Minimalist News

Army To Spend $465 Million On 'Group 3 Killer' Anti-Drone Laser Authored by Jeff Schogol via Task & Purpose , The Army has awarded a $464.8 million contract for a laser weapon designed to destroy the type of drones that Iran has launched against U.S. troops and partner nations in the Middle East for more than five months. The Army has awarded a $464.8 million contract to AeroVironment, Inc. for the LOCUST X3 laser system. Image via AeroVironment, Inc. The service has selected the LOCUST X3 laser made by AeroVironment, Inc. for its Enduring-High Energy Laser program, according to a

Trump Admin Weighs Child Care Subsidies For Stay-At-Home Parents The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would allow some married couples with a stay-at-home parent to receive federal child care subsidies, an initiative reportedly championed by Vice President JD Vance, according to the New York Times . The proposal would use the existing Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which has traditionally helped lower-income parents pay for child care while they work, attend school or receive job training. Federal guidance currently ties CCDF assistance largely to those activities. Under the proposal, a married couple meeting income requirements could qualify

Ex-CNN Propagandist Don Lemon Mulls Presidential Run Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA , The Democratic Party has long attracted peculiarly strange individuals who have been floated as potential presidential candidates, including convicted felon Michael Avenatti, disgraced former first son Hunter Biden, Jerry Springer and anti-Trump filmmaker Michael Moore. Add former CNN anchor Don Lemon to that list. Lemon, now a YouTuber whom CNN fired amid allegations of misogyny, toxic workplace behavior and friction with female coworkers, hinted at a potential presidential campaign in a Thursday interview with Politico . "I'm not a politician. I'm a journalist. But now

Federal Government Backs Supreme Court Challenge To AR-15 Bans Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times , The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to side with gun owners challenging state and local bans on AR-15-style rifles. In a brief filed Friday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to overturn rulings from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Seventh Circuits, which upheld AR-15 bans in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, respectively. "The AR-15 rifle is unquestionably in common use among law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes," the federal government argued. The cases, Viramontes

Biggest 'Go Woke, Get Broke' Story Of A Generation: S&P Nukes Nike From Elite Blue-Chip Index S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Friday that Nike is being booted from the S&P 100 after nearly two decades, another sign of how America's most exclusive blue-chip benchmark is being reshaped by the artificial-intelligence spending boom. But that's not the entire story... Perhaps what really happened with Nike is that it lost its way. Instead of focusing on basketball shoes and athletic leisure, it pursued the whole woke culture, which damaged the brand. Injected itself into far-left politics. And this ... BREAKING: Nike is

Trump: Michael Cohen Recanted Testimony Behind NY Cases Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA , Michael Cohen, a key witness in the New York criminal and civil cases against President Donald Trump, has "fully recanted" his testimony in both cases, the Republican president announced Friday via Truth Social. Previously known as Trump's longtime fixer, Cohen was used by New York Attorney General Letitia James in her controversial civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization and by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his so-called hush money case against Trump. The civil case against the Trump Organization culminated in a $364

A GoFundMe In Support of Lindsay Clancy Nears $1.2 Million After Mistrial A Massachusetts jury deliberated for roughly 38 hours over seven days and failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case against Lindsay Clancy, resulting in Judge William Sullivan declaring a mistrial on Friday due to a holdout juror. Clancy has admitted to strangling her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, with exercise bands inside the family's home in Duxbury, Mass., in January 2023 after sending her husband out to pick up dinner. She then cut her own wrists and neck, then jumped from

AfD Sweeps Saxony-Anhalt Election In First "Far Right" Victory Since WW2: "Signal To Berlin" Update(1400ET) : In a political earthquake, the AfD has taken a massive lead, per exit polls , at the Saxony-Anhalt election in what the party's state leader hailed as sending a resounding "signal to Berlin." This moment marks the first time what has been dubbed a German "far-right party" taking power at a state level since World War II . This is absolutely historic. "The exit polls, published by German public television stations, suggested that the party, known by its German initials AfD, would win between

From Par To Pennies Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance Private credit’s reckoning is not arriving with one grand, spectacular crash. It is arriving slowly and steadily, one loan at a time. For years, one of private credit’s great attractions was the remarkable stability (or perceived stability) of its valuations. Public bonds could fall ten points in a week. Leveraged loans could gap lower after a bad earnings report. But private loans somehow possessed the soothing ability to remain at 98, 99 or 100 cents on the dollar through almost anything, all while paying investors a healthy yield. Incredible, right? Another

They/Them Communist Activist Declares Ozempic "Fascist" Plot To "Genocide Fat People" America's socialist leadership increasingly looks less like a political movement and more like a circus where the clowns run the show . Its most radical theorists openly advocate dismantling capitalism and the institutions underpinning the Western order while romanticizing communist regimes defined by nation-killing economic ruin and political repression . Rather than building a credible working-class movement, these clowns have marginalized themselves through far-left extremism and become objects of national ridicule. The latest clown show comes from Da'Shaun L. Harrison , an Atlanta-based writer, activist, and self-described Afropessimist, anarcho-communist,

