Minimalist News

'Tank Bottoms' Loom At Cushing After Across-The-Board Inventory Draws, Another Huge SPR Drain Oil prices bounced higher overnight after the US and Iran exchanged new strikes despite their purported ceasefire , rekindling uncertainty about an end to the Middle East war. The latest strikes were the most serious since an April ceasefire, and came despite a series of headlines suggesting talks on a deal were progressing. "A fresh exchange of strikes between the two countries is testing the fragile ceasefire and forcing a reassessment of the chances of a near-term agreement which can reopen the Strait of Hormuz and dial

Bank Of Canada Warns Markets More Vulnerable To Sharp Correction Due To AI Concentration, Basis Trades The Bank of Canada said the global financial system has functioned (surprisingly) well through recent global shocks, but underscored the risk of a sharp asset price correction as well as vulnerabilities related to the role hedge funds are playing in debt markets. The central bank’s 2026 financial stability report released Thursday noted financial asset valuations have continued to rise, while the stock market is increasingly concentrated in a handful of large tech companies that are heavily invested in artificial intelligence. That makes asset managers

Bessent Warns Oman On Hormuz Toll Scheme, After Trump Threatened To 'Blow Up' US Ally On an official level at least, Oman remains a close strategic partner and key ally of the United States in the Middle East; however, that relationship has been severely strained this month amid apparent Iranian-Omani cooperation regarding a potential toll system for the Strait of Hormuz. This of course flies in the face of the US posture in the region. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the latest top Trump admin official to chastize Oman: "The United States Government will not tolerate any effort to

Newsom Vows 100% Tax On Trump "Anti-Weaponization Fund" Payouts Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness , California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that his administration will seek to impose a 100 percent tax on any California residents who receive money from President Donald Trump's newly created $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Speaking to reporters, Newsom denounced the fund as a "slush fund" and pledged to block Californians from financially benefiting from it. " Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds ," Newsom said during a press conference. "He

Oklo COO Says Nuclear Waste Could Power America For 150 Years Earlier this week, we covered Oklo’s approval by Chris Wright’s DOE to convert plutonium previously set for disposal into new fuel. “Fuel supply constraints are a key throttle to advanced reactor development,” Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte said following the announcement. Jacob’s wife and Oklo’s COO Caroline DeWitte joined ZeroHedge and Radiant Energy Group’s Madison Hilly. Caroline laid out Oklo’s ambitious vision: recycle spent nuclear fuel, build fleets of reactors for AI hyperscalers like Meta, and turn what the industry currently treats as a liability (nuclear waste) into a strategic

Remarkable Turns Of Events By Michael Every of Rabobank It’s remarkable screen oil prices are little changed at below $100 today after Trump said the US is “not satisfied” over talks with Iran, days after claiming a deal was imminent, and hours after saying the terms the Iranians had leaked that the US agrees to --a real TACO-- were a “complete fabrication.” It’s more remarkable when Trump added Iran and Oman will not control the Strait of Hormuz, which they say they will; vowed to blow up Oman if it misbehaves; struck Iran again in another “defensive action”; and reiterated

Oil Tumbles On Deal 'Breakthrough' As US-Iran Reportedly Reach MOU, Pending Trump's Final Approval Summary Per Axios: "U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, but President Trump has yet to give it his final approval ." Unconfirmed reports of Ayatollah denial of MOU . Saudi state media reports Pakistan is seeking to convince Washington to allow transfer of Iran's highly enriched uranium to China (Al Hadath). Iran launches ballistic missile on US base in Kuwait , which was reportedly intercepted by Kuwaiti

Chinese Navy Pushes Dutch Frigate From Claimed Waters Via Electronic Warfare The Netherlands has become the latest Western nation to tangle with Beijing and exchange tense words after testing its sweeping claims to the South China Sea. A tense military encounter unfolded involving a Dutch warship, identified as the HNLMS De Ruyter , after it had entered waters near the disputed Paracel Islands . China's military reportedly used electronic warfare measures to force it out of the China-claimed waters in the incident on Wednesday. source: Defensie.nl Chinese military spokesperson Zhai Shichen later charged that the Dutch ship violated "China’s territorial

