Minimalist News

The NYT Sat On The Rape Allegations Against Platner Last Month Graham Platner's Senate campaign is imploding after Politico published a detailed account on Monday from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Democrat from Maine, who accuses the progressive darling of rape. Donors are heading for the exits, Democrats are withdrawing endorsements, and calling for Platner to drop out. But there's another scandal hiding in plain sight, and it involves the New York Times , which published an exposé last month featuring three women who dated Platner, who had each accused him of domestic abuse. Racicot also appeared in the New York

Federal Appeals Court Rules Sex Offenders Have Constitutional Right To Live With Their Children Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, A federal appeals court ruled July 6 that convicted sex offenders retain a fundamental constitutional right to live with their own children. The new ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit arises out of an Alabama case but could help reshape strict sex offender residency laws in the other two states in the circuit—Florida and Georgia—and serve as persuasive authority elsewhere. At the heart of the case is the constitutional doctrine of substantive due

The View's Sunny Hostin Says American Flags Make Her Feel 'Unsafe' Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com, The View’s preternaturally ignorant and repulsive Sunny Hostin recently stated: There are times when I walk into a community and I see American flags all over the community and I suddenly feel unsafe because there's a section of this country that has coopted the American flag and they equate being an American or an American flag with white supremacy and that should never be the symbol of white supremacy, but they have weaponized [it]. No, Sunny, you have equated the American flag with

Beijing Weighs Restricting Foreign Access To China's Top AI Models Up until now, the politicization of AI models generally ran in one direction with US "frontier" LLM providers such as Anthropic and ChatGPT complaining consistently that Chinese open-sourced models were "distilling" (i.e. reverse-engineering) their products. And whether true or not, China has certainly been able to catch up dramatically to the US, with China's latest open-model, GLM 5.2, viewed as just barely behind the latest comparable US offerings , while the average gap between US and Chinese models has shrunk to almost nothing. As complaints on both sides have become

Key Dems Pull Out After Platner Campaign Rocked By Sexual Assault Allegations Update: That didn't take long... key democrats including Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Rep. Ro Khanna have pulled their endorsements of Platner following the allegations, according to Fox News ' Bill Melugin. BREAKING: Sen. Gallego (D-AZ) withdraws his Platner endorsement shortly after Rep. Khanna (D-CA) does the same. The dam is breaking. https://t.co/4T5JEmc5kx — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 6, 2026 "These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement," Khanna wrote on X. I’ve been very clear

"I-Beams Bending Like Cigarettes": Former Pfizer HQ Tower In Midtown At Risk Of Collapse Dramatic video from inside the former Pfizer headquarters tower in Midtown Manhattan shows large I-beams buckling, and officials are warning of a possible collapse. The 33-story high-rise at 235 East 42nd Street is undergoing a major office-to-residential conversion, one of the largest projects of its kind in the New York City metro area. WATCH: New York City's biggest office-to-residential conversion just hit an unexpected obstacle. Buckling columns and falling bricks forced an evacuation at the former Pfizer headquarters. pic.twitter.com/anXDOmBSfw — The Real Deal (@trdny) July 7,

Stellar 3Y Auction Stops Through Even As Yields Hit 1 Month High With yields blowing out today as they followed the sharp increase in oil prices after Iran struck no less than 3 ships crossing the Hormuz Strait (with a Trump response sure to follow), we doubt there was much focus on today's 3Y auction. Which is unfortunate because despite the selloff in the secondary market, the auction itself was quite solid. The sale of $58BN in 3 Year paper, the week's first coupon auction, priced at a high yield of 4.179%, down modestly from 4.192% in June which was

'Apex Of Civilizational Ambition': Wall Street Bulls Pile In On SpaceX, Raymond James Street-High $800 Target A flurry of Wall Street analysts is turning incredibly bullish on SpaceX, with 12-month price targets ranging from Raymond James' $800 to Arete Research's $401 and Morgan Stanley's $300. The average price target across 34 analysts tracked by Bloomberg now sits at around $236, implying massive upside from current levels of about $150 and reinforcing the view that analysts are beginning to value SpaceX less as a rocket company and more as a foundational AI, satellite broadband, and next-generation infrastructure company. Raymond James is

