Minimalist News

John Brennan Hit With Criminal Referral Over Steele Dossier Lies House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday referred former CIA director John Brennan to the Justice Department for prosecution, alleging that Brennan made false statements to Congress about how the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian election interference handled material from the so-called Steele dossier. In a five-page referral letter dated today, Jordan argues that Brennan’s sworn May 11, 2023 testimony conflicted with declassified records the committee says now show the dossier was not only reviewed by the CIA but also included - via an annex - in the intelligence community’s assessment.

Chip Roy And Allies Poised To Demand Vote On Congressional Stock-Owning Ban As if Speaker Mike Johnson didn't already have enough headaches awaiting him when he eventually reconvenes the House, Congressman Chip Roy and a bipartisan group of representatives are promising to push hard for a vote on a bill that would put an end to stock-trading by members of the federal legislature -- who routinely have advance access to information that moves both individual securities and entire markets.  "We’re going to have a vote on stock trading,” said Roy on Monday. "When we get back, we got to have a conference

Federal Judge Blocks Push To Remove Gender Ideology From Sex Ed Curricula Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, A federal judge in Oregon said during a hearing on Monday that she plans to issue an injunction stopping the Trump administration from requiring several Democratic-led states to remove references to gender ideology from their sexual health education curricula as a condition of receiving federal grant funding. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, based in Eugene, made the comments in reference to a lawsuit filed by 16 states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon,

"Wealth Creation": OnlyFans CEO Says $25 Billion Paid To Creators Since 2016 The CEO of the X-rated social media platform OnlyFans joined Bloomberg Tech in London earlier to discuss how the platform has paid out a whopping $25 billion to creators since its 2016 founding. "There's not very many companies that can talk about creating wealth for others rather than just profiteering," CEO Keily Blair told the audience.  OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair. Source: Bloomberg UK-based OnlyFans is a major hub for porn content creators. So when Blair says it has "created wealth for others," she's essentially referring to generating income for ex-strippers and influencers. To be fair, the

This Is Why Democrats Are Doomed... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Sports commentator Clay Travis, appearing on Fox News with Jesse Watters, delivered a scathing 40-second assessment of the Democrats’ downfall during coverage of a “No Kings” rally in Boston. Travis’s remarks highlight a broader sentiment: the party has lost touch with mainstream America, particularly younger generations, and risks becoming a relic of the past. “They’ve lost culture… Calling someone a Democrat is an insult,” Travis noted, adding “Calling someone a Kamala voter is an insult. This is white, black, Asian, Hispanic: young men across America are over the BS that they

Netflix Crashes After Musk's "Cancel" Crusade Leads To Top, Bottom Line Miss As Goldman wrote in its preview, positioning into today's earnings from Netflix was muted at best, with the stock serving as a "funding short" for various tech-linked pair trades. It is therefore safe to say that expectations were rather muted (with options pricing in 7.5% implied move). Well, for once Wall Street had it spot and whether or not this was due to Elon Musk's aggressive campaign to "Cancel Netflix" due to its tranny-endorsing content, moments ago the company reported results which were catastrophic, with the company missing on

Pirro Busts Two Adult 'Big Balls' Attackers After Judge Lets Teens Off Easy US authorities have charged and arrested two more teens in the attempted carjacking and savage beating of Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old former DOGE staffer known as "Big Balls." U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks at a news conference Monday in Washington after the latest arrests in the assault of former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters) Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, have were charged with robbery and assault over their alleged roles in the Aug. 3 attack on Big Balls - as well as a separate incident which took place at

Residential Electricity Prices Surge Ahead Of Commercial And Industrial Rates Submitted by Ethan Howland of UtilityDive Residential electricity retail prices rose more rapidly than commercial and industrial prices from 2019 to 2024, according to a study released last week by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Nationwide, average residential prices jumped 27% to 16.5 cents/kWh in the five years since 2019 while average commercial prices increased 19% to 12.8 cents/kWh and industrial prices climbed 19% to 8.1 cents/kWh, the LBNL researchers said in a summary of the report examining factors that affect electricity prices. Overall retail electricity prices fell in 37 states from 2019 to

There Are Three Major Tailwinds For Crypto's Next Rally; Galaxy Digital Authored by Siamak Masnavi via CoinDesk, Galaxy Digital's top researcher Alex Thorn says the structural bull case is intact, pointing to AI capex, stablecoins, and tokenization as tailwinds even after this month’s shakeout. October’s wobble hasn’t broken the cycle, Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital’s head of research, argues. The note was first sent to subscribers of Galaxy Research’s Weekly Research Brief and later reproduced on X. Thorn says the Oct. 10 sell-off began with high leverage slamming into thin order books, then worsened as exchange auto-deleveraging capped some market-maker shorts and thinned liquidity at the worst point.

