Minimalist News

Cost Of Living Remains Biggest Challenge Facing Americans The war in Iran marked a significant setback in Americans' year-long battle with high prices. While inflation has come down a long way from its 2021/2022 highs, when it peaked at 9 percent, it remains elevated at 3.4 percent . More importantly though, as Statista's Felix Richter reports , people are still struggling to cope with the lasting effects of the inflation crisis. According to a Statista Consumer Insights survey conducted between January and July 2026, 53 percent of U.S. adults said that the high cost of living was one of the

Western Woman Travels To India And Finds The Misery Of Cultural Enrichment It's been a long time since the Beatles convinced an entire generation of western youth in 1968 that "enlightenment" and personal peace could be found in the third world backwaters of India's ashram retreats. As it turned out, the world famous band and the yogi scammers of that era would end up creating a trend that would sucker gullible liberals for decades to come. The hippies were not smart, they were merely impressionable. Today, the streets of India are likely the same in most places as they were

Coking Coal Prices Surge 25%, Squeezing India's Steelmakers Submitted By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com Indian steelmakers are reeling from a jump in coking coal prices this year that is squeezing their margins and delaying capacity expansion in the steelmaking industry, analysts and industry executives tell Reuters . India relies on imports for as much as 95% of its coking coal, or metallurgical coal, demand. Metallurgical coal is a grade of coal that is one of the essential raw materials in the steelmaking process. Also known as met coal, this type of coal contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture

Poll Shows Voters Reject US-Israel Military Integration Authored by Brett Wilkins via Common Dreams A new poll of US voters published this week offers a warning for congressional lawmakers backing a plan to deepen military ties between the United States and Israel, finding that a clear majority of voters oppose the proposal—which some critics have called "treasonous . " The Data for Progress survey of 1,217 likely US voters—conducted August 3–7 for Demand Progress and the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project—revealed that 61% of respondents oppose legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 that

Watch Darline Graham's Epic Debate Flub That Could Cost Her The SC Primary In the worst response by a female South Carolinian to a foreign-policy question since the 2007 Teen USA beauty pageant, Lindsey Graham's sister on Tuesday night painfully displayed her utter inexperience in national politics , drawing a blank and bailing out of a basic question as she squared off against her run-off opponent, Rep. Ralph Norman. After Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden July death, Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister Darline to see out the remaining months of his term. It started as a sentimental gesture that would

ADNOC Issues Ninth Spot Crude Tender Since June As UAE Boosts Oil Exports Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has just issued its ninth spot tender offering crude oil to buyers for October and November loadings, as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to push its oil production and exports higher despite the Hormuz crisis. The UAE’s national oil company is offering Upper Zakum, Umm Lulu, and Das crude grades pumped at fields inside the Persian Gulf in its ninth spot tender since June, sources in the trade industry told Reuters on Thursday. In

The Dem 'Big Tent Party' Is Doomed Authored by Noel Williams via AmericanThinker.com, Towards the end of every calendar year, various colleges publish lists of overused words and phrases . Though it is only August, here’s an obvious entrant for 2026: “big tent party.” Invoking that tired phrase is part of the sophistry that “establishment” Dems contrive to outwit dumb fake-news hosts. It is an attempt to obfuscate concerns about the commie takeover of their party. Publicly and performatively, they pretend to welcome the commies because they are a “big tent party.” Wrong! They are a “folding tent” party when

"Get Long And Buckle Up": Jeff Currie Says Commodity Bull Market Entering Next Leg The breadth of the commodity advance is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore . Quantix Commodity Index Diesel crack spreads have surged above $100, copper is trading above $14,000 a ton in London, gold and silver are accelerating amid US Treasury market intervention, and the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index is surging higher. At the same time, the dollar weakened sharply following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's intervention this week, providing an additional tailwind to the commodity complex. According to veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie , the convergence of

US Government Warns: Hackers Attacking Vulnerable Water Systems With AI Help Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, Several U.S. government agencies have said that cyber actors are attempting to hack into devices made by industrial systems company Siemens that are used to monitor water and other critical infrastructure systems. In an advisory published on Wednesday , the FBI, National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other U.S. agencies informed “owners and operators of industrial control systems” that there is an “active cyber threat to Siemens S7 Series PLCs,” or programmable logic controllers—an industrial automation

NATO F-16s Blow Up Sea Drone That Threatened Romania's Largest Deep Gas Platform A wild and highly dangerous intercept incident happened in the Black Sea on Thursday. A pair of Romanian F-16s were dispatched to track and intercept a sea drone in the vicinity the huge Neptun Deep gas platform . The platform sits 80 miles east of the Romanian Black Sea city of Constanta and is the country's largest natural gas project and its first deep offshore project, with hundreds of people working at the site at any given time . Omv Petrom The Wall Street Journal reports that

Hawaii Could Face Another Hurricane This Weekend Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times, Hawaii could face its second tropical storm or hurricane in a week as a low-pressure system was reported on Aug. 19 to be developing near the islands. Another tropical storm is expected to develop in the Central Pacific as Hurricane Lala moves away from Hawaii on Aug. 19, 2026. National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center warned that the system was developing thunderstorms that had a 90 percent chance of organizing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours. “ Environmental conditions appear favorable for further

"No Thanks!" Has A Price: Trump Guts Korea War Games, Courts Kim As The Seoul Alliance Buckles Hours before 18,000 South Korean troops were due to kick off this year's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise alongside their American counterparts, President Trump pulled the rug - instructing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises" with Seoul. By Wednesday the allies confirmed the annual drills - the backbone of combined readiness against the North - had been chopped nearly in half , from 11 days to five , with live field-training events canceled or downgraded to computer simulations.

