Minimalist News

Watchdog Uncovers Over $750 Million In Improper Unemployment Insurance Payments In New York Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times , The Department of Labor and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) have deployed a joint federal strike team to New York to address "rampant" unemployment insurance fraud plaguing the state. People queue in line at the James Weldon Johnson Community Center where they are holding a job fair in Harlem, New York, on Aug. 15, 2012. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times "New York ranks among the worst states for unemployment insurance (UI) fraud exposure," the OIG said in a

"The Killer Chokepoint": China's Rare Earth Squeeze Is Reshaping The Global Economy Artificial intelligence may be driving headlines, but one of its biggest vulnerabilities is an obscure metal that few people have ever heard of. Yttrium, a rare earth element first identified more than two centuries ago, has quietly become an essential ingredient in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, according to the Financial Times . As demand for AI chips accelerates, securing reliable access to the metal has become a growing strategic concern. "We're in the middle of a sea change in terms of how the global economy works." — Daniel Yergin,

Watch: Trump Reveals 'Shocking' Election Vulnerabilities Including 278,000 Fraudulent Voters Update (2110ET): Trump has released several major election-related findings: Mass declassification event - The White House just released previously classified Intelligence Community assessments and reports on election infrastructure spanning January 2020 through June 2026. Adversary capability finding - A quoted IC assessment states Russia, China, Iran, North Korea "at a minimum," plus non-state groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure. Weakest-link identification - Centralized data repositories (voter registration databases, pollbooks, official election websites) are assessed as the systems most vulnerable to exploitation and disruption. Venezuela proof-of-concept - CIA

Heavy Overnight Iranian Attack On Bahrain, Gulf Allies, After US Launched 6th Straight Night Of Strikes Update(0950ET) : Heavy Iranian strikes are being reported on Bahrain and possibly Qatar overnight, in a fluid situation. At the moment the ballistic missile attacks on Bahrain look the heaviest. Below are some emerging unverified videos being widely shared of the alleged fresh retaliatory attacks from Iran... In a statement shared on X, the Ministry of Defence said its armed forces intercepted a missile attack that had targeted Qatar . Footage of a coalition PATRIOT SAM battery fighting off a major Iranian ballistic raid

How AIs Can Reinforce Our False Beliefs Authored by Walker Larson via The Epoch Times , A recent research paper uncovered an uncomfortable truth: we might be letting AI help us forge fake realities. It's just the latest reminder of the danger inherent in treating AIs as though they're conscious entities or actual persons. A new study from the University of Exeter suggests that AI chatbots can actively engage with and strengthen users' false beliefs. From personal narratives to conspiracy theories, the interactive, "friendly," and affirming nature of AI chatbots can deepen users' existing delusions. The study, conducted by Dr.

"Not Seen Since World War II": New Texas Shipyard To Hire 10,000 Workers And Mass-Produce Drone Boats Building on our coverage of autonomous maritime warfare this week, Saronic Technologies is preparing to build a massive shipyard on the Texas coast capable of producing autonomous surface vessels at scale, a project expected to create more than 10,000 jobs. Bloomberg reports that the Austin-based technology company, which specializes in maritime drones, is building a $3.2 billion shipyard at the Port of Brownsville on the Texas coast. The facility will manufacture medium- and large-class autonomous vessels. Earlier this week, the US military used

Trump Teleprompter Operator Made $100K Betting On Kalshi Markets Tied To Speeches Authored by Nate Kostar via CoinTelegraph.com, US President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator is in talks with federal regulators to settle allegations that he used nonpublic information to profit from bets on Kalshi markets tied to the president’s speeches, ABC News reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to the report , Gabriel Perez, a technical assistant who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, allegedly placed bets on more than a dozen markets tied to Trump’s speeches, generating more than $100,000 in profits. Kalshi detected the

SpaceX Starship Flight 13 Launch Scrubbed At The Last Second Update (1900ET): SpaceX scrubbed their 13th test flight on Thursday right as the countdown clock reached zero . Noooo! Abort triggered after 4 of the centre engines failed to ignite at start-up...as seen in the Booster engine graphic, bottom left of screen. Video straight off the @SpaceX stream. pic.twitter.com/nZ65wfuQkb — VixXi (@VickiCocks15) July 16, 2026 Could be wrong, but it seems that 4 engines didn’t light causing the abort sequence Unfortunate scenario, but better safe than sorry! Hoping for another attempt tomorrow pic.twitter.com/o0BQ8Ekt7i — Victor Kerman (@VictorKerman) July 16, 2026

Biden's Memoir Given Post-Midterm Release, But Will It Hurt Democrats Anyway? Joe Biden's publisher has picked a release date for his memoir, Promise Me, America , and the timing may reflect how little the party wants to talk about him before November. Biden previously indicated during one of his wife Jill Biden's book events last month that his memoir would be released in September; however, its official publication date has been revealed to be Nov. 17, 2026, two weeks after the midterm elections. USA Today framed the schedule as a gift to Democratic candidates, sparing them questions about a book.

Canadian Woman Detained By ICE For Attacking Teens Wearing Trump Pants A defining character trait of the average leftist is the complete lack of emotional impulse control (often a sign of bad parenting and a low IQ). Rarely if ever do we see news stories about conservatives and Trump supporters being arrested for "crashing out" and violently attacking random progressives on the street because their eyes caught a glimpse of a Kamala Harris hat or a gay pride flag. Progressive activists, on the other hand, are predictably violent, often because they assume there will be no consequences for their actions.

