Minimalist News

US Firm Unveils Ground Bot With Enough Power To Fire Laser Guns Utah-based defense tech firm Hypercraft has unveiled a 300 hp diesel-hybrid-electric unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that can power directed-energy weapons, charge drones, and sustain a forward command post, all autonomously. Defense Blog’s Dylan Malyasov reports that Hypercraft’s Razorback UGV can travel 280 miles on a single charge, reach speeds of 60 mph, and export 38 kilowatts of power, which is enough to power laser weapons and recharge drones. Razorback is being positioned as a critical energy source for forward operating units that need power for drones, electronic warfare,

More States Enact New Laws Curbing Teachers Unions Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), New organized labor reforms signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week require a majority of members to be present for teachers union certification or recertification votes, increase fines for illegal strikes, and establish merit-based pay for educators. Students join striking teachers as they demand higher pay and smaller class sizes outside Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2019. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In Idaho, after July 1, teachers unions will be prohibited from collecting dues directly

Kraft Heinz CEO: "Consumers Are Literally Running Out Of Money Toward The End Of The Month" While the digital US economy, if proxied through the earnings growth and stock prices of AI companies and their "picks and shovels" support ecosystem, has never been stronger, the traditional US consumer, responsible for 70% of US GDP, has rarely been more depressed than right now (and according to the latest University of Michigan sentiment survey, Americans have literally never been more pessimistic). That was the take home message from the latest earnings week, when various executives across retail, restaurants and packaged goods indicated

The Gerrymander Debacle In Virginia Leaves The Democratic Party With A Dangerous Agenda Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org , “Eff around and find out”: That taunt from Hakeem Jeffries celebrating Virginia’s gerrymander did not age well. On Friday, the House minority leader found out that Virginia’s Supreme Court was not quite as gleeful as he about Democrats’ attempt to virtually eliminate Republican representation in the purple state. The court just cooked the party’s infamous lobster , a district over 100 miles long that was designed to help devour the GOP’s slender majority in the House of Representatives. It also

SPLC Leader Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Funneling Millions To Neo-Nazis Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The Southern Poverty Law Center’s leader entered a not guilty plea in federal court this week, desperately fighting charges that the organization defrauded its donors by secretly funneling more than $3 million to the very white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups it claimed to oppose. The SPLC was forced to respond to an 11-count indictment from the Trump DOJ, including six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and false statements, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Commentators

Kim Jong Un Creates Ultimate Deadman Switch: North Korea To Auto-Launch Nukes If Assassinated North Korea just casually revised its constitution to automatically launch a nuclear strike if leader Kim Jong Un is assassinated , or if the country’s nuclear command-and-control system is placed in danger by hostile forces’ attacks. The change was adopted during the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on March 22 and was disclosed this week by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, which briefed senior officials on the details. The updated Article 3 of North Korea’s nuclear policy law states: “ If

How The American System Reshaped The World Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , Freedom exists in the absence of government control. We are free when we are able to worship, speak, write, make a living, and protect our families and property without fear that government agents will punish us for our actions. America’s Founding Fathers embraced an expansive view of personal liberty that recognizes the inherent right of each person to do as he sees fit, so long as that person refrains from infringing upon the liberties of another. Right away, then, freedom comes with some restraint. If

"They'll Be Laughing No Longer": Trump Rejects Iran Peace Deal Response As "Totally Unacceptable" Summary Trump calls Iran's peace proposal response "totally unacceptable" Iran warns of 'decisive, immediate' response to British or French warships approaching Hormuz Strait. Iran responds Sunday to US peace proposal , finally submitting something official to Pakistan. Details not initially disclosed. Trump TS: Iran "playing games with the United States." IRGC new warning: will unleash "heavy attack" on US bases in region if more Hormuz aggression persists . US x Iran permanent peace deal by June 30, 2026? Yes 52% · No 49% View full market

Vegetable-Oil Inflation Sends World Food Prices Higher The benchmark for global food commodity prices rose for a third consecutive month in April, hitting its highest level since early 2023, as Middle East supply disruptions, elevated energy costs, and tightening supplies of certain agricultural products appear to be driving the next leg higher in global food prices. This is a major risk we have warned about throughout the U.S.-Iran war, as energy and supply chain disruptions spread quickly through fertilizer, diesel, freight, biofuels, grains, and vegetable oils. We even treated readers to a special food debate late last week to examine

Traders Puzzled As Physical Oil Prices Tumble Amid Surging Chinese Crude Sales, Plunging Imports Yesterday when discussing China's unexpected flip-flopping on its decision to order local banks to ignore the latest US sanctions on Chinese, followed days later by a demand that they pause loans to sanctions refiners, we highlighted something remarkable: in the aftermath of the Strait of Hormuz blockade, which throttled the transit of ~10% of global oil and sent physical prices soaring to record highs (especially for Dubai crude), resulting in a windfall for European refiners thanks to soaring gasoline premiums... ... the reaction in China was

Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, 💰 Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Last week, we discussed the S&P earnings record and why such record earnings could be a warning for the market. I want to continue that discussion by focusing not only on what has happened but also on what is expected to happen in the future. While the Q1 2026 earnings results are spectacular, so far, the earnings estimate revisions behind them are the real story. The first-quarter 2026 earnings season is delivering results that Wall Street rarely sees. With roughly two-thirds

Secret Israeli Base Hidden In Iraqi Desert Backed Operations Inside Iran In a revelation sure to outrage Baghdad and broad swathes of the Iraqi public, Israel established a secret military base in Iraq's desert region to support air operations against Iran, related to the start of Trump's Operation Epic Fury , The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. Israeli forces even at one point launched airstrikes early in the conflict on Iraqi troops who approached the site and risked exposing it , per sources cited in the report. The outpost was reportedly erected under extreme secrecy shortly before the US and

Bahrain Intensifies Crackdown On Shia Communities, Arrests Dozens Over Alleged IRGC Links Via The Cradle Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced on Saturday the arrest of 41 citizens, including multiple Shia religious leaders, over alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The ministry said security services uncovered the alleged network through "investigations, security reports, and previous Public Prosecution cases related to espionage involving foreign entities ." The detainees are accused of "espionage involving foreign entities and sympathy with blatant Iranian aggression." AFP via Getty Images Around 30 Shia Muslim clerics were among the 41 arrested , as the Gulf monarchy

Hantavirus-Plagued Cruise Ship Begins Evacuations Early Sunday morning, the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius , anchored off Spain's Canary Islands, began evacuating passengers after a deadly hantavirus outbreak triggered a multinational public health response and put global health authorities on red alert. "The docking took place at 6:30 a.m. and has been a success in spite of all the adversities," Health Minister Mónica García said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg News . Health officials have found that "all passengers are asymptomatic," García added. The U.S. government is evacuating American passengers from a cruise ship tied to a deadly hantavirus

Housing Market's Crucial "Spring Selling Season" Is In Tatters Authored by Wolf Richter via Wolf Street , Late last year and early this year, the story was that dropping mortgage rates, powered by big rate cuts from the Fed, would unleash demand in the housing market in the spring – the key spring selling season – and that sales volume would take off and that Realtors’ commissions would rocket to the moon. And so that didn’t happen . Inflation has been reheating for months before the war and before the energy price spike. The energy price spike in March and

Soaring Death Toll In Lebanon As Full-Fledged Israel, Hezbollah Fighting Returns Full-fledged war has returned to Lebanon as the government has announced that at least 23 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Saturday alone. Stretching back into Friday, this brings the total death count to at least 50 killed over the past 24 hours of Israeli bombings , also as Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) late on Saturday said rescue operations were still ongoing for bystanders missing underneath the rubble. Illustrative prior image: Getty Heavy bombing has not ceased in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli military says it's

Winning? Do We Need To Understand UBI Submitted by Peter Tchir of Academy Securities Winning? Do We Need To Understand UBI Iran (and the potential for a deal) has continued to move markets. As the 30-year bond rose above 5% earlier this week, we got news that we have a new approach to resolving the conflict – a one-page MOU. Markets (ex-oil) rallied around various “deal” headlines all week. Spider, Bret, and I spent some time discussing this on Friday’s Podcast – The U.S. Proposal to End the War (also available on Spotify and iTunes). Information continues to leak out

Iran-Linked Media Floats Data Tax On Hormuz Undersea Internet Cables An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked media outlet has signaled that submarine fiber-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz remain in Tehran’s crosshairs. Tehran views Hormuz not only as an energy chokepoint but also as a digital chokepoint, with undersea cables beaming internet across the Gulf and into the global network. Source: Retuers Tasnim published an article titled “Three Practical Steps for Generating Revenue from Strait of Hormuz Internet Cables,” pointing out that Tehran must reassess how it exercises sovereignty over the strategic maritime chokepoint. Source: Retuers The IRGC-linked outlet

What Would Be Truly Bullish? Actually Fixing What's Broken Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via Of Two Minds , We've come to an interesting juncture in history, interesting because while we're being assured that AI will solve all problems, including any it creates, back in the real world, AI is incapable of fixing what's broken because too many people are getting rich off the status quo, and since the status quo is the problem, those who own / control AI will use it to maintain the status quo, guaranteeing that what's broken spirals into irreversible breakdown. Richard Bonugli and I

Housing Cost Pressure Varies Widely Across The EU Housing affordability in the EU has an uneven spread across the continent according to data from Eurostat . As Statista's Jack Lillis details below, the share of people whose housing costs exceed 40% of disposable income ranges from as low as 2.4% in Cyprus to as high as 28.9% in Greece. The EU 27 average stands at 8.2%, but this figure masks significant disparities between countries. You will find more infographics at Statista After Greece, Turkey appears among the most heavily burdened, while countries like Finland, Sweden, and France sit at the