1 Year Inflation Expectations Jump To 3 Year High In Latest NY Fed Consumer Survey Inflation as measured by the CPI may have peaked, but Americans’ expectations for inflation over the near and medium term rose notably in June according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey released Tuesday, with strong increases anticipated for medical care costs and rent, Consumers now see inflation at 3.7% over the next year, up from 3.5% in May, the highest since September 2023. Expectations for inflation in three years increased to 3.3%, the highest since June 2022, up from 3.1%, while estimates

Meet The New Democratic Party: Socialists Say The Quiet Part Out Loud, Want To "Destroy America From Within" The Democratic Socialists of America are quickly gaining power within the Democratic Party, winning a string of high-profile House primary races in recent weeks. After wins in New York and Colorado, DSA organizers are shifting resources toward Michigan and Wisconsin, where Abdul El-Sayed is running in a highly contested Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, and DSA-backed Francesca Hong is seeking the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor. 🚨 Francesca Hong, leading Democratic Socialist in the Wisconsin governor’s race: “Police exist to uphold white

Tonight: How Aalo Atomics Just "Made History" Tonight on the ZH homepage, Erik Townsend of Macro Voices will host a special livestream with the founders (CEO and CTO) of nuclear energy company Aalo Atomics: Matt Loszak and Yasir Arafat. This will be part of an ongoing series diving into the emerging nuclear energy technologies, to feature heads of the cutting edge startups and some technical and philisophical debates about where the industry needs to head in order to solve the world's energy needs. The following is from Erik Townsend's Substack (full post) which gives a look into the significance of

Hours After Biggest Drone Blitz On Moscow In Two Years, Zelensky Turns Up Heat At NATO Ukraine's President Zelensky is in Ankara for the annual NATO summit, trying to bring the pressure on the alliance to step up more defense backing amid the grinding war with Russia, which has increasingly turned into a 'battle of the skies' . Over 430 Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding region overnight, soon after which Zelensky appeared on the NATO stage Tuesday, urging allies to prioritize the production of anti-ballistic missile systems . Already Britain has said it plans to lead the way

Welcome To Realpolitik, Which Will Be Co-Hosting Every World Cup From Now On By Michael Every of Rabobank It's easy to talk of the 'collapse of the rules-based order', but for most people it's too abstract to impact on their day-to-day lives. Then the US president --who claims he didn't know what a red card was-- calls up the head of FIFA to ask if the US World Cup team's leading scorer Balogun can have one suspended to play the round of 16 game vs Belgium - and it is. That prompted outrage from Belgium, UEFA, and billions of football

Farage Resigns As MP To Force 'People Vs. The Establishment' By-Election Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's Reform UK party, said Tuesday he is resigning as the member of Parliament for Clacton to trigger a by-election in the Essex constituency, which he intends to contest as the party's candidate. Farage, who won the seat in the 2024 general election, cast the upcoming vote as a direct challenge to political and media elites . " This will be a people vs. the establishment by-election ," he said in a statement. "A chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment." I

DeepSeek Developing In-House AI Chip In Bid To Cut Nvidia Reliance DeepSeek is developing its own artificial intelligence chip, a move that could reduce its reliance on both US-based Nvidia and China-based Huawei. Leading model developers are increasingly seeking to control more of their compute stacks, particularly for inference, as AI models move from training labs into the mass market. DeepSeek is the latest company to pursue this strategy by developing a new in-house inference chip, Reuters reports. If successful, this effort would mark a major shift for the Chinese AI chatbot company and add new pressure on Nvidia's long-term

Ukrainian Drone Swarm Attack Hits Eight Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tankers Beyond Ukraine's increasing kamikaze drone attacks on key Russian energy infrastructure, which appear to be fueling a domestic fuel crisis , Kyiv has now widened the pressure campaign of drone swarm attacks on Russia's shadow fleet of tankers. Reuters cites a statement from Ukraine's drone forces that said a swarm of loitering munitions struck eight Russian shadow fleet tankers with a deadweight of around 7,000 tons in the Sea of Azov. The drone swarm attack came a day after Ukraine's special forces hit two other shadow-fleet tankers in the same

Alleged Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber Not Covered By Trump's Blanket Pardon: Judge Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, The man accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington prior to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, is not covered by President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for individuals convicted of crimes over their participation in the Capitol breach, a federal judge ruled on Monday. Suspect Brian Cole Jr. had requested that all his charges, including transporting explosives, malicious attempt to use explosives, attempt to use weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism, be dismissed because Trump’s day-one pardon covered his conduct.