What To Know About Iran's Pickaxe Mountain Authord by the Institute for Science and International Safety ( view PDF ) On July 13, President Trump made it clear that the nuclear-related Pickaxe mountain facility is on the U.S. target list. In an interview on the Hugh Hewitt show, the President stated, “ We have eyes on it and Pickaxe mountain is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right in the front door…We’re watching Pickaxe Mountain very closely. We don’t see any activity there.” Trump finished the interview with a more definitive statement: “We're going to take out

Canada's Wildfire Management Failures Choke Millions Of Americans With Toxic Smoke Canada's wildfire management policies are once again falling short , as toxic smoke plumes blanket much of the northeastern US and drive air pollution to dangerously high levels. Another wave of dense wildfire smoke is forecast to reach New York and New England on Thursday afternoon and evening before it surges into the Mid-Atlantic on Thursday night. Thick, unhealthy smoke is expected in D.C. on Friday, with some reaching Virginia and North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/ZDqDEYAgQq — Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) July 16, 2026 Air quality readings in cities including Detroit, Milwaukee,

Netflix & Spill: Streamer Smashed To 2 Year Low After Forecast Misses Across The Board It has been a brutal year for NFLX longs, who have seen their favorite stock slide in a straight line since last summer, erasing almost 50% from the July 2025 all time high of $134. And unfortunately for them, it appears this brutality isn't going to end any time soon after the company mangled its Q2 earnings moments ago, reporting mediocre earnings, but more importantly, projecting numbers that missed consensus estimates for both Q3 and and the full year. First, looking at the historicals, we

The Odyssey Hullabaloo Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness , Acclaimed British filmmaker Christopher Nolan's ( The Dark Knight , Oppenheimer ) newest film, The Odyssey , opens this week in the United States. But controversy has already surrounded Nolan's adaptation of Homer's 2,700-year-old epic poem about Odysseus's 10-year struggle to return home after the Achaian victory in the decade-long Trojan War. Some of the film's actresses have suggested that Nolan is offering a more feminist - and long-overdue - take on the ancient poem. Actress Lupita Nyong'o, in particular, has criticized Homer's purported sexism. Perhaps her misreading

American Naval Academy Cadets Prepare For War With Stoic Philosophy Authored by Ret Admiral Cem Gürdeniz via Mavi Vatan Geopolitics , The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, which has trained officers for the U.S. Navy since 1845, reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). There is no separate Naval Education and Training Command within its chain of command. Today, Annapolis is not the Navy's only source of commissioned officers. The U.S. Navy also commissions officers through the Officer Candidate School (OCS) and the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) programs conducted at universities across the country. Each

Iran Tells Houthis To Close Red Sea Energy Chokepoint If Trump Bombs Power Grid Yemen's Houthis have long warned of their ability to close the Red Sea oil route, but have by and large stayed on the sidelines of the expanding Gulf regional conflict which is focused on Iran since Operation Epic Fury began. Things began changing dramatically this month, however, after Saudi warplane incursions into Yemen - which bombed Sanaa International Airport on July 13 - in an effort to prevent an Iranian commercial jet from landing there. via Marine Insight The Houthis responded by sending missile and drones

Cameco And Brookfield Positioned To Lead New Jersey's $24 Billion Nuclear Build Out New Jersey has launched a competitive procurement process for new nuclear capacity under the Power New Jersey Act signed last month. The framework targets at least 1,100 MW of electrical power (MWe) at pre-approved sites and carries an estimated $24 billion price tag . Westinghouse's AP1000 reactor sits coincidentally at about ~1,200 MWe. State officials are emphasizing shovel-ready locations and lessons learned from earlier projects to accelerate deployment. Federal financing tools that can cover up to 80% of costs are expected to play a central role, such

The Six Vectors Of Gold Remonetization Revealed Authored by Ronnie Stoeferle via VonGreyerz.gold, A look at monetary history reveals that the question of “sound money” was never purely academic in nature but has always been of central importance for economic stability and social order. The past five decades of the pure fiat experiment are, measured against 5,000 years of monetary history, a brief anomaly. And anomalies tend to be corrected. Our thesis of a remonetization of gold may seem bold at first glance, which makes a clear conceptual framework all the more important. Those waiting for the reintroduction of a

NYC Council Grapples With Debate Over Bill To Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages Authored by Nicholas Zifcak via The Epoch Times, The family of Romanch Mahajan delivered emotional testimony over video link and in person on July 15, during a New York City Council hearing about a law that would phase out carriage horse rides in Central Park. Tearful aunts and uncles of the deceased 18-year-old urged city council to outlaw the horse-drawn carriage rides and spare other families the grief they are still struggling to cope with. The law, renamed in honor of the teen from India who died on June

Goldman Slashes Global PC Shipment Forecast As Memory Chip Crunch Derails Upgrade Cycle The global PC market is facing mounting pressure as a worsening memory-chip crunch , limited product availability, and consumers balking at higher prices threaten to deepen the downturn. These headwinds prompted Goldman analysts to " further trim " their PC shipment forecasts for this year and next. " We further trim our global PC shipment estimates for 2026-27E, considering the near-term pressures of higher memory and CPU costs, and the flattening replacement cycle following the end of Win 10, " said Allen Chang, a managing director and

Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Tell us: have you been affected by the spread of wildfire smoke in the US and Canada? Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week. The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario made Chicago’s air quality the worst

Banner refers to Falkland Islands conflict in 1982 UK business secretary calls for Fifa investigation The Argentina players celebrated their World Cup win over England with a banner saying “ Las Malvinas son Argentinas ”, making reference to the 1982 Falklands war . Argentina were 1-0 down with five minutes to go of the semi-final in Atlanta but rallied and scored twice in quick succession to reach a second straight World Cup final , where they will face Spain in New Jersey on Sunday. Continue reading...

