Minimalist News

"I Can Negotiate": Castro's Grandson Says He's Ready To Discuss Cuba's Future With President Trump Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, former Cuban president Castro's grandson and one of the more important shadow figures inside Cuba's communist ruling circle, told USA Today in an exclusive interview that he is prepared to speak directly with President Trump, signaling publicly a potential back-channel opening as the Trump administration intensifies economic pressure on Havana. "I've never been interested in politics. It's never been a calling of mine," Rodríguez Castro told the outlet over the course of several days in June in Havana. "But if at

"Should Never Have Happened": Illegal Alien Truck Driver Kills Pennsylvania Trooper Submitted by American Truckers United , A Pennsylvania State trooper is the latest victim of the trucking industry's open borders experiment. This dangerous policy began under the Biden-Harris regime when hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens were issued CDLs, mostly from ten states. The fast-tracking of CDLs for illegal aliens has flooded the industry with drivers who may lack the necessary training, language proficiency, or commitment to American safety standards, endangering lives on our highways every day. Shockingly, this experiment is still running. 🚨Truck Driver responsible for the death

Citi Expects Oil To Sink To $60 As Hormuz Traffic Normalizes Brent Crude prices could plunge to as low as $60 per barrel by the end of the year, according to the latest note from Citi's commodity research team which expects flows through the Strait of Hormuz to soon normalize and the US and Iran to reach a deal in the coming months. "Fundamentals are rapidly reasserting themselves as Hormuz disruptions fade, with Brent back to the low $70s/bbl. While the US-Iran process remains fragile and disputes over Hormuz administration and transit fees persist, we expect the MOU to hold

The Three SHTF Scenarios That Could Change The World Faster Than Anyone Expects! Authored by Madge Waggy , For decades, the greatest threats to global stability were often imagined as distant possibilities—events reserved for history books, military simulations or the darkest years of the Cold War. Today, that assumption is becoming increasingly difficult to defend. International defense spending has reached levels not seen in decades, armed conflicts continue to reshape regional security architectures, and governments across Europe, North America and Asia are investing heavily in civil defense, cybersecurity and the protection of critical infrastructure. These are not preparations made in

World Cup Fans Drive Spending Surge In These US Host Cities Bank of America has released new aggregated credit and debit card data showing that the World Cup is already driving a noticeable increase in retail spending activity across the tournament's 11 U.S. host cities. According to BofA analyst Aditya Bhave, brick-and-mortar spending at restaurants and bars in host cities rose 5.3% year over year in the three weeks ending June 27, outpacing the 3.8% gain seen across the rest of the U.S. Bhave noted that other forms of brick-and-mortar retail spending also accelerated in host cities, suggesting the tournament

LEGO Faces Backlash Over Pride-Themed Content Aimed At Kids Via American Greatness, The Denmark-based toy company LEGO is facing criticism after promoting Pride-themed content on social media and its website. Parents accused the company of introducing LGBT themes to a brand primarily marketed to children. Although LEGO produces some building sets for adults, the company markets most of its products to children. Many young consumers follow the brand on social media. In a recent Instagram post, LEGO celebrated Pride Month with the caption, “Pride moments built, brick by brick. Swipe to see more of our LEGO colleagues’ stories.” LEGO goes

Soaring Imports Push India's Crude Stocks To Near 1-Year High India’s strategic and commercial crude oil inventories have jumped to a nearly one-year high as the world’s third-largest crude oil buyer boosted its imports to a record high in June, OilPrice reported. As at the end of June, India’s crude oil stocks held in strategic, commercial, and refinery storage had increased to 104 million barrels, up from 90.5 million barrels at the end of April, according to data from commodity intelligence provider Kpler cited by Indian outlet Economic Times . Before the Iran war began, India held 107 million in

More Defense Spending, More Climate Redistribution: The EU Spins A $2.2 Trillion Wealth Transfer Machine Submitted By Thomas Kolbe Negotiations over the European Commission's next seven-year budget are entering their decisive phase. Should Ursula von der Leyen and her allies succeed with their plans, Germany will once again shoulder a substantial financial burden. By now, however, Germans have become accustomed to that reality. Across the world, public debt levels are approaching dangerous flood marks. The global economy is effectively drowning in debt, with total public liabilities now exceeding 95% of global GDP . It is therefore only a matter of

The Unfinished Revolution: When Rights Become Privileges Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute, “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance ?” - Thomas Jefferson What exactly are Americans celebrating this Fourth of July? Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all people possess inalienable rights, we now live under a government that increasingly behaves as though rights belong to the government to distribute, restrict and revoke as it sees fit. Freedom has become conditional.

