Minimalist News

Trump Warns Of 'Severe' Tariffs On Canadian Fertilizer If Needed Authored by Jennifer Cowan via The Epoch Times, U.S. President Donald Trump says he is considering “very severe” tariffs on fertilizer imports from Canada as the United States readies a $12 billion aid package for farmers grappling with the repercussions of the ongoing trade war. Trump mentioned the increased levy on Canada while responding to reporters’ questions at a Dec. 8 White House roundtable where he announced the tariff relief fund for U.S. farmers, who have been paying more for agricultural products like seed and fertilizer due to Trump’s global trade policies. “A lot

US Army Looks To Build Small Refineries For Critical Minerals By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com The U.S. Army will develop small-scale refineries to ensure domestic supply of critical minerals for defense and military purposes as the United States and the Western allies look to reduce their dependence on China.  “We need to come up with a way to ‌make our own (critical minerals) domestically that we can actually monitor and control within our borders,” Mark Mezger, a munitions procurement adviser for the U.S. Army, told Reuters.  The Army is currently developing a project with the Idaho National Laboratory and gold mining company Perpetua Resources

Tony Blair 'Dropped' From Trump's Gaza 'Board Of Peace' Via Middle East Eye Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is no longer being considered for a seat on a "board of peace" for Gaza chaired by US President Donald Trump. According to the Financial Times, Blair's name was dropped under pressure from several Arab and Muslim states. The status of the "board of peace" remains unclear and while the idea has received wide coverage, few details have emerged about it. One person in Blair's office who spoke with the FT said that only "serving world leaders" will be on the so-called board, and a smaller executive board will function under

Rich People, Poor Morals: Wealthy Are The Most Likely To Rip Off Self-Checkout Machines Rich people, poorer morals? A new LendingTree report claims the shoppers most likely to rip off the self-checkout machine aren’t the desperate — they’re the well-off, according to the NY Post. Americans making over $100,000 a year are twice as likely to steal at self-checkout compared to low-income shoppers. A hefty 40% of six-figure earners admitted they’ve deliberately skipped scanning an item, while just 17% of those making under $30,000 confessed to the same. The Post writes that middle-income households didn’t look much better: 27% of people earning between

Question Everything Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com, The average person in the First World receives far more information than he would if he lived in a Second or Third World country. In many countries of the world, the very idea of twenty-four hour television news coverage would be unthinkable, yet many Westerners feel that, without this constant input, they would be woefully uninformed. Not surprising, then, that the average First Worlder feels that he understands current events better than those elsewhere in the world. But, as in other things, quality and quantity are not the same. The average news programme features a commentator

Adam Schiff Laments Trump Wasn't Jailed Sooner As DOJ Turns On Him Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., lamented that the Biden administration did not move more quickly to incarcerate President Donald Trump, suggesting that even more aggressive action could have thwarted his 2024 electoral prospects.  Schiff, who himself is facing a federal investigation into allegations of mortgage fraud, claimed in an interview with the New Yorker Radio Hour that had former Attorney General Merrick Garland acted sooner, “we might be in a very different place today.”  Schiff’s remarks came after podcast host David Remnick asked, “Do you feel that Merrick Garland moved too slowly, too cautiously?”  The senator replied, “I absolutely do. Yeah.”  Remnick then asked why Garland acted “so slowly,” adding, “What about his

Goldman Reminds Clients Where Travel & Leisure Cracked First Ahead Of 2008 Crisis Goldman analysts led by Lizzie Dove examined how different segments within travel and leisure reacted to, and ultimately recovered from, the 2008-09 recession. Her analysis offers a valuable framework for identifying where consumer stress tends to appear first inside the travel space and whether today's warning signs in a K-shaped, bifurcated consumer landscape warrant closer scrutiny. Buried in the middle of Dove's note on the cruise industry is an infographic showing that the downturn in the cruise industry tends to be late-cycle, whereas pullbacks in gambling, airlines, and hotels typically materialize much

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Tosses Trump's Order Halting Wind Energy Projects Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on Dec. 8 vacated President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that halted federal permitting and leasing for wind energy projects, saying it violated U.S. law. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris of the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia, which argued that federal efforts to halt authorization for wind energy projects violated the Administrative Procedure Act because the agencies failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions. Trump’s

Zelensky Says 'Ready For Elections' After Trump Indicated He's An Obstacle To Peace Update(1435ET): Is this finally the end of the road for Zelensky? President Trump has really ramped up the pressure, in a fresh Politico interview signaling that the Ukrainian leader must begin to accept reality and make compromises, starting with holding elections. According to a fresh audio statement being circulated, Zelensky has newly responded by stating "I am ready for elections. I will be in Ukraine tomorrow and expect proposals from our partners and lawmakers on legal changes to allow elections during martial law," according to a translation. "Since this

Trump Threatens Tariff Increase On Mexico Over Rio Grande Water Dispute President Donald Trump weighed in on a decades-old border water dispute on Monday, saying he would impose a 5 percent tariff hike on Mexican imports if the country fails to swiftly deliver the water it owes from the Rio Grande. The ultimatum is designed to help struggling U.S. farmers, especially in Texas, amid alleged treaty violations over the past five years. In a post on social media, Trump underscored an alleged 800,000 acre-feet debt from the recently ended cycle, demanding the release of 200,000 acre-feet before Dec. 31 and additional volumes shortly

