Minimalist News

Dear ICE Protestors: We Need To Talk... Authored by Jenna McCarthy via Jenna's Side Rocks, Dear ICE Protestors, It’s been a rough few months out there. You’ve shown up. You’ve resisted. You’ve rallied. You’ve organized. You’ve made signs. So. Many. Signs. You’ve launched illegal fireworks, damaged property, blocked traffic, broken the law, bashed in windows, assaulted agents, and berated scores of strangers simply for doing their jobs. You must be exhausted. I see you. I feel you. I am in awe of your stamina. So let’s pretend, for argument’s sake and to give you a desperately-needed break, you win. Let’s pretend all the chanting, the honking, the whistling, the street-blocking, the papier-mâché puppets,

US Warns Iran Over Weekend Live Fire Drills Close To American Forces Iran's military starting Thursday issued a warning to ships at sea that it planned to run a drill starting this weekend which is to include live firing in the Strait of Hormuz, potentially disrupting traffic through a waterway which sees 20% of all the world's oil pass through it. This prompted a US warning in response, given US forces are also in the region - but quite a bit further away. On Iran's two-day live-fire naval exercise, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it will not tolerate any unsafe behavior which threats

New SNAP Work Requirement Rules To Start Feb. 1 In Multiple States Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epcoh Times, The new work requirements to gain or continue eligibility for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will start being implemented in several U.S. states beginning Feb. 1. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, instituted new work requirements for SNAP beneficiaries to continue receiving benefits, targeting able-bodied adults without dependents. People ages 18 to 54 are required to meet these conditions to receive SNAP benefits for more than three months in a three-year period, according

Huge Verdict Could Destroy 'Gender Transition For Minors' Industry A jury on Friday found a psychologist and a surgeon liable for malpractice after they convinced a 16-year-old girl to lop off her breasts. This marks the first medical malpractice case involving a detransitioner to reach a verdict - and it has huge implications.  Fox Varian, who identified as transgender at the time, was awarded $2 million in damages - which includes $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, and $400,000 for future medical expenses. Now 22, Varian identifies as a woman.  The January 30 decision at Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains, New York,

Bitcoin Crashes To Nov 2024 Lows Amid $1.5 Billion In Levered Liquidations In an otherwise quiet session - as one would expect for a Saturday, certainly the algos would - starting early this morning there has been concerted pressure to sell into the bitcoin spot price following yesterday's Warsh-inspired rout which repriced bitcoin from 88K to 84K, pressure which grew into a liquidation firehose just after 9am ET and especially at noon, when we saw massive algo-driven volumes hitting the bid. The selling has pushed Bitcoin as low as $74,000 (it was almost at $100K last week), and is at the lowest

Mainstream Expectations: Hope Vs. Potential Risk Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Mainstream expectations, those from Wall Street, economists, and corporate strategists, have congealed around a bullish economic outlook for 2026. Most forecasts project stronger economic growth, with contained inflation, and continued investment in technology and capital expenditure. As such, many institutional investors interpret this as a year of opportunity for markets and corporate earnings.That was a point we discussed at this year’s Investment Summit with the following slide. But it isn’t just earnings that are expected to rise, but due to productivity increases (AI = Less Employment) corporate profit margins are expected

Palmer Luckey One-Shots Jason Calacanis Over Epstein Ties The beef between Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and Silicon Valley angel investor Jason Calacanis goes back nearly a decade - when Calacanis joined a media circus slamming Luckey for a $10,000 donation to a pro-Trump group in 2016. The donation sparked widespread backlash among Silicon Valley's liberal elite, and resulted in calls to boycott Luckey's Oculus VR (which he founded and sold to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion), along with his eventual ouster from Facebook. Image: Peter H. Diamandis In 2022, Luckey confronted Calacanis - co-host of the 'All-In' podcast, at the VC's own event over what he characterized

Iranians Seal Windows & Store Food, Water As They Prepare For Attack Via Middle East Eye As night fell on Friday, a tense sense of dread settled over Iranians at home and abroad, with rumors of an imminent US military strike took hold across Iran. "I kept waiting for it to hit. I couldn't sleep until morning. I was waking up and straining to hear any sound of explosions. Let's see what happens tonight," Milad*, a 43-year-old engineer living in the capital Tehran, said about that night. Shohreh, a 68-year-old woman, goes to a park near her home in east Tehran every morning for group exercise. When

Latest Epstein Release Catches Goldman's Top Lawyer In Massive Lie Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that there was an internal debate at Goldman Sachs over whether to get rid of General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler over her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.  Kathryn Ruemmler, Jeffrey Epstein Ruemmler, a former White House attorney for Obama, told Goldman execs when they hired her in April 2020 that the relationship was purely professional - yet it would later become public that she not only met with Epstein dozens of times and exchanged friendly emails for years, she was listed as an executor of Epstein's will as recently as Jan. 18, 2019 -

Seattle Mayor Directs Police To Track And Document ICE Enforcement Activities Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced a series of steps on Jan. 30 in response to a potential surge in federal immigration enforcement, directing local police to track and document activities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and barring agents from city property to conduct operations. The moves made by Wilson, a democratic socialist, comes amid heightened Democratic pushback against federal immigration enforcement actions after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Wilson’s measures include an executive order banning

