Minimalist News

GOP Bets On Trumpapalooza To Defy Midterm History Authored by Carolina Lumetta via RealClearPolitics , Texas-based Republican strategist Rebecca Trahan is excited to see the first-ever GOP midterm convention come to Dallas next week. More specifically, she hopes it will bring yet more national attention and dollars to the Senate campaign for state Attorney General Ken Paxton. "I think [the convention] can be very motivating. I hope that the event does encourage and get people to get out and vote," Trahan told RealClearPolitics. "I hope that it drives a lot of money to the Paxton campaign because they really need

Huawei Crashes Apple's Big Launch Week With $3,000 Trifold Smartphone Two days before Apple's big launch event on Wednesday, when the company is expected to debut its long-awaited foldable iPhone, Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi are unveiling their premium foldable smartphones. Huawei on Monday unveiled its Mate XT 2, a trifold smartphone that unfolds into a 10.2-inch tablet. The starting price is $2,980, representing a 10% increase over its predecessor. First unboxing of Huawei’s $3,000 Mate XT2 The second-gen tri-fold that turns into a 10.2 inch tablet pic.twitter.com/xDET4qM296 — ViralRush ⚡ (@ViralRushX) September 7, 2026 Huawei Executive Director Richard Yu attributed

Futures Drop As Iran Hostilities Send Brent To 6 Week High Above $97 US stock futures slipped in cautious, low volume trading as the latest Middle East escalation pushed oil prices higher, lifting bond yields in Europe and Asia. As of 9:00am ET, S&P futures were down 0.2% with Nasdaq futures modestly in the red despite solid performance for tech stocks earlier in the session, which helped the Kospi surge more than 4.6% - its second biggest jump since the Situational Awareness takeover by Citadel - and Nikkei jumped almost 2% as OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra debut reinvigorates the Asian semiconductor

Central Banks Bought 23 Tonnes Of Gold In July Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times , Central banks worldwide purchased a net 23 tonnes of gold in July, in line with the overall yearly trend , according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Gold bars weighing 1000 grams each are displayed at the Austrian Gold and Silver Refinery (Oegussa) in Vienna, Austria, on Feb. 3, 2026. Georg Hochmuth/APA/AFP via Getty Images The largest buyer last month was China, which bought 20 tonnes, according to a Sept. 3 WGC report. "Notably, activity from the People's Bank of China (PBoC)

USS Abraham Lincoln Returning Home After Being "Sunk" Three Times By Iran In yet another example of Iranian social media claims not matching up with reality, the nuclear powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is returning home after a 286 day deployment and 5 days of rest at port in Thailand. The ship was untouched by any signs of combat, despite the IRGC claiming on at least three separate occasions that they had sunk the mighty vessel with drones and missile strikes. Iranian aligned accounts even spread AI videos and video game clips of a ship sinking, arguing that

Hartnett: A Democratic Sweep Will Trigger A Stock Market Rout, And Pop The AI Bubble The biggest story last week was not the unexpectedly hot jobs report which, unfortunately, will be revised sharply lower next month as the labor market reverts to its deteriorating, AI-enhanced, trendline: Instead, what everyone was - or should have been focusing on - was the bottom falling out of the bond market with global yields jumping to the highest level in 2 decades , to wit: 10Y Treasury yields jumping to 4.81%, near 2008 crisis levels 30Y Treasury yields jumping to 5.31%, highest since 2007

New York Rediscovers Nuclear Power, With Plenty Of Political Fine Print Five years after Indian Point’s last reactor shut down, Albany rediscovered the appeal of electricity that runs around the clock without burning fossil fuels. Governor Kathy Hochul wants 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity , with at least 1 GW developed by the publicly owned New York Power Authority, plus a separate 4 GW initiative. There haven't been any announcements for the technology of choice, but the most likely candidates are the large Westinghouse AP1000 and the smaller 300 MW BWRX-300 from GE Vernova Hitachi. As Canary Media reports

The 10-Year Treasury Yield Over 5%? Some Thoughts Authored by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com , The 10-year Treasury yield has been zigzagging higher since mid-November when the Fed cut its policy rates again despite accelerating inflation. Since that rate cut, followed up by another rate cut in December, the 10-year yield has risen by 80 basis points, heading, apparently inexorably, for the 5%-line. On Friday, it closed at 4.78%, within spitting distance of 5%, despite Bessent's three hocus-pocus shows to try to bring it down . Sure, they might have helped keeping a lid on long-term yields, as Bessent pointed

AfD's Historic Win Shocks German Political Establishment: Here's What Happens Next The pro-Germany, anti-globalist, anti-mass migration right-wing populist party known as Alternative für Deutschland delivered its strongest election result ever in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, dealing a sharp blow to Germany's political establishment. On Sunday, AfD secured 43.8% of the vote in Sunday's regional election , exceeding polling estimates. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats lost about 19 percentage points, while turnout surged to 77.8% from 60.3% in 2021. According to Marion Mühlberger, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank, AfD's weekend win leaves the party holding 39 seats in the 83-member legislature,