Vitória Régia imagines rightwing Bolsonaro plot succeeded with US help – and highlights threats facing Indigenous peoples The year is 2025 and far-right coup plotters have annihilated Brazil’s democracy, assassinating the president, closing the national congress and surrendering the Amazon rainforest and its untold riches to the United States. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Amazon of America,” a thick-accented North American soldier tells a group of journalists being taken on a propaganda tour of an oil refinery in the newly annexed jungle realm. Nearby, a replica of the Statue of Liberty has been carved out of the wilderness to

Thirty years after first person-to-person transmission was documented in Patagonia, scientists say global heating could increase world’s exposure An outbreak in rural communities 30 years ago in the Patagonia area of Argentina led scientists, for the first time, to document person-to-person transmission of hantavirus, which until then had been known only to spread through contact with rodents. Nearly a decade ago another outbreak, also in Patagonia, provided detailed evidence of inter-human transmission when an infected 68-year-old rural worker attended a birthday party in a small village. The infection spread and resulted in 11 deaths. Continue reading...

Men were convicted in Miami federal court for plotting to kill Jovenel Moïse at his Port-au-Prince home in 2021 Four south Florida men were convicted on Friday of plotting to kill the Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse , in 2021 by hiring mercenaries to assassinate him at his Port-au-Prince home, court records show. Prosecutors argued during the nine-week trial in a Miami federal court that the men assembled two dozen former Colombian soldiers and supplied them with money, guns, ammunition and tactical vests in a conspiracy to kill Moïse . The 53-year-old president was shot dead in July 2021 at his

US energy department says 13.5kg of uranium taken from reactor in Caracas – a fraction of the 408kg held by Tehran Donald Trump has succeeded in removing a country’s stash of highly enriched uranium – although that country is not Iran . On Friday, the US Department of Energy announced that “thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership” 13.5kg (about 30 pounds) of uranium had been removed from a legacy research reactor in Venezuela . Continue reading...

Tumbler Ridge secondary school was site of February mass shooting in which nine were killed and dozens injured The school that was the site of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings will be torn down, officials have announced. The decision to demolish the Tumbler Ridge secondary school came after meetings between the school board and survivors, family and community members, said the British Columbia premier, David Eby. Continue reading...

US leader enters talks with superpower rival from vulnerable position, but will be hoping for economic wins amid turbulent backdrop If all goes to plan over the next few days – and that is a big if – Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a highly anticipated summit with Xi Jinping , China’s leader. The trip will mark the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade. The last visit was also made by Trump , during his first term, in 2017. Continue reading...

Woman recovered after volcanic eruption on remote island, while operation to find two missing Singaporeans goes on Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said. Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre (4,445ft) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 6 miles (10km) into the air. Continue reading...

Carmaker gives one of biggest warnings yet of conflict’s impact on businesses while Trump tariffs also take toll Toyota has reported a £3bn hit from costs from the war in Iran, as prices of parts and materials soared and sales dropped. The world’s biggest carmaker said profits declined in its financial year to March as it was “likely unable to absorb newly added impact from the Middle East”, in one of the largest warnings yet of the war’s impact on businesses. Continue reading...

Two Singaporeans and a local person were in no-go zone when they were killed, say officials Three hikers – two Singaporeans and an Indonesian – have died in an eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano, where they found themselves in a no-go zone, officials said. The eruption, on Halmahera island, sent an ash cloud about 6 miles (10km) into the air, with no towns or villages near enough to face any immediate threat. Continue reading...

Law says conviction of two men for spying raises serious concerns about how they accessed sensitive information Nathan Law, an exiled leader of the Hong Kong student protest who lives with a £100,000 bounty on his head from the Chinese authorities, was not surprised to discover a spy ring had photographed him entering the Oxford Union for an evening debate in November 2023. The conviction at the Old Bailey of Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 38, and Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, 65, for assisting a foreign intelligence service, was a sobering first – no Chinese spies had been convicted in British

Follow live updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘We’re not a party of government … yet,’ says Joyce Barnaby Joyce is doing something of a victory lap for One Nation this morning, hitting the radio and TVs to celebrate the emphatic byelection win. The sort of conceited statement, ‘Oh, you’re not a party of government.’ Well, let’s finish that with a rejoiner, yet. This is a dynamic change. And talking to people last night in the western suburbs of Sydney, last night, they’re quite at home with the idea of One Nation being

Liberal frontbencher says he has ‘no interest’ in forming a coalition with Pauline Hanson’s party – a day after suggesting he might be open to it Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, has said he would “never, ever, ever” support a coalition government with One Nation, walking back previous comments that left the door open to such an arrangement. Urging the Liberals to “get on with” setting out what they stand for, Wilson joined other senior party figures in rejecting

Ex-Parramatta council chief executive Gail Connolly and other staff allegedly targeted people for reprisals, while some workers were surveilled Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A New South Wales anti-corruption inquiry is investigating whether three friends in powerful positions at a western Sydney council, who called themselves the “Pink Ops”, subverted recruitment and promotion processes to benefit friends. The NSW Independent Commission against Corruption (Icac) held its first day of public hearings on Monday into allegations concerning Parramatta council’s former chief executive Gail Connolly, as

Catalano’s lawyer says press attention ‘potentially detrimental’ to Australian Community Media co-owner’s mental health Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A media mogul charged with assaulting his wife has avoided facing court in person over concerns that growing media attention could be detrimental to his mental health. Antony Catalano, 59, was charged with assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill over an incident in the early hours of 13 March. Continue reading...

