Minimalist News

MN Lawmaker: Walz Team Threatened Whistleblowers With "Racism" & "Islamophobia" Slurs To Hide Somali Fraud Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins has unleashed a stunning revelation, confirming that credible whistleblowers came forward with evidence that Gov. Tim Walz and his administration used threats of “racism” and “Islamophobia” labels to suppress exposures of massive Somali-linked fraud schemes draining taxpayer dollars. In an appearance on Fox Business, Robbins detailed how the protective shield around certain communities enabled rampant abuse of state and federal funds for years. “We have dozens of credible whistleblower reports saying that exact same thing. That people were

FBI Thwarts ISIS-Inspired New Year's Eve Terror Plot In North Carolina The FBI said it foiled an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve terror attack in North Carolina. Suspect Christian Sturdivant, 18, was arrested on Dec. 31 and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson said at a Jan. 2 press conference. Sturdivant appeared in court on Jan. 2. A U.S. citizen, Sturdivant had allegedly planned the attack for about a year, according to Ferguson. A hand-written document titled “The New Year’s Eve Attack 2026” was found in Sturdivant’s bedroom trash

Maduro Open To US Talks On Drug-Trafficking Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he is open to talks with the United States to combat drug trafficking, but did not comment on last week’s U.S. strikes on a docking facility. Maduro made his comments in an interview aired Thursday on Venezuelan state television, repeating his claim that the United States is trying to force a government change in the South American country and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the campaign against the cartels. U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions to combat drug trafficking began last August

Kathy Hochul Caves On 'No Tax On Tips' Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill made a straightforward promise: more money in workers’ pockets. The plan eliminated the federal tax on tips and overtime pay for linemen and factory workers, and created a new deduction for seniors relying on Social Security. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “the most pro-worker, pro-family legislation in a generation.”  However, several blue-state governors were refusing to reciprocate by eliminating state taxes on tips, including Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.), J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused them of “deliberately blocking their own residents” from the

5 Things To Know About Trump's Education Policy Rollout Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), President Donald Trump prioritized education reform during his 2024 campaign and went to work quickly after taking the oath of office. President Trump, joined by female athletes, signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images A series of executive orders followed by actions against the status quo in both K–12 and higher education that would save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars prompted pushback from Democratic governors and the

A Lot Has Gone Terribly Wrong... Authored by James Howard Kunstler, FORECAST 2026: IN THE VORTEX OF THE WHIRL > “Whirl is King” > > - Wm Shakespeare 2026 is the 250th anniversary of our country’s conception. A few years later when the Constitution was ratified, we became a republic — “if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin cracked to anxious citizens waiting outside the great hall in Philadelphia. Our country was predicated on the resolve of virtuous men operating under the rule of law. We are lately under an astounding siege of villains without principle seeking to wreck the republic. Washington’s Army at Valley Forge. The big

Court Reinstates School District Employees' Free Speech Lawsuit Over Anti-Racism Training Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, A divided federal appeals court voted to revive a lawsuit by school district employees who say they were forced to self-censor and make statements they disagreed with to finish so-called anti-racism training. On Dec. 30, 2025, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit voted 6–5 in Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District to reactivate the employees’ lawsuit, holding that the chilling effect from the mandatory 2020 training gave them standing to sue for First Amendment violations. Standing refers to the right of

DOJ Eyes Minnesota's 'Vouching' System For Voter Registration, Demands Records The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil rights division demanded voter registration records from Minnesota on Jan. 2, saying the state’s law that allows people to “vouch” for others’ residency for voter registration appeared inconsistent with federal voting laws. According to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ is “particularly concerned” with votes and registrations accepted by “vouching” from other registered voters or residential facility employees, along with other same-day registration procedures. Minnesota allows a registered voter to vouch for up to eight other individuals on Election Day. Employees of senior care homes or other group

Push For Censorship On Campus Hit Record Levels In 2025 Authored by Sean Stephens via American Greatness, This year, the fight over free expression in American higher education reached a troubling milestone. According to data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, efforts to censor speech on college campuses hit record highs and across multiple fronts—and most succeeded. Let’s start with the raw numbers. In 2025, FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire, Students Under Fire, and Campus Deplatforming databases collectively tracked: * 525 attempts to sanction scholars for their speech, more than one a day, with 460 of them resulting in punishment. * 273 attempts

Rep. Massie Blasts Trump's Iran Warning: "We Have Problems At Home" First it was over the White House's Venezuela policy, but now conservative and contrarian libertarian-leaning firebrand Rep. Thomas Massie is lashing out at President Trump over his fresh Iran warning and ultimatum. Amid the nearly weeklong economic and anti-government protests in Iran, Trump added fuel to the fire on Friday, stating on Truth Social that if Iran shoots and "violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue." Massie and Trump have frequently clashed over the past year. File image This sounded to many like threat of

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Revokes Orders Issued After Adams' Indictment Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order on Jan. 1 that will undo orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, issued after being indicted on bribery and corruption charges in September 2024. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after he was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in New York City on Jan. 1, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The order, which went into effect immediately, is among a series of executive

