Minimalist News

'Situational Bewareness': Star AI Investor Dumps Assets To Citadel After Massive Levered Bets Blow Up Update (1130ET) : The Wall Street Journal reports that Situational Awareness, the highflying artificial-intelligence-focused hedge-fund firm, sold the bulk of its stock portfolio to Ken Griffin's investment firm Citadel after suffering deep losses , according to people familiar with the matter. There were other bidders for the firm's public equities book, which included large positions in AI hardware stocks such as Nebius and Sandisk. Citadel rival Millennium and Situational Awareness investor Jane Street both put in their own offers, people familiar with the situation said.

Heavy Russian Attacks Reach Far West In Ukraine - Missile Slams Into Poland Another alleged Russian projectile has breached NATO airspace , which resulted in Polish warplanes being scrambled as they prepared to shoot it down. However, what's been declared a probable Russian ballistic missile crashed to the ground in an uninhabited field in eastern Poland, leaving a huge crater and scattered debris in its wake. Some European outlets have more simply called it an 'unidentified object' . 10-meter wide crater at impact site, via The Telegraph Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday addressed the overnight incident while visiting

Feedom Of Navigation By Bas van Geffen, senior market strategist at Rabobank The Houthis are considering charging fees on vessels sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Reuters reported that the plan was discussed with Iran’s leadership, who have offered help to set up an authority to collect the toll. Besides the potential revenue source, the aim of the Bab el-Mandeb fees would reportedly be to normalize the idea of charging fees on international waters. But freedom isn’t fees . President Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea of Iran levying a toll in the Strait of Hormuz, so why would the

Carvana Crashes After Earnings Outlook Disappoints Wall Street Carvana shares plunged in premarket trading after the online used-car retailer issued full-year earnings guidance that may fall short of Wall Street expectations, as vehicle sales growth slowed and profit per car declined. The outlook raises questions about whether Carvana's rapid expansion can justify its high stock valuation. Carvana reported a record second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $769 million, narrowly beating the $766.2 million consensus estimate among analysts tracked by Bloomberg, as vehicle sales rose 38% to more than 197,300. Still, sales growth slowed to its weakest quarter since 3Q24, while gross profit

DeepSeek Pauses Fundraising After Founder's Remarks Leaked Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times, Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has paused a second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng’s remarks at a conference circulated online, including a statement that the company could obtain some processors he described as “noncompliant.” Liang made the remarks during a May 20 closed-door investor meeting on why DeepSeek was receiving fewer Huawei processors than China’s major internet companies. The transcript of the meeting was shared online and posted on GitHub on July 22. “For us, we can buy some noncompliant cards,” he said.

Japanic: Yen Suddenly Spikes Stoking Intervention Speculation Having collapsed to its weakest relative to the dollar in 40 years, it appears the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Japan has had enough and intervened. Having tagged 164/USD, the Japanese currency suddenly exploded stronger ( below 160/USD, which was the prior level of intervention )... The scale of the move is commensurate with the last large intervention in April. Obviously, there is no confirmation, yet, but the timing, coming after the Fed and after Japan markets have closed, would certainly fit what we know about the MoF’s tactics, and that’s why

US Grows Only 1.5% In Q2, Badly Missing Estimates, Despite Strong Spending, Investment The US economy grew at a far weaker than expected pace in the second quarter despite a pickup in consumer spending and solid business investment. According to the BEA, GDP (inflation adjusted) rose just 1.5% in the period, according to the first estimate issued Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was well below the 2.0% median estimate. The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the second quarter were increases in consumer spending, investment, and exports that were partly offset by a decrease in

Hormuz Ship Traffic Edges Higher, But Kpler Warns Gulf Crude Exports Remain Impaired Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slightly increased as US-Iran negotiations remained ongoing in an effort to restore peace after the memorandum of understanding collapsed amid two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, who provided no further details. Still, the security situation in the Gulf deteriorated overnight after the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran following attacks on US forces in Jordan. Additionally, reports emerged that a US-owned LNG vessel was struck at an Egyptian port. Bloomberg

'Coordinated Cyberattack' Hits More Than 30 Minnesota Water Systems Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times, A “coordinated cyberattack” targeted more than 30 community water systems ‌in Minnesota on July 26 and July 27, the state’s information technology agency said in a statement. Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) stated on July 28 that it activated its incident response capabilities immediately after learning of the attack. MNIT stated that an investigation remains active, and responders continue to “assess affected systems.” “At this time, they are not aware of any active requests from Minnesota cities to have their residents modify their drinking

AI Exhaustion? Samsung Earnings Beat Expectations But Stock Abruptly Reverses Kneejerk Gains Samsung Electronics delivered another good quarter last night, underscoring that the AI infrastructure boom appears to continue to funneling enormous profits toward the companies supplying the memory chips powering. Shares were up 10% at one point but finished the session red. The South Korean technology giant reported second-quarter revenue of 171.5 trillion won and operating profit of 89.5 trillion won, according to CNBC , beating analyst expectations of 79.3 trillion won and marking another record quarter. Operating profit surged more than eighteen-fold from a year ago, while revenue

