Minimalist News

Two Drones Shot Down Over NATO Airspace In Less Than 24 Hours This week has witnessed more dangerous Ukraine war spillover aerial activity in Eastern Europe. In a fresh instance, Romania's defense ministry is reporting that two drones entered the country's airspace in less than 24 hours. The military said that radar systems had earlier picked up a drone "operating in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border" Saturday morning - after which F-16 fighter jets were scrambled and successfully shot it down . Source: Romanian Air Force The NATO member state's defense ministry continued by describing that two of the

France Orders Largest Peacetime Evacuation Since WWII As Wildfires Rage Thousands of firefighters are battling fast-moving wildfires spreading across Spain and France as extreme heat and strong winds forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate or shelter in place near Madrid, Valencia and Bordeaux. Via @PCarterClimate Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said fires burned about 20,000 hectares over the past 24 hours, with more than 105,000 people affected and two deaths reported so far. France evacuated more than 220,000 people in the Gironde region and mobilized 1,500 troops as roughly 30 fires spread near Bordeaux. FRANCE: France has evacuated

Russia Blasts Ukrainian Drone Mass Casualty Attack On Holiday Camp In Zaporizhzhia Russia has blamed Ukraine for a mass casualty event at a 'holiday camp' in the partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday. Local Russian officials overseeing Zaporizhzhia have said twelve people were killed and at least 19 more wounded due to a major Ukrainian drone attack. Ukraine did not immediately issue any statements acknowledging the deadly strikes. Via Sputnik Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that "Striking civilians is the method used by terrorists" in a press briefing. ABC News later reported that " Four children were among

UK Cities Roll Out More Diversity Barriers; Vehicle-Ramming Threat Now The Norm Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news , A family summer beach event in the UK city of Nottingham now sits behind portable anti-ram steel barrier, the latest admission that open borders have turned public spaces into soft targets. Local authorities across Britain are quietly installing more of what critics now call "diversity barriers" - heavy portable steel devices designed to stop vehicles being driven into crowds. The annual artificial "Nottingham Beach" event opened this week behind a line of bright red Husson H-Stop units. Meanwhile in the UK

The United Nations Has Run Out Of Alibis Authored by Pierre Rehov via The Epoch Times , Institutions built to prevent atrocities eventually face the question of what they actually protect. For the United Nations, voting patterns, internal investigations and its own decisions this year no longer support the fiction of neutrality. An UNRWA school in Gaza sat above a Hamas tunnel shaft and three anti-tank positions, and its own principal was on the payroll of both institutions at once - a fact that American investigators, not the UN, brought to light. Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a Hamas

Platner's Replacement May Not Be Eligible For Nomination Maine Democrats gathered in Bangor on Saturday to select a replacement for Graham Platner, whose Senate campaign collapsed under allegations of sexual assault - which he denied - that surfaced after his June primary win. Former Senate President Troy Jackson formally won the nomination . He will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races, a race that Democrats have deemed critical if they hope to win the majority in the Senate. Troy Jackson at a candidate debate earlier this month in Portland, Maine. Credit...Ryan

Beijing Blacklists 14 EU Firms After Brussels Targets Chinese Companies In Latest Russia Sanctions Package Via The Cradle Beijing prohibited 14 EU companies from obtaining Chinese dual-use goods on Friday, targeting Europe's defense industry shortly after the EU included 14 Chinese and Hong Kong firms in its 21st sanctions package against Russia. Announcing the measures with immediate effect, the Chinese Commerce Ministry called the bloc's conduct "egregious" and demanded the EU " immediately correct its wrongdoing , eliminate the egregious impact , and safeguard the overall interests of China–EU relations with concrete actions." AFP/Getty Images The restrictions cover dual-use items,

19 Million Eggs Pulled As Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 98 Across 17 States The FDA and CDC have tied a growing Salmonella outbreak to eggs produced by Texas-based Midwest Poultry Services, which recalled roughly 1.5 million cartons - more than 19 million eggs - after the contamination surfaced. As of July 24, 98 people across 17 states had been sickened , according to the FDA, which said the recalled eggs are "a likely source of illnesses in this outbreak" and that its investigation is ongoing. The recall itself went out through an FDA notice on July 22, before the illness count

Young Middle-Income Buyers Frustrated As US Home Costs Rise Faster Than Incomes Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times , Stealers Wheel's 1973 hit "Stuck in the Middle with You" could well become the theme song for today's middle-income, first-time home buyers who don't qualify for affordable housing programs yet cannot afford market-rate homes. The current housing shortage suggests pent-up demand is building among young homebuyers. Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock The household income required to purchase a starter home, currently priced under $350,000 in the United States, has surged more than 80 percent to $78,000 from $43,000 in 2019 , according to

India's Education Minister Resigns, Delhi Protests End As Modi Caves To 'Cockroach' Youth Movement's Demands India's education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resigned on Saturday and the government agreed to every demand raised by youth demonstrators, bringing weeks of protests - the gravest political crisis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term - to a jubilant close. Pradhan's exit was the core demand of the self-styled Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the youth movement that has camped at Delhi's Jantar Mantar since late June over the leak of medical school entrance exam papers. The May leaks forced the cancellation of results and a

US To Resume Mexican Cattle Imports After Yearlong Screwworm Ban Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The United States said on Friday it will end a ban on imports of Mexican cattle implemented more than a year ago to combat the New World screwworm (NWS), a flesh-eating livestock pest that has already made it into Texas and New Mexico. Cattle are herded in a stable in Hamilton, Texas, on June 5, 2026. Brandon Bell/Getty Images In its announcement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would coordinate a phased reopening of southern cattle ports beginning Aug.

