Minimalist News

"Befuddled By The Insanity Swirling Around Me..." Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT > “My first rule: I don’t believe anything the government tells me.” — George Carlin The government reported CPI of “only” 2.7% and the financial pundits and Trump toadies celebrated the “lowest inflation in 5 years”. This is after “surprisingly good” unemployment report where the country added 50,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%. Of course, they also revealed every month in 2025 had been revised downward. EVERY freaking month was a lie when originally reported. December will eventually be revised to

Schumer: Democrats 'Will Not Allow' DHS Funding Bill To Move Forward Update (1603ET): Chuck Schumer is out with a new statement explicitly refusing to move forward with DHS funding as part of the six-part spending package to avert a government shutdown.  "Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward," he said, adding "Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill."  *  *  * With Congress already veering towards a shutdown this Friday after Senate Democrats vowed to oppose funding DHS in a six-bill spending package, yesterday's killing of a

Investment Risk Is Underappreciated Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, INVESTMENT RISK IS UNDERAPPRECIATED There’s an old parable worth remembering, especially when it comes to investment risk and the markets. Once upon a time, there was a young shepherd who was tasked with watching over a flock of sheep. Eventually, bored and craving attention, he runs into the village shouting, “Wolf!” The villagers drop everything to help, only to find there’s no danger. He laughs, amused by everyone’s reaction. Later, he does it again. Once again, the villagers fall for it. Unfortunately, when a wolf does indeed appear, he cries for help. But not wanting

Winter Storm In "Ludicrous Mode" As 10,000 Flights Canceled, Power Outages Near 1 Million, And Grids Strained The major winter storm we've been tracking all week is now blanketing much of the eastern half of the U.S., with snow falling from Oklahoma through Louisville, Cleveland, Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and now reaching Boston. > 🚨 Our Winter Storm is in full LUDICROUS MODE, unleashing insane Snow and catastrophic Ice across the Eastern U.S. > > ❄️ This storm is every bit as big and impactful as forecast - a true Once in a Decade Winter Storm, and it’s nowhere near done. > >

Left-Wing Activists Run Shadow Police Force On Signal To Target ICE In Minneapolis Last week, federal prosecutors issued six grand jury subpoenas to Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and others, as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded federal deportation operations. While the subpoenas appeared focused on whether public statements by state and local officials interfered with federal immigration enforcement, late Saturday night, new reports from citizen journalists suggest the alleged obstruction may have extended well beyond just rhetoric at press conferences and on social media. Let's begin with citizen journalist

Repricing Sovereignty Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.,com, PERSONAL FREEDOM IN THE AGE OF MASS COMPLIANCE What follows are a couple of excerpts from the last Bitcoin Capitalist Letter, which was a long-form piece that was a refinement of my overall long term investment thesis. It corrects for my biggest mistake in the previous model: the belief that nation states were in secular decline, and centralized government power was waning. This may be true for the long haul, but for the next five, ten, twenty years – we’re heading into an era that numerous commentators have been identifying, and I’m looping under umbrella “State Capitalism”.  More

Gavin Newsom Humiliated At Davos After Trolling Trump With "Knee Pads" Stunt Leftists have a disconcerting habit of making everything lame and gay.  And, because they have zero talent for memes or clever ridicule, when they do try to take their political opponents "down a notch" the attempt usually comes off as unintelligent and humiliating.    California Governor Gavin Newsom is the epitome of the bumbling narcissistic leftist stereotype.  His bizarre hot takes, robotic behavior and inability to read the room have made him the subject of embarrassment on numerous occasions.  Combine this problem with his 'American Psycho' demeanor (as Treasury Secretary

'Repatriate The Gold': German Economists Urge Withdrawal From US Vaults Authored by Kate Connolly via The Guardian, Shift in relations and unpredictability of Donald Trump make it ‘risky to store so much gold in the US’, say experts Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump. Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York. Emanuel Mönch, a leading economist and former head of research at

Where The US Has Military Footholds In Europe Since the beginning of his second term one year ago, President Trump has escalated his public campaign regarding his plans for acquiring Greenland, framing the autonomous Danish territory as a "national security necessity" due to its Arctic location, while the island is also rich in untapped mineral resources. Trump's rhetoric has ranged from offers to purchase the territory from Denmark, including a direct payment to its residents, to veiled threats of military intervention, having notably stated in early January: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if

2026 Is The Year Of Balance Sheet Engineering In The Battery Storage Market By Michael Kern of OilPrice.com In the first quarter of 2026, the global energy storage market is no longer a playground for visionaries... it is a graveyard for the undercapitalized. The data is rough. As of March 2025, QuantumScape sat on $860 million in cash against a trailing twelve-month burn rate of $331 million. This 2.6-year window is the "valley of death" made manifest in a ledger.  While the early 2020s were fueled by the speculative highs of SPAC mergers and theoretical energy density, the 2026 market has pivoted to "Balance

