Minimalist News

Unprecedented: Trump Gets Putin To Halt Strikes On Kiev For One Week In Call In a surprising Thursday development, President Trump has claimed that Russia agreed to pause strikes on the Ukrainian capital and some other cities "for a week" - a decision he said came after direct personal intervention with Russian President Vladimir Putin. If accurate, this could represent a huge advance in the direction of peace, given the positive precedent it sets. "Because of the extreme cold…I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kiev and the cities and towns for a week," Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting.

Bank Of America, JPMorgan Chase To Match $1,000 Contributions To Children's Accounts Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase said on Jan. 28 that they would match the U.S. government’s one‑time $1,000 contribution to children’s retirement accounts - also known as Trump Accounts - for eligible employees. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during the Trump Accounts summit at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington on Jan. 28, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times The current administration’s pilot program sets aside a $1,000 Treasury-funded deposit in a tax‑advantaged account for eligible children born in the United States

SBA Suspends More Than 1,000 Companies From Federal Contracting Program Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has suspended more than 1,000 companies from a key federal contracting program aimed at aiding disadvantaged businesses, after the firms failed to submit required financial documents, the agency announced Wednesday. The SBA said it barred 1,091 firms from the 8(a) Business Development Program, which represents about 25 percent of the roughly 4,300 participants. The suspensions stem from a December 2025 order requiring all program members to provide three years of financial records by Jan. 19 to verify their legitimacy

Israeli, Saudi Officials Swarm DC As Trump Weighs Iran Strike Options Senior Saudi and Israeli defense and intelligence officials are converging on Washington this week as the Trump administration weighs potential US strikes on Iran, according to Axios. This as the same report also observes: > "A 'limited strike' is an illusion. Any military action by ‌the U.S. — from any origin and at any level — will be considered an act of war and the response will be immediate, ‌all out⁩, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of ‌Tel Aviv⁩ and all those supporting the aggressor," Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to

Mediocre 7Y Auction Tails Despite Solid Foreign Demand After a solid 2Y, and a dismal 5Y auction, moments ago the Treasury completed the sale of the week's final coupon, and today's sale of $44BN in 7Y paper was appropriately enough, mediocre at best, not terrible, not great, in the parlance of our times. The auction priced at a high yield of 4.018%, the first 4%+ yield since July, and up from 3.930% in December. It also tailed then 4.014% When Issued by 0.4bps. This was the 5th tail in the last 6 auctions. The bid to cover of 2.454 dropped from 2.509 in

AG Paxton Announces Investigation Into H-1B Visa Abuse Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is probing the abuse of the H-1B visa program in the state, beginning with an investigation into three companies in North Texas, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Jan. 28. Paxton issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to companies suspected of fraudulent activity. CIDs are government requests for information in noncriminal investigations. They are issued before any formal complaint or lawsuit is filed against the entities. “Reports have indicated that the businesses under investigation have likely engaged in illegal activity to

Worldcoin Spikes 40% As OpenAI Reportedly Plans Biometric X Rival Authored by Brian Quarmby via Cointelegraph, OpenAI-linked token Worldcoin spiked 40% on Wednesday following a report that the artificial intelligence firm is working on a bot-free social media platform that requires “proof of personhood.”   According to a Tuesday Forbes report citing sources familiar with the matter, OpenAI is aiming to develop a “humans-only platform” as a point of difference from other social media services on the market.  Still in its early stages, sources state that a small team of around 10 people is building the platform to compete with X, and that it has

Shutdown Looms As Senate Dems Formally Blocks Govt Funding Bill Update (1220ET): As expected, Senate Democrats have just formally blocked a package of government funding bills from advancing. Democrats voted in unison against a procedural motion to advance the funding package. The motion, which required 60 votes to prevail, failed 45-55. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Thune was a late “no” vote and immediately entered a motion to reconsider the package to give him flexibility to bring it back to the floor soon.  Democrats blocked the funding package, which includes six bills, because it includes

TechnoFEDalism By Benjamin Picton, Senior Market Strategist at Rabobank The US Federal Reserve’s rate setting committee left the Fed Funds rate unchanged at 3.50-3.75% with the Statement noting that “economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace...the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.” The decision was taken by a 10-2 vote, with Trump appointee Stephen Miran and Fed Chair hopeful Christopher Waller both dissenting in favor of a 25bp cut. The Bank of Canada, also meeting to set policy rates, similarly opted to keep rates unchanged at 2.25%. Our full review of the FOMC decision is

Goldman Says "Good Opportunity To Buy Dip" In Obesity Drug Stocks Novo Nordisk shares in Europe appear to be forming a base after a 5.5-month bottoming process, following a mid-2024 peak and a subsequent 71% collapse. Goldman analyst Faris Mourad is telling clients this week that "obesity drugs narrative sentiment is on the rise" and "it's an opportunity to buy the dip." Mourad explained: > The relative performance of the Obesity Drugs basket (GSHLCBMI) to the S&P 500 (SPX) is lagging its narrative sentiment. The basket is down -2 standard deviations today and we think it's a good opportunity to buy the dip. > >