Harvard Hires Graduate Charged With Assaulting Israeli Classmate As Teaching Fellow Authored by Gabrielle Temaat via The College Fix, Harvard University recently hired a graduate of its Divinity School who was criminally charged with assaulting an Israeli classmate during an anti-Israel protest.  Elom Tettey-Tamaklo; Across the Divide/Youtube Elom Tettey-Tamaklo is now working as a teaching fellow at the school, earning a stipend of up to $11,000, according to The Washington Free Beacon.  Tettey-Tamaklo’s LinkedIn page states that he advises “faculty on curriculum design” and offers consultation “on complex subject matter by translating expertise in migration and refugee studies.” In October 2023, a video surfaced showing Tettey-Tamaklo confronting a first-year Israeli business student

Indoctrination Starts Early: New Book Tells 5-Year-Olds Abortion Is A 'Superpower' Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, In a brazen push to normalise the unthinkable, radical abortion activists are now targeting America’s youngest minds with a colorful children’s book that glorifies killing the unborn as some kind of heroic “superpower.” The extreme left are coming for the kids, framing abortion as destiny-shaping magic in a bid to “rewrite cultural scripts” and stomp out any resistance to their anti-life ideology. The book, titled Abortion Is Everything, is being peddled by the pro-abortion group Shout Your Abortion (SYA), set to ship in January 2026. Aimed squarely at

Solid 10Y Auction Sees Jump In Foreign Demand, Prices On The Screws After a solid, but tailing, 3Y auction to start the FOMC week yesterday had little impact on the yield curve, moments ago the Treasury sold $39BN in 10Y paper in another solid auction, which however once again had no impact on the secondary market.   The auction priced at a high yield of 4.175%, which was up from 4.068% in November and the highest since August. The high yield also priced on the screws with the When Issued which was also at 4.175%. It followed two tailing auctions but for the

As Russia Makes More Gains In East, Trump Concedes "At Some Point, Size Will Win" Little has changed on the US-proposed peace plan for Ukraine. Zelensky and the Europeans are rejecting it while Trump is calling out the Ukrainian leader, telling him he better "get on the ball" and accept reality. Not much has changed on the ground either, with battlefield trends pretty much being consistent stretching back many months. Moscow forces keep making gains in the east, major Ukrainian cities struggle to keep the power grid operating, and in return Ukraine keeps sending drones on Russian territory. via Reuters The latest drones were sent

Defense Bill Requires Trump Spy Agencies To Declassify COVID-19 Origins Intel, Chinese Obstruction Slipped into the nearly 3,100-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a provision that requires "declassification" and "transparency" related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and would require the Trump administration's spy agencies to release its intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology where COVID research was offshored by the Obama administration in October of 2014 with a grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a New York City nonprofit run by Peter Daszak.  Chinese Virologist Shi Zhengli of the WIV In March of 2018, Daszak submitted a grant proposal titled Project DEFUSE

Federal Judge Orders Release Of Old Ghislaine Maxwell Files About Jeffrey Epstein Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, A federal judge in New York on Dec. 9 ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can unseal records in the case against Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, weeks after the passage of a law that required the government to disclose case records related to both Epstein and Maxwell. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ, in November, asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials. Last

Goldman Tracks "Lovely Polar Vortex Spinning Into Third Week" Waking up across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday morning, temperatures are hovering in the upper single digits in some spots, especially in interior areas west of the I-95 corridor. Those regions have already seen their first accumulating snow, marking an early start to winter. Goldman sales trader Ranald Falconer updated clients on weather forecasts and natural gas markets, noting that persistent cold continues to grip the eastern half of the US, while the western part of the country is experiencing well-above-seasonal temperatures. > In the gas space, I just had a glance through Sam's note

Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson Argues For Supreme Power Of DC Bureaucracy Authored by 'sundance' via The Last Refuge, Highlighting exactly why Barack Obama, Joe Biden and James Clyburn needed to deploy a 2021 Machiavellian strategy to get her moved onto the Supreme Court, Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson (KBJ) argues for the supreme power of the DC bureaucracy that must not be challenged by the President of the United States (Executive Branch). In the case of Trump v Slaughter, the removal of the FTC Chair, Justice KBJ argues that presidential authority must be kept in check by the unelected “professionals and experts” who make

Exxon Jumps 4% After Company Boosts 2030 Cash-Flow Outlook Exxon is trading sharply higher today, rising nearly 4% after the opening bell as investors reacted to a stronger long-term outlook from the company. The oil giant raised its expectations for future earnings and cash flow through 2030, driven by continued growth in its most profitable assets and additional structural cost savings. The update has pushed Exxon shares back toward 52-week and all-time highs, giving positive momentum to one of our favorite names heading into the new year.  In its announcement, Exxon said it now expects $35 billion in cash-flow growth by 2030,

Job Openings Unexpectedly Soar Even As Number Of Quits Plunges To 5 Year Low After a two month data hiatus, moments ago the BLS published the first jobs-linked report when it released the October JOLTS job openings and labor turnover survey. And following the last published JOLTS, which hit a little over two months ago on Sept 30, covering the month of August and which reported just 7.227 million job openings, the October report was unexpectedly strong, but not for what it showed for October but rather for the previously unreported September data, which came at a whopping 7.658MM, the highest since

In Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, US president makes multiple false claims, including that ‘prices are way down’ A federal judge in New York has granted the justice department’s request to unseal grand jury documents in the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell – the companion and accomplice of the late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. It comes after the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Donald Trump signed last month. The legislation requires the Department of Justice to release the full tranche of records related to disgraced financier, in a searchable format by 19 December. Continue reading...