Trump Slams Davos Elites Over "Green New Scam" As Climate Crisis Narrative Falls Apart President Trump used his time at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to denounce the globalists' disastrous "Green New Scam" policies that have caused degrowth in parts of the West and helped spark an energy crisis with soaring power prices. "You're supposed to make money with energy, not lose money. Here in Europe, we've seen the fate that the radical left tried to impose on America," Trump told the elites in Davos. > The Climate Hoax was created by the WEF Losers and President Trump just called them

The AI Factor Behind Trump's Power Play On China's Oil Suppliers Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times, Why is it so important to the Trump administration to take control of Venezuela and encourage the people of Iran to overthrow the Islamic regime? The link between the two is obviously oil. Of course, the strategy in Venezuela involves oil, but also includes restricting China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere, undermining the BRICS currency, and shutting down Venezuelan drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and other nastiness. Same for Iran regarding oil. Both are important energy suppliers to China, but especially Iran. But it’s not the whole picture.

Escobar: The Real "Rupture" In Davos Authored by Pepe Escobar, Whatever the barbarians may be potting, the fact that matters is that China is already deep into the next phase, where it is expected to replace the United States as the world’s primary consumer market. > The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters. > > Antonio Gramsci Davos 2026 was a demented kaleidoscope. The only possible way to wallow through the mire was to put on the headphones and resort to the Band of Gypsys smashing sonic barriers, and drowning a frankly terrifying series of

Visualizing The World's 50 Most Powerful Militaries The recent U.S. operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro demonstrated that military power is not only about troop numbers or superior combat technology. With the successful extraction of Maduro and his wife from a military compound in just 2.5 hours, the extremely effective operation showed how far training, intelligence, and logistics go towards driving military power. This infographic, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, ranks the world’s most powerful militaries in 2025. The data for this visualization comes from the Global Firepower Index, which assesses 145 countries. THE WORLD’S TOP MILITARY POWERS The index evaluates more than 60 factors, including active military manpower,

Lefty Protestor Bites Off Federal Officer's Finger Authored by Catherine Salgado via PJMedia.com, It seems long past time for President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. In the chaos and violence following the death of an armed Minneapolis would-be terrorist shot while fighting Border Patrol, another protester has bitten off the finger of a federal officer. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted photos on X showing the loathsome protestors who so viciously assaulted federal officers, and also photos of the one officer’s wounded hand and the severed finger. What absolute scum these protestors and the politicians who encourage them are. McLaughlin explained, “In

Would Term Limits Make The DC Swamp Even Worse? Via Brian McGlinchey at Stark Realities Though America is beset by increasingly bitter political divisions, there are two convictions that unite Americans across party and demographic lines. Large majorities are certain that Congress isn’t serving the interests of the American people, and that Capitol Hill would become far more virtuous with the imposition of term limits. Despite their broad appeal to our “throw out the bums” instincts, term limits would probably make Congress even worse than it is now. Even as a proposed policy, the concept does the country a disservice by distracting Americans

House This Week Passed $839 Billion Defense Bill Bursting With Pork Authored by Alan Mosley via AntiWar.com, The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an $838.7 billion fiscal 2026 defense spending bill, moving one of the largest appropriations measures in US history toward final passage in the Senate. In a 341-88 vote that crossed party lines, lawmakers advanced the sprawling defense and related appropriations package, underscoring persistent majorities in both parties willing to expand military outlays even amid growing concerns about fiscal discipline. The total exceeds the Pentagon’s original FY 2026 budget request by $8.4 billion but still falls far short of more than $50 billion

Minneapolis Shooting Sparks Explosive Blame-Game Between Democrats And Trump Admin A 37-year-old anti-ICE agitator who was armed with a handgun was shot and killed by federal Border Patrol agents on Saturday morning during what the Department of Homeland Security described as a targeted immigration enforcement operation, sparking immediate political outrage and street protests. Border Patrol officers were conducting a targeted operation against an illegal immigrant wanted for violent assault. According to the federal agency, a man approached officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. Officers attempted to disarm the individual before he violently resisted, leading to an armed struggle.  > 🚨 JUST IN:

Tehran Rejects UN 'Protest Killings' Resolution, Blasts Western Moralizing Iran has flatly rejected a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution condemning what it described as the "violent crackdown on peaceful protests" by Iranian security forces, after two weeks of raging economic protests earlier this month, which also included a government enforced total internet shutdown. Following a closed-door session in Geneva on Friday, 25 council members - including France, Japan, and South Korea - voted in favor of the formal censure. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images But there were significant voices among the seven that voted against, including China, India, and Pakistan. Fourteen others abstained. The council