Fake News 'Journalists' Love The Deep State Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , The Fourth Estate is constitutionally illiterate... On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press , NBC News hack Kristen Welker pressed newly sworn-in Attorney General Todd Blanche to “pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House.” The fake “journalist” performed this bit of moralizing theater with her “very serious” face, as if to suggest that the nation’s survival depended upon Blanche’s answer. Blanche calmly swatted Welker’s solicitation away, while pointing out that no competent, law-abiding attorney general should ever make such an

'Hot Mess': Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Jalapeños Spreads To More States Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, The salmonella outbreak connected to jalapeño peppers from Mexico has spread to additional states, U.S. authorities said on Aug. 19. Thirty-two states have now reported cases in the outbreak, up from 27 states earlier in the month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an update. The states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee,

Food Supply Alert: Ukraine Grain Exports Collapse As Black Sea Attacks Choke Global Shipments Upward momentum in agricultural prices, as tracked by the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, should be ringing inflationary alarm bells . The breakout comes just one week after JPMorgan analyst Nora Szentivanyi warned that the next global food crisis could materialize as early as next year. Multiple shocks are converging all at once across the global food complex , including continued disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, rising El Niño risks, and adverse weather across the US agricultural belt. This note focuses on another emerging chokepoint: Europe's

The Harp Defense: Jennings Jockeys For SPOX After Leavitt Leaves CNN political contributor and nationally syndicated radio host Scott Jennings just dropped a full-throated defense of Natalie Harp after reports surfaced that the conservative commentator is angling to replace outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt , according to Politico's Playbook . "I just don't think that's what you sign up for when you're someone like Natalie Harp, who never put her name on a ballot. She's not the White House press secretary. She's not a household name, and I just find it to be appalling," Jennings told Playbook. "

Tonight: Trump To Appear On Turncoat Michael Cohen's Radio Show Michael Cohen - Donald Trump's former 'fixer' who once vowed to take a bullet for him, only to flip after he was raided by the FBI in 2018 in the Stormy Daniels hush-money probe - says that Trump has agreed to appear on his New York City-area radio show this week . Cohen wrote on X on Wednesday to confirm that Trump would appear on “the radio show I’m hosting tomorrow night at 6pm and the rest on my Sunday” show on 770 WABC Radio. It’s not for the podcast…it’s

Has Iranian Crude Become Irrelevant To Global Oil Supply? Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova Of OilPrice.com The reinstated U.S. blockade on Iranian oil exports is effectively preventing Tehran from exporting oil, making Iran’s oil volumes irrelevant for global oil market balances, Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNBC on Thursday. The U.S. brought back the blockade in the Gulf of Oman aimed at preventing Iran from exporting its oil after the ‘deal to make a deal’ collapsed in July and hostilities in the Middle East returned. The blockade, which the U.S. had lifted for about three weeks while negotiations

"Significant" Tornado Threat Incoming For DC To Baltimore To Philadelphia Senior meteorologist Matthew Cappucci of private weather forecaster MyRadarWX is monitoring the potential for isolated tornadoes along the Interstate 95 corridor, from areas north of Washington, D.C., through Baltimore and Wilmington, Delaware, and into the Philadelphia metro area. Tornadoes are not unheard of in the Mid-Atlantic, but a potential setup later this afternoon capable of producing multiple tornadoes across a large swath of Maryland, Delaware, and southeastern Pennsylvania would be unusual. "Mid-Atlantic gang – can't rule out an isolated tornado this afternoon embedded within/ahead of a developing squall line .

Board Won't Add Trump's Name To Kennedy Center Before Sept. 8, Filing Says Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, The Kennedy Center’s board told federal court that it will not try to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building’s facade before at least Sept. 8, giving both sides time to discuss a new resolution opponents say flouts a prior court order. In a joint status report filed late on Aug. 18, attorneys for the center and the U.S. Department of Justice said the board would delay enforcing the so-called recognition resolution the board approved on Aug.

Fernando Cerimedo, 42, arrested on suspicion of ordering shooting of Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller A senior adviser to many of Latin America’s new wave of far-right leaders has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the attempted murder of his girlfriend. The businessman and political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, 42, had been working as an adviser to the Bolivian president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, and was one of the main strategists behind Javier Milei’s campaign in Argentina’s 2023 presidential election. Continue reading...

