Minimalist News

US Tariff Rates To Hit 15% Or More For Some Nations Under New Strategy Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer said tariff rates could climb to 15 percent or more for some nations as the Trump administration conducts probes into unfair trade practices after a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated parts of the previous tariff policy.  U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the White House in Washington, DC. Reuters/Kylie Cooper/File Photo Greer appeared on Fox Business program Mornings With Maria, and spoke with host Maria Bartiromo about a shift to tools such as Section 301

House Dem Brought Illegal Alien To State Of The Union, Then Protected Him From Law Enforcement There were rumors ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday that some Democrats would be bringing illegal immigrants as their guests as some sort of silent protest against Trump’s immigration policies.  Well, at least one actually did, and may have committed a crime as a result. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) invited a young man with an expired student visa to sit in the gallery for Trump’s speech. Marcelo Gomes daSilva, 19, originally from Brazil, arrived in Milford, Massachusetts, at age six on

Researchers Identify Chinese Influence Network That Targeted Trump, Japan Elections Authored by Catherine Young via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Researchers uncovered a network of more than 330 social media accounts linked to China that targeted U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, human rights organizations, and other countries to push pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) narratives, according to a Feb. 26 policy brief. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises her fist as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks aboard USS George Washington on Oct. 28, 2025, in Yokosuka, Japan. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a think tank based

Bohemian Grove Membership List Leaked An independent journalist has obtained and published what appears to be the 2023 attendance list for ultra-secretive Bohemian Grove, the annual summer encampment of the all-male Bohemian Club in Sonoma County, California, providing a rare look at the roster of American elites who gathered at the shadowy retreat. The list, first shared by Substack journalist Daniel Boguslaw and authenticated by at least one club member, lists more than 2,200 names, organized by the club's distinctive “camps.” The Bohemian Club, which also operates a private clubhouse in San Francisco, has long guarded the privacy of its activities, guided by

The Talented Mr. Newsom Authored by Alex Berenson, Gavin Newsom could be our next president. But does anyone – including him – know what he stands for? A detailed look at his life suggests the answer might be no. California has every natural and economic advantage: a long, beautiful coast, great weather, a generations-long stranglehold on cultural production in Los Angeles and advanced technology in Silicon Valley. Yet years of Democratic misrule have made the state so unlivable its taxpaying residents are fleeing en masse. Building houses, or high-speed rail, or anything else in California is nearly impossible. Meanwhile, the state has done all it

"Hyperwoke" Journo Self-Downgrades From First Class Because It Had Too Many White Men Former Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson proudly announced that she had downgraded herself from first class to business class on a flight to Milan, apparently unable to endure a cabin populated predominantly by white middle-aged men, the Daily Mail reports. In a lengthy Threads post that has since drawn both fawning admiration from her ideological allies and widespread incredulity elsewhere, Karefa-Johnson described the scene: "In a cabin of six, five of the passengers were white middle-aged men... then there was me, a 30-something black woman who travels in that cabin

Families Receive $1.5 Million After Supreme Court Victory Over LGBT Storytelling Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times, A Maryland school district that lost a recent U.S. Supreme Court case will pay $1.5 million to parents who weren’t allowed to opt their children out of LGBT story time, the families’ attorneys said. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the plaintiffs in the landmark Mahmoud v. Taylor case, announced the settlement on Feb. 20. The defendant, the Montgomery County Board of Education—which oversees Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in the state—was also ordered to comply with court orders

Jimmy's Famous Seafood Goes Viral Again, Tells Local Paper To "Go F**k Yourself" Update (Thursday): The mom-and-pop, immigrant-owned Jimmy's Famous Seafood in Baltimore, Maryland, went viral earlier this week after telling the left-leaning HuffPost on X to "go f**k yourself" over its controversial anti-American story following Team USA's historic hockey win. > Go fuck yourself > > — Jimmy’s Famous Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) February 22, 2026 Now Jimmy's Famous Seafood is at it again, telling local paper The Baltimore Sun on X to "go f**k yourself." This time, what prompted Jimmy's Famous Seafood's X account was a "reader commentary" post from the outlet on X that said:

Sec. Duffy "Disturbed" After Video Shows Tractor-Trailer Barreling Wrong Way Down Highway U.S. Secretary Sean Duffy could not believe his eyes after a dramatic video surfaced on X, showing an 18-wheeler barreling down the wrong way on a Missouri highway. "DISTURBING: We have learned that a truck driver with a Minnesota CDL who couldn't read basic road signs spent MILES driving the wrong way in an 80 TON truck!" Duffy said. The video was posted on X by MolonLabeBTC, in which the person in the video can be heard saying the truck driver was a "foreign invader" and was "driving southbound in the

The Graveyard Of Destructive Ideas Authored by Victor Davis Hanson, How do destructive ideas and bouts of collective madness so quickly become policy, law, and the status quo? After all, most have little public support—and are not Western nations supposedly rationally governed? There is usually a multi-step process on the road to these self-destructive fits of society-wide insanity. The suicidal impulse so often begins with left-leaning researchers in elite universities (i.e., the tenured in search of a novel, grant-getting theory). They begin insisting that a new existential threat requires immediate government intervention, novel legislation, ample funding, and public awareness of the impending danger. So out of

Iran Rushes To Load Oil Onto Ships In Anticipation Of US Strikes Via Middle East Eye Iran is loading almost three times the amount of oil it normally does onto tankers in the Persian Gulf in a sign it is anticipating a US attack that could prevent its oil from hitting the market.  Iranian oil exports from Kharg Island reached nearly 20.1 million barrels between 15 and 20 February, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing Kpler data. That is the equivalent of more than three million barrels per day (bpd) and almost three times the amount loaded over the same dates in January, Bloomberg said. For comparison, Iran’s previous

