Minimalist News

Alexander Vindman Suffers Double-Digit Loss To Socialist Angie Nixon In Florida Senate Primary Alexander Vindman - a central Russiagate figure who flipped out when Donald Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden family corruption - and who was offered the job of Ukraine's Minister of Defense three times two months before the infamous 'perfect' Trump-Zelensky call - was just beaten out of a Florida Senate seat by Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon, 44-56 in Tuesday night's primary. Vindman and Nixon - a state Rep., were vying to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody (R) in November. Meanwhile, Alexander's twin brother Eugene

We're All On Borrowed Time... Authored by Brad Todd via The What For Substack , We bought our house in the same year I discovered Piemonte , and that was fortuitous. The house came with a walk-in wine cellar and the family-owned vineyards strewn across the rolling Italian hills from LaMorra to Serralunga D'Alba provided a learnable collection of producers to fill it up. It is a good thing I have enjoyed the chore of curating this wine because I will not get to enjoy drinking it. This afternoon, maybe even as you read this, I will be in a

Why Are So Many Democrats Being Arrested On Fraud Charges? An obvious pattern is emerging. Multiple Democrat officials have been arrested and charged with fraud or related federal crimes over the past two years and the trend seems to be growing. Democrat politicians and DNC members are over-represented when it comes to fraud and it's starting to look like the entire party has been pilfering the cookie jar for quite some time. In the latest incident, Lawrence, MA Mayor Brian DePeña faces federal charges for allegedly using Covid-19 relief money meant for his tire business to fund his political campaign

Where Have All The Conservatives Gone? Authored by Nikolai G. Wenzel via The Daily Economy , Fusionism, a new book by Stephanie Slade, a Senior Editor at Reason , attempts to make sense of the seemingly incoherent New Right. Although Slade proposes a renewal of fusionism as a remedy to conservatism's drift and the challenges facing a divided Republic, the book's greatest strength lies in its analysis of the trends to date. The Republican Party, for all its faults, was supposed to understand (instinctively, if not always intellectually) limited government, rule of law, and the basics of economics. From its

Illegal Immigrant Killer Found Not Guilty By Insanity, Flees US During Hospital Leave An illegal immigrant found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2019 killing managed to flee the United States on a one-way flight to his native Tajikistan while on an approved 48-hour pass from a state mental health facility. Now a Soros-backed prosecutor is under fire for his pattern of pursuing insanity pleas for violent offenders who are illegal immigrants. Steve Descano, commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County, Va., speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s newly elected progressive prosecutors. (Getty Images)

Minority Leader Jeffries Drops The Mask, Signals Democrats Are Coming For The Court Hakeem Jeffries has developed a habit of saying out loud what his party once preferred to keep vague . Hakeem Jeffries (photo: Anna Moneymaker, Getty) Speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, the House minority leader told the audience that Democrats see "[a] variety of different options that are on the table, and I think we can't foreclose on any single one of them" when it comes to the Supreme Court. The options under discussion include adding justices and imposing 18-year term limits

Forbes Editor Fired Over $6m Payoff Had Threatened Companies Who Dared Hire Outgoing Trump Admin Officials In 2021 Authored by Monica Showalter via American Thinker , Remember how vindictive the political scenario after Joe Biden first took office? It wasn't just the draconian prosecutions of Jan. 6 protestors, most of whom were non-violent and unarmed, many of them little old ladies. One guy got sent to jail who wasn't even at the scene of the Capitol crowd control incident. Randall Lane at the ‘Forbes’ 50 Over 50 Luncheon on Dec. 8, 2022. Credit : Cindy Ord/Getty There also were the

Derek Chauvin Seeks To Dismiss Charges In Death Of George Floyd Derek Chauvin's legal team filed a new court petition Tuesday morning seeking to dismiss the charges against the former Minneapolis police officer and vacate his convictions, arguing that the case that sent him to prison for the death of George Floyd rested on a foundation that never had legal standing to begin with. Attorney Greg Joseph submitted the 31-page filing in Hennepin County, alleging that Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office engaged in unlawful and fraudulent conduct when they brought the case

ICE Proposes Insurance Coverage For Local Officers Involved In Immigration Arrests Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times , U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has proposed an insurance plan to shield local police officers involved in immigration arrests from financial liability if they face allegations of misconduct during those arrests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images A proposal document published Aug. 14 by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shows the agency intends to pay for liability insurance coverage

Fauci Aide Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy That Shielded EcoHealth Records, Countered Lab-Leak Narrative Dr. David Morens, the longtime senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty in Greenbelt federal court on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371). The plea caps a records scandal that began with his own emails bragging about making federal documents disappear. According to the DOJ: After the NIH terminated the bat coronavirus grant, Morens and a co-conspirator pledged to help its recipient restore the canceled funding and

