Minimalist News

US To Set Up Quarantine Facility In Kenya For Americans Exposed To Ebola The Trump administration is expected to deploy US public health officers to Kenya to staff a quarantine facility there amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a departure from procedure used during previous outbreaks of the virus, the WSJ reported . According to the report, the facility - which is pending signoff from the Kenyan government - will primarily be used for Americans who are exposed to, or at high risk of testing positive for the virus in the region, as well

Paxton Crushes Cornyn In Stunning Texas Senate Upset In a brutal repudiation of the GOP old guard, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton crushed four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate runoff Tuesday night, winning by a commanding margin of roughly 63% to 37%. The victory marks one of the biggest primary upsets in modern Texas political history. Cornyn, a powerful Senate insider and former Majority Whip, was unceremoniously dumped by his own party’s voters after more than two decades in Washington. Paxton, the hard-charging conservative known for his fierce battles with the Biden administration and loyalty to Donald

Texas Woman Arrested After Facebook Post Over Unsafe Brown Drinking Water: Report A woman in Trinidad, Texas, was arrested after she posted on Facebook raising concerns about the safety of the city's discolored drinking water, according to Fox 4 . Jennifer Combs posted the message on April 6 to her citizen-watchdog group page, Southern Belle Watch, urging residents who had been sickened by the city's tap water to come forward. "We have received reports that some citizens have been hospitalized due to bacteria in the water. This is a serious public health concern that deserves immediate attention," she wrote. "

Taiwan Defense Chief Contradicts Trump On Enormous Arms Package Moving Forward Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung said on Monday that he's "cautiously optimistic" that the US will advance a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan after the US Navy secretary said it was on hold due to the war with Iran. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told Congress last week that the US was "doing a pause" on the massive weapons package to "make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury," the code name for the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Oklo Lands DOE Plutonium Deal To Turn Surplus Material Into Bridge Fuel Oklo just secured a direct path to turn Cold War-era plutonium into fuel for its advanced reactors. The Department of Energy selected Oklo for advanced negotiations under the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, one of five companies chosen to convert existing stockpiles into usable fuel under strict security and safeguards rules. The move gives Oklo a practical bridge while domestic enrichment capacity scales. Work with radioactive materials at a plutonium facility at the at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1978.Credit The Santa Clara company is partnering with European advanced

The Demonization Of Men (And Everyone Else Too) Authored by Thomas Harrington via The Brownstone Institute, Imagine the following message in a public space: Caution: Area of Frequent Attempts at Reputational Destruction by Females I have never seen a sign bearing the above message in any public space, nor do I want to. Similarly, I have never seen a sign near a heavily African American neighborhood that says, “Caution, entering an area in which your chances of being the victim of a violent crime are statistically proven to be much higher than in other places.” And again, I do not

Second Chinese 'Combat' Patrol Buzzes Taiwan Within Days, On Heels Of Xi-Trump Summit In the wake of this month's Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, and as a 'paused' but still looming major US-approved weapons deal and transfer to Taipei is set to go forward, China is stepping up military patrols near and around the self-ruled island of Taiwan. Taiwan's military is currently on high alert, having on Tuesday dispatched ships and fighter jets to monitor the second Chinese "joint combat readiness patrol" in a week near the island. In a fresh post on X, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said its

'Giant Turd': Progressive Dems Continue To Rage At DNC 2024 Autopsy Authored by Corbin Trent via Common Dreams This past week the DNC released its autopsy of the 2024 election . DNC chair Ken Martin sat on it for months, assured us there was no smoking gun, promised he’d already been sharing the lessons, and then finally dropped the 48,000 words on a Thursday with a note on the front saying the findings don’t reflect the views of the DNC. He released the autopsy and disowned it simultaneously. I get why he'd disown it. It's a big turd. But the

Condo Prices Already Dropped By Up To 33% In 24 Bigger Markets Authored by Wolf Richter via Wolf Street , The price drops are getting relentlessly steeper: I n 24 bigger markets, prices of mid-tier condos through April have dropped by 15% to 33% from their respective peaks between 2021 and 2024. Each of the markets is shown in a chart below: 24 mindboggling charts, depicting breath-taking price explosions, especially from mid-2020 to mid-2022, exceeding 50%, 60%, or even 70% in just two years in some cities. In the 10 years to the peak, prices had soared by 180% to

Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem Targeted Twice In Recent Israeli Assassination Ops The single biggest, and most historic development out of Lebanon in recent years was the Israeli assassination of longtime Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on September 27, 2024, via massive bunker-busting airstrikes on his underground location in south Beirut. Since then, Hezbollah's leadership has been greatly degraded, also given the widescale pager explosion attacks. To fill the leadership vacuum, a co-founder of Hezbollah, and its first deputy secretary-general who had long assisted Nasrallah, Naim Qassem , stepped in as new Secretary-General. via the Long War Journal But now, Israel

Does Demand Create Supply? Authored by Frank Shostak via Mises Institute , By popular thinking, increases in demand cause economic growth. According to such thought, whenever the economy falls into a recession what is required is to strengthen demand . Since government is seen as an important part of total demand, what is then required is to increase government outlays, thereby lifting overall demand and hence increasing economic growth. According to the popular view, it is also possible to strengthen overall demand through the inflationary increases in money supply . With more money in their possession, and for given prices,