Four Australian citizens and one permanent resident from the MV Hondius to fly home via Perth on Tuesday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Some of the Australian travellers on board the MV Hondius, the ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak , will return to New South Wales this week and enter Australia’s first purpose-built biocontainment facility. The federal government is still finalising health measures and quarantine arrangements for the group of five people – four citizens and one permanent resident – about

Minister defends preparedness against novel threat after officials detonate device suspected to be from Ukraine Authorities in Greece have intensified investigations into how an explosive-packed drone ended up in waters off the west of the country. An inquiry, involving specialised military teams, broadened at the weekend after bomb disposal experts detonated the unmanned device at sea. Continue reading...

The 17 passengers to be transferred to a quarantine center in Nebraska to ‘assess them for risk’, as one tests positive and another shows symptoms The 17 Americans onboard the hantavirus -stricken cruise ship M/V Hondius, including one person who has tested positive, have disembarked the vessel after it docked in Tenerife on Sunday and are being repatriated to the US. Upon their arrival in Spain, medical teams from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awaited and interviewed the passengers, whose identities have not been publicly disclosed and who have not tested positive for the virus, about

Zbigniew Ziobro has been accused in Poland of leading an organised criminal enterprise and abuse of power, which he denies Poland’s former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted on several criminal charges in his home country, has fled Hungary to the United States, he confirmed on Sunday, after being granted asylum from former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government last year. “I am in the United States,” Ziobro told rightwing Polish broadcaster Republika. “I arrived yesterday, and this is my third time travelling around the country,” he said. Continue reading...

Britons among passengers and crew taken off vessel and put on flights to 10 countries, while France and US later say two people showing symptoms Dozens of passengers and crew from countries around the world have been evacuated from a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak. British people were among those taken off the ship as part of a two-day operation that began on Sunday in Tenerife. They were put on chartered flights back to the UK, where they will enter hospital quarantine in Merseyside. At about 9pm on Sunday, a plane carrying 22 UK citizens

Ukraine president says Russian army is ‘not complying’ with the US-mediated truce and is ‘not even really trying to’ Russia has been conducting assault operations on the Ukrainian frontline in breach of a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. “The Russians are continuing assault activity in sectors key for them,” Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said in his evening address. “On the frontline, the Russian army is not complying with the ceasefire and is not even really trying to.” Continue reading...

US president expresses ire at Tehran’s reported demands, as drones strike Gulf nations and Israel warns war ‘not over’ Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian response to a US peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”, on a day the month-old ceasefire showed signs of fraying as drone strikes were reported around the region and Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over”. The Iranian counter-proposal was passed to Washington through Pakistani mediators. Continue reading...

Writing by Narges Mohammadi, arrested 14 times for activism, offers a disturbing insight into treatment In an exclusive extract of writing smuggled from prison in Iran, the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has described the “torture” of solitary confinement, and her systematic medical neglect by the prison system. The writing from the past decade will be part of a soon to be published memoir that gives a rare and alarming insight into the treatment of Mohammadi, who is in critical condition. It details beatings, constant interrogations, deprivation of medical care and long stretches in solitary confinement during her numerous

Saudi Arabia’s state oil company’s profits up 26% to £26.9bn in first three months of year Business live – latest updates Saudi Arabia’s state oil company reported a 26% jump in profits in its first quarter as its east-west pipeline allowed it to ship millions of barrels of oil out of the Gulf despite conflict in the Middle East . Profits at Saudi Aramco hit $33.6bn (£26.9bn) in the first three months of the year, while revenue rose nearly 7% compared with a year earlier to $115.5bn. Continue reading...

Revolutionary Guards issue warning as Trump awaits Iran’s response to Washington’s latest proposal for peace deal Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to target US sites in the Middle East if its tankers come under fire, Iranian media reported on Saturday, as Washington was left waiting for Tehran’s response to its latest negotiating position. “Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships,” the force said, a day after US strikes on two Iranian tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Continue reading...

Simply hanging on could be a disaster for Iranians, while Trump needs to resolve this economic crisis he created Exchanges of fire between Iran and the US demonstrate the serious instability of the situation in the Middle East. Though the US strikes late on Thursday were just “a love tap”, according to the US president, Donald Trump, the reality is that neither side can continue the high-stakes standoff in the strait of Hormuz indefinitely. The US and its ally Israel demonstrated a comprehensive military superiority over Iran – taking minimal casualties in the 38-day war – but Washington has both

Stone being paid $50,000 a month to ‘rebuild’ relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government The US lobbyist Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of Donald Trump, has been condemned for accepting $50,000 a month to “rebuild” relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government. Myanmar’s leaders have been internationally isolated since seizing power in a coup in 2021 , and have repeatedly been accused of atrocities that may amount to war crimes . Activists say the military rulers, which recently held widely condemned “sham” elections , are now trying to reassert themselves abroad. Continue reading...

