Minimalist News

Nearly Two-Thirds Of Americans Say College Degree Isn't Worth The Cost: Poll Authored by Gabrielle Temaat via The College Fix, Nearly two-thirds of Americans don’t believe that a college degree is worth its price tag, according to a recent NBC News survey.   Sixty-three percent of registered voters said a four-year degree is “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off,” according to the poll.  Meanwhile, only 33 percent said a degree is “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over

Journal Retracts 'Ghost Written' Monsanto Study Claiming Glyphosate Is Safe Over the past year massive scandals involving academic research have come under the microscope, after dedicated researchers uncovered rigged studies that made it through peer-review with flying colors, and are now being retracted.  On Friday, the Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology journal announced that it has retracted a review, safety evaluation, and risk assessment of the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, after it emerged that Monsanto was heavily involved in its production.  "This decision has been made after careful consideration of the COPE guidelines and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the authorship and content of this article and in

Impeachment Mania Returns In Time For The Midterm Elections Authored by Jonathan Turley, The military has long had a saying that “when you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” When it comes to impeachment power, Democrats have long acted as if every problem is a high crime and misdemeanor. After two impeachments against President Donald Trump (including what I labeled as an infamous “snap impeachment“), Democratic politicians and pundits are back calling for the impeachment of President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) was the latest to prepare articles of impeachment. He is demanding the removal of

Southern Oscillation Index Plunge Triggers "Big Winter Storm Signal," Meteorologist Warns Folks across the Mid-Atlantic, especially in the Washington, DC-Baltimore metro area, woke up to a rare December winter scene: a few inches of fresh snow on the ground. With a solid cold pattern locked in through the middle of the month, this early-season snow is something the region hasn't seen this early in the cold season in many years. > #Snow falling on Friday at the Capitol in #DC! @capitalweather @KaitlynMcGrath pic.twitter.com/8vDSz7nSJ3 > > — Jeanne Stuart McVey (@RiverGirl707) December 5, 2025 With below-normal temperatures forecast across the Mid-Atlantic through at least mid-month -

Is A Backdoor Gold Standard Coming? Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, For decades, I’ve been vexed over a monetary issue. How can we transition from the present fiat money system to a sound-money standard like we once had in the United States and the world? Clearly the gold standard was superior whereas we now have a fiat standard that has mired the world in debt and big government. A central-bank digital currency with programmable debt-based money and omnipresent surveillance is the dystopian nightmare of which many dream. But this would pile calamity on top of disaster. What we really need is the

Anti-Free-Speech War Escalates As EU Unleashes DSA On Musk's X For years, many in the free speech community (most vehemently, Jonathan Turley) have warned about the threat of the European Union to free speech, particularly in the enactment of the infamous Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU has virtually declared war on free speech and is targeting American companies. That war just began with the first DSA fine. Not surprisingly, X was the chosen target - a company blamed by many in the EU and the U.S. for rolling back free-speech protections. In essence, it’s punishment for not bending the knee to the EU’s iron-fisted

Germany Scales Back Offshore Wind Auctions After Latest Flop By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com Germany moved to reduce the capacity it will auction in its offshore wind tender in 2026, following the flop in the latest auction without a single bid made.   The German Parliament approved legislation narrowing the capacity in the 2026 tender to just 2.5 gigawatts (GW) to 5 GW, compared with an earlier plan of auctioning off 6 GW of offshore wind capacity and with as much as 10 GW offered in the auction in August.  The August offshore wind auction without government subsidies failed to attract a single bid, alarming

French Soldiers 'Open Fire' On Drones Threatening High-Secure Nuclear Submarine Base A major security breach of French military airspace has been revealed Friday at a moment European officials have been hyping the 'hybrid warfare' threat from Russia, which has of late centered on many dozens of 'mystery' drone breaches in EU airspace especially near sensitive locations like airports. French Marines opened fire on five unidentified drones that breached restricted airspace above a key nuclear submarine base Thursday evening, military officials said, according to EuroNews. But one official has said a "jammer" was hot and not necessarily live ammunition.  via Telegram At around 7:30pm local

UK Sanctions Russia After Inquiry Holds Putin Responsible For 2018 Novichok Poisonings Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times, The UK issued new sanctions on Russia on Dec. 4, after a public inquiry into the death of a woman poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok in the UK in 2018 held Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for her demise. London also summoned the Kremlin’s ambassador for a response to the inquiry’s findings and over what it called an “ongoing campaign of hostile activity” against the UK. The public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess concluded that Putin had ordered the 2018 Novichok

Germany's Merz Secures Pensions Bill, Ending Embarrassing Internal Rebellion Germany's Bundestag on Friday finally approved a contentious pension reform package which was subject of weeks of internal revolt within Chancellor Friedrich Merz's own Christian Democratic Union party. But this brings to an effective end yet another challenge in his turbulent first seven months in office. The lower house passed the legislation, which rolls out a reform locking the state pension level at 48% of average wages through 2031, by a vote of 319 to 225, with 53 lawmakers abstaining. Source: AFP Eighteen younger members of Merz's center-right Union bloc, a number greater than his coalition’s parliamentary