Trump: 'Netanyahu Knows Who The Boss Is' After Phone Call President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could meet as early as next week after the US leader returns from the annual NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. That's what Trump told Axios on Saturday after a Friday phone call, wherein the Israeli PM congratulated the American leader on the 250th Independence Day of the United States. Trump said something very interesting in the wake of the call: "We get along very good. [Netanyahu] knows who the boss is," he told Axios . via Reuters US-Israel relations have been deeply

Charlie Kirk Assassination Case Heads For Key Hearing Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times , After months of wrangling, the case of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler James Robinson, is now headed toward its first major legal threshold. Tyler Robinson, accused of killing conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last year, appears during a hearing in Utah's Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool Robinson, 23, is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the conservative Turning Point USA youth movement, while Kirk spoke at Utah Valley

Former Sen. Warren Staffer Attends Ayatollah's Funeral, Calls Him "Greatest Leader Of Our Lifetime" A former Democratic Party operative who worked on campaigns linked to prominent unhinged left-wing politicians such as Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, and others has become a case study in how far-left radicalization can influence those on the left, spiraling dangerously and leading to the open championing of leaders of foreign adversaries. Calla Walsh began organizing for Democratic Senator Ed Markey while she was still a teenager. She had the perfect profile: earnest, idealistic, and a model Gen Z Democrat. Former Elizabeth Warren staffer who called for

First $1 Billion, Now $50 Million: Khanna Says Wealth Tax "Must Not Stop At Billionaires" Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) - fresh off endorsing California's November ballot measure to seize 5% of billionaire wealth - published a Substack essay Wednesday titled, no really, " Why I Support a Billionaire Wealth Tax ." He makes it roughly a dozen paragraphs before explaining that it isn't one. " The tax should not stop at billionaires, it must reach centimillionaires, " Khanna writes, before spelling out exactly what that means: every fortune of $50 million and up, hit with a 2% federal levy on

On 250th Anniversary, A Look Back At Gun Ownership In America Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times , "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees what may be the most uniquely American of all rights. Those 27 words have inspired millions of words in thousands of debates over the Amendment's meaning and what, if any, limits may apply. "The Shot Heard 'Round the World," 2009, by Domenick D'Andrea. Public Domain

South Korea Plans Investment Fund From Chip Tax Revenue At a time when chip and memory companies are disproportionately receiving the benefits of hundreds of billions in capex, and a growing number of politicians are consider ways to socialize these outsized gains, Yonhap News reported that South Korea plans to create an investment fund using tax revenue from its burgeoning semiconductor industry to finance long-term economic growth. In a senior-level meeting of the government and the ruling party, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said the additional revenue from the country’s chip industry should be invested for future growth, the

Nvidia Supplier Hon Hai Sales Beat As Continued AI Demand Offsets Consumer Electronics Decline Nvidia’s server assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry reported a bigger-than-expected 40% jump in quarterly sales and said AI demand is growing further, according to Bloomberg. Hon Hai’s revenue grew to NT$2.51 trillion ($79 billion) in the three months to June, beating the average of analyst estimates of NT$2.37 trillion. Demand for AI-related products drove sales, compensating for a slight decline in demand from consumer electronics and computing products, where soaring memory prices have resulted in widespread demand destruction. Shipments of AI racks are expected to

Iran To Grant China, 'Friendly' Countries 'Special Consideration' On Hormuz Fees Via The Cradle Iran's ambassador to China stated on Saturday that the Islamic Republic would impose service fees on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but that China and other "friendly" countries would be granted "special considerations . " During a speech at the World Peace Forum in Beijing on Saturday, Iranian Ambassador Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli affirmed that Iran was working in "collaboration and cooperation" with Oman on "new arrangements" for the strait . via Associated Press Ships passing through Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil exports

Tracking The Caribbean Super Yacht Migration The superyacht season across the Caribbean and the Gulf of America has shifted into the off-season, with hurricane season now roughly a month in. As tropical activity risks rise across the Atlantic basin, some owners and charter fleets have shifted pleasure yachts and sailboats toward the Mediterranean, where the summer season is now in full swing. Ship-tracking and maritime intelligence platform MarineTraffic tracked the great migration of superyachts, including 2,156 departures of pleasure craft and sailing vessels from top Caribbean hubs between March and June. Of these, 161 showed a clear signal for an

No, The Framers Would Have Hated The Billionaire Tax Authored by Jonathan Turley, Below is my column in the Wall Street Journal on the bizarre claim of Gov. Gavin Newsom and others that the Framers would have supported wealth taxes, including the proposed Billionaire’s Tax. It is a claim that seeks to mask the economically unwise with the historically unfounded. The Framers sought to protect property from legislative redistributive impulses. James Madison wrote that the bicameral system, and particularly the Senate, “ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” That does not

'Thought People Hated Him': Trump Surprised Iranians Are Crying At Khamenei's Funeral Amid Massive Turnout President Trump this weekend mused in an interview with Axios that so many people and officials are currently gathered for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's funeral in Tehran that they could all be taken out in one fell swoop . "They are all there. One shot [and we can take them all out], but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with," Trump said . AFP via Getty Images He again emphasized that the Iranians "are begging

Interim president says unrest will not break out despite anger at official response to the 24 June disaster Venezuela’s interim president has defended her country’s emergency response to the twin earthquakes that have killed more than 3,000 people, vowing the country would not descend into social unrest. Many Venezuelans have expressed anger at what they see as the US-backed government’s inadequate response to the 24 June disaster before international teams arrived. Continue reading...

‘Haiti is a failed state’, says Carlos Giménez, congressman and Miami Cuban exile, after controversial court ruling Carlos Giménez, a Republican congressman from Florida, broke with the Trump administration on Sunday, calling on the White House to reconsider its push to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants. Returning some 350,000 Haitians to their chaotic, dangerous homeland following the US supreme court’s ruling that the Trump administration can cut off temporary legal protections, would be a grave error, Giménez said. Continue reading...

