Minimalist News

India's Education Minister Resigns, Delhi Protests End As Modi Caves To 'Cockroach' Youth Movement's Demands India's education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resigned on Saturday and the government agreed to every demand raised by youth demonstrators, bringing weeks of protests - the gravest political crisis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term - to a jubilant close. Pradhan's exit was the core demand of the self-styled Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the youth movement that has camped at Delhi's Jantar Mantar since late June over the leak of medical school entrance exam papers. The May leaks forced the cancellation of results and a

US To Resume Mexican Cattle Imports After Yearlong Screwworm Ban Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The United States said on Friday it will end a ban on imports of Mexican cattle implemented more than a year ago to combat the New World screwworm (NWS), a flesh-eating livestock pest that has already made it into Texas and New Mexico. Cattle are herded in a stable in Hamilton, Texas, on June 5, 2026. Brandon Bell/Getty Images In its announcement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would coordinate a phased reopening of southern cattle ports beginning Aug.

War Zones Converging? Zelensky Says Ukraine Hit Ship "Transporting Military Cargo" From Iran Ukraine has rapidly expanded its one-way attack-drone campaign from the Sea of Azov into the Black Sea, claiming strikes against more than 180 vessels and maritime targets around the Crimean region over the past three weeks, according to Reuters . The widening maritime offensive follows a summer campaign in which Ukrainian drones struck dozens of Russian energy assets, warehouses and logistics hubs . The risk of the Russia-Ukraine conflict merging with the US-Iran conflict seems plausible, but remains low at this point, despite overnight signals from Ukrainian

$139 Million Drug Bust Exposes Broker-Style Cross-Border Trucking Operation By Phil Brink of FreightWaves Canadian and U.S. agencies uncovered a broker-style operation using commercial transportation connections to move illegal drugs. Authorities display evidence seized during Project Bay, including suspected cocaine, methamphetamine and opium. The operation recovered nearly 1.7 metric tons of drugs and 17 firearms. (Photo: Ontario Provincial Police) Canadian authorities seized nearly 1.7 metric tons of illegal drugs during a cross-border investigation named Project Bay . The haul included suspected cocaine, methamphetamine and opium. Authorities estimated the products’ street value above $139 million. Investigators called it one of Ontario’s

Rand Paul Should Make Fauci Answer For Wuhan And BeagleGate Lies Authored by Anthony Bellotti via American Greatness , Fauci no longer faces any realistic risk of criminal exposure for perjury or other past federal offenses covered by the pardon. Next week, Dr. Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify before Sen. Rand Paul's Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. After years of stonewalling, evasions, carefully parsed denials, and outright lies , this hearing presents a rare opportunity to get answers from America's most notorious mad scientist, who recklessly funded dangerous animal experiments that likely caused COVID-19 and financed beagle

Democrats Are Worried The GOP's Cash Advantage Could Hurt Their Chances In The Midterms The Democratic Party heads into the midterms with generic congressional ballot polling and historical precedent on its side. It is nevertheless worried that the majorities it so desperately wants could still slip away. Politico reported this week that Democratic strategists increasingly fear their favorable political environment could be overwhelmed by a Republican cash stockpile that dwarfs their own. Federal Election Commission filings through the end of June show the three main GOP national committees and their affiliated congressional super PACs sitting on a combined $657 million.

Trump Orders Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum To Warn Of Inaccurate Exhibits Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on July 24 directing signs to be placed outside one of the Smithsonian Institution’s history museums warning visitors that some exhibits contain inaccurate information. The order references a July report by the White House Domestic Policy Council, which alleges that the National Museum of American History “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.” Trump said in his order that

Private Forecasters Warn "New Heat Event" Will Target US East Coast Folks across the Mid-Atlantic are enjoying a welcome stretch of mild weather today, with temperatures in the 70s following several rounds of extreme heat earlier this month that sent temperatures into the 90s and even into the triple digits. Enjoy the comfortable nights in the 60s and low 70s over the next few days, because another heat wave is already on the horizon. " New heat event potentially targets East Coast Aug 5-7, " private forecaster Commodity Wx Group wrote on X. New heat event potentially targets East Coast

Do DSA Elites Rank America Worse Than Mao's 70-Million Body Count? This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson . We’re hearing more and more from the Democratic Socialists of America about all of the sins of America and very little of the good things we’ve done to ourselves and to the world at large on our 250th birthday. What is it, the nature of this DSA , Democratic Socialists of America, and the diversity, equity, inclusion criticism that we were racist, sexist, nativist, cruel, ruthless, etc., etc. But my question

BLM Is Back And Protesting The Police Shooting Of Another Violent Career Criminal They are far less active across the US in 2026, but not truly gone. Is it exasperating, or, is it entertaining? It depends on how you look at it. Yes, the Black Lives Matter movement is back, and big surprise, they're angry over the police shooting of another violent minority criminal. But, is he black? Not according to his extensive offender detail record, in which his race is listed as "White" and his ethnicity is listed as "Latino". Yet another in a long line of imprisoned minority