Homeowners Face Eminent Domain Bulldozers As Data Centers Demand Ever More Power Georgia Power isn’t negotiating anymore. The Southern Company subsidiary is seizing dozens of homes and hundreds of easements across Coweta and Fayette counties to ram through a 35-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line that will feed at least four massive AI data centers. Project Wansley is just the latest flashpoint in a backlash that has been building for months. QTS Data Center in Fayetteville, Georgia At least 20 to 30 homes face outright demolition . Another 300-plus properties will get permanent easements for towers planted in backyards and next to

Showcase Of Socialism: New York, Europe, And The Rise Of The New Left Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Supporters of bourgeois-conservative or libertarian politics have had little reason to celebrate over the past decades. One could also say that the interim balance sheet of the 21st century will go down in history as a complete failure for patriots, sovereigntists, and friends of liberty. The sparks of hope remain largely confined to a few South American beacons. Alongside El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s eccentric libertarian Javier Milei, the conservative politician of German descent Antonio Kast recently achieved an impressive electoral victory

Hasan Piker Says Quiet Part Out Loud, Maps Radical Left NGO Network To China-Based Marxist Financier Far-left Turkish-American millionaire and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker appears to have committed an operational-security mistake by publicly identifying American Marxist tech financier Neville Roy Singham, who has reportedly been living in China and has been linked by The New York Times to CCP-aligned propaganda networks, as a major financier of pro-Marxist revolutionary NGOs operating inside the U.S. On Sunday, Piker discussed the U.S. Treasury's " Requests for Information " subpoena related to his "humanitarian trip" to Cuba with pro-China CodePink cofounder Susan Medea Benjamin.

Iraq's Oil Collapse Sparks Race For New Export Routes Authored by Simon Watkins via OilPrice.com , Iraq's oil production has collapsed to just 1.39 million bpd after the Strait of Hormuz blockade stranded exports. Baghdad is urgently trying to revive northern export routes through Turkey, including the Kirkuk-Ceyhan system and a new Kirkuk-Nineveh pipeline. China is re-emerging as a major strategic player in Iraq's energy infrastructure, with Chinese firms heavily involved in Baghdad's new north-south pipeline expansion. April was indeed the cruellest month for decades for Iraq's crude oil production, with an average of 1.389 million barrels per day (bpd)

Iran Vows 'Swift, Decisive' Revenge After Overnight US Port Attack, As Sides Seek Deal Allowing Each To 'Sell Their Narrative' Summary CENTCOM denies that US Navy has officially restarted guiding ships through Hormuz Strait amid fresh tanker explosion and fuel leak incident. IRGC says its military shot down an MQ-9 drone and forced an F-35 jet out of Iranian airspace . Tehran formally accuses Washington of "ceasefire violation" while warning a final deal is not yet imminent , while Pentagon cites "self-defense" strikes in Hormuz overnight. Ayatollah Hajj message: US will "no longer have a safe haven for mischief &

Reuters Peddles Fake News After Defense Contractor Misuses Civilian Starlink Terminals Reuters dropped another misleading article today - this time attempting to manufacture drama between the Pentagon and SpaceX over Starlink usage during the Iran conflict. The story framed routine commercial contract discussions and terms-of-service enforcement as major "tensions" and growing Pentagon reliance giving Elon Musk undue leverage. Reuters' version of events was that SpaceX used wartime urgency to raise the price of Starlink connections on U.S. drones from roughly $5,000 to $25,000 per terminal , forcing the Pentagon to pay up while exposing how dependent the military has become

Defending The Fourth Amendment To Protect Gun Owners Authored by John Velleco via Gun Owners of America , All gun owners fully understand the vital importance of preserving the Second Amendment. But right behind that Constitutional Amendment in importance is the need to uphold the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. After all, without robust Fourth Amendment rights, we will never have much of a Second Amendment right. For that reason, both Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation have regularly filed amicus briefs to guard against erosion of Fourth Amendment rights. We recently filed such an

Lavrov Warns Rubio: Get Diplomats & Americans Out Of Kiev Ahead Of 'Systematic Strikes' Russia has again warned Washington to evacuate embassy staff in Kiev as it prepares to launch "systematic strikes" against the Ukrainian capital, in apparent retribution for last week's deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm in Starobelsk, in Russian-controlled Luhansk Oblast. It is further and more broadly warning all foreign persons to exit the Ukrainian capital, which has already been getting pounded at various intervals, stretching back days. Russia's foreign ministry slammed the college dorm attack, which killed and wounded dozens - the "last straw"

NYC Mayor Mamdani's Housing Plan Sparks Property-Rights Alarm Over Forced Transfers To Nonprofits Mamdani Releases "Block by Block: The Housing Plan for A New Era" NYC socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani released "Block by Block: The Housing Plan for a New Era," which presents a sweeping, deeply troubling blueprint to tackle the metro area's deepening housing crisis. Mamdani told the crowd: When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Stewards include community land trusts, nonprofits, or even the

Fifa approached Mexico after US declined to host Iran squad despite it playing group games in the United States Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum , said on Monday her government agreed to allow the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup , adding that the US did not want to host the team. The team will still play its group stage matches in the US but its base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California, a move that Iran’s football federation announced recently and that was confirmed by Fifa, the sport’s

Inmates at Barinas prison allege they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire, leaving some wounded Inmates at Venezuela’s western Barinas prison staged a protest on its roof on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses and calling for the removal of the facility’s director, whom they accused of overseeing guards as they shot unarmed prisoners. “We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,” a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a local NGO, on X, in which a man is seen with a bullet wound in his chest. Continue reading...

