Minimalist News

"No Longer Gold's Quiet Sidecar": Silver Surges To Record High As China Demand Exacerbates Squeeze As we have detailed extensively recently (here, here, and here), silver's latest breakneck surge to record highs was in large part due to collapsing inventories of the precious metal in Chinese warehouses linked to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, which just hit the lowest level since 2015.  The squeeze continues to accelerate and this morning the white metal topped $59 - a new record high... ...as rising rate-cut odds support the buying... ...and Chinese demand continues to build back inventories... Strong inflows to exchange-traded funds added more impetus to a scorching

Jobs Data From Alternative Sources May Drive Feds Next Move Authored by Lance Roberts via Real Investment Advice, With the federal government shutdown delaying critical economic reports, the official jobs data remains incomplete. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the September jobs report. However, the October report, originally expected earlier this month, remains in limbo, potentially permanently. The reason is due to the shutdown, as the BLS was unable to conduct the household survey. As such, the Fed will have to rely on alternative data for perspective on the strength or weakness of the labor market. Therefore, in the absence

Iran Launches Live Fire Drills In Gulf, Flexing Reconstituted Missile Arsenal  Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Navy launched ballistic and cruise missiles at mock targets in the Persian Gulf on Friday as part of an announced two-day military drill designed to demonstrate its readiness against external threats, state media indicates, at a time the region is still on edge following the last June 12-day war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. Tehran is seeking to signal to its enemies that it has both regrouped and reconstituted its missiles and military assets after many hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles - including

Supreme Court Allows Texas To Use A Congressional Map Favorable To Republicans In 2026 Via Headline USA, A divided Supreme Court on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump.  With conservative justices in the majority, the court acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March. The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in

According To Democrats, Current Economic Conditions Have Never (Ever) Been Worse Consumer confidence data from the University of Michigan showed an impressive (and surprising) rebound in preliminary December data with the headline print rising from near record lows at 51.0 to 53.3 (well above the 52.0 exp)... Source: Bloomberg This month’s increase was concentrated primarily among younger consumers. Overall, while views of current conditions were little changed, expectations improved, led by a 13% rise in expected personal finances, with improvements visible across age, income, education, and political affiliation. Labor market expectations improved - 63% of consumers expect unemployment to rise in the year ahead, still much

Peace In Our Time? Don't Count On It By Benjamin Picton, Senior Market Strategist at Rabobank US equities closed mixed on Thursday, despite solid leads from European markets where all of the major indices closed higher. Bond yields were mostly higher with US 10s pushing up 3.5bps to 4.09% and the 2-year yield lifting by almost 4bps to 3.52%. There was notable price action in the Aussie market where 2-year yields rose by 7.5bps to 3.98% after the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of local banks are considering updating their forecasts to project an RBA rate hike as early as February.  The rate

Fed's Favorite Inflation Indicator Continues To Show No Signs Of Runaway Tariff Costs First things first, this is September data... so horribly lagged/stale... but, it's all we have, so let's dive in. The Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE - rose 0.2% MoM (as expected), which leave it up 2.8% YoY (as expected), slightly lower than August +2.9%... Source: Bloomberg On an annual basis, the headline PCE rose 2.8%, up modestly from 2.7% YoY in August (as expected). That is the highest since April 2024, but again remains in the range of the last two years... ...showing no signs at all of the runaway

Court Eases Sentence For Afghan Who 'Showed Restraint' After 'Only' Stabbing Teacher Six Times Via Remix News, A 29-year-old Afghan migrant has been sentenced to six years in prison for stabbing a 27-year-old teacher at random on the street, in the middle of the day, in the German city of Kirchheim unter Teck. However, despite stabbing his victim four times in the back and twice in the thigh, the fact that the Afghan stopped stabbing her once she screamed was enough to convince the court in Stuttgart to drop the attempted murder charge. On March 14 of this year, the teacher was seriously injured while

5x Leverage Is Too Much Says The SEC Wall Street’s financial engineers thought they had found yet another way to turn financial markets into casinos. The gimmick this time is with 3x, 4x, and even 5x leveraged ETFs tied to individual stocks and cryptocurrencies. But, as RealInvestmentAdvice.com reports, the SEC just ruled against these new proposals, apparently drawing the line at 2x leverage as the rules state. > “We write to express concern regarding the registration of ETFs that seek to provide more than 200% (2x) leveraged exposure to underlying indices or securities” Nine issuers filed with the SEC for 3x, 4x, and 5x ETFs,

Border Encounters Drop To Record Low In November: CBP Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported another drop in border encounters for November, extending a streak of dips under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to preliminary data released in a statement Thursday. The agency recorded 30,367 total encounters nationwide last month, down from October’s 30,573. The two months combined mark the lowest opening to a fiscal year on record, with 60,940 encounters throughout October and November, the statement said. CBP maintained its streak of zero releases of apprehended individuals into the United States for the seventh

S&P Futures Rise, On Pace For 9th Gain In 10 Days Stock futures rise as investors look ahead to Friday’s release of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE, a reading that may help shape next week’s rate outlook as the BoJ charts its own divergent policy course. As of *;15am ET, S&P 500 futures were 0.2% higher and on pace for the 9th gain in 10 days; Nasdaq 100 futures are +0.3% as Mag 7 names are mostly higher premarket, led by META (+0.6%), AMZN (+0.5%) and NVDA (+0.5%). Tech sentiment got a boost after Nvidia partner Hon Hai

