Minimalist News

The Rise And Fall Of 'Resistance' Hero Alexander Vindman Authored by Blaise Malley via Responsible Statecraft , On paper, Alexander Vindman's loss in last week's Florida Democratic Senate was a shocking upset. After all, Vindman had a 16-to-1 fundraising advantage and far more national name recognition than the winner - progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon. But the results reflect more than one poorly-run campaign. Vindman is one of the most prominent faces of a bygone political era known as "Russia-gate" - a period which Democratic voters appear ready to leave behind. Just a few years ago, the idea of Vindman

Newly Formed Lake Threatens 2nd Flood At Nepal-Tibet Disaster Zone A rapidly expanding dammed lake above a Nepal-Tibet flood zone poses a severe new threat to Gyirong Port, where hundreds of people remain unaccounted for following an initial catastrophic surge . Formed by mudslides near the junction of two rivers, the blockage sits about 11 miles upstream of Rasuwagadhi and has created a 27-acre lake , according to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). China's Ministry of Water Resources estimated on Aug. 27 that the lake currently holds roughly 2 million cubic meters (528 million gallons) of

"Most Jobs Will Disappear Forever": Bill Gates Calls For Taxes On AI And Robots To Protect Jobs For Humans Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times , Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates warned Wednesday that artificial intelligence (AI) will permanently eliminate many white- and blue-collar jobs and called for taxes on AI and robots along with protections reserving certain jobs for humans. Bill Gates in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9, 2026. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images "Many jobs will disappear forever," Gates wrote in an essay published on his Gates Notes website. He said AI could become "the greatest equalizer ever

Zelensky's Top Aide Named In Explosive Court Audio In Mudra Corruption Case Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky's Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov has been named as part of a major corruption case involving Zelensky's former Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra , who was arrested and is currently center of a top corruption court case, local outlet Hromadske reported Wednesday, citing court documents. Mudra, who was Zelensky's #2 staffer before being dismissed and detained, stands accused of hiding assets and money laundering. The whole saga has placed an uncomfortable spotlight on the presidential office, and is proving to be an embarrassment

State AGs Target 'Big Four' Accounting Firms, Claim They're Pushing Climate Disclosures Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times , A coalition of 16 state attorneys general is investigating the "Big Four" accounting firms, alleging that they may have pushed climate accounting on client companies. Climate change activists hold signs during a press conference with members of the House of Reps. Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 13, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times "The Big Four's climate commitments force clients to make burdensome climate-related disclosures that drive up the costs of their services

Trump Close To 'Massive' Deal For Seizing Stake In Venezuela's Vast Oil Fields Amid ongoing global oil supply disruptions due to the Iran war and Hormuz Strait crisis, and also as Ukraine's war on Russian oil refineries and export terminals heats up, the Trump administration has been scrambling to tap new reliable and long-term energy sources. Now, nearly eight months since the US miliary raid on Caracas which removed from power and captured socialist President Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration is said to be on the brink of a massive deal to gain ownership stake in the countries vast

Moscow Warns It Could Target British Military Facilities In Unprecedented Statement From the very start of the Ukraine war, the United Kingdom has consistently been among Kiev's most open and ardent military supporters, time and again transferring heavy weaponry, including cutting edge long-range missiles like the Storm Shadow. At the start of this week, Britain announced it plans to provide Ukraine with classified technology to allow for the country's own manufacturing of the British/French-designed SCALP air-launched cruise missile (which in the UK is known as the Storm Shadow). The allies expect to set up a production line in Ukraine as

Quinn: They Know What's Coming, Because They Planned It... Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, “There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency involved.” – Ludwig von Mises “The financial history of the last century shows a steady increase in the amount of public indebtedness. Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of

Alberta Premier Rejects Using Oil As A Weapon Against Trump Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com , Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith has rejected the idea of slapping export taxes on crude oil exports to the United States in retaliation for the Trump administration's tariff salvo against Ottawa, saying they would be damaging to Canada. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Canada Strong and Free Network in Ottawa on Thursday, March 23, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick) "Although I understand the need to respond strongly to these tariffs, I cannot think of a more disastrous policy decision than cutting off

Army's Project Janus Selects Five Reactor Companies For Rapid Development The US Army's Project Janus, which we detailed at length back in November, has selected its initial batch of reactor developers to bring advanced nuclear energy to Army installations to ensure resilient and ready power. BREAKING: The first fully operational commercial nuclear microreactor will be deployed at a U.S. Army installation in 2028. To achieve this, the Army has awarded a combined $2.2 Billion to five competing commercial companies. — Jeff Waksman (@Waksman84) August 26, 2026 The program is looking to move reactor developers through their first-of-a-kind and second-of-a-kind designs

Trump Officially Renames Lake Ontario To "Lake America" Now, on to important matters... On Thursday, US President Donald J. Trump renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America , a move he's been teasing in recent days on Truth Social - including writing that America doesn't "expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer" amid an ongoing trade spat with Canada. On Tuesday, Trump posted an image of the lake with 'Lake Ontario' crossed out and 'Lake America' above it - with an American flag on the Canadian side. " The United States is the greatest protector of the Great