Diplomatic Blitz: Witkoff, Kushner Hold "Substantial" Ukraine Talks After Putin Meeting President Trump's diplomatic sprint shifted from Moscow to Kiev over the weekend , with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner arriving in Ukraine for talks with senior officials. The visit came one day after the pair met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian state media outlet TASS cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said Putin's meeting with Witkoff and Kushner had created an "atmosphere of trust, at least through this channel of communication. " Putin meets Witkoff and Kushner for peace talks. pic.twitter.com/NqqAelwuEG —

Iran Vows 'Faster, More Painful' Response To US Attacks After Weekend Sea Battle Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday announced a heightened military posture in the war with the US, saying that new attacks on the country will "meet a faster, heavier and more painful response . " "If they haven't understood by now, they should understand before it’s too late that the rules of the game have changed and that from now on, any violation of Iran’s interests and security will receive a ‘faster, heavier, and more painful’ response,” Ghalibaf said in a post on Telegram. He

Waste Of The Day: $79M To Not Work Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations , Contractors working for the State of Illinois took a 470,000-hour paid lunch break on taxpayers' dime. A company hired during the Covid-19 pandemic to fill staffing shortages at hospitals and long-term care facilities spent more than a third of its time on "standdown," a contract provision that paid them to be on-site and available in case they were needed. The contractor, Favorite Healthcare Staffing, was supposed to notify the state any time its employees were on standdown for more than 24 hours. There was no

Twelve Companies Make DOE's Latest Nuclear Launch Pad Cut The DOE's National Reactor Innovation Center announced 12 companies covering 13 projects for its latest Nuclear Energy Launch Pad (NELP) round on August 24th. Similar to the project coverage from the first round, this new group also spans multiple stages of the nuclear industry . As we covered when the first four companies were selected, the initial group included the uranium enrichment company General Matter and reactor developers Radiant, Deployable Energy and NuCube Energy. Multiple companies are seeing repeat entries into the fast-track nuclear development programs under the DOE: Oklo, Antares,

September Market Weakness: The Setup Has Teeth Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, The Setup Has Teeth Earlier this week, in our Daily Market Commentary , I flagged that the market was testing support after three straight down days, starting in September, with the calendar. That was just the warm-up, as the real story lies in a note from Scott Rubner at Citadel Securities , whose read on September market weakness is among the best that I have read. Rubner’s case is not that the bull market has ended. It is that the near-term math just changed, and hardly anyone

UN Demands African Statues In London As Britain Is Told To Atone For Slavery Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , The United Nations has decided that Britain has not grovelled enough. After years of toppled statues, boarded-up war memorials and official lectures about "colonialism," a UN human-rights committee now wants the country that ended the Atlantic slave trade to fill its public squares with statues of "people of African descent," The globalist body also suggests Britain should rewrite what children are taught, and treat historic slavery as a live brief for migration policy and hate-speech enforcement. 'It's high-time

Interpreting The Taliban's Invitation For American Investments Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack , This was arguably a preemptive de-escalation move that would also gauge the US' intentions... The New York Times (NYT) interviewed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul as part of their coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power. Muttaqi invited the US to reopen its embassy and invest in his country's minerals, dams, and roads. He also declared that "We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end, and from now on, we want relations based on mutual

Iran: Several Ballistic Missiles Fired At US Aircraft Carrier, Navy Destroyer Summary: Iran says it has attacked 3 'US-linked' along with 3 American ships in the Hormuz Strait State media released footage of foreign vessels under attack in "response" to US aggression CENTCOM Confirms Iranian Tankers Hit Near Kharg Island Iranian Tanker Reportedly Hit By Missiles Near Kharg Island * * * Iran Unleashes Large Drone Swarm Attacks on Several Ships Iran state media is releasing footage of its own Saturday action against US assets in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, as part of the fresh weekend tit-for-tat fighting

IAEA 'Unclear' On Iran's Nuclear Program As US, Europe Escalate At UN Security Council Western allies are pressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ‌board to bring a formal complaint and resolution before the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. Reuters reports Saturday that the US, UK, France, and Germany are behind the new pressure campaign, which hinges on a request that the nuclear watchdog's director general transmit the new resolution. The draft resolution, as seen by Reuters, calls on Iran to " urgently remedy ‌its non-compliance ⁠with its Safeguards Agreement by taking all steps deemed necessary by the

Is This Peak 'Clown World'? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Transport for London has dropped a dog house-shaped "calm space" onto the concourse at Ealing Broadway station and called it progress. The tiny pod features a bench, noise-dampening acoustics and a "soothing" forest mural. They claim that it is part of an effort to "boost accessibility for neurodivergent travellers under TfL's Equity in Motion strategy," whatever that means. Massive backlash has ensued, with many questioning this as a priority over train delays, complete lack of air conditioning on many lines, poor cleanliness, broken escalators and an epidemic

