Minimalist News

Even Google's Founders Have Had Enough Of California, And Are Saying Adios Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin quietly began unwinding portions of their financial empires in California in the days leading up to Christmas, according to corporate filings reviewed by The New York Times, as progressive lawmakers consider a proposed billionaire wealth tax. This development confirms our earlier note that California is on an accelerated path toward self-destruction. Here are the new details from NYT's report that further confirm our previous reporting: > In the 10 days before Christmas, an entity connected to Mr. Brin, 52, terminated or moved 15 California

Amazon Is Ditching The United States Postal Service After nearly three decades of working together, Amazon is ending its delivery relationship with the United States Postal Service, a move that significantly alters how packages are moved across the country, according to MSN. The partnership once played a major role in Amazon’s rapid expansion while generating billions in yearly revenue for USPS. The decision comes as the Postal Service continues to struggle financially, including a reported $9.5 billion loss in its most recent fiscal year. For much of Amazon’s growth, USPS provided nationwide coverage, especially in rural and remote areas where private carriers often

DNC Signals Possible Legal Action Against 10 States Over Proposed DOJ Voter-List Agreement Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent warning letters to election officials in 10 states on Friday, saying proposed agreements with the Justice Department to share unredacted voter registration files and act on list maintenance concerns could violate federal election law. The letters went to election offices in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. In each, the DNC said the Justice Department indicated the state had entered or could soon enter a memorandum of understanding that

Wall Street's Crypto Debate Is Over As Banks Go All-In On BTC, Stablecoins, Tokenized Cash Authored by Sam Bourgi via CoinTelegraph.com, Big banks aren’t debating crypto anymore — they’re building it. From tokenized cash to ETFs, Wall Street is quietly going onchain. For years, major banks treated cryptocurrency primarily as a risk to be contained. That posture is now giving way to a more deliberate form of engagement. Rather than debating crypto’s legitimacy, banks are increasingly deciding how and where to integrate it, from regulated investment products to blockchain-based payment rails. This shift is on full display in this week’s Crypto Biz. JPMorgan is

"Uninvestable": Trump's $100 Billion Venezuela Gamble Meets Oil Industry Reality President Donald Trump’s push for U.S. oil companies to commit at least $100 billion toward rebuilding Venezuela’s energy industry is meeting significant resistance from the very executives he is courting, according to Bloomberg. Although the White House projects confidence, industry leaders are warning that Venezuela remains too unstable for major investment, with Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods describing the country bluntly as “uninvestable.” At a closed-door meeting Friday with roughly 20 energy executives, Trump said he expected an agreement “today or very shortly thereafter” to restart large-scale drilling in Venezuela following the removal

Not Worth A Continental Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com, In late-18th-century America, something of minimal value was often described as being “not worth a continental,” which referred to the continental dollar, the American currency at the time of the revolution. The continental was paper money. It had occurred to the colonists that, as their revolution was costing quite a bit to maintain, they could go into “temporary” debt to finance the war. Soon it became clear that the debt could not be repaid. Also, the printing of paper banknotes resulted in inflation. The solution? Print more of them. Further devaluation of the

Did Trump Accidentally Pardon Accused Jan 6 Pipe-Bomber? It took nearly five years for the FBI to finally arrest someone for planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, but the suspect may avoid serving a prison sentence thanks to the language in President Trump's sweeping pardon of those who participated in Jan. 6 mayhem. In that pardon issued on the day of his 2025 inauguration, Trump commuted the sentences of 14 people convicted of offenses springing from the Jan 6 demonstrations. Next, seeking to free some 1,500

Investor Lessons From 2025 For 2026 Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, BULLS REMAIN IN CONTROL The S&P 500’s close at 6,966 on Friday confirmed the market remains in a bullish uptrend, continuing the positive trajectory that began in mid‑2025. Price action this week gained traction and has been tracking the rising bullish trendline from the November lows, printing a new all-time high on Friday. Technical indicators remain bullish and not overbought with a momentum “buy signal” intact. However, weak money flows continue to suggest some caution below the surface. The price remains above its major moving averages, with the index trading above both the 20-day and 50-day

"Yes, Yes, And Yes": Bessent Signals Crackdown On Dark-Money NGO Protests 'Just Like We Did With The Mafia' The left's ability to rapidly stage highly organized 'pop-up' protests in response to just about any political incident is uncanny (remember Robert Creamer? "Wherever Trump and Pence are going to be, we have events, we have a whole team across the country that does that."). Often, organic protests that average Americans have every right to engage in (even if we disagree) are co-opted and amplified by 'organizers,' and blessed by the media, which runs damage control when needed ('mostly peaceful!'). Other times they orchestrate

Minneapolis City Officials Dismantle 'No-Go Zone' Set Up By Anti-ICE Agitators Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness, Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived  “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement. The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area. On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, after she had accelerated her Honda Pilot toward the officer, hitting and injuring him. Leftwing operatives immediately seized on the incident to incite disorder

