Minimalist News

"Why I'm Writing This Anonymously And What That Says About Free Speech In Britain" Authored by 'regular bloke' via dailysceptic.org, I have wanted to write for the Daily Sceptic for a long time. It should be a straightforward ambition to fulfil. I have opinions, I support free speech and scepticism, and here is a publication built for exactly that. Instead, my first contribution arrives unsigned. I think the reason why is, in itself, the article. Ann Widdecombe’s murder has reopened a question that surfaces from time to time: should politicians with ‘unfashionable’ views get extra protection? The investigation continues, so

The 'Projects' That Could Ignite The Next World War Authored by Madge Waggy, The Military, Industrial and Strategic Programs Reshaping the World in 2026 The most dangerous geopolitical developments of 2026 are not necessarily the weapons that have already been fired, but the systems being constructed in anticipation of the next crisis. Across Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, governments are committing extraordinary resources to military production, strategic infrastructure, weapons procurement and long-term defence planning, creating a global security environment in which preparation for war has itself become one of the defining features of international politics. The official justification

These Are The World's Biggest Beer Brewers Beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, but much of it comes from a relatively small group of companies. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Melissa Garside, ranks the world’s 40 largest beer brewers by production volume using data from the BarthHaas Report 2024/25 . Together, these brewers produced 42.7 billion U.S. gallons of beer in 2024, equal to 86.3% of global production. AB InBev Leads by a Wide Margin AB InBev dominated the global beer industry in 2024, producing 13.1 billion U.S. gallons, or 26.4% of all beer brewed worldwide. Its

Bill Gates Ignored Repeated Warnings And Met Epstein Thirty Times Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , An independent review has confirmed what many long suspected: Bill Gates and senior figures at his foundation met with Jeffrey Epstein roughly 30 times between 2011 and 2014, brushing aside repeated internal warnings about the reputational and ethical risks of associating with a man already convicted of sex crimes involving a minor. The findings, released by the Gates Foundation after a months-long external examination by the law firm WilmerHale, show that foundation staff "raised on multiple occasions the risks of associating with

Humanoid War Robot Gets Advanced AMD-Powered AI Brain At the start of February, we began tracking startup Foundation Robotics after publicly available news reports and X posts suggested it could become one of the first US companies to deploy humanoid robots on the modern battlefield. TIME later reported that the company's robots had been sent to Ukraine for testing and evaluation, raising the prospect that these war bots could soon reach the front lines in Eastern Europe. Our February 2 report, " Watch: Russian Soldiers Surrender To Gun-Wielding Robot; Humanoid Warfare Nears ," and our February 3 report, " AI's

Smokey Skies Does Not Mean Global Warming Authored by Anthony Watts via American Thinker , Every summer seems to follow the same predictable media script. Wildfires ignite somewhere in North America. Smoke drifts hundreds or even thousands of miles. Air quality alerts are issued. Television stations fill the screen with hazy skylines. Then, before investigators have even determined how the fires started, headlines begin linking the smoke to climate change. This year has been no different. As smoke from Canadian wildfires spread across parts of the Midwest and Northeast, much of the news coverage quickly shifted from reporting on the

China Is Now Viewed More Favorably Than America Public opinion toward the world’s two leading powers has undergone a notable shift. Pew Research Center’s Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey reveals significant differences in how countries perceive China and the United States. The visualization below, created by Visual Capitalist's Iswardi Ishak using Pew Research Center data, compares favorability toward both countries across 36 nations, showing where each holds the strongest public support and where opinions remain closely divided. How the World Views the U.S. and China The chart below plots favorable opinions of China and the U.S. using Pew Research Center’s

Not Giving The Pentagon $1.5 Trillion Is the 'Greatest Threat' Facing The US, Hegseth Claims Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, said a failure to appropriate $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget constitutes the “greatest threat” to US national security . Hegseth, joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to discuss the Trump administration’s request for an additional $87.6 billion in supplemental spending . Hegseth before the Senate

From Porn Star To Politician: Amaranta Hank Sworn In To Colombia's Congress A former adult film actress was sworn in as a Colombian senator on Monday, and she is vowing to fight for the rights of the country's adult-content creators. Deyci Alejandra Omaña Ortiz, 33, who performed as Amaranta Hank before leaving the business, took her seat in Bogotá for the left-wing Historic Pact party, La Opinión reported. She won it as the 23rd name on the party's closed candidate list. Villa del Rosario está presente en el Congreso de la República. Fue en el Templo Histórico donde se firmó

Over 148,000 Mail Ballots Rejected In California's Primary Election, Data Show Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times , Election data that was provided by California state officials for last month's primary elections show that more than 148,000 mail-in ballots were rejected, an uptick of more than 40,000 from the 2024 primary. Election workers conduct ballot tabulation at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California's state primary election in the City of Industry, Calif., on June 2, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images All in all, 148,241 were rejected in the state's June 2 primary election

