Minimalist News

California Man With Underground Bunker, Weapons Cache Arrested In CHP Raid Reminder to Californians; you do not live in a free state, and they don't play around.  Michael Jay Kamfolt, pictured in a red sweatshirt and hat, at a No Kings protest on Feb. 17, 2025 in Redding, California. Photo by Annelise Pierce. Last week the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced that they arrested Michael Jay Kamfolt, a 40-year-old conservative activist who has an underground bunker containing a cache of 'illegal weapons,' ammo, and body armor.  After receiving tip about an illegal marijuana grow operation, CHP Air Operations conducted a flyover of the property located in the city

Century Aluminum To Construct First US Aluminum Plant In More Than 40 Years Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Illinois-based Century Aluminum Co. has entered into a joint development agreement with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) to construct the “first new primary aluminum production plant in the United States since 1980,” Century said in a statement on Jan. 26. Employees work with aluminum ingots at a factory in Huaibei, Anhui province, China, on Feb. 9, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images Primary aluminum production involves smelting alumina to produce new aluminum metal. This differs from secondary production, in which existing aluminum is

GM CEO Warns Of 'Very Slippery Slope' As Canada To Import Cheap Chinese EVs Shortly before Davos, Canada and China announced a 5-point 'strategic partnership' which includes slashing tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1% for the first 49,000 units, in exchange for China cutting tariffs on Canadian canola from 85% to 15% until at least the end of the year.  After Donald Trump stomped his feet and threatened to slap a 100% tariff on Canadian exports, PM Mark Carney assured the US that the deal with China was simply 'rectifying' some 'issues' that developed over the last several years.  Yet, the reduced EV

NASA Set to Launch 1st Manned Moon Rocket In 50 Years: What To Know Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA has mounted a rocket on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a manned flight around the moon. Artemis II sits in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 16, 2026.  Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images, The super heavy lift rocket is called the Space Launch System. Fueled by more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen and two solid

"Will Bring Country To Halt": Far-Left NGOs Prepare To Mobilize Children As 'Ice Out' Protesters A network of far-left nonprofits linked to Marxist financier Neville Roy Singham is leveraging Minnesota-based Black and Somali student organizations to mobilize child protesters in a planned "ICE Out of Everywhere" action on Friday, assessed as a coordinated general strike intended to inflict economic disruption amid widespread protests following multiple fatal shootings of protesters by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. "We support the call from Minnesota-based Black and Somali student organizations — on Friday, January 30, join the national day of action to say ICE OUT OF

Why Your Brain Overreacts To Fear - And How To Fix It Authored by Debbie Cohen via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), We’ve all been there: that jolt of panic before a job interview, the knot in your stomach while public speaking, the dread during a difficult conversation. Your heart pounds, your breath turns shallow, and your palms sweat. Your body reacts as if physical danger is imminent, even when it’s not. At the center of our fear response is the amygdala, an almond-sized structure deep in the brain. Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock This surge of anxiety stems from your brain’s fight-or-flight response. It is designed

2026 Brings Big Changes To Charitable-Deduction Rules Now that we're into 2026, many provisions of last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) are coming to life. One set of tweaks brings major changes to the tax treatment of charitable contributions, getting non-itemizers back into the tax-saving game but curtailing tax benefits for itemizers and higher-income filers.  Ever since standard deductions were nearly doubled in 2018, far fewer Americans have been itemizing their deductions -- only about 9% in recent years. For the masses, that reduced the appeal of charitable donations, since the only way to benefit from contributions was via an

US Launches Revamp Of FAA To Improve Safety, Modernize Airspace Operations Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, The Trump administration on Jan. 26 unveiled what it described as the largest overhaul of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the agency’s history to enhance safety and support modernization efforts. The overhaul includes launching an airspace modernization office to oversee the installation of a new air traffic control system and creation of an advanced aviation technologies office to oversee the integration of drones and other air mobility vehicles into U.S. airspace, the Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a statement. The FAA will also

Multiple Polls Show Majority Of Americans Want All Illegals Deported For months the political left and a small cadre of centrists (and some libertarians) have been denying reality on immigration and border controls.   They claim (as if they are mind readers) that when Donald Trump ran his 2024 election campaign on mass deportations of illegals, voters actually thought he would only deport "violent criminal" illegal aliens, or migrants who committed crimes after crossing the border without permission. This was never Trump's policy or promise.  It is a carefully crafted propaganda narrative designed to shift the Overton Window and change the nature of the

DOJ Announces 31 New Indictments in Alleged Tren de Aragua ATM 'Jackpotting' Scheme Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times, The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Jan. 26 said that a grand jury had returned an additional indictment against 31 people allegedly involved in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from ATMs through the use of malware. “This indictment alleges 32 counts including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank burglary and computer fraud, bank fraud, bank burglary, and damage to computers,” the DOJ said in a statement. These individuals join 56 others who have already been charged in connection