Kremlin Makes Show Of Handing Evidence To US Side 'Proving' Ukrainian Attack On Putin Residence The Kremlin has really made a big show for the cameras of handing over to American officials what it says is evidence that Ukrainian drones had attempted to strike Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence in the Novgorod region Sunday night into Monday morning. The international community has asked for evidence Putin's residence was targeted, and Moscow has responded. Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday shows Igor Kostykov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, meeting with the US defense attaché in Moscow

Pretense, Staging, Expediency: The "Solutions" That Implode The Whole Shebang Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Slapdash quick fixes and policies share one characteristic: they eventually implode the whole shebang. We all know how this works: the business is failing and the divorce papers have been filed, but the optics are ugly, so the couple waltzes in, all smiles and lovey-dovey, for who wants to explain how it all went wrong? To paper over the inevitable reckoning, expediencies are deployed: money is borrowed but the loans are kept off the books, defaults are buried, the kids' college fund is raided, promises that can't be

Minnesota To Mandate K–12 Ethnic Studies Instruction In 2026 Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times, In the coming weeks, school boards across the Land of 10,000 Lakes state will decide on curricula to meet ethnic studies mandates for the 2026–2027 academic year. There appear to be limited alternatives to the free instructional materials developed with taxpayer dollars and endorsed by the state teachers’ union. That curriculum instructs 6th graders to learn the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement; 7th graders on how protesters have breached federal buildings; and higher schoolers to “identify plans of action that people have used

UBS Says Soaring Memory Chip Prices To "Turbo-Charge" Samsung Earnings For several months, we have tracked a sharp increase in DDR5 DRAM pricing, as evidenced by DRAMeXchange data, driven primarily by surging AI-related cloud computing demand and hyperscalers accelerating data center buildouts. On day one of the new year, Samsung co-CEO Jun Young Hyun told employees in an internal memo that customers have praised the differentiated competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4, saying, "It's even earning an assessment from customers that 'Samsung is back'." He noted that Samsung will also benefit from favorable memory market conditions this year,

10 Very Important Trends To Watch As We Enter 2026 Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com, Are we on the brink of a worldwide nightmare? Many have described what we are currently experiencing as a “perfect storm”. We have been getting hit with one crisis after another as global events have greatly accelerated in recent months. But now it feels like the next chapter that we are entering is going to take things to an entirely different level. On New Year’s Eve, something very unexpected happened at our most important landmark in the middle of the country.  You will want to read all

3 Key Supreme Court Cases To Watch In Early 2026 Authored by Sam Dorman and Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times, The Supreme Court will resume oral arguments the week of Jan. 12, taking on cases dealing with girls’ athletics, gun laws, and the president’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve. Here are the top cases to watch. 1. GIRLS’ SPORTS The Supreme Court on Jan. 13 will hear arguments in two cases—West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox—that focus on West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws barring males from competing in female sports. The eventual ruling is expected to tackle key

"Locked & Loaded": Trump Says US Will Intervene If Iran Kills Protesters President Trump has just become the first sitting US President to explicitly warn that the United States stands ready to directly intervene in Iran if Tehran authorities begin killing peaceful protesters, as he wrote Friday that Washington "will come to their rescue". In a brief early morning post on Truth Social, he wrote: "We are locked and loaded and ready to go." He gave no further details what course of action this might take, but it's a pretty clear and provocative message to Iranian leadership - or comes very close to

Fighting Breaks Out On Saudi Border In Oil-Rich Yemen Region Yemen continues to be a major headache and security risk for the Saudis, and rare fighting has emerged just on the kingdom's border. Looming over the crisis is the deepening rift between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes on sites near the Saudi-Yemeni border in Yemen's Hadramout province on Friday, as clashes erupted between forces loyal to the Saudi-backed provincial governor and fighters affiliated with the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC). UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatist forces, via Reuters. The STC has for

RFK Jr. Stops Requiring Doctors To Report Patient Vaccine Status Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stopped mandating health care providers report the immunization status of patients. Kennedy decided to stop requiring doctors to list vaccinations children have received, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a Dec. 30, 2025, letter to state health officials. Doctors participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program were previously required to report how many children received specific vaccines by their second birthday, and other shots by the time they turn 14 years old. Kennedy also

Venezuelan president warns of a ‘forever war’ similar to Iraq after US counterpart claims first land strike on dock The Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, has urged Donald Trump to abandon his “illegal warmongering” and begin “serious talks” with his administration as mystery continued to surround a purported pre-Christmas CIA airstrike on the South American country. Speaking during an hour-long TV interview, Maduro declined to confirm reports of the apparent US attack, which would be the first on Venezuelan soil since Trump began his five-month campaign of military pressure in August. Continue reading...

Report of a drone attack on a port facility signals new phase in US military campaign against Nicolás Maduro * US wargames played out scenarios for Maduro’s fall. None of them ended well for Venezuela Nearly a week after Donald Trump first announced what he said was the first US ground strike in a four-month-long military pressure campaign against Venezuela, details remain very thin on the ground. CNN and the New York Times reported late on Monday that they had confirmed the CIA had used a drone to target a “port facility” allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua street gang. No

Former Brazilian president underwent a phrenic nerve block while temporarily released from prison for surgery Jair Bolsonaro underwent a second “phrenic nerve block procedure” on Monday to treat persistent hiccups. The treatment went well and the former Brazilian president’s condition is stable, according to his medical team. Continue reading...

