Minimalist News

Feminists Are Increasingly Joining "Witchcraft Communes" To Fill The Spiritual Void In the past 70 years, the subject of the Salem Witch Trials has been hijacked by the political left as a historic example of the authoritarian nature of the "patriarchy". Arthur Miller used the trials as an allegory for "anti-communist hysteria" in his famous 1953 play, The Crucible. As we now know, however, Joseph McCarthy was mostly right when he warned about an insidious and organized Marxist takeover of America's social and educational institutions. A more nuanced historic analysis shows that witchcraft was indeed a problem in the colonies

With Just 2 Weeks To Go Until 250th July 4th Celebration, How Much Higher Will Trump Pump Stocks By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities Getting Ready for the Most Beautiful HUGE Long Weekend Ever I hope you are all enjoying the Juneteenth long weekend and Father’s Day. It seems like we just had a long weekend (because we did) and that another long weekend is almost upon us (because it is). While the 4th of July is always special, this being the 250th celebration of Independence is a big deal. I think the President will do everything in his power

Financial Times Hypes SpaceX's Dismal ESG Rating By MSCI, But Really Nobody Cares The Financial Times appears eager to frame MSCI's decision to assign SpaceX the "lowest possible ESG rating" as a major reputational blow. However, the real story is that the entire ESG movement on Wall Street has imploded , and anyone grounded in reality and common sense has increasingly viewed the whole woke era as counterproductive. "The triple C assessment means SpaceX has the same score as that awarded to the Russian state on MSCI's ESG government rating scale in the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine,"

Trump Is Furious With Senate GOP, Puts Thune In His Crosshairs Donald Trump does not like the word "no." He likes it even less when it comes from John Thune, the Senate majority leader whose job description apparently does not include telling the president what he wants to hear. That dynamic has now spilled into public view, and the fallout says as much about the state of the Republican Party as it does about any single piece of legislation. The flashpoint is the SAVE America Act. The House passed it back in February, but it remains stalled in the Senate

First Round Of Iran Talks Concludes In Switzerland With Fireworks, Threats Of Renewed War: 'Be Careful' Summary Round 1 ends: Vance cites "great progress" and says talks will continue. Iran defiant, sees itself in strong position: Ghalibaf rejects US threats and links talks to a Lebanon ceasefire. Trump raises stakes via some typical Truth Social lashing out : Warns on Hormuz, Lebanon, and keeps military options on the table. Nuclear progress?: Some reports say not addressed, others suggest framework already being worked on. Israel withdraws from Lebanon by July 31, 2026? Yes 12% · No 88% View full market &

California Declares State Of Emergency Over Los Angeles Warehouse Fire, Smoke Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday after the Los Angeles mayor asked for state disaster support in the wake of an ongoing warehouse fire that continues to burn more than three days after it started on June 17. “California is mobilizing to support Los Angeles as firefighters and emergency personnel continue their work to contain this fire and protect surrounding communities,” Newsom said in a statement. The state has predeployed public health and emergency resources to

Feeling Emboldened After Attacks On Moscow, Zelensky Threatens Belarus With Military Action Ukraine is feeling more confident of late as its long-range drones have made the Moscow area - as well as dozens of oil refineries across the country burn. Zelensky if seeking to flex yet again in recent days by issuing an ultimatum to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, threatening that close Russian ally and 'Union State' Belarus could face attacks out of Ukraine if it fails to dismantle the air defense radar array along its southern border . The Ukrainian leader even issued a timeline and deadline, in a

Billionaire Tax Officially Heads To Nov. 3 Ballot Authored by Madeline Shannon via The Center Square , The controversial union-backed billionaire tax in California is officially heading to the Nov. 3 ballot. Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced the California Billionaire Tax Act exceeded the number of signatures it needed to qualify for the general election. The initiative aims to impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on the Golden State’s billionaires to generate $100 billion in revenue. The tax would apply to assets like art, stocks and bonds. That money would be used to help backfill reductions in federal funding

Betting Against Ourselves: The Casino-ization Of America Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance Last month I wrote about something that had been building in my mind for years: the realization that active trading was doing more harm than good in my life. I wrote about how I had finally put systems in place to turn my trading and account management over to trusted parties who are far better and more disciplined at it than I am. I had to separate the fact that I feel great about often being an accurate prognosticator on my blog about market trends, but that executing

Kremlin Skeptical That US-Iran Peace Can Be Achieved: 'Rash' If there's a 'good cop, bad cop' routine happening at the Kremlin, mostly assuredly the role of bad cop always falls to Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev . In his maximalist and hyperbolic threats, he can be seen as the "John Bolton of the Kremlin". With Trump's decision to wage war on Iran, Medvedev's negativity and skepticism has proven right more often than wrong. He is the latest Kremlin top official to weigh in on the bad position Washington once again finds itself embroiled in - and by it's own 'choice'

Swiss Government Discusses Revoking Protections, Benefits For Military-Aged Ukrainians During the opening years of the Russia-Ukraine war European states were quite welcoming to Ukrainian refugees and anyone fleeing the carnage and chaos, but now in the conflict's fifth year the general sentiment among EU populations and governments is changing. Switzerland, once hailed as Europe's most neutral state - and among the most 'welcoming' countries for asylum seekers - is mulling a policy change which would exclude Ukrainian men of military age from protections granted to refugees. The Swiss Federal Council announced in a statement Friday that it has begun consultations

