Minimalist News

Gun Control Advocates Turn Their Sights On Regulating Muskets? It's always interesting when gun control activists and the media discover something about the firearms world that gun enthusiasts have known for decades. It shows that the people desperately clamoring to erase the 2nd Amendment often know nothing about the weapons they want to regulate. The act of "gun control" has nothing to do with understanding firearms, their basic capabilities and what it means to have these tools in civilian hands. It is far more abstract. For example, in the mind of a leftist (because the vast majority of leftists do

We're Living In The Age Of Consequences Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com, Lookie here… The United Arab Emirates recently announced it would quit OPEC after nearly six decades, striking a major blow to the oil cartel and to Saudi Arabia, its unofficial leader. Let’s be clear, the UAE didn’t leave OPEC. They were bought out. You may recall that this event was preceded by two major developments that tell the actual story. The first was the shutting of the Strait of Hormuz (SoH). This bled UAE finances and continues to do so. It creates not only a loss of

Canada's Assisted Suicide Program Could Include Children And The Mentally Ill Canada's MAID program is the subject of ongoing concern among anti-globalist movements across the western world. The assisted suicide system kills around 15,000 or more Canadians each year and is quickly expanding to include more and more people who are not terminally ill. Almost all assisted suicide programs are created by liberal governments and all of them are initially promoted as a way to "end the suffering" of people who are close to death anyway. However, this is merely the first stage of the greater goal, which is to

India Raises Fuel Prices For The First Time In Four Years Submitted by Irina Slav of OilPrice.com Indian state refiners raised their retail prices for gasoline and diesel by the equivalent of $0.031 per liter in response to tighter crude oil availability. This is the first fuel price hike in India in four years , Bloomberg noted in a report on the news. The hike amounts to over 3% and was necessitated by the global crude oil price surge that resulted in losses for India’s refiners. Still, New Delhi put off the price hike for much longer than other governments,

"Energy Is The Issue" - NANO Nuclear Highlights Reactor And Enrichment Opportunity NANO Nuclear's founder and chairman Jay Yu was on Fox Business to discuss the company's opportunity with data centers, space, and uranium enrichment. Yu took the time to review their recent deal with Supermicro. The combination of AI and nuclear is being seen on multiple fronts across both industries . In the past few weeks we've also seen Terrestrial Energy partnering with Riot, and Oklo collaborating with Nvidia. Everyone understands the demand for power coming from the AI data center build out is insatiable. We've covered previous comments

Woke Judge Admits "Taking A Chance" On Violent Criminal... Who Then Went On Shooting Spree Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A Massachusetts judge openly confessed in court that she knew she was rolling the dice by giving a light sentence to a career criminal with a 20-year rap sheet packed with violence, guns, and assault convictions. She did it anyway. Now Tyler Brown is back in custody after opening fire with 50 to 60 rounds on a busy Cambridge roadway, critically injuring two innocent drivers. The shocking audio, released this week, comes straight from Brown’s 2020 sentencing hearing after

Harvard Weighs Major Crackdown On "Grade Inflation" Harvard faculty begin voting Tuesday on what may be the most aggressive effort in decades to curb grade inflation, a long-running issue that has also drawn attention from the White House as it pushes broader higher-ed reforms, according to Bloomberg . The proposal would cap A grades in undergraduate classes at 20% of students, plus four additional students. The move comes after A grades surged at Harvard: about 60% of grades were A’s in the 2024–25 academic year, more than double the rate in 2006. After administrators pushed for stricter grading last fall,

Closing Arguments In High-Stakes OpenAI Trial Focus On Reputation, Character Authored by Beige Luciano-Adams via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), OAKLAND, Calif.—After nearly three weeks of presented evidence, an Oakland jury on May 14 heard final arguments in a high-stakes legal battle that could have profound impacts on the race for artificial intelligence. In a courtroom sketch, Sam Altman listens as OpenAI President Greg Brockman testifies during Elon Musk's lawsuit trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion, at a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on May 4, 2026. Vicki Behringer/Reuters Tech moguls Elon Musk and Sam Altman, once friends and partners in

Rep. Steve Cohen Drops Reelection Bid After Tennessee Redistricting On Friday Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee announced he is ending his bid for reelection to Congress, capping a nearly 20-year career in the U.S. House. The decision comes days after the Republican-controlled Tennessee legislature approved a new congressional map that dramatically reshapes - and effectively dismantles - his longtime majority-Black 9th District in Memphis. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) speaks at a hearing on oversight of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington on July 13, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times Cohen, 76, described the moment as "by far the most

Ethanol: Not The Energy Transition We're Looking For Authored by Ike Kiefer via RealClear Energy , With current events stirring up global energy prices, corn ethanol is again being dressed up as if it is a domestic energy source and agent of energy security. The truth is that corn ethanol is an energy sump, and that it takes more fossil fuel energy to make a gallon of corn ethanol than a gallon of gasoline. It is time to face this unpleasant truth and the other perverse outcomes achieved by twenty years of misguided policy. In 2005 and 2007, Congress passed