New Jersey May Pay Home Battery Owners To Help Grid When Demand Surges New Jersey officials are weighing a plan that would allow homeowners to use batteries as emergency energy backups and a way to earn extra money. Under the proposal, storage systems installed at customers' homes could join a virtual power plant program , helping the grid when electricity demand surges and paying participants for taking part. On July 15, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued a straw proposal for a two-year, technology-neutral VPP. The state's electric distribution companies would oversee it, and it would need to

Follow The Risk Via SchiffGold , Tracing the distribution of risk is an important method that is helpful for understanding the trade-offs of any government action. Almost every government action reduces risk for some group and repackages the risk and forces another group to bear it. The government often serves as a hedge against risk , but it is important to understand who the payer is and what the costs are before blindly signing off on state control. The most common form of risk relates to the concept of "concentrated benefits, dispersed costs." Small groups like farmers or steel producers

Qatar And Kuwait Restore 70% Of Pre-War Oil Exports Through Hormuz Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com , Qatar and Kuwait have managed to boost their crude oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz to 70% of pre-war levels as they followed the United Arab Emirates in shuttling oil through the chokepoint and using ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, anonymous traders told Bloomberg on Thursday. Before the Middle East conflict, Qatar and Kuwait collectively exported about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil via the Strait of Hormuz. They don't have alternative routes as Saudi Arabia

Average 7Y Auction Stops On Screws As Foreign Demand Drops A stellar 2Y auction, a subpart 5Y, and it only makes sense that we end the week with a perfectly average sale of $44BN in 7Y bonds. The last coupon auction of the week priced at a high yield of 4.512%, up from last month's tailing 4.473%, and on the screws with today's When Issued 4.512%. Remarkably, this is the 3rd 7Y auction to price on the screws in 2026 alone, suggesting this tenor may be the most relevant one for market accuracy ahead of the actual auction. The bid

Dollar General Jumps On "Traffic-Led Momentum" As $4 Gas Accelerates Consumer Trade-Down Dollar General shares surged 6% in the cash session Thursday morning after stronger customer traffic fueled a second-quarter earnings beat and prompted the discount retailer to raise its full-year outlook . Jefferies analyst Corey Tarlowe wrote in a first take on earnings that "traffic-led momentum drives another beat." The discount retailer, with 21,000 stores nationwide , most of them located in low-income ZIP codes, reported second-quarter earnings of $2.48 per share, up from $1.86 a year earlier and well above the Bloomberg Consensus estimate of $2. Revenue increased

California Senate Passes Bill To Fine Influencers Over Undisclosed Paid Political Posts Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times , The California Senate passed a bill on Aug. 24 to fine content creators who make paid political content without disclosing the compensation. The legislation, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, will still need a vote in the state Assembly before it reaches Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. Assemblyman Marc Berman listens to witness testimony while presenting his Assembly Bill 3209 to the Senate's Appropriations Committe at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on June 17, 2024. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

Zinc Hits Four-Year High As "Extremely Thin" Physical Supply Fuels Squeeze Zinc futures in London are headed for their largest monthly close since January, with prices hitting four-year highs this week amid tightening physical supplies. London futures for the industrial metal initially gained as much as 1% before reversing course. Zinc fell .8% to $3,861 a ton as of 11:40 a.m. local time, halting a seven-day rally . Despite the pullback, z inc's physical market remains extremely tight . " Supply constraints boosting zinc : Zinc price has risen 31% since March to $3,966, driven by declining mine output, operational

"Citizens Want Political Turnaround": AfD Now Polls At 43% Across Eastern Germany Building on Nomura analyst Andrzej Szczepaniak's note from earlier this week, which forecasts that right-wing parties are positioned to make electoral gains across Germany , France, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK over the next 18 months, new polling data from Germany further suggest that Alternative for Germany (AfD) is performing exceptionally well as citizens demand political change after years of failed progressive experiments that encouraged a Third World migrant invasion and nation-killing deindustrialization trends . AfD co-leader Alice Weidel cited new polling data on X from a Forsa

RFK Jr. Says Pennsylvania Officials May Have Fabricated Measles Deaths Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Wednesday that officials in Pennsylvania may have made up deaths that they described as associated with measles. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Hubert Humphrey building in Washington on August 10, 2026. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Wednesday that Pennsylvania had recorded the first deaths related to measles in 35 years. "The announcement appears to have been

Mark Carney rejects attempt to rename lake as did several US governors, with Tony Evers mocking the move US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario, making it Lake America, amid his escalating trade war with Canada. The order directs federal agencies to adopt the name-change on US maps, documents and databases. But Trump has no authority to rename Canada’s portion of the lake, nor to compel Canada, international legal bodies, international mapmakers, or the rest of the world to adopt a new name. Continue reading...