Oh Look, Yet Another Church Up In Flames... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Another week, another historic church reduced to smoke, rubble. The former Saint Agnes Church on Martha Avenue in Toledo, Ohio went up early Saturday morning. The 116-year-old landmark's steeple came down. The roof burned out. Nearby homes were evacuated. Once again the cause is listed as currently unknown. Toledo Fire & Rescue was called around 6:30 a.m. Saturday after reports of heavy black smoke pouring from the roof of the vacant church in the Five Points neighborhood. Crews arrived to find the building already

Labor Day Gas Prices Have Never Been Higher American travelers are facing record-high gasoline prices this Labor Day weekend as conflict in the Middle East and disruptions to global fuel supplies keep prices elevated. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at about $4.15 on Sept. 5, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). That is nearly $1 higher than a year ago. This year's Labor Day is now the first in history with a national average above $4 per gallon. The previous Labor Day record was $3.82 per gallon, set on Sept. 3, 2012. Gas prices

Cambodia, US Begin Planning For Resumption Of Military Exercises In 2027, Says Cambodian Army Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times , The Cambodian army announced it would resume joint military exercises with the United States early next year, in a bid to foster stronger relations nearly a decade since the last bilateral drills were held. U.S. Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby speaks as part of a meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense Summit at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 12, 2026. John Thys/AFP via Getty Images The Royal Cambodian Army (RCA) said in

AfD Sweeps Saxony-Anhalt Election In First "Far Right" Victory Since WW2: "Signal To Berlin" Update(1400ET) : In a political earthquake, the AfD has taken a massive lead, per exit polls , at the Saxony-Anhalt election in what the party's state leader hailed as sending a resounding "signal to Berlin." This moment marks the first time what has been dubbed a German "far-right party" taking power at a state level since World War II . This is absolutely historic. "The exit polls, published by German public television stations, suggested that the party, known by its German initials AfD, would win between

153 Million US And Canadian Driver’s Licenses Are Being Sold On A Russian Cybercrime Forum A trove of identity documents allegedly containing more than 153 million US and Canadian driver’s licenses has drawn the attention of the FBI after appearing for sale in the cybercrime underground. The collection also reportedly included millions of passports, identification cards and other sensitive records, according to Yahoo News and Tom's Hardware . Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs investigated the database after a copy of his own driver’s license was posted as a promotional sample on Exploit, a Russian-language cybercrime forum. The seller operated a service

The Reckoning Of 2028: Civilization's Ledger Is Bleeding Red Authored by Milan Adams via Prepp Group / WordPress , Walk through the financial districts of London, New York, or Singapore at six in the evening, and you'll catch the last act of a performance that grows harder to maintain by the quarter. The tailored suits still stream from glass towers into black cars. The conversations still touch on market adjustments and projections. But watch closely, and you'll notice the strain. There's a tightness around the eyes now, a rehearsed quality to the optimism. The numbers on their screens say one

Freedom Is Much More Important Than Democracy Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , Democracy invites despotism. When understood as majority rule, democracy means that fifty-one of every hundred citizens can have their way with the other forty-nine. "But I want to keep my possessions, weapons, and children." Too bad, the majority have decided to redistribute your property to those lazy bums over there, disarm you before you can do anything about it, and indoctrinate your children in public schools, so that they learn to resent you and love the State. Democracy is dangerous without guardrails. Unless a society

US Military Begins Mandatory Testosterone Testing For Service Members The U.S. military is expanding routine health checks to include hormone-related testing, with new Pentagon rules requiring testosterone screening for a large portion of the force. The requirements apply to both active-duty personnel and reservists and took effect immediately, according to CBC . The biggest change affects men beginning at age 30. They will now have testosterone levels checked through bloodwork as part of the military’s broader effort to identify health conditions that could interfere with physical performance, energy or readiness. Younger men will not automatically receive the same testing, although

Dr. Robert Malone On Well-Being & 'Mental Illness' In Women Authored by Dr. Robert W. Malone via Malone.news , Back in 2020, Pew Research Center surveyed more than 11,000 Americans. Political scientist Zach Goldberg subsequently examined the underlying data and broke the results down by age, sex, race, and political ideology. What he found was rather remarkable. Among white women ages 18 to 29 who identified as liberal, 56.3% reported that a doctor or other health-care provider had diagnosed them with a mental health condition. Not 15%. Not 25%. Fifty-six percent. For white moderate women of the same age, the

Iran Threatens South Korean Assets If Seoul Joins Hormuz Mission Via Middle East Eye Iranian academic Mohammad Marandi has warned that Tehran would consider South Korea an enemy and could strike its economic and military interests across the Persian Gulf if Seoul joins the US-led war on Iran. Speaking on Al Mayadeen’s The Grand Standoff, Marandi said South Korea’s involvement in efforts to secure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz would expose its interests in the region to Iranian retaliation . US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 21 August 2026 (Yonhap/AFP) “If

Nick Shirley Sues California Over 'Stop Nick Shirley Act' Independent investigative journalist Nick Shirley spent the better part of a year investigating alleged fraud at nonprofits accused of diverting taxpayer funds meant for immigrant services. California responded by passing a law that makes it harder to look at those nonprofits at all. Now he is suing to have that law thrown out. Shirley filed a federal lawsuit against the state of California on September 4, arguing that Assembly Bill 2624, nicknamed the Stop Nick Shirley Act, violates his First Amendment rights by restricting his ability to investigate and report on