India's Trade Deficit Surges As Energy Import Prices Soar India's trade deficit soared in April by more than analysts expected, as the surge in oil and gas prices hiked the Indian energy import bill. The trade deficit jumped by $8bn from $20.6bn in March to $28.38bn last month, higher than the $26 billion estimate, on a broad-based increase in imports. At the same time, total exports grew by 13.8% in April from a year earlier to hit $43.56 billion. Oil imports sequentially rose by around 60% MoM likely driven by higher volumes in April (vs. March lows) and higher oil

Everyone In The Democratic Party Has Money - Except The Democratic Party Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), On April 30, Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race for a U.S. Senate seat. In a statement about suspending her campaign, Mills was blunt: “ While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else—the fight—to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources .” As Mills said, financial resources matter in today’s political environment as campaigns grow

"Send Us A Tip": U.S. Dangles $15 Million Reward For New Intel On Iran's Drone Network There is little doubt that Iran's Shahed drone threat has become a major concern, menacing surrounding Gulf states, commercial tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. bases across the region. This backdrop helps explain why the State Department's Rewards for Justice program has now put up to $15 million for new information in connection with an already sanctioned Iranian drone-production network linked to the IRGC-Qods Force. Rewards for Justice has named Kimia Part Sivan Company (KIPAS), which the State Department says serves

Re-Arranging The Global Game-Board 'Bigly'... Authored by James Howard Kunstler, Resource Scramble “Trump has done so much damage to libtardery that the Democrats will need a decade of uninterrupted power to undo it, which they're not going to get.” - Matt Forney on X If you learned anything from this week’s extravaganza in Beijing, it is that Donald Trump is aggressively re-aligning world relations so that the USA does not end up one of the losers in the global resource scramble that lurks darkly behind all current events. China does not intend to be an eventual loser, either, though it

Deadlocked At Square Zero: Very First Line Of Iran's Latest Proposal 'Unacceptable,' Trump Says Tehran and Washington are truly not just back to square one, but it's as if no rounds of dialogue - direct or indirect - have even taken place. It's more like being back at square zero - and the US President has just acknowledged it. President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday while departing Beijing that even the very first first sentence of Iran's latest proposal was "unacceptable" and blamed the Iranians for backtracking on the nuclear issue. The first sentence was an “unacceptable

DHS Pushes Forward With Large-Scale Warehouse Immigration Detention Hubs Via American Greatness , The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is continuing efforts to transform warehouses into large-scale immigration detention centers despite a growing number of politically motivated lawsuits. Officials with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently discussed plans to award contracts for construction and operations at warehouse sites in San Antonio and near El Paso , according to people briefed on the internal meetings. The administration is also examining how to continue work at a site near Hagerstown, Maryland, while complying with a court order limiting construction activity there.

SpaceX Reportedly Chooses Nasdaq And "SPCX" Ticker For Mega IPO Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, has reportedly selected Nasdaq for its long-awaited IPO and is targeting a June 11 pricing, followed by a June 12 debut under the ticker "SPCX," according to a Reuters report released late in Friday's U.S. cash session. Immediately after the report, odds for "SPCX" on the Polymarket bet, "What will SpaceX's public ticker be?" soared to nearly 100%. Will SpaceX's public ticker be another ticker? Yes 97% · No 3% View full market & trade on Polymarket In April, SpaceX confidentially filed for an IPO

Uranium Gap Worsens: Nuclear News Roundup Goldman analyst Brian Lee reviews headlines across the nuclear industry for March ( full note here ). New reactor progress and announcements North America 4/16/2026 – Canada: Bruce Power has signed an MoU with SaskPower to share its experience in large-scale nuclear reactors, including project development and long-term operations, as Saskatchewan evaluates large reactor technologies alongside its SMR program. The agreement formalizes information-sharing and aligns provincial and federal nuclear strategies. 4/24/2026 – United States: Duke Energy's Robinson nuclear power plant has been cleared for extended operation to 80 years, after the US Nuclear Regulatory

UCLA Medical School Accused Of Racial Discrimination In Defiance Of Supreme Court Authored by Jonathan Turley, We previously discussed a disturbing account of how medical students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were subjected to a bizarre class where one of the university’s “activists-in-residence” showered them with anti-Semitic postings and racist rhetoric . Now, the Justice Department has found that the university engaged in systemic racial discrimination in the admission of medical students. Given the university’s history, it is hardly surprising, but it remains unclear how the university will respond to

Watch: Trump Spars With 'Treasonous' NYT Reporter On Iran War Coverage Friday saw a wild exchange play out between President Trump and a member of the media aboard Air Force One as it made its way back from China. The New York Times' David Sanger pointed out that Trump's Operation Epic Fury did not result in political transition in Iran, but that the same Islamic Republic theocratic government is in charge. Sanger in essence questioned whether there was actually 'total victory' as Trump and his officials have repeatedly claimed. A visibly angered Trump, standing physically close to Sanger, rebuked this

