Minimalist News

Gulf War Leaves $58 Billion Repair Bill And Global Equipment Crunch Last week, JPMorgan - which correctly noted that headlines tend to focus on the fact of damage not the scale - was the first itemize the damage from the war in Iran, finding more than 60 energy infrastructure assets in the Gulf have been affected by drone and missile strikes, with roughly 50 sustaining different degrees of damage.  What about the actual dollar value of the inflicted damage? According to Rystad, repair and restoration costs for energy-linked infrastructure as a result of war in the Middle East could hit $58 billion, with the

Germany's Anti-Immigration AfD Party Jumps To 27%, 4 Points Ahead Of CDU Via Remix News, In a new poll from YouGov, the Alternative for Germany (AfD0 party jumped to 27 percent, now four points ahead of the rival Christian Democrats (CDU), in a sign that the AfD continues to distance itself as the most popular party in Germany. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel was quick to publish the poll results on X, writing: “4 percentage points ahead of the Union, 4 out of 5 citizens dissatisfied with Merz: We no longer have time for undemocratic firewalls. The political turnaround must happen now.” > 4 Prozentpunkte Abstand

Drone Attack On Russia's Tuapse Oil Refinery Unleashes Fire So Large It Can Be Seen From Space Russia and Ukraine have continued trading blows on key oil and energy sites, with the latest being a drone attack targeting Russia's Tuapse Oil refinery, which unleashed a fire so large it can be picked up by satellites in space. The refinery is owned by Rosneft and has suffered major attack before, in a March 2025 Ukrainian operation. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency, after schools and residential buildings suffered damage, and all classes have been canceled. According to the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times, "NASA satellite

Afghan Man Arrested For Series Of Rapes Of Goats And Sheep In France Via Remix News, A 19-year-old Afghan national has been arrested and charged following a series of brutal sexual attacks on goats and sheep in Pennes-Mirabeau, a municipality in Bouches-du-Rhône, near Marseille. The suspect was taken into custody by the anti-crime brigade (BAC) on the night of April 9-10, 2026, after local sheep and goat owners alerted police. Since early 2026, several owners had discovered their animals injured, with incidents reported in both February and March. The animals had their legs tied and showed clear signs of rape, according to French newspaper La Provence. After

Mises, Rothbard, & Libertarian 'Just War' Theory In The 2026 Iran War Authored by Daniel Lacalle, As of April 2026, the US and Israel are still at war with Iran. The war began on February 28 with surprise bombings that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking officials. Since then, attacks on infrastructure have continued, leading to significant disruptions in essential services and escalating tensions in the region. Iran has attacked targets in Gulf nations and tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz as a result. The conflict has damaged the economy around the world, driving inflation and supply chain disruption fears. The war is often

US Navy Destroyer Shows Off New Launcher For Mystery Weapons The U.S. Navy has quietly equipped one of its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with a previously unseen launcher, reflecting a broader effort to counter the growing threat posed by drones in contested maritime environments, according to TWZ. USS Carl M. Launcher mounted on Levin (DDG 120) (U.S. Navy, VIRIN: 260329-M-FP389-1205) A U.S. Marine Corps photograph released April 8, taken March 29 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, shows the USS Carl M. Levin fitted with the system on its aft upper deck. The multi-cell launcher, positioned between the port-side torpedo tubes and the aft Mk 41

India's Central Bank Tells Oil Refiners To Stop Buying Dollars On Spot Market By Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com India’s central bank has told state-run oil refiners to stop buying dollars in the spot market and instead use a government-backed credit line. That matters because oil is priced in dollars, and refiners are some of the biggest buyers of dollars in the country. When they all go into the market at once to pay for crude, it puts direct pressure on the rupee. That pressure has been building for weeks. The Reserve Bank of India is now stepping in to manage the demand. State refiners, including

Last US Convoy Exits Syria After Brutal 14-Year Regime Change Proxy War Widespread reports on Thursday say the very last US military convoy has finally departed Syrian territory, with the years-long occupation of the primarily northeast oil and gas rich sector over in a 'mission accomplished' fashion. It brings to a final close the 14-year long bloody proxy war which overthrew the Assad government and ultimately installed a pro-US/Saudi axis puppet, in the person of founding Syrian Al Qaeda Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now known as President Ahmed al-Sharaa. via Le Monde Hundreds of thousand of people lost their lives in the regime change war, with

What AI Doesn't Know - And Why It Matters Authored by Richard Porter via RealClearPolitics, Artificial intelligence has taken the wired world by storm, but the backlash came almost as fast. Progressives complain of job losses, environmentalists question the ecological impacts of huge data centers, and local activists are clamoring for assurances that household utility bills won’t skyrocket because of the centers’ voracious electricity requirements. Others simply worry that the technology will overwhelm humans’ ability to control it. At least in part, these reactions stem from the overselling of AI. AI is super cool, but it’s not superhuman nor is it super intelligent. AI

Drought Engulfs 60% Of U.S. As Farmers Begin Spring Planting A massive drought has emerged across large swaths of the US agricultural belt, threatening crops and livestock and eventually affecting food prices, at a time when fertilizer and diesel costs are soaring. As of early April, 60% of the Lower 48 is in drought as the Northern Hemisphere growing season begins and farmers begin plantings, according to NOAA.  The southern US is already experiencing severe, extreme, and even exceptional drought conditions, putting pressure on key crops such as sugarcane, rice, and peanuts, while fruit trees have also been damaged by extreme temperatures. Across