Turmoil and violence rocks state after prime minister Narendra Modi’s party claimed victory in legislative election Tensions have been high in the Indian state of West Bengal after a top political aide from Narendra Modi’s party was shot dead in the street and hundreds were arrested as violence broke out following elections this week. The prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) claimed victory in the West Bengal elections on Monday , defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had ruled over the state legislature for 15 years. Continue reading...

Mamata Banerjee says Narendra Modi’s party ‘forcefully captured’ election that ended her party’s 15 years in power A political showdown is taking place in the Indian state of West Bengal as the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, India’s most powerful female politician, has refused to resign after she lost elections to the prime minister’s party this week. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) won an overwhelming victory on Monday in state elections in West Bengal, where Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party (TMC) have been in power for 15 years. Continue reading...

Result in key Indian state is set to have significant implications for the country’s political landscape Narendra Modi’s party has won a resounding election victory in West Bengal, a state which had been a rare opposition stronghold, expanding his unrivalled consolidation of power across the country. It is the first time that the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has won assembly elections in West Bengal, a large and politically significant state in eastern India. Continue reading...

Jitu Munda says he was refused access to money in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracy The sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India. Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...

Countries such as US and Mexico that have longer hours also have higher obesity rates, research finds Those who work longer hours are more likely to be obese and cutting how much time you spend working could help you keep the weight off, research suggests. International research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul compared working patterns and obesity prevalence for 33 OECD countries from 1990 to 2022. The study found that countries such as the US, Mexico and Colombia, which have longer annual working hours, also had higher obesity rates, even though northern European countries consume more

Chances of Starmer remaining in No 10 appear to be diminishing as about 40 Labour MPs call on him to quit Keir Starmer faces a fight for his political life in the next 24 hours as potential Labour leadership rivals from Wes Streeting to Angela Rayner began to position themselves for a contest. Starmer is hoping to save his job on Monday with a speech promising to “face up to the big challenges” for the country on growth, energy, defence and Europe. Continue reading...

Party leader has been vocal about its gains in London and there is a feeling that its losses could have been worse By any sane person’s reckoning, the Conservative party had a night to forget in Thursday’s local, mayoral and devolved elections. It lost about 500 councillors in England and ceded control of three local authorities to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK – losing to the rightwing upstarts in England, Wales and Scotland. Why, then, is Kemi Badenoch hailing these results as proof that “ the Conservatives are coming back ” – and why do many Tory MPs appear to agree

Soldiers dropped oxygen supplies and medical aid to Britain’s most remote overseas territory • What is hantavirus? Paratroopers landed on a “golf course covered in rocks” to supply medical personnel and oxygen to Britain’s most remote overseas territory as it deals with a suspected hantavirus case, an army commander has said. The UK Health Security Agency confirmed on Friday that a British national had disembarked from the cruise ship MV Hondius to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where they live, with a suspected case of hantavirus. Continue reading...

Catherine West issues ultimatum for PM as ex-minister Josh Simons joins calls for prime minister to quit At the start of her programme Laura Kuenssberg addressed Catherine West and Bridget Phillipson who were sitting waiting for the main interviews. Kuenssberg told West she wanted a cabinet minister to challenge Keir Starmer. She said she was sitting next to one of them. What was her message to her? Well, there’s nothing stopping Bridget from standing. Why are all the men better than the women? We do need some senior women to step forward and to challenge for what is going to

Actor and comedian speaks publicly for the first time since his 42-year-old daughter died by suicide in February Martin Short has spoken for the first time about the death of his daughter, Katherine Short, saying her death has been “a nightmare for the family”. Katherine died in February aged 42, at her home in the Hollywood Hills. The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office confirmed she died by suicide. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org . In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted

Safety board says it is gathering information about plane evacuation after person on the runway hit in Denver The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is collecting information about the evacuation of a Frontier Airlines aircraft after the jet struck and killed a person on the runway during departure from Denver international airport. The flight , which was headed from Denver to Los Angeles international airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 pm on Friday”, according to a statement posted on the airport’s official X account. The individual has not been publicly identified. Continue reading...

Independent scientists who reviewed the results said most samples were contaminated with Pfas or phthalates The Trump administration announced earlier this month that hundreds of baby formula samples it tested for toxic chemicals “meet a high safety standard”, but public health advocates warn this claim contradicts data showing a majority were contaminated with dangerous substances, such as Pfas or phthalates. Independent scientists who reviewed the results say the data gaps and the contamination raise concerns, though they added the testing shows some bright spots, and praised the US Food and Drug Administration for expanding the testing program, then making the

William Harrison, a US soldier stationed in the region, was convicted and hanged for the murder of Patsy Wylie On the afternoon of 25 September 1944, William Harrison, a US soldier stationed in Northern Ireland , visited the cottage of the Wylie family in Killycolpy, County Tyrone, and offered to buy treats for the children. He had visited before and was, if not a friend, at least known to the family. Mary Wylie let him take her seven-year-old daughter, Patricia, better known as Patsy, across the fields to the shops. Continue reading...