Monaco Bombing Attack Suspect Shot Dead In Ukraine, Intelligence Officer In Custody The saga of the Monaco package bomb attack carried out last week against an exiled Ukrainian oligarch just got even wilder and more mysterious, as the prime suspect has been found shot dead near Kiev. The Guardian reports that "Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case , including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer." Anastasiia Berezovska The gunshot

French Bond Yields Rise After Le Pen Cleared To Run In 2027 Presidential Election Marine Le Pen can enter the race to become France's next president after judges confirmed her embezzlement conviction on appeal but handed her a reprieve on an election ban . Presiding Judge Michèle Agi confirmed Le Pen’s conviction, saying that she and several others at the National Rally party misused European Union funds earmarked to pay for aides . But the appellate judges reduced her ban to 15 months, thus paving the way for her to lead her party into the next election. “The court found

Futures Fall, Chipmakers Tumble After Samsung Rout; Oil Climbs Stocks fell as freash volatility hit chipmakers after blowout earnings from Samsung Electronics were still not good enough (the company missed some buyside estimates) and left investors wanting even more, and sent its stock tumbling as much as 11%, forcing another 20 minute halt of the Kospi. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures were down 0.2% and Nasdaq futures fall 1%, with chip stocks sliding in premarket trading (both Micron and Sandisk dropped more than 5%), following a tech led selloff in Asia, while SpaceX is joining the index today, potentially

Celeste Amarilla could face charges after French Football Federation complains about social media posts over World Cup match Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into the racist attack on Kylian Mbappé by a Paraguayan senator, with officials weighing whether to demand that the senator be charged with aggravated public insult or incitement to hatred or violence. The Paris prosecutor’s office told the Guardian on Tuesday it had launched the inquiry after the French Football Federation (FFF) filed a complaint with the national unit for combating online hate. Continue reading...

Impoverished island was already struggling to keep the lights on before the US imposed a blockade in January Cuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, the state electricity company said. The impoverished island was already struggling to keep the lights on before the US president, Donald Trump, imposed an oil blockade in January, which has depleted the already dwindling supply of fuel for Cuba’s power plants. Continue reading...

TKMS beats South Korean rival to multibillion-dollar contract that will deepen Canada’s Nato ties Canada has selected a German consortium to build a dozen cutting-edge submarines in one of the country’s largest-ever defence contracts that will further deepen its Nato ties before a crucial summit this week. On Monday the prime minister, Mark Carney, announced the winner of a tightly contested battle for the lucrative government contract to replace its fleet of ageing, secondhand subs, most of which are undergoing maintenance. Continue reading...

Arrival of endangered cats, including rare white cub, revitalises team straining under fuel and medicine shortages For the Cuban zookeeper Ángel Cordero, the sight of four Bengal ⁠tiger cubs playing in a cage at the Cuban national zoo is a small miracle on an island stifled by shortages ⁠of fuel, medicine and ⁠days-long power outages. The ​birth of these endangered big cats – including an exceedingly rare white tiger – has revitalised a team of zoo workers, he said. Continue reading...

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

Meanwhile leaders from Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea to join Albanese at State of Origin decider. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast All regional train services paused in Victoria due to radio network fault All of Victoria’s regional train services have been suspended due to a fault in the radio network. Due to a radio network fault affecting the network, services are currently unable to operate … Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible. It is completely inappropriate that, on a week especially, where we are talking about

Chinese leader Xi Jinping calls for ‘all out’ rescue effort as death toll rises and 16 people ⁠remain buried after a ⁠landslide in the country’s west The death toll from devastating storms in parts of China rose to 15 on Tuesday, with hundreds more injured and tens of thousands evacuated, state media reported, as the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, urged “all out” efforts to rescue people affected by the weather. Thunderstorms and gale-force winds killed at least 11 people and injured 331 in the central province of Hubei, where “severe convective weather” hit cities, while tornadoes were reported elsewhere late

Solomon Islands prime minister says he doesn’t want to see more countries testing ICBMs in Pacific, adding ‘be our friend but don’t threaten us’ Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has said China’s weapons test in the Pacific risks fuelling dangerous nuclear proliferation, with the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fired on Monday capable of causing “considerable damage” if weaponised. International condemnation has grown overnight after China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that a “strategic missile carrying a dummy warhead” had been launched from a “strategic nuclear submarine of the navy”. Continue reading...