Economic Confidence Slips To 17-Month Low, Holiday Spending Plans Weaken Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, A new Gallup poll shows that U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated sharply in November, falling to its weakest level in 17 months as households contended with a protracted federal government shutdown, volatile financial markets, cooling job prospects, and renewed inflation anxiety. The gloomier mood—reflected in Gallup’s Dec. 4 poll and aligning with several other major sentiment surveys—coincided with a pullback in Americans’ holiday spending plans, raising concerns about softer momentum heading into the final weeks of 2025. Gallup’s economic confidence index fell seven points to –30 in

Netflix To Buy Warner Bros In $72 Billion Deal; Hollywood Goes Into Panic Mode Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and TV studios, HBO, and HBO Max, in a cash-and-stock transaction valuing WBD at an enterprise value of $82.7 billion (equity value $72 billion), or $27.75 per share. The deal is expected to close in 3Q26, following WBD's planned spinoff of its Global Networks division into a separate public company ("Discovery Global"). The move comes just months after Paramount-Skydance made its own bid for WBD. The Netflix-WBD deal unites the streaming platform with a century-deep library and franchises such as

"Instinctually Programmed To Lie": CNN's Jake Tapper Mislabels D.C. Pipe-Bomb Suspect As "White Man" Leftist CNN anchor Jake Tapper was blasted online as "an NPC programmed to lie" after he falsely identified the accused D.C. pipe-bomber Brian Cole Jr. as "a white man." "Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs, is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosion. CNN observed local and federal law enforcement outside his home in Woodbridge, Virginia, this morning," Tapper told viewers - a statement that now appears grossly misleading and suggests the unhinged

As AI Booms, US Ignores One Threat That Could Turn Off Everything Authored by Richard Porter via RealClearPolitics.com, We are now well past dawn in the age of artificial intelligence: According to a recent survey by Pew Research Center 62% of respondents say they interact with AI a least several times a week. Nearly every company in the U.S. is now urgently evaluating the ways in which AI can be deployed to lower costs, improve products and services, and ultimately to increase profits. Some, such as Elon Musk, are predicting AI and robots will generate such abundance that in 10 to 20 years, work will

Suspected Pirates Swarm Bulk Carrier In Critical Red Sea Maritime Chokepoint This week's maritime focus, mostly centered on Ukraine's drone strikes against Russia's shadow-fleet tankers, has shifted to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the critical chokepoint linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where reports now indicate a bulk carrier has come under attack. UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report that a bulk carrier transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait was attacked by a swarm of 15 small craft. "A vessel reports sighting approximately 15 small craft; some of the small craft closed to within a range of 1–2

6 Reasons Jack Dorsey Is Definitely Satoshi... And 5 Reasons He's Not Authored by Felix Ng via CoinTelegraph.com, Over the years, we’ve explored some intriguing theories about who (or what) created Bitcoin, ranging from the top government spy agency in America to a time-traveling AI and even the lizard people.  (StarPlatinum) However, some are adamant that the creator of Bitcoin is much more human and has been under our noses this whole time, sporting a guru beard, sandals, and wearing a T-shirt with Satoshi written on it in large letters: the billionaire Twitter and Block founder Jack Dorsey.  “I believe that Jack has been outwardly signaling

"We Must Protect Volodymyr": Leaked Call Shows European Leaders Conspiring Against Trump Peace Plan In a development that is not entirely surprising, European leaders are claiming that Washington is looking to "betray" Ukraine and President Zelensky during potential formal peace negotiations with Russia. "There is a possibility that the United States will abandon Ukraine on territorial questions without providing clarity on security guarantees," French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said according to a "leaked" phone call record with other European leaders. Likely this was an intentional leak and bit of strong signaling to the Trump administration, as Europe has not been on board

The UK Dominates The Most Damaging Tax Havens A new analysis from the Tax Justice Network (TJN) has revealed the United Kingdom to be the biggest enabler of corporate tax dodging in the world. As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in this infographic, British overseas territories and crown dependencies dominate the top eight roundup of places allowing multinationals to avoid paying tax on their profits. You will find more infographics at Statista Overall, this makes the UK responsible for about one third of global tax avoidance risk. Ireland remained in ninth place for a second consecutive year in 2025, with an index value of 1,432. It is followed by Luxembourg (1,399)

Washington's F-35 Sale To Saudi Arabia Might Be Part Of Trump's Ultimate Plan To Revive IMEC Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, This could make it easier for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel even in the absence of Palestinian independence and thus restore the political viability of this geo-economic megaproject. The announcement that the US will sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia is a monumental development. Israel is the only country in West Asia to field these cutting-edge fighter jets so its “qualitative military edge” could be eroded as a result, ergo why the IDF officially objected to this.  Axios reported that Israel wants the sale

Footage seen by US senators shows two unarmed, shirtless men struggling to stay afloat before they were killed, sources say * Experts say Trump’s ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky Two men who survived a US airstrike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean clung to the wreckage for an hour before they were killed in a second attack, according to a video of the episode shown to senators in Washington. The men were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible radio or other communications equipment. They also appeared to have no idea what had just hit them, or that the

Rinaldo Nazzaro says detention of suspected Base members in Spain justifies ‘resistance … by any means necessary’ After Spanish police and Europol’s counter-terrorism section arrested three suspected members of the Base – a globally proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist group – in the eastern province of Castellón, its American leader living in Russia was defiant and signaled further actions. In a text message to the Guardian, Rinaldo Nazzaro called the arrests another “example of political persecution” by world governments that are “further justifying our resistance to its hegemonic rule by any means necessary”. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has in recent months turned his attention to ousting Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. But the US president and his secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, are under scrutiny over military strikes on suspected drug boats from Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Tom Phillips about why people are accusing Trump of war crimes Archive: 60 Minutes, CBS News, ABC News, PBS Newshour, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera English, CBS Miami, City News, CBC, Reuters Continue reading...