Browser Wars Have Begun: OpenAI's 'Atlas' Launch Sparks Anxiety For Alphabet Shares of Google fell after OpenAI unveiled plans to launch its first AI-powered web browser, signaling direct competition with Google Chrome. The new browser, called “Atlas,” will debut globally on macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions coming in the near term. According to Sam Altman and other OpenAI executives, Atlas will feature: * An AI agent capable of fully controlling your browser * The ability to chat directly with any website you visit * Conversational access to your entire browsing history * Deeply integrated, personalized AI features are woven into

Trump To Buy Tiny 1 Million Barrels For SPR As China Unleashes Record Oil Stockpiling Spree Badly beating down oil jumped, if only briefly, on a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration plans to buy 1 million barrels for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking advantage of low oil prices to begin filing the depleted stockpile. The Energy Department intends to announce Tuesday that it’s seeking oil for delivery in December and January, using a portion of the $171 million from President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending law that provided for crude purchases, according to an agency official. West Texas Intermediate, which

Stocks Dumped On Trump China Comments With stocks back near record highs (having recovered quickly from their last Trump-driven plunge), it appears the hubris of market strength rubbed off again on the President as he dropped the following tape-bombs once again raising the rhetoric on any possible trade deal with China: * *TRUMP: MAYBE MEETING WON'T HAPPEN WITH XI * *TRUMP: I WANT XI TO HAVE A GOOD DEAL FOR CHINA * *TRUMP: EXPECT TO MAKE GOOD DEAL WITH XI * *TRUMP: WE BUILT CHINA'S MILITARY WITH ALL MONEY WE LOST Sending stocks tumbling, sending Nasdaq into the red... Interestingly, the comments came

Europe, Ukraine Discussing 12-Point Plan To End War; Trump-Putin Meeting 'Not Imminent' Update (1232ET): Europe and the UK are discussing a 12-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Bloomberg reports.  * The war would end along current battle lines * Trump administration 'Peace Board' would oversee * Ukraine would receive security guarantees and reconstruction funds * Sanctions on Russia would be gradually lifted * Russia has to contribute to Ukraine reconstruction funds * 'No clear date' set for meeting between Trump and Putin  The plan would end the war along current battle lines - a counter to Vladimir Putin's demand that Kiev surrender more territory in return for a peace

Embarrassment Of Riches, Poverty Of Takes By Michael Every of Rabobank Today has an embarrassment of riches in news; and a poverty of takes of how it all links together. Bloomberg claims the ‘’Widow-Maker’ Trade Becomes World Beater as Japanese Bonds Sink’. The 2025 trend in JGB yields, if now off recent highs, shows a generational shift taking place, which could accelerate following the emergence of Takaichi as PM. * Similar worries remain from the US to “Où sont my crown jewels?” France to EM, even if yields moved lower yesterday on safe-haven bids as the global internet wobbled. After Trump told President Zelenskyy

Amazon's Reputation At Risk After 15 Hours Of Disruptions; May Spark Customer Demand For 'Cloud Diversification' What many Americans discovered early Monday morning is that nothing online is guaranteed, not even the biggest websites, apps, or messaging services, after a massive outage in Amazon Web Services' (AWS) U.S. East 1 region in Northern Virginia triggered 15 hours of internet chaos. The disruption has reignited fears about overreliance on a single cloud provider and is expected to push major companies toward spreading their infrastructure risk across multiple clouds rather than relying on just one. Bloomberg reports that yesterday's AWS outage in the U.S. East

Alaska's $44 Billion LNG Project Nears Key Milestone As Pipeline Study Wraps Up By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com The proponents of the $44-billion Alaska LNG are expected to complete by the end of the year the crucial engineering and cost study for an 800-mile-long pipeline set to service the export project, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has said. > “There's a lot of optimism about the Alaska LNG project, and the FEED study should be coming out in December of this year, and I think that we're going to see a lot of interest in that project,” Burgum said at an

Trump Winning Shutdown Fight As Public Opinion Shifts In His Favor During the 2018-2019 government shutdown (the longest federal shutdown in US history lasting 35 days), Donald Trump's first term administration was ill prepared for the tactics used by the establishment media, Democrats and even saboteurs within his own cabinet.  The narrative spin was highly effective in painting Trump as the villain, subverting his efforts to achieve lasting security at the southern border. The 2018 shutdown hinged largely on the fight between Republicans and Democrats over funding for a border wall that would ensure far lower illegal immigration numbers well after Trump

Reddit Army Squeezes Beyond Meat A Week After Debt-Swap Dilution Deal Fake food company Beyond Meat, once endlessly promoted by globalist corporate media trying to convince the nation that cow farts are bad and fake meat is good, has been locked in a near five-year bear market. It seems that Redditors and the company's press release are squeezing shares higher. However, a recent debt swap for equity will substantially dilute shareholders. We've seen this story before, and it never ends well. News this morning that Beyond Meat plans to expand its fake food products to over 2,000 Walmart stores nationwide sent shares

Eos Energy Shares Surge After Announcing New $75 Million Facility In Pennsylvania Shares of Eos Energy Enterprises surged more than 20% this morning (before pulling back into the cash equity open) after the company announced a $75 million battery manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania to supply Talen Energy Corp. and help meet the state’s fast-growing data center power demand. The new plant, slated to open in mid-2026, will produce two gigawatt-hours of batteries, effectively doubling Eos’s production capacity in the Pittsburgh region, according to Bloomberg.  “The energy to be generated is enough to power about 1.5 million homes for an hour,” said CEO Joe

Stage 5 TDS: Deranged De Niro Calls For Leftists To "Fight It Out" With "Nazis" Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Washed up actor Robert De Niro had an unhinged rant platformed on MSNBC during which he called the Trump administration “Nazis” and said leftists need to “fight it out” with them because otherwise the President will not leave the White House at the end of his term in office. “We see it we see it we see it all the time, he will not want to leave,” De Niro blathered, adding “He set it up with, I guess he’s the Goebbels of

Historic case over bribery and witness tampering has gripped nation and soured conservative strongman’s legacy An appeals court has overturned the conviction of the former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe for bribery and witness tampering in a historic case that gripped the South American country and tarnished the conservative strongman’s legacy. Uribe, 73, has denied any wrongdoing. He was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest in August following a nearly six-month trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he attempted to influence witnesses who accused the law-and-order leader of having links to a paramilitary group in the 1990s. Continue reading...

Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the most venerable of the leviathans now numbers 384, up eight from past year One of the rarest whales on the planet has continued an encouraging trend of population growth in the wake of new efforts to protect the giant animals, according to scientists who study them. The North Atlantic right whale now numbers an estimated 384 animals, up eight whales from the previous year, according to a report by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium released on Tuesday. The whales have shown a trend of slow population growth over the past four years and

Legal teams are midway through a hearing over whether one vote truly swayed an election in a Montreal suburb The case of a single vote which determined the outcome of a federal election in Canada risks sending the “disastrous message” to voters that “some votes count more than others”, says the lawyer of a former MP as a court considers whether to void the controversial election and hold a new vote. Legal teams in Quebec are midway through a three-day hearing over whether a single vote – and an administrative error – truly swayed a recent election in a suburb north of

Officials say they have no evidence man had committed a crime, after Trump called people on submarine ‘terrorists’ * CIA playing ‘most important part’ in US strikes in the Caribbean, sources say Ecuador has released a man who survived a US strike on a suspected drug-trafficking submarine, after finding no evidence that he had committed a crime, the attorney general’s office has said. The United States has deployed warships to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela since August, attacking mostly boats that US authorities said were running drugs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sources say the agency is providing real-time intelligence collected by satellites and signal intercepts * Ecuador releases survivor of US strike on alleged drug-trafficking submarine The Central Intelligence Agency is providing the bulk of the intelligence used to carry out the controversial lethal airstrikes by the Trump administration against small, fast-going boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the operations. Experts say the agency’s central role means much of the evidence used to select which alleged smugglers to kill on the open sea will almost certainly remain secret. The agency’s central

New leader had promised levels of female representation comparable to those in Iceland, where six of cabinet of 11 are women Sanae Takaichi made history on Tuesday when she became Japan’s first female prime minister. But hours after she was elected by MPs, it was evident that female under representation in the country’s political establishment would continue when she appointed just two women to her cabinet. Takaichi had promised levels of female representation in her government comparable to those in Iceland, Finland and Norway. Continue reading...

Sanae Takaichi has made history but will have little time to settle in before negotiating the pitfalls of rising prices, power struggles and a mercurial US president It is hard to overstate the symbolism of Sanae Takaichi’s achievement in becoming the first female prime minister of Japan, a country that consistently ranks poorly in global gender equality comparisons, not least in politics and business. However, she will have precious little time to savour her historic appointment on Tuesday. Continue reading...

US president says ‘I want to be good to China’ after Pentagon previously warned China may attempt takeover of Taiwan Donald Trump has expressed doubt on Monday that China would invade Taiwan as he voiced confidence in his relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, whom he will meet later this month. Trump was asked about an earlier Pentagon assessment that Xi could in the next six years attempt to seize Taiwan, a self-governing democracy claimed by China. Continue reading...

Volunteers defy their government and public opinion in China to risk their lives for an adversary of Beijing’s main geopolitical partner In a war that has been characterised by merciless attacks on civilians, one of the worst took place on 8 July 2024. Russian missile strikes killed at least 43 people in cities across Ukraine in one of the deadliest days of the war last year. One of the most shocking blows was to the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv, which reduced the country’s largest paediatric clinic to rubble. Tim, 43, was delivering aid on the outskirts of Kyiv when he

Officials confirm reports that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party will join forces with rightwing Nippon Ishin Sanae Takaichi is on course to become Japan’s first female prime minister this week after her party agreed to form a new coalition with a minor party. Officials confirmed on Monday that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had joined forces with the rightwing Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation party), which shares her hawkish stance on China and support for restrictions on immigration. Continue reading...

BoM warning of 39C would surpass 38.2C October record from 2004. Follow today’s news live * October heat records broken across Australia as Sydney braces for temperatures way above the norm * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Brittany Higgins has dropped her appeal against the Western Australia supreme court decision that she defamed Linda Reynolds in a series of social media posts, according to reports. In August the state supreme court judge Paul Tottle ruled that the former defence minister’s reputation was damaged by a 2022 social media post from David Sharaz, which Higgins responded to,

Donald Trump had told Kevin Rudd he ‘probably never will’ like him, prompting apology from ambassador * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has strongly backed Kevin Rudd to remain as US ambassador, saying he “works his guts out”, and downplayed an awkward interaction with Donald Trump during their White House meeting. It came after a prominent Republican congressman addressed Rudd in a speech in Washington DC, jokingly telling him: “I’m glad you’re still gainfully employed.” Continue reading...