The US president expected Ottawa to bow to tariff demands, but Canada is striking back – and it could cost Americans This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday Earlier this year, a survey found that Canada , along with Switzerland , was the best-liked country in the world. We all know this kind of polling is about as scientific as a high school popularity contest, but at least anecdotally, Canadians have a reputation for being friendly and welcoming, respectful and polite. Many people would find it difficult to

Paper products among hardest-hit sectors after trade negotiations broke down, with 25-50% tariffs estimated Are you a Canadian boycotting US products? We’d like to hear from you Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the US and Canada enter a full-fledged trade war that threatens to flush away decades of peaceful trading between the two nations. After trade negotiations broke down between the two countries last weekend , Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, vowed to match US tariffs “dollar for dollar” and unveiled a list of nearly 900 American

Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, deported to Honduras, is latest military spouse to face removal amid Trump 2.0 The wife of an active-duty US soldier was deported on Monday to her native Honduras , according to her family and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty US soldier to be deported under the immigration crackdown during Donald Trump ’s second presidency. Continue reading...

Gang leader threatens to kill hostages after attack in Kenscoff in which homes were also set alight ‘A massacre’: Haiti gangs carrying out mass killings At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped when armed men attacked a once peaceful community near Haiti’s capital at the weekend, the UN has said. A gang leader has threatened to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community of Kenscoff, nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince. Continue reading...

Thai navy says ‘routine’ visit’ will allow personnel to rest and recuperate amid reports of poor conditions onboard The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is set to make a temporary stop in Thailand next week as it heads back to the United States, Thai navy officials said, after spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea supporting US operations against Iran amid recent reports of poor living conditions and low morale onboard the vessel. The Lincoln left the Middle East several days ago after being relieved by the USS George Washington , and is now heading home to San Diego.

Entire villages swept away after glacial collapse triggers flood in mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Have you been affected by the flash floods? Rescuers are searching for nearly 1,400 people, most of them tourists, who are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet, thundering down valleys, obliterating entire villages and killing at least 356 people. Efforts to locate those missing – including hundreds of people from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and almost 25 miles (40km)

From the 1950s to the 2020s, Kusama produced vivid paintings, sculptures and vast installations that often drew on her experience of hallucinations Kusama – a life in pictures Was Kusama the world’s favourite artist? Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese outsider artist who reached superstar status after decades living in a psychiatric hospital, has died aged 97. Kusama died in a Tokyo hospital on 14 August, her company Yayoi Kusama Inc announced in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...

More than 400 travellers are said to be missing after flood on Tibet border, including 33 Britons Flash floods on Nepal-Tibet border – latest updates Thirty-three British citizens including a 13-year-old girl are among more than 400 travellers missing after a flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to Nepal’s tourism board. The sudden flood happened on the Tibetan side of the Bhote Koshi River at about 8.30am local time on Wednesday. The 33 UK citizens are among at least 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for. Continue reading...

At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away Nepal-Tibet flash floods – live updates At least 157 people have been killed and hundreds, including large numbers of foreign tourists, are missing after flash floods ⁠hit the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and Tibet in China, police have said, with parts of India also at risk. The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept

Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Greens say Australia needs to ‘step up and really commit’ to aiding rebuilding in Nepal David Shoebridge, the Greens’ spokesperson on foreign affairs, told RN Breakfast earlier the Australian commitment of $5m for affected communities in Nepal “won’t come close to touching the sides” of the calamity. I think Australia needs to step up and really commit to helping rebuild. This is a country with minimal spare resources. Life is tough in Nepal at most times, but I don’t think $5 million comes close

Son of former ABC chair will contest seat of Cessnock in March state election and says ‘my wife’s Japanese’ so he doesn’t believe party is racist Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation has named investment banker Mike Newman as its New South Wales leader and first lower house candidate ahead of the March 2027 state election. Pauline Hanson was to hold a press conference alongside Newman on Friday morning to announce the son of former ABC chair Maurice Newman as her party’s candidate

Dfat minister Matt Thistlethwaite says staff are liaising with Kathmandu to find 35 missing Australians, and plans to send emergency team to the region Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Australian government is urgently seeking information on the welfare of at least 35 Australians missing in Nepal, after a catastrophic flash flood swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region. Assistant minister for foreign affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, said on Thursday evening that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) was “working around the clock” to verify the status of the missing Australians. The figure

The party’s key figures are either unable or unwilling to neatly articulate their migration targets, contradicting one another – and themselves Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation has experienced a swell in popular support in the past year, and has primarily done so off the back of tough talk on immigration – a policy area almost synonymous with its leader, Pauline Hanson. But a series of blunders this week show a party unable, or unwilling, to clearly articulate what it would actually do

State government says ‘breach bail, go to jail’ laws raise risk of overcrowding in jails, while one expert warns they may lead to ‘cruel outcomes’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Queensland government’s latest law and order crackdown – subjecting some children as young as 10 to a mandatory sentence of a year behind bars – could lead to “cruel outcomes”, according to human rights lawyers. In documents tabled with the legislation on Thursday, the government conceded its laws, dubbed “breach bail, go to jail”, would breach human rights and risk further straining