Train accident in Oaxaca is likely to raise criticisms about public works projects from the previous administration At least 13 people were killed when a train derailed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in an accident which is likely to revive opposition criticisms of the speed and dealings with which the country’s government builds its flagship public works projects. The incident took place on the Interoceanic Train, which was built to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, creating an alternative rail cargo route to the Panama canal intended to drive development in the

Trump alleged that US forces hit ‘very hard’ in what would mark his team’s first land strike on Venezuela if confirmed Donald Trump has claimed that US forces struck a “big facility” in Venezuela last week – but the president did not specify what it was, or where, and the White House has not commented further. “We just knocked out – I don’t know if you read or you saw – they have a big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,” Trump told Republican donor

Kim Ju-ae has been making increasingly prominent appearances in state media over the past three years The daughter of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, who is likely being prepared as his successor has accompanied her parents on her first public visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to former leaders, ahead of an event that could see her succession formalised. Photos from state news agency KCNA showed Kim Jong-un accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and senior officials on the visit on 1 January, with Ju-ae between her parents in the main hall of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. Continue

Ador terminated the Australian-born singer’s contract on Monday and is now suing her, a family member and the band’s former producer The K-pop record label Ador is suing a former member of megaband NewJeans for millions in damages, it has announced, a day after removing her from the group following a year-long dispute that saw the band allege mistreatment and attempt to leave their contract. The compensation suit against Danielle Marsh, a 20-year-old Australian-born singer, comes months after a Seoul district court ruled that NewJeans’ five members must honour their contracts with Ador, whose parent company Hybe is also behind the K-pop

Reunification ‘is unstoppable’, says Chinese president, a day after the conclusion of intense military drills China’s president, Xi Jinping, has vowed to reunify China and Taiwan in his annual New Year’s Eve speech in Beijing. Speaking the day after the conclusion of intense Chinese military drills around Taiwan, Xi said: “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.” Continue reading...

Carmakers such as MG, BYD and Chery are set to pass 200,000 mark in sales, analysis suggests, double 2024’s total Chinese brands are on course to account for one in every 10 new cars sold in Britain during 2025, a marked increase on last year as sales increase across Europe. Manufacturers led by MG, BYD, and Chery are on track to break the 200,000 mark in UK new car sales in 2025, meaning they are very likely to account for 10% of the market, according to Matthias Schmidt, an analyst tracking electric cars across Europe. Continue reading...

PM Sanae Takaichi joins petition asking for better facilities for women to match improved representation Nearly 60 female lawmakers in Japan, including the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building for women to match their improved representation. Japanese politics remains hugely male-dominated, although the number of women in the parliament rose at the last election – and Takaichi became the first female prime minister in October. This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall

Decision to carry the weapons at SCG not due to active or imminent threat but ‘to help the public feel safe’, NSW police chief says * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Police will carry long-arm rifles at the final Ashes Test in Sydney as police presence continues to be heightened after the Bondi terror attack. New South Wales police said public order and riot squad officers would carry the weapons at the fifth and final Ashes Test, which starts on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), after similar measures were implemented at the Boxing Day

Police investigation continues after fatal shooting in Fitzroy on Saturday night * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was shot dead in Melbourne’s inner north on Saturday night. Gunshots were heard at the intersection of Brunswick and King William streets in Fitzroy just after midnight. Police found a man with life-threatening injuries. Continue reading...

Two workers have been recovered safely from Curragh coalmine as search continues for missing man * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A worker is missing and another is recovering in hospital after a roof collapse at a coalmine. Police were called to Curragh coalmine, in central Queensland, about 3pm on Friday. Continue reading...

Police say woman’s death in Tennant Creek appeared to be the result of a medical episode, but Aboriginal legal service says internal investigation is ‘not sufficient’ * Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Northern Territory’s peak Aboriginal legal service has called for an independent investigation after a 44-year-old Aboriginal mother of five died at the Tennant Creek watch house last Saturday. NT police said her death appeared to be the result of a medical episode inside her cell on 27 December, after she was

Businesses including pubs and car rental companies targeted to check if they use ‘power asymmetry’ to gather personal data and keep it too long * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Real estate agencies who ask for phone numbers at open houses, car dealerships that keep driver licences on file, and pubs and bars that scan IDs for entry will be targeted by the privacy regulator in its first “compliance sweep” of dozens of businesses. The crackdown by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner could see businesses fined up to $66,000 if their privacy policies fail

Charlotte Niddam, 15, went to school in Hertfordshire and her family have not heard from her since the blaze A teenager educated in Britain is among those missing after a deadly fire in a Swiss ski resort. Charlotte Niddam, 15, lived in Bushey, Hertfordshire, until recently and attended Immanuel college, a private Jewish secondary school in the town. The school issued a statement on Friday saying it was “praying for a miracle for Charlotte”. Continue reading...