Dorsey's Block Fires Nearly Half Of The Company In 'Massive' AI Bet, Sending Shares Soaring One week after WIRED reported that things were pretty dismal over at Jack Dorsey's payment processing company Block (formerly Square), the company announced that they are cutting 4,000 employees - nearly half of their headcount - in order to invest 'heavily' in artificial intelligence tools to run more efficiently, including its own called Goose, Bloomberg reports.  The news sent shares up over 30% in after hours trade. "We are taking bold and decisive action here, but we’re doing it from a position of strength," CFO Amrita Ahuja told Bloomberg, adding "We’re doing it in a

The Great Reversal: Trump's Real Progress In Tackling Legal Immigration Via White Papers Policy Institute, Sixty-plus years of unchecked mass immigration have eroded the fabric of American society to the point where Americans are beginning to wonder if the country can survive. The focus of the media, left and right, when it comes to immigration, has been on the Minneapolis riots over the arrest and detention of illegal aliens. What goes unnoticed however, is the seismic shift in immigration policy, particularly legal immigration policy, that arrived with the latest Trump administration. The fantastic truth is that the floodgates that allow more than 1-1.2 million legal immigrants in

Tech Bosses To Meet At White House, Pledge Their Data Centers Won't Boost Electricity Bills Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Leaders in big tech are expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House next week to pledge that their data centers will not increase the energy bills of Americans living near the facilities. The logos of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft displayed on a mobile phone and a laptop screen. Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images “Major tech companies will join President Trump at the White House next week to formally sign the Rate Payer Protection

Automakers Push Toward "Eyes-Off" Driving Despite Mounting Doubts Global automakers are zeroing in on a controversial waypoint in the autonomy race: “eyes-off” driving, known in the industry as Level 3, according to a new report by Reuters. The idea is simple but provocative — motorists could look away to send a message or work on a laptop until the vehicle signals them to retake control. After years spent refining hands-on driver aids that manage steering and speed, companies see Level 3 as a potential bridge between today’s supervised systems and tomorrow’s fully driverless cars. It could also help justify the billions already sunk into

US Treasury To Allow Resale Of Venezuelan Oil To Cuba to Ease Island's Fuel Crunch Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday announced a new licensing policy to streamline the resale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, with the goal of supporting the island’s private sector and bolstering humanitarian efforts amid ongoing fuel crises. The refinery El Palito in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela, on Jan. 22, 2026. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) will extend the new licensing policy to specific applications seeking authorization for the resale of Venezuelan

Trump Advisers Want Israel To 'Attack Iran First' For Better Optics: Politico Politico is out with a crazy story on Thursday, but which will make sense to those following the trajectory of US foreign policy over the past couple decades plus. Senior US officials want Israel to strike Iran before Washington launches a renewed assault in order to build domestic backing for war. Advisers to President Donald Trump are "privately arguing that an Israeli attack would trigger Iran to retaliate, helping muster support from American voters for a U.S. strike," the outlet writes, citing two people familiar with the discussions. "The calculus is

"You're Not Alone": Reporters Comfort Those Triggered And Traumatized By Scenes Of Patriotism Authored by Jonathan Turley, This week, most Americans found a moment of rare unity in our pride over the performance of our athletes in the Winter Olympics. After years of rage politics, there was a brief respite as we joined in cheering our team in representing the United States in Milan and Cortina. Well, most of us. Some in the media found the entire demonstration of patriotism to be intolerable and triggering. What is striking is how this aversion to our flag and country was so openly expressed in major media. This week,

"Squatty Potty" Millionaire Charged With Possession Of Child Porn Hoard Robert Edwards, the inventor of the "Squatty Potty" and a contestant on the show "Shark Tank", has been charged with the possession of a digital hoard of child pornography materials including videos and images.  Edwards, 50, was arrested for allegedly buying and receiving countless images of child sexual abuse between March 2021 and November 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Utah announced Monday.  The entrepreneur was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 10 and arrested Feb. 12 in Washington County, Utah. In March 2021, an undercover FBI agent joined

Hillary Clinton Says She Knew Nothing About Jeffrey Epstein's Crimes Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on Feb. 26 that she does not have knowledge about crimes carried out by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2026. Johannes Simon/Getty Images “I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes, or offices,” the former first lady and secretary of state said in her opening statement to the House Oversight Committee. As Zachary

Cuban president says country will ‘defend itself with determination’ after deadly coastal assault by exiles * What we know so far about the deadly boat shooting off Cuba’s coast Cuba has vowed to defend itself against any “terrorist and mercenary aggression”, a day after border guards said they had killed four exiles on a Florida-registered speedboat that opened fire on a patrol. Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, wrote on X that the Caribbean country would “defend itself with determination and firmness” after the incident in which six other people on the boat were injured. Continue reading...

Rare clash off island’s coast took place amid US oil embargo and heightened tensions between two countries Cuban forces killed four exiles and wounded six others who sailed into its waters onboard a Florida-registered speedboat and opened fire on a Cuban patrol, the country’s government said, at a time of heightened tensions with the US. Cuba’s interior ministry said the group comprised anti-government Cubans, some of whom were previously wanted for plotting attacks. They came from the US dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, ballistic vests and telescopic sights, it said. Continue reading...