Last Look At Snowfall Models As 'Snowpocalypse' Begins How Will This Weekend's Mega-Storm Compare to the Winter Blasts of 2016 and 1996? Meteorologist Ben Noll says this weekend's snowstorm could be similar to the Blizzard of 1996. For our more seasoned readers, 1996 was an unforgettable winter. Many younger readers, however, have grown up in snow droughts and years of corporate media narratives centered on Al Gore's global warming alarmism. Yet here we are on Saturday morning, looking over the latest weather models that show more than half the country under a winter storm warning. Noll wrote on X earlier that "55 percent of

President also claims US refineries will process seized Venezuelan oil, saying ‘we take the oil’ Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China. Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers. Continue reading...

Court says alleged abuse and trafficking offences occurred outside Spain, leaving it without jurisdiction Spanish prosecutors have shelved a complaint brought by two women who have accused the singer Julio Iglesias of sexual assault and human trafficking, arguing the country’s courts have no jurisdiction as the alleged offences took place outside Spain. Two female former employees who worked at Iglesias’s Caribbean mansions 10 days ago accused the veteran entertainer of sexual assault, saying they had been subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”. Continue reading...

Ryan Wedding turned himself in at US consulate in Mexico City and is due to appear in court in California on Monday Ryan Wedding, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, has been arrested after turning himself in at the US embassy in Mexico, law enforcement officials announced on Friday. Wedding, 44, had been sought by the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for his role in overseeing what the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, called the “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” in the world. Continue reading...

Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did not cooperate after capture of Maduro The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers. On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us”. Continue reading...

While leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on, Mark Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. Continue reading...

In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s. “It was unusual that

US policy document suggests South Korea take primary responsibility, as Pentagon prioritises defending US homeland The Pentagon foresees a “more limited” role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea taking primary responsibility for the task, a Pentagon policy document released on Friday said, in a move likely to raise concern in Seoul. South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defence against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defence budget by 7.5% for this year. Continue reading...

Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui site switch to recovery operation that police say could take several days Efforts to rescue six people buried by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended on Saturday, with police shifting into a recovery operation. Police Supt Tim Anderson said human remains had been uncovered on Friday night beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, adding that it could take several days to locate all of the victims due to the unstable ground. Continue reading...

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe. For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100

Search-and-rescue teams worked through the night at the campground, but there had been no progress in finding missing people, officials say New Zealand is ‘full of grief”, the prime minister has said, after landslides tore through a house and busy campground, leaving two dead and at least six victims still missing. Police said emergency crews were still searching for at least six people, including two teenagers, believed missing beneath the debris of a landslide which struck a Mount Maunganui campsite on Thursday morning. Police were attempting to contact another three people. Families enjoying the summer school holiday were among the campers. Recreational

Council of the Order of Australia hopes gender imbalance in nominations a ‘prompt for community action’. Follow today’s news live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast NSW police focusing on specific location in hunt for Julian Ingram Andrew Holland, the assistant commissioner for NSW police, spoke with media this morning amid the ongoing hunt for Julian Ingram after three people were fatally shot in Lake Cargelligo. The search will continue as is in it current intensity for a number of days yet. We will act on all information coming forward. After the week we have had with several

Serco employees also say they are given email addresses identical to public servants, making them indistinguishable * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Outsourced call centre staff on the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) phone lines must pretend to be public servants, according to workers, and are responsible for deciding which funding requests are prioritised despite having no specialised welfare training. Workers at Serco, a major outsource provider, have also been issued government agency email addresses, making it impossible for the public to tell them apart from

Bennell-Pegg tells ceremony in Canberra she hopes to use award to inspire young people to chase their dreams * Cathy Freeman leads Australia Day 2026 honours list * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast As a girl, Katherine Bennell-Pegg would lie on the dry grass in her backyard, gazing up at the stars and dreaming about one day reaching them. While she’s yet to enter space, the now-41-year-old is closer than most could ever hope for. Continue reading...

High-profile Australians celebrated alongside more than 600 civilians who have changed lives and the country * Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg named Australian of the Year for 2026 * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s beloved Olympic sprinter Cathy Freeman has been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours list alongside a driving force of one of the Games’ youngest sports, skateboarding, a world-leading quantum scientist, a children’s book illustrator, rock royalty and the enforcer of Australia’s world-first social media ban. Freeman was appointed a Companion of the

Queensland government says pack linked to 19-year-old’s death pose ‘unacceptable public safety risk’ as Indigenous traditional owners say they were not consulted The dingo pack linked to the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on Australian island K’gari will be destroyed, the Queensland government has announced. Environment minister Andrew Powell said on Sunday that an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised. Continue reading...

