he has travelled from Hungary to the US, prompting prosecutors in Poland to say on Monday that they are investigating whether he was assisted in evading liability. Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. That administration established political control over key judicial institutions by stacking higher...

Beijing’s position in Latin America is far from collapsing, looking at the number of countries in the region that have switched diplomatic ties to it from Taipei. But in parts of the continent, governments are increasingly reassessing what their relationships with Beijing are delivering economically and politically. The shift is becoming visible in countries such as Honduras, Venezuela and Cuba, where economic strain, energy instability and geopolitical pressure are exposing the limits of...

Keir Starmer ⁠came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister’s resignation after his appeal for another chance seemingly fell on deaf ears. At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a leadership contest he said would only bring chaos but his speech appeared to do little to stem the...

A report from Canada’s spy agency that identifies Khalistani extremism as a national security threat may accelerate a diplomatic reset with India, even as analysts say allegations of interference by New Delhi continue to cloud the relationship. Delhi has long complained that a small number of Sikh separatist extremists have used Canadian soil to organise, raise funds and support violence connected to the push for “Khalistan”, a proposed independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab. The report by the...

A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said on Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued. The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive”, said Health Minister Stephanie Rist. One of 17 American passengers repatriated from the...

British paratroopers landed on a “golf course covered in rocks” to supply medical personnel and oxygen to Britain’s most remote overseas territory as it deals with a suspected hantavirus case, an army commander said on Sunday. The UK Health Security Agency confirmed on Friday that a British national had disembarked from the cruise ship MV Hondius to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where they live, with a suspected case of hantavirus. Six paratroopers, a Royal Air Force (RAF)...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Could omega-3 supplements hurt the brain? Chinese military study flags risks 2. Hong Kong schools record net student rise for 2 years straight 3. Trump heads to China weakened as Xi gains leverage ahead of summit 4. ‘Foreigner won’: Filipinos divided over pageant winner’s US roots 5. Singapore...

You can’t buy happiness, they say. But we “buy” dopamine fixes all the time. Just whip out the smartphone and we easily go down that rabbit hole of endless doom scrolling, falling into the addictive trap of instant gratification, chasing likes, shares, comments and followers as rewards. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in our experience of pleasure, focus, reward and motivation. It propels us to put in effort, devote time and feel good about our achievements. Before the...

Israel’s next election campaign is well under way, with political defections, fractious coalition-building and naked appeals to ethnic exclusion marking its opening salvoes as a crowded field of challengers queues up to try Benjamin Netanyahu for the security catastrophe of October 7, 2023 and the wars that followed. The vote, constitutionally set for this October, is shaping up as a referendum on the prime minister’s central claim to power: that only he can keep Israel safe. But after two and a...

Nobel Peace laureate and activist Narges Mohammadi has been transferred to a Tehran hospital more than a week after collapsing in prison, her foundation said on Sunday. Her transfer comes after days of pleading by her family and others who described her condition as critical. Her foundation said she has been granted a prison sentence suspension on bail. It was not clear for how long her sentence is suspended, the foundation said. Mohammadi had been imprisoned since December in Zanjan prison. She...

On April 28, the United Arab Emirates informed the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) it was leaving. Three days’ notice. No call to Riyadh beforehand, apparently. The grievance about production quotas was years old: Abu Dhabi had threatened to quit in 2021. What’s changed has nothing to do with the barrel count. It is about who underwrites Abu Dhabi’s security when it acts on a decision Riyadh opposes. After Iran struck UAE infrastructure, Abu Dhabi sent only a foreign...

Iran sent its response to the latest US proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but US President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” – the latest setback to efforts to resolve the stand-off in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring. Iranian state television reported that Tehran rejected the US proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the US, full Iranian...

Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of breaking a US-brokered ceasefire on Sunday, with both sides claiming to have suffered casualties in drone and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was neither observing the truce nor “even particularly trying to”, adding there had been no calm in front-line areas despite a lull in large-scale attacks and pledged that Ukraine would retaliate for any aggression shown by Moscow. “Yesterday and...