Biotech company argues high pay is required to retain and attract ‘world-class’ talent * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Some of the nation’s biggest companies – including biotechnology giant CSL, telco Optus and oil and gas producer Santos – regularly spend more on bonuses for their chief executives than they pay in company tax in Australia, new analysis shows. The finding, described as “a bit rich” by a tax expert, rubs against an ordinary understanding of bonuses, which would typically rise when an executive helps drive

Though the dollar benefits may not outweigh the cost on Australia’s new mining agreement with the US, experts say it couldn’t have gone any better * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Donald Trump to develop critical minerals projects in Australia that will never be commercially viable. When it’s laid out like that, it very much sounds as though our prime minister fell victim to the president’s “art of the deal”. But we are in a new world where

Exclusive: Looming overhaul of protections should also include definition of ‘unacceptable impact’ on environment, Murray Watt says * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here The Albanese government wants the power to strip companies of any financial gains made from breaking environment laws, as part of a package of landmark reforms to be put before parliament in the next two weeks. In an interview with Guardian Australia, the environment minister, Murray Watt, also revealed he wants a definition of “unacceptable impact” to be part of

Kosovo is an outlier in the region, whose other leaders say ‘looking for places to dump immigrants’ is evidence the UK is in ‘a very dark place’ Kosovo has become the first country to indicate it will accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers as part of government plans to set up “return hubs” in third countries. Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, said he “wants to help the UK” and confirmed discussions were taking place with officials from the UK, the Times reports. The plans would seek to send people whose asylum claims had been turned down to foreign detention centres once

Police continue to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery targeting France’s crown jewels The financial loss from France’s most dramatic heist in decades has been put at nearly €90m as the head of the Louvre prepared to face difficult questions over how thieves were able to steal priceless jewellery in broad daylight. As police continued to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told the broadcaster RTL that the museum’s curator had estimated the losses at about €88m (£76m). Continue reading...

Former president organised stage-managed departure from his Paris home before becoming first French postwar leader to be jailed * What can Sarkozy expect in La Santé prison? The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been jailed in Paris, after a court sentenced him to five years for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012 is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go

Poland’s foreign minister says Putin’s plane could be escorted down as attacks continue with four killed in drone strike in Chernihiv A lawyer for Nicolas Sarkozy said a motion had been filed for his release moments after the former French president entered jail, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Attorney Christophe Ingrain told reporters: A request has been filed for Nicolas Sarkozy’s release. Continue reading...

Former French president will reportedly be held in isolation and has a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo for company Perhaps France’s most fabled jail, La Santé – where the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year term for criminal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from Libya – is the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits. Located in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 executions, the last in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the prison reopened five years later and houses more

Defence secretary says UK will play ‘anchor role’ in US-led civil military coordination centre British troops have been sent to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza after a request from the US. The defence secretary, John Healey, announced the deployment of a small number of planning officers, including a senior commander, at an event on Monday night. He said the UK would play an “anchor role”. Ten days ago the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the UK had “no plans” to send soldiers to Gaza. Continue reading...

During Israel visit US VP also accuses media of ‘desire to root for failure’ amid fears over ceasefire violations. This live blog is closed Gaza’s Government Media Office has posted to Telegram to say only 986 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began just over a week ago, out of the 6,600 trucks that it says were supposed to have arrived by Monday evening. Gaza’s Government Media Office said: The humanitarian convoys included (14) trucks loaded with cooking gas and (28) diesel trucks designated to operate bakeries, generators, hospitals and various vital sectors, in light of the severe shortage

US seeks to downplay seriousness of attacks over weekend as Palestinian officials arrive in Cairo for further peace talks The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he is committed to disarming Hamas and demilitarising the Gaza Strip during a speech before the Knesset on Monday, as Palestinian officials arrived in Cairo for further peace negotiations. In his speech, Netanyahu said that the current deal provided for the return of all Israeli hostages, the Israeli military’s control over the majority of Gaza’s territory and an internationally backed consensus that Hamas would be disarmed. Continue reading...

Group says it will release body on Monday evening as delay in returning hostage remains causes outrage in Israel. This live blog is closed The Guardian’s global affairs correspondent, Andrew Roth, has written an interesting profile on Jared Kushner in which he explores his central role in the ceasefire negotiations and his extensive business dealings in the Middle East. Here is a snippet: The soft-spoken heir to his father’s real estate empire has quietly become a key conduit for Trump’s outreach to the Middle East, leveraging his Rolodex of leaders in the region and positioning himself to win a lucrative windfall if

Documents indicate they came from Sde Teiman, which already faces allegations of torture and unlawful deaths At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel to Gaza had been held in a notorious detention centre already facing allegations of torture and unlawful deaths in custody, officials from Gaza’s health ministry have told the Guardian. The director general of the health ministry, Dr Munir al-Bursh, and a spokesperson for Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the bodies are being examined, said a document found inside each body bag indicated the bodies all came from Sde Teiman, a military base in the Negev

Air breathed by people in the city categorised as ‘severe’ in quality after fireworks contribute to thick smog Delhi awoke to a thick haze on Tuesday, a day after millions of people celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali with fireworks, marking the beginning of the pollution season that has become an annual blight on India’s capital. Those in the most polluted city in the world once again found themselves breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the “severe” category on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Myanmar's military moved in to tackle a major online scam operation near the Thailand border, state media reported Myanmar’s military has raided a major online scam operation near the border with Thailand, detaining more than 2,000 people and seizing dozens of Starlink satellite internet terminals, state media has reported. According to a report in Monday’s Myanma Alinn newspaper, Myanmar’s army raided KK Park, a well-documented cybercrime centre, as part of operations starting in early September to suppress online fraud, illegal gambling, and cross-border cybercrime. Continue reading...

The US president claimed Modi had assured him of deal, but Indian officials insist no such conversation took place India has cast doubt on claims by Donald Trump that its prime minister, Narendra Modi, had agreed to stop buying Russian oil. On Wednesday, Trump claimed that Modi had assured him “today” that India would put an end to its purchase of Russian oil. Continue reading...