João Francisco Inácio Brazão and Domingos Inácio Brazão sentenced for murder of Marielle Franco, a gay Black woman and rising political star Two influential Brazilian politician brothers have been convicted by Brazil’s supreme court of ordering the murder of Marielle Franco, the Rio de Janeiro city councillor, nearly eight years ago. João Francisco Inácio Brazão, the former congressman known as Chiquinho, and the former adviser to Rio’s court of auditors Domingos Inácio Brazão were sentenced to 76 years and three months in prison for the murders of Franco, 38, and her driver, Anderson Gomes, 39. Continue reading...

Four-day Caricom summit dominated by debate about US interventions in the region as military strikes against suspected drug boats continue US interventions dominated speeches at a summit of 15 nations from the Caribbean and the Americas on Tuesday, as the region’s leaders met amid deadly military strikes against suspected drug boats and an oil blockade on Cuba. During the opening ceremony of the four-day Caricom summit in St Kitts and Nevis, leaders of the regional bloc called for a strategic collaborations to deal with the impact of recent US policies. Continue reading...

Firefighters search for 39 people missing in debris after river burst and houses were swept away Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains. A river in the state of Minas Gerais burst its banks and streets became raging currents of brown water after an overnight downpour in a region that has seen record rain this month. Continue reading...

Graeme Kearns, chief executive of Foundation Theatres, says: ‘Our job in theatre is to absolutely defend the right to tell stories about culture’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The head of the theatre hosting the Shen Yun dance troupe in Sydney says the company would not be intimidated to pull the shows by any “outrageous” anonymous threats and that the publicity had increased interest in the show. On Monday, the Gold Coast venue for the Shen Yun performances was forced to evacuate after a bomb

Exclusive: Former New Zealand PM ‘based out of Australia’, according to spokesperson, after rumours she was looking for houses in Sydney The former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is living in Australia with her family, a spokesperson has confirmed. “The family has been travelling for a few years now,” her office told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Tommy Schaefer released early from sentence for murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack and will face US federal charges Indonesia has freed and deported a US man after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his then girlfriend’s mother on the tourist island of Bali, and he will now faces federal charges in the US. Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison in Bali for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack, during a luxury holiday, in a case that became known as the Bali suitcase murder. Prosecutors allege the couple were

Surface-to-air missiles, which are capable of shooting down aircraft and ballistic missiles, will be located on Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island Japan will deploy missiles to a tiny island near Taiwan within five years, its defence minister has said, in a move that is likely to inflame tensions with China. The surface-to-air missiles, which are capable of shooting down aircraft and ballistic missiles, will be located on Yonaguni – Japan’s westernmost island – by March 2031, Shinjiro Koizumi said. Continue reading...

Rebound in the country – which has been having demographic crisis – said to be partly because of 3.6 million born between 1991 and 1995 having children South Korea recorded 254,500 births in 2025, the largest annual increase in 15 years, driven largely by a temporarily enlarged generation – known as “echo boomers” – now in their early thirties, alongside marriage rates recovering from Covid-era delays. The country’s fertility rate – the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – rose to 0.80 from 0.75 last year, returning to the 0.8 range for the first time

Follow updates live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sarah Mitchell, the NSW shadow minister for health, said revelations two people had died after an outbreak of fungal infections at a major Sydney hospital were “shocking”, calling for more transparency from the Minns government. As reported yesterday, the Sydney local health district said the two deaths and four other infections resulted in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital closing its transplant unit temporarily. The infections occurred between October and December, and the SLHD is investigating the source. A spokesperson said on Thursday that fungal spores of the common

Treasurer says ‘not unusual’ for his department to examine options but stresses that no decision has been made * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Albanese government has again opened the door to reforms to negative gearing as it weighs up potentially sweeping tax changes to raise revenue and help address the housing crisis. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, confirmed that changes were being examined in the lead-up to the May federal budget after reports his department was modelling rules that would limit negative gearing to two

Hash Tayeh flags appeal to Victorian civil and administrative tribunal finding over phrase used at Melbourne rally last year * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A prominent pro-Palestine protester racially and religiously vilified Jewish people when he chanted “All Zionists are terrorists” at a Melbourne rally, a Victorian tribunal has ruled. Hash Tayeh, who has flagged an appeal to Thursday’s ruling, was found to have breached the state’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act with his comments in March last year. Continue reading...

Hiker disappeared in June 2023, aged 31, after departing for a walk near Cradle Mountain * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Tasmania police have confirmed remains found near the state’s Philosopher Falls last month have been provisionally identified as those of missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer. Police said on Friday morning that expert reports had provided “compelling evidence” that the remains were likely hers, extending their condolences to her family, who have have been awaiting confirmation of the remains since being alerted to the discovery. Continue reading...

People across region are bracing for possibility of conflict as embassies evacuate staff and flights are cancelled * Middle East crisis – live updates Anxiety is growing over a potential war between Iran and the US in the Middle East, with embassies evacuating staff and airlines cancelling flights as tensions mount. As critical talks over Iran’s nuclear programme entered their second round on Thursday night, and a vast US military buildup continued in the Middle East, the Trump administration warned of drastic consequences if Iranian negotiators failed to make significant concessions. Continue reading...

European Anti-Fraud Office to look into the former US ambassador’s time as trade commissioner in Brussels Peter Mandelson is facing an inquiry by the EU’s anti-fraud agency after the European Commission requested the body look into his activities during his time as trade commissioner in Brussels. The commission said it referred the peer, 72, to the European Anti-Fraud Office, known as Olaf, last week after the US Department of Justice released documents allegedly showing he shared sensitive government information with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Women from countries with near-total bans on terminations will be given help to access services elsewhere EU states will be able to tap into a social fund to help citizens access safe abortions, in an announcement hailed as a “victory for women”. The roots of Thursday’s announcement go back to a long campaign for the European Commission to create a funding mechanism that would allow women from countries with near-total bans on abortion, such as Malta and Poland, to go where it is legal. Continue reading...