One of five French people flown back to France on Sunday from the cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is showing symptoms of the illness, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. “On of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane,” he posted on social media. “These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice. “They are getting medical treatment and will have tests and a medical check-up,” he added. Lecornu also said he would issue...

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium must be “taken out” before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an American broadcaster Sunday. “It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes. “You go in and you take it out,” the Israeli leader said when asked how the...

When US President Donald Trump announced that 5,000 US troops would leave Germany, the immediate reading in Western capitals was political: another round in Trump’s running quarrel with European allies, triggered by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of Washington’s handling of the war with Iran. For Beijing, the more interesting reading is structural. The drawdown coincides with a period in which Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spent much of 2026 cultivating a “partners not rivals”...

Israel deported two activists on Sunday after being detained near Greece for slightly over a week for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The two, Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila, were among dozens of activists intercepted by the Israeli navy off the coast of Crete. Both are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s steering committee, whose mission is to break Israel’s naval...

Tired of petrol shortages and skyrocketing prices, Simón Huanca took matters into his own hands. The 53-year-old Indigenous artisan imported a Chinese electric car to navigate El Alto, Bolivia’s highest city, using the vehicle to transport both his family and the alpaca wool for his weaving workshop. He also installed a dedicated charger in his own garage, mainly for convenience, but also because there are only three public charging stations serving the vast metropolitan area of El Alto and...

Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to begin peace talks to end the war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, as two carriers were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The response, sent to mediator Pakistan, focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, and on the safety of shipping through the strait, Iranian state television said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen. It followed a US proposal to end fighting before...

More than 100 people aboard a cruise ship that departed from Fort Lauderdale in Florida last month have fallen ill from norovirus, according to the US Centres for Disease Control. The Caribbean Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, departed from Port Everglades on April 28 for an 11-day voyage, according to Cruise Mapper. But on Thursday, the CDC announced that 102 passengers and 13 crew members were sick and had been isolated. There are more than 4,000 people on board, according to the CDC. The...

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours earlier. None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius have shown symptoms of the virus, Spain’s health ministry, the World Health...

Foreign affairs are not a series of disconnected episodes. They are a test of whether nations learn from history and act with foresight. The United States has often failed that test. It forgets that unchecked aggression leads to wider wars and that removing governments without building new authority invites chaos. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran’s destabilising role in the Middle East and the collapse of Libya and Afghanistan all testify to what happens when those lessons are ignored. China,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe ‌and that his preferred negotiating partner...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reeling from a crushing local election defeat, faced a new setback to his leadership on Saturday when a former minister said she would challenge him for the top job if no one else stepped forward. Starmer’s Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in municipal polls since 1995, prompting a growing number of his ‌own lawmakers to call on him to quit. To try to shore up his position in the party earlier on Saturday, he named two influential...

UK health authorities are gearing up to receive about 24 people from a virus-hit cruise ship, who will be isolated in a hospital once used for Covid-19 patients, NHS officials said Saturday. They are currently on board the Dutch ship, the MV Hondius, due to anchor off Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. Most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home to their home countries after weeks at sea, in a carefully prepared repatriation effort. Among them are about 24 British...

A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during take-off, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate. The plane, en route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday”, according to a post on the airport’s official social media account. A spokesman for the...

Hungary’s Peter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country’s new prime minister, ending Viktor Orban’s 16 years of autocratic rule. Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party defeated Orban’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history. The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orban a...

⁠The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire, while a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could withstand a naval blockade for months. Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed ‌attack on Friday. Washington has been awaiting Tehran’s response to a US...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Security was tight as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not...

In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations. China subsequently emerged as a prime example of state-led development, but Japan is now leaning again towards a more dirigiste model under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, not only in...

Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently possible complicity in the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. Responding to a post on the...

South Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country’s petroleum reserve bases, the world’s sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said. The strait’s closure in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up...

You can perhaps judge the rise and decline of a society by the quality of its public intellectuals. In the last century, the United States had some genuinely great thinkers such as Walter Lippmann and Hannah Arendt who addressed a literate public while producing enduring works that can still be read today with great benefit. Now you have people like Francis Fukuyama and Sam Harris who may be studied in the future more as a symptom of their society. A podcast between the two last month went viral...

