Minimalist News

Zelensky Definitively Shuts Door On Trump Peace Plan, Won't Cede Territory Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while meeting with so-called 'coalition of the willing' European leaders in London on Monday definitively ruled out that his country will agree to cede territory as part of a peace deal. He specified that the question of territorial compromise is why he has not reached agreement on Donald Trump's peace deal. "There are visions of the US, Russia and Ukraine – and we don’t have a unified view on Donbas," Zelensky told Bloomberg. via Associated Press Zelensky also wants much firmer security guarantees in the Washington plan. "There is

Machine-Speed Warfare: When Drones Decide Faster Than Humans Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times, On June 1, 2025, 117 quadcopters—total cost under $120,000—flew from hidden launchers inside Russia and crippled 10 strategic bombers across five air bases in a single morning. Operation Spiderweb, as Ukraine called it. It was a public demonstration of a new form of conflict: When the price of precision falls far enough, scale becomes inevitable, and scale forces autonomy. That autonomy, in turn, moves the battlefield faster than human minds can reliably follow. We seem to be entering the era of machine-speed warfare. QUIET ARRIVAL For decades, militaries and the

Netanyahu Rejects Retirement In Exchange For Pardon: 'Let Voters Decide' In Israel there's talk of the scenario where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can receive a full pardon in his criminal corruption cases if he agrees retires from political life, and on Sunday he addressed this controversial proposal during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. When asked by a reporter if he will retire in order to obtain the pardon, Netanyahu shot back with a firm "No" - and then said, "They’re very concerned with my future. They want to make sure that - how shall I say this? - They’re

What's The Likelihood Of A NATO-Russian Non-Aggression Pact? Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Putin recently proposed providing Europe, the majority of whose countries are part of NATO, with formal guarantees that it won’t attack. In connection with this, he also assessed that those who fearmonger about Russia are serving the interests of the military-industrial complex and/or trying to bolster their domestic image, which exposed their ulterior motives. In any case, his proposal could hypothetically lead to a NATO-Russian Non-Aggression Pact (NRNAP), but only if the political will exists on both sides. One of Russia’s goals in the special operation is to reform the European security architecture, which the US

Jim Quinn On The West's Mass Collective Societal Suicide Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, > “Historians will look back at the wreckage of a once-great American civilization and not with wonder that tens of millions of people who were entirely dependent upon government welfare payments were nonetheless allowed to vote. > > Even to include millions of illiterate 3rd world illiterate aliens who snuck in, then were put on welfare, and were given driver’s licenses and social security numbers, so they could vote in elections to give themselves more welfare. Eventually, the historians will agree that America committed mass collective

Seattle's Woke World Cup Agenda Implodes As 'Pride Match' Set Between Countries With Anti-Gay Laws Authored by Sarah Anderson via PJMedia.com, You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried... The 2026 World Cup has been the talk of the sports - and political - world lately. The United States, Mexico, and Canada will host it, and last week, the presidents of all three countries attended and participated in the draw to determine which teams would play in which groups.  In the United States, Seattle is one of the host cities, and one of the matches in that city will take place on June

Governor Pritzker's Sanctuary Policies Freed 1,700 Criminal Aliens Since January Illinois sanctuary policies have allowed more than 1,700 criminal illegal aliens to slip back onto the streets since President Trump took office on January 20, and the Department of Homeland Security is now calling out state officials for putting politics ahead of public safety. Among those released are individuals charged with or convicted of homicide, sexual assault, and kidnapping—crimes that should have kept them locked up and handed over to federal immigration authorities. ICE Director Todd Lyons sent a letter to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul urging him to honor ICE detainers

Immigration Gone Wild Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness, It is hard now even for Democrats to defend illegal immigration, given that the Biden administration allowed in more than 10 million entrants. Among them were an estimated 500,000 criminals. No one believes that was wise or should ever be repeated. Worse, the message went out that there would be few, if any, deportations and no real ICE kinetic activity beyond the border. The world’s poor, sick, both law-abiding and criminal, young and old, understood that anyone could now enter the U.S. at will. Deterrence and legality were lost. In its place, the message

Japan Urges More Support From Trump In Spat With China Several reports say that Japan is currently pressing the United States to step up its public support for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi amid the spat with China unleashed in the wake of her recent controversial comments about willingness to defend Taiwan. The Japanese government has reportedly disappointed by what it views as insufficient backing from Washington, after American Ambassador to Tokyo George Glass told reporters last month that Trump and his team "have her back". via Reuters "This is a classic case of Chinese economic coercion, and I just want to say directly from the president and