Watch: New Footage Shows Three Minutes Before Minneapolis ICE-Involved Shooting Update (1410ET): Additional footage has surfaced, apparently from a nearby resident, showing at least three minutes leading up to the ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis of a left-wing activist who was blocking traffic in an attempt to impede federal agents during a deportation operation. The internet has been a battleground of competing narratives, fighting over which will be the consensus, in which left-leaning corporate media outlets and Democrats say the woman shot and killed did nothing wrong, while the White House and right-leaning outlets have said she was part of "ICE Watch" and part a

USDA Suspends All Payments To Minnesota's Food Programs Over Suspected Fraud Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended payments for all federal food programs in Minnesota and Minneapolis Friday over alleged fraud and abuse of federal funds statewide. “Enough is enough!” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X, announcing the suspension. “The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis—billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have zero plan to fix it.” The agency plans to suspend all payments of federal financial awards to the state and city—totalling about $130 million—until state

Widow Who Urged Wife To 'Drive' In Deadly ICE Incident Rakes In $1.5M In Donations Becca Good, who urged her wife to defy orders from ICE agents and "drive" in dangerous proximity to one of them before he fatally shot her in the head, is now the beneficiary of a $1.5 million windfall, thanks to a GoFundMe campaign to benefit the complicit widow and three children.  In cellphone video released Friday -- video taken by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who did the shooting -- Becca is seen escalating an already-tense situation, aggressively taunting agents who were attempting to get Renee Good to

US And Venezuela Explore Restoring Diplomatic Ties After Maduro's Capture Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, The United States and Venezuela announced Friday they are pursuing the possibility of reestablishing diplomatic relations, coming a week after a U.S. military operation that captured former leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and extradited him to face drug-trafficking charges in New York. A U.S. delegation, including diplomats and security personnel, visited Venezuela to evaluate the potential reopening of the American Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement sent to media outlets. The department did not immediately return a request for comment. The embassy

"Affordability!": Trump Calls For Temporary 10 Percent Cap On Credit Card Interest Rates President Trump said on Jan. 9 that he would call for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10 percent, potentially starting later this month, though its enforcement may depend on Congress. In a Truth Social post, Trump said that Americans are being “ripped off” by credit card companies that charge interest rates between 20 and 30 percent, and vowed his administration will put an end to it. “AFFORDABILITY! Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on

Minneapolis ICE Shooting Shows Left Wing's Protest Industrial Complex Wants Another 'George Floyd'-Type Riot The latest iteration of the Democratic Party's color-revolution-style operation was on full display in recent days as tensions erupted following the fatal shooting of a left-wing activist by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a federal enforcement sweep in Minnesota. This incident demonstrates that the protest industrial complex, funded by left-wing billionaires, has been on standby, waiting for a catalyzing event to ignite mass mobilization. MSM, the Democratic Party, and left-wing nonprofits are working hard to manufacture another 'George Floyd’-type protest or riot by omitting key

US Trade Deficit Collapses In October: Structural Shifts In Global Trade Revealed Submitted by Thomas Kolbe The US economy managed to drastically reduce its trade deficit in October of last year. Data delayed due to the government shutdown highlight structural shifts in the global trade landscape. Reducing the massive trade deficit has been a primary goal of the US government’s economic agenda under President Donald Trump. This deficit is almost a mirror of the industrial weakness of the US economy in international comparison. It is also a consequence of the US dollar’s role as the global reserve currency. High demand for dollars facilitated

Trump To Meet Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado Next Week President Trump plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado next week during her planned visit to the United States. This development comes despite his earlier reluctance to back her for the country's top leadership role. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a taped interview that aired Thursday night that he understands Machado is "coming in next week sometime" and looks forward to saying hello to her.  During the interview, Hannity inquired about Machado. He mentioned that she had appeared on his show earlier in the week and

UK Government Threatens Total Ban On X Over Grok Bikini Flap Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The UK’s Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has escalated its war on online expression, now openly threatening to ban Elon Musk’s X platform entirely. Using the pretext of Grok AI’s image generation capabilities, Starmer’s regime is pushing for total control over what Brits can see and say online, exposing the thin veil over their authoritarian impulses. This move comes amid a surge in Grok-generated sexualized images, but the crackdown reeks of selective outrage aimed at silencing dissent rather than protecting anyone. Starmer issued the threat,

Economic Satisfaction Declines With Age More than four in ten adults in the United States view their personal financial situation positively. This is according to a new survey by Statista Consumer Insights, conducted between October 2024 and September 2025. You will find more infographics at Statista At 43 percent, this marks an increase of four percentage points from one year before. A perception gap persists between age groups, with younger generations (18 to 29 year olds and 30 to 49 year olds) more likely to be content with their financial situation than those aged 50-64 years old. Just 33 percent of the older age group said they felt

State department says armed ‘colectivos’ appear to be setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for Americans The United States has urged its citizens to leave Venezuela immediately amid reports that armed paramilitaries are trying to track down US citizens, one week after the capture of the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. In a security alert sent out on Saturday, the state department said there were reports of armed members of pro-regime militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence that the occupants were US citizens or supporters of the country. Continue reading...

