Minimalist News

Putting A Stake In Stakeholder Capitalism Authored by Terrence Keeley via RealClearWorld, The 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum convening in Davos on January 19-23 will be the first without its founder, Klaus Schwab. WEF’s new organizers should use the occasion to distance themselves from Schwab’s worst ideas: stakeholder capitalism, ESG investing and the net-zero energy paradigm. Stakeholder capitalism is a concept invented by Schwab. Schwab’s argued for years that capitalism governed by shareholders would be vastly improved by systematically elevating the inputs of other stakeholders, like employees, supply chains, community values and the environment. ESG investing is the analytic framework

"Out Of Touch": Marylanders Fume As Gov. Moore Prioritizes Building Energy-Hungry 'Sphere' Amid Power Bill Crisis Marylanders are raging at left-wing Governor Wes Moore, accusing him of fast-tracking a massively power-hungry Sphere entertainment venue near Washington, DC, while working-class households across the central part of the state are drowning under crushing electricity bills. "So this Governor spends money he doesn't even have yet. 200 million dollars of the cost for the Sphere at National Harbor will come from the State of Maryland's 2027 budget. He is so out of touch with what MD residents need and doesn't care as long as his

Pakistan To Send Chinese Warplanes To Libyan Faction Under Gen. Haftar via Middle East Eye Pakistan has sealed a deal worth over $4 billion to sell military equipment, including warplanes jointly built with China, to General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, according to a report by Reuters. The deal could significantly alter the military balance of power in the oil-rich North African country, where Haftar rules over the eastern half and a UN-recognized government led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli controls the west. Pakistan Air Force JF-17, via Military Watch Magazine "Please make your armed forces as strong as possible because armed forces did guarantee

Fauci & Collins Brushed Off 'Impressive' Data For COVID Natural Immunity Newly released emails reveal that senior Biden administration health officials privately grappling with research suggesting recovery from Covid-19 infection provided stronger protection than vaccination alone - at the very moment the federal government was preparing sweeping vaccine mandates in 2021. (from l) Bill Gates, former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci. The correspondence, released under the Freedom of Information Act to the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, offers the clearest documentary evidence to date that top officials recognized

Trump Says 'Agitators' In Minnesota Church Should Be Jailed, Wants Broader Investigation Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), President Donald Trump said that people who stormed a Minneapolis church over the past weekend should be jailed, while calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate two local Democratic politicians. President Donald Trump speaks during the "Great, Historic Investment in Rural Health Roundtable" in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 16, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times “Just watched footage of the Church Raid in Minnesota by the agitators and insurrectionists. These people are professionals! No person acts

"Extraordinary Times": Ted Cruz Predicts Iran, Venezuela, & Cuba Could All Fall Within Six Months The world may be approaching a turning point not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. At least, that’s what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicts. Appearing on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Cruz said the globe is on the brink of a historic realignment, predicting that three long-standing anti-American regimes could collapse in a matter of months—a shift with worldwide implications.  And it could arrive far sooner than many expect. “We are living in extraordinary times,” Cruz said, arguing that the pace of global change “exceeds

Democrats Are Trying To Weaponize The 25th Amendment Again, And It Won't Work After spending nearly four years pretending that Joe Biden was fit for office, congressional Democrats are now calling for President Trump to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment after he linked his pursuit of Greenland to being snubbed for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. In that text, sent Sunday, Trump told the Norwegian leader he no longer felt obligated to "think purely of Peace" after his country decided not to award him the prize for having stopped or prevented at least eight wars. > Invoke the 25th Amendment.

Maybe It's Time For Conservative Patriots To Rally In Minneapolis Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us For years we knew it was coming: Civil War 2.0. It’s not as if the establishment has been subtle about their intentions to erase conservatives and liberty minded people from the American epoch. I remember during the Obama years, the narrative was repeated daily that conservatives are a “backwards remnant” of the old America that needs to adapt to the times or fade into obscurity. The reasoning was that, slowly but surely, the US was becoming “more diverse” and therefore the progressive left was going to be

Lululemon Yanks Leggings Over "See-Through" Concerns When Bending Over Lululemon Athletica yanked its new Get Low training apparel line from its North America e-commerce website just days after launch, following customer complaints that the leggings were see-through. "The Get Low line has officially been pulled. The leggings are absolutely see-through when you squat or bend over (in every colorway). You can bring them into any store and trade them for a different legging even if they have been worn, FYI. They didn't pull them from stores, so I don't know what Lululemon is thinking. The tops are great, in my opinion," a

The Reckoning On Immigration Is Here Authored by Alex Berenson via Unreported Truths, The easy part is over. Americans wanted the borders closed. For decades, the legacy media and politicians in both parties ignored that wish, claiming the United States had to accept and support an endless flood of illegal migrants. The disconnect between average people and elite opinion was so obvious that academics wrote papers about it. President Trump broke with the elite consensus from the first day of his 2016 presidential campaign, when he announced “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border.” No issue proved more politically potent for