A UK government warning that Amal Clooney risks US sanctions over her role in the issuing of an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister is key among reasons the couple have sought French citizenship The exodus from Hollywood to shores not presided over by Donald Trump has been busy and loud. Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Wright and Courtney Love moved to England; Rosie O’Donnell opted for Ireland; Eva Longoria, Spain. Other Trump critics, including Richard Gere, Lena Dunham and Ryan Gosling, have upped sticks without citing the re-election as a motivating factor. In the case of Clooney, however, there has appeared little

Officials say 40 people were killed and 119 injured, with some in hospital still unidentified due to ‘horrific’ injuries Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland Gian Lorenzo Cornado has said that all bar five of the 112 injured have been identified now, reports Reuters. Swiss officials are yet to give an update on this and have not shared the names of any victims or injured. Six Italians are still missing and 13 hospitalised, he added. Three Italians were repatriated on Thursday and three more will follow on Friday, he said. It’s the grief, as if we have all lost a loved one. Continue reading...

Footage and witness statements show blaze that killed about 40 was ‘very rapid’, prosecutor says Investigators believe fountain sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held too close to the ceiling sparked the deadly fire that tore through a crowded bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100. “Everything suggests the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” the prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said on Friday. “These went too close to the ceiling.” Continue reading...

While the cause of the disaster is still under investigation, videos and photos suggest the blaze spread quickly Switzerland is reeling from one of its worst tragedies after a fire ripped through an Alpine bar during a New Year’s Eve celebration, leaving more than 40 people dead and dozens of others with serious burn injuries. The prosecutor in charge of the case said on Friday that initial investigations suggested the most likely cause of the fire was sparkling flares being carried too close to the ceiling. Continue reading...

Jewish family say crew did not seek consent to film inside their home days after it was wrecked by Hamas in southern Israel The BBC has said it has reached a settlement with a Jewish family who survived Hamas’s 7 October attacks in southern Israel after a news crew filmed inside their destroyed home. The reporting team, which included senior correspondent Jeremy Bowen, entered the Horenstein family’s home in the days after the attacks in 2023. Continue reading...

Seven killed in strikes on south as Saudi-backed government moves to recapture key region from STC Yemen’s southern separatists have announced plans to hold a referendum on independence from the north in two years, after their seizure of swathes of the country last month triggered a major feud between Gulf powers. The Southern Transitional Council leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, called on the international community to sponsor talks between concerned parties in the south and north on a path and mechanisms that “guarantee rights of the people of the south”. Continue reading...

Foreign ministry says mayor has poured ‘antisemitic gasoline on an open fire’ by scrapping IHRA definition Israel’s foreign ministry has accused the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of pouring “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire” after he reversed a recent order by the outgoing mayor, Eric Adams. “On his very first day as @NYCMayor, Mamdani shows his true face: he scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X. Continue reading...

Foreign minister says Iranian military is on standby after US president said he would act if demonstrators were killed Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if its government kills demonstrators, prompting warnings from senior Iranian officials that any American interference would cross a “red line”. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were to shoot and kill protesters, the US would “come to their rescue”. He added: “We are locked and loaded, and ready to go,” without explaining what that might mean in practice. Continue reading...

Nationwide protests against living conditions enter fifth day with security forces reportedly using live ammunition The largest protests in Iran for three years entered a fifth day on Thursday amid reports of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces, with state-affiliated media confirming at least two people had been killed. Although state media did not identify those killed, witnesses and videos circulating on social media appear to show protesters lying motionless on the ground after security forces opened fire. Continue reading...

The fate of the woman who left the UK at 15 in search of Islamic State raises wider questions about citizenship While many aspects of UK political polling have shifted drastically since 2019, the public’s view on Shamima Begum has remained largely fixed: a big majority do not want the now 26-year-old woman back in the UK. In 2019, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, stripped the Londoner of her UK citizenship on the grounds that she was a security threat, having travelled as a schoolgirl with two friends to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. At the time, 76% of

Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years. Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures. Continue reading...

Zia’s archrivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh whose long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation, has died aged 80. Zia was one of the most significant and divisive political figures in the country since Bangladesh independence 50 years ago. Her death was announced on Tuesday morning by the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP). Continue reading...

Turnout appears low for vote in which most candidates seen as allies of junta and large areas excluded by war Polls have closed in conflict-racked Myanmar, ending the first phase of an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule. The military has touted the vote as a return to democracy almost five years after it seized power in a coup, ousting the country’s then de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and sparking a spiralling civil war. Continue reading...

Kathmandu mayor Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah will run for prime minister with presenter Rabi Lamichhane’s party after deadly protests that ousted government Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders have formed an alliance ahead of next year’s election in the wake of deadly youth-led protests earlier in the year that ousted the government. Television host Rabi Lamichhane, the 51-year-old chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP), and the 35-year-old rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah pledged to address the demands of the younger generation following September’s deadly anti-corruption protests. Continue reading...