Sanity Returning To Global Oil Forecasts, But Damage Has Been Done; Expert Study Shows Authored by William Murray via RealClearEnergy, It can be hard to explain to a general audience how important the release of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) is to policymakers, energy companies and investors who make hundreds of billions of dollars in investment decisions worldwide each year. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Outlook included a Current Policies Scenario (CPS) that forecast future oil and natural gas demand over the coming decades based on current laws and government energy policies. This scenario was then used by banks and companies to

Trump Officials Held Secret Meetings With Prominent Canadian Group Seeking To Secede A new bombshell report in Financial Times says that US officials have held recent talks with Canadian separatists seeking to break Alberta, Canada's oil-rich western province, away from Ottawa. "Officials in the [US President] Donald Trump administration discussed loaning Alberta $500 million to break up Canada and make it the 51st state," one source told the FT. NurPhoto via Getty Images This follows on the heels of Trump earlier this month posting a fictitious map showing Canada as part of the United States. The report also comes days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech

Homan Seeks Cooperation In Minnesota: Vows 'Drawdown' On Streets In Exchange For Jail-Based ICE Ops Border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday that federal immigration authorities have made “a lot of progress” in recent days in Minnesota, signaling a possible shift in enforcement tactics as tensions remain high following deadly shootings and protests tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Border czar Tom Homan speaks during a news conference about ongoing immigration enforcement operations on January 29, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP] Speaking at a press conference early Thursday at the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Homan said he has been

EU Formally Designates IRGC A Terrorist Group, Granting Trump Political Cover Update(1034ET): As expected, it happened in a meeting of top EU leaders on Thursday: > EU foreign ministers agreed Thursday to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist" group, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said. > > "Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise," she said. One byproduct, (or perhaps the intent?) is that this will give President Trump more political cover if he decides to strike Iran. A 'narrative' is taking shape, despite the internal protests having long dissipated.  > Repression cannot go

Venezuela Signals Historic Energy Reset As Oil Laws Open To Foreign Capital Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via oilprice.com, * Venezuela is moving to overhaul its hydrocarbons law, opening the door to deeper foreign and private-sector participation. * The reforms introduce far more flexible operating and fiscal structures, allowing private and mixed companies to take on operational control. * If paired with sanctions relief, the changes could mark a true reopening of Venezuela’s oil sector, shifting policy from ideological rigidity toward pragmatic, investment-led recovery. Venezuela is edging toward what could become the most consequential energy shift in a generation. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez reportedly

US Factory Orders Surged In November While sentiment is sagging to multi-year lows, 'hard' data is pushing growth forecasts higher (GDPNOW) and holding stocks at record highs. This morning we get a fresh glimpse at America's manufacturing segment - hard data - with US Factory Orders (admittedly for November) surging 2.7% MoM (significantly better than the +1.6% MoM expected), bouncing strongly from the 1.3% MoM decline in October.  This dragged orders up 5.4% year-over-year... Source: Bloomberg This was the biggest monthly advance since May 2025. Core Orders (ex transportation) rose 0.2% MoM, also rebounding from a 0.1% MoM decline in October... Source: Bloomberg The final print for Durable

Trump Says John Deere Will Invest $70 Million To Build Excavator Factory In North Carolina Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 27 that farm equipment maker John Deere will invest $70 million to build an excavator factory in North Carolina. A John Deere excavator piles road salt in preparation for a winter storm at the Boston Public Works Department yard in Boston on Jan. 28, 2022. Scott Eisen/Getty Images “It’s brand new, the best in the world. And I think it’s going to pay off very, very big,” the president said during an event in

Brent Surges To 4 Month High Above $70 After Trump Threatens Iran With Military Force By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com Brent Crude prices topped $70 per barrel - and $71 shortly after - early on Thursday for the first time since September, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that a “massive armada” of U.S. Navy ships is headed to the Persian Gulf.  At the time of writing, Brent Crude prices had jumped by 3.38% at $70.71. This was the highest in more than five months and the first time the international benchmark has topped $70 per barrel since early August. The U.S. benchmark,

Rubio Announces Start Of US-Denmark-Greenland Talks Amid Arctic Security Push Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, Technical discussions between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland on improving Arctic security have begun, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. The talks originate from a working group created earlier this month during a Washington meeting including Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland. “It begins today and it will be a regular process,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’re going to try to do it in a way that isn’t like a media circus every time these

Futures Rise As Meta Jumps, Microsoft Plunges; Gold Just Won't Stop Futures are higher, led by tech, after the first batch of Mag7 earnings with gold breaking new record highs again, rising as high as $5600. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are up 0.2% while the Nasdaq if barely in the green; pre-mkt it's a mixed picture with META (+7.9%) rising on higher than expected capex forecast, while MSFT (-6.6%) tumbles on... higher than expected capex forecast; TSLA is also modestly in the green, up +2.8%; AAPL reports today today then AMZN / GOOG next week. Cyclicals are trading higher led

Order allows direct flights from US to Venezuela, as major oil companies already on ground to assess potential operations Donald Trump has ordered the immediate reopening of commercial airspace over Venezuela, weeks after US military forces toppled the dictator Nicolás Maduro. Speaking at the White House during his cabinet’s first meeting of the year, Trump said he had just concluded a telephone conversation with Venezuela’s acting president (and former vice-president), Delcy Rodríguez, in which he informed her of the decision to restore flight access. Continue reading...

