Minimalist News

Hezbollah's Cheap Fiber Optic Drones A Growing, Deadly Problem For Israeli Troop Convoys Via The Cradle Hezbollah attacked the Israeli army with a fiber-optic drone in the Galilee on Thursday, injuring at least a dozen soldiers and destroying a military vehicle.  Israeli Army Radio reported that 12 soldiers were injured when the drone struck a military position in the Shomera settlement. Two soldiers were “moderately” injured while 10 sustained minor wounds, Army Radio added, also revealing that other soldiers may be transferred to the hospital later for anxiety and ringing in the ears. Source: Israeli media/X The drone directly struck an Israeli army vehicle in Shomera. Israel’s

Massive Lithium Lode In Appalachia Could Power 130 Million EVs: USGS America's worrisome dependency on foreign sources of lithium could become a thing of the past: About 328 years' worth of last year's lithium imports is buried in Appalachia, according to a new analysis published by the US Geological Survey (USGS). That's about 2.3 million metric tons of undiscovered but economically recoverable lithium -- aka "white gold."   “This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs – a major contribution to U.S. mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly,” said USGS

Hershey CEO Says GLP-1 Boom Fuels Demand For Gum And Mints Hershey reported first-quarter sales and earnings that exceeded Bloomberg-tracked analyst expectations, driven by higher candy prices and resilient consumer demand. Beyond the earnings report, CEO Kirk Tanner made one very notable comment in prepared remarks: demand for gum and mints remains strong, with the category benefiting from "functional snacking" tailwinds tied to GLP-1 adoption. "We've also seen strong demand for gum and mint products as the category benefits from functional snacking tailwinds, including GLP-1 adoption," Tanner said. GLP-1 drugs suppress appetite and slow digestion, so it appears that many users who no longer

Here Come The Cancellations: Brookfield-Backed Compass Pulls Out From Major Northern Virginia Data Center Project Compass Datacenters has decided to withdraw from its plan to develop a major data-center corridor in Northern Virginia after spending years pursuing approvals and investing tens of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg. The company ultimately concluded the project wasn’t feasible due to mounting legal challenges, stricter regulations, and weakening political support, particularly around tax incentives. This move highlights a broader shift in how communities and policymakers are responding to data-center projects. Local residents have increasingly raised concerns about issues like energy consumption, environmental impact, and potential effects

CCP Moves To Tighten Oversight Of Gig Workers Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Beijing is moving to tighten its grip on tens of millions of gig workers—an increasingly vital but volatile segment of China’s labor force—prompting warnings from analysts that the effort could deepen social tensions rather than contain them. Delivery workers from Chinese shopping platform Meituan gather for a briefing before they start their shift near a mall in Beijing on Aug. 21, 2025. Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images On April 26, China’s top leadership bodies, the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State

What Is the Trump Administration Really Trying To Do With The Latest Comey Indictment? On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina handed down a two-count indictment against the former FBI director James Comey, charging him with threatening the life of President Donald Trump and transmitting that threat across state lines. The basis for the charges: an Instagram post from May 2025 in which Comey shared a photo captioned "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." The shells on the sand spelled out "86 47." Each count carries a maximum of ten years in federal prison. Comey deleted

Trump Says Gas Prices Will Drop "Like a Rock" Once Conflict Ends, As Senator Breaks With GOP Leadership On War Powers SUMMARY * Trump: "The [price of] gasoline and the oil will go down rapidly once the war’s over." GOP Sen. Collins switches vote on war powers. * Bessent on X: "Amid the impact of Economic Fury, Iran’s currency has hit an all-time low. The Iranian people deserve a new era, which the corrupt and shambolic Iranian regime cannot provide." Signals hope for uprising, regime change. * Israeli Defense Minister Katz: "soon we will need to act again in Iran to

$25 Billion: Hegseth Accused Of Lowballing Cost Of Iran War Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has been in a very public spat and back-and-forth with Congressional Democrats over the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request, as well as over Iran war strategy and mounting costs. Hegseth has turned to some classic wartime fearmongering: "What is it worth to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon?" - he posed to members of Congress when pressed in a hearing. Hegseth called the "reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats" the United States' greatest adversary. At a moment Operation Epic Fury is about to reach

AI Hype Meets Hardware Crunch As US Power Equipment Market Eyes $65 Billion Boom Wood McKenzie has released a report that US spending on power generation gear for data centers alone could hit $65 billion by 2030, more than triple the $20 billion logged last year. Data center capacity is forecast to reach 110 GW by the end of the decade, with Bloomberg also commenting that “total US spending on power-plant equipment may climb to $215 billion." The increased spending for the heavy electrical equipment market sounds great, but unfortunately, there's no equipment to buy domestically. > WoodMac Sounds Alarm On Transformer Shortage

Goldman Maps Retailer Exposure To Working-Poor Consumers As Gas Soars With the nationwide average gasoline price accelerating above the politically sensitive $4-per-gallon level, and the consumer backdrop for low-income households darkening, Goldman analysts published a note on Wednesday identifying which big-box retailers have the greatest exposure to working-poor households. "Our economists expect spending headwinds from higher inflation to weigh on growth for the rest of the year," Goldman Sachs Managing Director Kate McShane wrote in the note. She covered how Goldman analysts raised their Brent forecast for the fourth quarter of this year and the gloomy backdrop facing consumers. She continued, "Moreover, higher

