Minimalist News

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

All Banks Pass Fed's Stress Test, Unleashing Latest Wave Of Dividends And Buybacks In all the excitement over Micron's blowout earnings, we almost forgot that today was another Fed stress test day - which every bank passed with flying colors as usual - which in turn allowed bank to unleash a fresh flood of dividends and buybacks. The biggest US banks boosted their dividends after passing this year’s Federal Reserve stress tests , a hurdle that even Bloomberg admits has "softened" in recent years as regulators hash out new requirements. The results of the Federal Reserve Board's annual bank stress

Senate Passes War Powers Resolution In Rebuke Of Trump Policy The US Senate on Tuesday passed a war powers resolution - a symbolic rebuke of President Donald Trump which calls for an end to the US-Israeli war against Iran, and requires explicit authorization from Congress. The Democrat-led concurrent resolution passed by a narrow 50-48 vote , seeking to constrain President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran. The measure had previously cleared the House of Representatives on June 3. US President Donald Trump looks on as he stands in front of the VC-25B aircraft gifted by Qatar that will

DARPA's X-Plane Designed To Maneuver With Bursts Of Air Gets New Wings Attached Authored by Chris Young via Interesting Engineering , Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences has begun installing the wings on the X-65, an experimental drone developed under DARPA's Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program. Technicians mounting the wings onto the X-65 experimental drone. Aurora Flight Sciences / X The installation brings DARPA and Aurora a step closer to flying the unconventional uncrewed aircraft, which was designed to test flight control using only bursts of pressurized air instead of conventional moving surfaces. The X-65's active flow

Bessent: Rate Cuts Don't Have To Break The Dollar With rate-hikes increasingly back 'on the table' fort Fed Chair Warsh's 'regime change' last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that cutting interest rates won't necessarily lead to a weaker dollar - arguing that "you can have a strong dollar when rates are being cut" because if the fed is cutting because inflation is falling, while the economy stays strong - capital keeps flowing in and the dollar holds. Of course, that all depends on why the fed is cutting... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the Economic Club of New York,

Fauci, The CIA, And The Unanswered Questions Of COVID Authored by Cory Franklin via RealClearWire , Did Anthony Fauci manipulate the intelligence community (IC) investigation of the origin of COVID as outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claims? Gabbard recently released previously unseen documents and communications during the COVID pandemic between the IC and the key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci. She claims they show that Fauci and the IC coordinated the investigation of the origin of the COVID to suggest it was a natural occurrence rather than a laboratory leak . She

GOP Civil War Erupts On Two Fronts: Luna Freezes The House Floor, Trump Gets "Brother'd" By Cassidy In Senate Over SAVE Act The Republican Party's long-simmering tensions over election integrity exploded into open warfare on Wednesday , with chaos breaking out simultaneously in the House and Senate - and President Trump caught in the middle of both. It started, as these things often do, with a procedural knife fight. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and a band of House conservatives declared they would refuse to support any rule votes this week unless Senate Republicans finally moved the SAVE America Act

72 Ships Transited Hormuz In A Day: US Energy Secretary Says 'Taking Away' Iran's Key Leverage WTI futures briefly fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since the US-Iran conflict erupted, as tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz are showing further signs of normalization and physical market tightness continues to ease. Bloomberg noted that option markets are positioning for ongoing normalization. Put volume is exceeding calls, with some of the heaviest trading in August and September expiries between $60 and $68. The September $60 strike put is one of the most active contracts, along with August $60,

Grand Theft Auto VI Pre-Orders Begin Thursday; Wall Street Responds... Take-Two Interactive said that its Rockstar Games studio will begin long-awaited pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI on Thursday. The action-packed game is priced at $79.99 and is scheduled to launch on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. "Launching November 19, 2026, for the PlayStation 5 computer entertainment systems and Xbox Series X|S games and entertainment systems for $79.99, Grand Theft Auto VI features a single-player experience set in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet," Take-Two wrote in a press release. The last major

Two powerful earthquakes – with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 – sent residents running into the streets as buildings shook and collapsed 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...

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...

Homes and buildings collapse after double quake, with tremors felt in neighbouring Colombia Venezuela earthquakes: follow live updates Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has declared a state of emergency after the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes that levelled buildings and caused extensive damage in and around the capital, Caracas. “We ask the population to remain calm and united,” Rodríguez said in a televised broadcast on Wednesday night, urging citizens to evacuate damaged structures. 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...

Leftist Iván Cepeda conceded to far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella who won by razor-thin margin The defeated leftwing candidate in Colombia’s presidential runoff has conceded to the far-right, Trump-admiring millionaire lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella. Since Sunday night, the preliminary count had already pointed to a De la Espriella victory by a razor-thin margin of less than 1% of the vote. 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...