Putin Envoy Dmitriev Back In Miami For Talks, Which Seem To Be Going Nowhere President Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev has arrived in Miami this weekend where he held another round of talks with an American delegation. The discussions started early Saturday morning, after Dmitriev confirmed his arrival, writing on social media simply, "Back in Miami". The talks follow a round of meetings held on January 23-24 in Abu Dhabi involving the United States, Ukraine, and Russia. Media reports said those discussions produced "progress" on military-related issues, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describing them as constructive. But were they really? via Reuters Apart from such

Federal Judge Refuses To Block Trump's ICE Surge In Minnesota Authored by Jacob Burg and Troy Mayers via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on Jan. 31 denied Minnesota’s emergency request to block the Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities in a large-scale immigration enforcement operation. In her ruling Saturday morning, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote that the “Court must view Plaintiffs’ claims through the lens of the specific legal framework they invoke, and, having done so, finds that Plaintiffs have not met their burden... the motion is denied.” She heard arguments from both the Department of Justice and

The US Economy In A Nutshell: A Few Winners, Everyone Else Loses Ground Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Maybe this arrangement isn't as stable and sustainable as the winners imagine. Here's the US economy in a nutshell: corporate/state concentrations of financial, market and political power are the winners, and everyone outside these fortresses is losing ground. The Wall Street Journal is generally viewed as pro-business, and so it's particularly striking when the WSJ published this: > The Economic Divide Between Big and Small Companies Is Growing: Economic fortunes of low- and high-income Americans are diverging--same pattern happening with companies. (WSJ.com) > > --The growing divide between

Activist Judge Blocks Key Parts Of Trump EO On Verifying Citizenship To Vote A federal judge on Friday blocked key provisions of President Trump's executive order that requires proof of US citizenship for voter registration.  Signed on March 25, Executive Order 14248 directs the Election Assistance Commission to require in its national mail voter registration form that voters provide documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a passport. The order also directs federal officials to take measures to prevent illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting in federal elections.  The commission, established by Congress in 2002, helps local officials administer elections.  On Friday, 82-year-old US District Judge

Over 185,000 Americans In The South Remain Without Power After Ice Storm Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times, Over 185,000 Americans were without power nearly one week after a deadly winter storm swept through two-thirds of the country. States that faced ongoing power outages included Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas. The northern part of Mississippi had the most outages with nearly 80,000 utility customers in the dark as of 5 p.m. ET. Officials at the North East Mississippi Electric Power Association said they weren’t sure when the lights would be back. “I’m not quite prepared to give a real good estimate of when you

Connecticut School Cancels Event With Education Secretary Over Political Pressure Authored by Jonathan Turley, We have long discussed how educators are instilling viewpoint intolerance in students from the earliest grades. The latest example is the cancellation of a visit to McKinley Elementary School in Fairfield, Connecticut, by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. The students had the opportunity to speak and interact with a cabinet member, but the school cancelled the event due to political opposition from parents. Reports indicated that the visit, part of McMahon’s “History Rocks” tour in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was cancelled due to a campaign by

Latest Epstein Emails Reveal Bill Gates Slipped Wife Antibiotics For STD He Got From Russian Hookers Democrats thought that the firehose release of Epstein files would "finally" bring down Trump. Instead, not only is that not happening (one can argue the latest batch of docs further cements Trump's claim that he had distanced himself far enough from Esptein in recent decades as this admission from Epstein himself to his favorite scribe Michael Wolff reveals), but it is taking down Democratic "thought titans", each one bigger than the next: first it was Larry Summers, then Bill Clinton, now it's Bill Gates. In what

Don Lemon Arrested By Federal Authorities Over Minnesota Church Protest Update: 1535ET: Lemon has been charged with two counts, according to the unsealed grand jury indictment: COUNT 1: 18 U.S.C. § 241 - Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship COUNT 2: 18 U.S.C. § 248(a) (b), § §2(a) - FACE Act: Injure, Intimidate, and Interfere with Exercise of Right of Religious Freedom at a Place of Worship. > He is so cooked!!! pic.twitter.com/64eGmswZhr > > — Patriot (@_Patriot1776Q_) January 30, 2026 *  *  * Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal authorities late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law when he entered

Neil Young Encounters The Most Boomer Leftist Problem Imaginable Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.News, Aging rocker Neil Young has encountered perhaps the most boomer of leftist boomer issues, and of course it’s all President Trump’s fault. He can no longer use his ancient flip phone because orange man bad. In a rambling post on his website, Young details his epic struggle to ditch Verizon service, convinced that every dollar he spends fuels a “Trump Fascist regime.” > Neil Young seeks to boycott all Trump-supporting companies, calls out Apple and Verizonhttps://t.co/0AMWGjKZcp > > — Stereogum (@stereogum) January 28, 2026 It’s peak boomer leftist TDS paranoia, where everyday

Iran Hits Back At EU: Designates European Armies As 'Terrorist Entities' Iran is saying two can play at the West's game: on Friday the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council blasted the EU's decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist organization," warning that Europe's own militaries would now be viewed through the same lens. "The European Union certainly knows that… the armies of countries that have participated in the European Union's recent resolution against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are considered terrorist entities," Ali Larijani wrote in a post on X. He added bluntly: "Therefore, the consequences

Voters to choose president and 57 members of congress, with current president’s hardline pick Laura Fernández expected to win first round Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region. Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism. Continue reading...

