Minimalist News

Albanian PM Pooh-Poohs 'Pink Flamingo' Protesters Opposing Jared Kushner Resorts After weeks of daily protests, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is digging in to defend two luxury resort projects backed by Jared Kushner's investment company that have resulted in thousands of people protesting in the streets of the capital Tirana and on the southern coast, where one of the resorts is slated to be built. Protesters opposed to two planned resorts in ecologically sensitive areas, in Tirana, on June 12.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg The opposition has dubbed itself the "Flamingo Revolution" due to the impact on a protected wetland home to

So, How's Spain's Mass Migrant Amnesty Working Out? Authored by Aaron Hanscom via PJMedia.com, Half a million. That's the number that made headlines in April when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist government approved plans to grant legal status to 500,000 illegal migrants. But a leaked police report warned that the true number could be much higher, estimating that between 750,000 and 1 million illegal migrants living in Spain could apply for amnesty, in addition to 250,000 to 350,000 asylum seekers. The report described the amnesty plan's "very intense media impact, especially in Latin America" and warned of a "highly

National Insecurity: America's Continuing Reliance On Critical Chinese Materials Authored by Benjamin Weingarten via RealClearWire , At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 - with face masks, gloves, and other basic protections in high demand - Chinese leaders threatened to plunge America into the "mighty sea of coronavirus" by withholding essential medical supplies in retaliation for measures such as the U.S. travel ban on visitors from China. The threat, issued through a Chinese Communist Party organ, brought into stark relief China's strategy to subdue would-be foes by rendering them reliant on its exports for life's necessities - prompting

Troubling Pattern Of Left-Wing Revolutionaries Targeting "Capitalists" Raises Alarm Over Youth Radicalization A troubling pattern appears to be emerging. In a recent foiled terror plot targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, authorities said the suspect of an underground network, led by an illegal alien ringleader , planned to use suicide drones and a sniper team against "capitalist elites ." Separately, Rebel News described the Montreal shooter earlier this week as an " antisemitic Communist ." While the cases appear separate, both point to a broader concern: revolutionary and radical-left rhetoric is increasingly bleeding into real-world violence , with

US Escalates Crackdown On Overseas Scam Network Targeting Americans Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times , The United States has taken coordinated action against a Southeast Asia-based scam and money-laundering network that officials say used forced-labor compounds and online investment fraud to steal billions of dollars from Americans. Scam center workers and victims from China arrive at the border checkpoint with Thailand, in Myawaddy, Burma, on Feb. 20, 2025. Hundreds of Chinese workers were heading home after being freed from online scam centers. STR/AFP via Getty Images The Treasury Department on June 23 sanctioned 35 individuals and entities

Tennessee Considers Up To 26 GW Of Gas-Fired Generation By Diana DiGangi of UtilityDive The Tennessee Valley Authority released its preliminary 2026 integrated resource plan on Monday, saying load growth in its footprint is already outpacing the reference case forecast in its draft IRP, and that it has incremental capacity needs for between 7 GW and 26 GW of natural gas between now and 2040. “TVA’s actual and forecasted electricity demand has increased relative to the draft IRP’s Reference scenario and is approaching the Higher Growth Economy scenario primarily due to data center growth (e.g., artificial intelligence, hyperscaler, etc.),” the

Medvedev Calls For International Law Mechanism Banning Western Military Bases Abroad In a hard-hitting Wednesday address at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPILF), Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, didn't mince words regarding the sprawling global footprint of Western military power. The former Russian president called for the immediate creation of aggressive "legal mechanisms" to counter and dismantle Western military bases stationed on foreign soil , framing them as a direct threat to global stability. Russia has long accused both Washington and NATO of being hegemonic powers - whose policies sparked the Ukraine conflict. Image source:

Judge Strikes Down Trump-Era Courthouse Arrest Policy Via American Greatness , A federal judge has vacated Trump administration policies that allowed immigration agents to arrest noncitizens at immigration courthouses nationwide. U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts ruled Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents may no longer conduct arrests at immigration courts under policies implemented by the administration last year. Pitts, a Biden appointee, concluded that the Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to provide adequate justification for the changes and described the policies as “arbitrary and capricious.” The administration had expanded courthouse arrests through executive action , contributing to

Anthropic Accuses Alibaba Of Running Major "Adversarial Distillation" Campaign To Extract Claude Capabilities Anthropic has accused Alibaba Group of orchestrating one of the largest known efforts by a Chinese company to extract capabilities from a leading U.S. artificial intelligence model, according to a letter the AI company sent to several U.S. senators and White House officials. The letter claims that operators linked to Alibaba’s Qwen AI lab used nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts to conduct 28.8 million exchanges with Anthropic’s Claude model between April and June. The activity focused on the model’s most advanced functions, including software engineering and agentic reasoning,

China's Refiners Slash Runs To Lowest Since 2017, As Asia Refiners Slow Purchases Of Mid-East Oil A little over a month ago, we explained that energy traders are " Traders Puzzled As Physical Oil Prices Tumble Amid Surging Chinese Crude Sales, Plunging Imports ", and highlighted how already razor-thin independent refiner (teapot) margins had plunged to record negative as a result of the war in Iran and government policies meant to keep prices from rising. Fast forward to today when the previously discussed dynamics have gotten progressively worse, and this morning Bloomnberg writes that China’s independent oil refiners have slashed

"Heavy Casualties" After Massive Twin Quakes Rock Venezuela, Topple Buildings; "International Response May Be Needed" Twin earthquakes rocked Venezuela on Wednesday evening , collapsing entire apartment buildings across Caracas and leaving behind scenes of widespread devastation. The USGS said the first quake registered a magnitude of 7.1 , with an epicenter near Morón, about 104 miles west of Caracas, at a depth of 8 miles. One minute later, a similarly massive magnitude 7.5 quake struck nearby , roughly 10 miles southwest of Morón, at a depth of 6 miles. Remarkably, the dual quake was followed almost immediately across the world

Maryland Protests Data Center Costs By Ethan Howland of UtilityDive A group of 80 Maryland state lawmakers are backing a complaint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over the PJM Interconnection’s cost allocation for transmission lines that support data centers . Driven by the way PJM spreads transmission costs, Maryland ratepayers will pay $1.6 billion over the next decade for transmission projects that were approved in the grid operator’s last three regional transmission expansion plans that are designed to mainly serve out-of-state data centers, Maryland’s ratepayer advocate — the Office of People’s Counsel — said in its May 7 complaint.