Guardian reports after the disaster told of 5,000 deaths, much of the capital being razed, and doubts about Mexico hosting the finals Mexico last hosted the World Cup in 1986 , but the competition was almost cancelled several months before the start when an earthquake struck the capital, Mexico City, leaving at least 5,000 people dead, 30,000 homeless and much of the city flattened, in one of the worst earthquakes to hit the country. To this day, the death toll remains disputed, with some estimates putting it as high as 40,000 . Continue reading...

Port expansion and protections for whales part of BC and Alberta plan to expand country’s presence overseas The governments of Canada and the province of Alberta will move forward on a major new oil pipeline after the pair announced a plan to ease concerns of British Columbia and First Nations on the Pacific coast. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, shuttled between British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday to announce more than C$150bn in new investments in both provinces, part of a broader project of reducing trade with the United States and expanding his country’s presence in overseas markets. Continue reading...

Thousands of volunteers are joined by overseas teams in the hope of finding more survivors in the rubble, reports Tom Phillips in Caraballeda. Photography and video by Manu Quintero When twin earthquakes tore through Venezuela’s northern coast last week, Israel Rivas was at home hundreds of miles away in the industrial city of San Félix. As the scale of the catastrophe became clear, the 24-year-old knew he had to react. A mechanic and budding photographer, Rivas gathered the money he had been saving to buy a new camera lens and jumped on a bus to make the 12-hour journey to

Launch comes just hours after Australia and Fiji sign defence agreement as expert says timing not a coincidence China has conducted a long-range missile test in the South Pacific just hours after Australia signed a defence agreement with Fiji, sparking condemnation from Canberra and regional leaders. The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the missile test was “destabilising” to the region, while her New Zealand counterpart, Winston Peters, described it as “deeply concerning”. Continue reading...

Ezra Jin, founder of Zion Church, lands in the US and reunites with family who are ‘overwhelmed with joy’ The founder of one of China’s most prominent underground churches has been released from prison and reunited with his family in the United States. Ezra Jin, the founder of Zion Church, landed in the US on Friday evening. He was one of dozens of church members who were detained in a sweeping crackdown on Christians in October . Continue reading...

Officers found body of 34-year-old man in luxury rental home in Pattaya area, local media says A 21-year-old British woman has been arrested in Thailand after allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend, according to local media reports. The Bangkok Post reported that on Thursday morning local time, officers found the body of a 34-year-old man, who operated a cannabis farm, in a luxury rental home in the Pattaya area, a beachside region two hours from Bangkok known for its large expat population and nightlife. Continue reading...

Official statement offers the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual and fatal incident in Beijing Chinese authorities said the man who flew a small plane into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper last week was a 66-year-old who had mental health problems. The statement published on Thursday offered the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual incident that occurred in Beijing’s central business district on the evening of 26 June. Continue reading...

Charges yet to be filed over incident in Mukdahan involving 11-year-old, as police seek to establish circumstances An 11-year-old boy has driven his parents’ truck into a Buddhist procession in Thailand, killing at least nine monks. CCTV footage shared by a local rescue group showed the moment the monks, wearing orange robes, were run over as they walked in procession along a road. The timestamp on the footage was shortly before 11am local time on Thursday. Continue reading...

Epping footballer Nathan Fitzgerald, 27, died in hospital after hitting his head during a game in Lalor, club confirms Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A suburban Melbourne footballer has died in hospital after a clash of heads saw him fall to the ground and hit his head on a covered cricket pitch, his club confirmed on Monday night. High school teacher Nathan Fitzgerald, 27, was taken to Royal Melbourne hospital on Saturday after the incident during an Australian rules football game in Lalor in

Police charge woman with murder after boy’s body was found in a Central Coast home on Saturday Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The New South Wales department in charge of child protection received “a number of reports” about a four-year-old child before he was allegedly murdered by his mother, the minister revealed, as she announced a review into how the case was handled. Kate Washington, the NSW minister for communities and family, announced the independent review into the child’s case on Monday afternoon, two days after police found the preschooler’s body at a

This blog is now closed China tests long-range missile in South Pacific in move Australia condemns as ‘destabilising to region’ My colleague Josh Butler has a full report into today’s controversy surrounding Anthony Albanese’s podcast appearance. You can read the full debrief here: Meta executives to speak at royal commission on antisemitism today Continue reading...

Everything in Canberra is content now, from performative questions to calculated outbursts and comments about Kylie Minogue Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese probably didn’t expect an interview with a comedian in her “Bush Barbie” character would have kickstarted the biggest firestorm of the week. But the prime minister, appearing alongside a stuffed copy of his beloved cavoodle Toto – fell victim to an entirely avoidable and regrettable controversy when he played along with a “shag, marry, date” game. Continue reading...