‘It will soon be spring – and the Danes will soon be going to the polls,’ Danish PM tells the parliament in a special statement Nordic correspondent Frederiksen is speaking now. Continue reading...

Mette Frederiksen hopes to profit from her stand against Donald Trump’s attempt to claim the Arctic territory Denmark’s prime minister has called an early election to take advantage of a “Greenland bounce” after Donald Trump’s threats to invade the Arctic territory. Mette Frederiksen, who has been in office since 2019, is required by Danish law to call an election by 31 October. Setting a date with eight months to go appears to be an attempt to ride improved poll ratings after disastrous local elections in November that saw her Social Democrats lose control of Copenhagen for the first time in a century. Continue

University of Padua employee fractured ankle when getting up to fetch documents during video meeting An Italian woman who fell and broke her ankle while working from home has obtained compensation in an unprecedented court ruling hailed a victory for workers’ rights. In April 2022, the woman, an employee in the University of Padua’s law department, fractured her ankle in two places. The injury, which happened during a Zoom meeting where she fell after she got up from her desk to fetch documents, required surgery and treatment lasting more than four months. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. * Latest US-Iran nuclear talks conclude with claims of ‘significant progress’ * How Trump shifted from opposing foreign wars to threatening war in Iran The nuclear talks today are the third between the US and Iran since June 2025, when the US joined Israel’s war against Iran and bombed its nuclear and military sites. It effectively ended the US-Iran talks that were held in the weeks prior to the conflict aimed at reaching a nuclear peace agreement. As before, the negotiations are being mediated by Oman, which has maintained a policy of neutrality and assumed the

Mediators say more talks to be held next week but no clear evidence two sides any closer on uranium enrichment High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended on Thursday without a deal, as the White House weighs a military operation that would mark its largest intervention in the Middle East in decades. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed “good progress” had been made at the talks and Omani mediators predicted negotiations would reconvene at a technical level next week in Vienna. Continue reading...

Tehran insists deal is possible if Trump abides by preconditions agreed with Witkoff and Kushner Iran enters critical talks on its nuclear programme with the US on Thursday, insisting a deal is in reach as long as Washington sticks by its willingness to concede Iran’s symbolic right to enrich uranium, allow Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and not to impose controls on Iran’s ballistic missile programme. The three preconditions for success are seen as critical by Iranian diplomats, but it remains unclear whether Trump accepts these parameters. Continue reading...

Committee to Protect Journalists report says Israel also to blame for 81% of ‘intentionally targeted’ journalist killings * The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide,

Emergency meeting called to discuss festival’s ‘future direction’ after series of controversies The organisation that manages the Berlin film festival is to meet for talks amid reports that its American director faces dismissal after a series of rows over Gaza. In a statement on Wednesday, the office of Germany’s federal government commissioner for culture and media said the emergency meeting on Thursday had been called to debate the “future direction of the Berlinale”. Continue reading...

Escalation of violence between the volatile neighbours makes a Qatar-mediated ceasefire appear increasingly shaky Pakistan bombed Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul and two other provinces on Friday, hours after a cross-border attack, the latest escalation of violence between the volatile neighbours who signed a Qatar-mediated ceasefire in 2025. Following months of tit-for-tat clashes, Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly air strikes. Continue reading...

Proposal approved by Modi government will bring official English name into line with Malayalam language The Indian state of Kerala, known as “God’s own country” for its golden beaches and lush tea plantations, is to be given a new name. Narendra Modi’s cabinet has approved a proposal to change the southern coastal state’s name from Kerala to Keralam. The move will bring the official English name into line with how it is pronounced in Malayalam, the primary language spoken by the state’s estimated population of 35 million. Continue reading...

Dominic Ethan Stewart was among 19 killed when vehicle veered off road and plunged down mountainside Tributes have been paid to a young British hiker who was among 19 people killed when a packed passenger bus veered off a treacherous stretch of road and plunged 200 metres down a steep mountainside in Nepal. Twenty-five others were injured in the pre-dawn crash in the Himalayan foothills on Monday. The bus was carrying 44 people, including a number of tourists. Continue reading...

Motorway stretch plays music as a safety feature but those close to it say ‘intrusive’ noise is constant and distressing Residents of one of India’s most upmarket neighbourhoods say the country’s first “musical road” has turned their daily lives into a nightmare soundtrack. A stretch of Mumbai’s recently opened Coastal Road seafront expressway has been engineered to play the pulsating Oscar-winning tune Jai Ho from the movie Slumdog Millionaire when vehicles drive on it at lower speeds. Continue reading...

‘Intelligence-based, selective operations’ carried out against Pakistani Taliban camps, says information ministry Pakistan launched multiple airstrikes on Saturday night targeting militants in neighbouring Afghanistan, where the government reported children were among dozens of people killed and wounded. Islamabad did not say precisely where the strikes were carried out or provide other details. Continue reading...