Bessent Insists US Treasury Will Oversee Unfrozen Iranian Funds: Food & Medicine Only There remains a major divergence in how Iran and the United States are interpreting the results of the MoU signing in the wake of the historic Switzerland peace talks, as lower-level teams remain in place to hammer out the technical details of the agreement. The divergence/contradiction continues to be seen in not only the latest statements from President Trump himself, but also from the US Treasury : US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has insisted that a large portion of unfrozen Iranian assets would go towards purchasing US

Antifa Leader Sentenced To 100 Years In Prison For Attack On ICE Facility The Antifa attack on the Texas ICE facility in Alvarado was a highly coordinated plan, using fireworks and a fake vandalism call to lure out ICE agents and police so that they could be shot in a hail of gunfire. Responding Alvarado Police Department Lieutenant Thomas Gross was shot in the shoulder and the rifle round exited his neck during the crossfire, but he managed to survive. Members of the group tried to escape the scene, pretending to be harmless pedestrians, but were apprehended anyway. The common

Micron Soars After Reporting Blowout Earnings, Boosts Guidance Step aside Nvidia: as we noted in our preview, with the world's most valuable company going nowhere in recent months, all attention has shifted to Micron, which has rapidly become one of the most important stocks in the world and certainly the most actively traded , surpassing both Nvidia and Tesla in recent days. As such all eyes were on Micron's earnings today, and even with "sentiment at 11/10", according to UBS, the company still managed to blow away expectations for its Q3 earnings while delivering a sales forecast that topped Wall

Hormuz Exodus Begins: Ships Finally Sailing As UN-Led Evacuation Corridor Opens Several vessels have already navigated the Strait of Hormuz utilizing a fresh evacuation framework established by the United Nations' shipping agency, an official confirmed on Wednesday. More via newswires: US Energy Secretary Wright says roughly 72 ships have exited Strait of Hormuz in last 24 hours . "Ships have already begun to pass under the plan," stated a spokesperson for the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO), though they opted not to disclose specific details regarding the transiting vessels. According to the latest LSEG ship-tracking data Wednesday, at least two

DOJ Announces 455 Defendants Charged in $6.5 Billion Health Care Fraud Crackdown Via American Greatness , The Justice Department (DOJ) announced Tuesday that federal authorities have charged 455 defendants in a nationwide health care fraud operation involving an estimated $6.5 billion in false claims against government-funded health care programs. The cases are part of the department's annual National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which targeted alleged schemes involving Medicare, Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded health care programs. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a news conference at Justice Department headquarters that the operation uncovered the second-largest dollar amount ever charged in

Iran Calls MoU Deal A 'US Defeat' As Trump Touts Tehran Forced Into 'Very Big Concessions' Summary Trump Hits Back, Seeks Narrative Control: "The war is going very well. As you know, we're winning by a lot. Iran is making very big concessions." Iran Declares MoU A US Defeat: Tehran says the Islamabad agreement proves Washington abandoned its pressure campaign. Hormuz Traffic Resumes under UN Auspices: About 72 ships carrying roughly 20 million barrels of oil transited the strait in the past 24 hours under a UN-backed framework. Brent Falls Below $75, Iran war low: Oil prices dropped to their

Google Loses Another Two High Profile AI Researchers To Anthropic A duo of leading artificial intelligence researchers at Alphabet’s Google are planning to leave for rival Anthropic, adding to a series of high-profile departures that risk undercutting the search giant’s position in AI. Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, both viewed internally as key contributors to Google’s Gemini AI model, are set to move to the Claude maker, Bloomberg first reported citing unnamed sources. Adler worked on the company’s AI coding effort and Pritzel was involved in the process of training artificial intelligence systems. The two are only the latest to

Transcript Shows Bill Gates Claim Epstein Issued 'Veiled' Threats Over Affairs Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Bill Gates told lawmakers in a recent interview that Jeffrey Epstein threatened him subtly over his affairs but did not overtly blackmail him, according to a transcript released on June 23. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (C) in Washington, on June 10, 2026. Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images Epstein in 2013 "made some veiled references that made me wonder whether he had become aware" of one of the affairs, Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, told the House of Representatives Oversight

LSE analysis highlights litigation linked to energy sources, water consumption and air pollution The proliferation of datacentres and AI is increasingly at the forefront of environmental litigation around the world from Chile to Ireland, a report has found. In an analysis of about 3,600 climate-related lawsuits filed since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by the London School of Economics (LSE) found a growing number of cases challenging the energy sources, water consumption and air pollution of datacentres, all of which have related climate implications. Continue reading...

Delcy Rodríguez says rescuers from others countries arriving in Venezuela over coming hours after two powerful quakes hit capital Venezuela earthquakes: back-to-back quakes collapse buildings in capital Caracas Volunteers, medics and relatives of victims have raced to the Altamira area in Caracas hoping to help save survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings there. “I live far away [but] ... I came here riding my motorbike as fast as I could,” said José Morillo, as he arrived outside a block of flats called Residencias Obelisco . Continue reading...