Leftists Call For Political Purge Of MAGA If They Return To Power You might have thought it wasn't possible, but leftist activist rhetoric has become even more unhinged than usual in the past month as ICE agents try to do their lawful jobs in Democrat controlled sanctuary cities like Minneapolis.  During the Obama Administration, ICE carried out millions of deportations of illegal aliens without a peep from progressives.  Suddenly, under Trump these same operations are now being called "fascism" and grounds for insurgency.  The reason these arrests have led to more violence today is not because of ICE, it is because NGO

Netflix Craters On Disappointing Guidance, Stock Buyback Pause It was already an ugly quarter for NFLX shareholders who have been caught in a painful takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery which has hammered the stock. And it only got uglier moments ago when Netflix reported Q4 earnings which came in solid, along with record subscribers for 2025, but it was the company's disappointing guidance due to higher program spending, together with the halt of stock buybacks (to fund the pending WBD deal) that slammed the stock to levels last seen during the Liberation day panic.  Here is what NFLX reported for Q4 results: 

By The Numbers... Trump's (Second) First Year In 10 Charts Authored by Emel Akan and Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times, Trump’s policies have influenced everything from economic growth and stock market performance to gas prices and mortgage rates. STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE Since President Trump took office in January 2025, stock indexes have reached new highs. The S&P 500 Index rose nearly 16 percent through Jan. 14, compared to a 24 percent increase over the same period in Trump’s first term. In the past 12 months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 13 percent and the Nasdaq gained 20 percent. ECONOMIC GROWTH After a 0.6 percent contraction

Trump's Long, Meandering Pre-Davos Presser: 'Things Are Going To Work Out Pretty Well' Summary: In what was a long and meandering speech, with no questions from the press taken till well over an hour in, President Trump's 'pre-Davos' press briefing varied greatly in terms of topics, themes, and emphasis. The president drifted between thoughts in a meandering, unscripted, and often tangential way - as he's been known to sometimes do. One of the strangest moments came when Trump joked about nearly injuring himself with a ring binder. "I wouldn’t have shown the pain," he said. Still, it felt so long that some commentators

Goldman Exec Denies Plan To Oust Top Lawyer Over Epstein Revelations A senior Goldman Sachs executive says rumors of a plan to oust general counsel and top adviser to CEO David Solomon, Kathryn Ruemmler, are "completely untrue," after recent document dumps from Jeffrey Epstein's estate revealed that she was far closer with him than previously known.  Ruemmler - a former top legal advisor in the Obama administration - told Goldman execs when they hired her that her relationship with Epstein was purely professional and stemmed from her time as a white-collar defense attorney at Latham & Watkins. It would later become public that she not only

Shellenberger: The Left Is Getting People Killed At This Point Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger has accused the radical left of getting people killed through ongoing delusions and interference with federal immigration enforcement, pointing to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a prime example. Appearing on FOX News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Shellenberger highlighted how leftist rhetoric and actions are radicalizing individuals like Good, leading them into perilous situations while obstructing lawful operations. “I think left is getting people killed at this point. There’s no other way to say it,” Shellenberger stated. “These are not difficult issues, legally,

"I'm $6K Behind": Maryland Power Bill Crisis Sparks Debt Panic As 14,000 Residents Cry For Help Online The Maryland power bill crisis first came to our attention in August 2024, when years of poor power-grid management by Democrats (mostly due to backfiring 'green' policies) in the state collided with surging electricity demand from AI data centers. Fast forward to today: the power bill crisis in the one-party rule state of Democratic Party kings and queens, headed by leftist Gov. Wes Moore, who has presidential ambitions, is getting hammered in the polling numbers (new data from Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media) as struggling

Mexico Quells Strike Rumors As US Issues Written Assurance: No Military Flights Seeking to tamp down speculation that US bombs and drones could actually be flying south of the border to do cartel raids, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Washington has assured her there will be no American military flights over Mexico. Sheinbaum said Monday she received "written" guarantees from the US that American military aircraft would not operate over Mexican territory or in its sovereign airspace, adding that Washington also pledged to notify Mexico City and seek approval in advance of any such potential military operations. AFP/Getty Images Her comments followed notifications from

Zelensky Skips Davos As Kiev Plunged Into Worst Power & Water Crisis Of War Ukraine's energy crisis continues, not only with nationwide rolling blackouts, but with fresh overnight Russian strikes on the capital having plunged nearly 6,000 of the city's buildings into darkness amid subzero temperatures. President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced Tuesday he is skipping the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) summit given his country's energy emergency is his top priority. "For now, I am choosing Ukraine, not an economic forum," Zelensky said, but noted the situation could change quickly and that he's urging immediate support from outside partners. KyivPost reports that "According to