Slavery’s legacy continues ‘to deprive our country and our people’, says minister, as group prepares to appeal to Jamaica’s head of state A landmark petition is to be handed to King Charles by Jamaica over slavery reparations, aiming to confront historical crimes that still disadvantage former British colonies, the Caribbean nation’s culture minister has said. The petition will be lodged with Charles, Jamaica’s head of state, on Monday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tan Dhesi says Argentinian threats make it more crucial than ever that PM increase defence spending Javier Milei’s threats to the Falkland Islands make it even more important that Andy Burnham increase defence spending immediately, according to the Labour chair of the defence committee. Tan Dhesi said the comments by the Argentinian president this week show why the government should raise military spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. But he said Burnham’s plans remain mired in confusion after the prime minister appeared to reassure him that the 2030 target would be hit, only for Downing Street to later

US president suggests he might support his Argentinian ally’s drive to reclaim sovereignty of disputed islands Donald Trump has long embraced vengeance. “I am your retribution,” he declared to an admiring audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he commenced his march back to the White House. It is unlikely Argentina, and far-flung holdovers of the former British empire, were on the US president’s mind at the time. Continue reading...

Officials accuse National Liberation Army of launching strike followed by clash inside military compound An attack involving explosives dropped from drones followed by a clash inside a military compound in north-eastern Colombia has killed at least three soldiers and wounded four, Colombia’s army said on Saturday. Local authorities blamed the attack – which took place late on Friday – on the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN). Continue reading...

Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior describes 2022 meeting in new book as ex-leader’s son vies with Lula for presidency The far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro was in his final days as Brazil’s president when, six weeks after losing the election and still refusing to recognise the result, he summoned the heads of the armed forces to a meeting. The defence minister, Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, took out a document from a plastic folder and handed copies to the commanders of the navy, army and air force. Continue reading...

Exclusive: US-controlled weapons corporations and forces have control or access to more than 100 facilities across the continent, which some analysts describe as a ‘colonisation’ of Australia’s military. Find a map of them here US military presence in Australia, mapped – video Why can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcast US military interests control or have access to more than 100 defence facilities on Australian soil, in what some analysts describe as a “saturation” – even a “colonisation” – of the Australian continent. New data compiled by the Nautilus Institute and published by Guardian Australia maps

Beijing wants banks and insurers to bolster investment in stock market as it helps to replenish cash reserves China will inject $54bn (£40bn) into its financial sector as Beijing attempts to shore up banks and insurers in the face of faltering economic growth. A host of financial institutions said they were due to receive billions of yuan in capital from state institutions including the ministry of finance and even the company that runs the country’s tobacco monopoly. Continue reading...

Ash cloud from Anak Krakatau affects hundreds of flights and some school and fishing activities Indonesia halted operations at eight airports on Sunday, including from its main international hub, affecting hundreds of flights as a result of an ash cloud from the Anak Krakatau volcano. Saturday’s eruption, which produced lava and booming sounds that were heard up to 435 miles (700km) away, according to Indonesia’s geology agency, also interrupted some school activities and fishing. Two more eruptions were recorded on Sunday. Continue reading...

Chinese man at Trishuli hydropower project and Nepali woman in Nuwakot found 10 days into rescue operation Emergency responders have rescued a Chinese man and a Nepali woman in two separate operations as authorities continued to search for thousands of people missing 10 days after massive floods hit Nepal. The Nepali military said on Saturday a joint team comprising personnel from its army and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-metre (740ft) tunnel in the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Pictures showed him being evacuated by helicopter after being carried

Seoul reportedly seeking parliamentary approval to send military assets to Middle East but president’s office plays down claims South Korea is reviewing a possible deployment of military assets to the strait of Hormuz amid pressure from Donald Trump over Seoul’s reluctance to provide support in the region, according to domestic media reports. Citing unnamed government and military sources, the reports published on Thursday and Friday said preparations were under way and that the government intended to seek parliamentary approval for a new deployment. The reports, which appeared in major South Korean outlets, said the exact scale and timing had not

Follow the day’s news live One Nation has come up with a plan to give people their superannuation earlier, reducing the amount they’ll have at retirement in exchange for a current cash boost. Pauline Hanson says under their plan anyone paying rent or a mortgage can take up to a quarter of their super as a “pay boost” for up to three years. Continue reading...

The casket, grown from mycelium and hemp fibres, takes just 45 days to break down, enriching the soil in the process Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A woman has been buried in a coffin made from mushrooms in New South Wales in an eco-friendly first for Australia. Carolyn, whose surname was withheld for privacy reasons, was laid to rest on Friday by friends and family at Springwood Cemetery in the Blue Mountains. She was aged in her 70s. Continue reading...

David Shoebridge says ‘words are just distractions’ until government takes action Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates ‘Guilt by association’: why seven international aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrike Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Greens have criticised inflammatory statements from the former Israel Defense Forces officer who ordered the attack that killed Zomi Frankcom, accusing the Albanese government of weakness over its failure to halt military exports and impose new sanctions. Australian aid worker Frankcom and six of her colleagues were killed in 2024 while bringing food to

Police say they believe argument took place before three people critically injured in Gippsland town of Tyers on Saturday Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Victoria police have urged the public to remain vigilant as they search for a man who allegedly attacked his brother and parents with an axe or tomahawk. Police issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for Peter O’Ryan, 48, whose last known location was his family’s home in the Gippsland town of Tyers. Continue reading...