Turnout in Gorton and Denton byelection over 47%, with 36,903 verified votes cast as Greens, Reform and Labour contest the seat Reform activists are “hearing Matt Goodwin has all but conceded defeat to the Greens”, the UK poll aggregator Britain Elects has posted on X. The Greens have predicted a “seismic moment” in UK politics, with a party source telling the Press Association: Things are feeling positive. Not wanting to get ahead of ourselves, but everything that we thought that was going to be happening looks like it’s happening … Whatever happens, I think it’s fair to say that Greens are here to

Study shows lower risk for multiple myeloma as well as pancreatic, prostate, breast and kidney cancers Vegetarians have a substantially lower risk of five types of cancer, a landmark study on the role of diet has revealed. The research, using data from more than 1.8 million people who were tracked over many years, found that vegetarians had a 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer, a 12% lower risk of prostate cancer and a 9% lower risk of breast cancer compared with meat eaters. Combined, these cancers account for around a fifth of cancer deaths in the UK. Continue reading...

Democracy Volunteers says it saw 32 cases of apparent collusion – the highest levels in its 10-year history An election observer group has raised concerns over people appearing to collude on voting in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Democracy Volunteers, an organisation founded by Dr John Ault, and supported by the Conservative peer and psephologist Prof Robert Haywood, deployed four accredited election observers across the constituency. Continue reading...

Charities hail ‘groundbreaking’ scheme for grandparents and others who take full parental responsibility for a child Grandparents who step in to provide full-time care for their grandchildren to prevent them being taken into care will be given guaranteed financial support under a government pilot scheme. Charities welcomed the trial as groundbreaking and said if fully rolled out across England it had the potential to transform the lives of tens of thousands of children looked after under “kinship care” arrangements. Continue reading...

Care roles hit particularly hard by UK’s lurch to the right on migration, according to analysis of Home Office data Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed. Analysis of Home Office quarterly data reveals the number of overseas nurses granted entry to the UK has fallen by 93% over three years. Just 1,777 overseas nurses were granted entry in 2025, compared with 26,100 in 2022. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. * Trump news at a glance: No deal reached in Iran talks as potential for US attack looms * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Cindy McCain announced today that she will step down from her role as executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme to focus on her health. McCain, the widow of the late US senator John McCain, suffered a mild stroke last October and had returned to Italy to resume her work after that, but the demands of the

Federal Aviation Administration bars flights around Fort Hancock after reported use of anti-drone military laser The Federal Aviation Administration barred flights on Thursday in an area around Fort Hancock, Texas, after congressional aides told Reuters a military laser-based anti-drone system was believed to have accidentally shot down a US government drone. The FAA and Pentagon did not immediately comment but the FAA cited “special security reasons” in its notice about the restrictions on the airspace near the Mexican border posted on its Notam alert system, shorthand for “Notice to Air Missions”. Continue reading...

Lead plaintiff, now 20, says use of social media made her relationships with friends and family anxious and strained The young woman at the heart of the landmark trial about the addictive nature of social media testified for the first time on Thursday, saying she got hooked on YouTube starting at age six and Instagram at nine. By the time she was 10, she said, she had become depressed and was engaging in self-harm. The woman, who is now 20 and known by her initials KGM, is the lead plaintiff in an expansive lawsuit against YouTube and Meta, which owns Instagram and

OpenAI-powered assistant will help to ‘understand overall service patterns’, company says, as move sparks backlash From hospitality workers to retail employees, the exaggerated “customer service voice”, often mocked in internet memes as wildly different from someone’s real voice, has long been a cultural trope. Fast-food giant Burger King is now taking that voice one step further, saying it will detect whether employees are using words like “please” and “thank you” through the assistance of artificial intelligence. On Thursday, Burger King announced it is rolling out a new AI chatbot connected to employee headsets at hundreds of locations in the US as part

Company walks away from planned takeover as co-chiefs say deal ‘no longer financially attractive’ * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Netflix has walked away from its planned takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, declining to raise its offer for the media conglomerate’s storied Hollywood studios and streaming business after it determined a sweetened rival offer from Paramount Skydance to be “superior”. In a statement on Thursday evening, Netflix co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said that “at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially

Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said China cannot serve as a substitute for the US, rebuking Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent outreach to the Asian superpower amid strained ties with the Trump administration. In a speech to business leaders on Thursday, Poilievre outlined his vision for the country’s relationship with the US and how his party would approach the trade war differently from the Carney government. “Canada’s prosperity and security are inseparable from a stable...

Britain’s ⁠government has agreed a framework with the police on which documents relating to the late 2024 appointment of former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson ‌can be released, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said on Thursday. Mandelson, 72, was released from custody after the Metropolitan Police arrested him on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to ⁠Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein is at...

Iran and the United States held hours of indirect negotiations on Thursday over Tehran’s nuclear programme but walked away without a deal, leaving the danger of another Mideast war on the table as the US has gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the region. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the talks in Geneva, said there had been “significant progress in the negotiation” without elaborating. But just before the talks ended, Iranian state television reported...

A judge on Thursday ⁠declined to block US President Donald Trump from proceeding with the construction of a US$400 million White House ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing, finding that a challenge from preservationists did not meet the high bar for a preliminary injunction that would halt the project for now. US District Judge Richard Leon’s ruling came in a lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation aiming to stop construction until the White House complies ‌with federal...

A 27-year-old man was arrested on Thursday after New York City police said officers were hurt when they were pelted with snow and ice during a massive snowball fight in Washington Square Park this week. The New York Police Department said in a brief social media post the man was arrested for “assaulting our officers”. A spokesperson for the department said it did not immediately have additional information, including what the man was charged with. Information on whether the man had a lawyer was...