Kyiv says Moscow used 396 drones and missiles in ‘another night of Russian terror’ on second day of talks in UAE Russia launched a major drone and missile attack targeting Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, early on Saturday, as US, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of tripartite peace talks. “Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said after the latest Russian assault on critical infrastructure. Continue reading...

Many of those moved into an asylum return centre have held jobs for years and can speak the language “Sweden did this for us,” said Sofiye*, making a supportive scooping up gesture with her hands. “And then, bam.” She dropped them to the ground. Sofiye, who has three children, arrived in Sweden from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2008, and for much of that time she was able to build a life in the Scandinavian country. The family lived in a flat in a Stockholm suburb and Sofiye worked for the municipality in the home help department. She learned Swedish and

this blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here India and Europe hope to strike the “mother of all deals” when EU chiefs meet prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties, AFP reports. Facing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact – and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line. Continue reading...

Shift in relations and unpredictability of Donald Trump make it ‘risky to store so much gold in the US’, say experts Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump. Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£142bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York. Continue reading...

Preliminary report suggests fracture could have existed before high-speed train derailed in Andalucía Experts investigating the deadly rail collision in southern Spain, which killed 45 people and left dozens more injured, believe the accident may have happened after one of the trains passed over a damaged section of rail. The disaster occurred near the Andalucían town of Adamuz on Sunday, when a high-speed train operated by Iryo, a private company, derailed and collided with an oncoming high-speed train operated by the state rail company, Renfe. Continue reading...

Yousef Pezeshkian says nothing will be solved by trying to postpone moment images of violent crackdown circulate The son of Iran’s president has called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted, saying nothing will be solved by trying to postpone the moment when pictures and video circulate of the protests that were violently crushed by the regime. With a battle under way at the top of the regime about the political risks of continuing to block Iran from the internet, Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected in the summer of 2024, said keeping the digital shutdown would create

US readers said they were feeling anxious and helpless as authorities’ brutal crackdown has left thousands dead Recent protests in Iran have created the most serious and deadliest unrest in the country since the 1979 revolution, prompting eyes from all around the globe to shift to the Middle East. The Guardian asked Iranians living outside the country to share their views on the current situation in the country and about the possibility of US intervention. Continue reading...

Ceasefire to be extended for one month to allow transfer of suspected Islamic State members from Syria to Iraq The Syrian government and Kurdish forces agreed to extend a ceasefire on Saturday, according to Syrian diplomatic sources, temporarily staving off a looming war between the two sides in the north-east of the country. Sources told Agence France-Presse the ceasefire would be extended for “a period of up to one month at most”, citing the need to facilitate the transfer of suspected members of Islamic State from Syria to Iraq. Continue reading...

US president says ‘we have a lot of ships’ going in that direction and that Washington is watching Iran closely Donald Trump has said an American “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002. Speaking on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight, he said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada …

Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry The United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel. The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part

Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power. The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Home Office will set out changes to policing on Monday that it claims are biggest overhaul in two centuries Police forces in England and Wales will be told to respond to emergency calls within strict time limits as part of plans to be announced on Monday. Officers will be expected to arrive at crime scenes within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in the countryside while attending serious crimes, the Home Office said. A reduction in the number of police forces. Local policing areas to deal with everyday crimes such as shoplifting. Home secretaries to be given the power to sack chief constables. An

Allies of Greater Manchester mayor say No 10 has ‘chosen factionalism’ as decision leads to a furious backlash The Labour party faced the prospect of civil war on Sunday night after Keir Starmer and his allies blocked Andy Burnham’s return to parliament to stave off a potential leadership challenge. There was widespread anger among Labour MPs and union backers after the 10-strong “officers’ group” of the party’s ruling body, including the prime minister himself, voted overwhelmingly to reject Burnham’s request to seek selection for the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor will not be tested in tough byelection or against PM for now, but can continue to pose speculative threat * Labour row erupts after Andy Burnham blocked from byelection race With his return to Westminster seemingly blocked, on Monday Andy Burnham will get back to the two roles to which he has devoted his time in recent years: being mayor of Greater Manchester and annoying Keir Starmer. The second is very much a part-time and unofficial role, but it is noticeable how Burnham manages to edge back into the media spotlight whenever the leader of his party is having

Exclusive: Almost half of GPs have seen children up to the age of seven who have obesity, research finds Almost a quarter of GPs are seeing children aged four or under who are obese, according to a survey of UK family doctors. The “alarming” research also found that almost half (49%) of GPs have seen boys and girls up to the age of seven who have obesity, including a handful younger than a year old. Almost one in four (23%) said they had seen children aged zero to four where obesity was a clinical concern. Among the doctors, 81% have seen obesity in those

Protesters walk to Sussex market town from base where Home Office plans to house up to 500 asylum seekers Thousands of people have marched through an East Sussex market town to protest against UK government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site. Crowds of men, women and children walked to Crowborough from the base, where the Home Office plans to house up to 500 male asylum seekers as part of plans to end the use of hotels for the same purpose. Continue reading...