Trump administration move echoes indictment of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro as fuel crisis racks Cuba Tensions between Cuba and US seem set to rise further amid reports that Raúl Castro, the country’s 94-year-old former president, may soon face the type of indictment that led to the US abduction of the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January. Although Raúl is officially retired, he remains the most potent figure in Cuban politics following the death of his brother Fidel in 2016, and by targeting him Washington appears to be heaping pressure on Cuba’s communist leadership at the end of an already extraordinarily intense

Record heat in North and Central America coincides with egg-sized hailstones in eastern China Extreme weather across several parts of the world this week has brought record-breaking temperatures to Honduras, North America and Indonesia. Honduras smashed its all-time May maximum temperature record earlier this month – only for it to be broken again on 13 May in Choluteca, known as the furnace of Central America. Temperatures climbed to 42.2C (107.9F), surpassing the previous record of 42.1C. With intense heat forecast to persist over the coming weeks, more records are expected to fall. Continue reading...

All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House. Continue reading...

Visit comes after US-Cuba relations deteriorated significantly, and as the island nation declared it had ‘absolutely no fuel’ because of US blockade CIA director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday as a way to improve dialogue between the US and the communist-run island, the Cuban government said. The meeting took place “in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations”, a statement said. Continue reading...

‘We know that Mark Carney wants to sort of embrace Europe,’ says competition director Martin Green Canada is welcome to join Eurovision if it wishes, its director has said, months after the country revealed it wanted to “explore” joining the song contest in its federal budget. Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC on Wednesday that Canada hadn’t yet applied, but would be welcome to. Continue reading...

Family and supporters had hoped the US president could help free the 78-year-old British citizen during summit talks in Beijing Donald Trump raised the case of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping but was told it “is a tough one”. Family and supporters of the 78-year-old British citizen had hoped the US president could help secure his release. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. Colorado governor commutes sentence of election denier Tina Peters Sign up for the Breaking News US email Jamieson Greer also said US export controls on semiconductor chips were not a major topic of discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing . The US trade representative’s comments to Bloomberg on Friday suggest a breakthrough on selling Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China remains far away, Reuters is reporting, despite Nvidia chief Jensen Huang ’s last-minute invitation to Donald Trump ’s Beijing trip this week. This was not a major topic of discussion at the bilateral meeting.

Change reflects both transformation of US in Trump era and China’s increasing confidence on world stage Asked before he departed for Beijing if he would raise with the Chinese president the case of Jimmy Lai , the pro-democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong, Donald Trump said: “I’ll bring him up.” But, the US president added: “It’s like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ It might be a hard one for me.” Trump was referring to James B Comey, a former FBI director and a frequent target of Trump’s ire. Continue reading...

Chaotic week in which enforcer of ‘war on drugs’ flees senate building leaves government looking ‘incompetent’ The wanted man outran security agents , rallied protesters and even serenaded the media with a military hymn. Then, after a sudden exchange of gunfire, the Philippines’ most controversial lawmaker slipped out of the heavily guarded senate building in the middle of the night. Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity, is now nowhere to be seen. Continue reading...

US president has said he and Chinese leader ‘settled a lot of different problems’ but has given little detail on solutions Donald Trump’s whirlwind trip to Beijing – the first US presidential visit in nearly a decade – wrapped up with much fanfare but little clarity about what was actually achieved. Trump said on Friday he and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, “settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve”. But he didn’t provide much detail on what those solutions were. Continue reading...

Supporters at the Victorian state library protested against prosecutors dropping a manslaughter charge against the man accused of killing her Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Isla Bell, the 19-year-old whose body was found in a Melbourne tip 18 months ago, has been remembered as a loving, courageous and open-hearted young woman with a green thumb and an “exquisitely beautiful soul”. Friends, family and supporters gathered outside the Victorian state library on Saturday to honour the teenager and protest against prosecutors dropping a manslaughter charge against the man who had been accused of killing

Voters in northern Brisbane electorate go to polls after sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A byelection in the Brisbane seat of Stafford is expected to swing towards the sitting LNP Queensland government in a result experts say would likely be fatal to former premier Steven Miles’ leadership of the Labor party. Voters in the northern Brisbane electorate of Stafford have gone to the polls after the sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan in April. Continue reading...

Criticism of budget funding comes amid warnings the Australian National Audit Office will struggle to meet its targets for independent reviews Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Labor has been accused inadequately funding one of the central institutions safeguarding public administration, with transparency advocates and independent David Pocock criticising commitments for the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in this week’s budget. Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has previously warned the Albanese government that the auditor general’s financial position is unsustainable and of “serious concern” – even as the number of government

Politicians still care about traditional media, but winning over people spending more of their lives online is the challenge for modern MPs Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast He’s up before sunrise , pounding the pavement in a cap and running shorts. He’s still up late into the night , having slipped into a comfortable sweater while he checks figures in a darkened office by lamplight, fuelled by sugar-free Red Bull. It’s “decision week”, Jim Chalmers declares of the annual federal budget in a video that pinged around political group chats this week. The

Migrants are generally younger than the average Australian, are skilled and more educated. And they typically pay more tax than they receive in benefits Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Angus Taylor’s thinly veiled attempt to paint migrants as bludgers is not supported by the facts. The typical migrant over their lifetime pays more in taxes than they receive in government services. Far from lobbing up on our shores and demanding welfare , most migrants arrive hungry for work and motivated to make a life for themselves and their family. Continue reading...