Why The Crash Was Delayed Authored by Robert Aro via Mises Institute, Whatever happened to the mother of all crashes that was supposed to arrive when the Federal Reserve began tightening its balance sheet back in 2022? For several years, I’ve been scratching my head, convinced that draining the balance sheet by trillions of dollars should have triggered a systemic banking failure or some other Black Swan event. In the past, crises like Lehman/AIG or the 2020 lockdowns took the blame, when in reality, the root cause was always monetary. From the peak in June 2022 to the trough in December 2025, the asset

US Army Trials Unmanned Hunter Wolf Robot With Gun, Radar In Combat Drills The U.S. Army is quietly putting armed robots through their paces alongside real soldiers - and new footage suggests these machines could soon be a regular sight on tomorrow’s battlefields. Wolf-X robotic combat vehicle by HDT Global.Blade HDT Fresh imagery dropped on Monday by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service shows a Hunter Wolf unmanned ground vehicle rolling with the 101st Airborne Division during a full-on combat simulation at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Louisiana. The display amounted to a serious stress test in one of the Army’s

IMF Warns Australia Set For One Of Highest Inflation Rates In Developed World Authored by Rex Widerstrom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Australia is on track to have one of the highest inflation rates in the developed world. Australian dollars coins in Melbourne, Australia, on April 4, 2024. AAP Image/Joel Carrett In the latest edition of its World Economic Outlook, the global lender said economies around the world “face repercussions [from] the direct impact of higher commodity prices, indirect second-order effects on inflation expectations—which tend to be especially sensitive to energy and food prices—and amplification effects coming

DOJ Launches Investigation into Sexual Assault Allegations Against Eric Swalwell The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations against former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), federal officials confirmed Thursday, marking the latest escalation in a scandal that has already forced the longtime congressman to resign from the House and suspend his bid for California governor. Swalwell, who represented California's 14th District since 2013, stepped down from Congress on Tuesday amid bipartisan pressure and a House Ethics Committee probe into claims that he engaged in sexual misconduct, including toward a staffer under his supervision. The

CBP Says It Seized More Than 60 Pounds Of Cocaine From US Citizen At Border Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the U.S.–Mexico border prevented more than 60 pounds of cocaine from entering the country, allegedly smuggled by an American citizen—a “trusted traveler”—the agency exclusively told The Epoch Times on Wednesday. At California’s San Ysidro Port of Entry, a 25-year-old man was arrested on April 7 for allegedly concealing more than $1.1 million of the illegal narcotics within his vehicle and now faces federal prosecution. The man was not named by CBP. He was categorized

Space Nuclear Power Initiative Sends Reactor Companies Flying An announcement from the administration's Science and Technology Director, Michael Kratsios, regarding the establishment of the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power sent reactor development companies higher over the following trading days.  > The time has come for America to get underway on nuclear power in space🇺🇸 https://t.co/fLrM4MtNbM > > — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 14, 2026 Oklo and NuScale have been soaring...   Investors are betting on reactor development companies being involved in multiple different nuclear-related applications in space missions to include propulsion, shuttle electrical power, and power for bases on the moon

California Offering Taxpayer-Funded Gender Surgeries To Homeless, Illegal Immigrants: Report Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, The California government may struggle to provide basic housing for the homeless, but it appears willing to fund gender-transition procedures with taxpayer dollars, including illegal aliens, according to a new report. A Wednesday report from City Journal found that San Francisco homeless shelters, with the assistance of state and local governments, are facilitating transgender surgeries for males who identify as female. One such shelter, St. Vincent de Paul’s MSC-South, entered into a $66 million contract with the city to house homeless individuals, including illegal aliens. A pair of Honduran nationals living at the shelter, Lyca and Alondra,

Gulf Shock May Spark Shortage Of World's Most Critical Industrial Chemical, Used Heavily In Mining  Goldman analysts Kyle Shaffer and Amanda Ross provided clients with a broad overview of industrials and natural resources amid energy disruptions in the Gulf area. In the note, they stated that the well-known Gulf energy shock is set to disrupt LNG production in Qatar for years to come. However, they also highlighted another emerging supply crunch that has received far less attention: sulfuric acid. "Some long-lasting consequences have also started to emerge, including a 3-5 years production loss for LNG facility in Qatar, a 6-12 month re-starting time

Scientist Suggests Dark Matter Could Be Black Holes From A Different Universe Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, While the scientific establishment has spent decades chasing invisible particles that never quite show up, a leading cosmologist has dropped a theory that turns everything on its head: dark matter isn’t some exotic new particle. It could be ancient black holes that survived from an entirely different universe. This idea, laid out by Professor Enrique Gaztanaga of the University of Portsmouth, doesn’t just tackle one cosmic puzzle. It offers a clean fix for the Big Bang’s thorniest problems and lines up with fresh observations that have

Bankrupted Spirit Airlines Faces Imminent Liquidation Bankrupt Spirit Airlines "could liquidate as early as this week," according to a new CNBC report. The troubled carrier, stuck in years of turbulence, has failed to emerge from its second bankruptcy in less than a year and is now being squeezed by soaring jet fuel costs. > NEW: Spirit Airlines could liquidate and shut down as soon as this week, @lesliejosephs of @CNBC reports, citing “people familiar with the matter.” > > Latest round of chatter about a deeply troubled airline … but rising fuel prices could be its death knell.… > > — Kyle Potter (@kpottermn)

Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name – and others have fought off the lawsuits The actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal. David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants. Continue reading...