Experts warn of ‘soft target’ vulnerabilities and intelligence gaps as federal agencies prepare to secure 78 matches across 11 cities Fifa World Cup matches set to be held across the United States face heightened terrorism risks, with experts warning that vulnerabilities are being amplified by the US-Israel conflict with Iran and a depletion of counter-terrorism expertise within federal law enforcement. The biggest threat stems from homegrown violent extremists, often lone actors that may have become radicalized online by extreme political views or jihadists such as the Islamic State (Isis), said four counter-terror experts interviewed. Continue reading...

Iran sent its response to the latest US proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but US President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” – the latest setback to efforts to resolve the stand-off in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring. Iranian state television reported that Tehran rejected the US proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the US, full Iranian...

Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of breaking a US-brokered ceasefire on Sunday, with both sides claiming to have suffered casualties in drone and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was neither observing the truce nor “even particularly trying to”, adding there had been no calm in front-line areas despite a lull in large-scale attacks and pledged that Ukraine would retaliate for any aggression shown by Moscow. “Yesterday and...

One of five French people flown back to France on Sunday from the cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is showing symptoms of the illness, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. “On of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane,” he posted on social media. “These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice. “They are getting medical treatment and will have tests and a medical check-up,” he added. Lecornu also said he would issue...

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium must be “taken out” before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an American broadcaster Sunday. “It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes. “You go in and you take it out,” the Israeli leader said when asked how the...

When US President Donald Trump announced that 5,000 US troops would leave Germany, the immediate reading in Western capitals was political: another round in Trump’s running quarrel with European allies, triggered by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of Washington’s handling of the war with Iran. For Beijing, the more interesting reading is structural. The drawdown coincides with a period in which Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spent much of 2026 cultivating a “partners not rivals”...

Israel deported two activists on Sunday after being detained near Greece for slightly over a week for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The two, Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila, were among dozens of activists intercepted by the Israeli navy off the coast of Crete. Both are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s steering committee, whose mission is to break Israel’s naval...

Tired of petrol shortages and skyrocketing prices, Simón Huanca took matters into his own hands. The 53-year-old Indigenous artisan imported a Chinese electric car to navigate El Alto, Bolivia’s highest city, using the vehicle to transport both his family and the alpaca wool for his weaving workshop. He also installed a dedicated charger in his own garage, mainly for convenience, but also because there are only three public charging stations serving the vast metropolitan area of El Alto and...

Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to begin peace talks to end the war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, as two carriers were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The response, sent to mediator Pakistan, focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, and on the safety of shipping through the strait, Iranian state television said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen. It followed a US proposal to end fighting before...

More than 100 people aboard a cruise ship that departed from Fort Lauderdale in Florida last month have fallen ill from norovirus, according to the US Centres for Disease Control. The Caribbean Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, departed from Port Everglades on April 28 for an 11-day voyage, according to Cruise Mapper. But on Thursday, the CDC announced that 102 passengers and 13 crew members were sick and had been isolated. There are more than 4,000 people on board, according to the CDC. The...

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours earlier. None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius have shown symptoms of the virus, Spain’s health ministry, the World Health...

Foreign affairs are not a series of disconnected episodes. They are a test of whether nations learn from history and act with foresight. The United States has often failed that test. It forgets that unchecked aggression leads to wider wars and that removing governments without building new authority invites chaos. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran’s destabilising role in the Middle East and the collapse of Libya and Afghanistan all testify to what happens when those lessons are ignored. China,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe ‌and that his preferred negotiating partner...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reeling from a crushing local election defeat, faced a new setback to his leadership on Saturday when a former minister said she would challenge him for the top job if no one else stepped forward. Starmer’s Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in municipal polls since 1995, prompting a growing number of his ‌own lawmakers to call on him to quit. To try to shore up his position in the party earlier on Saturday, he named two influential...

UK health authorities are gearing up to receive about 24 people from a virus-hit cruise ship, who will be isolated in a hospital once used for Covid-19 patients, NHS officials said Saturday. They are currently on board the Dutch ship, the MV Hondius, due to anchor off Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. Most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home to their home countries after weeks at sea, in a carefully prepared repatriation effort. Among them are about 24 British...

A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during take-off, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate. The plane, en route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday”, according to a post on the airport’s official social media account. A spokesman for the...

Hungary’s Peter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country’s new prime minister, ending Viktor Orban’s 16 years of autocratic rule. Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party defeated Orban’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history. The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orban a...

⁠The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire, while a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could withstand a naval blockade for months. Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed ‌attack on Friday. Washington has been awaiting Tehran’s response to a US...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Security was tight as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not...