Firms do not offer cover for some models, or charge more than for equivalent petrol cars, research finds UK insurers are more hesitant to cover some hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) from China than cars from other countries, research suggests. While some drivers can save money by buying cars made in China, they may have more limited options to get insurance than those buying electric, hybrid and petrol cars from Europe, the US and South Korea. Continue reading...

As continent faces tough headwinds, leaders are bearing brunt of delivering bad news to frustrated electorates “People hate you,” the adviser informed his leader. A think-piece in a daily newspaper noted that “almost everyone agrees on one thing: they don’t like him”. The recent disastrous set of local election results in the UK built on Keir Starmer’s longstanding reputational problem: only 11% of Britons believe he has been a good or great prime minister, and nearly 60% believe he has been poor or terrible, according to polling by YouGov. Continue reading...

All 46 Council of Europe members sign agreement ‘deplored’ by human rights organisations The UK and 45 other European countries have signed an agreement that explicitly endorses plans to send unwanted asylum seekers to third country hubs. A political declaration from the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR), said states had an “undeniable sovereign right” to control their borders. Continue reading...

Chancellor says he no longer views US as land of opportunity amid ‘deeply polarising’ social climate Friedrich Merz , the German chancellor, already embroiled in a row with Donald Trump over the Iran war, has said he would not advise his children to study or work in the US in the current climate. Speaking to a conference of young Catholics in Würzburg, the conservative leader, viewed by many as a transatlanticist, said he no longer saw the US as the land of opportunity. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Meanwhile, the Latvian president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has begun political consultations aimed at finding a parliamentary majority capable of forming a new government after the collapse of prime minister Evika Siliņa’s administration. Rinkēvičs’s office posted a short video from the meeting on its social media. Continue reading...

Statement following ‘productive’ talks in Washington comes as Israel launches strikes on southern city of Tyre Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of their ceasefire after another round of talks in Washington, the US state department has said. It came after two “productive” days of talks, and more negotiations would be held from 2-3 June, the department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. Continue reading...

The film-maker, who won the Grand Prix for A Hero in 2021, condemned both the killing of protesters and the conflict’s bombing campaigns during a Cannes press conference Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has described the deaths of civilians in Iran as “extremely cruel and tragic” during a press conference at the Cannes film festival. Farhadi, whose new Paris-set drama Parallel Tales premiered on the Croisette on Thursday night, was asked about working free from censorship in France, the war involving Iran, the US and Israel, and the repression of protesters in his native country. Continue reading...

Muscat silent about plans – opposed by US – to charge fee and demand details on nationality of all transiting ships Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping. The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February. Continue reading...

State oil company fast-tracks previously undisclosed project, which is expected to double export capacity Business live – latest updates The United Arab Emirates has announced it will complete a new oil pipeline bypassing the strait of Hormuz by next year to secure its future crude exports against the threat of disruption. The current blockade of the vital waterway, through which 20% of oil and seaborne gas flowed before the Iran war , is approaching the 11-week mark, sending energy prices soaring around the world and throttling Gulf economies. Continue reading...

Far-right Jewish marchers call for Palestinian villages to ‘burn’ as they storm through Muslim quarter of Old City Israeli nationalists chanted “death to the Arabs”, “may your villages burn” and “Gaza is a graveyard” in a state-sponsored march through Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of the city’s capture and annexation. The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, and Thursday’s event culminated with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, unfurling an Israeli flag in front of the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest Islamic site in the city. Continue reading...

Gautam Adani, richest man in Asia, was accused of conspiring to pay $250m in bribes to Indian government officials The US Department of Justice is dropping its fraud charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, after he hired a new legal team led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to new reports. In an undisclosed April meeting at the justice department, Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert J Giuffra Jr, said that Adani would invest $10bn in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges against him, according to the New York Times

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...

Police monitoring both Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march and also the annual ‘Nakba day’ pro-Palestine march We have some early images on the newswires of demonstrators gathering in Kingsway in central London for Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally: Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, used a separate article in The Muslim News, a UK-based outlet , to insist that both protests are being policed on exactly the same basis, under the same legal framework, with similar conditions and timings and the same expectations. Continue reading...