Windward Says "Zero AIS Transits" On Hormuz Chokepoint US-Iran technical talks are underway on Sunday, with Qatari mediators involved. Ahead of the talks, likely focused on Iran's nuclear program, Tehran attempted to reassert leverage over the Strait of Hormuz following renewed Israel-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon. Iran announced the closure of the strait on Saturday , framing the move as retaliation for alleged violations of the US-Iran interim peace deal. Early Sunday, maritime intelligence and risk analytics firm Windward wrote on X, " Hours after the IRGC's closure announcement, AIS traffic through the Strait of Hormuz suggested business as usual ."

Gabbard Drops Fauci COVID-19 Receipts On Last Day: He Funded The Research, Cooked The Cover Story, Then Lied To Congress Newly declassified documents released Thursday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard show that a U.S. national laboratory assessed the COVID-19 lab-origin hypothesis as a serious possibility as early as May 2020, as well as evidence of U.S.-funded coronavirus research that included planning for spike-protein modifications, receptor-adaptation experiments, and testing in humanized mice in collaboration with researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The documents also prove that Anthony Fauci lied under oath. Today, on my final day as Director

BBC Flagship Soap Being Used To Push Pro-Migrant Propaganda By Activist Infiltrators Authored by Steve Watson via modernity , A campaigner for "migration and racial justice" has been employed to shape storylines for EastEnders - Britain's long-running BBC flagship soap opera set in London's East End - featuring plots about exploited African migrants and racially motivated murders, it has been revealed. It is clear evidence of such activists operating inside the UK's national broadcaster. The revelation also fits a deepening pattern where institutions, from the BBC to schools to shadowy government units, work to reframe mass immigration as an unquestionable

Poland Revokes Top Award From Zelensky As Row Over Nazi Symbolism Deepens Poland and Ukraine's ties continue to fray, worsening an ongoing diplomatic crisis - despite Warsaw being an 'eastern flank' key NATO ally in the broader Western campaign against Russia. President ​Karol Nawrocki has just announced the country's highest state honor previously awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been revoked . "In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'Heroes of the UPA," ... I have decided to revoke the Order ⁠of ⁠the White Eagle from the

Britain's Greatest Betrayal: The Rape Gang Inquiry Report Authored by Celina via American Greatness , Rupert Lowe’s Rape Gang Inquiry Report opens with two quotations before a single piece of evidence is presented. The first is Albert Einstein’s observation: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. Human history has always contained violent and predatory men, every society has had to confront them, punish them, and do its best to protect the innocent from them. That is a perennial feature of

Vance 'Skeptical' That Iran Closed Hormuz Strait Again, Pentagon Declares Safe Passage Remains 'Intact Today' Summary Vance & CENTCOM push back against reports of Hormuz 'closure' by Iranians. Iran's Ghalibaf, Araghchi en route to US Talks in Switzerland, IRIB reports. Also Witkoff-headed US delegation still expected. Iran declares Strait 'closed' again over US failing to reign in Israeli action in Lebanon. Rising death toll in Lebanon, after over 50 new rockets fired on Israeli positions by Hezbollah. Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by end of June? Yes 8% · No 93% View full market & trade on Polymarket

Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth? Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness, When I call you up, your line’s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won’t see me . . . Time after time You refuse to even listen I wouldn’t mind If I knew what I was missing —The Beatles, “ You Won’t See Me ” As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and

'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister Via The Cradle Late this week Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Tel Aviv "will be at war with Syria sooner or later , " highlighting that the alliance between Damascus and Turkey poses a "strategic challenge" to his country. The Likud official said, "There is no way that a jihadist regime rooted in ISIS and Al-Qaeda, whose aspiration is the unification of Jerusalem, can live in peace alongside the State of Israel." In a separate interview with Kol

In Defense Of Entrepreneurs By Matthew J. Brouillette via RealClearPennsylvania , Like clockwork, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is again finding America's billionaires guilty by reason of existence , arguing the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world must donate more to the government via higher taxes. Her premise is that the wealthy don't pay their "fair share," leaving the non-wealthy to suffer in a zero-sum game. The problem is that Warren, and the many others in Congress like her, aren't simply attacking the wealthy; they are attacking the foundation of America's greatness - entrepreneurs. Remember, "entrepreneurs" founded this

Leftwing opponent alleges vote count irregularities after Trump-endorsed lawyer secures narrow majority The Trump-admiring far-right millionaire lawyer and self-styled “outsider” Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda. With 99.65% of ballots counted in the preliminary vote tally, de la Espriella had secured 12.91m votes, or 49.65%, just 248,310 more than Cepeda, who received 12.67m votes, or 48.7%. A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank. Continue reading...

Frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups Ghost of far-right paramilitaries hovers over Colombia’s presidential runoff vote Colombians are going to the polls in a presidential runoff expected to trigger a dramatic shift in the country’s decades-long armed conflict, now at its most violent point since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Polls show the frontrunner is the Trump-admiring far-right lawyer and millionaire businessman Abelardo de la Espriella, who has vowed to abandon President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan

Advocates say the Safe Third Country Agreement forces immigrants to head to an unsafe country: the United States It was the threat of gang violence in Honduras that pushed Carlos and Antonia to flee their home. In 2021, with their toddler, Alejandro, and a handful of belongings, the married couple ventured north hoping to reach safety in the US. The journey, through Guatemala and Mexico , was filled with danger and uncertainty . Continue reading...

Bulldozers sent in to clear roadblocks that have stifled the country as farmers and Indigenous groups protest against conservative president Bolivia’s president declared a state of emergency on Saturday and deployed soldiers and bulldozers to raze anti-government roadblocks that have paralysed the country. For more than six weeks, unions, Indigenous groups and coca farmers have marched through cities and blocked roads across the country with rubble, logs and debris in protest against the conservative government. Continue reading...

Colombians will choose on Sunday between two men whose lives have been very differently shaped by the militias, and whose visions for the country are poles apart Whoever wins Sunday’s presidential runoff vote in Colombia, the country’s next leader will have a personal history intertwined with one of the criminal forces at the heart of a decades-long armed conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives. The lives of Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella have, in very different ways, been shaped by their relationship with Colombia’s paramilitaries – private armies originally established by rightwing landowners, drug traffickers, businessmen,

Rob Jetten acknowledges grief and pain of Moluccan families as crowdfunded monument unveiled in Rotterdam The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, has formally apologised for the “heartless” mistreatment of thousands of Moluccan soldiers who fought for the Dutch colonial army during Indonesia’s struggle for independence. About 12,500 people – men who had served in the Royal Dutch East Indies and their families – came from a group of Indonesian islands to the Netherlands in 1951, many having been given no choice. They thought it would be a temporary evacuation after Indonesia had won independence. Continue reading...

Strong winds and heavy rain batter Slovenia, while France experiences atypical heatwave Severe thunderstorms swept across the Balkans last week, bringing widespread destruction to parts of the region. The storms developed as unstable hot air lingered over the Adriatic Sea while a cold front plunged south-eastward. The front began its journey on 10 June in Slovenia, where the Slovenian Environment Agency recorded 65mph gusts at Ljubljana airport. Heavy rain also fell widely across the region with 23mm reported in Kranj. Continue reading...

Online uproar follows Canadian brand’s use of taiko drum at sponsored festival held to celebrate Chinese culture The activewear brand Lululemon has apologised after a promotional event held on the Great Wall of China appeared to mistakenly feature a Japanese drum, prompting an uproar. The Canadian-headquartered company, known for its upmarket leggings, has been growing rapidly in China and arranged for a yoga festival to take place in late May on a section of the wall near Beijing. Continue reading...

Major operation launched after spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local media Police in Vietnam have rescued more than 400 cats in a bust of a cat meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media reports. More than 40 cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but several dozen of those rescued have died due to the harsh conditions in which they were found, the groups said. Continue reading...

Fashion house pays tribute to Chinese style with its 75th anniversary catwalk show in Shanghai “New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down.” For the British designer Ian Griffiths, who encountered this line in the New Yorker, it summed up why China’s biggest city was the right place to celebrate Max Mara’s 75th anniversary. “Max Mara is a product for metropolitan women, and it would be patronising to assume that a metropolitan wardrobe should be western-centric,” Griffiths said. Continue reading...

Deputy Liberal leader says Labor politicians pulling the ladder up behind them after using negative gearing to create wealth. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Hume has no problem with more debate on NDIS changes, but criticises ‘horse trading’ between Labor and the Greens Jane Hume is speaking to RN Breakfast now, saying the Coalition has no problem with increased scrutiny over changes to the NDIS should the Greens negotiate a longer inquiry into the scheme the week. I suppose one of our concerns is that perhaps the changes don’t

Australian federal police arrested and charged two men after allegedly finding 2.7 tonnes of cocaine in ‘bunkers’ under shipping containers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Police have made what they say is Australia’s biggest ever cocaine seizure, uncovering 2.7 tonnes of the drug buried in secret bunkers at a property on Sydney’s western fringes. The seizure was made by the Australian federal police on Friday at a semi-rural property in Londonderry. Continue reading...

Albanese government under pressure to wind back fuel tax credit scheme for multinational miners as analysis shows cost to budget Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Coal companies could receive an extra $6.2bn in taxpayer refunds for the diesel they use if the Albanese government greenlights just half the mine developments up for approval. The finding, in an analysis released by activist group Lock the Gate, comes as the government faces an internal campaign before next month’s Labor party national conference to commit to winding back a fuel tax credit scheme for multinational miners.

