Minimalist News

Uncharted Territory: US & Russia Now Have No Limits On Nuclear Weapons On Thursday the world woke up entering uncharted territory as the US-Russia New START Nuclear Treaty has expired without renewal. The pact's last active day was February 4. While there's yet hope that a comparable replacement could soon be forged between the globe's largest nuclear-armed powers and rivals, there are no current intensive talks happening on this front which have a 'legal' status related to international arms control. Russian state media on Thursday has issued confirmation the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Washington and Moscow has ceased. According to statements in

Beijing's Big Short: Meet The Chinese "Anti Hunt Brother" Billionaire Betting Against Silver Bulls Born in 1963 in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, right in the middle of some pretty chaotic times in China’s history, reclusive billionaire Bian Ximing grew up to become a commodity titan after making some huge bets in the metals markets over the past few years. In 2003, he bought Zhongcai Futures Co., which would become the centerpiece of his trading empire. Bian spends much of his time in Gibraltar, and previously made nearly $3 billion from bullish bets on Shanghai Futures Exchange gold contracts since early 2022. It is unknown if he

Leftists Put Hits Out On Nick Shirley After He Exposed Massive Somali Fraud In Minnesota Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Nick Shirley, the YouTuber who went viral for exposing alleged Somali-run daycare fraud in Minnesota, has revealed that leftists have put out hits on his life. In a shocking update, Shirley’s security team informed him he was the “number one man” targeted, forcing him to switch hotels amid fears for his and his family’s safety. This comes after his investigative video highlighted millions in taxpayer funds vanishing into ghost daycares with no children in sight. Shirley detailed the terrifying backlash in a recent appearance, saying people have sent

Six-Month Low In Coffee Futs Signals Potential Relief After Beans On Amazon Surge Tracking a single brand of dark-roast arabica beans on Amazon via the price-tracking website CamelCamelCamel shows that a 2.2-pound bag has nearly doubled in price since August. For American consumers, paying roughly twice as much for the same bag of coffee beans in just six months is a price shock, even if it is still cheaper than visiting Starbucks daily. There may finally be some relief in sight. Arabica coffee futures have fallen to a six-month low, raising some hopes that bean prices may have topped out for now. The most-active

New York City Joins WHO's Global Outbreak Response Network After US Exit Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), New York City’s health department said on Feb. 4 it has joined the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, becoming the latest Democratic-led jurisdiction to link up with the United Nations-coordinated public health system following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the WHO. Alexander Spatari/Getty Images The move places New York City alongside California and Illinois, whose leaders have said they will participate in the global outbreak network despite the federal government’s formal exit

Amazon Plunges After Forecasting 50% Surge In Capex To $200BN In our AMZN earnings preview, we said that the price reaction from META and GOOGL "leaves Amazon in a precarious place as it prepares to report earnings after the close today: does it project some berserk number or does it risk being conservative? After all, the only thing that will matter is the capex forecast (the earnings will likely be good enough)." Well, we were wrong: the earnings were not good enough: the company missed on earnings and its guidance was rather week. And so before we even get to the biggest shock

Xi Used Latest 2-Hour Call To Warn Trump On Taiwan Red Lines More details have emerged from Wednesday's Trump-Xi phone call, which it turns out was quite lengthy for the two leaders, lasting about two hours. We reviewed previously that President Trump hailed the "excellent" call, which was "long and thorough" - but Chinese version which was issued later presents something more contentious. China’s official readout made clear that President Xi in the conversation focused heavily on Taiwan, and ways Washington can dial back the tensions over the self-ruled island. Xi called the US approach to Taiwan "the most important issue in China-U.S.

Trump Sidesteps 2028 GOP Endorsement On Vance, Rubio Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), U.S. President Donald Trump opted not to choose between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential successors in the 2028 Republican presidential primary during a Feb. 4 interview with NBC News. U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a meeting with oil industry executives at the White House in Washington on Jan. 9, 2026. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters The president had, on earlier occasions, suggested that Rubio and Vance would be the top Republican contenders

Amazon Earnings Preview: All Eyes On CapEx At first, the market was happy to reward big capex forecasts (META); but just a few days later, it changed its mind and decided that the bigger the beat, the bigger the penalty (as was the case with GOOGL today). That leaves Amazon in a precarious place as it prepares to report earnings after the close today: does it project some berserk number or does it risk being conservative? After all, the only thing that will matter is the capex forecast (the earnings will likely be good enough).  Looking at the bigger picture, Bloomberg notes

You Don't Own Your Stocks the Way You Think You Do Authored by Jack McPherrin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Most Americans believe that when they “buy” a stock, bond, or exchange-traded fund in a brokerage account, they become the legal owner of that security. The statement shows their name, and the shares appear as belonging to them. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 2, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images But in the modern U.S. securities system, that intuition is often wrong in the way that matters most: legal title and control. What most investors hold is

'Total Fake News BS': White House Says Trump Talking About National Guard Deployments In 'Softer Touch" Immigration Policy Update (1310ET): The White House is saying it's 'total fake news' to suggest that Trump is pulling back on mass deportations, despite answering a question about mass deportations.  "Total Fake News BS. President Trump is talking about National Guard deployments for crime reduction — like the highly successful operations in New Orleans, Memphis, D.C., etc., that were welcomed by their leaders," the Rapid Response 47 team said in a statement.  > Total Fake News BS. President Trump is talking about National Guard deployments for crime reduction — like