New York City Says This Rideshare App May Owe Millions In Unpaid Congestion Fees New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu is calling on the MTA to investigate rideshare platform Empower, arguing the company may be sidestepping New York City's congestion pricing system while gaining an unfair advantage over licensed competitors like Uber, Lyft and the city's yellow taxi fleet, according to the NY Post. . The Post writes that cecause Empower does not hold a Taxi and Limousine Commission license, Abreu contends it has not been collecting the per-trip congestion charges that licensed for-hire vehicles are required to

The Manufactured 'Bipartisan' Push For An AI Kill Switch Authored by Jordan Schachtel via American Greatness , The AI Kill Switch Act , introduced Thursday by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), seeks to hand the government unprecedented authority to order private companies to throttle, suspend, or shut down products in "kill switch" fashion , purely on their own arbitrary determination, with fines up to $20 million a day. Behind this carefully staged rollout is a fanatical coalition that looks like a broad consensus, but it is mostly one funding network with an arsenal of astroturf organizations

Forget Beef. This Protein Is Way Cheaper Building on Bank of America's latest note, which cited Oklahoma State University agricultural economist Derrell Peel's warning that the US cattle cycle is unlikely to improve anytime soon, beef prices are poised to remain elevated through at least next year. But two competitively priced proteins that consumers can switch to today remain largely overlooked. That overlooked protein is ground pork, with an average of $4.81 a pound in mid-June, compared with $7.95 for ground beef, while pork chops cost roughly one-third as much as beef steak, according to Bloomberg , citing NielsenIQ data.

Health Officials Urge States To End Mercury-Containing Dental Fillings Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , Federal health officials on July 22 encouraged state Medicaid officials to stop covering dental fillings containing mercury. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent letters to the Medicaid director in each state urging them to phase out mercury-containing dental fillings by restricting or ending state Medicaid coverage for dental amalgam , fillings that combine mercury and other materials to treat cavities. "Americans

Death Toll Revised Lower: Trump Admin Accused Of Playing Politics With Iran War Casualties The US administration and Department of War has just reduced the total number of American service members killed during the Iran war from 18 to 14. Removing the four most recent deaths, which occurred in Jordan and in Iraq last week, appears to be politically-driven as a way to keep official casualties lower related to President Trump's decision to go to war. That's what's being widely alleged anyway. The NY Times, which reported the significant change, wrote that "Three military officials said that one reason behind

Why Were Americans Funding Jobs For Transgender Workers In Nepal? Authored by David Manney via PJ Media , Former HIV outreach worker and biological male Rubi Lama lost a job he'd held for nine years when U.S. funding vanished from a health program in Nepal . He tested people, counseled those at risk, and helped sex workers avoid infection. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta Months later, unable to find other work, he joined them along a highway outside Hetauda. Fox News : An Associated Press social media post about transgender aid workers in Nepal turning to sex work after losing their

Black Dems Up In Arms As Party Considers Giving Nevada First 2028 Primary It's always fun watching the party that cherishes identity politics being torn apart by identity politics. That's once again the case, as the Democratic National Committee endeavors to lay out its sequence of primaries for the 2028 presidential race. As a DNC panel convenes in Washington this week, there's substantial momentum behind the idea of taking the coveted "first in the nation" spot away from 25% black South Carolina, and handing it over to 31% Hispanic Nevada . Party sources tell the New York Times that the

Confirmed Deaths In Ebola Outbreak Eclipse 1,000 Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , The Ebola outbreak spreading in Africa has killed more than 1,000 people, authorities said on July 23. A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus disease at an Ebola treatment center in Bunia, Congo, on July 13, 2026. Benediction Murhabazi /AFP via Getty Images The number of confirmed deaths from Ebola in Congo in recent months hit 1,033 , Congolese authorities said. Forty percent of the confirmed 2,536 patients have died. Another 506 people have recovered, and 738 are currently in isolation

LA Is Finally Cleaning Up Its Infamous "Graffiti Towers" Before The Olympics Arrives For years, the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers have stood as one of downtown Los Angeles' most notorious landmarks. Not because of their architecture, but because of what they became. After construction stalled, the empty high-rises were transformed into a massive canvas for graffiti artists, attracting vandals, urban explorers and thrill-seekers who repeatedly scaled the abandoned buildings. Covered in colorful tags and visible across the city's skyline, the so-called "graffiti towers" have come to symbolize both the project's collapse and the city's struggle to deal with one of

"I'm Not Racist": Musk Slams Snooty Leftist Interviewer, Says "I Support The Normal People" Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , During a terse exchange, Elon Musk told the virulently leftist editor-in-chief of The Economist that civil war in Britain is inevitable on current trends - driven by rapid migration of people whose beliefs clash with Western civilisation. In response, Zanny Minton Beddoes accused Musk of supporting the "far right," and amplifying racists. Musk called the coming confrontation a "reckoning," rejected the racist smear, and turned the tables on an interviewer determined to paint secure borders and opposition to