Xiomara Castro alleges US manipulation and blackmail as preliminary count shows two rightwing candidates closely tied Honduras’s president, Xiomara Castro, has alleged that an “electoral coup” is under way in the country’s presidential election, which she says has been marked by “interference from the president of the United States, Donald Trump”. The leftist president also said that “the Honduran people must never accept elections marked by interference, manipulation and blackmail … Sovereignty is not negotiable, democracy is not surrendered.” Continue reading...

Press conference was expected to have been Venezuelan opposition leader’s first public appearance in 11 months A press conference in Oslo with the Nobel peace prize laureate María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, has been cancelled, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said, adding that it was “in the dark” as to her whereabouts. Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro for his third term as president. The press conference, traditionally held by the Nobel laureate on the eve of the award ceremony, had been expected to

President accuses neighbor of violating treaty governing water-sharing and urges water to be released ‘immediately’ Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 5% tariff on Mexico if it does not immediately provide additional water to help US farmers, accusing the country of violating a treaty that outlines water-sharing between the neighbors. Under the treaty, which dates back to 1944, Mexico must send 1.75m acre-feet of water to the US from the Rio Grande through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years. The agreement also stipulates that the United States must annually allocate 1.5m acre-feet of water from the

Father of student detained at Boston airport on her way to visit family in Austin, says agents showed up at Texas home Immigration agents appeared on Sunday at the Texas home of the family of Any Lucia López Belloza, the 19-year-old college student who was recently deported to Honduras while on her way to visit them for Thanksgiving, her family reportedly said. López Belloza, who attended Babson College in Massachusetts, was detained on 20 November at Boston airport while she was on her way to surprise her family in Austin, Texas, for the holiday. Within 48 hours she was deported to Honduras,

Commerce department finalising deal to allow H200 chips to be sold to China as strict Biden-era restrictions relaxed Donald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling its powerful AI computer chips to China, marking a win for the chip maker and its CEO, Jensen Huang, who has spent months lobbying the White House to open up sales in the country. Before Monday’s announcement, the US had prohibited sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China over national security concerns. Continue reading...

Each side has blamed the other for renewed clashes, which have derailed a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump Deadly clashes have escalated along the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border as both sides blamed each other for the fighting and vowed to defend their territories. Seven civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in Cambodia and three Thai soldiers have been killed in the fiercest fighting since a five-day conflict in July. Continue reading...

Legal team of man who was part of cohort of non-citizens freed after high court decision argues Nauru’s medical facilities are ‘insufficient’ to treat his severe asthma * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Lawyers for an Iranian refugee Australia wants to deport to Nauru say there is a “real risk he will die” there, setting the stage for a showdown against the federal government’s $2.5bn NZYQ deal. The case surrounding the Iranian refugee, known as TCXM, who was granted a 30-year visa for Nauru in February and subsequently placed back into immigration detention after being freed

Booming Chinese exports have driven trade surplus past $1tn but also reveal the extent of country’s reliance on foreign markets A boom in exports that has pushed China’s trade surplus past $1tn for the first time reveals the extent to which its economy is still overwhelmingly reliant on foreign markets – and the difficulty figures like Donald Trump will have in trying to rebalance global trade. Data released on Monday shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China’s trade surplus in goods was $1.076tn. The record trade surplus comes even as exports to the US have plummeted, a reflection

90,000 people advised to take shelter after 7.5-magnitude quake, with 20 injuries reported A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has shaken north-eastern Japan, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami of up to 70cm in Pacific coast communities. The earthquake and tsunami warnings prompted orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes, although the warnings were later downgraded to advisories. Continue reading...

Follow the latest updates live * Callout: How is Australia’s social media ban affecting you and your family? * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Inman Grant says getting ‘the most powerful, rich companies’ to comply was always going to be messy Inman Grant said she expects kids to experience massive changes as the social media ban sticks around. The eSafety commissioner added that some social media companies were more difficult to work with than others during the rollout of the ban, telling ABC News: To the extent that there are seven stages of grief,

If Amelia Vanderhorst is found guilty and penalised for allegedly sticking googly eyes on Mount Gambier landmark, it might be the first time such an act has been punished On Mount Gambier’s Bay Road, the “Blue Blob” stands like a proud but paunchy echidna, its seamless coating restored to perfection after an alleged googly eye stunt that captured the world’s attention. Amelia Vanderhorst, 20, from Mount Gambier in South Australia, was charged with damaging the town’s $136,000 Cast in Blue sculpture by sticking large novelty eyes on it on 13 September. Continue reading...

Executives tell Pride in Diversity report Donald Trump’s election ‘opened the floodgates’ to challenge DEI initiatives, including in Australia * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Major Australian employers are toning down their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and a handful have scrapped initiatives altogether amid a US-led “anti-woke” backlash, new research shows. Some businesses have also cancelled their membership to Australia’s major workplace inclusion organisation, Pride in Diversity (PID). Continue reading...

Former Liberal senator says ‘justice is not cheap’ and ‘if I lose everything, it will have been worth it’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Former senator Linda Reynolds says she will continue to fight legal battles until “the bitter end” in the Brittany Higgins saga, despite it having already cost her millions of dollars and “broken” her. In an expansive interview on the ABC on Tuesday night, Reynolds said allegations that she had covered up the rape had been subsequently disproven in multiple court judgments.