President Lula’s office says US move is result of pressure on White House by family of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro Brazil has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of some Brazilian products. The office of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the tariffs as “a regrettable milestone” in the history of relations between the two countries and said they were the result of pressure exerted on the White House by the family of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Continue reading...

Since start of Trump’s second term, 14 Mexican immigrants have died in ICE custody and three in agency operations Mexico formally requested that US state attorneys general criminally investigate cases of immigrants who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or during raids, the Mexican government said Tuesday. The request follows the death of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo , who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. Since the beginning of Donald Trump ’s second term, 17 Mexican immigrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations. Continue

Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellow Smoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US. Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir , the Swiss technology company that racks global air quality. Continue reading...

Minister urges public to report cases of three or more sick or dead birds in a group after brown skua seabird tests positive for H5N1 on Wellington beach The deadly H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in New Zealand for the first time, sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads. A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test on Wednesday, after it was found on Petone beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the biosecurity minister. Continue reading...

Third round of arrests linked to independent bookshops widely regarded as clampdown on dissent in territory Hong Kong authorities have raided two bookstores and arrested five people on suspicion of selling allegedly seditious publications, in the latest step targeting independent booksellers. Videos and photos from multiple media outlets on Wednesday showed officers wearing vests marked with “police” seizing boxes from the building that houses Have A Nice Stay, a bookshop founded by former journalists. AFP reporters saw officers also lead away a woman in handcuffs to a van. Continue reading...

Worse-than-expected figures for three months to June come amid concerns over lopsided economy Business live – latest updates China has posted worse-than-expected growth figures for the three months to June as its economy expanded by just 4.3% – one of its lowest quarterly readings on record. The rate, which came in under the government’s target of 4.5% to 5%, was one of the weakest since reporting on official quarterly GDP figures began in the early 1990s. Continue reading...

Officials set up traps and electric fences after 14 break-ins recored in one town in two weeks, amid fears of a repeat offender Authorities are searching for a bear that sneaked into the home of an elderly couple and raided their fridge amid concerns it may be behind 14 break-ins across a Japanese town in the past fortnight. On Monday evening, Mitsuo Matsubara, 87, was confronted by a large Asiatic black bear when he went to investigate a noise in his kitchen. His fridge was open , and food was strewn across the floor. His wife called the police. Continue

Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, John Micklethwait, stands by reporting, saying ministers who sued ‘imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid ​story’ Bloomberg News and one of its reporters have been ordered to pay S$460,000 (US$355,734) in damages after an article it published was found to have defamed two Singapore government ministers, the city-state’s high court said in a judgment released on Tuesday. Bloomberg and the reporter, Low De Wei, are liable to jointly pay S$230,000 to each minister, comprising S$170,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages, ⁠the judgment said. Continue reading...

Telstra outage hit ‘approximately 45%’ of calls and data, CEO tells Senate inquiry Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Pauline Hanson has been called “un-Australian” over her appearance on a podcast with far-right UK activist, Tommy Robinson. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC RN Hanson must return to Australia and apologise. This is so appalling, and frankly, it’s unAustralian. To go overseas to hang out with a criminal thug … to be laughing on his show about multiculturalism back here in Australia – which are our communities, Australian citizens, and the people who

Adelaide-based Olympian was banned from driving for five years over Melissa Hoskins’ 2023 death Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Former professional cyclist Rohan Dennis faces a jail sentence after admitting he drove while disqualified over the events leading up to the death of his Olympian wife, Melissa Hoskins. A judge had previously warned the former Olympian he would be jailed if he drove while banned. Continue reading...

Appearing on a podcast with the far-right UK activist who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, Hanson makes evidence-free claims about migrants Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Pauline Hanson has used an interview with the far-right British activist Tommy Robinson to blame the end of the White Australia policy for creating what she sees as problems with migration and said her daughter, Lee Hanson, was the future of One Nation. The One Nation leader, who is visiting the UK for a series of conference

Telco outlines reasons for network failure that hit mobiles, trains and retailers ahead of appearance at Senate inquiry Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Telstra has blamed the lack of a software update for a key time-keeping system for outage that caused nationwide chaos last week, with its maintenance teams also unaware of a design change that affected how it would reset. Ahead of an appearance by its chief executive, Vicki Brady, at a Senate inquiry into the mobile outage on Friday, Telstra provided a

Australian government says it is ‘deeply frustrated’ and will continue to press for ‘real charges with teeth’ over deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Australian government says it wants “real charges with teeth” over the fatal methanol poisoning of two teenage travellers in Laos, as authorities prepare to lay lesser charges that have been called “bitterly” disappointing. Melbourne travellers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were backpacking through the south-east Asian nation in late 2024 when

President says he had to choose ‘one side or the other’ after breakdown of relations between ministry and military leaders Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov , and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership. Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi. Continue reading...