US New Home Sales Tumbled In April As Prices Soared With Case-Shiller reporting existing home price declines in half of America's largest cities, and after two straight months of rip-roaring demand, NAR reports that New Home Sales in April tumbled 6.2% MoM (almost twice as bad as the 3.2% MoM decline expected). March's 7.4% MoM spike was revised down bigly to just +3.4%, all of which left new home sales down Source: Bloomberg Overall, new home sales have really gone nowhere for four years... It seems lower mortgage rates did nothing to help new home sales... Finally, while existing home

US Charges Google Employee With Pocketing Millions From Insider Trading Bets On Polymarket Authored by Stephen Katte via CoinTelegraph.com, US authorities have charged a Google employee with allegedly using information from the company to make bets on Polymarket and profit $1.2 million. The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it unsealed charges against Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, accusing him of accessing unreleased internal information at Google and placing 25 bets worth $2.7 million on markets related to the most searched individuals on Google in 2025. Prosecutors said Spagnuolo owned the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon”, which profited $1.2 million on “outcomes

Tony Blair Calls For UK To Get Closer To Trump And Ease Climate Change Targets Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the Labour Party to three election victories, said the government should repair its relationship with the United States rather than look to rejoin the European Union. Blair, who remains a deeply divisive figure within the party, published an essay on Tuesday amid a crisis engulfing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with a leadership challenge widely expected by September. The influential former premier, who took the UK into the Iraq War

'He's Having A Stroke': Jill Biden Admits Joe's Debate Disaster Scared Her 'To Death' Opportunistically timed to boost sales of her soon-to-be released memoir, Jill Biden has come clean on her reaction to Joe Biden's catastrophic performance in his June 2024 debate with Donald Trump. Though she publicly lauded his performance at the time, now she admits she thought her husband was having a stroke . Immediately after the debate, Jill took a stage with Joe to tell him how well he had performed, in a manner that some at the time compared to a teacher praising a kindergartner: "Joe,

Americans' Savings-Rate Slumps In April As Fed's Favorite Inflation Signal Soars After accelerating significantly in March, The Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE (a measure of price changes in consumer goods and services that excludes volatile food and energy costs) - rose 0.2% MoM in April (less than expected +0.3% MoM), but pulled up the YoY measure to +3.3% (as expected) - its highest since Nov 2023. The rise in Services costs (headlined by Housing & Utilities, Financial Services, and Healthcare) dominated the increase in Core PCE YoY... The headline PCE jumped 0.4% MoM (+0.5% MoM exp) dragging the

"It Wasn't Copied": Ferrari CEO Defends First EV After Design Backlash Ferrari shares trading in Milan have not recovered since plunging the most in nearly eight months after the company unveiled its first EV sports car earlier this week, breaking with eight decades of petrol-powered tradition. The debut drew immense criticism, with one Wall Street analyst calling the new EV a " mix between a Honda Accord EV and Tesla ." By Thursday, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was on damage-control duty at an event in Modena, where he defended the design of the battery-powered, four-door, five-seat Luce, which costs a

Futures Fall, Oil Rises As Mideast Violence Flares Up US futures are but well off session lows, as part of a weaker risk tape after the US and Iran exchanged strikes, fueling doubts whether an end to the war is imminent and crushing hopes for a Hormuz deal ( gasp). Overnight, US forces carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site which Centcom described as "purely defensive" and designed to maintain the ceasefire; it also imposed new sanctions to prevent Tehran from profiting from vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. In response, Iran targeted the American airbase from which the

FBI Arrests CIA Official With $40 Million in Gold Bars, $2 Million In Cash Stashed in His Home In what may be the most bizarre story of the week, if not all of 2026, the NYTimes reports that a senior CIA official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million stashed in his Virginia residence, a non-fiat fortune that he apparently brought home from work, according to court papers. The CIA official, David Rush, is being held in jail while he awaits a detention hearing in the coming days on charges of stealing

UK Targets Kremlin-Linked Crypto Network In Latest Sanctions Round Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com, The United Kingdom has unveiled a fresh package of sanctions against Russian financial structures that use crypto and offshore payment routes to sidestep restrictions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. The measures focus on the Kremlin-backed A7 network, a ruble-based settlement system, and a cluster of exchanges and firms that route payments through Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. Announced by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, the package covers 18 new designations that target what London describes as the backbone of Russia’s illicit finance channels. Officials say the list