Slavery’s legacy continues ‘to deprive our country and our people’, says minister, as group prepares to appeal to Jamaica’s head of state A landmark petition is to be handed to King Charles by Jamaica over slavery reparations, aiming to confront historical crimes that still disadvantage former British colonies, the Caribbean nation’s culture minister has said. The petition will be lodged with Charles, Jamaica’s head of state, on Monday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tan Dhesi says Argentinian threats make it more crucial than ever that PM increase defence spending Javier Milei’s threats to the Falkland Islands make it even more important that Andy Burnham increase defence spending immediately, according to the Labour chair of the defence committee. Tan Dhesi said the comments by the Argentinian president this week show why the government should raise military spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. But he said Burnham’s plans remain mired in confusion after the prime minister appeared to reassure him that the 2030 target would be hit, only for Downing Street to later

US president suggests he might support his Argentinian ally’s drive to reclaim sovereignty of disputed islands Donald Trump has long embraced vengeance. “I am your retribution,” he declared to an admiring audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he commenced his march back to the White House. It is unlikely Argentina, and far-flung holdovers of the former British empire, were on the US president’s mind at the time. Continue reading...

Officials accuse National Liberation Army of launching strike followed by clash inside military compound An attack involving explosives dropped from drones followed by a clash inside a military compound in north-eastern Colombia has killed at least three soldiers and wounded four, Colombia’s army said on Saturday. Local authorities blamed the attack – which took place late on Friday – on the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN). Continue reading...

Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior describes 2022 meeting in new book as ex-leader’s son vies with Lula for presidency The far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro was in his final days as Brazil’s president when, six weeks after losing the election and still refusing to recognise the result, he summoned the heads of the armed forces to a meeting. The defence minister, Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, took out a document from a plastic folder and handed copies to the commanders of the navy, army and air force. Continue reading...

Connection across Tumen River is further sign of closer ties between the two countries since start of war in Ukraine Russia and North Korea have opened the first road bridge across their shared border , in the latest sign of the rapidly deepening ties between the two countries since the start of the war in Ukraine. The one-kilometre bridge spans the Tumen River between Khasan in Russia’s far east and Tumangang in North Korea, along a remote and sparsely populated stretch of the countries’ shared border just a few miles from the coast. Continue reading...

Exclusive: US-controlled weapons corporations and forces have control or access to more than 100 facilities across the continent, which some analysts describe as a ‘colonisation’ of Australia’s military. Find a map of them here US military presence in Australia, mapped – video Why can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcast US military interests control or have access to more than 100 defence facilities on Australian soil, in what some analysts describe as a “saturation” – even a “colonisation” – of the Australian continent. New data compiled by the Nautilus Institute and published by Guardian Australia maps

Beijing wants banks and insurers to bolster investment in stock market as it helps to replenish cash reserves China will inject $54bn (£40bn) into its financial sector as Beijing attempts to shore up banks and insurers in the face of faltering economic growth. A host of financial institutions said they were due to receive billions of yuan in capital from state institutions including the ministry of finance and even the company that runs the country’s tobacco monopoly. Continue reading...

Ash cloud from Anak Krakatau affects hundreds of flights and some school and fishing activities Indonesia halted operations at eight airports on Sunday, including from its main international hub, affecting hundreds of flights as a result of an ash cloud from the Anak Krakatau volcano. Saturday’s eruption, which produced lava and booming sounds that were heard up to 435 miles (700km) away, according to Indonesia’s geology agency, also interrupted some school activities and fishing. Two more eruptions were recorded on Sunday. Continue reading...

Chinese man at Trishuli hydropower project and Nepali woman in Nuwakot found 10 days into rescue operation Emergency responders have rescued a Chinese man and a Nepali woman in two separate operations as authorities continued to search for thousands of people missing 10 days after massive floods hit Nepal. The Nepali military said on Saturday a joint team comprising personnel from its army and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-metre (740ft) tunnel in the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Pictures showed him being evacuated by helicopter after being carried

Indigenous Australians forcibly removed under government policies more likely to have severe or profound disability, report finds Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians and their descendents who were forcibly removed under government assimilation policies have far greater physical and health challenges when compared to the wider Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, according to a new report. The report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) was commissioned by peak advocacy body the Healing Foundation, which supports Stolen Generations survivors and their families, and builds on existing

Predicted hot and dry weather in growing areas in eastern Australia identified as ‘one of the key issues’ that will affect food prices over next 12 months Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The most severe El Niño weather event on record threatens to push food prices higher this year, experts say, piling pressure on households already struggling with the post-pandemic spike in grocery bills and complicating the Reserve Bank’s efforts to bring inflation back under control. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast El Niño will peak in late spring or summer and “reach

Pressure follows revelations US military and weapons manufacturers control or have access to more than 100 bases across Australian continent Why can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcast Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The US has “led Australia into wars of aggression” for 50 years, internal party campaign group Labor Against War has argued, urging the government to chart a foreign policy independent “from the American war machine”. The Australian government has defended the growing presence of the US military on the Australian continent, insisting the defence sites “are

UK band will play 16 shows across Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as five shows in Saitama Radiohead will return to Australia to play 16 shows across three cities next year, marking the band’s first tour of the country in 15 years. On Monday afternoon, the British rock band unveiled the itinerary for its May 2027 tour, which also includes five shows in Japan. Continue reading...