Homebuyer Demand Remains Strong In High-Risk Areas: Report Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times , While nearly one in four homes across the United States are located in areas susceptible to severe weather conditions, many homebuyers are still seeking out properties in these high-risk regions , a July Realtor.com report found. An aerial view shows empty lots and new homes under construction in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 2026. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images The organization's data show that 23.1 percent of America's homes - with an estimated $11.2 trillion in value -

Trump Pursues Diplomatic Off-Ramp As Omani Delegation Arrives In Tehran: Report Summary Why Trump Reportedly Ordered Military Not To Strike In Overnight US Pauses Iran Bombing Campaign As Saudi-Houthi Red Sea Front Erupts Why Trump Reportedly Ordered Military Not To Strike In Overnight Axios reports that President Trump called off new U.S. military strikes on Iran Friday night, signaling a potential diplomatic offramp after nearly two weeks of tit-for-tat attacks . People familiar with the decision told the outlet that the pause coincided with the arrival of Omani officials in Tehran for negotiations aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz

Meltdown? The Real Reason Why The Media Hates Elon Musk Some would say that Elon Musk is an enigma; a billionaire entrepreneur with a focus on green tech and environmental impact who used to support Democrat fixtures like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, only to become one of the progressive establishment's biggest opponents. What happened? As Musk readily admits, the progressive movement changed and he did not. One could argue that the progressive movement didn't change, it just pulled the mask off and revealed the monstrous face underneath. Either way, anyone who saw that ugly face during the despotic insanity

Top NIH Official Wanted To Shut Down Research Into COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries: Emails Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , Top officials with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) expressed misgivings about researchers with the agency studying people with neurological issues after they received COVID-19 vaccines , according to newly released emails. Principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Lawrence Tabak, testifies before the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in Washington on May 16, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times Dr. Avindra Nath, a senior investigator with the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,

'Largest Group Of TDS Sufferers Ever Put Together': Trump Delivers Remarks At Correspondents' Dinner Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump attended the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on July 24. The event that was originally held on April 25 was abruptly canceled due to an assassination attempt against him. “I am delighted to be here,” Trump said as he began his speech, which lasted an hour. “ Amazing people, a lot of people that I like. Some I don’t like at all, but I respect most of them. I must say that you

"Hell Of A Great Day For Starship": SpaceX Tests Megarocket In First Time Since IPO SpaceX launched Starship on its 13th test flight on Friday evening, the first since the company's massive IPO, successfully deploying 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites while demonstrating further progress with its largest rocket. " Deployment of 20 @Starlink V3 satellites complete. Today's test will provide critical data as we prepare to expand our Starlink constellation ," SpaceX announced on X. Deployment of 20 @Starlink V3 satellites complete. Today's test will provide critical data as we prepare to expand our Starlink constellation pic.twitter.com/jWKLwXGlsk — SpaceX (@SpaceX)

US Sanctions UK-Based Senior Muslim Brotherhood Leader Over Alleged Hamas Support The United States has sanctioned a senior UK-based Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) official alongside six other individuals and entities that it said provided material support to terrorist group Hamas. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on July 23 that the action exposes MB affiliates and “Hamas-directed front organizations that use charitable facades and underground networks to disguise and move funds in support of terrorism.” As Evgenia Filimianova reports via The Epoch Times, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified Mahmoud al-Abyari as one of

Ukraine's Drone Campaign Against The 'Russian Amazon' Is Driven By Political Motives Authored by Andrew Korybko, The goal is to create a growing class of malcontents by inflicting major harm to small business owners who might then shift the electoral odds against the ruling party ahead of September’s next elections and later possibly form the core of a future protest movement that could be exploited from abroad. Ukraine’s US-assisted long-range drone campaign against Russia has recently begun targeting the country’s online retailer Wildberries, which is essentially the “Russian Amazon”, with recent strikes either totally destroying or greatly damaging several of

The Far-Right 'Terror Plot' That Didn't Exist... Until The UK Government And Media Just Said It Did Authored by Steven Tucker via dailysceptic.org, Did you see that huge Muslim gathering held in Suffolk recently, which had to be called off early due to a major far-Right terror plot being hatched against it? You may well have done, as the news was all over the media and referenced in alarmist tones by leading politicians, up to and including the Prime Minister (both the ones we've had this week). But did you also see that the 'plot' didn't even exist? Quite possibly

Finland & Spain Have The Highest Unemployment Rates, Japan The Lowest Unemployment across the OECD averaged 4.9% in May 2026, but labor market conditions continued to vary significantly from one country to another as economic growth slowed across parts of the developed world. This visualization ranks seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for people aged 15 and older across OECD member countries in May 2026, using data from the OECD. Finland Tops the Ranking Finland recorded the highest unemployment rate among OECD countries at 10.8%, narrowly ahead of Spain at 10.3%. The country’s labor market challenges have been especially pronounced among younger

Exclusive: CSI Aviation and GlobalX accused of violating civil rights as part of Trump immigration crackdown Venezuelan men sent last year to a notorious Salvadorian terrorism prison by the Trump administration are suing the US aviation companies that transported them there. A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington DC accuses the companies CSI Aviation and GlobalX of violating the Venezuelans’ civil rights, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other violations, for their role in flying the three planes that took the men to El Salvador. Continue reading...