US Savings Rate Tumbles Despite Lowest Jobless Claims Data In 57 Years The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits remained near its lowest levels since 1969 last week at just 197k (below the 200k exp)... Continuing jobless claims are also falling back to cyclical lows... Additionally, both income and spending are also trending higher... But overall, the savings rate is tumbling... So, the 'low hire, no fire' economy leaves Americans still spending but higher prices are forcing savings to be drawn down to maintain quality of life. Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 08:49

Headline PCE 'Deflates' In June, First Time Since COVID After three months of significant acceleration in prices, The Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE (a measure of price changes in consumer goods and services that excludes volatile food and energy costs) - was expected to slow in June data released today. And it did - more than expected - Core PCE rose 0.1% MoM (below the 0.2% MoM expected) pulling the YoY rise down from +3.4% to +3.3% ... The headline PCE saw 0.1% MoM drop in June - its first 'deflationary' print since April 2020 (COVID) Services once

IRGC Strikes Jordan Again After 2-Hour US Bombardment Kills Iranian Troops, Civilians - Hormuz Traffic Creeps Higher In the wake of the overnight fresh round of US airstrikes on Iran, which resulted in destruction and casualties especially along coastal areas, Iran's military has retaliated once again especially on Jordan. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it completed a "heavy" wave of strikes on the Islamic Republic , in response to "attempted missile attacks" on American bases in the region earlier this week. This US wave lasted two hours , the Pentagon said, striking "military command centers, missile and drone facilities,

"Bonds Are In Charge...Everything Breaks Over 5%" Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance Today I sat down with my friend Andy Schectman, CEO of Miles Franklin Precious Metals and one of the most recognizable voices in the precious metals industry. I’ve known Andy for years, long before I ever became a customer of his. He’s someone I trust, someone I enjoy talking markets with, and someone who has spent decades watching the intersection of monetary policy, sovereign debt, central banks and the physical gold market. Whether you agree with every one of Andy’s conclusions or not, he consistently forces people to

Futures Rise As Oil Drops, Bond Selling Slows, Meta Tumbles And Microsoft Soars Futures rebound (for now) following yesterday’s Fed-induced meltdown as the market is clearly questioning Warsh’s credibility and potential usage of non-standard tools to fight inflation, pushing the yield curve to twist steeper and sending 30Y yields to 2 decade highs (last at 5.22%). Pre-mkt, the yield curve is seeing further twist-steepening with 10s and 30s up 1 and 3bp with 2s down 1bp. USD deterioration continues following its worst day in 4 weeks. Commodities are so confused, they are not even responding to the latest MidEast escalation

South Korea Has Several Market Rescue Options As Crash Crushes 700,000 Retailer Traders South Korean market authorities are weighing a more aggressive plan to stabilize the Kospi after July's record selloff sent the main equity index slicing through its 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages like butter. At the center of the meltdown is retail participation in leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which amplified the selloff and inflicted crushing losses on Korean households. Korean trader had a $5 million stock portfolio ALL IN Samsung and Hynix. It ended very badly. Take a look. pic.twitter.com/dkqBZ9lMf8 — emini

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran After Trump Warned "They're Going To Get A Beating" Summary New US attack wave on Iran begins in overnight hours. Tehran denies seeking talks , insists on Hormuz terms. Oil climbs as attacks on Saudi energy sites continue. Conflict widens with joint US-Saudi strikes in Iraq which killed at least 20 . Will the U.S. invade Iran before 2027? Yes 25% · No 76% View full market & trade on Polymarket * * * New US Strikes on Iran Begin in Night Hours The United States has begun a new round of airstrikes in

Porsche To Cut Over A Third Of German Jobs As Auto Crisis Deepens Via Remix News, Porsche is preparing to cut more than one in three jobs in Germany under a cost-cutting measure intended to protect its remaining workforce and existing production sites until 2035. The Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer will eliminate a further 5,000 positions at its main Zuffenhausen plant and Weissach development center. Combined with reductions already announced, around 8,900 employees are expected to leave the company. The cuts are due to be carried out without compulsory redundancies, primarily through natural attrition, partial retirement schemes, and voluntary severance

Adidas Shares Crash After World Cup Spending Fuels Earnings Miss Adidas shares crashed the most on record in Europe after outsized World Cup marketing spending weighed on second-quarter operating profit, overshadowing stronger-than-expected tournament-related sales. Profit totaled 574 million euros for the quarter ending in June, missing the 616 million euro estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg, as an additional 212 million euros in spending offset strong sales growth and disappointed investors seeking better margin expansion. The German sportswear maker generated 1.5 billion euros in sales, with jersey sales quadrupling and ball sales doubling from the previous World Cup tournament. Adidas

DEI Is Killing British Policing: Think-Tank Exposes The Truth Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news , A think-tank has warned that British police forces are being hampered by an obsessive focus on diversity, equality and inclusion, with the ideology of "anti-racism" now set against the foundational duty to police without fear or favour. Policy Exchange's latest analysis, led by its head of crime and justice David Spencer, points to the failures surrounding the Southport atrocity, the Nottingham stabbings and the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak as evidence of what it calls systemic distortion. The report estimates that forces across England

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

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

President also blames Brazil and Mexico and says online critics ‘do not want the ideas of freedom to succeed’ More than a week has passed since Ferran Torres scored the extra-time goal that gave Spain its second World Cup, but – at least for Argentina’s president – the tournament is not over. Javier Milei has claimed that a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign” was behind criticism of the country’s team, accusations of racism among its fans and conspiracy theories alleging that Lionel Messi’s side was secretly being favoured by Fifa. Continue reading...

