Minimalist News

China's Provinces Show Evidence Of Financial Pressure And The Economy's Imbalances Authored by Milton Ezrati via The Epoch Times , Some 28 provinces and separate jurisdictions increasingly have had to turn to Beijing for help closing budget gaps, according to China's Ministry of Finance. People walk next to a screen with a stocks indicator in the Jing'an district in Shanghai, China, on April 7, 2025. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images It is not unusual for Beijing to have to chip in. It gets the lion's share of the country's tax revenues. But the growing need to turn to Beijing nonetheless

This Labor Day Take A Closer Look At America's Deadliest Jobs, Ranked Labor Day is a time to recognize the contributions of American workers, but it also draws attention to the risks many face on the job. Logging was the most dangerous occupation in America in 2024, with 110.4 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full time equivalent workers, more than 33 times the national rate of 3.3, according to a new study by Moneygeek . Fishing and hunting workers ranked second at 88.8, followed by roofers at 48.7, structural iron and steel workers at 37.8, and refuse and recyclable collectors

Court Rules Pentagon Can Fire Stars And Stripes Journalists Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times , A district court denied a motion from three Stars and Stripes journalists that sought to block the Department of War from firing them. The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., in a file photo. Carolyn Kaster/AP While plaintiffs argue that the terminations "violate their First Amendment rights to communicate as citizens on matters of public concern," such rights have "some limitations" when applied to people employed in public service, Judge Trevor N. McFadden, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said

UBS Calls Brazil Election "Extremely Close" - Bolsonaro Win Would Cement LatAm's Political Shift Socialist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's polling lead over right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has eroded in recent weeks, leaving both statistically tied in UBS' latest runoff polling average . Arend Kapteyn, UBS' global head of economics and strategy research, described the upcoming election in early October as "extremely close" in a note to clients on Monday. Lula (Left); Bolsonaro (Right) Kapteyn's note today puts Bolsonaro at 50.4% in a hypothetical runoff, against 49.6% for Lula , adding that the narrowing spread leaves the candidates

Chinese Oil Demand Unexpectedly Soars, Sending Shanghai Crude Above $100, With Brent Prices Set To Follow One of the reasons why the price of oil failed to soar during the "actively kinetic" phase of the Iran war, when shipments through Hormuz were effectively halted and the world faced a shortage of about 10-15mm barrels of oil per day, is that Chinese oil demand suddenly evaporated. Whether due to a sharp slowdown in the economy (which after the sudden "recap" of China's banks appears quite likely) or due to an aggressive drain of China's strategic reserve, the reality is that, as

Hunter Biden To Launch Memecoin, Will Send To TRUMP Holders Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com, Hunter Biden will reportedly distribute 200 million of the LAPTOP token to his substack subscribers, members of a mailing list and investors in President Donald Trump’s memecoin. Hunter Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, announced that he plans to launch a memecoin based on the reports of his infamous laptop, which has been subject to intense media scrutiny. In a Monday announcement on X, Hunter Biden posted the memecoin’s ticker symbol, $LAPTOP, signaling a Wednesday launch. The Wall Street Journal reported that

Unhinged Passenger Duct-Taped on Flight Is Identified, Fired From Job An American Airlines flight was forced into an emergency landing Thursday evening after an unhinged passenger was duct-taped to his seat after a racist, sexist meltdown, according to multiple reports. The raging flyer, identified as 67-year-old Arthur Layne Lundeen, allegedly hurled the N-word and anti-gay slurs at flight attendants and unloaded a series of "very offensive" remarks at female passengers, eyewitnesses told ABC News . Fellow passenger Richard O'Lenick told NJ.com that Lundeen made statements about Jesus and said the plane was going to crash, then struck a pastor seated

Canada's Tariff Strategy Designed To Interfere With U.S. Midterm Elections Late last month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from a trade deal with the United States. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Canada was "offered the best trade deal of any country on the globe," but Carney abandoned the deal "at the last minute." According to the White House, "the U.S. offered Canada the most preferential market access of any country on Earth, with deep cuts on steel, aluminum, autos, lumber, and more. Instead of partnership, Canada chose unreasonable demands, walk-backs, and flat-out rejection." Canada responded with retaliation

Hackers Withdraw 320 Million In Bitcoin From Blockstream's Liquid Network Federation Reserves Authored by Juan Galt via BitcoinMagazine.com, The Liquid Network said Sunday that purported white-hat hackers withdrew about 4,000 bitcoin, worth about $320 million, from the federation wallet that backs L-BTC. Bridge nodes were disabled, and the sidechain was paused. Other issued assets, including USDT, DePix and RWAs, were unaffected, the official account said on X . The Liquid Network is a federated sidechain of Bitcoin, founded by Adam Back’s Blockstream. The Liquid chain issues a variety of assets such as LBTC, which it backs with BTC on the

