Minimalist News

FBI Launches 'Signal-Gate' Investigation: Patel Update (1520ET): "Signal-Gate" continues to erupt out of Minneapolis, as the organizational structure or command-and-control nodes of left-wing activists operating within encrypted messaging apps were infiltrated and exposed on Sunday, revealing that on-the-ground pressure campaigns against federal agents were highly coordinated and, according to some experts, exhibit characteristics of a "low-level insurgency." "We're investigating. As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it. If that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people. They should be worried. If they broke

What We Are Experiencing Is Not De-Dollarisation But De-Fiatization By Benjamin Picton, Senior Market Strategist At Rabobank J.P. Morgan once famously remarked that “gold is money, everything else is credit.” That dictum was apparently forgotten during the 1980s & 1990s as gold’s share of central bank reserves steadily declined and gold prices – for most of that period – did the same. That period was the most recent era of high financialization, where Hollywood movies like Wall Street, Trading Places, Barbarians at the Gate and even Pretty Woman glorified the swashbuckling lifestyle of financiers. It was also the era of the leveraged buyout,

Mobocracy: Democratic Politicians Compete In Race To The Bottom Over ICE Shooting Authored by Jonathan Turley, This year, there has been a race to the bottom as Democratic politicians fuel the rage in our streets against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. That continued this last week when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz again rushed to judgment after a shooting, adding that the public should not treat Border Patrol or ICE officers as real “law enforcement” officers. However, rock bottom was finally reached by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D), who not only said that she does not consider ICE officers to be “real law

Saudi Aramco Dismisses Oil Glut Narrative As "Seriously Exaggerated" Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, Forecasts of a massive oil glut are seriously exaggerated as demand keeps rising and global stocks are below the five-year average, according to Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer, Amin Nasser.  “Oil glut predictions are seriously exaggerated,” Nasser said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week as carried by Reuters. Global oil stocks are low, while the amassed barrels in floating storage on tankers are mostly sanctioned supplies, the CEO of the world’s biggest oil firm and top crude exporter said.  Moreover, spare capacity has dwindled

Egon von Greyerz On The Hidden Crisis Behind Silver's Price Surge In the following clip, Egon von Greyerz explains why the precious metals market has entered a fundamentally new and unprecedented phase. One which is driven not by speculation or momentum trading, but by deep structural imbalances between physical supply and an unprecedented physical demand. Persistent supply deficits in silver over several consecutive years, combined with rapidly rising industrial demand from sectors such as solar energy, electric vehicles, electronics and defense, have created a physical shortage in the last 5 years that paper markets can no longer mask. At the same time, the volume of outstanding

Stellar 2Y Trasury Auction: Surge In Indirects & Bid-To-Cover; Second Lowest Dealers On Record The first coupon auction of the week just took place, and it could not have gone any better.  According to the US Treasury, $69BN of 2 Year paper was just sold at a high yield of 3.580%, up from the 3.499% in December, and stopped through the When Issued 3.594% by 1.4bps, the biggest stop through since August. The bid to cover jumped to 2.750, up from 2.543 and the highest since Nov 2024 (the six-auction average was 2.61).  The internals were even stronger: Indirects took down 64.4%, a big

Lavrov Exposed The Europeans' Plot To Subvert Trump's Ukrainian Peace Plan Authored by Andrew Korybko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s first press conference of the year in late January touched upon a lot of topics, importantly including the Europeans’ plot to subvert Trump’s Ukrainian peace plan. According to him, the UK “is speaking increasingly more often on behalf of the EU” and therefore plays a leading role in these efforts, “which boil down to one thing – an immediate ceasefire complemented with legal security guarantees for Ukraine. The question is what these security guarantees concern.” As Lavrov sees it, the purpose is “the preservation of the current Nazi regime”,

NatGas Rips Higher As Arctic Blast Knocks 12% Of U.S. production Offline  Update (1245ET): New York natural gas futures surged sharply on Monday after roughly 12% of U.S. production was forced offline by a major winter storm and extreme cold blanketing the eastern half of the country. The supply shock is now cascading into the power system, pressuring regional grids and prompting the Department of Energy to issue emergency orders allowing utilities in the PJM Interconnection and across the Northeast to operate fossil-fuel power plants at maximum capacity. As heating demand spikes, oil, coal, and NatGas generation are providing a majority of the supply,