Human rights groups say ‘at least 60 arbitrary arrests’ have occurred for celebrating the US military operation Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges. Continue reading...

Trump’s attack on Venezuela suggests expansionism is under way but some argue it is simply standard US foreign policy stripped of hypocrisy The attack on Venezuela and the seizure of its president was a shocking enough start to 2026, but it was only the next day, when the smoke had dispersed and Donald Trump was flying from Florida to Washington DC in triumph, that it became clear the world had entered a new era. The US president was leaning on a bulkhead on Air Force One, in a charcoal suit and gold tie, regaling reporters with inside details of the abduction of

Country is ‘uninvestable’ today, president told, but CEOs signal they are ready to spend with support Donald Trump promised oil giants “total safety, total security” in Venezuela in an effort to persuade them to invest $100bn in the country’s infrastructure after US forces toppled Nicolás Maduro from power. At a roundtable press conference at the White House on Friday afternoon with more than a dozen oil executives, including leaders from Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhilips, the US president doubled down on claims that Maduro’s arrest presents American oil companies with an unprecedented opportunity for extraction. Continue reading...

US president does not elaborate on alleged plan for fresh strikes but says large naval presence in region will remain * US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump has claimed that he cancelled a second wave of attacks on Venezuela because it was cooperating with the US on oil infrastructure and had released political prisoners. The US president said he had cancelled planned military action in recognition that the authorities in Caracas had released “large numbers” of prisoners and were “seeking peace”. Continue reading...

Move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI tool and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Continue reading...

Chen founded multinational conglomerate Prince Group that US says is front for multibillion-dollar fraud operation Chinese television has shown footage of the US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive “scam centre” network. Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the US says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad Swat officers, with the state broadcaster CCTV describing him

In mid-December PNG said the company did not have a licence to operate in the country and ordered it to halt operations Frustration is growing in Papua New Guinea weeks after the government ordered Starlink to shut down operations in the country as businesses, health providers and communities struggle without access to internet services. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet company that provides internet to remote places. In mid-December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) ordered the company to halt operations because it was not licensed in PNG. Continue reading...

Perception that Chinese-made weapons could not stop a ‘decapitation strike’ may give Beijing pause for thought The sight of a hostile regional superpower launching an overnight raid to depose the leader of a smaller neighbouring country could easily have sent pulses in Taiwan racing. The US on Saturday revealed the details of a surprise raid to capture Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was whisked away to the US, where he was frogmarched into a court in New York on Monday. Continue reading...

Maduro had just affirmed ‘strong bonds of brotherhood’ with Beijing when US made its shocking intervention * Venezuela crisis – latest updates Hours before his life and the fate of his country was changed dramatically, Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, was exchanging smiles and handshakes with a Chinese delegation in the presidential palace in Caracas. On Friday evening, shortly before he was seized by US forces, Maduro wrote on Telegram of his meeting with China’s special envoy for Latin American affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi: “A fraternal meeting that reaffirms the strong bonds of brotherhood and friendship between China and Venezuela. Through thick and thin!” Continue

Almost a dozen emergency warnings remain in place across Victoria, with state premier saying ‘we are not through the worst of this by a long way’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian authorities are assessing the damage after one of the worst heatwaves in years resulted in bushfires igniting across the country’s south-east, with one person dead, hundreds of homes and structures lost, thousands of hectares burned and entire towns evacuated. A state of disaster remained in place across much of Victoria on Sunday as

Palestinian academic rejects accusations of hypocrisy, saying board resisted attempts to remove Thomas Friedman, while cancelling her invitation this year * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Adelaide festival board did not dump a Jewish columnist from its 2024 lineup at Adelaide writers’ week, despite being lobbied by a group of 10 academics – including Randa Abdel-Fattah – to do so. On Saturday South Australia’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, claimed that the board had dumped the New York Times pro-Israel columnist Thomas Friedman in 2024, and reiterated

Exclusive: Chris Bowen says key to next UN climate summit will be ‘engagement, engagement, engagement’ with countries such as Saudi Arabia * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Chris Bowen wants to use his stint as the world’s chief climate negotiator to lobby Saudi Arabia and others to stop resisting progress at UN summits, heeding calls for a “hard-nosed” approach in dealing with big emitters obstructing the transition. Appointed “president of negotiations” for Cop31 under the deal that handed Turkey hosting rights for the conference, Australia’s climate

Telco Services Australia generated more than $185m in revenue in 2024-25 and $130m the year before but paid zero tax * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An outsource call centre operator for Centrelink paid no corporate tax for several years even after winning a major government agency contract worth tens of millions of dollars, Guardian Australia can reveal. The Perth-headquartered company, Telco Services Australia, generated more than $185m in revenue in 2024-25 but reported no taxable income, new financial documents show. Do you know more? Email jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com Continue