Some elected officials condemn Trump’s federal surge in Minnesota and say DHS agents should leave state * Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony * Calls mount on Trump administration to fully investigate killing * Minnesota workers pressure employers to take action against ICE operations Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs Hospital ICU nurse, was said to be deeply upset about the Trump administration’s sometimes brutal immigration crackdown. The 37-year-old has been described as kindhearted by his friends and family (see opening post to read what his parents said about him in a statement issued after he was

Hazardous conditions expected to continue through Monday in much of the country * US winter storm leaves seven people dead as more than 1 million lose power Winter storm Fern is officially operating in full force in the northeastern US. New Yorkers may not be strangers to snow, but these conditions have already proven to be especially severe and dangerous. Yesterday, outreach teams worked to connect with the city’s homeless and provide shelter ahead of the snowstorm. The city has activated a Code Blue, which means anyone who is homeless cannot be denied shelter. Continue reading...

Former president says killing should be ‘wake-up call’ and that federal agents are not operating in a lawful way Pressure mounted on Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday to fully investigate the previous day’s killing by federal immigration officers of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Calls for an investigation have come from all sides of the political divide after video analysis showed officers had removed from Pretti a handgun he was reportedly permitted to carry – and which he was not handling – before fatally shooting him. Continue reading...

GoFundMe campaign quickly surpasses goal of $20,000 a day after federal agents killed US citizen in Minneapolis An online fundraiser benefiting the family of Alex Pretti had raised nearly $700,000 by Sunday afternoon, a day after federal agents killed the US citizen and nurse in Minneapolis in a shooting that ignited another round of street protests against Donald Trump’s administration and its immigration crackdown in the city. In a substantial indication of public sentiment, the “Alex Pretti is an American Hero” campaign on the GoFundMe platform surpassed its goal of $20,000 quickly after organizer Keith Edwards launched it on Saturday. Continue reading...

Snow, sleet and perilously cold temperatures sweep eastern two-thirds of country as thousands of flights grounded * Snowstorms strike the US: in pictures At least seven people are dead as the result of a monster winter storm in the US that has brought heavy snowfall and ice from the Gulf coast to the north-east, leaving more than one million in the south without power and cancelling more than 10,000 flights. The Louisiana department of health confirmed two deaths related to the winter storm in Caddo parish. According to the agency, two men of unknown ages died of hypothermia. Continue reading...

The decapitated body of a woman, whose legs were also cut off, was found in a rubbish bin in Istanbul overnight, Turkish media reported on Sunday, sparking fury from women’s groups. Her body was wrapped in a sheet and dumped in a rubbish container in the Sisli district, where it was discovered on Saturday evening by a paper collector looking for items to recycle, the DHA news agency said. Investigators identified the victim as a 37-year-old Uzbek national. They were not immediately able to find...

Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday issued a forceful statement condemning the killing of a second US citizen in Minneapolis by federal agents, saying it exemplified US President Donald Trump’s “assault” on American values. “The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” the former president said in a statement, one day after officers shot and...

London’s Metropolitan Police have arrested 86 people on suspicion of aggravated trespass after they breached prison grounds while protesting in support of a Palestine Action prisoner on hunger strike. The force said on Saturday evening that it had detained a group of protesters outside HMP Wormwood Scrubs in west London. According to the force, the group refused to leave the grounds when ordered to do so, allegedly blocked prison staff from entering and leaving, and threatened police...

At least 80 people considered political prisoners by ‌a leading Venezuelan rights group ‍had been released on Sunday as part of a continuing release process, according to the leader ⁠of the group. The people were released from prisons across the country and more releases were likely to take place, Alfredo Romero, ‍the director of Venezuelan human rights group ‍Foro Penal, said on social media. Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said ‌on Friday that 626 people have been released ‍from...

British Labour Party politician Andy Burnham was on Sunday blocked from trying to return ‍to parliament, with lawmakers on the left of the party accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his allies of a political move to keep out a potential leadership rival. Burnham said he was disappointed at the decision but called for unity in the Labour Party. One of the party’s most high-profile politicians and an elected mayor in ⁠the northern English city of Manchester, Burnham said on Saturday he wanted...