Beto Coral held up banners in Florida warning fellow Colombians to not vote for Abelardo de la Espriella In the week before Colombia’s presidential election, Beto Coral, a well-known activist living in the United States, travelled to Florida to persuade fellow Colombians not to vote for the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. Coral held banners outside polling stations in Miami warning that the millionaire lawyer, whose candidacy was endorsed by Donald Trump, would “help deport all of you”. Continue reading...

US president delays 50% tariffs by three days, and says contentious oil project ‘may be awoken from the grave’ Canada has temporarily avoided a bruising 50% US tariff, reaching a Tuesday-evening agreement with Trump administration officials hours before a hike that would have affected $20bn worth of goods was set to take effect. Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Continue reading...

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro ,

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills . Continue reading...

Pacific fleet launched missile drills near what Moscow calls the Kuril Islands but Japan regards as its Northern Territories Japan has criticised missile tests carried out by Russia’s navy around the disputed islands visited by Vladimir Putin last week amid continuing tensions between the two countries. Russia’s Pacific fleet said on Thursday that it had fired Bastion surface-to-ship missiles from Etorofu, the largest island in the disputed archipelago, simulating an attack on enemy vessels, hitting all of its targets approximately 300km away. Continue reading...

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung - leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance – were tried under under a 2020 national security law Two Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils marking China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 were found guilty of “incitement to subversion”, in one of the most high-profile cases in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed its national security law in 2020. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”, a press summary handed out to reporters said.

Hui Ka Yan also forfeits all his personal property and the company he set up is given hefty fines Business live – latest updates The founder of Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all of his personal property confiscated. Hui Ka Yan, 67 and once named by Forbes as China’s richest man, with a net worth of $42.5bn (£31.2bn) in 2017, pleaded guilty in April to eight charges. Continue reading...

Launches, detected by South Korea and Japan, came after US scaled back exercises with South Korea in apparent overture to Kim Jong-un North Korea has launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, South Korea’s military said, a day after Pyongyang shrugged off Donald Trump’s order to scale back US military drills with South Korea in an apparent attempt to resume diplomacy. The joint chiefs of staff said the missiles were launched from the region of Pyongyang at around 5pm (08.00 GMT) on Thursday towards North Korea’s eastern waters. Continue reading...

A landslide triggered by the quake had blocked access to the village where Paulina Pobi had lived, leaving her buried under the collapsed remains An 84-year-old woman has been discovered alive in the flattened remains of her home three days after a powerful earthquake hit eastern Indonesia, authorities have confirmed. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia’s Flores island on Saturday morning, killing at least 73 people, injuring more than 900 people and displacing nearly 60,000 others. Continue reading...

Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Woman behind allegation of sexual assault linked to Sydney Swans reportedly says she wants ‘justice’ The woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted in a Melbourne hotel told the Herald Sun “all I care about is justice”. I don’t want money. All I care about is justice. I’m going to stand up for what is right. And I’m never going to let this happen to anyone else. Justice will be served. Continue reading...

Church director tells parliamentary inquiry reporting by Nine newspapers a ‘complete lie’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has denied it secretly paid far-right influencers to stage stunts targeting Anthony Albanese and other politicians during an appearance at a parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 election. The church also refuted claims it had coordinated hundreds of volunteers to support Liberal candidates, including at polling booths across the country. Continue reading...

Jenny Ware, member of inquiry that recommended wagering advertising ban, says ‘public health crisis’ demands stronger response from major parties Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The former Liberal MP Jenny Ware has condemned her one-time Coalition colleagues for backing Labor’s gambling legislation, claiming “vulnerable Australians have been let down”, as the parliament failed to back a full ban on wagering ads. Ware, a member of the Peta Murphy-led inquiry in 2023 that recommended entirely ending wagering advertising and inducements, called gambling a public health

Man, 32, charged with six counts of rape, stalking and assault after woman was allegedly attacked in Brookfield Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Queensland police say a man accused of raping and assaulting a young woman, who was taking a morning bushwalk, has been arrested after he returned to the crime scene in his vehicle later that evening. A woman, aged in her 20s, was walking in the semi-rural Brisbane suburb of Brookfield about 6.30am on Thursday when she was allegedly stopped by the

Watchdog investigating whether Dallas McInerney arranged illegal political donations from schools to lobbying companies controlled by the Reformers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The chief executive of Catholic Schools New South Wales, Dallas McInerney, has been sacked after appearing at a watchdog inquiry into allegations of corruption in the state’s Liberal party. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) is investigating the allegation that McInerney, who gave evidence to the inquiry this week and last week, arranged and approved illegal political donations from Catholic

Value of banknotes in circulation rises from €1bn in 2016 to €1.6bn in 2026 as people advised to keep stash of cash The number of banknotes in circulation in the EU is increasing despite widespread smartphone payments, new data shows, with wildfires ripping through parts of Europe fuelling demand for an emergency stash of cash. While cash plays second fiddle to contactless payments in many cities across Europe, the amount in circulation is actually going up, Philip Lane, the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), said at the MacGill summer school conference in Ireland. Continue reading...