Gen Z, Socialism, And The System That Failed Them Authored by Steve Cortes via Cortes Investigates, There’s real angst among older Americans about Gen Z’s openness to socialism. For those of us shaped by the Cold War, this flirtation with Marxism-lite feels alarming. But we need to pause and rethink what we’re actually seeing. Gen Z isn’t embracing socialism because they dream of five-year plans. They’re listening because the “capitalism” they were sold was already broken—rigged for insiders, punishing for everyone else. They’ve been: * Systematically lied to, about major issues * Shut out of real opportunity * Raised in an economy designed to reward

Australia Imposes World's First Under-16 Social Media Ban Australia will soon bar anyone aged 15 and under from using major social media platforms — an unprecedented national ban set to take effect Wednesday — leaving many young users bracing for sudden offline life, according to Nikkei.  Fourteen-year-old TikTok creator Zoey, whose account will be frozen despite more than 50,000 followers, told Nikkei Asia she expects to feel “much less connected” and “very isolated.” She called the ban “very much digital exclusion, because you’re excluding us from a huge part of the world, not just Australia, it’s the world.” Under the new rules, companies

Homan Defends Operations Against Illegal Somalis In Minnesota Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Somalis in Minnesota is targeted at illegal immigrants and felons, White House border czar Tom Homan said in a Dec. 7 interview with CNN, dismissing concerns of unjust targeting. “There’s a large illegal Somali community there … if you’re a U.S. citizen, you will have nothing to fear. We’re looking for criminal aliens. And, also, if you’re a resident alien, you have a felony conviction, by statute, you could be set up for deportation,” he said. “So, we’re looking for public safety

Americans Spent $2.6 Billion On OnlyFans In 2025 The United States is now the most OnlyFans-obsessed country on the planet, according to a new global rankings study that is almost certain to fuel debate online. The “OnlyFans Wrapped 2025” report, published by platform search engine OnlyGuider, names the U.S. as both the biggest market overall and home to the most intensely engaged cities anywhere in the world. While Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on OnlyFans in 2025, the report says the country’s dominance is most striking at the city level. Fifteen of the top 20 global cities for per-capita spending are

Saudi Arabia Didn't Learn Anything From China's 'Ghost Cities' Authored by Stefan Barti via TheDailyEconomy.org, You can’t build a castle on sand, and you can’t build a city on assumptions. Saudi Arabia unveiled The Line in January 2021 as a perfect, linear utopia stretching 170 kilometers across the desert. Three years later, the castle is already sinking. When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced The Line on January 10, 2021, he promised a radical reimagining of urban life. “We need to transform the concept of a conventional city into that of a futuristic one.”  Tucked into the upper corner of the kingdom’s Tabuk province, the city would

Hypersonics, AI, Space Weapons, & Directed Energy: Lawmakers Release Defense Bill As Expiring Obamacare Subsidies Marinate On Back-Burner With Congress in its second-to-last week in session for this year, lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee released the final bill text of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Sunday night, which allocates a topline of roughly $8 billion over the $892.6 billion the Department of Defense had requested, and what the House version of the NDAA provided which stuck to the Pentagon's request.  The NDAA is the annual law passed by Congress that sets the budget, policies, and legal authorities for the

Trump Envoy Says 'Benevolent Monarchies' Work Best In Mideast While Hailing Syria's Sharaa Via Middle East Eye The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, has stated that a "benevolent monarchy" has "worked best" in the Middle East. Speaking at a panel on Syria during the Doha Forum on Sunday, Barrack praised the Syrian administration of President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s "epic" and "heroic" achievements following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The US envoy warned against western efforts to impose democratic models on the Middle East, arguing that such initiatives "have not been successful". via Tom Barrack/X "Almost every decision that the West has imposed on the

NJ Governor Murphy Using Last Months In Office To Free 31 Convicted Killers...And Promises Even More New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is using his last months in office to release dozens of inmates convicted of homicide — and says many more are coming, according to NJ 101.5. Since December 2024, Murphy has granted clemency to 283 offenders, including 31 people convicted of murder, felony murder, or aggravated manslaughter, according to NJ 101.5. Some had been serving life sentences or faced decades before being eligible for parole. All will now walk free with five years of supervision. The governor fast-tracked the releases after creating