Strike comes amid congressional turmoil over legality of US attacks on suspected drug smugglers The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US military had conducted another deadly strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics, killing four men in the eastern Pacific, as questions mount over the legality of the attacks. Video of the new strike was posted on social media by the US southern command, based in Florida, with a statement saying that, at the direction of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by

Democrat Jim Himes calls footage ‘one of the most troubling scenes’ he’s observed in public service * Analysis: Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had not ordered the military to kill surviving members of a deadly attack on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean, but differed over whether the double strike was appropriate. The allegation that Hegseth ordered the killing of survivors sparked bipartisan concern in Washington that he or others involved may

The writer of the Tony award-nominated Slave Play remains in custody after authorities say they found MDMA in his bag American actor and playwright Jeremy O Harris, known for the Tony-nominated Slave Play, was arrested last month at an airport in Japan on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, local authorities said late on Thursday. Harris, 36, was stopped on 16 November at Naha airport on Okinawa island after a customs officer discovered 0.78 grams of crystal containing the synthetic drug MDMA in his tote bag, an Okinawa regional customs spokesperson said. Continue reading...

Six days after alleged incident, evidence emerges without requiring medical intervention, New Zealand police say Police say they have recovered a Fabergé egg pendant from a man accused of swallowing the item in a jewellery story. New Zealand police have spent six days monitoring every bowel movement of the suspect, a spokesperson said, and the NZ$33,000 ($19,000) James Bond Octopussy pendant was recovered from his gastrointestinal tract on Thursday night by natural means, without requiring medical intervention. Continue reading...

The surprise visitor waddled around the pub during what’s known as ‘silly season’ where seals pop up in unexpected places On a wet, lazy Sunday evening a baby fur seal waddled into a craft beer bar in Richmond, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Accustomed to seeing animals in the pet-friendly bar, co-owner Bella Evans initially assumed the visitor was a dog before she took a closer look. “Everyone was in shock,” Evans said. “Oh my gosh. What do we do? What’s going on?” Continue reading...

Prohibited from working, people sent to the island by Australia say they are struggling to survive because food is so expensive * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Asylum seekers sent to Nauru by Australia say they are going hungry on the island, prohibited from working to support themselves and given insufficient money to buy enough food. Others say they fear the Nauru government will deport them to their home countries, from where they say they have fled persecution and violence. Continue reading...

Seizures and warrants involve Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, who heads US-sanctioned Prince Group, and Cambodians Kok An and Yim Leak Thailand has seized assets worth more than $300m, including shares in a major regional energy company, and issued arrest warrants for 42 people in a high-profile push against regional scam networks, officials said on Wednesday. Parts of south-east Asia, including the border areas between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud, with criminal networks earning billions from illegal compounds where trafficking victims are often forced to work. Continue reading...

Social media is driving a boom in the use of peptides to improve appearance and physical performance. Many are experimental and come with risk of serious side effects * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast On TikTok, a 21-year-old fitness influencer is spruiking a drug that hasn’t even finished clinical trials. “This stuff is actually hard to come by in Australia, so I’ll leave a reputable source in the description,” the Sydneysider says. “Obviously, not approved for human use, so do with it as you will.” Continue reading...

The changed outlook is a result of unwelcome inflation data, but could slow down the hot property market * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Financial markets are now pricing in a 100% chance the Reserve Bank will hike rates in 2026, in what would be a blow to mortgage holders but may take some steam out of an overheating property market. The latest forecasts represent a turnaround from just two weeks ago, when traders were factoring in an even chance that the next RBA move would be a cut by its May meeting. Continue reading...

Ads to be removed from Adelaide Metro buses after advertising regulator rules they breach its environmental claims code * Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here South Australia’s transport department misled the public by running ads on buses claiming “natural gas” was “clean and green”, the advertising regulator has found. The SA Department for Transport and Infrastructure has agreed to remove the advertising that has been on some Adelaide Metro buses since the early 2000s after Ad Standards upheld a complaint from the not-for-profit organisation Comms Declare. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam

Snowfall moves south-east over Wyoming and Colorado and combines with dense fog in some areas A cold spell continued to grip parts of the US this week. After a winter storm brought 20-30cm of snow across Wisconsin, and even up to 35cm in places last weekend, the focus of the winter weather hazards shifted elsewhere early this week. A storm system moving south-east over Wyoming and Colorado brought a continuous period of snowfall until Thursday morning. Central Colorado and northern New Mexico bore the brunt of the snowfall with accumulations reaching 30cm in places. The heavy snowfall across the Denver region was