Missile and drone attack one of heaviest since war began, with children’s hospital and residential areas hit A heavy Russian missile and drone bombardment has killed at least 16 people in and around Kyiv in one of the most intense aerial attacks on Ukraine’s capital since the start of the war. Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor, said homes, a school and a children’s medical centre were among the buildings damaged overnight in an attack that began at about midnight and was continuing into the early afternoon. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zhuravlev had been consulted on Snake Island, a dramatised reconstruction of incident Earlier this month locals in Zagreb noticed something odd outside an art deco building. Sandbags and barricades appeared in front of the Esplanade hotel, along with a film crew and extras sporting Ukrainian military uniforms. Soon afterwards the actors Sean Penn and Adrien Brody were spotted on the set in the Croatian capital, together with Doug Liman , the Hollywood director of the Jason Bourne movies. Liman had come to shoot his latest fictional political thriller. Its subject: the 2022 Nord Stream explosions, in which a team

Meta chief executive paid roughly €20m for gothic-style mansion built in 1830 and its surroundings It stretches the definition of pied-à-terre but Mark Zuckerberg now has a pad in Ireland : Strancally castle. The Meta chief executive and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have bought the gothic-style mansion and its 178-hectare (440-acre) estate in county Waterford to use as a base during visits to Ireland. Continue reading...

The country risks ‘the collapse of the entire book ecosystem’ following destruction of warehouses in July and August, say Ukrainian publishers The Ukrainian Book Institute has called on the international publishing community to support Ukrainian publishers after Russian attacks in July and early August destroyed about 10m books and a significant share of the country’s book production capacity. The institute said the attacks on publishing, printing and warehouse infrastructure had left some companies at risk of financial collapse. A major attack on 1 August hit warehouses belonging to the RNK-Ranok publishing group in Kharkiv, destroying approximately 8m books, following July

Military orders criminal investigation into deaths of five-year-old and six family members in Gaza in 2024 The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing. The killing of Hind and her family was one of the most high profile of a series of incidents involving civilian casualties during the first months of the Gaza conflict which prompted international outrage. Continue reading...

Far-right minister says those convicted in military courts of terror offences will be executed after passing of death penalty law that does not apply to Jewish extremists Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a gloating video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offences – but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes – will be hanged. Ben-Givr, who has previously attracted international sanctions and condemnation for his activities, said the new execution site would be equipped with viewing booths for families of victims to watch the hangings. Continue reading...

US president pivots towards ‘crushing’ economic operation against Iran and its trading partners as military strikes fail to bring Tehran to the table Donald Trump has announced a new campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, threatening “tremendous economic consequences” on any country that helps or does business with Tehran, a move that could set up a fresh confrontation with China if implemented. “Today, I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran

Picture showing White Helmets volunteer unconscious and with bruises on his body went viral Syrians have protested over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces, sparking widespread anger at a practice thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. A crowd gathered in the city of Aleppo, demanding accountability for the security forces who are alleged to have carried out the torture, with participants holding signs and slogans such as: “Do not repeat the same oppression that we revolted against.” Protests were also planned to take place in front of Syria’s

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack. Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach. Continue reading...

Supreme court ordered transfer of ex-leader whose health is reportedly deteriorating, but he was returned to prison several hours later Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was briefly taken to a hospital in the country’s capital on supreme court orders after weeks of uproar about his deteriorating health. Khan, 73, was transferred to the hospital in the early hours of Friday, but then moved back to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi after a ⁠few hours, a spokesperson for his party said on Friday. Continue reading...

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power , an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his home Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021. Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years

Decade-long study finds stark gender difference in outcomes of people with heart disease Millions of men with heart disease have a higher risk of developing and dying from cancer, according to a decades-long study. The biggest drivers behind male cases were smoking, obesity and drinking too much alcohol, researchers said, with the link most pronounced in lung and oesophageal cancers. Continue reading...

National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding Aerial footage of an estate in Somerset has revealed the benefits of rewilding land in the face of extreme weather brought about by the climate crisis. The area of the National Trust’s Holnicote estate where rivers have been returned to their natural courses and wetlands have been restored have remained green and lush during the five heatwaves across the summer. In contrast, the surrounding countryside has become parched and brown. Continue reading...

Chester zoo resident, 23, ‘back to her usual feisty self’ after electrochemotherapy for tumour in her jaw A 15ft (4.5-metre) python is believed to be the first snake in the world to be given a pioneering, life-saving cancer treatment normally used on humans. The 50kg reticulated python, named Jodie Foster after the Hollywood star, has just turned 23 and lives at Chester zoo. Keepers first became concerned that she may be unwell when she began eating less and spending more time inactive in her habitat. Continue reading...