Tesla Surges After Reporting $2BN Investment In xAI, Stronger Than Expected Profit Going into Tesla earnings, we wrote in our preview that Morgan Stanley saw a "particularly wide dispersion in financial KPIs into the 4Q print and for 2026." The bank said that the stock reaction will depend on the incrementality of updates around scaling robotaxi/Cybercab, launching Unsupervised FSD, Optimus Gen 3, and AI5 on the earnings call. It is no secret, that the automotive business remains Tesla’s biggest challenge: vehicle deliveries have fallen sharply in the fourth quarter, and the loss of key tax credits, rising competition, and heavier use of

Mamdani Pressures Hochul To Jack Up Taxes On Rich Amid NYC Budget Woes New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has lots of ideas - virtually all of which require extracting more money from taxpayers, as socialists tend to do.  To accomplish this, he's gonna need some help - and has been leaning on Gov. Kathy Hochul to hike taxes on the state's richest residents and corporations in the hopes of raising billions more to send to the Big Apple to plug mounting budget holes, Bloomberg reports. > Mamdani, the newly-sworn in democratic socialist, is arguing additional money from the state is necessary because the city faces a fiscal “crisis”

"How Silly It Would Be": Columbia Student Explains Why She Did Not Report Her Own Gang-Rape To Protect Attackers Authored by Jonathan Turley, Columbia PhD candidate, Anna Krauthamer, has caused a stir over her column in the far-left Nation on “Why I Didn’t Report My Rape.” The reason? Krauthamer is a prison abolitionist and wanted to protect her rapists, saying it would be “silly and strange” for her to subject these rapists to the carceral state. Instead, she allegedly allowed multiple rapists to potentially rape other women. In her column, Krauthamer alleged that she was gang raped in a Las Vegas hotel room for several hours. She explained

Russian Crew Of Seized Tanker Finally Freed By US, On Their Way Home: Kremlin Washington has quietly released two Russian sailors detained earlier this month by the US Navy's enforcement arm of Venezuela sanctions, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday. "Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia," she announced. The men were part of the crew aboard the Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera (formerly Bella 1), which was intercepted and seized on January 7 in the North Atlantic after being tailed by US authorities from the Caribbean. Source: Marine Traffic US officials claim the

Meta Stock Jumps Despite Soaring Capex, Expense Forecast As we wrote in our Mag 7 earnings preview, investor sentiment has soured considerably on META since the Q3 25 print when it became abundantly clear that Zuckerberg’s foot remains firmly pressed down on the OpEx/capex accelerator. To date, investors have seen little tangible evidence that the Meta Superintelligence Lab is capable of producing a leading edge model, and as JPM sais, "we won’t receive clarity on that issue this print. (But we may get some in the March/April timeframe when Avocado might launch.)" Looking at this quarter specifically, investors’ attention will be focused squarely

Rubio Says We Must "Preemptively Prevent" Iran From Attacking US Forces Already In Region Update(1629ET): One Mideast regional analyst has pointed to a significant contradiction in the current White House stance and rhetoric on Iran, amid the military threats and build-up, and suggests this time the warnings of US action are much more serious: > If you read Trump's latest post on Iran carefully, you will understand what America's real worry is. Until now, Trump was talking about the protesters. But today, he said time is running out for Iran to make a nuclear deal. "No nuclear weapons", he wrote. If you remember

Deranged Nurse Fired After Urging Poisoning & Paralyzing Of ICE Agents Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A nurse at Virginia Commonwealth University Health has been terminated after posting a series of videos urging sabotage against ICE agents, including injecting them with paralytic drugs and poisoning their food and drinks. Yes, really. The unhinged suggestions highlight the escalating threats faced by law enforcement amid leftist campaigns to obstruct deportations of criminal illegal aliens. > Meet Melinda, a healthcare worker at @VCUHealth. She posted a series of videos encouraging people to inject ICE agents with succinylocholine, a temporary paralysis drug, and spray poison on them. She

Microsoft Tumbles After Cloud Growth Slows, CapEx Soars With all eyes firmly focused on CapEx numbers to keep the AI-expansion narrative alive, Microsoft beat expectations on top- and bottom-line, and operating income, but a bigger than expected CapEx. > “We are only at the beginning phases of AI diffusion and already Microsoft has built an AI business that is larger than some of our biggest franchises," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. > > “We are pushing the frontier across our entire AI stack to drive new value for our customers and partners.” Microsoft posted adjusted earnings of $4.14 a

Amazon Exits Experimental Grocery Stores, Will Focus On Whole Foods, 'Supercenters' Amazon is shutting down its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery stores, marking a significant retrenchment from its most ambitious efforts to reinvent brick-and-mortar food retail. The move reflects the company’s conclusion that, despite years of experimentation, it has not yet found a physical grocery model that can scale profitably under the Amazon brand. Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP According to the company, Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations will all be shuttered by Feb. 1, with the exception of California locations which will remain open longer to comply with state requirements.