Island country only has oil enough to last 15-20 days, and 12-hour blackouts have become commonplace Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has warned that Donald Trump’s move to slap new tariffs on countries sending oil to Cuba could trigger a humanitarian crisis on the island, which is already suffering from chronic fuel shortages and regular blackouts. The US president signed an executive order on Thursday declaring a national emergency and laying the groundwork for such tariffs, ratcheting up the pressure to topple the communist government in Havana. Continue reading...

Panama’s president says strategic waterway will operate as normal after ruling that advances US policy aims Panama’s president said ports at each end of the Panama canal would operate as usual after the country’s supreme court ruled the concession held by a subsidiary of a Chinese company was unconstitutional. The court’s decision on Thursday, which helps US attempts to block any Chinese influence over the strategic waterway, immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Continue reading...

Law will give private companies more control but experts unsure whether changes go far enough for US Venezuela’s acting president has signed into law a bill making significant changes to the country’s oil sector after pressure from the US to open it up to foreign private investment. The new hydrocarbons law promises to give private companies control over oil production and sales, ease taxes and allow for independent arbitration of disputes, while largely maintaining state control over oil production. Continue reading...

Millions told to stay home in US and more than a million are left without power, while Australia faces record heatwave Cold weather across a vast swathe of the eastern US has been the likely cause of at least 49 deaths in the past week. At one point, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warnings, affecting areas from New Mexico to New England – a spread of about 2,000 miles (3,200km). Millions were told to stay at home, and at one point there were more than a million people without power. As of Wednesday night, there were

About 20 countries including G7 states in talks on rare earths including calls for US to guarantee minimum price Ministers from the US, EU, UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand will meet in Washington this week to discuss a strategic alliance over critical minerals. The summit is being seen as a step to repair transatlantic ties fractured by a year of conflict with Donald Trump and pave the way for other alliances to help countries de-risk from China, including one centred on steel. Continue reading...

Plaintiffs in case say they were lured from Japan, exploited for labour and cut off from families for generations It has been more than six decades since Eiko Kawasaki left Japan to begin a new life in North Korea. Then 17, she was among tens of thousands of people with Korean heritage who had been lured to the communist state by the promise of a “paradise on Earth”. Instead, they encountered something closer to a living hell. They were denied basic human rights and forced to endure extreme hardship. Official promises of free education and healthcare plus guaranteed jobs and housing had

PM flies out after courting world’s second biggest economy aware of difficult balance of risks and potential rewards The last British prime minister to visit China was Theresa May in 2018. Before the visit, she and her team were advised to get dressed under the covers because of the risk of hidden cameras having been placed in their hotel rooms to record compromising material. Keir Starmer, in Beijing this week, was more sanguine about his privacy, even though the security risks have, if anything, increased since the former Tory prime minister was in town. Continue reading...

Prime minister suggests US president was ‘talking more about Canada’ when asked for reaction to Beijing visit Prominent Hong Kong and Uyghur activists living in exile in the UK have accused Starmer of seeking China’s desperate approval, after the prime minister visited Beijing for the first time in eight years this week. Pro-democracy campaigner and prominent critic of the Communist Party, Finn Lau said the Hong Kong community is disappointed by Starmer’s visit, but unsurprised by the government’s “short sightedness”. “While British citizen Jimmy Lai remains imprisoned and Uyghurs continue to suffer atrocity crimes, we take no comfort in this decision and will

Starmer confirms immediate removal, but it is unclear if sanctions remain on former MP, academic and barrister China has lifted the sanctions it imposed on serving British MPs and peers in a significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer travelled to Beijing for landmark talks with Xi Jinping. Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Nationals senator Matt Canavan says he is not harbouring any plans to run against the party leader, David Littleproud, with a leadership spill expected to take place on Monday, saying “I don’t care about all this stuff”. Asked why he wouldn’t run for leader during an appearance on Sky on Sunday morning, Canavan said: Maybe I’m a different kind of species, Andrew?” I go to Canberra to take action. I’ve got five beautiful kids; I’ve got a beautiful wife. I’d prefer to be staying home this week, but I’m going down to try

‘I quite frankly believe entirely that Sussan Ley has the support of the party room,’ shadow health minister Anne Ruston says * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Senior Liberal figures have downplayed the prospect of Sussan Ley losing a potential looming leadership spill, saying she enjoys support from most of the opposition party room and urging their colleagues to “get on with the job” of holding the government to account. While speculation continues to swirl about the leadership ambitions of Angus Taylor, the deputy Liberal leader,

Survivors of sexual abuse welcome the ‘monumental shift’ in how courts approach sentencing, while others say it could limit defendants’ rights * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Offenders convicted of any crime will no longer be able to rely on glowing character references during sentencing under changes being introduced in New South Wales, in a move supported by survivors of sexual abuse but which others say could limit defendants’ rights. On Wednesday, the state government will become the first nationwide to introduce legislation to remove “good