War Zones Converging? Zelensky Says Ukraine Hit Ship "Transporting Military Cargo" From Iran Ukraine has rapidly expanded its one-way attack-drone campaign from the Sea of Azov into the Black Sea, claiming strikes against more than 180 vessels and maritime targets around the Crimean region over the past three weeks, according to Reuters . The widening maritime offensive follows a summer campaign in which Ukrainian drones struck dozens of Russian energy assets, warehouses and logistics hubs . The risk of the Russia-Ukraine conflict merging with the US-Iran conflict seems plausible, but remains low at this point, despite overnight signals from Ukrainian

$139 Million Drug Bust Exposes Broker-Style Cross-Border Trucking Operation By Phil Brink of FreightWaves Canadian and U.S. agencies uncovered a broker-style operation using commercial transportation connections to move illegal drugs. Authorities display evidence seized during Project Bay, including suspected cocaine, methamphetamine and opium. The operation recovered nearly 1.7 metric tons of drugs and 17 firearms. (Photo: Ontario Provincial Police) Canadian authorities seized nearly 1.7 metric tons of illegal drugs during a cross-border investigation named Project Bay . The haul included suspected cocaine, methamphetamine and opium. Authorities estimated the products’ street value above $139 million. Investigators called it one of Ontario’s

Rand Paul Should Make Fauci Answer For Wuhan And BeagleGate Lies Authored by Anthony Bellotti via American Greatness , Fauci no longer faces any realistic risk of criminal exposure for perjury or other past federal offenses covered by the pardon. Next week, Dr. Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify before Sen. Rand Paul's Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. After years of stonewalling, evasions, carefully parsed denials, and outright lies , this hearing presents a rare opportunity to get answers from America's most notorious mad scientist, who recklessly funded dangerous animal experiments that likely caused COVID-19 and financed beagle

Democrats Are Worried The GOP's Cash Advantage Could Hurt Their Chances In The Midterms The Democratic Party heads into the midterms with generic congressional ballot polling and historical precedent on its side. It is nevertheless worried that the majorities it so desperately wants could still slip away. Politico reported this week that Democratic strategists increasingly fear their favorable political environment could be overwhelmed by a Republican cash stockpile that dwarfs their own. Federal Election Commission filings through the end of June show the three main GOP national committees and their affiliated congressional super PACs sitting on a combined $657 million.

Trump Orders Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum To Warn Of Inaccurate Exhibits Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on July 24 directing signs to be placed outside one of the Smithsonian Institution’s history museums warning visitors that some exhibits contain inaccurate information. The order references a July report by the White House Domestic Policy Council, which alleges that the National Museum of American History “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.” Trump said in his order that

Private Forecasters Warn "New Heat Event" Will Target US East Coast Folks across the Mid-Atlantic are enjoying a welcome stretch of mild weather today, with temperatures in the 70s following several rounds of extreme heat earlier this month that sent temperatures into the 90s and even into the triple digits. Enjoy the comfortable nights in the 60s and low 70s over the next few days, because another heat wave is already on the horizon. " New heat event potentially targets East Coast Aug 5-7, " private forecaster Commodity Wx Group wrote on X. New heat event potentially targets East Coast

Do DSA Elites Rank America Worse Than Mao's 70-Million Body Count? This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson . We’re hearing more and more from the Democratic Socialists of America about all of the sins of America and very little of the good things we’ve done to ourselves and to the world at large on our 250th birthday. What is it, the nature of this DSA , Democratic Socialists of America, and the diversity, equity, inclusion criticism that we were racist, sexist, nativist, cruel, ruthless, etc., etc. But my question

BLM Is Back And Protesting The Police Shooting Of Another Violent Career Criminal They are far less active across the US in 2026, but not truly gone. Is it exasperating, or, is it entertaining? It depends on how you look at it. Yes, the Black Lives Matter movement is back, and big surprise, they're angry over the police shooting of another violent minority criminal. But, is he black? Not according to his extensive offender detail record, in which his race is listed as "White" and his ethnicity is listed as "Latino". Yet another in a long line of imprisoned minority

Homebuyer Demand Remains Strong In High-Risk Areas: Report Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times , While nearly one in four homes across the United States are located in areas susceptible to severe weather conditions, many homebuyers are still seeking out properties in these high-risk regions , a July Realtor.com report found. An aerial view shows empty lots and new homes under construction in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 2026. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images The organization's data show that 23.1 percent of America's homes - with an estimated $11.2 trillion in value -

Exclusive: CSI Aviation and GlobalX accused of violating civil rights as part of Trump immigration crackdown Venezuelan men sent last year to a notorious Salvadorian terrorism prison by the Trump administration are suing the US aviation companies that transported them there. A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington DC accuses the companies CSI Aviation and GlobalX of violating the Venezuelans’ civil rights, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other violations, for their role in flying the three planes that took the men to El Salvador. Continue reading...