As Keir Starmer endures a slow ousting, his predecessor recalls the day in 2016 when colleagues tried to force him out – and assesses who might come next “Yeah, I do feel [sorry for him],” said Jeremy Corbyn, with only a little hesitation. “On a personal level it must be devastating. It is a horrible feeling. You suddenly realise that this person doesn’t trust you at all and really doesn’t wish you well at all, and you suddenly realise that any trust that was there actually disappears.” There are few in politics who have had the experience of being the

‘Polyclass’ of 6 million people consider themselves to belong to more than one social category, researchers say More than a third of Britons say they have changed social class, with upper-middle and upper-class people most likely to identify as belonging to more than one class, according to a survey. Working-class people were the least likely to say they had changed class or identified with more than one, with 70% saying they were in the same social category they were born into, the study by research firm Attest found. Continue reading...

Week of leadership jostling has left Keir Starmer looking vulnerable and short of time – even though no challenger has officially come forward It was a minute or so into his BBC interview on Friday morning, after being asked about “moves” to remove Keir Starmer, that Steve Reed ran out of patience. “There is no contest,” he interrupted. “‘Moves’ mean nothing. People need 81 nominations to stand against the prime minister.” The housing secretary, a close ally of Starmer and a founding member of the Labour Together thinktank that catapulted him to power, was right, of course: no one has

Rent donations on GoFundMe up 60% since 2022, with 100,000 donors helping people keep a roof over their heads A record number of people in the UK are turning to crowdfunding to cover rent and household bills, with GoFundMe reporting more rent-related fundraisers were created in April than in any month on record. The platform said donations towards rent support had risen by 60% since 2022, with more than 100,000 people a month contributing to help others meet their housing costs. Continue reading...

Move follows upsetting viral video of ray being manhandled into unmarked boat in Florida waters last year Wildlife officials in Florida will continue to allow threatened giant manta rays to be taken from the ocean, but have tightened their policies after a viral video showed a captured ray in severe distress, and a bipartisan group of politicians called for an end to the controversial practice. Members of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) voted on Wednesday to adopt an amended final rule reserving the right to say when and where rays can be captured for “responsible exhibition” in

Ryan Nichols is the latest such person to face charges after he allegedly brandished a gun during an argument The number of president’s supporters accused of committing new crimes after Donald Trump pardoned them for their roles in the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack recently increased to at least five. Ryan Nichols, 35, became the latest such Capitol attacker on 10 May, when authorities in Harleton, Texas, say he threateningly displayed a handgun to a person with whom he was arguing in a church parking lot. Continue reading...

The US supreme court dealt a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states cannot consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority-Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks to Stacey Abrams , a voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, despite it all, she still believes the way forward lies in engaging more voters to participate in democracy. ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to

Dr Tracy Beth Høeg, the Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, says she was fired from agency after declining to resign In a major shake-up at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), top regulators left on Friday – including Tracy Beth Høeg, the acting drug chief, who says she was fired, and Katherine Szarama, the acting vaccines chief who has only been in the position for days. Jim Traficant, the chief of staff, has also been ousted. The FDA now has no permanent commissioner or deputy commissioner and no permanent leaders of two major centers, after the resignation

Proposal comes after seven states drawing water from drought-stricken river failed to come to an agreement The US government has proposed a plan for the drought stricken Colorado River that could cut up to 40% of current supplies to Arizona, California and Nevada, as the waterway’s reservoirs continue to plunge to critically low levels. A top Arizona water official shared details of the Trump administration’s plan at a state meeting on Wednesday. Continue reading...

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we explore the massive upswing in capital expenditures across Asia that is driving a broad shift in economic power. When US President Donald Trump made his...

Hollywood star John Travolta was given a surprise lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival Friday as he premiered the first movie he has ever directed. The man who became an icon overnight with Saturday Night Fever was visibly moved as he accepted the honorary Palme d’Or before the screening of Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which is based on a book about his first experience in an airliner. “I just can’t believe it. This is beyond the Oscar, really,” he said as he accepted the...

What comes to mind when you think of China, Japan and South Korea? This was a question posed in a second-year sociology seminar during my time at Bristol, and it has stayed with me ever since. We were split into three groups and given 10 minutes to create posters capturing our immediate associations. Japan came first. Sketches of anime, sushi platters and temples appeared. My classmates spoke with enthusiasm, drawing on travel memories or aspirations to visit. A country that, less than a century...

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the leader of Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province took a major step on Friday towards building an oil pipeline that could substantially increase crude exports to Asia. Expanding overseas energy exports has emerged as a key part of Carney’s strategy to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the US, but plans for a new pipeline are facing stiff resistance over environmental concerns. Alberta’s conservative Premier Danielle Smith was a relentless critic of Carney’s...

Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire and hold new talks on a political settlement, the US announced on Friday, even as Israel carried out new strikes that it insists are not subject to the truce. Israel has been pounding Lebanon and invaded its south in response to fire from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia movement that is not part of the ceasefire diplomacy. Envoys from Israel and Lebanon’s government, which has struggled to restrain Hezbollah, met for two days in Washington and...