Giovanni Castellucci among 32 people convicted over the 2018 Morandi Bridge collapse, which killed 43 Thirty-two people, including the former chief executive of Italy’s motorway operator, have been convicted over the 2018 collapse of a Genoa bridge in which 43 people died. In a hushed courtroom on Thursday in the north-western Italian city, Giovanni Castellucci, a former boss of Autostrade per l’Italia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the highest in the case. Continue reading...

Wives and children offered new identities to try to stop gangsters recruiting down the generations Children and young adults raised in mafia families will be given a chance to break away from organised crime under new legislation in Italy that aims to stop the intergenerational recruitment of gangsters. In an unprecedented effort to sever the family chain, the Italian state will offer children aged under 25 and other close relatives of mafia bosses a chance to start over: a new home in another city, a new school and, if necessary, a new identity. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read the rest of our Europe coverage here in Madrid Meanwhile, the EU’s top court has ruled that a controversial Spanish law that offered an amnesty to those who planned and participated in the failed and illegal push for Catalan independence does not violate the bloc’s rules. Continue reading...

Vadym Iermolaiev says military intelligence officers were behind assassination attempt that seriously wounded partner and child • Monaco bomb mystery deepens as Ukraine’s security services linked to murder of prime suspect The Ukrainian businessman who survived an assassination attempt in Monaco has accused Ukraine’s military intelligence agency of organising the attack. In his first public statement since the bombing that shook the wealthy principality, Vadym Iermolaiev alleged that serving and former officers of the GUR military intelligence agency were behind the attempted killing, which left him injured but his partner critically wounded. Continue reading...

Boarding of M/T Wen Yao in Gulf of Oman comes as expanded airstrike campaign hits five bridges in southern Iran American forces boarded a ship in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday as part of the renewed blockade of Iran’s ports that began earlier this week, the US military said. US Marines boarded the M/T Wen Yao “to ensure full compliance with the ongoing US naval blockade,” US Central Command (Centcom) said in a post on X. Continue reading...

This live blog has been paused The Lebanese foreign minister, Youssef Raggi, said Lebanon has made a decision to “end Hezbollah’s military presence” and that decisions on war and foreign policy are the “exclusive prerogative of the Lebanese state”. The Lebanese government is pushing to disarm Hezbollah, one of the most heavily armed militias in the Middle East, and it has become a central component of the US-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel. Lebanon has made its choice: there will be no return to dual authority, and there is no longer any place for weapons outside the authority of the

Sixth day of fighting threatens to turn into all-out war and casts serious doubt on peace deal struck last month Chaos and confusion bring US no closer to resolution on strait of Hormuz The US has intensified its attacks on Iran, hitting targets near Tehran and striking a ship it accused of trying to break its blockade, while Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at US allies in the region. Six consecutive days of back-and-forth attacks threaten to pull the region back into a total war and cast serious doubt about an interim deal reached last month meant to

Revised plan aims to ‘keep something going’ amid fears Netanyahu may gamble on new all-out offensive before Israeli elections The Gaza recovery plan being pursued by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) has shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint for the reconstruction of the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip. Even the envisaged pilot scheme – involving a temporary camp for a tiny fraction of Gaza’s 2 million displaced people, with a Palestinian administration, police and a small international security force – is not expected to take shape before the end of the

Diesel tops $5 a gallon as regular gas reaches almost $4, nearly a dollar and a quarter more than a year ago The average price of diesel fuel in the US has increased again to more than $5 a gallon, according to the AAA , and the average price of gas is almost $4, returning to their highs before the June memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran . It is a reminder to consumers and truckers of the costs of the Iran war and the unpredictable rhetoric from both Washington and Tehran. A year ago today, the AAA

Vessels believed to have departed from Myanmar in late June, with mostly Muslim Rohingya minority onboard The United Nations has said more than 500 people are feared dead after reports of two large shipwrecks off Myanmar since late June. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its refugee agency UNHCR voiced alarm in a joint statement at reports “that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days”. Continue reading...

Innocent man lynched by mob in West Bengal as police killing of suspect further escalates tensions Protests have engulfed the Indian state of West Bengal after the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, the subsequent lynching of an innocent man and the police killing of one of the accused. Outrage erupted on Sunday after the body of a missing girl was recovered from a pond in a town just outside the state capital, Kolkata. Continue reading...

Eleven reported dead as flooding also brings danger of snakes, while buildings collapse in Mumbai amid heavy rain As the first typhoon to make landfall in China for the 2026 season, Maysak has caused devastating damage in southern and central regions. The Guangxi region received intense downpours of up to 280mm in 12 hours, causing rivers to swell and dam walls to break. By Monday morning, flooding across the city of Nanning and surrounding areas had resulted in many people being stranded on rooftops. Flood waters pose additional threats in China because of the presence of wild and farmed snakes.

Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in prison in India, is accused of orchestrating assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 US and Canadian authorities say they have “dismantled” the leadership of a notorious Indian criminal group, charging dozens of operatives who have “inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe”, including a high-profile murder in Canada that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India. At a press conference on Tuesday, members of the FBI and Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said as part of Operation Hard Ball – a multiyear federal investigation into murder-for-hire plots, shootings, extortion and

Early flight data shows K2 Airways plane crashed into sea with five crew on board south-west of Karachi Pakistan has located the wreckage of a Boeing cargo plane, the country’s airports authority said, adding that rescuers were searching for the five crew members on board when the aircraft went missing. The plane was approaching Karachi from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates when radar showed it “rapidly descending” on Tuesday evening after reporting a “navigational system issue”, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA). Continue reading...