Iron Ore Bottom In? Prices Reclaim $100 On "Improving Downstream Conditions" Iron ore futures in Singapore surged above $100 a ton , the highest level since mid-July, as tightening Chinese coking coal supplies lifted steelmaking costs and early signs of improving seasonal demand supported prices across the steel supply chain. Rafael Barcellos, head of Latin American metals and mining, pulp and paper equity research at Bradesco BBI, wrote in a note last week that the coal squeeze is helping support steel prices , with rebar and hot-rolled coil reaching multi-month highs. Improving downstream conditions are, in turn, providing support for

Lawmakers Press DHS On Forced-Labor Import Enforcement Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times , A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to know whether enforcement is keeping pace after the Department of Homeland Security last month added 43 companies to its forced-labor Entity List - the largest single expansion since the list was created. Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, at a U.S.-backed Uyghur photo exhibit of dozens of people who are missing or alleged to be held in CCP-run camps in Xinjiang, China in front of the United Nations in Geneva on Sept. 16, 2021. Denis

Welcome To The World That Now Exists By Michael Every of Rabobank We ended last week with the Dutch thinktank acknowledgement that " The world as we knew it no longer exists .” We start this week knowing many are going to be profoundly uncomfortable with the new world that replaces it. Not the weekend op-ed in the Financial Times asking, ‘ Is Keynesianism dead ?’ adding “ When debt is the disease, fiscal medicine may be as likely to harm as heal,” though that will shock many. Nor that the US just blew up three Iranian tankers, and Iran

Six Nuclear Bills Clear House Committee Without A Single 'No' Vote The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced six nuclear-industry bills on September 2nd, all without a single opposing vote. The measures target fuel recycling, uranium enrichment, licensing delays, regulatory staffing and transparency. The vote to get it to the House floor is another testament to the lack of divide among the Republicans and Democrats regarding the need for more nuclear energy in America. As we highlighted in a report from Goldman, the Western nuclear revival is gathering momentum across microreactors, small modular reactors and larger designs. But turning announcements

DOJ Announces Deal With Mount Sinai Ending Pediatric Sex-Change Interventions Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The Justice Department announced Friday an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System that ends the New York hospital network's provision of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures to minors. Mount Sinai West in New York City on Jan. 20, 2026. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Mount Sinai, one of the largest healthcare providers in New York, will stop those interventions, pay a monetary penalty, and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for people living with harmful consequences of treatments they

Iran To Draw New "Restricted Zone" In Hormuz As Saudi Aramco Facility Hit Again, Oil Climbs At a moment US officials have been boasting of more and more oil tankers making it through the Strait of Hormuz under US naval protection and support, Iran has previewed a new 'restricted zone' in the Gulf , which it says will be announced in the coming days. The announcement is expected to include maps of the new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, likely to begin from where the US blockade of Iran starts and extending into areas of the Gulf, according

Key Events This Holiday-Shortened Week: All Eyes On Friday's CPI After Friday's blowout jobs report, attention now turns to inflation. Economists expect headline CPI (Friday) to rise by +0.4% month-on-month in August, up from +0.07% previously, while core CPI is expected to print at +0.2% month-on-month, broadly unchanged from July’s +0.22%. Higher gasoline prices are likely to support the headline reading, while core inflation should continue to benefit from gradually moderating shelter costs ( which however are turning higher again per Case-Shiller ). If realized, the forecasts would leave headline CPI broadly unchanged at 3.4% on a year-on-year basis while

Japan Sold Almost $90 Billion In Treasuries To Fund Record Yen Intervention At the end of July, the only question following Japan's record $90 billion yen intervention (which worked for about two weeks before the effects faded and Bessent had to engage in more market intervention), was whether and how much Treasuries Japan had sold as part of the intervention. The BOJ spent a record $90BN to briefly push the yen higher. Another catastrophic intervention by the central bank which is 100bps behind in rate hikes (chart Goldman) pic.twitter.com/xOGszXSgF7 — zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 31, 2026 We now now the answers:

The Copper Chart Causing Alarm Copper futures in London continue to move higher , once again approaching record highs, as US buyers purchase record volumes from the seaborne market, with imports reaching 200,000 tons in July. A phased US tariff would keep that buying in motion for longer, further tightening the ex-US market and limiting any near-term price correction in London trading . Rafael Barcellos, head of Latin American Metals & Mining and Pulp & Paper Equity Research at Bradesco BBI, wrote in a note last week that global mine supply is deteriorating . He warned that severe weather in

