Minimalist News

Israeli Finance Minister Requests Netanyahu Approve Three Jewish Settlements In Gaza Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday repeated his call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve the establishment of three Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, as senior Israeli ministers continue to speak openly about their plans for permanent Israeli control of the Palestinian territory. Smotrich made the call in a post on X, in which he referenced the withdrawal of settlements from Gaza and from an area of the northern West Bank, which he calls "northern Samaria," a policy known

SpaceX In "Final Stages" Of Securing New Massive Rocket Launch Site In Louisiana Several Louisiana media outlets report that Elon Musk's SpaceX is in the " final stages " of securing approximately 130,000 acres on Pecan Island for a massive new spaceport to launch rockets into orbit. The Times-Picayune reports a source with knowledge about the deal said SpaceX is poised to take control of roughly 130,000 acres at Pecan Island - more specifically, the coastal Vermilion Parish - as part of a settlement resolving long-running coastal lawsuits against ExxonMobil. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the agreement this

Capital One Cites Anti-Money Laundering Review Over Trump Organization Debanking Claims Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times , Capital One asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, part of the Trump Organization, claiming that the bank's 2021 debanking of hundreds of Trump-linked accounts followed an internal anti-money laundering review and not the political discrimination the plaintiffs allege. President Donald Trump prepares to board Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., on Aug. 2, 2026. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images In a motion to dismiss filed on July 31 in

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" Crushes Woke Odyssey Film At Box Office Hollywood pulled out all the stops for "The Odyssey" - They relied heavily on director Christopher Nolan's built-in and generally pretentious audience to drive early box office revenues. The hype machine was running non-stop for months before the release. The distributor's focused heavily on IMAX ticket sales, which cost more than double a normal theater ticket. They attempted to hide the woke content of the film from the public for as long as possible (an ancient Greek epic with no Greeks, featuring black, Asian, Hispanic and trans actors with

The Pentagon's Hidden Housing Scandal: Outsourcing Duty Of Care Authored by Jay Rogers via RealClearDefense , Sen. Jon Ossoff released a report on July 8 documenting lead exposure in a newborn, mold-related emergency room visits, and a cockroach infestation living inside a family's oven, all in privatized military housing at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart. Read it and you'd think it was written in 2022. It wasn't. That's the scandal: the Pentagon outsourced a duty of care to private landlords and never enforced the contracts meant to keep it intact. I've spent thirty years in institutional investment management and now

The Kospi Made South Korean President Lee Jae Myung; It May Yet Unmake Him... There is a particular cruelty in the timing. When the Kospi began its final, cratering descent in late July, President Lee Jae Myung was roughly 11,000 miles away , midway through an 11-day diplomatic tour of South America, watching from hotel suites as the index he had made the totem of his presidency collapsed. His finance minister apologized to lawmakers. The heads of both financial regulators cancelled their holidays as retail i nvestors laid funeral wreaths at the gates of the National Assembly in Yeouido. Near

"I No Longer Trust Anyone..." Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org, Sad, but true. Since the Covid fiasco, I’ve seen the true nature of people - or at least the nature they were willing to show once the fear got turned up and the herd started moving. Most of them are still firmly under the sheep banner, content to graze wherever they’re told. A small handful stand under the “critical thinker” banner. Those are the ones I still trust. The sheepies? I don’t trust them anymore. Did I ever, really? I thought I did, back when I was younger and

Children's Hospitals To Begin Offering Restorative Care For Detransitioners Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times , When Texas Children's Hospital's "detransition clinic" opens in Houston, it will become the first facility of its kind, giving patients who regret life-altering procedures a chance at restorative care . Illustration by The Epoch Times, Zereshk/CC BY-SA 3.0 The facility, which has yet to announce an opening date, is part of an agreement with state and federal authorities to halt "gender-affirming care" at children's hospitals while offering help to those who transitioned medically. A 10-page settlement term sheet, recently obtained by

China's AI Knife Fight: DeepSeek's New Model Runs 100x Cheaper Than Anthropic's Flagship The price of artificial intelligence just printed a new low. DeepSeek's V4-Flash, officially released Friday, costs roughly three cents to run through a standard battery of benchmark tests , according to San Francisco research firm Artificial Analysis . Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 costs 86 cents ; OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol, $1.86 ; and Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, the industry's top-scoring model, $3.15 . In realized terms, the Chinese model is more than 100 times cheaper to run than the American flagship, according to Reuters . Sarah Rogers /

'They Are United': California Democrats Move Forward With 5% Billionaire Tax In a development that will stun absolutely no one, the California Democratic Party's roughly 380-member executive board gathered at a waterside Sheraton in San Diego this weekend and voted to endorse Proposition 40 - a "one-time" 5% levy on the net worth of the state's roughly 200 billionaires - clearing the 60% supermajority required for the party's official blessing, three months before voters render judgment on November 3. A large banner is seen at a campaign event for a proposed "billionaire tax" in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 2026.