Inside The DSA's Dilemma: Grow The Democratic Party Or Become It Authored by Russ Jones via The Epoch Times , The Democratic Socialists of America's national leadership was split 14-13 in Chicago this summer. Not over whether to endorse Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for president in 2028, but over whether the group's own 120,000 members should even get to vote on the question. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times The narrow margin, which blocked a nonbinding member poll, landed in the same season the DSA became,

Rubio Announces Sanctions Against International Criminal Court President & Top Lawyer Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday new sanctions against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Sey e as tensions flare between the court and the Trump administration. “These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” his statement said. The ICC, he added, has attempted to “assert authority over” over U.S. citizens and nationals of other nations that have not consented to the Rome Statute that set

Why Teens Are Struggling To Find Summer Jobs Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times , Joslyne Baird has been looking for a job for about a year to help her family pay the bills. She began her job search at 14 years old, applying to summer camps and grocery stores around her small Kentucky town of about 1,500 people, without success, she told The Epoch Times. "I'm looking for babysitting jobs, mowing jobs, cleaning jobs, and so much more," the now 15-year-old said. "Anything I'm able to do to make money for, I will do." Baird has not

Comcast Turns Millions Of Routers Into Motion Sensors - The Same WiFi Signals Can ID You With 99.5% Accuracy Dear Comcast customers: The internet gateway in your living room is now a motion sensor. It's free of charge, and the data can go to law enforcement without further notice. What's more, researchers have already shown that these same signals can identify exactly who is in the room. On Tuesday, Comcast unveiled Xfinity Shield , a home security platform built entirely around the WiFi network. Its centerpiece, WiFi Motion, turns the leased gateway into a motion detector at no extra charge

Disengagement: Trump Vows New Strategy To 'Strangle' Iran Over Time Summary No talks: Trump confirms US-Iran negotiations are off, vows to 'strangle them' over time. Hormuz attack: Tanker hit, injuring a crew member. Houthis escalate: Attacks shut Yemen’s Mokha port. Diplomacy stalled: Qatar says not mediating until Oman-Hormuz deal finalized. Iran hardens: Tehran says it maintains an offensive posture. Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by September 30? Yes 9% · No 92% View full market & trade on Polymarket * * * Disengagement: Trump Vows New Strategy of Strangling Iran The US administration has already said this many

China Added 200,000 Bpd To Crude Reserves In July Despite Hormuz Crisis By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com China is estimated to have added about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to its huge inventories in July as imports rebounded from a decade-low in June and refinery runs remained depressed. The world’s top crude oil importer, unlike other major oil consumers, started drawing down on stockpiles only in May, the third month of the Middle East crisis, as it had amassed an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil in commercial and strategic stocks at the start of the

Unitree IPO 5,550 Times Oversubscribed As UBS Says Grey Market Points To 3.5x Open The global market leader in humanoid-robot shipments, China-based Unitree, is set to begin trading on Shanghai's STAR Market on Wednesday , potentially sparking a wave of robotics listings in Asia as the race for physical AI remains in its early innings. Unitree New Robot Preview: “Superman” Breaking the Limits of Humanity🥳 Standing high jump 2 m, top speed 12.66 m/s (0.85 m leg length) Surpassing the standing high jump and running speed records of all humans around the world This new machine has only been in

Battle Over Ten Commandments Arrives At Supreme Court Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 17 to review a federal appeals court decision that upheld a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit cleared the way in April for the Texas law to take effect. The state law known as Senate Bill 10, or SB 10, requires that public elementary and secondary schools conspicuously display in classrooms an easily readable poster

DSA Lawmaker Claims Shoplifting For "Biological Need" Shouldn't Be Illegal A radical Democratic Socialist lawmaker from New York is under fire after declaring that theft driven by "biological need" shouldn't be treated as a crime, effectively green-lighting shoplifting while slamming big retailers. Emily Gallagher, a New York State Assembly member and part of the Democratic Socialists of America's New York State Socialists in Office caucus, sparked outrage this week with comments defending petty theft at a press conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court. "Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty - people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people

Why Is This Scumbag Still In America? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , A 26-year-old Ghanaian migrant stalked and attacked women across Oklahoma City over a two-week span in August, getting arrested three times for sexual battery before firefighters witnessed him trying to rape a fourth woman on a public trail and held him for police. Jeff Kufi (Kofi) Asare was booked on a first-degree rape charge with a $75,000 bond. The Oklahoma County District Attorney's office is pushing to raise that bond because of the rapid series of alleged assaults. Court records show at least 19 criminal

Beto Coral held up banners in Florida warning fellow Colombians to not vote for Abelardo de la Espriella In the week before Colombia’s presidential election, Beto Coral, a well-known activist living in the United States, travelled to Florida to persuade fellow Colombians not to vote for the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. Coral held banners outside polling stations in Miami warning that the millionaire lawyer, whose candidacy was endorsed by Donald Trump, would “help deport all of you”. Continue reading...