As Canada tightens asylum rules, refugees reuniting with family say they were turned over to ICE and jailed for months after failed border claims As each day in US detention passes, Markens Appolon can feel the life he had dreamed of slipping away. The 25-year-old fled Haiti to escape the rampant gang violence that upended his university studies in economics, and planned to join family in Montreal. Continue reading...

Judge said Trump administration would not have prosecuted Ábrego had he not challenged his high-profile deportation Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A US judge dismissed a criminal indictment against Kilmar Ábrego García on Friday, finding that the Trump administration would not have prosecuted him had he not challenged his high-profile deportation. Ábrego, who had entered the United States without authorization in the past, became a symbol of the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations when he was sent to the notorious anti-terrorism mega-prison in El Salvador known as Cecot in March 2025. Continue reading...

Alberta premier calls for referendum on secession after judge ruled initiative to force binding vote invalid The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney , has said that Alberta is “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the province’s leader moved the oil-rich region closer toward a referendum on independence. Separatists in the western province spent months collecting signatures seeking to trigger a binding October vote on seceding from the nation. Continue reading...

Dong Guangping has tried to escape on several previous occasions after been jailed for his activism in China A Chinese dissident has washed up on the shores of South Korea after attempting to flee China in a rubber boat. Dong Guangping, 68, is in custody in South Korea, having been detained by the coastguard on Monday evening. He is thought to have travelled more than 30 hours by sea to reach the shores of China’s democratic neighbour. Continue reading...

While approval is due soon for $14bn deal, actual deliveries to Taiwan are years away – making ‘Operation Epic Fury’ in the Gulf an unlikely cause The Trump administration’s war against Iran should have no impact on arms sales to Taiwan, experts have said, after a US official suggested a pause in the delivery of a key weapons package was due to the Gulf conflict. Analysts told the Guardian that a $14bn arms package left in limbo after Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping could take up to six years to process, and there was a “low likelihood” of any

Group have been stuck in flooded cave in central Laos for five days after heavy rain caused landslides Divers who helped in the dramatic rescue of a young Thai football team in 2018 have joined efforts to free seven people who have been trapped for five days inside a remote, flooded cave in central Laos. The group entered the cave in Xaysomboun province on Wednesday to hunt for wildlife and search for gold, reports suggest. Heavy rain led to landslides, which blocked the cave entrance. Continue reading...

Xi Jinping urges authorities to ‘spare no effort’ in rescue operation after explosion in northern Shanxi province At least 82 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a coalmine in northern China’s Shanxi province, in the country’s worst mining disaster in 17 years. The explosion happened on Friday at 7.29pm (12.29 BST) while 247 workers were underground at the Liushenyu coalmine in Qinyuan county, the state media agency Xinhua reported. Continue reading...

Resolution backed by 141 states hailed as ‘new chapter’ that could improve climate diplomacy and litigation efforts When the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a landmark climate crisis ruling on Wednesday, the Pacific island of Vanuatu’s prime minister hailed the result as the start of “a new chapter” in climate action. “The task before all of us now is to translate legal clarity into meaningful action, stronger cooperation, and greater protection for present and future generations,” said Jotham Napat. Continue reading...

Consumer think-tank says K-pop fans should know the prices before being sent into a ‘high-pressure sales funnel’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian fans of the K-pop group BTS are accusing the ticketing giant Ticketmaster of deploying “predatory” and “crazy” tactics, and have urged people to lodge formal complaints with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Ticketmaster Australia announced concerts at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium and Sydney’s Accor Stadium in February 2027 as part of the South Korean boyband’s comeback tour after a four-year hiatus . Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Syrian children should be treated ‘sensitively and gently’, Ryan says Independent MP Monique Ryan says the women and children returning from a Syrian camp should be treated gently, after they arrived in Australia last night. We’re talking about kids who have grown up in a camp in Syria who haven’t been exposed to Australia at all, and I would suggest that we should treat them sensitively and gently upon their arrival. And remember that there’s vulnerable kids and that the last thing they

Welfare advocates say that while the reforms are a step in the right direction, the privatised employment services model has failed and should be torn up Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Mutual obligations will be different for every welfare recipient, the employment minister says, signalling an end to jobseekers being forced to submit “endless” applications for roles they may not be qualified for. But welfare advocates and a key trade union have said Labor’s employment system changes don’t go far enough and fall short of the reform needed in the failure-plagued sector. They

The $26m deal involving media executive Bruce McWilliam signifies return to media business for mining billionaire after previous holdings in Fairfax and Ten Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has bankrolled former Seven media executive Bruce McWilliam’s acquisition of an almost 10% stake in Southern Cross Media, which owns the Seven Network, the Triple M and Hit radio brands and West Australian Newspapers. While the unusual arrangement – worth about $26m – does not give Rinehart a direct stake in

Head of BHP’s WA iron ore operations unable to give firm timeline for replacing diesel trucks as leaked documents reveal decarbonisation delay Read more from the BHP files investigation here Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A senior BHP executive has admitted the Australian multinational’s push to reduce emissions has been delayed as the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, said big miners had an “important moral obligation” to decarbonise. An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to the Guardian and ABC revealed this week that the world’s biggest miner has hit the brakes on

Search takes place amid intensifying focus on separate allegations of influence peddling as problems worsen for prime minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid The coming days and weeks are shaping up to be an anxious time for Pedro Sánchez, his family, his party and his administration. Continue reading...