Thanks to rushed deadlines, financial pressure and overworked staff, titles are going to market before they’re ready – and then sliding from view immediately A Sydney author – I’ll call her Rebecca – vowed never to write another book after the deranging experience of publishing her first. She’s using a pseudonym because one day she might change her mind; the notoriously small Australian publishing industry does not tend to look with favour on authors who complain. When Rebecca was proofing her debut – a work of nonfiction published by one of the big five – she discovered that a pivotal

This blog has now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Ted O’Brien distanced himself from Pauline Hanson ’s suggestion that Australia shouldn’t give aid to Pacific countries that also take aid from China. He said it was a legitimate concern, but her solution was “completely wrong” for the Pacific and not in Australia’s national interest. The idea that you effectively hold a gun to the head of our Pacific neighbours – that’s not what a friend does, that’s not a way of building trust, you don’t basically create an ultimatum. You certainly don’t

Sports and nationwide music festival affected, with temperatures for some expected to reach 42C from Monday Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C. Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under

Former party leaders reflect on the turbulence that followed the referendum in which most Scottish voters backed the losing side The decision to quit the EU bolstered support for Scottish independence, which a decade after the Brexit referendum is at near record levels, according to Scottish Labour’s former leader Kezia Dugdale. Dugdale said the Brexit vote “creates a frame around fairness” for many in Scotland because, unlike England, Scottish voters comprehensively backed remain in 2016, by 62% to 38%, yet found their country taken out of Europe. Continue reading...

Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the country PhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists. From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena Continue reading...

Poll also finds three quarters of people in Britain want closer ties, with majority accepting free movement Two-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found. Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) , a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries said they either “strongly supported” or “tended to support” UK

Italian house’s catwalk emphasised the brand’s ‘molto sexy’ look with flamboyant, sometimes revealing outfits Dolce & Gabbana leaned heavily into the art of theatrical misdirection on the second day of Milan fashion week as it aimed to draw attention away from its debt issues, catwalk controversies and management reshuffles. On the catwalk its signature “molto sexy” Italian aesthetic that comes served with a generous scoop of la dolce vita was in full swing. This was Euro summer on steroids. There were clingy muscle vests and micro shorts that made short shorts look modest while some models simply went topless. Jeans

Negotiations continue via mediators after US president threatened to bomb Iran and kidnap negotiating team unless strait of Hormuz reopened Iranian negotiators left high-stakes talks with the US in Switzerland in protest at a stream of threats issued by Donald Trump on social media, leaving mediators Qatar and Pakistan to continue negotiations in the background. The US president had threatened to bomb Iran, and even to kidnap the Iranian negotiating team unless the strait of Hormuz is reopened. It was not clear if the Iran walkout was permanent or a symbolic show of protest. Continue reading...

Objections comes as Trump threatens to renew attacks on Iran if it doesn’t rein in its proxy in Lebanon US political figures from left and right voiced fresh objections on Sunday to Donald Trump’s provisional deal with Iran – even as the US president made new threats while Vice-President JD Vance hailed progress during the first round of direct peace talks in Switzerland. Negotiations in Lucerne between the US and Iran have already run into difficulties, after Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. “If they don’t, we’ll

This live blog is now closed. Trump threatens fresh attacks on Iran as peace talks take place in Switzerland There ⁠was and is ‘no restriction’ on ⁠Israeli ⁠soldiers ​to act to eliminate ⁠threats in Lebanon, and that troops would not withdraw from the security zone, ‌Israeli defence minister ‌Israel Katz said in a statement on Sunday, according to Reuters. Israeli strikes killed at ‌least 20 people in Lebanon ​on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported, ⁠a day after a ​ceasefire with ​Iran-backed Hezbollah ​took effect ​after ‌months of ​escalating ​violence. Continue reading...

Former negotiating team member gives shock interview claiming supreme leader’s instructions were not followed Middle East crisis – live updates A former member of Iran’s negotiating team in the previous round of talks with the US in Islamabad is facing the threat of prosecution and dismissal from parliament after he went on the main state broadcaster to reveal what he claimed were confidential letters from the country’s supreme leader. The interview with Mahmoud Nabavian, the deputy chair of Iran’s national security council, was eventually cut off, but only after he said he had seen secret correspondence written by Mojtaba Khamenei

A secretive investigation into the attack that killed at least 175 has concluded, reports suggest. Will its findings ever see the light of day? The attack on a girls’ elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab was one of the US military’s deadliest civilian bombings in decades. But nearly four months on, the Pentagon has produced no answers about why the military fired a Tomahawk cruise missile into a school on the first day of the war, killing at least 175 people, mostly children. Some critics doubt that the Pentagon ever will, or will bury the results under classifications

Directive aimed at government workers, but reports of wider implementation spark warnings of future Afghanistan-wide prohibition The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions. In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’ Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges. Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax. Continue reading...

Relations at lowest ebb in years after Washington refuses to apologise for deaths in strait of Hormuz Fury has continued to mount in India over the US’s refusal to apologise for the deaths of Indian sailors killed in strikes in the strait of Hormuz, further straining relations between the two countries as their leaders meet at the G7 summit in France this week. Last week, three Indian seafarers, who were working on board commercial oil tankers, were killed when the US launched missile strikes on the vessel as it sailed through the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...

Arrest of Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, comes just month after Trump visit to Beijing China has arrested a US scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy on suspicion of spying. Min Zin was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, said on Friday. Continue reading...