Kanchha Sherpa was part of expedition that put Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary atop world’s highest peak in 1953 Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mount Everest, has died at the age of 92, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association. Kanchha died early on Thursday at his home in Kapan, Kathmandu district, said Phur Gelje Sherpa, the association’s president. Continue reading...

Indian-American Ashley Tellis allegedly obtained US military data and passed envelopes to Chinese officials A prominent Indian-American academic and former US government adviser has been arrested and charged with the unlawful retention of national security information, including thousands of pages of top secret documents that were found at his home in Virginia. Ashley Tellis, 64, who served on the national security council of the former US president George W Bush and is credited for helping to negotiate the US-India nuclear deal, was arrested and charged over the weekend. Continue reading...

Six arrests made after crowd hurled fireworks and other missiles at officers during protests following alleged sexual assault on a young girl Six people have been arrested after Irish police battled hundreds of protesters outside a Dublin hotel used to house asylum seekers after an alleged sexual assault on a young girl. The crowd burned a police vehicle and hurled fireworks and other missiles at officers outside the Citywest hotel on Tuesday night. Continue reading...

New law ‘puts needs of survivors above the needs of rapists’, says MP Natalie Fleet, who campaigned for the change Sex offenders will no longer be entitled to parental responsibility for children conceived through rape, under new measures proposed in parliament. In a government-backed amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill, due to come before parliament on Monday 27 October, parental responsibility will automatically be restricted where a child is born of rape. Continue reading...

Government consults on allowing regulator to use lower civil standard of proof and introducing automatic penalties Water companies in England could face more, and automatic, fines for sewage dumping under new Environment Agency powers. The government is consulting on allowing the regulator to use a lower, civil, standard of proof instead of the higher criminal standard, for minor to moderate environmental offences. Continue reading...

‘Groundbreaking’ repeal of presumption of parental involvement in England and Wales ‘will ensure courts place safety of children above all else’ The family courts will no longer work on the presumption that having contact with both parents is in the best interests of a child, in a landmark change that domestic abuse campaigners have said “will save so many children’s lives”. The move has been heralded as “groundbreaking” by family lawyers and campaigners who have long argued that the “pro-contact culture” in the family courts places the rights of abusive fathers over the safety and wellbeing of children. Continue reading...

David Lammy urged to consider 1955 case in light of evidence Ellis was abused by partner before she killed him The grandchildren of the last woman to be hanged in the UK are asking ministers to posthumously pardon her in light of evidence that she was emotionally and physically abused by her partner before she killed him. Ruth Ellis was executed in 1955 after killing David Blakely her partner, who she had met while working in the nightclub she managed two years earlier. At the time, she was portrayed as a “cold-blooded killer” but evidence has since emerged that Blakely, a racing-car

Paul Ingrassia says ‘unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time’ and withdraws nomination The Central Intelligence Agency is providing the bulk of the intelligence used to carry out the controversial lethal air strikes by the Trump administration against small, fast-going boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the operations. Experts say the agency’s central role means much of the evidence used to select which alleged smugglers to kill on the open sea will almost certainly remain secret. Continue reading...

Report on Paul Ingrassia featured messages where he allegedly described himself as having a ‘Nazi streak’ * US politics live – latest updates Paul Ingrassia, Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee federal whistleblower protections, has dropped out after racist text messages he sent surfaced this week. Ingrassia, currently a White House liaison at the Department of Homeland Security, was the subject of a report on Monday published in Politico. The report featured text messages where he allegedly described himself as having “a Nazi streak” and suggested Martin Luther King Jr Day should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell”. Continue reading...

Adelita Grijalva was elected last month but Republican House speaker has so far blocked her from taking seat Arizona’s attorney general is suing to force the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, to swear in Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who won a congressional special election in September. Grijalva was elected on 23 September in the southern Arizona district that her father, Raúl Grijalva, held until his death earlier this year. Continue reading...

Investigation after federal officers shot at man during ‘targeted traffic stop’ and agent was hit by ricochet bullet * US politics live – latest updates An investigation is ongoing after federal agents shot a man in the elbow and a deputy US marshal was hit in the hand by a ricochet bullet during an immigration enforcement operation in south Los Angeles, police said. The Los Angeles police department said the incident was reported shortly before 9am and involved a federal agent being shot. Continue reading...

Grounds, including governor’s office, searched after authorities found what appeared to be a homemade object The Wyoming capitol building, including the governor’s office, was evacuated on Tuesday after a suspected explosive device was found. The grounds were being searched with drones and bomb-sniffing dogs. The evacuation that began at 9.30am was still ongoing at mid-afternoon. Continue reading...

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government in Southern California while working as a campaign adviser for a local politician. Sun Yaoning, also known as Mike Sun, is expected to appear in court in Los Angeles on Monday to enter his plea under a deal with federal prosecutors, according to a copy of the agreement available in online court records. It was signed by Sun, his lawyer and a prosecutor earlier this month. If the plea is accepted...

Mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland in a first for the island nation, which has long been one of the world’s mosquito-free places, a researcher said on Monday. Three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes, two females and one male, were sighted around 30km (20 miles) north of the capital Reykjavik, according to Matthias Alfredsson, an entomologist at the Natural Science Institute of Iceland. “They were all collected from wine ropes … aimed at attracting moths,” the researcher said in an email,...