Calls To Nuke Filibuster, Pass SAVE Act Intensify As Threat of Government Shutdown Increases Via American Greatness, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is facing increasing pressure to do away with the filibuster if Democrats seek to force a government shutdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). MSN reports that the odds of a government shutdown by January 31, jumped from 11.5%  to 79% on Kalshi and from 9% to 80% on Polymarket. > 🚨 Hey @LeaderJohnThune, NUKE THE FILIBUSTER and keep the government open. > > The ball is in your court! > > Play offense, not defense! https://t.co/tz88T8Mdue > > — Gunther

Trump Hails "Very Good Call" With Walz As He Sends "Tough But Fair" Tom Homan To Minnesota President Trump announced on Jan. 26 that he is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota in the wake of the shooting of an anti-immigration enforcement protester by a federal agent. The president said in a morning Truth Social post that Homan would be going to Minnesota on Monday evening, noting that though Homan hasn’t been involved in operations there, he knows many officials in the state. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed

Booz Allen Shares Hammered After Treasury Cancels Consulting Contracts Shares of Booz Allen Hamilton tumbled the most in months during late Monday morning trading after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent canceled dozens of contracts tied to the consulting firm. Secretary Bessent said 31 contracts with Booz Allen were terminated, representing $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations. "President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans' trust in government," he said, adding, "Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including

USAR's New CEO Executing On Strategy Submitted by Tight Spreads USA Rare Earth’s (USAR) strategy is characterized by its comprehensive “mine-to-magnet” vertical integration, a significant geographic footprint across North America and Europe. While competitors often focus on specific segments of the value chain, USAR is the only company outside of China positioned to offer a true end-to-end solution. In this note we’ll go over the business, key differentiators, and what the company has as remaining gaps in their operations to execute their strategy. A valuation note will follow soon. Key notes include how on September 29, 2025, USAR announced the appointment of Barbara

Son Of US Govt Crypto Custodian Allegedly Steals $40 Million Well known blockchain sleuth, ZachXBT, alleges a custody CEO's son stole tens of millions in crypto from US government‑linked wallets tied to Bitfinex funds, exposing systemic custody risks. > 1/ Meet the threat actor John (Lick), who was caught flexing $23M in a wallet address directly tied to $90M+ in suspected thefts from the US Government in 2024 and multiple other unidentified victims from Nov 2025 to Dec 2025. pic.twitter.com/SBAFU5hTnE > > — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 23, 2026 As Andrew Folkler reports for Crypto.news, the case revives scrutiny of contractor CMDSS and wider federal

Elon's X Overhaul: Muting Political Posts And Banishing 'Rage Bait' Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, While Elon Musk is rightly credited for transforming X into a battleground for unfiltered truth, he dropped two bombshells this week that could significantly reshape the platform. In a move that promises cleaner feeds but sparks fears of shadowy content policing, Musk revealed plans for topic-specific “For You” tabs free from “political rage bait” and an outright mute tool for all political posts. Critics are already sounding alarms over potential censorship creep. Musk’s move comes as a direct response to some user gripes about X turning into a

Key Events This Week: Fed, Central Banks Galore, Earnings Avalanche With the year still not yet four weeks old, it’s already been a constant firehose of news volatility, even as market volatility has remained relatively contained, DB's Jim Reid writes this morning. Consider: we’ve moved from Venezuela to Japan, via Iran and Greenland, with a range of other themes running in the background. These now include President Trump on Saturday threatening 100% tariffs on Canada if China strikes a trade deal with them, and the odds of another US government shutdown after January 30th (Friday) jumping on Polymarket from 8% on