Residents and local authorities are worried about environmental hazards and land devaluation as minister says excess regulations may hinder modern farming practices * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Cate Faehrmann, a Greens member of the New South Wales legislative council, will move a private member’s bill next week to give councils more power to regulate blueberry and other berry farms which are expanding throughout the mid-north coast, leading to serious frictions with other landholders. Separately, the state Labor government is considering an inquiry into alleged worker

Men – both aged 28 – found at a home in Glenorie on Saturday, New South Wales police say * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two 28-year-old men have been found dead at a property in Sydney’s north-west in an incident police are treating as not suspicious. In a statement, New South Wales police said emergency services were called at about 8.40am on Saturday to a home on Harrisons Lane, Glenorie, 40km north-west of the Sydney CBD, following reports of a concern for welfare. Continue reading...

Whether in streets draped in anti-drone nets or deep in urban basements, Kherson residents go about their everyday activities with the constant threat of Russian bombing Galyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, is moving busily among a small group of children seated around a table in a basement in Kherson, unique in being Ukraine’s only leading city almost directly on the frontline with Russian forces – and one where people live with the daily threat of attack. She dangles a plasticine butterfly on a thread over a playhouse on the table. Her own house in the city, she says, was hit by Russian

Nato chief has glibly dismissed prospect of coping without US support, but in the age of Trump the case for autonomy is growing The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, was typically blunt when he met members of the European parliament this week. From the dais of the blond-wood committee room in Brussels, he was clear: “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.” And if Europe wanted to supplant the US nuclear deterrent, existing spending commitments would have to double, he added – “so hey,

Putin critic says plants in China, India and Turkey are funnelling up to $1bn a day to Kremlin Bill Browder’s fight against Vladimir Putin has seen him face threats, lawsuits, false accusations of murder and Interpol arrest warrants. A disinformation-laden film was even made about him. But 16 years after the death of his friend and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at the hands of Putin’s regime, Browder is unrelenting in his fight for justice. It is an endeavour that, by his estimation, has cost Putin and his cronies billions of dollars already, via asset freezes and sanctions. Hence the considerable risk to his

Thousands set to gather in Budapest after János Lázár’s remarks captured on video Thousands of people are set to gather in Budapest to demand the resignation of a senior Hungarian politician, for making a racist remark against Roma people earlier this month. János Lázár told attendees at a political forum that migration was not the solution to the country’s labour shortage. “Since there are no migrants, and someone has to clean the bathrooms on the InterCity trains,” Lázár said Roma people would do the job, using an offensive slur in his speech. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says he wants to ‘go further’ in relations with Brussels as ministers look to restart stalled negotiations The UK and the EU are exploring the prospect of new talks on closer defence cooperation, as Keir Starmer stressed on Friday that he wanted to “go further” in the UK’s relationship with Brussels. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, is due in London for talks next week, with trade, energy and fisheries on the agenda. But diplomatic sources said the UK is keen to discuss restarting negotiations on defence as soon as it can. Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn

Approximately 20,000 Palestinians expected to leave territory for urgent medical care abroad Preparations to reopen Gaza’s main border crossing into Rafah have begun, though it is uncertain if any Palestinians will pass through it before the day’s end, officials have said. Before the war, the Rafah crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Palestinians in Gaza to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid. It has been largely shut since May 2024. Continue reading...

Pressure mounts after government said it would publish names of those killed during recent unrest Calls are growing inside Iran for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed during recent protests after the government said it would oversee the publication of the names of the deceased. The highly unusual government move, announced on Thursday, is designed to head off claims that crimes against humanity have been committed and that as many as 30,000 Iranians have been killed. Iran’s official death toll released by the Martyr’s Foundation is 3,117, including members of the security services. Continue reading...

Nick Carter says easing controls on MDMA will allow drug to be used as alternative treatment for those with PTSD A former head of the British military is calling for the government to ease restrictions on the party drug MDMA so that it can be tested more cheaply as a treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sir Nick Carter, who was chief of the defence staff until 2021, said existing regulations meant a single gram of “medical grade” MDMA cost about £10,000 compared with a street price of about £40, inflating the cost of trials. Continue reading...

US president says Iran ‘negotiating’ as US naval battle group approaches, and says regional allies cannot be told plan Donald Trump has said Iran is “talking to” the US and hinted at a deal to avoid the use of military strikes. “[Iran is] talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens … We have a big fleet heading out there,” he told Fox News. “They are negotiating.” Continue reading...

Deadly attacks launched day before border crossing due to open as part of ceasefire deal Israel has carried out some of its deadliest airstrikes on Gaza in months, killing at least 30 Palestinians, some of whom were sheltering in tent cities for displaced people. Despite a nominal ceasefire, the Israeli military struck a police station in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 officers and detainees, the civil defence said. It indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies. Continue reading...