Humberside police confirm death of 67-year-old as rescue operation under way in ‘horrendous conditions’ A man has died as a search continues for two people believed to be missing off Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Humberside police confirmed the death of a 67-year-old man, who was pulled from the water unconscious but died later. Continue reading...

Minutes obtained under freedom of information laws show West Midlands police flagged concerns over decision ahead of Aston Villa match Jewish communities warned West Midlands police that a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match against Aston Villa “could be perceived as antisemitic”, documents show. Supporters of the Israeli team were banned from attending the Europa League fixture at Villa Park in Birmingham on 6 November, causing outrage, with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemning it as “wrong” and suggesting it amounted to antisemitism. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds People are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a Guardian investigation has found. The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”. Continue reading...

Man from Kettering was recovered from the water near Brighton Palace Pier on New Year’s Day morning A 51-year-old man has died after getting into difficulty in the sea at Brighton on New Year’s Day, police have confirmed. Sussex police were alerted at 10.35am on Thursday after the swimmer, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, was recovered from the water to the west of Brighton Palace Pier. Continue reading...

Sales at Elon Musk’s company slump after Donald Trump’s withdrawal of EV subsidies China’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker in 2025, after the US company run by Elon Musk reported a slump in deliveries at the end of the year. BYD sold 2.26m battery electric cars during the year, easily outstripping the 1.63m deliveries reported on Friday by Tesla for the same period. Continue reading...

Kentucky woman reportedly ordered medication to end her pregnancy and buried remains in her yard A Kentucky woman is facing multiple criminal charges after she allegedly induced her own abortion using medication. Kentucky state police arrested the woman, Melinda S Spencer, 35, on charges of fetal homicide in the first degree, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to a local Kentucky news outlet. Spencer reportedly ordered medication online to end her pregnancy, then buried the remains of her pregnancy in her backyard. Continue reading...

‘Savanna’s law’ named after woman killed by ex-boyfriend, who had extensive record of domestic violence allegations A state law creating the first registry of people convicted of domestic abuse in the US took effect Thursday in Tennessee. Named after Savanna Puckett, a woman who was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend in January 2022, “Savanna’s law” requires the Tennessee bureau of investigation to maintain a database of people who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to at least two domestic violence offenses. Continue reading...

Marcus Alexander Muench Casanova, 19, died on the Devil’s Backbone trail after reportedly falling 500ft A 19-year-old college freshman has been identified as one of the hikers whose remains were found on California’s Mount Baldy on Monday. The San Bernardino county sheriff announced this week that Marcus Alexander Muench Casanova, a resident of Seal Beach, California, was discovered along a mountain trail known as the Devil’s Backbone. Continue reading...

Brian Cole, accused of planting bombs before Capitol attack, presents ‘intolerable risk of danger’, court finds A federal magistrate judge has ruled that the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters the night before the January 6 Capitol attack must remain in custody while awaiting trial. In a memorandum opinion, the court determined that Brian Cole Jr, 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, “poses an intolerable risk of danger to the community if released”, granting the government’s motion for pretrial detention. Continue reading...

Hiroshi Nagai, in a post on X, has objected to his artwork being used by the agency to promote its deportation agenda The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is facing backlash once again, this time from a Japanese artist who has condemned the agency for using, without permission, his work to promote deportations. In a post on X on New Year’s Eve, the department posted a photo featuring a pristine and empty beach with palm trees and a vintage car. Written across the photo was “America after 100 million deportations,” along with a separate caption that said: “The peace of a

A strong earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico on Friday, interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first press briefing of the new year as seismic alarms sounded. At least two people died. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 and its epicentre was near the town of San Marcos in the southern state of Guerrero near the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, according to Mexico’s national seismological agency. There were more than 500 aftershocks. The state’s civil defence agency reported...

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie on Friday visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing into Gaza, where she spoke to members of the Red Crescent and truck drivers ferrying humanitarian aid, Agence France-Presse journalists said. Accompanied by an American delegation and greeted by former and current officials, Jolie said she was “honoured” to meet aid volunteers at the crossing. A Red Crescent volunteer told the Oscar winner that “there are thousands of aid trucks just waiting” at the border...

The FBI said on Friday it had disrupted a plot to attack a North Carolina supermarket and fast-food restaurant on New Year’s Eve, arresting a man who officials said was inspired by Islamic State and had pledged loyalty to the extremist militants. Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint ‍Hill, North Carolina, was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terror organisation after officials say he communicated his attack plans to an undercover FBI (Federal bureau of Investigation)...

The driver of a car carrying British boxer Anthony Joshua that was involved in a fatal crash in Nigeria has been charged with reckless and dangerous driving, police in Nigeria’s southwestern Ogun state said on Friday. Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, was driving the boxer and two of his friends, Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami, on a busy highway linking Lagos and Ibadan in southwest Nigeria when the Lexus SUV in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary truck on Monday. Kayode is expected to...

Investigators said on Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a Swiss ski resort when they came too close to the ceiling of a bar crowded with New Year’s Eve revellers. Authorities planned to look into whether the material on the ceiling that was designed to muffle sound conformed with regulations. The candles, which give off a stream of upwards-shooting sparks, were the same type that is commonly available for parties, officials said. Forty...