Secretaries board concerned material posted without proper context as Greens warn ban could result in lack of transparency Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The nation’s top bureaucrats want the Albanese government to ban video footage from parliamentary hearings being edited and shared on social media, in an extraordinary attempt to stop online ridicule and abuse. But the Greens say highly paid public service chiefs shouldn’t be allowed to control footage from open parliamentary hearings, warning the proposed controls would limit a key tool of government transparency. The secretaries board – made up of

Saxony-Anhalt win part of wider trend driven by mainstream policy failures and gradual normalisation of far right ideas Europe live – latest updates The numbers speak for themselves: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a party that dabbles in Nazi imagery, distinguishes between “biological” and “passport” Germans, and is too extreme even for France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, nearly doubled its score in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt to 43.8% of the vote. Meanwhile, the centre-right CDU of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, collapsed to 17.2%, less than half its total in the same race five years ago, and the centre-left SPD

German chancellor says vote for far-right party ‘will have repercussions’ across the country Far-right AfD wins key German state election but falls just short of majority AfD’s Chrupalla continues in this vein, saying the German public wants to see a change in direction, and specifically saying the electorate is “fed up” as the government keeps “transferring billions of our tax money to Ukraine … instead of using it for our own population.” He says the party has “a clear mandate” to rule in Saxony-Anhalt and will hold discussions with others about what can be done. Continue reading...

Estimates suggest drop in production with vineyards also concerned ‘smoke taint’ from wildfires may affect quality French vineyards hit by severe drought and heatwaves are expected to report a 30-year low in wine production after the country’s hottest ever recorded summer, according to the agriculture ministry. Initial estimates suggest winemakers will produce just under 34m hectolitres from this year’s harvest: a drop of 6% on last year, and 17% less than ‌the 2021-2025 average. Continue reading...

Aftershocks of party’s win in Saxony-Anhalt will ripple across Germany, with two more state elections this month Europe live – latest updates Germany is reeling from the biggest far-right victory in a state election since the Nazi period after voters in Saxony-Anhalt in the former communist east gave the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party a thumping first-place finish of 44% , just short of an absolute majority. Continue reading...

Fanfare at Belgrade funeral of man convicted of genocide raises questions from EU over Serbia’s membership plan Europe live – latest updates Thousands of mourners have gathered in Belgrade for the funeral of Ratko Mladić , a Serbian general convicted of orchestrating the worst massacre in Europe since the second world war, and whose hero’s return home has raised international alarm. Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” for ​his role during the Balkans genocide in the 1990s, Mladić died in prison in late August aged 84 while serving a life sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on occupied territories says ban on goods from settlements ‘important’ but must go further if it is to amount to more than a ‘press release’ The UK’s planned ban on trade with unlawful Israeli settlements is a welcome, if overdue, first step and must be judged according to its practical impact, a UN expert has told the Guardian. The UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has vowed to act more decisively against Israeli settlements, as well as continued restrictions of aid into Gaza, prompting the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to claim on Saturday that Downing

Chris Wright tells ABC there ‘may not’ be an agreement that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday morning that the US may not be able to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran that would prevent the country from having nuclear weapons. Asked on ABC on Sunday morning about any sign of such a deal, as negotiations appear stalled and the US-Israel war on Iran continues, Wright said: “There may not be a nuclear agreement.” Continue reading...

Taraneh Rahimi was told prison guards would rape her sister, Romina, if she did not sign a confession The twins were 19 and still in high school when they were taken from their beds in the dead of night by masked men later identified as being sent by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. After four months of desperately seeking news from hospitals and state institutions, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, finally learned their fate. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi had been seized over their decision to join millions on the streets of Iranian cities during the January protests against the regime. The

Officials said US aircraft carrier and destroyer avoided attacks before three Iranian tankers were struck by the US The US military said Saturday it struck three Iranian oil tankers after US navy warships came under missile attack, further escalating tensions in the region and warning it would “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet”. According to the military, a US aircraft carrier and destroyer avoided “multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks” while patrolling the region. No US personnel were injured. Continue reading...

Houthi rebel offensive against government forces on west coast leads to some of deadliest clashes in years Clashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement have killed more than 60 people, including civilians, as the Houthis pushed forward with a military offensive on Yemen’s western coast. Twenty-six government troops and 31 Houthi fighters were killed during several hours of fighting in the country’s south-west on Saturday, medical and military sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A missile strike also killed six civilians and injured seven others travelling by bus in the city of Taiz. Continue reading...

Officials say pair were rescued from Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal after being trapped at depth of 170 metres Two people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after deadly flash floods buried the projects in deep mud and left them trapped. The workers were rescued during an operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, a hydropower project in one of the areas worst affected by last week’s floods , according to the army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet. Continue reading...

About 46 people believed to be trapped in ‘room-like’ structure inside hydro plant tunnel on Nepal-Tibet border After the flood: human suffering on an unfathomable scale in Nepal’s worst-hit districts Nepal authorities have said they are “confident” that dozens of workers in Nepal’s Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant are still alive, more than a week after deadly flash floods left them trapped in an underground chamber. Authorities said that at least 639 workers were still missing from hydropower plants built along Nepal’s Bhote Koshi and Triushuli rivers. Continue reading...

Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage site Barclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India. Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant. Continue reading...