Five years after the junta’s coup, the civil war devastating Myanmar has reached a turning point. The military is carrying out large-scale counter-offensives across the country to reclaim territory seized by pro-democracy rebels of various ethnic and religious backgrounds In Tanintharyi, the southernmost region of Myanmar, the local resistance has managed to contain the military. After five years of guerrilla warfare, the revolutionary youth there remain determined to restore democracy through armed struggle. A long, narrow stretch of land at the southern tip of Myanmar, between the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east, Tanintharyi region is one of

* Concern raised over politicisation of sport * Bangladesh pulled out of men’s World T20 after row Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the men’s T20 World Cup could have implications for India’s 2036 Olympic bid amid concern at the International Olympic Committee over the potential politicisation of sport. Bangladesh pulled out of next month’s tournament last weekend after the International Cricket Council declined a request to move their group matches from India to the co-hosts Sri Lanka, after a long-running political row triggered by Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to remove the Bangladeshi bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their Indian Premier League squad. Continue reading...

Human rights groups and some western countries have denounced the election, the first held since the 2021 coup, describing it as neither free nor fair Myanmar’s military-backed party has completed a sweeping victory in the country’s three-phase general election, state media said, cementing an outcome long expected after a tightly controlled political process held during civil war and widespread repression. The Union and Solidarity Party (USDP) dominated all phases of the vote, winning an overwhelming majority in the two legislative chambers in Myanmar. It secured 232 of the 263 seats up for grabs in the lower Pyithu Hluttaw house and 109 of

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...

Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor features heavily in the latest tranche of the Epstein files, released on Friday by the US justice department As we made reference to earlier in the blog, over three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were released on Friday by the department of justice, six weeks after a deadline mandated in a law signed by the US president, Donald Trump, who has been dogged politically by the release of the files. Trump, who has admitted having a friendship with Epstein, is mentioned hundreds of times in the documents. Continue reading...

Woman claims she spent night at Royal Lodge and had tour of Buckingham Palace, says lawyer A second woman has alleged that Jeffrey Epstein sent her to the UK to have a sexual encounter with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, according to her lawyer. The woman has claimed she spent the night at the former prince’s residence Royal Lodge in 2010, her US lawyer, Brad Edwards, told the BBC. The woman, who is not British, was in her 20s at the time, it was reported. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US,

Some families have lost up to £10,000 after being duped into sending money to fraudsters’ bank accounts Foreign students attending independent schools in the UK are being targeted by fraudsters seeking to intercept their fee payments, according to new research. Some families have lost up to £10,000 after being duped into sending money to the bank account of a criminal, after receiving a fake email from the school bursar. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Find more of our coverage on Jeffery Epstein here * What have we learned from the newly released Epstein files? According to one file, Mountbatten-Windsor was said to be “very focused” on financier Harlan Peltz’s girlfriend during a dinner with Maxwell. The apparent FBI document details a 2020 interview with Peltz in which he provided information to agents about Maxwell. Peltz was at a dinner with Maxwell and Prince Andrew and Peltz’s then girlfriend. Prince Andrew was very focused on Peltz’s girlfriend. Maxwell would sometimes mention Prince Andrew’s name and that they were friends. Maxwell would have outrageous parties

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, features heavily in the latest tranche of the Epstein files Keir Starmer has said Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor should testify before the US Congress about his links to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Journalists asked the prime minister, who is in Japan for a meeting with its PM, Sanae Takaichi, if the former prince should apologise to the disgraced financier’s victims and give evidence about what he knew of his crimes. Continue reading...

App endured a major outage and user backlash over perceived censorship. Now it’s facing an inquiry by the California governor and an ascendant competitor A little more than one week ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life. TikTok’s calamitous emigration began on 22 January when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to sell the app to a group of US investors, among them the business software giant Oracle. The app’s time under Chinese ownership had been marked by a meteoric ascent to more than a

Late singer said kids loved his personality and wanted to touch and hug him, and ‘sometimes it got me into trouble’ As Michael Jackson saw it, children would become enamored with his personality as well as want to touch and hug him – and “sometimes it [got] me into trouble,” the late US pop superstar says in previously unheard audio recordings contained in a new documentary. The UK’s Wonderhood Studios included the recordings of Jackson voicing those thoughts for a new four-episode documentary series beginning on Wednesday that explores his acquittal on child sexual abuse charges after a 14-week criminal trial near

Louisiana governor says the shooting in Clinton is ‘absolutely horrific and unacceptable’ Five people, including a six-year-old child, have been wounded in a shooting during a parade in Louisiana, sending people in the crowd fleeing for cover, authorities say. The shooting occurred shortly after the midday start of the Mardi Gras in the Country parade in Clinton, East Feliciana sheriff Jeff Travis told reporters. Continue reading...

Latest Epstein file release shows 2003 emails between Casey Wasserman and the convicted sex trafficker Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, said on Saturday that he “deeply regrets” emails from 2003 between him and Ghislaine Maxwell that appeared in the latest collection of government files released Friday on Jeffrey Epstein. Among the exchanges included one from Wasserman telling Maxwell “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?” Continue reading...

Brandon Johnson gives police ‘clear procedure’ to follow if they witness or get reports of agents involved in illegal activity Chicago’s mayor Brandon Johnson has ordered Chicago police to investigate and document alleged illegal activity by federal immigration (ICE) agents in the city, a move that will escalate tensions over jurisdiction between local and federal authorities. The executive order, titled ICE on Notice, gives Chicago police “clear procedure” to follow if they witness or receive reports of ICE agents involved in illegal activity and refer evidence of potential violations to city prosecutors. Continue reading...