Exposed: Teachers Unions Funneling Millions To Soros-Linked Groups, Far-Left Agendas Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, New Labor Department filings reveal the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, has been channeling millions in taxpayer dollars to far-left political outfits, including Soros-backed networks and shadowy activist groups.  Instead of bolstering education, these funds are propping up anti-American causes, from anti-Israel protests to rigging electoral maps. The bombshell underscores the deep rot in union leadership, where public money meant for schools is weaponized against conservative values and national security.  > New filings show Teachers Unions are funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to the Democrat

Church leaders cite Greenland threats, Venezuela action and aid cuts as undermining human dignity and peace Three cardinals in the US Catholic church have criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying its push to obtain or otherwise seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk “destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering”. “Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of

Salvatore Mancuso given 40-year sentence, which could be reduced after truth and reparation activities A Colombian court has sentenced a former paramilitary leader to 40 years in prison for crimes committed against Indigenous communities in the province of La Guajira, including homicides, forced disappearances and the displacement of people from 2002 to 2006. The special tribunal that hears cases from the country’s armed conflict said in its ruling that Salvatore Mancuso was responsible for 117 crimes committed by fighters under his command in La Guajira. However, it added that Mancuso’s time in prison could be reduced to eight years, if he collaborated

Prosecution over death of Quinto Inuma Alvarado seen as test of ability to curb attacks on environmental defenders Five men are due to go on trial on Tuesday over the killing of an Amazonian Indigenous leader, in a legal case that could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders. The Kichwa tribal leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado was killed on 29 November 2023, after repeatedly denouncing illegal activity within his community’s territory. Continue reading...

President announces 30-day order after inmates also took 46 people hostage at three prisons Guatemala’s president has declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused them of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons. The killings occurred in the capital, Guatemal City, and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower-security facilities. Continue reading...

Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 18 people, scorched thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital. Continue reading...

Cost of living likely to dominate the agenda ahead of 7 November poll as centre-right National party battles to retain power The prime minister, Christopher Luxon, has announced New Zealand’s next general election will be held on 7 November, kickstarting a campaign cycle that could become one of the country’s most contested in years. On Wednesday, Luxon told reporters the National party would continue its agenda to “fix the basics and build the future”. Continue reading...

For years, Beijing has struggled to gain a foothold in Greenland, in part because of US and Danish unity. Trump’s fraying of that alliance could create the opening it needs According to Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, China and Russia must be having a “field day” about Donald Trump’s plans for Greenland, which Kallas says will divide Nato. But according to Trump, his plans are motivated by a desire to counter the very threat that Kallas identified. “World peace is at stake! China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it,”

Critics expected to mount legal challenge to plans for vast complex at Royal Mint Court amid security concerns The communities secretary, Steve Reed, has given permission for China to build a vast new embassy near the Tower of London after spy chiefs told him that the risks to UK national security could be controlled and dealt with. The decision paves the way for Keir Starmer to visit Beijing in the coming weeks – though local residents plan to legally challenge the decision, potentially delaying the development by months or years. Continue reading...

North Korean leader reportedly blames Yang Sung-ho for ‘confusion’ at factory project as major congress looms The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has dismissed a vice-premier over troubles in a factory modernisation project, in an apparent move to tighten discipline among officials and push them to deliver greater results before a major political conference. The upcoming ruling Workers’ party congress, the first of its kind in five years, is one of North Korea’s biggest propaganda spectacles and is intended to review past projects, establish new political and economic priorities and reshuffle officials. Continue reading...

Number of high-spending Chinese tourists visiting Japan halved last month after PM said an invasion of Taiwan could spark Japanese military involvement Chinese tourism to Japan almost halved in December amid a bitter diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over the security of Taiwan. The number of tourists from mainland China dropped by about 45% from the same month a year earlier to about 330,000, Japan’s transport ministry said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Aldi triumphed in the consumer watchdog’s showdown, while some name brands failed to come out in the wash * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email The cheapest stain removal spray from a major Australian supermarket is also one of the best-performing products in the field, according to a product test by consumer advocacy group Choice. Choice tested 23 stain remover powders and 20 pre-treater sprays on common garment stains caused by sweat, grass and mud, and cooking oil, as well as stubborn stains from chocolate ice-cream, tomato, baby food, blood and makeup. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of

Follow updates live * Three Nationals senators resign from frontbench after crossing the floor to oppose Labor’s hate speech bill * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast CEO of energy company behind Eraring coal power plant says extra two years will help with ‘smooth transition’ Frank Calabria, the CEO of Origin energy, spoke with RN this morning after an announcement Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant, Eraring in New South Wales, would stay open for an additional two years until 2029. A lot of good progress has been made on the transition, a lot of new infrastructure, a lot

Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald breached shadow cabinet solidarity rules, challenging authority of Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Three Nationals senators have resigned from the frontbench after they crossed the floor to vote against Labor’s hate speech bill. Sussan Ley accepted the trio’s resignation on Wednesday, a day after Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald voted against the Coalition’s position on the contentious legislation, a breach of shadow cabinet solidarity rules. Continue reading...