Burnham, who is set to take the job on Friday, will promise to give back control to communities and spread growth Andy Burnham will pledge he has the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected” in his first speech as Labour leader. Burnham, who is set to be announced in the job at a special conference on Friday, will promise to give back control to communities and spread growth across the country. Continue reading...

About 100,000 children across the country drink the high-caffeine beverages daily High-caffeine energy drinks “have no place in children’s hands” and will be banned from sale to under-16s in England from April next year under new laws designed to improve health outcomes in young people. About 100,000 children across the country currently drink high-caffeine energy drinks daily, with those in more deprived areas and households more likely to consume them, according to the government. Continue reading...

Agreement, without admission of liability, ends 19-month high court dispute that small-business owners said left them with large debts Vodafone has settled a long-running legal claim filed by 62 of its former franchisees who alleged the mobile phone group “unjustly enriched” itself at their expense by up to £85m. The small-business owners – some of whom said they had suffered suicidal thoughts because of the pressure exerted by the telecoms group – launched the high court claim in 2024 after running up large personal debts they said had been caused by their deals with the company. Continue reading...

Dawood Safi, 28, mounted a ‘frenzied’ and deadly rampage while in the grip of a psychotic episode An Uber driver who stabbed a dog walker to death in a “frenzy of violence” while in the grip of a psychotic episode has also been found guilty of trying to murder his landlord. Dawood Safi, 28, killed 49-year-old Wayne Broadhurst in the random knife attack last October, just minutes after attacking his landlord, Shahzad Farrukh, and a boy of 14. Continue reading...

Beira’s Place in Edinburgh, founded by the author, says claim was ‘deeply offensive’ as it considers legal action Amnesty International UK has referred itself to the charity regulator over a report it published that described a sexual violence support centre founded by JK Rowling as “anti-rights”. The UK branch of the global human rights charity listed Beira’s Place in Edinburgh among more than 100 organisations it said were part of an anti-rights movement. Continue reading...

US president using office and intelligence agencies to try to undermine confidence in elections before midterms Donald Trump used the imprimatur of the presidency and United States intelligence agencies to try to undermine confidence in American elections in a presidential address on Thursday that seemed bluntly aimed at laying the groundwork for further destabilizing the electoral system before November’s midterm elections. In his address from the East Room at the White House, Trump attempted to give the impression that his administration had uncovered new bombshell findings about vulnerabilities in the US’s election system. China, he claimed, had illicitly acquired voter

Opponents warn president’s address about 2020 election loss is a bid to sow confusion ahead of midterms that could deliver big losses for Republicans Donald Trump accused China of interfering with the 2020 election in a primetime televised address that laid bare his continuing obsession with his defeat to Joe Biden, but which opponents warned was a smokescreen for him to meddle in the forthcoming congressional midterms. In a 25-minute speech on Thursday that had been hyped by Trump himself, the US president cast extraordinary doubts on the integrity of the US electoral process, saying it was “catastrophically” short of

This live blog is now closed. Trump makes unverified claims of ‘sinister election meddling’ in primetime address Sign up for the Breaking News US email Donald Trump has just started speaking from the East Room of the White House, in what is expected to be a speech on the 2020 election loss he still refuses to accept. The president has begun with a typical recitation of boasts about what he claims are his accomplishments. We have embedded live video above. Follow along for updates. Continue reading...

NBC and CNN stayed away from White House speech, while Fox News, MS Now, CBS and some ABC affiliates aired it The US’s largest television stations split on whether to air Donald Trump ’s White House address live on Thursday night, which was heavy on unproven accusations about the integrity of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden. While CNN, ABC and NBC chose not to air the speech live, CBS, Fox News and MS Now (formerly MSNBC) aired at least large portions of the speech live. ABC did not air the speech as a must-run broadcast, but some station

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowground A century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down. The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water. Continue reading...

Mandatory evacuations across the Texas Hill Country are under way as life-threatening flash floods wreck bridges and roads with more heavy rain expected overnight. A wide swathe of Texas is forecast to receive as much as 20cm (eight inches) of additional precipitation through Friday morning to cap off a week of downpours that revived memories of the catastrophic deluge that killed more than 130 people a year ago. Evacuations have been complicated by almost 90 road and highway closures between...

US Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio told officials from more than 60 countries on Thursday that the United States would seek to refocus international counterterrorism efforts on what he called “far-left terror”, arguing that left-wing violence had long been overlooked. The conference in Washington has sparked Democratic concerns that the Trump administration is politicising counterterrorism efforts and diverting resources from other extremist threats. In a speech, Rubio said the Islamic militancy...

Italian police raided the offices of several luxury brands including Bulgari and Chanel over suspicions they used subcontractors employing Chinese workers, a prosecutor said Thursday. The other luxury brands included Brunello Cucinelli, Etro, Goyard Italie, Jacob Cohen Company, Moncler, and Stefano Ricci, Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari said, confirming information published by business daily Il Sole 24 Ore. None of the nine companies is under investigation, and prosecutors have not sought...

A teleprompter operator for Donald Trump has been suspended over allegations he placed bets with a prediction market on the content of the US president’s speeches, the White House said on Friday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the teleprompter operator was put on unpaid administrative leave on the orders of the president. Leavitt later added that he would no longer be working at the White House. Gabriel Perez is ⁠under investigation by federal regulators over potential...