Hillary Clinton used her forced appearance Thursday before a Republican-led panel probing Jeffrey Epstein to go on the offensive and demand US President Donald Trump testify about his own links to the sex offender. Clinton said after her deposition when asked if she was confident that her husband did not know of Epstein’s crimes, Clinton said “I am”. “I don’t know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,” she added. “I never went to his island, I never went to his homes, I...

A second British island voted on Thursday to approve assisted dying, as a similar bill that would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives is bogged down in the British parliament. The bill, which requires the formality of approval by King Charles, would allow terminally ill residents who have lived in Jersey for more than a year and are expected to have less than six months to live – or less than 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease – to end...

Suppliers to US aerospace and semiconductor ⁠firms face worsening rare earth shortages, with two turning away some clients, industry insiders said, weeks before US President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a summit in Beijing. The shortages centre on rare earths such as yttrium and scandium, niche members of the family of 17 elements, which play tiny but vital roles in defence technology, aerospace and semiconductors and are almost entirely produced in...

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called an early election for March 24, betting a popularity boost from a stand-off with US President Donald Trump over Greenland will help secure her another term in office. The move comes after the US president revived claims over the Arctic territory in early January, causing a diplomatic rift with Europe. The rupture in relations bolstered Frederiksen’s domestic standing, reinforcing her image as a disciplined and steady leader during periods of...

The president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said he was stepping down on Thursday, a few weeks after the forum launched an independent investigation into his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Brende, who became president of the WEF ‌in 2017, announced his decision in a statement following disclosures from the US Justice Department that showed the Norwegian had three business dinners with Epstein and had also communicated with the disgraced financier via email...

Four years after launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has not achieved any of its strategic goals. The conflict – now lasting longer than the Soviet Union’s fight against Germany in World War II – has only caused Moscow to lose its influence dramatically in the post-Soviet space. Is there a way out of the Kremlin’s Ukraine adventure? In the early days of war, which erupted on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his “special military operation” in...

The ⁠US remains Poland’s most ⁠important partner in military ⁠cooperation and Warsaw has been and will remain a loyal ally, but it can’t be a “sucker”, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a speech to parliament on Thursday. His comments reflect the ‌delicate balancing act that Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government must perform in maintaining the strong transatlantic bond they see as crucial for national security at a time when US President Donald Trump is upending old...

Premier Li Qiang has called for deeper technological cooperation with Germany and highlighted opportunities under China’s latest five-year plan – a move that could help ease tensions with the EU over the war in Ukraine and years of trade disputes. “We support bilateral flows of innovation resources between enterprises and research institutions in both countries,” Li told a symposium attended by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and more than 60 business representatives from both sides. “We can...

A nearly blind refugee from Myanmar missing since his release from a Buffalo jail into the custody of US Border Patrol has been found dead on a downtown street, according to city authorities on Wednesday. Police officers in the upstate New York city located the body of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, on Tuesday evening, the Buffalo Police Department said. Shah Alam had been missing since February 19, when US Border Patrol agents dropped ‌him off at a coffee shop miles from his home following his...

Beijing intervened and helped get charges dropped against three Chinese scientists at the University of Michigan who were accused of helping a colleague smuggle biological materials into the US, defence lawyers said. The materials turned out to be mostly tiny, transparent worms – nothing dangerous – though US officials last year hailed the arrests as a victory for national security. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government must be vigilant when foreign nationals try to “advance a malicious...

There are few assets on earth as strategically sensitive as the ports flanking the Panama Canal. They sit at the hinge of global trade, where container ships glide between oceans and geopolitics moves just beneath the surface. That is why Panama’s seizure of two major port terminals operated by CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong conglomerate built by Li Ka-shing, deserves more than a passing headline. It is not simply a contractual dispute dressed up as constitutional housekeeping. It is a stress test...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled to Beijing with a delicate brief: vouch for a shrinking slice of big German firms still bullish on China, while defending the growing number being squeezed. On day one of his first official visit, Merz trod the line carefully – voicing openness to resetting beleaguered bilateral ties, even while gently nudging his hosts on bugbears including subsidies, currency devaluation and Russia. A day of meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, President Xi Jinping...

Hilary Knight, captain of the victorious US women’s Olympic ice hockey team, said Wednesday it was unfortunate that a “distasteful joke” by President Donald Trump had overshadowed the achievements of US athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games. The US men’s ice hockey team took a congratulatory call from Trump as they celebrated their gold medal victory over Canada. The president invited them to his State of the Union address and added he would have to ask the triumphant women’s team as well or risk...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump agreed that the next session of trilateral talks in March on a war settlement should lead to a meeting of the countries’ leaders. Zelensky, speaking after a phone conversation with Trump, said the three-sided talks with Russia and the United States would take place early next month. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner also took part in the ‌phone call. “We expect this meeting to create an...

Cuba’s coastguard shot dead four people and injured six others travelling in a US-registered speedboat in an exchange of fire off the Cuban coast on Wednesday, the interior ministry in Havana said. The “illegal” Florida-registered boat was detected one nautical mile from Falcones Cay in Villa Clara province, the ministry said in a brief statement. As a coastguard vessel approached to identify the boat “shots were fired from the boat”, injuring the commander of the Cuban vessel, the ministry...

Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers has resigned from his teaching post at Harvard University over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Ivy League institution said on Wednesday. Summers, who ran the US Treasury under former president Bill Clinton, was revealed in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice to have had extensive exchanges with the now-deceased financier. Clinton will testify before a congressional committee on Epstein on Friday while his...