Tesla Earnings Preview: Robotaxis, Optimus, Energy All In Focus Heading Into 2026 Tesla is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes today, and while the headline numbers will matter, most investors are far more focused on what Elon Musk says about the company’s future. The earnings call that follows the report is expected to center on artificial intelligence, self-driving technology, robotaxis, and Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus. With the company’s traditional car business under pressure, this quarter is shaping up to be less about past performance and more about whether Tesla can convince Wall Street that its next chapter is

This blog has now closed. Read our latest story here Two federal officers fired their guns during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, according to an initial review by the Department of Homeland Security that was obtained by NBC News. Three sources told NBC News that the preliminary report, from a Customs and Border Protection internal investigation led by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was sent to congressional committees yesterday, including the House homeland security and judiciary committees. Continue reading...

Maduro’s Sorbonne-educated successor is talking up an era of ‘reform and opening up’ modelled on China’s post-Mao boom After years of political and social upheaval, hunger and despair, the Great Helmsman departs and is replaced by a francophile economic reformer who catapults a traumatised country into a new era of prosperity and growth. That is what happened in China half a century ago when the croissant-loving communist Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader after Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1976 death and set in motion one of history’s biggest economic booms. Continue reading...

Claudia Sheinbaum denied move was response to pressure from the US, after Trump said ‘zero’ oil would go to Cuba Mexico has cancelled a shipment of oil to Cuba, the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, appeared to confirm on Tuesday, but she insisted the decision was “sovereign” and not a response to pressure from the US. Fuel shortages are causing increasingly severe blackouts in Cuba, and Mexico has been the island’s biggest oil supplier since the US blocked shipments from Venezuela last month. Continue reading...

Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative Five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers in Austin, Texas. Despite being a US citizen, she was deported on 11 January alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, to Honduras, a country Génesis had never known. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were acting on an administrative deportation order against Gutiérrez, 26, issued in 2019, before Génesis was born. Continue reading...

Authorities allege Ryan Wedding, 44, ‘turned to a life of crime’ after his snowboarding career ended Ryan Wedding, the Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of cocaine distribution and orchestrating several murders, appeared on Monday in a southern California courtroom for arraignment. The 44-year-old has been charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder, witness tampering and money laundering, among other charges. Authorities allege that after his snowboarding career, Wedding “turned to a life of crime” as a narcotics trafficker and led an organization that moved cocaine from South America to the US and Canada. Continue reading...

Starmer tells Xi Jinping during Beijing meeting that it has been ‘too long’ since a British PM has visited China. Follow the latest developments, live * Full report: Xi says he hopes China and UK can ‘rise above differences’ For more context on today’s Starmer-Xi meeting, China is the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s third-largest trading partner – to which it exports £45bn of goods and services a year – so it is no surprise the UK has turned to Beijing in its search for economic reliability. As the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar reported earlier today, the UK does not rank

Beijing has stepped up cooperation with south-east Asian nations to crack down on the multibillion-dollar industry China on Thursday executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” involved in scam operations, state media reported. Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry. Continue reading...

Lawyer for Guan Heng, whose exposed evidence of persecution of Uyghurs, says he is ‘textbook example of why asylum should exist’ A US immigration judge has granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs there. Guan Heng applied for asylum after arriving in the US illegally in 2021. He has been in custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August last year as part of a mass deportation campaign by the Trump administration. Continue reading...

The laws have been criticised by tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don’t go far enough South Korea has embarked on a foray into the regulation of AI, launching what has been billed as the most comprehensive set of laws anywhere in the world, that could prove a model for other countries, but the new legislation has already encountered pushback. The laws, which will force companies to label AI-generated content, have been criticised by local tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don’t go far

PM is first UK leader to visit China in eight years and hopes to strengthen bond with superpower amid uncertainty over US alliance Keir Starmer has met the Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday for historic talks he hopes will deepen economic ties at a time when some inside government fear the US is no longer a reliable partner. The prime minister’s meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing is scheduled to last about 40 minutes before a number of cultural and business receptions. Continue reading...

NSW police believe assistance has been provided ‘from people that he knows in community’ since last week’s shooting * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast * Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died Police are “confident” triple murder suspect Julian Ingram is still alive and believe he has been receiving help from people he knows in the area, a week after three people were shot dead in a small New South Wales town. The NSW police assistant commissioner, Andrew Holland, said investigators were

Ben Saul argues protest restrictions are inconsistent with Australia’s international legal obligations. Follow the latest updates live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anne Aly says it is ‘huge relief’ there were no casualties at Perth Invasion Day rally Anne Aly, the minister for multicultural affairs, as well as a counter-terrorism expert, says she is relieved no one was hurt in the potential terrorist act as an improvised explosive device was thrown into a crowd at an Invasion Day rally in Perth. Well, first of all, I guess it was relief, really, that nobody was hurt. When

State government in talks with RSL to ensure the creation of long weekend doesn’t detract from national day of remembrance * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A late attempt to add a public holiday to create an Anzac Day long weekend, falling into line with Western Australia and the ACT, is being considered by the New South Wales government. The premier, Chris Minns, on Thursday said his government is in talks to create a new public holiday, accounting for Anzac Day falling on a Saturday. Continue reading...