An Italian court on Thursday sentenced the former head of motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia to 12 years for his role in a deadly bridge disaster eight years ago. Giovanni Castellucci was found guilty of vehicle homicide and negligence related to the collapse of the bridge in Genoa that killed 43 people in one of the country’s worst infrastructure disasters. The courtroom was packed with relatives of those who plunged to their deaths when the Morandi Bridge – part of a key highway...

A UK court on Thursday jailed two young men for a 2024 cyberattack on London’s public transport operator that exposed the details of millions of customers, in one of Britain’s biggest data breaches. Thalha Jubair, 20, from East London, and 18-year-old Owen Flowers from England’s West Midlands were each handed five-and-a-half-year sentences at London’s Woolwich Crown Court. The pair pleaded guilty last month to hacking Transport for London’s (TfL) network between August 31 and September 3, 2024,...

Four acting members of Greece’s parliament were among ⁠22 people indicted ⁠on Thursday by the European Public ⁠Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) over an investigation into alleged farm fraud that has rocked the country’s government. Last year, European prosecutors charged dozens of Greek stockbreeders with faking ownership of grazing land and exaggerating the number of animals on farms to claim EU subsidies with the alleged help of state employees and conservative politicians. Some people receiving...

German far-right activist Marla-Svenja Liebich, who legally changed gender to a woman in 2024, was taken to a men’s prison after being extradited to Germany from the Czech Republic, officials said on Thursday. Liebich arrived in Germany on Wednesday and was initially taken to a ‌women’s prison in Chemnitz in the eastern German state of Saxony before being transferred to a men’s prison on the same day, the Saxony Ministry of Justice said. The decision was taken by experts in consultation with the...

Large protests erupted in several Ukrainian cities on Thursday morning against the removal of popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov. More than a thousand people gathered on a central square in Kyiv, singing the national anthem, waving Ukrainian and EU flags and chanting “shame” and “bring Fedorov back”. Appointed only six months ago, Fedorov carved a reputation as a moderniser who tried to reform the Ukrainian military, worn down by more than four years of the Russian invasion. His removal...

The US will begin charging 25 per cent tariff on imports of certain goods from Brazil following an investigation alleging that the country engaged in unfair trade practices. The year-long inquiry “found a number of Brazil’s practices to be unreasonable and discriminatory, restricting the competitive position of American farmers, workers, innovators, and exporters,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said in a social media post late on Wednesday night. Imports of coffee, beef, and certain...

Africa’s exports to China have surged since Beijing expanded its zero-tariff policy across the continent in May, as customs data showed signs of emerging trade links in a range of new sectors alongside traditional categories such as critical minerals. China’s imports from Africa soared by 21.1 per cent and 40.2 per cent year on year in May and June, respectively – outpacing the overall growth in Chinese imports over the same period, customs data showed. The increase was partly driven by China’s...

Detainees at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas told two rights groups they were beaten by guards, denied medical care and prevented from contacting family and lawyers, according to a report issued on Wednesday. The report, issued by Human ‌Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, spans dozens of pages and is based on 80 interviews HRW conducted with detainees that focused on conditions at Camp East Montana, which is located at the US Army’s Fort...

From rare earth elements to commercial drones, Washington has become all too familiar with the strongest weapons in Beijing’s manufacturing arsenal – the materials and products where China holds a strategic advantage in production, extraction or any other link in the supply chain. After those near-monopolies provided Chinese policymakers considerable leverage in last year’s trade dispute, US think tanks are asking whether pharmaceuticals represent the next critical dependency. Their concern is...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that arch foe Iran has freed an American citizen detained since December 2024 and allowed her to leave the country. “She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump posted on social media, adding: “The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!” Trump – who in recent days has ordered a resumption of strikes against Iran and reimposed a naval blockade of its ports – did not name the woman or describe why she...

A former senior adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was sentenced to more than three years in prison for lying to federal investigators looking into whether he shared confidential data with Chinese intelligence operatives, the Justice Department said. John Harold Rogers, 64, was convicted at trial on February 3 of making false statements to investigators about sharing information on monetary policy, Washington US attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement on Wednesday after the...

Iran ⁠said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was an inviolable “red line”, warning that if US President Donald Trump carried out his threat to attack Iran’s infrastructure, it would strike all infrastructure across the Gulf region. The US intensified its strikes on Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting US allies...

On July 12, a coalition of 14 nations – the United States, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and seven European states including Germany, Italy and the Baltic nations – issued a statement marking the 10th anniversary of the South China Sea ruling at The Hague in 2016. The document recycled familiar arguments, urging compliance with the ruling and framing it as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order. But beneath it lies a fundamental disconnect from...

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that he is rolling out a new screening programme for “testosterone deficiency” among troops, calling it necessary to allow them to operate at their “absolute best”. The screenings will be conducted annually as part of service members’ required medical screenings for those 30 and older, he said. Troops under 30 can volunteer to be tested. In a video on social media, Hegseth said receiving testosterone replacement therapy would be...

US President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, faced ⁠tense bipartisan questioning at a US Senate panel on Wednesday about the roll-out of the Epstein files and a settlement that gave the president sweeping tax immunity. Blanche, the president’s former personal lawyer, was pressed by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas about the Justice Department’s decision to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service by creating a since-abandoned US$1.8 billion fund...