Moscow threatens retaliation after Andy Burnham says UK will help Ukraine start producing long-range missiles Russia has said it could retaliate against the UK for its support of Kyiv by striking military targets inside and outside Ukraine, amid reports that the director of the CIA warned the Kremlin against attacking Nato during a secretive visit this week. Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, said on Monday the UK would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start ⁠its own production of Storm Shadow ​long-range ​cruise missiles. France has also agreed to supply missile technology. Maria ⁠Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said

Father Dionysios Tabakis says his views are those of Orthodox church, ‘nothing more, nothing less’ A Greek Orthodox priest whose home-recorded album of drone metal and religious dubstep has made him a cult figure in experimental music circles has issued a statement in which he has clarified his stance on homosexuality and the Greek radical right. “As can be seen from my musical expression, I am in favour of unity, love, empathy and help for every needy, wronged and suffering person in life,” Father Dionysios Tabakis said in a public statement shared with the Guardian. “Whoever they are, whatever they

Bosnian Serb commander responsible for Srebrenica massacre dies in prison while serving life sentence for genocide From the archive: Fourteen years a fugitive: the hunt for the Butcher of Bosnia Ratko Mladić will die in jail. But go to Bosnia: you’ll see that he won Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague. Mladić had been one of the main architects of the policy of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian war. He was convicted of genocide for orchestrating the 1995 killing of

Gold collection known as Treasure of Villena, worth at least €1.7m, is target of ‘very well planned’ raid Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of bronze age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent. The raid on Thursday morning of the 66 mostly gold objects in the Spanish town of Villena lasted just minutes, officials said. Continue reading...

Mosquito traps are set up at Germany’s biggest airport and doctors are asked to look out for symptoms of disease German health officials are seeking to reassure the public after two workers at the country’s biggest airport died of malaria. Mosquito traps have been set up at Frankfurt airport and a mosquito monitoring process is under way. A detailed investigation is being conducted to clarify how the workers contracted the disease. Continue reading...

Efforts to rebuild domestic food production face severe challenges and have come at deadly cost As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive. With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly. Continue reading...

As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”. For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests . Continue reading...

Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions? It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world

Washington launches campaign to isolate Tehran but it is unclear whether it will apply measures to China The US has threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, hoping to achieve with economic measures what military means have so far failed to do. It is unclear, however, how far the Trump administration is prepared to go in confronting China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, which has signalled its resistance to US economic pressure to cut off links with an ally. Continue reading...

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credible Tehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”. In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and the UAE. Continue reading...

Authorities say water rising at lake at site of disaster and it could burst Nearly 1,400 missing, mostly tourists, and hundreds killed Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border , with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port. “Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn

Unusual heat this year may have melted ice and thawed bonds that hold glaciers in place – leading to catastrophe Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet? The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people. Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on

Flash floods have killed at least 389 people while homes and infrastructure have been swept away Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet? The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake ⁠formed at the ⁠site ⁠where the ​deadly torrents occurred ⁠was rising and ⁠at risk ​of ‌bursting. The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 389 people and left more than 1,300 missing. Continue

Rescue teams try to locate nearly 1,400 missing people, mostly tourists, while police report recovery of 389 bodies Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Rescue teams in Nepal are searching for at least 33 British nationals who are among those missing after flash floods ravaged its border with Tibet, killing more than 380 people. Nearly 1,400 people are missing, most of them tourists, authorities have said, after a glacier collapse triggered floods that roared down valleys and razed entire villages . Continue reading...

Authorities at biggest state hospital in Islamabad say 15 babies were in the ward when fire broke out At least 14 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out in the maternity ward at one of Pakistan’s most prominent state hospitals. The blaze began in the early hours of Wednesday and engulfed the ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the biggest state hospital in Islamabad. Continue reading...

New rules are aimed at protecting people in debt in England and Wales and stopping homeowners being ripped off A clampdown on “rogue bailiffs” has been launched by Andy Burnham amid concerns that vulnerable people are being overcharged and face aggressive behaviour. In the latest in a series of “everyday fixes” to ease the cost of living and “make Britain fairer”, the prime minister said he was strengthening the rules that apply to bailiffs in England and Wales to better protect people in debt. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Campaigner says PM wrote in email he believed £500k cap should be reduced over time to guard against undue influences Andy Burnham recently supported an even lower donations cap than previously reported, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian, as the row over next week’s elections bill escalates. The prime minister wrote to a campaigner in May outlining his support for a £500,000 individual donations cap, which he said would “guard against the perception of any one party being unduly influenced or swayed by one person or organisation”. Continue reading...

Sally-Anne Bowen, now 65, convicted of assaulting boys at Christ’s College, Finchley, where she was chemistry teacher A chemistry teacher has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two teenage pupils at an all-boys school in the late 1980s. Sally-Anne Bowen, who taught at Christ’s College in Finchley, north London, assaulted the teenage boys when they were aged around 14 to 15 and she was in her mid-20s. Continue reading...

Jes Staley made comments to US lawmakers investigating his links to the convicted sex offender The former Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied having sex with a woman dressed as Snow White, after being questioned about an infamous email exchange about Disney princesses with Jeffrey Epstein. The comments were detailed in newly released transcripts from a closed-door interview last month with US lawmakers as part of their investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges. Continue reading...