Coroner to examine if 19-year-old drowned off Australian tourist island or was killed by wild dingoes “I’m 18, and you can’t stop me!” Piper James told her father before she set off backpacking on the other side of the Pacific Ocean – but the young Canadian woman’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy and trauma. Early on Monday, the now-19-year-old was found dead on a beach on the world heritage-listed sand island and tourist destination of K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) off the Queensland coast, surrounded by a pack of dingoes near the Maheno shipwreck. Continue reading...

State environmental regulator says Valhalla project, set to drill up to 20 gas wells in Canning basin, can proceed subject to conditions * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A controversial fracking proposal in Western Australia’s Kimberley region has been recommended for approval by the state’s Environmental Protection Authority, a move criticised as “outrageous” due to the project’s potential climate pollution and environmental impacts. The EPA on Tuesday recommended that the Valhalla project, which proposes to drill up to 20 gas wells in the Canning basin, proceed

Gelsenkirchen savings bank was raided over Christmas by criminals who used huge drill to access vault Faqir Malyar, a carpet trader from the western German city of Gelsenkirchen, was on his way to visit one of his customers during the Christmas holidays when he heard news on the radio of an astonishing bank heist. Thieves had drilled a hole in the wall of the vault of a local Sparkasse – savings bank – and made off with the contents of almost 3,250 deposit boxes. The robbery, likened by a police spokesperson to the Hollywood film Ocean’s Eleven, made international headlines: it is

European countries now reliant on US liquified natural gas shipments, creating risk of higher bills amid recent tensions Donald Trump has a stranglehold over EU and UK energy supply as a result of Europe swapping its dependency on Russia for reliance on the US, analysis has shown. In part due to the war in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russian pipeline gas, European countries have become dependent on shipments of US liquified natural gas (LNG), according to a paper co-authored by the Clingendael Institute, in The Hague, the Ecologic Institute, in Berlin, and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Continue reading...

Incident in Spain took place days after collision between two high-speed trains in Andalucía that killed at least 42 A commuter train has hit a collapsed retaining wall near Barcelona, killing the driver and injuring 37 people, four of them seriously, firefighters have said. Four people are believed to be in a critical condition after the incident in the Catalonia region of north-eastern Spain, a spokesperson for the region’s fire service, Claudi Gallardo, told reporters. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest news reports here: * ‘You’ll find out’: Trump refuses to say how far he would go to seize Greenland * Europe condemns Trump’s ‘new colonialism’ as Greenland crisis grows And Davos looks like the place to be this week, with Trump now declaring that after his call with Nato’s Rutte he will have “a meeting of the various parties” on Greenland – whatever that means and whoever is going to be involved. Separately, it’s not clear if Macron’s offer of setting up a G7 meeting on the sidelines was accepted (although

Sell-off hits US stocks in first trading day since president threatened tariffs against eight countries Stock markets fell on both sides of the Atlantic on Tuesday, with Wall Street suffering its worst day since October, as investor concerns persisted over the fallout from Donald Trump’s push for US control of Greenland. The sell-off hit US stocks on the first day of trading in New York since Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European countries, after the market was closed for a public holiday on Monday. The S&P 500 closed down 2.1% while the Dow Jones finished down 1.8%. Continue reading...

US says it no longer supports SDF, which left camp as it loses swathes of territory to government forces Kurdish-led forces in Syria have announced a withdrawal from a detention camp in north-east Syria housing tens of thousands of Islamic State-linked detainees, as the US declared it was no longer supporting them. The fate of al-Hawl, which houses among others the most radical foreign women suspected to have been members of IS and their families, is of great concern to neighbouring states and the international community. Continue reading...

The US president’s global club was endorsed by the security council on a false prospectus and seems aimed at displacing the United Nations Like many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another. When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global

Palestinian refugee agency compound is demolished, while teargas is fired at UN vocational school in West Bank Israeli crews have started bulldozing the Jerusalem headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Jerusalem and fired teargas at a UN vocational school in Qalandia, in the West Bank. Israel accuses the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unwra) of collaborating with Hamas – a charge the agency denies – and last year banned it from operating on its territory. The demolition marks Israel’s latest step against Unrwa, which provides aid to millions of Palestinian refugees. Continue reading...

Two sides blame each other for release of inmates, as Syria’s president looks to gain control of north-east More than 100 inmates have escaped from a Syrian jail holding Islamic State prisoners amid clashes in the north-east of the country after an agreement by the under-pressure Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to withdraw from two key provinces. Videos released by the SDF showed what it said were IS members being broken out from a jail in Shaddadi by figures in black balaclavas. It said it had lost control of the building after what it claimed was an attack by government-affiliated fighters that killed

Russia says it is seeking to ‘clarify all the nuances’ of offer it claims Washington has made before responding The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

The 85-year-old bestselling author’s final novel, Adam and Eve, will be published in English in October Bestselling novelist Jeffrey Archer has announced his next novel, Adam and Eve, will be his last, coming out 50 years after his debut was published. The 85-year-old author has sold more than 300m books around the world since his first novel, Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less, was published in 1976, according to his publishers. His 1979 novel, Kane and Abel, was his biggest hit, selling more than 34m copies in 119 countries and 47 languages, and being reprinted more than 130 times. Continue reading...