At least 90 active blazes in British Columbia in what PM says is one of the country’s most intense seasons on record How dangerous are wildfires and how can we stop them from getting worse? Fresh wildfires have broken out in western Canada and forests continued to ⁠burn in Ontario as the country ⁠battled what the prime ​minister, Mark Carney, called one of the most intense wildfire seasons on record. Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes over the past week led to a series of fires ⁠and evacuation orders in southern British Columbia. There were 25 evacuation orders and 90 active wildfires

Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 were rescued as efforts continue to salvage the ship and recover all bodies The confirmed death toll from the recent capsizing of a state ferry off Guyana ’s coast has risen to 72, with more bodies recovered as a multinational team struggle to salvage the partially submerged vessel. Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 people were rescued. The government has estimated that 100 may have died in the accident, which would make it the worst marine tragedy on record for the South American nation. Continue reading...

US agency is to pay Canadian media company US$125m for use of investigative database to detect ‘immigration fraud’ A Canadian federal opposition party leader has called on Mark Carney’s government to block the latest data-sharing deal between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Canadian media company Thomson Reuters. Avi Lewis, the federal leader of the New Democratic party (NDP), demanded on Tuesday that Ottawa address the contract and further restrict Canadian corporations from doing business with ICE, after Canada’s National Observer news website reported on the deal. Continue reading...

Delegation sent to Brasília after gunmen from organised crime group enter homes in western Amazon Indigenous leaders on the Brazilian-Peruvian border have said their communities are being “taken hostage” by organised crime groups who are running rampant across the region, destroying rainforest, building roads and trafficking drugs. Earlier this month, masked men armed with semi-automatic weapons entered homes in Apiwtxa, a village in the Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous territory, intimidating people and searching for targets. Continue reading...

Fires remain out of control in Northwest Territories and Ontario, while Argentina endures record night-time heat Recent hot, dry weather in Canada has triggered hundreds of wildfires across the country. As of Wednesday, more than 900 were burning, scorching about 3m hectares of land. While fires have broken out in several provinces, the greatest concern is in the Northwest Territories and Ontario , where several remain out of control. Poor air quality has been reported across affected regions, with wildfire smoke carried by winds into the US and even across the Atlantic to northern Europe. The risk of further blazes

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years. At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged

Isabel Rose, 26, sentenced to six years for blackmail and perverting course of public justice over her allegations against British man A British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice. Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London, travelled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Penny Wong will deliver speech criticising China’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Penny Wong will warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations will not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, after its involvement in another “destabilising and dangerous” incident this week. The foreign affairs minister – who will deliver the address on Thursday in the Philippines, where the 59th Asean foreign minister’s meeting is being held – will also caution world leaders against placing a toll on the strait of Hormuz after both

Prosecutors seek a one-year sentence and heavy fine after chef garnished dish with insects not approved for consumption Prosecutors in South Korea have asked a court to sentence the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant to one year in prison for serving a dessert topped with ants, an insect not approved for consumption under local food safety law. The request, made on Monday, also sought a 20m won (£10,108) fine for the company that runs the restaurant, Yonhap news agency reported . Continue reading...

In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common. The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture,

Syngenta says it will stop selling paraquat in Australia after new regulations on chemical linked to Parkinson’s disease Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Syngenta, the producer of a herbicide banned in more than 70 countries and which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease , will stop selling paraquat in Australia, saying new regulations has made it “commercially unviable”. The decision to pull the product follows new restrictions on the highly poisonous chemical announced by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority in June . Continue reading...

Economists’ warning comes as escalating Middle East crisis pushes global crude oil back above $US100 a barrel Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian households face the prospect of a Reserve Bank interest rate hike and petrol prices above $2 a litre over the coming weeks, economists warn, as the escalating Middle East crisis pushes global crude back above $US100 a barrel. Financial markets now see an even chance the RBA board will deliver a fourth cash rate increase at the next meeting on 11 August. Continue reading...

The One Nation leader has allied herself with men’s rights activists for years, consistently suggesting women routinely make false allegations of violence Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast For a decade, Pauline Hanson has been beating the same drum. Her comments this week – suggesting domestic violence was a “two-way street” and questioning why women did not simply leave abusive relationships – have caused significant concern and been labelled “dangerous” by experts and other commentators. Continue reading...