Tesla lost its crown as the world’s bestselling electric vehicle (EV) maker on Friday to China’s BYD, as a customer revolt over Elon Musk’s right-wing politics and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row. Tesla said that it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9 per cent from a year earlier. By contrast, BYD is now the world’s largest EV maker, having sold 2.26 million vehicles last year – a 27.9 per cent increase. For the fourth quarter, Tesla sales...

Seven separatist fighters died in air strikes on Friday as the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen hit back against a sweeping advance by the UAE-backed Southern Transition Council (STC) that threatens to spiral into a major confrontation. The deaths are the first from coalition fire since the secessionist STC seized swathes of Hadramawt and Mahra provinces last month. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have for years supported rival factions in Yemen’s government-run territories, but the STC’s offensive has...

Investigators on Friday set about the ‌painful task of identifying the burned bodies from a blaze that engulfed a crowded bar and killed around 40 people at a New Year’s Eve party in the ‍Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. Emanuele Galeppini, a 16-year-old Italian international golfer who lived in Dubai, was named on Friday as the first of several possible victims from Italy to be identified. So severe were the burns suffered by the mostly young crowd of revellers in the Le Constellation bar...

US President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged duelling threats on Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June. At least seven people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans. The protests, now...

As an undergraduate student of anthropology long ago, I remember studying the phenomenon of “compartmentalism” as a hallmark of primitive cultures or societies – their capacity to hold contradictory beliefs without inner conflict or even appearing to notice the contradictions. We well-educated rationalists in the rich West were supposed to be above this kind of schizophrenic inconsistency, seen as a symptom of a defective imagination or the shallowness of the masses. Think of street hawkers in...

For years, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia projected geopolitical and economic power across the Gulf and beyond, seemingly in tandem. But a growing rivalry and struggle for influence has come to a head - most recently in Yemen - following years of divergence over a tangle of competing interests that reach from regional waterways to the corridors of power in Washington, analysts say. The once-close relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh...

Venezuela is open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking, the South American country’s President Nicolas Maduro said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday on state television, but he declined to comment on a CIA-led strike last week at a Venezuelan docking area that the Trump administration believed was used by cartels. Maduro, in an interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, reiterated that the US wanted to force a government change in Venezuela...

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 builds a record-breaking hypergravity machine to compress space and time China is set to break its own record in hypergravity research with a colossal new centrifuge that can spin multi-tonne samples at unmatched intensities. 2....

A fire at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in the early hours of New Year’s Day has left dozens of people presumed dead and around 100 injured, according to authorities. Here is a look at some other nightclub, bar and music venue fires that have led to significant death tolls: December 2025: A fire ripped through a popular nightclub in Arpora village, in India’s Goa state, killing 25 people, including kitchen workers and tourists. March 2025: A fire and ensuing stampede at the...

The US State Department on Thursday urged Beijing to end intimidating military moves in the area around Taiwan that it said create needless anxiety and stress. Washington’s New Year’s Day message followed a two-day live-fire exercise that Beijing wrapped up on Tuesday, dubbed Justice Mission 2025, that played out on a more extensive scale than its predecessors. “China’s military activities and rhetoric towards Taiwan and others in the region increase tensions unnecessarily,” said Tommy Pigott,...

The Trump administration stepped up a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s oil exports by sanctioning companies based in Hong Kong and mainland China, along with related oil tankers it accused of evading restrictions. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday added four companies with links to Venezuela’s oil industry – Zhejiang-based Corniola and Hong Kong-based Aries Global Investment, Krape Myrtle Co and Winky International – to its specially designated...

Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, according to an Agence France-Presse tally, setting a record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year. Analysts have largely attributed the surge in executions to Riyadh’s ongoing “war on drugs” launched in recent years – with many of those first arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions. Official data released by the government said 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in...

At least 41 young men died as a result of circumcision procedures as part of traditional initiation activities in South Africa in November and December, authorities have said. Traditional initiation is a rite of passage into manhood for young men that is practised annually by various ethnic groups in Africa, including parts of South Africa. Among them are the Xhosa, Ndebele, Sotho and Venda communities. Traditionally, young men are isolated at initiation schools where they are taught cultural...

Ukraine staged the death of an anti-Kremlin Russian fighter to prevent his killing ordered by Moscow’s special forces, Ukrainian military intelligence announced on Thursday. Denis Kapustin, leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps that had carried out cross-border raids into Russia during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, was killed on the front line, his group declared on Saturday. But on Thursday Kapustin – also known as Denis Nikitin – appeared via video link at a briefing with the head of Ukrainian...

US President Donald Trump has blamed aspirin for large bruises on his hand and denied falling asleep while attending public meetings. In a Wall Street Journal interview published on Thursday, Trump also changed his previous statement about receiving an MRI scan in October, saying it was instead a quicker CAT scan. Trump, who at 79 is the oldest person to assume the US presidency, told the Journal “my health is perfect” and expressed frustration with scrutiny of his well-being. Trump has based...