Delcy Rodríguez declares state of emergency after buildings collapse across Caracas, with tremors felt in Colombia Venezuela earthquake – latest updates Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has declared a state of emergency after the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes that collapsed dozens of buildings and killed at least 32 people, with experts predicting the death toll could rise significantly. Rodríguez said hundreds were injured and more casualties were expected. The two strong earthquakes hit within a minute of each other. The first had a magnitude of 7.2 and the second 7.5, making it the most powerful to strike

World’s sixth-most famous duck falls short of dream Two-year-old must watch Czechia game from distance Merlín the duck ’s bid to see his beloved Mexico live has hit a snag after he was barred from El Tri’s match with Czechia on Wednesday. Merlín has become a folk hero in Mexico after becoming a symbol of El Tri’s World Cup campaign on home soil. His fans had launched a campaign for Merlín to attend Wednesday’s match alongside his human family. But his journey was cut short by Fifa regulations. Continue reading...

Woman detained at airport after allegedly making racist remarks directed at workers unloading baggage, police say Brazil’s federal police have detained a Spanish citizen in São Paulo’s international Guarulhos airport for racism, in the latest of a series of high-profile arrests of foreign tourists on similar grounds. Brazil has some of the strictest anti-racism laws in Latin America. Insulting a person on the basis of race carries a penalty of imprisonment from two to five years and a fine. Continue reading...

Oxfam predicts PNG will be worst-hit country in Pacific from the weather pattern, with up to 3 million people affected nationwide Families across Papua New Guinea’s Highlands are facing depleted harvests and the threat of hunger after the El Niño weather pattern brought frost and prolonged dry conditions that have destroyed food gardens providing sustenance and income for thousands of households. The effects of El Niño emerged in recent weeks, bringing drought conditions, falling water levels and frost that are threatening food security in some of the country’s most agriculturally productive regions. Continue reading...

Investigators says one of two teenagers who allegedly opened fire on students at high school was regular player Philippine authorities have temporarily blocked the online gaming app GoreBox days after a rare school shooting in the south-east Asian country killed three students and injured 20 others. Investigators said that one of the two teenagers accused of opening fire on students at San Jose National high school in Tacloban city had regularly played the game, which allows players to use various weapons and depicts graphic violence. Continue reading...

British disinfectant brand withdraws advert about a man’s efforts to find a ‘clean and untouched’ woman The British hygiene brand Dettol has apologised after an advertisement released in China, which it said was intended to criticise “toxic men”, was widely condemned on social media as offensive to women. The five-minute advert for a multipurpose disinfectant, released across many online platforms at the end of May, features a man comparing his girlfriend with his former partner. Learning that his former girlfriend previously lived with someone else, the man likens their relationship to a “secondhand service”. He then tells his friends that

Written in 1947, Kiyoshi Tanimoto’s account of the horrors of the atomic bomb attack will be published in August and is being made into a film The memoir of a man who survived the horrors of Hiroshima is to be published for the first time this summer after its discovery in a US archive. The 230-page memoir was written almost 80 years ago by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, who witnessed the city’s destruction after the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. He will now be portrayed in a feature film by Takehiro Hira, whose acclaimed roles include the detective in the Netflix

Rob Jetten acknowledges grief and pain of Moluccan families as crowdfunded monument unveiled in Rotterdam The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, has formally apologised for the “heartless” mistreatment of thousands of Moluccan soldiers who fought for the Dutch colonial army during Indonesia’s struggle for independence. About 12,500 people – men who had served in the Royal Dutch East Indies and their families – came from a group of Indonesian islands to the Netherlands in 1951, many having been given no choice. They thought it would be a temporary evacuation after Indonesia had won independence. Continue reading...

Australian woman Leah Stewart no longer in critical condition but doesn’t yet have use of her hand Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A woman who was attacked by a great white shark at Sydney’s Coogee beach is no longer in a critical condition and “remembers the whole event in detail”, her brother has said. Leah Stewart’s brother Joshua provided the update on a fundraising site on Thursday, writing that it was “amazing to hear from her so much sooner than anyone expected” and that his sister had been “overjoyed” to see her daughter

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Mike Burgess says he’s really concerned about the level some nation-states, like Iran, could go to cause harm against Australians. Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, the spy boss says the security level is worsening and we could see an Australian killed at the hands of a foreign government. Targeted killing … that could be a prominent Australian that is killed or everyday Australians just about going about their business. So I am really concerned about the actions of some nation-states, Iran in particular,

Police confirm they are investigating as sources close to Guy say he vehemently denies the allegations and is considering legal action Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Victorian Liberal party is in turmoil just five months out from the state election after MP Moira Deeming accused colleague Matthew Guy of assaulting her at a community event. Sources close to Guy, the opposition’s public transport spokesperson, said he vehemently denies the allegation, which is being investigated by police, and is considering a defamation legal action

One woman says she found man in her room at WA fly-in, fly-out accommodation while another states she was ‘howled’ at, federal court told Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue is facing a class action lawsuit from female workers over allegations of systemic sexual harassment, violence and retaliation at the iron ore miner’s remote work sites. The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Victoria on Thursday, includes an allegation that a woman was pulled into a dark alley where a man

Nine Entertainment is expected to sever ties with the Today show host but is yet to make details of the separation public Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Karl Stefanovic will not appear on his scheduled Friday afternoon radio show with Eddie McGuire after widespread criticism of his podcast interview with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Stefanovic only recently signed the deal with ARN Media to co-host The Long Weekend nationally on Gold FM, but the threat of an advertising boycott has led to the

UK June heat record could be broken for the second consecutive day Farryn Stock Over in the UK, South East Water has announced a temporary hosepipe ban in Kent amid growing strain from the ongoing heatwave (31C today, 33C tomorrow). “To safeguard that shared supply and prevent any homes from facing a sudden loss of water, we sadly need to ask our communities to not use their hosepipes immediately. We are deeply sorry for the disruption this causes, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone helping us protect Kent’s water.” Continue reading...