In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations. China subsequently emerged as a prime example of state-led development, but Japan is now leaning again towards a more dirigiste model under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, not only in...

Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently possible complicity in the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. Responding to a post on the...

South Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country’s petroleum reserve bases, the world’s sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said. The strait’s closure in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up...

You can perhaps judge the rise and decline of a society by the quality of its public intellectuals. In the last century, the United States had some genuinely great thinkers such as Walter Lippmann and Hannah Arendt who addressed a literate public while producing enduring works that can still be read today with great benefit. Now you have people like Francis Fukuyama and Sam Harris who may be studied in the future more as a symptom of their society. A podcast between the two last month went viral...

In an extraordinary break from the diplomatic restraint typical of central banks, a dozen leaders of the world’s foremost monetary institutions issued a joint statement in January declaring their “full solidarity” with the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chair, Jerome Powell. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve,” they wrote. The move was intended to shore up the separation of monetary...

Mexican authorities have announced that the school year will end over a month early as the country gears up to host World Cup matches, prompting broad backlash. Education Secretary Mario Delgado said the decision to end the school year 40 days early was made in part due to a heatwave affecting several states. “We’re going to end the school year on June 5 because many states are already experiencing high temperatures, and there’s also the issue of the World Cup,” he said at an event on Friday in...

The old order is dead. We just don’t know what will replace it. As Henry Kissinger reminded us in his 2014 book World Order, “no truly global order has ever existed”. After US President Donald Trump’s erratic actions, the gloves are off. American comedians and Iranian Lego cartoons tell us all we need to know about the demise of the old order. If the unipolar order is not viable, and America is abandoning the multilateral order and the rules of the game it created after World War II, what are...

There is an “almost zero” chance that the Dutch man linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship contracted the disease in the Argentine port of Ushuaia, a provincial health official said on Friday. Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is located, told reporters that his assessment was based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors. The Dutch man and his wife, both of whom died of the virus, boarded the Hondius in...

US President ⁠Donald Trump’s administration is nearing a US$400 million settlement with TikTok to resolve an ongoing lawsuit over alleged child-privacy violations, ABC News has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the Justice Department, ‌which did not immediately comment. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment. The settlement monies would be used to fund Trump’s “beautification” projects in Washington, sources...

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner exchange following US-mediated talks, saying negotiations to end the war were continuing and “we are getting closer and closer every day”. “I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump posted on social media. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day, but likewise in Ukraine,...

The United States will host two days of intensive talks between Israel and Lebanon next week in a renewed push for a broader peace and security arrangement, according to a US State Department statement released on Friday. The talks, scheduled for May 14 and 15, will build on a previous round held on April 23 that Washington said was led personally by US President Donald Trump. In the statement, the US said Israeli and Lebanese delegations would engage in “detailed discussions” aimed at advancing...

Two new suspected cases of hantavirus were ⁠reported on Friday, one in Spain and the other on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, as experts race to contain an outbreak that began on a luxury cruise ship. The announcements in locations thousands of kilometres apart will fuel concern about a cluster of cases so far associated with three deaths, although the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly said the risk to the wider public is low and the virus does not transmit...

US employment rose more than expected in April, while the unemployment rate remained steady, government data showed, with the world’s largest economy firming recent labour market gains but analysts warning of underlying weakness. “Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 per cent,” the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) said. The gains mainly came in the healthcare, transport and warehousing and retail trade sectors. US job...

China’s shipping giants are bracing for a harsh new reality of persistent global volatility, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz shifts from being a problem of transit delays to a hard volume shock. With the crucial energy corridor still paralysed as the US-Israel war on Iran drags on with no clear end in sight, China’s state-backed shipping majors are doubling down on long-term contracts and creating new multimodal routes in an attempt to hedge against future shocks. Cosco Shipping Holdings,...

The Pentagon has begun releasing new files on UFOs, saying members of the public can draw their own conclusions on “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP). Besides the Pentagon, the effort is led by the White House, the director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, Nasa and the FBI. The Pentagon said on Friday in a social media post that while past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Donald Trump “is focused on providing maximum...

The clock is ticking: the European Union has about two years to decide if it is willing to make the sacrifices and take the risks necessary to become the economic and political power it envisions itself to be. The EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator and Cyber Security acts are up for negotiation within the bloc’s policymaking bodies. In around two years’ time, we will know their final form. Beijing has two years to influence this: that work has already started with carrots – proposals for a...

Passengers aboard a cruise ship affected by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will start being flown to their countries of origin after the vessel arrives in the Canary Islands on Sunday, the Spanish government said on Friday. The MV Hondius is scheduled to reach the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Sunday morning, cabinet minister Angel Victor Torres told journalists. “That same day, we will have planes available and will be able to start getting these...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Friday to stay in office to “deliver change” after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in the English local election and parliamentary votes in Scotland and Wales, deepening doubts over his ability to govern. Just under two years after winning a landslide national election, Starmer saw voters punish his Labour government, dealing it a blow in some of its traditional strongholds in former industrial regions in central and northern England. The main...