Strong winds and heavy rain batter Slovenia, while France experiences atypical heatwave Severe thunderstorms swept across the Balkans last week, bringing widespread destruction to parts of the region. The storms developed as unstable hot air lingered over the Adriatic Sea while a cold front plunged south-eastward. The front began its journey on 10 June in Slovenia, where the Slovenian Environment Agency recorded 65mph gusts at Ljubljana airport. Heavy rain also fell widely across the region with 23mm reported in Kranj. Continue reading...

Follow today’s news live 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, and

Home affairs minister Tony Burke says return permit ‘has to be issued’ following advice from agencies and lawyers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast An Australian woman linked to the Islamic State group has been given authorisation to return to Australia, after the government was advised it could no longer enforce a criminal exclusion order. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the Australian, understood to be former Sydney woman Hodan Abby, would face an unprecedented level of security monitoring once she arrives in the

Queensland boy, now aged 17, wrote of ‘autistic interest in bombs’ alongside notes speaking to his troubled state of mind, court told Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A teenager accused of plotting nailbomb attacks against the then opposition leader Peter Dutton and a Labour Day march has been found not guilty of preparing a terrorist act. The jury returned its verdict on Thursday after two days of deliberation. Continue reading...

Police confirm they are investigating as sources close to accused MP 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 Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has accused her colleague Matthew Guy of assaulting her at a community event, throwing the party into turmoil just five months out from the state election. Sources close to Guy, the opposition’s public transport spokesperson, said he vehemently denies the allegation and is considering a defamation legal action against his colleague. Continue

Experts say law not enough to stop children accessing harmful content online and more ‘convincing strategy is required’ More than 80% of under-16s in Australia said they were still using social media three months after legislation banning them from it came into force, research shows. Australia is the first country to ban social media for children. Since December 2025, under-16s have been prohibited from having accounts with many social media platforms including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. Continue reading...

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

West Sussex reports temperature of 35.8C, beating previous record from 1976; red weather alert extended to 72 of France’s 96 mainland departments Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesperson, said the agency is forecasting 39C as a headline maximum temperature on Thursday in the UK, most likely for somewhere in London or the south-east. “It is possible we could see temperatures higher than the 39C if the final values are at the upper end of our narrow range,” he said, according to the Press Association. Continue reading...

Previously hidden text revealed without unrolling scroll discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour The surviving part of an ancient scroll that was burnt to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been virtually unwrapped and read with help from artificial intelligence. Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll. The work discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour and dates to the second or late-third century BC. Continue reading...

Neso expected to pay millions to secure enough electricity to meet demand as households turn on fans and air conditioning Great Britain’s grid operator is expected to pay millions to fire up gas power plants to avoid a rare summer power supply crunch on Wednesday evening as extreme heat puts pressure on the energy system. The National Energy System Operator (Neso) is expected to pay about £10m on Wednesday to secure enough electricity to meet demand as households turn on air conditioners and electric fans, according to industry data. Continue reading...

Policy at Heidesee lake in Halle introduced after cases in which visitors ignored rules and lifeguards’ instructions An open air swimming lake in the eastern German city of Halle which has refused entry to bathers who don’t speak German has been told it must lift the ban or face possible legal action. The Heidesee lake, a lake in a flooded former open-cast mine, recently introduced a check at the entrance to filter out visitors whose German was deemed not good enough to follow safety instructions. 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...

Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, an ⁠independent UN inquiry has found. The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, and said about 30% of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children. Continue reading...

US secretary of state seeks to reassure UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain over security and US-Iran ceasefire deal The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said no country, including Iran, would be allowed to charge tolls for shipping in the strait of Hormuz as he sought to reassure US allies in the Gulf that Washington would take a firm line in peace negotiations with Tehran. Rubio is to meet Gulf allies on Tuesday and Wednesday in an attempt to reassure them that the US remains committed to their security and the 60-day ceasefire deal struck with Iran last week will

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...

Mayor’s office grants extra 12 months to run pilot while London force procures long-term supplier The Metropolitan police have been granted a 12-month extension to a pilot project with the spy-tech firm Palantir while the force carries out a procurement process. The development comes weeks after the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, blocked a £50m deal between the Met and the US company to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations. Continue reading...

A 41-year-old man has been arrested after Isaac Clare-Watts, 26, found at Nine Ladies monument on Monday A 26-year-old man who died in a suspected murder during a summer solstice event at a Bronze Age stone circle has been named by police. Isaac Clare-Watts, from Nottingham, was found at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Stanton Lees in the Peak District in Derbyshire at about 1.38pm on Monday. Continue reading...