Apple Drops After Mixed Results: America, Europe Revenue Miss; Iphone Sales Disappoint, But China Surges Again Ahead of today's AAPL earnings report, we've had a mixed picture from Mag 7 earnings so far: GOOGL soared to a record high, MSFT and AMZN both dropped (although they recovered much of their losses throughout the day) and META crashed, all on different reads of their capex. Which leaves AAPL to complete the picture of the big 5 megacaps (with NVDA set to report in a few weeks). As we previewed earlier, focus today will be on how soaring memory prices are impacting the company's

Rising Venezuelan Oil Exports Help Insulate The US From Energy Crisis If the primary purpose behind the Trump Administration's snatch-and-grab operation against the illegitimate president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was not readily apparent in January, it should be crystal clear today.  Under Maduro, around 75% of the country's energy exports were going to China.  This year, the US will be receiving around 50% of the oil supply while China's share is reduced to 10%.    The stunning shift in the direction of oil shipments is helping to insulate the US from shortages caused by the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait

The Vaccine Safety Signal The Media Still Won't Read Authored by Dr. Joseph Fraiman via the Brownstone Institute, The serious-adverse-event signal found in the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccine trials has been in the peer-reviewed literature for nearly four years. Mainstream media outlets, on the rare occasions they address it, have treated it not as evidence to be weighed but as misinformation to be managed - dismissed on the authority of experts without relevant expertise, or simply ignored. A recent BBC Radio 4 broadcast is a near-textbook example. The broadcast aired on Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares, a BBC Radio 4

House Unanimously Approves Bill To End 76-Day DHS Shutdown, Sending Measure To Trump Well that was anticlimactic... On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, clearing the way to end the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history after 76 days. The measure now heads to President Trump’s desk. The shutdown, which began February 14, will officially conclude once the president signs the legislation into law. Democrats had long objected to funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol - the two DHS agencies at the center of the

Peer Review Is Broken - Here's How To Fix It Authored by Rob Jenkins and Michael R. Jenkins via the Brownstone Institute, Within academia, there seems to be a growing consensus that the peer-review system—once the backbone of academic scholarship—is broken. But is it irreparably so? Perhaps. At the very least, the breakdown of its current form is worth exploring. However, rather than abandoning the entire endeavor, we believe we have a novel solution. First, though, let us examine where the system went wrong. In the Middle Ages, most scientific research was self-published, as scholars shared their findings among themselves. But, as the

Engineering Bottleneck Drives Major Deals Across Nuclear Services In the latest development with private equity firms making moves in the nuclear industry, Arlington Capital Partners has acquired nuclear engineering specialist ENERCON from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.  The deal includes merging ENERCON with Arlington portfolio company Pond & Company. The combined entity will operate under the ENERCON name, creating a powerful nuclear engineering firm with more than 2,700 professionals. > And then there is the issue of where the US gets 300,000 engineers to build all this missing power supply by 2030 https://t.co/a18crhqZ4v pic.twitter.com/tinW8SHDwM > > — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 14, 2025 ENERCON currently

Sternlicht's Starwood Real Estate Fund Gates Redemptions Earlier this month, when much of the attention was largely focused on private credit, we warned that one of the old, familiar credit market time-bombs, commercial real estate which for many years had been penned as the "Next Big Short", was deteriorating rapidly: according to the latest TREPP CMBS monthly report, March saw a surge in the CMBS delinquency rate, which jumped by 41bps to 7.55%, the highest in years, led by a surge in the lodging rate, a category which until now was not a source of concern.  It now appears that this particular time

Feds Charge Sinaloa's Governor, Senator, Mayor, & Other Top Officials With Running A Narco-State Submitted by The Bureau's Sam Cooper, Federal prosecutors in New York have charged ten current and former senior Mexican government officials — among them the sitting governor of Sinaloa, a sitting federal senator, the mayor of the state capital, and the state’s former secretary of public security — with conspiring to protect the Sinaloa Cartel’s most powerful faction in exchange for millions of dollars in drug money, in what may be the most sweeping corruption indictment ever brought against a sitting government in the Western Hemisphere. The superseding indictment,

Iran's Ghalibaf Tells Iranians 'Unify' As US Blockade Seeks To 'Make Us Collapse From Within' Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has since the war's start and prior assassinations of top leaders including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei become the most visible figurehead representing the Islamic Republic to the world, has continued trolling the United States even as President Trump is renewing fresh military strikes amid an uneasy extended ceasefire and ongoing US naval blockade of Iranian ports. He stated Wednesday that the United States' naval blockade of the country has a goal to create division and "make us collapse from within." His

GDP Shocker: 75% Of US Growth In The First Quarter Was Due To AI On the surface, today's Q1 GDP print was unremarkable: Real GDP grew 2.0% annualized in the first quarter, somewhat below consensus expectations of 2.3% and reflecting a surprisingly small rebound in government spending after the shutdown drag in Q4. Federal government spending contributed only half as much to real GDP growth in Q1 (+0.6%) as it subtracted in Q4 (-1.2%), implying that the level of real federal government spending in Q1 is 2.2% below its level in 2025Q3. Inventory accumulation also contributed less to Q1 growth than

Denise Ann Williams, 62, was last heard from on 15 April, when she told her family she was travelling to the west coast of Cape Breton Island in Canada’s east A search is underway in Canada for a 62-year-old Australian woman who was reported missing on Tuesday while hiking in a coastal national park in the country’s south-east. Denise Ann Williams was last heard from on 15 April, when she told family she was travelling to Chéticamp, a fishing village on the west coast of Cape Breton Island in the province of Nova Scotia. Continue reading...