Wednesday’s strike brings the total of those killed in US military strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 177 Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced. US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post. Continue reading...

Sheinbaum has recently been taking a firmer stance with the US, defying pressures where other countries have caved The Mexican government has voiced concern about the deaths of its citizens in US custody, with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum also pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba. The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting US requests to crack down on cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and US military action against

Byelection wins and defections push Canada’s Liberals into majority government under the prime minister Mark Carney has said he will govern with “humility, determination and a clear understanding of what this moment demands” after his Liberals swept three byelections Monday evening, forging a parliamentary majority just more than a year after he took power. Carney has achieved only the third majority government in two decades – and has done so in a highly unusual fashion, cobbling together both ballot box wins and defections from rival parties. Continue reading...

Brian Hooker told police that Lynette Hooker fell overboard and that strong currents carried her away Police in the Bahamas have released without charges a Michigan man who said his wife disappeared after falling overboard from a small boat in waters off the Caribbean island country, authorities said on Monday. Brian Hooker, of Onsted in southern Michigan, had been in police custody since 8 April – five days – after being questioned by authorities. Continue reading...

Elderly people take advantage of courses on how to navigate mobile devices and avoid ‘analogue isolation’ It’s not only young people whose gaze is fixed on tiny screens. But for these users in Tokyo, clicking and scrolling is anything but second nature. “I can’t deal with all of the apps that jump out at me,” says one. “How do I know if I’ve definitely ended a call?” asks another. Continue reading...

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month. “Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.” Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people were in shelters across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as Sinlaku moved away * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Super Typhoon Sinlaku hammered the Northern Mariana Islands, flipping over cars, toppling utility poles and ripping away tin roofs. Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by the typhoon, which first hit the islands on Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rains for hours on Wednesday. So far, there have been no reports of deaths. Continue reading...

Beijing may be reaping some diplomatic benefit but Trump’s war holds risks for its energy security and economy Two months ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, promised it would be a “big year” for China-US relations. He was right, but perhaps not in the way he expected. Wang was speaking before a planned visit by the US president to Beijing in March, which would have been Donald Trump’s first trip to China since 2017. But the trip, and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was kicked back by several weeks after Trump decided to launch strikes with Israel against Iran,

Pyongyang making ‘very serious’ progress on producing weapons, with rapid rise in activity at main nuclear complex North Korea has made “very serious” progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said, in another sign that the regime is seeking to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure its survival. North Korea is thought to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, although some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them so they can be attached to long-range ballistic missiles. Continue reading...

Former SAS corporal allegedly placed man on his knees and ordered fellow soldier to shoot him, according to statement of facts Australian soldiers have told prosecutors they executed unarmed civilians at the orders of Ben Roberts-Smith or in complicity with him, according to a statement of facts tendered to the New South Wales local court. Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient and once one of Australia’s most lionised soldiers, faces five charges of the war crime of murder, allegedly committed while he served in the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. Each victim was unarmed and present in a location where Roberts-Smith could reasonably have suspected

Former SAS corporal granted bail ahead of potential trial on charges relating to alleged killing of civilians in Afghanistan * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail under strict conditions while he awaits a potential trial on alleged war crimes. The Victoria Cross recipient, once Australia’s most lionised soldier, faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

The prime minister has weathered the crises – for now – and there is a growing recognition that Australia is too vulnerable to world events * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese’s fuel diplomacy tour of Asia has already started paying dividends, but the real test could still be to come. After last week’s rush to Singapore and pulling forward a planned visit, the prime minister dashed back to Australia from Malaysia on Thursday, to survey the damage at one of the nation’s only remaining

Prime minister says Corio refinery fire will not push Australia into stage 3 restrictions, despite reduced production of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel * Track Australia’s fuel prices, service station outages and shipments in charts * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese says petrol production has fallen 40% at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries but the damage caused by fire at the Geelong facility will not lead to fuel restrictions. Petrol prices have fallen below $2.10 a litre and diesel below $3 a litre in most cities, as a price spike predicted to

This blog is now closed * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia secures extra fertilizer and 100m extra litres of fuel, PM says Albanese has also provided an update on Australia’s talks with its allies in Asia to shore up imports of fuel and other goods affected by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The advice that we have received today is that 80% of diesel production is continuing, 80% of aviation fuel is continuing, ongoing. It has been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there, but 60% of petrol production [is]

Departing PM Viktor Orbán admits ‘political era has ended’ as EU says ‘clock is ticking’ to resolve important issues EU officials have arrived in Budapest for high-stakes talks aimed at reshaping the bloc’s strained relationship with Hungary, weeks before the new government takes office, as the country’s departing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, admitted a “political era has ended” and suggested he would stay on as leader of his party in his first interview since the election. Speaking to the pro-government outlet Patrióta, Orbán described Sunday’s election as an “emotional rollercoaster” after the opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory, bringing an end

Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groups Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules. The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints. Continue reading...

Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been ‘red flagged’ after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to Edinburgh A German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week. Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be “a serious administrative error”. Continue reading...

EU economy commissioner says Iran war is feeding Russia’s war machine; Trump condemns massive strikes on Ukraine. What we know on day 1,513 The EU expects to start releasing a new €90bn loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc’s economy chief told AFP on Thursday. The EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to Washington. “Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia was very much part of the agenda,” Dombrovskis said. He

Thieves believed to have escaped into sewers after holding staff and customers in Crédit Agricole branch for two hours Armed robbers held 25 people hostage at a bank in Naples for two hours on Thursday, before fleeing through a tunnel. The three thieves entered a branch of Crédit Agricole in the southern Italian city at about 11.30am, taking hostage staff and customers, who were freed by police a couple of hours later. Continue reading...

António Guterres welcomes truce and says he hopes halt in fighting will ‘pave the way for negotiations’ In case you’re just joining us, here are the latest developments in the Middle East to bring you up to speed. It’s 9am in Beirut and Jerusalem, 9.30am in Tehran and 2am in Washington DC. A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has come into effect, pausing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 2,100 Lebanese people and displaced more than 2.1 million. The agreement was announced earlier by Donald Trump, who said he had spoken with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here Iran has stopped all petrochemical exports to prioritise domestic supply and prevent shortages of raw materials, Reuters reported. The state-owned National Petrochemical Company ordered firms to suspend exports until further notice. Continue reading...

Lebanese health ministry says killing of 91 healthcare workers shows ‘total disregard’ for international law * Middle East crisis – live updates When they received the call to respond to an Israeli airstrike in the city of Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon, most of the paramedics held back, having previously seen colleagues killed by double-tap attacks targeting rescuers. But the medics from the Islamic Health Association (IHA) rushed to the scene. By the time the other emergency workers arrived at the site, they found the IHA medics had indeed been caught in a second strike. They started evacuating their wounded colleagues, only for

US defense secretary says Iran’s energy infrastructure is ‘not destroyed yet’ while also lambasting the media Iran’s energy infrastructure is “not destroyed yet” and the US is “locked and loaded” to finish the job, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said on Thursday as he called many of the press corps gathered the moral equivalent of the Pharisees who conspired to destroy Jesus Christ. Hegseth’s comments from the Pentagon podium came as a naval blockade of Iranian ports began this week and he called on Tehran to accept a nuclear deal or face consequences for its remaining infrastructure, power generation and energy industry. Continue

Guardian readers describe how their lives have been upended by cost hikes stemming from Trump’s Iran war With the US and Israel’s war on Iran now in its seventh week, with a fragile ceasefire in place since earlier this month, Americans are continuing to feel the effects at the pump as global fuel prices rise. For several readers who spoke to the Guardian, the impact has forced difficult trade-offs – from accessing essential medicines and groceries to facing the brink of homelessness amid an already rising cost of living. Continue reading...

Two-time Grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood cinema and whose career spanned almost eight decades, has died in Mumbai at the age of 92. Bhosle, who recorded more than 12,000 songs, became her country’s pre-eminent exponent of playback singing – recording tracks that were then lip-synced on film by actors. She also boldly embraced cabaret and western-influenced melodies to forge a distinctive musical identity. Continue reading...

In Pakistan’s capital, the army has been deployed, a public holiday has been declared and the streets are eerily empty * Middle East crisis – live updates The streets of Islamabad were on strict lockdown as Pakistan’s capital prepared to play host to historic negotiations between Iran and the US that have dangled the promise of an end to war that has devastated the Middle East. Even as the US-Iran ceasefire looked increasingly precarious, amid Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and disputes over the terms of the talks, Pakistani officials insisted that the make-or-break peace negotiations would be going ahead over the

Israeli PM says he will continue to attack Hezbollah ‘with full force’ after attacks that killed more than 300 people * Middle East crisis – live updates Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is “no ceasefire in Lebanon” and Israel would continue “to strike Hezbollah with full force” as the country’s military launched fresh strikes. The Israeli prime minister’s remarks and latest attacks on what the IDF called “Hezbollah launch sites” came shortly after Donald Trump said he had asked Netanyahu to be more “low-key” in Lebanon. Later on Friday, a US state department official said Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington

Analysts say Pakistani officials’ efforts led to breakthrough that has helped avert catastrophe, at least for now * Middle East crisis – live updates Pakistan’s leaders had almost lost hope. After more than two weeks of frantic negotiations, phonecalls and diplomatic summits to try to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, it looked like the conflict might instead be escalating into Islamabad’s worst nightmare. In a cabinet meeting held at about 5pm on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was morose. “We should brace ourselves for the impact of the war,” he told his cabinet ministers. “The situation has really become very

Two-week ceasefire comes after Trump spoke to Pakistan’s leaders, with China also believed to be exerting influence over Tehran * Middle East crisis – live updates * US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire with Tehran saying it will reopen strait of Hormuz The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday barely an hour before Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate Iran was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the strait of Hormuz. Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. As Trump announced he was suspending his plans to escalate attacks across Iran, the

PM responds to Guardian revelations that Foreign Office overrode failed security vetting for former minister * Olly Robbins forced out in Mandelson vetting row Jones repeatedly denied that the prime minister had given a misleading impression about what has happened and had “lost grip” of the situation. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: I completely refute the suggestion the PM misled the public or the House of Commons. It’s very clear from his words he was reporting what he had been told and what had been followed. I don’t think this is a question about the prime minister’s leadership. The Foreign Office did

Police say officers found discarded items in area after group claimed to have targeted embassy with drones Police have said they are investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after officers found a number of discarded items in the area. A statement said Counter Terrorism Policing London was aware of a video shared online overnight in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances. Continue reading...