Tourists and locals in Madrid, Paris, London, Dublin and Berlin share their experiences of the unseasonable May temperatures In recent days across parts of Europe, temperatures have soared, heat records have been broken and spring has felt more like the height of summer. Météo France, the French national weather service, has attributed this to a “heat dome”, with warmth held in place by a high-pressure weather front that has produced temperatures more than 10C above what used to be usual for this time of year. Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving deadly extremes that can

Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir accuses opponents of fearmongering amid warnings over misinformation and AI Iceland’s foreign minister has said she fears her country faces a “Brexit moment” in its looming EU referendum amid warnings over misinformation, foreign interference and AI. With just over three months to go until Iceland votes on whether or not to continue accession talks with the EU, developments are being closely watched by Washington, Moscow and Brussels. Continue reading...

Extreme early summer event across western Europe also brings highest temperatures for month in UK and Ireland Seven people have died in France in an extreme early summer heat event affecting a swathe of western Europe, with record high temperatures for May recorded for a second day in several countries. In France, which logged its hottest ever May day on Monday and again on Tuesday, the weather agency Météo France said the heatwave could last through the week and predicted temperatures could reach 39C in some areas. Continue reading...

Water cannon also used at rally called by Özgür Özel days after court dismissed him as CHP leader Riot police in Turkey have fired teargas and water cannon to break up a rally called by the ousted opposition leader Özgür Özel days after a court dismissed him from office. On Sunday, riot police had battered their way into the main opposition CHP’s headquarters in the capital, Ankara, firing teargas and beating party members before throwing them out, Özel said. Continue reading...

Strikes further strain supposed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, and came as Iran said US had violated separate truce Israel has claimed to have killed Mohammed Odeh, head of Hamas’s armed wing, in a strike on Gaza City last night. If confirmed, his death comes just 11 days after the Israeli military killed his predecessor . We committed that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily, and so it shall be, and also the voluntary emigration plan from Gaza will be implemented – everything at the right timing and in the right manner. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest, read our full report: Iran remains in peace talks despite first US strikes since ceasefire Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on his Telegram channel that Gulf powers will no longer be a shield for US bases and the US will no longer have a safe haven in the region, as Tehran and Washington discuss a framework to end their three-month-old war, Reuters reports. The post follows overnight attacks on Iran by the US, testing the ceasefire agreed in April. The strikes came as Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister

Tehran condemns ‘definitive violation’ but announces no specific reprisals as negotiations near decisive stage A proposed peace agreement between Iran and the US seemed to remain on the table on Tuesday despite US bombings of Iranian targets. The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of

End of shutdown comes despite interim court order questioning authority of body overseeing the move Iran’s access to the global internet slowly restarted on Tuesday, ending a record 88-day blackout that has contributed to thousands of Iranians losing their jobs and provided cover for the Iranian security services to mount a large-scale wartime crackdown. The resumption came despite an interim administrative court order questioning the authority of the body overseeing the move, called the “special headquarters for leading the country’s cyberspace”. The body had been set up by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, a week ago. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed – our live coverage of the Middle East crisis continues here Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, has said that time is working against the US and warned that Iran does not respond well to threats. In a post on X , he wrote: During the military war, our tactic was an eye for an eye; in the diplomatic war, it is action against action. Do not believe the bluff of the failed president; time is against the Americans. If they want an agreement, they should negotiate;

Lack of Pfas regulations raised in parliament after Guardian revealed former Miteni plant bought by Indian company Protests over the production of cancer-linked Pfas chemicals have spread across India, after an investigation revealed that an Italian factory shut down due to an environmental scandal was bought by an Indian company and partly rebuilt. At the end of last year, the Guardian revealed that the former Miteni plant in Vicenza had been acquired by the Indian company Laxmi Organic Industries. The factory produced Pfas and was shut down in 2018 after being linked to one of Italy’s worst environmental contamination scandals.

Senior lawyers call on prime minister to request Indian prosecutors drop charges that would breach double jeopardy rule Four senior lawyers, including the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against the British national Jagtar Singh Johal on the basis that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule which prevents someone being tried twice for the same offence. Johal has been held in an Indian jail for eight years, and in March last year was acquitted of the terrorist charges laid against him

Explosives-laden vehicle detonated as passenger train travelled through south-western city of Quetta A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway track as a passenger train travelled through the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 70 others, officials have said. The force of the explosion on Sunday caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online. Continue reading...

US president says it’s a ‘solid 50/50’ on either making a ‘good’ deal with Iran or striking the country anew Donald Trump said he would meet today with American negotiators to review Iran’s latest proposal and decide by Sunday whether he will strike Iran “to kingdom come”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, also told reporters in India on Saturday that “there may be news later today” about Iran. He did not specify what that news would be. Continue reading...

Move comes against backdrop of challenge by prime minister, Narendra Modi, to country’s traditional elites The Indian government has ordered one of the country’s most exclusive private clubs to vacate its premises in two weeks, underscoring the long-running push of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, against entrenched elite institutions. The ministry of housing and urban affairs directed the Delhi Gymkhana Club to hand over its sprawling site in the heart of New Delhi by 5 June, citing urgent public interest requirements, including defence and security infrastructure. Continue reading...

Ex-PM issues highly unusual intervention with 5,700 word essay and accuses Starmer, Burnham and Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump In his interview on the Today programme, Tony Blair said Labour won the election in 2024 because it was “an acceptable alternative” – not because voters liked what was in its manifesto. He said: Let’s be clear, I don’t think Labour won the last election because people read the manifesto and said, ‘this is what we want’. I think people thought that Conservatives have behaved

Exclusive: Nursing and Midwifery Council admits it did not carry out checks on professionals who broke the law Nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients have practised over the last 12 years because of “potentially dangerous” failings by a medical regulator. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has admitted that its “completely and utterly unacceptable” mistakes meant it failed to protect the public from about 15 professionals whom it should have banned from ever working in healthcare in the UK because they had broken the law. Continue reading...