Passenger recalls seeing cabin lights flicker and ‘a lot of screaming’ after suspected engine issue Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Liza-Jayne Loch was returning home from a business trip to New Zealand when her Qantas flight ran into trouble. The plane was climbing above the scenic South Island’s mountain ranges on Saturday afternoon, bound for Sydney, when a bang shook the cabin. Continue reading...

Lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes further ‘strong’ cooperation with Musk as French minister says ‘We cannot forget our history’ The candidate who led the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party to a historic state election victory in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support, as one French minister warned that this was a “serious moment” for Europe. The AfD more than doubled its support in the Saxony-Anhalt region and appears to be on the brink of becoming the first far-right party to gain power in Germany at state level since the second world war. Continue reading...

Witkoff says he hopes trilateral talks involving the US, Ukraine and Europe will be announced ‘in short order’ The US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff travelled to Ukraine for the first time on Sunday for talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an attempt to end the war with Russia. The Ukrainian president announced plans to widen peace discussions to include European countries in the near future, saying he wanted to do “everything to ensure that trilateral meetings take place” with Ukraine, the US and Europe. Continue reading...

Projections show Alternative für Deutschland on 44.4% of vote in Saxony-Anhalt after huge turnout, with votes still being counted The populist, far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has emerged as the winner in a crucial state election in Germany, exit polls have projected, securing a historic result and more than doubling its support. The AfD now appear on the brink of becoming the first far-right party to gain power in Germany at state level since the second world war. Initial exit polls showed the party to have secured 44.4% of the vote, a larger share than predicted, and decisively larger

Protest using 10 coffins to symbolise struggling manufacturing industry to take place in Brussels Job losses in EU manufacturing will rapidly increase unless Brussels stops the “colonisation” of industry by Chinese component manufacturers, a leading industry trade body has warned. Eurometal predicts 300,000 job losses in manufacturing in the rest of 2026 because of expanding competition from China, which is now enjoying a record €1bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc. Continue reading...

Isar Aerospace plans rapid expansion amid race to capitalise on expanding satellite-launch market A German startup has launched the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from continental Europe, a milestone for Europe’s efforts to secure independent access to space. Isar Aerospace said on Sunday that it would rapidly ⁠expand satellite deployments after the ⁠first orbital launch of ​its uncrewed Spectrum rocket from Arctic Norway, marking a ⁠breakthrough for a region where several countries are seeking a foothold in the fast-growing market for satellite launches. Continue reading...

Chris Wright tells ABC there ‘may not’ be an agreement that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday morning that the US may not be able to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran that would prevent the country from having nuclear weapons. Asked on ABC on Sunday morning about any sign of such a deal, as negotiations appear stalled and the US-Israel war on Iran continues, Wright said: “There may not be a nuclear agreement.” Continue reading...

Taraneh Rahimi was told prison guards would rape her sister, Romina, if she did not sign a confession The twins were 19 and still in high school when they were taken from their beds in the dead of night by masked men later identified as being sent by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. After four months of desperately seeking news from hospitals and state institutions, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, finally learned their fate. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi had been seized over their decision to join millions on the streets of Iranian cities during the January protests against the regime. The

Officials said US aircraft carrier and destroyer avoided attacks before three Iranian tankers were struck by the US The US military said Saturday it struck three Iranian oil tankers after US navy warships came under missile attack, further escalating tensions in the region and warning it would “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet”. According to the military, a US aircraft carrier and destroyer avoided “multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks” while patrolling the region. No US personnel were injured. Continue reading...

Houthi rebel offensive against government forces on west coast leads to some of deadliest clashes in years Clashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement have killed more than 60 people, including civilians, as the Houthis pushed forward with a military offensive on Yemen’s western coast. Twenty-six government troops and 31 Houthi fighters were killed during several hours of fighting in the country’s south-west on Saturday, medical and military sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A missile strike also killed six civilians and injured seven others travelling by bus in the city of Taiz. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic Death on the road to Rafah: the night the IDF targeted WCK aid workers Seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows. A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid

Officials say pair were rescued from Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal after being trapped at depth of 170 metres Two people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after deadly flash floods buried the projects in deep mud and left them trapped. The workers were rescued during an operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, a hydropower project in one of the areas worst affected by last week’s floods , according to the army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet. Continue reading...

About 46 people believed to be trapped in ‘room-like’ structure inside hydro plant tunnel on Nepal-Tibet border After the flood: human suffering on an unfathomable scale in Nepal’s worst-hit districts Nepal authorities have said they are “confident” that dozens of workers in Nepal’s Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant are still alive, more than a week after deadly flash floods left them trapped in an underground chamber. Authorities said that at least 639 workers were still missing from hydropower plants built along Nepal’s Bhote Koshi and Triushuli rivers. Continue reading...

Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage site Barclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India. Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant. Continue reading...