Labour’s Andy McDonald says gangs ‘clearly featuring’ in a series of incidents and police are underfunded Five MPs on Teesside have called on the government to provide more help to local police and fire services after a week in which nine people have died in two incidents. The MPs said the communities they represented should get the “strongest possible backing from the government”. Continue reading...

Ontario is an indigenous name that predates both the US and Canada, Mark Carney says; move by Trump comes amid trade tensions Sign up for the Breaking News US email On Wednesday, Trump officially signed a proclamation on Wednesday that suspends higher tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef imports for 90 days. This comes after backlash to the proposal – designed to lower grocery costs for Americans in the run-up to the November midterms. Several Republicans – in states with sizable cattle farming industries – have criticized the policy, saying it is a short term solution that will

Three employees of Stars and Stripes, a government-funded news service, allege they were fired after reporting on USS Abraham Lincoln Three journalists who were fired by the Pentagon from a US government-funded news outlet sued the Department of Defense in federal court on Thursday, arguing their dismissals were illegal and violated their first amendment rights to free speech. The three journalists were all employees of Stars and Stripes, which their court filing calls “the U.S. military’s independent news source since the Civil War with a long history of editorial independence, free from news management or censorship by military command”. Continue

Congressman Jamie Raskin asks president’s son to detail firm’s recent success after he joined 1789 Capital as partner Democrats on a powerful US congressional committee have launched an investigation into a venture capital firm which has thrived since recruiting Donald Trump’s son. Donald Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital as a partner just days after his father won a second term in office in November 2024. Congressman Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the US House of Representatives judiciary committee, has asked the president’s son to detail the firm’s recent success. Continue reading...

Grand jury declined to indict anyone but said there was a ‘sophisticated scheme’ to use funds for political activity US politics live – latest updates A Florida grand jury has found that the administration of the governor, Ron DeSantis , “misappropriated” $10m in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity with ties to DeSantis’s wife, before the money was reportedly “funneled” into “two political action committees”. In the grand jury report , which remains sealed but was obtained and published by CBS News Miami on Wednesday, the grand jurors wrote that “we conclude that

Representative Mike Collins has been dogged by associations to white nationalism and antisemitism US politics live – latest updates The US senator for Georgia Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, has slammed a “disgraceful and disqualifying” report that a former staffer for his Trump-backed Republican challenger Mike Collins shared images online of a swastika and depicting himself in Ku Klux Klan robes. It is the latest instance of someone in Collins’s orbit facing scrutiny over racist or white nationalist conduct. Ossoff called the report “stunning” and said it “should shock the conscience of every Georgian”. Continue reading...

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate stood in the witness box in federal court on Thursday and said they could not adequately defend themselves from criminal sex charges if they had to remain in a Miami jail while fighting extradition to the UK. During nearly two hours in a Miami courtroom, the Tates, in shackles and tan jail jumpsuits, denied under oath criminal accusations across multiple countries, blasted their critics and described their brash online personas that exude wealth...

Brazil will not be able to make rare earth magnets from its own raw materials before 2032, the coordinator of the country’s main magnet pilot plant said on Wednesday, leaving China’s near monopoly on the technology intact for years to come. Andre Luis Pimenta de Faria, who runs the plant for Senai, the research and training arm of Brazil’s national industry confederation, told a public policy panel at Exposibram, the country’s largest mining congress, that first batches could come by the end of...

The US military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, an American defence official in Europe and a Nato official said, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in Nato countries to a potential Russian attack. The US defence official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The Nato official...

The United Kingdom has seen a spike in the number of migrants applying for citizenship and permanent settlement ahead of a planned government clampdown. Government data shows what appears to be a rush to secure residency rights in response to changes announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that would force migrants to wait longer before they can gain them. The Home Office said 199,628 people were granted settlement, giving them the right to live, work and study in the UK permanently, in the...

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has died, Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported on Thursday. Mladic, 84, who had suffered several strokes in recent months, was serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity after overseeing the Srebrenica slaughter, Europe’s worst act of bloodshed since second world war. Serbian state officials and Mladic’s family had...

Two years ago, the prospect of a trade war between the United States and Canada, two of the world’s most closely integrated economies, would have been unthinkable. However, US President Donald Trump’s recklessness and capriciousness know no bounds. Last week’s breakdown in negotiations between the North American neighbours, which triggered the imposition of US tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian goods, showed the degree to which Trump’s trade policies are vindictive, politicised...

The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate. Six months after US and Israeli ⁠forces attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and maiming his son and successor, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power and believes it has time on its side. A threat by US President Donald Trump to impose crippling new sanctions on Iran faces a fundamental problem: Tehran is betting he will not take the final step to break the stalemate – aggressively enforcing...