Duty on imports outside new quota will double in move echoing similar changes in EU limits Business live – latest updates The UK government will halve the amount of tariff-free steel imports allowed in an attempt to counter a global oversupply of cheap Chinese metal and bolster its beleaguered local industry. New “safeguards” will be introduced on 1 July and will coincide with similar new limits being introduced by the EU for the same purposes. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Amid rising anti‑immigration rhetoric across Europe, the decision to engage with the Taliban signals a profound shift in how the EU balances security and human rights Good morning. It’s a slap in the face. That’s the phrase I kept hearing – in furious overnight messages, in blazing opinion columns – as Afghan women responded to the meeting between EU officials and the Taliban that took place in Brussels on Tuesday. The talks, to discuss how to scale up the deportation of Afghan migrants, were met with widespread outrage, and disbelief that Europe would countenance offering legitimacy to

Many of France’s buildings are not designed for hot weather – and low-income housing estates are suffering the worst Living in a sweltering, seventh-floor flat on a concrete housing estate south of Paris, Samira said she was feeling desperate as France experienced its highest temperatures on record this week. “Yesterday I sat down and cried, I thought I’m going to die,” said the 35-year-old single parent and former building caretaker. Her flat in Ris-Orangis in Essonne is, like millions of apartments in France, poorly insulated and lacking in outside window shutters. “Blazing sun hits my windows all day – I

Deutsche Bahn widely criticised after hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded in operator’s latest setback Germany’s rail network ground to a halt late on Tuesday as a result of maintenance work that went wrong, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers unable to get home as the national operator faced widespread criticism over the chaos. The Deutsche Bahn (DB) meltdown was initially thought to have been caused by a cyber-attack, but it later emerged that it was likely to have been triggered by a scheduled attempt to replace an ageing component in the railway’s internal communication network, without which the trains

The vice-president, leading a foundering peace deal to end the kind war he’s opposed in the past, is left holding the bag JD Vance has taken the greatest gamble of his vice-presidency by making himself the face of the Iran ceasefire deal – a shaky agreement that already seems to be unraveling at the seams. But after months spent in limbo due to the war, it may be the best chance for him to find his feet again. Continue reading...

Fears of long-lasting energy crunch ‘slinking away’ as vessel traffic doubled in 24 hours to highest level since late February Business live – latest updates Oil prices have fallen below levels last seen before the Iran war started in late February as more oil tankers exited the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to a low of $72.24 a barrel on Thursday, slightly lower than the day before the US and Israel launched missile attacks on Tehran on 28 February. Prices have fallen more than 20% this month. Continue reading...

Defence minister says troops not withdrawing though Tehran sees end to war in Lebanon as part of deal with US The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Israeli troops would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, further complicating Iran peace talks as fighting in Lebanon continues to be an obstacle to permanent peace. Speaking on stage in an interview in Tel Aviv, Katz said Israeli troops would remain in south Lebanon – echoing sentiments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Continue reading...

Rights activists call UK ambassador ‘morally compromised’ for accepting honour from Bahraini king in apparent breach of Foreign Office rules The British ambassador to Bahrain has been accused of breaching government rules over accepting an award by the Gulf state’s king, a move critics suggest signals diplomats and civil servants are “up for grabs”. This week, the ambassador, Alastair Long , received the Order of Bahrain from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, in recognition of his diplomatic tenure, which human rights activists and politicians say is in “direct breach” of the Foreign Office’s rules on accepting foreign awards. Continue reading...

Leaked letter to PM and military demands action to stop violence against Palestinians in occupied West Bank Dozens of Israelis from the country’s security, political and cultural elite have threatened legal action against their government over support for Jewish terrorism and an “ideology of ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank , according to a leaked letter. Two former prime ministers, former heads of all the Israeli security services, former judges, a Nobel laureate and the country’s most revered living novelist were among the signatories to a “final warning” over violence against Palestinians. Continue reading...

Husband arrested after Sylvie Yasmina, 54, and five children found at home in north-western province Pakistan police say they have rescued a French woman and her five children after she told authorities she had been held captive by her husband for more than a decade and subjected to years of domestic abuse in the country’s north-west. The woman, identified as 54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina, was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick home in Bara, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, the district police chief, Waqar Ahmad, said. Continue reading...

Rights campaigners and MEPs say meeting would normalise regime that erases women from public life Rights campaigners and MEPs have warned that a meeting between EU officials and a Taliban delegation in Brussels risks normalising a regime that has banned girls from school beyond the sixth grade and sought to erase women from public life, while its ranks include two leaders accused of crimes against humanity. A spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry confirmed that a delegation representing the ⁠Taliban had travelled to Brussels after the Belgian foreign ministry issued five single-day visas. Continue reading...

Directive aimed at government workers, but reports of wider implementation spark warnings of future Afghanistan-wide prohibition The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions. In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’ Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges. Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax. Continue reading...