BlackRock Credit Fund Hit With 19% Markdown As Loans Go Bad BlackRock TCP Capital Corp., a publicly traded private-credit fund structured as a business development company, filed an 8-K with the SEC late Friday afternoon, disclosing a 19% markdown in net asset value as troubled loans weighed on performance. The move marks one of the first major private credit signal woes of the new year. The credit fund told investors in the 8-K filing that NAV fell from $8.71 as of Sept. 30 to $7.05 to $7.09, or about a 19% markdown. "This decline is primarily driven by issuer-specific developments during the quarter,"

"The Discombobulator": Trump Admits Secret Weapon Used In US Operation To Capture Maduro Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump has revealed that U.S. forces used a secret weapon to disable Venezuelan military equipment in the Jan. 3 operation that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post published on Jan. 24. Trump said the weapon disabled Venezuelan equipment during the operation, enabling U.S. forces to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their residence in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. “They

Carney Cracks: Canada Has 'No Intention' Of Pursuing Free Trade Deal With China After Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has "no intention" of pursuing a free trade deal with China, after Donald Trump threatened to slap a 100% tariff on Canadian exports if Ottawa "makes a deal" with Beijing.  Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada at a news conference in Quebec City last Thursday (Mathieu Belanger/Reuters) To review: right before Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney returned from a trip to Beijing and announced a new 5-point 'strategic partnership' to 'diversify our trade partnerships.' The agreements included slashing

Minnesota Business Owner Claims ICE Will Start 'Putting People In Ovens' Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, An unhinged leftist business owner from Minnesota told CNN’s Jake Tapper that there is no question ICE is running “concentration camps” and that federal officers could start “putting people in ovens” soon. Tapper was platforming the deranged lunatic as a smattering of leftist-leaning shops in the city have shuttered their doors in “solidarity” against basic immigration enforcement, painting law-abiding agents as invaders while conveniently ignoring the chaos of open borders. Jamie Schwesnedl, co-owner of Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis was there to explain why his business had

Nvidia Ramps Up CoreWeave Investment, Another $2 Billion To Accelerate AI Factories Buildout Nvidia increased its investment in CoreWeave to accelerate the buildout of AI factories, adding more than 5 gigawatts of AI computing capacity by 2030. This builds on an existing agreement under which Nvidia has committed to buy more than $6 billion in services from the firm through 2032.  "Demand for AI continues to grow exponentially and the need for compute has never been greater. To help meet this demand, NVIDIA and CoreWeave are deepening their infrastructure, software, and platform alignment," CoreWeave wrote in a press release. The new deal involves

Azruddin Mohamed’s election comes six months after he formed political party that became country’s second largest A Guyanese businessman facing extradition to the US on gold-smuggling and money-laundering charges has been elected as the country’s opposition leader, six months after he formed a political party that quickly became the second largest in the South American country. Azruddin Mohamed, 38, was confirmed as Guyana’s opposition leader after 16 lawmakers from the We Invest in Nationhood party (Win) and another from a single-seat outfit voted in his favor. The tally made Win the second-largest party in parliament, securing Mohamed’s election even as a magistrate’s

European retailers urge traders to adhere to commitments after Brazilian lawmakers wreck forest protection pact Leading British and European retailers are trying to salvage the core elements of the Amazon soy moratorium after the world’s most successful forest protection agreement was wrecked by Brazilian lawmakers and abandoned by international traders. In an open letter, high street brands including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda say the breakdown this month of the 20-year-old agreement will damage consumer confidence unless new arrangements are put in place to ensure grain production is not linked to deforestation. Continue reading...

Some parts of city were buried under nearly 60cm of snow and over 500 flights were cancelled Sunday Toronto is beginning to dig itself out from the largest snowfall in the city’s history, a process which officials say is likely to take “several days”. Some parts of Canada’s largest city were buried under nearly 60cm (about 23in) of snow and more than 500 flights were cancelled Sunday after Toronto’s main airport was snowed in. Continue reading...

Mayor of Salamanca in Guanajuato state says attack is part of ‘wave of violence’ as he appeals to president for help Gunmen opened fire at a football match in central Mexico on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 12, in the latest outburst of violence in Guanajuato state. César Prieto, the mayor of the town of Salamanca in central Guanajuato state, said in a statement posted to social media platforms that the gunmen arrived at the end of a match. Ten people died at the scene and one died later at a hospital. Continue reading...