President Lula’s veto of the bill was overturned by Brazil’s congress and senate, meaning it now awaits confirmation by supreme court Brazil’s largely conservative congress has approved a bill reducing the prison sentence of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year of attempting a coup. The bill had initially been passed by congress in December, but President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed it in January in a symbolic move marking three years since Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the capital, Brasília. Continue reading...

Four months after US capture of Nicolás Maduro, officials hail repairing of ties as airliner touches down in Caracas US and Venezuelan officials have hailed a new era in diplomatic relations as the first direct commercial flight between the two countries in more than seven years landed in Caracas. Nearly four months ago, US special forces attack helicopters and planes swept into the skies over Venezuela’s capital after Donald Trump ordered the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading...

Indictment accuses high-level officials in Sinaloa of offences such as drug trafficking, weapons offences and kidnapping The US justice department has charged the governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel, accusing them of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States. Some officials were members of Mexico’s progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency ATMs also face ban, after public inquiry found Canada lacked anti-money-laundering strategy Canada is to establish a new and powerful law enforcement agency to investigate financial crime, in stark contrast to the US, where weakened federal investigators have struggled to pursue fraudsters and the White House has pardoned convicted money launderers. A bill to create the Financial Crimes Agency (FCA) completed its first reading in parliament this week. The legislation was introduced by the governing Liberals and with their parliamentary majority, the party is likely to move it through both levels of government quickly. Continue reading...

Media tycoon honoured in absentia as critics decry his 20-year sentence under national security law The jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster said on Thursday that Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on 23 June at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Continue reading...

Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims said poor mental health made him admit to crimes The Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 has been prevented from appealing against his guilty pleas, after one of New Zealand’s highest courts said his bid was “utterly devoid of merit”. Brenton Tarrant, who is responsible for the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history, asked the court of appeal in February to allow him to appeal against his guilty pleas, claiming harsh prison conditions had affected his mental health and compelled him to admit to the

Human rights commissioner says alleged jailing highlights the ‘growing risks of transnational repression’ in Australia * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s human rights commissioner has said the Chinese student who was allegedly jailed for six years by Chinese authorities for joining protests in Sydney underscores the “very real and growing risks of transnational repression affecting people in Australia – including international students”. Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told Guardian Australia that while she could not comment on the circumstances of individual cases “no one should fear punishment

Patrick Vallance says government working with Chinese officials to remove postings from Alibaba after Biobank data breach last week There have been further listings of confidential health records of UK volunteers on the Chinese website Alibaba since the breach reported last week, and the government is braced for further leaks, the science minister has said. Addressing a House of Lords debate on the attempted sale of data belonging to 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers, Patrick Vallance said the government had worked with Chinese officials to remove additional postings on the online marketplace. Continue reading...

Leader mentions for first time lengths to which troops go to avoid falling into enemy hands while fighting for Russia Kim Jong-un has praised North Korean soldiers who blew themselves up with grenades in order to avoid capture while fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s western Kursk region, confirming the existence of the extreme battlefield policy. Mounting evidence, including from intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors, has indicated North Korean soldiers are explicitly told to resort to self-detonation or other forms of suicide to avoid falling into enemy hands. Continue reading...

Five-year-old’s grandfather and senior Warlpiri elder appeals for calm, saying: ‘It is time now for sorry business’ • Warning: This article contains references to and images of Indigenous Australians who have died Northern Territory police say one person is facing charges and more are expected over unrest in Alice Springs after the arrest of a man in connection with the death of five-year-old girl. The grandfather of Kumanjayi Little Baby, whose body was found on Thursday 5km from the Old Timers town camp where she was last seen alive on Saturday night, called for calm in the central Australian town on Friday, saying

Follow updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A man has allegedly stolen nearly $3,000 worth of diesel in jerry cans and drums from a South Sydney service station. Police said they were told a driver of a white ute allegedly filled large drums and jerry cans with 915 litres of diesel, valued at over $2,870 (or about $3.14 a litre), without paying at about 7.15pm on 11 April. Continue reading...

Dozens of people gather outside hospital where 47-year-old was being treated five days after the five-year-old girl disappeared •Warning: This article contains references to and images of Indigenous Australians who have died * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An angry crowd has clashed with police outside a hospital in Alice Springs where a 47-year-old man arrested by police in connection with the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was being treated. Council workers were assessing the damage on Friday morning, as fires smouldered in skip bins and

Spy tech firm says it’s just ‘a software company’ amid pressure for a ban on new contracts with government agencies * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Just weeks after it implied some cultures are inferior to others in a manifesto described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”, the US spy tech company Palantir says it is just “a software company” amid calls for Australian government agencies to ban any new contracts with the controversial company. In Australia, state and federal contracts with

State’s police minister says buyback ‘doesn’t focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals’, leaving NSW only clear supporter of plan * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Queensland has rejected key recommendations from the Bondi royal commission’s interim report, insisting plans for a national gun buyback will not keep weapons “out of the hands of terrorists and criminals”. The report, handed down by commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday, raised doubts about whether efforts to establish a national gun register after the 2022

Agents would not allow Pavel Talankin to carry statuette for Mr Nobody Against Putin on to flight from New York * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The Oscar statuette belonging to Pavel Talankin, star and co-director of the Academy award-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, has disappeared after officials at New York’s John F Kennedy airport confiscated it before he boarded a flight, claiming it could be used as a weapon. Talankin, whose documentation of Russia’s propaganda machine in grade schools won international acclaim, told Deadline that he had brought the statuette

Prominent contemporary visual artist explored range of techniques across six decades of work * Georg Baselitz obituary The German artist Georg Baselitz, whose expressive paintings and sculptures stirred controversy before winning him global acclaim and the admiration of politicians in high office, has died aged 88. The Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, which had a longstanding professional relationship with the artist, confirmed his death on Thursday. It said Baselitz had “defined German visual art for a generation” and had died peacefully. Continue reading...