The Pentagon plans to spend an additional US$12.6 billion to improve surveillance of China’s military manoeuvres, submarines and satellites as the US tries to counter the “unprecedented Chinese military build-up” in Asia, according to a budget document sent to Congress. The funds, approved by Congress outside the normal budget process, are designed to improve US military readiness, offensive cyber capabilities and surveillance efforts across the Indo-Pacific. It will also help expand operations...

Bill Gates has admitted making a “huge mistake” in associating with Jeffrey Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denying involvement in the disgraced financier’s crimes. The Microsoft co-founder is among the prominent names appearing in documents released by the US Justice Department that revealed close friendships, illicit financial dealings and private photos with convicted sex offender Epstein. In a town hall on Tuesday with staff at...

Canada’s aviation regulator certified the remaining Gulfstream private jet models that US President Donald Trump asked it to approve, a move which let the White House claim a win in its trade dispute with Canada. The certifications of Gulfstream’s GVIII-700 and GVIII-800 models, the largest business aircraft made by the unit of General Dynamics, were issued on Monday by Transport Canada. Trump said on January 29 that Canada had “wrongfully, illegally” refused to certify Gulfstream jets. Unless...

Ali Shamkhani, who taunted Israel after ⁠being pulled alive from the rubble of his Tehran home ⁠following a strike in June 2025, has survived at the centre of Iranian policymaking during ⁠its most testing military confrontations and diplomatic endeavours. The 70-year-old former Revolutionary Guard commander is a trusted adviser to Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a high-stakes stand-off with the US that could determine whether the Islamic Republic, born from revolution in 1979, survives...

The new year is not off to a good start. In January, US president Donald Trump ordered the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and now there is a massive US military build-up in the Middle East, apparently aimed at Iran. One aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the region, with another one on the way. However, there does appear to be a silver lining to the stand-off. Unlike last year, when US bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities during the conflict between Iran and...

As the United States assembles its greatest military firepower in decades in the Middle East, Iranians are warily awaiting the next round of talks with the US in Geneva this week – negotiations that many see as a last chance for their ruling theocracy to strike a deal with US President Donald Trump. Some say the situation feels hopeless. Battered by decades of sanctions, heightened by Trump’s 2018 decision to withdraw from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, Iranians also just suffered...

US President Donald Trump briefly laid out ⁠his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon. Even while assembling a massive military force in the Middle East, Trump has done little to explain to the American public why he might be leading the US into its most aggressive action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. In his speech, Trump...

Norway’s former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been admitted to hospital due to the stress caused by the Epstein scandal, the NTB news agency and others cited his lawyer as saying on Tuesday. Jagland is one of the most prominent figures to have been implicated by the release of files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Norwegian authorities are investigating allegations of serious corruption. The former top politician is said to have stayed at Epstein’s apartments in Paris and New...

This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. US President Donald Trump delivered the traditional State of the Union address to a divided Congress, reviewing his first year in office and outlining priorities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. In the longest speech of its kind, Trump spoke of a “golden age of America”, saying...

It has been a sad time for the legions of fans of Noam Chomsky, having to see their hero in a photo hobnobbing with the late paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein inside the latter’s private jet. The picture and their email exchanges were part of millions of pages released by the US Justice Department from its so-called Epstein files. So far, the most high-profile fallouts have been, understandably, the arrest of the former Prince Andrew, the public disgrace of British Labour Party...

US military forces boarded a third sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. An organisation that tracks ship movements said the vessel was the only tanker left to pursue after more than a dozen fled the coast of Venezuela following the capture of the South American country’s authoritarian then-president, Nicolas Maduro. The boarding is the 10th interdiction of an oil...

The maxim, “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”, attributed to the Athenian historian Thucydides, described the reality of world politics for millennia. Today there are forces that wish to see a return to a world where “might equals right”. The European Union, born out of the ashes of war to secure lasting peace, stands for a different vision. We are convinced that the rules-based international order is a historic achievement. Despite not being perfect, this order and...

New York police are investigating after officers were pelted with snowballs while responding to a massive snowball fight at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, as a winter storm blanketed the Northeast in snow. A video of the fracas shows two uniformed officers pacing a walkway in the park on Monday as snowballs fly at them from all directions, hitting the officers and covering them in snow. The officers, growing visibly frustrated, shoved at least two people to the ground as snowballs...

The Louvre Museum’s director resigned on Tuesday after months of pressure following the October theft of the French crown jewels, as the world’s most visited museum faced widening scrutiny over security failures, labour unrest and a suspected ticket fraud scheme. Laurence des Cars quit after a punishing year for the former royal palace - the high-profile jewels heist from the Apollo Gallery, a mid-February burst pipe near the Mona Lisa, water leaks damaging priceless books, staff walkouts and a...

The European Union’s trade chief Maros Sefcovic has railed against the bloc’s glacial trade defences, warning that years-long probes and rigid rules will not protect the bloc from China’s increasingly fierce export machine. Speaking in the European Parliament on Tuesday, Sefcovic lashed out at Beijing’s “unsustainable” trade surplus and called for an urgent overhaul of world trading rules to account for “overcapacities”, “unfair trade policies” and “state subsidies”. He confirmed, meanwhile,...

Russia ⁠accused Ukraine on Tuesday of trying ⁠to obtain a nuclear weapon with help from Britain and France, an allegation Kyiv called an absurd lie. A French foreign ministry spokesman said the allegation was “blatant disinformation”. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “There’s no truth ‌to this.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously criticised Kyiv’s decision to give up its former Soviet nuclear arsenal in the 1990s without obtaining proper, binding...