Mark Ruffalo, Brian Eno and Abigail Disney sign letter timed for WEF in Davos saying wealthy are buying political influence Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires from 24 countries are calling on global leaders to increase taxes on the super-rich, amid growing concern that the wealthiest in society are buying political influence. An open letter, released to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, calls on global leaders attending this week’s conference to close the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else. Continue reading...

The number of small venues shrank by just nine in 2025, but more than half of them reported making no profit, while employment in the sector dropped almost 22% The number of grassroots music venues (GMV) in the UK shrank in effect by just nine in 2025, the lowest rate of annual decline since 2018. Thirty venues closed permanently between July 2024 and 2025 and 48 ceased functioning as GMVs, citing financial viability, change in ownership and eviction or redevelopment. However, 69 spaces that had previously ceased operating as GMVs returned to the sector. Continue reading...

Actor says it is ‘more important than ever’ to safeguard city’s parks as report finds more than 50 are at risk Dame Judi Dench has called for greater protections for London’s parks and green spaces, as research finds more than 50 of the city’s parks are at risk from development. The Oscar-winning actor has long loved trees, and in 2017 fronted a BBC documentary about her love for them. She plants a tree every time a close friend or relative dies, including for her late husband, Michael Williams, who died in 2001, and the actor Natasha Richardson, who was killed in a

IFS says system failing to deliver for those who need it and ministers face stark choices with white paper imminent The government is facing “crunch time” over the rising costs and failures of special needs education for children in England, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The IFS said government spending on educating children with special needs would double between 2015 and 2028, “squeezing funding” for mainstream schools as a result. Continue reading...

President also declines to offer any reassurances about his commitment to the stability of Nato alliance Donald Trump ratcheted up the uncertainty over how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland as he warned the Nato alliance on Tuesday that it was only as strong as the United States allowed it to be. “You’ll find out,” Trump said in a terse reply at a White House press briefing before moving to the next question. Continue reading...

AF1, which was taking Donald Trump to Davos, returned to Washington DC after the flight experienced minor electrical issue, White House says Donald Trump’s plane, Air Force One, was forced to abort its flight to Switzerland on Tuesday and turn back after what officials described as a “minor electrical issue”. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the decision to return to Washington DC had been taken shortly after departure “out of an abundance of caution”, once the crew detected the fault. Continue reading...

Carney warns US-led global system of governance is enduring ‘a rupture’ as US president flies in for showdown with European leaders over Greenland Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said that the US-led global system of governance is enduring “a rupture,” defined by great power competition and a “fading” rules-based order. His speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum comes a day before US President Donald Trump was set to address the gathering in Davos, Switzerland. Continue reading...

Trump-appointed federal attorney with no prosecutorial experience led failed cases against president’s political foes Lindsey Halligan, a Trump-appointed federal attorney who led the failed prosecutions of two of the president’s political opponents, has left her position at the US justice department, attorney general Pam Bondi said on Tuesday. The departure of Halligan, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, comes after multiple judges have sharply criticized her and cast doubts on her ability to lawfully remain in her position. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. * US justice department subpoenas Minnesota Democrats accused of impeding ICE efforts * Trump news at a glance: Nato’s fate uncertain as president remains intent on seizing Greenland The supreme court did not issue a decision today on the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs. It’s not immediately clear the next date the court will issue opinions. Continue reading...

A commuter train derailed on Tuesday after a ‍containment wall fell on the track due to heavy rain near the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing the driver and seriously injuring ⁠four passengers, a fire brigade official said. The accident occurred just two days after a high-speed train collision and derailment near Adamuz in the southern Cordoba province that killed 42 ‍people. Claudi Gallardo, inspector at the Catalonia regional fire department, said ‍in televised comments from the site of the...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used a major address in Davos to argue that the world’s middle powers must band together to resist coercion from aggressive superpowers. Recent events have shown the “rules-based international order” is effectively dead, Carney said, which means Canada and other countries have no choice but to create new alliances to oppose pressure tactics and intimidation by the world’s great powers. His speech did not mention US President Donald Trump by name. Canada stands...

Alberta is a very cold place in winter, even by Canadian standards. And yet, in the past week, hundreds of Albertans formed long queues in freezing weather, in big cities and small towns, to sign a petition for an independence referendum for the province. If at least 177,732 signatures – 10 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the last provincial general election – are collected and verified before early May, a referendum on Alberta statehood can be legally held in the autumn. It now...

A team of scientists announced on Tuesday that they had developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean are producing “dark oxygen”. If a previously unknown source of oxygen has always been lurking in Earth’s depths, it would represent a remarkable revelation that would call into question long-held assumptions about the origins of life on our planet. But the deep-sea mining industry – which is keen to extract precious...