Government announce plan for ‘stepping stone’ qualification as 620,000 year 11 students face retaking maths or English after failure to achieve grade 4 The government’s plans to make young people continue studying maths and English if they fail GCSEs could be demotivating and ineffective, according to education experts and school leaders after retake pass rates slumped this year. Only one in seven students in the age group retaking GCSE maths after a previous failure got a grade 4 or above this summer, while only one in six managed to pass English, meaning the majority will have to retake the exams

Researcher Nathan Cofnas previously claimed Black people would hold few high-profile positions in a meritocracy Nathan Cofnas, the academic who made plagiarism allegations against Prof Jason Arday before his death, has been suspended by a university. Arday, 41, resigned from his role at the University of Cambridge this month after coverage of Cofnas’s accusations of plagiarism. The allegations, which were not proven in any formal investigation, triggered questions about Arday’s achievements. Continue reading...

Despite previously comparing him to a ‘mobster’, Trump’s former personal lawyer showers him with praise. This blog is now closed. Trump administration faces questions over top aide Natalie Harp’s security clearance Sign up for the US Breaking News email An FBI team seized electronic devices from former US representative Eric Swalwell at the San Francisco airport on Saturday, then raided his home in Washington, DC, the next day, CNN reported Thursday. The raid is part of a federal investigation into the sexual assault allegations which ultimately drove the Bay Area Democrat to resign from office in April, sources familiar with

Fawning, deferential, oleaginous – this was the Untruth and Reconciliation Commission as Trump called in to 77 WABC “Our next guest is a ‘ racist ’, a ‘ conman ’ and a ‘ cheat ’ – someone who behaves more like a ‘mobster’ than a president. Please welcome Donald J Trump!” That is how Michael Cohen could have introduced Trump on his New York radio show on Thursday. After all, Cohen used such terms to describe the US president in his testimony to Congress in 2019. But now Trump’s former personal lawyer and self-described fixer had different words: “boss” and

State senator beats rival Melissa Hernandez and will replace US congressman who quit amid sexual misconduct claims Progressive Aisha Wahab has been elected to Congress in a special election following a bitter intra-party battle over the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after facing sexual misconduct allegations . Swalwell has denied the allegations. Wahab, a state senator, was widely considered the frontrunner in the district in California ’s East Bay and had the backing of the state Democratic party as well as Our Revolution, labor unions, local officials and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta. Continue

The former gang leader was charged with planning the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur in 1996 Jurors on Thursday heard Duane “Keffe D” Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur. Davis, who said in the interview that he was also in the car with Anderson, is accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the 25-year-old hip-hop superstar in Las Vegas. At the time of the interview, his nephew had been dead for a decade. Continue reading...

State sought to stop system off coast of Santa Barbara from resuming operations after Trump ordered its reopening An oil pipeline can continue to operate off the California coast after a judge gave it the green light this week, despite the opposition of state regulators and environmental groups. The system off the coast of Santa Barbara resumed operations earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade after Donald Trump ordered Sable Offshore Corporation to reopen it, citing US energy needs during the war in Iran. Continue reading...

Much of the Western debate about China begins with a category error. “Communism” is often treated as synonymous with a monolithic command economy, limited private enterprise and bureaucratic control over every commercial decision. Modern China does not fit that model. It is better understood as a mixed, state-led system in which private enterprise, foreign investment and fiercely competitive markets coexist alongside public ownership and state control in strategic sectors. This is more than...

A US Army unit is offering its troops a special bonus if they re-enlist soon: four extra days off timed around the November release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI. Commanders of the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, believe free time to indulge in the latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series – in which players commit carjackings, battle police in shoot-outs and attempt audacious heists – will sway some soldiers to extend their military commitments. The...

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has returned to the country after a more than two-month absence that has fuelled fierce debate about his ability to rule after 44 years in power. Biya, who at the age of 93 is the world’s oldest serving head of state, landed in Yaounde in the late afternoon from Geneva, where he had been staying since June 7 on what his office called “a short private stay”. Cameroonian media had reported that Biya, leader since 1982, had been in the Swiss city with family members...

China rejected a White House report on Thursday that accused its exporters of routing goods through Mexico and other countries to avoid US tariffs, hours after word emerged that Mexico was preparing to restrict Chinese products further. He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, told a regular press briefing in Beijing that the report “ignored facts and distorted reality by treating normal international trade and investment as fraud”. He called it a “typical exercise in...

Christian metal band Demon Hunter is suing Netflix, alleging trademark infringement associated with the streamer’s hit film KPop Demon Hunters. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Hyde Lane, the corporate entity for Demon Hunter, against Netflix, Netflix Studios and AEG Presents, the live entertainment division of AEG, with claims that the defendants have “created a substantial likelihood of confusion” among consumers. The metalcore band – which was formed in 2000 out of Seattle by brothers Ryan...

A Belgian university on Thursday suspended a US academic who spearheaded accusations of plagiarism against Jason Arday, the black ex-Cambridge professor found dead last week after resigning over the scandal. Researcher Nathan Cofnas – a self-defined “race realist” who was himself sacked from his Cambridge post two years ago – posted on social media: “I was just suspended by Ghent University. “They will almost certainly fire me.” Without naming Cofnas, the University of Ghent said in a statement...

An aeroplane pilot died on Wednesday after a violent collision with a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter near a runway at a small airport, but both state troopers aboard the helicopter survived, authorities said. The plane was coming down on the runway and veered into the helicopter that was near the ground, Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens, the state’s acting police commissioner, said during a news conference. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board...