US president delays 50% tariffs by three days, and says contentious oil project ‘may be awoken from the grave’ Canada has temporarily avoided a bruising 50% US tariff, reaching a Tuesday-evening agreement with Trump administration officials hours before a hike that would have affected $20bn worth of goods was set to take effect. Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Continue reading...

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro ,

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills . Continue reading...

Grifols, which runs private chain of clinics, to temporarily stop taking donations after new government investigation A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices. Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs 17 clinics in Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Company’s robots have gained global fame via videos of them performing martial arts and as dancers for pop stars Unitree, the world’s biggest humanoid robot maker, has made a spectacular entry on to China’s stock market, with its shares surging by more than 600%. The Chinese company’s robots have gained global fame via viral videos of them performing martial arts , running at Olympic speeds and serving as backup dancers for pop stars. Continue reading...

Lee Jae Myung has long pushed for stronger homegrown defences, yet Donald Trump’s move has sparked alarm in some quarters At their first summit , in August last year, the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, told Donald Trump: “If you, Mr President, become the peacemaker, then I will assist you as the pacemaker.” The remark at the Oval Office captured the thrust of Lee’s approach to North Korea: dial down the military posturing and make repeated peace overtures to revive dialogue, even if they have been consistently rejected by Pyongyang largely over Seoul’s insistence on denuclearisation. Continue reading...

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise would end on 21 August at the request of the US Analysis: In cutting joint drills, Trump has given South Korea’s president what he wants. So why does Seoul look so uneasy? South Korea’s military has confirmed that joint military drills with the US will be cut short, days after Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back the exercises. In a statement on Wednesday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said at the request of the US side, the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise – which began

Country’s second fatal school shooting in two months took place in southern city of ⁠Zamboanga A student livestreamed himself shooting and killing another pupil in a classroom in the southern Philippines before taking his own ⁠life, ​the second school attack in the country in less than two months. The shooting took ⁠place at a school attached to Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern city of ⁠Zamboanga, a Catholic private institution in western Mindanao. Zamboanga city’s mayor, Khymer Adan Olaso, told the DZMM radio station that the ‌shooter “managed to enter carrying a high-powered firearm and a .45-calibre pistol”. Continue

Lee Jae Myung reiterates desire for full command back in Seoul’s hands after Donald Trump cuts joint exercises, citing warm ties with Kim Jong-un ‘Inane, haphazard decision’ by Trump to gut South Korea alliance South Korea’s president ⁠has renewed his push to regain independent control of the military from the US in the event of war and urged faster progress in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines after Donald Trump’s order to cut joint drills. On Sunday night, Trump instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” this week’s joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the nuclear-armed North “has been unthreatening and respectful” and

Shane Hryhorec’s viral video showing the interaction with flight staff has already garnered 16m views Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Virgin Australia has apologised to a disability advocate who said he was “humiliated” by his removal from a flight over his wheelchair motor. The airline called Shane Hryhorec on Wednesday afternoon to offer an apology, two days after the Adelaide-based man published a viral video showing the incident onboard a flight from Sydney. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Follow our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Collapsing confidence’ in housing market, Wilson says Tim Wilson has jumped on that reporting around rent increases and says there has been a collapse in confidence since the budget which is hurting renters. We’ve had, since the budget, collapsing confidence, a lack of will to invest in housing that is going to be available for rentals. We’re seeing a complete disaster in the housing market, and we know that’s only going to do one thing while the government continues to overshoot its migration

The government’s gambling ad changes are expected to pass the Senate on Wednesday night or Thursday morning with the Coalition’s support Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The husband of the late Labor MP Peta Murphy has said the government’s gambling reform “falls well short” of what she called for in 2023, lamenting that its shortcomings were due to the “considerable lobbying power” of the wagering, sporting and media industries. Rod Glover said he had “mixed emotions” about Labor’s reforms, which are expected to pass

Despite leading in the polls, Hanson is allowed to offer thought bubbles instead of actual policy Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast All sides of politics are feeling the heat from Pauline Hanson. On Tuesday, the One Nation leader pulled the rug out from under the Coalition by announcing a policy to slash tobacco excise by 75%, to deal with surging illegal sales. The policy was remarkably similar to one Liberals and Nationals have been discussing for months. Continue reading...