‘Over-enforcement poses significant risk to the communities that we try to protect,’ royal commission told A decision aimed at reducing “censorship” on major social media sites including Facebook and Instagram potentially led to greater levels of hate speech, the royal commission into antisemitism has heard. Meta announced in January 2025 , after the re-election of Donald Trump in the US, that it would “reduce censorship”, get rid of factcheckers and only tackle illegal and very serious violations proactively, relying on users to report less serious breaches. Its platforms include Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s president makes plea ahead of summit this week in Ankara as strikes leave 117 injured in capital city Meanwhile, the UK has just sanctioned Russian actors involved in researching, developing and producing the novichok nerve agent and the lethal toxic Epibatidine, used in the Salisbury attack and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. Among those sanctions are SC Signal, a Russian state scientific research institute, as well as three individuals researching novichok and Epibatidine. “Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons is a sickening violation of international law and a direct threat to global security. From the use of novichok nerve

More than 200 arrested in raids, comedian and journalists jailed, gay-friendly cruise turned away and protests banned Authorities in Turkey have widened a crackdown on public life, arresting more than 200 people during raids across Ankara last month, jailing a comedian and blocking a cruise ship carrying LGBTQ+ passengers from docking in the run-up to the Nato summit in the capital. The arrests followed a ban on demonstrations in Ankara that was put in place until 10 July. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this was evidence of Turkey’s “ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly”. The watchdog group said

Tour de France spectator ban as country along with Spain, Portugal and Greece faces ‘powder keg’ after heatwave Europe live – latest updates Wildfires raging across southern Europe have forced thousands to flee their homes and prompted officials to ban spectators from a stage of the Tour de France, amid warnings of “powder keg” conditions after a record-breaking early summer heatwave. Hundreds of firefighters are tackling blazes that have burned through almost 20,000 hectares (49,500 acres) in Portugal, Spain, France and Greece. Strong winds are forecast to fan the flames and temperatures are expected to rise again this week. Continue

Spain, Portugal, France and UK face spell of high temperatures, while Super Typhoon Bavi barrels through north-western Pacific Europe live – latest updates Another surge of heat spread across western Europe at the weekend, with Spain, Portugal and France already sweltering and southern parts of the UK joining them on Monday. Temperatures are once again forecast to climb to 10-15C above average, with highs approaching 40C (104F) in the hottest parts of France and Spain, while the UK is expected to reach the low- to mid-30s celsius. Continue reading...

Authorities say death toll likely to rise after second assault on Ukrainian capital and surrounding region within days Europe live – latest updates A wave of Russian missiles and drones has struck Kyiv on the eve of a Nato summit in Turkey, killing more than a dozen people and heavily damaging apartment blocks and other buildings. “In total, 14 people have died and 117 have been injured in Kyiv,” the office of the attorney general said on Monday morning. Continue reading...

Millions join funeral procession in capital of Tehran to mourn Khamenei who was kiled in US-Israel airstrikes in February Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker and a male Syrian worker were killed when “an Israeli drone targeted the car” they were travelling in as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Continue reading...

Elbit Systems supplied Tzayad digital army programme to map people, vehicles and other objects in real time Israel identified about 1,000 potential targets a day during the first two years of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon with its command and control system, according to a presentation by the country’s largest arms supplier, Elbit Systems. A total of 850,000 targets were detected in real time by the Israeli Tzayad digital army programme across all the military’s theatres of war between 7 October and the end of 2025, the company said at a military conference in London. Continue reading...

Crowds swelled through Tehran as mourners dressed in black carried flags proclaiming: ‘We will rise’ A crowd of millions assembled on Monday for the funeral procession of Iran’s assassinated supreme leader, Ali Khamenei . The scale and depth of the march, however engineered, represents an extraordinary turnaround for a country that only seven months ago was gripped by street protests at which thousands of people were killed by government security forces. Many will say the assembly was a monument to a misconceived war launched on Iran by Donald Trump in February. Continue reading...

New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei still absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside father’s coffin Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump. Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war. Continue reading...

IRGC warnings force ships to turn back as Tehran uses passages from Qur’an to send messages to Gulf delegations The diplomatic and military contest for control of the strait of Hormuz has intensified alongside the dramatic scenes of mourning for the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, with some claiming Khamenei’s legacy ultimately depends on Tehran’s grip on the waterway, and so the global economy. Over the past 48 hours, as crowds have swirled in Tehran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps appeared to have started to plug a gaping and growing gap in their monopoly control of the strait.

Local officials said preliminary reports showed the centre was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential building Fourteen children died after ⁠the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan’s eastern city of ⁠Lahore on Tuesday, ⁠rescue ​officials have said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence ⁠investigation. Punjab’s emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher ⁠under the rubble of the private after-school facility. The ​children killed were aged ‌five to ‌16 with most below nine. Continue reading...

Government hopes for 30% of city’s fleet to be electric by 2030, in move hailed as ‘gamechanger’ on air pollution The unruly chaos of Delhi’s roads would be unrecognisable without the rickshaws and scooters that zip through India’s capital in their millions, emitting toxic fumes in their wake. But now, ambitious policies aim to give the city’s most recognisable vehicles an environmental makeover. On Monday, Delhi’s government announced plans to eventually ban petrol scooters, motorbikes and autorickshaws in favour of those running on electricity, in an attempt to bring down dangerously high pollution levels in the city by the end

Exclusive: Activist tells of his life as one of India’s most prominent political prisoners and his opposition to the government of Narendra Modi Prison is hardest at sunset. As the thousands of prisoners incarcerated in Delhi’s most infamous jail are cast out of their cells and forced into the dank yard until darkness falls, prisoner number 626714 feels the punishing dread begin to rise. Yet the inmate – better known as Umar Khalid – was recently moved to discover that another political prisoner, exiled at a camp thousands of miles from India, wrote of the very same feeling more than

Pakistan says strikes were aimed at a terrorist group while Taliban condemn ‘cowardly act of aggression’ Pakistani airstrikes in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan killed 36 civilians and wounded 163 others, Afghan officials have said, as attacks between the two countries showed no sign of abating. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the operations on Sunday night were aimed at a terrorist group his country blamed for a deadly militant attack in Karachi that killed three security personnel over the weekend. Continue reading...