Russian ⁠foreign ⁠ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ⁠said on Thursday that Russia could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine ‌in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russia using British missiles. Zakharova called on Britain to back off what she called London’s hostile ⁠stance on Ukraine, which she said ‌risked taking the conflict to an entirely new level. She ‌had told the same Moscow ⁠news ⁠briefing earlier that Britain and France were “playing with ‌fire” by supplying...

Colombia’s new hard-right government wants to use prison ships adrift at sea to lock up people it considers highly dangerous criminals, a defence ministry source said on Wednesday. President Abelardo de la Espriella took office earlier this month, vowing to come down hard on armed groups in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer. The US-backed millionaire campaigned on a pledge to bomb guerrillas and build so-called “mega prisons” in the style of El Salvador’s leader, Nayib...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iran even as the unpopular and costly war drags on with no end in sight and no sign that the US is close to achieving any of the lofty goals he set for the conflict. Trump posted an image of himself along with Iran’s slain former supreme leader Ali Khamenei against a stylised landscape background of punishing US air and missile attacks. “Mission Accomplished 2026”, a caption reads. The slogan evokes former president George...

Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died from malaria after being infected by mosquitoes believed to have arrived in Germany on aircraft from malaria-endemic regions, airport operator Fraport and city health authorities said on Wednesday. The first death occurred in early July, the Frankfurt city health authority said, adding that the cause was established only after the patient died. The second death occurred in August, it said. The health authority said a total of six workers had been...

Tim Curry, the baritone-voiced British actor who pranced to movie fame as a singing, lingerie-clad “sweet transvestite” in the 1975 ⁠cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died at ⁠the age of 80, his manager said on Wednesday. A cause of ⁠death was not immediately given, but Curry had been in ill health for some time. He died peacefully on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, his manager said. Curry appeared in numerous films, often as a hammy villain, was nominated three times for a...

Brazil has not answered two American proposals to formalise cooperation on critical minerals, a senior US diplomat said at Latin America’s largest mining fair, leaving Washington without a bilateral deal as it races to build rare earth supply chains outside China. Matthew Lowe, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Brasilia, said Washington invited Brazil years ago to join the Minerals Security Partnership, a US-led grouping that coordinates investment in mineral supply chains, but never...

Meta agreed to pay a coalition of US states as much as US$16.7 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, according to a court filing on Wednesday that ends a landmark trial in California. The settlement, which a federal judge quickly approved, resolves claims by 29 states that Meta deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13. Texas reached a separate...

Iran and Oman have reached agreement on their share of the Strait of Hormuz and its revenues, but the vital waterway will not be reopened if the US does not accept their conditions, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday. Iran and Oman have held on-and-off talks for weeks ‌about controlling traffic through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war began in February. Most shipping has since been shut down, driving global energy...

Prince Harry and his family arrived back in Britain on Wednesday, the BBC reported, days after it was revealed the couple were relocating six years after quitting royal duties and moving to the United States. Last week, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, surprised even their close family when it was disclosed that they would move back from California to somewhere ‌outside London for what was described as an extended period of time. Their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess...

Forty years ago, the Stockholm Document turned the political promise of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act into a more practical system of confidence-building. Amid the Cold War, Europe’s East and West did not disarm, abandon deterrence or begin to trust one another. Instead, they agreed that military competition could be made safer through prior notification, observation, information exchange and verification. The lesson was modest but durable: adversaries do not need trust to reduce uncertainty. That...

US President Donald Trump’s administration is starting to send staff back to some diplomatic missions in the Middle East that were evacuated ‌or downsized amid tensions with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The posts in Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Baghdad, Iraq, are among those where staff will return, the sources said. Family members will also be allowed to return to the US post in Riyadh, they added. The move suggests Washington sees a lower risk of the conflict...

A man killed eight of his relatives, including four children, as they gathered for Sunday dinner at a home outside Billings, Montana, weeks after his parents asked him to move out, a family member told Associated Press. Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, identified the shooter as 44-year-old Alan Smith. Smith’s parents, who were also killed, had asked him to move out, but he returned on Sunday and opened fire, Ireland said. The victims represented four...

A prominent Sikh separatist said Tuesday that the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have warned him that he faces a new credible threat to his life even as a man from India faces sentencing later this year for a 2023 death plot against him. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for Sikhs For Justice, said he was warned by FBI agents who visited him August 12 that he should not travel until the threat is resolved, and, if he does, the agency should be notified in advance of his...

A taboo-breaking book about Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and private life, written by two exiled Russian journalists, won a newly established French literary prize on Tuesday. The book, titled The Tsar in Propria Persona: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All, draws on more than two decades of investigative reporting by journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin. The work won a newly established literary award called the Prix Strasbourg awarded by EBRA, France’s largest regional newspaper group,...

The gaffe at last month’s Aids 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, where a US State Department presentation displayed a map of Africa with every country mislabelled, serves as more than a source of embarrassment. It was a potent symbol of the distance between Washington’s rhetoric and its real stance regarding the African continent. Earlier this year, Nick Checker, a senior US State Department official, spoke of “resetting” US relations with Africa, pivoting away from dependency and towards...