Just How Dystopian Could Starmer's Britain Become? Authored by Nick Corbishley via NakedCapitalism.com, Scaling back trial by jury, further attacks on lawful speech, the nationwide deployment of deeply flawed facial recognition systems… The list just keeps growing longer.  We first asked this question — Just How Dystopian Could Starmer’s Britain Become? — just over a year ago. At that point in time, with the  government just four months in office, all we could offer as an answer was: how long is a piece of string? Now, 13 months later, it is clear that said string is very long indeed, and is getting longer by the

"Widespread Misconduct": Trump Admin Orders All Beneficiaries Of Nation's Largest DEI Program To Surrender Financial Records The Daily Wire has learned that the Small Business Administration has ordered all 4,300 firms in its 8(a) "socially disadvantaged" program, which receive no-bid federal contracts, to turn over their financial records, including general ledgers, bank statements, payroll files, subcontracting agreements, and other internal documents, by January 5 or face removal from the program. SBA's crackdown on one of Washington's oldest DEI initiatives follows mounting evidence that some 8(a) firms have become a major pipeline for fraud, pass-through schemes, and artificially inflated contract costs. Late last month, Peter Schweizer, president

Escobar: How The BRICS+ 'Unit' Can Save Global Trade Authored by Pepe Escobar, The Unit project, first revealed by Sputnik in 2024, is emerging as the most viable option for breaking the US dollar’s stranglehold on global trade and investment. In his book co-written with top economist Sergey Bodrunov, Regulations of the Noonomy (international edition published this year by Sandro Teti Editore in Rome), leading Russian economist Sergey Glazyev stresses the need to “ensure a full-fledged switch to national currencies in mutual trade and investment within the EAEU and the CIS, and further – within the BRICS and SCO, the withdrawal of joint development institutions

NY Times Sues Department Of War Over New Media Rules The New York Times on Friday sued the Department of War over new rules for media outlets which restrict reporters' movements around the Pentagon, require ID badges, and restrict the solicitation of "criminal acts" (encouraging someone to leak).  The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, on March 3, 2022. Joshua Roberts/Reuters "The policy, in violation of the First Amendment, seeks to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done—ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements," the NYT wrote in its lawsuit which was filed in the

Health Department Investigating School That Vaccinated Child Without Parental Consent Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Dec. 3 that it has launched an investigation into a school that officials said illegally vaccinated a child without parental consent. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington on Dec. 2, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images HHS did not name the school. The department said it is in the Midwest and acted illegally in part because it ignored a religious exemption for the vaccination that had been filed pursuant to state law. The

Trump's New National Security Strategy Stuns Mainstream In Saying Europe Faces "Civilizational Erasure" Within 20 Years The Trump administration's just published new National Security Strategy has generated a lot of 'shock' and discussion since it appeared online early Friday. One of its more 'controversial' elements is the stark contrast in outlook on Europe in comparison with prior years' national security strategy documents. It warns that some of America's oldest allies in Europe face "the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure" as a result of unchecked immigration, as well as the erosion of democratic principles. Alongside calling out irresponsible unchecked EU immigration policies,

FBI Pipe Bomber Breakthrough Exposes Biden Era Failures After Four Years More than four years after pipe bombs appeared outside the RNC and DNC headquarters on January 5, 2021, and less than a month after The Blaze fingered a former Capitol Police officer in a now-retracted report (that their sources still stand by), the Trump administration announced the arrest of Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, on Thursday. Cole has been charged under 18 U.S.C. § 844 for deploying an explosive device.  During a press conference the day of the arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi made it clear how this cold case

China's Teapot Refiners Boost Crude Buying After New Import Quotas By Michael Kern of Oilprice.com Helped by the newly-issued crude import quotas, China’s independent refiners are buying sanctioned Iranian crude again and raising their processing rates, making room for Iran’s oil to move out of floating and bonded storage and potentially easing the year-end glut on the market.  Chinese teapot refiner The independent refiners in China’s Shandong province, the so-called teapots, have been buying cheap Iranian oil from onshore storage in China, including bonded storage, since the Chinese authorities issued a fresh batch of import quotas last week.  These quotas are important for China’s purchases

Major Climate Crisis Study Retracted Over "Inaccuracies" As Doom Narrative Collapses A widely hyped climate-doom study published in Nature in April 2024, and then amplified by left-wing corporate media outlets (CNN, Bloomberg, you name it), desperate to push the "green" narrative and weirdly obsessed with driving Americans into a state of severe climate shock, has now been embarrassingly retracted. On Wednesday, Nature retracted the study titled "The economic commitment of climate change" after economists discovered that flawed data from Uzbekistan had heavily skewed the results. If Uzbekistan data were excluded, the paper's eye-popping forecast of a 62% collapse in global economic output by 2100 under unabated

FDA Appoints Doctor Who Led COVID-19 Vaccine Death Investigation As Top Drug Regulator Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The doctor who led an investigation into deaths following COVID-19 vaccination is now the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top drug regulator, the agency announced on Dec. 3. Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg during a meeting in Atlanta, Ga., in a file image. Megan Varner/Reuters Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, who had been a senior adviser to FDA leadership, has been appointed acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Dr. Richard Pazdur, a longtime FDA official who was head

The South American country facing a huge US military buildup has almost a fifth of known global reserves * Visual guide to US military presence in the Caribbean Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, says the real motive behind the massive US military buildup in the Caribbean is oil: his country has the largest proven reserves in the world. The US state department denies this, insisting that the airstrikes on boats that have killed more than 80 people and the vast military deployment off South America are part of a campaign against drug trafficking. Continue reading...