Drone Stocks Erupt After Report Of Pentagon Funding Deals President Trump's war economy is accelerating, with a new report indicating that the Department of War is set to unleash funding deals across a handful of drone companies. The effort comes as the DoW's procurement program now favors startups, and there has been an emphasis within the department on ramping up America's drone manufacturing base, as hyper-innovation from the war in Ukraine has brought forward 2030s-era war technology . The Wall Street Journal reports that the DoW has been in talks with a group of drone startups and suppliers, including Performance

Home Refi Activity Plummets As Mortgage Rates Hit 9-Month Highs Refinancing activity in the U.S. housing market plummeted last week as mortgage rates hit their highest level in nine months, new industry data released on May 27 show. Refinancing decreased by 18 percent for the week ending May 22 and is up by 19 percent from the same time a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Many borrowers understandably backed away from refinancing last week,” Joel Kan, the firm’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said in a statement. The decline was largely driven by the 30-year fixed-rate

The Fragile Balance Between Compassion And Civilization Authored by Armstrong Williams via The Epoch Times, What is unfolding across parts of Europe, particularly in the UK under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, should serve as a warning to every Western democracy wrestling with questions of immigration, national identity, social cohesion, and the limits of political tolerance. A nation can be compassionate without becoming careless. It can welcome newcomers while still expecting assimilation, civic responsibility, and respect for the laws and traditions that hold a society together. But when governments become so consumed with appearing morally virtuous that they neglect order, border

Pathologist found Andrew Frederick’s death was a homicide but UK authorities refused specialist help The grieving family of a British man found dead in his home on the Caribbean island of Grenada have accused UK authorities of failing to support their fight for justice. The family of Andrew Frederick, 47, whose body was discovered on 4 January, are calling for an urgent review of the policies governing UK assistance to the loved ones of Britons killed abroad. Continue reading...

Case involving seven-year-old boy is latest flashpoint in debate over race relations in Latin America ‘Argentina needs to end its fantasy of being a European country’: Lucrecia Martel on the story of a killing A woman celebrating her 32nd birthday on a train journey in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais was horrified when a fellow passenger alerted her that an unknown man had been secretly filming her seven-year-old son. When confronted, the man – an Argentinian tourist – initially refused to show his phone. But after being pressed by other travellers, the man admitted he had sent the images

With early tests suggesting the presence of crude oil, the Caribbean island has begun to debate whether it could justify becoming a producer Jamaica is closer than ever to drilling for oil. Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island’s south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons , which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground. Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (£1.1bn-1.5bn) annually , depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024 . Continue reading...

Mark Carney announces purchase of Saab’s GlobalEye early warning aircraft to patrol Arctic territory Canada has announced plans to buy a fleet of early warning planes from Sweden’s Saab rather than a competing option from Boeing, as the country seeks to reduce reliance on US defense firms. Mark Carney, the prime minister, said on Wednesday that Canada would opt for Saab’s GlobalEye, which is based on Bombardier’s Global 6500 jet. Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail plane – which has suffered from delays and cost overruns – had also been in contention. Continue reading...

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

Concerns among commissioners in bloc that surge in imports could lead to decline similar to that of US rust belt towns EU commissioners will meet on Friday for crunch talks aimed at imposing new restrictions on imports from China amid growing concern that Beijing is fuelling conditions for US-style rust belt towns in Europe. The surge in imports of everything from electric cars to key components in machines, medical devices and foodstuffs has been dubbed China Shock 2.0, potentially mirroring the experience in the US 25 years ago when Beijing joined the World Trade Organization. Continue reading...

Picture was created by administrator in charge of station’s Facebook account who wanted to create ‘friendlier image’ It was an arresting image and an irresistible story. A group of tough Thai police officers – five men and one woman – all wearing elaborate festival-style dresses, surrounding a drug dealer they had caught while undercover. The image, released by local police, was so compelling that it found its way on to the front page of the UK’s Daily Star, as well as in picture stories in the Telegraph, the Sun and the New York Post. Continue reading...

European Commission finds shoppers on Chinese website very likely to find unsafe items and imposes €200m penalty EU regulators have fined the Chinese shopping website Temu €200m (£173m) for failing to stop the sale of illegal and dangerous products. The European Commission imposed the penalty after a 19-month investigation that found consumers were very likely to encounter illegal or unsafe products including baby toys and electronics on the firm’s website. Continue reading...