At least 90 active blazes in British Columbia in what PM says is one of the country’s most intense seasons on record How dangerous are wildfires and how can we stop them from getting worse? Fresh wildfires have broken out in western Canada and forests continued to ⁠burn in Ontario as the country ⁠battled what the prime ​minister, Mark Carney, called one of the most intense wildfire seasons on record. Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes over the past week led to a series of fires ⁠and evacuation orders in southern British Columbia. There were 25 evacuation orders and 90 active wildfires

Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 were rescued as efforts continue to salvage the ship and recover all bodies The confirmed death toll from the recent capsizing of a state ferry off Guyana ’s coast has risen to 72, with more bodies recovered as a multinational team struggle to salvage the partially submerged vessel. Of the estimated 179 people aboard, 76 people were rescued. The government has estimated that 100 may have died in the accident, which would make it the worst marine tragedy on record for the South American nation. Continue reading...

US agency is to pay Canadian media company US$125m for use of investigative database to detect ‘immigration fraud’ A Canadian federal opposition party leader has called on Mark Carney’s government to block the latest data-sharing deal between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Canadian media company Thomson Reuters. Avi Lewis, the federal leader of the New Democratic party (NDP), demanded on Tuesday that Ottawa address the contract and further restrict Canadian corporations from doing business with ICE, after Canada’s National Observer news website reported on the deal. Continue reading...

Delegation sent to Brasília after gunmen from organised crime group enter homes in western Amazon Indigenous leaders on the Brazilian-Peruvian border have said their communities are being “taken hostage” by organised crime groups who are running rampant across the region, destroying rainforest, building roads and trafficking drugs. Earlier this month, masked men armed with semi-automatic weapons entered homes in Apiwtxa, a village in the Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous territory, intimidating people and searching for targets. Continue reading...

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years. At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged

Isabel Rose, 26, sentenced to six years for blackmail and perverting course of public justice over her allegations against British man A British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice. Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London, travelled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Penny Wong will deliver speech criticising China’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Penny Wong will warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations will not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, after its involvement in another “destabilising and dangerous” incident this week. The foreign affairs minister – who will deliver the address on Thursday in the Philippines, where the 59th Asean foreign minister’s meeting is being held – will also caution world leaders against placing a toll on the strait of Hormuz after both

Prosecutors seek a one-year sentence and heavy fine after chef garnished dish with insects not approved for consumption Prosecutors in South Korea have asked a court to sentence the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant to one year in prison for serving a dessert topped with ants, an insect not approved for consumption under local food safety law. The request, made on Monday, also sought a 20m won (£10,108) fine for the company that runs the restaurant, Yonhap news agency reported . Continue reading...

In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common. The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture,

Exclusive: Malcolm Roberts uses white supremacist concept to describe the party’s plans for deporting 200,000 people from Australia Senator Malcolm Roberts claims One Nation wants to deport at least 200,000 people and has repeatedly referred to the far-right concept of “remigration” in podcast interviews and speeches to niche platforms. In two recent podcasts, Roberts said One Nation wanted to deport 100,000 temporary residents as well as 100,000 international students – a total much higher than the party’s published policy. The senator said after those people were removed, he wanted to “start working on the higher numbers of people we need

Exclusive: Tribunal accepts three siblings could face ‘persecution’ for refusing military conscription due to their political opinion on war Three Israeli citizens facing conscription into the Israel Defense Forces have been granted the right to reapply for protection visas in Australia, after a government tribunal found they held a genuine fear they would be forced to break international humanitarian law in Gaza. The Administrative Review Tribunal found the punishment the young adults could face from the state of Israel – including imprisonment as conscientious objectors – would amount to persecution. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed ‘We’re cohesive’: PM says after muted ALP national conference The prime minister, Anthony Albanese , spoke with David Speers on Insiders as Labor’s 50th national conference in Adelaide was wrapping up. Well, our government does listen to people but [there was a] broad consensus about the direction in which we’re taking government … A government that doesn’t sit idle. We don’t just occupy the space. And there’s recognition of that from delegates that we are a united party We’re cohesive. Continue reading...

Campaigners say existing federal ban on phone or video calls for assisted dying consultations adversely affects people living in regional Australia Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Labor will come under pressure to allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services, with the Greens and independent Kate Chaney to introduce legislation based on changes to Labor’s national platform. Last week’s national conference in Adelaide changed the ALP platform and committed Labor to overturn a Howard-era law banning people from having medical appointments regarding

Syngenta says it will stop selling paraquat in Australia after new regulations on chemical linked to Parkinson’s disease Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Syngenta, the producer of a herbicide banned in more than 70 countries and which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease , will stop selling paraquat in Australia, saying new regulations has made it “commercially unviable”. The decision to pull the product follows new restrictions on the highly poisonous chemical announced by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority in June . Continue reading...