Newsom Won't Cut Ties To Homeless Fraudster Firm Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics.com, Borrowing from novelist James Hilton, who coined the word “Shangri-La” to describe a Tibetan utopia in a 1933 novel, Franklin Roosevelt gave that name to the peaceful retreat we know as Camp David. For California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Democrats, Shangri-La hasn’t become synonymous with a place that connotes peace on earth. It stands for a hellish homeless housing nightmare, eye-popping fraud, and the ease and scale with which con-artists rip off taxpayers. In October, federal agents arrested Cody Holmes, the 31-year-old former CFO of Shangri-La Industries, a downtown

Nvidia Could Delay New GPU Due To Deepening Memory Crunch News flow around the memory crunch is accelerating by the week, and the casualty list is growing. Just this morning, Qualcomm and Arm Holdings warned that shortages of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) could crimp smartphone production this year. Apple signaled earlier this week that it will prioritize higher-end iPhone models, while Nintendo shares slid as soaring HBM costs threaten to squeeze margins. The alarm bells are getting louder after a new report from The Information, citing two sources, saying Nvidia won't release a new gaming GPU (RTX 60 series) this year due to a HBM supply

New York Mayor Mamdani Pays Hospital Visit To Man Who Tried To Kill A Cop Authored by Tim O'Brien via PJMedia.com, While snow and ice continue to wreak havoc in New York, while the homeless continue to live in deadly cold conditions on the street without the city’s safety net of warm shelter when the weather gets below freezing, and as the mayor himself warns residents of a dire fiscal crisis ahead, Zohran Mamdani found time this week to visit a man in the hospital who tried to kill a police officer with a knife.  Police were forced to shoot Jabez Chakraborty on Jan. 26 after the

US Pushes Price Floors At Global Minerals Summit To Cut China Dependence The US convened officials from 55 countries on Wednesday for a critical minerals summit focused on stabilizing supply chains and reducing reliance on China, according to Bloomberg. The Trump administration promoted price floors and expanded private investment to secure reliable access for American manufacturers. The European Union, Japan, and Mexico agreed to work with Washington on new policies, including possible price floors, and toward a binding multilateral trade agreement, according to the US Trade Representative. These moves signal closer coordination among allies to address supply vulnerabilities. “Today, the international market for

$49 Wegovy Copycat Pill Sparks Selloff In Novo Shares Just when Goldman's long-time Novo Nordisk bull James Quigley likely thought the downside was exhausted, the stock plunged yet again on Thursday after tumbling earlier this week following a dismal sales outlook. Shares dropped below the six-month base in the stock around the 300 kroner level after telehealth firm Hims & Hers Health rolled out a cheaper copycat version of Wegovy, delivering another blow to the beleaguered Danish drugmaker. "Today, we're taking the next step in personalized care by introducing a Compounded Semaglutide Pill for weight loss, with introductory plans starting at just $49

Maryland Gov. Moore Caught In Yet Another Background Lie? Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, Not only did Maryland Gov. Wes Moore lie about a Bronze Star, his Baltimore origins, a fictional football Hall of Fame introduction and his academic credentials, but a new report also suggests he fabricated a story about his great-grandfather fleeing the KKK.  The report, published Wednesday by the Washington Free Beacon, centered on Moore’s repeated claim that his maternal great-grandfather, Rev. Josiah Johnson Thomas, fled South Carolina for Jamaica after narrowly escaping a lynching by the KKK in the 1920s.  Moore has repeatedly referenced the story as a sign of strength, portraying Thomas

DHS Secretary Noem Identifies Another Leaker, Refers To DOJ For Prosecution Authored by 'sundance' via The Last Refuge, The good news is the process to identify the subversive agents inside the various offices of the administration continues to yield results.  The bad news is there’s a lot of them to identify and remove. Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shares another leaker has been identified and removed.  Additionally, she is referring their conduct to the Dept of Justice for criminal prosecution. [SOURCE] Both Noem and Gabbard appear to be continuing their methodical approach without fear or favor.  Secretary Noem facing down the internal resistors within the

Vance To Lead Sweeping Anti-Fraud Task Force Investigating California Vice President JD Vance is poised to chair a new White House task force aimed at rooting out potential fraud and abuse in government programs in California, according to CBS News. Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, is expected to serve as the task force's vice chairman and handle day-to-day operations, CBS News reports. President Donald Trump is anticipated to issue an executive order in the coming days to formally establish the group, the news outlet said. The White House task force would operate separately from a related Justice Department effort led

Democrats Just Gave Away The Real Reason They're Fighting Immigration Enforcement Authored by Matt Margolis via PJ Media, Democrats have spent years insisting illegal immigrants do not vote, yet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries just gave the whole game away. In a letter to GOP leadership, they demanded a slate of “reforms” to immigration enforcement as the price for funding the Department of Homeland Security, including targeted enforcement, no masks, mandatory use of body cameras, and other demands, several of which I suspect are nonstarters. > NEW: Schumer and Jeffries lay out 10 demands for DHS reforms pic.twitter.com/bKfVg1Ctbb >

Miguel Díaz‑Canel says Cuba is willing to engage Washington amid the island’s deepening economic crisis After months of threats from Donald Trump, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has said that his government is willing to talk to the United States, just so long as it is “without pressure”. Standing in front of a life-sized photograph of Fidel Castro carrying a rifle during the 1959 revolution, Díaz-Canel, the 65-year-old president, said on Thursday that his island nation had been subject to an “intense media campaigns of slander, hatred and psychological warfare”. Continue reading...