The US Secret ⁠Service is aware ⁠of a video ⁠broadcast by Iranian state television discussing a potential plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump’s youngest son, a spokesman said on ‌Tuesday. “The US Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees. “Out of concern for operational security, we ⁠do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,” Secret Service spokesman Nate Herring wrote in an email. A three-minute...

Six Chinese nationals were killed and nine ‌more are missing after a fire broke out at a gas chemical complex in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, the plant said on Wednesday. A total of seven people died and 152 people were treated for injuries, including 36 ⁠who were rushed to hospitals, the plant said on the Telegram ‌messaging app on Wednesday. The fire, which broke out on Tuesday, was extinguished, it added. An emergency services ‌plane had arrived to transport the injured to other...

A shipper needing to transit the Panama Canal bid a record US$5.3 million to secure its spot, according to people familiar with the matter. South Korea-based SK Gas Ltd agreed to pay the sum to travel the canal on September 1, said the people, who could not be identified as the information was confidential. The fee, determined through an auction run by the canal authority this week, breaks the previous high of US$4.6 million set earlier this month, also paid by a shipper controlling a South...

Dolly Parton, the country music star who rose from grinding poverty in Tennessee to become a rhinestone-studded cultural icon with hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5”, has died at 80, her family said on Tuesday. Parton was more than a singer – she wrote 3,000 songs, acted in major Hollywood films and donated millions of dollars to charities in her home state and beyond. She was also an accomplished businesswoman, with her interests spanning from her popular Dollywood theme park to cosmetics, pet...

Canada announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50 per cent on US$19.94 billion (C$27.6 billion) of American goods on Tuesday, escalating its trade confrontation with Washington days after negotiations collapsed and the Trump administration imposed sweeping new duties on Canadian products. The tariffs, which take effect on September 8, will apply to more than 700 categories of US goods at rates of 15, 25 or 50 per cent, according to the Canadian government. The targeted products range from steel,...

Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a federal judge Tuesday who said the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and long-time associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless”. Maxwell filed a habeas petition last December seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, claiming exonerating information was withheld and false testimony presented at her trial,...

US CIA Director ⁠John Ratcliffe spoke with Russian intelligence ⁠officials during a visit to Moscow but did not meet President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Wednesday of a trip that US President Donald Trump described as “semi-routine”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Putin had been briefed on the outcome of Tuesday’s visit, ‌which came as the war in Ukraine drags on and as efforts to reach a lasting peace between the United States and Iran have stalled. Peskov declined to...

Brazil’s data protection authority fined ByteDance US$30 million on Tuesday over its handling of children’s data on TikTok, the largest penalty it has imposed since it was created in 2020. The National Data Protection Authority, known as the ANPD, found five breaches of Brazil’s data protection law and gave ByteDance 10 working days to appeal. The company must also erase the records of users aged 13 to 18 whose parental authorisation is not regularised within 60 working days, instruct every...

Long queues formed at petrol stations in Tehran on Tuesday after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into submission. Washington has turned to pulling economic levers six months into a war on Iran that has ground to a stalemate militarily, with peace talks stalled and most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz blocked. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday laid out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, saying the “objective is to sever...

The Mecca security pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan stipulates that an armed attack against one shall count as an attack against all three. Yet the real message is directed at the United States: if being an American ally offers no immunity against attack, there is little point in waiting for Washington to honour its security guarantees. That there has been no official White House statement casts some doubt on whether Donald Trump is really “very happy to see that Saudi Arabia,...

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is considering changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as the trade war between the United States and Canada intensifies. Such a change would be reminiscent of the Republican president’s unilateral action last year by executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The US and Canada are locked in a trade dispute, with Canada expected on Tuesday to announce retaliatory measures after the Trump administration enacted...

China and the US should strive for “normal stability with controllable disagreements” in their relations, a senior Chinese official has urged in the latest semi-official dialogue with Washington. During the talks on Tuesday, Liu Haixing, head of the Communist Party’s International Department, said the two countries should expand the “pie” of shared interests to achieve positive stability anchored in cooperation. “[Both sides] should reject zero-sum games to achieve healthy stability with...

Like many Kuwaitis, Ghanim Alsulaimani still vividly remembers Iraqi tanks rolling through his hometown when his small Gulf state faced extinction had US troops not liberated it from invasion. Now, decades later and six months into the US-Iran war, some are seeing those same American troops as more of a liability than an asset, as their presence has put Kuwait in Tehran’s line of fire. Since the Middle East conflict first erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Islamic...

A coalition may call itself a commitment. It still has to say what that commitment is. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to send a letter to dozens of countries, pressing them to choose sides in the US-China artificial intelligence race. Those that join Beijing’s proposed AI cooperation framework would be excluded from the US-led AI coalition. “To be part of everything is to be part of nothing,” the draft says. An American official summarised the message more bluntly: countries...

Israel’s escalating campaign to stop Syria rebuilding its military with Turkish help looks set to backfire, after Damascus signalled it was considering joining the new mutual-defence pact formed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Securing a Washington-mediated security deal with Israel was still Damascus’ top priority, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani reportedly told Roman Gofman, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, at a meeting in Amman on Sunday. Such a deal would see...