Harvey Weinstein’s third trial in New York over allegations he used his Hollywood clout to prey upon and sexually abuse women ended ‌in a mistrial on Friday, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge he raped the aspiring actress Jessica Mann. Weinstein, 74, was a top film producer until sexual misconduct allegations led to his downfall and fuelled a wider social movement that encouraged women to come forward with accounts of sexual abuse by ⁠powerful men. The case, brought by...

Peru’s leftist ⁠presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez will face ⁠Keiko Fujimori in the June run-off after narrowly securing second place in April’s first-round vote, official results showed Friday, with 100 per cent of votes tallied. The month-long count led to allegations of fraud in ‌the politically turbulent South American nation, notably from right-wing candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who narrowly trailed Sanchez for much of the counting process. Fujimori, the daughter of late former...

Blink and you might miss the few stone walls that are all that is left of the village that Yusuf Abu Hamam’s family was forced to flee when he was an infant in 1948. The village, al-Joura, was demolished by the Israeli military at the time. It has since vanished under neighbourhoods of the southern Israeli city of Ashqelon and the grounds of a national park. The neighbourhood where Abu Hamam’s family ended up, and where he spent most of his life, now lies also largely in ruins. Buildings in the...

Thirty-four European states plus Australia, Costa Rica and the EU said on Friday they would join a future special tribunal for Ukraine to prosecute Russia over its invasion of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an accord with the Council of Europe last year to create a legal body to prosecute the “crime of aggression” in the invasion Russia launched in February 2022. The Council of Ministers, comprising foreign ministers from the organisation’s 46-member states, in a...

Fans of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace all have their own reasons for loving the epic novel. Some read it as a story of personal growth, reflected in Prince Andrei’s spiritual quest. Others favour its portrayal of the Russian aristocracy in the early 19th century. As for myself, the novel punctured the myth of the military genius – not just Napoleon’s. The book’s final section on Tolstoy’s philosophy of history presented the most significant challenge to G.W.F. Hegel – specifically regarding French...

Rescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives searched for a second day Friday for the bodies of four missing Italians following the country’s deadliest diving accident, officials said. Italy’s foreign ministry said on Thursday night that five citizens had died while diving, with Maldivian authorities recovering one body. Maldives Minister of Tourism Mohamed Ameen said coastguard officers and security forces were scouring remote seas around where the divers were reported missing...

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the continent’s top public health body, on Friday confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo’s remote Ituri province, with 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths recorded so far. The deaths and suspected cases have been recorded mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, the organisation said in a statement. The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it...

Shortly after US President Donald Trump departed Beijing, China’s ruling Communist Party has called for strengthening the real economy – particularly manufacturing – to gain a competitive edge in the global economy. An article in Qiushi, set to be published on Saturday, curated selections from past speeches by President Xi Jinping to reiterate “our economy was built on the real economy and it must continue to rely on it for the future,” state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. “At...

Finland warned the public of drones possibly entering its airspace, for the first time near the capital city Helsinki, in the early hours of Friday. Flights were disrupted at the country’s biggest airport, Helsinki-Vantaa, and about 1.8 million residents of southern Finland were told to remain indoors after overnight Ukrainian strikes on Russia near Finland prompted concern that unmanned aircraft had strayed into the country. The emergency warning was issued at 3.49am local time and authorities...

Most readers of foreign news pages this weekend will be assuming that US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing has been dominating everyone’s attention. But across Asia, Trump, with his massive business entourage, was not the only act in town this week. At least two other major sets of meetings should not be overlooked. First, in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosting foreign ministers from the 10 Brics economies and a growing community...

Before he even entered the race, Andy Burnham was the favourite to unseat Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister. The mayor of Greater Manchester led opinion polls and was the front runner among bookmakers and Polymarket. Late Thursday, the biggest obstacle fell away: Labour MP Josh Simons quit the House of Commons, clearing the way for Burnham to win a seat in Parliament, a requirement for the top job. Arriving in London this week as Starmer’s government wobbled, Burnham has kept a low...

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. The message China wants to send by hosting Trump at Temple of Heaven In Chinese diplomacy, historic venues are rarely just backdrops, and are often interpreted as rich in symbolism, carrying messages about history and bilateral...

The United States cast Israel-Lebanon talks held in Washington ⁠on Thursday as “productive and positive” and a State Department official said more discussions aimed at ending their conflict will continue on Friday. A senior Lebanese official said earlier that Lebanon will demand that US ally Israel cease fire in the face-to-face talks, as Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah continued to trade blows despite a US-backed truce declared last month. An Israeli government spokesperson said the talks were...

The head of the CIA visited Cuba on Thursday, an extraordinary step-up in contact between Washington and Havana as the communist-run island reels from US pressure, declaring that it was out of oil. John Ratcliffe’s ‌trip appeared to be only the second visit by a CIA director to Cuba since former leader Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Ratcliffe met with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of former president Raul Castro, Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuban...