Tropical storm causes extreme flooding in south of the country with heavy rainfall expected in coming days A tropical storm has killed two people, caused dam breaches and forced tens of thousands to evacuate in southern China. Typhoon Maysak killed two people in Nanning, in China’s southern Guangxi province. Maysak, which lashed Vietnam and China’s southern island province of Hainan over the weekend, will dump the water it sucked up on its way ⁠across the South China Sea as it weakens and heads inland, meteorologists say. Continue reading...

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

De-escalation of war in the Middle East has lowered oil prices and eased fears of economic downturn but households are still feeling the pinch Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Fears of a recession have fallen away, with economists saying Australia is set to safely navigate the biggest global oil supply shock in history even as they warn of substandard growth in the year ahead. The de-escalation of the Middle East conflict has been accompanied by a major retreat in global oil prices back to

Amnesty International says Albanese has opportunity to ‘reaffirm mutual commitment’ to rule of law as thousands in diaspora expected at stadium event Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Australia in three years has sparked calls for the federal government to raise human rights concerns, as excitement builds within the nation’s Indian diaspora. Modi’s visit begins on Wednesday evening and marks his third since becoming prime minister. It will see him return to Melbourne after more than

Concrete-based cricket pitches, like that on which Nathan Fitzgerald received fatal blows to the head, are ‘totally unsafe’, concussion advocate says Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia must finally deal with a deadly risk that has plagued its native football code for more than 120 years, sports safety advocates say, after the death of a suburban Aussie rules footballer. Nathan Fitzgerald, a 27-year-old school teacher, died in a Melbourne hospital on Monday after a horror accident on Saturday in which it is believed the

Lachie Perrem suffered life-threatening injuries after the explosion on Thursday destroyed his share house in Brabham Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Perth man has spent five days fighting for his life after a robot vacuum cleaner explosion set fire to his home. Lachie Perrem, aged in his 20s, was taken to hospital on Thursday with life-threatening burns from a blaze that left his fiancee and housemates without their home. Continue reading...

Sally Dowling admits her office pitched the story but says it was not authorised by her, while her colleagues call her ‘a person of integrity’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A New South Wales parliamentary committee report has made findings accusing the state’s top prosecutor of giving false evidence under oath to an inquiry and recommended the attorney general investigate whether there are grounds to remove her from office. But the state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, has called the report a “stitch-up from the

President also threatens to pull all American troops from Europe and rails against Nato stance on Iran war Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back. Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara on Tuesday, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy. Continue reading...

French far-right leader announces decision after court orders her to wear ankle tag over embezzlement The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has announced she will run for the presidency in 2027 and will lodge an appeal to France’s highest court over her sentence to wear an electronic ankle tag for the embezzlement of European parliament funds. “Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election,” Le Pen, 57, told TF1 television on Tuesday night. Continue reading...

Far-right leader gives TV interview saying that she will appeal against part of today’s ruling which cast doubt on a presidential run The opening speeches are now under way in Ankara, and you can watch them below. This is the Day 1 industry event, not the leaders’ summit, mind you. Continue reading...

A look at the case, the appeal court decision and how it could affect the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron Marine Le Pen has said she will be a candidate in France’s presidential race next year, after a court ruling on her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement of public funds allowed her to run. However, the path ahead is far from straightforward. Continue reading...

Péter Magyar hails ‘end of propaganda broadcasts’ as Kossuth radio and M1 TV channels suspend transmission Hungarian public media outlets close to Viktor Orbán have suspended broadcasting, the country’s prime minister said as he hailed efforts to dismantle the longtime nationalist leader’s control over information. Péter Magyar, who ousted Orbán in a landslide election victory in April, wrote on Facebook: “A historic day. Today marks the end of propaganda broadcasts on public media platforms. They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied on every wavelength. That is now over.” Continue reading...

US Central Command says Tehran in ‘clear violation’ of ceasefire with ‘unwarranted’ ​attacks on commercial ships The US military launched ⁠a ⁠series of “powerful” ​strikes against Iran, it announced on Tuesday night, in response to what ‌it said were “unwarranted, dangerous” Iranian ​attacks on three commercial vessels in the strait ​of ​Hormuz. In a statement on social media, US Central Command accused Tehran of a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement between US and Iran, which was signed last month. Continue reading...