Allowing jurors to stay in same hotel as police and prosecution denied Patterson a fair trial, lawyers tell Victorian court of appeal Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Lawyers for Erin Patterson have argued that allowing jurors to stay in the same hotel as police and the prosecution while they deliberated over their verdicts in the triple-murder trial represented a “catastrophic” failure of the justice system. But the prosecution say it was far from a catastrophe, and showed the system worked as it should. Continue

Investigation into unnamed lawmakers comes hours before parliament is due to to vote on successor to Mykhailo Fedorov as he calls for elections President Zelenskyy responded this morning to the overnight attack on a bus in Kherson, calling it a “vicious Russian safari against our people.” “Four people were killed and five others were wounded. All necessary services are at the scene, investigating the details,” he said. “ These are the realities of everyday life in Ukraine’s frontline regions. While partners hesitate over additional supplies of defence equipment, the Russians have long run wild. Pressure on the aggressor is needed.

Food Foundation sounds alarm over supply risks and price shocks as about 40% of Britain’s food is imported The UK is vulnerable to food price shocks because of its dependence on imports of fruit and vegetable from countries even more exposed to the climate crisis, researchers say. Much of Britain has sweltered under a record five heatwaves this year and endured drought and wildfires, with the hot, dry conditions damaging crops and reducing yields of domestic produce . Continue reading...

Alpine communities hit out after influencer videos draw huge queues to Friedrich August refuge in Dolomites Hundreds of people overwhelmed a mountain hut in the Italian Dolomites, not for the panoramic views but in search of a creamy pastry, reigniting the debate about social-media-driven tourism. The visitors ventured en masse to the Friedrich August refuge – perched at 2,300 metres (7,500ft) above sea level, between Col Rodella and Passo Sella in Val di Fassa – some reportedly waking up at dawn or camping overnight, just to ensure they could buy a freshly baked krapfen , a traditional German pastry similar

Mykhailo Fedorov’s appeal is most direct challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russian invasion in 2022 Ukraine’s recently dismissed former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for a wartime presidential election in the most direct political challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The politician, whose abrupt sacking last month triggered a wave of protests , said that Ukraine had to “restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war” in a video address released online late on Tuesday evening. Continue reading...

Migration minister asked how he intends to stop deportations of people ‘who had lived in Sweden for decades’ The deportation and removal of British citizens from Sweden over Brexit residency rights is damaging relations with the UK amid efforts to improve links with London, a Swedish MP has said. Håkan Svenneling, representative for Värmland, where a 78-year-old British widow, Joyce Thomas, has been given four weeks to leave Sweden after 21 years of residency, has written to the migration minister, Johan Forssell, asking what he “intends to do to stop the deportations”. Continue reading...

Picture showing White Helmets volunteer unconscious and with bruises on his body went viral Syrians have protested over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces, sparking widespread anger at a practice thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. A crowd gathered in the city of Aleppo, demanding accountability for the security forces who are alleged to have carried out the torture, with participants holding signs and slogans such as: “Do not repeat the same oppression that we revolted against.” Protests were also planned to take place in front of Syria’s

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack. Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach. Continue reading...

Likud’s depiction of Zohran Mamdani is latest move in spat between Israel’s prime minister and New York City mayor Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has compared the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to the leaders of Iran and Hezbollah on a campaign billboard. The billboard in central Tel Aviv depicts Mamdani alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and the chief of the militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. Continue reading...

US president makes threat in comments to Fox News, as his son-in-law meets the Israeli leader in Jerusalem in effort to push Gaza peace plan Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of ending Iran war Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen , urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms. An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza. Continue reading...

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power , an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his home Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021. Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years

An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome back to This Is India. For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a

PM promises to mount ‘Covid-style campaign’ to get homeless people off streets in winter Rayner also insisted that it is not a demotion for the chancellor that No 10 North will be taking charge of driving economic growth. Asked by Sky News whether it was a demotion for John Healey, Rayner said: Not at all, no. The chancellor is working really hard with the prime minister, with myself and other cabinet colleagues. You’ll have seen the statement that the cabinet made I think now two weeks ago, where we were really clear on our intent to put devolution and community

UK competition watchdog investigation is part of broader clampdown on illegal ‘drip pricing’ Business live – latest updates The UK’s competition watchdog has launched investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and Red Driving School over concerns that all three companies displayed misleadingly low prices to their customers. The Competition and Markets Authority’s investigations are part of a broader clampdown on “drip pricing”, an illegal practice that makes a product appear cheaper by not including all mandatory fees. Continue reading...

PM’s plan to shield households from more pressure risks being overwhelmed by wider price rises UK inflation rises to 2.9% Business live – latest updates July’s increase in inflation, to 2.9% , is likely to be the first of several, underlining the challenge facing Andy Burnham in shielding consumers from a fresh cost of living squeeze this autumn. Rising energy bills, as an increase in Ofgem’s quarterly price cap came into force, were the main driver of the jump in inflation, from 2.6% in June. Continue reading...