Grant Hutchinson denies allegations made in court by current and former partners prior to his preselection for Victorian seat of Croydon * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Victorian Liberal candidate for an ultra-marginal seat is in a legal fight with his own law firm, accused by his partners of bullying staff and using business resources to further his political ambitions. Grant Hutchinson – who has denied the allegations against him – was preselected for the seat of Croydon in Melbourne’s east last month. It is one of the Liberals’ most marginal electorates, with a gap

Thinktank says Rachel Reeves’s budget had started to assure bond markets about fiscal approach * Rachel Reeves’s test from the bond markets starts now The “premium” that the UK pays to borrow money compared with its international peers may be coming to an end as markets grow more confident about the government’s plans, a thinktank has suggested. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcement in the autumn budget that she would be more than doubling the UK’s financial headroom by 2030 from £9.9bn to £22bn had begun to assure bond markets about Labour’s fiscal approach. Continue

Zelenskyy says he would hold wartime elections within months given help from allies and Ukraine’s parliament * Trump lambasts ‘weak’ and ‘decaying’ Europe and hints at walking away from Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three months, if Ukraine’s parliament and foreign allies will allow it, after Donald Trump accused him of clinging on to power. Zelenskyy, clearly irritated by Trump’s intervention, said that “this is a question for the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to our partners”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders * We must protect our borders to defend our democracies – here’s how Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently curb joint human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent. Before a crucial European summit on Wednesday, the prime minister urged fellow members to “go further” in modernising the interpretation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) to prevent asylum seekers using

French first lady was filmed calling women who had disrupted Paris theatre show by Ary Abittan ‘sales connes’ French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris. A video filmed on Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of: “Abittan, rapist!” Continue

Ministry says Briton, who has not publicly been named, was injured while observing a test, away from the frontline A member of the UK armed forces died on Tuesday morning after an accident in Ukraine, believed to be the first time a serving member of the British military has been killed in the country since the full-scale Russian invasion. The victim was not immediately named, though the Ministry of Defence said their family had been notified, after an incident that appears to have taken place during a weapons test at a site away from the frontlines. Continue reading...

Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months ago Malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, with more than 9,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone, according to the latest UN figures. While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing Israeli restrictions on their humanitarian aid shipments, which they say fall well below the needs of a population weakened and

Eyal Zamir said Israel would hold on to current positions, giving it control of more than half of the territory The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory. The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt. Continue reading...

Former UK leader loses out on key role in transitional authority after objections from Arab and Muslim nations Tony Blair will not occupy a key position on Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace council” after Arab and Muslim nations were reported to have objected to the involvement of the former UK prime minister. According to the Financial Times (FT), Blair has been quietly dropped from consideration for Trump’s “board of peace”, which Trump has said he would chair himself. Continue reading...

Sanctions, instability and external meddling are still problems for Ahmed al-Sharaa, one year after Assad’s fall * Ddivided Syria struggles to escape cycle of violence * The fall of the house of Assad – in pictures If ubiquity and handshakes were the only measures of success, Ahmed al-Sharaa would be diplomat of the year. Since he formally became president of Syria on 29 January 2025, the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – a jihadist group with an al-Qaida lineage – has made a total of 21 public international trips to 13 countries. These include a visit to the UN general assembly,

While country’s return to global stage has filled many Syrians with pride, domestically old grievances threaten efforts to rebuild the state * Anniversary of the fall of house of Assad in Syria – in pictures Lying in bed recovering after his latest surgery, Ayman Ali retells the story of Syria’s revolution through his wounds. His right eye, lost in an attack on a rebel observation post he was manning in 2012, is covered by yellow medical tape. Propped against the wall is a cane he uses to walk, after a rocket attack in 2014 left him with a limp. For 14 years,

Officials say the Birch nightclub had contravened multiple safety regulations and that the basement had no fire safety exit Four members of the same family on their first holiday to Goa were among the 25 killed in a deadly fire at a nightclub in the popular Indian tourist state on Saturday night. The massive blaze broke out at just before midnight at Birch by Romeo Lane, a buzzing bar, restaurant and nightclub in north Goa’s Aporna district. Continue reading...

Fire broke out at midnight in Arpora with victims mostly kitchen workers, according to state’s chief minister At least 25 people have been killed in a fire at a nightclub in Goa, an Indian state popular for its nightlife and tourism. Several tourists were among the 25 dead in the fire, which broke out at about midnight at Birch by Romeo Lane, a popular restaurant, cocktail bar and club in Arpora, a district of north Goa. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Russia and India will reshape their defence ties to take account of New Delhi’s push for self-reliance, the two countries said in a joint statement after a summit between president Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “In response to India’s aspirations for self-reliance, the partnership is currently being reoriented toward joint research and development, as well as the production of advanced defence platforms,” the statement said. Continue reading...

Narendra Modi says energy security is ‘pillar of the India-Russia partnership’ as two leaders meet in Delhi Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were “resilient to external pressure”. The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries – particularly the US – that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow. Continue reading...

Delhi visit gives Russian leader a chance to reduce Moscow’s isolation but both countries need each other to negotiate Trump’s US and a powerful China When Vladimir Putin last set foot in India almost exactly four years ago, the world order looked materially different. At that visit – lasting just five hours due to the Covid pandemic – Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, discussed economic and military cooperation and reaffirmed their special relationship. Three months later, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would turn him into a global pariah, isolating the Kremlin from the world and restricting Putin’s international travel. Continue

National Audit Office says Shabana Mahmood’s plans may have ‘unintended consequences’ on stretched system Shabana Mahmood’s radical plans to overhaul the asylum system could cause “unintended consequences” such as increased homelessness among people seeking refuge and growing case backlogs, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has concluded. The head of the National Audit Office said that the home secretary’s policies, which are meant to accelerate case decisions and reduce appeals, would require “effective action on the bottlenecks” if they were to succeed. Continue reading...