This blog is now closed. * More than 100 buildings destroyed and 300,000 hectares burned as Victoria’s bushfires rage * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast NSW working to send more firefighting teams to Victoria New South Wales is moving to send additional firefighting teams to Victoria after a request for assistance, the premier says. There’s over 90 firefighters from NSW in Victoria. At the moment their agencies have asked for more strike teams. My understanding is the RFS is filling those gaps as quickly as possible and sending them across the Murray. It will be an incredibly challenging

Jacques Moretti, who is in custody, told Swiss prosecutor’s office he forced door open and found people lying behind it The French owner of the Swiss bar where 40 people died in a fire during new year celebrations has told investigators a service door had been locked from the inside. Jacques Moretti, co-owner of the Constellation bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, was taken into custody on Friday, as prosecutors investigated the tragedy. Continue reading...

Demonstration follows similar actions in Poland, France and Belgium as EU states approve accord Thousands of Irish farmers are protesting against the EU’s trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, a day after EU states approved the treaty despite opposition from Ireland and France. Tractors streamed into the roads of Athlone, in central Ireland, for the demonstration, displaying signs bearing the slogan “Stop EU-Mercosur” and the EU flag emblazoned with the words “sell out”. Continue reading...

US president doubles down on threats to acquire territory at White House meeting with oil and gas executives Donald Trump has doubled down on his threats to acquire Greenland, saying the US is “going to do something [there] whether they like it or not”. Speaking at a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House, the US president justified his comments by saying: “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.” Continue reading...

Jacques Moretti was detained on Friday, a national day of mourning, because prosecutors considered him a flight risk Pope Leo also chooses to express a view on the recent events in Venezuela, calling for world governments – I think he means US president Donald Trump in particular – to “respect the will” of the Venezuelan people. Goes without saying that it’s particularly important coming from the first US pope. “I wish to repeat my urgent appeal that peaceful political solutions to the current situation should be sought, keeping in mind the common good of the peoples and not the defence of partisan interests.” “This

Jacques Moretti arrested on Friday as lawyers representing families of victims say investigators are not moving fast enough Like many young people across Switzerland, Kenzo Ronnow, a university student in Lausanne, slept in on 1 January after celebrating the new year. But as he scrolled through his phone soon after waking, he saw the lead story of a foreign news website was about Switzerland. Continue reading...

Military says it targeted the jihadist group throughout Syria in response to attack on US and Syrian troops in Palmyra US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead. Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the 13 December attack in Palmyra, which killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter. The area is home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and was once controlled by jihadist fighters. Continue reading...

Videos emerging despite internet and mobile phone blackout show demonstrations continuing despite reports of escalating crackdown Demonstrators have continued to take to the streets of Iran, defying an escalating crackdown by authorities against the growing protest movement. An internet shutdown imposed by the authorities on Thursday has largely cut the protesters off from the rest of the world, but videos that trickled out of the country showed thousands of people demonstrating in Tehran overnight into Saturday morning. They chanted: “Death to Khamenei,” in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and: “Long live the shah.” Continue reading...

Experts note the blackout is unprecedented in its extent but also selective, allowing some government communications Iran’s internet shutdown, now in place for 36 hours as the authorities seek to quell escalating anti-government protests, represents a “new high-water mark” in terms of its sophistication and severity, say experts – and could last a long time. As the blackout kicked in, 90% of internet traffic to Iran evaporated. International calls to the country appeared blocked and domestic mobile phones had no service, said Amir Rashidi, an Iranian digital rights expert. Continue reading...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls protesters ‘vandals’ and ‘saboteurs’ and blames US for instigating the unrest Iranians took to the streets in new protests on Friday to press the biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, as authorities sustained an internet blackout as part of a crackdown that has left dozens dead. Iran’s supreme leader vowed that authorities will not back down in the face of the rapidly growing protest movement, setting the stage for an intensified violent crackdown. Continue reading...

Despite significant support for the shah, Iranian society may be looking for any ‘escape from a dead end’ Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed shah, were claiming the crowds out in the streets of Iran were a direct response to his call to action. They described it as a referendum on his leadership and that the response showed he had won. Yet the issue of an alternative leadership for Iran remains unresolved. Many Iranians, eager to end the 47-year-long rule of the clerics, still view a return to monarchical rule with suspicion. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

The fate of the woman who left the UK at 15 in search of Islamic State raises wider questions about citizenship While many aspects of UK political polling have shifted drastically since 2019, the public’s view on Shamima Begum has remained largely fixed: a big majority do not want the now 26-year-old woman back in the UK. In 2019, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, stripped the Londoner of her UK citizenship on the grounds that she was a security threat, having travelled as a schoolgirl with two friends to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. At the time, 76% of

Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years. Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures. Continue reading...

Zia’s archrivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh whose long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation, has died aged 80. Zia was one of the most significant and divisive political figures in the country since Bangladesh independence 50 years ago. Her death was announced on Tuesday morning by the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP). Continue reading...