For months, Masoumeh Zakeri has endlessly replayed the last night she spent with her nine-year-old daughter before she was killed in a strike on her school during the opening hours of the US-Israel war with Iran. Motahreh excitedly talked about coming holidays, planned weddings and the clothes she wanted to buy. She had a Ramadan pre-fast meal shortly before dawn and then Zakeri tucked her into bed. “I never saw her again. (That was) the last time,” the 44-year-old mother told Agence...

At least 47 people were killed and 22 more injured in an overnight gang raid on a neighbourhood overlooking Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, the UN said on Monday, prompting anger over the lack of protection from repeated deadly attacks. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti ‌said estimates could still change. The hillside community of Kenscoff, in a strategic position overlooking routes into the capital, has suffered a dozen attacks by armed gangs since last year, forcing thousands to...

Scientists have recorded the highest temperature ever measured in the world’s oceans, as climate change combines with a powerful El Nino in the tropical Pacific. The global average sea-surface temperature hit a record 21.1 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) on August 22, according to Europe’s Earth observation agency Copernicus, which has been tracking the metric daily since 1979. The previous single-day record of 21.09 degrees was measured in March 2024. “El Nino is adding heat to the system, but...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had attempted to assassinate one of his two sons, without offering further details. “Something incredible happened: Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill one of my sons,” Netanyahu said during a phone interview with Israel’s Channel 14. The claim came during a discussion about reports that the Shin Bet domestic security agency had declined to provide a security detail for Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who is...

South Korea and the US agreed to maintain close coordination on efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea, days after Pyongyang rebuffed President Donald Trump’s overtures and launched a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call late on Monday that Seoul would work to ensure that Trump’s recent messages lead to renewed US-North Korea discussions and peace on the Korean peninsula, Seoul’s Foreign...

“Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen.” Donald J. Trump It would be easy to write off the regular word salads of America’s 47th president as the increasingly incoherent ramblings of an elderly man in obvious mental and physical decline. However, one can also argue that Trump’s seemingly dyslexic struggles with the English language reflect a deliberate disregard for grammar rules that resonates with his support base. It’s the level of language that up to half of Americans happily use...

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he and other European leaders plan to travel to the US next month to lobby President Donald Trump to let Ukraine access some of its Patriot air defence missile stocks ahead of the winter. “I’m looking forward to going to New York in September,” Burnham said in an interview with Bloomberg in Kyiv on Monday evening, referring to the coming UN General Assembly meeting in New York. It would be his first trip to the US since becoming prime minister. “I’ve not fully...

The president also reiterated his criticism that Canada “treats us very badly.” Trade talks between the nations collapsed last week.

A crackdown on American academia by the Trump administration has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure some top researchers north.

Ssense’s comeback efforts include moving a core part of its business to the United States so American customers can avoid hefty tariffs.

Intrinsic capacity is quickly becoming a preferred way to measure and assess human aging.

President Trump originally intended to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 with remarks at ground zero, but the memorial’s organizers do not allow speeches. Mr. Trump changed his plans.

A controller let a jet take off after missing warnings that Marine One was about to fly through the area, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

After the court forced the removal of the president’s name from the building’s title, the center devised a plan to add an inscription honoring President Trump.

The two controllers are among a dozen that the Federal Aviation Administration has taken steps to fire as part of an inquiry into timecard fraud, according to people familiar with the matter.

At a festival on a disc golf course, on a peninsula in Iceland, waiting for the sky to descend into darkness.

People in the Americas, Africa and Europe will have a chance to see Earth’s shadow create a near-total blood moon.

The shots have been approved for people 65 and older, and for younger people with underlying conditions. Others may be able to get them off label.

In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem.

A surging online push to rename Nashville International Airport for the beloved Tennessean superstar could get snagged in bureaucracy and politics.

Outrage over making Representative Jared Moskowitz, who is vocally pro-Israel, the top Democrat on a Middle East policy subcommittee reflected the party’s rift over Israel.

Many Republicans are hoping for financial support from President Trump, whose fund-raising power in the party remains unmatched despite his low poll numbers.

The top Democrats will gather party donors on Sept. 10, just as Republicans converge in Texas for their unusual midterm convention.

Mayor Karen Bass had compared the ubiquitous purveyors of street food with homeless encampments. Her opponent, Nithya Raman, said vendors should be brought into the system.

In “The Anxious Generation,” he laid out the evils of social media for kids. The landmark Meta settlement seems to agree.

Our reporter Cecilia Kang explains Meta’s settlement of a lawsuit claiming that the company’s social media platforms had harmed teenage users.

Across the country, parents described feeling some validation after the landmark $17.1 billion settlement. But they also felt skeptical that much of anything will change.

We are approaching a credibility crisis with Scott Bessent and Kevin Warsh leading our economy.

The anti-woke movement’s “cure” was more intolerance and more repression.

Racing against the darkness, rescuers in California on Saturday saved a man who had become stranded on a ledge perched atop a soaring peak on the Sierra Nevada.