Relatives of those killed on flight AI171 are still struggling to obtain answers about what happened When Sagar Patel’s mother boarded Air India flight AI171 on 12 June last year, she called her son as she always did before takeoff. The flight was due to leave Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport in Ahmedabad, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, and was destined for Gatwick. “We always had a little traditional thing,” said Patel, a business manager from London. “Once she got on the flight, she would sit down and call me. She’d tell me: ‘Yep, I’m on the flight. See

Exclusive: While recruits will increase headcount for now, broader adoption of AI could lead to job cuts in future Lloyds Banking Group has launched an AI recruitment drive for 300 tech experts, weeks before its chief executive, Charlie Nunn, announces a strategic plan for the 261-year-old lender. The bank said it intended the recruits to work on its use and development of agentic AI by September, referring to autonomous AI models that can plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight. Continue reading...

Two-thirds of respondents support increasing the 2% digital services tax for multinationals Taxpayers want the UK to increase levies on giant global technology companies such as Facebook owner Meta, Google and Amazon, a survey of Britons’ attitudes on corporate taxes suggests. The polling released on Monday by the Fair Tax Foundation – abody providing businesses with certification around responsible tax conduct – found that 67% of respondents believe that the government should charge higher digital services taxes on multinational technology groups “to increase their overall tax contribution in the UK”. Continue reading...

Company ‘extremely sorry’ for ‘unacceptable’ email urging customers to ‘Snap up these deals quicker than a croc can catch a kid!’ The discount voucher website Wowcher has apologised after appearing to make reference to a crocodile attack on a toddler at a zoo in an email promoting its offers. A spokesperson for Wowcher said it was urgently reviewing its marketing content after the subject line of an email on Saturday urged customers to “Snap up these deals quicker than a croc can catch a kid!” Continue reading...

White Scottish man, 38, charged after five men were injured in spate of attacks in city on Friday night Witnesses to the alleged knife attacks on Muslims and others in Edinburgh on Friday have described seeing a taxi and an Uber bike courier being targeted in Leith. The attacks, suspected of being directed against Muslims and people of colour, began near a mosque in the west of Edinburgh, followed by incidents on Leith Walk in the east of the city. Continue reading...

While PM’s desire to fight was strong, time with his inner circle at Chequers sharpened his sense of the inevitable On Friday, as the dust settled on Andy Burnham’s thumping victory in the Makerfield byelection, Keir Starmer was in defiant mood. “I have said repeatedly, I am not going to walk away,” the prime minister said, adding: “Let’s pull together as a party and a movement.” Just 48 hours later, one of his most loyal ministers was on the BBC sending a very different message. “I don’t want to come on here and be delusional that there is no process,

Mayor says ‘violence has no place in our city’ as president criticizes governor for not accepting national guard troops At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in several shootings in Chicago since Friday, police said, with Donald Trump once again calling for military intervention in the midwestern city. In a post on Truth Social, Trump questioned why Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, had not welcomed military deployment. Continue reading...

FAA investigating incident involving Delta and American jets that forced Delta plane to abort landing attempt A Delta jet was roughly 300ft (90 meters) from an American Airlines plane during a close call at Boston’s airport that forced the Delta aircraft to abort a weekend landing attempt, an aviation expert said on Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident between two commercial flights that happened Saturday at Boston Logan international airport. Continue reading...

Algae blooms and peeling paint mar $14.2m renovation as president claims pool has been ‘seriously vandalized’ Repair work will begin “immediately” at the troubled Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC, Donald Trump said on Sunday, after suggesting the pool would need to be drained and blaming alleged “vandals” for the disruption. The reflecting pool has been plagued by algae blooms and peeling paint following the controversial recent renovation efforts for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations next month. Continue reading...

Town of Eureka evacuated due to risk from Iron fire as officials forecast more hot weather in week ahead Extreme heat and dry, windy conditions are fueling multiple wildfires across the US west, including a massive blaze in Utah that forced the evacuation of a small town, with hot weather in the forecast raising the risk of more blazes in the week ahead. The Iron fire in Utah’s Juab county was first detected on Saturday and has so far blackened more than 2,000 acres. The fire, about 70 miles (113km) south-west of Salt Lake City, forced the evacuation of Eureka,

Officers find man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an ‘elevated position’ A 51-year-old man fell to his death during a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night, police said. Officers responding to a 911 emergency call at about 9.51pm found the man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an “elevated position”, New York police said in a statement. Continue reading...

Pope Leo on Saturday exalted the first American saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, as a model for Christians today to care for migrants in need, as he visited her birthplace during a day trip to northern Italy. Leo, who has clashed with the Trump administration over its migrant crackdown, urged young people in particular to learn about Cabrini’s life and service, once again confirming history’s first US pope as the heir to Pope Francis in prioritising the plight of migrants. Leo prayed before...

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) won a landslide victory in legislative polls held June 1, the election commission said on Sunday, giving it almost 90 per cent of the seats. Abiy has led Ethiopia since 2018, and is increasingly criticised for growing authoritarianism, in contrast to his early years when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for mending relations with neighbouring Eritrea. The PP was considered the overwhelming favourite in the country of 130 million, facing a...