Hunt ongoing for main suspect, named as Abdul Ballout, 21, after fatal attack in Tiergarten park close to LGBTQ event A deadly van ramming and knife rampage near Berlin’s Pride festival was an Islamist terrorist attack, German authorities have said, with a hunt ongoing to find the main suspect. One person was killed and 29 were injured after a man drove a minivan into a crowd of pedestrians, then stabbed people with what appeared to be a machete. The attack took place in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate at around 10pm local time on Saturday, close to one

Mythical home of the ancient Greek gods designated alongside the D-day landing beaches in Normandy After a 12-year wait, Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the ancient Greek gods, has been inducted into a hall of more modern fame as Unesco announced it would be added to its world heritage list. Greece’s highest mountain made the list alongside the second world war D-day landing beaches in northern France and the ancient Japanese capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara. South Sudan’s Boma-Badingilo landscape, host to one of the world’s largest land mammal migrations, also won a designation - a first for the

Authorities issue wanted notice for Abdul Ballout, 21, after deadly van ramming described as Islamist terrorism German authorities have issued a wanted notice for a suspect in a deadly van ramming near Berlin’s Pride festival that has been described as an Islamist attack. The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, named the chief suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout. German media reported he was a supporter of Islamic State with a criminal conviction in May. Continue reading...

Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in France More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain As my colleagues note in this story , scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths . Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate. Spain’s environment ministry has said that 32 major forest fires have been recorded so far this year, compared with seven over the same period

F-16 fighter jet intercepted drone in Romanian airspace over Black Sea, defence minister says Romania has said it is summoning Russia’s ambassador after the Nato member’s military shot down a third drone in as many days. Romania has experienced frequent drone incursions since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but had not shot down any until Friday. Continue reading...

Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing retaliation against the kingdom for attacks this week. Iran, meanwhile, reported no strikes overnight on Saturday for the first time after two weeks of US attacks. The Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said: “Iran had a peaceful night” in a post on X. Tensions, however, remain high. Continue reading...

Jewellery made from BC Iran worn at Odyssey photocall throws spotlight on the trade of rare archeological finds The Odyssey has stormed cinemas, but while its take on the Homeric epic has created ripples among western classicists, it is an actor’s earrings that have made waves further afield. Zendaya, who portrays the goddess Athena in the movie, provoked outrage when she appeared at a London photocall wearing earrings that were allegedly made from Iranian artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC. Continue reading...

In sea pools built with sandbags and rubble, Amjed Tantesh gives traumatised children brief respite from their daily lives Swimming classes have started again in Gaza after three years of war, with hundreds of children learning to float, doggy paddle and take their first strokes in five makeshift sea pools built from sandbags and rubble. The lessons allow a few hundred girls and boys to reclaim their childhood for a few hours in a place where there are no playgrounds, no formal education and children live in fear of continuing Israeli attacks. A UN survey in March found that 96%

President flew to Ankara onboard Qatari-gifted jet, without advanced defenses, and flew home on old Air Force One Donald Trump switched aircraft before departing Turkey earlier this month after US officials determined there was a credible threat from Iranian proxy forces targeting him and Air Force One, according to a new report from the New York Times . The threat surfaced while the US president was attending the Nato summit. He had arrived in Ankara onboard the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, an aircraft that Trump acknowledged does not have the same advanced defensive systems as the older Air Force One.

No end to fighting in sight as Revolutionary Guards launch drones at targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait The US has struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as the Caspian Sea, as Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second shipping ⁠chokepoint at the entrance to the Red Sea. As Iran retaliated on Friday with missile and drone fire against US bases and allies across the region, the New York Times reported that Tehran had rejected a US ceasefire proposal delivered by the Iraq prime minister,

Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. Continue reading...

Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government Bollywood stars and other Indian celebrities have faced fierce criticism for staying silent in the face of some of the biggest protests India has seen in years. Hundreds of thousands of young Indians took to the streets this week as part of a new youth movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), demanding accountability over exam paper leaks in an unprecedented challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Many vented their anger against what they saw as “cowardice” from

‘I can’t tolerate this life,’ said the 24-year-old in his last voice message to his relatives. Attacked by the military, a rebel army and criminal gangs, Siraz Ullah risked all for a better future The fear was audible as he spoke, recording a message to his family, asking for their prayers. After pressing send, 24-year-old Siraz Ullah boarded a boat he hoped could deliver him from the violence and persecution surrounding him at home in Myanmar. Instead, Siraz is among 500 Rohingya refugees who have vanished at sea after setting sail for Malaysia in late June. Continue reading...