Award-winning screenwriter tells Desert Island Discs that success has not silenced self-doubt The award-winning screenwriter Jesse Armstrong has said a writers’ room can feel like “walking on the moon” when it is working well, but has admitted to experiencing impostor syndrome during his career. Armstrong was behind the hit HBO drama Succession, starring Brian Cox as the global media tycoon and family patriarch Logan Roy, who sets off a power struggle among his four children. Continue reading...

NASUWT says evidence growing that unregulated access affects behaviour in school and harms mental health One of the UK’s biggest teaching unions has called on the government to ban social media for under-16s over concerns about mental health and concentration. The Teachers’ Union (NASUWT) wants legislation to be tightened so big tech firms would face penalties for allowing children to access their platforms. Continue reading...

Demonstrator seen putting up pre-Islamic revolution lion and sun flag in support of rallies challenging Tehran regime A protester has climbed on to the balcony of the Iranian embassy in central London and pulled down the country’s flag during an anti-regime demonstration. Social media footage appeared to show a man replacing the flag with the pre-Islamic revolution lion and sun flag, often used by opposition groups in the country. The Iranian embassy later posted a picture on its X account of the flag back in place with the caption “Iran’s flag is flying high”. The Metropolitan police said an estimated 500 to 1,000 people

Exclusive: US vice-president ‘sympathetic’ to concerns over Grok-generated pornography, says deputy PM JD Vance, the US vice-president, has agreed that it is “entirely unacceptable” for platforms such as X to allow the proliferation of AI-generated sexualised images of women and children, David Lammy has told the Guardian. The deputy prime minister said Vance, usually known as an AI enthusiast, expressed concern about how the technology was being used to fuel “hyper-pornographied slop” online when they met in Washington on Thursday. Continue reading...

Ministers warn platform could be blocked after Grok AI used to create sexual images without consent Elon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent. The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed. Continue reading...

Rhythm guitarist helped guide the legendary jam band through decades of change and success Bob Weir, the veteran rock musician who helped guide the legendary band the Grateful Dead through decades of change and success, has died at age 78, according to a statement posted to his verified Instagram account on Friday. The Instagram statement, posted by his daughter Chloe Weir, said he was surrounded by loved ones when he died. Bob Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July and “succumbed to underlying lung issues”, the statement said. Continue reading...

In Philadelphia, protesters demanded ICE leave US communities and Trump end warmongering in Venezuela On a rainy Saturday in Philadelphia, two separate protests, both with a few hundred people, marched from city hall to the federal detention center. They differed slightly in solutions as well as crowd makeup – white older adults dominated the morning’s march organized by the groups behind the No Kings protests, while a more racially diverse crowd swathed in keffiyehs and N95 face masks led the afternoon’s, planned by the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter. However, both groups shared a goal: for ICE to get out

Officials expect charge against Daricka Moore, 24, to be elevated to capital murder, with death penalty considered Authorities in Clay county, Mississippi, say a man has been taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder following the fatal shootings of six people, including a child, on Friday night. Daricka Moore, 24, is accused of killing multiple relatives as well as a local pastor before his arrest, according to Clay county sheriff Eddie Scott, who addressed the case during a Saturday news conference. Officials said the charge against Moore, who lives in the county, is expected to be elevated to capital murder, and

Adam Johnson served 75 days in prison before being pardoned by Donald Trump in January 2025 A Florida man who was convicted then pardoned by Donald Trump after he grabbed then House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and posed for photographs with it during the US Capitol riot is running for county office. Adam Johnson filed to run as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Manatee county commission on Tuesday. That was the fifth anniversary of the January 6 riot, when he was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s lectern after the pro-Trump mob’s attack in 2021. Continue reading...

Democrats ejected even though judge ruled Congress members can’t be barred from visiting ICE facilities Three Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota, including House representative Ilhan Omar, were blocked from entering an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center located near Minneapolis on Saturday morning. The incident took place near the Whipple federal building in the Twin Cities as clashes and demonstrations continued after the shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis earlier in the week. Continue reading...

The global artificial intelligence (AI) race remains one of the most hotly contested spheres of international competition. Few would bet today on an eventual winner, but current trends point to three possible scenarios that we should consider. In the first scenario, the AI world is dominated by the US and China. While the US still has the technological edge, China is closing in fast and vies with the US for leadership on many of the key dimensions of AI prowess. According to Stanford...

For months, many Canadians hoped Donald Trump had lost interest in making their country the 51st US state – his plate full with turning Washington and the global trading system upside down. Those hopes are fading. The shock capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Trump’s ramped-up talk of seizing Greenland have rattled Canada, forcing citizens to take seriously the US president’s past threats to Canadian sovereignty. The administration’s declaration that “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” makes...

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Saturday urged demonstrators protesting the fatal shooting of a ‍motorist by a US immigration agent to stay peaceful, saying that any unlawful actions would play into US President Donald Trump’s hands. Frey, a Democrat, cautioned them as civil liberties and migrant rights groups prepared nationwide rallies to protest the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday. Minnesota and US officials have offered...