Alexander, his wife and son, who fled danger under Putin, fighting for security – and compensation – after torment of migration journey Almost a year after Donald Trump strong-armed a deal with Costa Rica to receive 200 people from other countries who were being deported from the United States after being denied the right to request asylum, a small handful remain there in legal limbo and fighting for compensation. The asylum seekers flown to Costa Rica in chains last February, despite not being criminals, were from 20 other countries, chiefly parts of Asia and Africa and included 81 children. They had all

Experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining an officer who has significantly betrayed his trust Standing inches from Xi Jinping at a military ceremony in late December, China’s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, may have had little inkling about the fate that was to befall him just a few weeks later when he was put under investigation. The 75-year-old’s physical proximity to China’s leader, who stands to his right, reflects the position he holds in China’s hierarchy. As vice-chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), he is the second-most powerful person

Rescuers save at least 316 after inter-island ferry sank en route from city of Zamboanga to southern Jolo island A ferry with more than 350 people onboard sank early on Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, killing at least 18 people, officials said. Rescuers saved hundreds more, while a fleet of coastguard and naval ships searched for those still missing. Coastguard officials said the cargo and passenger ferry apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight. The steel-hulled vessel abruptly tilted to one side and took on water, hurling people into the sea in the darkness, according to a rescued

Zhang Youxia, long seen as Xi Jinping’s closest military ally, reportedly accused of leaking nuclear secrets to US China’s military leadership is in turmoil after its most senior general – a close ally of Xi Jinping – was placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”. Zhang Youxia is the joint vice-chairperson of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Second only to Xi in the military command structure, Zhang has long been seen as the Chinese president’s closest military ally. Continue reading...

US climber takes an hour and half to scale one of Asia’s tallest buildings without ropes or a harness The US rock climber Alex Honnold climbed one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers without ropes or a harness on Sunday, fulfilling an ambition that began more than a decade ago and which he hoped would inspire people to pursue their own challenges because “time is finite”. Honnold, who starred in the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, ascended the 508-metre (1,667ft) Taipei 101 using the skyscraper’s horizontal metal beams to pull himself up with his bare hands. The challenge had originally been scheduled to take

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

Extreme fire weather expected to fuel blazes and pose threat to communities near Great Ocean Road. Follow today’s news live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Aside from potentially record-breaking heat, what else is Ouyen known for? Vanilla slice Travellers Marg and Graham have stopped at Ouyen Mallee Bakery on their drive home from Mildura to Geelong this morning. We always stop here on our way back. The vanilla slices – they’re very good. Continue reading...

Queensland government says it has already killed six of the 10 dingoes seen near the body of 19-year-old Piper James * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Dingo experts have said a decision to kill a 10-strong pack of the animals linked with the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on K’gari could push the island’s population towards extinction while doing little to protect humans. The Queensland government revealed on Sunday it had already killed six of the pack seen around the body of the 19-year-old in

The Wilderness Society lodges complaint with consumer watchdog over hardware and garden chain’s sale of timber sourced from NSW Forestry Corporation * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast One of Australia’s biggest environment groups has accused Bunnings of “greenwashing” its timber, claiming it may have sold products illegally logged by the New South Wales forestry agency. The Wilderness Society (TWS) has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the hardware and garden chain because it could be selling unlawfully logged timber, despite Bunnings’ policies and

Ombudsman says agency knew for years that part of its child support processing not in line with law * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Services Australia knew its internal practices relating to child support payments conflict with the law but did nothing about it for six years, a report from the commonwealth ombudsman has found. In 2019, the agency identified that its child support practice that stipulated that parents with less than 35% care of a child do not receive financial support was not aligned with

Thousands of people across Sydney and Melbourne take part in March for Australia rallies on Invasion Day * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A man who made antisemitic comments that police allege were “unequivocally” aligned with neo-Nazi ideology in front of a cheering crowd at an anti-immigration protest in Sydney has been charged with inciting hatred. An estimated 2,000 people took part in a March for Australia rally in Sydney on Monday, while hundreds marched in a March for Australia rally in Melbourne, with police working to keep the groups separate from Invasion Day rallies which