Dulwich Picture Gallery show to feature British artist’s work hung next to paintings by Dutch and Flemish greats The contemporary UK artist David Shrigley will apply his trademark arch humour and distinctive artistic practice “in dialogue” with old masters of Dutch and Flemish painting in a major new solo exhibition in London. The celebrated visual artist will explore the 17th-century paintings with his own new works “responding to” and hung alongside original masterpieces by artists including Jan Steen, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers the Younger, Adriaen van Ostade, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Rembrandt van Rijn. Continue reading...

Accelerating price increases in July add to pressure on households, with chancellor saying ‘there is more to do to restore hope’ Analysis: Rising inflation underlines scale of Burnham’s cost of living challenge Business live – latest updates UK inflation rose to 2.9% in July as the impact of the Iran war on energy prices triggered a renewed cost of living squeeze for British households. The Office for National Statistics said inflation rose from a 15-month low of 2.6% in June, driven by the rising price of gas and electricity. Matching City economists’ forecasts, it was the first rise in the

Incumbent Sullivan is running for third term while Peltola is fighting to flip seat and aid Democrats retake control of Congress Democratic socialist Angie Nixon clinches surprise win in Florida Sign up for the US Breaking News email In case you missed it: NBC News reported yesterday that the US Department of Justice has issued subpoenas into whether Dan J Sullivan entered the Alaska primary for US Senate to confuse voters seeking to vote for incumbent Republican senator Dan S Sullivan . Citing an unnamed law enforcement official, NBC News reports that the subpoenas are part of a federal investigation.

This live blog is now closed. Donalds and Jolly to face off in Florida governor race Democratic socialist Angie Nixon wins Senate primary Sign up for the US Breaking News email President Donald Trump posted an image of a map of the strait of Hormuz on his social media platform Truth Social, with a circle around the strait and the words “New US Territory” as the title on Tuesday morning. This follows comments made on Friday at a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, where Trump said “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very

This live blog is now closed. What we know about Tupac Shakur’s death and what to expect from murder trial District Court Judge Carli Kierney relayed a few questions directly from the jury to medical examiner Dr. Lisa Gavin. “Where there any wounds to the head that you or Dr. Jordan observed or noted?” Continue reading...

Nixon bested Alexander Vindman to win Democratic nomination and now faces Republican Ashley Moody in November Trump-backed Byron Donalds wins Republican primary in race to succeed Florida governor DeSantis In an upset for the Democratic establishment, progressive Angie Nixon won the party’s US Senate primary in Florida, beating former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman. Nixon, a state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, had significantly less funding going into the primary – with $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3m at the end of July, according to Florida Politics . Continue reading...

Congressman had pledged to implement president’s agenda if he gained governor’s seat Democratic socialist Angie Nixon clinches surprise primary win in Florida US Senate race Byron Donalds, a congressman backed by Donald Trump , won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday in the race to succeed Ron DeSantis . Donalds, who has represented south-west Florida since 2021, trounced three reasonably prominent Republican rivals, including Jay Collins, DeSantis’s handpicked lieutenant governor. Continue reading...

A close aide to Donald Trump is at the centre of an ugly clash between the White House and Senator Jon Ossoff, after the Democratic lawmaker drew the administration’s ire for highlighting the close nature of her relationship with the US president. Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old executive assistant to the president, is little known to the public but a constant presence at Trump’s side, both in the White House and during weekend trips to his golf properties. In her role, she is seen as a gatekeeper,...

The United Arab Emirates has said it is suspending all trade and financial dealings with Iran after reporting an Iranian missile attack directed at its ships. The announcement comes after a period of relative calm in the UAE, with no Iranian missiles aimed at the country since May after it bore the brunt of attacks in the early weeks of the Middle East war. Abu Dhabi has, however, accused Tehran of repeatedly targeting its tankers at sea in recent weeks. “In light of regional escalations … all...

A US Navy destroyer with about 300 sailors aboard suffered a major breakdown in the Pacific Ocean last month that left it without power for four days, the Navy confirmed in a statement. The USS Benfold “reported an engineering casualty involving its generators, causing a loss of power” on July 24, Navy spokesman Commander Matthew Comer said in the statement. The breakdown meant the crew went without drinking water, meals, functioning toilets and air conditioning for days aboard the ship, Comer...

Mexico is weighing plans to impose further trade restrictions on selected products from China and other countries while raising existing import taxes on others, according to four people familiar with the matter. The so-called anti-dumping measures would deepen Mexico’s alignment with Washington as President Claudia Sheinbaum pursues a multi-year extension of the North American trade pact known as the USMCA, while also supporting her push to grow domestic manufacturing at a time of lacklustre...