Trump Says Iran Faces 'Decapitation' If It Doesn't Sign A 'Good' Deal Summary Trump says Iran faces 'decapitation' if it doesn't agree to a deal. Trump says Gulf allies halted planned US strikes in favor of diplomacy. Iran says Hormuz talks with Oman are progressing , but US actions remain the obstacle. Oil prices still falling on optimism over Hormuz negotiations & uptick in transit. Tehran is betting it can outlast Trump by raising the costs of confrontation. Will the U.S. invade Iran before 2027? Yes 21% · No 80% View full market & trade on Polymarket * * *

Louisiana AG Announces Investigation Into Fauci Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , Officials in three states are investigating or plan to investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci following the release of his diary and his refusal to answer questions during a Senate hearing. Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in Washington on July 29, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times "Fauci lied," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill wrote on X on Aug. 1. "Louisiana and

ID To Buy Gov't Bread & Milk, But Not To Vote: This Is Mamdani's Socialist NYC Utopia So far, in Zohran Mamdani's socialist utopia in New York City, it can take multiple forms of identification to shovel snow and, if his proposal is implemented, potentially to shop at government-run grocery stores. Yet New Yorkers still do not have to present voter identification during elections, and the hypocrisy is just off the charts, as this only highlights an inconsistency in the state's approach to identification requirements: ID Required : Shovel snow ID Required : Buy milk and bread at a gov't-run

Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Surpasses Daily Alcohol Consumption Among US Adults Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness, Daily or near-daily marijuana use has surpassed daily alcohol consumption in the United States, reaching 20.9 million to 21.4 million daily users compared to roughly 17.2 million daily or frequent alcohol drinkers. Fox News reports that new data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health , from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), reveals that daily marijuana users outnumber the the 19.9 million people who smoke cigarettes and the 17.2 million who consume alcohol. While

Zelensky: We Seek To End War By Winter Through Escalation On Military, Diplomatic Fronts Ukraine is openly advancing plans to escalate militarily against Russia, in hopes that it will force a return to diplomacy, and hasten an end to the war by winter time . President Volodymyr Zelensky has made clear he aims to ramp up diplomatic, economic, and military pressure on Moscow , while acknowledging that a short timeline is ideal but likely very difficult to achieve. via Reuters Speaking Monday at a gathering of Ukrainian ambassadors in the capital, Zelensky identified autumn 2026 as the target window. "We

Everybody Knows Authored by James Howard Kunstler, “I underestimated how emotionally committed much of the press is to rallying around Anthony Fauci. His reputation is more important to them than anything. . .” - Matt Taibbi The baleful afterburn of Dr. Fauci’s one-sentence testimony (“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer. . . .”) seeps over the land like some ghastly pestilence now. You couldn’t have seen a more vivid demonstration of manifest evil than the master bureaucratic grifter formerly self-styled as “The Science” stonewall his way through that fateful reckoning in Sen. Rand Paul’s committee hearing

'Cycles Line Up Like They Did Before 1929': Charles Nenner Warns Of "Very Big Downturn" In Stocks' Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com , Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner is usually way ahead of market moves. When nobody wanted silver ($29), he was buying it. When everyone wanted silver a few months ago ($120), he was selling it. So, what is Nenner seeing in the markets right now? Let’s start with the big surprise prediction coming in oil prices. Lots of people say oil is going higher, a lot higher. There are plenty of predictions of oil breaking over

Murders In The US Set To Hit 126-Year-Low Following Illegal Immigrant Deportations: DHS Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, Crime rates have fallen to “historic lows” across the United States, with homicides this year on track to register the lowest level in at least 126 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the first half of 2026, homicides were down 18 percent compared to the first half of last year, DHS said in a July 31 statement. Carjacking crimes tumbled 47 percent during this period, motor vehicle thefts fell 20 percent, robberies dropped 17 percent,

VC Money Floods Into US Nuclear Startups As AI Power Demand Explodes Authored by Haley Zaremba via OilPrice.com, Global VC funding for nuclear fission and fusion startups has already topped $4.5 billion across 81 companies in 2026, on pace to beat 2025's $6.2 billion record. Big Tech figures including Sam Altman and Bill Gates are pouring money into fusion to keep up with AI's ballooning electricity demand. Critics warn the startup boom is skipping voluntary safety guardrails and pulling attention from proven large-scale reactor technology. Venture capitalists are taking a major interest in nuclear energy start ups. Funding is surging

After Blockbuster IPO, China's Memory Giant CXMT Plans Second Chip Plant In Beijing CXMT, China's largest chipmaker by output and certainly by market value thanks to its blowout IPO pricing one week ago, which saw its stock surge more than 7x from its offering price of 8.66 yuan per share, is considering building a second memory-chip plant in Beijing ​and is in financing talks with a tech manufacturing hub backed by the local government, Reuters reported citing source familiar. The move ‌comes as CXMT, which is currently the world's 4th largest maker of DRAM memory but has ambitions to become

Soaring temperatures continue to sweep parts of Europe, while Okinawa faces powerful winds and storm surges Europe live – latest updates Unbearable, record-breaking heat has dominated the summer of 2026 across much of Europe. New records were set in central Europe last week, with Wieselburg in Austria registering a new July peak of 40.3C (104.5F). This is particularly significant as it is just 0.2C behind the all-time high, set in the August of 2003. However, not all of the northern hemisphere has experienced extreme heat and aridity. Vancouver recorded its wettest July since 2016 and the third wettest since 2008,

Aircraft crashes into field after departing from nearby city of Pisco, according to local authorities Police in Peru report that 13 people, among them foreign tourists, have been killed in a plane crash in southern Peru, near the Nazca Lines. Local authorities in Nazca confirmed that 11 tourists and two pilots died when the Cessna Grand Caravan crashed in Pueblo Viejo, approximately 4 miles (6km) from the city of Nazca and roughly 12km from the Nazca Lines site. Continue reading...