At least 90 active blazes in British Columbia in what PM says is one of the country’s most intense seasons on record How dangerous are wildfires and how can we stop them from getting worse? Fresh wildfires have broken out in western Canada and forests continued to ⁠burn in Ontario as the country ⁠battled what the prime ​minister, Mark Carney, called one of the most intense wildfire seasons on record. Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes over the past week led to a series of fires ⁠and evacuation orders in southern British Columbia. There were 25 evacuation orders and 90 active wildfires

Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 were rescued as efforts continue to salvage the ship and recover all bodies The confirmed death toll from the recent capsizing of a state ferry off Guyana ’s coast has risen to 72, with more bodies recovered as a multinational team struggle to salvage the partially submerged vessel. Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 people were rescued. The government has estimated that 100 may have died in the accident, which would make it the worst marine tragedy on record for the South American nation. Continue reading...

US agency is to pay Canadian media company US$125m for use of investigative database to detect ‘immigration fraud’ A Canadian federal opposition party leader has called on Mark Carney’s government to block the latest data-sharing deal between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Canadian media company Thomson Reuters. Avi Lewis, the federal leader of the New Democratic party (NDP), demanded on Tuesday that Ottawa address the contract and further restrict Canadian corporations from doing business with ICE, after Canada’s National Observer news website reported on the deal. Continue reading...

Delegation sent to Brasília after gunmen from organised crime group enter homes in western Amazon Indigenous leaders on the Brazilian-Peruvian border have said their communities are being “taken hostage” by organised crime groups who are running rampant across the region, destroying rainforest, building roads and trafficking drugs. Earlier this month, masked men armed with semi-automatic weapons entered homes in Apiwtxa, a village in the Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous territory, intimidating people and searching for targets. Continue reading...

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years. At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged

Isabel Rose, 26, sentenced to six years for blackmail and perverting course of public justice over her allegations against British man A British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice. Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London, travelled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Penny Wong will deliver speech criticising China’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Penny Wong will warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations will not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, after its involvement in another “destabilising and dangerous” incident this week. The foreign affairs minister – who will deliver the address on Thursday in the Philippines, where the 59th Asean foreign minister’s meeting is being held – will also caution world leaders against placing a toll on the strait of Hormuz after both

Prosecutors seek a one-year sentence and heavy fine after chef garnished dish with insects not approved for consumption Prosecutors in South Korea have asked a court to sentence the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant to one year in prison for serving a dessert topped with ants, an insect not approved for consumption under local food safety law. The request, made on Monday, also sought a 20m won (£10,108) fine for the company that runs the restaurant, Yonhap news agency reported . Continue reading...

In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common. The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture,

This blog is now closed ‘We’re cohesive’: PM says after muted ALP national conference The prime minister, Anthony Albanese , spoke with David Speers on Insiders as Labor’s 50th national conference in Adelaide was wrapping up. Well, our government does listen to people but [there was a] broad consensus about the direction in which we’re taking government … A government that doesn’t sit idle. We don’t just occupy the space. And there’s recognition of that from delegates that we are a united party We’re cohesive. Continue reading...

Campaigners say existing federal ban on phone or video calls for assisted dying consultations adversely affects people living in regional Australia Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Labor will come under pressure to allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services, with the Greens and independent Kate Chaney to introduce legislation based on changes to Labor’s national platform. Last week’s national conference in Adelaide changed the ALP platform and committed Labor to overturn a Howard-era law banning people from having medical appointments regarding

Syngenta says it will stop selling paraquat in Australia after new regulations on chemical linked to Parkinson’s disease Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Syngenta, the producer of a herbicide banned in more than 70 countries and which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease , will stop selling paraquat in Australia, saying new regulations has made it “commercially unviable”. The decision to pull the product follows new restrictions on the highly poisonous chemical announced by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority in June . Continue reading...

Economists’ warning comes as escalating Middle East crisis pushes global crude oil back above $US100 a barrel Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian households face the prospect of a Reserve Bank interest rate hike and petrol prices above $2 a litre over the coming weeks, economists warn, as the escalating Middle East crisis pushes global crude back above $US100 a barrel. Financial markets now see an even chance the RBA board will deliver a fourth cash rate increase at the next meeting on 11 August. Continue reading...

The One Nation leader has allied herself with men’s rights activists for years, consistently suggesting women routinely make false allegations of violence Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast For a decade, Pauline Hanson has been beating the same drum. Her comments this week – suggesting domestic violence was a “two-way street” and questioning why women did not simply leave abusive relationships – have caused significant concern and been labelled “dangerous” by experts and other commentators. Continue reading...

Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in France More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain As my colleagues note in this story , scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths . Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate. Spain’s environment ministry has said that 32 major forest fires have been recorded so far this year, compared with seven over the same period

Authorities ask for help finding 21-year-old, identified only as Abdul B, after van ramming in German capital German authorities have issued a wanted notice for a fugitive suspect in the van ramming near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and injured at least 16 others. Police and prosecutors asked for help in finding the 21-year-old, whom they identified as Abdul B. They said he was believed to have injured several people with a moving vehicle on Saturday night, and that one or more people apparently then left that vehicle. Several people were also apparently stabbed, they added. Continue

Allowing use of two neonicotinoids to combat crop-ruining disease will kill bees and reduce harvests, union says Beekeepers and environmentalists in France have reacted furiously after parliament approved a bill reauthorising two banned pesticides scientists say can poison bees. “There are no words to describe the frustration,” said Carolyn Bouguet, a beekeeper in Essonne, greater Paris. “Bee populations have already been badly compromised by climate change, new parasites and loss of habitat. And now this.” Continue reading...

Meanwhile, in the UK, a blaze in the Cairngorms national park has been described as ‘very serious’ by Scotland’s first minister Tell us: have you been affected by wildfires in Europe? The French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has requested the armed forces to deploy an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft earlier than originally planned to help tackle the major wildfires in Gironde, according to Le Monde. The French newspaper reported the aircraft’s use was not originally expected until the end of the month due to the technical preparations and tests required beforehand. While the fires raging across forests in France

Hundreds of firefighters battle blazes as strong winds drive fires towards Bordeaux and smoke prompts health warnings in Madrid Unrestrained wildfires in Spain and France have forced more than 250,000 people to flee, authorities from both countries have said, as they struggle to contain the blazes. About 70,000 people were evacuated from central Spain, while 197,000 people fled in France, including tens of thousands from the wine region city of Bordeaux. Continue reading...

Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing retaliation against the kingdom for attacks this week. Iran, meanwhile, reported no strikes overnight on Saturday for the first time after two weeks of US attacks. The Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said: “Iran had a peaceful night” in a post on X. Tensions, however, remain high. Continue reading...

Jewellery made from BC Iran worn at Odyssey photocall throws spotlight on the trade of rare archeological finds The Odyssey has stormed cinemas, but while its take on the Homeric epic has created ripples among western classicists, it is an actor’s earrings that have made waves further afield. Zendaya, who portrays the goddess Athena in the movie, provoked outrage when she appeared at a London photocall wearing earrings that were allegedly made from Iranian artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC. Continue reading...

In sea pools built with sandbags and rubble, Amjed Tantesh gives traumatised children brief respite from their daily lives Swimming classes have started again in Gaza after three years of war, with hundreds of children learning to float, doggy paddle and take their first strokes in five makeshift sea pools built from sandbags and rubble. The lessons allow a few hundred girls and boys to reclaim their childhood for a few hours in a place where there are no playgrounds, no formal education and children live in fear of continuing Israeli attacks. A UN survey in March found that 96%

President flew to Ankara onboard Qatari-gifted jet, without advanced defenses, and flew home on old Air Force One Donald Trump switched aircraft before departing Turkey earlier this month after US officials determined there was a credible threat from Iranian proxy forces targeting him and Air Force One, according to a new report from the New York Times . The threat surfaced while the US president was attending the Nato summit. He had arrived in Ankara onboard the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, an aircraft that Trump acknowledged does not have the same advanced defensive systems as the older Air Force One.

No end to fighting in sight as Revolutionary Guards launch drones at targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait The US has struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as the Caspian Sea, as Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second shipping ⁠chokepoint at the entrance to the Red Sea. As Iran retaliated on Friday with missile and drone fire against US bases and allies across the region, the New York Times reported that Tehran had rejected a US ceasefire proposal delivered by the Iraq prime minister,

Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. Continue reading...

Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government Bollywood stars and other Indian celebrities have faced fierce criticism for staying silent in the face of some of the biggest protests India has seen in years. Hundreds of thousands of young Indians took to the streets this week as part of a new youth movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), demanding accountability over exam paper leaks in an unprecedented challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Many vented their anger against what they saw as “cowardice” from

‘I can’t tolerate this life,’ said the 24-year-old in his last voice message to his relatives. Attacked by the military, a rebel army and criminal gangs, Siraz Ullah risked all for a better future The fear was audible as he spoke, recording a message to his family, asking for their prayers. After pressing send, 24-year-old Siraz Ullah boarded a boat he hoped could deliver him from the violence and persecution surrounding him at home in Myanmar. Instead, Siraz is among 500 Rohingya refugees who have vanished at sea after setting sail for Malaysia in late June. Continue reading...