The India–EU trade agreement marks a significant moment in the development of the global political economy. Described by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the “mother of all deals”, the agreement links one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies with the world’s biggest single market. Yet, within hours of Brussels and New Delhi announcing their “strategic partnership”, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused the EU of putting trade ahead of the Ukrainian people....

A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures. US President Donald Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk and Britain’s former prince Andrew are among those making headlines after being named in the documents. Here are key details about some of the others mentioned, none of whom has been accused of wrongdoing: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates In a draft email...

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joked on Saturday that she does not look like an angel, after a row blew up in the media over a restored fresco in a Rome church. Some of Italy’s press have been asking whether the premier served as inspiration for a cherub painted in a chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, located a few metres (yards) from the main building of the Italian government. The basilica is one of the oldest Christian churches in the city. The newspaper La Repubblica...

Britain’s former prince Andrew was again engulfed by the Epstein scandal on Saturday, after newly released files included photographs of him kneeling on all fours over a woman lying on the floor. The images were among millions of new documents disclosed Friday by the US Justice Department from the Jeffrey Epstein files, which also featured the late sex offender proposing in 2010 that the then prince meet a Russian woman. That was two years after the disgraced US financier had pleaded guilty in...

An explosion that hit a building in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday was caused by a gas leak, according to a preliminary assessment, the local head of the fire department said. Earlier, Iranian state media reported that at least one person had been killed and ⁠14 injured in the blast, which comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s crackdown earlier this month on nationwide protests and over the country’s nuclear programme. “This [gas...

A documentary about a community resisting an immigration raid in Scotland has won an award at a major film festival. Everybody To Kenmure Street was recognised with the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance at the Sundance Film Festival in the US. The film documents events on May 13, 2021, when hundreds of people gathered in Kenmure Street in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow to prevent two of their neighbours being detained. The two men were released after protesters...

Ukraine’s power grid experienced mass outages on Saturday after a “technical malfunction” caused electrical lines between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine to fail, Ukraine’s energy minister said. The outages knocked out water supplies to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and prompted a complete shutdown of the city’s metro network, paralysing transport for thousands. “Today at 10.42am a technical malfunction occurred, causing a simultaneous shutdown of the 400-kilovolt line between the power grids of Romania...

Labubu toymaker Pop Mart plans to establish its European headquarters in London, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met the company’s founder during a high-profile China visit aimed at rebuilding Britain’s economic ties with the world’s second largest economy. That plan was revealed at a closed-door CEO round table on Friday during the UK-China Business Forum, where Starmer met a group of Chinese business leaders that included Pop Mart founder and CEO Wang Ning. “London stands at the heart of the...

Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children on Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire, a day after Israel accused Hamas of new truce violations. The strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, said officials at hospitals that received the bodies. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. Another airstrike hit a...

The leaders of Japan and Britain agreed on Saturday on the urgent need for their countries and like-minded partners to cooperate in strengthening supply chains of critical minerals, as Tokyo seeks to align more closely with London in the face of China’s growing clout. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a joint press event with her British counterpart Keir Starmer after their meeting in Tokyo that they affirmed the two nations will strategically promote cybersecurity cooperation and set up a new...

A landslide earlier this week collapsed several mines at a major coltan mining site in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaving at least 200 people dead, rebel authorities said on Saturday. The collapse took place on Wednesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebels, said Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesman for the rebel-appointed governor of North Kivu province. He said the landslide was caused by heavy rains. “For now, there are more than 200 dead, some of whom...

Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of chipmaker Nexperia, is expected to post a loss of between 9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) and 13.5 billion yuan in 2025, owing to the Dutch government’s takeover of the semiconductor firm, the Shanghai-listed company said in a statement on Friday. Wingtech said that its authority over the chipmaker continues to be “temporarily restricted” since the October 7 ruling of the Dutch Enterprise Chamber, a special division of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal,...

A Nevada jury on Friday convicted Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting indigenous women and girls in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country. The jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty of 13 of the 21 charges he faced. Most of the guilty verdicts centred on Chasing Horse’s conduct with a victim who was 14 years old when he began assaulting her. He was acquitted of some sexual assault charges when the main victim was older and lived with him and...

There was no mayday call from the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on Friday morning on its way home to Gloucester, Massachusetts, America’s oldest fishing port. The US Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water. When rescuers arrived they found one person dead, floating in the water, along with a debris field and an empty lifeboat. Six people remain missing. The fate of the Lily Jean, a 22-metre (72-foot) fishing...

The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totalling US$6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth US$9 billion. The State Department announced the sales to America’s allies in the Middle East late on Friday as tensions rise in the region over the possibility of US military strikes on Iran. They were made public after the department notified Congress of its approval of the sales earlier in the day. The sales also come as President Donald Trump pushes ahead...

This year started with a bang – from the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and the investigation opened against US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to US President Donald Trump’s renewed claims on Greenland and the potential for US action following instability in Iran. Amid these crises, gold prices are now over US$5,500 per ounce, up over 27 per cent from the price on January 1. This comes after the price of gold jumped by 65 per cent in 2025 after soaring by 27 per cent in...