Heatwave warnings in place for parts of New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sydney’s CBD has recorded its highest temperature in nearly two years as the east coast of NSW experiences its first heatwave of the summer, while fire authorities in Tasmania and NSW battled bushfires. Temperatures at Observatory Hill in the Sydney CBD reached 37.8C on Friday, the highest since 26 January 2024, while Penrith Lakes in the city’s west hit 40.3C, the hottest day

Several countries are boycotting Eurovision after Israel was cleared to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls for it to be excluded over the war in Gaza. Lucy Hough speaks to our European culture editor, Philip Oltermann – Watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Host broadcaster says show will not suffer after four countries withdraw from 2026 contest over Israel and Gaza Austria has said it will continue with plans to host next year’s Eurovision, in spite of its budget being hit by four countries boycotting the song contest over Israel’s participation and the war in Gaza. At a meeting in Geneva, the national broadcasters that make up the European Broadcasting Union gave the all clear for Israel to take part in next year’s event in Vienna, the contest’s 70th anniversary edition. Continue reading...

Decision by four countries to pull out over Israel’s inclusion is significant for the contest but crisis may not be existential The decision by four European broadcasters to boycott next year’s Eurovision over Israel’s inclusion is undoubtedly a watershed moment in the 70-year history of the song contest. One of the few genuinely popular, non-elitist and pan-European cultural events will be without Spain, one of the “big five” nations in terms of financial contributions; Ireland, which has won the contest more times than any other country bar Sweden; the Netherlands, a 1956 founding member; and Slovenia, symbolic of the EU’s eastward enlargement. Continue

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Russia and India will reshape their defence ties to take account of New Delhi’s push for self-reliance, the two countries said in a joint statement after a summit between president Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “In response to India’s aspirations for self-reliance, the partnership is currently being reoriented toward joint research and development, as well as the production of advanced defence platforms,” the statement said. Continue reading...

All 18-year-old men to be screened for suitability for armed forces, but proposal falls short of conscription The German parliament has rubberstamped a new model for military service that aims to boost its armed forces as thousands of school pupils demonstrated across the country against the plans. The change will include the obligatory screening of all 18-year-old men to gauge their suitability to serve in the military from 1 January, but does not include conscription, as favoured by some conservative politicians. Continue reading...

Death of commander of Popular Forces is blow to Israel’s efforts to confront Hamas through proxy groups The leader of an Israeli-backed militia in Gaza has been killed, dealing a major blow to Israel’s efforts to build up its own Palestinian proxies to confront Hamas. Yasser abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader based in the Israeli-held zone of the devastated territory, is thought to have died from wounds sustained in a violent clash with powerful and well-armed local families, according to local media and sources in Gaza. Continue reading...

Agency says missile struck citizens in Khan Younis, as Israel reports targeting ‘Hamas terrorist’ after clash with militants An Israeli strike on Palestinian territory has killed five people including two children, Gaza’s civil defence agency told AFP on Wednesday. “Five citizens, including two children, killed and others injured, some seriously, as a result of an Israeli missile strike,” in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. Continue reading...

Group including Margaret Atwood, Ian McKellen and Richard Branson sign open letter to free Marwan Barghouti More than 200 leading cultural figures have come together to call for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Palestinian leader seen as capable of uniting factions and bringing the best hope to the stalled mission of creating a Palestinian state. The prestigious and diverse group calling for his release in an open letter includes a variety of prominent names, including the writers Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor and Mark Ruffalo, and

Iranian film-maker won Cannes film festival’s Palme D’Or prize earlier this year for It Was Just an Accident Iran has sentenced the Palme d’Or-winning film-maker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a travel ban over “propaganda activities” against the country. The sentence includes a two-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibition of Panahi from membership of any political or social groups, his lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that they would file an appeal. Continue reading...

Group beaten in early hours of morning in village where they volunteered to help protect Palestinians from settler violence Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence. Continue reading...

Delhi visit gives Russian leader a chance to reduce Moscow’s isolation but both countries need each other to negotiate Trump’s US and a powerful China When Vladimir Putin last set foot in India almost exactly four years ago, the world order looked materially different. At that visit – lasting just five hours due to the Covid pandemic – Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, discussed economic and military cooperation and reaffirmed their special relationship. Three months later, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would turn him into a global pariah, isolating the Kremlin from the world and restricting Putin’s international travel. Continue

Inaugural prize expected to be handed to Donald Trump but ‘process’ for choosing future winners to be proposed by controversial tycoon’s committee It was the timing that set off the first alarm bells. With Donald Trump brooding over missing out on the Nobel peace prize, and shortly before Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was due to meet the US president in Miami, an announcement was made. In a press release and a post on his personal Instagram account last month, Infantino said Fifa would launch its very own peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals

Much improved response systems are struggling to cope with ever more powerful and destructive storms * Death toll from Indonesia floods passes 700 as 1 million evacuated Families stranded on their rooftops. Homes buried by fast-flowing mud. Jagged brown craters scarring lush green hillsides. The scenes are the result of a series of cyclones and storms in a heavy monsoon season that have struck Asia with torrential rains, gutting essential infrastructure and reshaping landscapes. The violent weather has killed at least 1,200 people in the past week and forced a million to flee without knowing whether their homes will still be standing

Friends Melanie Watters and Janine Reid have been trapped in Pussellawa since Thursday Two British women stranded by landslides in Sri Lanka’s tea mountains are running out of food and water, the daughter of one of them has said, as officials reported that the death toll of Cyclone Ditwah has reached 465. Melanie Watters, 54, and her friend Janine Reid, 55, both from London, were being driven through the mountains from Kandy in central Sri Lanka on Thursday when the road in front of them was swamped, sending a bus nearby over a cliff-edge. Continue reading...