French lawmakers on Wednesday adopted ⁠a bill that will create a legal right to assisted dying for adults with incurable illnesses, capping an intense ethical and political debate. The legislation will, under strict conditions, allow a person who requests it to receive a lethal substance. The substance could be self-administered or, if the person is physically unable to do so, administered by ‌a doctor or nurse. Access to assisted dying will be restricted to adults who are French citizens or...

A man who threatened on social media in May to shoot Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was arrested, London police said on Wednesday, as concerns grow over the security of politicians following the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former member of parliament. The man was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a member of parliament, the Metropolitan Police said. “I am going to shoot you in the head if you win,” he allegedly told Farage on social media, according...

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he was leaving the United Kingdom “in better shape than I found it” as he fielded questions, criticism and even a bit of praise from lawmakers in the House of Commons for the last time on Wednesday. Starmer, who leaves office next week, bid farewell to the boisterous weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions where he has traded barbs with opposition politicians and defended his government’s record. On Monday, he will step down as prime minister after losing...

When Shabir Ahmed, a convicted leader in one of Britain’s grooming gang cases, was released from prison this month and allowed to stay in the country rather than being deported to Pakistan, the political fallout extended well beyond a single immigration dispute. The case has become a test for the ruling Labour party, which is under pressure both as the government responsible for deportation policy and over criticism of failures by some local authorities to protect vulnerable girls. Analysts said...

Unexploded munitions were hampering efforts by firefighters to tackle a blaze in a national park in northern Germany, local officials said on Wednesday. Old munitions buried in the soil from an abandoned military training ground have forced them to stay at least 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) from the flames, officials from the Mecklenburg Seenplatte district said. “Emergency services cannot actively put out the fire – that is the problem,” district spokesman Marten Schroeder said of the fire in...

The Pentagon has blocked the public release of a congressionally mandated annual report on the costly and controversial F-35 fighter jet programme for the first time in more than 20 years. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Defence Department officials concluded its yearly assessment of the US$1.6 trillion programme contained Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) – which meant none of the report could be released to the public. The report has offered a key window...

Generative AI chatbots capable of writing emails and computer code, translating, organising a trip or coming up with gift ideas are now readily available – prompting some to ask whether human brainpower could suffer for lack of use. A simple natural-language prompt is usually enough to draw a usable response from a service like ChatGPT or Claude, with the effects making themselves felt in schools and universities, workplaces from offices to courtrooms and our personal lives. Recent scientific...

Iran threatened on Wednesday to ⁠shut off more regional energy exports, after the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports and both sides launched more strikes as they vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz. The apparent threat to shipping through Bab el-Mandeb, a gateway to the Red Sea, follows an escalation between Iran and the US since last week that has severely frayed a tentative truce signed in June. The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28,...

A new era began between Spain and the tiny British territory of Gibraltar on Wednesday, as border checks that have long been a source of tension and frustration were finally lifted. Several dozen people and vehicles crossed the border from Spain for the first time without undergoing customs checks a few minutes after midnight. Several hundred people gathered for the occasion, waving Spanish flags, while Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, announced: “Europe is back”. Gibraltar, a...

There will be no turning back the clock if the US House has its way. The House passed a bill on Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent. Proponents, including the White House, argued the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. The vote was 308-117. Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. States could opt out if their respective...

A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Gus” sold on Tuesday for US$50.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York, making it the most valuable dinosaur fossil bought at auction, after a 10-minute battle between seven bidders. “Gus” is one of the world’s most complete T. rex skeletons – with 183 fossilised bones – and was discovered on a cattle ranch in South Dakota in 2021. The giant beast lived some 72 to 66 million years ago – a period characterised by a warm climate, high sea levels and vast...

US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told lawmakers Tuesday that a sharp increase in threats targeting her and other justices is increasingly encroaching on their personal and family lives. During a rare appearance by justices before Congress, Barrett said she had to take a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son. “I didn’t expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a...

Warren Buffett has stopped donating to the Gates Foundation, ending a two-decade philanthropic partnership following revelations about interactions between Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Buffett said on Tuesday that he was donating about US$6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock, comprising 12 million Class B shares, in his annual midyear donation to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter. The...

British ⁠counterterrorism police said on Tuesday that ⁠former government minister Ann Widdecombe, who was found murdered at her home last week, was clearly targeted, adding that officers were still working to establish the motive. “It is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working ‌to understand the extent of any planning or preparation and the motivation that sits behind that attack,” Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Britain’s counterterrorism policing, told...

US President Donald Trump lashed out on Wednesday at a decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to suspend the use of traffic stops after two fatal shootings in less than a week. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted the practice after a Colombian man was shot dead in Maine on Monday and a Mexican man was killed in an operation in Texas last week. “We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump said in an early...

Writer E. Jean Carroll has collected over US$5.6 million that a jury awarded in her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against US President Donald Trump, court records and her lawyers said. The payment – representing the US$5 million jury award, plus interest – was made Monday from an account where it had been held in escrow since the 2023 verdict, according to court records. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment on Tuesday. “We are pleased to report that she has received the...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned plans to impose a 20 per cent charge on commercial cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, less than a day after unveiling the proposal, while pressing ahead with a naval blockade targeting Iranian trade. Trump said the proposed fee would be replaced by trade and investment agreements with Gulf states following discussions with regional leaders. “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the...