Footage seen by US senators shows two unarmed, shirtless men struggling to stay afloat before they were killed, sources say * Experts say Trump’s ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky Two men who survived a US airstrike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean clung to the wreckage for an hour before they were killed in a second attack, according to a video of the episode shown to senators in Washington. The men were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible radio or other communications equipment. They also appeared to have no idea what had just hit them, or that the

Rinaldo Nazzaro says detention of suspected Base members in Spain justifies ‘resistance … by any means necessary’ After Spanish police and Europol’s counter-terrorism section arrested three suspected members of the Base – a globally proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist group – in the eastern province of Castellón, its American leader living in Russia was defiant and signaled further actions. In a text message to the Guardian, Rinaldo Nazzaro called the arrests another “example of political persecution” by world governments that are “further justifying our resistance to its hegemonic rule by any means necessary”. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has in recent months turned his attention to ousting Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. But the US president and his secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, are under scrutiny over military strikes on suspected drug boats from Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Tom Phillips about why people are accusing Trump of war crimes Archive: 60 Minutes, CBS News, ABC News, PBS Newshour, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera English, CBS Miami, City News, CBC, Reuters Continue reading...

Strike comes amid congressional turmoil over legality of US attacks on suspected drug smugglers The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US military had conducted another deadly strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics, killing four men in the eastern Pacific, as questions mount over the legality of the attacks. Video of the new strike was posted on social media by the US southern command, based in Florida, with a statement saying that, at the direction of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by

Beijing security agency accuses international journalists of disregarding facts and smearing government Beijing’s security agency in Hong Kong has summoned international journalists to inform them it will not tolerate “trouble-making”, following critical coverage of the deadly apartment complex fire that has left the territory reeling. Senior reporters from several media outlets operating in the city were called to the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), which was set up by Beijing in 2020. Continue reading...

The writer of the Tony award-nominated Slave Play remains in custody after authorities say they found MDMA in his bag American actor and playwright Jeremy O Harris, known for the Tony-nominated Slave Play, was arrested last month at an airport in Japan on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, local authorities said late on Thursday. Harris, 36, was stopped on 16 November at Naha airport on Okinawa island after a customs officer discovered 0.78 grams of crystal containing the synthetic drug MDMA in his tote bag, an Okinawa regional customs spokesperson said. Continue reading...

Six days after alleged incident, evidence emerges without requiring medical intervention, New Zealand police say Police say they have recovered a Fabergé egg pendant from a man accused of swallowing the item in a jewellery story. New Zealand police have spent six days monitoring every bowel movement of the suspect, a spokesperson said, and the NZ$33,000 ($19,000) James Bond Octopussy pendant was recovered from his gastrointestinal tract on Thursday night by natural means, without requiring medical intervention. Continue reading...

The surprise visitor waddled around the pub during what’s known as ‘silly season’ where seals pop up in unexpected places On a wet, lazy Sunday evening a baby fur seal waddled into a craft beer bar in Richmond, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Accustomed to seeing animals in the pet-friendly bar, co-owner Bella Evans initially assumed the visitor was a dog before she took a closer look. “Everyone was in shock,” Evans said. “Oh my gosh. What do we do? What’s going on?” Continue reading...

Prohibited from working, people sent to the island by Australia say they are struggling to survive because food is so expensive * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Asylum seekers sent to Nauru by Australia say they are going hungry on the island, prohibited from working to support themselves and given insufficient money to buy enough food. Others say they fear the Nauru government will deport them to their home countries, from where they say they have fled persecution and violence. Continue reading...

New South Wales premier said hot and windy conditions allowed the fire front to jump a 1km body of water. Follow the day’s news live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A welcome cool change is helping firefighters working to contain blazes along the New South Wales coast, but RFS Deputy Commissioner Ben Millington says those firefighting efforts remain on-going. Speaking to ABC on Sunday morning to give an update, Millington said there were 76 bush and grass fires burning across the state with 20 that were not contained. He also said the focus is currently

US offers to get Australians out of camps if they are issued with travel documents, but Labor has said ‘this is not something the government is considering’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian children held in increasingly “militarised” displacement camps in north-east Syria have been told they will be shot if they try to breach the fence line, as Australia refuses to issue its citizens with passports so they can be repatriated. The US has offered to bring the Australians out of the camps on the proviso they have been issued with travel documents or

Exclusive: ALP national president urges party to urgently renew its ageing grassroots membership base in suburban and regional areas * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian Labor party must renew or risk collapse like other centre-left parties including the US Democrats, the national president Wayne Swan has said, cautioning his own side against complacency after its election win and the chaos engulfing the Coalition. In an interview with Guardian Australia, the former treasurer also said Labor “shouldn’t be afraid” of engaging in contentious policy debates as he suggested modern voters wouldn’t embrace a “tame” agenda. Continue

Social media is driving a boom in the use of peptides to improve appearance and physical performance. Many are experimental and come with risk of serious side effects * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast On TikTok, a 21-year-old fitness influencer is spruiking a drug that hasn’t even finished clinical trials. “This stuff is actually hard to come by in Australia, so I’ll leave a reputable source in the description,” the Sydneysider says. “Obviously, not approved for human use, so do with it as you will.” Continue reading...