European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Vladimir Putin’s renewed demands to the US for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. A peace board chaired by US President Donald Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter. Once Russia follows Ukraine in agreeing to a ceasefire and both sides commit to halting territorial advances, the...

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on November 18 and sign agreements on artificial intelligence, defence, nuclear cooperation and trade, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will be the first visit by Saudi Arabia’s 40-year-old de facto leader to the US since 2018. Bloomberg earlier reported that he planned to visit at some stage in November. Normalisation with Israel is expected to be discussed, though it’s...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance and other envoys projected optimism on Tuesday about Gaza’s fragile ceasefire agreement, calling progress better than anticipated as they visited a new centre in Israel for civilian and military cooperation. Vance noted flare-ups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire that began on October 10 is going “better than I expected” after two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added that “we are...

A Chinese woman has been arrested and charged over the theft of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris, in one of several recent high-profile break-ins targeting French cultural institutions, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. The theft – by what the museum’s director at the time said was an “extremely professional team” – took place on September 16, about a month before an audacious jewellery heist at the world-famous Louvre Museum on Sunday. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in...

France’s ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former head of an EU state to be jailed Tuesday, proclaiming his innocence as he entered a Paris prison. France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012 was found guilty last month of seeking to acquire funding from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya for the campaign that saw him elected. The 70-year-old - who has appealed the verdict - left his home, and after a short drive flanked by police on motorbikes, entered the La Sante prison in the French...

After a video call last Saturday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet in Malaysia this week to hopefully ease tensions before US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping potentially meet on the sidelines of this year’s Apec summit. The meeting was in doubt when Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on China, despite later relenting that it might not be sustainable. Washington blamed Beijing for the escalation,...

He won’t call himself a duke any more, but that is not enough for many of Prince Andrew’s critics. Buckingham Palace and the British government were under pressure Monday to formally strip Prince Andrew of his princely title and sumptuous home after new revelations about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. After discussions with his elder brother King Charles, Andrew agreed on Friday to stop using titles including Duke of York. It was the latest effort to insulate the...

For decades, Colombia and the United States have been devoted allies, sharing military intelligence, a robust trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking. Now that is all at risk as the US ramps up deadly air strikes off Colombia’s coast and the leaders of both nations trade scathing verbal attacks. US President Donald Trump called Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter and Colombia’s first leftist president, an “illegal drug dealer”. Petro called Trump “rude”...

Crime gangs around Europe were increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often caught thieves, they struggled to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts have said. Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday’s audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists said. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on. “If...

India and Brazil are doubling down on economic and climate cooperation in a bid to strengthen Brics and bolster the Global South’s negotiating power as both nations face rising trade tensions with the United States. Analysts say the push – announced during Brazilian Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin’s visit to New Delhi last week – is not just about shielding their economies from punitive US tariffs, but also about asserting influence on multilateral issues ranging from energy security to global...

A divided US appeals court ruled on Monday that Donald Trump can send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon, despite objections by the leaders of the city and state, giving the Republican president an important legal victory as he dispatches military forces to a growing number of Democratic-led locales. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Justice Department’s request to put on hold a judge’s order that had blocked the deployment while a legal challenge to...

An American who faked his own death and fled to Scotland to evade justice was sentenced Monday to five-years-to-life in prison for raping his ex-girlfriend 17 years ago. Nicholas Rossi, 38, who potentially could spend the rest of his days behind bars, went to great lengths to conceal his identity and flee after committing the rape in the western state of Utah in 2008, authorities said. State Judge Barry Lawrence pointed to this as an “aggravating factor” as he handed down the sentence in a Salt...

A senior Panamanian official said on Monday that Panama will remain flexible and potentially reach an agreement with CK Hutchison as the Latin American country navigates the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China. “We are working on a plan in case that [Panama’s Supreme Court] ruling goes against the extension of the contract” for CK Hutchison, said Jose Ramon Icaza, Panama’s minister of canal affairs. “In that case, we have to step in as the Panama Maritime Authority to take...

Former FBI director James Comey on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against him, arguing that the US lawyer who brought the case was unlawfully appointed and that he is being unfairly targeted because of US President Donald Trump’s “personal spite” against him. The court filings from Comey, which accuse the Trump administration of “wilfully unlawful conduct”, represent his best chance to get the charges quickly dismissed and avoid a jury trial. Comey previously said he is...

In the shadow of escalating tensions between the United States and China, Graham Allison’s concept of the Thucydides Trap has become a staple of geopolitical discourse. Coined by the Harvard scholar, the term evokes the ancient Greek historian Thucydides’ observation that “it was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable”. Allison’s study of 16 historical cases, where a rising power challenged a ruling one, found war in 12 instances. He warns that...

Demolition crews were tearing down part of the White House’s storied East Wing on Monday to begin building US President Donald Trump’s ballroom, a project he had said would not interfere with the existing landmark. Large construction equipment was seen picking apart the facade of the building, a part of the White House complex that has housed the first lady’s offices, a theatre, and a visitor’s entrance that welcomes foreign dignitaries. The ballroom project is expected to cost upwards of US$250...

A lobbying group whose board includes US firms such as Oracle, Amazon and Exxon Mobil is urging the Trump administration to immediately suspend a rule it says halted billions of dollars’ worth of US exports and will prompt China and other countries to drop US firms from their supply chains. In a letter addressed to US President Donald Trump and seen by Reuters, the National Foreign Trade Council takes aim at the so-called Affiliates Rule, which bars American companies from shipping goods and...