Investigation exposes ‘corrosive’ reach of organized crime in Canada, with links to bribes, drug trade and a murder plot At least eight current and former Toronto police officers have been arrested following a sweeping investigation that officials say exposed the “corrosive” reach of organized crime into Canada’s largest municipal police service. Police allege fellow officers accepted bribes, aided drug traffickers, leaked personal information to criminals who then carried out shootings and helped members of organized crime in a plot to murder a corrections officer. Continue reading...

FBI and Venezuela’s intelligence agency also reportedly arrest billionaire media mogul Raúl Gorrín at same address A close and powerful associate of the deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has reportedly been detained during a joint operation by Venezuela’s intelligence agency and the FBI. Alex Saab, a wealthy Colombian-Venezuelan businessman long considered Maduro’s frontman, was removed from his position in Venezuela’s government a fortnight after US forces captured his ally on 3 January. In the early hours of Wednesday, the 54-year-old was reportedly detained by members of the Bolivarian national intelligence service (Sebin) at a luxury home in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. Continue reading...

The move is among several measures the acting president has touted since Maduro’s capture – yet critics say it erases Venezuela’s long history of repression It was designed in the 1950s to be the world’s first “drive-through shopping centre”, a futuristic structure with more than than two miles of ramps looping past 300 shops, as well as cinemas, a hotel, a private club, a concert hall and a heliport. But the building was never completed, and under the regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, spaces envisioned as shops were turned into cells, and El Helicoide became Venezuela’s most notorious torture centre

Prediction markets allow you to put money on everything from the US attacking Iran to Jesus returning. Saahil Desai explains their dizzying rise In the early hours of 3 January, Donald Trump ordered a surprise attack on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to kidnap the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. Millions of Venezuelans’ lives were thrown into uncertainty. Politicians at home and abroad scrambled to respond. It seemed this was something no one had seen coming. Except one person did actually predict it. In the hours before the attack, someone - and we have no way of knowing who - placed a series of

Taiwanese president says ties with Washington ‘rock solid’, hours after leaders of US and China share first call since November In their first call since November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned US president Donald Trump to be “prudent” about supplying arms to Taiwan, according to a readout of their call provided by China’s foreign ministry. “President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” the readout said. “China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated. The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth China’s clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country’s investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world’s economies, a new analysis has shown. For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China’s economic growth. Continue reading...

Mandarin transliteration of character’s name regarded as auspicious, prompting wave of memes and fan art Draco Malfoy, one of Harry Potter’s most recognisable villains, has become an unlikely lunar new year icon across China, as fans embrace the character for the year of the horse. In Mandarin, Malfoy’s name is transliterated as “mǎ ěr fú”. The first character means “horse” while the final character, “fú”, means “fortune” or “blessing” – a powerful symbol found across lunar new year celebrations. Continue reading...

Sleek car doors reduce vehicle drag but are prone to losing operability in the event of a crash, officials say China will soon ban concealed door handles on electric vehicles (EVs), becoming the first country to do so after several deadly incidents triggered global scrutiny of the controversial design first popularised by Tesla. According to regulations announced on Monday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, cars sold in China will now be required to have a mechanical release on both the inside and outside of every door except the boot. Continue reading...

Other countries are expected to join Project Vault, which US president said would ensure that US businesses are ‘never harmed by any shortage’ Donald Trump has announced the creation of a critical mineral reserve worth nearly $12bn, a stockpile that could counter China’s ability to use its dominance of the hard-to-process metals as leverage in trade talks. “Today we’re launching what will be known as Project Vault to ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortage,” Trump said at the White House on Monday. Continue reading...

Meanwhile Australian shares opened sharply lower this morning, erasing over $40bn in value from the market. Follow the latest updates live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Rideshare driver in court over allegations of sexual assaulting passenger A rideshare driver will face court after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman during a short early morning trip, AAP reports. Continue reading...

There’s an obvious reason for the delay. But the banks still need to compete on savings rates to finance their operations * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Shortly after the Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point, major lenders announced interest rates on mortgages would rise by the same amount. Yet the interest rates that can grow their customer’s savings accounts are still “under review” – or the increases are being applied selectively – days after Tuesday’s announcement. Continue reading...

One of the key figures in Melbourne’s years-long gangland war, Mokbel was jailed for 30 years in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug syndicate * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast One of Australia’s most famous gangsters will walk free after prosecutors on Friday said they would drop a planned retrial on drug trafficking charges. Tony Mokbel – one of the key figures in Melbourne’s years-long gangland war – was jailed for 30 years in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug

There is a profound inequity when it comes to tax breaks for investors. Reform could boost the budget bottom line and help renters trying to buy property * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Slashing tax breaks for property investors might not put much of a dent in house prices, but that’s not to say it can’t make a meaningful difference to home ownership rates over the coming years. Reading through the submissions to the Greens-led Senate committee on the capital gains tax discount and talking to economists delivers a series of convincing arguments for why the

Lester’s 1990 classic about the wonders of nature wins Guardian Australia poll ahead of Possum Magic in second place * Alison Lester interview: ‘Everything I do looks a bit like a stuffed toy’ * Children on their favourite picture book: ‘I also like that the dad cries’ Magic Beach by Alison Lester has won Guardian Australia’s poll to find Australia’s best children’s picture book of all time. More than 100,000 votes were cast after polling opened on 27 January. Aside from the first day, when Possum Magic by Mem Fox and illustrator Julie Vivas took an early lead, Magic Beach was the