Injectable PrEP drug holds promise but investment in HIV prevention has declined dramatically worldwide Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email New innovations in HIV prevention could dramatically reduce the number of new HIV cases around the globe, but US foreign aid cuts will mean that those that most need the new medication will be unable to access it, according to experts at the Aids 2026 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil . One year ago, the World Health Organization recommended that governments around the world prioritize expanded access to lenacapavir, an injectable version of the HIV prevention

Data shows Canadians have replaced US vacations with other international trips in apparent rebuke to Trump Canadians spent $3.3bn less on travel to the US in 2025 than in the previous year, as Donald Trump’s hostile policies towards his northern neighbour continue to incur an economic cost, new government data shows. The research also indicates that Canadians are not bucking travel overall and instead have replaced US vacations with other international destinations, in a rebuke to Trump’s tariff regime and the president’s continued musings on annexing Canada. Continue reading...

Three years after Maui wildfires many still struggle with ‘biological, emotional and social consequences’, study says A spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, has incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come. The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian

Most of the zoo’s 16 lions have struggled to cope with high humidity this summer Three lions from a Tokyo zoo have died from suspected heatstroke and others are undergoing treatment, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the big cats struggle in Japan’s high levels of humidity. Japan sweltered through its hottest summer on record last year and parts of the country have hit 40C in recent weeks, qualifying for the new “cruelly hot day” designation . Continue reading...

Large tabby cat that wiped out dozens of rare pāteke, or brown teal, has been killed after eluding trappers with its ‘very erratic’ behaviour A notorious feral cat given the name “Nine Lives” because it eluded trappers for three years has been caught and killed in New Zealand, ending its devastating rampage against one of the country’s rare duck populations. The cat, a large grey tabby, is estimated to have killed dozens of New Zealand’s rarest mainland duck – or 1% of its population – plus a host of kiwi chicks, native geckos and other native wildlife during the three

Prime minister Sanae Takaichi visited Kumamoto prefecture almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 quake hit, killing 38 people Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has visited the south-western prefecture of Kumamoto, where recovery efforts are being hampered by heat and a lack of water supplies, almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed dozens and caused widespread damage. Thirty-eight people died during the quake , including one person who died of apparent heatstroke while taking shelter in a car in hot weather, officials said on Monday. Continue reading...

Pacific nation is latest country to signal a shift away from its colonial past with return to its traditional name The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language. The country’s international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero. Continue reading...

US and Japanese governments confirm they carried out a rare joint intervention late last week Why has Trump stepped in to prop up Japan’s currency? Business live – latest updates The yen has hit its highest level in three months after Japan and the US launched a combined operation to support the Japanese currency. The yen strengthened to ¥155 to the US dollar on Monday, its highest level since early May, after Tokyo and Washington confirmed they had carried out a rare joint currency intervention late last week. Continue reading...

Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Murray Watt , the federal environment minister, was asked earlier about former rugby league star Luke Bateman’s testimony before a parliamentary inquiry on gambling reform. Bateman alleged betting company promoters supplied him with cocaine and alcohol, also alleging he attended private Gold Coast events hosted by gambling firms where senior figures took illegal drugs with clients. We all feel for him and the circumstances that he went through. And for anyone to be offering illegal drugs as an inducement or for any other reason

Former 2UE and 2GB radio broadcaster is facing 22 charges. Jones, 85, has pleaded not guilty Warning: This live blog may contain graphic content when discussing evidence in the trial Jones allegedly gifted cash and car to teenager he kissed after commenting on sprinter’s penis, trial hears Analysis: Jones argues ‘rivalry’ and ‘treachery’ but after decades wielding the sword of public opinion, he’s the one on trial Complainant J has spoken about a second visit to Alan Jones’s Fitzroy Falls property, where no alleged assault occurred. He told the court that before this visit he had done “whatever I could

NSW shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, tells inquiry Jean-Claude Perrottet had a talent for recruiting A senior New South Wales Liberal says the younger brother of former Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet had a “talent” for recruiting and renewing new members to the party, a corruption inquiry has heard. On Tuesday, Damien Tudehope, the NSW shadow attorney general and Liberal leader in the upper house, gave evidence as part of the Independent Commission Against Corruption ’s (Icac) Operation Rosny, where he was also asked about a 2018 message in which his former staffer Jean-Claude Perrottet wrote to other Reformers that “Scott

Montgomery died in a single-vehicle crash in Sydney just one day after completing his latest fundraising cycling trip with his teenage grandson Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Bob Montgomery, a charity cyclist who has just finished a 5,200km bike ride from Broome to Bowral, died on Monday at the age of 82. His family confirmed his death on social media, saying he had died unexpectedly just a day after completing the cycling feat alongside his grandson, Tom, as a fundraiser for motor neurone disease.

Winter flu season is putting pressure on the health system, with medical staff bracing for the ‘worst three weeks of the year’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Sick patients in New South Wales have been told to avoid the emergency room unless their life is at risk after a record day for winter presentations put the hospital system under strain. The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, said just under 10,000 people presented to emergency departments in Sydney on Monday, the “biggest ever

Campaigners say people who have had cancer face discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insurance German politicians who have survived cancer have spearheaded proposals to protect people long in remission from what they call rampant discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insurance. The policy known as “the right to be forgotten” (RTBF) is a central demand of a community estimated to number 5.5 million people in Germany: former cancer patients who have been given a clean bill of health by their doctors. Continue reading...