Four arrested after authorities intercept semi-submersible vessel bound for Europe Portuguese police have made a record seizure of almost nine tonnes of cocaine after intercepting a “narco-sub” off the Azores carrying what is thought to be the largest shipment of the drug ever found on one of the Europe-bound, semi-submersible vessels. The Portuguese Judicial police said its officers had confiscated the haul in a recent joint operation with the country’s navy and air force that had been conducted in coordination with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the UK National Crime Agency. Continue reading...

Mark Rutte said Europe would need to spend ‘billions and billions of euros’ on defence The European Commission got also asked about the regular US criticism that it is “targeting” US big tech companies and that, in doing so, it undermines free speech. Digital spokesperson Regnier replied: “Again, we don’t target any company … based of its origin. Now on your censorship point: I think if anyone dares to compare freedom of expression with child sexual abuse material or freedom of expression with undressing women digitally without their consent, then they are not fully aligned with Europe or absolutely not aligned with Europe. We

Men in custody for allegedly broadcasting content likely to incite hatred from French coast French authorities have arrested two far-right British activists in what is believed to be the first case of its kind. An order had been issued on Friday prohibiting British activists from gathering for a planned “stop the boats” protest nicknamed Operation Overlord in the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. The order was due to expire at 8am on Monday but was extended for two days. Continue reading...

Business wing of Christian Democrats aims to scrap legal right to fewer hours, saying people should need permission The business wing of Germany’s leading Christian Democratic Union party is proposing a ban on the legal entitlement to work part-time, arguing that those wishing to work fewer hours should have to acquire special permission to do so. Currently, every employee in Europe’s largest economy has a fundamental right to carry out part-time work, with many, particularly women, often needing to do so for reasons relating to childcare or looking after elderly relatives. Continue reading...

Britain among 10 countries to build 100GW grid in North Sea linking countries through subsea cables The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said he wants the North Sea to become the “largest reservoir of clean energy worldwide”, as he announced plans to accelerate efforts to link up offshore wind power projects with Europe. The UK and nine other European countries have agreed to accelerate the rollout of offshore windfarms in the 2030s and build a power grid in the North Sea, in a landmark pact to turn the ageing oil basin into a “clean energy reservoir”. Continue reading...

Return of police sergeant Ran Gvili’s body should pave way for progress on second phase of Trump ceasefire plan The remains of the Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, who was killed fighting Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, have been returned to Israel. Militants took Gvili’s body to Gaza to use as a bargaining chip. He was the last of 251 people captured that day still held in the territory. Continue reading...

American forces, aided by Israel, could have enough firepower to mount attack designed to topple regime The Iranian government is bracing itself for a fresh US and Israeli missile assault after it was announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has now deployed key assets to the region, observers have said. It is thought that Washington has the firepower in conjunction with Israeli aircraft to mount an attack designed to topple the government accused of brutally suppressing protests and killing thousands of Iranians. Continue reading...

High court finds kingdom responsible for hacking phones of Ghanem al-Masarir and for physical attack on him A judge has ordered Saudi Arabia to pay more than £3m in damages to a London-based dissident whose phones were targeted with Pegasus spyware. In a judgment handed down on Monday, Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled that Ghanem al-Masarir was entitled to compensation for psychiatric harm sustained after discovering that his iPhones had been hacked, as well as a physical attack on him outside Harrods in central London. Continue reading...

The opening of the the Rafah crossing with Egypt is a key part of the US brokered ceasefire Israel said on Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the body of the last hostage in Gaza, adding that it would only reopen the Rafah crossing with Egypt after the mission was completed. The statement came as Israel’s cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening the key border crossing, and a day after top US envoys met prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and reportedly urged him to reopen the vital entry point for aid into Gaza. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

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

UN health body says Britain is one of six countries in Europe and central Asia where disease has become re-established The UK has lost its status as a measles-free country after a rise in deaths from the disease and fall in the proportion of children having the MMR jab in recent years. The World Health Organization said it no longer classified Britain as having eliminated measles because the disease had become re-established. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor’s hopes of imminent return as MP appear remote as relationship with Starmer at low ebb Andy Burnham has not given up hopes of returning to Westminster and will try again, allies say, but would need to be convinced that Keir Starmer would not try to block him again before running. The Greater Manchester mayor’s hopes of an imminent return to parliament appeared remote, however, as No 10 sources suggested that relations between the two men were at a low ebb and played down chances of a rapprochement. Continue reading...