Apple among big tech companies reportedly refusing to install Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on their devices A political outcry has erupted in India after the government mandated large technology companies to install a state-owned app on smartphones that has led to surveillance fears among opposition MPs and activists. Manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and Xiomi have 90 days to comply with the order to preload the government’s Sanchar Saathi, or Communication Partner, on every phone in India. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Yinka Bankole felt compelled to speak out after Reform leader’s attempts to dismiss hurt of alleged targets * I’ll never forget the look of hatred Nigel Farage had for me at school, simply for existing A former Dulwich college pupil who claims a teenage Nigel Farage told him “that’s the way back to Africa” has said he felt compelled to speak out after the Reform leader’s attempt at “denying or dismissing” the hurt of his alleged targets. Yinka Bankole, who claims he had just started at the school when a 17-year-old Farage singled him out for abuse, said he had decided

Several elements had already been announced, including lifting the two-child benefit cap and increasing free school meals Keir Starmer has hailed his government’s plan to tackle child poverty as a “moral mission”, with a promise to lift half a million children out of hardship. It is the first such document in more than a decade and was described by the Resolution Foundation thinktank as a “sea change” in the government’s approach to children in poverty. Continue reading...

Party removes Ian Cooper after investigation into alleged abuse against Sadiq Khan, David Lammy and other figures Nigel Farage has revoked the party membership of a Reform UK council leader accused of racially abusing Sadiq Khan, David Lammy and other public figures online. Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, allegedly called the London mayor a “narcissistic Pakistani” and said migrants were “intent on colonising the UK, destroying all that has gone before”. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader’s legal threats, denials and attacks on the media are tactics often deployed by US president When Nigel Farage angrily denounced the BBC and insulted one of its presenters for raising questions about his alleged schoolboy racism, those who have been studying the tactics of the right noted that his behaviour felt familiar. “Is it out of the Trump playbook? I think that’s exactly what’s going on,” said Steven Barnett, a professor of communications at the University of Westminster. “This is becoming his new modus operandi, turning defence into attack. It’s exactly the tactics White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt,

Exclusive: Billionaire is claimed to be anonymous figure behind $70m of wins in US legal case. He denies betting on his own teams Tony Bloom, the billionaire owner of Brighton & Hove Albion FC, is facing questions over claims he was an anonymous gambler behind $70m (£52m) in winnings – which allegedly included bets on his football teams. Bloom – one of the world’s most successful professional gamblers – is claimed to be the “John Doe” referred to in a US legal case that tried to unmask who has benefited from the lucrative winning streak. Continue reading...

The largest House Democrat ideological caucus has called for the defense secretary to ‘resign immediately before his actions cost American lives’ * Pentagon announces it has killed four men in another boat strike in Pacific Lauren Gambino and Melody Schreiber After a delay and an unusually contentious meeting, a federal vaccine advisory panel is expected to vote today whether to change the longstanding recommendation that all newborns be immunized against hepatitis B. Continue reading...

Move from CDC advisers mirrors Trump team’s regressive approach to longstanding vaccine guidance Vaccine advisers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted on Friday morning to limit hepatitis B vaccines in a major move signaling the Trump administration’s regressive approach to vaccines that have been given safely and effectively for decades. The panel of advisers, hand-picked by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, decided to remove the well-established and far-reaching recommendation that all newborns in the US receive a hepatitis B vaccine. Continue reading...

* Trump praised by Infantino at DC ceremony * President’s peace claims disputed by critics * Follow the live blog of the World Cup draw Donald Trump has been named the first winner of the newly created Fifa peace prize, claiming “the world is a safer place now” as he received the award at the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington DC. Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president and one of Trump’s closest sporting allies, presented the honour onstage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, saying Trump had been selected “in recognition of his exceptional and

Paper published in 2000 found glyphosate was not harmful, while internal emails later revealed company’s influence The journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has formally retracted a sweeping scientific paper published in 2000 that became a key defense for Monsanto’s claim that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient glyphosate don’t cause cancer. Martin van den Berg, the journal’s editor in chief, said in a note accompanying the retraction that he had taken the step because of “serious ethical concerns regarding the independence and accountability of the authors of this article and the academic integrity of the carcinogenicity studies presented”. The paper, titled Safety Evaluation

Action detailed in a state department memo directs officials to deny visas to any applicant engaging in ‘censorship’ * US politics live – latest updates The Trump administration has moved to formalize a crackdown on the issuance of visas for people who it deems to have engaged in censoring the free speech of US citizens. The action, detailed in a state department memo sent to overseas missions this week, first reported by Reuters and then NPR, directs consular officials to deny visas to any applicant “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the US”. Continue reading...

Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminium foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labelled “ICE”. This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston in suburban Chicago chose to assemble its nativity scene for the Christmas season. The church and its leaders have been vocal critics of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz and expressed a message with their...