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy spread on Thursday into the Islamic Republic’s rural provinces, with at least seven people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said. The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, two on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in four cities,...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Mexico stands by its decision for 50% tariffs on Chinese goods Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard in December defended Mexico’s decision to impose new tariffs on imports from China and other Asian countries, describing the move as a necessary step to protect hundreds of thousands of domestic...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. EU fears China’s role in Russia’s war on Ukraine is deepening European officials were parsing evidence of an increase in battlefield weapons being shipped from China to Russia as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prepared to drag into its fifth year, adding to the well-documented flow of goods with...

Brazil’s Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro’s request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published on Thursday. Bolsonaro’s lawyers submitted the request on Wednesday, citing a “real risk of a sudden worsening” in health for the far-right ex-leader as the reason to serve his 27-year sentence at home. Bolsonaro, 70, has been hospitalised for more than a week after undergoing surgery for a groin hernia and then a...

Iran executed at least 1,500 people last year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said on Thursday, in what it called an “unprecedented” hike in the use of capital punishment. “It is very alarming,” the group’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said of the provisional toll. “It is unprecedented in the last 35 years. As long as Iran Human Rights has existed, we have never had such numbers.” In 2024, Iran executed at least 975 people, according to IHR and the French group Together Against...

Russian officials on Thursday said a Ukrainian drone strike killed 24 people and wounded at least 50 more as they celebrated the New Year in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region, as tensions between the two nations continue to spike despite diplomats hailing productive peace talks. Three drones struck a cafe and hotel in the resort town of Khorly on the Black Sea coast, the region’s Moscow-installed leader, Vladimir Saldo, said in a statement on Telegram. He said that one of...

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded that Ukraine did not target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone attack, US media have reported. Various media, including The Wall Street Journal as well as the broadcasters PBS and CNN, cited unnamed US government officials in their reports published on Wednesday evening, contradicting serious accusations made by Moscow at the start of the week. Initially, US President Donald Trump also criticised...

Judging by investor sentiment in the final quarter of last year, the spectacular rally in mainland Chinese and Hong Kong equities is over. The CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks declined 0.2 per cent while the MSCI China Index fell by over 7 per cent. The Hang Seng Index, meanwhile, lost 4.5 per cent. While most Wall Street banks remain bullish on Chinese stocks, some have turned more cautious. Morgan Stanley believes 2026 will be “a year of stabilization after 2025’s high...

About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured, most of them seriously, after a fire ripped through a bar’s New Year celebration in a Swiss Alpine resort less than two hours after midnight on Thursday, police said. Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased. The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue, and overnight, its crowded Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst...

Zohran Mamdani, the young upstart of the US left, was sworn in on Thursday to take over as New York mayor for a term sure to see him cross swords with President Donald Trump. After the clocks struck midnight, bringing in 2026, Mamdani took his oath of office at an abandoned subway stop to begin managing the United States’ largest city. He is New York’s first Muslim mayor. His office said the understated venue beneath City Hall reflected his commitment to working people, after the 34-year-old...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday his country was “10 per cent” away from a deal to end the war with Russia, but cautioned that the most important issues were unresolved and warned against rewarding Moscow. US-led efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent weeks, but both sides remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement. Russia, which occupies around 20 per cent of Ukraine, is pushing for full...

Despite China-EU trade frictions, Paris and other European cities remain the top destinations for Chinese travellers, with growing China-France trade and visa-free entry spurring companies like Air France-KLM to explore new opportunities. The Franco-Dutch airline group reported strong inbound demand from Europe in 2025, driven by China’s visa-free policy for travellers from more than 30 European nations, covering both business and leisure segments. In the first three quarters, the company posted...

Bulgaria became the 21st country to switch to the euro as it entered the new year on Thursday, a milestone met with both cheers and fears, nearly 20 years after the Balkan nation joined the European Union. At midnight, Bulgaria gave up the lev currency, which has been in use since the late 19th century, and Bulgarian euro coins were projected onto the central bank’s building. Successive governments in the country of 6.4 million people have advocated joining the euro, hoping that it will boost...

US President Donald Trump piled on criticism Wednesday of a decision to grant Hollywood superstar George Clooney French passports after a junior government official in Paris labelled the move a “double standard”. An official decree on Monday showed that 64-year-old Oscar winner Clooney, his wife Amal Alamuddin Clooney and their two children had become French citizens. Trump, whose administration has backed anti-immigration parties in Europe, said that Paris was welcome to the Ocean’s Eleven...

The United States Coast Guard is searching for survivors of a US military strike against a convoy of suspected drug vessels in the Pacific Ocean, US officials said on ‍Wednesday. President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out more than 30 strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September in a campaign that has killed at least 110 people. In a statement, the US military’s Southern Command said the military had carried out ⁠a strike against three...

Few developments over the past quarter century have been as consequential or widely debated as China’s ascent to global prominence as the vanguard of a rising Global South. To understand this change, we must look not only at outcomes but at the underlying drivers that made them possible. China’s development over the last 25 years did not occur by accident. It was not the result of any single policy. Rather, it was the cumulative product of farsighted design and vision as well as an evolving...