The changed outlook is a result of unwelcome inflation data, but could slow down the hot property market * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Financial markets are now pricing in a 100% chance the Reserve Bank will hike rates in 2026, in what would be a blow to mortgage holders but may take some steam out of an overheating property market. The latest forecasts represent a turnaround from just two weeks ago, when traders were factoring in an even chance that the next RBA move would be a cut by its May meeting. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz will also be present for talks on guaranteeing Ukraine’s postwar security Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Downing Street on Monday for an in-person meeting with Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in a show of support for Ukraine. Starmer will use the meeting with the leaders from Ukraine, France and Germany to discuss the continuing talks between US and Ukrainian officials aimed at finding an agreement on guaranteeing Ukraine’s postwar security. Continue reading...

He made buildings that looked like slouching drunks and quarrelling couples but it was the Spanish museum that secured his ‘starchitect’ status – a creation that became something of a curse Frank Gehry once had a cameo in The Simpsons in which he designed buildings by scrunching up pieces of paper. There was a bit more to it than that, but from Prague to Panama City, his scrunched contours were instantly recognisable, expressed in an exuberant parade of buildings that cranked and slumped as if hit by a wrecking ball, or crashed and whirled like dervishes, defying laws of gravity and

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage here Overnight Russian missile and drone strikes left parts of Ukraine without power on Saturday morning, Ukraine’s energy ministry said. The Russian defense ministry confirmed that Russian forces attacked energy facilities that supported the Ukrainian military and port infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, saying that the strike was in response to what it called Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday, marking the 11th time the facility temporarily lost power during the

More than 650 drones target locations across Ukraine including western regions with sirens sounding in eastern Poland Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday as US and Ukrainian officials continued talks in Miami which the White House hopes will bring an end to the conflict. Russia used more than 650 drones and 51 missiles overnight, Ukraine’s armed forces said, with drones targeting locations across the country, including in western regions hundreds of miles from the frontline. Warning sirens also sounded in parts of eastern Poland, close to the Ukrainian border. Continue reading...

Power blackouts, public chaos and loss of communication with space were all thrown at troops in seven days Russia and China were barely mentioned, but they were the threats in everyone’s minds in Tallinn this week, where Nato hosted its largest ever cyber war game. The goal of the war game, conducted 130 miles from the Russian border in Estonia, was to test the alliance’s readiness for a rolling enemy assault on civilian and military digital infrastructure. Continue reading...

Mediators of delicate truce say troop removal and deployment of international force crucial to second phase Qatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of an international stabilisation force as the necessary next steps in fully implementing the fragile agreement. The measures were spelt out in the US- and UN-backed peace plan that has largely halted fighting, though the warring parties have yet to agree on how to move forward from the deal’s first phase. Continue reading...

Ahmed al-Sharaa says Israel justifies aggression in the name of security amid airstrikes on southern Syria Syria’s interim president has accused Israel of fighting “ghosts” and exporting its crises to other countries after the war in Gaza. President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s comments come amid persistent airstrikes and incursions by the Israeli military into southern Syria. Continue reading...

Husam Zomlot says protest by activists waving Israeli flags and union jacks was ‘flagrant breach of diplomatic law’ The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has called for “comprehensive protection” after his embassy was targeted by masked men waving Israeli flags and union jacks. Husam Zomlot made the call after the group posed at the entrance to the embassy, in Hammersmith, west London, last Saturday. The building was defaced with stickers such as “I love the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”, according to images captured by security cameras. Continue reading...

The term ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion life is returning to normal’ for Palestinians squeezed into the remaining 42% of their land behind Israel’s ‘yellow line’ When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza. Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late. Continue

Decision by four countries to pull out over Israel’s inclusion is significant for the contest but crisis may not be existential The decision by four European broadcasters to boycott next year’s Eurovision over Israel’s inclusion is undoubtedly a watershed moment in the 70-year history of the song contest. One of the few genuinely popular, non-elitist and pan-European cultural events will be without Spain, one of the “big five” nations in terms of financial contributions; Ireland, which has won the contest more times than any other country bar Sweden; the Netherlands, a 1956 founding member; and Slovenia, symbolic of the EU’s eastward enlargement. Continue

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Russia and India will reshape their defence ties to take account of New Delhi’s push for self-reliance, the two countries said in a joint statement after a summit between president Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “In response to India’s aspirations for self-reliance, the partnership is currently being reoriented toward joint research and development, as well as the production of advanced defence platforms,” the statement said. Continue reading...

Narendra Modi says energy security is ‘pillar of the India-Russia partnership’ as two leaders meet in Delhi Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were “resilient to external pressure”. The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries – particularly the US – that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow. Continue reading...