Alberta activists’ covert meetings with US officials revealed, outlining group’s increasingly emboldened efforts Covert meetings between separatist activists in the Canadian province of Alberta and members of Donald Trump’s administration amount to “treason”, the premier of British Columbia said on Thursday. “To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” David Eby told reporters. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. Read our latest story here Two federal officers fired their guns during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, according to an initial review by the Department of Homeland Security that was obtained by NBC News. Three sources told NBC News that the preliminary report, from a Customs and Border Protection internal investigation led by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was sent to congressional committees yesterday, including the House homeland security and judiciary committees. Continue reading...

Maduro’s Sorbonne-educated successor is talking up an era of ‘reform and opening up’ modelled on China’s post-Mao boom After years of political and social upheaval, hunger and despair, the Great Helmsman departs and is replaced by a francophile economic reformer who catapults a traumatised country into a new era of prosperity and growth. That is what happened in China half a century ago when the croissant-loving communist Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader after Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1976 death and set in motion one of history’s biggest economic booms. Continue reading...

Claudia Sheinbaum denied move was response to pressure from the US, after Trump said ‘zero’ oil would go to Cuba Mexico has cancelled a shipment of oil to Cuba, the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, appeared to confirm on Tuesday, but she insisted the decision was “sovereign” and not a response to pressure from the US. Fuel shortages are causing increasingly severe blackouts in Cuba, and Mexico has been the island’s biggest oil supplier since the US blocked shipments from Venezuela last month. Continue reading...

PM says trip to China has put relationship in stronger place, but possible return visit angers British critics Keir Starmer has taken a big step towards rapprochement with China, opening the door to a UK visit from Xi Jinping in a move that drew immediate anger from British critics of Beijing. During the first visit by a UK prime minister to China in eight years – a period which Starmer has described as an “ice age” – he said talks with the Chinese president had left the bilateral relationship in a stronger position. Continue reading...

Chinese leader bestows a little largesse on the British PM while getting the green light for London ‘mega embassy’ Let’s face it, this was never going to be a meeting of equals. Keir Starmer had been desperate to squeeze in a trip to China for some time. Another country to tick off his list and he always feels a lot better about himself when he’s abroad. Less noise from his unhappy MPs. Plus he loved the pomp and ceremony that came with it. The large flags. The military bands. A country that treated him with respect. Almost. Besides, Mark Carney and

Downing Street gives no date for when the agreement of 30 days of visa-free travel will come into force For more context on today’s Starmer-Xi meeting, China is the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s third-largest trading partner – to which it exports £45bn of goods and services a year – so it is no surprise the UK has turned to Beijing in its search for economic reliability. As the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar reported earlier today, the UK does not rank among the top 10 of China’s trading partners but the Beijing leadership has spied a political opportunity to improve links

China agrees visa waiver for British citizens as countries sign agreements on closer economic cooperation * UK politics live – latest updates The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said the UK’s relationship with his country has gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach is in both their interests. Before talks with Keir Starmer during the first visit to China by a British prime minister in eight years, Xi said the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: With China now central to the world’s green tech and economic future, the UK faces a s eries of strategic discussions it can no longer postpone Good morning. The Starmer has landed. Yesterday, Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to make the trip to China since Theresa May’s in 2018 (meaning a surprisingly large number of PMs didn’t) and has vowed to bring “stability and clarity” to the UK’s approach to Beijing. Iran | Donald Trump has warned time is running out for Tehran and said a massive US armada was moving quickly towards the country. Assisted Dying |

Federal health minister says Australia has no protocols yet for sick travellers who arrive in country. Follow today’s news updates live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Queensland health minister said federal government still has to bridge the gap on funding deal Tim Nicholls, the Queensland health minister, said he still thinks there’s a “bit of water to flow under the bridge” in discussions between states and the federal government over hospital funding. There’s quite a bit of work for the commonwealth to do to step up to the mark because the last offer that was put

Boy’s friend, 17, winched to safety by emergency rescue team after pair were separated in Blue Gum forest * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A teenage boy has been found dead in a national park creek in the Blue Mountains after he became separated from a friend on a camping trip. Two boys, aged 16 and 17, travelled to Leura train station on Tuesday before they walked to Mount Hay, New South Wales police said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Acoss report shows property investors received $12.3bn in tax concessions in 2025, while the share of social housing dropped to a record low * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia spends billions of dollars more on tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined, according to research by the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss). The analysis comes as new data from the Productivity Commission reveals the share of homes dedicated to social housing has dropped to a record