Inquiry’s focus this week is on security for the Jewish community, with the MP telling the commissioner his son is afraid to attend synagogues and events Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The shadow education minister, Julian Leeser, has called for universities to undertake an audit of any classes that teach about the Jewish community, Israel or Palestine. Appearing before the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Friday, Leeser said he had been “very concerned” about antisemitism on university campuses and was not satisfied with how vice-chancellors had addressed the issue after

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian exports sent to the US will be hit with a 12.5% tariff as the US president imposes levies on more than 80 nations. The Trump administration unveiled the latest tranche of tariffs for countries over their “failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”. This, in our view, makes no sense. Forced labour is definitely something which needs to be combated around the world, so we support that objective. We absolutely need to

Meanwhile, in the UK, a blaze in the Cairngorms national park has been described as ‘very serious’ by Scotland’s first minister Tell us: have you been affected by wildfires in Europe? The French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has requested the armed forces to deploy an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft earlier than originally planned to help tackle the major wildfires in Gironde, according to Le Monde. The French newspaper reported the aircraft’s use was not originally expected until the end of the month due to the technical preparations and tests required beforehand. While the fires raging across forests in France

After a Kyiv visit, rightwing firebrand now supports Ukraine – but perhaps it’s just because Trump favors a winner Laura Loomer, the online Maga provocateur, has never worked in the White House or anywhere else in the government, but her sudden conversion to the Ukrainian cause this week is significant because her social media posts often have real policy implications in the second Trump administration . The rightwing commentator has spent the last few days in Kyiv , where she announced a newfound sympathy for Ukraine in its long war with Russia , and admitted that she had previously fallen

Officials have long lobbied for peak that rises 2,918 metres above sea level to be given coveted designation More than four decades have elapsed since Evangelos Geroliolios made his first ascent to the home of the ancient gods. At the top of Mount Olympus, on the rocky peak of Greece’s highest mountain, he felt unalloyed awe. “I’ve never forgotten that unique moment, that unique feeling up there on the throne of Zeus,” recalled Geroliolios, who as mayor of Dion-Olympus now spends a great deal of his time administering the area around the site. Continue reading...

‘Highly unpredictable’ blaze forces evacuation of Cap Ferret on French coast and Spain declares national emergency More than 200,000 people have fled or been ordered to lock down as huge wildfires swept Spain and France on Friday, prompting Madrid to declare a national emergency and the French authorities to order the total evacuation, by land and sea, of one of the country’s best-known holiday spots. Authorities in south-west France ordered the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast to be evacuated “village by village” in the face of an “intense, highly unpredictable” wildfire that has burned through more than 19,000

Isobella Perrie Sullivan, 25, remanded in custody after intelligence-led operation against dissident republicans A 25-year-old law student has been charged in relation to an “extremely significant” bomb intercepted near the UK-Irish border. Isobella Perrie Sullivan, from Clane, County Kildare, was charged with possession of explosives at a special sitting of Trim district court on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Jewellery made from BC Iran worn at Odyssey photocall throws spotlight on the trade of rare archeological finds The Odyssey has stormed cinemas, but while its take on the Homeric epic has created ripples among western classicists, it is an actor’s earrings that have made waves further afield. Zendaya, who portrays the goddess Athena in the movie, provoked outrage when she appeared at a London photocall wearing earrings that were allegedly made from Iranian artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC. Continue reading...

In sea pools built with sandbags and rubble, Amjed Tantesh gives traumatised children brief respite from their daily lives Swimming classes have started again in Gaza after three years of war, with hundreds of children learning to float, doggy paddle and take their first strokes in five makeshift sea pools built from sandbags and rubble. The lessons allow a few hundred girls and boys to reclaim their childhood for a few hours in a place where there are no playgrounds, no formal education and children live in fear of continuing Israeli attacks. A UN survey in March found that 96%

President flew to Ankara onboard Qatari-gifted jet, without advanced defenses, and flew home on old Air Force One Donald Trump switched aircraft before departing Turkey earlier this month after US officials determined there was a credible threat from Iranian proxy forces targeting him and Air Force One, according to a new report from the New York Times . The threat surfaced while the US president was attending the Nato summit. He had arrived in Ankara onboard the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, an aircraft that Trump acknowledged does not have the same advanced defensive systems as the older Air Force One.

No end to fighting in sight as Revolutionary Guards launch drones at targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait The US has struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as the Caspian Sea, as Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second shipping ⁠chokepoint at the entrance to the Red Sea. As Iran retaliated on Friday with missile and drone fire against US bases and allies across the region, the New York Times reported that Tehran had rejected a US ceasefire proposal delivered by the Iraq prime minister,

Latest attacks come after Trump vowed ‘major military punishment’ for Tehran and its Houthi allies As we reported earlier, Iran ’s military said on Friday that it carried out attacks targeting US military assets in Bahrain , Jordan and Kuwait in retaliation for Washington’s latest strikes on the Islamic republic. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp, meanwhile, said they had targeted a data centre in Bahrain belonging to Amazon , according to state media, though neither the US tech giant nor Bahrain have commented on the claim. Continue reading...

Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. Continue reading...

Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government Bollywood stars and other Indian celebrities have faced fierce criticism for staying silent in the face of some of the biggest protests India has seen in years. Hundreds of thousands of young Indians took to the streets this week as part of a new youth movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), demanding accountability over exam paper leaks in an unprecedented challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Many vented their anger against what they saw as “cowardice” from

‘I can’t tolerate this life,’ said the 24-year-old in his last voice message to his relatives. Attacked by the military, a rebel army and criminal gangs, Siraz Ullah risked all for a better future The fear was audible as he spoke, recording a message to his family, asking for their prayers. After pressing send, 24-year-old Siraz Ullah boarded a boat he hoped could deliver him from the violence and persecution surrounding him at home in Myanmar. Instead, Siraz is among 500 Rohingya refugees who have vanished at sea after setting sail for Malaysia in late June. Continue reading...