Delhi visit gives Russian leader a chance to reduce Moscow’s isolation but both countries need each other to negotiate Trump’s US and a powerful China When Vladimir Putin last set foot in India almost exactly four years ago, the world order looked materially different. At that visit – lasting just five hours due to the Covid pandemic – Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, discussed economic and military cooperation and reaffirmed their special relationship. Three months later, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would turn him into a global pariah, isolating the Kremlin from the world and restricting Putin’s international travel. Continue

Inaugural prize expected to be handed to Donald Trump but ‘process’ for choosing future winners to be proposed by controversial tycoon’s committee It was the timing that set off the first alarm bells. With Donald Trump brooding over missing out on the Nobel peace prize, and shortly before Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was due to meet the US president in Miami, an announcement was made. In a press release and a post on his personal Instagram account last month, Infantino said Fifa would launch its very own peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals

Much improved response systems are struggling to cope with ever more powerful and destructive storms * Death toll from Indonesia floods passes 700 as 1 million evacuated Families stranded on their rooftops. Homes buried by fast-flowing mud. Jagged brown craters scarring lush green hillsides. The scenes are the result of a series of cyclones and storms in a heavy monsoon season that have struck Asia with torrential rains, gutting essential infrastructure and reshaping landscapes. The violent weather has killed at least 1,200 people in the past week and forced a million to flee without knowing whether their homes will still be standing

Party leader leaves latest recruit, Malcolm Offord, to field questions on antisemitism allegations at Scotland rally Nigel Farage has addressed Reform UK’s largest rally in Scotland to date but refused to engage with local journalists – leaving the newly defected peer Malcolm Offord to field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism. Farage introduced the former Conservative peer and millionaire donor Offord at a sold-out rally of about 700 at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. Continue reading...

Neil Couling said failings by individual claimants ‘at the heart’ of crisis, despite a report finding DWP shortcomings ‘unacceptable’ One of the most senior civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has placed the blame for the carer’s allowance benefits crisis on victims, many of who have been left with life-changing debts. In an internal blogpost written for Whitehall colleagues, Neil Couling, the director general of DWP services, said individual failings by carers were “at the heart” of the issue that has been likened to the Post Office Horizon scandal. Continue reading...

Four people arrested after civil-resistance group Take Back Power protest against inequality in the UK Part of the Tower of London was temporarily closed to visitors on Saturday after food was thrown at a display case containing the crown jewels in a protest against inequality in the UK. Four people were arrested after the action, which was claimed by Take Back Power – a self-described, non-violent civil-resistance group. It said custard and apple crumble was flung at the case, which contained the imperial state crown. Continue reading...

SuperLiz reboots herself inside a utility room, delivering nonsense so pure even her guests look trapped We happy few. We unlucky few. In years to come when we are all still recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder, we will be able to say we were there. That we have seen things that cannot be unseen. The 8,000 of us who, through a mixture of curiosity and comedy, chose to watch Liz Truss commit a drive-by on herself. Though only a very few will have made it to the end. Some won’t have even made it to the start. The show started an hour

All delegates will be able to attend fringe programme as party tries to find compromise while complying with supreme court ruling on gender Trans women will be barred from the main part of Labour’s women’s conference next year, the party has said, with entrance to the main conference hall and voting rights denied. All delegates will be allowed to attend a fringe programme, under the party’s plans as Labour seeks to find a compromise position it believes will comply with the supreme court’s ruling on gender – while also being inclusive to trans delegates. Continue reading...

White House decision is part of $140m settlement over flight chaos during busy December travel period The Trump administration said on Saturday it will waive an $11m fine imposed on Southwest Airlines as part of a $140m settlement over the carrier’s meltdown in December 2022 during a busy holiday travel period. Southwest in December 2023 agreed to pay a $35m cash fine over three years over the airline’s handling of the meltdown that stranded more than 2 million passengers. It also agreed to provide $90m in travel vouchers of $75 or more to passengers delayed at least three hours getting to final

Several additional people, including children, have severe liver damage amid 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children. The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste. Continue reading...

From his home town of Los Angeles, the architect designed a career around defying what was predictable In Frank Gehry’s world, no building was left untilted, unexposed or untouched by unconventional material. The Canadian-American architect, who died in his Los Angeles home at 96, designed a career around defying what was predictable and pulling in materials that were uncommon and, as such, relatively inexpensive. Gehry collaborated with artists to turn giant binoculars into an entryway of a commercial campus, and paid homage to a writer’s past as a lifeguard by creating a livable lifeguard tower. And while dreaming this up, he transformed

Patty Murray of Washington state said ICE agents lied to Wilmer Toledo-Martinez to lure him outside before dog attacked him A US senator has condemned the Trump administration after she alleged that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “attack dog” mauled one of her constituents. Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington state said Wilmer Toledo-Martinez suffered “horrific” injuries while ICE agents detained him in November. Continue reading...