Decision follows backlash from Italian government and European Commission The jury of the Venice Biennale has quit just days before the prestigious art exhibition is due to begin, amid a row over the decision to allow Russia to participate. The resignation of the five-member international jury was announced late on Thursday in a brief statement by the Venice Biennale organisers, and came a day after the Italian culture ministry sent inspectors to Venice in search of information about the decision to allow Russia to have a pavilion at the event. Continue reading...

Vehicle was travelling through Juvisy-sur-Orge when it veered off the road into the river Four people have been rescued from the Seine near Paris after a bus driven by a trainee driver collided with a parked vehicle before plunging into the river. The bus was travelling through the town of Juvisy-sur-Orge, south-east of the French capital, on Thursday when it veered off the road into the Seine, prosecutors said. Continue reading...

Global Sumud Flotilla describes interception as ‘violent raid’ while Turkey condemns it as ‘act of piracy’ Israeli forces have intercepted and detained the crews of at least 22 boats near the Greek island of Crete from a flotilla that is attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid. The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of about 58 vessels carrying people from across 70 countries, departed from Italy on Sunday. Continue reading...

US president faced a 60-day deadline on Friday to end the Iran war or make the case to Congress for extending it A US-Iran ceasefire that began in early April has “terminated” hostilities between the two sides for the purposes of an approaching congressional war powers deadline, a senior official of the Trump administration said on Thursday. Donald Trump faced a deadline on Friday to end the Iran war or make the case to Congress for extending it, but the date was most likely to pass without altering the course of the war. Continue reading...

Markets spooked as US president appears willing to keep up naval blockade and Iran keeps strait of Hormuz all but shut * Business live – latest updates The global oil price hit $126 a barrel on Thursday, its highest level since 2022, after Donald Trump said the US blockade of Iranian ports could last for months and peace talks remained stalled. After surging more than 13% in 24 hours, the price of Brent crude futures reached its highest price since the war began on 28 February. Not since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has Brent topped $120, with the price then peaking

Mojtaba Khamenei says Tehran will eliminate ‘enemy’s abuses of the waterway’ and guard its nuclear and missile programmes * US politics live – latest updates Iran’s supreme leader has broken his recent silence with a defiant statement hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait of Hormuz and vowing to guard the country’s nuclear and missile programmes. “Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the strait of Hormuz,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a

Fadi Saqr is accused of mass killings of civilians in Tadamon, Damascus, where people say he must face justice A Syrian rights commission is preparing a case accusing Fadi Saqr, a militia leader within the Assad regime, of involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes, a senior Syrian official has told the Guardian. Saqr is a former commander of the National Defence Forces (NDF) militia and is widely accused of involvement in the mass killing and forcible disappearance of civilians in the Tadamon neighbourhood of Damascus, as well as other parts of the Syrian capital. Continue reading...

Narges Mohammadi denied medical leave from prison in spite of sharp decline in health and drastic weight loss, say lawyers The family of the jailed Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi say they fear for her life after a sharp deterioration in her health, suspected heart attack and drop in body weight of almost 20kg (44lb). The 54-year-old human rights activist, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel peace prize while in prison, had been released for health reasons in 2024. She was re-arrested in December 2025 during the memorial service of a fellow human rights activist and is being held in Zanjan central

Jitu Munda says he was refused access to money in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracy The sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India. Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...

Anant Ambani revives offer to transport 80 animals, all descendants of Colombian drug kingpin’s pets, to India It remains one of the strangest conundrums in modern zoological history – what to do with the descendants of Pablo Escobar’s hippos? The animals – herbivores native to sub-Saharan Africa – were originally imported into Colombia by the drug kingpin for his own entertainment. But the beasts and their offspring were left to roam free after his death in 1993. Continue reading...

Customs officials say group allegedly hid 5kg of ‘kush’ in false walls of bags on return from Bangkok holiday Twenty-two Buddhist monks are in Sri Lankan police custody after customs officials found 110kg of high-grade cannabis concealed in their luggage, the largest ever drug bust at Colombo’s main international airport. The group, mostly junior monks in training from temples across Sri Lanka, were alleged to have “carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage”, according to a Sri Lanka customs spokesperson. Continue reading...

Pakistan officials dismiss Afghan media reports and official statements about strikes on university in Kunar province as ‘blatant lie’ Mortars and missiles fired from Pakistan on Monday struck a university and civilian homes in north-eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people and wounding at least 85, Afghan officials said. Pakistan denied the accusation of targeting a university. Continue reading...

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were to travel to Islamabad to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations Donald Trump said he has told US envoys not to go to Pakistan for more talks with Iran, shortly after Tehran’s top diplomat left Islamabad late on Saturday. Trump added to Fox News: “They can call us anytime they want.” The White House on Friday said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Pakistan’s capital to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations. Continue reading...

State pension was ‘built for a different era’, says former PM’s organisation amid pressure on government finances Labour has been urged by Tony Blair’s thinktank to scrap the pensions triple lock amid mounting pressure on government finances. With the Iran war threatening to derail public spending plans, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) said the “unaffordable” manifesto pledge to maintain the triple lock should be torn up as part of a wider overhaul of the state pension. Continue reading...