Today show host Savannah Guthrie said her family is now offering a US$1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who went missing from her Arizona home more than three weeks ago. Savannah Guthrie said on Tuesday that her family was still holding out for a miracle and hopes her mother will be found alive, but she also acknowledged that they realise it might be too late. “She may already be gone,” Savannah Guthrie said in a social media post. “She may...

Chinese ⁠drone maker DJI said on Tuesday that it had ⁠filed suit challenging the US Federal Communications Commission decision to bar imports of all of its new models and critical components. The ban also includes products from Autel, another China-based drone maker. DJI, the world’s largest drone maker, said in a statement ‌it had challenged the FCC decision in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. “It carelessly restricts DJI’s business in the US and summarily denies US customers access...

The UK government said on Tuesday it supported the release of documents on ex-prince Andrew’s past role as a trade envoy, hours after a veteran politician was quizzed by police in the widening Jeffrey Epstein scandal. US authorities last month published millions of files related to the late sex offender Epstein, containing revelations that have rocked British political and royal circles. It has ramped up pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to release its own vetting...

It’s no surprise that US President Donald Trump came out swinging after the Supreme Court’s stunning rebuke struck at the core of his economic agenda. It delivered his most consequential legal setback by blocking him from invoking emergency powers to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), enacted in 1977, allows the president to regulate economic transactions after declaring a national emergency in response to an...

President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the four-year anniversary of the Ukraine war by accusing Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of trying to take over Ukraine, saying he had failed to achieve this and other war goals. In a video address that showed Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the opening days of the conflict, Zelensky added that Ukraine was ready to do “everything” it could to secure a strong, lasting peace. Hundreds of thousands have died since Russia...

France’s feud with the US ambassador to Paris took another turn on Tuesday with the French foreign minister saying the top US diplomat in France must explain himself after ignoring a French summons. The minister suggested that Ambassador Charles Kushner will not have access to French government officials until he complies. French authorities had summoned Kushner, the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, for a meeting on Monday evening over comments from the...

In the early days of 2026, there has been an unexpected turn in China’s global relations. Some US allies have started reaching out to China just as China faced complications in ties with some friendly countries in the Global South. The underlying cause for both trends is the Trump administration’s imperial behaviour. With the dramatic abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and US President Donald Trump’s wish to control Venezuela’s oil, China’s economic stake in one of its closest...

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, unleashing the deadliest war in Europe since World War II. As the conflict reaches its four-year mark, here’s a look at the state of the conflict and some of the consequences for both countries. Destruction The war has resulted in widespread destruction in Ukraine. Entire cities in Ukraine’s east and south, among them Bakhmut, Toretsk and Vovchansk, have been reduced to rubble by fighting. The World Health Organization has...

Borge Brende, a former foreign minister of Norway, had maintained contact with the convicted sex offender.

The Trump administration came under fire for an operation that turned lethal and politically toxic. But the show of force may also have had a bigger purpose: to serve as a warning.

The federal judge identified 210 orders issued in 143 cases in Minnesota in which he said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had not complied with court orders.

The office of a prosecutor based in Miami has issued new subpoenas in a wide-ranging inquiry aimed at President Trump’s perceived foes.

A top prosecutor, Robert E. McGuire, painted an extraordinary picture of senior Justice Department leaders peering over his shoulder and hurrying him along.

Most people alive today carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA in their genome. Now scientists are gaining a more intimate understanding of the ancient encounters that put it there.

Federal officials had misrepresented themselves to gain access, according to the university. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said President Trump had told him the student would be let go.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he and President Trump discussed building housing in New York City, and he appeared to secure the release of a Columbia student detained by ICE on Thursday.

What do you bring the president when you visit the White House? Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a choice that seemed to please Donald Trump.

The evidence is patchy on whether lower rates have meaningfully spurred more activity, as the Trump administration floats measures it says will make housing more affordable.

Representatives of the countries were in Geneva this week to discuss the fate of Iran’s nuclear program.

Key elements of the Trump administration’s arguments this week for another military campaign against Iran do not hold up.

Anthropic said it was standing firm on not having its A.I. used in certain scenarios by the Pentagon, which has imposed a Friday deadline on the company to give unfettered access to its technology.

More than 100 Google A.I. employees sent a letter to Jeff Dean, a chief scientist, opposing Gemini’s use for U.S. surveillance and some autonomous weapons.

Board members held an emergency meeting a day after agents raided the home and office of Alberto Carvalho, the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent. They did not reach a resolution and agreed to reconvene Friday.

For years, ligament tears have been a crisis among young athletes — even though a few simple exercises can prevent them.

Mourners lined up outside Rainbow PUSH, the organization Mr. Jackson founded decades ago. He died last week at 84.

A Bitcoin baron wants to build a libertarian paradise on the island of Nevis. Democracy is getting in the way.

The founders of HateAid, a German human-rights group that helps victims of online attacks, were accused by the Trump administration of being part of a “global censorship-industrial complex.”

Scientists studying data collected over more than three decades found accelerating losses. Their research offers clues about the causes.

The Trump administration is creative when it comes to numbers.

The new head of NASA predicts a manned mission to Mars in 10 years.

Also, mortgage rates fall below 6 percent. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

The lawyer Thomas C. Goldstein, who co-founded the SCOTUSblog website, hid millions in gambling income from the government, federal prosecutors said.

The plaintiff, a 20-year-old identified only as K.G.M., took the stand to testify against Meta and Instagram in a bellwether case over tech addiction.

Sin Tung Chan was a member of a prominent hometown association in the city, one of hundreds of social clubs that often maintain close ties with the Chinese government.