Spain’s king and queen visited on Tuesday the site where two high-speed trains collided at the weekend, killing 42 people, as a second deadly rail accident overshadowed the start of national mourning. The country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade took place late Sunday when a train operated by rail company Iryo, travelling from Malaga to Madrid, derailed near Adamuz in the southern Andalusia region. It crossed onto the other track, where it crashed into an oncoming train heading to...

Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces it ‌has seized swathes of territory from in the northeast and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central state, which their main ally, the US, urged them to accept. The lightning government advances in recent days and the apparent withdrawal of US support for the continued holding of territory by the Syrian Democratic Forces represent the biggest change of control in the country since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad 13...

Greenland’s prime minister said the Arctic island’s population and its authorities need to start preparing for a possible military invasion, even as it remains an unlikely scenario, as US President Donald Trump continues to threaten taking over the territory. “It’s not likely there will be a military conflict, but it can’t be ruled out,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a press conference in capital Nuuk on Tuesday. Greenland’s government will form a task force consisting of...

Europe must respond to US threats over Greenland and China’s industrial excesses, or else “passively accept … vassalisation and bloc politics”, French President Emmanuel Macron warned in a speech at Davos on Tuesday. Macron warned of the “brutalisation of the world”, as he urged the use of the EU’s most powerful trade weapon in response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on European countries who last week sent troops to Greenland. Trump has pledged to make the giant Arctic...

The Canadian military has developed a model response to a US invasion, the Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump again muses online about a takeover of Canada. Citing two unnamed senior government officials, the paper said the Canadian response model centres on insurgency-style tactics, like those used in Afghanistan by fighters who resisted Soviet and later US forces. The Globe reported that the officials believe it is unlikely that Trump would order an invasion of...

The European Commission wants to force EU member states to remove Chinese companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE from its mobile networks, as part of a sweeping new cybersecurity act unveiled on Tuesday. While the bloc’s executive arm has recommended that capitals weed equipment from those providers from their 5G networks since 2020, citing cybersecurity risks, only 13 of 27 have so far acted on it, commission sources said. This marks the first time Brussels has attempted to make their removal...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he met with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng a day earlier on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in advance of US President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated speech to the global body on Wednesday. Bessent’s account of the sit-down between the main interlocutors over the past tumultuous year between Beijing and Washington suggests the pieces are in place to go ahead with a summit in Beijing between Trump and...

Netflix switched to an all-cash offer for Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses with unanimous support from the HBO owner’s board ‍without increasing the US$82.7 billion price, in an effort to close the door on rival Paramount’s efforts. Both Netflix and studio operator Paramount covet Warner Bros for its leading film and television studios, extensive content library and major franchises such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and DC Comics’ superheroes Batman and...

For all his bombast, few could have imagined the sound and fury with which Donald Trump has taken to foreign policymaking in his second presidential term. Over the past 12 months, the US president has laid bare American ambitions to lay claim to territories within its near periphery deemed to be of strategic significance. From Greenland – a mineral-rich autonomous territory of Denmark – to Panama, a critical maritime trade choke point, the White House has made its geopolitical appetite...

An overnight Russian bombardment left thousands of residential buildings in Kyiv without heating and water in -14 degrees Celsius (6.8 Fahrenheit) temperatures on Tuesday, when the Ukrainian capital was already scrambling to restore vital utilities destroyed in earlier attacks. The barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, which targeted energy facilities across Ukraine, killed at least one 50-year-old man near Kyiv. Air raid sirens and explosions were heard in the capital as Ukrainian air...

Israel demolished structures inside the UN ‍Palestinian refugee agency’s East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law. Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) compound, where ⁠dozens of agency staff once worked. UNRWA, which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building...

Russia is watching with glee as US ‌President Donald Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland widens splits with Europe even though his moves could have serious security ramifications for Moscow, which covets its ‍own presence in the Arctic. The Kremlin said Trump would go down in history if he took control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev hailed the “collapse of the transatlantic union”. Former President Dmitry Medvedev joked about...

For the Korean American community, the first year of US President Donald Trump’s return to power has been defined by a sense of “pure fear”. According to Kim Dong-seok, head of the non-profit Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), the institutional tolerance that once protected immigrants has vanished, replaced by a political environment that views non-citizens with a presumption of criminality. “Even though the US government says it distinguishes between lawful and unlawful immigrants,...

US President Donald Trump threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200 per cent tariffs in an apparent effort to cajole French President Emmanuel ‍Macron into joining his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s initiative, which would start by addressing Gaza and then expand to deal with other conflicts, raises questions about the role of the United Nations and a source close to Macron said the French president intended to decline the invitation to...

The biggest snowfall in 60 years ‌on Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula created ‍vast drifts several metres tall that blocked building entrances and buried cars, according to Reuters visuals and weather monitoring ⁠stations. In some areas more than 2 metres (6.5 feet) of snow has fallen in the first half of January after 3.7 metres in December, ‍according to weather monitoring stations. Heavy snow is not uncommon in Kamchatka - a peninsula which stretches down towards Japan. Reuters...