Statement, since withdrawn, followed ex-minister becoming third Conservative MP to join Farage’s party in just over a week The Conservatives are facing a backlash after claiming that Suella Braverman defected to Reform UK after “mental health” issues, as the former home secretary finally joined Nigel Farage’s party after months of denials. Braverman, who was sacked from the cabinet by both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, became the third sitting Conservative MP to defect in little over a week. She immediately went on the attack against her former party. Continue reading...

Only one ticket sold for premiere of film about US first lady at Vue’s flagship London branch as insiders question launch strategy As film exhibitor strategies go, counter-programming is one of the most reliable. It worked for The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, released in the US on the same day in 2008, as well as for Dunkirk and Girls Trip in 2017. In 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer leveraged the tactic to the tune of $2.5bn in combined box office takings. This week we could see another example as Amazon releases its authorised documentary about Melania Trump in more than 100 UK

Home secretary to regain authority to sack chief constables and set crime- fighting targets in England and Wales Labour has announced wholesale changes to policing with a pledge to increase crime fighting, but faces warnings that at the plan’s heart is an unprecedented centralisation of powers. Shabana Mahmood said policing in England and Wales was the last public service to have survived unreformed for 50 years, despite being too costly and failing in parts. Continue reading...

US president and Minnesota governor hold phone call as White House says CBP ‘won’t be needed’ if Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey comply with anti-immigration measures As more and more Republicans call for an investigation of Alex Pretti’s killing, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s call for heavy-handed immigration enforcement appeared to have already rankled a portion of his base. A Politico poll that surveyed some 2000 adults between 16 and 19 January found that 49% of Americans believed Trump’s campaign was “too aggressive”. Continue reading...

President says his administration is reviewing fatal shooting as Republicans and Democrats criticize ICE surge * US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy militarized immigration agents in US cities may finally be reaching a reckoning as he faces widespread opposition across the US, dissenting lawmakers in his own party, and impending court rulings after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis. While there is no sign the aggressive tactics used by immigration enforcement are coming to an end, the administration may begin to walk back its harsh rhetoric about the incident. Trump and Minnesota

Thousands of flights also canceled as states from Texas to Maine grapple with heavy snow, ice and cold temperatures * Tell us: have you been affected by the US storm? The powerful winter storm sweeping across much of the US over the weekend has been linked to at least 18 deaths. The deaths have been reported from Texas to New England as many parts of the country grappled with heavy snow, ice and dangerous cold. Continue reading...

Karoline Leavitt seemed unusually defensive in discussing Alex Pretti’s killing – and refused to endorse Stephen Miller What Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, did not say on Monday was more important than what she did. When Leavitt stepped up to the briefing room podium to address the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, she avoided the kind of victim-blaming tirade that has become de rigueur for Donald Trump’s administration. Continue reading...

Outrage mounts after US attorney general’s request as state reels from the weekend killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis There was widespread outrage after the attorney general, Pam Bondi, pushed for access to Minnesota’s voter rolls as the state reeled from the killing of Alex Pretti over the weekend. Bondi included the demand for voter rolls in a letter she sent to the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, on Saturday urging him to “change course” in the state. In addition to turning over the voter rolls, Bondi also said the state should turn over data on those receiving public assistance and repeal sanctuary

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

The European Parliament has put ‍off until next week a decision on whether to resume work on the EU’s trade deal with the United States, which it had suspended in protest against US President Donald Trump’s demands to acquire Greenland and threats of tariffs. The parliament’s trade committee ⁠had been expected to set its position in votes on Monday and Tuesday, and the assembly’s president, Roberta Metsola, said last week discussions could resume soon to get the process back on track. But German...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday downplayed US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada, saying the comments should be viewed with an eye towards a coming trade deal review. Asked about Trump’s threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalise a new trade deal with China, Carney told reporters that the North American free trade deal is up for review this year and “the president is a strong negotiator”. “I think some of these...