Experts say criminal networks favour Sri Lanka due to ease of getting tourist visas and limited regulation on sim cards and internet connections Experts have warned that Sri Lanka is emerging as a hub for transnational cybercrime, after a crackdown in south-east Asia pushed Chinese-run criminal networks to relocate their vast scam operations. Sri Lankan police spokesperson Fredrick Wootler said the country was witnessing an “alarming increase of cybercrimes” perpetrated by people entering the country as tourists, and then illegally setting up scam operations targeting people across the world. Continue reading...

Allies of Reeves lobby to keep her as chancellor as ‘stable’ choice while Wes Streeting and Ed Miliband also in picture UK politics live – latest updates Rachel Reeves has given her support to Andy Burnham to be the next prime minister, despite reports she is likely to be moved out of the role of chancellor if he becomes Labour leader. The chancellor told the BBC she and Burnham were friends and did not appear to rule out accepting a more junior cabinet position. “I’m supporting Andy to be prime minister,” she said. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch described Bridget Phillipson yesterday as ‘a spiteful class warrior’ In her Q&A this morning Rachel Reeves , the chancellor, confirmed that she wants the government to approve the licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea. She said: I’ve been very clear that I think that the North Sea is a crucial asset for the UK, and that oil and gas will be an important part of our energy mix for years to come. And I’m very keen to make sure that we use that resource, to ensure our energy security. There

Human Tissue Authority says bodies not transferred to freezer in time due to insufficient storage needs Bodies in the mortuary at the NHS trust at the centre of the health services biggest ever maternity care scandal were found in a state of “advanced deterioration” due to not being transferred to a freezer in time, inspectors have said. Human Tissue Authority (HTA) inspectors who visited Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust in March discovered eight bodies in a state of advanced decomposition due to not being transferred to a freezer within a sufficient timeframe. Continue reading...

British carrier says it hopes to receive ‘more attractive proposal that better reflects’ its value Business live – latest updates EasyJet has opened talks with Castlelake, despite rejecting a fourth takeover offer worth £4.9bn from the US investment firm, with the airline saying it would open its books in the hope of receiving a higher bid. The British budget carrier unanimously rejected the latest proposal, of 650p a share, saying it still “substantially” undervalued the company while flagging “significant questions of deliverability”. Continue reading...

A blooming new wave of musical theatre is exploring the plight of the planet with a playful and hopeful approach Earth is a single woman with a lot to give; Humanity is a charismatic bad boy who turns out to be an inveterate taker. Their toxic relationship is told in Hot Mess , a musical created by Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote, which works both as an eccentric romcom with broad commercial appeal and a serious analogy for our abuse of the once fecund, now depleted planet. A hot ticket at the Edinburgh fringe last summer and now on in

Tenants push for tougher rules against unfair add-on charges. Industry players argue against policies that they say could limit the ‘effective use of fees’ ‘Extremely overwhelmed’: apartment renters face rising tide of fees Across the US, many renters are calling for national action to stem add-on charges that spike their housing costs and increase their risk of eviction. “The rental housing market is one where consumers have little power,” Farah Momin, a renter in Seattle, told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in April. “Landlords can impose fees through take-it-or-leave-it lease terms, and the cost/disruption of moving means that tenants may

Randy Smith’s resignation was part of plea deal after attack on podcaster Bobby Couvillion at a Madisonville restaurant A suburban New Orleans sheriff who had held one of his community’s most prominent political offices for a decade has retired shortly after pleading guilty to battering a podcaster who often criticized him. Randy Smith, 61, also agreed to serve more than a year of probation after admitting to a late May beating at a steakhouse where he had bought 18 alcoholic beverages on his tab on a Friday afternoon – which all but halted his four-decade policing career. Continue reading...

Senator warns of ‘tsunami of anger’ against big companies and suggests future administrations may undo key deals Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that corporate mergers approved by the Trump administration – including a pending deal that would put two of America’s largest news outlets under the control of a family sympathetic to the president – could be undone by a future administration. “After 2028, we’ll have new players in Washington, and everyone who’s engaged in this merger frenzy right now is aware of that,” Warren said in an interview. Continue reading...

Sheriff in rural Texas says ‘it’s still at large’ after claim Gracie had been located after wandering off private ranch For almost two weeks, residents of a rural Texas county have been looking, mostly up, for a missing giraffe called Gracie that wandered off from a private game ranch. On Wednesday, the mystery of the free-roaming mammal’s odyssey deepened further, when a local sheriff disputed an account that it was reportedly found safe a “little farther out than expected” from its hill country home, and said the search was most definitely still on. Continue reading...

President on National Mall rattles off list of apparent victories and says ‘I am thrilled to declare America is back’ Donald Trump kicked off what was intended to be a “spectacular birthday party” for American’s 250th year of independence with a political rally touting his presidency. “I am thrilled to declare that America is back,” Trump said at the opening ceremony for the Great American State Fair in Washington DC, held on the National Mall. “As you know very well, a short time ago we were a dead country. We were dead. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the

Thousands of Venezuelans were feared dead on Thursday after ⁠two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed ⁠buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks. At least 32 people were confirmed dead and 700 injured after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160km (100 miles) west of Caracas, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Video footage showed...

The US Army’s commander of its forces in Europe and Africa – who was famously the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 – is unexpectedly stepping down from his post after just 18 months in the job, the Army confirmed late on Tuesday. General Christopher Donahue, commanding general of US Army Europe and Africa and commander of Nato’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish his command on July 2, according to an Army statement. He is the latest in a line of nearly two dozen top military...

Right-wing ⁠candidate Keiko Fujimori said on ⁠Wednesday she would seek to ⁠unite a Peru “split in two” if she takes office, after razor-thin election results gave her enough votes to secure what appears to be an insurmountable lead in the presidential run-off. Fujimori, a four-time presidential hopeful and the daughter of late former president Alberto Fujimori, said ‌she would make an “open call” to experienced technocrats to form her first cabinet, as she seeks to fulfil campaign promises to...