France on Sunday took into custody the Indian captain of an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” for the vessel’s failure to fly a flag, prosecutors said. The 58-year-old captain was in charge of the tanker, the Grinch, which was seized by the French navy in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday and is now moored under guard at a southern French port near Marseille. The Marseille prosecutors’ office, in charge of investigating the case, said the rest of the...

Iraq’s parliament will meet on Tuesday to elect the country’s new president, who will then appoint a prime minister, which is expected to be Nouri al-Maliki after he was endorsed by the Levantine country’s largest Shiite bloc. By convention, a Shiite Muslim holds the post of prime minister, the parliament speaker is Sunni and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd. Parliamentary speaker Haibat al-Halbussi announced on Sunday that the new parliament will convene on Tuesday to elect a...

Europe’s survival as an independent political power depends on its readiness to impose costs on the United States while reopening a sustained channel with China. The Arthashastra counsels that the enemy of one’s enemy is one’s friend. Europe has ignored this principle, absorbing repeated American bullying while refusing to leverage relations with China as a counterweight. The Greenland episode crystallises a reality enforced through trade threats, security conditionality and territorial...

French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants his government to fast track the legal process to ensure that a ban on social media for children under the age of 15 can enter into force in September at the start of the next school year. In a video released late on Saturday by French broadcaster BFM-TV, Macron said he had asked his government to initiate an accelerated procedure so that the proposed legislation can move as quickly as possible and be passed by the Senate in time. “The brains of our...

The arrival of 2026 has brought anything but peace to the Middle East, caught in the gravitational pull of rival ambitions and with the uneasy sense that the next war may already be under way. From Gaza to Syria, conflict hotspots are flaring as the region finds itself at the epicentre of a global order in flux. The result is a landscape in which rivalries are multiplying, former partners are pitted against each other and more violence appears inevitable, analysts say. “While it is still early...

Mainland China’s and Hong Kong’s birth rates fell to record lows last year, despite extensive government incentives to encourage larger families. In Hong Kong, registered births fell 14 per cent to a historic low of 31,714 in 2025. Notably, the increase in births in 2024 may have been due to the auspicious Year of the Dragon. It is believed that babies born in the dragon year will grow up to be smart and successful. This is likely to have affected the timing of births as seen in Hong Kong during...

When Fabiola, a single mother and naturalised US citizen from Latin America, first learned of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, ‌she said she was heartbroken and terrified. Then she joined the thousands of other Minnesotans who have volunteered to track ICE agents since Good was killed, despite her fears for herself and her son Asher, who is seven. “I ‍do feel scared, but at the same time, I know I have to take care of my people too,” she...

More than 4,000 flights were cancelled in the US on Saturday ahead of a monster winter storm that has ‌already cut power to more than 210,000 customers as far west as Texas, ‍and threatened to paralyse eastern states with heavy snowfall. Forecasters said snow, sleet and freezing rain, accompanied by dangerously frigid temperatures, would sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week. Calling the storms “historic”, US President ⁠Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal...

President Donald Trump said US military forces used a weapon that he referred to as “the discombobulator” during the US operation in Caracas to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power earlier this month. “The discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. He said the weapon made enemy equipment “not work”. “They never got their rockets off,” Trump said, according to New York Post. “They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they...

Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of ‍US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without a deal but with more talks expected next weekend, even as overnight Russian air strikes knocked out power for over a million Ukrainians amid sub-zero winter cold. Statements after the conclusion of the talks did not indicate that any agreements had been reached, but Moscow and Kyiv both said they were open to further dialogue. “The central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending...

A US immigration officer shot and killed a man on Saturday in Minneapolis, drawing hundreds of protesters onto the frigid streets and ratcheting up tensions in a city already shaken by another fatal shooting weeks earlier. Family members identified the man who was killed as Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who had protested against US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and protesters clashed with federal...

Uganda’s opposition leader Bobi Wine’s wife was taken to hospital after soldiers invaded their residence, partially undressed and choked her, the couple said. Wine, a pop star-turned-politician, was not at the property and is in hiding after he escaped a previous raid on his home last week ⁠hours before he was announced as the runner-up in the January 15 presidential election. Incumbent ruler President Yoweri Museveni, 81, president since 1986, was declared winner of ‍the vote with 71.6 per cent...

US President Donald Trump escalated trade tensions with Canada, Washington’s closest ally and second-largest trading partner, on Saturday by threatening to impose 100 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods entering the United States. Canada fired back quickly, stressing that there is no pursuit of a free-trade agreement with China, framing recent moves as steps to resolve tariff disputes and bolster the Canadian economy, which was “under threat from abroad”. In a series of social media posts,...