Six months into its war with the United States, Iran’s military has begun signalling a shift from retaliation to offence, which analysts say could reflect Tehran’s belief it holds leverage to advance its demands and break the stalemate. Since US-Israeli strikes launched the war on February 28, Tehran has largely portrayed its strikes against the US, Israel and Gulf countries as revenge for attacks on the Islamic Republic. Now, Iranian officials are openly talking about giving offensive...

After more than two years of taking on Israel’s enemies across the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, is zeroing in on another perceived villain – Turkey. On Tuesday, warplanes bombed a base in northern Syria a short drive from the Turkish border. Netanyahu said Turkey was looking to establish a military presence there and that, after it ignored Israel’s warnings: “We made sure they understood it more clearly.” Heading into the October 27 election,...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump’s economic punishment plan for Tehran as a continuation of “failed policies”, which he said would bring Washington “further defeat”. “The so-called Economic D-Day is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat – and enmity of Iranians,” Araghchi said on social media. “US economic terrorism threatens global...

A mission to ⁠rescue Nasa’s ageing Swift observatory in space was cancelled on Wednesday after the spacecraft that was launched to tug the satellite to a higher orbit suffered irredeemable technical issues in space, the rescue craft’s owner, Katalyst Space, said. Katalyst’s ‌Link craft was launched in early July to approach the observatory, also known as Swift, some 347km (216 miles) in space, grapple onto it and then tug it to a higher orbit of roughly 600km (373 miles), extending its life by...

Six years after stepping down as working royals, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are moving back to the UK, British press reported late on Wednesday. In a surprise move, the youngest son of King Charles, and his wife, “plan to leave the United States by the end of the month to settle in a private, non-royal residence, which is said to be located outside London”, The Telegraph said. Several UK news outlets including the BBC reported the couple’s two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess...

South Korea’s security strategy has rested for more than seven decades on a single pillar: its alliance with the United States. That pillar has absorbed one blow after another during Donald Trump’s second term as US president. This week brought a fresh signal that has strained the relationship. In a social media post, Trump criticised joint US-South Korea military exercises, calling them “costly” and saying they send an “inappropriate and hostile” message to a North Korea he described as...

Total US public debt surpassed US$40 trillion for the first time, and has now surged by a third in less than five years, as US lawmakers continue to shrug off calls to contend with historically wide financial deficits. Public debt outstanding stood at US$40.05 trillion as of the close of business on Tuesday, a US Treasury Department release on Wednesday showed. The crossing of the US$30 trillion mark only dates back to January 2022. And there is no end in sight. Republicans have long opposed...

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled plans on Wednesday to offer those sleeping rough a way off the streets by Christmas and vowed to donate part of his wages to help curb homelessness. “No one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station,” Burnham said in a statement announcing the new plans. It comes a month after Burnham replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister, and builds on his promise on his first day in office to end rough sleeping. His government is now setting out the...

France saw more than 7,300 excess deaths during heatwaves so far this year, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the country also endured a record number of hot days since mid-June, according to an Agence France-Presse analysis. France has been hit by three summer heatwaves in quick succession: a 14-day spell in June, 16 days in July and another lasting 22 days that began in late July and has yet to be officially declared over as of Tuesday. Together they mean the country – parts of which...

US pharmaceutical firms Merck and Moderna announced on Wednesday encouraging results from a trial of their experimental vaccine against melanoma, potentially clearing the way for approval. The vaccine, called intismeran autogene, showed “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements” for skin cancer patients when used with Merck’s Keytruda treatment, the companies said in a statement. Unlike conventional vaccines, so-called therapeutic vaccines like intismeran treat rather...

Ecuador’s intelligence chief and five US citizens died when a helicopter carrying tourists crashed in central Kenya on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board, officials said. The accident happened at 9.13am local time, in Samburu county, north of the capital, Nairobi, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), after the aircraft departed from the Loisaba wildlife reserve. Images shared by the Kenya Red Cross on social media in the afternoon showed a crash site in...

Israel’s military acknowledged on Wednesday that its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and her family members in Gaza in 2024 and said it had opened a criminal investigation, though rights groups say such probes rarely lead to convictions. Hind Rajab’s killing was one of the most high-profile incidents involving civilian deaths during Israel’s military assault ‌in Gaza, launched following the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. She died...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired one of his most senior officials on Wednesday as corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case. The stunning developments came a day after Ukraine’s recently fired defence minister demanded national elections, despite Russia’s more than four-year-old invasion. Zelensky has maintained that such a ballot is not allowed under wartime laws. Although Zelensky was not implicated in the...

Iran’s armed forces warned Gulf countries against assisting the US military on Wednesday, hours after the United Arab Emirates announced it was severing economic ties with Tehran following new attacks on shipping. The Gulf is dotted with US military installations, including in the UAE, which said on Tuesday that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at vessels off its coast. Despite a recent lull in hostilities between the United States and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz – which Tehran has blockaded...