Report uncovers biggest childbirth scandal in NHS history in which 520 mothers and babies suffered ‘potentially avoidable’ harm or died Horrific failings led to 520 mothers and babies in Nottingham suffering harm or dying, sparking calls for a public inquiry into maternity care across England. In all, 444 women and 76 newborn babies suffered “potentially avoidable” outcomes, a damning three-year long review of the biggest childbirth scandal in NHS history concluded. A “bullying and toxic culture” persisted at NUH over many years and impeded moves to improve care. Maternity service managers and the trust’s senior leaders were repeatedly warned about

Refugee charities fear controversial changes, including on forced removals and age checks, are being rushed through Shabana Mahmood’s controversial plans to increase the forced removal of people refused asylum, introduce stringent age checks for people claiming to be children and limit applications under human rights laws are scheduled to be placed before MPs within days. The immigration and asylum bill is expected to be put before parliament next Tuesday and will face opposition from some Labour, Lib Dem and independent MPs. Andy Burnham’s team, widely expected to be in No 10 within weeks, is understood to be aware of the

Senior figures, including some in No 10, want the Treasury to be allowed to borrow more for military spending Senior government officials are planning to lobby Andy Burnham during access talks to revive the idea of “war bonds” to pay for higher defence spending when he becomes prime minister, the Guardian understands. Senior figures, including some in No 10, want the Treasury to be allowed to borrow more for military spending and will try to convince Burnham to invest beyond the £13.5bn earmarked for the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (Dip). 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

This live blog is now closed. Trump abruptly cancels signing of bill aimed at lowering housing cost Sign up for the Breaking News US email A man or a movement? That was the question being asked when Zohran Mamdani gambled his political capital on Tuesday’s elections in New York . The answer from voters was emphatic: they prefer Mamdani and his brand of democratic socialism to the Democratic party establishment and its lukewarm version of capitalism. America’s biggest city has swung even further to the left. This is a battle between the establishment and this insurgency. And the roof is

Transcript of congressional testimony shows Microsoft founder spoke of ‘veiled’ threats made by late sex offender The Microsoft founder Bill Gates told US members of Congress that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had sought to “blackmail” him over his extramarital affairs, according to a transcript of the testimony. The tech pioneer testified behind closed doors before the House oversight committee on 10 June regarding his friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes. Continue reading...

Josue Baires Alfaro, 22, identified as victim in Nevada Fall incident that nearly claimed life of woman who tried to help A 22-year-old visitor to Yosemite national park in California died after he was swept over a 594ft-high waterfall on Saturday, officials confirmed this week. A fellow parkgoer, Freesia Gaul, was capturing a photo when she noticed the man, reportedly identified by local authorities as Josue Baires Alfaro, in the Merced River. Continue reading...

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...

Clive Davis, a former corporate lawyer who became one of the most influential figures in American rock and pop music as he fostered the careers of Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen and other stars, died ⁠on Monday at the age of 94. Davis, who was known as “the man with the golden ear” for his ability to identify potential hit ⁠songs, died at his home in Manhattan, The New York Times reported, having recently been hospitalised with respiratory...

Russian-held Crimea, a popular tourism destination, suspended children’s summer camps and tourist activities until September 1, its governor said on Monday, as the peninsula reels from a fuel crisis due to Ukrainian attacks on its supply routes. Supplies ‌of fuel and other products to Crimea have become strained as Ukraine has targeted both sea routes and supply roads from the north. The availability of petrol and diesel in Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, has also been undermined...

Tehran has agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Monday, after a first round of US-Iran talks towards ending the Middle East war. “The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance told reporters at Switzerland’s isolated Burgenstock resort, where his talks with Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf opened on Sunday. “That is a major milestone for the American people...

Hours before visiting the Capitol, the president scrapped plans to sign a major housing bill, condemning “bad Republicans” for resisting his demands to ram through new voting restrictions.

The president has sought to recast the Iranian government as he pursues a peace deal. But there are signs that a softening on Iran in the Republican Party goes well beyond him.

The proposal was all but dead on arrival in the Senate, where it would need bipartisan support, and comes amid growing G.O.P. skepticism about the conflict.

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.

Using charts, Secretary General Mark Rutte appeared to defuse the president’s anger by showing that European countries were “equalizing” defense spending with the U.S.

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 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.

Ms. Russini’s closeness to a coach, Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots, led to her breakup with The Athletic and its parent, The New York Times Company.

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.

Why the president’s latest renovation project is so irresistible and resonant.

Tuesday’s primary demonstrated the astonishing political power of Mamdani and of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The sweeping legislation, fully enacted last month, has been challenged by Republican-led states. Environmental groups have their own complaints.