While the US president’s many mentions in the Esptein files seem to have no consequences, in the UK Starmer could be the first world leader to fall All around Europe, the political and business elite are facing an inquest on what blinded so many to think it was permissible to consort with a known child sex offender. As the 3m emails and 1,800 photos released on Friday by the US Department of Justice start to percolate across the continent and through to national media, questions about the moral fibre of this elite are starting to be asked at markedly different levels

Donald Trump’s former adviser told Epstein in 2019 that he was ‘focused on raising money for Le Pen and Salvini’ before European elections Dozens of messages contained in the latest tranche of Epstein files lay bare the attempts by Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon to tap Jeffrey Epstein for support and funding to bolster European far-right parties. The messages mostly date to 2018 and 2019, when Bannon, after being sacked by Trump, regularly visited Europe in his quest to forge a movement in the European parliament uniting ultra-rightwing and Eurosceptic forces from several countries including Italy, Germany, France, Hungary, Poland,

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said that the US, Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 314 prisoners in “the first such exchange in five months.” He said: “This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive. While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.” “We may be, in the course of 2026, coming to a point where the whole thing becomes unsustainable, because so much of the Russian economy

Former truck driver, now 80, allegedly one of many ‘sniper tourists’ who paid Bosnian Serb soldiers to be allowed fire on city An elderly Italian man is under investigation as part of an investigation by prosecutors in Milan into individuals who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb army for trips to Sarajevo so they could kill citizens during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s. The 80-year-old is being investigated on charges of aggravated murder, a source close to the case told the Guardian. The man, a former truck driver from the northern Italian region of Veneto, is the

Industry leaders urge EU to tell authorities to stand down entry-exit system controls if needed Travel industry leaders have called on the European Commission to tell all border authorities to stand down the new entry-exit system (EES) if needed as fears increase of summer disruption. European airports have warned of a potentially “disastrous” experience for passengers and huge queues unless the biometric controls for foreign visitors are relaxed. Continue reading...

Emails appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor attempting to introduce Epstein to UAE crown prince via foreign affairs minister Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor vouched for Jeffrey Epstein during a UK state visit to the United Arab Emirates with Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, according to newly released emails. The email was sent from “The Duke” to Epstein on 24 November of that year, with the subject listed as “Abdullah” – an apparent reference to the UAE foreign affairs minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Continue reading...

Although weakened by airstrikes, sanctions and domestic unrest, Tehran is surprisingly bullish before talks with US When it comes to Iran and Donald Trump, there is so much bluff, backed by military hardware, that the truth rarely makes an appearance. It appears that a bullish Iran is going into negotiations with the US on Friday adopting maximalist positions that do not seem greatly different to those it adopted in the five rounds of talks before the negotiations were abruptly halted by the surprise Israeli attack on Iran last June. Continue reading...

Bezalel Zini accused of role in taking goods into the occupied Palestinian territory during an Israeli blockade The brother of Israel’s internal security chief has been charged with “assisting the enemy in wartime” for his alleged role in a smuggling network taking cigarettes and other goods into Gaza during an Israeli blockade of the occupied Palestinian territory. Bezalel Zini was one of more than 10 people charged in relation to the alleged network. His brother, David Zini, is the head of the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency. He was appointed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last May and began the

President condemns ‘environmental and health crime’ as critics say Israel seeks to make southern Lebanon uninhabitable Lebanon has accused Israel of spraying a herbicide linked to cancer on farmland in the south of the country as a “health crime” that would threaten food security and farmers’ livelihoods. The country’s president, Joseph Aoun, condemned what he called “an environmental and health crime” and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and he vowed to take “all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to confront this aggression”. Continue reading...

Bankers and billionaires are flocking to the city where income tax is zero but critics say it ignores money laundering – and pay disparities are huge * Business live – latest updates Aidan Doyle was an estate agent in Liverpool before he decamped to Dubai and turned a £30,000 annual income into £500,000 a year and climbing. Acting as an agent for buyers and sellers, Doyle has seen his commission soar beyond anything he could hope to generate in the UK after just three years in the city, one of seven city-states in the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading...

Officials say calm restored to province day after dozens killed in suicide and gun attacks in at least 10 cities Pakistan’s security forces have intensified their operations against separatist militants in Balochistan province who launched a large-scale assault on Saturday in which at least 31 civilians and 17 security personnel were killed. A day after the militants carried out suicide attacks in the heart of the province’s capital, Quetta, the chief minister of the south-western region, Sarfraz Bugti, said 145 people he described as militants had been killed in 40 hours and that their bodies were in the custody of the authorities. Continue

Five years after the junta’s coup, the civil war devastating Myanmar has reached a turning point. The military is carrying out large-scale counter-offensives across the country to reclaim territory seized by pro-democracy rebels of various ethnic and religious backgrounds In Tanintharyi, the southernmost region of Myanmar, the local resistance has managed to contain the military. After five years of guerrilla warfare, the revolutionary youth there remain determined to restore democracy through armed struggle. A long, narrow stretch of land at the southern tip of Myanmar, between the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east, Tanintharyi region is one of

* Concern raised over politicisation of sport * Bangladesh pulled out of men’s World T20 after row Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the men’s T20 World Cup could have implications for India’s 2036 Olympic bid amid concern at the International Olympic Committee over the potential politicisation of sport. Bangladesh pulled out of next month’s tournament last weekend after the International Cricket Council declined a request to move their group matches from India to the co-hosts Sri Lanka, after a long-running political row triggered by Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to remove the Bangladeshi bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their Indian Premier League squad. Continue reading...