China achieved its twin goals of tech advancement and macro stability in 2025. Its goals for 2026 remain the same. However, a rapidly deteriorating global security environment is likely to shift national priorities towards preparation for worst-case scenarios. Oil supplies and sea lanes are becoming insecure. The US-China trade war could reignite at any time. China will have to accelerate its goals of energy and technology self-sufficiency to enhance national resilience. Fighting for sea lane...

A searing family rift between Brooklyn Peltz Beckham and his celebrity parents, David and Victoria Beckham, dominated UK media Tuesday after he exploded on social media saying he had no wish for a reconciliation. The 26-year-old said late Monday that his parents have been controlling narratives in the press about his family and tried to “ruin” his relationship with his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham. “I do not want to reconcile with my family,” he wrote in a post to his 16.2 million Instagram...

Italian officials ‍on Monday hailed the discovery of a more than 2,000-year-old public building attributed to Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architect and engineer known as the “father of architecture”. “It is a sensational finding … something that our grandchildren will ⁠be talking about,” Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli told a press conference. Vitruvius, who lived in the 1st century BC, is celebrated for having written De architectura, or The Ten Books on Architecture, the oldest...

A day after a sweeping deal was announced between the Syrian government and the country’s main Kurdish-led force, the agreement appeared to be falling apart on Monday. After new outbreaks of clashes Monday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance”. “Just as our comrades in 2014 forged a historic resistance in Kobani and turned it into a graveyard for (the Islamic State group) ... today we affirm with the same...

Key allies reacted coolly on Monday to US President Donald Trump’s invite to pay US$1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” for resolving international conflicts, with analysts likening it to a pay-to-play version of the UN Security Council. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The board’s charter, seen by...

In 1900, most people lived without electricity, antibiotics or universal education. Today, life expectancy is decades longer, literacy and access to medicine are near universal in many regions, and hundreds of millions have entered the global middle class. This progress was built through science, industry, public health, education and the hard work of ordinary people who believed tomorrow could be better. The question now is whether humanity can achieve a still more audacious goal: a world in...

Spain woke to flags at half-staff on Tuesday as the nation began three days of mourning for the victims of the deadly train accident in the country’s south, while emergency crews continued to pull bodies from the wreckage. The official death toll of Sunday’s accident rose to 41 by Tuesday morning, after Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente Santiago said that another corpse had been discovered when a crane lifted a damaged carriage. Officials have repeatedly warned that the death count may...

Brazilian beef exports will remain stable ‌in 2026 compared with last year, beef lobby Abiec said on ‍Monday, projecting shipments between 3.3 million and 3.5 million tonnes this year. That compares with 3.5 million tonnes of beef exported in 2025, including fresh and processed products, when Brazil’s ⁠beef shipments had their best year on record both in volumes and revenue, according to trade data. Roberto Perosa, Abiec president, said exports would remain broadly unchanged after top importer...

Valentino Garavani, the jet-set Italian designer whose high-glamour gowns – often in his trademark shade of “Valentino red” – were fashion show staples for nearly half a century, has died at home in Rome, his foundation announced on Monday. He was 93. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” the foundation said in a statement posted on social media. His body will repose at the foundation’s headquarters in...

Canada is considering whether to send a ‌small contingent of troops to Greenland to ‍take part in Nato military exercises, a source directly familiar with the matter said on Monday. The news was first reported by CBC News and the Globe and Mail newspaper. Military officials have presented plans for the operation to the government and are awaiting a decision from ‍Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the source, who requested anonymity ‍given the sensitivity of the matter. Carney’s office declined to...

A blast at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded more than a dozen others, emergency services said. An Agence France-Presse journalist saw police vehicles and an ambulance at the scene following the explosion on a street known for its flower sellers in the Shahr-e-Naw area. Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion occurred at the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which he said mainly served Chinese Muslims. “A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and...

South Africa mourned the deaths on Monday of 13 schoolchildren who died when their minibus collided with a truck, ⁠local officials said in a statement, in an incident that put the spotlight on the country’s dismal road safety record. The private vehicle was transporting students to various primary schools and high schools in the southwest of Johannesburg when the incident occurred around 7am, according to authorities. Parents were seen weeping uncontrollably at the scene of the accident, while...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts globally and overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza, the Kremlin said on Monday. Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East – including Israel and the Palestinians. But since the Israel-Gaza war and Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Putin has moved away from Israel, boosting ties with its foes like Iran. Moscow has...

The global landscape is undergoing profound rupture. The United States has blatantly interfered in the internal affairs of Venezuela through direct military action and openly covets Greenland. US President Donald Trump has called Canada the “51st state” of his country and threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal. The US is undermining the core assumptions that have underpinned the Western alliance system. Against this backdrop, Canada’s policy community broadly and Prime Minister Mark Carney...

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, the US president said in comments published on Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland. Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory. German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by...