This Labor Day, A Look At Declining Role Of Unions In America Authored by Jeremy Lott via The Epoch Times , Labor Day, celebrated this year on Sept. 7, is a holiday in transition. It was created by American labor unions in the 1880s. The federal government recognizing it as a national holiday under President Grover Cleveland helped unions to gain prominence. Yet as unionization has declined, so too has the close association of the day with organized labor. The Department of Labor's website now calls it an "annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers." Nelson

Zelensky Expects War To Continue Through Winter, As Witkoff-Kushner Deliver 'Upbeat Assessment' From Putin Meeting Despite Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner having delivered 'upbeat assessments' (per AFP) to Kiev after meeting with President Putin in Moscow over the weekend, Ukrainian President Zelensky has told his citizenry to prepare for a brutal winter, as the war is set to continue through this period. A senior Ukrainian presidential official said Sunday that the US team brought new, "more effective" proposals for ending the war . "It's not the same as it was before. This one now is more effective. They're

Counter-measures covering several sectors come after Trump announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of American imports have come into effect, escalating a trade fight that has been marked by intensifying tensions between US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney. The tariffs took effect at 12.01am on Tuesday, and range from 15% to 50% and apply to products covering $20bn in imports from the US. The measures target sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics – industries that have been most affected by US tariffs.

Bereaved mother Debra Robinson in court stares at three men accused of murdering Jake and Callum Robinson and Jack Rhoad in Baja California in 2024 The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot have gone on trial, two years after the killings in a suspected robbery. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow the day’s news live One Nation policy will leave people $25k worse off at retirement, Mulino says Superannuation is kicking off again today with One Nation pushing to allow people to divert 3% of their superannuation to their rent or mortgage. It took us decades to get to 12% superannuation guarantee and that’s a level that will provide people with a high level of dignity and security in retirement. To do what the One Nation party is suggesting will see somebody who is 30 years old, $25,000 worse off at retirement and a couple around $50,000 worse off. I’m

Liberal MP says One Nation is trying to unseat him because he gave evidence against Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Andrew Hastie has threatened Pauline Hanson and One Nation strategist James Ashby with a “costly” fight over claims he is a traitor to Australia, labelling his critics “cowards” who don’t believe in the rule of law. In some of the Liberal MP’s strongest comments yet about attacks from Hanson and her insurgent party, the Liberal MP said One Nation

Lawyers also argue commonwealth does not have the power to ban a political party, as the high court ruled in 1951 over attempt to ban the Communist party Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Lawyers for an outlawed neo-Nazi political party have argued anti-hate laws passed after the Bondi terror attack rely on the opinion of a politician and are “authoritarian in nature”. The White Australia party, formerly known as the National Socialist Network (NSN), was designated as an illegal hate group in May after

Former 2GB and 2UE radio host has denied 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A friend of Alan Jones who has denied witnessing an alleged assault in a Mosman restaurant has agreed in court that he sent the broadcaster a text message saying “if you need me to refute any lies, I of course will”. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Georgina Wright, the witness agreed he was a loyal and “very good friend” to Jones and the two men

Draft legislation enforces digital duty of care including limiting children’s exposure to misogynistic and eating disorder content Australia will allow social media account holders to opt out of the powerful algorithms pushing dangerous and divisive content into users’ feeds, part of new laws designed to boost online safety. Users over 16 years of age will be given new tools to turn off algorithm-driven content, with platforms facing fines of more than A$100m for non-compliance. Continue reading...

Friedrich Merz said his conservative CDU was shaken ‘to its very foundations’ after far-right victory in Saxony-Anhalt A “shocked” and chastened Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay in office despite the far right’s triumph in a state election that has brought anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin politicians within striking distance of power. The German chancellor, appearing ashen-faced in front of reporters in Berlin, said on Monday that the landslide victory by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt had shaken his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) “to its very foundations”. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move likely to draw fierce criticism from US and Israel Ed Miliband will announce what he has described as a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause. In an intervention that is expected to draw fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements. Continue reading...

Chief of nuclear watchdog says secret Assad-era facility would have been able to produce fissile material A nearly complete nuclear reactor built secretly during the rule of the toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad would have been able to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has revealed. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited two sites, one in Deir ez-Zor and a second in an undisclosed location identified to them by Syrian authorities. Continue reading...