Sonam Wangchuk secures ‘hard bargain’ with Delhi but talks between government and movement leaders stall The Cockroach activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a 26-day hunger strike, as youth-led protests continued to erupt across India and leaders of the movement said there was no breakthrough in talks with the government. Wangchuk had been fasting since June in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), a new youth-led movement that has been holding mass protests calling for government accountability and the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, over exam paper leaks. The leaks affected 2 million students in May and have

South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen on the Cockroach movement – and the students driving India’s biggest protests in years ‘I’ve never seen this many young people out on the streets,’ says Hannah Ellis-Petersen . For days, tens of thousands of Indians have been marching under the banner of the Cockroach Janta party. Continue reading...

Comment follows news Axel Rudakubana was transferred from prison to psychiatric hospital The lawyer for the families of Axel Rudakubana’s victims has said the Southport killer is “trying to retraumatise the families from his cell” after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital . Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults. Continue reading...

Eighteen months after her daughter’s death in Texas, Jane Coates hopes new PM can persuade US authorities to reopen case Lucy Harrison felt that 2024 was her best year yet. The 23-year-old had graduated from university with first class honours, landed her dream job and bought her first house with her boyfriend. She was a “big girl adult” now, Lucy would say. She shed tears of joy seeing her idol, Taylor Swift, at Wembley on the Eras tour that summer. Life could hardly get any better. “All the hard work, all the tears, everything was coming to fruition ,” said

Major incident declared over blaze that has intensified amid strengthening winds A major incident has been declared over a wildfire that has been raging in the Cairngorms national park for more than a week, police have said, with a whole village having been evacuated. Officers from Police Scotland said there had been a significant change in weather conditions, with strengthening winds making a fire that has been burning out of control for 11 days yet more difficult to contain. Continue reading...

Officials not satisfied Therese Abdallah is a ‘genuine visitor’ and believe she would not leave after visit to son in London A Palestinian Jerusalemite who lives in London has been left devastated after a planned trip by his parents had to be cancelled when the Home Office ruled his mother was not a “genuine visitor” but granted his father a visa. Karim Abdallah, who has lived in the UK since 2019, was looking forward to hosting his parents, Therese Abdallah, 69, a retired English teacher, and his father, Ghassan Abdallah, a psychologist, for a few weeks. Continue reading...

Campaigners urge government to introduce right of access to water, particularly as heatwaves become more common Almost three-quarters of riverbanks in England have no public access, according to data released by the Right to Roam campaign. Across the country, the public cannot use riverbanks or gain access to the rivers themselves in most of the river catchments from the west of Cornwall up to the Tweed, which flows through northern England and Scotland. Continue reading...

Frank Yiannas, formerly of the FDA, calls for an independent review of federal response to illness causing explosive diarrhea Donald Trump’s former top food safety official has accused the administration of a near “catastrophic” mismanagement of the cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands of people in the US. There should be an independent review of the federal government’s response to the rash of illnesses caused by the spread of a parasite found on raw produce, according to Frank Yiannas, who was deputy commissioner for food policy at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) across the presidencies of both Trump and

Koller, who co-founded the celebrated band in 1986, had been battling cancer of the esophagus Lou Koller, the singer and co-founder of New York hardcore band Sick of It All, has died after a battle with cancer, his bandmates announced. Koller was 59. In a social media post on the band’s Instagram page, a statement paid tribute to Koller and his work and said: “The level of loss that we feel at this time is overwhelming.” Continue reading...

Jackson, set to replace Graham Platner, is prominent workers’ rights advocate and a leading progressive voice As cinemagoers flock to The Odyssey , Democrats in Maine are hoping that their long and perilous quest for a political hero ends in Troy. They are set to nominate lumberjack Troy Jackson this weekend as their candidate to challenge Susan Collins, a veteran Republican in the US Senate, after the implosion of the party’s original candidate left them scrambling for a replacement less than four months before the midterm elections. Continue reading...

Robot from company that acquired sex doll maker to be introduced in school with large Native American population A humanoid robot is being introduced as part of a pilot program, along with an AI teaching assistant, at Salamanca high school in Salamanca, New York, located on the Allegany territory of the Seneca nation. Teachers have criticized the program, deeming it “inappropriate” and claiming it dehumanizes the profession with the introduction of human-like robots. Some local Native American residents have also criticized the pilot program, citing its implementation as “culturally tone deaf”. Continue reading...