Human rights groups and some western countries have denounced the election, the first held since the 2021 coup, describing it as neither free nor fair Myanmar’s military-backed party has completed a sweeping victory in the country’s three-phase general election, state media said, cementing an outcome long expected after a tightly controlled political process held during civil war and widespread repression. The Union and Solidarity Party (USDP) dominated all phases of the vote, winning an overwhelming majority in the two legislative chambers in Myanmar. It secured 232 of the 263 seats up for grabs in the lower Pyithu Hluttaw house and 109 of

Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power. The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. Continue reading...

While labels list dozens of possible risks only four are supported by evidence, say researchers Almost all side-effects listed for statins are not caused by the drugs, according to the world’s most comprehensive review of evidence. Other than the well-known risks around muscle pain and diabetes, only four of 66 other statin side-effects listed on labels – liver test changes, minor liver abnormalities, urine changes and tissue swelling – are supported by evidence. And the risks are very small, according to the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Lancet. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood insists deportations will rise, as Labour government is accused of promoting ‘harmful stereotypes’ of migrants Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said. The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality. Continue reading...

Amid warnings McSweeney’s survival would leave his position ‘untenable’, PM apologises to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson as US ambassador Downing Street has defied calls to remove Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, insisting Morgan McSweeney retains the prime minister’s confidence, as frustration grows over a wait for documents on Peter Mandelson, which some fear could last for weeks. Amid warnings from Labour backbenchers that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”, Starmer apologised to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as US ambassador. Continue reading...

US president says deal, which he previously described as act of ‘great stupidity’, was ‘best’ PM could make Donald Trump has watered down his criticism of the UK’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, saying the deal was the “best” Keir Starmer could make. The US president had described ceding sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes the Diego Garcia military base, as an “act of great stupidity” only last month. He also claimed the deal was one of many “national security reasons” why the US should acquire Greenland. Continue reading...

Vodafone also reviewing its contract with Global Counsel after revelations of former minister’s links to Jeffrey Epstein Barclays has reportedly cut ties with the lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, after intense scrutiny of the founders’ dealings with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Vodafone has also said it is reviewing its contract for public affairs services with Global Counsel, which Mandelson co-founded in 2010 after Labour lost the general election. Continue reading...

Karoline Leavitt says director of national intelligence was there ‘to make sure that American elections are free of foreign interference’ while offering few details on her role Amid the various winding comments throughout Trump’s speech today, he said that the Department of Education will officially issue its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in public schools today. “Now the Democrats will sue us, but we’ll win it,” Trump said, eliciting some laughs from the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast. “They’ll sue us. They sue us for everything. I’m the most sued human being in history.” Continue reading...

Authorities respond to reports of crash at 99 Ranch Market after victims, some trapped under vehicle, die at scene Three people were killed and six others were hurt after a car driver collided with a cyclist and then slammed into a grocery store on Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles, authorities said. The crash was reported shortly after noon at a 99 Ranch Market in the city’s Westwood neighborhood, according Los Angeles fire department spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz. Continue reading...

Tech giant reports $213bn in revenue after its founder, who owns the Post, lays off a third of newspaper’s employees Amazon announced plans to spend $200bn on artificial intelligence and robotics this year, the latest tech giant to vow fresh enormous investments in the artificial intelligence arms race. The news of the investment comes one day after the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced it was cutting approximately a third of employees. Continue reading...

Severe lack of public defenders has meant people charged with crimes have been routinely unable to fight their cases The Oregon supreme court has ruled that a large number of criminal cases across the state must be dismissed due to a severe shortage of public defenders, a major decision that attorneys say will impact more than 1,400 pending cases. The problem has been years in the making and has become a significant constitutional crisis, as people charged with crimes are routinely unable to fight their cases as they wait weeks, months or sometimes years for the state to appoint them lawyers. The

Anonymous insider alleges director of national intelligence withheld classified information for political reasons The Republican leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees have rejected a top-secret complaint from an anonymous government insider alleging that Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, withheld classified information for political reasons. The responses this week from Senator Tom Cotton and Congressman Rick Crawford mean the complaint is unlikely to proceed further, though Democratic lawmakers who also have seen the document said they continue to question why it took Gabbard’s office eight months to refer the complaint to Congress as required by law. Continue reading...

Europe’s political and business elite arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year with nerves already frayed after a bruising first year of US President Donald Trump’s second term. That period was defined by the imposition of a protectionist tariff strategy to gain economic and geopolitical leverage, an often combative approach to the war in Ukraine and renewed doubts over Nato security guarantees. In the run-up to Davos, the White House threatened eight European countries – including...

Pizza Hut plans to close 250 US restaurants in the first half of this year as its parent company considers a sale of the chain. Yum! Brands said on Wednesday it is targeting underperforming Pizza Hut restaurants in its system. Pizza Hut has more than 6,000 locations in the US. The Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in November it was conducting a formal review of options for Pizza Hut, which has struggled with outdated restaurants and growing competition. The chain’s US same-store sales, or...

The last 89 Christians held captive since criminal gangs attacked three churches in northern Nigeria in mid-January were released on Thursday, according to local officials and an Agence France-Presse journalist. The worshippers, dressed in yellow, arrived on a bus escorted by security forces and were received by the governor of Kaduna state, Uba Sani, who said 183 people were initially abducted. They were snatched from three churches during Sunday services on January 18 in the latest in a wave...