A US aircraft carrier and supporting warships have arrived ‍in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters on Monday, expanding US President Donald Trump’s capabilities to defend US forces, or potentially take military action against Iran. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers have crossed ⁠into the Middle East region, which comes under the US military’s Central Command, the officials told Reuters. Trump said on Thursday the United States had an...

British ‍lawmaker Suella Braverman, a former home secretary, became the latest prominent Conservative to join Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK on Monday, and she accused her former party of lying to voters over immigration. Opinion polls put Reform UK ahead of both Prime Minister Keir ⁠Starmer’s Labour Party and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives, the two parties that have dominated British politics for more than a century, though a national election is not expected until 2029. For now, the...

US President Donald Trump announced on Monday he is sending a top official to Minnesota as outrage grew over his administration’s militarised immigration raids and the shooting dead of a second protester in Minneapolis. Trump said that Tom Homan, his point man for border security, would arrive in the state later and “will report directly to me”. The high-profile assignment suggested that the 79-year-old Republican president is seeking to regain control over a rapidly deteriorating political and...

The remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, Israel’s military said on Monday, clearing the way for efforts to rebuild Gaza and disarm Hamas in the next phase of the ceasefire that paused the Israel-Gaza war. The announcement that the remains of police officer Ran Gvili had been found and identified came a day after Israel’s government said the military was conducting a “large-scale operation” in a cemetery in northern Gaza to locate them. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

Winston Churchill wrote his four-volume masterpiece, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, at the very moment a new era of world history was taking shape: victory over the Nazis, the birth of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions. All signalled continuity of Anglo-Saxon leadership in world affairs, the baton passing fairly peacefully from Britain to America. But 80 years on from the end of the second world war, the world is reconfiguring itself once more. And what it means for...

The EU on Monday hit Elon Musk’s X with an investigation over AI chatbot Grok’s generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, in the latest step of an international backlash against the tool. Grok faces an outcry after it emerged that users could sexualise images of women and children using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes”. “In Europe, we will not tolerate unthinkable behaviour, such as digital undressing of women and children,” said...

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte will face a hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) next month, judges ruled on Monday, rejecting arguments the 80-year-old was unfit to take part. Duterte will face a so-called “confirmation of charges” hearing starting on February 23, where judges decide whether the prosecution’s allegations are strong enough to proceed to trial. “Having regard to the relevant legal principles, the medical assessment of the independent experts … and all of...

Clad in tactical gear with a helmet and hurling a tear-gas canister at protesters, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has become the public face of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign. Bovino’s public profile rose further in recent days as he defended violent immigration sweeps in Minneapolis, which culminated Saturday with federal agents fatally shooting 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, the second citizen to be killed in the heavily Democratic northern city in...

Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in a central Tehran square on Sunday with a direct warning to the United States to not attempt a military strike on the country, as US warships head to the region. The image shows a bird’s-eye view of an aircraft carrier with damaged and exploding fighter planes on its flight deck. The deck is strewn with bodies and streaked with blood that trails into the water behind the ship to form a pattern reminiscent of the stripes of the...

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. China’s top uniformed officer Zhang Youxia is among 2 generals under investigation Top Chinese military leaders Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli are under investigation for suspected “serious” disciplinary violations, according to the Ministry of National Defence. 2. Chinese scientists shrink...

The United States will impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalise a new trade deal with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, amplifying a similar threat from US President Donald Trump a day earlier. “We can’t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the US,” Bessent said on ABC’s This Week. During a visit to Beijing on January 16, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a thaw in bilateral relations with China,...