The war in Iran is effectively over. Although the dust has yet to settle, some lessons are already visible. First, US President Donald Trump has waged a personal war at the world’s expense. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu warned that arms are ill-omened tools, employed only as a last resort. Trump, who has admitted he doesn’t like to read, may not realise this. Few people know why he ordered a strike on Iran. Maybe kidnapping president Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela was too easy or Israeli Prime...

What is the secret ⁠to a long life? Three ⁠Brazilian sisters with a combined age ⁠of 316, who were named by Guinness this month as the oldest living trio of siblings in the world, may help researchers find out. The DNA Longevo Project, a study led by scientist Mayana Zatz from the University of Sao Paulo, aims to investigate the biological factors ‌behind ageing. Findings from the three sisters’ case could help scientists better understand why some people remain physically and cognitively...

On a sunny day in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighbourhood, punters piled into the fifth floor of Time Out Market to Portugal House – part food court, part bar, full-blown World Cup party. The room was awash with Portuguese team jerseys, filled with fans sipping cold beer and soft drinks, proudly singing Portugal’s national anthem before their match against DR Congo. “Hopefully, one day I can sing the Chinese national song in a World Cup stadium,” said Zhai Yibo, a 20-year-old Chinese student studying in...

Brazil’s federal police detained a Spanish citizen in Sao Paulo’s international Guarulhos airport for racism on Wednesday, the latest in a series of high-profile arrests of foreign tourists on similar grounds. Brazil has some of the strictest anti-racism laws in Latin America. Insulting a person on the basis of race carries a penalty of imprisonment from two to five years and a fine. The crew of a Latam airlines flight arriving from the northeastern city of Sao Luis called police, who arrested...

A US federal judge asked on Wednesday for an explanation for why a tarpaulin continues to cover the facade of the Kennedy Centre where President Donald Trump’s name was recently removed. District Judge Christopher Cooper gave the board of trustees of the performing arts venue until the end of July to explain “the purpose for and status of the tarp and scaffolding that defendants have erected on the front portico of the centre”. Trump’s name was removed from the Kennedy Centre on the orders of...

President Donald Trump cancelled his plan to sign a bipartisan affordable housing bill on Wednesday in an effort to pressure his fellow Republicans to pass a long-stalled package of US national voting restrictions that has aggravated party fissures and shown the limits of his power. “Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump wrote in a social media...

A positive case of Ebola virus has been identified in France in a doctor travelling back from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the French Ministry of Health said Wednesday. The individual, who has not been identified, returned from a humanitarian mission in one of the virus transmission zones in the DR Congo and was taken into care at a specialised facility in France. The person is in stable condition, the ministry said. The Congolese health ministry said on Wednesday there are 1,094 confirmed...

A key road named after US President Donald Trump in India’s opposition-ruled tech hub of Hyderabad has drawn criticism from ‌Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, which dismissed the move as “hypocrisy”. US-India ties have deteriorated during Trump’s second term, with Washington imposing high tariffs on Indian goods, punishing New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, and engaging closely with India’s arch-rival Pakistan. The road in the capital of the southern state of Telangana, ruled by...

The resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has once again plunged British politics into uncertainty. Britain is now poised to welcome its seventh prime minister in a decade: after David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and now Starmer, yet another successor is waiting in the wings. For a country that often presents itself as a model of political stability and democratic governance, such an extraordinary turnover of leadership raises questions about the...

The international nuclear watchdog responsible for verifying Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium dismissed the conflicting signals from Tehran and Washington overnight and said it expects to resume full monitoring at some stage. “There’s a war of words here,” said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi, referring to White House statements about monitoring that were disputed by Iran. In Washington on Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened to halt...

Ukrainian drones knocked out power in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-held Crimea, on Wednesday and targeted facilities in central and southern Russia, local officials said, underscoring the reach of Kyiv’s attacks on energy infrastructure. Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian oil refineries, depots and supply routes this year, pushing up petrol prices in Russia, where ‌authorities have limited sales in some regions. Fuel shortages have been particularly acute on the Crimean...

As European leaders convened at the European Council meeting in Brussels this month, the spectre of a full-blown trade war with China cast a long shadow over the proceedings. Amid ongoing anti-subsidy probes into Chinese green technology and the looming threat of retaliatory tariffs, the economic bedrock of the China-EU relationship appears increasingly fragile. Yet, beneath the hawkish political rhetoric, recent high-level meetings between European officials and their Chinese counterparts...

Keiko Fujimori is poised to become Peru’s next president after running her fourth consecutive campaign, according to figures published late Tuesday by the elections regulator after weeks of adjudicating disputed ballots. With 43,386 votes between Fujimori and leftist rival Roberto Sanchez, and no more than 39,300 votes in dispute, the conservative had enough of a margin to secure her lead. Fujimori had 50.1 per cent of the vote while Sanchez had 49.9 per cent with 99.8 per cent of ballots...

A Pentagon decision to strip “Indo” from the name of its largest unified military command eight years after it was initially added has raised questions about the United States’ continuing commitment to India. In a statement announcing the Indo-Pacific Command’s name change on June 16, US officials portrayed the move as a matter of “honour”, “pride” and respecting “historical roots”. But analysts told This Week in Asia that New Delhi would likely read the reversion to Pacific Command (PACOM) as...

Three candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani swept to victory in Democratic congressional primaries on Tuesday, showing that the coalition which powered the New York City mayor to a surprising victory last year is gaining strength. Some of the city’s most established political figures were toppled in races that highlighted divisions within the party over ideology, Israel and immigration. Former New York City comptroller Brad Lander defeated two-term Congressman Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th...