Average gas and electricity bill to jump to £1,862 a year from July until end of September, in part because of Iran war Households will face the steepest summer rise in energy charges in four years after months of soaring market prices caused the government’s energy price cap for Great Britain to climb by 13%. Under the cap the average gas and electricity bill will increase to the equivalent of £1,862 a year from July until the end of September to take account of the rise in global energy market prices caused by the war on Iran, up from £1,641

Dekiln to scale up its low-carbon technology with Johnson Tiles, in boost for struggling British ceramics industry A Manchester-based startup that makes ceramic-like tiles from waste without needing an energy-hungry kiln has teamed up with one of the UK’s biggest tile suppliers to launch a pilot project to scale up the technology. Dekiln, run by the biomaterials engineer Aled Roberts, is joining forces with Johnson Tiles to set up a trial manufacturing site in Stoke-on-Trent, the historic home of British ceramics. Continue reading...

Barnardo’s says survey shows online abuse and harassment becoming ‘part of background noise of growing up’ Nearly one in five girls in the UK receive persistent, unwanted images online, according to a poll by the charity Barnardo’s, which warned that online misogyny was becoming an everyday part of childhood. Its survey of 4,000 young people found that a quarter of girls had been called degrading names online, while one in seven 13- to 15-year-olds had been asked to send a nude photo. Continue reading...

The Park Slope Food Coop boycott vote follows tensions and rifts among members and larger community Members of a storied food co-operative in Brooklyn have voted to boycott about a dozen products from Israel and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine – capping years of contentious debate over a conflict half a world away that has threatened to rip apart a landmark institution for liberal New Yorkers. The Park Slope Food Coop vote, which took place Tuesday night during a three-hour virtual meeting attended by about 7,000 of the co-operative’s 17,000 members, follows months of dueling campaigning that one local rabbi

This live blog is now closed. Trump-backed Ken Paxton ousts John Cornyn in heated Texas race after scandal-plagued campaign America’s ugliest primary? Texas Republican infighting could hand Senate seat to Democrat Sign up for the Breaking News US email President Trump’s administration floated a plan to ask federal workers to sign non-disclosure agreements, according to a government document released Tuesday, Reuters reported. This is not the first time the administration has brought up non-disclosure agreements with federal workers. Last year, after the administration fired federal workers in mass amounts for “poor performance,” they were asked to sign confidentiality agreements, but

Nearly 200 people killed in Trump administration’s deadly campaign as strikes draw widespread condemnation The US military launched another strike Tuesday on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors. Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors”. Continue reading...

Christian Menefee wins 18th district race after Republican gerrymandering carved up Green’s reliably Democratic seat Christian Menefee, a freshman Democratic US representative, beat veteran congressman Al Green on Tuesday in a fierce runoff that was the product of Republican gerrymandering. Last year, the Republican-dominated Texas legislature unveiled a congressional map designed to flip seats in the GOP’s favor. Donald Trump had urged the state’s lawmakers to safeguard the party’s congressional majority. Continue reading...

Race had wide implications for Trump’s strength heading into midterms, where Paxton will face Democratic candidate James Talarico Ken Paxton, the Donald Trump-backed Texas attorney general, triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff for senator. His victory signals that even a scandal-plagued candidate can win over the deep red state with the support of the president. “After a public service career lasting more than four decades and 18 consecutive campaign wins, tonight we’ve come up short in this primary runoff,” Cornyn said shortly after the race was called. “I’ve always supported the GOP ticket. I intend to

US space agency Nasa has unveiled far-reaching plans for its first moon base that could see people living and working on the lunar surface within six years. Located at the moon’s south pole, the outpost, which eventually may have sites spread out over hundreds of square kilometres, would be established in a phased approach, which builds capability over time. The pioneering development was designed to help unlock new scientific discoveries and develop the technologies needed for future deep space...

A video of Robert F. Kennedy Jnr wrangling two snakes bare-handed captured the internet’s fascination on Tuesday, the latest animal encounter the US health secretary has shared publicly that has sparked intrigue and in some cases concern. Kennedy shared the clip of himself grabbing the tails of the non-venomous black racer snakes on his personal social media accounts, noting in the caption that he was removing them from the patio of Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet...

Panama’s foreign minister used a United Nations Security Council debate on Tuesday to call for dialogue over confrontation, saying his country was “born to connect oceans, continents, cultures and economies” in a speech delivered before an assembly chaired by China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, as the two countries navigate their worst bilateral crisis since establishing ties in 2017. China holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council in May and convened a high-level open debate on Tuesday...

A massive chemical tank holding nearly 3.4 million litres of a highly corrosive liquid imploded and collapsed Tuesday at a Washington paper mill, killing at least one worker and leaving nine others unaccounted for with no hope for rescue, authorities said. Another nine people were injured, some severely, in the spill at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co in Longview. The cause remained unclear. “At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,” Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott...

Last year’s brazen robbery of the Louvre – when thieves made off with jewellery worth some US$100 million – is set to become a film, a publisher said on Tuesday. French director Romain Gavras – whose work includes 2025 Hollywood film Sacrifice starring Anya Taylor-Joy and music videos including most recently a hypnotic schoolboy choreography for GENER8ION – will draw inspiration from the investigative book Main basse sur le Louvre (literally A Grab at the Louvre). Film rights to the book about...