Authorities have charged a 24-year-old man with murder after six people – including a child – were killed in a series of shootings in northeast Mississippi. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said the victims – four family members related to the suspect and two other adults – were shot at three separate locations late on Friday. The youngest victim was a cousin of the suspect. “I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a seven-year-old,” Scott said at a press conference on...

Thousands of Irish farmers protested on Saturday against the European Union’s trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, a day after EU states approved the treaty despite opposition from Ireland and France. Tractors streamed into the roads of Athlone, in central Ireland, for the demonstration, displaying signs including “Stop EU-Mercosur” and ones with the European Union flag emblazoned with the words “sell out”. Farmers on Friday also marched in Poland and blocked roads in France and...

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown increasingly is sparking violent confrontations with both migrants and American citizens, a development grimly underscored by an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week. Under ‌Trump’s orders to ramp up deportations, masked immigration officers have surged into Democratic-led cities, sprayed tear gas in residential streets, tackled people in car parks and pointed guns at bystanders trying to film them. A federal...

A man was killed after a tree fell on a caravan in England after record winds brought by Storm Goretti, as 100,000 homes in France were still without power on Saturday. Some 15 people have died in weather-related accidents this week across Europe as gale-force winds and storms caused travel mayhem, shut schools, and cut power to hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures. The storm barrelled through southwestern Cornwall and parts of Wales overnight Thursday to Friday, with gusts of up to...

Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic republic, as activists on Saturday expressed fear authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under cover of an internet blackout. The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United...

When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns. For these members of the colectivos – armed loyalists of the leftist leadership – the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge yet. “We’re not used to it – it was like a bestseller, like something out of a film,” said Suarez, in black sunglasses and a cap bearing the slogan: “Doubt is treason.” “We took...

Demonstrations broke out in Iran on December 28 and have spread nationwide as protesters vent their increasing discontent over the Islamic Republic’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands arrested as the daily protests have grown and the government seeks to contain them. While the initial focus had been on issues like spikes in the prices of food staples and the country’s staggering annual inflation rate, protesters have now begun...

Expectations of change at the top of Iran’s Islamic Republic are growing as nationwide protests over surging living costs unite an unusually broad swathe of society – from pro-regime merchants and the conservative rural poor to the cosmopolitan urban middle class – for the first time since the 1979 revolution. Fuelled by the rial’s dramatic collapse following Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June, the unrest has become a lightning rod for public anger at corruption,...

Greenland’s political parties on Friday expressed unity in response to US President Donald Trump’s claims to the Danish territory. “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” said a joint statement signed by the five parties in the Greenlandic parliament, Inatsisartut. The parties called on the United States to end its “disdain for our country” and emphasised that “the future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.” Trump had...

Critics of X “want any excuse for censorship”, Elon Musk has claimed, as his website faces the threat of being shut down in Britain over deepfake pornography and child abuse images. The billionaire appeared defiant on Friday night despite the outcry over reports X’s AI chatbot Grok was creating sexualised images of people, including children, at users’ request. Pointing to claims other AI programmes created non-sexualised images of women in bikinis, he posted on X: “They want any excuse for...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran, faced with major protests, was in “big trouble” and again warned he could order military strikes. “Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said. Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living that is now marked by calls for the end of the clerical system that has...

The White House on Friday reposted on social media a new video taken ‌from the cellphone of the immigration officer who fatally shot a Minnesota woman in her car this week, adding to the documentation of an incident that has sparked days of nationwide protests. The 47-second video shows 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good ‍telling the officer, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” moments before he opens fire after Good puts the car in gear in an apparent effort to pull back into the street. The...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist his administration has long belittled, will visit the White House next month as he voiced optimism for ties. Trump just days ago had threatened Petro in the wake of the US attack that removed Venezuela’s leader, but Trump appeared to have a change of heart after the two spoke by telephone on Wednesday. “I look forward to having a meeting with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, in the White House,...

Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the 40 people who died in an Alpine bar fire during a New Year’s Eve celebration, as prosecutors requested that one of the managers be placed in pre-trial detention. Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement the detention of the man was needed to avoid a “risk of flight”. The man’s wife and co-manager will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said. A Swiss business register lists French couple...

A German juvenile court started the so-called “White Tiger” trial on Friday in which a man is accused of multiple sadistic online crimes including coercing a 13-year-old to take his own life. The 21-year-old German-Iranian defendant was attacked on Thursday by other detainees shouting “White Tiger” while he was being transferred for the trial, his lawyer Christiane Yueksel told reporters outside the courtroom in Hamburg. The defendant has been only partially identified as Shahriar J, in line...