Nelson Haase Mazzei was sentenced for murdering Jara in 2023, but fled from authorities in Chile More than 50 years after the murder of the Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara , the last man wanted in connection with his death has been tracked down and brought to justice. Nelson Haase Mazzei, a retired colonel, fled from authorities in 2023 after he and six other retired soldiers were sentenced in absentia for murdering Jara and another man. Continue reading...

No one was injured and no suspects have been identified in connection to shooting near Toronto compound, police say Shots were fired near the US consulate in Toronto early on Monday but no one was injured in the second shooting near the diplomatic compound in four months. “Officers heard a firearm being discharged in the area,” and “a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene”, Toronto police said on X. Continue reading...

Soldiers and emergency teams search damaged shopping centre, paper mill and homes for survivors Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on Tuesday has risen to 30, as the search for survivors trapped in a badly damaged shopping centre, paper mill and collapsed homes across the south-west of the country continues. The 6.8-magnitude quake, which struck Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, injured at least 62 people, according to the prefectural government. Continue reading...

Emergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing An aerial view of a collapsed section of a bridge in the city of Yatsushiro after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture: Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper has been speaking to people at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed on to the site. “I never imagined something like this would happen,” said a 33-year-old man who worked at the factory.

Rescuers pulling people from the wreckage in southern Japan in a haunting repeat of disaster that struck 10 years ago ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing “There was a voice coming from the collapsed house, and I could see a hand,” Tomohide Nagata, a volunteer firefighter, told the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. “One of our senior members crawled in and pulled him out. He was bleeding from the head, but I’m so glad he survived.” Nagata had heard a noise coming from one completely flattened home in the rural town of Hikawa, close

Military mobilises thousands of personnel after quake on southern Kyushu island that registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese shindo intensity scale Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures At least 13 people were killed when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday, injuring hundreds and knocking out power and water to tens of thousands. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said on Wednesday. “We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can.” Continue

Move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US The Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on humanoid robots from China on Tuesday, saying that the technology poses “unacceptable risks” to the country’s national security. The move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US. The FCC defines the banned robots as “advanced robotic devices”, which include humanoids and animal-like quadrupeds. Continue reading...

Sam Mostyn says there is a widespread ‘failure to understand and engage with and feel proud of the very civic underpinnings of our democracy’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia faces a “growing catastrophe” from poor understanding of the country’s constitutional foundation, the governor general, Sam Mostyn, has warned as attacks on institutions and threats against elected officials undermine democratic participation. Two years after her appointment as King Charles’s representative in Canberra, and as she brings a modern touch to the role of vice regal, Mostyn said that knowledge of how the country’s

The opposition leader is the highest-profile person mentioned so far at the NSW anti-corruption commission – and the political figure with the most to lose Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast After the opening days of an inquiry exposing a dark underbelly of the New South Wales Liberals, the prevailing mood among Angus Taylor’s colleagues is one of apprehension. The federal opposition leader is not a specific target of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations of corruption against people associated with the NSW branch. He is not accused of wrongdoing. Continue reading...

The book, Antiquities of Athens, was handed back to Kiama library by a man who found it bricked into a wall An Australian public library has had a book returned an estimated 150 years late after being found behind a wall during a home renovation. The book, Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama, south of Sydney , by a man who had found it inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Minister says meeting Closing the Gap target a major step, but more work needed on others Malarndirri McCarthy , the minister for Indigenous Australians, said early childhood education enrolment for First Nations children was a milestone in the effort to reach the Closing the Gap targets. It is important to see this milestone achieved, and that is because of the work of the Aboriginal and community controlled sector and those involved in the preschool sector. … Clearly, the challenges with all the other

Robert Assaf tells Icac that Angus Taylor wasn’t ‘that involved’ but the federal opposition leader ‘definitely wasn’t opposed’ to work of conservative group Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A member of a group of young conservative Liberal power brokers being investigated for allegedly soliciting illegal donations has compared their factional work to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – and said they “didn’t think the law applied to us” when it came to political funding. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday heard from Robert Assaf,

Strike on Terminal Autonomy plant appears to be first time in the war that Moscow has targeted a US company A drone factory in Kyiv destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile on Friday was owned by a US corporation registered in Delaware, in what appears to be the first time Moscow has targeted a US company in the conflict. Terminal Autonomy makes precision “deep-strike” drones with guidance systems that are resistant to Russian jamming signals, according to a person familiar with the company. Continue reading...