Farmers warn impact of high temperatures, drought and wildfires on range of foodstuffs means costs will increase Farmers across Europe are warning of a slump in food production and rising prices as crops from maize to salads suffer as a result of extreme heat, drought and wildfires. Olive groves have also been hit as the climate crisis drives temperatures across the continent to fresh record highs , meaning the cost of olive oil – already at elevated levels – is expected to start rising again. Continue reading...

Seven people, including three children, dead after ‘drone debris’ strike beach in seaside town, says Russian taskforce Ukrainian drone attacks on a Black Sea resort and the annexed Crimea peninsula killed 11 people, Russian officials said, after blaming Ukraine for another explosion that killed five people in a Moscow restaurant. Seven people, including three children, were killed when “drone debris” struck a beach in the seaside town of Arkhipo-Osipovka, the crisis taskforce for Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said on social media. Continue reading...

Police are focusing on Elisabeth-Jane Ross’s final hours in hope of discovering motive for her killing Greek authorities are investigating what may have motivated a 26-year-old Afghan man to kill a Scottish charity worker found dead in a suitcase in an abandoned building in Athens last month. Inquiries have focused increasingly on Elisabeth-Jane Ross’s last few hours alive and police believe they hold the key to revealing why the 38-year-old was targeted. Continue reading...

Boris Nadezhdin, who gained prominence after standing against Putin in 2024, says he is now in France The prominent Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has fled to Paris as Moscow tightens its grip on dissent before parliamentary elections later this year. Nadezhdin, a veteran liberal politician, gained international prominence during Russia’s 2024 presidential election when his long-shot campaign against Vladimir Putin unexpectedly gathered momentum before electoral authorities barred him from running . Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. Sign up for the US Breaking News email On Tuesday, we’ll bring you the latest from Michigan where voters will head to the polls for competitive primaries in Senate and House races. The most closely watched competition is the Democratic primary for the US Senate, where congresswoman Haley Stevens is up against former public health official Abdul El-Sayed . They’re vying to ultimately win the seat of outgoing senator Gary Peters in November. The race has now turned into a proxy battle for the future of the Democratic party. Establishment-backed Stevens has received support

This live blog is now closed. People walk near a billboard depicting Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street in Tehran, Iran, earlier today. Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days amid threats from the Iran-aligned Houthis , Reuters reports. Continue reading...

US president expects negotiations to begin in next day or two but Iran says it is not reviving talks with Washington New talks between Washington and Tehran are the “last chance” for Iran to forge a deal and avoid an escalation of US strikes on the country, Donald Trump said on Monday. Trump said he expected negotiations to begin in the next day or two to reopen the strait of Hormuz and create a pathway for Iran to address the US’s concerns about its nuclear programme. Continue reading...

US president reduced to bemoaning Tehran’s ‘unbelievable duplicity’ as he struggles to find solid negotiating ground The Donald Trump doctrine has always contained a tenuous relationship with the truth. It was his mentor, the infamous New York lawyer Roy Cohn , who taught the young real estate mogul always to claim victory and never to admit defeat. Unfortunately for Trump, in Iran the US president has found a counterpart just as stubborn as himself. As Trump claims new negotiations are to begin with Tehran this week, Iran has shown it can also reignite the conflict by lobbing ballistic missiles at

After visits by US ambassador Mike Huckabee to the nearby Israeli settlement of Shilo, Palestinian Americans in Turmus Ayya have witnessed a terrifying rise in attacks No man’s land in Turmus Ayya lies where the US flags end and the Israeli flags begin. It is a few hundred metres of soil scorched by molotov cocktails where Israeli settlers have placed a boulder to tell the Palestinian villagers: this is our land now. On one side of that boulder are the white-stoned mansions where the Palestinian residents of Turmus Ayya live. About 80% of them are US citizens, members of the

Meeting follows years of questions over wellbeing of detained former leader, who was ousted by coup in 2021 Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the aid organisation has confirmed. The meeting on Monday ⁠followed years of questions over the wellbeing of the 81-year-old , whose whereabouts and health condition have been largely unknown since the elected civilian government she led was ousted by a military coup in February 2021. Continue reading...

Other members of expedition led by world-renowned climber on Broad Peak also died, climbing company says A world-renowned Nepali mountaineer and former UK Special Forces member has died after being among 11 climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. Nirmal Purja was killed leading an expedition of 10 other people on the world’s 12th-highest mountain when an avalanche struck at around noon on Thursday. Continue reading...

António Guterres says strengthening El Niño will help push the world’s climate crisis into ‘uncharted territory’ India’s monsoon is in danger and hotter, drier conditions are forecast across much of the world as a stronger El Niño weather system is taking hold, weather experts have warned. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the strengthening El Niño was “adding fuel to a planet already on fire” and pushing the world into “uncharted territory”. Continue reading...

Rescuers say four bodies found in search for team caught in Broad Peak avalanche, after trackers showed rapid descent The world-renowned Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja – a former British special forces member – is among 11 climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. The Alpine Club of Pakistan said “seven climbers have been spotted via aerial drone footage” adding that “their identities and condition cannot yet be verified”. Continue reading...