Large parts of western Europe were baking on Wednesday as a so-called heat dome brought extreme conditions that many forecasters warned could present a risk to life. A day after France recorded its hottest-ever day, Britain was on Wednesday set to see its highest ever June temperature, prompting the national weather forecaster to issue a “red heat health” alert for much of central and southern England, as well as Wales. It was only the second such warning ever issued by UK authorities following...

The US Senate backed legislation on Tuesday directing US President Donald Trump to halt US military action against Iran, the latest rebuke of the Republican president from an increasingly restive Congress. The Senate voted 50–48 in favour of the war powers resolution, which passed the House of Representatives early this month, reflecting growing concern even among some of Trump’s Republicans about the unpopular conflict that began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched an attack on...

Airbus on Tuesday said it would inspect 16 A380 planes, five of them immediately, after cracks were found in a key wing component on aircraft used by the Emirates and Qantas airlines. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has ordered urgent inspections requiring airlines to examine the wing-spar structure on the affected jets after inspectors found cracks during routine maintenance checks. The cracks appeared in a structural beam that runs along the wing and carries much of the...

A problem with a communications system forced Germany’s railway network to halt all trains late Tuesday, leaving passengers stranded across the country. Trains were held at stations and would-be travellers stood in long queues at information desks as they tried to figure out how to get to their destinations. The main national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said shortly before 1am – nearly 2½ hours after it first reported the outage – that the problem had been resolved and service was resuming...

Bankers working for JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong must have been miffed when they were shut off from using artificial intelligence (AI) models from Anthropic, a pioneering American firm in the field. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase pulled the plug in April and last week respectively, based on a strict interpretation of Anthropic’s terms of use, which reflect Washington’s stringent restrictions on China’s access to frontier American AI models. The banks’ decisions are seen as a...

Wall Street got a reality check as a bruising sell-off in several technology giants fuelled concern the artificial intelligence frenzy that has powered the equity bull market might be overblown. The tech rout engulfed global stocks as worries about frothy valuations ignited a fresh bout of volatility after a nearly three-month surge in riskier assets. The S&P fell 1.4 per cent. The benchmark index is coming off 11 weekly gains out of the last 12, led largely by technology stocks. The Dow Jones...

The US Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let a Rastafarian man sue state prison officials in Louisiana after guards held him down and shaved him bald in violation of his religious beliefs in a case brought under a federal law protecting incarcerated people from religious discrimination. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss Damon Landor’s lawsuit, agreeing that he could not sue the individual prison officials and...

Today show host Savannah Guthrie made an emotional appeal to viewers on Tuesday to come forward with any information about her missing mother, a day after news organisations said a ransom note received months ago had indicated that she was dead. “We are in agony, and we cannot be at peace … We love our mum. We’ll never stop looking for her,” Guthrie said at the Today desk in New York, holding a tissue in her left hand. Nancy Guthrie, 84, who lived alone, was reported missing from her Tucson-area...

Russia has accused the ⁠US of failing to deliver on “understandings” reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last August, a shift that suggests growing frustration in Moscow. In the space of three days, three senior Russian officials have said, without providing specifics, that Washington has not followed through. Their comments follow an intensification of Ukraine’s drone strikes deep inside Russia – including two attacks last week on a Moscow oil...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that Iran has agreed to “highest level” nuclear inspections even as Iranian officials disputed his claim, exposing how much remains contested even with a tentative agreement in place. “Despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary … Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!),” Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday morning. “This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty.’ If...

Russia is considering fuel imports ‌and corresponding subsidies to cap prices as ways to mitigate supply disruptions of petrol and diesel caused by Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries, Vedomosti daily reported on Tuesday, citing two unnamed sources. Numerous regions across Russia, the world’s third-largest crude oil producer, have reported restrictions on fuel sales, rising prices of oil products ⁠and long queues at filling stations due to supply shortages. Apart from supplying crude oil...

At the recent Brussels summit, the leaders of all 27 European Union states called on the European Commission to expand the bloc’s trade defence toolbox against “global macroeconomic imbalances”, widely understood to refer to China’s so-called overcapacity. Measures under discussion include mechanisms for sector-wide tariffs and other restrictions in industries such as chemicals and green technology. Europe, long a critic of Washington’s Section 301 tariffs, is now considering instruments that...

Former Scottish National Party chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for just over five years on Tuesday after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 (US$540,000) of party funds to buy items such as ‌cars, a motorhome and luxury goods. Murrell, 61, is the estranged husband of ex-SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who suddenly resigned in 2023, shortly before she was arrested as part of the probe into the party’s finances. She was cleared of wrongdoing in March last year. He pleaded guilty last...

Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent UN inquiry said on Tuesday. The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October ‌7,...

On Monday morning, ⁠Keir Starmer emerged into the sunshine in Downing Street flanked by his staff and ⁠wife, his voice thick with emotion as he said he was no longer the right person to lead Britain. Starmer, who won one of the biggest landslides in British political history, is out after less than two years. The sixth leader to quit in 10 years. The highest rate of political turnover in almost two centuries. Like his predecessors, Starmer failed to stem popular anger over living standards,...

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Washington’s National Mall is set to be drained again for repairs after algae and peeling paint appeared just weeks after a US$14.7 million renovation, while President Donald Trump threatened prison time for anyone caught ‌damaging the pool. The DC Water authority issued a permit to drain the 609-metre rectangular pool, it said on Monday, while the repair company said it would fix the pool as part of its warranty. Peeling paint and algae growth have been...