Greed, Centralization, Monopoly, Ruin Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Greed is good up to the point that it delivers ruin. The primary characteristic of this era is the purposeful confusion of profit and greed, as if they are the same thing. Greed is good because profit is good, and profit is good because the profit motive is the engine of Capitalism which is the engine of global prosperity. The problem with this logic is greed is not the same as profit. In the sanitized version of the story, the profit motive of each individual magically generates the best possible socio-economic outcome for all via the secret powers

"Things Are About To Snap": China's Trade Surplus Tops $1 Trillion For The First Time, Sparking Global Howls Of Outrage With Europe finally realizing - very belatedly, as usual - that Trump was right all along in his crusade to hammer Beijing's relentless dumping of exports to flood foreign markets with its below-cost wares as China no longer has nearly the required demand for goods and services and so has to crush and dominate foreign markets by selling at far below market prices, overnight we learned that China’s trade surplus in goods surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, highlighting the

Trump Says He Has 'Other Methods' To Impose Tariffs If Supreme Court Limits Powers Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump on Dec. 7 urged the Supreme Court to uphold his tariff program, saying a ruling against his use of emergency economic powers would weaken national security, while also saying there are alternative legal tools to keep the duties in place. Trump said in a Dec. 7 post on Truth Social that the tariff regime currently before the Supreme Court is “far more direct, less cumbersome, and much faster” than other methods available under U.S. law. “Speed, power, and certainty

Group that includes congressional leaders and leading intelligence committee members is traditionally briefed on major national security actions More from that Politico interview with Donald Trump published this morning: Trump told the politics site that he would expect his pick for chair of the Federal Reserve to support an immediate cut to interest rates. Trump has not yet chosen a new Fed chair, but has been putting pressure on the current chief, Jerome Powell, to cut rates. Asked if the new chair should lower rates immediately, Trump said: This guy [Powell] should too. But I think he’s a combination of not a smart person

Press conference expected to go ahead later, 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 postponed but should take place later in the day, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said. The press conference, traditionally held by the Nobel laureate on the eve of the award ceremony, is expected to be the 58-year-old’s first public appearance in 11 months. Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro for

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,

Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now in prison for plotting a coup, is getting the biopic treatment. Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is reportedly filming a “heroic” portrait of the rightwing ex-politician in secret. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mário Frias, who served as secretary of culture under Bolsonaro, started shooting three months ago in Brazil, where Bolsonaro served as president from 2019

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...

TPG chief executive says he has ‘no idea’ why his telco only learned of its customer’s death on Monday * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anika Wells’ office was wrongly told no one had died after failing to connect to the triple-zero network in September, leaving the communications minister and her department in the dark about the fatality for more than 10 weeks, an inquiry has heard. The view inside Wells’ department only shifted after Telstra scrambled to clarify the situation on Monday night – just hours before it was due to front a parliamentary inquiry

This blog is now closed. * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Kevin Hogan says no one ‘gobsmacked’ by Barnaby Joyce’s decision to join One Nation Kevin Hogan, the deputy leader of the Nationals, compared Barnaby Joyce to Mark Latham after the former said yesterday he would join One Nation. The only other person I can think of that has left who has been a previous leader of a political party and joined One Nation is Mark Latham. And Barnaby Joyce joins those ranks as having been a previous leader of a party and joining One Nation. But

It’s sure to leave many mortgage holders feeling short-changed given the RBA’s equally historic 13 rate hikes through 2022 and 2023 * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Reserve Bank’s governor, Michele Bullock, has effectively ruled out further rate cuts and flagged that hikes may be needed in 2026 if the recent inflationary rebound proves persistent. Speaking at a press conference after the widely expected decision to hold the cash rate at 3.6%, Bullock seemed surprisingly upbeat as she delivered the bad news to the roughly 3.3 million households with a mortgage. Continue reading...

Police say ‘active crime scenes remain at houses and dwellings’ in Koolewong on the Central Coast after devastating weekend blaze * ‘It came from everywhere’: NSW town counts the cost after bushfire hits * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A “treasured and long-serving” New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service firefighter who died after being struck by a falling tree in a bushfire has been named as John Lohan, a 59-year-old father. The divisional commander was killed in Nerong on the state’s mid-north coast on

Independent review calls for sweeping restructure of NSW’s greyhound racing industry but government rejects key recommendations * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Retired New South Wales greyhounds will continue to be rehomed overseas despite an independent review of the racing industry finding the practice is “distressing and sometimes fatal”. The state government has also rejected a recommendation to suspend the sport if the operator, Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW), fails to determine new race track standards by the year’s end. Continue reading...