The UK smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heatwave continued to scorch parts of western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down. A temperature of 35.1 degrees was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens, Britain’s Met Office weather service said, breaking the 34.8 degree record set a day earlier at Kew. The provisional readings smashed the...

Iran started restoring access to the internet – a sign that the longest shutdown of its kind in history is easing amid a diplomatic push to end the war with the US. Monitoring group NetBlocks said there was a “partial restoration” on Tuesday after 88 days of near-total blackout on the national network, showing connectivity had risen from close to zero to around 35 per cent of typical levels. “In line with the esteemed President’s mission and in fulfilment of the government’s promise, the first...

Donald Trump said an annual medical check-up had gone “perfectly” on Tuesday, as the health of the oldest US president ever to take the oath faces growing scrutiny with the approach of his 80th birthday. It was Trump’s third medical examination since returning to office last year and follows mounting speculation about issues including bruising on his hands and apparent sleepiness during meetings. “Everything checked out PERFECTLY,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network as he drove back to the...

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed asking federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with the goal of preventing them from sharing confidential information with journalists. The Office of Personnel Management, the human resources office for the ‌US government, released a draft NDA designed for federal agencies to use with new and existing employees. Under the draft agreement, the administration could pursue civil and criminal penalties against employees...

Palestinian shepherd Sameeha Rasheed was planning for the sacred ritual of sacrificing her family’s sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of the holiest occasions in Islam, but West Bank Jewish settlers stole them in a predawn raid, she said. Instead of celebrating, Rasheed has been left with nothing and has also been deprived of the income she would have received from selling the sheep not used by her family. The settlers stole around 45 sheep from her home in Masafer Yatta, a collection of...

An explosion damaged a tanker close to its waterline as it sailed off Oman, a marine monitor said on Tuesday, as tensions remained high around the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The captain reported the explosion on the hull of the vessel, UK Maritime Trade Operations said. “The crew and vessel are safe, although the master reports some bunker fuel has discharged into the sea.” The incident, in the Gulf of Oman about 60 nautical miles east of Muscat, was an “external explosion”, UKMTO added,...

While cleaning my basement, I found an old copy of Foreign Affairs dated September/October 2014. If you didn’t look at the publication date but only its table of contents, you would have thought it was a recent edition. Titled “See America: Land of Decay & Dysfunction”, the edition’s front cover is a painting of a crumbling Capitol Building that houses the United States Congress. Keep in mind we are talking about the second year of the second term of Barack Obama, whose presidency is now fondly...

Jonathan Andic, son of Mango founder Isak Andic, said on Tuesday he was stepping down temporarily as the fashion group’s vice chair after being named a suspect in an investigation into his father’s death, while strongly asserting his innocence. “The attention and focus that my defence in the judicial process currently requires do not allow me to maintain the high level of commitment demanded by my role at the company,” Andic said in an open letter to staff. “A public narrative has been...

A crash between a bus and a train travelling at high speed in northern Belgium killed four people, including two children aged 12 and 15, and injured five other children, officials said on Tuesday. The injured children were hospitalised in serious condition, said Lisa De Wilde, spokeswoman for the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office. The collision happened at a level crossing during the morning rush hour near the town of Buggenhout, about 30km (20 miles) northwest of the capital,...

The Xi-Trump summit in Beijing unfolded much more cordially than the tense truce in Busan. In the six months since the leaders met in the South Korean city, America’s bargaining position has weakened considerably from developments both domestic and international. From a reluctant respite in tensions, US-China relations have evolved to what may be the beginning of a reconciliation. The two great powers interact at three levels. At the bottom is trade and investment; we can expect the terms of the...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called US State Secretary Marco Rubio to advise him to evacuate US citizens and diplomats from Kyiv, as the Kremlin plans to continue heavy strikes on the Ukrainian capital, according to a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday. Lavrov called his US counterpart at the request of President Vladimir Putin to tell him that Russia was launching systematic and consistent strikes against facilities in Kyiv as well as against the relevant...

Saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who spent more than two years practising in solitude as a young man on a windswept New York bridge to reinvent his playing and ⁠become one of the giants of jazz, died at the ⁠age of 95 on Monday, his publicist said. Rollins had recorded the confidently titled Jazz Colossus album ⁠in 1956. But the saxophonist remained wracked with self-doubt. So, in the summer of 1959, he began to play on the windswept pedestrian walkway of New York’s Williamsburg Bridge. Initially a...

“America is open, America is ready for you. We want you to come”. The United States’ new tourism chief, Nick Adams, boldly delivered the invitation at last week’s IPW Fort Lauderdale inbound travel trade show in Florida. “We can protect our borders and open our doors at the same time,” he insisted. “We want you to have a great vacation. There is no country like America on Earth.” Australian-born Adams, who obtained US citizenship in 2021, was appointed in March to the newly created position of...

Iran’s foreign ⁠ministry ⁠said in a statement on Tuesday that the United States had violated the ceasefire ‌with strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province. US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperilling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East war. “The United States ‌committed a gross violation of ⁠the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region ⁠in the past 48 hours … Iran holds the US...

The Israeli army intensified strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to escalate its offensive in an effort to “crush” Hezbollah. The air strikes come as the United States and Iran seek to finalise the terms of an agreement to end the Middle East conflict, which could include the Lebanon front, where Israel and Hezbollah have waged war since March 2. Despite a ceasefire that came into effect on April 17, Israel and Iran-backed...