In recent years, the Brics grouping has attracted attention as it adds members and positions itself as the voice of the Global South. At a Brics forum held in Beijing last month, officials discussed expanding trade within the grouping. Such initiatives reflect both an impulse to reduce exposure to external shocks linked to the US dollar and a long-term ambition to reshape global finance. These gatherings are as much about signalling intent as delivering substance. Brics wants to be seen as a...

A tourist from Washington state is facing federal charges after a witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of him hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal just off a Maui beach last week. Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area on Wednesday as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him, Assistant US Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said. He is charged with...

The head of US Border Patrol, the agency tasked with securing the nation’s frontiers and increasingly tapped by the Trump administration for immigration operations in American cities, announced his resignation on Thursday. Michael Banks’ decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, was the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and came as the Republican administration appeared...

US President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping offered to help broker an end to the Iran conflict and ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring how Middle East tensions have become intertwined with a broader effort by Washington and Beijing to steady relations. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity set to air on Thursday evening in the US, Trump said Xi had personally expressed willingness to assist amid mounting concerns over disruptions in...

Labour’s Wes Streeting announced his resignation ⁠as health minister on Thursday, calling for a leadership contest to oust British Prime Minister Keir ⁠Starmer, who has shown no sign he is ready to step down. Disastrous results for the governing Labour Party in last week’s local elections have plunged Britain into its latest crisis, just under two years after Starmer won a large majority on a vow to bring stability and end a decade of political chaos. After days of calls by a growing number of...

France’s health minister said on Thursday that 26 people in France identified as close contacts of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship had tested negative for the illness. Dutch authorities said that all people who arrived in the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship this week have also tested negative. Twenty-six people are in hospital isolation in France, including 22 identified as close contacts of a Dutch woman on the MV Hondius that was at the centre of an...

Ukrainian ⁠President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former right-hand man was taken into custody on Thursday on money-laundering charges, part of a fight against corruption that is fuelling wartime political tensions. Investigators on Monday had named Andriy Yermak as an official suspect in a sprawling, multi-episode case that has gripped Ukraine for months and stoked anger among a war-battered population at high-level corruption. His arrest represents the deepest authorities have dug into the president’s...

Russia carried out its largest aerial attack over a two-day period since the start of its war in Ukraine, pounding the capital Kyiv and other cities with hundreds of drones, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday. Russia had launched 1,567 drones since the start of Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least 27 civilians have been killed over the two days, officials said. Russian ‌President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands...

All 11 people aboard a private plane that crashed at sea off central Florida survived the wreck and were rescued from their lifeboat hours later by a US Air Force Reserve team, US Coast Guard and US Air Force officials said on Wednesday. “For all those people to ‌survive is pretty miraculous,” US Air Force Major Elizabeth Piowaty, commander of one of the aircraft involved in the rescue, told reporters at a news briefing a day after Tuesday’s crash. The ill-fated plane, a twin-engined turboprop...

The business executives accompanying US President Donald Trump on his state visit to Beijing this week are the wealthiest such delegation to visit China – holding a combined personal net worth of over US$1 trillion – an indication of continued interest in the country’s lucrative market despite strained bilateral ties. With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s last-minute addition to the delegation, 17 executives from the technology, finance, aerospace and semiconductor sectors have joined Trump, who landed...

Statues erected by South Korean civic groups on the other side of the world honouring the tens of thousands of women forced into sexual slavery by imperial Japanese forces during World War II have once again succeeded in making Tokyo’s elites deeply uncomfortable. The decisions by local governments in Germany’s capital and New Zealand’s largest city to rescind or decline to renew permits for “comfort women” memorials have been pounced on by conservatives within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic...

A Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his murder, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband Eric Richins’ cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying...

The Trump administration on Wednesday publicly renewed an offer of US$100 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, stepping up pressure on Havana despite Beijing’s continued political and economic backing for the island. The announcement came as US President Donald Trump travelled to China this week for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Trump saying before departure that Cuba would be among the issues discussed during the visit. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the State Department...

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kevin Warsh as the new Federal Reserve chairman to lead a central bank whose independence is under attack and with inflation at a three-year high. The Senate voted 54 to 45 to in favour of Warsh, with Republicans holding a slim majority and ensuring US President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell was confirmed. Once known as a monetary “hawk” against inflation, Warsh has shifted in line with Trump’s push for lower interest rates that has posed an...

The United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry denied on Wednesday a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that he visited the country and held a secret meeting with its president. The Israeli Prime Minister’s ‌Office said earlier he travelled to the UAE during the war with Iran and met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. A statement by the Emirati foreign ministry said that Emirati relations with Israel “are public” and “not based on non-transparent or unofficial...

A paediatrician at a hospital near Berlin has been charged with sex offences in 130 cases, many of which are said to have taken place at the hospital, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The extent of the offences, which include serious sexual abuse of children and rape, had previously been unknown. The paediatrician has been in pre-trial custody since November, with prosecutors citing a risk of reoffending as a reason for the man’s continued detention. In January, it became known that the doctor was...