Several missing Australians have been found since Tuesday morning, bringing the total citizens unaccounted for to 38 Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far A total of five Australians missing after devastating floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week have been found. Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people confirmed dead and more than 4,000, including 36 British nationals, remain missing A British aid worker was mistakenly identified by Nepalese authorities as a rescued survivor after returning to Kathmandu on a humanitarian aid flight. Alastair Chambers, a 45-year-old former Gloucester councillor, said he flew to Nepal last week to distribute sleeping bags, food and essentials to communities cut off by collapsed bridges. Continue reading...

Hamza Chowdhury says he will challenge party leader and has received nominations from other Green councillors Healey says Andy Burnham set out in his statement to MPs last week what he thought had gone wrong The fundamentals of our economy [were] hollowed out through a series of past policy decisions, political power was centralised, weakening the relationships between the people, the businesses and the institutions who can make things happen beyond Whitehall. The economic enablers were privatised and outsourced, leaving accountability to a thicket of arm’s length bodies and regulators, too often without the predictability or the pace that underpins

Hundreds of men, some in balaclavas, try to prevent asylum seekers’ processing, two days after similar scenes in Dover UK politics live – latest updates Downing Street has condemned the “thuggish and intimidating behaviour” of far-right activists who blocked roads in Portsmouth when a boat carrying asylum seekers arrived in the city, two days after similar scenes in Dover. Hundreds of men, some dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, tried to stop the arrivals from being transported for processing until 3am, when police removed them with threats of arrest. Continue reading...

Matt Clifford forced to stand down amid disquiet from senior MPs over his new full-time job at AI company The chair of the UK government’s “moonshot” science and technology research unit has been forced to stand down after taking a job with the San Francisco AI firm Anthropic, in a move senior MPs called a “clear conflict of interest”. Matt Clifford announced last week that he was taking a full-time job working for the company behind the Claude chatbot, “leading its engagement” with governments outside the US – including the UK. But he retained his leadership at the UK’s Advanced

Creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris return as writers and directors, with the original cast reprising their roles Netflix has announced that production has begun on a new Inbetweeners film, with the original cast members reprising their roles. It will be a continuation of the popular Channel 4 sitcom, which aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010, followed by two films in 2011 and 2014. Continue reading...

Angela Rayner to announce review into local government shake-up as decisions on four areas withdrawn and 16 paused UK politics live – latest updates Plans for a large reorganisation of local government have been put on hold after the government received new legal advice that suggested they might not comply with the law. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the review was to ensure the process was robust and aligned with the new government’s aim to “rewire the state”, and followed “updated and privileged legal advice”. Continue reading...

Theories begin to emerge that plane may have landed too fast and too far down the runway to be able to stop in time Federal investigators got plans under way on Monday for determining what caused an Amazon cargo jet to barrel off a runway at Miami international airport on Sunday afternoon and crash , killing five people and injuring five others. Video footage showed the jet wobbling a little and coming in fast and far along the runway, with storm clouds clearly visible in the sky behind, as expert theories began to emerge that the Boeing 767 may have

Advocacy groups expand legal challenges and condemn president’s ‘self-serving attempts to take over midterms’ A cluster of advocacy groups that boast veteran lawyers, voting experts and ex-judges have expanded legal challenges to Donald Trump’s authoritarian executive orders on voting and other presidential actions they see as a “war” on the rule of law in the US. Heavy legal opposition to Trump’s two executive orders on elections to curb voting rights and supplant the authority of states on election matters has come from the Democracy Defenders Fund, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and kindred groups. Continue reading...

Populist, far-right, anti-immigration AfD wins vote in eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Plus, 50 years since The Muppet Show first hit our screens Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. A far-right leader who has won an important state election in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support , as voices in Europe warn the result is a serious moment for the continent. No far-right party has led or formed a government in Germany since the defeat of nazism at the end of the second world war. Ulrich Siegmund, the Alternative für Deutschland’s lead

HHS releases report linking ‘gender ideology’ to political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a report linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted and “nakedly political”, likely leading to greater politicization of science and health. It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care – including, on Friday, an agreement reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care. Dozens of hospitals stopped offering

Uptick in US union membership coincides with high public approval ratings of unions After years of decline, union membership in the US increased by 411,000 members in 2025, the largest increase since 2008, according to a new report . The report makes clear the impact that “right to work” laws can have on union membership: most gains were concentrated in states that protect collective bargaining. Continue reading...

Germany on Monday urged the United Nations’ top court to throw out a case against it by Nicaragua, which has accused Berlin of “facilitating genocide” in Gaza with its support of Israel. Julia Monar, representing Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said judges lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the case and dismissed Nicaragua’s accusations as “inaccurate and distorted”. Nicaragua has dragged Germany before the ICJ in The Hague, arguing that its backing of Israel, notably in...

British minister ⁠Emma Reynolds has condemned hundreds of ⁠protesters who blocked streets in the ⁠English coastal city of Portsmouth late on Sunday to try to stop the arrival of migrants from France, calling them “thuggish”. The gathering was the second anti-migrant demonstration in two days, after masked men disrupted traffic in the port of Dover ‌on Saturday, chanting “Stop the boats”, a reference to the vessels carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel. Both groups appeared to be led...