Polish PM visits scene of crater thought to have occurred during deadly wave of attacks on Ukraine Europe live – latest updates Russia has been accused of violating Polish airspace, after a missile exploded in a field in the east of the country, triggering Nato air defences, in the midst of a massive air raid that killed 13 people in neighbouring Ukraine. Polish authorities said that the explosion near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, close to Lublin, had created a 10-metre-wide crater. Residents of Tarnawa-Kolonia reported hearing an explosion at about 4am that shook the windows of their homes, police said.

Maria and Czeslaw Krupa, who arrived as children of displaced Polish veterans, told they have no post-Brexit rights to return home to Bury Two Polish citizens who have lived in the UK for nearly 80 years after their parents fled the second world war have spoken of their terrifying experience after being told they did not have post-Brexit rights to return to the UK. In May, while visiting Poland, they learned that although they had been welcomed as refugees after the war, they now needed special post-Brexit paperwork to return to their home in Bury, Greater Manchester. Continue reading...

Polish PM confirms the missile that crashed in Poland was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile and says he is in touch with EU and US leaders Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirms it’s “most likely” it was a Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile. “That’s the most probable hypothesis,” he says. Continue reading...

Figures show hot, dry, windy conditions in EU are 43% more severe than the average over last 20 years Fire weather in the EU has broken records for severity for this time of year, data shows, as firefighters race to extinguish blazes across the Mediterranean. Inflamed by carbon pollution, the hot, dry and windy weather across the EU from the start of the year until the end of July has been 43% more severe than the average for the same period over the last two decades, data from the European Forest Fire Information Service (Effis) shows. Continue reading...

Jordanian military says it intercepted five missiles targeting the kingdom after US military says it hit dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets on Thursday US launches fresh strikes on Iran after days-long pause, amid fears the war is widening A liquefied natural gas tanker controlled by QatarEnergy exited the strait of Hormuz overnight – the first such vessel ⁠visible on ship-tracking data to ⁠leave the waterway ​since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday. The Al Areesh tanker , which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed ⁠out of the strait overnight on 29

Central Command says strikes aimed at diminishing Iranian military while mediators say talks are continuing Middle East crisis – live updates The US struck Iran overnight and Tehran retaliated at US allies in the region, reigniting the low-intensity, tit-for-tat war as mediators struggled to pull the two countries back to the negotiating table. The US carried out overnight strikes on Iran – the first in more than five days – hours after Donald Trump vowed to hit the country “very hard” following Tehran’s targeting of a base in Jordan that hosts American troops. Continue reading...

Government fears social discontent on ‘most important battlefield’ of economy and livelihoods as war takes its toll amid anti-state dissent Middle East crisis live – latest updates Iran, in the middle of an escalating five-month war with the US, continues to stumble from one internal crisis to another – whether it is over public executions, the rising cost of living, the alleged bias of the state broadcaster or even the post-midnight destruction of pavements outside liberal-leaning Tehran cafes. Very little that happens in Iran, cultural or political, momentous or trivial, does so uncontested. But there is now a growing threat

Riyadh’s decision to join US in strikes on Iran-backed militia further complicates widening and ‘unpredictable’ war Middle East crisis – live updates US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militia in Iraq have pushed the region into “uncharted territory”, analysts have warned. Amid stark warnings of a widening and increasingly “unpredictable” conflict, Riyadh’s decision to publicly join the US in striking sites associated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), killing at least 20 fighters, has added another complicating dimension to the war. Continue reading...

Oil price spikes after flare-up of fighting and claimed Iranian attacks on three tankers in strait of Hormuz The US military said it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi Arabia forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. The strikes on Wednesday killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups. In what Washington cast ⁠as “an attempted surprise ⁠attack” by Tehran, Iran had launched multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. Iran’s

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

Cockroach Janta party says government has broken promise, with detentions in Delhi, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement, whose nationwide protests forced the resignation of the education minister , has accused the government of backtracking on its promise not to act against student protesters and has threatened to restart demonstrations. The Cockroach Janta party (CJP), which organised mass protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said it had received reports of hundreds of students being detained or “harassed” by police. Continue reading...

Wind and record-breaking heat are fuelling the continent’s explosive fire season, with Spain and France among worst hit Explainer: what is a ‘fire cloud’, and how have they worsened wildfires in Europe? Europe wildfires live – latest updates A combination of an unusually wet winter, very low rainfall since spring and repeated record-breaking summer heatwaves is likely to explain why wildfires have ignited, spread and resisted control so readily across France and Spain in recent days . About 90% of wildfires are started by human activity, typically igniting “fine fuels” such as vegetation grass, pine needles, litter and twigs. And

In today’s newsletter: Across ​the country, a ​younger generation is turning private disillusionment into public defiance​ against a government that once felt untouchable Good morning. As flames engulfed parts of France and Spain this weekend, in India, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was trying to put out a very different kind of fire. Thousands of people arrived in Delhi on Saturday to demand the resignation of his education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. When he stepped down in the early afternoon, the protests turned into a triumphant block party. But the Cockroach protests that have swept through India this summer are about

Ally forced to resign, with opposition parties reinvigorated and strongman leader’s grip over media channels rocked Even the night before Narendra Modi accepted the resignation of his education minister, India’s prime minister appeared confident that the largest mass uprising to take place in his 12 years in power would do little to rattle his government. Addressing his “young friends” in a late-night Instagram selfie reel on Friday, he thanked the people – who were mobilised en masse across the country , shouting anti-government slogans – for their “thoughtful suggestions”. Continue reading...