Sonam Wangchuk secures ‘hard bargain’ with Delhi but talks between government and movement leaders stall The Cockroach activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a 26-day hunger strike, as youth-led protests continued to erupt across India and leaders of the movement said there was no breakthrough in talks with the government. Wangchuk had been fasting since June in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), a new youth-led movement that has been holding mass protests calling for government accountability and the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, over exam paper leaks. The leaks affected 2 million students in May and have

South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen on the Cockroach movement – and the students driving India’s biggest protests in years ‘I’ve never seen this many young people out on the streets,’ says Hannah Ellis-Petersen . For days, tens of thousands of Indians have been marching under the banner of the Cockroach Janta party. Continue reading...

From TikTok appearances to ‘sugar rush’ policies, new prime minister is taking different approach to predecessor Six weeks ago Andy Burnham was not even an MP; now the former mayor of Greater Manchester is the most important political figure in Britain. After orchestrating a bloodless coup against Keir Starmer, in which he was crowned as Labour leader unopposed, the new prime minister has started his tenure in Downing Street with some eye-catching policies and a radically different approach to communication. A week into the job, how do their leadership styles compare? Continue reading...

Union calls for museum to become accredited London living wage employer and let staff carry water during shifts Workers at one of the world’s leading art and design museums are balloting for “heatwave” strike action. The ballot at V&A is taking place because of concerns about soaring temperatures and access to drinking water, along with pay and conditions. Continue reading...

Airport’s bars and restaurants also unable to serve drinks to passengers because of lack of running water A water supply failure at Gatwick has left passengers without access to working toilets or bars and restaurants. Passengers posted online that they were unable to get hot drinks, wash their hands or fill up water bottles at the airport in Sussex. Continue reading...

Preliminary study shows older people who avoided food four hours before bed did better in problem solving tests Confining mealtimes and snacks to a nine-hour window and avoiding food for four hours before bed may help stave off cognitive decline in older age, researchers say. A pilot study of older women living with overweight or obesity found hints of improvement in mental skills among those who ate within the restricted period compared with those who spread their meals over a longer time. Continue reading...

PM’s team can be seen as backward step even though in some ways it is more diverse. Yet its makeup points to wider access to power Race, school, gender: the makeup of Andy Burnham’s cabinet – in charts Like 20 British prime ministers before him, Andy Burnham’s new cabinet minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan, went to Eton. After graduating from the country’s most elite private school, Narayan attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied – what else? – PPE (politics, philosophy and economics), like David Cameron, Rishi Sunak, Ed Miliband and a host of other senior politicians . An MBA

New law prohibits retailers from using personal data to charge different prices for identical products New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill recently signed a new law prohibiting businesses from using shoppers’ personal information to charge different prices for identical products, making her state the third in the US to ban the practice. The Fair Price Protection Act passed by New Jersey’s legislature seeks to protect consumers from surveillance pricing, in which retailers can use data including online activity, location and purchasing history to arbitrarily change prices for individual shoppers. Continue reading...

Sara Gilson was fatally shot less than two weeks after accusing her husband of pedophilia on social media An Oklahoma woman known for posting on social media about parenting her children was fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide by her husband a short time after she published a clip alluding to allegations that he had molested a minor, according to authorities and court records. Sara Duffey – who was 43 and also went by Sara Gilson – Jeremiah Shawn Duffey, 48, were both found dead with gunshot wounds on Thursday at a home in suburban Tulsa, said statements from local

Around town, on the pitch and even in the pool, the New York mayor keeps his suit on – what do his sartorial choices tell us? Playing football. Playing in the sand . Dancing on a stage with Alicia Keys and the entire New York Knicks roster. Swimming in a swimming pool. Swimming in the ocean. Traditionally, a suit and tie would be considered inappropriate attire for each of these activities. Yet over the past year Zohran Mamdani has seemingly been on a one-man crusade to prove otherwise: to convince people that a formal suit is, actually, suitable for all

Experts say evidence for cognitive screening desired by health secretary ‘not great’ as taskforce idle since last year The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has called for better Alzheimer’s screening – but a critical federal panel that might have helped researchers find practical ways to do that has been prevented from meeting for more than a year. The panel, formally called the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), had planned to issue a recommendation on screening for cognitive decline this year, alongside 13 other topics as varied as autism screening and food allergy prevention. Continue reading...

President harks back to red scare of his childhood to attack US left – but will such language resonate beyond Maga base? Perhaps above all else, Donald Trump is a child of the cold war. Three months before the US president was born, Winston Churchill delivered a historic speech in Fulton, Missouri, that ushered in a generations-long existential struggle between western capitalism and Soviet communism. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia has sought an extra 30,000 troops and missile launchers from North Korea to fight his country. Preparations for the extra troops are being made in Russia’s Voronezh region near the frontier with Ukraine, Zelensky said in a social media post late Saturday. North Korea sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight off a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kursk region in 2024. It has also provided arms to help Russia’s invasion since...