Albanese government awarded contracts to MTC despite allegations of ‘gross negligence’ in the US involvement with ICE * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian government’s main immigration detention contractor is playing a key role in Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown and has attracted a string of complaints over its treatment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees. In recent years, the Albanese government has awarded lucrative immigration detention contracts to the local subsidiary of Management and Training Corporation, a major US private prison company, to

Workers and union say outsourcing will mean loss of knowledge and experience needed to help ‘very vulnerable people’ waiting for government payments * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A group of call centre staff kept on short-term contracts at the government department responsible for workplace standards will be replaced by a third-party contractor, with their union warning “vulnerable people” contacting the government could be affected. Due to laws to improve job security, 13 workers at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) are unable to

US president says he made appeal to Russian leader, but no ceasefire has been confirmed by Moscow or Kyiv Donald Trump has claimed Vladimir Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for one week after he issued a personal appeal to the Russian leader due to the extreme cold in Ukraine. The short-term ceasefire, which has not been confirmed by either Ukraine or Russia, was announced during a cabinet meeting of Trump’s top advisers at the White House on Thursday. Continue reading...

Avaaraq Olsen tells content creators to think before making jokes after German tried to raise Stars and Stripes in Nuuk The mayor of Greenland’s capital has called on media professionals and content creators to act responsibly after a German comedian’s failed attempt to hoist the US flag. Maxi Schafroth, 41, a Bavarian comic, tried to run up the Stars and Stripes on a flagpole near the cultural centre in Nuuk but was confronted by angry passersby. Continue reading...

‘Any organisation that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,’ says Kaja Kallas The EU has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, ending years of division over the issue in response to the regime’s brutal repression of protesters. “Repression cannot go unanswered,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on Thursday. The paramilitary organisation has played a significant role in suppressing demonstrations in Iran. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she wrote on X. Continue reading...

The EU has just designated Iran’s revolutionary guard as terrorist organisation, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed. EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos also strongly criticised Russia for its continuing attacks on Ukraine. Arriving for the EU foreign affairs council this morning, she said: “The news we are getting from Ukraine nearly every morning are horrific. What Russia is doing. There is a state terror. It’s far beyond the war [as] they are bombing people while they are at home, freezing to death, [and] bombing passenger trains …” “I can’t speak about the years; [as] I was saying there is some level of

Prosecutors questioning Crans-Montana head of public safety and a former fire safety officer, documents show Prosecutors investigating the deadly new year bar fire that killed 40 people in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana have opened a criminal investigation into a current and a former local council official, according to documents and local media reports. The municipality’s head of public safety was this week summoned to a hearing next Friday, their lawyer, Nicolas Rivard, confirmed on Thursday, adding that his client would be reserving any statement for the public prosecutors. Continue reading...

Deployment of RAF Typhoon squadron to Qatar signals willingness to protect country from a counterattack Britain is unlikely to assist the US in an attack on Iran but a deployment of RAF Typhoons to Qatar last week signals a willingness to help regional allies if Tehran tries to widen the conflict in retaliation. A first strike on Iran is unlikely be in line with the UK’s interpretation of international law, but British forces could become involved if there is a need to help Qatar or other regional allies in self-defence. Continue reading...

Donald Trump says ‘time is running out’ for Iran as the threat of war appears to loom closer. A huge US armada is being moved towards Iran and is seen as the starkest indication yet that Trump intends to strike. The US president had called on the Iranian regime to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear programme, only weeks after he promised Iranian protesters ‘help was on the way’ then backtracked days later. Nosheen Iqbal talks to the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat, about what Trump could do next – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Reform UK leader speaks at GB News event also attended by industry minister on second UAE visit in two months Nigel Farage has paid a visit to Dubai to build diplomatic relations with United Arab Emirates ministers and drum up donations for Reform UK from wealthy expats. The two-night trip was his second visit to the Gulf state in two months, after a £10,000 trip hosted by Abu Dhabi to attend the Formula One grand prix. Continue reading...

Turkey hosts urgent mediation as Trump’s threats mount and Tehran weighs painful compromises to avoid conflict Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposed a video conference between Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian – the kind of high-wire diplomacy that may appeal to the US leader, but would be anathema to circumspect Iranian diplomats. No formal direct talks have been

Calls for independent external inquiry into brutal crackdown that some estimates suggest killed more than 30,000 A deep and painful inquest is under way inside Iran as politicians, academics and the security establishment try to come to terms with what has been described as a catastrophe after the violent protests and their even more violent suppression by the security forces. The shape of the debate taking place in the heavily censored society is emerging, as selective newspapers and Telegram channels slowly open up to international audiences after the protests – which some estimates suggest could have left more than 30,000 dead –

Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power. The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Council said Edward Harris’s properties ‘failed to meet even most basic of living standards and legal requirements’ A Reform UK council chair has resigned after it was found he was illegally running two unsafe rental properties, according to a neighbouring local authority. Edward Harris, the chair of Warwickshire county council, owned two unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in Staffordshire that had “multiple serious safety failures”, according to Labour-led Tamworth borough council. Continue reading...