In an extraordinary break from the diplomatic restraint typical of central banks, a dozen leaders of the world’s foremost monetary institutions issued a joint statement in January declaring their “full solidarity” with the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chair, Jerome Powell. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve,” they wrote. The move was intended to shore up the separation of monetary...

Mexican authorities have announced that the school year will end over a month early as the country gears up to host World Cup matches, prompting broad backlash. Education Secretary Mario Delgado said the decision to end the school year 40 days early was made in part due to a heatwave affecting several states. “We’re going to end the school year on June 5 because many states are already experiencing high temperatures, and there’s also the issue of the World Cup,” he said at an event on Friday in...

The old order is dead. We just don’t know what will replace it. As Henry Kissinger reminded us in his 2014 book World Order, “no truly global order has ever existed”. After US President Donald Trump’s erratic actions, the gloves are off. American comedians and Iranian Lego cartoons tell us all we need to know about the demise of the old order. If the unipolar order is not viable, and America is abandoning the multilateral order and the rules of the game it created after World War II, what are...

There is an “almost zero” chance that the Dutch man linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship contracted the disease in the Argentine port of Ushuaia, a provincial health official said on Friday. Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is located, told reporters that his assessment was based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors. The Dutch man and his wife, both of whom died of the virus, boarded the Hondius in...

US President ⁠Donald Trump’s administration is nearing a US$400 million settlement with TikTok to resolve an ongoing lawsuit over alleged child-privacy violations, ABC News has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the Justice Department, ‌which did not immediately comment. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment. The settlement monies would be used to fund Trump’s “beautification” projects in Washington, sources...

The G.O.P. has seized an edge on redistricting thanks to two court rulings, and it has more room to maneuver for extra seats before the midterms.

The chances of a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared to rise sharply on Monday as several government aides announced their resignations.

The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial pool late last week.

Democrats are trying to stoke public opposition to the project as they take aim at legislation to provide nearly $72 billion for the administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Biden-era measure was intended to protect millions of acres from industrial development and the effects of climate change.

Congress would have to agree to any suspension, and dropping federal taxes would not make up for the steep increase in prices since the war began.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has paused until at least Thursday a federal appeals court ruling against the Food and Drug Administration that would restrict access by mail to mifepristone.

Ten people. Eight weeks. Three thousand feet to pierce a fast-melting Antarctic glacier.

A book by the world’s most famous survivor of sexual violence has been read as a manifesto or a cry of pain. What she wrote is far more complicated.

Parliament passed a new law that paves the way for military trials for hundreds of Palestinians suspected of taking part in the 2023 attack that ignited the two-year war in Gaza.

Rom Braslavski, who said he had endured starvation, torture and sexual abuse during two-year captivity, demanded that members “take responsibility and get out of our lives.”

As the government has been devising plans to keep the dollar dominant, China has been making its own moves to increase global influence of the renminbi.

The delegation includes business leaders across a wide range of industries, including Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla.

The Russian leader is walking a tightrope: acknowledging public discontent while offering no indication that he might give up on his demands.

With peace talks on ice and Ukraine now more self-reliant, President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to be stepping away from the United States.

Ukrainian news outlets named the suspect as Andriy Yermak, who resigned last year amid a sweeping scandal.

A family is vying for the return of a painting it thought was by Rubens. But an expert says it’s a copy because it does not include the artist’s depiction of a peeing cow.

Maureen Galindo’s rise demonstrates how even justified rage and despair can curdle into hateful paranoia.

Male and female Palestinians describe brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators.

Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder 20 years ago, will step down as chief executive and serve as its president of A.I.

Deloitte and Zoom are among the employers reducing support for working parents, signaling a retreat from family-friendly benefits.

The effects of the war in Iran have raised mortgage rates and lowered consumer confidence, making it even harder for house hunters.

Eighteen people from a cruise ship that faced an outbreak are being monitored at medical facilities in Nebraska and Georgia. One tested positive for the Andes virus, health officials said.