One hundred days before the US midterm elections, President Donald Trump’s Republicans are staring down polling that points to the loss of the House of Representatives and a ferocious battle to retain the Senate. Trump will not appear on the ballot on November 3, but the stakes for his presidency could hardly be higher. A Democratic house would give the party control of powerful committees and subpoena authority, likely subjecting Trump’s administration to two years of investigations and...

European holidaymakers worn down by recurrent heatwaves are currently snubbing Mediterranean destinations for northern climes in hopes of cooler temperatures, but it remains to be seen whether it is just a fad or a durable shift in the tourism market. With temperatures in the European summer regularly climbing up towards 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), cool has become cool. This year, visitors “have been telling me that they have escaped the heat in southern parts of Europe”, said...

Nearly three decades after its return to Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong is once again at an important crossroads. The recent decision by the United States not to renew “The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization” has once again focused international attention on the city’s future. For some, it represents another chapter in the geopolitical competition between Washington and Beijing. For Hong Kong, however, it should also serve as a reminder that its future cannot be defined...

Skirmishes between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia intensified, as a pause in the nearly two-week run of nightly US strikes on Iran raised fresh questions about President Donald Trump’s strategy in the war. The Houthis, Islamist militants based in Yemen and backed by Iran, said they fired missiles and drones at facilities linked to oil giant Saudi Aramco in the Red Sea port towns of Jizan and Yanbu. There was no immediate confirmation from the Saudi government or Aramco. Saudi authorities briefly...

A van ramming and stabbing near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and many others injured is believed to have been an Islamic extremist terror attack, Germany’s interior minister said on Sunday. The suspect in Saturday night’s attack remains at large. Authorities issued a wanted notice and warned people against approaching Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, saying that he may be armed and dangerous. Authorities said he is believed to have injured several people...

On July 13, more than 200 leading economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates, signed an open letter organised by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Its warning was stark: artificial intelligence may drive an economic transformation “larger than the Industrial Revolution” compressed into a fraction of the time, and that we “must act now” to build the institutions to steer it. We agree with every word. Then we scanned the signatory list. Four in five signatories come from the...

The Democratic Party in Maine picked its new candidate for a key US Senate race on Saturday, after the original nominee was pressured to drop out over sexual misconduct allegations. Delegates to a hastily organised nominating convention picked Troy Jackson, a former state senate president, to go up against Republican incumbent Susan Collins. “Thank you, Maine. In 101 days, we will defeat Susan Collins and reclaim our Senate seat. Let’s get to work,” Jackson said on social media. The move comes...

Two men died when a light aircraft crashed into a single-family home in the northern German state of Lower Saxony on Saturday. A police spokesman reported that initially one body was recovered from inside the aircraft in Ganderkesee, near Bremen. The second body was found later. Emergency services had been searching for the missing second passenger for hours. The aircraft is believed to have taken off from Bremen shortly before the crash, before losing altitude in a residential area in...

Heatwaves come and go, and while this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity – as this year’s record-breaking temperatures show – they slip from attention once things cool off. What does not disappear is the lasting and costly damage they do to the basic infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives. Ultra-hot days and nights can result in the deaths of many people (those who cannot afford air conditioning especially) and they ignite forest infernos of terrifying intensity. Some of...

Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Tehran-allied Houthi movement edged closer to opening a new front in the Iran war overnight, after Riyadh bombed the port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike on one of its ships in the Red Sea. The exchange marks the latest escalation since the Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, imposed an embargo on Saudi shipping on Monday, disrupting maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal. A...

US missiles struck targets across ⁠Iran on Friday and President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, though he once again left open the door to a diplomatic deal with Iran. Separately, the US military said it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship after it was “repeatedly warned” and “didn’t comply” with the American blockade on Iranian ports. Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, Iranian armed forces...

For years, Syria was a wound the world watched fester: a country carved up by war, sanctioned into isolation and reduced to a byword for state collapse. Its economy needs US$216 billion to rebuild, according to World Bank estimates. This month, for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, it began to look like it might actually get there. On July 8, the government of Ahmed al-Sharaa – a former jihadi commander turned president – established a supreme constitutional...

Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to install signage that warns visitors of inaccurate historical information inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. The highly unusual move marks the 80-year-old Republican’s latest battle in his ideological war on American cultural institutions and monuments, some of which he has renamed for himself and renovated to his liking despite legal challenges. The order issued on Friday calls on federal...

Saudi Arabia struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday with rebel media reporting two injured after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade of the kingdom and hit its ships. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire recently for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring. The Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets threatening commercial vessels in response to attacks on Red Sea shipping. A Yemeni security...

Two small businesses in the United States have ⁠challenged President Donald ⁠Trump’s latest round of tariffs on goods ⁠from 60 trading partners, saying that the new policy, like most of Trump’s previous tariffs, went beyond the president’s authority to tax imports. The lawsuit, filed in the US trade court in New York on Friday, argues that the new tariffs require ‌more detailed country-specific findings about “forced labour” to be legally justified. The two small businesses, backed by a...