Thirteen-year-old Mohammad Reza Barfar remembers the free kick more clearly than almost anything else on February 28 when the US-led attack on Iran began. The football-loving schoolboy went to a local field after classes for a match between his village and another team. He scored from a free kick and his brother captured the goal on video. Hours later, Mohammad Reza was lying wounded amid smoke and debris after a series of explosions struck Lamerd, an industrial city in Iran’s southern Fars...

The toll from days of fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen climbed past 300 on Sunday, as hundreds of families fled their homes to escape the violence. Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces said that 84 of their troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, mostly in missile attacks. Four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period. The two sides have been fighting for...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China will never allow any country in this world to achieve AI dominance: Victor Gao 2. Curiosity beats perfect statements, UK elite universities tell Hong Kong students 3. China’s youth job crisis drives graduates to German vocational apprenticeships 4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad author’s vast debts...

An armed assailant charged towards the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Amy Acton, on Sunday during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair, injuring several people before he was stopped by troopers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a statement that a man it identified as Patrick Havas, 38, forced his way through a crowd, knocking over multiple members of the audience as he moved towards Acton, the state’s former public health director. He had a taser...

Lan Xiaohuan is a professor of economics at China Europe International Business School. His book, How China Works: An Introduction to China’s State-led Economic Development, has sold millions of copies in China and has been translated into multiple languages. Here, he discusses the economic realities behind China’s record trade surplus, the case for a stronger social safety net, and how public data infrastructure shapes the artificial intelligence race with the United States. This interview...

A Jamaican government delegation visiting Britain is set to file a petition addressed to King Charles on Monday, raising the question of slavery reparations, Kingston’s culture ministry said. Culture Minister Olivia Grange will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”, the ministry said in a statement. The petition asks the king, who is Jamaica’s head of state, to refer three questions on the...

Before boarding my flight to Boston late last month, I spent the better part of three days doing something I never imagined I would do in more than 30 years of covering China: scrubbing my phone. Old emails, screenshots, WeChat threads that might be read the wrong way, anything that could be misconstrued in an airport interview room – all deleted, just in case. I was not being paranoid. I was following advice now routinely passed among Chinese travellers to the United States: carry a clean...

Pyrotechnic material exploded during the festival for a patron saint in a town in Mexico State, collapsing a wall, killing at least 10 people and injuring another 64, Mexican authorities said. The explosion happened on Saturday night next to the Nuestra Senora de la Luz church in Temascalcingo, a municipality in central Mexico with 66,000 residents. Hundreds of them were preparing to watch a fireworks display that is part of a religious festival when the blast happened. The municipality is about...

An Amazon cargo plane barrelled off a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring five others as it struck vehicles and was engulfed in flames, authorities said. The aircraft overran the runway around 2pm after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ploughed across a road used by warehouse workers and other businesses that surround the airport. Five people were killed, three critically injured and two others hospitalised with less severe injuries,...

The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Sunday said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway. Mohsen Rezaei’s comments to Iran’s state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea...

The EU plans to deepen its cooperation with Greenland despite US President Donald Trump’s claims of control over the Arctic island, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived on Sunday for a two-day visit. Von der Leyen travelled to the resource-rich island, where a new EU-Greenland declaration is to be signed on Monday. Investment pledges running into the hundreds of millions are also expected. On her arrival, von der Leyen said the visit was about further cementing a unique...

Former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma returned to his home country on Sunday, where authorities welcomed him after treason charges against him over an alleged coup attempt were dropped. Koroma had left for Nigeria in 2024, days after being charged with treason and other offences over a deadly 2023 army uprising. The former president, who led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, arrived at the international airport in the capital, Freetown, accompanied by Nigerian ex-president Olusegun...

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence. Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives and sites in response to a drone attack a day earlier by the Iran-backed group on its troops in the vicinity of a strategic south Lebanon ridge. It reported no casualties but accused Hezbollah of a “blatant violation”. Israel...

Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled out working with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Monday after the far-right party surged into first place in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, but he conceded the result had shaken his party “to its very foundations”. The AfD is appealing to lawmakers from Merz’s conservatives to support its bid to rule the eastern state, in what would be the first time a far-right party takes power at state level in post-war Germany. The anti-immigrant, pro-Russia AfD won...

At least 25 people, mostly children and teenagers, were killed in a bus crash on Cabo Verde’s Fogo Island, public radio network RCV said on Sunday. Several others were injured in Saturday’s accident, some of them seriously, the head of civil protection for Sao Filipe city, Jose Canuto, told reporters. Such incidents are rare in the west African archipelago, where roads are generally in good condition. Canuto and other local authorities said the bus, which was carrying 32 passengers, veered off...

Germany is planning a broad package of measures to strengthen its defences against drone attacks, cyber intrusions and other forms of Russian sabotage after a failed airport drone attack ‌last month, an interior ministry spokesperson said on Sunday. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which first reported the plans, that Russia’s hybrid attacks had become a part of daily reality. “These attacks will increase, but we can ⁠defend and protect ourselves,”...

War with Russia “at the moment” looked likely to continue into winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after talks with US envoys visiting Kyiv. US envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky both gave upbeat assessments of the talks but neither announced any breakthroughs on ending the war with Russia. Witkoff, who is US President Donald Trump’s business ally, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, travelled to Kyiv a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow –...