Wicked co-star said reactions to the incident, which included suggestions she was Grande’s ‘bodyguard’, reflect an insidious view of Black women Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has said that reactions to the incident at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, in which she stepped in to fend off a red-carpet invader who grabbed co-star Ariana Grande, revealed “the insidious nature of how we view Black women” and put her off campaigning for Oscars. In an interview with Variety , Erivo said that she and Grande were “terrified” when Johnson Wen jumped a barrier at Universal Studios Singapore and rushed towards

When an Inner Mongolia farmer sought two herders to tend his 3,000 sheep, he was swamped with applicants including graduates, factory labourers and white-collar workers A Chinese farm owner’s recruitment drive for shepherds has ended in success after his job advert seeking people to work on his Inner Mongolia ranch went viral, drawing the attention of city dwellers struggling to find work and highlighting growing strains in China’s labour market. Zuo Xiaoyong posted an advert on Chinese social media in late April seeking two shepherds, preferably a couple, to take 3,000 sheep out to graze on a 2,000ha pasture in

Liberal insiders concerned former PM could pull party even further to the right by appointing Advance allies to prominent positions Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Tony Abbott will step down from his role advising the rightwing advocacy group, Advance, as the conservative ideologue prepares for his high-profile role as the Liberal party’s new federal president . Liberal insiders have also shared concerns Abbott is considering Advance’s director, Matthew Sheahan, or Steve Doyle – who runs Whitestone Strategic, the consultancy group that supports its operations – to fill the vacant federal director position, warning

Kanishka Narayan says Australia’s pioneering law has contributed to national conversation under way in Britain The UK’s online safety minister says he has spent a week in Australia learning the “practical lessons” of the country’s under-16s social media ban amid concern that many teenagers are bypassing the law. The British government is expected to announce a social media crackdown within weeks after a public consultation that could see the UK follow in Australia’s footsteps and restrict access to social media for teens – including age limits or changes to allegedly addictive design features – by the end of this year.

Exclusive: Parliamentary records show the One Nation MPs claimed travel expenses for fundraising events on exclusive cruise liner where mining billionaire owns an apartment Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce billed taxpayers more than $3,000 to attend fundraising and donor events on board the luxury cruise ship The World, hosted by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart. Guardian Australia can reveal that in December last year Hanson and Joyce attended multiple private events on the world’s largest privately owned cruise ship, on which Australia’s richest person owns an exclusive multimillion-dollar

Tribunal decision on Geoffrey Dalton comes as advocacy group releases data showing 30 greyhounds have died at or after Victorian races this year Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A veteran greyhound trainer whose dog was found to have cocaine in its system at a race has avoided a temporary ban despite the industry regulator calling for one. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat) on Thursday decided not to impose tougher penalties on Geoffrey Dalton, who was fined $300 after the dog tested positive for cocaine before a 2024 race. Continue reading...

Wet weather batters parts of Queensland, NSW and Tasmania amid warnings of heavy falls on Friday Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Wild weather more typical of summer than the last days of autumn has caused chaos in south-eastern Australia, unleashing a string of severe thunderstorms. Heavy rainfall accompanied by 500,000 lightning strikes across Queensland and New South Wales triggered widespread flash flooding, road closures and travel disruptions. Continue reading...

Company, which paid boss Joshua Schulman £4m in year to March, becomes latest to extend deadline to become carbon neutral Business live – latest updates The boss of Burberry could earn up to £12.2m after the luxury British brand introduced a new bonus scheme, while its annual report also revealed the company has scaled back its climate ambitions. Joshua Schulman, a former chief executive of the US fashion brand Coach who was hired in July 2024 to help revive Burberry, was paid £4m in the year to March, up from £2.5m for his first nine months in the job. Continue

This blog is now closed Meanwhile, Hungary’s Magyar hits a bit more upbeat tone in his latest post on Facebook, saying that while there are still some issues that need to be resolved, the two sides managed to agree a deal on “many important questions.” In a Facebook video, he takes viewers into a meeting room in Brussels from which he is working on ironing out the final details. “I will obviously not anticipate or prejudge what will be the outcome of that meeting, but a series of meetings has been taking place, as you know, between the teams on

First details of agreement published, heralding end to EU-UK checks on dairy products, eggs, fish and fresh red meat Business live – latest updates The EU and UK have signalled an end to Brexit “sausage wars” with the first details of a new food exports agreement being published by the British government. The deal will mean no more paperwork or physical checks on dairy, fish, cheese, eggs and fresh red meat from the summer of 2027 for both British exporters to the EU and EU exporters to the UK. Continue reading...

Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report. Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined , according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6% . Continue reading...

It’s a thumbs up from the country’s 3 million students, who can now buy cheap meals up to twice a day Where in France can you get a nutritious and balanced three-course meal for €1? If you are one of the country’s estimated 3 million students in higher education, the answer is: the university restaurant or cafe. Continue reading...

US president said ally would be at risk if it did not ‘behave just like everybody else’ Hezbollah has claimed dozens of drone and rocket attacks that it said targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The group said it launched several attacks on Israeli soldiers and tanks that crossed the Litani river into the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah near Nabatieh, as close-range fighting continues. Continue reading...

Decision draws criticism from some commentators and free speech advocates as well as Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch The British Museum has postponed a lecture for Jewish culture month over concerns that the event would be disrupted by protesters. The museum announced that the talk on ancient Israel and Judah, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday, would be held at a later date. Continue reading...

US president’s move comes as both sides try to prevent fresh ceasefire breaches scuppering a potential deal Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal. In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, will fly to Washington on Friday to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio. Continue reading...

Human rights groups and lawyers say ‘voluntary migration’ policy amounts to ethnic cleansing Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory. Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander. Continue reading...

After 88 days of near-total blackout, first reactions to the return of partial connectivity were not celebratory After 88 days of near-total internet blackout in Iran, long-delayed messages, images and poems flooded phones and social media feeds at about 5pm on Tuesday, when still-limited connectivity flickered back to life . The first reactions, however, were not celebratory. Many new posts were threaded with scepticism, anxiety and anger. Continue reading...

Rare albino buffalo spared due to security concerns over unusual level of public interest in 700kg animal A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice after a last-minute government intervention, according to a home ministry official. The nearly 700kg (1,543lb) animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest before Thursday’s festival. Continue reading...

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...

PM says predecessor misunderstands government’s successes and ‘very different’ situation compared with 1997 Keir Starmer has dismissed Tony’s Blair’s argument that his government is on the wrong track, saying he is implementing the policies needed for today, not the very different situation faced by Blair in 1997. “You won’t be surprised to know that I don’t agree with much that Tony says about what the government is doing,” Starmer said during a visit to an apprentice training centre in west London. Continue reading...

Ten people, all of whom were e-scooter riders, were killed in collisions compared with six in 2024 Nearly 500 people were seriously injured in collisions involving e-scooters in Great Britain last year, government statistics have shown. The Department for Transport (DfT) said there had been an estimated 1,484 casualties in crashes involving electric scooters, compared with 1,390 in 2024. Continue reading...

Office for Product Safety and Standards advises stopping use of Maxi-Cosi FamilyFix Slide Pro bases immediately A baby car seat product that poses a risk of injuries to children because of a malfunctioning safety indicator has been recalled by its manufacturer. Maxi-Cosi is recalling all of its FamilyFix Slide Pro bases from buyers, information on the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) website shows. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Pat McFadden , the work and pensions secretary, is introducing Alan Milburn. He says Milburn’s report is “really important and powerful”. I could see in the first few weeks after being appointed as the secretary of state what was happening, both in human and in financial terms, [in terms of youth unemployment]. And I knew that we had to get properly under the bonnet of this problem, because there’s a lot more thing than one thing happening here … Continue reading...

Water company blames increased demand amid extreme heat, but customers want answers about lack of storage reservoirs “Spitting, fuming, angry and powerless” is how Pat Prestage describes her emotions after a water outage that has affected thousands of homes in Kent during a May heatwave. On Wednesday, 8,000 South East Water customers in Whitstable lost water, with 14,000 more in Tankerton, Ashford, and its surrounding areas facing intermittent supply or low pressure. South East Water’s incident manager, Matthew Dean, said on Thursday that 22,000 people had had water supply problems. Continue reading...