Australian children’s cartoon series about a family of blue heelers has yet to announce a new season Australian-made animated series Bluey was the most streamed show in the US for the second year in a row, topping Nielsen’s annual year-end streaming charts for 2025. US viewers watched 45.2bn minutes of the show on Disney+ according to Nielsen, down from 55.62bn in 2024, but still impressive given the show comprises 154 episodes – most of them less than 10 minutes’ long. Continue reading...

Stranger allegedly threw Thermos of coffee on nine-month-old boy in Brisbane park in 2024 * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Chinese team will visit Australia to help search for a man who allegedly randomly attacked a baby with hot coffee before fleeing the country. China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, announced on Wednesday that investigators will travel to Queensland to work with police to investigate the 33-year-old accused attacker. Continue reading...

Industry groups warn that aligning agriculture standards overnight could cost British businesses up to £810m a year British food sector representatives have urged the government to introduce a transition period if it agrees to realign post-Brexit agriculture rules with the EU. They warned that aligning regulations overnight would create a “cliff edge” that could cost UK businesses between £500m and £810m a year, because of the divergence in standards since Brexit. Continue reading...

Ali Akbar, 73, honoured by Emmanuel Macron with National Order of Merit for dedication he pours into work For more than five decades he’s pounded the pavements of Paris, becoming part of the city’s cultural fabric as he strikes up conversations, greets longtime friends and offers parodies of daily news headlines. On Wednesday, the efforts of the man believed to be France’s last newspaper hawker were recognised, as Ali Akbar, a 73-year-old originally from Pakistan, received one of France’s most prestigious honours. Continue reading...

Judgment in The Hague orders Netherlands to do more to protect Caribbean people in its territory from impacts of climate crisis The Dutch government discriminated against people in one of its most vulnerable territories by not helping them adapt to climate change, a court has found. The judgment, announced on Wednesday in The Hague, chastises the Netherlands for treating people on the island of Bonaire, in the Caribbean, differently to inhabitants of the European part of the country and for not doing its fair share to cut national emissions. Continue reading...

US secretary of state also said he was confident of ‘positive resolution’ on Denmark in Paris In other news, a former French senator has been found guilty of drugging a fellow politician in order to sexually assault her, in a case that has shaken French politics. Continue reading...

Pacifism is core to modern European culture, but a ‘no arms’ attitude risks leaving artists and film-makers short of answers when facing military aggression and political threats • Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here One reason why art – painting, literature, film, theatre, all of it – is so important to society is that it creates spaces that can tolerate difficult answers to difficult questions. This makes art the opposite of politics, where politicians are under constant pressure to give easy answers to difficult questions. I was thinking about this distinction this month while watching the European

Calls for independent external inquiry into brutal crackdown that some estimates suggest killed more than 30,000 A deep and painful inquest is under way inside Iran as politicians, academics and the security establishment try to come to terms with what has been described as a catastrophe after the violent protests and their even more violent suppression by the security forces. The shape of the debate taking place in the heavily censored society is emerging, as selective newspapers and Telegram channels slowly open up to international audiences after the protests – which some estimates suggest could have left more than 30,000 dead –

US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death. The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in

US president says armada heading towards Iran is ‘prepared to fulfil its missions with violence if necessary’ The threat of war between the US and Iran appeared to loom closer after Donald Trump told Tehran time was running out and that a huge US armada was moving quickly towards the country “with great power, enthusiasm and purpose”. Writing on social media, the US president said on Wednesday that the fleet headed by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was larger than the one sent to Venezuela before the removal of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month and was “prepared to rapidly fulfil its

Experts say uneven connectivity suggests regime is throttling and filtering data as losses said to hit $36m a day Iranian authorities appear to have relaxed – but not removed – internet restrictions, in what experts say is a sign of the mounting costs of the most severe internet blackout the regime has ever imposed. “There seems to be a real patchwork of connectivity. I think if most people have access, it’s some kind of degraded service,” said Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik. “It’s almost like they’re developing a content blocking system by trial and error.” Continue reading...

Nouri al-Maliki responds to Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw US support for Iraq if he is returned to power * US politics live – latest updates Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has angrily denounced “blatant American interference” in the country’s election after Donald Trump threatened to withdraw US support if he was returned to power. “We reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and consider it a violation of its sovereignty,” al-Maliki, who is nominated by the country’s dominant political bloc to return to the premiership, said in a statement on Wednesday. Continue reading...

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

Exclusive: Union claims some offenders are deliberately breaking probation terms in order to deal drugs in jail Record numbers of offenders are being recalled to prison in England and Wales with union officials claiming that some are deliberately breaking the terms of their probation in order to deal drugs in prison. Prison sources said that after the implementation of early release schemes, as many as 5,000 men were recalled in December alone – more than a third of the total number released in the year to June 2025. Continue reading...

Holburne museum places renowned photographer’s pictures of ancient Roman statutes alongside his images of war and conflict He is revered for his extraordinary black-and-white images documenting conflict, humanitarian crises and the tougher side of postwar Britain. But an exhibition of work by photojournalist Sir Don McCullin opening this week at the Holburne museum in Bath focuses on a very different subject: Roman sculptures. Continue reading...