Fears hard-won gains in reducing child mortality over 20 years are at risk after end of USAID funding for nutrition programmes Child malnutrition in Nepal has reached “alarming” levels, according to the largest ever survey of under-fives in the country. The new figures came just over a year after USAID, the former US flagship agency closed by the Trump administration in 2025, stopped funding work on child nutrition in Nepal. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader claims he is victim of ‘hit job’ as parliamentary standards commissioner investigates £5m donation On the subject of Andy Burnham, the Financial Times is running a story today saying the access talks his team is holding with senior civil servants, intended to help Whitehall departments get ready to implement the new PM’s policy agenda, are being hindered by the fact that Burnham has not decided who will do the top cabinet jobs. In the story, Lucy Fisher, George Parker and Anna Gross say: Talks have not yet formally started with the Treasury and Burnham’s refusal to nominate

Thousands of people begin receiving their first deliveries of once-a-day medication made by Novo Nordisk Business live – latest updates A once-a-day Wegovy weight-loss pill has gone on sale at high street and online pharmacies in the UK, but is not yet available on the NHS. Thousands of people began receiving their first deliveries of the pill, made by the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, on Monday. It contains the same active GLP-1 ingredient as the Wegovy jab, semaglutide, and is similarly effective, according to studies. Continue reading...

The firm’s share price has risen 80% under Allison Kirkby’s leadership – but pressure remains for her to deliver further growth Business live – latest updates If timing is everything, then Allison Kirkby may have judged it perfectly. Since becoming BT’s first female chief executive more than two years ago the company’s share price has climbed 80%, an investor-pleasing turnaround that has seen Kirkby well-rewarded with a pay and bonus package of £5.6m last year , the largest for a boss of the telecoms company in well over a decade. However, there are questions over how much credit Kirkby can

FCA’s review into how tech will reshape financial services warns about amplified risks of cyber-crime and fraud Business live – latest updates Ministers have been urged to toughen the City regulator’s powers to protect consumers against the potential risks of AI, according to a landmark review. The Mills review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which looked at how AI will reshape financial services from 2030 onward, found that companies are already starting to shift from human-led activities towards AI-enabled services for everyday consumers. Continue reading...

Handmade creations distributed to raise funds for charity prompt complaints to police At first, the cute paper hedgehogs seemed like a kind gesture. An older man had crafted the little creations from donated books to raise money for charity, handing them to children in local shops. But on closer inspection, some parents were horrified to discover the hedgehogs had been made from the pages of an erotic novel. Continue reading...

Authorities claim Tyrin Johnson, 20, pulled gun on officers controversially deployed at instigation of Trump National guard soldiers on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man that authorities in the Tennessee city said turned and pulled a gun on the troops during a chase. The shooting took place at about 4am on Sunday as the soldiers responded to a report of gunfire. Continue reading...

Candidate Abdul El-Sayed emerges as the party’s frontrunner in the primary campaign after Mallory McMorrow withdraws Sign up for the Breaking News US email A reminder that Trump accounts were created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act , the president’s prized domestic policy package, signed into law last year. All accounts established for children born between January 2025 through December 2028 – nearly the entirety of Donald Trump’s second term – will receive $1,000 from the government. Parents, friends and employers will be able to deposit as much as $5,000 a year into the accounts. Continue reading...

Millions gather in streets and officials appear in public at Tehran funeral of Ali Khamenei in show of defiance. Plus, origin of mysterious ‘space balls’ in Australia revealed Good morning. Iran’s week of mass funeral processions ⁠for the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei has seen public calls for the killing of Donald Trump . Khamenei was killed along with other members of his family on February 28, the first day of the US and Israeli war against Iran. Who made the direct call for the killing of Trump? During part of the ceremony, the poet Mohammad Rasouli said: “I swear

Seaplane carrying eight people made ‘hard landing’ and was towed back to dock, according to the fire department A seaplane made a rough landing in New York City ’s East River on Sunday, alarming bystanders and resulting in two minor injuries, according to city authorities. The seaplane carrying eight people made a “hard landing” at about noon, according to the New York City fire department. The plane made it upright and was towed back to dock, the department said. Continue reading...

New report details slew of ventures between private equity and nonprofits and calls for greater government oversight A watchdog group is calling for greater government oversight of joint ventures between private equity firms and non-profit healthcare providers, arguing that the arrangements could present “risks” to “patients, payers and employees”. In a new report, Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), a vocal critic of the industry, detailed more than 500 joint ventures between private equity and nonprofit healthcare providers – ranging from rural hospitals to major religiously affiliated health systems to hospice care providers. The group argued those risks could include extraction

Russia hammered Kyiv with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 12 people, officials said, as shortages of US-made interceptors left the Ukrainian capital struggling to defend itself, just days after the deadliest attack this year. The heavy overnight bombardment came ahead of a ‌Nato summit in Turkey this week, where US President Donald Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a renewed push to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in...