Blasts did not interrupt French president’s visit but are setback for Syrian leaders’ attempt to project stability Explosions rocked Damascus near the hotel where French president, Emmanuel Macron, was staying on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people, Syrian authorities said. Macron was in the presidential palace for a meeting with the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, when two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons hotel where Macron was reported to be staying. Continue reading...

Border police officer under investigation after CCTV footage shows him shouting at car’s occupants and throwing device Israeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage showed a border police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car carrying young Palestinians during a raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The footage from Sunday, released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, shows an officer approaching a car and shouting at its occupants. Continue reading...

Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron sent nearly £200,000 to school in Hebron – where Israel has been accused of imposing apartheid – between 2019 and 2024 A British charity is funding a religious school at the heart of expansion plans for the illegal Israeli settlement in the Palestinian city of Hebron. Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron sent nearly £200,000 to the school between 2019 and 2024, the last year for which accounts are publicly available on the website of the Charity Commission, the charity regulator for England and Wales. Continue reading...

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

Thousands of women are killed in dowry disputes each year, despite the practice being banned in 1961 Dowry deaths in India no longer provoke the public anger they once did, despite thousands of women’s lives still being lost every year, according to new research. The killings – women who are murdered or driven to suicide following dowry disputes between families – have also faded from political debate, despite an increase in cases. Continue reading...

Victims with cuts and gunshot injuries rushed to hospital after fighting between prisoners from two drug gangs Clashes at a Sri Lankan jail have killed 26 people, including seven guards, and wounded more than 100 in the country’s deadliest prison riot in years, officials said. Victims with cuts and gunshot injuries were rushed to Negombo hospital, north of the capital Colombo after overnight fighting between prisoners from two drug gangs, police said on Monday. Continue reading...

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

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

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

Reform UK leader to quit as MP but stand again, saying the people of Clacton ‘should be the judges of my actions’ Q: Do you think the parliamentary commissioner for standards should investigate Nigel Farage’s gifts from George Cottrell? Badenoch said that was a matter for the commissioner. [Farage is] hinting at press regulation. For all of the criticism and the attacks, and I would even say abuse that I’ve got from the press, I’ve never once recommended curbing our free press. I think this is one of the amazing things about this country. I would be very worried about

High court dismisses claims by group including Duke of Sussex that Mail publisher used unlawful methods to source stories about them Prince Harry and six other prominent figures are facing a legal bill of up to £50m after losing their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail over claims it used unlawful methods to source stories. In an emphatic ruling that is likely to signal an end to new litigation relating to the phone-hacking scandal era, the high court dismissed all the group’s claims, stating that the claimants had not proved that any information had been obtained unlawfully. Continue

Harry claimed victory in two earlier legal actions but he and his co-claimants lost their lawsuit against ANL on Tuesday Prince Harry and others could face £50m legal bill after losing phone-hacking lawsuit The Duke of Sussex has variously described his long-running legal battles with certain sections of the British media as a “mission” and a “life’s work”. “I’ve been told that slaying dragons will get you burned,” was his defiant response when he claimed victory against Mirror Group Newspapers in December 2023 over historic allegations of unlawful information gathering, adding it was a “worthwhile price to pay”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Latest Guardian revelation about gift from cryptocurrency tycoon comes as Reform UK leader forces byelection The £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it may have been laundered money, the Guardian can reveal. The disclosure will put further pressure on the Reform UK leader, who is awaiting a decision by the standards commissioner over whether his failure to declare the money breached parliamentary rules. Continue reading...

Desks offering gift wrapping and bureau de change stations will be closed at dozens of stores nationwide John Lewis has put 200 jobs at risk as it plans to shut down desks operating gift wrapping and foreign exchange services. The 36-strong department store chain said it had begun a consultation on redundancies as it plans to close the desks that operate bureau de change services in 30 stores, and specialist gift wrapping in 25 stores. Continue reading...

Democrats could replace Platner on the ballot if he ends his campaign by 13 July; woman accuses him of removing condom without consent, Washington Post reports How could Democrats replace Graham Platner? Sign up for the Breaking News US email Donald Trump said he had a “very good talk” withVladimir Putin, ahead of arriving in Turkey. This comes amid a wave of recent Russian strikes across Ukraine that have killed at least 21 people . The US president said that he also spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Nato summit. Continue reading...