Mike Hawes casts doubt on Labour’s plan to double production by 2035, as Starmer visits China with carmaker delegation A target of building 1.3m cars a year is likely to be missed unless a large new UK factory is built in the coming years, an industry group has said, as Keir Starmer prepares to hold trade talks in China. Labour aims to have 1.3m vehicles rolling off production lines by 2035, a central ambition of its industrial strategy. That would nearly double the 764,715 cars and vans made in 2025, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

Average bills to go up by 5.4% in April, with Ofwat approving record spending plans amid outrage over sewage spills Water bills in England and Wales will rise by an average of £33 per household in April, in the latest above-inflation increase intended to fix leaking pipes and sewage treatment works. The increase will push the average annual water bill to £639 in the year from 1 April, up 5.4% on the previous year, according to figures published on Thursday by Water UK, a lobby group for the industry. Continue reading...

Assailant, 80, said to have entered victim’s property in Little Hulton on Tuesday and asked for cash and her purse An 80-year-old man has been arrested after a 95-year-old woman was tied up and threatened during an attempted robbery in Salford after being asked about bin collection day, police said. It is understood an assailant entered the woman’s property in Little Hulton in Salford on Tuesday, tied her hands together, and asked for cash and her purse. Continue reading...

Three newly discovered videos show the Minneapolis ICU nurse being tackled by federal agents in a prior confrontation * Senate Democrats demand DHS funding bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’ Videos emerged on Wednesday of a previous confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents, 11 days before the ICU nurse was fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis. About two minutes of video, published on Wednesday by The News Movement, a digital news outlet, shows an incident on 13 January in Minneapolis in which officers appeared to grab Pretti and bring him to the ground during intense community protests against the

Ruling follows arrests under DHS ‘re-vetting’ operation of more than 100 refugees who had been lawfully resettled A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from detaining refugees in Minnesota, following a spate of arrests in the state. More than 100 refugees who had lawfully resettled in the state had been arrested in recent weeks, according to attorneys and advocacy groups. Some were flown to detention centers in Texas, according to attorneys representing the cases, and then were abruptly released – and left to find and pay their own way back home. Continue reading...

County spokesperson says warrant seeks number of 2020 election records while FBI declines to give further details The FBI executed a search warrant at the election office in Fulton county, Georgia, on Wednesday for records related to the 2020 election, according to a spokesperson for the county and the FBI. The warrant sought all ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Move sets up clash with Republicans that could see government partially shut down in coming days Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, on Wednesday demanded that legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) include a ban on wearing masks and other reforms aimed at federal agents involved in immigration enforcement, setting up a clash with Republicans that could see the government partially shut down in the coming days. Congress is racing to head off a lapse in federal funding from beginning after Friday, and the Senate’s Republican leaders plan to hold a key procedural vote on Thursday on the DHS funding

High hopes for Optimus robot help company beat forecasts despite yearly revenue decline and flailing car business In the clearest sign yet that Tesla is pivoting away from its electric car business, CEO Elon Musk announced on Wednesday’s investor call that the company would discontinue production of its Model X SUV and Model S full-size sedan. “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end,” Musk said. “We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter.” Continue reading...

US ‌President Donald Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to come to the table and make a deal on nuclear weapons or the next US ‍attack would be far worse. Tehran responded with a threat to strike back against the United States, Israel and those who support them. “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS - one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!” Trump wrote on social media. Amid a buildup of...

One of the leading scholars of China-Latin America relations, Francisco Urdinez is known for coining the concept of “economic displacement”, a theory that also gives its name to his Cambridge University Press book title published in November. The idea holds that China’s rise has reduced US relevance in the region by making partnerships with Beijing more consequential and ties with Washington less essential for many governments. Now, in the wake of US attacks on Caracas and the abduction of...

The man accused of squirting an unknown substance on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of US President Donald Trump. Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was convicted of felony vehicle theft in 1989, has been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence and has had numerous traffic citations, Minnesota court records show. There are also indications he has had significant financial problems, including...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused China of profiting from Venezuela’s long-running economic collapse by securing discounted oil, telling senators that removing Nicolas Maduro was necessary to end energy arrangements that he said “favoured Beijing at the expense of the Venezuelan people”. During a hearing of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Rubio portrayed China as a central beneficiary of the Maduro government, arguing that Beijing had taken advantage of sanctions...

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that two immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis had been placed on leave, as the US president slammed the city’s mayor despite a promise to de-escalate the situation. The officers have been on leave - a move US officials said was “standard protocol” - since Saturday, when Alex Pretti was shot multiple times after being forced to the ground by camouflaged officers in a scuffle captured on video. US President Donald...

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday at its first policy gathering this year, citing robust economic growth, as the central bank resists President US Donald Trump’s mounting pressure for cuts. The Fed’s 10-2 vote maintains rates at a range between 3.50 per cent and 3.75 per cent, an outcome that was widely expected as officials await more data on the world’s biggest economy. In a statement on its decision, policymakers flagged that economic activity has been “expanding...