Initiatives including cutting permits just to serve ice-cream amount to a sweeping program of deregulation Red Scare? The democratic socialist mayor of New York City spent this week talking about red tape. On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani – the politician at the center of a revived rightwing panic about socialists and purported communists winning elections across America - posted a video on X of himself putting a sheet of paper with the phrase “RED TAPE” into a paper shredder. Other pieces of paper, with phrases like “cumbersome fees and fines” and “a permit you need just to serve ice-cream”, were shredded

Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to install signage that warns visitors of inaccurate historical information inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. The highly unusual move marks the 80-year-old Republican’s latest battle in his ideological war on American cultural institutions and monuments, some of which he has renamed for himself and renovated to his liking despite legal challenges. The order issued on Friday calls on federal...

Saudi Arabia struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday with rebel media reporting two injured after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade of the kingdom and hit its ships. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire recently for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring. The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping. A Yemeni security...

Two small businesses in the United States have ⁠challenged President Donald ⁠Trump’s latest round of tariffs on goods ⁠from 60 trading partners, saying that the new policy, like most of Trump’s previous tariffs, went beyond the president’s authority to tax imports. The lawsuit, filed in the US trade court in New York on Friday, argues that the new tariffs require ‌more detailed country-specific findings about “forced labour” to be legally justified. The two small businesses, backed by a...

US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on products from the European Union in retaliation for the bloc’s US$1 billion (€890 million) fine of Alphabet’s Google. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said the US would launch a trade investigation “into the practice of ‘ROBBING’ American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer”. “The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment,” he posted. The...

Member states of the International Criminal Court voted to dismiss prosecutor Karim Khan for serious misconduct, the ICC said on Friday. Diplomats running ‌the executive bureau of the court’s governing body said last month the British barrister had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior ICC lawyer and should be fired, documents seen by Reuters showed. On Friday, a large majority of the ICC’s 125 member states voted to follow that recommendation. “The assembly decided by a majority of...

She tours major international defence shows, negotiates with arms manufacturers and takes part in discussions on Europe’s rearmament. At 34, Iryna Terekh, an architect by training, heads Fire Point, a company that has become one of the driving forces behind Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities in the war with Russia. With her long hair tied back in a ponytail, a white top, beige jacket and wide-legged jeans, she stands out in an industry dominated by men in suits. She met with Agence...

A volunteer was injected on Friday with the first dose of a rapidly developed vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola driving a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Oxford University said. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the DRC and Uganda since the outbreak emerged in May, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers and health organisations have since been racing to get a vaccine or treatment for the relatively rare strain to the clinical...

A Russian ⁠ballistic missile strike on Friday in Ukraine’s Kyiv region killed 10 people and injured almost 100 others at a site where a defence ‌industry event was being held, Ukrainian officials and industry representatives said. The attack came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Kyiv with senior representatives of Raytheon, the US company that makes Patriot air defence systems. Raytheon did not immediately respond to an email inquiring whether any of its workers were at the...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was to open his newly created northern office on Friday, as he bids to launch his flagship move to reverse decades of centralising power over England in London. Ahead of officially opening his “Number 10 North” hub in Manchester, Burnham – who replaced Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street on Monday – repeated his vow to put “more power into every postcode” to spur economic growth. “For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many...

Drones carrying explosives targeted a city in northern Iraq where US forces are stationed, and sirens rang out in Bahrain on Friday, hours after the American military said it finished its 13th night of strikes against Iran. The conflict has flared again over the past week, as the US pounded Iran while Tehran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted US assets and allies in the region. The strait, a crucial passage for the world’s energy supplies, is at the centre of the latest fighting...

Massive forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate an estimated 200,000 people from their homes. Some even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast. Dozens of firefighters were injured, authorities said in France, but no deaths were reported in either country. Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In...

After devoting the first half of 2026 to an ineffectual, expensive and inconclusive military adventure in Iran, it seems US President Donald Trump is about to turn afresh to the wars he loves best – the tariff wars he still believes can make America great again. He can’t quite walk away from the war in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s refusal to capitulate has left Trump with an awkward obligation to fight on, despite the widespread unpopularity of the conflict, even among his base, and the need to...

The US imposed tariffs as high as 12.5 per cent on 60 trading partners, including China, after President Donald Trump adopted a different method for pursuing his global trade war. The levies, which are related to forced labour, replaced a temporary 10 per cent global tariff that expired on Friday. The 10 per cent tax was imposed after previous Trump tariffs were struck down by the US Supreme Court. Trump’s new taxes, targeting imports from 80-plus countries, can probably withstand legal...

China has added 14 entities from the European Union to its export control list, including German defence giant Rheinmetall, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday. Effective immediately, the order means that the export of dual-use items – products with civilian and military applications, including some rare earth elements – from China to the named entities is prohibited, as is the shipment of dual-use items of Chinese origin to the listed companies and institutions. The move came after...

London’s mayor and police chief have used a drop in recorded street crime to reassure tourists the city is safe and counter an online narrative depicting Britain’s capital as a lawless dystopia. The city’s Metropolitan Police force said “neighbourhood crime”, a category that includes phone theft, pickpocketing, residential burglary and vehicle crime, fell 14 per cent in the year to June. In Westminster borough – home to tourist magnets including Parliament, Soho and Leicester Square – those...