If one word could capture the essence of Hong Kong, it would be resilience. Just two years ago, much of the international community had written off Hong Kong. A widely circulated newspaper commentary carried the headline: “It pains me to say Hong Kong is over”. Though the writer later changed his opinion, the piece captured the pessimism about the city’s future as a global hub. Hong Kong’s dramatic comeback is well documented. According to Boston Consulting Group, the city has overtaken...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had “asked to be annexed to Israel” so that they could be protected from Hezbollah militants. Lebanon was drawn into the wider war in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops now occupy...

Venezuela’s interim president said on Sunday the country would not descend into social unrest after the twin earthquakes which killed more than 3,300 people and left thousands more missing. One of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters, the June 24 shocks collapsed scores of buildings, leaving thousands homeless, especially in the coastal La Guaira area north of the capital Caracas. “There will be no social unrest here, what we have here is deep social solidarity,” Delcy Rodriguez said...

It’s unfortunate for Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu that his speech on July 1 marking the 29th anniversary of the handover and highlighting his government’s achievements may have been overshadowed by the outcry over an anti-drug video – or at least what was intended as one. The Correctional Services Department released the video, generated by artificial intelligence (AI), on June 26 before having to pull it twice, ahead of the anniversary. The video – featuring an appealing K-pop...

Burglars stole millions of euros’ worth of jewellery from the museum of French luxury glassmaker Lalique in a daring early-morning raid on Sunday, just months after a stunning gem robbery at the Louvre in Paris. A gang of masked thieves broke into the museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France at around 5.30am local time, forcing a door before heading for the jewellery room and smashing open six display cases, a source close to the investigation told Agence France-Presse. “Around 20...

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the Nato summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters while previewing the summit in Ankara, where Trump...

Federal officials had no reason to stop a white ⁠supremacist group’s July ⁠4 rally in Washington because ⁠of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sunday. Hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched through the nation’s capital on Independence Day on Saturday did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s State of the Union. Although the organisation’s ‌white supremacist, anti-immigrant ideology is “nothing that I could possibly agree with”, Burgum said, it is...

Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform. The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the size of the Portuguese capital Lisbon. It has replaced the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Defence...

Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder. The five-day preliminary hearing that starts on Monday will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be live-streamed. Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a...

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage on Sunday faced fresh allegations over non-disclosure of gifts after a newspaper reported a convicted fraudster paid for his security and staff before he became an MP. An MP said he had asked parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate the new claims against the leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, which is currently leading in opinion polls. Farage is already the subject of an investigation by the parliamentary anti-sleaze watchdog...

A “super typhoon” with equivalent force to a category-5 hurricane made landfall on the US island of Rota in the Pacific on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, warning of “catastrophic damage and [a] life-threatening situation”. “The western eyewall of Super Typhoon Bavi is currently moving over the island of Rota. The latest forecast intensity is at 180mph (290km/h) as it passes over Rota,” the NWS said. “Catastrophic winds exceeding 150mph will continue across Rota during eyewall...

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday that the federal government is considering withholding information from ministers in state administrations if they are formed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD is regularly criticised for close ties to Moscow. Polls indicate that the AfD could win an absolute majority in a state election in September in Saxony-Anhalt, meaning that it would form a state government for the first time. Under Germany’s federal system, state...

“The Emiratis – by far the most hawkish, by far the most pro-Israel country in the [Gulf Cooperation Council] – they’re having conversations with the Iranians that have never happened before,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance told British media outlet UnHerd following the Iran-US negotiations in Switzerland. The Iranians “are certainly talking differently than they have in the past”, he added in a note of cautious optimism, highlighting how both Washington and its allies in the Persian Gulf are...

Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal on Sunday as temperatures rose again in heatwave-scarred Europe. The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land – twice the size of Manhattan – across the three countries where temperatures in some places were predicted to touch 40°C on Sunday. Authorities registered thousands of excess deaths during one of Europe’s worst heatwaves in June, and with more extreme weather...

Residents at the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) Ebola outbreak are pinning their hopes on experimental treatments after researchers began a highly anticipated study in early July of two possible Ebola treatments in hopes of fighting the still-growing outbreak. At the Ebola treatment centre inside Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Centre, in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, the launch of the research was marked by urgency rather than ceremony on Thursday. As ambulances continued...

The world’s attention is fixed on frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models, but China’s robot-making factories deserve just as much attention. Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has predicted that robots would ultimately replace its 700,000 delivery workers, while workers at South Korean carmaker Hyundai are threatening strike action over issues including the roll-out of robots. These are early signs of what could be China’s next export shock. The first “China shock” was from its low-cost...

Since he started work as Nato secretary general almost two years ago, Mark Rutte has spent much of his time trying to keep the United States anchored to the world’s biggest military alliance, employing outright flattery to dissuade US President Donald Trump from acting on threats to abandon it. But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week’s summit in Turkey. Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against Nato allies for spending too small a fraction of...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance said Britain had been “failed by its ⁠leadership for a long ⁠time”, adding that he hoped the country’s ⁠next prime minister could deliver the structural change voters were seeking after years of political turmoil. In an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, Vance said frequent changes of government pointed to deeper problems in British politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last month he ‌would step down after two years in office, paving the way for...

The future of energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz hangs in the balance after negotiations between Iran and the United States in Doha this week ended without an agreement on releasing frozen funds to the Islamic Republic. With Tehran also failing to begin demining the strait, and still threatening to attack ships attempting to leave the Gulf without its permission, neither side has yet met the two key obligations under their June 17 memorandum of understanding (MOU) to freeze the conflict...