The S&P 500 breached the 7,000-point mark for the first time on Wednesday, driven by unrelenting optimism over artificial ‌intelligence and expectations of strong Big Tech earnings as well as monetary ‍policy easing. The benchmark index’s ascent between successive 1,000-point additions has quickened in recent years, reflecting mounting investor confidence in the US economy and corporate America. It took about three years for the S&P 500 ⁠to rise to 5,000 points from 4,000, but only about nine...

A court on Wednesday ordered the Dutch government to draw up a plan to protect residents on the tiny Caribbean island of Bonaire from the devastating effects of climate change – a sweeping victory for the islanders. The Hague District Court, in a stunning rebuke of Dutch authorities, also ruled that the government discriminated against the island’s 20,000 inhabitants by not taking “timely and appropriate measures” to protect them from climate change before it is too late. “The island already...

Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass lay-offs for the e-commerce company in three months. The tech giant has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that increased during the pandemic. Beth Galetti, a senior vice-president at Amazon, said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company has been “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy”. The company did...

Sarah Mullally was confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England. The worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church in the US, has no formal head, but the archbishop traditionally has been seen as its spiritual leader. Mullally, 63, a cancer nurse turned cleric, officially took up the responsibilities of her new job as judges presided over a legal ceremony confirming her appointment, which was announced almost four...

“I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday ahead of his China trip. The visit – after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Beijing trip drew US tariff threats – is an attempt to drag British foreign policy into alignment with 21st century realities: a world of strategic rivalry but deep economic interdependence. Starmer’s remarks are not diplomatic wordplay, but a declaration the United Kingdom will no longer be a...

Two federal officers fired their weapons during the fatal weekend shooting of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report to Congress published on Tuesday by US media. The shooting sparked bipartisan condemnation and fresh protests in Minneapolis, and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for an “honourable and honest investigation” into the matter. He also suggested he would “de-escalate a little bit” the administration’s immigration...

In the global shift towards carbon neutral mobility, a striking role reversal is taking shape. China, often seen as a top-down planner, has emerged as a pragmatic, market-responsive architect of new energy vehicle (NEV) policy. Europe, a champion of climate ambition, is seemingly executing a retreat amid a disconnect between ambition and reality. The planned dilution of the European Union’s ban on new combustion-engine cars by 2035 to a carbon dioxide output reduction target of 90 per cent is...

With the recent arrival of a US Navy aircraft carrier task force in the Middle East near Iran, President Donald Trump is set to have all the military assets in place needed to launch a war against Tehran by the end of this week. While a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough is still on Washington’s cards, Trump may soon have to pick one of the plans drawn up by the Pentagon to meet his desired outcomes – none of which have been made public. Washington has maintained diplomatic backchannels open...

Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine has caused nearly 2 million military casualties - killed, wounded or missing - between the two countries, according to a new study by a US think tank. Moscow’s forces have borne the brunt of the losses, suffering as many as 325,000 killed out of an estimated total of 1.2 million casualties since invading Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found. “No major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers of...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post. Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country’s politics, said that Iraq would make a “very bad choice” with Maliki, who has been nominated as prime minister by the largest Shiite bloc. “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again,” Trump...

A man identified as Anthony Kazmierczak was arrested by police after an attack on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Tuesday saw her sprayed with an unknown substance. The incident came during a town hall in Minneapolis, where tensions with the federal government have come to a head after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deployed by US President Donald Trump fatally shot both an intensive care nurse and a mother of three this month. Footage from the town hall incident...

China’s latest outbound investment numbers look underwhelming at first glance. At the commerce ministry’s recently concluded national conference on outbound investment and foreign aid, officials revealed that outward direct investment grew by just 1.3 per cent in 2025, a sharp slowdown from the double-digit pace seen in 2024 and 2023. On paper, it appeared to confirm a cooling of China’s overseas expansion. That conclusion misses what is actually changing. The more important story is not the...

A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too, his lawyer told jurors on Tuesday. Randy Santos, 31, is asserting an insanity defence at his trial in state court in Manhattan. Through his lawyers, he has acknowledged committing the 2019 Chinatown rampage. But, they argued, he was not...

US President Donald Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, met with the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor on Tuesday in a show of detente, as the ‌White House sought to ease unrest gripping the city after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents. Homan was put in charge of the Minneapolis immigration enforcement drive to replace US Border Patrol “commander at large” ‍Gregory Bovino, who sources said was being demoted and removed after having overseen most of Trump’s crackdowns in...

For decades, the US dollar has served as the currency of global reserve, the de facto anchor for the vast majority of international exchanges. Consequently, United States government debt – most commonly in the form of Treasury assets such as bonds, notes and bills – has long been regarded as a safe haven by investors, prized for its unmatched liquidity and deep market penetration. That faith has remained strong in the past, even amid global financial crises. But the events of recent weeks...

A US Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a human trafficking suspect who fired on a federal government helicopter in Arizona ‍on Tuesday and later engaged in a shoot-out with the agent, officials said. The suspect, a fugitive who had escaped from a halfway house related to a previous smuggling conviction, was in a serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery, the Pima County sheriff and FBI told a news conference. The incident near the Mexican border occurred ⁠amid heightened tensions...