US President Donald Trump’s administration said in a long-awaited new strategy document on Friday, that the United States will shift from its historic global role towards increasing dominance in Latin America and vigorously fighting migration. The national security paper, meant to flesh out Trump’s norms-shattering “America First” world view, signals a sharp reorientation from long-standing US calls to refocus on Asia, although it still identifies China as a top competitor. The strategy also...

We should call it the “Neom factor”: the force that transforms reasonable aggressive ambition into hallucinogenic fantasyland. It glared out at me last week in a Financial Times headline: “Three ‘Heathrows’ of growth: the unstoppable rise of Middle East airports”. In short, Dubai, Istanbul, Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi in aggregate have airport expansion plans to lift passenger capacity almost threefold to around 750 million a year over the coming decades. In the words of Paul Griffiths, chief...

New investigative reports into a series of high-profile and costly US Navy mishaps during a US-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels reveal that the most intense running sea battle that the military service has faced since World War II took a toll on ships and personnel. The four reports released on Thursday cover a “friendly fire” incident in December 2024 that saw the cruiser USS Gettysburg shoot at two fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, downing one, as well as...

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. Japan’s Sanae Takaichi moves to ease weeks of tensions with China over the Taiwan Strait After weeks of turmoil in relations with China, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to dial down tensions with Beijing over a...

The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use redrawn congressional districts for the 2026 midterm elections, boosting the hopes of President Donald Trump’s Republicans to retain control of the House of Representatives. The push by Texas - which carves out five more Republican-friendly districts and came at the behest of Trump - kicked off a series of similar efforts in states around the country. The decision by the conservative-dominated high court stayed a lower ruling which had said...

An Irish navy ship spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aircraft as he arrived for a state visit to Ireland on Monday, local media reported on Thursday. The sighting triggered a major security alert amid fears it was an attempt to interfere with the flight path, the Irish Times reported. It quoted unnamed sources as saying the aircraft, which arrived slightly early, was not in any danger. The Ukrainian delegation arrived late on...

US President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the US government and American companies. The moment offered Trump – who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts – another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker...

Honduran centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla on Thursday alleged fraud in the country’s highly contested presidential vote after his Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura pulled narrowly past him overnight. Nasralla, in a post on X, said the screen displaying the vote data went blank at 3.24am and alleged “an algorithm changed the data”, giving the higher tally to Asfura after Nasralla had been leading the vote count since Tuesday. The results are being updated on the electoral body’s website. The...

A US Navy admiral commanding the US military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinises the campaign that killed two survivors. Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers conduct an investigation after a report that he ordered the follow-on...

With their domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. In early November, the chairman of one of China’s top construction machinery makers was spotted touring potential factory sites in Piracicaba, a city in...

US President Donald Trump could decide next year to withdraw from the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), Politico reported on Thursday, citing US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “The president’s view is he only wants deals that are a good deal. The reason why we built a review period into USMCA was in case we needed to revise it, review it or exit it,” Greer told Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns in a podcast episode that will be broadcast on Friday. Greer...

A bipartisan group of US senators, including prominent Republican China hawk Tom Cotton, on Thursday unveiled a bill that would block the Trump administration from loosening rules that restrict Beijing’s access to artificial intelligence chips for two-and-a-half years. The bill, known as the SAFE CHIPS Act, was filed by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democrat Chris Coons. It would require the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, to deny any license requests for buyers in...

China said on Wednesday that it is working “with all parties” to prevent a military escalation in the Caribbean as the United States intensifies operations near Venezuela, the latest sign of Beijing’s growing diplomatic and symbolic support for President Nicolas Maduro. Asked to comment on the Venezuelan crisis, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters that Beijing “opposes any action that violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter or undermines the...

Israel was cleared on Thursday to enter the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest by the organiser, prompting Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia to withdraw over the Gaza war and plunging the competition into one of the biggest rows in its history. The broadcasters who had threatened to boycott the event cited the death count in Gaza and accused Israel of flouting rules meant to guard the contest’s neutrality. Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it. After a...

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will hold a short in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump this week in Washington, as they continue to negotiate over US tariffs on her nation’s goods. Their first face-to-face encounter will take place on Friday, Sheinbaum confirmed during her daily press briefing on Thursday. Sheinbaum will also meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington, where the leaders are set to attend the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup hosted by the...

The FBI arrested a 30-year-old Virginia man and charged him on Thursday with planting a pair of pipe bombs in Washington the night before the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, capping a years-long investigation that gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories. The suspect, Brian Cole Jnr, of Woodbridge, was charged with use of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, Attorney General Pam Bondi and...

The New York Times sued the US Department of Defence and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy, the latest attempt by a US news organisation to reclaim access to government spaces. The press policy, enacted last month, requires journalists to acknowledge that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types...

Iraq will remove Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis from an asset-freeze list, officials said on Thursday, after the Iran-aligned groups were mistakenly included in an earlier government publication, prompting confusion and criticism. The Justice Ministry’s official gazette last month published a list of groups and entities whose funds would be blocked, naming both militant groups, a move that would likely have been welcomed in Washington and increased pressure on Tehran. A letter from the...