US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on products from the European Union in retaliation for the bloc’s US$1 billion (€890 million) fine of Alphabet’s Google. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said the US would launch a trade investigation “into the practice of ‘ROBBING’ American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer”. “The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment,” he posted. The...

Member states of the International Criminal Court voted to dismiss prosecutor Karim Khan for serious misconduct, the ICC said on Friday. Diplomats running ‌the executive bureau of the court’s governing body said last month the British barrister had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior ICC lawyer and should be fired, documents seen by Reuters showed. On Friday, a large majority of the ICC’s 125 member states voted to follow that recommendation. “The assembly decided by a majority of...

She tours major international defence shows, negotiates with arms manufacturers and takes part in discussions on Europe’s rearmament. At 34, Iryna Terekh, an architect by training, heads Fire Point, a company that has become one of the driving forces behind Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities in the war with Russia. With her long hair tied back in a ponytail, a white top, beige jacket and wide-legged jeans, she stands out in an industry dominated by men in suits. She met with Agence...

A volunteer was injected on Friday with the first dose of a rapidly developed vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola driving a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Oxford University said. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the DRC and Uganda since the outbreak emerged in May, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers and health organisations have since been racing to get a vaccine or treatment for the relatively rare strain to the clinical...

A Russian ⁠ballistic missile strike on Friday in Ukraine’s Kyiv region killed 10 people and injured almost 100 others at a site where a defence ‌industry event was being held, Ukrainian officials and industry representatives said. The attack came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Kyiv with senior representatives of Raytheon, the US company that makes Patriot air defence systems. Raytheon did not immediately respond to an email inquiring whether any of its workers were at the...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was to open his newly created northern office on Friday, as he bids to launch his flagship move to reverse decades of centralising power over England in London. Ahead of officially opening his “Number 10 North” hub in Manchester, Burnham – who replaced Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street on Monday – repeated his vow to put “more power into every postcode” to spur economic growth. “For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many...

Drones carrying explosives targeted a city in northern Iraq where US forces are stationed, and sirens rang out in Bahrain on Friday, hours after the American military said it finished its 13th night of strikes against Iran. The conflict has flared again over the past week, as the US pounded Iran while Tehran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted US assets and allies in the region. The strait, a crucial passage for the world’s energy supplies, is at the centre of the latest fighting...

Massive forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate an estimated 200,000 people from their homes. Some even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast. Dozens of firefighters were injured, authorities said in France, but no deaths were reported in either country. Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In...

After devoting the first half of 2026 to an ineffectual, expensive and inconclusive military adventure in Iran, it seems US President Donald Trump is about to turn afresh to the wars he loves best – the tariff wars he still believes can make America great again. He can’t quite walk away from the war in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s refusal to capitulate has left Trump with an awkward obligation to fight on, despite the widespread unpopularity of the conflict, even among his base, and the need to...

The US imposed tariffs as high as 12.5 per cent on 60 trading partners, including China, after President Donald Trump adopted a different method for pursuing his global trade war. The levies, which are related to forced labour, replaced a temporary 10 per cent global tariff that expired on Friday. The 10 per cent tax was imposed after previous Trump tariffs were struck down by the US Supreme Court. Trump’s new taxes, targeting imports from 80-plus countries, can probably withstand legal...

China has added 14 entities from the European Union to its export control list, including German defence giant Rheinmetall, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday. Effective immediately, the order means that the export of dual-use items – products with civilian and military applications, including some rare earth elements – from China to the named entities is prohibited, as is the shipment of dual-use items of Chinese origin to the listed companies and institutions. The move came after...

London’s mayor and police chief have used a drop in recorded street crime to reassure tourists the city is safe and counter an online narrative depicting Britain’s capital as a lawless dystopia. The city’s Metropolitan Police force said “neighbourhood crime”, a category that includes phone theft, pickpocketing, residential burglary and vehicle crime, fell 14 per cent in the year to June. In Westminster borough – home to tourist magnets including Parliament, Soho and Leicester Square – those...

The six candidates vying to lead the United Nations stressed the importance of restoring the credibility of an organisation in crisis during a restrained debate Thursday, one week before the selection process formally starts. With the campaign struggling to generate real enthusiasm for a front-runner, the hopefuls faced nearly two hours of questions from diplomats, UN employees and civil society representatives at an event in the huge General Assembly Hall, broadcast by Bloomberg. Chile’s...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies The United States imposed late on Thursday a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union...

Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport more than five decades ago, died on Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time. Okamoto, who made rare public appearances since he settled in Lebanon after being released from...

Simon Johnson is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he won a joint Nobel Prize for economics in 2024 for his research into how institutions shape national prosperity. On June 8, the British government announced Johnson as chair of its new AI Economics Institute. In this interview, conducted on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, Johnson discussed the...

Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of US President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington. Loomer had spent years minimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart. “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine....

Officials talking about artificial intelligence (AI) often speak in terms of the next industrial revolution or existential risks. Such rhetoric ultimately does little to capture how AI filters into the ordinary workings of a city like Hong Kong. The geopolitics of AI are no longer abstract. They are beginning to shape who can use which tools – and on what terms. Over the past few months, two major international banks in the city have reportedly felt the impact. Anthropic’s Claude, a generative...