A severe ⁠heatwave gripped much of Europe on Sunday, with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), prompting nationwide warnings, transport disruption and signs of strain on wildlife and at tourist hotspots. The heat surge on June 21, the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and typically the start of the three hottest months of the year, raised concerns of an early and persistent onset of ‌extreme conditions. After several days of temperatures above 35 degrees,...

Bolivia began showing signs of returning to normalcy on Sunday, a day after President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency to resolve a 50-day social crisis that ‌had blocked the nation’s main highways. Early on Sunday, the Legislative Assembly overwhelmingly approved Paz’s decree, which aimed to restore transit and supply essential goods after protesting groups cut off key roads for weeks, stranding trucks and choking supplies of food, fuel and medicines to many areas. Sunday’s vote in...

The spectacle of US President Donald Trump thanking China for staying “neutral” with regard to the US-Israeli war against Iran would have been unthinkable a year ago. Yet at the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 17, he credited Beijing – alongside Moscow – with preventing a full-blown catastrophe. His observation that China “could have sent in an oil ship with six destroyers alongside of it, on each side” but chose restraint, captured the essence of Beijing’s strategic...

Al Jazeera on Sunday rejected Israeli accusations that one of its journalists, killed in Gaza a day earlier, was a Hamas operative, as family and colleagues mourned the cameraman in the Palestinian territory. The Qatar-based network said in a statement that it “condemns the Israeli occupation army’s baseless accusations, which seek to justify its crimes against Al Jazeera journalists and cameramen in Gaza, most recently the killing of cameraman Ahmed Wishah”. The Israeli military said in a...

A deeply divided electorate will choose Colombia’s next president in a run-off on Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of renewed internal conflict in the country. Voters will choose between businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31...

Three fully laden India-linked supertankers have re-emerged in the Gulf of Oman, adding to increased reports of traffic moving both ways across the northern and southern routes of the Strait of Hormuz, while conflicting narratives over the status of transits persist. The Desh Vibhor, Desh Vaibhav and Sanmar Herald were observed in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea on Sunday, after having been last seen signalling their attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz late on Friday, according to...

A new round of negotiations over the Middle East war was set to kick off on Sunday as Iranian negotiators and US Vice-President J.D. Vance arrived in the Swiss host city, even as Tehran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz again over Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Before boarding his flight to Europe, Vance told reporters he hoped to “make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we’re going to be focused...

US Donald Trump has sparred with most of his fellow Group of Seven leaders at some point. But Italy’s Giorgia Meloni this week did something none of them dared: she escalated. Unlike Spanish Socialist Pedro Sanchez, one of the few leaders in Europe who has made political capital of being berated by Trump, the Italian prime minister had stood out as one of the few Europeans he actually liked: an outspoken conservative at ease talking Maga. But Meloni has also transitioned from a populist...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was considering his political future on Sunday, after rival Andy Burnham’s decisive election victory to parliament prompted more ministers in the governing Labour Party to call for him to go. Struggling with some of the lowest popularity ratings for any British leader in modern political history, Starmer could decide as soon as Monday whether to step aside ‌or fight a leadership contest against Burnham, one source said. The scale of victory Burnham won for a...

⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ⁠on Saturday that Ukrainian drones had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Tyumen Region in western Siberia, more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) from Ukraine. He also said Ukraine had ‌developed new long-range drones capable of operating over more than 3,000 km. Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelensky offered thanks to the Ukrainian military’s special operations which “have reached Tyumen Region in Russia, including an oil refining facility. More...

US President ⁠Donald Trump said on Saturday that much of the water at the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington “probably” has to be drained for repairs following what he called “vandalism” of the site. “We met with ‌contractors today, will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible,” Trump wrote in a post on social media. Several alleged vandals have been arrested,...

Claude Guillemot, who ⁠co-founded French video-game ⁠publisher Ubisoft with ⁠his brothers in 1986, has died, the company said on Saturday. “Ubisoft was deeply saddened to learn of the death of ‌Claude Guillemot, co-founder of the group and chairman of Guillemot Corp, in an accident,” the statement said. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time. No further statements ⁠will be made at this time,” it added. Guillemot, 69, died ‌on Friday in a plane crash in La...

One of Iceland’s two remaining whaling ships set out this week to hunt the giant mammals after a two-year hiatus, local media and campaigners reported on Saturday. Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan – despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organisations. A protester chained himself to the mast of the vessel before it left the port of Reykjavik on Friday. He climbed down in the evening and was escorted...

Iran on Saturday said that it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that while negotiators were going to Switzerland for talks with the US on their interim agreement, not much likely will happen if the fighting does not stop. US President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to impose US tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran is not reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries...

US President Donald Trump escalated a diplomatic row with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him and linking the dispute to tensions over Iran and Nato. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7...

A Spanish court has ordered the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Begona Gomez, to stand trial by jury for corruption and banned her from leaving the country, according to a court order released on Saturday. The case is one of several corruption affairs that have embroiled the Socialist leader’s family and former allies, threatening to topple his minority coalition government. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado ordered Gomez to hand in her passport and to appear before the court twice a month until a...

At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, with some confirmed to have died from Ebola in a sign the disease could be spreading fast there. It was not possible to confirm the causes of all the deaths because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia – the epicentre of the Ebola ‌outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo – had until Thursday refused testing, a...