Several missing Australians have been found since Tuesday morning, bringing the total citizens unaccounted for to 38 Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far A total of five Australians missing after devastating floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week have been found. Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people confirmed dead and more than 4,000, including 36 British nationals, remain missing A British aid worker was mistakenly identified by Nepalese authorities as a rescued survivor after returning to Kathmandu on a humanitarian aid flight. Alastair Chambers, a 45-year-old former Gloucester councillor, said he flew to Nepal last week to distribute sleeping bags, food and essentials to communities cut off by collapsed bridges. Continue reading...

Influencer livestreams event calling for men to travel to port to block coaches carrying asylum seekers from leaving Hundreds of far-right activists have descended on Portsmouth, where a small boat with 140 asylum seekers on board was intercepted heading towards the Portsmouth coast. The vessel’s arrival sparked a major response with a helicopter, an aeroplane and lifeboats sent to the scene. It is thought to be the first time such a large boat containing asylum seekers has been brought to Portsmouth and the first time a large group of anti-migrant protesters have tried to block newly arrived asylum seekers from

Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus near to station will make it easier for students and staff to commute Not so long ago, the first impression for visitors arriving by train to Bristol’s main railway station was a derelict building described by David Cameron as looking like the entrance to a war zone. On Monday, a shiny new University of Bristol campus on the site of that crumbling Royal Mail sorting office next door to Temple Meads is opening its doors to students, teachers and members of the public. Continue reading...

Schools and councils express financial concerns as EHCP applications surge before potential change in provision ‘Powerful example’: minister looks to Essex school for blueprint to transform Send provision Schools and councils across England are expecting the proportion of children with special needs plans to double to one in 10, with families rushing to secure support before ministers bring in changes. Headteachers have reported an “unreal” surge in applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) mandating support for needs or disabilities such as speech and learning difficulties, autism or ADHD. In 2025, just one in 20 school-age children had EHCPs.

Far-right linked group able to mobilise at scale due to police ‘inaction’, says founder of Hope Not Hate The group of masked, black-clad vigilantes who blockaded roads in Dover could repeat the disruption unless police step up efforts to stop them, politicians and campaigners have said. Responsibility for the demonstration has been claimed by Patriot Platform, an anti-immigration group with links to the far right, which styles itself as having a “fierce love for our homeland”. Continue reading...

Carmaker, which is battling Trump tariffs and Chinese competitors, faces talks with union leaders and government The government has signalled that it will not invest taxpayers’ money to limit job losses at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), after it emerged that the UK’s biggest carmaker is planning up to 4,000 redundancies . Before crunch talks on Tuesday between JLR, union leaders and government officials, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said it was not his job to “intervene and run businesses”. Continue reading...

Oscar-winning actor says she and other outspoken critics of Israel have found it ‘impossible’ to get hired by major studios The Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon has said she is still losing work because of her outspoken support for Palestinians, despite what she ⁠described as a broader shift ⁠in public opinion against ​US support for Israel. Speaking at the Venice film festival, where she is promoting her latest movie The Echo Chamber, Sarandon said some parts of the film industry continued to ⁠shun her over her activism. Continue reading...

Armed suspect Patrick Havas allegedly attacked Amy Acton during a campaign stop at a fair, injuring several people Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, was the target of an attack on Sunday during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair, campaign officials said. Several people were injured when the armed assailant lunged at Acton. The suspect knocked volunteers to the ground before he was arrested and was “discovered to have weapons”, Mahoning county Democratic party chairperson Chris Anderson said in a statement . Continue reading...

Three people in critical condition and two hospitalized as operations at one of busiest US airports brought to a halt An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami international airport in Florida on Sunday afternoon after the flight, which was arriving from Puerto Rico, overshot the runway, striking several vehicles and resulting in at least five deaths. The plane erupted in flames as dark smoke billowed into the sky, bringing operations at one of the busiest airports in the US to a halt. The pilot and copilot were trapped in the cockpit as a result of the crash, said the Miami-Dade

Storm, which may make impact as soon as Monday, is third system in weeks to threaten state during hurricane season Hawaii has declared a state of emergency as powerful Hurricane Lowell makes its way toward the islands, with the first impacts expected as soon as Monday. The storm is the third system in just over three weeks to threaten Hawaii during an active hurricane season in the central Pacific. Lowell remained a category 3 hurricane early on Sunday morning, packing winds of 125 miles per hour while moving north-west at six miles per hour. Continue reading...

Legal fight continues as states begin sending out ballots for voters to vote by mail in November’s midterm elections The Trump administration renewed its appeal to the US supreme court on Sunday to allow restrictions on mail-in voting, after a federal judge had blocked new limits on such ballots, just ahead of November’s midterm elections. The latest filing follows a decision by US district court judge Indira Talwani on Friday to extend a court order preventing the US Postal Service (USPS) from enforcing Donald Trump’s executive order. The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Iran’s top security chief Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday said his country would establish a “prohibited zone” near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state media reported. “In the coming days, a prohibited zone will be announced outside the Strait of Hormuz. This zone will start from the US Navy’s blockade line and include areas of the Persian Gulf. Any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list” of Iran, Rezaei told state television. Also on Sunday, Iranian authorities said they...