UK’s highest court gives permission for Huda Ammori to challenge court of appeal ruling The co-founder of Palestine Action has won permission to challenge the ban against the group at the UK’s highest court. The direct action group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July last year but its co-founder, Huda Ammori, has been fighting to have the ban overturned amid a mass civil disobedience campaign. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Electoral Commission urged to look into donations made by mother of convicted fraudster Revealed: George Cottrell transferred $2m to his mother days before her donations to Reform UK Labour has accused Reform UK of being “up to its neck in sleaze” as it called on the Electoral Commission to urgently investigate substantial donations made to the party by the mother of a convicted fraudster. Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s new chair, called on the commission to examine whether any rules had been broken, after revelations in the Guardian that George Cottrell transferred more than $2m to his mother in the days

Returns for breaches of licence conditions rose 31% in the first quarter of 2026, adding to pressure on prison places More people were recalled to prison than were released during the first three months of 2026, the first time on record the “recall rate” has surpassed 100% in England and Wales. Between January and March 2026, 12,977 people were released from prison while 13,193 people were returned to prison for breaching their licence conditions, up 31% from last year, new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data showed. Continue reading...

‘There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that,’ the prime minister says when asked about his conversation with Donald Trump Q: [From ITV’s Romilly Weeks] You say that Reform UK followed all the rules in relation to donations. But why did George Cottrell give $2 m to his mother shortly before she made substantial donations to the party? Jenrick said Reform was certain all the rules were followed. Any questions for Cottrell would have to be directed to him, he said. It does seem curious that in this case the police have chosen not to

Split vote comes as Iran war is rekindled and oil price climbs close to $90 a barrel Business live – latest updates Only Middle East crisis is preventing drop in UK interest rates The Bank of England has kept UK interest rates on hold as it warned that a further escalation in the Iran war could drive inflation above 4% next year, adding to cost of living pressures on households. Against a volatile backdrop in the Middle East conflict, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by six to three to keep its key base rate at 3.75%. Continue reading...

Trump says he may wait until two Republican holdouts, senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, are out of office before nominating Blanche for top DoJ job Sign up for the US Breaking News email The US economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth . But consumer spending rose . And the Federal Reserve ’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month despite remaining above the central bank’s 2% target . The commerce department reported today that growth in US gross domestic product (GDP) – the nation’s output of

Jamie Raskin targets football body’s proposed commercial sell-off and links to Trump administration US politics live – latest updates Fifa could face a sweeping US congressional investigation into its expanding financial and political ties to Donald Trump and his family if Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives in November, a senior party figure has warned. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, accused global football’s governing body of a “smash-and-grab scam of colossal proportions” after it proposed a multibillion-dollar privatization of its commercial operations. Continue reading...

Donations to top US provider have dropped to four-year summer low with less than a day’s supply of type O positive The American Red Cross has declared the second-ever national blood supply crisis after blood donations fell to a four-year summer low. On Monday, the 145-year-old non-profit said that as the United States’ largest single provider of blood products, it now has less than one-day national supply of type O positive blood – the most commonly transfused blood. Continue reading...

President says he has no objection to pulling his former lawyer’s name until dissenting Republicans are out of office US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump said on Thursday he may “temporarily” pull the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, but would keep him in the role in an acting capacity until two Republican senators objecting to his confirmation leave office next year – an extraordinary escalation of an intra-party fight over an agreement to create a $1.8bn slush fund and give the president tax immunity. Two Republican senators – John Cornyn of Texas and Thom

Lawmakers question delays in medical care, casualty figures and Pentagon’s handling of drone attack in Kuwait US politics live – latest updates The Trump administration is facing growing demands to explain why wounded US soldiers went more than a week without adequate hospital care after a March drone strike in Kuwait, just days into the US-Israel war on Iran . In a letter to the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth , congressional Democrats urged the Pentagon to answer their questions – which include why the Pentagon’s public casualty count for the war with Iran briefly changed – by 12 August.

David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana’s ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state’s highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell. The 44-inch (112-centimetre) steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi’s left arm, missing any vital organs, and protruded from his back. After conferring with his friends – and considering the high cost of...

Russia pounded Ukraine with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, killing nine people in overnight attacks on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, decrying shortages of air defence supplies and urging allies to help. Russia launched more than 70 missiles and about 280 drones, Zelensky said in a statement on the Telegram app. The capital Kyiv and the western region of Lviv on Ukraine’s border with Poland were the main focus of the attack, the Ukrainian air force said. Poland, a...

It was important enough to the framers of the US Constitution to be included in the first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights – that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”. Today, that protection – famously known as “pleading the Fifth” – remains one of the most visible and politically charged safeguards in American law. It has seeped into the culture, too. “Pleading the Fifth” has become an idiom in the United States, used jokingly in casual...