Local civil rights group alleges authorities removed evidence of killings amid communications blackout At least 30 people are alleged to have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the past two days as part of what has been claimed is a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed the disputed region for weeks. According to a local civil society group, Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, killing 25 people on Monday and five more on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lender was told money was being taken without authorisation, with cash used to buy credits for Claude chatbot A Metro Bank customer has told of his fight to get more than £14,000 back after its systems failed to stop a fraud involving the AI chatbot Claude. Zoli Rutter, a businessman from Sussex, had a total of £14,244 taken from his bank account. The scam involved fraudsters buying credits to use Claude. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: A small chorus of right-leaning critics are trying to convince politicians that climate action is deeply unpopular, downplaying its seriousness in the process Good morning. Half of England and all of Wales are officially in drought, wildfires have burned through parts of the Cairngorms, Suffolk and the Isle of Wight, and reservoirs are running low . Farmers have warned that there could soon be food shortages, and the Royal Horticultural Society is considering moving its hydrangeas to cope with the heat. Many people are now asking a question rarely associated with British summertime: when will it rain?

Campaigners decry Angela Rayner’s backing for Brick Lane project that has only 11 affordable homes A £500m redevelopment of the Truman Brewery estate in Brick Lane, east London, has been approved, clearing the way for the construction of a datacentre, offices and apartments despite opposition from Tower Hamlets council and local campaign groups. The housing secretary, Angela Rayner, made the decision in a letter issued on her behalf last week by the housing minister Matthew Pennycook, rejecting demands from the council and campaigners for for the site to be used for hundreds of homes instead. Continue reading...

Findings prompt calls for review of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence criteria Young women in England who later develop breast cancer are not being referred for early tests or preventive treatment because current guidelines used by GPs miss 95% of patients, research suggests. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) criteria used to decide who should be referred by family doctors for further breast cancer risk assessment and specialist care is failing to spot the vast majority of women under 50 who will go on to develop the disease in the next 10 years, according to

Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene A plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level, the Guardian can reveal. The Environment Agency (EA) is considering taking legal action against Huntsman Polyurethanes in Teesside for a potential breach of licence, which is a criminal offence. Continue reading...

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, was arrested in New Jersey in June, and died after a ‘medical emergency’, agency said An immigrant being held at a New Jersey ICE detention center died on 1 August, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday . Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, is the 22nd person to die in ICE custody this year, according to agency data . Lopez-Cornejo, who is originally from El Salvador and first came to the US in 2006, was arrested by ICE agents in Plainfield, New Jersey, on 18 June and sent to Delaney Hall detention facility to await deportation. Less

Residents and farmers say contractors have tapped border aquifers that threaten water supply for those nearby Construction crews building a border wall in New Mexico were ordered to stop drilling new wells after ranchers said that pumping groundwater to produce concrete could threaten their livestock amid a severe drought. The order comes as crews across the southern border race to complete one of Donald Trump’s highest domestic priorities – barriers that span four states and received over $46bn in federal funding. Controversies have sprouted up in Texas and California, and border-town residents and environmentalists have reported a wide variety of

Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback calls failure to pay Briana Whatley money owed ‘an oversight’ A far-right Republican candidate in Florida’s governor’s race has been accused of stiffing a high school debate champion over the better part of $11,000 in scholarship money she won from a company he founded. Student Briana Whatley landed the awards as regional and national champion of Incubate Debate, a league-style competition set up by the candidate, James Fishback, to encourage youth to engage in political discourse. Continue reading...

Democrats say agreement – which clears way for Blanche’s confirmation – makes promises president can easily reverse A compromise between Todd Blanche and two Republican senators that potentially cleared the way for Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general is weak, Democrats and several experts said, as it makes promises Donald Trump can easily reverse. Blanche, the acting attorney general, posted two documents on Sunday evening showing he was withdrawing an 18 May order allowing for the creation of a $1.8bn weaponization fund and clarifying that broad tax immunity the justice department granted to Trump only applied retroactively to the president, his

Shares soar as yearly revenue up 93%, even as opposition grows to company’s role in Trump immigration agenda In a sea of companies reporting mixed financial results this quarter, Palantir stands out. Although Palantir was not immune to the AI jitters that caused industry-wide drops in share prices earlier this year, the AI and analytics company reported that its overall revenue grew 93% year over year to $1.94bn. That’s well over the $1.8bn Wall Street expected Palantir to bring in for the second quarter. The glowing financials sparked a 10% surge in share prices in the immediate aftermath. Despite growing

United Nations rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect the Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has been repeatedly warned by the Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life. In a letter to the Canadian government dated June 3, and made public two months later, as per regular procedure, the five UN experts raised “concerning allegations of foreign intimidation and reprisals” against Singh, a Canadian national. It recalled that since 2022, Singh has...

A group of 25 Democratic-led US states sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, arguing that the president’s latest round of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, like most of his earlier sweeping tariffs, exceeds his legal authority to tax imports. The states’ lawsuit filed in the US ‌Court of International Trade in New York follows previous challenges by small US businesses, which sued to block the tariffs on the day they went into effect last month. States and small...