As the world held its breath over the fate of the Middle East this week, France has been gripped by a very different story: a scandal over a chewy rubber giraffe. Sophie la Girafe, the country’s national toy, has long been a symbol of “made in France” craftsmanship, sold as a gift to newborns across the country. But this week, it was revealed the beloved toy has secretly been manufactured in China for the past decade. Vulli, the company behind the toy, quietly began moving production to China 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. 2 former Chinese defence ministers handed suspended death sentences Two former Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, have received suspended death sentences after being found guilty of corruption, according to...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told US President Donald Trump on Thursday that his country’s rare earth reserves are open to investment from China and any other nation willing to process the minerals on Brazilian soil, resisting pressure to side with Washington in its contest with Beijing over critical mineral supply chains. “We have no preference. What we want is to share with whoever wants to invest in Brazil,” Lula said at a press conference at the Brazilian embassy in...

The United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation returned to normal while the US said it did not want to escalate. The renewed hostilities broke out as Washington was awaiting Iran’s response to a US proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, unresolved for now. Iran’s military ‌said the US targeted two ships entering the Strait of...

Russia and Ukraine launched major attacks on each other Friday, with a two-day unilateral ceasefire that Moscow had declared around its World War II commemorations appearing to be in tatters. Ukraine never said it would abide by Moscow’s call to halt strikes and lambasted Russian leader Vladimir Putin for only wanting to pause fighting so he could stage a grand parade on Red Square on Saturday. Kyiv said Moscow ignored a Ukrainian call to halt fighting earlier this week – a counterproposal for a...

The Trump ⁠administration is inviting CEOs from ⁠Nvidia, Apple, Exxon, Boeing and other big companies to accompany the president on his trip to China next week, Semafor reported on Thursday. Executives from Qualcomm, Blackstone, Citigroup ‌and Visa are also on the invitation list, according to the report. A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser was invited. Qualcomm confirmed the invitation but declined to comment further. Reuters was not able to confirm ⁠the...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said the European Union must ratify its trade deal with the United States by July 4 or face “much higher” tariffs, after European officials fell short of agreement on the pact. The US president said he spoke to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen about the issue and “agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels”. The Fourth of July holiday this year marks 250 years since the...

The White House called Star Wars ⁠star Mark Hamill “one ⁠sick individual” on Thursday after ⁠an AI-generated image of US President Donald Trump in a shallow grave was posted on one of the actor’s social media accounts. “If Only” was inscribed on the image of ‌Trump lying with his eyes closed next to a gravestone, surrounded by daisies, with the inscription “Donald J Trump 1946-2024”. The image was posted on Hamill’s verified Bluesky account. Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the classic Star...

Paris’ public prosecutor has opened ⁠a judicial ⁠investigation into Elon ⁠Musk’s X social media platform, a new step in an investigation over alleged abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data, the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. The latest legal development puts investigating judges in charge of the probe and follows tech billionaire Musk’s failure to appear at an April 20 summons for questioning. The public prosecutor is requesting that judges place ⁠X.AI Holdings Corp, X Corp and xAI, as...

A conversation involving House members from Virginia and the top House Democrat reflected the fury and desperation that has gripped the party after Friday’s ruling in the state.

The prospect of Democrats getting shut out of the general election for governor has spurred an effort to eliminate the state’s “top-two” open primary approach.

A speck of blue on an otherwise red area in some presidential elections, the dot is now dividing candidates in a key midterm contest.

Five candidates are battling for the nomination in the June 2 primary. The winner will oppose Rob Sand, a Democrat, in the November election.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are boosting their profiles, generating speculation about who’s lining up for the 2028 presidential nomination.

Though illicit e-cigarettes have flooded in from China, the new policy could allow major tobacco companies to sell from prime shelf space at thousands of stores.

For decades, the Hotel Carter in Times Square was the site of squalor and crime. Now rundown and empty, its future is tied up in litigation but some hope for a rebirth.

As prices increase for gas, groceries and other staples, more and more households are borrowing to get by.

For almost three decades, he led the Anti-Defamation League, winning access to presidents and prime ministers and meeting with Pope John Paul II.

The passengers will be monitored in Omaha at the country’s only federally funded quarantine center.

Near Hudson, N.Y., a Princeton University team erected a cottage made from the agricultural byproduct, which they said is more sustainable than bricks or concrete.

Hawaii might have the answer.

One in eight American adults is taking GLP-1s. What does that mean for how we relate to our food, bodies and one another?

Mr. Thaksin has long been a foil to Thailand’s conservative establishment. He still holds significant influence, with his political party a member of the governing coalition.

The bodies were discovered in the city of Laredo. The circumstances of their deaths were not immediately known, the authorities said.

Richard Dickson has drawn inspiration from the clothing retailer’s early days as he tries to regain its cultural cachet.

The victim was a seasoned outdoorsman who “had no problem being alone in the woods,” his father said. He was found with injuries “consistent with those sustained by a bear encounter,” the National Park Service said.