The “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe on Tuesday moved closer than ever to midnight as concerns mount on nuclear weapons, climate change and disinformation. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the metaphorical clock at the start of the Cold War, moved its time to 85 seconds to midnight - four seconds closer than a year ago. The announcement came a year into US President Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has shattered norms - ordering...

One of China’s largest mining companies has taken control of three gold mines in Brazil in a deal worth about US$1 billion, as gold prices hit historic highs amid rising economic and geopolitical uncertainty in the United States and a global flight to safe assets. CMOC said on Tuesday it assumed operational control on January 23 after Brazilian regulators approved the transfer of the Aurizona mine in Maranhao, the Riacho dos Machados mine in Minas Gerais and the Complexo Bahia, which includes...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that he told US President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney rolled his eyes and rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday. “To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the...

In less than three weeks, US President Donald Trump has issued four sweeping tariff threats that, in normal times, would rattle investors, unnerve CEOs and send economists rushing to revise their growth forecasts for the targeted countries. Instead, financial markets and C-suite executives have mostly shrugged off Trump’s latest warnings involving Iran’s trading partners, Greenland’s supporters, Canada and South Korea, seeing them as merely words intended to gain leverage or change behaviour –...

The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him on Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt. In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for...

Spain’s government announced on Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorisation, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend towards increasingly harsh immigration policies championed by US President Donald Trump and seen across much of Europe. Migration Minister Elma Saiz said the beneficiaries would be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country”, and extolled “the positive...

The UN children’s agency said on Tuesday it had for the first time in two and a half years been able to deliver ‌school kits with learning materials into Gaza after they were previously blocked by Israeli authorities. Thousands of ‍kits, including pencils, exercise books and wooden cubes to play with, have now entered the enclave, Unicef said. “We have now, in the last days, got in thousands of recreational kits, hundreds of school-in-a-carton kits. We’re looking at getting 2,500 more school...

Seven out of every 10 European companies operating in China were reviewing their supply chain strategies amid geopolitical tensions and Beijing’s opaque policymaking, which appears to set back the country’s globalisation efforts, according to a new survey. A survey of 324 corporate respondents conducted by the Shanghai chapter of the European Union Chamber of Commerce found that these firms aimed to strike a balance between cost efficiency and risk diversification, while building resilience in...

At Davos this year, a familiar but sobering warning echoed through the slopes: the global order is fracturing into closed loops. In Western capitals, “de-risking” remains the dominant keyword, framing the global economy as a series of strategic high walls. Yet, beyond these barriers, a more tangible crisis is unfolding across the Global South. The infrastructure deficit continues to widen, estimated at a staggering US$1.7 trillion annually for Asia alone. This is a crisis of global governance....

A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed on Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings they were not welcome. Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the United States could be involved in US security measures for the February 6-22 Games in northern Italy. In a statement overnight, ICE said: “At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security...

Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterisation of Alex Pretti, the second person killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis, as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon. The death produced no clear shifts in US gun politics or policies, even as US President Donald Trump shuffles the lieutenants in charge of his militarised immigration crackdown. But...

Hundreds of migrants may be missing at sea or feared dead following reports of multiple deadly shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean in recent days, the UN’s migration agency warned on Monday. The International Organisation for Migration said it was “deeply concerned” by the reports, which it was currently verifying. “Several boats are believed to have been involved over the past 10 days, with preliminary information suggesting that hundreds of people may be missing at sea or feared dead,” a...

Spanish police have broken up a vast cocaine trafficking operation ‌that used speed boats to bring the drug ‍onshore from floating bases in the Atlantic, seizing around 10 tonnes of the drug and arresting 105 suspects. Police said on ⁠Monday that a year-long investigation in cooperation with law enforcement in countries including Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, Colombia, France, Portugal and the US showed the group brought an estimated 57 tonnes ‍of cocaine to Europe in the...

Poverty in Britain has deepened, according to a report released on Tuesday, with approximately 6.8 million ‌people now living in “very deep poverty”, the highest level in three ‍decades. “Very deep poverty” refers to households with an after-housing-costs income below 40 per cent of the UK median, amounting to around £16,400 (US$22,446.68) a year for a couple with two young children. The report by Joseph ⁠Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which conducts research aimed at solving poverty in Britain,...

US President Donald Trump sent his top border enforcer to Minneapolis on Monday and struck a conciliatory note in a bid to tamp down nationwide outrage over the second killing of a US citizen protesting militarised immigration raids this month. The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, increasingly, from within Trump’s Republican Party. Trump said Tom Homan, his point...

In the science and tech race, China is steadily advancing while America is retreating. That’s the conclusion of multiple Western studies. US President Donald Trump’s own policies have greatly contributed to this trajectory. Several salient features in this race for supremacy have been identified: China’s highly focused state support of science and tech, America’s federal defunding of them, and a nation of engineers and science graduates versus a nation of lawyers. “China is an engineering state...