President Volodymyr ⁠Zelensky dismissed Ukraine’s ⁠ambassador to the ⁠United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a presidential decree published on Monday. Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had ‌been expected for several weeks. Her departure coincides with a shake-up in recent weeks of top officials, including the replacement of the prime minister and defence minister. A reshuffle of Ukraine’s diplomatic and ambassadorial appointments is also expected. Stefanishyna,...

Colombian prosecutors are investigating allegations that executives of a Chinese state-owned contractor building the Bogota metro demanded cash from a local subcontractor in exchange for releasing payments owed for work on the project, according to an investigation published over the weekend by Semana, the country’s leading news magazine. The consortium building the line has denied any wrongdoing, saying the money seen changing hands was a retention payment agreed upon between the two firms in a...

Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the US related to the microscopic parasite. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by the intestinal illness and dehydration. The department said it would not provide additional information about the deaths. Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes...

The government in Madrid has rejected allegations that it ignored warnings from the CNI intelligence service about a mass arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa. It said on Monday that no intelligence reports had been received warning of a migration crisis on this scale. Meanwhile, efforts to accommodate and repatriate the remaining migrants, as well as the search for further fatalities, are continuing in Ceuta. According to the Ministry of the...

The hard-right Reform UK party unveiled plans on Monday for, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The proposal – which experts and other political parties promptly rubbished – comes days after tens of thousands of migrants entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, reigniting Europe’s debate over irregular migration. “What happened in Ceuta over the weekend shows you just...

Jay ⁠Clayton was sworn in on Monday as ⁠the US director of national intelligence after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing in which he refused to directly acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. He takes on ‌a role that was vacated in June when Tulsi Gabbard stepped down after a tenure marked by clashes with congressional Democrats, who accused her of advancing Trump’s political agenda and promoting debunked election claims. “The safety and security of...

The US has signed a more than US$3 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to ramp up production of Patriot and ‌THAAD interceptor missile parts, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain stockpiles. The deal, announced by the Pentagon and Northrop on Monday, follows last week’s announcement of a contract for Lockheed worth up to US$58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. The United States has supplied large amounts of arms to ⁠allies while also using munitions in the...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. 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 On June 24, the United States imposed a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 economies, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union member states, hours before a temporary 10 per cent blanket levy...

A British man who kept his mother’s ⁠body in ⁠a freezer for nearly ⁠three years while he received almost £80,000 (US$108,000) of her welfare benefits was jailed on Monday. Christopher Phillips, 60, had admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of his 89-year-old mother Sylvia Phillips after ‌she died in March 2023 until his arrest at their home in Porthcawl, south Wales, in February this year. Phillips also pleaded guilty to fraud after he received about £78,000 in benefits and pension...

With the US-Israel war on Iran entering its sixth month, Chinese policymakers have a multitude of questions weighing on their minds, with two proving particularly thorny according to a prominent economist: how much longer the conflict might last, and whether it will necessitate adjustments to previous plans. While the continuing impact on China might remain “small”, said Mao Zhenhua – co-director of Renmin University’s Institute of Economic Research and a professor at the University of Hong...

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world at extraordinary speed. It is reshaping manufacturing, finance, healthcare, education, scientific research and even the way governments make decisions. While AI advances at an unprecedented pace, one fundamental question has come to the fore: how to govern intelligence in an interconnected yet increasingly fragmented world? The question came into sharper focus after Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered the opening address at the World AI...

Only days ago, the Japanese yen’s descent showed no signs of stopping, having already dropped to a 40-year low. But by Monday morning – after a rare intervention on the currency’s behalf by Tokyo and Washington – it surged as high as 155.23 per US dollar, its strongest level since early May, according to Chinese financial data provider Wind. The joint action took on an extra layer of intrigue after a Reuters photograph revealed that a “to-do” list from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during...

Cuba’s power grid failed on Sunday, causing another nationwide blackout, a state utility said in a social media post. As the lights suddenly turned off across Havana, residents who were sat outside to get some respite from the summer heat audibly groaned en masse. Cuba has been suffering rolling power cuts due to ageing equipment and a US energy embargo that halted regular deliveries of fuel for power stations. State-run UNE said there was a “total disconnection” of the national electricity...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. From property to portfolios: why Chinese families are walking away from homes While Chinese families grow cautious, South Korean retail investors use record leverage to chase tech ETFs despite mounting risks. 2. Chinese pilot who landed safely after cabin leak given first-class merit award Chinese...

Chinese officials tend to report only good news and bury bad news for propaganda purposes and career advancement. That is why it came as a genuine surprise when, on July 22, Zhang Enhui, the party chief of Changchun, an industrial powerhouse known for its automobile sector and technological research, publicly broke with that tradition. He warned of “unprecedented difficulties and challenges” facing the city’s economy. The remark was apparently swiftly scrubbed from the city government’s website,...

Firefighters worked to contain huge blazes in the northwestern US city of Spokane early Monday after officials reported hundreds of structures had been reduced to cinders. Around 60,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as wildfires threaten the city in Washington state, local officials said, adding the fires had destroyed 600 buildings, including homes and businesses. Three separate fires broke out in and around the city. The National Weather Service (NWS) had warned of “extremely critical...

US President Donald Trump said that new negotiations with Iran would begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on striking the Islamic republic to pursue a deal to end the war entering its sixth month. Trump told reporters on Sunday that the talks would cover the Strait of Hormuz – a route for global energy supplies that has become a key sticking point in the conflict – and ultimately, the denuclearisation of Iran. For its part, Iran said it was nearing a deal with Oman over a new route...