The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday on the International Criminal Court’s president and a senior trial lawyer at the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. The move is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against The Hague-based court, which was established ‌in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The US is not a member of the court. Rubio said in a statement that he was imposing sanctions on...

Meta Platforms intentionally sought to ⁠addict children to its Facebook and Instagram platforms, a lawyer for California said on Tuesday at the start of a trial that could reshape some of the most popular apps on the planet. A bipartisan group of 29 US states is suing Meta, seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to how Meta does business. Four lead states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – accuse Meta of designing Facebook and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow ⁠on Tuesday with ⁠Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president, Min Aung ⁠Hlaing, discussing a wide range of issues including prospective energy deals. Russia is the first non-neighbouring country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming Myanmar’s president in April, a sign of the two countries’ ‌deepening ties in the face of pressure from the West. In remarks after the meeting, Putin described Min Aung Hlaing as a friend of Russia and said the...

US President Donald Trump paused the planned roll-out of punishing new tariffs on Canadian goods late on Tuesday, as both sides indicated they were close to a broader trade agreement after weeks of talks. Trump announced the three-day reprieve from 50 per cent duties on select goods mere hours before a midnight deadline. The delay was “based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalisation of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump said on social media. Canadian Prime Minister Mark...

US President Donald Trump said that Tuesday that no talks with Iran were under way or scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution. Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than any previous epidemic of the disease and risks spreading to more countries, the head of the World Health Organization has warned. “We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting on the outbreak on Tuesday. “It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.” His comment came after the DR Congo on Monday said the outbreak...

Some women who entered Spain’s ⁠North African enclave of Ceuta on July 30 as part of a mass migrant crossing say the ⁠hardships of sleeping rough as they wait to be registered are compounded by the threat and fear of sexual harassment. More than a dozen women have set up camp on a wooded roadside running up to the barbed wire fencing that surrounds the government-run migrant reception centre, near the urban beach of El Trampolin. The facility is sheltering about 700 people, 200 more than...

The Israeli military is touted as the most powerful in the Middle East, striking targets deep into enemy territory. But for more than a week, Israeli troops have somehow failed to evict a small group of settlers sitting on rocks in the occupied West Bank. Experts say the military has long shown inertia when its task is stopping surging violence against Palestinians, due to government backing for the settlement movement and the increasing influence of settler ideology within the army’s...

As the Iran war spills over into the Red Sea – a crucial chokepoint for Asia-Europe trade – China has marked a milestone by launching its first regular service through the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route (NSR), a development welcomed by Russia. The route, which runs along Russia’s northern Arctic coast, slashes travel time compared with alternative paths. A journey from Ningbo city on China’s southeast coast to Felixstowe in the United Kingdom takes just 20 days – about half the time required for...

A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage. The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers in March last year to Ukraine. The plan was aimed at scoping out possibilities for “disrupting transport and infrastructure” and was ultimately directed by a...

A Syrian court on Tuesday handed a death sentence to Wassim al-Assad who appeared in the dock, a cousin of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad who was himself sentenced to death in absentia last week. The 46-year-old relative of Assad was convicted over atrocities committed under the autocrat’s rule during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Assad’s cousin was convicted of multiple murders and “murder accompanied by torture and brutality … classified as crimes...

The Milky Way, a ⁠large and spiral-shaped galaxy that is home to hundreds of billions of stars including our sun, has taken a long and complicated path to achieve its current dimensions, as illustrated by new research documenting a milestone event early in its history. Scientists observing clusters of stars congregated near the Milky Way’s centre have discovered evidence that our galaxy swallowed a smaller galaxy roughly 11.8 billion years ago, when the universe was less ‌than 15 per cent of its...

A Russian attack on a village in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine killed 10 people, Kyiv said on Tuesday, vowing to respond. The strike comes amid a surge in civilian deaths in the four-and-a-half-year war. Russian forces “carried out a rocket strike on Pechenihy”, a village around 40km (25 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on social media. “According to preliminary information, 10 people were killed,” he added, with 17 people wounded. Ukrainian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian leader seeks an economic reboot for his war-ravaged country and fresh supplies of fertiliser, oil and weapons. A pariah to much of the West over his 2021 coup and role as army chief during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, Min Aung Hlaing has nonetheless found friends in Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok over recent months. That followed a heavily criticised election won...

Peace prospects in the Middle East faded, with US President Donald Trump ruling out a renewed ceasefire deal with Iran and more fighting breaking out in Lebanon. Trump said “no” when asked whether he wanted a new Iran accord to replace a 60-day agreement that expired on Monday. “They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of deal that I feel is necessary,” he told reporters at the White House. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose above US$91 per barrel, having gained...