A performer at the funeral for Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of US President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday in the capital, Tehran. The comment represents the first, direct call for Trump’s death by an emcee at the funeral, which has seen posters and graffiti calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That has been a hardline demand even as Tehran negotiates with the US over a...

US President Donald Trump hailed America on its 250th birthday on Saturday as the “crowning achievement” of human history, even as he used the event to renew his attack on domestic opponents he called communists. In a speech delayed by several hours when storms forced the temporary evacuation of crowds in Washington, Trump claimed that under his presidency the United States was “prouder than ever before.” While Trump had promised a huge political rally to stamp his brand on the national...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and the coming Nato summit in Turkey in a phone call on Saturday. Putin congratulated Trump on the 250th anniversary of US independence in the call that lasted 85 minutes, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said in an audio message to reporters. “The presidents naturally touched on the topic of a Ukrainian settlement, including in light of Trump’s upcoming participation in the Nato summit in Turkey on July...

The groom wore a white tuxedo, the couple wrote their own vows and Stevie Nicks sang, according to guests at Friday’s star-studded wedding of megastars Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in an intimate garden built for the occasion within New York City’s Madison Square Garden arena. Details trickled out on Saturday of the lavish nuptials ‌that had been a closely guarded secret. Their union was confirmed on giant billboards that flashed “JUST&T MARRIED!” The pop music superstar and football player...

There is something odd about the debate on China’s “overcapacity”. Europe says the world needs cheaper and faster clean energy deployment, yet complains when China produces the solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles that make this possible. Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank specialising in economic policy, recently published a working paper, “To what extent can green infrastructure investment mitigate China’s clean-energy overcapacity?” It argues that China’s industrial...

Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes have killed nearly 3,000, official figures showed on Saturday, as international rescue teams began winding down search operations for survivors in the rubble. Fatalities jumped by more than 300 from Friday to 2,954, following the June 24 disaster that left thousands homeless in the streets and shelter camps. Tens of thousands more are still missing. One of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters hit hardest in the coastal La Guaira area north of the...

Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of Kostiantynivka, President Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured. Russia’s military ignored Zelensky’s assertions, said it was mopping up remaining pockets of resistance and offered to exchange the remains of dead servicemen. Russian military commanders told President ‌Vladimir Putin on Friday that Moscow’s forces had taken control of Kostiantynivka, a target...

President Donald Trump will headline US Independence Day celebrations on Saturday with a speech and a show that seek to place him at the centre of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Trump has made no secret of his joy at presiding over the July 4 festivities, portraying the timing as a side benefit of winning a second term starting in 2025 – even as the Republican falsely claims he also won the previous election against Democrat Joe Biden. Celebrations will be held across the US to mark the...

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday urged the United States to stand by his country, after reaching a US-backed framework deal with Israel aiming to permanently end hostilities after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The deal reached in Washington calls for the disarmament of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army there, starting with two “pilot” areas. Hezbollah has rejected the deal, which does not...

Summer came too early to Europe’s most important rice-growing region, and weeds are taking over Sharon Angoli’s parched paddies in Italy’s Pavia province. “That one is done for, no matter what happens,” the 22-year-old said as she surveyed one desolate field that has been baked by what is among the most severe heatwaves to hit the continent in June. Even abundant rains for the rest of the summer would probably not save the crop, she said. Angoli and her father, Carlo, also fear for their other...

Pope Leo on Saturday visited Italy’s Lampedusa island, a major port of call for migrants risking the perilous crossing from Africa, in a stark message to US and EU leaders. The Catholic Church’s first US pope, who has clashed with the administration of President Donald Trump over its treatment of migrants, is marking July 4, the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence, on a migration frontline. Leo’s visit also comes just two weeks after the European Union’s approval of new migrant...

Almost anywhere you look these days, you can find claims from political, academic and other various sources that China’s supposed overproduction and exports of manufactured goods pose unfair advantages. These sources may also claim such unfair advantages justify protectionist countermeasures. But it is difficult to counter one’s own folly. For decades, the US, much of Europe and even Japan, long proud of its manufacturing skills, have prided themselves on becoming “post-industrial” and...

Thousands protested against Germany’s far-right AfD and blocked roads to its annual conference in the eastern city of Erfurt on Saturday, where the party re-elected the two leaders who have overseen its rise as a national force. Protesters from unions, civil society groups and left-wing parties gathered as large numbers of police, including reinforcements from across Germany, were deployed ahead of the AfD’s two-day conference. AfD stands for ‌Alternative for Germany. Watched by police in riot...

The Gaza war was the spark that touched off years of Middle East conflict culminating in the US-Israeli war with Iran, but as Washington and Tehran wrangle over terms for peace, the devastated territory’s fate seems largely out of mind. “Ever since the United States went to war with Iran, the whole world has forgotten Gaza and its tragedy. We no longer have anyone standing by us,” Palestinian Ahmed Jamali, 53, told Agence France-Presse from the displacement camp in Gaza where he lives. “We are...

Vast crowds of Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed in Tehran on Saturday to begin almost a week of funeral ceremonies for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, which authorities hope will send a message of defiance to the West after the war with the United States and Israel. Clad in black and waving blood-red flags seen as a call for vengeance and justice under Shia Islam, mourners thronged the Grand Mosalla religious complex in the Iranian capital. Khamenei, who had ruled Iran since 1989...