One person died after two freight trains collided on a bridge in Munich overnight, causing loaded cars to plunge to the road below, police said on Saturday. Two cars of one train fell about 5 metres (16 ft) from a bridge and came to rest at round 1.40am, according to a spokeswoman. It was unclear what caused the collision on the bridge, which caused one of the trains to derail. The nature of the cargo was initially unclear, however police stated it was not hazardous material and that there was...

Led by Japan, East Asia seems to be setting off along a road to nowhere – beyond tension and maybe eventual conflict. This may seem a harsh indictment yet consecutive Japanese leaders have shown a lack of vision on the constructive role their country could play in achieving regional peace and economic integration. The latest manifestation of this is Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s proposal this past week to G7 leaders in France to coordinate the stockpiling of critical minerals,...

Bolivia’s crisis intensified on Saturday as President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency, enabling wider military ‌deployment to clear blockades and restore order after protests brought the economy to a halt over the past 50 days. The emergency declaration gives Paz broader constitutional tools to restore order, such as sending armed forces to clear blockades. While the order goes into effect immediately, the president must notify Congress of the state of emergency within 24 hours of...

US ⁠envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi were both headed to Switzerland for ⁠talks, Axios said on Friday, as a ceasefire in Lebanon appeared to revive efforts to turn an interim Iran war pact into a lasting regional deal. Switzerland ⁠continues ⁠to provide a “discreet and reliable setting” ‌at Burgenstock to facilitate discussions on implementing a memorandum of ⁠understanding between the US ‌and Iran, the Swiss ‌foreign ministry said ⁠on Saturday. It ⁠added in ‌a...

Carl Jung was a big fan of the I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes. He was also a close friend of Richard Wilhelm, whose German translation was probably the most influential Western version of the ancient Chinese text in the last century. But over the years, I have become convinced that the great Jung didn’t really get it. A red flag is that he thinks it is very difficult for the Western mind to grasp what I will call the Chinese spirit of the I Ching, which he claims is completely...

Norway is imposing a near ban on the ⁠use of generative ⁠AI tools by junior ⁠school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learning, the country’s prime minister has said. Facing a broad decline in education test ‌scores, the government in 2024 banned smartphones from schools and has given teachers back more powers to enforce discipline in the classroom. Using artificial intelligence increased the risk that young children skip...

For much of the 20th century, many were accustomed to thinking of people as an ever-expanding resource. As the number of people grew, so did labour markets, consumer markets, scientific communities, production systems and armies. In 1950, the world’s population was about 2.5 billion. In 2026, it is reaching 8.3 billion. In just 75 years, the population has increased more than 3.3 times. In this sense, the current human population may turn out not to be a permanent norm, but a historical anomaly...

Nine people were in critical condition on Saturday after a collision between two passenger trains in central England the night before killed the driver of one of the locomotives, police said. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said more than 80 people were treated in hospitals after the crash late Friday afternoon, and 28 remained hospitalised a day later. Buckingham Palace said King Charles “is greatly saddened” by the crash. It said “his thoughts and sympathies are with the...

A new Air Force One gifted by Qatar as a replacement aircraft for ferrying US presidents was unveiled on Friday by the US Air Force. “The Air Force’s VC-25B Bridge aircraft has officially arrived at the Presidential Airlift Group and will commence its initial commissioning flights, marking the successful delivery of a secure, modified executive platform,” the Air Force said. “The workmanship of this plane is, when you see it, you won’t believe it,” Trump said from inside the massive Andrews Air...

Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki announced on Friday he was stripping Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky of the country’s top award, escalating a row between the neighbours and allies over World War II massacres. Relations between Warsaw and Kyiv have been tense for days over Zelensky’s naming of a Ukrainian army unit after a WWII nationalist insurgent army that took part in massacres against Poles. Nawrocki’s decision landed days before Poland is due to host the annual Ukraine Recovery...

A clear majority of Keir Starmer’s cabinet believe it is now inevitable Andy Burnham will take over as prime minister, according to people familiar with the thinking of more than 15 cabinet ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday. However, as of late in the afternoon, most remained unwilling to do anything about it. Most the cabinet was still not ready to tell Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure, the people said, preferring to wait and see how developments...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a week ⁠should be enough ⁠for Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to ⁠remove equipment from his country used by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine, adding a threat of Ukrainian action if Lukashenko did not do so. Zelensky said signal relay stations were located in two Belarusian regions bordering ‌Ukraine that were used by Russian forces to help with steering during attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Reuters could not verify his claims...

Iran sought to assert control over Strait of Hormuz by saying that ships need its permission and mandatory insurance to cross, even as the US said that 20 ships sailed through overnight via a route it recommends along Oman’s coast. The conflicting signals come as the shipping industry tries to assess whether it is safe to transit the world’s most important energy chokepoint and what sort of system will emerge after the US and Tehran reached an interim peace deal to reopen the strait. The number...

In the Moscow district of Maryino on Friday, shopkeeper Andrei Kondratyev braced for more Ukrainian attacks and possible petrol shortages, saying Russians needed to “get used to” a new reality. A day earlier, Kyiv set an oil refinery ablaze in the nearby Kapotnya area in its biggest drone attack on Moscow in years, engulfing the Russian capital in smoke. Such scenes were unthinkable when Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022, but have in recent months become part of...