Utah county attorney’s office says evidence against Tyler James Robinson is sufficient for case to move to trial Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Utah prosecutors on Tuesday showed video from the day of Charlie Kirk’s killing that they said depicted suspect Tyler James Robinson entering the Utah Valley University campus and climbing on to a roof where they say he fired a fatal shot at the conservative commentator. The Utah county attorney’s office presented the evidence on the second day of a week-long preliminary hearing in which the state must prove to a state district judge

College freshman’s mother identified his body after he was reported missing following 4 July boat trip with friends On 4 July, Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and a group of friends went on a boat trip to Horn Island, a barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi Gulf coast. Wells’s friends all returned back home that evening, but Wells did not, prompting his mother to report him missing and ask for help on social media, triggering a two-day search that caught national attention. That search came to an end on Monday, when a body was

Experts say the critical reservoir system is careening toward a breaking point as the US west’s climate warms and dries Lake Powell, the US’s second-largest reservoir, threatens to plunge to unprecedentedly low levels this year after a historically bleak snowpack failed to raise its water level, scientists and water experts have said, adding renewed urgency to stalled talks over how to conserve a water source depended on by tens of millions of people in the US south-west. The 185-mile Colorado River reservoir currently stands at about 22% of its capacity, or roughly 5.6m acre-feet. Lake Powell fell below that level

Ron DeSantis’s Stop Woke Act suffers another legal setback, with the state accused of ‘puppeteering’ Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis ’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education. In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and

The state of Utah has revoked the licence of a boarding school where socialite Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, saying the school has “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients”. The state’s action, which took effect on Monday, cites multiple non-compliance issues against Provo Canyon School’s campus in Springville. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the Department of Health & Human Services. The wide-ranging citations, which go back to...

A lawsuit claims the Trump administration is unlawfully giving confidential personal information to Iran about Iranians who applied for asylum to avoid “grave danger” in their native country. The US is sharing private data with the Iranian government about asylum applicants including pro-democracy protesters as well as members of religious minorities and the LGBTQ community, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Washington. Asylum seekers allegedly face deportation back to Iran, where the...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says he will quit as a lawmaker and seek re-election to clear his name over financial allegations linked to millions of dollars’ worth of donations. “I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money,” Farage, a prominent ally of US President Donald Trump, said in a broadcast statement that did not take questions. Farage faces a probe by parliament’s standards watchdog over a £5 million (US$6.7 million) gift from...

Prince Harry’s final lawsuit aimed at taming the British tabloids ended in defeat on Tuesday as a judge found he failed to prove his privacy invasion claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail. Justice Matthew Nicklin rejected the broad inferences the Duke of Sussex had relied on to try to show that Associated Newspapers had engaged in unlawful activities. The judge said there was a realistic possibility the news came from legitimate sources. The ruling scuttles the lawsuits filed by Harry...

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen ⁠announced on Tuesday that she ⁠will run for president in 2027 after an appeal ⁠court shortened her ban on holding public office. Le Pen’s presidential hopes had been in limbo since March 2025, when she received a five-year electoral ban for using money from the European Parliament to pay wages for staff at her anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) party in France. On Tuesday, the Paris appeal court upheld Le Pen’s conviction for misusing European ‌Parliament...

The European Commission has been clearly signalling its intention to wage a trade war against China. Brussels’ intent to counter the so-called China shock 2.0 – the wave of subsidised Chinese exports such as electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels and batteries – is no longer merely a verbal threat but appears to be an imminent decision. Comparing current trade tensions between the European Union and China with the trade conflict between Europe and Japan in the 1970s and 1980s reveals striking...

Ukraine’s Security Service on Tuesday said it found the body of Ukrainian national Anastasiia Berezovska, who had been wanted by authorities in Monaco in connection with the bombing targeting Ukrainian business tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev. The security service, also known by its local abbreviation SBU, said an officer serving in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency confessed to killing Berezovska with the help of a former law enforcement officer. He claimed he acted on his own initiative and...

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led a business delegation to New Delhi for the 16th India-Japan annual summit. During last year’s summit in Tokyo, Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined the Japan-India Joint Vision for the next decade – during which period India may see up to 10 trillion yen (US$62 billion) in investment from Japan. Some of Japan’s most notable investments in India have been in the financial sector. Japanese...

Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France’s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least 18 people, Syria’s Interior Ministry said. It was the second blast to rock the capital in a few days, and a setback for the country’s new president as he welcomed his first visit from a western leader since ousting long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad. Syria’s new rulers have wrestled with outbreaks of violence as they work to assert control, but the capital has been...

⁠Democratic Party leaders on Monday called on Graham Platner to withdraw as their nominee to run against Republican US Senator Susan Collins of Maine, after media reports that a woman accused him of forcibly having sex with her nearly five years ago. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement: “The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the...

Cuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a US fuel blockade. The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on before US President Donald Trump in January cut off its oil supplies, depleting the dwindling supply of fuel for its power plants. Union Electrica (UNE), the state electricity company, announced a “total disconnection” to the entire island at midday,...

Singapore is the world’s most expensive city for luxury spending for a fourth consecutive year, as prices on items such as watches and jewellery surge around the globe. Zurich climbed to second place, edging out London, while Monaco entered the top three for the first time since the survey began in 2020, according to an annual report by Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer Group. Hong Kong and London rounded out the top five. Zurich’s three-place rise was propelled by the strengthening of the Swiss...

A third tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, British maritime security agency UKMTO reported on Tuesday, after Qatar blamed Iran for an attack on one of its ships. “UKMTO has received a report of a further incident involving a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The tanker was struck by an unknown Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and has sustained minor structural damage. No casualties or environmental impact reported,” it said in a post on social media. An “unknown...

The Furious, Hong Kong’s latest action flick, is crushing it on Rotten Tomatoes and has garnered critical acclaim abroad – proof of what human-centric filmmaking can still deliver in today’s market. But before we rush to hail the return of Hong Kong cinema, a new breed of drama factory is quietly generating content at a velocity no human team could ever match. In mainland China, micro dramas generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have turned the industry upside down. A production schedule...

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker and a male Syrian worker were killed when an Israeli drone targeted their car as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa. The Israeli military said on Monday that it identified...

Norway wants China to use its ⁠ties to the Russian ⁠leadership to help bring about ⁠a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine, also for the sake of better relations with Europe, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday. “China is probably the country with the ‌best and most direct access to the Russian leadership. We expect, hope and strongly urge China to use that channel,” he told reporters after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Oslo. The biggest chunk of their...

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. In this article, Sylvia Ma examines the numerous financial links between the two economies that make a true decoupling a difficult affair. On a landmark visit to Beijing in 1986, the New York Stock Exchange chairman at the time, John...

In a closely watched outcome, Canada on Monday chose a major German defence contractor over its South Korean competitor to build a US multibillion-dollar fleet of submarines, as mid-tier nations increasingly work together in the face of a less reliable United States. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Ottawa chose Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ (TKMS) package over Hanwha Ocean Company’s. The move was expected to strengthen ties between Canada and Nato, which is holding a two-day summit...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating his 80th birthday. He said the project would be privately funded and estimated its cost at up to US$6...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebooting Syria’s international credentials and seeking to revive his struggling country after toppling long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. “I have come to reaffirm France’s commitment to the Syrian people. To a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours,”...

With the integrity of Fifa and the World Cup under attack from European football leaders, Fifa President Gianni Infantino acknowledged taking a call from US President Donald Trump before US forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play against Belgium later on Monday. Balogun was issued a red card in the US match against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week, resulting in a suspension for the Belgium contest. Trump called Infantino after the match with Bosnia to plead his case to overturn the call and Fifa...

Nato cannot be “naive” about China’s military development, as the Indo-Pacific and European theatres are becoming “more intertwined”, evident in Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Nato’s secretary general has said. During a pre-summit press conference on Monday, a day before the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte responded to questions about a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine firing a test missile into the Pacific. Rutte said that Nato...

Prince Harry arrived in Britain on Monday for a five-day visit expected to go ahead mostly without his wife and children after they were reportedly refused police protection. Harry’s visit has been hit by several snags as plans for his family to accompany him fell through, his accommodation at Buckingham Palace was in disarray and a judgment in his latest legal battle against British tabloids loomed. The visit, to mark the one-year countdown to next year’s Invictus Games for wounded veterans,...