The US Justice ⁠Department has again asked a ⁠federal judge to lift an injunction holding up progress on President Donald Trump’s ballroom project, saying Saturday’s shooting outside the White House showed an urgent need for improved security. The Justice Department, in ‌a five-page court filing on Sunday, said the incident underscores the critical need for “top level, state of the art security at the White House, including the ballroom”, adding that it was vital for national security. It also...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she has “no issue” with her country hosting Iran’s World Cup team after its training base was moved from the United States to Mexico for the summer soccer competition. The team will still play its group stage matches in the US but its base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California, a move that Iran’s football federation announced recently and that was formally confirmed by Fifa, the sport’s governing body, on...

Slowly but surely, Hong Kong is undergoing various scales of transformation. From the mixed-use development around Kai Tak to the revamped waterfronts on both sides of Victoria Harbour, the new railway extensions to the vehicular bypass tunnels below our busy streets, the adaptive reuse of underutilised spaces and the infusion of art and culture into local neighbourhoods, our city is evolving and adapting. Consider the East Coast Boardwalk as an example. The space under the Island Eastern...

A tense and tenuous calm fell over La Paz on Monday evening after a day rocked by violent clashes between protesters and police, despite Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz offering to slash his salary by 50 per cent in an effort to end protests. Even as clashes abated, there was no sign that protesters were prepared to clear the streets, with demonstrations likely to continue this week. Protesters have blocked roads into La Paz for nearly a month, leading to shortages of food, fuel and medicine. The...

Two teenagers were in police custody in northwestern France on Monday, a day after an 11-year-old boy was found dead with a wet towel tied around his neck, prosecutors said. The boy was found on the banks of the Vilaine river in the northwestern city of Rennes with a wet bath towel tied tightly around his neck, prosecutors said on Sunday. On Monday, a 16-year-old boy was detained at his home, while a 15-year-old girl was detained after presenting herself to police, Rennes prosecutor Frederic...

A Swedish prosecutor on Monday called for a 10-year prison sentence against a man on trial for allegedly prostituting out his wife to around 120 clients. The court proceedings against the 62-year-old defendant, in the northern town of Harnosand, were largely being conducted behind closed doors. He is accused of having created internet adverts, arranging the paid meetings between the men who answered and his spouse, and pushing her to perform sexual acts online to attract more clients. Although...

⁠Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued an order to reopen international internet access, Iranian state media reported on Monday, citing an official after a ‌near-90-day blackout in the wake of the war against US and Israel. The report cited the head of public relations at Iran’s Communications Ministry. The mechanism for how and when Iran would reconnect to ⁠the global web following the decision was unknown. “The decree aimed at restoring internet access to its pre-January state was...

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Kyiv on Monday following weeks of mounting warnings from Ukrainian officials about Russian plans to draw Minsk more deeply into the war against Ukraine. Tsikhanouskaya arrived a day after one ‌of the war’s biggest strikes on the Ukrainian capital killed four people and damaged historical sites, and amid Russian threats to launch further heavy attacks on Kyiv. Tsikhanouskaya, an opponent of Belarus’ President Alexander...

Temperatures hit record highs for May in Britain, Ireland and France on Monday, as forecasters warned of a prolonged period of extreme heat across Europe throughout the week. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Temperatures in Spain were expected to peak later this week at 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit), while parts of Italy imposed restrictions...

The former husband of Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 (US$540,000) from the pro-independence Scottish National Party in a years-long probe into the party’s finances. Sturgeon, the former head of Scotland’s devolved administration in Edinburgh, quit as SNP leader and first minister in February 2023. Her then-husband Peter Murrell was arrested in April that year after officers searched the home he shared with Sturgeon near...

US President Donald Trump said Monday that any agreement to end the Iran war should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements from Trump’s first term aimed at normalising relations with Israel. US and Iranian forces have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while diplomats push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has maintained controls on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and...

African leaders and financiers gathered for the African Development Bank’s annual meeting on Monday as the continent faces shrinking aid flows, with this week’s event in Congo Republic overshadowed by an Ebola outbreak across the border. Overseas development aid from the world’s richest nations to poorer countries dropped by nearly a ‌quarter last year to US$174.3 billion. The US led the cuts, including reduced funding to the concessional lending arm of the AfDB – Africa’s largest development...

A major diplomatic breakthrough between Washington and Tehran could signal sanctions relief for Iran, a development analysts say bodes well for China, the primary buyer of Iranian oil. Negotiations have advanced on a proposed 60-day ceasefire extension, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the US side issuing temporary sanctions waivers that would allow Iran to sell oil freely, Axios reported on Saturday, citing a US official. Any such relief would only be implemented under a final...

High on the list of deliverables agreed following the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump was the establishment of a board of trade, albeit with little detail on its mission, responsibilities or operations. The White House expects the board “to manage bilateral trade across non-sensitive goods” while China’s Ministry of Commerce says the board “will discuss issues such as tariff reductions”. While not contradictory, both formulations are vague and hint at...

Israel’s two far-right ministers on Monday called for an escalation of military operations in Lebanon, with one advocating strikes on Beirut in response to Hezbollah’s drone attacks. “It is time for the prime minister to take a firm stand with Donald Trump and tell him that Israel is returning to war in Lebanon,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on social media. Ben Gvir leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party. “Electricity to Lebanon must be cut off, the Zahrani...

Pope Leo called for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence in his long-awaited manifesto on the rapidly developing technology on Monday, and warned of “new forms of slavery” behind its rise. The “just war” theory – espoused recently by the Trump administration – was “outdated”, Pope Leo XIV wrote in his first encyclical, which he presented in person at the Vatican, alongside AI experts including the co-founder of US giant Anthropic. The first US pope, who has clashed with the White House...