Parliamentary committee takes unusual step of declaring no confidence in executives at utility provider MPs have accused the leadership of South East Water of incompetence over repeated water outages for tens of thousands of customers, and expressed no confidence in their ability to reform the company. MPs from across the political spectrum said David Hinton, SEW’s chief executive, and the board of directors operated a culture of unaccountability at the company, which provides drinking water for 2.3 million customers in Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Continue reading...

Birdwatching no longer niche, old-fashioned pastime, says RSPB as research shows 47% increase in hobby since 2018 Birdwatching is the second fastest growing hobby for generation Z after jewellery making, according to a multiyear study of more than 24,000 people. Almost 750,000 gen Zers (16 to 29-year-olds) in Britain regularly enjoy watching birds, a -1,088% increase since 2018, according to research by Fifty5Blue published by the RSPB. Continue reading...

Patient safety mechanism which gives patients the right to seek a second opinion having ‘lifesaving impact’, says health secretary * ‘I am invoking Martha’s rule’: how a woman saved her father from near death in hospital More than 500 people have received potentially life-saving care thanks to Martha’s rule, which gives hospital patients the right to seek a second opinion about their health. They were moved to intensive care or a specialist unit after they, a loved one or a member of NHS staff triggered the patient safety mechanism, which the NHS in England began using in 2024. Continue reading...

Ross Davidson, who sang with group in 2018, was convicted of offences committed against six women Musician Ross Davidson, a former singer for Spandau Ballet, has been jailed for 14 years for multiple rapes and sexual assaults. Davidson, 38, was convicted across two trials of two counts of rape, an attempted rape, three sexual assaults and two charges of voyeurism, in offences committed against six women between August 2013 and December 2019. Continue reading...

Speculative reports say Amazon is considering relaunching the reality show once hosted by the US president, with his eldest son floated as a possible host * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Amid speculative reports that Donald Trump Jr is being considered by Amazon to lead a reboot of The Apprentice, he’s already received a slightly muted endorsement from the reality show’s former host: his father. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Amazon was considering rebooting The Apprentice, which was hosted by the now US president Donald Trump between 2004 and 2015, for its streaming service Prime Video. Sign up

This live blog is now closed. * Sign up for the Breaking News US email Louisiana governor Jeff Landry yesterday told GOP candidates that he plans to suspend next month’s primary elections so that state lawmakers can pass a new congressional map first, the Washington Post (paywall) reported last night. It came hours after the US supreme court decided that Louisiana’s creation of a second majority black congressional district to satisfy previously rulings relied too heavily on race and was “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander”, as opposed to a required effort to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...

Religious group ‘reviewing all available remedies’ after clips of young people rushing its buildings in ‘raids’ go viral On any given day, Los Angeles’s Hollywood Boulevard teems with tourists and street performers clustered near the area’s many landmarks. But in recent months, the strip has been set abuzz for a new reason. Throngs of mostly adolescent boys and young men have been rushing the Church of Scientology’s international headquarters on the famed street. Continue reading...

Workers wrote ‘Katrina declaration’, warning that funding cuts made US dangerously unprepared for natural disasters Fourteen employees with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency returned to work this week, after spending eight months on administrative leave for signing a public letter criticising the Trump administration. The so-called “Katrina declaration”, sent last August to members of Congress and a federal council formed to help determine Fema’s future, was written as a rebuke from the workers about the dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Continue reading...

Foil boarders were pursued by shark – likely a great white – off Santa Barbara before it lost interest and swam away * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Ron Takeda and Tavis Boise were a few miles off the coast of Santa Barbara when they noticed the large mass trailing behind them. “Tavis, is it a dolphin?” asked Takeda as he stood on his foil board, a specialized form of surfing, propelling himself through the waves. Boise, who was filming their run, recognized the question as an ominous sign – the veteran

With Congress again failing to curb US President Donald Trump’s authority over Cuba, the centre of gravity in US policy towards the island is shifting decisively back to the White House – and to a narrower, more consequential question: what comes next? Tuesday’s 51-47 Senate vote to block a Democratic-led war powers resolution on Cuba does not change policy on its own. It was widely expected, reflecting a long-standing pattern in which Congress has struggled to assert its war powers authority...

The US Congress on Thursday approved funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ending a record-breaking partial government shutdown that has disrupted critical agencies for more than two months. The House approved the measure, already passed by the Senate, sending it to US President Donald Trump, who quickly signed it. It will fund key DHS agencies through the end of the financial year on September 30. It does not include new money for immigration and border enforcement,...

The Federal Communications ⁠Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States. The agency says about 75 per cent of ‌all US electronics are tested in China and plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in US labs or labs from countries not posing national security risks. In a separate 3-0 vote, the commission advanced a proposal to...

The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a black-tie press gala in Washington agreed on Thursday to remain in custody while his case moves forward. The suspect, Cole Allen, 31, would ‌not immediately contest prosecutors’ arguments that he was a danger to the community and should remain in jail, his lawyer, Tezira Abe, said during a court hearing. Allen allegedly stormed a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on...

The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela departed a bit early on Thursday on its way to the capital of the South American country, seven years after the US Homeland Security Department ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns. The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes months after the US capture of then-president Nicolas Maduro in a stunning night-time raid on his residence in Caracas in early January. It also comes...

A Ugandan-American man was sentenced to death on Thursday over the murders of four young children he stabbed to death at a kindergarten in Uganda’s capital. Christopher Okello Onyum was arrested on April 2 as he tried to flee the day care centre in Kampala where he murdered the children aged 15 months to two-and-a-half years. Prosecutors said Onyum, who holds Ugandan and US citizenship, confessed to the crime, believing the “human sacrifice” would help him become rich, though he eventually...