US president blames leaders for being ‘politically correct’ and says migration is ‘unchecked, unvetted’ in interview with Politico Oh, and a little warning shot from EU’s Kallas: “If we go into the fight [of] pointing fingers, I mean, we can also point a lot of fingers [on] what is wrong in America, but this is not the way we work, we are not going to meddle with the internal affairs of other countries.” Continue reading...

European Commission to assess whether Gemini owner is putting rival companies at a disadvantage * Business live – latest updates The EU has opened an investigation to assess whether Google is breaching European competition rules in its use of online content from publishers and YouTube creators for artificial intelligence. The European Commission said on Tuesday it will examine whether the US tech company, which runs the Gemini AI model and is owned by Alphabet, is putting rival AI owners at a “disadvantage”. Continue reading...

Migrant support groups in France say lack of action over British activists is ‘encouraging violent and xenophobic practices’ UK and French authorities have been accused of “encouraging violent and xenophobic practices” by failing to tackle anti-migrant British activists who travel to northern France in an attempt to stop small boat crossings. In an unusual move, nine French associations working with people camped in northern France have issued a statement condemning the UK and French governments for lack of action. Continue reading...

The group were at a popular seawater pool when the wave struck, prompting a major rescue operation Four people are dead and one is missing after 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, Spanish authorities said on Monday. Crews recovered three bodies on Sunday – a 35-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and another man about whom no information was given – during a major rescue operation that used jet skis and helicopters to locate and pick up people dragged

UK foreign secretary urges action against ‘information warfare’ made easier by advances in technology Foreign countries are flooding social media with AI-manipulated videos to undermine western support for Ukraine, Yvette Cooper will warn on Tuesday. The UK foreign secretary will urge other countries to help Britain fight what she calls “information warfare”, as officials warn Russia is using forged documents and deepfake material to advance its geopolitical goals. Continue reading...

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,

Concerns over recording of meetings at coordination centre excluding Palestinians that was set up to provide support for Trump’s Gaza plan Israeli operatives are conducting widespread surveillance of US forces and allies stationed at a new US base in the country’s south, according to sources briefed on disputes about open and covert recordings of meetings and discussions. The scale of intelligence gathering at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) prompted the US commander of the base, Lt Gen Patrick Frank, to summon an Israeli counterpart for a meeting to tell him that “recording has to stop here”. Continue reading...

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

Tory leader says financial crisis, Brexit and Covid have all hit the economy and a review of which conditions deserve benefits is needed Badenoch says the Tories will review the way the household benefit cap operates. This is a policy introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor. It imposes a cap on the total amount a household can receive in benefits. We will review every circumstance in which benefits are currently paying more than work. We will undertake a full eview of the level and operation of the household benefit cap, which currently acts more like a sieve than a cap, because most

Most of losses from bounceback loan, furlough pay and eat out to help out fraud not recovered, report finds * Business live – latest updates Ministers have been warned that fraud prevention efforts are falling short across government, as a major Covid report found that fraud and errors had resulted in a £10.9bn loss to UK taxpayers during the pandemic. The report, by independent Covid counter-fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe, found that government schemes designed to support struggling businesses and their staff were rolled out at speed with no early safeguards, resulting in huge fraud risks that cost the public purse. Continue reading...

Forecasters warn of possible damage to buildings, power cuts and travel disruption with heavy rain and gusts reaching 90mph We have some more updates on the disruptions caused by the weather conditions to train services in Scotland: Rail services between Fort William and Mallaig will be suspended from 4pm and between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh from 5pm, due to the forecast extreme winds. We’re already receiving lots of calls about incidents on roads across Devon and Cornwall this morning. Please only travel if absolutely necessary; drive at an appropriate speed and allow extra distance between other vehicles. Continue reading...