Andrew Wolfe was shot in the head on 26 November, while Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries The West Virginia national guard soldier who was wounded in the 26 November shooting that killed a colleague of his in Washington DC is “slowly healing”, according to West Virginia’s governor. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was shot alongside fellow West Virginia national guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom, 20, while they patrolled the US capital as part of the Trump administration’s push to deploy military members on to the city’s streets. Beckstrom died of her injuries the day after she was shot while Wolfe was hospitalized in critical

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has vowed to go to Norway to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize, defying a warning from Caracas that she would be a fugitive if she did so. The head of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, on Saturday said that Machado – who lives in hiding in her country – promised him she would make the ceremony, set to take place in Oslo on Wednesday. “I was in contact with Machado last night [Friday] and she confirms that she will be in Oslo for the...

Four protesters have been arrested after custard and apple crumble was thrown at a display case containing the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Take Back Power, which describes itself as a new non-violent civil-resistance group, claimed it was behind the act. Footage shared by the group showed one demonstrator removing the large foil tray of crumble from a bag and then slamming it against the glass protecting the Imperial State Crown. Another then repeatedly poured a tub of bright yellow...

The nearly two-month-old ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not be complete until Israeli troops withdraw from the Palestinian territory under a peace plan backed by Washington and the United Nations, mediator Qatar’s prime minister has said. “Now we are at the critical moment ... A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, [and] there is stability back in Gaza,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Saturday. Sheikh...

An overnight exchange of gunfire and shelling at a major Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing killed four civilians and one soldier, Afghan officials said on Saturday, the latest flare-up of fighting between the two countries despite a ceasefire since deadly clashes in October. Five other civilians were wounded, an Afghan government spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said in a video statement. The local hospital at the Pakistani border town of Chaman said three people suffered minor injuries during...

When Russia’s full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago, a 26-year-old soldier known as Monka did not see a combat role she could do. But that changed as technology reshaped the battlefield and opened new paths. Last year, she joined the military as a pilot of short-range, first-person view, or FPV, drones after giving up a job managing a restaurant abroad and returning home to Ukraine to serve. Her shift is part of a larger trend of more women joining Ukraine’s military in combat roles, a...

Stock prices are nervously high, bond and real estate prices are under downward pressure, cryptocurrency assets have sustained falls and global debt is at record levels. One common factor behind these coinciding and worrying trends is that much of the world is living on excess credit. Payment is now due. Another is how markets have bloated as financial systems fail to properly channel savings into good investments. This all suggests the coming correction in financial markets will be more...

Newly released surveillance footage from the US hotel where American actress Tara Reid claims she was drugged last month shows the actress downing more drinks than she recalls. Reid, 50, maintains she was drugged on November 23 at the DoubleTree Hotel by the Chicago O’Hare Airport, insisting she had just one drink before being wheeled out on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. Hotel security video, published by TMZ on Friday, shows a bartender bringing a glass of liquid to the American Pie...

The French military used jammers as several suspected drones flew over a closely guarded base housing nuclear ballistic submarines, prosecutors said on Friday. It was the latest in a series of mysterious drone flights over airports and sensitive military and industrial sites across Europe. Three-and-a-half years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is growing concern that such disruption could be part of hybrid war tactics by Moscow against the European Union, which has backed Kyiv. No...

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday at an annual summit and agreed to diversify mutual economic ties, as the United States presses India to revise its decades-old partnership with Russia. The 23rd Russia-India Summit comes at a pivotal moment as the US pushes for a Ukraine peace deal while seeking global cooperation. It will test New Delhi’s efforts to balance relations with Moscow and Washington as the nearly four-year war in Ukraine...

A young man from Australia with a huge social media following has given an 88-year-old US supermarket worker the gift of retirement. Ed Bambas from Michigan was presented with an oversized cheque for US$1.7 million on Friday – the result of an extraordinary online fundraising drive. “No, no,” Bambas said, wiping away tears in front of reporters. “Thank you. Oh, my God.” Sam Weidenhofer, 22, from Melbourne, is using his online influence to spread kindness – and financial support – during a visit...

Jeff Rowe grinned with satisfaction when the dashboard of his John Deere combine harvester showed the yield of the first run on his family’s farm during this year’s harvest: 253 bushels per acre, equivalent to 13.8 tonnes of corn per hectare. The yield on the 100-acre Schubert parcel was the highest in many years, said Rowe, the CEO of Syngenta Group and the son of the owners of Rowe Farm, Dean and Carol. Located in the corn belt of Illinois state in the US Midwest, the farm used Syngenta’s...

A protective shield at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in war-torn Ukraine, built to contain radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, can no longer perform its main safety function due to drone damage, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday, a strike Ukraine has attributed to Russia. The International Atomic Energy Agency said an inspection last week of the steel confinement structure completed in 2019 found the drone impact in February, three years into Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, had...

As sure as night follows day, you can always count on the big Western media outlets to politicise anything bad that happens in Hong Kong or on the mainland. So with the horrific Tai Po fire, you can be sure those platforms will go to town with that approach. The real cause of the fatal fire? Well, of course, it’s all about democracy and freedom, or rather the lack of their Western versions in China. The same old “democracy” explains everything, which turns every ignorant foreign commentator into...