The EU plans to deepen its cooperation with Greenland despite US President Donald Trump’s claims of control over the Arctic island, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived on Sunday for a two-day visit. Von der Leyen travelled to the resource-rich island, where a new EU-Greenland declaration is to be signed on Monday. Investment pledges running into the hundreds of millions are also expected. On her arrival, von der Leyen said the visit was about further cementing a unique...

Former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma returned to his home country on Sunday, where authorities welcomed him after treason charges against him over an alleged coup attempt were dropped. Koroma had left for Nigeria in 2024, days after being charged with treason and other offences over a deadly 2023 army uprising. The former president, who led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, arrived at the international airport in the capital, Freetown, accompanied by Nigerian ex-president Olusegun...

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence. Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives and sites in response to a drone attack a day earlier by the Iran-backed group on its troops in the vicinity of a strategic south Lebanon ridge. It reported no casualties but accused Hezbollah of a “blatant violation”. Israel...

Germany’s far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, a result seen as a stinging rebuke for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but looked set to miss out on an absolute majority to govern alone. “We have made history today,” said a jubilant Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt state, as the vote count continued. The AfD won 44 per cent, more than doubling its support,...

At least 25 people, mostly children and teenagers, were killed in a bus crash on Cabo Verde’s Fogo Island, public radio network RCV said on Sunday. Several others were injured in Saturday’s accident, some of them seriously, the head of civil protection for Sao Filipe city, Jose Canuto, told reporters. Such incidents are rare in the west African archipelago, where roads are generally in good condition. Canuto and other local authorities said the bus, which was carrying 32 passengers, veered off...

Germany is planning a broad package of measures to strengthen its defences against drone attacks, cyber intrusions and other forms of Russian sabotage after a failed airport drone attack ‌last month, an interior ministry spokesperson said on Sunday. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which first reported the plans, that Russia’s hybrid attacks had become a part of daily reality. “These attacks will increase, but we can ⁠defend and protect ourselves,”...

War with Russia “at the moment” looked likely to continue into winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after talks with US envoys visiting Kyiv. US envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky both gave upbeat assessments of the talks but neither announced any breakthroughs on ending the war with Russia. Witkoff, who is US President Donald Trump’s business ally, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, travelled to Kyiv a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow –...

Iran said on Sunday that its forces attacked a US naval drone trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, hours after targeting ships in retaliation for American strikes on three oil tankers. The latest round of clashes, which began with US raids last week, comes amid a deadlock in their six-month war. Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports. Washington is also seeking to choke Iran’s economy, rolling out...

Attacks on elderly straphangers are fuelling a spike in felony assaults within the New York City subway system, according to New York Police Department’s transit chief Joseph Gulotta. As the NYPD contends with a 9 per cent jump in felony assaults in the city transit system this year, the department’s transit chief said roughly half of all attacks on the rails are targeting a few select groups. “What is driving them is assaults on police officers, assaults on MTA workers and assaults on the...

Argentina has announced that it will investigate and sanction oil companies working near the Falkland Islands without authorisation, after President Javier Milei said the “winds of change” favour his country’s claim to the archipelago. Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, a British overseas territory that Argentines call Las Malvinas. Argentina’s presidency said in a statement on Friday that it had ordered the opening of proceedings to “investigate...

Britain’s Prince William will attend the funeral of Norway’s late King Harald next week in place of his father King Charles, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday. The heir to the throne is set to represent his father at the funeral on September 9, having also attended the funeral of Pope Francis last year on behalf of the king. British monarchs do not attend funerals of other heads of state per protocol, usually sending another member of the royal family to represent them. Charles, 77, who is...

German start-up Isar Aerospace on Saturday launched its first rocket into space from a site in Arctic Norway, bringing Europe closer to offering satellite flights from its own soil. The uncrewed Spectrum rocket was the first commercial flight to reach orbit from continental Europe, ‌where several nations have said they want a share of a growing market for space missions. “We’re in orbit! And just made European history,” Isar said in a post on social media. The event was a breakthrough for the...

A fire at a wedding party in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa left at least 22 people dead, the regional mayor said on Saturday. Several others were injured. The fire started on Friday night and continued into early Saturday in a building in Lingwala in northern Kinshasa. The building’s narrow hallways were constricted by people trying to escape the fire. Several people - some alive and some dead - were laid by the roadside as attendees tried to help those who were still...

A commemoration was held on Saturday in Belgrade for war criminal Ratko Mladic two days ahead of his burial, attended by dozens of former military staff, family members and officials. Mladic died last week after suffering several strokes while serving a life sentence in The Hague for war crimes committed during the 1990s war in Bosnia. His body was returned to Serbia on a government plane on Thursday, with his casket draped in flags and received with military honours. The 84-year-old will be...

A gravedigging contest in a Hungarian cemetery may sound like the opening line of a comedy sketch. It proved to be anything but as 38 competitors grabbed picks and shovels on Saturday. The Hungarian Association of Cemetery Maintainers and Operators organises the contest to showcase the gravedigging trade and its skills, and shake off death-related taboos. The dry summer-baked soil in the public cemetery in Nyergesujfalu, northern Hungary, proved a worthy adversary for the 19 two-man teams. They...