Seven brainteasers feature in intelligence agency’s 2025 Christmas card, with covers designed by UK school pupils A warning from the spies at GCHQ: a robber is on the loose, intent on stealing Christmas presents. Luckily, he won’t find it easy. The robber’s target, according to the British intelligence and security agency, is a house with a large number of rooms, each of which has a letter, which are linked to each other by coloured doors and arrows. He can’t go through the same-coloured door twice in a row, and can’t move against any arrows. Eventually, the robber is caught by the police.

Study cites case of otherwise fit and healthy man in his 50s who had a stroke after eight-drink-a-day habit Heavy consumption of energy drinks may raise the risk of heart disease and pose a serious risk of stroke, doctors have warned. Millions of people worldwide regularly drink the products, which are non-alcoholic and typically contain more than 150mg of caffeine per litre, very high glucose-based sugar content and varying quantities of other chemicals. Continue reading...

One in five patients treated in hallways, offices and cupboards at almost every A&E, according to research Corridor care is “endemic” in the UK, doctors have said, as a major study found one in five patients were treated in hallways, offices and cupboards. Millions of patients are enduring undignified and unsafe care, with almost every A&E department in the country deploying the approach routinely, contravening national guidance, research reveals. Continue reading...

UK gilt yields may have dropped a bit relative to other major countries, but it’s not at all clear that the fall with continue * UK’s higher borrowing costs compared with major countries ‘may be coming to an end’ Good news for Rachel Reeves: the cost of government borrowing has fallen a bit relative to the US and eurozone countries. Better news: the chancellor may have something to do with it. Better still: some economists think there’s more to come. Let’s not get carried away, though. The UK is still paying a painful premium on its borrowing costs, as the Institute for

The 71-year-old performer’s son Micah has been arrested on suspicion of murder, Santa Monica police said Jubilant Sykes, the Grammy-nominated opera and gospel singer, has died aged 71 after being stabbed to death at his home in California. His 31-year-old son, Micah Sykes, was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

In state’s 18th execution this year, Mark Geralds, 58, given three-drug injection for 1989 stabbing of Tressa Pettibone A man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman during a home invasion decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening in Florida. Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6.15pm following a three-drug injection at Florida state prison for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone. Continue reading...

Crews conduct high-water rescues in Washington, and flood watches put in effect along coast down to Oregon A series of powerful storms hit the Pacific north-west, dumping heavy rain, swelling rivers, closing roads and prompting high-water rescues in several states. An unusually strong storm system called an atmospheric river is passing through the region, bringing heavy rainfall across western Washington and north-western Oregon and more than a foot of snow in the northern Rockies and north-western Wyoming. Continue reading...

The 550lb bear living under Ken Johnson’s home for two weeks is unmoved by ‘lure’, with caramel and cherry smells A hefty 550lb black bear has laid claim to the crawl space under an Altadena home, marking the latest in a series of bear incursions into the Los Angeles community. On 25 November, homeowner Ken Johnson noticed the bear leaving the crawl space and later contacted California’s department of fish and wildlife for assistance removing it from below his home. Despite sweet-scented lures and ammonia-towels, the bear has remained in place for more than two weeks. Continue reading...

Education department announces plans to halt ‘illegal’ Save program as critics call news ‘devastating’ for borrowers Donald Trump’s administration announced on Tuesday it had reached a settlement with several Republican-led states to end Joe Biden’s student loan repayment program, which has helped millions of borrowers repay their debt. On Tuesday, the education department announced plans to halt what it called Biden’s “illegal” Save plan – the Saving on a Valuable Education income-driven repayment program which currently has more than 7 million borrowers. Continue reading...

A member of the British armed forces died in Ukraine on Tuesday while observing Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said, adding that the accident had occurred away from the front lines. It marked the first time a member of the UK military had been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, it said. Britain has been among Ukraine’s most outspoken supporters, supplying weapons to Kyiv and training some of its soldiers. Last month, Britain...

The father of late British singer Amy Winehouse on Tuesday defended his UK lawsuit against two of her friends after they sold some of her clothes at auction for around £730,000 (US$970,000). Mitch Winehouse told the High Court in London that Naomi Parry, the star’s former stylist, and her friend, Catriona Gourlay, did not have the right to sell dozens of items in auctions between November 2021 and May 2023. Lawyer Henry Legge, acting for Winehouse, told the court on Monday, the first day of the...

US President Donald Trump deepened his rift with Europe in an interview published Tuesday, calling it “decaying” and blasting key allies as “weak” over immigration and Ukraine. Speaking to Politico, Trump also called on Ukraine to hold elections despite Russia’s invasion and questioned whether the country is truly democratic under President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump doubled down on his recent extraordinary criticisms of Europe, following the release of the new US national security strategy last...

The Norwegian Nobel Institute cancelled a planned press conference on Tuesday with this year’s Peace Prize laureate, Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado, ahead of Wednesday’s award ceremony in Oslo. Machado, 58, has been subject to a decade-long travel ban imposed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro and has been in hiding for more than a year. Her whereabouts were not immediately known. A press conference was originally scheduled in Oslo for 1pm on Tuesday, but was at first delayed to an...