Sonam Wangchuk secures ‘hard bargain’ with Delhi but talks between government and movement leaders stall The Cockroach activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a 26-day hunger strike, as youth-led protests continued to erupt across India and leaders of the movement said there was no breakthrough in talks with the government. Wangchuk had been fasting since June in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), a new youth-led movement that has been holding mass protests calling for government accountability and the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, over exam paper leaks. The leaks affected 2 million students in May and have

South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen on the Cockroach movement – and the students driving India’s biggest protests in years ‘I’ve never seen this many young people out on the streets,’ says Hannah Ellis-Petersen . For days, tens of thousands of Indians have been marching under the banner of the Cockroach Janta party. Continue reading...

PM promises to ‘defend national interest before anything else’ in first big broadcast interview since entering No 10 Andy Burnham has promised to disagree with Donald Trump if necessary, including in public, in his first big broadcast interview since becoming prime minister. Burnham’s comments came as Wes Streeting, the new defence secretary, said he did not believe the Trump administration was looking for allies who “suck up”, but rather those with the confidence to set out disagreements when needed. Continue reading...

England’s progress provides best football-related uplift of recent years, with one pub too packed to host its Dolly Parton tribute Late opening hours and England’s progress to the semi-final of an expanded World Cup helped provide the best football-related uplift of recent years for pubs, figures suggest. Pubs poured 30m extra pints over the course of the tournament compared with a normal trading period, with busy pumps delivering £150m in added sales, according to the British Beer & Pubs Association (BBPA). Continue reading...

Adrian Howe’s family believe that fears his deal would be financially ruinous led him to kill himself The family of a former mobile phone store manager who was found drowned days before his new Vodafone franchise was to open its doors is pressing the government to introduce a new franchising law in his name. The call comes a week after Vodafone settled a long-running legal claim filed by 62 of its former franchisees who alleged that the company “unjustly enriched” itself at their expense by up to £85m. Continue reading...

Government-backed investigation finds risks are normalised amid ‘a narrowing of the public conversation’ Journalists are self-censoring their reporting on rightwing protests, Donald Trump’s administration and trans issues because of growing concerns about their personal safety, with newsrooms accused of “normalising” the risks they face. Hundreds of journalists from across the UK have anonymously disclosed increasing nervousness over their security. Some have reported avoiding or altering coverage on certain topics due to intimidation, leading to self-censorship and “a narrowing of the public conversation”. Continue reading...

Scottish first minister thanks Nethy Bridge residents and aid workers after earlier requesting UK military aid to fight 10-day fire Residents of Nethy Bridge have been told they can return to their homes after a large fire broke out in the Cairngorms national park. Supt Judy Hill of Police Scotland said: “Thanks to the efforts of fire crews, gamekeepers, contractors, partners and many others over the past 24 hours, there is no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge. Continue reading...

The president really has no power over elections – but that hasn’t stopped Trump from laying the groundwork to challenge results in November When Donald Trump commandeered primetime US television last Friday, he delivered a familiar, but still extraordinary, message. The president argued once again that the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, were illegitimate. US elections are “vulnerable to being rigged and stolen”, Trump alleged, claiming that “the trust of the American people was lost” when he was defeated. Continue reading...

Analysis finds more than 4 million Americans lost Snap benefits, or food stamps, from July 2025 to March 2026 More than a million children across the US have lost access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) food benefits since Congress approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). The analysis found that more than 4 millions Americans were removed from Snap from July 2025 to March 2026, marking a significant decline in participation in the federal food assistance program. Continue reading...

Temperatures of 95-105F (35-40C) are expected, spanning Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest About 70 million people in the US are set to face excessive heat advisories as dangerously hot temperatures scorch much of the country’s southern and central states. The third major “heat dome” event to hit the US in the past month is gathering strength over the weekend, spanning a vast swathe of the country, from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest. Continue reading...

Vega made remarks to ABC’s John Quiñones at National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference Cecilia Vega, the former 60 Minutes correspondent, said on Thursday she felt pressured by CBS News’s executives to incorporate “political bias” into segments for the broadcast program. Vega made the remarks during an onstage interview with John Quiñones, the ABC News correspondent, at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ annual conference in New Orleans. Her comments were first reported by Status . Continue reading...

Progressive former state senate president gains nomination after Graham Platner dropped out over sexual assault allegations In a race defined by scandal, withdrawals and a frantic hunt for a replacement candidate, Maine Democrats hit reset on their chaotic Senate primary on Saturday as Troy Jackson officially secured the party’s nomination. He took the stage at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to rapturous applause, a standing ovation and Noah Kahan’s Northern Attitude blaring over the speakers. Continue reading...

Nearly three decades after its return to Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong is once again at an important crossroads. The recent decision by the United States not to renew “The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization” has once again focused international attention on the city’s future. For some, it represents another chapter in the geopolitical competition between Washington and Beijing. For Hong Kong, however, it should also serve as a reminder that its future cannot be defined...