Adult video platform to sell minority stake to increase stability after death of its founder Leonid Radvinsky * Business live – latest updates OnlyFans, the UK adult video platform, is in talks to sell a minority stake to a US investor that will value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn). The London-based company is in advanced talks to sell a stake of less than 20% to the San Francisco-based investment firm Architect Capital, according to the Financial Times. Sources familiar with the process confirmed the talks to the Guardian. Continue reading...

PM says he is ‘furious’ and did not know security officials had recommended that Mandelson be denied clearance * UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has said it was “unforgivable” that he was not told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting before taking up his role as ambassador to Washington. The prime minister said he was “furious” about what had happened, as he insisted he had not known that security officials had initially recommended that Mandelson be denied clearance. Continue reading...

Media tycoon vows to appeal after dismissal of action against Gambling Commission for awarding Allwyn the franchise * Business live – latest updates The media tycoon Richard Desmond has vowed to appeal after a resounding defeat in his claim for up to £1.3bn in damages from the Gambling Commission over its decision not to award him the 10-year licence to run the national lottery. Mrs Justice Smith dismissed Desmond’s claim on Friday, in a sometimes scathing written high court judgment that reserved particular criticism for “inexcusable” failings on the part of Desmond’s legal team. Continue reading...

The decision to extend a warrantless security law until 30 April came after 20 Republicans worked with House Democrats to defeat attempts to pass five-year and 18-month renewals * Sign up for the Breaking News US email Todd Lyons, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is stepping down after a turbulent year carrying out Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Lyons, who has been leading the agency since March 2025, will resign at the end of May and move to the private sector, Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...

Bipartisan backing for special relationship is fraying as Middle East conflicts turn public opinion Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East have driven a sea change in US public opinion, threatening a bipartisan consensus of support for military aid for Israel that has been the status quo for decades. In public opinion polling of Americans, among likely candidates for president, and even in pro-Israel lobbying circles, the special relationship enjoyed by Israel with the US is now under fire as human rights concerns from the left and a new “America First” foreign policy groundswell on the right could impact coming elections – including

Store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market joins growing unionization campaign across the coffee chain Workers at the historic first Starbucks store are seeking to unionize as the coffee retail giant and its union appear stalemated over their first contract. The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the store serves as a tourist site in Seattle. Continue reading...

America First Policy Institute, which boasts close ties to president, discussed transgender policy ‘reform’ at DC event Children are the “low-hanging fruit” in a longer effort to end gender-affirming care for all Americans, an official at a Trump administration-aligned thinktank recently said. Bans on medical transition comprise just one part of the larger, unprecedented assault on transgender rights mounted by a coordinated campaign of mostly conservative activists and policymakers in the US in recent years. So far, these restrictions have primarily affected minors. But leaders in the emboldened movement have begun to more openly admit their desire to attempt to end gender-affirming

Halt to fighting will be followed by first Israeli-Lebanese summit in decades. Plus, why are there so many false claims that famous lines in cinema were improvised? * Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. Donald Trump has announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon, to be followed by a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese leaders next week, a deal it is hoped will bring progress toward a parallel peace agreement between the US and Iran. What has Lebanon said? The Lebanese army warned people displaced from southern Lebanon about returning home because of intermittent shelling that was

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday that while Cuba does not want military aggression from the United States, his country is prepared to fight should it happen. Diaz-Canel spoke during a rally that drew hundreds of people to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the Cuban Revolution’s socialist essence. “The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do...

Asian refiners have grown increasingly reliant on US crude as oil-starved fuel makers scour the globe to replace Middle Eastern supply and stave off shortages that could ripple through the broader economy. Buyers in Japan led the charge to purchase May-loading cargoes from the US early in the month, with South Korean, Singaporean and Thai processors also among customers, said traders familiar with the matter. At least 60 million barrels of grades from the US Gulf were bought for loading next...

The International Monetary Fund and ⁠the World Bank said on ⁠Thursday they had resumed dealings with Venezuela, which had been paused since 2019. The move paves the way for a full IMF assessment of Venezuela’s economy for the first time in some 20 years and could eventually unlock billions of dollars in ‌funding via frozen special drawing rights. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement that the Fund, guided by the views of a majority of its members, was now dealing with...

A senior US lawmaker called on Peru’s next government to reclaim the Chinese-controlled port of Chancay, describing the deepwater facility as a direct military threat to the western hemisphere. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said during a hearing on Thursday that Washington would help Peru wrest the megaport from Chinese hands. “The new Peruvian government, which will be elected next June, must take it back, that...