Nearly three-quarters of Cuba’s hotels have been closed and the island’s tourism sector has been brought to “almost total paralysis” by US sanctions and fuel shortages, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said on Wednesday. Detailing the scale of the tourism crisis for the first time, Marrero said seven international chains, responsible for about half of all hotel rooms, had left the island. Tourism had been Cuba’s second-largest source of foreign currency earnings, employing more than 300,000 people...

The US military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran, including military command centres and drone facilities, in a two-hour operation launched after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East. “The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighbouring Gulf countries,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Wednesday. Iran’s state media reported that...

Five people have died after powerful gusts of wind in Brazil brought chaos to Rio de Janeiro and parts of Sao Paulo state, cutting power and bringing public transport to a standstill. Residents of Rio de Janeiro were taken by surprise when winds of up to 100km/h hit just before rush hour, felling dozens of trees and leaving thousands stranded as the city’s three subway queues ground to a halt. The fire department said in a statement that two people had died when a wall collapsed in the city of...

Lindsay Clancy sobbed in court on Wednesday as jurors listened to the anguished emergency call her then-husband made after returning from an errand to find she had strangled their three children in their Massachusetts home. On the roughly seven-minute recording, Patrick Clancy can be heard speaking with his wife upon finding her badly injured and bleeding in their yard, after she jumped from the home’s second-storey window. “Look at me,” he says. “Say my name.” He then tells the dispatcher he is...

US President Donald Trump unveiled a US$22 billion plan on Wednesday to rebuild Washington Dulles airport by replacing concourses and adding a large parking garage while preserving the landmark main terminal. The announcement is the latest in a series of major projects he has announced in and around the US capital. “It’s considered one of the ‌worst airports anywhere in the world, we’re going to make it maybe the best with some hard work,” Trump said, arguing it was time “for a major and long...

Brazil overtook Russia and Belgium in the first five months of this year to become the world’s largest importer of Chinese cars, buying US$5.2 billion worth of vehicles as brands raced to land shipments before a tariff increase took effect in July. The figure, drawn from Chinese customs data, is up 146.9 per cent from the US$2.1 billion recorded a year earlier, when Brazil ranked sixth among buyers. Russia bought US$5 billion over the same months this year and Belgium purchased US$3.8...

The man who stabbed and partially blinded author Salman Rushdie at a speaking engagement in 2022 was found guilty on Wednesday of federal terrorism charges for the attack, which prosecutors said was incited by death threats over Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. Hadi Matar, 28, already serving a 25-year prison term on state charges of attempted murder for ‌the knife assault, now faces a maximum penalty of life behind bars when he is sentenced on his federal conviction, scheduled for November...

Four women have accused Jared Leto of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, to which the actor and musician responded Wednesday that he has “never sexually assaulted anyone”. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” Leto, 54, said in a statement. The BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret, released on Wednesday, details allegations including those from four women who accused the actor of sexual misconduct...

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, a choice that may intensify questions about how US central bank chief Kevin Warsh will deliver on his commitment to bring inflation back down to the 2 per cent target. The widely ‌expected decision to leave the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50 per cent to 3.75 per cent range drew dissents from three of the 12 members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee who “preferred” a quarter-percentage-point hike at this...

The United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong shipping companies accused of operating vessels that transported Iranian oil to China, extending Washington’s economic campaign against Tehran alongside its naval blockade. The US State Department said eight companies were designated for operating vessels that moved Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates as part of Iran’s sanctions-evading “shadow fleet”. Six of the...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged on Wednesday to take difficult decisions to overhaul England’s adult social care system, saying he wanted to work with other parties to end unfair high costs for users that he likened to US healthcare. Successive governments have failed to reform adult social care, for which families can pay hundreds of thousands of pounds, after previous proposals were defeated by opposition parties ‌who dubbed them a “dementia tax” or “death tax”. Burnham did not...

French DJ and musician Kavinsky, known for his electronic classic “Nightcall”, has been found dead at his home in Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The self-taught pianist, whose real name is Vincent Belorgey, would have turned 51 on Friday. It was not immediately clear how he died, but emergency crews late on Tuesday noted nothing suspicious, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. “Nightcall” became a global hit after hit was featured in the soundtrack of 2011 movie Drive starring Ryan...

At least 15 elephants have died from exposure to a suspected poison in the Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya over a four-week period, the country’s nature conservation authorities reported on Wednesday. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the animals had died in the park, which lies along the border with Tanzania, between June 24 and July 24. The nearby Kimana Conservancy and the Kuku Ranch area have also been affected. The KWS said that 10 of the 15 elephants showed similar symptoms,...

A ⁠Norwegian teenager ⁠was convicted on Wednesday of ⁠conspiracy to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by a Swedish organised crime group that prosecutors said was being used by the Iranian government. Johannes Natland, now ‌19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March last year with two firearms and ammunition in his possession. Prosecutors said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group used by ⁠the Iranian...