Men charged with robbery and administering noxious substance over incident at London airport on Sunday Two men have been charged with robbery and administering a noxious substance after more than 20 people were affected by what was thought to be pepper spray at Heathrow airport. Tyrone Richards, 31, and Anton Clarke-Butcher, 24, are due to appear at Uxbridge magistrates court on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Nine-year investigation paints highly critical picture of MI5’s handling of double agent Britain’s security services allowed a top agent inside the IRA to commit murders and then impeded a police investigation into the affair, according to a damning official report. MI5 helped the double agent known as Stakeknife to evade justice from a perverse sense of loyalty that outlasted Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the police investigation known as Operation Kenova said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: As the 2026 tournament expands, questions are being asked about its new format, its environmental impact and whether Fifa is bending too many of its own rules Good morning. Last week in Washington a lengthy and glitzy ceremony saw the draw taking place for the 2026 men’s Fifa World Cup, the largest edition of the tournament to date, to be staged across the US, Mexico and Canada next June and July. It looks set to be a geopolitical showpiece for Donald Trump, reinforced by the ludicrous sight of him being awarded Fifa’s inaugural peace prize. The football tournament

Civicus, a non-profit that monitors global civic freedoms, moved the US from the ‘narrowed’ to ‘obstructed’ category A coalition of global civil society organizations has downgraded the United States’ civic health rating from “narrowed” to “obstructed.” In a report released on Tuesday, Civicus, a non-profit that monitors civic freedoms in 198 countries, placed the US in its “obstructed” category. The group cited a “sharp deterioration of fundamental freedoms in the country … following a year of sweeping executive actions, restrictive laws and aggressive crackdowns on free speech and dissent.” Continue reading...

Agents who kneeled in 2020 accuse Kash Patel of retaliation and say they were trying to calm volatile situation Twelve former FBI agents fired after kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington have sued to get their jobs back, saying their action had been intended to de-escalate a volatile situation and was not meant as a political gesture. The agents say in their lawsuit that they were fired in September by Kash Patel, the FBI director, because they were perceived as not being politically affiliated with Donald Trump. But they say their decision to take a knee on 4 June

This live blog is now closed. * Trump news at a glance: US supreme court appears set to back Trump’s power to fire independent board members In a statement, Pamela Smith said she was “deeply humbled, grateful and deeply appreciative” of her time in her role, which she described as the “greatest honor” of her career. She gave thanks to the mayor for appointing her in 2023 and supporting her throughout her tenure, which she acknowledged had been both “challenging and rewarding”. Smith adds that “tremendous progress” has been made but the city is not at “zero percent crime” yet. I am confident

Conservative justices seem to signal support for president over move to fire Democrat Rebecca Slaughter in March * US politics live – latest updates The US supreme court on Monday appeared poised to back the Trump administration’s argument that the president should be able to fire independent board members that for almost a century have been protected from presidential interference. The court heard arguments concerning the legality of Donald Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member and appeared to be split down partisan lines in favor of a historic expansion of executive power, with the conservatives – including the sometimes

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...

Chinese cross-border e-commerce entrepreneur Andy Guo has just opened two warehouses covering a total of 5,000 square metres (53,820 sq ft) on the outskirts of Moscow. He said the move was not about addressing logistical bottlenecks, but preparing his business for a potential geopolitical shift that could reshape his fastest-growing yet most uncertain overseas market if Russia and Ukraine reach a peace deal. US President Donald Trump has continued to push for the end of hostilities between...

Ground has quite literally been broken on a Chinese-funded project to modernise the Tanzania-Zambia railway after years of negotiations, amid intensifying “corridor wars” as major powers compete to shape transport and trade networks across not just Africa but also Eurasia and beyond. The US$1.4 billion upgrade will restore the 1,860km railway, known as Tazara, a vital corridor linking Zambia’s Copperbelt to the Indian Ocean via Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port, connecting southern and eastern...

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on deadly US air strikes against alleged drug-running boats off the Venezuelan coast, saying he would have made the same call as the admiral who ordered survivors to be killed. The nearly two dozen strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have come under bipartisan scrutiny, but recent reports that a September strike included a second one to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage at sea have prompted accusations of possible war crimes. “From what...

A US$140 million fine on tech tycoon Elon Musk’s social media platform underscores how Europeans undermine US policies even while demanding that the United States provide military protection, one of the top American diplomats wrote on Saturday. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other American officials in criticising the European Union’s fine on Musk-owned X as censorship. But Landau went further than Rubio by invoking broader ideological...

The fireworks between Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau are now Instagram official, following months of speculation and steamy sightings. The 41-year-old pop star, who recently ended her engagement to Orlando Bloom, shared a selfie on Saturday with the former Canadian prime minister, showing them cuddled up beneath the fall foliage in Japan. “Tokyo times on tour and more,” wrote Perry, who performed just outside the country’s capital on Wednesday as part of the Asian leg of her Lifetimes Tour. The...