Met Office issues yellow rain alerts in south-west, with 66 flood warnings – indicating expected flooding – in force Nearly 150 flood alerts remain in place across England as communities continue grappling with the aftermath of Storm Chandra. A yellow rain alert spanning from noon to midnight on Thursday has been issued for parts of south-west England, with the Met Office warning that more flooding could hit roads, homes and businesses. Continue reading...

Agency updates guidance after increase in reports of condition to its yellow card scheme Patients on weight-loss jabs and diabetes injections should be aware there is a small risk of developing severe acute pancreatitis, the UK medicines regulator has said. About 1.6 million adults in England, Wales and Scotland used GLP-1 medication, such as semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), between early 2024 and early 2025 to lose weight, according to recent research. Continue reading...

Vincent Chan, 45, has admitted 30 new offences, including upskirting of children, in addition to 26 against toddlers at nursery A paedophile passed supposedly strict vetting to gain positions of trust in a primary school and then a nursery where he carried out a campaign of sexual offences in broad daylight against toddlers and young girls. The extensive offending history of Vincent Chan, 45, spanning over a decade, is emerging bit by bit as detectives go through digital material on his phones and other devices seized after his arrest in June 2024. Anyone affected can contact a National Society for the Prevention of

Star says seaside town ‘inhabited by creativity’ and shares love for a local restaurant after dropping in on Tracey Emin If you were to guess where Madonna goes on holiday, you might think Mustique or the Maldives – Margate probably would not make the list. But the pop superstar spent the weekend there and enthused in an Instagram post that “the whole town seems to be inhabited and energised by creativity”, and that “whenever I go there, I feel like I’ve entered a dream”. Continue reading...

Jacob Frey tells US Conference of Mayors that leaders of cities nationwide are ‘on the frontlines of a very important battle’ * ICE ends Maine surge as border czar pledges to keep Minnesota operation * Minneapolis on edge despite Trump’s de-escalation vow “I do not want to hear that “everything that’s been done here has been perfect”, Homan said, without referring specifically to the fatal shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Homan noted that while no “agency is perfect” he did not come to Minneapolis to create “headlines”. The federal immigration enforcement surge is “going to improve because of changes we’re

The former tech entrepreneur joins a sprawling but stagnant field to succeed Gavin Newsom Matt Mahan, the centrist Democrat and mayor of San Jose, announced on Thursday that he would run for governor of California, joining a sprawling but stagnant field to succeed Gavin Newsom. Mahan, 43, is a former tech entrepreneur who was first elected mayor of Silicon Valley’s largest city in 2022. Continue reading...

Tom Homan acknowledges immigration enforcement needs ‘certain improvements’, without offering any details * US politics live – latest updates Federal authorities have ended their immigration enforcement surge in Maine, a state senator said on Thursday, even as Donald Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, insisted that the much bigger operation in Minnesota would continue. Susan Collins, a Republican, cited a conversation with homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, saying that the “enhanced operation” in her state of Maine had been wrapped up. Continue reading...

LAFD’s non-profit, which raised large sums after 2025 fires, hired firm amid growing criticism over handling of disaster The official non-profit for the Los Angeles fire department has acknowledged that it had paid $65,000 to hire a leading communications agency to represent the agency last year. The move came as the department was facing growing criticism over its handling of the Palisades fire. Continue reading...

Federal transportation regulator to investigate after child in Santa Monica sustained minor injuries from incident The US’s federal transportation regulator said Thursday it had opened an investigation after a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in southern California last week, causing minor injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the child in Santa Monica ran across the street on 23 January from behind a double parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo autonomous vehicle during normal school drop-off hours. The agency said there were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had informed Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, and Americans would soon be able to visit Trump said he instructed his transport secretary, Sean Duffy, and US military leaders to take steps to open Venezuelan airspace for travel by the end of the day. “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” the Republican president...

US President Donald Trump said Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to halt attacks on Kyiv and other cities for a week, as Moscow’s strikes leave Ukraine facing its toughest winter since the start of the war. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure have left millions with disrupted light, heating and water supplies in freezing temperatures, pushing the war-battered country towards a humanitarian crisis. “Because of the cold, extreme cold … I personally asked President Putin not...

The US trade deficit sharply widened in November as imports picked up, according to government data released Thursday, reversing an unexpectedly big pullback in the prior month lauded by US President Donald Trump. The trade gap surged by 94.6 per cent in November to US$56.8 billion, Commerce Department data showed, bringing it close to levels seen in June and August last year. The shift reflected fluctuations in goods like gold and pharmaceuticals, in a year already marked by major swings in...

The European Union has listed Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc’s top diplomat said in a post on social media on Thursday. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working towards its own demise,” she said. “This will put them on the same footing with al-Qaeda, Hamas, Daesh,”...