US President Donald Trump plans to unveil a website on Thursday allowing people to directly buy prescription drugs, part of his push to address Americans’ concerns about affordability. The president is scheduled to host a 7pm event to launch the site - branded as TrumpRx - at the White House alongside Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz and government design chief Joe Gebbia, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social media. The website is...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit the White House on March 19, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, praising the Asian country’s first female leader ahead of weekend snap elections she is expected to win. Takaichi “has already proven to be a strong, powerful, and wise Leader, and one that truly loves her Country”, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social as he announced her visit next month. The United States and Japan have been working to strike a “very substantial” deal on...

A Russian captain was on Thursday jailed for six years over the death of a crew member lost at sea when his cargo ship hit an anchored oil tanker in the North Sea. Vladimir Motin, 59, had been on sole watch duty when his ship, the Solong, crashed into the Stena Immaculate anchored just off the coast of Yorkshire, northeastern England, last March. The collision triggered a huge fire and a major rescue operation. Motin was an “accident waiting to happen”, judge Andrew Baker said as he sentenced...

Two Chinese nationals suspected of trying to intercept satellite communications from ‌a base in an Airbnb rental property in southwestern France have been placed ‍under formal investigation, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. Police were first alerted last week when locals noticed that a roughly two-metre (6.6-foot) wide satellite dish being installed at the property in Gironde, which coincided with an internet outage, the office ⁠said. The two Chinese nationals, and two...

Bitcoin plunged on Thursday, its decline accelerating amid weakening risk sentiment driven in part by volatility in precious ‍metals and a broad sell-off in tech shares. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to a low of US$66,675.12, its weakest since October 2024, a month before Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election, having signalled his intention to support cryptocurrency on the campaign trail. It was last down 6.5 per cent at US$67,817. In total, the global digital market...

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, battling for his political future, apologised on Thursday to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing disgraced Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. Starmer issued the wide-ranging apology after being dogged for days by the decision, following fresh allegations about Mandelson’s cosy ties to late sex offender Epstein which emerged in newly released files last Friday. The latest crisis to hit Starmer’s struggling government has left many doubting his judgment and...

US President Donald Trump’s trip to Europe to speak at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss alpine town of Davos was possibly one he wished he had never made; such was its failure to impress. First, his plane had to turn back due to a technical problem. Second, he gave a typically hostile speech, but then he lived up to his nickname “Taco” (Trump always chickens out) over threats to invade Greenland that would have imperilled about a third of global trade. Third, he said disingenuously that if...

Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Iran in wide-ranging calls with both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, as the US president steps up pressure on the Islamic Republic following the bloody quashing of anti-government protests. The US president said on social media that the “excellent” phone call with Xi covered topics including Iran, the Chinese purchase of US oil and gas, and Taiwan. Earlier, Xi and Putin “checked their approaches” on Iran, Venezuela and Cuba among other...

As the bodies of two dozen Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes arrived at hospitals in Gaza on Wednesday, the director of one asked a question that has echoed across the war-ravaged territory for months. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?” Shifa Hospital’s Mohamed Abu Selmiya wrote on Facebook. At least 556 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a US-brokered truce came into effect in October, including 24 on Wednesday and 30 on Saturday, according to Gaza’s...

Call it divine intervention, or maybe just a hasty fix-it job to put an end to days of speculation and scandal. But the end result is that the Angel Meloni is no more. A painting of a cherub with a face bearing a remarkable resemblance to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had attracted large crowds to the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, one of the oldest basilicas in Rome. That angel’s face was gone when the church opened its doors on Wednesday: the cherub’s body remains, but the face was...

Luuk van Middelaar is the director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, a think tank he co-founded in 2022. A political theorist and historian by trade, he has written several books and was in the cabinet of the first European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy. Van Middelaar is widely read and cited across Europe for his analysis of the EU’s political evolution, with his books translated into many languages and awarded major European literary prizes. He writes regularly for leading...

Nearly 200 people have been ‍killed by armed men in separate attacks in remote villages in central and northern Nigeria, a local lawmaker, residents and police said on Wednesday, as security forces searched for survivors and chased the attackers. In central Kwara state, gunmen attacked the Woro community on Tuesday leaving at least 170 ⁠people dead, the lawmaker for the area, Saidu Baba Ahmed, said by phone. It was the deadliest assault recorded this year in the district bordering Niger state,...

Nude photos. The names and faces of sexual abuse victims. Bank account and Social Security numbers in full view. All of these things appeared in the mountain of documents released Friday by the US Justice Department as part of its effort to comply with a law requiring it to open its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein. That law was intended to preserve important privacy protections for Epstein’s victims. Their names were supposed to have been blacked out in documents. Their faces and bodies...

NBC Today show host Savannah Guthrie sent a public message to her 84-year-old mother’s kidnapper on Wednesday saying that her family was ready to talk but wants proof that she is alive. Guthrie said in a recorded video posted on social media that her family has heard media reports about a ransom letter for Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken from her home in Arizona against her will. “We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,”...

China has criticised the European Commission’s anti-subsidy probe into Chinese wind turbine maker Goldwind Science & Technology as “targeted” and “discriminatory”, warning that such measures would undermine Chinese companies’ confidence in the European market and disrupt the bloc’s green transition. “The European side’s related investigations have generalised the concept of ‘foreign subsidies’ and have many problems, such as insufficient evidence for opening cases and a lack of procedural...

Countries having cautious reliance on China while maintaining constructive engagement is essential to the future of globalisation in a world where trade is increasingly used as a weapon, according to Canada’s former deputy prime minister. “In a world where the weaponisation of trade is real, we need to be thoughtful about where we’re building economic dependencies,” Chrystia Freeland told the Peterson Institute for International Economics during a discussion about the securitisation of trade and...