Venezuela’s imprisoned former leader Nicolas Maduro on Sunday welcomed “any path to dialogue”, ahead of a US-backed meeting in the coming week between representatives of the Latin American country’s interim government and opposition leaders. The leftist Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured in a US military raid in January and are being held in a New York detention centre awaiting trial on charges related to drug and firearms trafficking. They have pleaded not guilty. “We welcome any...

Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled his support for a written constitution for the UK, which unlike most countries, does not have one authoritative document. Since entering office just two weeks ago, the former mayor of Greater Manchester has made devolution of power to regional authorities a focus of his administration. “In the end, I think it does start to point towards a new constitutional settlement,” Burnham said of his devolution plans. Calling for a “new clear set of...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, said on Sunday he was “in great shape” as he launched his candidacy for October elections, with pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration looming over the campaign. A titan of the Latin American left, Lula is seeking a fourth and final term in office in a campaign casting him as a safe pair of hands in turbulent times and a bulwark against the global rise of the far-right. While no one mentioned Trump by name at the Workers’ Party...

Greek police on Sunday said they had arrested a suspect in their investigation into the death of a British woman whose body was found in a suitcase in Athens last month. The police in a statement said they had arrested a 26-year-old man, identified in media reports as an Afghan national, adding that he had “confessed his actions”. “Officers of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime have solved the homicide of a 38-year-old UK national, whose body was found inside a suitcase in an...

The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said. The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday. More than 50,000 ‌people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders with Africa,...

Greece’s fire department says the collision of two firefighting helicopters battling a major wildfire burning out of control west of Athens on Sunday left two crew members dead, while another two were recovered alive. The fire department said the dead crew members were one Greek and one Danish national, while the two who were recovered alive were one Greek and one British national. Foreign firefighting and helicopter crews are often deployed in Greece to help tackle wildfires during the...

Israeli air strikes hit Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 18 Palestinians, medics said, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s ceasefire agreement. From dawn, Israeli warplanes hit Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern area of Khan Younis, causing the biggest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials. Trump’s assertion on Thursday that...

Hungary is fully shutting down its sole nuclear power plant for the first time due to the record low levels of the Danube River, straining energy supplies and posing a major test for the economy and new Prime Minister Péter Magyar. One of the two reactors still operating at the Paks plant was shut down early on Sunday, with the final one powering down later in the day, according to Magyar. He cited the progressively lower water levels, which are causing a shortage of water for cooling at the...

Ukraine attacked multiple regions of Russia on Sunday, killing at least nine people, while Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least five, according to officials in both countries. Some of the strikes hit hundreds of kilometres from the front line, according to authorities. Both Moscow and Kyiv have upped attacks on each other in recent months, as US-led talks aimed at ending the conflict remain largely frozen. Kyiv, which denies targeting civilians, says the strikes are fair retaliation for...

US President Donald Trump in a Saturday evening social media post claimed that Middle Eastern allies had reached the parameters of a deal to end the Iran war and said that he would hold off on ordering new strikes in the five-month-old conflict for now. Trump added that the emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”. “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the...

US President Donald Trump knows the world hangs on his every word. Now he wants you to pay for it. The social media posts of the world’s most powerful man went on sale on Saturday, when his Truth Social business began offering sneak peeks of them to Wall Street traders willing to pay up. The move raises the prospect of big profits for Trump’s company and big questions about insider trading and using public office for private gain. Similar fast speed feeds are sold by other social media firms and...

Three people were killed and seven more were injured, some critically, in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in southern Idaho on Saturday afternoon, a Twin Falls city spokesman said. Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Twin Falls city public information officer Josh Palmer said. He did not know if the suspect was included in the fatality count. Officials were still working on notifying the family members of victims...

Iran warned this weekend against any “adventurous action” by the US and said it would retaliate decisively if American forces follow through on US President Donald Trump’s threats of fresh attacks on Iranian targets. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments in separate phone calls on Saturday with senior Turkish, Pakistani and Saudi officials came just ‌hours after Kuwait’s army said it destroyed hostile drones launched by Iran against several vital facilities. Speaking to Pakistan’s...

Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for playing Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on The Sopranos, has died. He was 80. Bob McGowan, who had managed Pastore since his run on The Sopranos, told Associated Press that he learned of his death on Saturday from another client and actor on the show, Vincent Curatola. He said Pastore had been found in his home on New York’s City Island after not being heard from for a few days. McGowan said he had been...

At least 13 people died when a small plane carrying tourists to view Peru’s famed Nazca Lines archaeological site crashed, police said on Saturday. “We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died,” Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters from the crash site in the country’s south. The incident happened just after 1pm local time after the plane took off from the airport in Pisco, located about 240km (150 miles) south of the capital Lima. “Given the severity of the...

US President ⁠Donald Trump posted on Saturday ⁠that he disagrees with his ⁠own Justice Department’s findings that a flawed installation, not vandalism, caused the lining of the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington to peel. “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of ‌Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.” In a court...

A home-made bomb carried by a woman killed at least three people and injured 21 ‌near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, authorities said, amid unconfirmed speculation on social media that the attack may have been linked to the war in Ukraine. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said an unidentified woman carrying an improvised explosive device had tried to get into the restaurant but had been stopped by a security ⁠guard. NAK said the woman, the guard and...