The number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota could be reduced, but only if state and local officials cooperate, US President Donald Trump’s border tsar said on Thursday, noting he had “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities. Tom Homan addressed reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis following last weekend’s fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti. The news conference comes...

The top US envoy to China called on Thursday for fair and reciprocal trade between the world’s two largest economies and expressed concern about projections that China’s dominance of global manufacturing will grow even further in the years to come. US Ambassador David Perdue told business and government leaders in Beijing that China should be congratulated on becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, but echoed fears in Europe and elsewhere that China’s exports pose a threat to factories and jobs in...

US Senator Amy Klobuchar said on Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on US President Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown. Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Governor Tim Walz. The 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Walz abandoned his campaign for a...

At Davos, US President Donald Trump declared he had “always had a very good relationship with President Xi” Jinping, calling the Chinese leader “an incredible man”, “highly respected by everybody”. Trump also praised TikTok’s decision to transfer parts of its US business to a consortium of US investors, thanking Xi on social media. This broadly friendly rhetoric is likely to be a signal of Washington’s keen interest in finalising a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy. Trump’s...

The European Union has surpassed the United States as the economy with the most serious trade disputes with China, driven by conflicts over semiconductor materials, rare earth magnets and other strategic sectors, according to a Chinese trade body. A monthly index released on Wednesday by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), a semi-official Beijing-based organisation, found that in November 2025 – the last month tracked – the EU ranked as China’s top source of trade...

Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020. But for more than five years, he has been trying to convince Americans the opposite is true by falsely saying the election was marred by widespread fraud. Now that he is president again, Trump is pushing the federal government to back up those bogus claims. On Wednesday, the FBI served a search warrant at the election headquarters of Fulton County, Georgia, which includes most of Atlanta, seeking ballots from the 2020 election. That follows...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney does not mince his words. Writing for The Economist last November, Carney argued the post-Cold War had collapsed and said the world was “entering an era of ‘variable geometry’” involving “pragmatic coalitions, built around shared interests, and occasionally shared values, rather than shared institutions”. The essay, it turns out, was the prelude to a hard-hitting speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20. Carney told attendees...

No longer confined to the partisans and activists, the fierce backlash against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has begun to break out across American culture, spanning the worlds of business, sports and entertainment. Bruce Springsteen released a new song on Wednesday that slammed “Trump’s federal thugs”. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told employees that “what’s happening with ICE is going too far”, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And lifestyle icon Martha Stewart...

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited Moscow on Wednesday for the second time in less than four months, and Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasised his readiness to help the country rebuild its war-battered economy. “I know that there is a lot that’s necessary to restore in Syria, and our economic operators, including the construction sector, are ready for this joint work,” Putin said. The talks also were expected to focus on the future of Russian military bases in Syria, a key...

US Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies on Thursday, potentially bringing the US government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the White House do not agree to new restrictions on US President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement. As the country reels from the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis, irate Senate Democrats laid out a list of...

Bruce Springsteen is dedicating his new song to the people of Minneapolis, criticising US President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the city. The lyrics of “Streets of Minneapolis”, released Wednesday, describe how “a city aflame fought fire and ice ’neath an occupier’s boots”, which Springsteen calls “King Trump’s private army”. Springsteen in a statement said he wrote and recorded the song over the weekend and released it in response to a second deadly shooting by...

An immigration judge on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well-founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing human rights abuses there. Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the US illegally in 2021. He has been in custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August as part of a mass deportation campaign by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport Guan to...

A small plane crashed on Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board including a member of congress, authorities said. Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers.” Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that...

US ‌President Donald Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to come to the table and make a deal on nuclear weapons or the next US ‍attack would be far worse. Tehran responded with a threat to strike back against the United States, Israel and those who support them. “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!” Trump wrote on social media. Amid a build-up...

One of the leading scholars of China-Latin America relations, Francisco Urdinez is known for coining the concept of “economic displacement”, a theory that also gives its name to his Cambridge University Press book title published in November. The idea holds that China’s rise has reduced US relevance in the region by making partnerships with Beijing more consequential and ties with Washington less essential for many governments. Now, in the wake of US attacks on Caracas and the abduction of...

The man accused of squirting an unknown substance on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of US President Donald Trump. Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was convicted of felony vehicle theft in 1989, has been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence and has had numerous traffic citations, Minnesota court records show. There are also indications he has had significant financial problems, including...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused China of profiting from Venezuela’s long-running economic collapse by securing discounted oil, telling senators that removing Nicolas Maduro was necessary to end energy arrangements that he said “favoured Beijing at the expense of the Venezuelan people”. During a hearing of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Rubio portrayed China as a central beneficiary of the Maduro government, arguing that Beijing had taken advantage of sanctions...

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that two immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis had been placed on leave, as the US president slammed the city’s mayor despite a promise to de-escalate the situation. The officers have been on leave - a move US officials said was “standard protocol” - since Saturday, when Alex Pretti was shot multiple times after being forced to the ground by camouflaged officers in a scuffle captured on video. US President Donald...