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez ‌on Friday announced a proposed “amnesty law” for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention centre in the capital Caracas, which rights groups have long denounced as the site of prisoner abuse, would be converted into a centre for sport and social services. “May it be a law that serves to heal the wounds left by political confrontation, violence and extremism. May it serve to restore justice in our country and...

The man who dumped a five-year-old girl in the Everglades – leaving her to be killed by alligators – had his life spared by a jury on Friday afternoon in a Miami-Dade courtroom. Harrel Braddy, 76, sat quietly when the verdict was read, briefly putting down his head before looking up at the ceiling. His eyes appeared to water. Braddy hugged his lawyers as the jury walked out of the courtroom. The girl’s mother, who testified about the horrific details of Braddy’s attack, was not in the...

Former Google software engineer Ding Linwei was convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco ‌on Thursday of stealing AI trade secrets from the US tech ‍giant to benefit two Chinese companies he was secretly working for, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday. Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was found guilty after an 11-day trial ⁠of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing thousands of pages of confidential information. Each...

Three news items caught my eye over the past few days. The European Union is finally ready to totally ban the import of Russian natural gas. (You mean they have still been buying Russian gas?) The new National Defence Strategy put out by the Pentagon says the United States will de-prioritise Europe – which must address its own regional security needs – and focus on deterring China. And former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder wrote a piece in a newspaper that ended up drawing a lot of flak for...

Washington on Friday welcomed a Panamanian court ruling cancelling a contract held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to operate two ports along the Panama Canal, a decision seen as a boost to the United States’ efforts to counter Chinese influence in the western hemisphere. The reaction came as Panama’s government sought to reassure workers and investors on the ground that trade and jobs would not be affected. “The United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian...

Catherine O’Hara, a gifted Canadian-born comic actress and SCTV alum who starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two Home Alone films and won an Emmy as the dramatically ditsy wealthy matriarch Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek died on Friday. She was 71. O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness”, according to a statement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency. Further details were not immediately available. O’Hara’s career was launched at the Second City in Toronto...

The US Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident killed by Border Patrol officers on January 24, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday. “We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said during a news conference. Blanche did not explain why the DOJ decided to open an investigation into Pretti’s killing,...

The World Trade Organization has faulted the United States in a dispute brought by China over US green energy subsidies introduced under former US president Joe Biden, according to a ruling issued on Friday. The global trade body’s dispute panel said that large tax credits granted under Biden’s landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), were “inconsistent” with several WTO agreements and should be withdrawn. That law, which was signed by Biden in 2022, was the largest climate...

Beijing has lifted sanctions on British peers and lawmakers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This has been a cause of concern in parliament and for parliamentarians for some time and that is why I raised it on this visit,” Starmer told ITV News in Shanghai. “And the response from the Chinese is that the restrictions no longer apply and President Xi has told me that that means that all parliamentarians are welcome to visit,” he...

Federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled on Friday, foiling the Trump administration’s bid to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”. US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding that it was technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to...

The US Justice Department on Friday published millions of ‌new files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including emails that show Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch years after he claimed to have cut off ties. Todd ‍Blanche, the US deputy attorney general, said Friday’s massive batch of documents marked the end of the Trump administration’s planned releases under a law passed in November that...

Spanish police have detained a 38-year-old Chinese national who owned a ‌hair salon near Barcelona on suspicion of financing ‍the militant group Hamas through about €600,000 (US$715,000) in cryptocurrency transfers, regional police said on Friday. Investigators traced at least 31 crypto transactions ⁠from virtual wallets controlled by the suspect to addresses that are suspected of being linked to an entity used by the Islamist group, whose attack on Israel on October 7, ‍2023, triggered a...

The Islamic State extremist group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack in Niger on an air force base in the capital that wounded four soldiers and damaged an aircraft. The claim of responsibility was contained in a statement on Amaq News Agency, the group’s propaganda wing, that said it was “a surprise and coordinated attack” that inflicted heavy losses. State television reported that Niger’s forces responded quickly to the assault early on Thursday, killing 20 of the attackers and...

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been arrested after he entered a Minnesota church and recorded anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a service in an incident that increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, his lawyer said on Friday. Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, Abbe Lowell said. It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon is facing in the January 18 protest. The arrest came...

Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in both directions over the weekend, marking an important step forward for US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that starting on Sunday a “limited movement of people only” would be allowed through the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world. The announcement followed...

China and the United Kingdom are expected to sign more business deals as the British delegation, which comprises 54 companies, heads to Shanghai from Beijing as part of Keir Starmer’s visit, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018. The UK delegation will attend a reception in Shanghai on Friday evening, according to Peter Burnett, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council. A business forum will be held, followed by lunch on Saturday before the group departs the country. “I think...

US Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire shortages of food and medical aid. Three months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in gruesome detail scenes observed by United Nations staff who visited the area on a two-part humanitarian fact-finding mission in January...

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Mike Campbell described how he went bankrupt: “Gradually, and then suddenly.” Over the past weeks, there is a feeling that US President Donald Trump and his administration have reached the “suddenly” bit. First, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney captivated a World Economic Forum audience when he described the “rupture” in the rules-based order, a “bargain” that “no longer works”: leaving middle countries like Canada with no choice but to dilute their...