US ‌President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his administration was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland ‍but he added in his social media post that federal forces would “come back” if crime rates go up. Local leaders in those cities and Democrats have said the deployments, which have faced legal setbacks and challenges, were unnecessary. They have accused the Trump administration of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence ⁠to justify...

US President Donald Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term, killing two bills sponsored by Republicans in Congress, including one from a prominent lawmaker who bucked the administration over the release of files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump vetoed legislation late on Tuesday to help complete a water pipeline project, a measure backed by congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is close to the White House. Trump, in his veto message, said he rejected the bill to...

As Wednesday turned to Thursday, people around the world said goodbye to a sometimes challenging 2025 and expressed hopes for the ‍new year to come. In Croatia, celebrations got off to an early start. Since 2000, the town of Fuzine has held its countdown at noon, a tradition that has since spread across the country. Crowds cheered and toasted each other with champagne and danced ⁠to music – all in the middle of the day. Some brave souls in Santa hats took a plunge into the icy waters of Lake...

China has bought at least 8 million tons (7.25 million tonnes) of US soybeans this year, according to people familiar with the matter, putting the world’s top importer on track to meet a pledge it made two months ago as part of an apparent trade truce with Washington. State-owned buyers have continued to book US cargoes into late December, the people said, asking not to be named as they are not authorised to discuss the purchases. That extends a buying spree that began in October and maintains a...

France will make a fresh attempt to protect children from excessive screen time, proposing a ban on social media access for children under 15 by next September, according to a draft law seen by Agence France-Presse. The initiative is backed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said earlier this month that parliament should start debating such a proposal in January. Australia this month imposed a social media ban on under-16s, in a world first. “Many studies and reports now confirm the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his country believed it would win in Ukraine, where Moscow has led an almost four-year offensive. Putin’s traditional New Year’s Eve speech was first aired in the far-eastern Kamchatka peninsula, the first Russian region to enter 2026. He called on Russians to “support our heroes” fighting in Ukraine, saying: “We believe in you and our victory.” He wished a happy New Year to “fighters and commanders” in Ukraine and said: “Millions of people...

Finnish police said on Wednesday they had seized a vessel suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable that runs between Helsinki and Tallinn in the Gulf of Finland several hours earlier. No details about the identity of the vessel were disclosed. The ship is suspected of being “responsible for the damage to the cable”, which is owned by Finnish telecoms group Elisa and located in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone, police said in a statement. Part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland is...

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will undoubtedly play a significant role in how we will remember 2025. While economists predicted a growing possibility of a recession back in April, the US economy displayed unexpected resilience, with third-quarter growth reaching a stunning 4.3 per cent, bolstered by robust consumer spending and strong capital expenditure related to artificial intelligence. The impact of tariffs on inflation persists, although it appears less severe than economists feared....

Queen Camilla has described for the first time fighting off an attack by a man on a train when she was a teenager, speaking in an interview with the BBC in which she recounted how furious the assault had left her. “When I was a teenager, I was attacked on a train … I remember at ⁠the time being so angry,” she said during a discussion broadcast on Wednesday about violence against women. “I was reading my book and you know this boy – man – attacked me, and I did fight back.” She said she did not...

A flashover is an event where an entire room is rapidly engulfed in flames.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York canceled executive orders issued by his predecessor that had barred city agencies from boycotting Israel and defined some criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

Democratic Socialists gathered at a Bushwick dance club to celebrate as one of their members began to govern New York City.

Problems with a 25-year-old landmark paper on the safety of Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, have led to calls for the E.P.A. to reassess the widely used chemical.

Boredom, or an approximation of it, is an online trend for young people trying to sharpen their attention spans.

Despite his doctors’ recommendations, President Trump takes a high dose.

The state has seen a nonstop run of storms in recent weeks. This one is expected to bring heavy rain through the weekend.

Jeff Galloway, who popularized the run-walk-run method, is determined to complete one more marathon.

Saks Global’s executive chairman, Richard Baker, is taking over the luxury retailer he created with the 2024 acquisition of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

The service said that conditions in the area where the search was taking place included nine-foot seas and winds approaching 50 miles per hour.

Russia requested this week that the United States end its pursuit of the vessel, which was intercepted in the Caribbean on its way to pick up oil in Venezuela.

After years of playing smarmy characters, the actor is stepping up as the lead in a comedy about a grumpy but charming doctor.

Bryan Reisberg built a social media following in the millions by carrying his corgi, Maxine, in a backpack. Now, he carries shelter dogs.

Tragically, America is still living in a political era that began on Jan. 6, 2021.

The unseen workers who help train A.I.

The landmark legislation, a response to the rape and murder of a New Jersey child, required states to disclose where convicted sex-offenders live.

Some state-issued identification cards issued to legal immigrants could be valid longer than the people holding them are allowed to remain in the United States, state officials said.

As the largest maker of electric vehicles in the United States, Tesla suffered more than other carmakers from the elimination of federal incentives.

The boutique chain’s co-founder, Candace Nelson, said that the business had ceased operations at year’s end. It was sold to a private equity firm more than a decade ago.