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday at its first policy gathering this year, citing robust economic growth, as the central bank resists President US Donald Trump’s mounting pressure for cuts. The Fed’s 10-2 vote maintains rates at a range between 3.50 per cent and 3.75 per cent, an outcome that was widely expected as officials await more data on the world’s biggest economy. In a statement on its decision, policymakers flagged that economic activity has been “expanding...

The S&P 500 breached the 7,000-point mark for the first time on Wednesday, driven by unrelenting optimism over artificial ‌intelligence and expectations of strong Big Tech earnings as well as monetary ‍policy easing. The benchmark index’s ascent between successive 1,000-point additions has quickened in recent years, reflecting mounting investor confidence in the US economy and corporate America. It took about three years for the S&P 500 ⁠to rise to 5,000 points from 4,000, but only about nine...

A court on Wednesday ordered the Dutch government to draw up a plan to protect residents on the tiny Caribbean island of Bonaire from the devastating effects of climate change – a sweeping victory for the islanders. The Hague District Court, in a stunning rebuke of Dutch authorities, also ruled that the government discriminated against the island’s 20,000 inhabitants by not taking “timely and appropriate measures” to protect them from climate change before it is too late. “The island already...

Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass lay-offs for the e-commerce company in three months. The tech giant has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that increased during the pandemic. Beth Galetti, a senior vice-president at Amazon, said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company has been “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy”. The company did...

Sarah Mullally was confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England. The worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church in the US, has no formal head, but the archbishop traditionally has been seen as its spiritual leader. Mullally, 63, a cancer nurse turned cleric, officially took up the responsibilities of her new job as judges presided over a legal ceremony confirming her appointment, which was announced almost four...

“I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday ahead of his China trip. The visit – after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Beijing trip drew US tariff threats – is an attempt to drag British foreign policy into alignment with 21st century realities: a world of strategic rivalry but deep economic interdependence. Starmer’s remarks are not diplomatic wordplay, but a declaration the United Kingdom will no longer be a...

Two federal officers fired their weapons during the fatal weekend shooting of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report to Congress published on Tuesday by US media. The shooting sparked bipartisan condemnation and fresh protests in Minneapolis, and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for an “honourable and honest investigation” into the matter. He also suggested he would “de-escalate a little bit” the administration’s immigration...

In the global shift towards carbon neutral mobility, a striking role reversal is taking shape. China, often seen as a top-down planner, has emerged as a pragmatic, market-responsive architect of new energy vehicle (NEV) policy. Europe, a champion of climate ambition, is seemingly executing a retreat amid a disconnect between ambition and reality. The planned dilution of the European Union’s ban on new combustion-engine cars by 2035 to a carbon dioxide output reduction target of 90 per cent is...

With the recent arrival of a US Navy aircraft carrier task force in the Middle East near Iran, President Donald Trump is set to have all the military assets in place needed to launch a war against Tehran by the end of this week. While a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough is still on Washington’s cards, Trump may soon have to pick one of the plans drawn up by the Pentagon to meet his desired outcomes – none of which have been made public. Washington has maintained diplomatic backchannels open...

Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine has caused nearly 2 million military casualties - killed, wounded or missing - between the two countries, according to a new study by a US think tank. Moscow’s forces have borne the brunt of the losses, suffering as many as 325,000 killed out of an estimated total of 1.2 million casualties since invading Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found. “No major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers of...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post. Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country’s politics, said that Iraq would make a “very bad choice” with Maliki, who has been nominated as prime minister by the largest Shiite bloc. “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again,” Trump...

A man identified as Anthony Kazmierczak was arrested by police after an attack on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Tuesday saw her sprayed with an unknown substance. The incident came during a town hall in Minneapolis, where tensions with the federal government have come to a head after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deployed by US President Donald Trump fatally shot both an intensive care nurse and a mother of three this month. Footage from the town hall incident...

China’s latest outbound investment numbers look underwhelming at first glance. At the commerce ministry’s recently concluded national conference on outbound investment and foreign aid, officials revealed that outward direct investment grew by just 1.3 per cent in 2025, a sharp slowdown from the double-digit pace seen in 2024 and 2023. On paper, it appeared to confirm a cooling of China’s overseas expansion. That conclusion misses what is actually changing. The more important story is not the...

A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too, his lawyer told jurors on Tuesday. Randy Santos, 31, is asserting an insanity defence at his trial in state court in Manhattan. Through his lawyers, he has acknowledged committing the 2019 Chinatown rampage. But, they argued, he was not...

US President Donald Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, met with the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor on Tuesday in a show of detente, as the ‌White House sought to ease unrest gripping the city after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents. Homan was put in charge of the Minneapolis immigration enforcement drive to replace US Border Patrol “commander at large” ‍Gregory Bovino, who sources said was being demoted and removed after having overseen most of Trump’s crackdowns in...