Firefighters in southwest France battled an uncontained wildfire four times the size of Paris on Wednesday as temperatures were forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), threatening to turn a calm night into only a brief reprieve. Authorities in the Gironde region said the blaze had not spread overnight, but rising heat and afternoon winds could revive smouldering hotspots, carry embers across firebreaks and open new fronts beyond crews’ reach. At the command centre in Lège,...

Over the past few decades, people in many countries have witnessed extraordinary technological progress. Transport is becoming smarter, robots and drones are entering everyday life, infrastructure is growing more complex, buildings are reaching ever higher into the sky and expanding cities are drawing in millions of new residents. The number of megacities – urban areas with populations of at least 10 million – rose from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025. The United Nations expects this number to reach...

If South Korea wants to unlock access to South American trade, it will need to prove it is not a competitor interested only in extracting natural resources but a trustworthy partner committed to revitalising manufacturing industries, according to observers. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to revive negotiations on a free-trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. A joint working group...

China’s emerging advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) is not that it already has the world’s best chips or strongest frontier models. It is that Chinese companies are increasingly providing capable intelligence at a price the global market can afford. AI is fast becoming everyday infrastructure. It is metered by usage and embedded in businesses, public services and devices, much like electricity or cloud computing. In an infrastructure market, leadership depends on affordability,...

Russia’s main domestic security agency said on Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list. The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, came as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that...

The US Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as Donald Trump’s top intelligence official on Tuesday, putting a permanent chief in charge of the country’s spy agencies as the president revives unsupported election fraud claims ahead of the midterms. Senators voted 51-47 to confirm Clayton’s appointment, with all Democrats in the upper chamber voting against it. “Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a spectacular job as Director!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly after the vote. The...

Elon Musk’s social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, launched its own bank account-like product where users can send money to one another. The service, known as X Money, is not a new bank. X Money is using technology and banking services provided by Cross River Bank and branding that backbone as X Money. It is common for new financial companies to use a traditional bank’s backbone to launch their services, as chartering a new bank is a timely and costly process. Currently X Money is...

A US teenager who shot dead four people at a high school with a gun his father gave him as a Christmas present was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday. Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to carrying out the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, Georgia. Gray was 14 years old when he shot dead two 14-year-old pupils and two teachers, while also wounding nine other people. He was charged as an adult. Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Gray to life in prison...

Jordan’s air defences intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early on Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the US military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. The Jordanian military said the missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed”. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard saying the Guard’s Aerospace Force...

Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally were among public figures who on Tuesday called for refugee protections to be upheld as the United Nations decried mounting pressure ‌on asylum systems. Legal safeguards for refugees are enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, drafted in the aftermath of World War II, which displaced tens of millions of people. But while most people still support the principle of safe refuge, many governments are tightening border...

The man on trial in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie chose on Tuesday not to testify or call any witnesses in the federal terrorism case, which is expected to head to the jury as soon as Wednesday. Hadi Matar’s lawyer told the court that the 28-year-old – who already has been convicted of state-level attempted murder charges – would not take the stand at his trial on charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. “At this time, the defence rests,” lawyer Nathaniel Barone said....

Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru’s president on Tuesday after winning the June presidential run-off by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, a victory that confirmed a regional shift in South America towards the conservative wing. With the ceremony, Fujimori, a four-time presidential candidate and leader of Peru’s largest political party, takes office as the country’s ninth president in a decade. The 51-year-old was hoping to stabilise Peru’s turbulent politics, reduce crime and boost economic...

US President Donald Trump voiced ⁠irritation with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their White House meeting on Tuesday, complaining that details of the Israeli prime minister’s planned talking points on Iran had surfaced publicly, in a fresh sign of strain between the two leaders. Asked about reports that Netanyahu wanted to talk to him about Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname: “I don’t need...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought licences to produce Patriot air-defence interceptors during a “good meeting” with US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, as he underscored Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses. Zelensky spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came with Kyiv and Moscow intensifying long-range strikes as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled. “Today we had good meeting with President...

Firefighters raced on Tuesday to subdue huge wildfires that have forced unprecedented evacuations of tens of thousands of people across France and Spain, as western Europe braced for another heatwave. The fires have torn through a region already battered by a blisteringly hot and dry summer. Crews were seeking to capitalise on more favourable weather before a new wave of higher temperatures settled in from Wednesday. In the Bordeaux region of France, firefighters contained ‌the forest blaze...

US President Donald Trump eulogised Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday as a fixture of American politics and unflinching foreign policy hawk, as the leaders of Israel and Ukraine joined Washington’s most powerful at his funeral. Earlier in the day, lawmakers paid tribute at the Capitol Rotunda, remembering one of the last prominent Republicans to advocate for muscular US military power abroad as gregarious, funny and persuasive. “He was extremely hawkish – he never saw a war that he...

Footprints left on a muddy lakeshore in northern Kenya ⁠around 1.43 million years ago are providing new insight into the size and behaviour of a species in the human evolutionary lineage that was the last of its kind, known for extensive anatomical adaptations for eating tough vegetation. The species, Paranthropus boisei, is known mostly from skull and tooth fossils. Now researchers working along the eastern side of Kenya’s Lake Turkana have identified 21 footprints made by eight individuals of...