US President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric over Greenland on Friday, saying he was willing to secure the territory “the hard way” if authorities were unwilling to cut a deal for the US to take over the island. “I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump told reporters Friday at the White House. While Trump has long mused about making Greenland a part of the US, claiming the Danish territory as a...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that Argentina has fully repaid an emergency currency loan that generated “tens of millions” in profit for American taxpayers while stabilising a key regional ally. In a social media post, Bessent praised Argentinian President Javier Milei’s economic reforms and said the successful intervention showed that US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Through Economic Strength” policy was at work in Latin America. Argentina faced a severe liquidity...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he called off a second wave of attacks on Venezuela after the government, whose leftist president was removed by Washington, began releasing prisoners. Trump made the comments as he prepared to meet major oil corporations that he said will invest at least US$100 billion in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Trump was implicitly making clear he is ready again to use force to get his way in Venezuela, which he has vowed to force to...

US job growth slowed more than expected in December amid business caution about hiring because of import tariffs and rising artificial intelligence ‌investment, but the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 per cent, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged ‍this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 56,000 in November, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday. Economists...

A majority of European Union countries gave the go-ahead on Friday for the bloc to sign the Mercosur free trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay after decades of negotiations. At a meeting of representatives from the 27 EU countries in Brussels, a sufficient number of participants agreed to the planned signing of the deal, diplomatic sources said. The new free-trade zone, with more than 700 million inhabitants, will be the largest of its kind in the world, according to the...

The US took control of its fifth oil vessel in recent weeks on Friday in the latest move tied to the Donald Trump administration’s effort to control Venezuelan oil exports. Friday’s operation came ahead of a meeting between Trump and American oil executives where the US president sought to convince them to commit to an investment pledge in Venezuela. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” he said on social media...

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth was in a belligerently high mood after the Pentagon’s successful operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in the dead of night. After all, the guy managed not to leak the US war plan in unsecure chat groups before the raid in Caracas, as he did with the US bombing of Houthi militias in Yemen in March. Remember that one? Maybe I have a warped sense of humour, but I still find this passage from the chief editor of the Atlantic,...

Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding, is stepping up its overseas push with a new service crossing the US-Mexico border. The cross-border logistics service, a first for Cainiao in the Americas, was designed to handle parcel flow between the two countries, which was one of the region’s high-traffic corridors, the Alibaba unit said on Friday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The service was expected to reach 99 per cent of the Mexico market and would be priced at around 60...

Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at Ukraine near the EU border overnight, in what ‌Kyiv called a new threat to European security that demanded a global response. Moscow said it had fired the Oreshnik missile in response ‍to what it has described as an attempted drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences last month, which Ukraine has denied and the United States has said did not happen. It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid...

Iran’s supreme leader signalled on Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters after they screamed from windows and marched through the streets overnight, directly challenging US President Donald Trump’s pledge to support those peacefully demonstrating. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television. Protesters are “ruining their own...

Kurdish fighters rejected a call to leave Syria’s Aleppo on Friday after the government announced a truce in deadly fighting that forced thousands of civilians to flee. Since Tuesday, government forces had been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, the country’s second city. The violence killed 21 people and was the latest challenge for a country still struggling to forge a new path after Islamist authorities ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad just over...

A former UN Middle East envoy has been chosen to direct US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel’s prime minister said on Thursday, as at least eight more deaths from Israeli strikes were reported there. The appointment of Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov marks an important step forward for Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which has moved slowly since delivering an October ceasefire ending more than two years of fighting between Israel and...

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. China’s Hurricane 3000 microwave weapon can ‘sweep and kill’ drone swarms at 3km The truck-mounted Hurricane 3000 was showcased during China’s huge military parade in September. This week its developer – state-owned defence contractor...

Nasa will conduct a medical evacuation in the coming days of an astronaut suffering an undisclosed ailment aboard the International Space Station, agency officials said. The early return would mark the first time in Nasa’s history that the agency has cut short a crewed mission already in space for medical reasons. “The astronaut is absolutely stable,” James Polk, Nasa’s chief health and medical officer, told reporters on Thursday. “We’re not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut...

Tensions over US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown ‌rose across the United States on Thursday after the second shooting involving immigration officers in two days, deepening rifts between state and federal officials over how and why the shootings occurred. Protests intensified in Minnesota following Wednesday’s fatal ‍shooting of a 37-year-old mother by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Minnesota and US officials offered starkly different accounts of the shooting, and...

US lawmakers voted on Thursday to revive health insurance subsidies that expired at the end of last year, offering hope to millions of Americans facing steep premium hikes – and pressuring the Senate to follow suit. The bill, which passed with Democratic support and backing from a small bloc of Republicans defying their own leadership, would extend enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act – widely known as Obamacare – for three years. Those subsidies lower monthly insurance costs for...

Venezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists - both citizens and foreigners - on Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former president Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces to face drug-trafficking charges. US President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring Maduro allies now leading the country to fold to his vision for the future of the oil-rich nation, said the releases came at...

The US removal of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from power has reverberated far beyond Latin America. In Pyongyang, where regime survival is the paramount concern and every US action is scrutinised for hostile intent, the deposing of a sitting head of state sends an unmistakable message: dialogue with Washington is a dangerous gamble, and only nuclear weapons guarantee survival. The Venezuela operation may have killed the prospects for meaningful US-North Korea diplomacy in 2026 before they even...