A truck bomb exploded on Saturday near a Colombian police station not far from the Venezuelan border, wounding 14 people just days before president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella takes office. The government in Bogota blamed rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest active guerrilla group, for the early-morning blast in the northern city of Cucuta. Eleven police officers and three civilians were hurt in the incident, according to the latest official toll. Agence...

The White House has used a song by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, a well-known opponent of US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, as music for a video about operations by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The clip, which shows arrests of migrants, drew criticism on social media and can now only be viewed on TikTok without the music of the song “La MuDANZA” (The Move) from the album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (I should have taken more photos). It is unclear whether the missing...

The Israeli military said on Saturday that it killed several Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon and that an Israeli soldier was injured there despite a ceasefire. The military said it identified several Hezbollah fighters overnight inside what Israel has labelled a “security zone” in southern Lebanon which its forces occupy. “Following the identification, the soldiers struck the terrorists and eliminated them in order to remove the threat,” the military said in a statement. Israeli forces “will...

US embassies in capitals across the Middle East on Saturday warned American citizens to beware of an “unforeseen escalation” in the regional conflict and urged them to be ready to leave. The warning, posted online by US embassies in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates came a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran “very hard”. Iran and the United States have been at war since February 28. A period of calm...

A man has been killed and three people seriously injured after a severe storm struck the Saxon Switzerland region in the eastern German state of Saxony, police said on Friday. There were no reports of missing people, said a spokesman for the Dresden Emergency Services Control Centre. According to the control centre, a 38-year-old man lost his life near the Felsenbühne open-air theatre in Rathen when a falling tree struck him. Ten other people were injured, according to the centre, and 40 people...

Sweden has introduced tougher penalties for gang-related offences, allowing courts to impose prison sentences up to twice as long as before, as the country cracks down on organised crime. Under the new law, which took effect on Saturday, gang members convicted of certain offences can face sentences up to double the previous maximum. For example, a gang member caught carrying a firearm previously faced a maximum prison term of four years but can now receive up to eight years, according to Swedish...

The United ⁠Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) ⁠said on Saturday it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman, including one in which a tanker was struck by ‌an unknown projectile. In the first incident, a tanker was hit about 11 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s Lima. The vessel reported it was “struck by an unknown projectile which has caused damage to the engine room” and leaving it ⁠not under command, the UKTMO said. There were no reported ‌casualties nor environmental...

France and Italy bolstered border controls on Saturday after about 60,000 people crossed into Spain’s enclave in North Africa, sparking one of the largest migrant crises for the European Union in recent years. The migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco, the enclave’s regional president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters, but by Friday evening, officials said more than 48,000 had returned. To cross into Ceuta, many swam around a small border barrier that juts out into the Mediterranean. At least 34...

Russian attacks on Kyiv and its suburbs killed 10 people early Saturday, officials said, as Ukrainian drones sank a huge Russian container ship in the Black Sea. The exchange in attacks come after the United Nations found June was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine since April 2022. Russia has stepped up long-range strikes ⁠on ⁠the capital in recent months, while Ukraine ‌is chronically short of air defences capable of ‌downing ballistic ‌missiles, which travel at ‌several times the...

A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.

Our politics reporter Kellen Browning went to the Democratic Socialists of America’s national summit in Chicago to learn more about the group’s new platform.

Unable to unite behind a single candidate in Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District, moderate Democrats worry that they’ve complicated their chances in a key November battleground.

The legacy of Lindsey Graham loomed over the field to replace him in a debate Monday. All eyes were on his sister, Darline, who was endorsed by President Trump.

A knife-wielding masked man. A pig’s head outside his parents’ door. Running 30 marathons in 35 days. The Cambridge professor Jason Arday, accused of plagiarism, says he’s been through it all. Not everyone believes him.

The mayor of Newark identified the dead man as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo. The New Jersey center has been the focus of intense scrutiny for its treatment of detainees.

A plane with 147 Venezuelans landed on Monday in the South American country amid criticism over the deaths of deportees housed in a collapsed building during June’s quakes.

While the ruling dealt a blow to New York’s efforts to rein in ICE, a ban on formal cooperation with local police officers will move forward.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his son, and Senator Rand Paul have all written books criticizing Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. All were published by a company led by a close Kennedy adviser.

Andy Burnham’s social media push appears to be resonating with some voters. But he faces big decisions about how to pay for his promises.

Despite the scale of the damage, there have been no reported fatalities in the fires that started over the weekend. Late on Monday, officials arrested a man suspected of setting one of the fires.

A wave of protests is posing the most significant challenge in years to Islamabad’s authority in the region.

As the country holds its final greyhound race, the government has committed to finding homes for dogs and supporting people whose livelihoods depended on racing.

From $130 dinners to expensive cocktails and even exorbitant movie tickets, a crushing economy in New York City is creating a fresh barrier to love.

Nicaragua shows what happens when even dictators fear a rigged election.

The A.I. revolution is stalling because companies don’t want to admit that integrating the technology is expensive and slow and requires human effort.

“I’m not saying that they’re out of ideas, but the best option they came up with was pinning the war on Dr. Fauci,” Jimmy Fallon said.

After promising to learn from its role in a failed “Super League” that fueled fan anger, the Wall Street bank is involved in FIFA’s latest meltdown.