The US Justice Department can publicly release investigative materials from a sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the long-time confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled after the Justice Department in November asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials that could amount to hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased...

Last week’s release of the 2025 US National Security Strategy (NSS) was not a routine recalibration of diplomatic lines – it was a rupture. It represented the most explicit declaration to date that the United States no longer regards Europe as a partner in a shared transatlantic project but as a challenge to be managed, a continent to be reshaped and a strategic liability to be mitigated. The Trump administration has accused entire nations and supranational institutions of steering the continent...

Russia on Tuesday said there were no survivors in a military plane crash east of Moscow, with state media reporting earlier there were seven people on board. The country’s Investigative Committee, which is responsible for probing major crimes, said it had opened an investigation into flight preparation rules. “On December 9, 2025, during a test flight, an An-22 aircraft crashed near the village of Ivankovo in the Ivanovo region,” the committee said. “All crew members on board were killed.” It...

Andrej Babis, a billionaire supporter of US President Donald Trump, returned to power as Czech prime minister on Tuesday, signalling a possible end to Ukraine aid and potentially rockier ties with the European Union. Babis’s ANO movement, which won the October parliamentary elections, teamed up with two Eurosceptic parties to form a coalition government. In its policy statement, the coalition said the EU had “its limits” and no right to impose decisions infringing on the sovereignty of member...

Whereas then US president Joe Biden initially missed the group photo at the annual Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro last year, requiring a reshoot, his successor did not even bother showing up for this year’s meeting in Johannesburg. US President Donald Trump boycotted the summit due to alleged mistreatment of white people in post-apartheid South Africa. Yet, even in the absence of the US, the G20 managed to make a leaders’ declaration at the start of the summit, which usually comes at the...

Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza. In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024. Israeli forces accounted for 43 per cent of the total, making them “the worst enemy of journalists”, RSF said in its report, which...

Three days after the US government codified its contempt for EU institutions in a startling new national security policy, the bloc’s leaders finally broke their silence on Monday, with European Council President Antonio Costa lambasting Washington’s “threat to interfere in Europe’s political life”. “The United States no longer believes in multilateralism, nor even in a rules-based international order. They speak of the so-called rules-based international order, and they say climate change is a...

A short-lived coup in Benin left “casualties on both sides” of the government forces and the mutinous soldiers, authorities said on Monday, as security forces intensified the search for the coup leader who was on the run. The military takeover attempting to overthrow President Patrice Talon, which lasted a few hours before authorities announced it had been foiled, was the latest in a series of recent coups across Africa - most following a similar pattern of disputed elections, constitutional...

A just-signed agreement aimed at ending the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo looked to be unravelling on Monday with the Congolese leader and Burundi slamming neighbouring Rwanda after the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group attacked border areas. DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of “violating” the accord - signed only last Thursday in Washington at the urging of US President Donald Trump - as the M23 made a rapid advance to threaten the city of Uvira near the border with...

A powerful wave dragged a group of swimmers out to sea while they were in a popular seawater pool along the rocky, western coastline of the Spanish island of Tenerife, leaving four died and one missing, Spanish authorities said Monday. Crews recovered three bodies on Sunday - a 35-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and another man - during a major rescue operation that used jet skis and helicopters to locate and pick up all those dragged out to sea. The fourth, a woman, died on Monday, a day...

For decades, New York and London have defined the flow of global capital. But while markets still chase short-term returns in US equities, the next great wave of productive investment is taking shape in East Asia, led by China’s financing, manufacturing and export of the clean technologies that are remaking the global economy. That contrast has only widened. As the United States retreats from climate leadership, China has doubled down. A day after US President Donald Trump called climate change...

Ukraine’s European allies put on a show of support for President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday as they expressed scepticism about parts of the US proposal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion. Zelensky first held a meeting in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany before heading to Brussels later Monday for talks with the heads of the EU and of Nato. Afterwards, he was to fly to Rome for a meeting Tuesday with the Italian prime minister. The discussions came after US...

The developer of the most popular app used to share information about sightings of federal immigration agents sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging free speech violations after Apple removed ICEBlock from its online store. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Joshua Aaron, the developer of the ICEBlock app that had over 1 million users before it was removed by Apple in October following pressure from the Trump administration, a rare instance of a tech company removing an app...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chips to approved customers in China, marking the latest lobbying win for the American chip company. The decision follows weeks of deliberations by the Trump administration about whether to grant permission to ship the H200 to China. It comes days after Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang met with Trump in Washington to discuss US export controls. “I have informed President Xi,...

More than six decades after British historian AJP Taylor termed war the “mother of invention”, economies around the world appear to be ramping up their military spending, at least in part, to reinvigorate industrial production. Taylor was referring to the genesis of the tank, the aeroplane and poison gas in World War I, and that of radar, the jet engine and the atomic bomb in World War II. More modern examples, such as satellite-based navigation systems and the internet, were the products of the...

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Monday it may bar three major Chinese telecoms companies from connecting to US networks over efforts to prevent robocalls, the latest in a series of actions Washington has taken against Beijing. The FCC issued orders saying China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom must address issues with their certifications in the agency’s robocall mitigation database, and raised concerns about their presence in the database. If the FCC removes them,...

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched a TikTok account on Monday despite the app being banned from government devices, as he attempts to connect to younger voters. A spokesman for his office said “security mitigations” were in place to operate the Prime Minister’s account. “TikTok, follow me,” Starmer said in the first video posted on the account, which showed him with his wife at the ceremony to switch on Downing Street’s Christmas lights. The second video showed Ukraine’s President...