US consumer inflation slowed more than expected in June as energy prices retreated, but the moderation was insufficient to convince financial markets to take an interest-rate increase from the Federal Reserve this year off the table against the backdrop of renewed conflict in the Middle East. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Labour Department on Tuesday also showed underlying inflation subsiding last month amid declines in the costs of motor vehicle insurance, communication, apparel,...

Louis Vuitton is set to face off against China’s trademark regulator in a Chinese intellectual property court on Thursday, as the French luxury brand deals with public backlash in China over a separate legal battle against a local milk tea brand. Louis Vuitton Malletier filed the administrative lawsuit against the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), with a Chinese individual – Huang Minyao – joined as a third party, according to a notice published by the Beijing...

Deaths in Germany spiked 32 per cent during a record heatwave in June compared to levels in the previous four years, official data showed Tuesday. Nationwide, about 23,900 people died between June 22 and June 28 – an increase of 7,100 compared with the two previous weeks, according to Germany’s statistics agency. “The fact that the health impact from heat is high and that death rates rise as a result is a well-known effect often observed in the summer months,” the agency said. Sweltering weather...

A Norwegian chemical tanker was hit by an explosion caused by an unidentified device off the Omani coast early Tuesday, a crisis response company said. MTI Network said in a statement that shipping company Stolt Tankers reported that at approximately 12.40am local time “its tanker vessel Stolt Magnesium while on passage in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman suffered from an explosion of an unidentified external device”. The explosion triggered a fire in the ship’s engine room, but an MTI...

There should be a “youth mode” for children on social media platforms in which addictive features and targeted advertising are turned off, EU lawmakers demanded on Tuesday. The calls are growing louder for the European Union to ensure that social media platforms and others are designed to be safe before children use them. An expert report on Monday also recommended a “safety-by-design” approach in which platforms protect minors from possible harms posed by the apps. “The responsibility for the...

Ten men suffered injuries on Tuesday during the eighth and final bull run of Spain’s famed San Fermin festival, bringing to 57 the total number of daredevils injured during this year’s fiesta. An 18-year-old man suffered a gore wound to the thigh and a 46-year-old man was gored in the chest, while the remaining eight – including an 86-year-old British man – were taken to hospital with bruises of varying severity, the Navarre regional government said in a statement. The six fighting bulls and...

Ukrainian fighter pilots and troops took pride of place in France’s national Bastille Day celebrations on Tuesday as a massive parade showcased support for Kyiv and symbolically flexed European military muscle. On President Emmanuel Macron’s last Bastille Day as president, he hosted around 30 other leaders for an event that appeared aimed at showing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump that Europe is united and stepping up to defend itself. Ukrainian President...

Yemen’s Houthi movement fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group. Saudi Arabia intercepted missiles “launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the southern region,” the spokesperson for a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on X. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said ‌they had targeted the international airport in...

On July 6, a Chinese strategic nuclear submarine fired a missile carrying a training dummy warhead into a designated area of the Pacific. Beijing described the launch as routine, said relevant countries had been notified and insisted that it targeted no state. The regional reaction was immediate, with Australia, Japan, the United States and Pacific nations raising concerns around insufficient notification and the politics of nuclear-free zones. Those reactions matter because they show how far...

Documents released by the Trump administration to support the president’s claims did not back up his most aggressive statements.

Since his return to the White House, the lead federal partner for states on election security has lost around a third of its work force.

Many of President Trump’s attempts to curtail mail voting have been blocked by the courts. Before Trump, Republicans actually embraced absentee voting.

President Trump claimed that China had tried to acquire American voter data. Possessing such information would not allow votes to be manipulated.

Federal officials worked with Michigan investigators to trace the outbreak to iceberg lettuce, which may also have gone to other vendors.

It’s the first potentially habitable world known to host an atmosphere, making it a lead contender in the search for life beyond our solar system.

Conversations with economists, and people around him, shed light on how Andy Burnham might tackle entrenched challenges.

Andy Burnham is set to officially become the next prime minister on Monday, but a number of things have to happen before then. Here’s how everything is expected to play out.

A House panel approved the measure. But Republicans are divided over its size, cost and policy provisions, and many are concerned about the timing before the midterm elections.

Drawings obtained by The New York Times show the columns called for additional steel plates, but engineers reviewing site photos said they appeared to be missing.

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a key vote on confirmation, had demanded the acting attorney general meet with victims.

A technical assistant to President Trump won around $100,000, according to the prediction market, which flagged the activity to the federal government.

The move is a significant change that could deter hundreds of thousands of immigrants from using such programs to meet basic needs.

The partner of Johan Guerrero, who was killed by an immigration agent this week, described him as a tireless worker and doting father who would do anything for his 3-year-old daughter.

Federal investigators said a “crystal-like” substance in the bags looked like methamphetamine. A lawyer for the victim’s brother said it was salt.

Shaoping Wu was working as a contract delivery driver for Amazon when he was pulled over in Pennsylvania. He had championed personal and religious freedom for Chinese citizens.

Researchers have made important strides in understanding and treating diffuse midline gliomas, which were long seen as a death sentence for the children and adolescents they affect.

The president lacks not only a coherent strategic concept but an elementary understanding of what strategy is.

The elite flying team had announced a safety review after videos posted on social media showed a fighter jet passing just above beachgoers on Wednesday.