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an ⁠investigation into ⁠a 15-year-old, suspected of having ⁠hacked the country’s ID agency and trying to sell the data of millions of French people on the dark web this month, it said on Thursday. The teenager, whose identity ‌was not revealed, was detained on April 25 and held in police custody for questioning after he was suspected of hiding behind the nickname “breach3d”, a hacker who had put on sale on hacker forums between 12 million and 18 million...

The US economy accelerated at the start of 2026, expanding at a modest 2 per cent pace from January through March after recovering from last fall’s 43-day federal government shutdown. But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war. The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that gross domestic product – the nation’s output of goods and services – rebounded from a lacklustre 0.5 per cent expansion the last three months of 2025. The federal government’s spending and investment grew at a 9.3 per cent...

Brics’ inability to speak with one voice on the Middle East conflict has become a stern test of India’s leadership of the bloc, exposing the challenge of building consensus among its 10 members with divergent interests and concerns. The bloc could not agree on a common position on the war at a meeting of Brics officials to discuss Middle East and North Africa issues in New Delhi last week. Brics has long sought to present itself as a voice for the Global South as frustrations with the US-led...

Global oil prices jumped to a four-year high of more than US$126 a barrel on Thursday, on concerns that the US-Iran war could worsen and lead to a protracted Middle East oil supply disruption that could hurt global economic growth. The market moved higher after Axios, citing unidentified sources, reported late on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump was slated to receive a briefing on Thursday on plans for a series of military strikes on Iran in hopes it would return ‌to negotiations on its...

The UK government said on Thursday that the country was facing an antisemitism emergency and pledged to increase security for Jewish communities after a string of arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews. The country’s official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe after Wednesday’s stabbing attack in London, which police have called an act of terrorism with potential links to Iran. Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale...

Subscribers: The Daily Pulse won’t be published on May 1 because of China’s Labour Day holiday. We will resume publication on Monday, May 4. Crude oil prices jumped to a four-year high after US President Donald Trump suggested that a US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz could last for “months”. Brent crude, the global benchmark, surged as much as 7.3 per cent, surpassing US$126 a barrel, following reports that Trump met oil executives on Tuesday to discuss ways of extending the blockade and...

Israeli forces near the southern Greek island of Crete intercepted more than 20 boats from a flotilla of several dozen seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and planned to transport about 175 detained activists to Greece on Thursday, Israeli authorities said. Activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli forces stormed their vessels overnight, smashing engines and detaining some of those on board while they were sailing in international waters near Greece, hundreds of...

A series ⁠of reversals suffered by Mali’s Moscow-backed military government has dented Russia’s image as ⁠a self-styled security guarantor in Africa and threatens its strategic and economic interests on the continent. The military junta, which turned to Russia for support after expelling French and UN troops following coups in 2020 and 2021, was rocked at the weekend by an offensive by West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group. Mali’s Russia-trained defence...

R&B singer D4vd used chainsaws he bought from Amazon to cut up the body of the teenage girl he murdered and left to rot in the trunk of his Tesla, prosecution documents claimed on Wednesday. The internet breakout star killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez because she threatened to reveal their long-standing and illegal sexual relationship, which began when she was just 13, charging papers allege. He then hacked up her corpse, using a plastic paddling pool to contain the blood, and stuffed it into bags...

Ant International, the overseas spin-off of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, has connected more than 150 million merchants with over 2 billion consumer accounts around the world, as it positions its payments network as core infrastructure for the emerging AI commerce economy. The figures, disclosed at the company’s MoMents 2026 forum in Kuala Lumpur, which ran from Monday to Wednesday, underscore the scale Ant is seeking to leverage amid the rising adoption of artificial intelligence agents. Ant...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States is considering reducing the number of its troops in Germany, amid a row with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war. “The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump said on social media. The United States had more than 35,000 troops in Germany in 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service,...

The United Nations is bloated, costly, badly in need of reform, and too often works against US interests, but pulling out of the international organisation would see China expand its influence and leave Washington at a major disadvantage, according to testimony before a House oversight committee on Wednesday. The hearing came as the administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed an “America first” overhaul of international funding, leaving the UN, over the past 18 months, at what...

Federal investigators say they believe the man who carried out a mass shooting at Brown University and later killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor did not act randomly. Instead, former Brown student Claudio Neves Valente, 48, appeared to target places and people for what they represented in his own life – institutions and individuals he associated with personal failure, missed opportunity and perceived injustice. In a detailed behavioural assessment released on Wednesday, the...

Can tourism be considered successful if arrivals increase, but the local communities – the very soul of the destination – feel strained and excluded? Too often, tourism success is measured in arrivals, occupancy and revenue. These numbers matter. But they tell only a fraction of the story. We must ask: who is this success really for? Traditional growth metrics are no longer sufficient to protect the residents who host the world or the workers who power the experience. To prevent cultural...

Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla commemorated victims of the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attack on New York on Wednesday, laying a floral bouquet at the memorial where the World Trade Centre’s twin towers once stood. The royal visit to lower Manhattan came at a time of tensions between Britain and the US, with President Donald Trump having criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he says is his lack of help in ‌the US and Israel’s war with Iran. Michael Bloomberg, a former New...

The extraordinary clash at the Federal Reserve between Jerome Powell and Donald Trump entered new territory on Wednesday when the outgoing US central bank chairman said he would remain on as a governor – and the president lashed him with another insult. Powell said that while his term at the head of the Fed was ending May 15, he would exercise his right to remain on the board “for a period of time to be determined”. Powell appeared concerned about the Fed maintaining its independence in the face...