Trade unions at the Louvre Museum have called for a rolling strike next week to demand urgent renovations and better working conditions, piling more bad news on the beleaguered Paris institution. Monday’s announcement came a day after the world’s most visited museum admitted to a major leak in late November and nearly two months after an embarrassing robbery in which French crown jewels were stolen from its permanent collection. In between those two incidents, it had to close a gallery...

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another scored a leading nine nominations to the 83rd Golden Globe Awards on Monday, adding to the Oscar favourite’s momentum and handing Warner Bros a victory amid Netflix’s acquisition deal. In nominations announced from Beverly Hills, California, One Battle After Another landed nominations for its cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn and Chase Infiniti – and for Anderson’s screenplay and direction. It is competing in the comedy and...

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Monday it had identified a new strain of the mpox virus in England in a person who had recently travelled to Asia. “Our genomic testing has enabled us to detect this new mpox strain,” said Katy Sinka from the UKHSA, a government agency responsible for preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases. The agency said it would continue to “assess the significance of the strain”, which had elements of both mpox subtypes: the more severe...

Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile bid worth US$108.4 billion for Warner Bros Discovery, in a last-ditch effort to outbid Netflix and create a media powerhouse that would challenge the dominance of the streaming giant. Netflix had emerged victorious on Friday from a weeks-long bidding war with Paramount and Comcast, securing a US$72 billion equity deal for Warner Bros Discovery’s TV, film studios and streaming assets. But Paramount’s latest attempt means the jockeying for Warner...

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that 114 people, including 63 children, were killed in “senseless” strikes on a hospital and kindergarten in Sudan’s South Kordofan state last week. The strikes “hit a kindergarten and, at least three times, the nearby Kalogi Rural Hospital, killing 114 people, including 63 children, and injuring 35 people,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media, citing the UN health agency’s Attacks on Health Care monitoring...

Few leaders travel to China seeking gravitas and return with only a couple of pandas, but French President Emmanuel Macron managed to do just that. After surrendering sovereignty to US President Donald Trump, Macron visited China seeking a validation that his citizens no longer grant. His authority at home has been eroded through cabinet implosions, collapsing support, stalled budgets and demands for his resignation. China could see that before he even stepped off the plane. Beijing handled a...

Syrians marked the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his iron-fisted rule on Monday, as the fractured nation struggles to find stability and recover after years of war. Official celebrations are planned for the central Umayyad Square in Damascus, which has been packed with jubilant gatherings ahead of December 8, and in other parts of the country. Military parades are also expected. Assad fled Syria for Russia a year ago as rebels commanded by Syria’s new president, Ahmed...

US President Donald Trump’s new global security road map has dropped any reference to denuclearising North Korea as a goal, fuelling speculation that Washington may be angling to boost the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang in 2026. The target of ending North Korea’s nuclear threat had been a constant in the National Security Strategy of every US president since the emergence of Pyongyang’s programme in 2003, but was conspicuously absent in Friday’s document. The omission of any...

Spain’s ambitious multi-billion-euro plan to become Europe’s leading player in the electric vehicle market presents a golden opportunity for Chinese car brands, which could be vital to the strategy’s success, according to analysts. The Spain Auto 2030 Plan, presented by Madrid on Wednesday, seeks to mobilise government funding to provide consumer subsidies, support the construction of charging stations and help the Spanish car industry – which drives about 10 per cent of the country’s economic...

The United Nations on Monday hit out at global “apathy” over widespread suffering as it launched its 2026 appeal for humanitarian assistance, which was limited in scope as aid operations confront major funding cuts. “This is a time of brutality, impunity and indifference,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told reporters, condemning “the ferocity and the intensity of the killing, the complete disregard for international law, horrific levels of sexual violence” he had seen on the ground in...

As Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey talks up his plans to buttress the UK military, doubts over funding and the country’s ability to move fast enough are unsettling the industry and armed forces. Healey in June laid out a 130-page defence review, billing it as the first in a generation that would transform and grow the UK military. He set out plans to rebuild arms stockpiles, expand Britain’s nuclear deterrent and submarine fleet, and invest more heavily in long-range weapons and advanced...

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. Hong Kong Legco election’s 31.9% turnout surpasses record low of 2021 2. Tokyo accuses Chinese fighters of locking on Japanese jets northeast of Taiwan 3. Chinese scientists develop promising stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s 4. The great slowdown: Germany at a standstill as ‘China shock’...

US President Donald Trump solidified his takeover of Washington’s John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday by hosting its flagship awards programme, mixing politics with a celebration of stars from music and film. This year’s Kennedy Centre Honours, widely seen as the top US recognition for lifetime achievement in the performing arts, feted actor Sylvester Stallone, disco singer Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait, Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford and rock...

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a video to social media on Sunday explaining immigrants’ right to refuse to speak to or comply with agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), days after federal agents carried out a raid in Manhattan. In the video, Mamdani vowed to protect the city’s 3 million immigrants, saying, “We can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.” He explained that people in the US can choose not to speak to federal immigration agents, film them...

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro said on Sunday he could abandon his presidential aspirations for a “price”, and suggested amnesty be granted to his father, the imprisoned far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro. The ex-president’s eldest son announced on Friday that his father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup and is banned from public office, has chosen him to lead the country’s powerful conservative movement, shaking up the 2026 election race. But suddenly Flavio...

Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school last month, a UN source and local media said on Sunday, though the fate of the 165 students and staff thought to remain in captivity remained unclear. In late November, 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state, as the country buckled under a wave of mass abductions reminiscent of the infamous 2014 Boko Haram...

When President Xi Jinping hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin earlier this year, the choreography was familiar: smiles, handshakes and talk of a “multipolar world order”. Yet beneath the symbolism lies an imbalance impossible to miss. China radiated the poise of a civilisation sure of its trajectory; Russia exuded the defiance of a power seeking reassurance. The meeting, intended to display Eurasian unity, instead...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a major figure in implementing US President Donald Trump’s economic agenda including tariffs, disclosed on Sunday that he has recently divested his interests in a soybean farm to comply with the ethics agreement he signed last January when he joined the administration. The divestiture comes four months after the US Office of Government Ethics informed the Senate Finance Committee in an August 11 letter that Bessent had failed to comply with certain terms of...

A water leak last month damaged hundreds of books in the Egyptian antiquities department at the Louvre, underscoring the deteriorating state of the world’s most visited museum just weeks after a daring jewel heist exposed security flaws. Specialist website La Tribune de l’Art reported that around 400 rare books were affected, blaming poor pipe conditions. It said the department had long sought funds to protect the collection from such risks without success. Le Louvre’s deputy administrator,...

The UK will “turn the tide” on illicit finance at a landmark anti-corruption summit in London next year, the foreign secretary has said. Yvette Cooper confirmed on Sunday that Britain would host the summit at Lancaster House on June 23-24, 2026. The summit, first promised by her predecessor David Lammy, will bring together governments, businesses and campaigners to agree “tough international action” to combat corrupt practices. Cooper said the summit would target illicit gold used to fund the...

Celebrated British documentary photographer Martin Parr has died at his home in the western English city of Bristol, his foundation announced on Sunday. He was 73. Famous for his kitschy, colour-saturated images, Parr had a sharp eye for mundane oddities, typified in his humorous snapshots of bronzed beachgoers and selfie-snapping holidaymakers. “It is with great sadness that we announce that Martin Parr (1952-2025) died yesterday at home in Bristol,” a statement on The Martin Parr Foundation’s...

UK police were probing on Sunday an assault involving pepper spray at a Heathrow Airport car park that disrupted travel and left 21 people, including a three-year-old girl, needing medical treatment. In a departure from an earlier account of the incident at Terminal 3’s multi-storey car park, London’s Metropolitan Police said it now appeared to have stemmed from a suitcase robbery by people known to each other. Commander Peter Stevens, who had previously characterised it as an argument that...

US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas were both visiting Jordan on Sunday to discuss humanitarian aid for Gaza. Their visits came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for the Palestinian territory to begin soon. Waltz said on social media that he was in the Jordanian capital Amman to discuss speeding up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and “to see the...

Benin’s president said the “situation is completely under control” in his country after the government thwarted an attempted coup thanks to loyalist soldiers with support from Nigerian forces. A group of soldiers announced earlier in the day on state television that they had ousted President Patrice Talon. That sparked a swift response from loyal army forces, joined by air strikes and troop deployments from neighbouring Nigeria. Beninese military and security sources said that around a dozen...

Silicon Valley is again betting everything on a new technology. But the mania is not a reboot of the late-1990s frenzy.

President Trump’s comments deepened his rift with mainstream European leaders over defense and Ukraine policy.

The Ukrainian president told reporters that a vote could be held in 60 to 90 days if the country received security protections from the United States.

The Kremlin says any peace deal must cede to Russia the entire eastern Donbas region, including territory Ukraine still controls — a nonstarter for Kyiv.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Biden-era move to the sans serif typeface “wasteful,” casting the return to Times New Roman as part of a push to stamp out diversity efforts.

A landlord crowded tenants into his house and yard without running water or power. One, determined to find an alternative, was up against the city’s housing crisis.

Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion to American children via the accounts, but the details matter.

The philanthropist known for donating to historically Black colleges and nonprofits working on climate change offered the news by updating an October blog post.

The government says it will fast-track immigration for U.S. H-1B visa holders and spend more than $1 billion to attract researchers from the United States and the rest of the world.

Crispy fish ssam, knife-cut noodles and more of our favorite bites from a year of eating.

Dulce de leche flan, cherry pie and more of our favorite sweets of the year.

Eileen Higgins, a former Miami-Dade County commissioner, will also be the city’s first female mayor and the first non-Hispanic mayor since the 1990s.

She was seen for two decades as a future face of the Democratic Party. Is she now suddenly a figure of its past?

The classic show arrived on HBO Max with an embarrassing remastering error. But the show’s creative mastery remains undeniable.

The measure is one of the most sweeping efforts in the world to safeguard children from the harms of the platforms.

The new Pew report also found that two-thirds of teens said they had used an A.I. chatbot.

Provided Europeans want to fight for it.

Also, the Supreme Court considers campaign finance limits. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.

A suspect who is not a student was arrested after the shooting in Frankfort, Ky., the police said. The university said that a second student was critically injured.

The two countries, which criminalize homosexuality and impose severe punishments for it, were picked to play on a day celebrating L.G.B.T.Q. communities.

An award-winning poet and writer of fiction, she moonlighted as a competitive horsewoman and owned a horse farm outside Columbia, S.C.

The birds lingered for days at a Catholic school near Cincinnati as agencies haggled over who was responsible for removing them. Officials said the public health risk was low.