Bolivia’s new pro-business president-elect vowed on Monday to renew diplomatic ties with Washington as the South American country veered right after nearly two decades under socialist rule blamed by many for its myriad economic woes. Rodrigo Paz, a 58-year-old economist-turned senator, emerged victorious in a run-off election on Sunday, beating a fellow right-wing rival after a first voting round in August saw the socialist MAS party founded by ex-leader Evo Morales ousted from the race. In his...

Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed preparations for a coming summit in Hungary between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in a call on Monday, both sides said. Rubio “emphasised the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war”, Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the US State Department, said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said...

The agency responsible for safeguarding the US nuclear stockpile began placing most staff on enforced leave Monday, an official said, as yet another congressional vote to end the crippling government shutdown failed. With the stand-off about to enter its fourth week, some 1,400 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration were due to receive notices telling them they had been placed on unpaid furlough. “Due to the Democrat shutdown, approximately 1,400 NNSA federal employees will be...

Nasa said on Monday it was opening the marquee US moon landing contract to other bidders because Elon Musk’s SpaceX has experienced mounting delays with its Starship lunar lander. The move paves the way for rivals such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to snatch a high-profile mission to land the first astronauts on the moon in half a century. “I’m in the process of opening that contract up. I think we’ll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others,” the US space agency’s acting chief Sean...

As a tenuous ceasefire took hold in Gaza this month, Israel launched more air strikes on southern Lebanon – 11 months into a ceasefire there. The bombardment of a construction equipment business killed a Syrian passer-by, wounded seven people including two women, and destroyed millions of dollars' worth of bulldozers and excavators. The October 11 strikes would be an anomaly in most countries not at war. But near-daily Israeli attacks have become the new normal in Lebanon, nearly a year after a...

Argentina’s central bank said on Monday it signed a US$20 billion exchange rate stabilisation agreement with the US Treasury Department, six days ahead of a midterm election. The central bank’s statement said the agreement sets forth terms for bilateral currency swap operations between the US and Argentina but it provided no technical details. “Such operations will allow the BCRA to expand its set of monetary and exchange rate policy instruments, including the liquidity of its international...

The 20-day US federal government shutdown is likely to end this week, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday. “I think the Schumer shutdown is likely to end sometime this week,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview on CNBC, referring to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, said his “friends in the Senate” believed it was “bad optics for Democrats to open the government before the ‘No Kings’...

Colombia said on Monday it has recalled its ambassador from Washington after US President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on the South American nation and stop all payments to it, intensifying a feud stemming from US military strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs. Trump also called Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader” on Sunday, which Petro’s government described as offensive. Colombia’s currency fell 1.4 per cent to 3,889 pesos per US dollar in...

Russia remained China’s top crude oil supplier in September, at a time when the United States is stepping up pressure on major economies to curb their reliance on energy from the Eurasian country. Imports from Russia rose 4.3 per cent in volume from August to 8.29 million tonnes in September, accounting for 17.5 per cent of China’s total crude imports, customs data showed – a sign of Beijing’s willingness to maintain trade links with Moscow despite geopolitical frictions. Chinese purchases of US...

As global competition in autonomous driving intensifies, Europe has emerged as the latest frontier for China’s rapidly advancing self-driving technology. Start-ups such as Pony.ai, WeRide, AutoX, DeepRoute.ai, Momenta and Baidu’s Apollo Go are expanding their trials and partnerships across European cities, transforming Europe into the next stage of technological rivalry. What began as a domestic race to outpace US giants such as Waymo and Cruise has evolved into a transcontinental contest for...

EU countries on Monday agreed to phase out their remaining gas imports from Russia by the end of 2027, breaking a dependency the bloc has struggled to end despite Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved a plan by the European Commission to phase out both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Russia, subject to approval by the bloc’s parliament. Lars Aagaard, energy minister of Denmark, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency,...

Top US envoys arrived in Israel on Monday to assess the progress of the Gaza peace plan, following weekend violence that jeopardised the ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held discussions with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner about the current developments in the region, as confirmed by his office. Additionally, a spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s office stated that US Vice-President J.D. Vance and his wife were scheduled to visit Israel, and...

Amazon.com cloud service returned to normal operations on Monday afternoon, the company said, after an internet outage that caused global turmoil among thousands of sites, including some of the web’s most popular apps like Snapchat and Reddit. Still, Amazon said some AWS services had a backlog of messages that would take a few hours to process. AWS hosts applications and computer processes for companies around the world, and the disruption knocked workers from London to Tokyo offline and halted...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin said they would meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war, triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion. “If I am invited to Budapest – if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US call centre bill threatens Philippines’ US$30 billion outsourcing boom 2. Chinachem Tower blaze in Hong Kong’s Central put out after 4-hour battle, 4 hurt 3. The aircraft carrier champion and naval genius behind China’s blue sea strategy 4. Man accused of running Cambodian scam farm empire...

US President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him India would stop buying Russian oil, while warning that New Delhi would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not do so. “I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they...

The topic of ageing has been catapulted into Hong Kong’s political stratosphere ever since a wave of septuagenarian legislative councillors began dropping out of the city’s Legislative Council race. Having public discourse veer off in this direction is unbecoming of a city that styles itself as a meritocracy. Are our seniors a burden? Are they standing in the way of the youth or dragging the rest of us down? The discussion surrounding older lawmakers bowing out of the electoral race could have...