Skirmishes between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia intensified, as a pause in the nearly two-week run of nightly US strikes on Iran raised fresh questions about President Donald Trump’s strategy in the war. The Houthis, Islamist militants based in Yemen and backed by Iran, said they fired missiles and drones at facilities linked to oil giant Saudi Aramco in the Red Sea port towns of Jizan and Yanbu. There was no immediate confirmation from the Saudi government or Aramco. Saudi authorities briefly...

German authorities on Sunday issued a wanted notice for a fugitive suspect in the van ramming near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and injured at least 16 others. Chancellor Friedrich Merz described what happened late on Saturday evening as “an attack on our society”. Police and prosecutors asked for help in finding the 21-year-old suspect, whom they identified as Abdul B. They said he was believed to have injured several people with a moving vehicle, and that one or more...

On July 13, more than 200 leading economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates, signed an open letter organised by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Its warning was stark: artificial intelligence may drive an economic transformation “larger than the Industrial Revolution” compressed into a fraction of the time, and that we “must act now” to build the institutions to steer it. We agree with every word. Then we scanned the signatory list. Four in five signatories come from the...

The Democratic Party in Maine picked its new candidate for a key US Senate race on Saturday, after the original nominee was pressured to drop out over sexual misconduct allegations. Delegates to a hastily organised nominating convention picked Troy Jackson, a former state senate president, to go up against Republican incumbent Susan Collins. “Thank you, Maine. In 101 days, we will defeat Susan Collins and reclaim our Senate seat. Let’s get to work,” Jackson said on social media. The move comes...

Two men died when a light aircraft crashed into a single-family home in the northern German state of Lower Saxony on Saturday. A police spokesman reported that initially one body was recovered from inside the aircraft in Ganderkesee, near Bremen. The second body was found later. Emergency services had been searching for the missing second passenger for hours. The aircraft is believed to have taken off from Bremen shortly before the crash, before losing altitude in a residential area in...

Heatwaves come and go, and while this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity – as this year’s record-breaking temperatures show – they slip from attention once things cool off. What does not disappear is the lasting and costly damage they do to the basic infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives. Ultra-hot days and nights can result in the deaths of many people (those who cannot afford air conditioning especially) and they ignite forest infernos of terrifying intensity. Some of...

Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Tehran-allied Houthi movement edged closer to opening a new front in the Iran war overnight, after Riyadh bombed the port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike on one of its ships in the Red Sea. The exchange marks the latest escalation since the Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, imposed an embargo on Saudi shipping on Monday, disrupting maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal. A...

US missiles struck targets across ⁠Iran on Friday and President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, though he once again left open the door to a diplomatic deal with Iran. Separately, the US military said it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship after it was “repeatedly warned” and “didn’t comply” with the American blockade on Iranian ports. Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, Iranian armed forces...

For years, Syria was a wound the world watched fester: a country carved up by war, sanctioned into isolation and reduced to a byword for state collapse. Its economy needs US$216 billion to rebuild, according to World Bank estimates. This month, for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, it began to look like it might actually get there. On July 8, the government of Ahmed al-Sharaa – a former jihadi commander turned president – established a supreme constitutional...

Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to install signage that warns visitors of inaccurate historical information inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. The highly unusual move marks the 80-year-old Republican’s latest battle in his ideological war on American cultural institutions and monuments, some of which he has renamed for himself and renovated to his liking despite legal challenges. The order issued on Friday calls on federal...

Saudi Arabia struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday with rebel media reporting two injured after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade of the kingdom and hit its ships. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire recently for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring. The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping. A Yemeni security...

Two small businesses in the United States have ⁠challenged President Donald ⁠Trump’s latest round of tariffs on goods ⁠from 60 trading partners, saying that the new policy, like most of Trump’s previous tariffs, went beyond the president’s authority to tax imports. The lawsuit, filed in the US trade court in New York on Friday, argues that the new tariffs require ‌more detailed country-specific findings about “forced labour” to be legally justified. The two small businesses, backed by a...

US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on products from the European Union in retaliation for the bloc’s US$1 billion (€890 million) fine of Alphabet’s Google. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said the US would launch a trade investigation “into the practice of ‘ROBBING’ American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer”. “The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment,” he posted. The...

Member states of the International Criminal Court voted to dismiss prosecutor Karim Khan for serious misconduct, the ICC said on Friday. Diplomats running ‌the executive bureau of the court’s governing body said last month the British barrister had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior ICC lawyer and should be fired, documents seen by Reuters showed. On Friday, a large majority of the ICC’s 125 member states voted to follow that recommendation. “The assembly decided by a majority of...

She tours major international defence shows, negotiates with arms manufacturers and takes part in discussions on Europe’s rearmament. At 34, Iryna Terekh, an architect by training, heads Fire Point, a company that has become one of the driving forces behind Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities in the war with Russia. With her long hair tied back in a ponytail, a white top, beige jacket and wide-legged jeans, she stands out in an industry dominated by men in suits. She met with Agence...