Comcast’s Sky has agreed to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain’s ITV for £1.6 billion (US$2.13 billion), creating a British champion to compete with global players YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Sky CEO Dana Strong said the deal, announced on Monday and confirming a Reuters story, was a “defining moment” in British broadcasting. The combination of Britain’s biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, home of the soap opera Coronation Street, and subscription...

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on Monday the dissolution of the body that has governed Gaza for nearly two decades, clearing the way for a technocratic committee to implement civilian rule. The move marks a significant political shift by Hamas, which has run Gaza since its fighters seized control from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 after winning legislative elections the previous year. Since a ceasefire took effect in Gaza last October between Hamas and Israel, the group...

For much of the post-Cold-War era, the European Union understood economic interdependence as a source of mutual prosperity. Open markets, free trade and multilateral rules were regarded not merely as economic principles but as the foundations of European normative influence. That assumption is rapidly giving way to a different logic. In an era of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, Brussels increasingly views trade, investment and technology as the power instruments of strategic competition. The...

Vast crowds gathered for the funeral procession of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday, with authorities estimating millions were on the streets in numbers that could rival those of his predecessor’s farewell nearly four decades ago. Authorities have yet to give an official turnout figure but huge numbers stretched along major boulevards in the Iranian capital. The ceremonies offer Iran an opportunity to project resilience after war with the United States and Israel,...

Hernan Gil was working his shift as a security guard in the basement of a building in Venezuela on the afternoon of June 24 when he felt the earth shake. The first tremor was short, Gil recounted in an interview from the hospital room where he was recovering after being rescued from the depths of a collapsed building. Gil became a symbol of hope for Venezuela after he survived eight days of being buried alive by the double earthquake that devastated the north of the Caribbean country, leaving...

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. Noted neurobiologist and ex-taekwondo captain Chih-Ying Su leaves US for China Celebrated neurobiologist Chih-Ying Su, who specialises in research on the sense of smell using fruit flies and mosquitoes, has left her position as faculty vice-chair at the University of California San Diego to join...

Russia hammered Kyiv with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 20 people, officials said, as shortages of US-made interceptors left the Ukrainian capital struggling to defend itself, just days after the deadliest attack this year. The heavy overnight bombardment came ahead of a ‌Nato summit in Turkey this week, where US President Donald Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a renewed push to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A building at risk of partial collapse prompted the city to restrict pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area. Some buses were diverted or delayed, but subway lines remained uninterrupted.

Progressives and moderates are gearing up for a fight over an as-yet-undecided process in Maine to name a Senate nominee to replace Graham Platner after a rape accusation. He still wants a say, too.

Mr. Sanders was one of the last remaining prominent allies of Graham Platner, the Maine Senate Democratic nominee, to call for him to drop out after a rape allegation.

Many voters said they expected Graham Platner, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, to exit the race after a former girlfriend publicly accused him of sexual assault.

The far-right leader’s battle with the French judiciary evokes standoffs across the populist world, including ones with President Trump and Nigel Farage.

An appeals court confirmed Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction, but shortened a ban on her eligibility for elected office. That means the French far-right leader can run for president in 2027.

The president’s call to the head of FIFA underscores that he has yet to find an area of American, or even global, life where he is unwilling to assert himself.

As the administration works to expand gun rights, hospitals and community groups have lost funding, and reports on preventing firearm injuries have vanished from government websites.

The agency said the man was an “illegal alien” who had tried to run over the agent, though no evidence was immediately offered.

The university has been in talks to resolve investigations into its admissions practices. The law school’s dean and some faculty have argued a deal could compromise its independence.

A lawsuit filed by Children’s Health Defense, an organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claims that vaccines caused the twins’ deaths. But a grand jury in Idaho has indicted her on charges of suffocating them.

Mr. Kirk’s assassination played out live on the internet, but since then, it has become fodder for fantasy.

As a once-grand American tradition enters its twilight, our critic journeys to the desert to find out what it all means.

By 2018, fentanyl overdoses in Estonia had plummeted. But powerful new drugs are appearing fast, with the authorities racing to respond.

On red carpets, on set, onstage and even up in space, they captured our attention with their looks.

The native plant movement gets a lot right, but there’s so much more to consider.

Mainstream party leaders can’t dodge a fight with their left.

The vice president’s theology comes in book form.

The California giant has helped turn a local, seasonal treat into a worldwide refrigerator staple and marketing juggernaut.