US President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, discussing the wars in Ukraine and Iran even as Washington pressed ahead with its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Trump told reporters as he met with astronauts from the Artemis II mission ‌in the Oval Office that the conversation was “very good” and that the US was “going to come up with a solution relatively quickly” over its ongoing conflict with Iran. “He told me he’d like to be involved with the...

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday sharply limited the use of race in drawing electoral districts, in a decision that could reshape congressional maps nationwide and boost Republican prospects ahead of midterm elections. In a 6-3 ruling split along ideological lines, the conservative-dominated court struck down a map that creates a second majority-black district in Louisiana, finding it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander despite being drawn to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights...

The man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and kill US President Donald Trump took a picture of himself in his hotel room just minutes earlier, outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife, authorities said on Wednesday in a new court filing. Cole Allen wore black pants, a black shirt and a red tie as he snapped the image in his room at the Washington Hilton, where Trump and hundreds of journalists were meeting for a...

US President Donald Trump said that a US naval blockade against Iran could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years which held into Thursday. With diplomacy between Iran and the United States at a standstill after false starts, Trump spoke by phone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned him of “damaging consequences” if the United States and Israel resume their war on Iran. Meeting oil executives, Trump contended that the...

Sweden’s government said on Wednesday it planned to introduce legislation requiring social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat to take down criminal gangs’ ‘murder adverts’ within an hour or face hefty fines. Criminal gangs active in Sweden increasingly use social media to recruit people to commit murders and other violent acts amid a surge in “crime as a service”. The recruits are often children under the age of 15, Sweden’s age of criminal responsibility, meaning the youngsters cannot be...

London police say the stabbing of two Jewish men on Wednesday has been declared a terrorist incident. Metropolitan Police say they are investigating whether the attack specifically targeted the Jewish community. The force says the incident, in the Golders Green area, left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalised with knife wounds. A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Police are investigating whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and...

The pace of tropical forest destruction slowed in 2025 after record losses the year before but remained at worrying levels equivalent to 11 football fields per minute, researchers said Wednesday. The world lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of tropical primary rainforest last year, down 36 per cent from 2024, said researchers from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland. “A drop of this scale in a single year is encouraging – it shows what decisive...

China may gain from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) withdrawing from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), benefiting from additional supply as global oil markets face growing strain three months into the US-Israeli war in Iran, analysts said. The UAE – Opec’s third-largest producer, accounting for about 12 per cent of its total output – will formally leave the bloc on May 1. UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei told CNBC that it was the “right time” to exit, adding...

The widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan has spurred a massive mental health crisis, United Nations agencies and local aid groups warned. The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict since April 2023 that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around 11 million people. Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières last month said at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence – nearly all of them women...

Even if the immediate phase of conflict subsides, the Gulf is unlikely to return to the status quo. For Asia, the central question is no longer simply whether the Strait of Hormuz is open. It is whether the waterway remains reliable, predictable and politically insulated from coercion. That distinction now matters more than ever. For China and other major Asian importers, it is a question of whether energy flows, shipping routes and sanctions exposure are increasingly being shaped by a crisis...

The ⁠Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia’s annual Victory Day ‌military parade on Red Square had been scaled back this year and ⁠would not include military ‌equipment due to the risk of ‌what it described ⁠as “Ukrainian ⁠terrorist activity”. The parade, ‌held on May 9, ‌marks the ‌Soviet defeat ‌of Nazi Germany during ⁠World War II, a ⁠conflict Russians call the Great Patriotic ‌War. One of the top holidays on the Russian calendar, it allows the dwindling number of veterans to gather in...

The leader of Mali’s military government, Assimi Goita, on ⁠Tuesday made his first public appearance since insurgents launched coordinated attacks over the weekend, vowing in a televised address to “neutralise” those responsible. West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and a Tuareg-dominated separatist group hit Mali’s main army base and the area near Bamako’s airport in the attacks on Saturday, while also pushing Russian troops supporting government forces out of the strategic town of Kidal in the...

UK King Charles gave US President Donald Trump a taste of his own medicine at a White House state dinner on Tuesday when he joked that without the British, Americans would be speaking French. As the heads of state traded jokes during their dinner toasts, Charles referenced previous comments by Trump aimed at European allies he accuses of freeloading on defence since World War II. “You recently commented, Mr President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be...

Asia’s oil import-dependent economies will benefit from the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) exit from Opec, though the ongoing closure of the arterial Strait of Hormuz may not offer any immediate relief from soaring prices, analysts say. Global oil prices continued to surge on Wednesday, with benchmark Brent crude oil prices hitting US$111 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) approaching US$100 a barrel. Before the Iran war, Brent was trading around US$70 a barrel, while WTI was about US$65...

There is a time and a place. Just because you have a right to do something doesn’t mean you should exercise it. The United States and its allies keep claiming they have the right of navigation in international waters by sending their navies through the Taiwan Strait. Their intention to provoke is clear despite their justification under international law. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s row with Beijing over her remarks about militarily intervening in a Taiwan crisis has yet to die down....

An image of Donald Trump will soon appear in some US passports, officials said on Tuesday, shattering another norm as the president aggressively puts his personal stamp on government institutions. There were few precedents anywhere in the world, let alone in a democracy, of displaying sitting leaders’ pictures in passports, and Trump would be the first sitting US president featured in Americans’ travel documents. The State Department said it would offer the limited-edition passport to mark this...