The six candidates vying to lead the United Nations stressed the importance of restoring the credibility of an organisation in crisis during a restrained debate Thursday, one week before the selection process formally starts. With the campaign struggling to generate real enthusiasm for a front-runner, the hopefuls faced nearly two hours of questions from diplomats, UN employees and civil society representatives at an event in the huge General Assembly Hall, broadcast by Bloomberg. Chile’s...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies The United States imposed late on Thursday a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union...

Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport more than five decades ago, died on Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time. Okamoto, who made rare public appearances since he settled in Lebanon after being released from...

Simon Johnson is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he won a joint Nobel Prize for economics in 2024 for his research into how institutions shape national prosperity. On June 8, the British government announced Johnson as chair of its new AI Economics Institute. In this interview, conducted on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, Johnson discussed the...

Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of US President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington. Loomer had spent years minimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart. “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine....

Officials talking about artificial intelligence (AI) often speak in terms of the next industrial revolution or existential risks. Such rhetoric ultimately does little to capture how AI filters into the ordinary workings of a city like Hong Kong. The geopolitics of AI are no longer abstract. They are beginning to shape who can use which tools – and on what terms. Over the past few months, two major international banks in the city have reportedly felt the impact. Anthropic’s Claude, a generative...

The White House threw a US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal into question on Thursday, a day after it was signed, emphasising that it depended on the oil-rich Gulf country recognising Israel under a 2020 diplomatic initiative. “The Civil Nuclear Deal … will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding that the deal would not include enrichment and involve only non-military use of...

Mid-July should have been a moment of quiet satisfaction in Beijing. Fresh data showed China’s favourability surpassing that of the United States in 25 of 37 nations surveyed by Pew Research Centre, including key European countries. Domestically, the second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 4.3 per cent, while softer than the first financial quarter, kept the annual target within reach. The logic was simple: with the US distracted by Donald Trump’s erratic trade wars and isolationist...

Donald Trump’s Justice Department will withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns about the president flying on a Qatari-donated Air Force ‌One, a prosecutor said at a court hearing on Thursday. The subpoenas issued by Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton on July 10 are the latest instance of the Trump administration seeking to force journalists to divulge their sources, part of what critics describe as the president’s broader pressure campaign against...

The Houthi militia in Yemen appears to be allowing some ships to pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, despite its blockade of shipping to Saudi Arabia, experts said on Thursday. A Chinese oil tanker, Cosco Shipping’s VLCC Xin Long Yang, has been granted permission to pass through the waterway, according to the trade publication Lloyd’s List. It said Chinese tankers returning from the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea may be able to negotiate passage with the...

US President Donald Trump promised “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni ⁠fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint. Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 per cent, piercing the level of US$100 a barrel for the first time since May. Two weeks since the...

Greece on Thursday approved the multibillion-dollar purchase of Israeli anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone weaponry to set up an “Achilles Shield” protective dome, a defence ministry source said. Around €3 billion of a broader €4.2 billion (US$4.8 billion) spending spree will go towards Israeli-made systems for the new shield, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Greece has entered a new era, a new reality,” Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on social media, confirming...

The EU has watered down its latest round of sanctions on Moscow after concluding that banning Greek companies from transporting Russian gas to third countries could hand strategically important shipping assets to China. To remove a Greek veto against the 21st package of measures aimed at hobbling Russia’s war machine, the bloc’s member states agreed to allow EU operators to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third countries for one year. Officials explained that China’s...

German police on Thursday detained a 20-year-old man after he fatally stabbed another man inside a bank branch in the southern city of Regensburg, in an incident that initially raised fears of a hostage-taking. Special forces officers detained the German national inside the building about three hours after the incident was reported, a police statement said. Paramedics had earlier managed to administer first aid to the victim before he was transferred to hospital, where he died. It remains...

A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a UK court on Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him. Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a mosque in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police. His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence...

One soldier died and four were injured on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the Czech Republic, the army said. “A Venom helicopter has crashed at the 22nd helicopter base in Namest nad Oslavou. Five soldiers were on board. Emergency services are currently deployed at the scene,” the army wrote on social media. In a later post, it added that one soldier was killed and four injured in the crash. “Our absolute priority now is to provide all possible care and support to the injured...

Anthropomorphising artificial intelligence – that is, treating AI systems as though they possess human emotions, intentions, consciousness or moral judgment – is both an ethical and a practical problem. While attributing human qualities to AI systems may make interactions more approachable, it also risks clouding users’ perceptions of the technology’s true nature and limitations. Call a spade a spade. The so-called hallucinations that generative AI systems produce are nothing more than errors...

Beijing and Washington are actively soliciting industry feedback on potential bilateral tariff reductions under the newly established board of trade, according to China’s commerce ministry. “The Chinese side is widely soliciting views from stakeholders – including domestic firms, business associations, local governments as well as American firms and business associations – on relevant tariff reduction arrangements,” Meng Huating, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign...