The Israeli military said on Sunday a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after an attack killed two of its soldiers and prompted a wave of air strikes that Palestinians said killed 26 people, in the most serious test yet of this month’s US-brokered truce. US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire he brokered was still in place. US officials, Trump said, believe Hamas leadership may not be involved in the violations, which will be “handled toughly, but properly”. Speaking to reporters aboard Air...

When Germany emerged as Europe’s industrial powerhouse in the 19th century, the established powers spent years attempting to contain it, culminating in a war no serious statesman desired, yet none proved skilful enough to prevent. Today, as we navigate the transition from American unipolarity, a similar question looms: will this shift follow that tragic pattern, or can it be managed through institutional adaptation as Zhou Enlai and Richard Nixon did in the early 1970s? The multipolar order is...

Hopes for a resumption of long-stalled talks to heal Cyprus’ decades-old ethnic rift were buoyed on Sunday when Turkish Cypriots elected a leader who campaigned on getting back to negotiating a two-zone federation with rival Greek Cypriots after an eight-year stalemate. Tufan Erhurman, 55, won by a landslide, receiving 62.76 per cent of the vote, against incumbent Ersin Tatar’s 35.81 per cent, according to unofficial figures broadcast on BRT TV. Nearly 65 per cent of 218,000 registered voters...

Bolivians on Sunday elected a pro-business centre-right senator as their new president, ending two decades of socialist rule that left the South American nation deep in economic crisis. With 97.8 per cent of ballots counted, Rodrigo Paz had 54.6 per cent of the vote to 45.4 per cent for his rival, right-wing former interim president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said. The news was greeted with joy, music and fireworks on the streets of La Paz. “We came to celebrate...

US President Donald Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up swathes of territory to Russia during a tense meeting on Friday that left the Ukrainian delegation disappointed, according to two people briefed on the discussion. Trump also declined to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s use, and mused about giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, comments that the Ukrainian delegation found confusing, added the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss a...

Britain’s Prince Andrew asked police in 2011 to dig up personal information about Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexually abusing her as a teenager, a British newspaper reported on Sunday, days after the royal gave up his Duke of York title. London’s Metropolitan Police said it was “actively looking” into the allegations in the Mail on Sunday report. Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, said on Friday...

The United States will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because the country’s leader, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who was “low rated and very unpopular”. The Republican president warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or...

The Louvre was closed for a second day on Monday as police hunted for thieves who broke in and stole priceless jewels in a spectacular daylight robbery. Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that an organised crime group was behind the theft on Sunday of nine pieces of jewellery, one of which – a crown covered in more than 1,000 diamonds – they dropped as they fled. The thieves arrived at around 9.30am, shortly after the museum opened at 9.00am, and completed the...

Bells rang out on Sunday over St Peter’s Square as Pope Leo XIV created seven new saints, including the first from Papua New Guinea, an archbishop killed in the Armenian genocide and a Venezuelan “doctor of the poor”. Also canonised during the solemn ceremony, under sunny skies in the vast plaza on World Mission Day, were three nuns who dedicated their lives to the poor and sick, and former satanic priest Bartolo Longo. The Italian lawyer born in 1841 subsequently rejoined the Catholic faith and...

At least four Republican senators, including the Senate majority leader, signaled their opposition to Paul Ingrassia, the president’s pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel.

Architects were surprised by the scale and speed of the project, but the president is moving forward with his plans for a ballroom at the White House.

President Trump has proposed construction of an arch in the style of the Arc de Triomphe in Washington in the lead-up to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

From beers at a Bangkok bar to a climb up Mount Omine in Japan, The Times traced the pivotal months before Mr. Mangione was charged with killing UnitedHealthcare’s C.E.O.

Activists welcome the truce. But the backlash to their demonstrations, some said, offered sobering lessons about power and politics.

Vice President JD Vance appeared undeterred by recent flare-ups of violence in Gaza, and he declined to set a deadline for when Hamas must disarm.

The family of Bipin Joshi, a student, had campaigned internationally for his release and had held out hope until the end that after two years in Gaza, he would return alive.

By paying troops and law enforcement officials, the president stretched the limits of his spending powers, posing a fresh test to Congress.

Emboldened by the lapse in government funding and employee furloughs, some visitors are brazenly betting that they won’t get caught for breaking the law.

The eight pieces are unlikely to garner that price if they are split apart or melted, the prosecutor said Tuesday.

Jewelry swiped from the museum played a prominent part in a private guide’s tours of Paris. Now what?

The admissions policy of Kamehameha Schools gives preference to Native Hawaiians. A new lawsuit calls it “blood-based discrimination.”

Her memories of her days as Tanqueray in the gritty New York of the 1960s and ’70s found a new audience in recent years and made her a social media star.

A candidate who stands out for his monomania, double standards and affinity for extremists.

Coarseness and conservative impulses in “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Also, Japan elected its first female prime minister. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.

A new study compared the effects of 30 drugs on cholesterol, blood pressure and weight gain.

A federal judge overseeing a case against Representative LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, ordered prosecutors to release all relevant footage from a migrant detention facility.

In Warsaw, a 27-year-old pianist from Massachusetts beat out 180 competitors to win what some call the Olympics of the piano world.

Officials said immigration officers fired shots after the man rammed a law enforcement vehicle. The immigrant and a marshal were wounded in the shooting.