A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder pleaded not guilty to running a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring and orchestrating multiple killings, as one of the FBI’s top fugitives made his first US court appearance on Monday since he was arrested in Mexico last week and flown to California. US authorities say Ryan Wedding, who competed in a single event for his home country in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade. He was added to the FBI’s 10...

Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behaviour – which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler – on his bipolar disorder. The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song “Heil Hitler” last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. The song has been banned on...

Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi will travel to China next week, in what is expected to be the first visit by a Latin American leader to Beijing since the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an early January operation. Beijing says the trip will focus on strengthening political dialogue and expanding economic cooperation. The state visit will run from February 1 to 7, according to China’s foreign ministry, and comes at a tense moment in the western hemisphere following...

Historians may mark January 20, 2026, as a landmark moment. That day, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during his speech at Davos, declared the terminal decay of the US-led international order and charted a principled, pragmatic path for middle powers caught in the crossfire of great power rivalry. The significance lies in the fact that this bold critique came from Canada – a nation deeply intertwined with the United States through an alliance, as well as proximity and economic ties. US...

At least six people have died after a private plane crashed while taking off from Bangor International Airport in Maine on Sunday evening, local authorities said. There were six people on the plane according to the flight manifest, the statement from Bangor police said. “No one from the incident was transported to the hospital, and all on the flight are presumed to be deceased.” The US Federal Aviation Administration said in an earlier statement that the plane was carrying eight people. In a...

The White House said on Monday that US President Donald Trump does not ‌want to see people getting hurt or killed on the streets ‍of the United States but will not back down from efforts to deport “violent criminal illegal aliens” from Minnesota. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed journalists after the killing of 37-year-old nurse Alex ⁠Pretti on Saturday by federal officers drew outrage from Americans. It was the second fatal shooting of a US citizen in Minnesota this...

Pirelli’s Chinese shareholder Sinochem said on Monday it had put forward a “structured solution” ‌to end a governance dispute with the tyre maker’s ‍Italian investor Camfin. The announcement was made as the Italian government assesses options to limit Sinochem’s influence over Pirelli, or even turn it into a passive shareholder, in ⁠a bid to ease the tyre maker’s US expansion. Beijing-controlled Sinochem is Pirelli’s largest shareholder with a 34.1 per cent stake while Camfin, the vehicle of...

The Trump administration has not yet released the count, which could complicate its plans for tough new policies.

The State Department clarified comments made by the U.S. Ambassador to Canada that NORAD would be “altered” if that country did not purchase American F-35 jets.

The shipping traffic and factories never stop in China’s port city of Ningbo, but the local housing market has crashed and nearby restaurants sit empty.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain met with President Xi Jinping of China as he sought to promote business ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

Democrats sharply questioned the plan, including the role of Qatar in managing an account funded by the sale of Venezuelan oil.

In an exceptionally strong field, Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan and Wagner Moura each have a way to triumph.

U.S. and European officials say they have put three demands in front of the Iranians, including a permanent end to all enrichment of uranium.

Carlisle Rivera became the third person to be sentenced for playing a role in trying to kill Masih Alinejad, an activist and a critic of the Iranian government.

Dismissed as a lame duck, Emmanuel Macron has clawed back some influence after his defense of Greenland and Denmark. Will quieter domestic politics allow him to secure his legacy?

A decision not to charge a man who fathered children with a woman with a mental illness has set off a debate about rape, consent and China’s push for babies.

The tech giant is spending $35 million to promote its film about the first lady, far more than is typical for documentaries.

The distributor, which was set to release the film on Friday, said it had canceled the theatrical premiere because of “recent developments,” but declined to specify.

Across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, hundreds of power lines and poles remained damaged after freezing rain and low temperatures coated much of the region in ice over the weekend.

With no warm weather expected any time soon, the city’s snow piles require mechanical intervention.

Three days after the city’s biggest snowstorm in years, many New Yorkers are still scaling mounds of snow and ice. Cleaning it up is a shared responsibility.

Here’s what meteorologists know about the next storm that is expected to hit the East Coast.

Sergey Brin donated $20 million to a new political drive aimed at solving California’s housing crisis, spurring other billionaires to pitch in. Their efforts may also help ward off a wealth tax.

Politically pointed and heavy on his Jewish faith, the book already has Democrats talking.

As a legal battle continues over the fate of New York City’s toll program, a judge appeared skeptical of the federal government’s arguments, but did not issue a ruling.

After working and camping for a week on Thwaites Glacier, scientists were ready to start drilling into the ice, if only the weather would let them.

Trump’s special envoy to Greenland argues that the U.S. needs Greenland to defend it, American allies and American security.

What was done to my daughter did not break me. It left me with a mother’s responsibility to ensure no child is left unheard.

No one was injured when the motorist drove into a rear door of the building on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn. The man was arrested; the police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

The automaker also said it would invest $2 billion in xAI, the artificial intelligence company controlled by its C.E.O., Elon Musk, and stop making the two oldest models in its lineup.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the only way to close a more than $12 billion budget gap was to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

The man, now 44, said that a teacher in Newark repeatedly sexually abused him in the 1990s.