The acting US ambassador ⁠to Kyiv Julie Davis will step down from her post and retire, a US official and the State Department said on Tuesday, amid a lull in US-brokered talks to achieve a ceasefire and end Russia’s invasion ‌of Ukraine. The Financial Times first reported Davis’ departure and said it was because of differences of opinion with President Donald Trump’s policies and that Davis had grown frustrated with her role over his dwindling support for Ukraine. The State Department pushed...

As the US-Israel war in Iran drags into its third month, sulphuric acid – a chemical ingredient critical for fertiliser production and metal processing that has seldom grabbed global headlines – has become a keenly watched commodity. The military conflict in the Gulf and the effective blockage of the Strait of Hormuz initially triggered a squeeze on sulphuric acid, with prices on the rise after shipments in the region – which accounts for a quarter of global production – were largely stalled...

While the United States and Iran exchange peace proposals in Islamabad, the Middle East remains trapped in a cycle of escalation. Ships burn in the Strait of Hormuz, Lebanon absorbs strikes by Israel and the nuclear gap remains unbridgeable. Calling this moment a ceasefire might be in line with diplomatic language, but on the ground it has the familiar look of war, just repackaged. While US President Donald Trump might have negotiated some sort of ceasefire agreement, the American naval blockade...

Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said the US and Nato were faced with a “marriage crisis” as frustrations mount on both sides of the Atlantic, urging Washington to stand with its allies or risk America’s fall. Francken, speaking at a think tank event in Washington on Tuesday, likened the strained transatlantic relationship, which has held for close to 80 years, to a “crisis”, saying “it’s very difficult”. “I’m convinced that we’re having a marriage crisis … There’s a lot of frustration on...

The US ⁠has placed specific conditions on releasing billions of dollars it owes to the United Nations, including further cost-cutting, and moves to counter China’s influence at the world body, a development news wire reported on Tuesday. The report by Devex, an independent news organisation covering global development, ‌said two diplomatic notes circulated by the US called for nine “quick-hit” reforms as a condition for releasing more funds. It said these included: Overhauling the UN pension...

After a joke by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel drew calls from the White House for ABC to fire the comedian, the US Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday ordered an early licence review of the network’s television stations. The stand-off between US President Donald Trump’s administration and the global entertainment conglomerate is the first crisis facing Walt Disney’s new CEO Josh D’Amaro. Last Thursday, Kimmel, whose late-night television programme airs on Disney’s ‌ABC, did a send-up of...

Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted for threatening the life of Donald Trump, officials said on Tuesday, five months after a previous case against the outspoken critic of the US president was thrown out. The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post the 65-year-old Comey made in May last year that showed the numbers “86 47” spelled out in seashells. Trump alleged in an interview with Fox News at the time that “86” was slang for kill and “47” was a...

In naming only an interim successor as acting attorney general, President Trump has established even greater incentives to execute his most extreme demands, current and former officials say.

Republicans were forced to use a special maneuver to steer around opposition in their own party and speed the measure to the floor, relying on Democratic cooperation to push it through.

The defense secretary testified on the eve of the 60-day mark of the war, a major statutory deadline for the president to withdraw forces or seek approval from Congress to continue the fight.

The secretary was also questioned over civilian deaths, an accusation of antisemitic remarks and women in combat.

If President Trump flies to China as planned in May, the primary topic will clearly be the rippling economic effects of a war that Beijing has made clear it viewed as unnecessary.

The Lebanese militant group is attacking Israeli troops with explosive drones controlled by fiber-optic cables, like those commonly used in the war in Ukraine.

Royal watchers in Britain called the visit of King Charles III to America a master class in understated criticism.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla had a ceremonial farewell at the White House before attending a block party in Front Royal, Va.

In this sequel, Andy (Anne Hathaway) and Miranda (Meryl Streep) encounter a series of crises that set the stage for a larger, existential catastrophe.

Voters who watched Gov. Janet Mills struggle to gain traction in the Democratic Senate primary said they were unsurprised — and in many cases, ready — to see her exit.

The top Senate Democrat and the Maine contender had what was described as a cordial conversation despite Schumer’s backing of his primary opponent.

An inmate said he discovered the note after Mr. Epstein was found injured in his jail cell, weeks before his death. It’s now locked in a courthouse.

Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein will testify at the State Capitol next week in support of a bill that would enable them to seek punitive damages from his estate.

The Trump administration wants President Claudia Sheinbaum to arrest a Mexican governor. She is faced with few good options in response.

In the 1960s, she invited an audience to cut off her clothes. As attacks on women’s rights escalate, “Cut Piece” and other decades-old works of feminist art feel more relevant than ever.

Amnesty International said about 1,500 people have been detained by the military for three months and that many of those who have died from disease and starvation have been children.

One of Elon Musk’s abiding fears is that A.I. could one day threaten humans. But the jurors deciding his suit against OpenAI probably won’t hear about it.

Wildlife experts have been tracking the Steller sea lion since he appeared last month at a popular tourist spot near the end of Fisherman’s Wharf.

A Democratic vision of the Tea Party is emerging.

Confronting the weirdness of a Waymo future.

The Department of Motor Vehicles says it could suspend or revoke permits for Waymo taxis and other driverless cars for continued violations.

Lawyers representing the abuse survivors warned their clients that the archdiocese would most likely file for bankruptcy if they did not agree to the settlement.

The statue depicts a man marching with a flag that covers his face. It appeared in a section of London near statues of 19th-century British military and colonial figures.