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Chinese companies to invest in France and transfer know-how in emerging sectors like batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels – highlighting growing concerns over the widening technological gap between the two countries. “We want to welcome more Chinese investment through projects and re-industrialisation strategies, and this is what will allow us to break the cycle we’re currently in,” he said on Thursday in Beijing, where he attended a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin must have ordered the Novichok nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018, in a “reckless” display of power that led to the death of an innocent woman, a UK public inquiry concluded on Thursday. Skripal was found along with his daughter Yulia slumped unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March 2018 after Novichok was applied to the front door handle of his nearby home. About four months later,...

Italian prosecutors on Thursday named Gucci, Prada, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent as among 13 luxury brands suspected of using subcontractors who exploited migrant workers in Italy, as part of a growing investigation into sweatshop conditions. Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari issued requests for information about alleged abuses by the brands, although they are not yet under formal investigation. It is the biggest expansion to date of a probe launched last year into the luxury sector, which has...

A dating platform in Brazil that markets paid encounters with Korean men styled as K-drama “oppa” is under investigation for sexual exploitation, with the South Korean consulate in Sao Paulo appealing for potential victims to come forward. KDramaDate advertises itself as a service that lets women “relive the magic of K-dramas”, offering curated outings with Korean men at cafes, barbecue restaurants and popular city landmarks. One package includes what the site describes as an “intimate...

We have selected seven Lifestyle stories from the past seven days that resonated with our readers. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. British film about Hong Kong immigrants showed grim reality of their new lives Founded in 1982 as an offshoot of Channel 4, Film4 was committed to reinvigorating British cinema by platforming new voices and exploring complex, contemporary subjects. The 1988 immigration drama Soursweet is a prime example. 2. One final...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed on Wednesday that he had a “cordial” phone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump 10 days ago amid a US military build-up in Latin America. “I spoke with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. I can say that the conversation was respectful, and I can even say that it was cordial,” Maduro told state television. “If this call means that steps are being taken toward a respectful dialogue - state to state, country to country - then we...

This article was first published on December 5, 1970 By Staff reporters A red letter day for Hong Kong Catholics The 73-year-old pontiff, looking fit in spite of his strenuous Asian tour, responded warmly. At times he stretched out his arms in a symbol of loving embrace, at others he blessed the crowds gathered to see him. He seemed especially pleased by the spontaneous gaiety of the greeting which 20,000 Catholic children gave him at the Happy Valley Racecourse to which he was taken by...

A Kenyan parliamentary inquiry has denounced a “disturbing trend of sexual misconduct” at a British Army base in the east African country “marked by rape, assault, and abandonment of children fathered by soldiers”. Since Kenya’s independence in 1963, the former colonial power has maintained the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) on the outskirts of Nanyuki, about 200km (130 miles) north of the capital Nairobi. The inquiry by the Kenyan parliament’s Defence Committee said there was little...

The Trump administration has renamed the US Institute of Peace after President Donald Trump and has planted the president’s name on the organisation’s headquarters despite an ongoing fight over the institute’s control. It was the latest twist in a see-saw court battle over who controls the US Institute of Peace, a non-profit think tank that focuses on peace initiatives. It was an early target of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) this year. On Wednesday, the State Department said it...

ByteDance’s TikTok will invest more than 200 billion reais (US$37.7 billion) to build a data centre in Brazil, marking its first project in Latin America. TikTok would partner with data centre developer Omnia and Casa dos Ventos, one of Brazil’s leading renewable energy providers, in a data centre in the northeastern state of Ceara, Monica Guise, head of public policy at TikTok Brazil, said on Wednesday. The project, which would be developed near the industrial port of Pecém, would fully rely on...

China’s pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of enormous growth and transformation. In just a few years, it has moved on from being the world’s cheapest source of active pharmaceutical ingredients to becoming a major hub for pharmaceutical innovation – a place where new, more effective drugs are born. It is now the second-largest developer of drugs, trailing only the United States. In the global drug development pipeline, China’s growth rate is phenomenal, leaping from 3 per cent in 2013 to...

Public opinion in Japan is souring towards the United States, as US President Donald Trump’s strong-arm trade tactics and divisive domestic policies test the bonds of an alliance that has endured for eight decades. The Cabinet Office’s latest annual survey, released on Friday, revealed that 70.8 per cent of Japanese respondents viewed Japan-US relations as “good” or “quite good”, tumbling 14.7 percentage points from a year earlier. It marked the second-lowest reading since the question was...

The path ahead for Ukraine peace talks is unclear, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, after what he called “reasonably good” talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoys. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and was prepared to keep working to find a compromise. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner spent hours at the Kremlin, departing in the early hours of...

Witnesses at a US trade agency hearing are pushing officials to put economic security high on the agenda to counter China ahead of a high-stakes review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The hearing convened by the Office of the US Trade Representative on Wednesday – the first public session before next July’s joint review of the free trade deal – kicks off three days of testimony from more than 140 representatives from business, think tanks, academia and advocacy groups. “One...

Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he was unsure whether China would accept the company’s H200 artificial intelligence chips should the United States relax restrictions on sales of the processors, following a meeting Wednesday with US President Donald Trump. Addressing reporters at the US Capitol, Huang said he and Trump talked about export controls but declined to offer specifics. The Nvidia chief’s meeting with the president comes after Trump administration officials discussed...

A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death was sentenced to 2½ years in prison on Wednesday. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. The judge emphasised that Plasencia did not provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him: “You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to...

The Pentagon’s watchdog found that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put US personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said on Wednesday. Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to...