US President Donald Trump met with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss trade issues on Friday after the leaders hosted the 2026 World Cup draw at Washington’s storied Kennedy Centre. The White House said Trump held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after the star-studded event, but gave no details on their discussions. Canadian media said the meeting lasted for 45 minutes and the leaders spoke on their own, with no staff present. Trump...

The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the legality of US President Donald Trump’s directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, a contentious part of his efforts to curb immigration and a step that would alter how a 19th-century constitutional provision has long been understood. The justices took up a Justice Department appeal of a lower court’s ruling that blocked Trump’s executive order telling US agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the...

For much of the modern era, power was easy to recognise. It belonged to the states that could win wars decisively, enforce sanctions effectively and impose political outcomes far beyond their borders. That definition no longer works. The world is moving towards what scholars have described as a form of “distributed multipolarity”, a landscape in which no single actor – not the United States, not China, not Russia – can fully shape events in the way great powers once expected. Tools once seen as...

The White House released a national security blueprint on Friday, marking a sweeping assertion of US influence in the Americas. The framework pledges to prevent non-Western powers from expanding their foothold across the Western Hemisphere, a clear reference to China’s growing presence in the region. In US strategic parlance, the “Western Hemisphere” refers broadly to the Americas, a geopolitical space long regarded as a place Washington has sway over. This belief harks back to the Monroe...

A US federal judge on Friday ordered the release of the grand jury transcripts from the investigation in Florida of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department requested the unsealing of the transcripts after US President Donald Trump signed a bill last month requiring the public release of all government records regarding Epstein. Grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret and a previous Justice Department request to unseal the transcripts from Epstein’s Florida case...

Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96. Gehry died on Friday in his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners. Gehry won every major prize that architecture has to offer. His fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of some of the most wildly imaginative buildings ever constructed and...

US President Donald Trump was awarded the new Fifa peace prize on Friday at the 2026 World Cup draw – giving the soccer spectacle to set matchups for the quadrennial tournament even more of a Trumpian flair. Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, had been heavily favoured to win the newly created Fifa prize. He and Fifa president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made it clear that he thought Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a...

The European Union hit Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million (US$140 million) fine on Friday for breaking its digital rules, in a move that risks a fresh clash with US President Donald Trump’s administration. The high-profile probe into the social media platform was seen as a test of the EU’s resolve to police Big Tech. US Vice-President J.D. Vance fired a warning against “attacking” US firms through “censorship” before the penalty was even made public. Imposing the first fine under its powerful...

A group of vaccine advisers on Friday scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all US children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth, a major policy win for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr that disease experts say will reverse decades of public health gains. The committee voted to keep the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus, replacing the 1991 universal recommendation that has protected all children from hepatitis B infections, which can lead to...

Export controls may have been the economic weapon of choice in 2025, but the Dutch minister at the centre of the Nexperia crisis has admitted he was blindsided by Beijing when it blocked the company’s chips from leaving China. His concession raises fresh questions over how much planning went into the decision to reach for a Cold War-era law to intervene in the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker in September, a move that triggered a supply chain shock in the global automotive...

Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s TV, film studios and streaming division for US$72 billion, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood’s most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer. The agreement, announced on Friday, follows a weeks-long bidding war in which Netflix offered nearly US$28-a-share, eclipsing Paramount Skydance’s close to US$24 bid for the whole of Warner Bros Discovery, including the cable TV assets slated for a spin-off. Buying the owner of...

Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminium foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labelled “ICE”. This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston in suburban Chicago chose to assemble its nativity scene for the Christmas season. The church and its leaders have been vocal critics of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz and expressed a message with their...

US President Donald Trump’s administration said in a long-awaited new strategy document on Friday, that the United States will shift from its historic global role towards increasing dominance in Latin America and vigorously fighting migration. The national security paper, meant to flesh out Trump’s norms-shattering “America First” world view, signals a sharp reorientation from long-standing US calls to refocus on Asia, although it still identifies China as a top competitor. The strategy also...

We should call it the “Neom factor”: the force that transforms reasonable aggressive ambition into hallucinogenic fantasyland. It glared out at me last week in a Financial Times headline: “Three ‘Heathrows’ of growth: the unstoppable rise of Middle East airports”. In short, Dubai, Istanbul, Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi in aggregate have airport expansion plans to lift passenger capacity almost threefold to around 750 million a year over the coming decades. In the words of Paul Griffiths, chief...

New investigative reports into a series of high-profile and costly US Navy mishaps during a US-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels reveal that the most intense running sea battle that the military service has faced since World War II took a toll on ships and personnel. The four reports released on Thursday cover a “friendly fire” incident in December 2024 that saw the cruiser USS Gettysburg shoot at two fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, downing one, as well as...

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. Japan’s Sanae Takaichi moves to ease weeks of tensions with China over the Taiwan Strait After weeks of turmoil in relations with China, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to dial down tensions with Beijing over a...

The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use redrawn congressional districts for the 2026 midterm elections, boosting the hopes of President Donald Trump’s Republicans to retain control of the House of Representatives. The push by Texas - which carves out five more Republican-friendly districts and came at the behest of Trump - kicked off a series of similar efforts in states around the country. The decision by the conservative-dominated high court stayed a lower ruling which had said...