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favourable to Democrats in this year’s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration. No justices dissented from the brief order denying the appeal without explanation, which is common on the court’s emergency docket. The justices had previously allowed Texas’ Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower-court ruling that it likely...

The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced major job cuts Wednesday, saying that “painful” restructuring was needed at the storied newspaper. The newspaper, which gained legendary status when its reporting helped bring down President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, will see “substantial” reductions in its newsroom, Executive Editor Matt Murray said. The shrinking of The Washington Post comes as major traditional media outlets in the United States face...

President Donald Trump sent a fresh warning to Iran’s leaders as US military forces amassed in the region, even as diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran were set for later this week. “I would say he should be very worried, yeah. He should be,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, when asked about Iran’s supreme leader. “As you know, they are negotiating with us.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post on Wednesday that talks with the US...

Four people, including two Chinese nationals, have been arrested in France on suspicion of spying ‌for China and were brought before an investigative judge, the Paris public prosecutor’s office ‍said on Wednesday. The cybercrime division of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation into the affair, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. This followed the discovery that two Chinese nationals had entered French territory with the ⁠aim of capturing satellite...

A man convicted of trying to assassinate US President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison. US District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts. Prosecutors had asked for life without parole, saying Routh was unrepentant and had never apologised. A defence lawyer brought in for his...

Jupiter, without a doubt, is the biggest ‌planet in our solar system. But it turns out that it is not quite as large – by ever so small an amount – as scientists had previously thought. Using new data obtained by Nasa’s robotic Juno spacecraft, scientists have obtained the most precise measurements to date of Jupiter’s size and shape. This is important information to gain a fuller understanding of this gas giant, including studying its complex interior structure. The Juno observations showed...

Ukrainian and Russian officials wrapped up a “productive” first day of ‌new US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, Kyiv’s lead negotiator said on Wednesday, as fighting in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II raged on. The ‍two-day trilateral meetings come after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had exploited a US-backed energy truce last week to stockpile munitions, attacking Ukraine with a record number of ballistic missiles on Tuesday. “The work was substantive and...

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino rejected criticism from Chinese and Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday over a Supreme Court ruling that voided a long-standing port concession at the Panama Canal, arguing that the decision falls squarely within Panama’s constitutional and legal framework. Mulino’s comments came after China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a sharply worded commentary condemning the court’s decision to declare unconstitutional the concession held by Panama Ports...

The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota but will continue its enforcement operation that has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border tsar Tom Homan said on Wednesday. About 700 federal officers – roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota – will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said. But he did not provide a timeline...

The son of Norway’s crown princess admitted Wednesday to a life of excess attributed to a “need for recognition”, but denied committing rape as he took the stand in tears. Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial in Oslo district court accused of 38 crimes, including four alleged rapes and assaults against ex-girlfriends. He has pleaded not guilty to the most serious offences. He faces up to...

The United States has been constructing a new dimension of its economic security policy: outbound investment rules. Since January last year, Washington has not only established its first outbound investment screening programme but codified it into law and explicitly provided for its expansion. These rules are gaining teeth, giving rise to a compliance architecture that conditions US foreign direct investment on national security priorities. As firms begin to operationalise these rules, capital...

Women in Iran can now formally obtain a licence to ride a motorcycle, local media reported on Wednesday, ending years of legal ambiguity surrounding two-wheelers. Previously, the law did not explicitly prohibit women from riding motorbikes and scooters, but in practice authorities refused to issue licences. Due to the grey area, women have been held legally responsible for accidents even when they are victims. Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref signed a resolution on Tuesday aimed at...

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 21 Palestinians, most of them women and children, by midday on Wednesday, according to hospital officials. Israel pledged to continue strikes, saying that it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one. Among the Palestinians killed were five children, including a 5-month-old and a baby just 10 days old; seven women; and a paramedic, hospital officials said. They are the latest Palestinians in Gaza to die since a...

Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran will be held in Oman on Friday, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported Wednesday. The meeting comes as a possible confrontation looms, with US President Donald Trump building up forces in the Middle East Trump has warned that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached, ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic in a stand-off that has led to mutual threats of air strikes and stirred fears of escalation into a...

Nasa’s long-awaited moon shot with astronauts is off until at least March because of hydrogen fuel leaks that marred the dress rehearsal of its giant new rocket. It was the same problem that delayed the Space Launch System rocket’s debut three years ago. That first test flight was grounded for months because of leaking hydrogen, which is highly flammable and dangerous. “Actually, this one caught us off guard,” Nasa’s John Honeycutt said on Tuesday, hours after the test came to an abrupt halt at...

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s late long-time ruler, was killed on Tuesday by gunmen who stormed his home in western Libya’s Zintan, his French lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi said. “He was killed today at 2pm ... in Zintan in his home by a four-man commando,” Ceccaldi said. Saif al-Islam, 53, had been seen by some as his father’s successor, despite being targeted by a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. In 2021, he announced he would run for...

A collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coastguard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Chios has killed at least 15 people, the coastguard said late on Tuesday, while a search and rescue operation involving patrol boats, a helicopter and divers was under way for potentially missing people. The bodies of 14 people – 11 men and three women – were recovered from the sea, the coastguard said, while another 25 migrants, including about 11 children, were rescued and...

Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US President Donald Trump appeared to bury the hatchet on Tuesday, after a year of sparring that culminated in threats by Trump to topple the left-wing leader like in Venezuela. “My impression of the meeting a few hours ago is first and foremost that it was positive,” Petro told reporters after meeting Trump at the White House behind closed doors. Trump said he “got along very well” with the leader whom he recently accused of pumping cocaine into the United...