How many crises does it take to change the way the world trades? For Asia, the answer appears to be three. First Covid closed the factories that fed the logistics networks, then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine choked off Black Sea grain exports and sent energy prices spiralling. Now, the US-Israel war on Iran may have hammered the final nail in the coffin of “just in time” supply chains that some economists say are no longer fit for purpose. “Taken together, they show that serious disruption is now...

America turns 250 on Saturday – a landmark birthday that coincides with a time of deep national division and a president determined to seize the festive centre stage. The independence anniversary also comes in the middle of a brutal heatwave that has placed some 160 million Americans under major or extreme heat warnings, playing havoc with planned parades and block parties in towns and cities across much of the country. But the searing temperatures have done little to deter President Donald...

A dangerous heatwave upended Fourth of July celebrations across swathes of the central and eastern United States on Friday, forcing officials in the nation’s capital and elsewhere to cancel or postpone dozens of parades, concerts and fireworks displays. Among the events disrupted by the sweltering heat was the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, a centrepiece of President Donald ‌Trump’s efforts to mark the nation’s 250th birthday. The fair, designed to showcase all 50...

Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new species of ghost shark in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Cano Island. The latest discovery has a “shorter” snout, a “darker coloration pattern” and a “much longer spine on its dorsal fin”, according to Arturo Angulo Sibaja, a biology professor at the University of Costa Rica. The discovery marked the only such species “known for the Central American coast”, Sibaja said, adding genetic analysis indicated the new species had “no reproductive...

An unmistakable pattern has emerged in the US’ strategy to contain China. Washington has sought to deny China access to frontier technologies and key commodities, and to redirect related supply chains to revitalise American industries. In this context, US President Donald Trump’s intense interest in America taking over Denmark’s Greenland becomes clear. Deny the Chinese their favourite seafood, which many can’t live without, and revive the US food industry. You think I am pulling your leg. This...

A massive Russian ⁠glide bomb strike on the centre of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed at least four people, including a child, on Friday and injured 27, Regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov said. Other areas in Sumy region and in southeastern Ukraine, closer to ‌the front lines, also came under Russian attack, killing a total of six people. “At the epicentre of the strike – a high-rise apartment building, a shop and a street,” Hryhorov wrote on Telegram of the strike in Sumy. “There were a...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, where actor Adam Sandler was the surprising officiant at a ceremony packed with stars of sports and entertainment. The deep secrecy that surrounded the build-up to the nuptials lifted when a marquee outside the Midtown Manhattan arena proclaimed “JUST&T MARRIED” once the deed was done. The couple did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen, instead having Swift’s younger brother Austin Swift serve as her man of honour...

China is such a giant player in the global economy that understanding how the US-China contest of the century for international primacy will evolve has become crucial. Some Westerners, especially those in the United States, feel so threatened that they have resorted to protectionism, with global fragmentation and perhaps even preparations for a third world war already in the cards. Kishore Mahbubani’s book Has China Won? highlighted deep misunderstandings and structural tensions between China...

The fallout from Venezuela’s powerful twin quakes has evolved into a major test for acting President Delcy Rodriguez, sending her scrambling to prevent the humanitarian disaster from becoming a political one as her mandate as interim leader expires on Friday. A day after Rodriguez angrily defended the competence of her government’s relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, issued her...

European Nato allies have mostly replaced the assets that the US has cut from its rescue plans in case of a war in Europe, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe John Stringer said in an interview. Stringer made the assurance ahead of the alliance’s summit in Ankara next week, at which allies will try to smooth over recent announcements by the US signalling that it is pivoting away from the continent. “European allies have definitely stepped up in terms of backfilling the adjustment in the US...

China’s firing of a submarine-launched missile came as Australia secured more defense deals with Pacific Island nations. Countries expressed concern about the test.

The reversal of Folarin Balogun’s World Cup suspension is highly unusual. It was the first time since 1962 that FIFA has nullified a suspension for a red card received during the World Cup.

The American striker Folarin Balogun is eligible to play in a World Cup match against Belgium on Monday night after soccer officials reversed his one-game ban.

The game against Mexico started at 2 a.m. in Britain. Pubs were allowed to stay open unusually late for fans to share the drama together.

Iran’s new leaders are commemorating Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against the country, with a funeral unlike any other in the country’s recent history.

President Trump is appointing his former personal lawyers to judgeships, part of a larger effort to put his stamp on the federal courts.

The president placed his image and initiatives front and center, blurring the line, critics said, between loyalty to nation and loyalty to him.

Popular communication methods for nonspeaking autistic people have ignited a fierce debate over what counts as evidence of hidden cognitive abilities.

In 2010, there was a huge U.S. aid effort after a quake in Haiti. Today, U.S. officials say they oversee billions in Venezuelan oil revenue, but aid is less.

Some of the nation’s top research universities are shrinking doctoral programs because of uncertain federal funding.

Under the test-blind policy, more students are thrown into classes for which they are unprepared.

Over the years, I have moved toward the way of being Jewish that my father rejected.

Catch up after the long weekend.

Emergency officials warned that flash flooding was possible on Monday as powerful storms were expected to move through the region.