The UK government on Thursday announced a tax cut for struggling pubs, clubs and live music venues as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham aims to ease the cost of living crisis. The 20 per cent cut to business rates – a local tax paid by firms – is the third policy announcement since Burnham became prime minister on Monday, including a planned cap on most bus fares in England and the removal of value added tax on household electricity bills. The latest tax cut is expected to save some 32,000...

The European Union on Thursday slapped Google with fines worth €890 million (US$1 billion) in a move that risks escalating tensions with the United States. The EU fined the US giant €460 million for illegally favouring the company’s own services – for example, Google Flights or Google Hotels – over rivals in search results. The second fine worth €430 million was because Google did not allow app developers to show consumers offers, free of charge, outside its Google Play store, the European...

For the most dramatic change in a benchmark index in financial markets in recent years, look no further than the stock markets of developing economies. Just over a year ago, mainland China and India had a combined weight of 50 per cent in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Fast forward to today, and it is South Korea and Taiwan that account for over half of the gauge. At the end of last month, the weight of South Korea in the index stood at nearly 24 per cent, four percentage points more than that...

Wildfires raged on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, having claimed the lives of three firefighters and sparked thousands of evacuations. Temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius and gusts of hot wind fanned the flames in the southern Italian island, where wildfires have been raging for several days. Around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials were deployed to battle the flames with the help of water-bombing aircraft, the head of the region,...

Adolf Hitler’s birthplace in Austria was officially inaugurated as a police station on Wednesday in an effort to destroy the building’s appeal as a site of pilgrimage for people who glorify the Nazi dictator. A memorial stone is to remain in place outside the house in Braunau am Inn near the German border with the inscription: “For freedom, democracy and liberty. Never again fascism. Millions of dead remind us”. Hitler was born in the building on April 20, 1889. His family moved to another...

In the past week, one regulation has forced many people in China to say goodbye to long-standing “relationships”. As of July 15, the government placed artificial intelligence (AI) companions under tight supervision. It comes as automated companions have experienced something of a boom over the past few years. According to the rules, AI-human interactions should not encourage violence or harm users’ physical and psychological well-being. Moreover, AI bots should not lure users into sharing...

The ⁠Iranian-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening to create a second chokepoint on global oil supplies alongside Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the US military launched another nightly round of air strikes on Iran, prompting Iran to fire at neighbouring Arab countries that house US bases. US Secretary of State Marco...

The US on Wednesday announced a landmark deal with Saudi Arabia that would establish a civilian nuclear programme in the Gulf country, with Washington insisting the agreement includes safeguards against non-proliferation. The move comes as the US under President Donald Trump fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns with Tehran’s nuclear programme – an issue that remains a key point of contention during now-stalled peace talks. Two agreements – one on “peaceful nuclear...

Chile wants to widen the group of countries buying its copper and attract about US$100 billion in mining investment over the next decade, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, in the most explicit move yet by the new government in Santiago to reduce its exposure to Chinese demand. “The market is highly concentrated and we need to broaden the number of places that buy our copper,” Francisco Perez Mackenna said at a Bloomberg summit in Singapore, part of a tour through the Asia-Pacific. He said...

Washington is still not receiving sufficient critical mineral exports from China, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday, even as top American and Chinese officials met to finalise key economic deliverables for President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the White House. “We are getting a flow of critical minerals from China. It’s not as much as we would want. It’s not at the pace we would want, but we are getting them,” Greer said during his testimony before the Senate Finance...

The man convicted of trying to kill Salman Rushdie spent years researching the writer’s whereabouts before stabbing him on a lecture stage, federal prosecutors said Wednesday at the opening of his federal terrorism trial. It is a second trial for Hadi Matar, who was found guilty in a New York state attempted murder case last year. The federal terror charges focus more on Matar’s alleged motive for the attack on the renowned author and free-speech advocate in 2022. Prosecutors started working on...

Hundreds of thousands of people, including residents as well as vacationers, were forced to evacuate or told to remain indoors.

Huge blazes have forced tens of thousands of residents and vacationers in France and Spain to evacuate.

Republicans are pouring huge sums behind the Maine senator through a web of billionaire-funded super PACs. Troy Jackson, the likely Democratic nominee, has a lot of catching up to do.

While living in Miami, Colombia’s president-elect represented accused drug traffickers and money launderers. He himself was investigated by U.S. authorities, though never charged.

Some politicians said Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s criticism of Israel had created a dangerous environment. He pushed back, condemning the stabbings of two men on the Upper West Side and defending his statements.

New York’s star center on playing for his mom, Patrick Ewing, generations of emotional fans — and himself.

Homer’s Odysseus was hardly a man of remorse and shame.

Three Opinion writers discuss whether the president’s Red Scare strategy will work.

The answer is something specific, personal, instantly familiar.

With Dharmendra Pradhan offering his resignation, the student protest movement achieved a major victory against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.