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

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

Leon Panetta tells Guardian US is risking ‘forever war’ and says Pentagon ‘turmoil’ sending message of weakness Donald Trump’s war with Iran is likely to drag on for another six months, Leon Panetta, the former US defense secretary, has warned, as the US president struggles to find his way out of the controversial conflict. Panetta declared in an interview that the war with Iran – launched by Trump over six months ago – risks becoming another “forever war in the Middle East”, with no clear end in sight. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Shisir Khanal tells the Guardian the world’s biggest economies need to help Nepal, which contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions Nepal is demanding $20m in climate compensation for the recent devastating floods, as a senior minister called on the world’s most polluting countries to “wake up” and accept shared responsibility for a disaster that led to the death or disappearance of more than 6,000 people. Scientists believe the climate crisis had a role to play in the floods , which were triggered when a melting glacier partially collapsed and set off a deadly landslide and

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

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

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

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

In partnership with DWP, firms such as John Lewis and M&S plan to offer 18- to 24-year-olds placements of two to four weeks UK retailers plan to create up to 100,000 short-term placements for young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) over the next three years to give them a first step on the ladder to paid work. In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), more than 40 retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Pets at Home, Asda and the John Lewis Partnership, will offer Neets aged 18-24 placements of two to four weeks to gain

Nearly half of respondents say spending on personal independence payments should be increased There is little appetite for cuts to disability benefits even among Conservative and Reform voters, and proposals to reduce spending could prove politically risky, according to an authoritative national survey. The British Social Attitudes (BSA) report found that while support for welfare spending as a whole had dipped sharply in recent years, just 7% of respondents backed cuts to disability benefits – and 49% said they should be increased. Continue reading...

OS index examines which ‘urban heat islands’ suffer the most – and which cope the best with rising temperatures Portsmouth, Leicester, Exeter, Bristol and Nottingham will be among the cities that warm the most by the end of this century as global heating turns British cities into urban heat islands, according to research. Analysis from Ordnance Survey (OS) has created a heat vulnerability index for all cities in Great Britain. Portsmouth, which sits on the south coast of England and is home to 208,000 people, is the most vulnerable to extreme heat today and into the future, according to the

Minister condemns groups behind Hampshire disorder and says officers were injured as they repelled ‘aggression’ Batons and synthetic pepper spray were used to repel hundreds of masked, black-clad vigilantes in Portsmouth on Sunday, it has emerged, as the policing minister said officers had been injured as they repelled organised “aggression”. After police contained the weekend’s second disruptive demonstration against asylum seekers travelling to the UK in small boats, it was claimed that officers in Hampshire were pushed off their motorbikes and pelted with bricks. Sarah Jones, the Home Office minister, condemned groups behind the disorder for promoting “racism and thuggery”.

Sarah Jones tells MPs ‘those responsible should expect to face the consequences’ Healey says Andy Burnham set out in his statement to MPs last week what he thought had gone wrong The fundamentals of our economy [were] hollowed out through a series of past policy decisions, political power was centralised, weakening the relationships between the people, the businesses and the institutions who can make things happen beyond Whitehall. The economic enablers were privatised and outsourced, leaving accountability to a thicket of arm’s length bodies and regulators, too often without the predictability or the pace that underpins a thriving market economy.

Corie Walsh charged with murder after two-year-old Barrett found dead in basement of Illinois family home last week An Illinois woman charged with killing her two-year-old son had been closely following the murder trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy and was texting friends about the case just hours before her son was found dead, prosecutors said. Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after her son, Barrett, was found dead in the basement of the family’s suburban Chicago home last Tuesday, according to court records obtained by NBC Chicago. Continue reading...

Focus likely on whether plane touched down too late in its glide path on to tarmac to enable it to stop safely Federal investigators have started collecting evidence, including a flight data recorder, following the Sunday crash of an Amazon cargo jet at Miami international airport that killed five people and injured five others. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), announced a preliminary investigation into the Amazon Air flight 7598 accident involving a Boeing 767-33 Alpha operated by 21 Air, an all-cargo airline. Continue reading...

New York City mayor confirms he will attend memorial service but declines to respond to Giuliani’s remarks New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to come face-to-face with Rudy Giuliani at the main September 11 memorial service, just days after the former mayor – who led the city at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks – disparaged his Muslim religion and said he should skip the ceremony. In an interview with right-leaning Newsmax at the weekend, Giuliani said : “Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming.” Continue

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

US embassy says Downing Street’s plan to give BBC, ITV and other established media more online visibility carries risk of ‘censorship’ The Trump administration has raised “serious concerns” over Downing Street’s plan to force YouTube and other digital platforms to hand more prominence to established broadcasters, warning the move risks “facilitating censorship”. In a pointed intervention, the US government said the proposals to boost traditional media outlets in social media algorithms could “establish a template that authoritarian regimes could invoke to justify more control over online content”. Continue reading...

Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the sitting premier of looking merely after his own political survival and not the country’s security at a rally in central Israel on Monday. Unveiling the candidates of the Yashar party for the October 27 election, the former military commander said nothing about how he would handle the Palestinian question or the wars against Iran and Lebanon launched by Netanyahu, but accused him of ducking responsibility...

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in US products took effect Tuesday, as a trade war between the North American neighbours heats up. The announced duties of 15 per cent, 25 per cent and 50 per cent apply to C$27.6 billion (US$20 billion) in imports from the United States, covering steel and aluminium products as well as dairy goods like cheese. But Canada removed some seafood products from the initial list. Ottawa’s pushback comes weeks after US President Donald Trump imposed...

The number of ships sailing through the Panama Canal could be cut further due to drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, the new administrator of the waterway said on Monday. Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, a phenomenon developing over the Pacific Ocean that is affecting worldwide weather patterns and pushing up global temperatures. This year’s El Nino is expected to be the strongest since record-keeping began four decades ago. Panama’s restrictions come even as...

The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot went on trial Monday, two years after their killings in a suspected robbery. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state. They had been camping in a remote beachside area when they were attacked in April 2024. Their bodies...

The United Nations rights chief on Monday demanded accountability for swelling numbers of deaths in US immigration custody, and urged Washington to halt deportations to places where people face “irreparable harm”. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk highlighted that “four more people have died in US immigration custody since my last update to this council” in June. That meant there had been “a total of 23 deaths in 2026 alone”, he said, insisting that “there needs to be...

Britain’s King Charles has reiterated that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, remain non-working members of the royal family following their return to the United Kingdom. A letter sent on behalf of the king to senior government officials said the couple will continue to refrain from using their royal titles as they have done since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020. Any charity work the couple undertakes will be carried out in a private capacity and operational security decisions...

Sweden’s government said on Monday that the country would spend 7 billion kronor (US$730 million) to buy US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) rocket artillery for its military. The government said in a statement that the acquisition would “enable the Swedish Armed Forces to operate over larger areas, and with greater long-range capacity than with current systems”. Defence Minister Pal Jonson told reporters that the deal covered about 10 trucks equipped with launchers and a...

A UN expert has warned that large-scale rubble removal in parts of Gaza under Israeli control risks erasing traces of “atrocity crimes”, and preventing the recovery and identification of human remains. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, warned in a statement on Monday that the implications of Israel’s “ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza” were “profound”. “Gaza’s rubble contains human remains and physical evidence...

North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge on Monday in a carefully choreographed display of friendship. The structure, which crosses the Tumen river, has been cast by both sides as an important milestone ‌in their deepening strategic partnership. The first flag-adorned trucks trundled across the 1km (0.6-mile) long two-lane bridge as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korea’s Premier Pak Thae Song tuned in by video link to address workers and government officials from...

Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, was buried on Monday with military honours and crowds attending as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II. Thousands of mourners started arriving early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Belgrade to honour Mladic as his body lay in state. Mladic is still viewed as a hero...

UN rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to humanity, and pledged to press AI firms to reduce risks that his office said included disruptions to services, communications and democratic systems. He called for “cast-iron guarantees” to secure AI in a speech ahead of the start of his unprecedented second term, in which he also demanded accountability over ‌deaths in US immigration custody and condemned Russia’s reported use of autonomous...

The “circular deals” among AI titans increasingly resemble the “daisy chains” of the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis. Forty years ago, interconnected transactions obscured the dangers, multiplied systemic risks and helped inflate asset values before roughly a third of US thrift banks failed. Today’s financial engineering – an incestuous ecosystem of interlocking multi-year commitments to provide financing, buy semiconductors, secure gigawatts of power and lease data centres – could meet a similar...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

President Trump is basking in the momentum of the various projects he has spurred around downtown Washington.

David Rubenstein purchased the sculpture, which was removed from the center last week, from the artist’s foundation. He will display it at the National Gallery of Art.

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

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

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

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

The Chinese Communist Party has spent years trying to make “positive energy” the dominant mood of the country’s internet. It’s no longer working.

At the annual West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, many Haitian New Yorkers targeted by an immigration crackdown were absent from the festivities.

Hundreds have been deported to Haiti in recent weeks, and some say they have been left with no money, no protection from gangs and no place to go.

The comic Nathan Fielder and the filmmaker Lance Oppenheim teamed up to interview the convicted executive for “You Can See Everything.”

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

After more than 50 months of this war, the next few could be decisive.

We ought to make it a point not to stay in our happy place for too long.