Dubai has completed its first flying taxi station, with commercial operations expected to begin by the end of the year, authorities in the Gulf emirate announced on Thursday. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, crown prince of Dubai and United Arab Emirates deputy prime minister, visited Dubai’s “first purpose-built electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) Air Taxi Station”, the emirate’s media office said in a statement. The facility, described by the emirate’s authorities as the “first of its...

Britain’s top foreign ministry official will leave his post after Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper lost confidence in him, a source said on Thursday, following a row over the security vetting of Peter Mandelson. The disclosure of the vetting failure has intensified pressure on Starmer over his appointment of Mandelson, Britain’s former US ‌ambassador, who is under police investigation for allegedly leaking government documents to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,...

For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole. The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported on Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 540 million km/h (355 million mph) – half the speed of light. Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole – the first one ever identified more than a half-century...

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon appeared to be holding on Friday, a breakthrough that could provide critical relief to Washington’s strained temporary truce with Tehran Announcing the ceasefire, which came into effect at 5pm EST Thursday (5am Friday Hong Kong time), US President Donald Trump said it followed what he described as “excellent conversations” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. “These two Leaders have agreed that in order...

China has assured the United States that it will not supply weapons to Iran during the current ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, as Washington stepped up pressure on Tehran to agree to a broader peace deal brokered by Pakistan. Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said Beijing had conveyed the assurance directly, amid heightened concerns in Washington about external support for Iran during the fragile pause in fighting. “Trump has a...

Trade tensions between the US and China have made companies around the world less keen to invest in either country, with the United States almost twice as unpopular, according to a new report from Allianz Trade. The report, based on an annual survey by the Paris-based international insurance company, said US-China decoupling had not materialised, but investment intention towards China had dropped “significantly” to 24 per cent of survey respondents, down from 53 per cent a year ago. The survey...

Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US President Donald Trump attacked him again on social media. Leo, the first US pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a “decisive change of course” in a meeting in the biggest city ‌in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, where a simmering conflict going back nearly a decade has left...

The quiet conclusion of US and Iranian backchannel engagements in Islamabad left more than diplomatic ambiguity. It crystallised a striking image: a financially strained, politically volatile Pakistan briefly positioning itself as a facilitator in one of the world’s most combustible rivalries. Substantive or symbolic, the episode underscores a deeper churn in West Asian geopolitics – one in which agility trumps credibility. Pakistan’s role was not incidental. Islamabad offered itself as a...

Europe has “maybe 6 weeks or so [of] jet fuel left”, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Thursday in a wide-ranging interview, warning of possible flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war. IEA executive director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced”, stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. “In the...

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a blunt critique of US President Donald Trump in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Thursday, saying world leaders should seek respect rather than ‌rule by fear. “Trump has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country,” Lula told El Pais, referring to the president’s public threat on April 7 to wipe out Iranian civilisation as part of the US-Israeli war on Iran. “He wasn’t elected for that, and his...

Russia unleashed its deadliest attack so far this year on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities overnight, killing 17 people, including a 12-year-old child, and wounding scores, in drone and missile strikes, officials said on Thursday. In Russia, a major Ukrainian drone attack on the Black Sea port of Tuapse killed two people, including a 14-year-old girl, injured seven, and sparked a large fire, Russian ‌officials and media reported. The port is home to a major oil refinery as well as an...

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this series, SCMP Fact-Check, the South China Morning Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A video circulating online amid the US-Israel war on Iran falsely claims to show a downed American pilot captured alive by Iranians. “Iranians Captured F35 Pilot alive,” read the caption of a Facebook reel. The video appeared to show a...

Lebanon’s president will not speak to Israel’s prime minister in the near future, Lebanese officials said on Thursday, dealing a blow to US efforts to expand contacts between the enemy states as Pakistan said peace in Lebanon was vital to ending the Iran war. The US-Israeli war with Iran spilt into Lebanon on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict. “Peace in Lebanon is essential...

The health of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is critical after she suffered a heart attack last month, supporters warned on Wednesday. Her Iran-based family and legal team were on Saturday allowed a second in-person visit with Mohammadi in her prison in northern Iran where “clear signs of a deterioration in her general condition were observed, and her physical state was described as critical”, her foundation said in a statement. The latest meeting came after an earlier...

The BBC said on Wednesday that the British broadcasting corporation is set to cut up to 2,000 jobs amid a challenging media landscape. The BBC’s interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies said in a statement to staff that “while we still have to work through the detail, we anticipate the overall number of jobs will fall by 1,800-2,000”. The BBC reported the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, saying they amount to “almost one in 10” jobs, since it has about 21,500 employees. The acting director...

A US jury on Wednesday found that entertainment giant Live Nation wielded monopoly power at its Ticketmaster business, violating federal and state antitrust laws, according to California’s attorney general. A verdict that could have profound repercussions in the concert world came after four days of deliberations, and remedies could include breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for anticompetitive conduct that harmed the music industry and...

Having invested significant diplomatic capital into ties with Russia in recent years, North Korea now seems to be pivoting back to China. Leader Kim Jong-un said his country places “the greatest value” on improving ties with Beijing. This shift came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to North Korea last week, where he met Kim and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Notably, Wang’s visit marked his first to North Korea since 2019. In the intervening years of the...