Instead of celebrating her son’s birthday this month, Zimbabwean mother Rodwin Chitewere spent the day praying for his body to be brought home from Russia, where he was reportedly killed fighting Moscow’s war against Ukraine. In Botswana and South Africa, too, women are desperate for sons and husbands to return from a conflict many say they were duped into joining, as authorities warn recruiters are still active. Chitewere’s son, who would have turned 23, left with a cousin in April from a...

Japan is weighing how far to push back after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a disputed island last week, as analysts debate whether tougher measures would have much impact on Moscow. Some observers urged Japan to recall its ambassador, impose additional sanctions and deepen cooperation with Ukraine to show it would not be “bullied”, while others said Tokyo had little economic leverage left given already weak bilateral ties and its reliance on Russian natural gas. Putin made his...

The world knows that US President Donald Trump is angry with Iran. But he is not happy with the small country lying across the Strait of Hormuz from the Islamic Republic, either: Oman. Oman has played a relatively low profile role since the Iran war began, including as a mediator. But its geography has thrust the sultanate into the uncomfortable position of negotiating with Tehran over management of the strait while facing Trump’s threats. Trump this week told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that...

Japan’s most greying municipality has turned to its Peruvian sister city in search of a way to reverse its population decline and address the labour shortage that together threaten its survival. The mountain village of Nanmoku in Gunma prefecture, where 65.2 per cent of residents were aged 65 or older in the 2020 census, signed a sister-city agreement with Belen in northern Peru in November, hoping cultural exchanges under the framework will eventually bring young people to live and work in the...

Flight attendants and pilots are at the highest risk of dying from radiation-related cancers – even more than people who work with radioactive materials, according to a new study. Cosmic radiation comes from space. Only a small amount reaches the Earth’s surface, but exposure is greater for people flying at high altitudes. There has been limited evidence from small studies suggesting that the exposure translates to higher cancer death rates among people who fly often – particularly pilots and...

A close aide to Donald Trump is at the centre of an ugly clash between the White House and Senator Jon Ossoff, after the Democratic lawmaker drew the administration’s ire for highlighting the close nature of her relationship with the US president. Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old executive assistant to the president, is little known to the public but a constant presence at Trump’s side, both in the White House and during weekend trips to his golf properties. In her role, she is seen as a gatekeeper,...

The United Arab Emirates has said it is suspending all trade and financial dealings with Iran after reporting an Iranian missile attack directed at its ships. The announcement comes after a period of relative calm in the UAE, with no Iranian missiles aimed at the country since May after it bore the brunt of attacks in the early weeks of the Middle East war. Abu Dhabi has, however, accused Tehran of repeatedly targeting its tankers at sea in recent weeks. “In light of regional escalations … all...

A US Navy destroyer with about 300 sailors aboard suffered a major breakdown in the Pacific Ocean last month that left it without power for four days, the Navy confirmed in a statement. The USS Benfold “reported an engineering casualty involving its generators, causing a loss of power” on July 24, Navy spokesman Commander Matthew Comer said in the statement. The breakdown meant the crew went without drinking water, meals, functioning toilets and air conditioning for days aboard the ship, Comer...

Mexico is weighing plans to impose further trade restrictions on selected products from China and other countries while raising existing import taxes on others, according to four people familiar with the matter. The so-called anti-dumping measures would deepen Mexico’s alignment with Washington as President Claudia Sheinbaum pursues a multi-year extension of the North American trade pact known as the USMCA, while also supporting her push to grow domestic manufacturing at a time of lacklustre...

The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday on the International Criminal Court’s president and a senior trial lawyer at the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. The move is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against The Hague-based court, which was established ‌in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The US is not a member of the court. Rubio said in a statement that he was imposing sanctions on...

Meta Platforms intentionally sought to ⁠addict children to its Facebook and Instagram platforms, a lawyer for California said on Tuesday at the start of a trial that could reshape some of the most popular apps on the planet. A bipartisan group of 29 US states is suing Meta, seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to how Meta does business. Four lead states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – accuse Meta of designing Facebook and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow ⁠on Tuesday with ⁠Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president, Min Aung ⁠Hlaing, discussing a wide range of issues including prospective energy deals. Russia is the first non-neighbouring country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming Myanmar’s president in April, a sign of the two countries’ ‌deepening ties in the face of pressure from the West. In remarks after the meeting, Putin described Min Aung Hlaing as a friend of Russia and said the...

US President Donald Trump paused the planned roll-out of punishing new tariffs on Canadian goods late on Tuesday, as both sides indicated they were close to a broader trade agreement after weeks of talks. Trump announced the three-day reprieve from 50 per cent duties on select goods mere hours before a midnight deadline. The delay was “based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalisation of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump said on social media. Canadian Prime Minister Mark...

US President Donald Trump said that Tuesday that no talks with Iran were under way or scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution. Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than any previous epidemic of the disease and risks spreading to more countries, the head of the World Health Organization has warned. “We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting on the outbreak on Tuesday. “It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.” His comment came after the DR Congo on Monday said the outbreak...