French prosecutors on Wednesday requested a seven-year prison sentence for former president Nicolas Sarkozy in an appeal trial on charges that he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election. Sarkozy, France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, has always denied any wrongdoing but last year became modern France’s first former president to have gone to jail over the case, before he was released after 20 days pending his appeal trial. Prosecutors had also requested seven years in the first...

The bodies of three women have been recovered from the sea off Brighton. Sussex Police said emergency services were called after concerns were raised for the women’s welfare at around 5.45am on Wednesday, and their bodies were pulled from the water near Madeira Drive. Chief Superintendent Adam Hays said the coastguard is completing an “extensive search of the water”, but the force is not searching for anyone else. The officer said CCTV inquiries are being carried out. Following the incident,...

The European Union will not ban “conversion therapy” targeting LGBTQ people, but will push member states to take action against such practices, it said on Wednesday. So-called conversion “therapies” involve methods that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of members of gay, lesbian, queer and trans people. The EU stopped short of heeding a call by over a million people, who signed a petition last May calling on the 27-country bloc to prohibit such...

French authorities on Wednesday allowed asymptomatic passengers to leave a British cruise ship, saying a gastrointestinal virus was behind an outbreak of sickness that came after an elderly man died of a heart attack. Earlier, authorities had ordered a lockdown for the more than 1,700 passengers and crew on the vessel, but insisted there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak suspected of killing three people on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship, which has sparked international...

Keir Starmer faced his biggest challenge yet on Wednesday when his health minister was reported to be readying his resignation to try to trigger a contest to replace a British prime minister who had sought some respite to set out his government’s agenda. As Starmer and his ministers stood in silence to hear King Charles read out their government’s agenda, the ceremony was overshadowed by what could be the most dangerous threat to the prime minister since lawmakers began urging him to resign over...

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Unrivalled Xi-Trump summit analysis: get real-time updates and exclusive boots-on-the-ground reporting from our Beijing and Washington bureaus. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. US President Donald Trump has arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The state visit is the first by an American president in almost nine years. It...

Some European companies operating in China are shifting more production to the country as part of broader supply chain adjustments in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to a new survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. The flash survey of European companies found that more than a quarter of firms had adjusted their supply chain strategies in China following the Middle East conflict, as higher energy and logistics costs weigh on operations. Six in 10 chemicals and petroleum...

Senior officials from China and the United States concluded their latest round of trade talks in Seoul after less than four hours on Wednesday, the briefest session since the two countries began holding talks last year. The seventh round of negotiations – led by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – wrapped up just hours ahead of US President Donald Trump’s scheduled arrival in Beijing. The officials ended the session without speaking to the media, a departure...

The G7 economists’ memo from March and the IMF’s April report on global imbalances arrived at the same prescription: China’s current account surplus is excessive and should be cut by boosting consumption. The diagnosis is wrong. The world economy, especially emerging markets and developing economies, benefits from China’s high saving. A current account surplus is the excess of national saving over domestic investment. The saving is not lost; it is exported abroad in the form of net capital...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to resign after more than 80 lawmakers in his Labour Party said he was not the right person to lead the country and win the ⁠next national election. He has vowed to stay on as no formal ⁠leadership challenge has yet been triggered. If Labour were to choose a new leader, here is ⁠a list of those in the frame to replace Starmer: Wes Streeting, 43 Streeting has served as health and social care minister since Labour came to power in July 2024 – a...

Nearly 10 years after Congress instituted measures to make it easier for women to lodge harassment complaints, lawmakers and aides say the behavior is still rampant.

Senator Bill Cassidy, who has drawn President Trump’s ire, is fighting for political survival.

Social media stars have become a magnet for campaigns and political groups that want to push priorities without disclosing where their money is going.

State officials had asked the justices to step in to allow the state to use a congressional map in the midterms that was drawn by Democrats and recently approved by voters.

An analysis of oil export data offers clues about which nations have benefited from higher prices, and which have lost a lot of revenue.

Violent settlers are not merely clearing Palestinians from land under Israel’s control. They are attacking areas where Israel agreed to Palestinian self-governance.

Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch spoke after prosecutors said they had arrested a man planning to attack a Manhattan synagogue.

The leader, whom the State Department designated a terrorist in 2023, had been hiding in Africa, President Trump said.

This is the first strike on the service in more than 30 years. It comes after three years of failed contract negotiations, two federal interventions and a volley of last-minute bargaining.

America’s busiest passenger rail service shut down on Saturday after unions and transit officials failed to agree on a new contract.

Authoritarians go after data. The president has already started.

Pedro Sánchez has established an alternative governing philosophy to Trumpism.

It’s graduation season, a time of aspiration and anxiety. Today is about the aspiration — the wisdom to be gleaned from great commencement addresses.

Texas Children’s Hospital was under investigation for billing practices on gender-transition treatments. The settlement was expected to end that inquiry.

Nobody has yet challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the leadership, but his leading rival, Andy Burnham, finally has a route to Downing Street.