The annual haj pilgrimage, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, officially began on Monday. More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia from outside the country, Saleh bin Saad Al-Murabba, commander of the haj passport forces, said on Friday. The faithful have been pouring into the country for the haj against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related regional tensions and uncertainty. Egyptian pilgrim Samya Abdul Moneim said she was grateful to God that she...

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. 82 killed in China’s worst coal mine accident for more than a decade 2. Why Bangladesh could raise Indian red flags by buying a China-Pakistan fighter jet 3. Screams as 10 hurt in ‘drop tower’ turbulence on Cathay flight from Brisbane 4. 2 notable women in ancient China broke barriers in fields...

For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has preached a mantra of peace and stability in the Middle East through the destruction of Iran’s Islamic Republic. The obliteration of the ayatollahs, he prophesied, would lead to the normalisation of relations between Israel and the wider Arab-Islamic world – with Israel emerging as the Middle East’s dominant power and indispensable security provider. But on Saturday, Netanyahu’s dreams looked set to be dashed, after US President Donald...

Oil fell as senior US officials gave further, positive signals on progress towards a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Brent lost as much as 6.2 per cent to US$97.10 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near US$91. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a cautiously upbeat tone, saying the US was going to give diplomacy every chance. “We thought we might have some news last night,” he said in New Delhi. “Maybe today.” At the weekend, US President Donald Trump said...

Geopolitical tensions and a funding crisis are jeopardising peacekeeping missions, particularly those under the auspices of the United Nations, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) warned on Monday. Just under 79,000 international staff were deployed in international peacekeeping operations at the end of 2025, the lowest number in at least 25 years, the institute said in a report. “If things continue in this way, we could see a dramatic weakening of multilateral conflict...

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China last week saw the signing of some 40 documents and a joint statement on strengthening the Beijing-Moscow partnership. The visit, just days after US President Donald Trump’s Beijing trip, is more than a diplomatic coincidence. It is a vivid reminder that the global order is now being shaped less by alliances than by a fluid triangle of China, the United States and Russia, with Beijing increasingly sitting at the centre. Timing is diplomacy. When...

Experts trying to prevent a tank holding a highly toxic and flammable chemical from exploding in Southern California found a “potential crack” in the container that might be reducing the pressure, a fire official said on Sunday. Since Friday, officials have warned that the tank, which contains methyl methacrylate, a chemical used in plastics and manufacturing, could rupture and spill up ‌to 26,500 litres (7,000 gallons) of toxic material or explode and endanger other tanks on the GKN Aerospace...

The US Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the January 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda”. The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican Donald Trump stormed the building in...

A shipment of nearly 15,000 tonnes of rice donated by the Chinese government to Cuba has arrived at the port of Havana, the island’s president said on Sunday. The shipment is the first batch of a promised 60,000 tonnes that China says it will donate to Cuba, which is grappling with dire shortages. “That noble gesture of solidarity will reach millions of consumers throughout all the provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, in addition to our health and education...

Lawyers representing federal workers said the move is intended to chill speech and could be challenged on First Amendment grounds.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship bout is scheduled for June 14, President Trump’s 80th birthday.

The health secretary wrangled two nonvenomous snakes while visiting Florida in a video that drew widespread attention.

The plaintiffs had sought a temporary restraining order, arguing that the map violated a state ban on partisan gerrymandering that voters passed in 2010.

With early voting already underway, it became clear there was no longer enough support to use new lines before the November midterm elections.

Alabama is likely to appeal the ruling, which stops an effort to use a new congressional map that would likely cost Democrats a majority-Black district.

China’s tobacco monopoly has become so financially vital to the government that even its powerful leader has failed to curb the country’s smoking habit.

Pope Leo XIV’s spiritual message on artificial intelligence arrived as Silicon Valley’s A.I. enthusiasts pursue their own spirituality through technology.

A group of immigration judges in 2020 challenged work-related restrictions on their public speaking engagements, saying they violated their free speech rights.

Florida officials had asked the justices to hear a lawsuit accusing California and Washington of improperly granting licenses to an immigrant accused in a fatal crash.

He ran the newspaper division of Advance Publications, while his older brother, Si, ran the Condé Nast magazine operation.

President Trump is said to be considering the appearance after his hometown team, the Knicks, clinched a championship spot.

The chief, Brian O’Hara, began leading the department in 2022 as it reeled in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.

Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant, populist agenda has helped his party, Reform U.K., emerge from the fringe of politics in Britain. But it faces an uphill climb to win power.

The director of Britain’s electronic surveillance agency warns that Russia is only getting more brazen as battlefield losses in Ukraine mount.

Dermatologists are flummoxed.

The Texas senate race will come down to the Democratic candidate’s strengths — and the Republican’s weaknesses.

The best-selling author of “Sapiens” and “Nexus” discusses the core delusions deranging our politics.

“It was a small ceremony with about 40 guests, none of whom were his father,” the late-night host said of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas over the weekend.

The risk of an explosion or spill has fallen significantly, the authorities said late Tuesday, and all evacuated residents can now go home. Some have begun to ask who should be held accountable.

While global warming is still a threat, the decision to back away from a worst-case outlook raises questions about whether some risks have been overstated.

For a split second, a fireball outshone the rivers of molten lava flowing from the Philippines’ most active volcano.

In a three-hour meeting, members of the grocery cooperative voted by a margin of more than 2 to 1 in favor of a boycott.