Some women who entered Spain’s ⁠North African enclave of Ceuta on July 30 as part of a mass migrant crossing say the ⁠hardships of sleeping rough as they wait to be registered are compounded by the threat and fear of sexual harassment. More than a dozen women have set up camp on a wooded roadside running up to the barbed wire fencing that surrounds the government-run migrant reception centre, near the urban beach of El Trampolin. The facility is sheltering about 700 people, 200 more than...

The Israeli military is touted as the most powerful in the Middle East, striking targets deep into enemy territory. But for more than a week, Israeli troops have somehow failed to evict a small group of settlers sitting on rocks in the occupied West Bank. Experts say the military has long shown inertia when its task is stopping surging violence against Palestinians, due to government backing for the settlement movement and the increasing influence of settler ideology within the army’s...

As the Iran war spills over into the Red Sea – a crucial chokepoint for Asia-Europe trade – China has marked a milestone by launching its first regular service through the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route (NSR), a development welcomed by Russia. The route, which runs along Russia’s northern Arctic coast, slashes travel time compared with alternative paths. A journey from Ningbo city on China’s southeast coast to Felixstowe in the United Kingdom takes just 20 days – about half the time required for...

A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage. The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers in March last year to Ukraine. The plan was aimed at scoping out possibilities for “disrupting transport and infrastructure” and was ultimately directed by a...

A Syrian court on Tuesday handed a death sentence to Wassim al-Assad who appeared in the dock, a cousin of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad who was himself sentenced to death in absentia last week. The 46-year-old relative of Assad was convicted over atrocities committed under the autocrat’s rule during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Assad’s cousin was convicted of multiple murders and “murder accompanied by torture and brutality … classified as crimes...

The Milky Way, a ⁠large and spiral-shaped galaxy that is home to hundreds of billions of stars including our sun, has taken a long and complicated path to achieve its current dimensions, as illustrated by new research documenting a milestone event early in its history. Scientists observing clusters of stars congregated near the Milky Way’s centre have discovered evidence that our galaxy swallowed a smaller galaxy roughly 11.8 billion years ago, when the universe was less ‌than 15 per cent of its...

A Russian attack on a village in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine killed 10 people, Kyiv said on Tuesday, vowing to respond. The strike comes amid a surge in civilian deaths in the four-and-a-half-year war. Russian forces “carried out a rocket strike on Pechenihy”, a village around 40km (25 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on social media. “According to preliminary information, 10 people were killed,” he added, with 17 people wounded. Ukrainian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian leader seeks an economic reboot for his war-ravaged country and fresh supplies of fertiliser, oil and weapons. A pariah to much of the West over his 2021 coup and role as army chief during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, Min Aung Hlaing has nonetheless found friends in Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok over recent months. That followed a heavily criticised election won...

Peace prospects in the Middle East faded, with US President Donald Trump ruling out a renewed ceasefire deal with Iran and more fighting breaking out in Lebanon. Trump said “no” when asked whether he wanted a new Iran accord to replace a 60-day agreement that expired on Monday. “They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of deal that I feel is necessary,” he told reporters at the White House. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose above US$91 per barrel, having gained...

The Department of Homeland Security told Nevada election officials that it identified 185 “potential” noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls, not the nearly 16,000 it claimed last month.

Aisha Wahab, a Democratic state senator in California, will fill out the term of Eric Swalwell, who resigned from the House amid accusations of sexual misconduct.

Florida counted most of its primary ballots within hours on Tuesday night, well ahead of the days California took to report the results of its major election.

“The Necessary Conversation,” a podcast and YouTube show, is a very public example of the political disputes families are having all across the country.

The South Carolina senator has argued that her lack of political experience is a strength as she runs to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham. But a debate misstep has rattled some of her supporters.

A scientific and civilizational horror story.

The new government of Peter Magyar hoped to use the suite overlooking the Danube as evidence of an autocrat’s indulgence. The trappings fell short.

Just last year, Prince Harry said he couldn’t imagine ever bringing his family back to Britain.

The couple are moving back after six years in the United States. What they will do, and much else, are still unclear.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle self exiled to the ultrawealthy enclave of Montecito in 2020. “They wave. They drive. They close the gates,” a neighbor said.

A foreign policy specialist, she was politically savvy and well versed in global issues, and traveled widely with her husband, Henry A. Kissinger, on his diplomatic missions.

The transportation secretary’s six-part YouTube series is fueling ethical concerns over family adventures funded in large part by corporate sponsors regulated by his department.

When Jameka Wilson encountered a man wearing a Chucky-style Halloween mask, her stage combat training kicked in. Now she’s a minor local celebrity.

With Iran exerting influence on the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi attacks on a nearby Red Sea passageway assume even greater importance for the world economy.

“It’s kind of weird to think he spent more nights with me this week than Melania,” O’Donnell said of President Trump on her last night guest-hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Researchers believe a young man buried inside a Scottish castle was a victim of the long-feared siege weapon, more powerful than a typical catapult.