For decades, the US dollar has served as the currency of global reserve, the de facto anchor for the vast majority of international exchanges. Consequently, United States government debt – most commonly in the form of Treasury assets such as bonds, notes and bills – has long been regarded as a safe haven by investors, prized for its unmatched liquidity and deep market penetration. That faith has remained strong in the past, even amid global financial crises. But the events of recent weeks...

A US Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a human trafficking suspect who fired on a federal government helicopter in Arizona ‍on Tuesday and later engaged in a shoot-out with the agent, officials said. The suspect, a fugitive who had escaped from a halfway house related to a previous smuggling conviction, was in a serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery, the Pima County sheriff and FBI told a news conference. The incident near the Mexican border occurred ⁠amid heightened tensions...

The “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe on Tuesday moved closer than ever to midnight as concerns mount on nuclear weapons, climate change and disinformation. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the metaphorical clock at the start of the Cold War, moved its time to 85 seconds to midnight - four seconds closer than a year ago. The announcement came a year into US President Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has shattered norms - ordering...

One of China’s largest mining companies has taken control of three gold mines in Brazil in a deal worth about US$1 billion, as gold prices hit historic highs amid rising economic and geopolitical uncertainty in the United States and a global flight to safe assets. CMOC said on Tuesday it assumed operational control on January 23 after Brazilian regulators approved the transfer of the Aurizona mine in Maranhao, the Riacho dos Machados mine in Minas Gerais and the Complexo Bahia, which includes...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that he told US President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney rolled his eyes and rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday. “To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the...

In less than three weeks, US President Donald Trump has issued four sweeping tariff threats that, in normal times, would rattle investors, unnerve CEOs and send economists rushing to revise their growth forecasts for the targeted countries. Instead, financial markets and C-suite executives have mostly shrugged off Trump’s latest warnings involving Iran’s trading partners, Greenland’s supporters, Canada and South Korea, seeing them as merely words intended to gain leverage or change behaviour –...

The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him on Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt. In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for...

Spain’s government announced on Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorisation, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend towards increasingly harsh immigration policies championed by US President Donald Trump and seen across much of Europe. Migration Minister Elma Saiz said the beneficiaries would be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country”, and extolled “the positive...

The agreement, while scarce on details, is the latest step by Prime Minister Mark Carney to reduce Canada’s reliance on trade with the U.S.

The Trump administration has sought to end Temporary Protected Status for more than a million people from troubled nations. About 600,000 are from Venezuela.

Mr. Trump’s allies have strenuously insisted that he was alert and attentive at the meeting last month. The president said he had only closed his eyes.

Iran’s Islamic Republic, weakened by airstrikes in June and huge popular unrest, warns that it will strike back hard if attacked by the United States. This time, Iran may mean it.

The move, which comes after the killing of protesters, brings the European Union in line with the United States and Canada.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s bankruptcy filing has revived debates about how these once celebrated shopping emporiums can regain their luster.

Summer Boismier, a high school English teacher in Oklahoma, lost her teaching license after she protested a book ban. Now she is fighting to return to the classroom.

After his parents died in the midair collision over Washington, D.C., a year ago, Maxim Naumov struggled to put on his skates. Now he will compete for the United States at the Milan-Cortina Games.

Federal prosecutors said a man was arrested after he impersonated an F.B.I. agent during a visit to the federal jail complex in Brooklyn where Luigi Mangione was being held.

Up to a foot is possible this weekend in parts of the Southeast and on Cape Cod, with smaller amounts expected for much of the East Coast.

The police arrested the man, Dan Sohail, after a vehicle was rammed into the Brooklyn headquarters of the Hasidic Jewish organization. The man’s father said in an interview that his son did not hate Jewish people.

Rattled by the C.D.C.’s actions and the spread of measles, some parents are scrambling to figure out how to best protect their children.

A dizzying array of rules govern what can be bought with SNAP dollars, confusing grocery stores and consumers.

OpenAI’s discussions with Microsoft, Nvidia, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and others could value it at $750 billion or more.

A.I. companies are buying up memory chips, causing the prices of those components — which are also used in laptops and smartphones — to soar.

The rivals made billions of dollars in the business over the past year, showing other companies that Nvidia isn’t the only game in town.

Harvard University has been trying to cut back how many A grades professors give. Now, 53 percent of grades are A’s, down from 60 percent.

A new study suggests that those with long-lived families probably have the best prospects of making it to a very old age.

Trump’s larger project is creating a parallel MAGA reality.

What was done to my daughter did not break me. It left me with a mother’s responsibility to ensure no child is left unheard.

The deputy, Sean Grayson, was convicted of second-degree murder for killing Ms. Massey in 2024 at her home in Springfield, Ill., after she had called 911.

Winston Nguyen, a former teacher at Saint Ann’s School who pleaded guilty to a felony charge last year, is accused in the lawsuit of soliciting naked photos of students and sharing them online.

The government opened the sale to cut-rate bidding for Domodedovo Airport after it received no offers at its initial asking price of $1.7 billion.

A proposed class-action lawsuit claims Costco was misleading customers and engaging in false advertising when it described the chicken as having no preservatives.