Aboard his boat moored along the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian fisherman Mohammad Amin mended a torn fishing net after a long day in waters that have long sustained his livelihood, but are now shadowed by the threat of death. It has been less than a month since the 47-year-old resumed his routine of waking before dawn, heading out to sea and returning hours later with the day’s catch – a routine he had to put on hold during months of fighting between Iran and the United States in and around the...

US President Donald Trump cited India’s election system as a model for the US, bringing the world’s largest democracy into a contentious American debate over voter access and election security. Trump said the identification requirements make elections secure and pressed Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to vote. The measure has stalled in the Senate as Trump and his Republican allies push for...

Women working in US President Donald Trump’s White House were not surprised that press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced last week she was leaving her job – and they do not think it was just because she wants to spend time with her young children. In an interview with the Daily Mail, several anonymous White House employees spoke of the pressure that Leavitt, executive assistant Natalie Harper and other female staff are under to adhere daily to a “Maga perfect” standard of beauty that requires...

China cut its holdings of US Treasuries to a nearly 18-year low in June, as Beijing continued to diversify its foreign exchange reserves amid heightened geopolitical tensions and growing uncertainty over the policy outlook in the United States. Holdings fell to US$633.4 billion in June from US$659.3 billion in May, data released by the Treasury Department of the United States showed on Monday. The amount in June marked the lowest level since September 2008, when holdings fell to US$618.2 billion...

President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea does not just slight a long-time ally but raises broader concerns about the security interests of the United States in Asia and elsewhere. Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator Kim Jong-un, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined...

Colombia’s new housing minister has come under fire after it emerged that he took his family on a Caribbean holiday while the country was reeling from a devastating earthquake that left thousands homeless. The August 10 earthquake, which killed nearly 300 people in western Colombia, struck just three days after right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella took office. The 7.4-magnitude tremor was the most powerful in Colombia in nearly half a century. Over the weekend, photos and videos emerged...

The US diesel crack, a key measure of refining profitability, hit an all-time high of US$102.20 a barrel on Monday as global supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine run into peak agricultural consumption season. Measured as the premium ‌of US diesel futures over US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, the US diesel crack was trading at US$99.82 a barrel, up 2.4 per cent from Friday. The crack has hit new intraday record highs in five of the last six sessions, reflecting...

Moscow said on Monday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador after Tokyo condemned President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Russia’s far-eastern Kuril Islands, which are also claimed by Japan. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Putin, 73, travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, prompting Japan to summon Russia’s ambassador in...

Thousands of people gathered in central London late on Monday to hold a vigil for black academic Jason Arday, blaming racism and relentless media pressure for his death last week. The vigil in central Trafalgar Square came as the head of Cambridge University on Monday condemned a “racist feeding frenzy” prompted by plagiarism claims against Arday. Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead on Friday aged 41, after mounting accusations he...

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans ‌concerned the US war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday. Just 33 per cent of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, while 64 per cent disapproved. Trump’s approval rating, down from 35 per cent in a poll that closed earlier this month and lower...

Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of gang revenge ordered by a mobster who later boasted of it, jurors heard on Monday, as one of America’s most anticipated trials got under way, 30 years after the murder. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, one of a patchwork of gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, ordered the killing after his nephew had been beaten by a rival mob, prosecutor Binu Pilal told a Las Vegas court. “On September 7, 1996,...

The theft ⁠of four paintings by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina may have involved organised crime and raised troubling questions about security at a museum in the Sicilian artist’s hometown, a local official said on Monday. Enzo Caruso, Messina’s councillor for culture, said it was difficult to understand how thieves could have removed the works in a matter of minutes without detailed ‌knowledge of the museum’s layout. “It’s a very, very strange affair,” Caruso said. The theft on...

Nvidia has agreed to provide a ⁠guarantee of up to US$105 billion ⁠to help ⁠OpenAI lease a sprawling data centre in Ohio being developed by SoftBank-backed SB Energy, in one of the chipmaker’s largest infrastructure financing commitments. The Jensen Huang-led firm said on Monday it will also invest US$1.5 billion in SB Energy, months after a US$1 billion investment from OpenAI and SoftBank to expand data centre infrastructure. The new deal is the latest example of Nvidia financing the...

A Russian court on Monday convicted a prominent opposition politician for speaking out against the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison in the latest crackdown leading up to next month’s parliamentary election. The verdict against Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Yabloko party, was another step by the Kremlin to stifle dissent since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022. Yabloko is the only official political party overtly opposing the war. In a...

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone posing as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, it was reported on Monday. According to Politico, which broke the story quoting anonymous sources, the British leader sent a “few messages” via an unspecified communication channel to a person he believed to be Wiles before becoming suspicious. The incident was deemed serious enough for the British embassy in Washington to raise the matter with the White House, according...