A volunteer was injected on Friday with the first dose of a rapidly developed vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola driving a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Oxford University said. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the DRC and Uganda since the outbreak emerged in May, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers and health organisations have since been racing to get a vaccine or treatment for the relatively rare strain to the clinical...

A Russian ⁠ballistic missile strike on Friday in Ukraine’s Kyiv region killed 10 people and injured almost 100 others at a site where a defence ‌industry event was being held, Ukrainian officials and industry representatives said. The attack came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Kyiv with senior representatives of Raytheon, the US company that makes Patriot air defence systems. Raytheon did not immediately respond to an email inquiring whether any of its workers were at the...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was to open his newly created northern office on Friday, as he bids to launch his flagship move to reverse decades of centralising power over England in London. Ahead of officially opening his “Number 10 North” hub in Manchester, Burnham – who replaced Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street on Monday – repeated his vow to put “more power into every postcode” to spur economic growth. “For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many...

Drones carrying explosives targeted a city in northern Iraq where US forces are stationed, and sirens rang out in Bahrain on Friday, hours after the American military said it finished its 13th night of strikes against Iran. The conflict has flared again over the past week, as the US pounded Iran while Tehran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted US assets and allies in the region. The strait, a crucial passage for the world’s energy supplies, is at the centre of the latest fighting...

Massive forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate an estimated 200,000 people from their homes. Some even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast. Dozens of firefighters were injured, authorities said in France, but no deaths were reported in either country. Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In...

After devoting the first half of 2026 to an ineffectual, expensive and inconclusive military adventure in Iran, it seems US President Donald Trump is about to turn afresh to the wars he loves best – the tariff wars he still believes can make America great again. He can’t quite walk away from the war in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s refusal to capitulate has left Trump with an awkward obligation to fight on, despite the widespread unpopularity of the conflict, even among his base, and the need to...

The US imposed tariffs as high as 12.5 per cent on 60 trading partners, including China, after President Donald Trump adopted a different method for pursuing his global trade war. The levies, which are related to forced labour, replaced a temporary 10 per cent global tariff that expired on Friday. The 10 per cent tax was imposed after previous Trump tariffs were struck down by the US Supreme Court. Trump’s new taxes, targeting imports from 80-plus countries, can probably withstand legal...

China has added 14 entities from the European Union to its export control list, including German defence giant Rheinmetall, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday. Effective immediately, the order means that the export of dual-use items – products with civilian and military applications, including some rare earth elements – from China to the named entities is prohibited, as is the shipment of dual-use items of Chinese origin to the listed companies and institutions. The move came after...

London’s mayor and police chief have used a drop in recorded street crime to reassure tourists the city is safe and counter an online narrative depicting Britain’s capital as a lawless dystopia. The city’s Metropolitan Police force said “neighbourhood crime”, a category that includes phone theft, pickpocketing, residential burglary and vehicle crime, fell 14 per cent in the year to June. In Westminster borough – home to tourist magnets including Parliament, Soho and Leicester Square – those...

The six candidates vying to lead the United Nations stressed the importance of restoring the credibility of an organisation in crisis during a restrained debate Thursday, one week before the selection process formally starts. With the campaign struggling to generate real enthusiasm for a front-runner, the hopefuls faced nearly two hours of questions from diplomats, UN employees and civil society representatives at an event in the huge General Assembly Hall, broadcast by Bloomberg. Chile’s...

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. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies The United States imposed late on Thursday a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union...

Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport more than five decades ago, died on Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time. Okamoto, who made rare public appearances since he settled in Lebanon after being released from...

Simon Johnson is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he won a joint Nobel Prize for economics in 2024 for his research into how institutions shape national prosperity. On June 8, the British government announced Johnson as chair of its new AI Economics Institute. In this interview, conducted on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, Johnson discussed the...

Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of US President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington. Loomer had spent years minimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart. “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine....

Officials talking about artificial intelligence (AI) often speak in terms of the next industrial revolution or existential risks. Such rhetoric ultimately does little to capture how AI filters into the ordinary workings of a city like Hong Kong. The geopolitics of AI are no longer abstract. They are beginning to shape who can use which tools – and on what terms. Over the past few months, two major international banks in the city have reportedly felt the impact. Anthropic’s Claude, a generative...

The White House threw a US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal into question on Thursday, a day after it was signed, emphasising that it depended on the oil-rich Gulf country recognising Israel under a 2020 diplomatic initiative. “The Civil Nuclear Deal … will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding that the deal would not include enrichment and involve only non-military use of...

Mid-July should have been a moment of quiet satisfaction in Beijing. Fresh data showed China’s favourability surpassing that of the United States in 25 of 37 nations surveyed by Pew Research Centre, including key European countries. Domestically, the second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 4.3 per cent, while softer than the first financial quarter, kept the annual target within reach. The logic was simple: with the US distracted by Donald Trump’s erratic trade wars and isolationist...

Donald Trump’s Justice Department will withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns about the president flying on a Qatari-donated Air Force ‌One, a prosecutor said at a court hearing on Thursday. The subpoenas issued by Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton on July 10 are the latest instance of the Trump administration seeking to force journalists to divulge their sources, part of what critics describe as the president’s broader pressure campaign against...