The White House threw a US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal into question on Thursday, a day after it was signed, emphasising that it depended on the oil-rich Gulf country recognising Israel under a 2020 diplomatic initiative. “The Civil Nuclear Deal … will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding that the deal would not include enrichment and involve only non-military use of...

Mid-July should have been a moment of quiet satisfaction in Beijing. Fresh data showed China’s favourability surpassing that of the United States in 25 of 37 nations surveyed by Pew Research Centre, including key European countries. Domestically, the second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 4.3 per cent, while softer than the first financial quarter, kept the annual target within reach. The logic was simple: with the US distracted by Donald Trump’s erratic trade wars and isolationist...

Donald Trump’s Justice Department will withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns about the president flying on a Qatari-donated Air Force ‌One, a prosecutor said at a court hearing on Thursday. The subpoenas issued by Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton on July 10 are the latest instance of the Trump administration seeking to force journalists to divulge their sources, part of what critics describe as the president’s broader pressure campaign against...

The Houthi militia in Yemen appears to be allowing some ships to pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, despite its blockade of shipping to Saudi Arabia, experts said on Thursday. A Chinese oil tanker, Cosco Shipping’s VLCC Xin Long Yang, has been granted permission to pass through the waterway, according to the trade publication Lloyd’s List. It said Chinese tankers returning from the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea may be able to negotiate passage with the...

US President Donald Trump promised “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni ⁠fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint. Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 per cent, piercing the level of US$100 a barrel for the first time since May. Two weeks since the...

Greece on Thursday approved the multibillion-dollar purchase of Israeli anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone weaponry to set up an “Achilles Shield” protective dome, a defence ministry source said. Around €3 billion of a broader €4.2 billion (US$4.8 billion) spending spree will go towards Israeli-made systems for the new shield, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Greece has entered a new era, a new reality,” Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on social media, confirming...

The EU has watered down its latest round of sanctions on Moscow after concluding that banning Greek companies from transporting Russian gas to third countries could hand strategically important shipping assets to China. To remove a Greek veto against the 21st package of measures aimed at hobbling Russia’s war machine, the bloc’s member states agreed to allow EU operators to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third countries for one year. Officials explained that China’s...

German police on Thursday detained a 20-year-old man after he fatally stabbed another man inside a bank branch in the southern city of Regensburg, in an incident that initially raised fears of a hostage-taking. Special forces officers detained the German national inside the building about three hours after the incident was reported, a police statement said. Paramedics had earlier managed to administer first aid to the victim before he was transferred to hospital, where he died. It remains...

A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a UK court on Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him. Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a mosque in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police. His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence...

One soldier died and four were injured on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the Czech Republic, the army said. “A Venom helicopter has crashed at the 22nd helicopter base in Namest nad Oslavou. Five soldiers were on board. Emergency services are currently deployed at the scene,” the army wrote on social media. In a later post, it added that one soldier was killed and four injured in the crash. “Our absolute priority now is to provide all possible care and support to the injured...

Troy Jackson is replacing Graham Platner, but Republicans are seeking to tie them together as a remade race kicks off with high stakes.

The Democratic Socialists of America, after a string of election victories in New York, is eager to tax the rich and enact anti-Israel policies.

State Representative Josh Turek, the Democrat running to flip Iowa’s open Senate seat, cycled with his hands at an Iowa biking event that took place between two cities nearly 60 miles apart.

Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.

Most young children should have a Trump account. But that doesn’t mean families should prioritize saving in them.

In some cases, no direct line can be drawn from the president’s domestic nuclear agenda to his family or close allies. But they have overlapping business ties that could position them for gains.

A recent Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to end a humanitarian program that has allowed about one million immigrants to work legally in the U.S.

Karyna Shuliak, 37, is a complicated and unusual figure in the disgraced financier’s world who has been trying to blend into obscurity since his death.

Here is what we know about the sexual predator whose secrets spurred an international reckoning over money, power and complicity. Check back for updates.

A new heat wave is forecast to hit the continent, piling the pressure on countries that are already fighting deadly wildfires that have forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

The hunt for a 21-year-old man began early Sunday, in what officials called a likely act of Islamist terrorism.

The Berlin police said they were searching for a 21-year-old man with links to local Islamist groups, and investigating the crime as a possible act of terrorism.

Gavin Bladen oversaw the construction of the luxury catamaran Hemisphere and has lived on it for 15 years. When it changes hands, he may be cast adrift.

Christopher Nolan’s Odysseus is a halfway hero: he wrestles with the problems he creates. That makes him a perfect figure for our modern moment.

For Gen Z college graduates, the way millennials lived out their ambitions no longer makes sense.

A look at how chatbot answer subjective questions.

The Bundibugyo Ebola virus takes its name from this small town, where it was first discovered in 2007. Now, the species has returned to eastern Congo, halting life on a busy border.