A Ukrainian unit said on Wednesday that it has carried out more than 100 attacks on the front using ground robots, after President Volodymyr Zelensky recently hailed the capture of a Russian position thanks to this new method. “In total, there have already been over 100 such operations,” said a source within the NC-13 company, which specialises in the use of these combat machines and is part of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade. “These operations include the elimination of enemy personnel, the...

Newly released video shows a high school principal in Oklahoma tackling and disarming a former student who entered the lobby of the school and began firing a pistol. Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore was shot in the leg during the April 7 attack but managed to wrestle the suspect onto a bench, disarm him and remain on top of him until law enforcement officers arrived, according to court records. The video, released by the school district in response to an Open Records Act request,...

The White House on Wednesday dismissed as untrue reports that the US had sought to extend a ceasefire with Iran, while confirming that discussions over a second round of in-person negotiations were under way after marathon talks in Islamabad last week ended without a breakthrough. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that discussions were under way about a further round of talks with Tehran but “nothing is official”, adding that the negotiations would “very likely” be held...

US President Donald Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him on Wednesday, as a war of words between his administration and the pope showed little sign of abating. The image, reposted to Trump’s Truth Social account, shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post ‌had a caption that included the words: “God might be playing his Trump card!” Trump’s repost...

Israel’s security cabinet ⁠will convene on Wednesday to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official has said, more than five weeks into a war with Hezbollah that spiralled out of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet would meet ‌at 8pm local time, the official said. Senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters that diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional states could produce a ceasefire soon, saying...

Pope Leo has said the world needs to hear a message of peace and coexistence, after US President Donald Trump attacked him for a second time this week on social media. Speaking on Wednesday during his flight from Algeria to Cameroon for the second leg of a whirlwind 10-day ‌Africa tour, the first US pontiff urged respect for all people and said his travels so far had shown the importance of pursuing dialogue between different communities. “Although we have different beliefs, we have different...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added. In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain...

US President Donald Trump has said he will fire Jerome Powell if the Federal Reserve chair does not step down “in time”, adding that he will not drop the Justice Department investigation into the central bank leader. “I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time. I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “I want to be uncontroversial. But he will be fired,” he said in the interview taped on...

Though high-level officials in Washington have accused China of undermining global energy security by “hoarding” oil during the US-Israeli war on Iran, import and inventory data suggest Beijing is facing its own supply pressures as the conflict drags on. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday labelled China an “unreliable global partner,” alleging that Beijing has prioritised stockpiling crude over easing global shortages triggered by the war, according to a Reuters report. He also...

A 14-year-old armed with five guns opened fire at a Turkish school on Wednesday, killing nine people, wounding 13 and sparking scenes of mayhem as students jumped out of windows to escape. The attack in the southern province of Kahramanmaras was Turkey’s second such incident in as many days, shocking a country where school shootings are a rare occurrence. Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed nine deaths, with 13 wounded – six in intensive care, three of them in a critical condition. The...

The US-Israeli war on Iran and the current Iranian and American blockades of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are likely to overshadow China’s first-quarter economic performance, analysts said, with questions looming large about how the world’s second-largest economy will handle their impact. Many observers said they expect the leadership in Beijing will adopt a wait-and-see approach, with little likelihood of an immediate stimulus to guarantee the country’s annual economic target is...

The fraying of the ceasefire in the US-Israel war against Iran reflects grim patterns of history. Truces are often doomed because they focus on stopping battle-related violence and rarely begin to address the underlying struggles that ignited hostilities. A pause without a shared common endgame often resets the battlefield as reasons harden for prolonging warfare. Viable political solutions seldom follow and take hold for peace to endure. Over the past decade, we’ve seen the perils. The Minsk...

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that an EU-developed age-verification app was ready to go, as the bloc pushes to better protect children from online harm. Brussels has been under pressure to come up with more stringent measures to safeguard children online as several EU capitals move ahead with plans to ban social media under a certain age. To that end, five EU countries including France and Italy last year started testing an age-check app that von der Leyen said on...

Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that is being called an “abandoned crisis” as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes. Sudan has been described as the world’s largest humanitarian challenge, notably in terms of displacement and hunger. There is no end in sight to the fighting between the military and the paramilitary...

China’s leading steelmakers are stepping up coordinated efforts to adjust export strategies, compliance systems and pricing models in response to this year’s full implementation of the EU’s tariff-like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which imposes direct carbon-linked costs on imports. “China’s indirect steel exports to the EU are substantial, and a significant portion consists of high value-added products,” said Jiang Wei, vice-chairman and secretary general of the China Iron and...

As Islamabad prepares to host a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran, Pakistani mediators are seeking ways to extricate the Gulf monarchies from the conflict, according to a well-placed diplomatic source. While the success of those efforts depends largely on the outcome of talks that US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday could resume by the end of the week, Pakistan’s mediation has produced a second confidence-building phone call in a week between the Iranian and...

Russia can help China and other nations weather energy supply disruptions stemming from the war in Iran, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. “Russia can, without a doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen”, Lavrov told reporters in response to a question about the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that Chinese-Russian ties are “unshakeable in the face of any storms”. Lavrov confirmed that Russian...

Hungary’s election winner Peter Magyar said on Wednesday he will suspend state media news broadcasts, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under Viktor Orban, ‌and restore media freedoms after his cabinet takes power. Magyar’s TISZA (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, ending Orban’s 16-year rule that became a prototype for “illiberal” conservative rulers across the Western world. “Every Hungarian deserves a public service media...