Now we know why they didn’t want to release the Epstein files. It’s not just about implicating US President Donald Trump, who was a long-time close friend of the infamous paedophile and sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. Rather, they basically implicate the ruling and business elites of the Anglo-American world. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a wave of mass hysteria sweeping across the United States based on fear of satanic cults, child abuse and sacrifices. Well, it turns out maybe it wasn’t...

US President Donald Trump signed a roughly US$1.2 trillion government funding bill Tuesday that ends the partial federal shutdown that began over the weekend and sets the stage for an intense debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding. The president moved quickly to sign the bill after the House approved it with a 217-214 vote. “This bill is a great victory for the American people,” Trump said. The vote on Tuesday wrapped up congressional work on 11 annual appropriations bills that fund...

The first husband of former first lady Jill Biden has been charged with killing his wife at their Delaware home in late December, authorities announced in a news release on Tuesday. William Stevenson, 77, of Wilmington was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975. Caroline Harrison, the Delaware Attorney General’s spokeswoman, confirmed in a phone call that Stevenson is the former husband of Jill Biden. Stevenson remains in jail after failing to post US$500,000 bail after his arrest on Monday on...

A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command said on Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table. The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and kept flying towards it “despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Central...

Nato said on Tuesday that military planning has started for a new mission to bolster security in the Arctic, after US President Donald Trump made protecting the region central to his demands for Greenland. “Planning is under way for a Nato enhanced vigilance activity, named Arctic Sentry,” said Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for Nato’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. “The activity will even further strengthen Nato’s posture in the Arctic and High North,” he added, without providing...

The Walt Disney Company announced on Tuesday that Josh D’Amaro, head of its theme parks division, will replace Bob Iger as chief executive when the entertainment titan steps down in March. D’Amaro, 54, will take the helm on March 18 following a unanimous board vote, the company said. He will succeed Iger, who has led Disney for nearly two decades across two separate stints. “Josh D’Amaro possesses that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth...

A 14-year-old school student stabbed an art teacher in southern France on Tuesday, leaving the 60-year-old in critical condition, a prosecutor said. The pupil stabbed the teacher at least three times and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, said Raphael Balland, the public prosecutor in the southern city of Toulon. There were no known “religious or political connotations” at this stage, said Balland. “All we know is that there had been tensions with this teacher recently,...

British police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The UK government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson – a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party – may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender a decade and a half ago. London’s Metropolitan Police...

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced several measures Thursday aimed at making Canada a global leader in electric vehicles and rescuing an industry ravaged by U.S. trade policy.

U.S. trade policy has devastated the Canadian auto industry and pushed the country to reach an agreement that will make it easier for Chinese companies to sell cars there.

The Trump administration announced that its deployment of immigration agents in the Twin Cities was diminishing, but many agents remain.

Demonstrators, who were demanding that the university provide more protection for international students, blocked Broadway.

Katie Britt is uniquely positioned to reason with the Trump administration — when she chooses to speak up.

Jessie Diggins has become the best-ever American cross-country skier because of what she pushes her body through.

The restrictions could affect people demonstrating this weekend outside Olympic events in northern Italy.

It’s unclear what effect the change will have on Russia’s ability to wage war, but Russian military bloggers said troops were experiencing internet outages that hampered frontline communications.

The authorities confirmed that blood on Ms. Guthrie’s doorstep belonged to her. Her daughter Savannah, the “Today” anchor, released a video asking for proof that her mother is alive.

Morning show hosts have shown a vulnerable, candid side to their audiences before, but not like this.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, the “Today” show host’s mother, was last seen on Saturday night, the authorities said. The disappearance is being investigated as a possible kidnapping.

The heart devices do not track location, nor do they transmit across large distances.

In the first of thousands of forthcoming sexual assault cases, the ride-hailing giant was ordered to pay $8.5 million to Jaylynn Dean, who said a driver raped her in 2023.

The company has tested tools that make rides safer, court records show. Measures to stem the violence have been set aside in favor of protecting the company’s business.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to receive the Democratic nomination at the party’s state convention on Friday, even as her running-mate selection has drawn some debate.

As they appeal a ruling blocking their redistricting efforts, the state’s Democrats proposed redrawing districts in a way that would strongly favor them.

Laying claim to the parking spot you shoveled after a blizzard tends to be a respected tradition in northern cities, but a spate of confrontations is a reminder of just how precious a spot can be.

A fast-moving storm this weekend could drop new snow on the grimy piles that have accumulated across the city. Bitter cold will follow.

San Ramon, Calif., has been rattled by dozens of small earthquakes in recent months. Even in a region used to regular shaking, it’s been a lot.

During a dive off Argentina, scientists documented a rare jellyfish discovered a little over a century ago and seldom seen since, as well as the fish that keep it company.

Glamour, silence and a very big hat.

Activists won the legal battle. Are they losing the culture war?

Also, Trump expanded his power to fire federal workers. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

Empress Eugénie’s crown was left lying on the sidewalk after the Louvre Museum heist in October. The museum has now released pictures of the damage.

The Factbook, a version of which dates to 1962, provided facts, figures, maps and more to generations of economists, professors, journalists and others.

After hit men targeted the home of a prison manager in June, investigators say, the schemes of a criminal network involving the police unraveled.

The decision clears the way for the first death-penalty trial at Guantánamo Bay to start this summer, more than 25 years after the attack.