Vice president says Donald Trump is ‘improving military quality of life’ and says America’s ‘adversaries are studying this country every day’ Sign up to the Breaking News US email In one of the opinions shared by the Supreme Court Thursday morning, the Court has ruled in favor of a Black man who claims that there was racial bias in the make up of the jury that convicted him . In Pitchford v Cain , five of the Court’s justices sided with Terry Pitchford , a man sentenced to death for his part in killing a grocery story owner in Mississippi,

Terry Pitchford, who was 18 when convicted of murder, argued that Black jurors were excluded from his trial Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The US supreme court on Thursday ruled in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black man convicted of capital murder and on death row in Mississippi , who claimed that his conviction was due to the jury having racial bias. The justices sided with Pitchford in a 5-4 vote. Continue reading...

Lawsuit says settlement fund was ‘fraud on the court’ that would funnel taxpayer dollars to Trump allies Dozens of former federal judges have joined the push to thwart Donald Trump’s creation of a $1.776bn “ anti-weaponization fund ” that would funnel taxpayer dollars to the president’s political allies. The bipartisan group of 35 judges filed a lawsuit in the southern district of Florida on Wednesday seeking to reopen Trump’s legal case against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leaking of his tax information by a whistleblower who was later sentenced to five years in prison. Continue reading...

Americans are growing frustrated with Trump’s handling of the economy as cost of living soars ahead of midterms US inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, driven by higher energy prices amid the war with Iran, and cementing economists’ views that the Federal Reserve could hold interest rates unchanged well into next year. Surging price pressures are eroding household income and could restrain consumer spending and economic growth this quarter. Income at the disposal of households after adjusting for inflation dropped for a third straight month in April, other data showed on Thursday. Given the soaring

Governor says law is a response to ‘legitimate anxiety’ about Trump’s tactics targeting Democratic-led cities and states Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, signed legislation on Wednesday that aims to shield California elections from federal interference, saying he expected Donald Trump’s administration to try to meddle in the midterms this year. The law, which took effect immediately and came days before next Tuesday’s primary, prohibits any person – including federal agents – from accessing voter rolls or election technology without a court order. Law enforcement officers are restricted from disrupting election workers, except in public safety emergencies. Continue reading...

Germany and the Netherlands will set up a joint tactical headquarters in the Baltics this year to command forces on Nato’s eastern flank and help deter Russia, Berlin said on Thursday. The joint German-Dutch command centre known as 1GNC will “assume a command role on Nato’s eastern flank, specifically in the region of Estonia and Latvia” in coming months, the German defence ministry said in a statement. “The deployment of an additional tactical headquarters to the region strengthens the cohesion...

France ⁠will reimburse the cost of weight-loss drugs prescribed to severely obese patients from mid-June in a first for a European Union country, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said on Thursday. Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro medications have led a boom ‌in anti-obesity treatment, attracting interest from governments keen to address rising overweight levels worldwide. Rist estimated the annual cost to the state at around €100 million (US$116 million) at full roll-out. Patients in...

A US judge on Thursday declined ⁠to block President Donald ⁠Trump’s executive tightening rules on mail-in ⁠voting in a loss for the Democratic Party, whose lawyers argued that it could disenfranchise millions of voters. The decision comes as Trump’s Republicans are locked in a tight battle to keep control ‌of both houses of the US Congress in the November midterm elections. Trump has for years pushed the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud and has...

A fire ripped through a dormitory in a girls’ boarding school in central Kenya on Thursday, killing at least 16 pupils, a government official said, in the latest such incident to afflict the East African nation. Education Minister Julius Ogamba said 79 others were injured at the Utumishi Girls School, which has more than 800 pupils in the Gilgil area of central Kenya. Ogamba said authorities would investigate whether the school’s fire safety manual had been adhered to. Police said they were...

The European Union’s executive arm is set to back a tougher line against Chinese imports at a key meeting on Friday as a flood of low-cost competition undermines local industries. Potential measures include requiring companies in key sectors to have at least three suppliers from two or more countries in a bid to pare reliance on China, the South China Morning Post reported. Industry commissioner Stephane Sejourne will back broader use of regulations designed to prevent foreign companies...

In the next five years, the Earth is overwhelmingly likely to surge again and again past the international climate threshold set as safe and shatter its hottest-year record along the way, according to new United Nations climate projections. The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 1.66 degrees Celsius (3 Fahrenheit) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth’s natural defences...

Israel’s military on Wednesday declared a new swathe of southern Lebanon as a combat zone and said residents in the area should move north, warning it would act “with great force” against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the zone. The military’s statement, posted on X, ‌appeared to signal further escalation after more than 120 strikes on Tuesday hit Lebanon’s south and east, despite a ceasefire announced on April 16. “We advise residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of the...