Iran said on Sunday that its forces attacked a US naval drone trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, hours after targeting ships in retaliation for American strikes on three oil tankers. The latest round of clashes, which began with US raids last week, comes amid a deadlock in their six-month war. Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports. Washington is also seeking to choke Iran’s economy, rolling out...

Attacks on elderly straphangers are fuelling a spike in felony assaults within the New York City subway system, according to New York Police Department’s transit chief Joseph Gulotta. As the NYPD contends with a 9 per cent jump in felony assaults in the city transit system this year, the department’s transit chief said roughly half of all attacks on the rails are targeting a few select groups. “What is driving them is assaults on police officers, assaults on MTA workers and assaults on the...

Argentina has announced that it will investigate and sanction oil companies working near the Falkland Islands without authorisation, after President Javier Milei said the “winds of change” favour his country’s claim to the archipelago. Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, a British overseas territory that Argentines call Las Malvinas. Argentina’s presidency said in a statement on Friday that it had ordered the opening of proceedings to “investigate...

Britain’s Prince William will attend the funeral of Norway’s late King Harald next week in place of his father King Charles, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday. The heir to the throne is set to represent his father at the funeral on September 9, having also attended the funeral of Pope Francis last year on behalf of the king. British monarchs do not attend funerals of other heads of state per protocol, usually sending another member of the royal family to represent them. Charles, 77, who is...

German start-up Isar Aerospace on Saturday launched its first rocket into space from a site in Arctic Norway, bringing Europe closer to offering satellite flights from its own soil. The uncrewed Spectrum rocket was the first commercial flight to reach orbit from continental Europe, ‌where several nations have said they want a share of a growing market for space missions. “We’re in orbit! And just made European history,” Isar said in a post on social media. The event was a breakthrough for the...

A fire at a wedding party in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa left at least 22 people dead, the regional mayor said on Saturday. Several others were injured. The fire started on Friday night and continued into early Saturday in a building in Lingwala in northern Kinshasa. The building’s narrow hallways were constricted by people trying to escape the fire. Several people - some alive and some dead - were laid by the roadside as attendees tried to help those who were still...

A commemoration was held on Saturday in Belgrade for war criminal Ratko Mladic two days ahead of his burial, attended by dozens of former military staff, family members and officials. Mladic died last week after suffering several strokes while serving a life sentence in The Hague for war crimes committed during the 1990s war in Bosnia. His body was returned to Serbia on a government plane on Thursday, with his casket draped in flags and received with military honours. The 84-year-old will be...

A gravedigging contest in a Hungarian cemetery may sound like the opening line of a comedy sketch. It proved to be anything but as 38 competitors grabbed picks and shovels on Saturday. The Hungarian Association of Cemetery Maintainers and Operators organises the contest to showcase the gravedigging trade and its skills, and shake off death-related taboos. The dry summer-baked soil in the public cemetery in Nyergesujfalu, northern Hungary, proved a worthy adversary for the 19 two-man teams. They...

An Egyptian court sentenced a well-known television presenter and 11 others to death for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in a sprawling drugs case, official media reported on Saturday. The presenter, Sarah Khalifa, 39, is best known for her programme Mission Impossible, which dealt with issues concerning security and crime. The state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said a Cairo court sentenced “Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging on charges of forming an organised criminal gang...

A Greek air force plane crashed at an air show north of Athens on Saturday, killing the two pilots, officials said, as thousands of people attended the event. A fire after the crash sent up large plumes of black smoke. There were no injuries among the spectators. The crash of the twin-seat Phantom F4 jet took place during a low-altitude manoeuvre. Air force officials in Greece said the bodies of the two pilots were located during a rescue operation, hampered in the early stages by the fire on...

The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again on Saturday, calling the behaviour an “act of terror” as he visited Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks. Mike Huckabee referred to such settlers as “terrorists”, a word that US officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. “If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a...

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one off the coast of Kharg Island adjoining Iran’s major oil export hub. CENTCOM said the strikes were conducted after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles at a pair of US Navy ships. “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s...

Dozens of masked anti-immigration protesters blocked roads leading to Britain’s busiest ferry port on Saturday, clogging traffic and disrupting travellers and cargo vehicles heading for France. The government condemned the action, saying it went beyond peaceful protest. The Port of Dover said Saturday morning that all traffic in and out was “stopped due to an ongoing public order incident” and police said they were “engaging with the protesters”. Video posted on social media showed several dozen...

Commuters stranded; ⁠children rushed underground in the middle of the school day; festivals cancelled; walks punctuated by booming air defences. Near-constant drone attacks are the stark new reality in Kyiv, and daily life is likely to get harder. Kyiv has survived many traumas since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Despite the initial shock of war and the advent of attack drones and ballistic missiles, residents adapted and managed to impose a semblance of normality. But as a...

More than three decades after Germany’s 1990 reunification, lasting east-west divisions may be thrown into stark relief at Sunday’s election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win big and even hopes to take power at the state level, which would be a first for a far-right party in German post-war history. As much of the east has become an AfD stronghold, the government’s commissioner for eastern Germany,...

US envoys proposed a “number of ideas” on how to end the Ukraine war in “frank” talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv. US President Donald Trump’s business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe’s worst conflict since Word War II. Their visit to Moscow comes after the war – which has killed...