The British government said on Sunday it will unveil plans this week to create a new national police force, dubbed the “British FBI”, to take charge of complex investigations such as counterterrorism, fraud, online child abuse and criminal gangs. The National Police Service will bring under the same umbrella the work of existing agencies dealing with terrorism and crime, police helicopters and policing of the roads, and regional organised crime units in England and Wales. Home Secretary Shabana...

Jeffrey Ding is an assistant professor of political science at George Washington University. He is the author of Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, an award-winning book exploring the impact of technology on geopolitical competition, as well as the founder of the ChinAI newsletter, which tracks developments in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry. In this interview, Ding explains why “diffusion”, not innovation, will determine whether China or the US will prevail in the AI race,...

Israel said on Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the last hostage in Gaza, as Washington and other mediators pressured Israel and Hamas to move into the next phase of their ceasefire. The statement came as Israel’s Cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening Gaza’s key Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and a day after top US envoys met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about next steps. The return of the remaining hostage, Ran Gvili, has been...

A monster storm barrelling across the United States had killed at least 11 people on Monday, prompting warnings to stay off the roads, mass flight cancellations and power outages after a weekend of misery. The storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain across swathes of the country from Texas to New England, with temperatures set to fall dangerously low this week. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said five people were found dead outside over the weekend, telling reporters “there is no more...

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

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton issued pointed calls on Sunday for America to stand up and defend their values after the second killing of a citizen in Minneapolis by immigration agents that Donald Trump blamed on Democratic “chaos”. The Trump administration has faced intensifying pressure over its mass immigration crackdown, particularly after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway. That...

Eighty-six people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass after protesters breached the grounds of a London prison in support of a pro-Palestinian hunger striker, UK police said on Sunday. The group were “protesting in support of a Palestine Action prisoner on a hunger strike” late Saturday and then refused to leave the prison grounds when ordered to do so, London’s Metropolitan Police said on X. “They allegedly blocked prison staff from entering and leaving, threatened police officers...

More than 100 political prisoners were freed Sunday in Venezuela, where detainees are slowly being released under pressure from the United States, the non-governmental organisation Foro Penal said. “At Foro Penal we have verified 104 releases of political prisoners in Venezuela today,” the NGO wrote on social media. Foro Penal had earlier reported 80 political prisoners being released Sunday. Director Alfredo Romero said on X that the group was verifying the identities of those released from...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At least so far, President Trump has managed to bring along even those conservative supporters who are skeptical of foreign interventions.

Though Congress cut $500 million from NPR and PBS stations, vanishingly few have closed their doors. Angst about their long-term future remains.

The inquiry, initiated by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, appears to have stalled for lack of evidence.

Home bakers are finding devoted customer bases that allow them to stay home with family and still make a decent living — but they do have get up in the middle of the night.

The term, long considered a slur for those with intellectual disabilities, is seeing a resurgence on social media and across the political right.

Dozens of doctors and therapists said chatbots had led their patients to psychosis, isolation and unhealthy habits.

Yann LeCun helped create the technology behind today’s chatbots. Now he says many tech companies are on the wrong path to creating intelligent machines.

The recovery of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili’s body paves the way for the next stage of the Gaza cease-fire plan, though the path forward is unclear.

A combat veteran, Zhang Youxia was once seen as the most trusted man in Xi Jinping’s military. Now he has been accused of disloyalty to Mr. Xi.

To get outside their bubbles — and crib some tactics — members of a listening club are plunging themselves into a world they had once avoided.

A.I.-generated content of Victoria Beckham has spread as wedding drama has engulfed the celebrity clan and the public has clamored for receipts (even fabricated ones).

On immigration raids, the shooting death of Alex Pretti and where we go from here.

The wizarding worldview is naïve.

A Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed during takeoff Sunday at the Bangor airport, officials said.

The newspaper will send a small team of reporters to cover the Olympics after it informed sports journalists on Friday that the paper would not send a group.

The finding, along with the discovery of a 500,000-year-old hammer made of bone, indicates that our human ancestors were making tools even earlier than archaeologists thought.

The artist formerly known as Kanye West, who first apologized in 2023 before taking it back, said a four-month manic episode in 2025 had led him to embrace swastikas and Hitler.