The US Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused US President Donald Trump of ‌raping her in the mid-1990s, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The probe was focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to two civil lawsuits that she won against Trump – one tied to her allegations that he sexually abused her in a New York department store and another over defamation in 2019, said the ⁠source, who...

The United ⁠States and Iran have reached an outline ⁠agreement to extend their ceasefire pending the approval of President Donald Trump, according to an Axios report, after Iran targeted a US air base in Kuwait on Thursday in the wake of US strikes on what Washington described as an Iranian drone operation. According to ‌the report by Axios, the two sides agreed on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the truce and launch negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program but the plan still needed...

Jill Biden feared her husband was having a stroke as she watched then US President Joe Biden stumble through a disastrous debate performance that led to the end of his 2024 re-election campaign, the former first lady said in a recent interview. “I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill Biden told CBS News in an interview scheduled to air on Sunday. Joe Biden’s shaky, mumbling and sometimes confused delivery against Donald Trump in June 2024 gave...

Norway will open talks with ⁠France on joining its nuclear ⁠umbrella, French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian ⁠Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Wednesday, reflecting growing European concerns about relying on the US for security. The move signals a shift by Norway, long a staunch Atlanticist that has relied heavily on Nato and the US nuclear umbrella, towards closer defence cooperation ‌within Europe. Macron and Stoere announced the plan at a meeting in Paris, where they also...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to threaten to attack ally Oman if it sides with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Oman must “behave” or he would “blow them up”, when he was asked if he would accept a short-term deal to allow Iran and the Gulf state to control the waterway. “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else...

The personal assistant who ⁠injected Friends star Matthew Perry ⁠with a fatal dose of the hallucinogenic ⁠drug ketamine was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison on Wednesday, bringing to a close the prosecution of five people who admitted to playing roles in the actor’s death. Judge Sherilyn Garnett delivered the sentence for Kenneth Iwamasa, the person who ‌found Perry floating face down and lifeless in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. Federal prosecutors said Iwamasa...

China and Cuba held talks on expanding agricultural cooperation in Beijing on Tuesday, the latest in a series of moves by Beijing to shore up support for the Caribbean island as Washington intensifies a campaign of sanctions, criminal indictments and military posturing against Havana. Chinese Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Zhang Zhili met Cuban Deputy Agriculture Minister Telce Gonzalez to review joint projects and explore new areas of collaboration in the sector. The Cuban...

Former Democratic US president Joe Biden sued ⁠the US Department of Justice on Tuesday, seeking to bar the release of audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations with his biographer in 2016 and 2017. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, comes ahead of the department’s planned June 15 ‌release of the materials to the US House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The foundation sought them after they were used as part of then-special counsel...

Uganda on Wednesday ordered the closure of its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola were surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients. The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has...

Beijing hosted the presidents of the United States and Russia within days of each other recently. China’s rising diplomatic standing is no accident. It is grounded in a tradition of relational diplomacy stretching back centuries and reflected in the growing recognition across capitals that Beijing is a reliable partner. The clearest articulation of China’s foreign policy ethos comes from academic Qin Yaqing, a former president of China Foreign Affairs University, which has trained more than 600...

Spanish police are searching the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party as part of an ongoing investigation into possible financial wrongdoing, the Civil Guard said on Wednesday. The raid on the office in central Madrid is another blow to the party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose Socialists have been hammered by a series of corruption scandals. The Civil Guard said the police were under judicial orders to find material relevant to a National Court probe into accusations of corruption...

Dozens of Palestinians carried the body of Hamas’ armed wing chief through the streets of Gaza City in a funeral procession on Wednesday, a day after Israel killed him as it moves to eliminate the militant group’s top brass despite a ceasefire. The Israeli military said Mohammad Odeh was killed in a targeted attack on Tuesday night, just over a week after his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, was killed in an Israeli strike on a Gaza residential block. The deaths mean ‌there are few militant...

Israel pounded Lebanon with more than 120 air strikes on Tuesday in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks, Lebanese security sources said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military was deepening its operations in the country. The bombing raids further strained a ceasefire announced on April 16 that was meant to halt fighting between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and ‌came as Iran said the United States had violated a separate truce by striking...