Spanish police on Saturday said they had freed 15 Chinese women forced into prostitution in “conditions of slavery” in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands, and arrested 14 people. The network profited not only from sexual exploitation but also from selling stimulants and drugs to clients. “The victims were kept in conditions of slavery; they had to be available at all times,” the national police said. Some of the women were already on the Spanish mainland or “had travelled...

Heavy snowfall and rain in Afghanistan have killed at least 61 people and injured 110 others, the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Saturday. Spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Hammad said 458 houses had been completely or partially destroyed over the past three days of severe weather, affecting at least 360 families. Losses of livestock were also reported. Hammad said the figures were preliminary, adding that assessment teams were continuing surveys in affected regions and...

Snow fell over parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on Friday in ‌a frosty prelude to a monster winter storm expected to converge with bitter Arctic cold and engulf much of the United States over the weekend from the Rockies to ‍the Eastern Seaboard. Forecasts called for heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain, accompanied by dangerously frigid temperatures, to sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation, threatening to upend travel and spawn widespread power outages. At least 14 states and the...

Iran will treat any attack “as an all-out war against ‌us”, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, ahead of ‍the arrival of a US military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days. “This military build-up – we hope it is not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,” said the senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This time we will...

Some weighty themes were addressed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, from the apparent return of the Monroe Doctrine and US “manifest destiny” in geopolitics, to a replay of the 19th-century “Great Game” among competing nations elsewhere. But one critical issue that did not receive sufficient attention was the prospect of a global financial system crisis undermining such monumental assumptions. These annual gatherings of the supposedly great and good, from national leaders to business barons...

A 17-year-old in the US who expressed interest in joining the Islamic State (Isis) has pleaded guilty to trying to kill one New Jersey police officer and attacking backup police with a knife. Fasihullah Safar, of Alexandria, Virginia, would be sentenced as an adult on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and motor vehicle theft, Burlington County prosecutors said on Friday. Safar was initially charged as a juvenile before the case...

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least one person and wounded 31 overnight into Saturday as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were to meet in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion. One person died and four were wounded in drone attacks on the capital, Kyiv, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, drone attacks wounded 27 people, said...

Powdered whole milk used to make ByHeart infant formula could be a source of contamination that led to an outbreak of botulism that has sickened dozens of babies, according to US health officials. Testing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the type of bacteria that could cause the illness in two samples linked to the formula, officials said on Friday. The agency found that bacteria in an unopened tin of formula matched a sample from a sick baby. It also matched contamination...

The US military said on Friday that it had carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month. US Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the coastguard to launch search and rescue operations for that...

The former bassist of the legendary German rock band Scorpions has died at the age of 71, his family said on Friday. “We received a message to this effect from his daughter,” Scorpions spokesman Peter Lanz said. The internationally successful band from the northern city of Hanover parted ways with Buchholz in 1992 after a dispute. Buchholz died of cancer on Thursday, according to a social media post signed by his family, who said he “departed this world peacefully and surrounded by love”. “Our...

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met ‌in Abu Dhabi on Friday to tackle the vital issue of territory, with no sign of a compromise, as Russian air strikes plunged Ukraine into its worst ‍energy crisis of the nearly four-year war. Kyiv is under mounting US pressure to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky...

Having studied and lived in North America in my youth and now middle age, one thing I have come to realise is that there is not one Canada but several, not one United States but many. Another is the contrasting national sentiments about equality – a fundamental Canadian value enshrined in its constitution – and inequality, which is not only tolerated or ignored but even celebrated in many powerful circles in the US, including the current White House. Canadians are generally proud of their...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call late on Thursday, during which both leaders stressed the need to defend the authority of the United Nations (UN) and to strengthen cooperation across the Global South, according to official readouts. The call, confirmed by both governments on Friday, took place amid heightened geopolitical tension that has strained the multilateral system and produced new frictions in Latin America and...

US President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed out a Commerce Department official whose office effectively barred ‍nearly all Chinese cars from the US market for national security reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. Elizabeth “Liz” Cannon has resigned as executive director for Information and Communications Technology and Services, an office created in 2022 to investigate threats to the supply chain from foreign adversaries, the people said. News of Cannon’s impending...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called US President Donald Trump’s comments about European troops staying off the front lines in Afghanistan ‍insulting and appalling, joining a chorus of criticism from other European officials and veterans. “I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling, and I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt for the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” Starmer told reporters. When asked whether he would demand an apology from...

Valentino, Italy’s haute couture “emperor”, was laid to rest in Rome on Friday, with the distinctive red ‌he championed in his collections echoed in splashes of crimson among the black-clad mourners. The biggest ‍names in fashion – including Donatella Versace, Tom Ford and Maria Grazia Chiuri – gathered in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, a church designed by Michelangelo and built on the ruins of ancient Roman baths. Valentino’s co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti, dressed ⁠in a sharply...

Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who was among the FBI’s top fugitives and faces charges related to multinational drug trafficking and the killing of a federal witness, was arrested on Friday, two people familiar with the matter told Associated Press. Wedding, 44, is accused of running a drug trafficking operation and officials say he orchestrated several killings to further the drug crimes. He was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and authorities had offered a US$15 million...

Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering ‌Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter ‍said ahead of the border’s expected opening next week. The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, announced on Thursday that the Rafah Border Crossing – effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million...

Despite a slowing economy, recurring trade frictions and intensifying price competition, the value of China’s exports rose in 2025 by 6.1 per cent, year on year, to a record 26.98 trillion yuan (US$3.87 trillion) – cementing its position as the world’s largest trading nation. Behind that growth, China’s export machine is increasingly being shaped by coastal concentration and industrial upgrading, with market diversification cushioning external shocks at the cost of weaker prices and thinner...

An investigation into last weekend’s high-speed train collision in Spain that killed 45 people suggests the track was cracked before the catastrophe, according to a preliminary report published on Friday. The shell-shocked country is searching for answers to one of Europe’s deadliest such accidents this century, which has raised doubts about the safety of the world’s second-largest high-speed rail network. The disaster struck in the southern region of Andalusia on Sunday evening when a train run...

US President Donald Trump stole the show at the World Economic Forum in Davos, but he may have also made the annual gabfest of the global elite relevant again – at least for a week. The relevance of the gathering of CEOs and political leaders in the Swiss Alps is regularly questioned by critics who deride it as an out-of-touch echo chamber where little gets done. But all eyes were on this year’s Davos as Trump barrelled into town with a geopolitical storm hanging over the picturesque ski resort,...

A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family’s lawyer said, making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb to be detained by immigration officers in recent weeks. Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family’s driveway Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters on Wednesday. The...

In a week marked by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration as US president and a Davos-based melodrama over his ambitions to own Greenland, it is perhaps timely to review this first year of Trump 2.0 and look into the second. First, one has to be in awe of the frenetic energy of Trump, who celebrates his 80th birthday in June. Whatever one makes of his meandering, insulting, overbearing and frequently inaccurate address in Davos, made right off his flights from Washington,...

The economic benefits of China’s abundant and cheap supply of electricity were recognised by US tech billionaire Elon Musk and other speakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. As the United States and the European Union contemplate how to catch up, Tesla CEO Musk said the artificial intelligence (AI) industry was facing an energy bottleneck around the globe – with AI chips being produced rapidly and electricity output struggling to keep up – apart from the notable...

US President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join ‌his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s about-face follows Canadian Prime ‍Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its ⁠invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what...

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with US President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon overnight talks, and the Kremlin insisted that the territorial issue needs to be resolved to reach a peace deal. The Kremlin meeting, which lasted past 3am on Friday, came hours after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticised his European allies on Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response to Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale...

Jennifer Mnookin has led the flagship campus of the state university system since 2022.

Fashion has begun exaggerating, or distorting, the female form like never before. What exactly is going on?

Protests erupted amid a communications blackout. But as video and witness accounts trickle out, the brutality of the regime’s crackdown is becoming clear.

Many in Iran are gaining brief and unexplained windows of online connectivity, offering a widening glimpse of the extent of the government crackdown.

Even as dozens of political prisoners have been freed, at least 66 people taken by state authorities and never heard from again remain missing, relatives and rights groups say.

Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are scrutinizing Mr. Carone, who served as chief of staff during Eric Adams’s first year as mayor of New York.

Prices for nearly every major U.S. crop are below what it costs to grow them. But a drop in rice prices means another blow to farmers in Mississippi’s agricultural belt.

Amtrak says dynamic pricing has helped strengthen its finances, but travelers often grumble at the cost, especially for last-minute travel. Still, the train has a secret weapon: avoiding the airport.

The Trump administration is once again engaged in a perversion of justice.

When ICE and Hamas start looking the same, we are all in trouble.

A super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is running ads against Tom Malinowski, who is hoping to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey in the House.

Sanae Takaichi, the first woman to lead Japan as prime minister, skipped a sumo awards ceremony, reflecting her cautious approach to gender issues.

Alex Honnold, who climbed a 1,667-foot-tall skyscraper in Taiwan on Sunday, is one of a dozen or so known skyscraper climbers worldwide.

It was not clear whether Washington’s 88-year-old veteran delegate, who has been in declining health but has insisted she would seek re-election, was aware of the filing.