An Irish navy ship spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aircraft as he arrived for a state visit to Ireland on Monday, local media reported on Thursday. The sighting triggered a major security alert amid fears it was an attempt to interfere with the flight path, the Irish Times reported. It quoted unnamed sources as saying the aircraft, which arrived slightly early, was not in any danger. The Ukrainian delegation arrived late on...

US President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the US government and American companies. The moment offered Trump – who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts – another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker...

Honduran centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla on Thursday alleged fraud in the country’s highly contested presidential vote after his Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura pulled narrowly past him overnight. Nasralla, in a post on X, said the screen displaying the vote data went blank at 3.24am and alleged “an algorithm changed the data”, giving the higher tally to Asfura after Nasralla had been leading the vote count since Tuesday. The results are being updated on the electoral body’s website. The...

A US Navy admiral commanding the US military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinises the campaign that killed two survivors. Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers conduct an investigation after a report that he ordered the follow-on...

With their domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. In early November, the chairman of one of China’s top construction machinery makers was spotted touring potential factory sites in Piracicaba, a city in...

US President Donald Trump could decide next year to withdraw from the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), Politico reported on Thursday, citing US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “The president’s view is he only wants deals that are a good deal. The reason why we built a review period into USMCA was in case we needed to revise it, review it or exit it,” Greer told Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns in a podcast episode that will be broadcast on Friday. Greer...

A bipartisan group of US senators, including prominent Republican China hawk Tom Cotton, on Thursday unveiled a bill that would block the Trump administration from loosening rules that restrict Beijing’s access to artificial intelligence chips for two-and-a-half years. The bill, known as the SAFE CHIPS Act, was filed by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democrat Chris Coons. It would require the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, to deny any license requests for buyers in...

China said on Wednesday that it is working “with all parties” to prevent a military escalation in the Caribbean as the United States intensifies operations near Venezuela, the latest sign of Beijing’s growing diplomatic and symbolic support for President Nicolas Maduro. Asked to comment on the Venezuelan crisis, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters that Beijing “opposes any action that violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter or undermines the...

Israel was cleared on Thursday to enter the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest by the organiser, prompting Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia to withdraw over the Gaza war and plunging the competition into one of the biggest rows in its history. The broadcasters who had threatened to boycott the event cited the death count in Gaza and accused Israel of flouting rules meant to guard the contest’s neutrality. Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it. After a...

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will hold a short in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump this week in Washington, as they continue to negotiate over US tariffs on her nation’s goods. Their first face-to-face encounter will take place on Friday, Sheinbaum confirmed during her daily press briefing on Thursday. Sheinbaum will also meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington, where the leaders are set to attend the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup hosted by the...

The FBI arrested a 30-year-old Virginia man and charged him on Thursday with planting a pair of pipe bombs in Washington the night before the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, capping a years-long investigation that gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories. The suspect, Brian Cole Jnr, of Woodbridge, was charged with use of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, Attorney General Pam Bondi and...

The New York Times sued the US Department of Defence and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy, the latest attempt by a US news organisation to reclaim access to government spaces. The press policy, enacted last month, requires journalists to acknowledge that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types...

Iraq will remove Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis from an asset-freeze list, officials said on Thursday, after the Iran-aligned groups were mistakenly included in an earlier government publication, prompting confusion and criticism. The Justice Ministry’s official gazette last month published a list of groups and entities whose funds would be blocked, naming both militant groups, a move that would likely have been welcomed in Washington and increased pressure on Tehran. A letter from the...

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Chinese companies to invest in France and transfer know-how in emerging sectors like batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels – highlighting growing concerns over the widening technological gap between the two countries. “We want to welcome more Chinese investment through projects and re-industrialisation strategies, and this is what will allow us to break the cycle we’re currently in,” he said on Thursday in Beijing, where he attended a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin must have ordered the Novichok nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018, in a “reckless” display of power that led to the death of an innocent woman, a UK public inquiry concluded on Thursday. Skripal was found along with his daughter Yulia slumped unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March 2018 after Novichok was applied to the front door handle of his nearby home. About four months later,...

A month before taking office, Helena Moreno is steering the city through a budget crisis and a Border Patrol enforcement operation that has immigrants in hiding.

Much of the entertainment capital fears that Netflix’s deal will lead to more job losses and theater closings and fewer boundary-pushing movies.

The cash-and-stock deal would give the world’s largest paid streaming service expansive power over theater owners and entertainment-industry unions.

Gehry, who died on Friday at 96, made an invaluable contribution to classical music by designing spaces with stunning acoustics.

A singular genius, Gehry redefined architecture with joyful buildings like the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Will the president soon wish he hadn’t run for a second term?

Share Our Strength takes on what both parties leave behind.

The tolling program, decades in the making, has shown signs of being effective after a rocky rollout.

The woman’s body was found near her 2-year-old’s, and the man who was charged was the child’s father, the authorities said. The case did not appear to be linked to the Long Island serial killings.

Officials said Israel helped arm and back Yasser Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces, part of a strategy against Hamas, before a local clan killed him this week.

Only four donors have transmitted rabies to organ transplant recipients since 1978, according to federal officials.