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) appears sudden and revolutionary, yet its origins stretch deep into history, revealing a profound and forgotten intellectual exchange between China and the West. Long before Alan Turing, Claude Shannon, or even Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, there was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – the German polymath born exactly 380 years ago next week. Among his monumental contributions to science is the binary numeral system, which serves as the bedrock of modern...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer conceded on Monday that he had lost the support of his rank-and-file Labour Party members in Parliament and that he will step down once his successor as party leader is chosen, possibly as soon as the middle of July. Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester whose resounding victory in a special UK election last week set in motion Starmer’s resignation, has confirmed he will put himself forward to be his successor. Burnham is seen as the...

A notorious mob hitman who once testified against John “Junior” Gotti before cleaning up his life and becoming a councilman in New Jersey has been arrested on extortion and loan sharking charges that, if proven, reflect a return to the lifestyle of his youth. John Alite, 63, was arrested on Friday in New Jersey, where he was sworn in early last year as a councillor in the borough of Englishtown. Released after a court appearance on Saturday, Alite is scheduled to return to court for a detention...

US President Donald Trump criticised outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday after the Labour leader announced he would resign, saying he had “really hurt himself” over energy, immigration and his handling of relations with Washington. “I think he’s a lovely man,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event, before accusing Starmer of mishandling Britain’s energy policy by failing to exploit North Sea oil and allowing “windmills all over the place”. “The UK buys much of its...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday “I will do what I have to do” if Iran does not stick to its agreement with ‌Washington. “If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do,” Trump told reporters. Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed an interim US-Iran deal last week, more than three months after the US and ⁠Israel attacked Iran and Iran responded with its own attacks on Israel and ‌Gulf states with US bases. Trump said on...

A suspect armed with a long gun opened fire on Monday at a Montreal hotel, killing a police officer before officers returned fire, killing him, police said. A civilian also died but it was not immediately clear who fired that shot. Police Chief Fady Dagher said a second officer was seriously injured in the shooting in the city’s Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood but was in stable condition. The chief said it was the first time in 24 years that a Montreal police officer had been killed in the line of...

China, which now conducts more clinical drug trials than the US, still lags in the quality and commercial reach of its biomedical science, according to a recent survey of senior US leaders in industry and academia. The ‌poll, conducted by Cure Innovation Index, found that China is seen as the clear leader in two out of six sectors: clinical development and supply chain. It found that the US leads in moving experimental products through to large-scale production, capital, and commercialisation...

Forty people have drowned in France over the past few days as they sought to cool down to escape record heat, the government said on Tuesday, as a heatwave swept across much of Europe. Britain, Italy and Spain were also sweltering in extreme heat, with record temperatures in some regions disrupting schools and transport networks. Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization, making such prolonged heat episodes increasingly...

Beijing congratulated Colombia on its presidential run-off and said it would work with the incoming government of Abelardo de la Espriella, the far-right lawyer who has promised to pull the country back towards the United States. Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun made the remarks on Monday, a day after a preliminary count put de la Espriella narrowly ahead of his leftist rival, Senator Ivan Cepeda. “China … congratulates Colombia on the smooth second round of presidential elections,” he...

European Central ⁠Bank President Christine Lagarde ⁠on Monday urged global leaders to discuss undervaluation of the Chinese currency as a facet of the imbalances endangering the global economy. China has ‌consistently denied that it manipulates its currency for trade advantage but its surging trade surpluses are one of several macroeconomic mismatches worrying leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations who met last week in ⁠France, along with chronic US deficits and Europe’s...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that her country seeks to restart oil shipments to Cuba soon, a move that could provide much-needed relief as the island’s crises deepen given a lack of petroleum. Sheinbaum said her administration would seek to send the oil via commercial and privately owned firms instead of state-owned companies as it has done in the past. Mexico became a key fuel supplier to Cuba after the US attacked Venezuela in early January and halted critical oil...

A look at the backlash to same-sex marriage — its strength, seriousness and the reasons behind it.

Sentiment is shifting amid frustration in the antiabortion movement that more abortions are happening now than when Roe v. Wade fell.

An unlikely trio of justices issued a slashing critique of plea bargains that included several references to orangutans.

Increased stockpiles, more pipelines and other tactics could loosen the waterway’s stranglehold on the global economy.

The Trump administration has demanded that Iraqi leaders distance themselves from Iran and rein in Iran-linked militias that are outside of government control.

Filming entirely in IMAX meant new engineering and actor ingenuity. It was only halfway through the six-country shoot that he felt he could pull it off.

People have long gathered in solidarity by the Reflecting Pool, but amid the turmoil of President Trump’s attempted repairs there is little unity to be found.

The congressman, who has been absent from Washington since March, answered the door of his home on Wednesday evening. He was wearing a suit and tie.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has worked with Mayor Zohran Mamdani on child care and second-home taxes. But the triumphs of democratic socialists on Primary Day could complicate her vision.

The primary victories of leftist Democratic congressional candidates in New York came as some leaders were urging the party to move to the center to broaden its appeal.

The ruling of a three-judge appeals panel in Michigan was the most significant rebuke yet to the Department of Justice’s effort to find ineligible voters in state voter rolls.

The New York Times has confirmed that Taylor Swift has rented the sports arena for the July 4 weekend, suggesting plans for a days-long celebration.

The U.S. president endorsed the right-wing winner. But his influence went further.

Texas is set to pass what may be the first state-mandated book list for public school students. It focuses on classic literature and includes Bible excerpts.

This is an era of illusion, and Musk and Trump are the self-adoring, self-promoting emblems and emperors of it.

“There’s even a dunk tank with JD Vance and a drunk tank with Kash Patel,” Fallon said.