Democrats in the US Congress released photos and videos on Wednesday showing the luxury island home where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly forced underage girls into sex with powerful men. The images of Epstein’s former Caribbean hideaway shed little new light on the complex scandal. However, they could add pressure on the Trump administration to comply with a requirement to release all the investigative files compiled during years of probes into Epstein’s activities – with...

Honduran TV presenter Salvador Nasralla widened a narrow lead on Wednesday over Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura as the counting of votes cast in a weekend presidential election dragged into a third day. With nearly 80 per cent of the count from Sunday’s voting completed, Nasralla was leading fellow right-winger Asfura with 40.23 per cent to 39.68 per cent, according to the CNE election council. The result was still too early to call. The CNE has come under fire from US President Donald Trump...

Israel received a body that Hamas said was one of the last two deceased hostages in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israel said it would allow Gaza’s gateway to Egypt to open once all hostages were returned. A body has been transferred by the Red Cross to the Israeli military and will undergo forensic identification, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said. Hamas also handed over remains on Tuesday, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said were not of any...

A majority of Australians, Japanese and Indians believe US President Donald Trump’s second term has been bad for their countries, and more Australians see the US as harmful than helpful in Asia, a survey of people in the four countries reported on Thursday. The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney polled 1,000 people in each of the four Quad nations: Australia, Japan, India, and the US. It found the region has been shaken by disruptive US developments but still backs...

Cuba has begun to restore power after a partial collapse of its electrical grid on Wednesday that left capital Havana and much of western Cuba in the dark, the latest incident in an energy crisis that has left millions suffering from prolonged blackouts for months. Top energy official Lazaro Guerra said a main transmission line connecting Havana with the country’s largest power plant in Matanzas failed around 5am, but that workers had begun restoring power by midmorning. “We already have a...

Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades on Wednesday under the auspices of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism, though Lebanon’s premier cautioned the new diplomatic contact did not amount to broader peace discussions. The two sides met at the UN peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Lebanon’s Naqura near the border with Israel, where the guarantors of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah regularly convene. Lebanon and...

A high-profile case against two British men accused of spying for China collapsed because of “systemic failures” and not a government conspiracy, a UK parliamentary inquiry concluded on Wednesday. The handling of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry was at times “shambolic” and reforms are needed to prevent “similar issues” happening again, the cross-party committee of MPs and members of the House of Lords said in its report. Ex-parliamentary researcher Cash and China-based...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Beijing for his three-day visit to China on Wednesday – and he is not coming alone. Alongside his wife Brigitte, the French leader is bringing a delegation of more than 80 people, including multiple ministers and nearly 40 CEOs from across the corporate world. Despite rising trade tensions between China and Europe, the long guestlist signals that Macron is travelling to Beijing looking to do business – and hints at France’s likely priorities. From...

A 13-year-old boy executed a man found guilty of killing his family in front of a cheering crowd in Afghanistan, in a chilling detail revealed after the event. The public execution, echoing the worst days of Taliban rule, was of a man who the Supreme Court ruled had killed 13 members of the same family, including nine children and their mother. About 80,000 people, including relatives of the victims, attended the execution in the sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost on Tuesday. The...

The prospect of Paramount buying Warner Bros. Discovery had led CNN journalists to wonder if the channel might be combined with CBS News. Instead, CNN will remain in a separate corporate entity.

America’s goal should be “to help Europe correct its current trajectory,” the administration said in its new National Security Strategy.

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, is pushing to expand its military in case tensions with Russia escalate. That’s tricky in a country where the Nazi era casts a long shadow.

Congress is focusing on two deaths in one strike. But nine other people died in that same attack, and the United States has killed 87 in all. Were any of those killings legal?

Several senior Venezuelan officials and opposition politicians would have a claim to power in a transition, but all would face difficulties.

The rising Korean pop outsider Effie and the Brooklyn indie-rock band Geese top our critics’ lists this year.

Mario Nawfal has a knack for getting Mr. Musk’s attention online, and for turning that into big business.

Ukrainian leaders blame independent advisers for failing to prevent graft. A Times investigation found that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s own administration removed guardrails.

The arrest came after years of false leads and speculation over who planted the bombs near the Capitol before the Jan. 6 riot.

After one hit collection, the designer Dario Vitale will be leaving the brand. What’s going on?

After a devastating storm, the people who fled a remote coastal village face an existential question.

Gary Goldman, who has battled Disney in court over the franchise, thinks the viper Gary De’Snake is based on him.

WildeHopps, a.k.a. the fox and bunny at the heart of the franchise, has inspired a YouTube movie, TikToks, fancams and more. The obsession goes deep (and sometimes weird).

We need to question the strikes’ legality. But we also need to see how they fit into the Trump administration’s larger effort to change America.

A decade after the end of the one-child policy, China has over 30 million so-called surplus men. Can this dating boot camp help them find love?

The end of year recaps can be dizzying. But they’re also full of gold.

The former agent, Paul Campo, laundered money for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Mexico, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.

The case over online transparency has become a flashpoint between the European Union and the Trump administration.

Complaints about the calls have risen, and some older Americans have discovered that their Medicare accounts were already compromised.

Jacob Pritchett, 11, has been missing for months. A judge has said his mother must remain at Rikers Island until she reveals his whereabouts.