For much of the past decade, the energy transition debate has largely revolved around one question: can clean technologies work at scale? That is increasingly being answered. Solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) have moved into the mainstream as key technologies become more cost-effective, efficient and faster to deploy. In many markets, these energy sources are no longer the future of energy; they are the present. The challenge is no longer simply proving that more...

Guatemala’s president on Sunday declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused the groups of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons. The killings occurred in the Guatemalan capital and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower security facilities. President Bernardo Arevalo said...

Hackers disrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air footage supporting the country’s exiled crown prince and calling on security forces to not “point your weapons at the people”, footage online showed early Monday, the latest disruption to follow nationwide protests in the country. The hacking came as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered the demonstrations reached at least 3,919 people killed, activists said. They fear the number will grow far higher...

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. Japan urged to ‘correct historical errors’, return Tang dynasty stele to China 2. Melaku Belachew, Shitaye Eshete claim Hong Kong Marathon crowns - as it happened 3. Trump shrugs off concerns over Canada-China EV deal, calls it a ‘good thing’ 4. Philippines enters its ‘hour of danger’ in Marcos...

The ‌Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, two US officials told ‍Reuters on Sunday. The US Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent. US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to use the Insurrection Act to...

Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile on Sunday left at least 18 people dead, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed hundreds of homes, authorities said, as the South American country sweltered under a heatwave. Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobio region and the neighbouring Nuble region, around 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital. The emergency designation allows the suspension of constitutional...

Spanish police said on Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country. Efforts to recover the bodies are continuing and the death toll is likely to rise. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said. The crash occurred Sunday at 7.45pm when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the...

US President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, have put Russia and China – widely considered two of Caracas’ most important international partners – in a difficult position. If they do not significantly reduce ties with the Latin American nation, they risk Washington’s retaliation. But who has more to lose, Moscow or Beijing? Unlike previous American leaders, Trump has not made any pretence about protecting democracy and human...

Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said ‍on Sunday that talks with US officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum opening this week in the Swiss resort of Davos. Umerov, writing on Telegram, said two days of talks in Florida with a US team ⁠including envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had focused on security guarantees and a post-war recovery plan for Ukraine. He gave no indication...

European Union ambassadors reached broad agreement on Sunday to intensify ‌efforts to dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while also preparing retaliatory measures should the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said. Trump vowed on Saturday to implement ‍a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, a step major EU...

Eight people killed in three separate avalanche accidents in Austria were citizens of the Czech Republic and Austria, authorities said on Sunday. The deadliest incident on Saturday occurred in the Grossarl Valley in the state of Salzburg, where three men aged 53, 63 and 65 were killed. A 60-year-old woman also died after being buried by snow. The victims were part of a group on an alpine ski course offered by the Austrian Alpine Club, the organisation announced on Sunday. “Risk competence and...

For roughly one hour 45 minutes, President Trump meandered through his accomplishments and grievances, attacked perceived enemies and threatened allies.

For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she was unlawfully appointed to the job.

A Hmong immigrant, who is a U.S. citizen, was released after being questioned for an hour. Federal officials said they had been seeking sex offenders.

The family of Geraldo Lunas Campos said a witness saw him choked by guards in an El Paso detention facility this month. Federal officials said he died by suicide.

The change in tone was stark for the president, who said he had been told that Ms. Good’s father was a strong Trump supporter.

The agent told an investigator that he was assaulted with a broom and a shovel before he fired a single shot that wounded a Venezuelan man.

A senior U.S. official declined to confirm the specific operations in Venezuela, but said a covert team provided real-time support for the military.

The Venezuelan opposition leader stressed the need for free elections in her latest bipartisan meeting with lawmakers.

Taiwan’s domestic gridlock is revealing a deep-seated fracture over how the island should defend itself and how much it can depend on the United States.

Republicans asked the justices to step in after a federal court rejected their claims that the state’s new congressional map violated the Constitution.

Low clouds have lifted long enough for helicopters to ferry scientists and their gear to a fast-melting glacier on the edge of Antarctica.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, had admitted to shooting Mr. Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, with a homemade gun at a political rally in 2022.

The largest performing arts organization in the country will lay off workers, cut salaries and reduce its offerings. It may also sell its Chagall murals that are valued at $55 million.

Officials said they had located a previously unreported train undercarriage near the site of a deadly train crash in Spain. Experts said the finding could help investigators.

Train service in the Catalonia region will be suspended until it is safe to resume rail traffic, the local operator said.

On Monday, the eldest Beckham son posted one-sided explosive accusations against his parents on Instagram. His parents have not responded directly.

The president needs counterforces to save him from himself.

One meteorologist warns that “the main ingredients” are fitting into place for a disruptive winter storm later this week.

The death of the designer Valentino marks the end of an era, not just in fashion but in dressing the part.

Renowned in his field, he counted among his clients five Nobel laureates, including Elie Wiesel, and eight Pulitzer winners as well as the estates of Tennessee Williams and Aldous Huxley.

An arson attack at a synagogue in Mississippi was a reminder of the threat Jews face, but also of the strength of a small community forged over generations.