Weeks before President Javier Milei visits France, scrutiny has grown around an Argentina-run university residence in Paris supposed to promote peaceful coexistence but which activists say instead restricts lodger freedoms and hosts European far-right figures. Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House, one of dozens of homes run by foreign nations or French institutions on an international campus in the French capital. The Cite Universitaire campus, or...

At least two people were killed and dozens injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the ‌Bolivian municipality of Viacha, about 30km (20 miles) from La Paz, Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said. His ministry said in a statement that 14 people were missing. The blast occurred at around 2.30pm in an area used to ⁠store pyrotechnic material, authorities said. While the cause has yet to ‌be established, officials said the blast originated from the defence ministry’s...

Tetris said on Friday that it did not give permission for the White House to use the game’s iconic imagery for a controversial online arcade that the Trump administration released on Thursday. “The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall and did not authorise or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game,” Tetris said in a statement. “We are currently reviewing the matter,” the statement continued. A block-stacking game called Build the Wall included...

One by one, Tesla Model Y Ls roll out of the company’s end-of-line inspection bays, gleaming in black, white and gold. They are a mix of left-hand and right-hand drive – one of many signs the electric vehicles (EVs) produced here are destined for ports around the world. The company touts a total assembly time of less than 40 seconds at its sprawling Gigafactory in Lingang, a coastal area on the far southeastern edge of Shanghai. From there, Tesla says, a finished car can reach the port and be...

A judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three young children. The mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved and allows prosecutors to take the 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse to trial again. Neither Clancy, her family nor the jury showed any emotion as the judge announced the mistrial. The deliberations...

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the US voted against it and six other states abstained. The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of...

President Donald Trump intensified pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, threatening to cut off trade with certain economies with which the US has a deficit if the central bank does not act. Trump issued his demands on Friday in a lengthy social media post after a stronger-than-expected August jobs report, which could bolster the case for Fed officials to raise rates at their next policy meeting starting September 15. In his post, the president exhorted his hand-picked Fed...

Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed on Friday on a model for “return hubs” in non-EU nations and hope to begin sending migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, an official said. The announcement, made after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, is the latest development in an effort by EU states to send people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc. “We are moving forward towards what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common...

The US job market rebounded in August as employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.1 per cent. The jobs report, issued by the Labour Department on Friday, could be good news for President Donald Trump two months before midterm elections in which the health of the economy is weighing on voters’ minds. Hiring far exceeded the 65,000 forecasters had expected, according to a poll by FactSet. Labour Department revisions also looked good, adding 55,000 to June...

This summer, David Chen, a Chinese national living in Japan, got an unexpected lesson in global industrial supply chains – delivered through a bag of potato chips. When popular Japanese snack brand Calbee replaced its signature colourful packaging with monochrome designs, Chen initially assumed it was a marketing gimmick. “Then news reports explained the switch stemmed from a naphtha supply crunch. I even looked up the word,” Chen said. Naphtha, a flammable liquid processed from crude oil, might...

The president has made peace with Michael D. Cohen, his onetime lawyer who turned against him. But contrary to Mr. Trump’s claims, Mr. Cohen has not recanted the testimony that helped convict his former boss.

The suggestion, posted on social media, appeared to be the latest in the president’s efforts to alter geographic names.

Officials said five others were injured. Flight disruptions at Miami International Airport continued on Monday morning.

The plane was operating as part of Amazon’s cargo fleet and had flown from Puerto Rico. It crashed into several vehicles after overrunning the runway.

Keith Meyers spent years photographing the waterfronts in and around New York City. The twin towers became a constant backdrop.

They have no memory of the buildings missing from the skyline or airports without security lines. But they have strong feelings about how to regard the legacy of the attacks.

California has 60,000 black bears, and they are venturing far from their usual habitat in search of food and shelter. It’s the humans who have to adapt.

New Canadian levies of up to 50 percent are expected to begin Tuesday, even as Washington warns of a new round of American tariffs.

In Colorado and across the country, higher costs, tariffs and cheap beef imports are affecting voters who will help determine which party controls the House next year.

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels this week to Peru, its growing economic ties to China have raised tensions with the U.S., but show no signs of reversing course.

The senator opted to run for governor, having concluded that many Minnesotans lost faith in state government under fellow Democrats. But some wonder: Would she be a fighter in the role, or a conciliator?

From Iowa to Michigan to Texas, key contests will offer clues about voters’ views of President Trump, progressive ideas, the war with Iran and more.

The swing state of Wisconsin had one of the most undemocratic State Assembly maps in the country. Now Democrats have a chance to take control of the legislature.

The government insisted the funeral was a private affair, even as government ministers attended and state-controlled news media lavished praise on the convicted war criminal.

Gas prices have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war. Some drivers are using special techniques to maximize their miles per gallon and save at the pump.

The electric automaker’s new R2 takes what works from its bigger, costlier brother and adds a host of features with the mass market in mind.

After years of relative quiet, the public is meeting “Andre 2.0” — a pickleball booster, an open book and a guy eager to build a less tortured relationship with competition.

An A-list gathering in the French Riviera aimed to serve as a rallying cry for a sector threatened by YouTube, TikTok and artificial intelligence.

Roy Cooper’s durable lead in a crucial Senate race is causing jitters.

Trump needed only one teacher.

We’re loading up the grill.

The Trump administration had let the peace process enter such a freeze that a trip to Kyiv was just an initial step. Any new talks will happen alongside escalating fighting.