“Assemble!” someone bellowed in the prison corridor, cutting through the silence. Murmurs began echoing off the white walls, and the stairwells filled with people from all over the world: Egyptians, Chinese, Cameroonians, Kenyans, an Italian - all soldiers captured fighting for Russia, now held in a Ukrainian jail. Some joined the Russian military in search of a better life or to escape their home countries, while others were persuaded by Russia’s war aims. Some say they were tricked or forced...

US President Donald Trump sued the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for at least US$10 billion over an unauthorised disclosure of his tax returns to the press during his first term in office, potentially putting American taxpayers on the hook for a massive payout. The suit was filed on Thursday in Miami federal court by Trump, his sons Donald Jnr and Eric, and the Trump Organization, which manages the president’s real estate holdings. Trump had long criticised the IRS for allegedly...

Plain clothes Iranian security forces have rounded up thousands of people in a campaign of mass arrests and intimidation to deter further protests after crushing the bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sources told Reuters. Modest ‍protests that began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardship unleashed long-suppressed wider grievances and swiftly escalated into the gravest existential threat to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in nearly five decades, with protesters...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China close to opening US$10 billion canal linking heartlands to Southeast Asia China is expected to finish construction on the landmark Pinglu Canal before the end of this year, taking just four years to complete the 72.7 billion...

Niger’s military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani on Thursday blamed the French, Benin and Ivory Coast presidents for sponsoring an attack on Niamey international airport, an accusation he made without offering any evidence. Gunfire and ‍loud explosions echoed around Niger’s international airport in Niamey shortly before midnight in what two security sources described as a “terrorist attack”, before calm returned to the capital on Thursday morning. Tiani accused French President Emmanuel Macron,...

Top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees called on Thursday for US President Donald Trump’s chief spy to brief their panels on why she was ‍present at an FBI raid on an election facility in Georgia. Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Jim Himes told Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a letter that they were deeply concerned with her presence at Wednesday’s FBI operation, saying that the US intelligence community “should be focused on foreign threats”. “When...

The notion that China is flooding the world with excess industrial capacity is usually based on its massive surplus in goods trade, now standing at nearly US$1.2 trillion. That number is real, but treating it as proof of systemic overcapacity is not entirely correct. Goods trade is only one slice of China’s external balance, and it is increasingly offset by large outflows such as import of services and investment income payments. Moreover, China’s total current account surplus is US$657 billion...

US Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday as Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country. Democrats struck a rare deal with US President Donald Trump Thursday to separate funding for the Homeland Security Department from a broad government spending bill and fund it for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The...

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatisation, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. The reform will undoubtedly be her government’s signature policy as it positions the oil sector – Venezuela’s engine – to lure the foreign investment needed to revamp a long-crippled industry. Rodriguez enacted the measure less than a month after the brazen...

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Alberta separatists who have sought help from Washington in their quest to gain independence from Canada are carrying out an act of immense disloyalty. “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,” said Eby, the leader of Canada’s westernmost province, which is Alberta’s neighbour. The Financial Times reported that officials in the Trump administration have...

Today, double-digit tariffs imposed by the United States are the new baseline. Breaking decades of low single digits norms, the US rolled out a “reciprocal tariff” framework in April 2025, setting a 10 per cent baseline and layering on higher rates for specific countries. Embedded in the US’ national security strategy, this reorientation leaves little scope for a full rollback and turns global trade into a test of power: of whether World Trade Organization (WTO) rules still bind or leverage now...

A yearslong effort to convince Washington of religious persecution is shifting foreign policy toward the West African nation, with major consequences.

A Democrat won a state legislative special election in a district that President Trump carried by 17 percentage points, unnerving Republicans in Texas and beyond.

Mr. Newsom, the California governor and a potential presidential candidate, writes that the privileged caricature of his background is mistaken.

His introspective memoir tries to challenge the conventional wisdom about his upbringing, explores his marriages and airs a little dirty laundry — but says relatively little about politics.

Democrats have struggled to raise money, as is often the case for the party out of power, but the depth of their financial hole against the Republican National Committee is noteworthy.

Kendrick Lamar has the most nominations on Sunday, followed by Lady Gaga. But one week before his Super Bowl halftime show, the Puerto Rican superstar could make history.

The 32-year-old performer has spent years coming up as a singer and songwriter. On Sunday, he’ll compete for two top awards, album of the year and best new artist.

A guide to everything you need to know for the 68th annual awards on Sunday night.

Jacob Kornbluh, a former lox-slinger with no degrees, became an unlikely fixture in New York politics. Now he is chasing the story of a lifetime, inside the new City Hall.

This is a presidency that is, by any measure, failing.

Grieving families go up against President Trump.

Hundreds of crashes were reported on highways throughout the region, as freezing temperatures were predicted in the overnight hours.

In his first month as mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani used his showmanship to spotlight some early victories, even amid some stumbles.

It was unclear why the latest round of negotiations, which had been expected on Sunday, were postponed for several days.

The woman told police she was at a party when she was drugged and assaulted by five boys, including Mr. Alexander, who is currently on trial for sex trafficking.