There are a few special words that will perk the ears of many a dog – “hungry”, “park” and of course, “T-R-E-A-T”. But a choice group of gifted canines appear to have a remarkable capacity for learning human vocabulary, to the point that they acquire language by eavesdropping the way young toddlers do. That’s according to a new study published on Thursday in the journal Science, which shows that some “gifted word learner” dogs already known to be capable of learning toy names through training...

US President Donald Trump’s White House trade adviser predicted American industrial breakthroughs would help boost domestic production and eliminate China’s market dominance of rare earths. “China has been flexing its muscles now in Europe, in India, in the United States saying, basically, we’re gonna do what we want, and if you try to stop us, we’re gonna take away your critical minerals,” Peter Navarro said in an interview on Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show. “Because they have, they think...

The US Senate advanced a resolution on Thursday that would limit US President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the western hemisphere. Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a vote next week on final passage. It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the Republican-controlled...

The investigation into the killing of a US citizen by an ICE agent in Minneapolis this week is being complicated by clashes between federal and local officials, with the FBI taking control over the objections of Governor Tim Walz. State authorities questioned whether a federal probe could be trusted, especially given comments by Trump administration officials that seemed to exonerate the officer. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said that after it was invited to participate in the...

Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed a law dramatically reducing the prison sentence of former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, convicted last year of coup plotting. Lula vetoed the law adopted by Congress late last year on the third anniversary of major riots by Bolsonaro supporters in the capital Brasilia over his defeat by Lula in the 2022 elections. In scenes reminiscent of the 2021 US Capitol riots, thousands of demonstrators ransacked government...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the United States was “breaking free from international rules”, and “gradually turning away” from some of its allies. Macron delivered his annual speech to French ambassadors at the Elysee Palace as European powers are scrambling to come up with a coordinated response to US assertive foreign policy in the western hemisphere following Washington’s capture of Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro and US President Donald Trump’s designs on...

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said there was room ‌to balance roles for both the United States ‍and China in Venezuela to allow for commerce but that Washington would not allow Beijing to have major control over the Latin ⁠American country. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Wright also said he expected to see Chevron quickly grow its activities in Venezuela, with ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil also looking to play ‍a constructive role. “I think you will probably see some ‍long-term...

Russia on Thursday slammed a plan for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as “dangerous” and dubbed Kyiv and its allies an “axis of war”, dousing hopes the plan could be a step towards ending the almost four-year war. US President Donald Trump has been pushing the warring sides to strike a deal to halt the conflict, running shuttle diplomacy between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a bid to get an agreement across the line. An initial 28-point plan which...

The US decision to raid Venezuela, detain its President Nicolas Maduro and bring him to the United States, ostensibly on drug trafficking charges, will have serious downstream effects, but of what variety? US President Donald Trump has already sent ominous warnings to other Latin American countries whose leaders oppose all or parts of his agenda – from Colombia to Cuba to Mexico – and threatened Maduro’s successor with similar, or worse, treatment if she does not cooperate. Does this suggest...

Within hours of an ICE officer shooting and killing a woman, social media users misidentified the agent who fired as Steve Grove.

Ms. Good, 37, was a poet and a mother who grew up in Colorado. Her wife said the couple had “stopped to support our neighbors” when Ms. Good was shot.

The airstrikes followed an even larger attack in December to avenge the killing of three Americans last year.

When the National Portrait Gallery replaced a portrait of President Trump this week, it took down a biography of his first term.

The policy applied to migrants from some Central and South American countries who were awaiting visas.

Delcy Rodríguez got American help with the return of an oil tanker linked to one of her political rivals that had left the country without authorization.

Delcy Rodríguez, a guerrilla’s daughter, started out as a provocateur. She pivoted to revive a ravaged economy, making her vital to U.S. plans to run Venezuela.

After María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, offered her Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said it cannot be “transferred to others.”

His songwriting and rhythm guitar playing helped shape the San Francisco band’s sound as it became an American institution.

The guitarist, singer and songwriter, who died at 78, cut his own path among his elders in the Grateful Dead, and beyond.

Keep an eye on “One Battle After Another,” which is likely to dominate, and on the speeches. A particularly memorable one could be an Oscar lifeline.

Neon scored more film nominations at the Golden Globes than any other studio this year with a slate of six non-English language films.

The pontiff has increasingly asserted himself in the face of Trump’s aggressive words and deeds.

Amid a ruinous civil war, the military government is holding elections that are widely seen as a sham, as the main opposition remains barred or jailed.

Some members of the group are awaiting trial; some are serving short sentences. In the meantime, with little else to do, they have intense discussions about literature.

A simmering dispute between the neighbors, who share one of the largest land borders in the world, has escalated with diplomatic protests and a sports boycott.

Returns have been fabulous but consider the potential for setbacks in this already hazardous year, our columnist says.