An Egyptian court sentenced a well-known television presenter and 11 others to death for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in a sprawling drugs case, official media reported on Saturday. The presenter, Sarah Khalifa, 39, is best known for her programme Mission Impossible, which dealt with issues concerning security and crime. The state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said a Cairo court sentenced “Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging on charges of forming an organised criminal gang...

A Greek air force plane crashed at an air show north of Athens on Saturday, killing the two pilots, officials said, as thousands of people attended the event. A fire after the crash sent up large plumes of black smoke. There were no injuries among the spectators. The crash of the twin-seat Phantom F4 jet took place during a low-altitude manoeuvre. Air force officials in Greece said the bodies of the two pilots were located during a rescue operation, hampered in the early stages by the fire on...

The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again on Saturday, calling the behaviour an “act of terror” as he visited Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks. Mike Huckabee referred to such settlers as “terrorists”, a word that US officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. “If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a...

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one off the coast of Kharg Island adjoining Iran’s major oil export hub. CENTCOM said the strikes were conducted after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles at a pair of US Navy ships. “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s...

Dozens of masked anti-immigration protesters blocked roads leading to Britain’s busiest ferry port on Saturday, clogging traffic and disrupting travellers and cargo vehicles heading for France. The government condemned the action, saying it went beyond peaceful protest. The Port of Dover said Saturday morning that all traffic in and out was “stopped due to an ongoing public order incident” and police said they were “engaging with the protesters”. Video posted on social media showed several dozen...

Commuters stranded; ⁠children rushed underground in the middle of the school day; festivals cancelled; walks punctuated by booming air defences. Near-constant drone attacks are the stark new reality in Kyiv, and daily life is likely to get harder. Kyiv has survived many traumas since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Despite the initial shock of war and the advent of attack drones and ballistic missiles, residents adapted and managed to impose a semblance of normality. But as a...

More than three decades after Germany’s 1990 reunification, lasting east-west divisions may be thrown into stark relief at Sunday’s election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win big and even hopes to take power at the state level, which would be a first for a far-right party in German post-war history. As much of the east has become an AfD stronghold, the government’s commissioner for eastern Germany,...

US envoys proposed a “number of ideas” on how to end the Ukraine war in “frank” talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv. US President Donald Trump’s business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe’s worst conflict since Word War II. Their visit to Moscow comes after the war – which has killed...

Weeks before President Javier Milei visits France, scrutiny has grown around an Argentina-run university residence in Paris supposed to promote peaceful coexistence but which activists say instead restricts lodger freedoms and hosts European far-right figures. Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House, one of dozens of homes run by foreign nations or French institutions on an international campus in the French capital. The Cite Universitaire campus, or...

At least two people were killed and dozens injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the ‌Bolivian municipality of Viacha, about 30km (20 miles) from La Paz, Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said. His ministry said in a statement that 14 people were missing. The blast occurred at around 2.30pm in an area used to ⁠store pyrotechnic material, authorities said. While the cause has yet to ‌be established, officials said the blast originated from the defence ministry’s...

Tetris said on Friday that it did not give permission for the White House to use the game’s iconic imagery for a controversial online arcade that the Trump administration released on Thursday. “The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall and did not authorise or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game,” Tetris said in a statement. “We are currently reviewing the matter,” the statement continued. A block-stacking game called Build the Wall included...

One by one, Tesla Model Y Ls roll out of the company’s end-of-line inspection bays, gleaming in black, white and gold. They are a mix of left-hand and right-hand drive – one of many signs the electric vehicles (EVs) produced here are destined for ports around the world. The company touts a total assembly time of less than 40 seconds at its sprawling Gigafactory in Lingang, a coastal area on the far southeastern edge of Shanghai. From there, Tesla says, a finished car can reach the port and be...

A judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three young children. The mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved and allows prosecutors to take the 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse to trial again. Neither Clancy, her family nor the jury showed any emotion as the judge announced the mistrial. The deliberations...

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the US voted against it and six other states abstained. The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of...

President Donald Trump intensified pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, threatening to cut off trade with certain economies with which the US has a deficit if the central bank does not act. Trump issued his demands on Friday in a lengthy social media post after a stronger-than-expected August jobs report, which could bolster the case for Fed officials to raise rates at their next policy meeting starting September 15. In his post, the president exhorted his hand-picked Fed...

Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed on Friday on a model for “return hubs” in non-EU nations and hope to begin sending migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, an official said. The announcement, made after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, is the latest development in an effort by EU states to send people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc. “We are moving forward towards what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common...

The US job market rebounded in August as employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.1 per cent. The jobs report, issued by the Labour Department on Friday, could be good news for President Donald Trump two months before midterm elections in which the health of the economy is weighing on voters’ minds. Hiring far exceeded the 65,000 forecasters had expected, according to a poll by FactSet. Labour Department revisions also looked good, adding 55,000 to June...