It has played host to countless world leaders and moments in history. Now US President Donald Trump has built a huge cage-fighting arena on the White House’s South Lawn. Cranes lifted giant metal arches into place Tuesday for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on Trump’s 80th birthday on June 14. “We’re having a big fight. It’s never going to happen again, never happened before,” Trump said at an Oval Office event earlier this month, surrounded by four of the fighters taking...

US President Donald Trump further cemented his grip over the Republican Party on Tuesday as his favoured candidate in a bitter Texas primary run-off, scandal-plagued Ken Paxton, trounced incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Paxton’s resounding victory, quickly called by Fox News and CNN after polls closed, underscored Trump’s continued power to make or break Republican political careers - even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill begin to rebel over the Iran war, his White House ballroom project and a...

European companies’ confidence in the Chinese market is showing signs of rebounding for the first time since 2022, as Beijing is increasingly perceived as a “champion” of stability amid rising global volatility, according to a survey released on Wednesday. After years of spiralling pessimism, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China found that “the intensity of the deterioration in confidence in China’s business environment has eased” among its members over the past year. In the group’s...

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...

Crews were set to resume searching Wednesday for nine workers at a Washington paper mill where a tank imploded, releasing a highly destructive chemical mixture called “white liquor” and causing at least one confirmed death. Authorities said there was no hope of finding any more survivors of Tuesday’s tank implosion at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, which also injured nine other people, including a responding firefighter. But before any bodies of the missing can be recovered, crews on...

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...

Personal attacks and a packed campaign rally set the tone for what is likely to be a rancorous contest in Texas for U.S. Senate between James Talarico and Ken Paxton.

The ruling allowed the Trump administration to continue to pursue changes that include enlisting the Postal Service in checking voters against a national database.

Governor Whitmer of Michigan had been viewed as part of a field of possible Democratic candidates. She has been governor for two terms, and is barred from running again.

Over five frantic days, I gambled my family’s life savings on a hunch that A.I. could outperform a real estate agent.

Bari Weiss, CBS’s editor in chief, named Nick Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker, as the show’s executive producer. The network also fired two on-air correspondents.

An earlier version of the defamation suit, which focused on an article about a birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein, was dismissed by a judge.

Trump officials have focused on episodes during protests over the war in Gaza at Harvard and other schools. Jews on campus describe a changed atmosphere.

The billionaire’s new roots in Argentina are said to be partly motivated by concerns about the future of the United States and shared beliefs with Argentina’s right-wing leader.

On his new album, the ex-Beatle revisits his past and revels in simply continuing to create.

This month, a North Dakota court barred Greenpeace from saying what it wanted in a European court, an unusual move. The environmental group says it is forging ahead.

Activists had sued in a bid to secure her the fundamental human right to bodily liberty. Zoo officials said she was well cared for and called the lawsuit frivolous.

Michael Preysman, who ran the brand for a decade, can’t believe what happened to the company he built. Can he start over?

The Chinese e-commerce platform faces a penalty of more than $230 million for selling baby toys and other products the European Commission said could harm consumers.

Gov. Kathy Hochul used the budget as a vehicle for policy initiatives, including a new second-home tax and a push to make the state less hospitable to ICE agents.

The mayor is seriously considering getting behind Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist challenging Representative Adriano Espaillat in an Upper Manhattan House primary.

A criminal could be masquerading as a celebrity, web store or family member asking for your money. Detecting scams requires a new approach.

During a special edition of “Popcast,” the singer discussed her new album and the public fallout from a series of lawsuits. Then she performed a stripped-down set.

Three reasons Trump is losing the war in Iran.

Ukraine and Iran have shown us that war as we’ve known it is over.

We look at an extraordinary investigation into police officers in Texas schools.

Before becoming U.S. commerce secretary, Mr. Lutnick controlled 818 companies. A review of their dealings sheds light on his freewheeling first year in government.

A Russian tanker seemingly en route to Cuba with a lifeline of fuel has changed direction, a painful development for the island suffering under a U.S. oil blockade.

Nicknamed Russell the Muscle, he finished ninth in the decathlon at the 1964 Games. His mother, Alice Arden, placed the same as a high jumper in 1936.

As predictive medicine advances, legal scholars warn that decades-old federal guidelines could set up a potential clash between your genes and your job.