A drone attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces hit a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people, including 33 children, a doctors’ group said. Paramedics on the scene in the town of Kalogi in South Kordofan state were targeted in “a second unexpected attack”, Sudan Doctors’ Network said in a statement late on Friday. Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians in Sudan reported in a statement on Saturday the second strike on paramedics treating survivors...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Saturday that he was sending a business delegation to Russia in the coming days in preparation for the end of the Ukraine war. Orban addressed Budapest’s foreign relations with Moscow and also Washington at an exclusive rally in the central city of Kecskemet, ahead of legislative elections in the spring. The delegation’s mission would focus on economic cooperation, particularly in a post-war landscape that could see Russia not cut out from the...

Cop30 concluded with confident declarations from global fashion brands: upgraded net-zero road maps, new partnerships under the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and bold promises to “accelerate supply-chain decarbonisation”. However, the summit revealed something the industry continues to avoid. Fashion’s climate ambition is still being shaped in the West, while the responsibility for delivering it falls almost entirely on Asia. This imbalance has not shifted. Instead, the UN...

For the first time in a decade, hunters armed with rifles and crossbows are fanning out across Florida’s swamps and flatwoods to legally hunt the Florida black bear, over the vocal opposition of critics. The state-sanctioned hunt began on Saturday, after drawing more than 160,000 applications for a far more limited number of hunting permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed in this year’s hunt, the state’s first since 2015. The Florida Fish and...

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he and his negotiators who are discussing a US-led plan for Ukraine had a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelensky said on Telegram as the third day of the talks were to be held in Florida. “We agreed on the next steps and the format of the talks with America,” he added. Zelensky, who...

A mass shooting carried out on Saturday by multiple suspects in an unlicensed bar near the South African capital left at least 11 people dead, police said. The victims included three children aged three, 12 and 16. Another 14 people were wounded and taken to hospital, according to a statement from the South African Police Service. Police did not give details on the ages of those who were injured or their conditions. The shooting happened at a bar inside a hostel in the Saulsville township west...

The findings are the latest example of how the notion of a single price is breaking down in the digital age, a trend economists say could be pushing up some prices.

In a sign of bipartisan frustration with the Defense Department, the final defense policy bill aims to compel the Pentagon to share execute orders and video documentation.

The Christmas display, which replaces Jesus, Mary and Joseph with a sign saying “ICE Was Here,” has drawn criticism from Catholic leaders and immigration officials.

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

Autobiographical stories and mystery games resonated in a chaotic year.

A judge blamed “deliberate indifference” for the illness of a man held by immigration officials. Across the country, several courts have blasted conditions in U.S. facilities.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled a deadly border conflict, the authorities said, some sheltering at a racetrack in Thailand and some near temples in Cambodia.

The latest violence comes months after President Trump helped mediate a cease-fire between the two nations.

As Gen Alpha’s attention drifts from TV and movies, video creators like Alan Chikin Chow are eager to fill the void.

Looking to shake off Moscow’s cultural influences, Kyiv has been seeking to highlight the Ukrainian roots of Kazimir Malevich, a renowned avant-garde painter.

Despite pressure from the Trump administration, Mr. Zelensky, after meeting with European leaders who vowed continued support in the war, said Ukraine’s position on territory had not changed.

The archdiocese will raise at least $300 million to fund the settlement. It has agreed with its accusers on a mediator to conduct negotiations.

Some states are enacting legislation to make it harder to get an abortion, while others are passing laws to protect people who provide them.

“One Rulebook” is not the kind of A.I. regulation this country needs.

We dig into a case in front of the justices this week.

“Call me a boomer, but these participation trophies have gone too far,” Stephen Colbert said before presenting himself with the First Annual Stephen Colbert Joke Prize.

The attorney general said he had asked Interpol to detain Juan Orlando Hernández, who was freed from a U.S. prison last week.

After decades of growth driven by diamond mining, Canada’s Northwest Territories are facing the closure of three major mines and wondering: What’s next?

The Hollywood Classic cinema in Seoul is popular in a country where 70-year-olds now outnumber people in their 20s.

He gave readers a comprehensive and lyrical account of the historic mission in 1969. His science coverage as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and an author took him around the world.