This summer, David Chen, a Chinese national living in Japan, got an unexpected lesson in global industrial supply chains – delivered through a bag of potato chips. When popular Japanese snack brand Calbee replaced its signature colourful packaging with monochrome designs, Chen initially assumed it was a marketing gimmick. “Then news reports explained the switch stemmed from a naphtha supply crunch. I even looked up the word,” Chen said. Naphtha, a flammable liquid processed from crude oil, might...

When China’s trade with Latin America reached a record US$518.4 billion in 2024, it marked a fundamental shift in hemispheric economics. Beijing is now the largest bilateral creditor and second largest trading partner of Latin America and the Caribbean, with President Xi Jinping pledging a new credit line of 66 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion) at the 2025 China-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) forum. Chinese investment has evolved from extractive industries towards clean...

Britain’s populist Reform UK said two senior advisers to leader Nigel Farage stepped down on Friday after an undercover investigation alleged the party had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling. Reform denied any wrongdoing and said it had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by climate activists. The governing Labour Party wrote to the police asking them to investigate possible criminal offences, including an alleged proposal to channel a larger...

US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run - an updated version of the game Snake - features a digital version of US border tsar Tom Homan...

Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic’s body arrived in Serbia on Thursday, where it was received with military honours. The casket, draped in the Serbian flag, was carried from the plane by six soldiers after arriving from The Hague, accompanied by Mladic’s son Darko and Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic. The body was then driven from the airport under police escort, reportedly to a Belgrade military hospital. Mladic died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and...

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. Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a...

Argentine President Javier Milei escalated his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands on Thursday, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising US President Donald Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty. Milei cast Trump’s comments as proof that his close relationship with the US president – criticised by political opponents as overly deferential – was paying dividends. “The...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance said that the United States ⁠was investigating a deadly strike on an Iranian wedding earlier this week that an analysis published by Reuters showed likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition. An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target, according to an analysis on Thursday by weapons experts who reviewed images and video verified by...

France is facing pressure to consent to the International Court of Justice taking up a decades-old territorial feud with Vanuatu, after Paris firmly reasserted its sovereignty over two strategically vital Pacific islands. Vanuatu filed an application with the UN’s top court earlier this week seeking recognition of its claim over the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter islands. However, the case cannot proceed without French consent, prompting Vanuatu to warn it would seek a UN General Assembly...

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to let it enforce a new US Postal Service rule tightening the use of mail-in ballots, moving swiftly after a judge temporarily blocked the regulation ahead of November’s midterm elections. In an emergency request, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to lift Boston-based US District ‌Judge Indira Talwani’s order temporarily preventing the USPS from enforcing the new rule, which it adopted following an executive...

Former Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno and a former Chinese ambassador to Quito asked the country’s highest court on Thursday to spare them the five-year sentences handed down last week over a US$76 million bribery scheme. Moreno was convicted of bribery by a three-judge panel of the National Court of Justice over contracts for Ecuador’s largest hydroelectric project secured by a Chinese state contractor. The judges found unanimously that he had used his position as vice-president, held from...

A single juror in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is preventing the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict, her lawyer said in court on Thursday, after deliberations stretched into a sixth day over whether to convict the Massachusetts woman of killing her three young children. Defence lawyer Kevin ‌Reddington made that statement shortly after the jury sent Judge William Sullivan in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a note that prompted him to reinstruct jurors on what would constitute “reasonable...

The filing puts the legality of the president’s push to impose limits on mail voting squarely before the justices even as states begin sending out ballots.

The state has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 2010. But Chris Pappas, the likely Democratic nominee, anticipates a tough race against a well-known opponent, John E. Sununu.

The authorities are charging the man, who they said did not draw his weapons, with misdemeanor assault.

During an anti-Muslim diatribe, the former mayor called for Mr. Mamdani to skip the ceremonies. The mayor has said he is going.

Secret military audits reveal a military procurement system riddled with mismanagement. In 2024 alone, Ukraine lost $1.2 billion to fraud and waste.

The documents amount to an autopsy of the weapons-contracting process.

The U.S. military is helping oil get out of the Persian Gulf on tankers, but Iran is still attacking the ships and scaring operators away.

Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was up about 1 percent as trading resumed on Sunday, while the national average price of gas was nearly $4.15 a gallon.

Alberta produces 40 percent of Canada’s honey. This year, rain and President Trump’s trade war have combined to threaten the industry.

As Route 66 turns 100, tourists in search of Americana try to keep war, inflation and politics in the rearview.

The fight reflects a larger American phenomenon: Churchgoers increasingly want decisions to be made at the local level, not by a national denomination.

Two police shootings last week underscored the challenge police officers face in confronting emotionally disturbed people who are violent or threatening violence.

A hot meat pie from any roadside bakery is a staple on a long Australian road trip, but what does it take to be crowned a winner?

“Furious,” the new police procedural on Hulu, turns out to be the perfect thriller for a post-Epstein world.

I realized that in this country Indians were not supposed to be happy or to pursue happiness. We were supposed to suffer and to pursue suffering.

A year after a longtime staff member was killed at the celebrated dance center in Western Massachusetts, the recovery continues.