Oman presented ⁠Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had yet to respond to the Omani proposals, intended to serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week US bombing campaign over the...

In Orwellian totalitarianism, two plus two can equal five. But with American hegemony, things can be A and not A at the same time. Earlier this month, Washington declared war on the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose very existence, it claims, poses an “intolerable” challenge to America’s sovereignty. But, citing an international maritime law, it also led a coalition of 14 mainly Western countries in issuing a joint statement in support of a 10-year-old South China Sea arbitration ruling...

Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ongoing Ebola outbreak reached 3,262, its ministry of health said in an overnight update, nearly the same as the 2018-2020 outbreak that is the largest ever recorded in the country. Data from the Congolese health ministry showed that 1,437 patients have died out of the 3,262 cases, in what officials have said is the fastest Ebola outbreak on record, concentrated in the eastern Ituri province. The 2018-2020 outbreak that was recorded in Congo...

On a road ⁠in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, Palestinian resident Assem Dawla loaded mattresses and ⁠bags onto a truck as concrete yellow blocks marking the edge of Israel’s expanding military zone stood amid the rubble nearby. He said it was the seventh or eighth time since the war began that he and his family had been forced to leave a shelter because of Israeli evacuation orders and the advance of what residents call the yellow line. Zeitoun is one of at least five locations across Gaza where...

An American company found itself under attack by American artificial intelligence systems. Its unlikely rescuer was a Chinese AI model. It sounds like a Hollywood science fiction film. It’s not. During an internal test, advanced OpenAI models bypassed network restrictions, gained access to the internet and launched autonomous cyberattacks on open-source platform Hugging Face. As engineers rushed to respond, several leading closed-source AI systems reportedly failed to provide meaningful help...

A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe...

US diplomats walked out as their French counterparts were speaking at the United Nations on Monday after America’s close European ally criticised the Trump administration’s human rights record. The surprise move during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine followed US opposition to giving UN human rights chief Volker Turk another four-year term. The reappointment on Friday got overwhelming support, including from France. The US walkout reflects not only the more strained relations between...

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order from US President Donald Trump that could dramatically change mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Justice Department asked the justices to halt for now lower court decisions blocking the sweeping changes in nearly half the country. The request comes soon after Trump delivered an address elevating his years-long push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of elections and could...

There were at least three suspects involved in a shoot-out at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend, police said Monday. One of them was among those killed in the violence. In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, where a 15-year-old arrested in the case waived his initial appearance Monday, police said they believe there were at least three shooters: the 15-year-old, an acquaintance who died at the scene and “at least one other unknown suspect”....

A judge ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to put D4vd on trial in the killing and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship and crater the indie-pop singer’s rising career just a few days before his debut album dropped. “i will end ur career and ur life,” she told him in a text message sent the night before her death. Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo decided that evidence presented during a preliminary...

US TV show host Savannah Guthrie has said in a new video that her family is living an unending nightmare nearly six months after her mother’s disappearance and pleads with her kidnappers: “Tell us where to look for her”. The video, released on Monday, is the latest public plea from the Today presenter about 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie since her disappearance on February 1 from her home just outside Tucson, Arizona. Savannah Guthrie said her family will never stop looking for her. “The world can be...

“Healthy” confections, whether marketed as “better-for-you” or “functional,” have overwhelmed grocery and convenience stores, and even found their way into gyms and supplement shops.

Even after winning approval of a measure calling on President Trump to end the war, they continue to call votes to force Republicans to answer for it.

The port where the Wednesday strike occurred is near the Suez Canal, through which a significant amount of the world’s shipping moves.

Investigators cautioned that the assessment was preliminary. There were no indications that any water supply had been rendered unsafe to drink.

To meet the growing needs of his congregation, Justin Lester created an A.I. duplicate of himself. Every day he sees more people using it.

The case is an early test of a court that has never been used before, where much of the evidence is presented in secret and defendants cannot challenge how it was collected.

Dormant for 30 years, a little-known tribunal is hearing its first case.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said five members of a family had been killed in the latest large-scale aerial assault by Moscow.

Russian missiles have briefly entered Polish airspace in the past. Investigators have yet to definitively identify the object that struck overnight.

Prosecutors argued that Colin Gray bore responsibility for the 2024 shooting because he had given his son a gun and failed to act as the teen’s mental health deteriorated.

Untreated and undiagnosed, the crews that save lives in the roughest seas face the relentless pounding of waves.

An anonymous X account posted a detailed breakdown of chatbot text in 38 popular stories inspired by the hockey romance. The fandom spiraled.

An upgrade transformed the beleaguered virtual assistant into a modern chatbot. It’s imperfect but worth trying.

The Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is still dealing with foul odor and fears over possible toxins over a month after a cold-storage facility burst into flames.

Show trials are bad for democracy.

Aging politicians are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

We look at the ongoing fight between the Trump administration and James Comey.

Traveling with friends can be tricky. We’re curious how you manage financial friction — and how you make sure your besties settle up.

A large fire engulfed almost 250 acres of land in Suffolk, a scenic area on the coast. It was a few miles from a nuclear power station.