Since Chinese container ships began plying the Northern Sea Route three years ago, the Arctic shipping lane has gained global importance. Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea later that year disrupted traffic through the Suez Canal – the fastest route between Europe and Asia – in what was the most serious conflict-driven disruption since the Arab-Israeli war nearly six decades earlier. The 5,600km (3,480-mile) Northern Sea Route spans Russia’s Arctic coast, from the Barents Sea to...

Three people have been shot dead in a suspected revenge attack linked to the drug trade in southwestern Spain, the authorities in the Andalusia region said on Monday. The three victims were a pregnant woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, a 62-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy. The unborn child also did not survive, the authorities said, adding that two other people were injured in the attack. According to official statements, the attack took place in Isla Cristina, a town of 21,000...

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of an American deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, and called for Iran to surrender. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks. Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements...

The US Supreme Court on Monday again rebuffed President Donald Trump’s push to throw out a jury’s US$5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The Republican president’s lawyers had asked the justices to reconsider their refusal to hear his appeal. It is unusual – although not unheard of – for the court to grant such requests. Trump paid the judgment shortly after the court declined to take up...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US-China ‘Board of Investment’ stalls before expected Trump-Xi meeting The US-China Board of Investment, one of the key outcomes of the May summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is unlikely to be among the deliverables for their expected meeting next month...

Last month, two Chinese companies released artificial intelligence models most people outside the industry know little about: Kimi K3 by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-Max by Alibaba Group Holding (which owns the South China Morning Post). The markets reacted even before publicly auditable evidence about the performance claims – detailed benchmark table, model card and licence – was made fully available. In the weeks that followed, global chip stocks shed about US$3 trillion in market value. That...

The European Union intends to significantly expand sanctions against Russia in the coming months over its war in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told a ‌German newspaper. “EU sanctions have already cost Russia dearly, depriving Russia’s war machine of over €1 trillion (US$1.16 trillion) and for autumn I am putting forward the most far-reaching sanctions listings since the start of the war,” she told Die Welt. “Once adopted, they would immediately raise the total number of...

Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday wrapped up two days of meetings with Israeli and Hamas leaders to break a stalemate over the US president’s Gaza plan, but no breakthrough appeared imminent as both sides dug in. Kushner met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, a day after meeting Hamas’ political leader in Egypt to revive the plan, which has ‌stalled as Israel has carried out air strikes and grabbed more territory in Gaza despite an October ceasefire, while...

Hayden Panettiere, star of popular television series including Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36. Panettiere’s father, Skip, announced the actress’ death in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” his statement said. No cause of death was...

An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media. Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticised Israel’s recent...

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. Why Chinese youth are turning to an 84-year-old Cambridge professor for support 2. Chinese officials rattled by White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi-Trump summit 3. How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region 4. Hong Kong policewoman facing probe over viral video of her...

President Trump’s White House aide Natalie Harp is always by his side. What, exactly, does she do?

Although the fate of the ballroom is tied up in court, the Trump administration argues that the project is too far along to be stopped now.

President Trump had ordered the Defense Department to reduce joint exercises with the key U.S. ally, declaring the drills “hostile” toward North Korea.

The president’s hostility to allies like Oman, Canada and South Korea, and his affection for adversaries like North Korea, may still shock some. But it comes as little surprise after a decade of upheaval.

A day after President Trump’s envoy, Jared Kushner, visited Israel to advance a stalled plan for demilitarizing and rebuilding Gaza, the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas commanders.

We aren’t the only animals that like to take care of other species. A new study finds that the roots of keeping a pet may stretch deep into our primate past.

Despite the actress’s efforts to move on from a turbulent relationship with Brian Hickerson, they were together when she went into cardiac arrest and died.

The arrangement is one of the largest known deals that the Trump administration has struck to expel migrants who cannot be sent back to their home countries.

Federal agents have begun detaining Haitians in the Ohio city, signaling an increase in ICE activity that has panicked the community and kept many from leaving home.

After reviewing claims of persistent safety and sanitary failures, the court named two experts to monitor detention conditions across several facilities.

The agency joins a growing number of workplaces and groups to ban Meta’s devices, which have spurred privacy concerns.

The only member of the Texas power trio without a beard, he propelled the band’s blend of boogie, Southern rock and blues for more than a half-century.

It doesn’t take much for small powers to gain a big advantage over the powerful.

The four-year degree isn’t just an economic signal; it’s become a lifestyle determinant.

“I’ll put it this way: If the U.S. is in charge of the strait, then I’m also straight — and let’s face it, I’m not,” the guest host said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

The rule to require efficient replacement tires was praised by environmentalists. But manufacturers warned that the change would hurt American companies and increase tire prices.