A leaked plan to grant the US military sweeping overflight access to Indonesia’s airspace has triggered a domestic backlash over concerns that Jakarta is “colluding with the aggressor” amid Washington’s war on Iran. Analysts say the defence document, first reported by New Delhi-based newspaper the Sunday Guardian, raises concerns that President Prabowo Subianto may be trading away Indonesia’s strategic independence. The proposal, which reportedly emerged following a meeting in February between...

Israel’s spy chief has pledged more covert efforts to try to topple Iran’s government, a tacit acknowledgment the countries’ conflict would continue even as the US pursued a new round of peace negotiations with the Islamic Republic. David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, said Israel had not expected that its bombardment of Iranian military, nuclear and infrastructure sites, waged in concert with the United States, would be enough to end Iran’s 47-year-old clerical-led rule. “Our mission has yet...

Britain’s King Charles will have tea and a private meeting with ⁠President Donald Trump during his US state visit later this month, as the UK government hopes his “soft power” can heal a damaging rift between the allies caused by the Iran war. The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla head across the Atlantic on April 27, a four-day trip ostensibly to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain but one that now has far greater significance amid a growing spat between Trump and ‌Prime...

The US military said on Tuesday that four people had been killed in a strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fourth such deadly attack in as many days. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike – just as the previous three – occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It posted aerial video on social media showing a vessel bobbing in the water before being struck by a projectile and exploding. The four new fatalities raise the total death toll of the...

Taiwan’s political pendulum is reversing. The government led by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai Ching-te is increasingly discredited, not least for selling out the jewel of its semiconductor industry to the United States under pressure from President Donald Trump. The Legislative Yuan is controlled by the opposition led by the Kuomintang (KMT). Party politics is now institutionalised into a sustained confrontation between the island’s presidency and its legislature. Now, budgets...

As the US imposes its own blockade on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of talks with Iran at the weekend, we take a look at how major economies in Asia and Europe could be affected by further restrictions on passage through one of the world’s most critical choke points for energy supplies. Who is most vulnerable in this energy crisis? According to a recent report by Japanese investment bank Nomura, the regions most exposed to the tensions in the Persian Gulf are Asian...

After Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé’s husband died, an inheritance battle exploded. Her stepson then used his influence to have her arrested, an Alabama probate judge said.

Todd Lyons said he would leave to spend more time with his family. He has spoken about a surge in threats against ICE officers, saying that he knew the reality firsthand.

Restaurant operators say labor shortages, rising costs and worker fear have prompted an unusual alliance of industry and political leaders in Texas to call for legal pathways to hire immigrants.

The era of “Girls” is long gone. So why are we still so fascinated by its creator?

Forget demure conversations in spindly chairs. To promote “Famesick,” a new memoir, she’s taken to her bed and invited friends to jump in. Onstage.

This unusually unfiltered memoir takes us to the hospital, to therapy and to the sometimes hostile set of “Girls.”

Five years out of college, Samuel Samson has driven the Trump administration’s push to upend America’s postwar relationship with Europe.

Ms. Mejia, who helped run Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, beat her Republican opponent, Joe Hathaway, to win a seat Ms. Sherrill vacated after she was elected governor of New Jersey.

Authorities are using drones, troops and A.I. to crack down on cocaine smuggling. But gangs are finding new ways to move record amounts of drugs across the world.

Cameron Hamilton is a former Navy SEAL who ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

A teenage girl went missing. The police found her remains in a musician’s car. Then the Los Angeles media machine got to work.

The singer was detained in connection with the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who died before her 15th birthday. D4vd’s lawyers said they would vigorously defend his innocence.

Birthrates are down. Families are leaving New York City. So educators, especially at charter schools, are expanding their marketing efforts on social media and in subway stations.

Bench players and stars alike see fun and career possibilities behind the mic.

She wanted to pry her late mother’s vineyard from two of her brothers. Instead, her lawyers were fined nearly $110,000 for citing bogus case law generated by artificial intelligence.

The revolving door’s inventor built this one over 100 years ago. It was reinstalled this week.

Johnson Masase has found local fame, and self acceptance, through performances that play on people’s ignorance about his genetic condition and his 3-foot-4 inch frame.

As portrayed in shows like “Smash,” “Slings & Arrows” and “American Classic,” life onstage is a grab-bag of archetypes both hilariously wrong and a little bit right.

Senators must assess whether Mr. Warsh would perform his duties as a public servant, or whether he would serve the interests of the president.

The tax expert Ray Madoff explains why the American tax system is broken, and how to make it fairer.

President Trump wants to build one, but he’s getting pushback.

The host of “The Late Show” recapped what he called “yet another day when the entire world is on edge over President Trump’s senseless and elective war — with the pope.”

The Midwest has faced day after day of weather warnings this week. More are expected on Friday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirmed that Peter Mandelson, a Jeffrey Epstein associate, failed security checks before he became Britain’s envoy to Washington.

The deep-sea fish ended up with glowing lures not just to snag meals, but also to attract mates, a new study finds.

Permit applications for 25 new events in city parks could be denied under an emergency order. And restrictions around separate events marking the nation’s 250th anniversary could affect kayakers.