A British court sent two men to prison on Friday for setting fire to property linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a plot orchestrated by a mysterious Russian-speaking figure. Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Romanian citizen, were jailed for seven years and two years, respectively, after being found guilty of conspiracy to damage property by fire. The men targeted a car and two properties linked to Starmer over three nights in May 2025 on the...

We’ve never had it so good. The S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 have hit record highs this month. SpaceX had its spectacular initial public offering, the largest in history. The company raised an eye-popping US$75 billion and saw a sharp rise in its share price to a mind-blowing valuation of US$2.5 trillion in two days. The US-Iran deal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz caused petrol prices to drop back to below US$4 per gallon. Global stock markets are creating seemingly unstoppable wealth for...

Italy’s foreign minister on Friday cancelled a visit to the United States over reported comments by US President Donald Trump that appeared to mock Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “The grave and offensive words of President Trump … offend the whole of Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who had been due to visit the US on Sunday and Monday, said on social media. Meloni said she was “stunned” by Trump’s comments to Italian channel La7 in which, according to a transcript provided by the...

⁠Iran’s ⁠Strait of ⁠Hormuz body said on Friday it would waive planned fees to use ‌the strait during a 60-day negotiation period under the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States ⁠this week. Ships seeking passage through ‌the strait while the interim agreement was in ‌force must submit transit requests ⁠at ⁠least 48 hours before arrival, ‌Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said ‌in a ‌notice. Iran will waive ‌fees for security, safety, ⁠environmental services and related...

A Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan by Donald Trump’s administration under its controversial third-country deportation programme was repatriated to Vietnam on Friday after spending more than a year in detention. South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a press briefing on Friday. “We are grateful that while in our custody Mr Phan was very disciplined, joyful, and importantly, he remained healthy,” spokesman Agok Anyar said. Phan...

After two wars in the space of a year, diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme has come back to much the same place it was before the fighting began. The memorandum of understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday sets up talks that non-proliferation experts said would largely resume the US-Iran diplomatic track Washington broke off in February. That track had built on Oman-mediated talks – part of a wider Gulf diplomatic effort...

Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, after deadly exchanges between the two sides in Lebanon put a deal to end the Middle East war under strain less than two days after it was signed. Talks that were scheduled for Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to take the deal to the next stage were postponed amid the fighting, with no new date announced. Tehran’s top negotiator warned it would not bend on its red lines and that its finger was still “on the...

Visitors to the Acropolis can now see the Parthenon’s western side looking whole for the first time in about 220 years. Officially unveiled Thursday, restorers have slotted two new marble blocks into long-empty gaps high on the temple’s western end – the view visitors see when they first enter the ancient monument in Athens. The 25-century-old monument overlooking the Greek capital attracted about 4.6 million visitors last year. Long-term restoration projects address damage caused by war,...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Iran and US sign peace deal, Strait of Hormuz to immediately reopen: Pakistan Iran and the US have signed a peace deal that will take immediate effect, with Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the US lifting its naval blockade,...

Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path on Friday to ousting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, potentially ushering in a new bout of political instability, by decisively winning a parliamentary seat in northern England. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 54.8 per cent of the vote, beating the candidate for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, on 34.5 per cent. The scale of Burnham’s ‌victory in what...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10km (6 miles) from the border. The remarks were his first comment since the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the militant Hezbollah group. It was unclear what that US-Iran deal means in practice. Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the...

Cuban lawmakers on Thursday adopted nearly 200 historic free-market reforms aimed at rescuing the communist island from a severe crisis aggravated by a US oil blockade. In a landmark speech to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero unveiled 176 measures aimed at rolling back the state’s role in the economy and attracting investment in everything from banking to tourism and agriculture. Under the reforms, foreign investors were no longer required to form joint ventures with the...

The strength of the mayor’s political brand will be tested on Tuesday, when his slate of leftist congressional candidates takes aim at Democratic incumbents.

A possible referendum in Oregon on animal rights would end fishing, hunting, even pest control, just when Democrats are trying really hard not to be seen as “weirdos again.”

A landscaper’s difficult life and lonely death reveal the human cost behind the Hamptons’ manicured landscape.

A victory for Abelardo De La Espriella, a lawyer with no previous political experience, would be a rebuke to the left and another win for the right in Latin America.

An ally of Keir Starmer’s told the BBC on Sunday that Mr. Starmer was “taking the time to think through what the political realities are today compared to last week.”

The White House recently endorsed monitoring sewage for evidence of drug use. Critics fear such efforts could violate privacy and stigmatize neighborhoods.

With secondary education and most jobs out of reach, thousands of Afghan women have turned to entrepreneurship as the only path to make money and maintain a social life.

As the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn approaches, relatives of the two men still grapple with the legacy of a contentious moment in U.S. history.

The philosopher made a radical proposal about wealth.

I asked the vice president what is Christian about this White House.

Two retired New York City Sanitation Department workers, friends since grade school, dusted off a celebratory banner they carried in 1973, the last time the Knicks won a championship.