The Houthi militia in Yemen appears to be allowing some ships to pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, despite its blockade of shipping to Saudi Arabia, experts said on Thursday. A Chinese oil tanker, Cosco Shipping’s VLCC Xin Long Yang, has been granted permission to pass through the waterway, according to the trade publication Lloyd’s List. It said Chinese tankers returning from the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea may be able to negotiate passage with the...

US President Donald Trump promised “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni ⁠fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint. Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 per cent, piercing the level of US$100 a barrel for the first time since May. Two weeks since the...

Greece on Thursday approved the multibillion-dollar purchase of Israeli anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone weaponry to set up an “Achilles Shield” protective dome, a defence ministry source said. Around €3 billion of a broader €4.2 billion (US$4.8 billion) spending spree will go towards Israeli-made systems for the new shield, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Greece has entered a new era, a new reality,” Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on social media, confirming...

The EU has watered down its latest round of sanctions on Moscow after concluding that banning Greek companies from transporting Russian gas to third countries could hand strategically important shipping assets to China. To remove a Greek veto against the 21st package of measures aimed at hobbling Russia’s war machine, the bloc’s member states agreed to allow EU operators to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third countries for one year. Officials explained that China’s...

German police on Thursday detained a 20-year-old man after he fatally stabbed another man inside a bank branch in the southern city of Regensburg, in an incident that initially raised fears of a hostage-taking. Special forces officers detained the German national inside the building about three hours after the incident was reported, a police statement said. Paramedics had earlier managed to administer first aid to the victim before he was transferred to hospital, where he died. It remains...

A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a UK court on Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him. Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a mosque in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police. His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence...

One soldier died and four were injured on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the Czech Republic, the army said. “A Venom helicopter has crashed at the 22nd helicopter base in Namest nad Oslavou. Five soldiers were on board. Emergency services are currently deployed at the scene,” the army wrote on social media. In a later post, it added that one soldier was killed and four injured in the crash. “Our absolute priority now is to provide all possible care and support to the injured...

Anthropomorphising artificial intelligence – that is, treating AI systems as though they possess human emotions, intentions, consciousness or moral judgment – is both an ethical and a practical problem. While attributing human qualities to AI systems may make interactions more approachable, it also risks clouding users’ perceptions of the technology’s true nature and limitations. Call a spade a spade. The so-called hallucinations that generative AI systems produce are nothing more than errors...

Beijing and Washington are actively soliciting industry feedback on potential bilateral tariff reductions under the newly established board of trade, according to China’s commerce ministry. “The Chinese side is widely soliciting views from stakeholders – including domestic firms, business associations, local governments as well as American firms and business associations – on relevant tariff reduction arrangements,” Meng Huating, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign...

The UK government on Thursday announced a tax cut for struggling pubs, clubs and live music venues as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham aims to ease the cost of living crisis. The 20 per cent cut to business rates – a local tax paid by firms – is the third policy announcement since Burnham became prime minister on Monday, including a planned cap on most bus fares in England and the removal of value added tax on household electricity bills. The latest tax cut is expected to save some 32,000...

Troy Jackson is replacing Graham Platner, but Republicans are seeking to tie them together as a remade race kicks off with high stakes.

The Democratic Socialists of America, after a string of election victories in New York, is eager to tax the rich and enact anti-Israel policies.

State Representative Josh Turek, the Democrat running to flip Iowa’s open Senate seat, cycled with his hands at an Iowa biking event that took place between two cities nearly 60 miles apart.

In some cases, no direct line can be drawn from the president’s domestic nuclear agenda to his family or close allies. But they have overlapping business ties that could position them for gains.

Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.

A recent Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to end a humanitarian program that has allowed about one million immigrants to work legally in the U.S.

Most young children should have a Trump account. But that doesn’t mean families should prioritize saving in them.

Karyna Shuliak, 37, is a complicated and unusual figure in the disgraced financier’s world who has been trying to blend into obscurity since his death.

Here is what we know about the sexual predator whose secrets spurred an international reckoning over money, power and complicity. Check back for updates.

A new heat wave is forecast to hit the continent, piling the pressure on countries that are already fighting deadly wildfires that have forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

The police said a suspect was involved in local Islamic groups and that there was a “strong suspicion” it was an act of terrorism. At least one person was killed and 16 injured.

Gavin Bladen oversaw the construction of the luxury catamaran Hemisphere and has lived on it for 15 years. When it changes hands, he may be cast adrift.

The legal gap for gay Ukrainians has always been unbearable. Then the war with Russia seemed to make the disparity untenable. But the gap remains.

For Gen Z college graduates, the way millennials lived out their ambitions no longer makes sense.

The Bundibugyo Ebola virus takes its name from this small town, where it was first discovered in 2007. Now, the species has returned to eastern Congo, halting life on a busy border.