Minimalist News

Germany Braces For AfD Election Breakthrough In Saxony-Anhalt Voters in Saxony-Anhalt head to the polls on Sunday , followed two weeks later by elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. With the right-wing Alternative for Germany leading the national polls , the elections could be the opening act of an 18-month period in which Europe " lurches to the right ," as Nomura analysts explained last month. UniCredit's chief German economist, Dr. Andreas Rees, told clients on Friday: " Three state elections in just 14 days will test Germany's government coalition and its reform plans. While political noise is likely to

Meanwhile In Ceuta... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Viral footage out of the invaded Spanish enclave of Ceuta shows a bottlenose dolphin calf came in close to the sand at Playa del Trampolín in Ceuta this week, disoriented and still alive. A group of men who entered illegally in the July surge pulled it from the water, hoisted it like a prize, and - according to local reporting, a conservation complaint, and Telecinco - one of them bludgeoned it in the head with a stick. An Ecoservicios worker in high-vis tried to stop the handling. Voices on

How To Tackle Domestic Extremists' Foreign Enablers Authored by Daniel McCarthy via The Epoch Times , Left-wing terrorism is a serious problem in the United States, though for political reasons it doesn't receive anything like the attention right-wing violence gets. When most people think of violence connected to abortion, they imagine attacks on abortion clinics - yet lately, pro-abortion extremists have been firebombing crisis pregnancy centers across the country. These centers help women who want to have their babies or who are undecided about having an abortion: In other words, women who are making a choice, just not the choice

The Politics Of Measles Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times , By the middle point of 20th-century American history, measles was widely considered a rite of passage for kids. You get it and you shake it off. You earn lifetime immunity. This was true of every generation just before mine. For the previous century, measles had become ever less dangerous with sanitation and nutrition. By the time the vaccine came along, it was fully controlled and only very rarely led to hospitalization. The protocols were taught in every school and understood by all classes. I was apparently

Warner Bros. "Lanterns" Series Is Another Whiny Woke DEI Disaster Comic book content is largely dead in Hollywood. Not because audiences don't want to see it anymore (Spider-Man: Brand New Day brought in nearly $2.4 billion in global box office, absolutely crushing Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film), but because the studios have turned most of these franchises radioactive with woke politics. James Gunn's DCU projects for Warner Bros. have proven this over and over again. His girl-boss version of Supergirl was an abject failure largely because of the woke undertones of the film. One would think these people would learn their

How Neoliberals Fueled The Rise Of Socialism Authored by Connor O'Keeffe via Mises Institute , The rising popularity of politicians on the American left who either explicitly identify as socialist or, at least, don't shy away from or disavow the term appears to be causing genuine concern within the Washington establishment . That is, of course, entirely justified. Socialism is profoundly unjust and destructive. These days, the socialists like to present their entire ideology as nothing more than having a bit of empathy for those in need or an interest in seeing everyone "have" access to services like modern healthcare.

Pimco's Top-Performing 60/40 Fund Bets AI's Next Winners Are In Asia, From Chips To Rare Earths Emmanuel Sharef, who oversees Pacific Investment Management Co.'s flagship Balanced Income and Growth Fund, spoke with Bloomberg about how the next leg of the artificial-intelligence boom could be concentrated in Asian stocks and beyond . Wealthy clients in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and mainland China have been piling into the $19 billion fund, which has outperformed 97% of its peers during the past three years. The fund is underweight most hyperscalers and members of the Magnificent Seven as soaring AI capital expenditures increase debt

AI Tax Increases Are Like The Tractor Tax Proposals Of Old Authored by Bruce Thompson via RealClearMarkets , President Ronald Reagan famously described Washington politicians' solutions to every problem as "if it moves, tax it." That is exactly what many in Washington today want to do with artificial intelligence. As Wall Street Journal chief economic commentator Greg IP wrote recently, a growing number of experts believe there is "a simple answer to AI job losses." Tax it. His column described a petition signed by 1,000 economists, including 17 Nobel laureates, pleading for higher taxes on AI to prevent "large scale"

Online Betting Adoption Goes Parabolic: First-Timers Triple, Gen Z Overtakes Millennials, And Football Season Hasn't Even Begun Online betting is off to the races - and this summer the adoption curve started looking like a hockey stick. According to a new analysis by Bank of America - which can see every ACH, debit and credit card payment its customers make to and from sportsbooks, horse-racing platforms and prediction markets their own customers make: Roughly 5% of BofA customers sent money to an online betting platform in July. The number of online bettors is up 40% since the start of the

Cannabis Gummies Harm Driving Performance Hours After Use, Study Says Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times , The use of commercially available cannabis edibles impairs people's driving ability, even after several hours of consumption, a study has found. Published in the JAMA Network Open journal on Aug. 31, the peer-reviewed study looked at simulated driving performance after the consumption of cannabis edibles. Conducted in a Canadian hospital, the study analyzed data of 40 people aged 19-45 years. They received gummies containing delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis that causes brain-altering effects. Various combinations of THC

This Red State Is Betting It Can Abolish Its Income Tax The data center debate isn't going so well for the builders, as Americans far and wide seriously oppose the construction of new data centers near where they live . One state, however, thinks it can incentivize residents. Country roads take West Virginians home across the Virginia state line near Charles Town, where the data center debate has intensified. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News) Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) has unveiled seven principles aligned with 2025 legislation to reduce and eventually eliminate state income tax. Under the plan, West Virginia would set

Victor Davis Hanson: The Left Is Dragging America Back To The Dark Ages Via The Daily Signal , Editor's note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today's video from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson . Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. The more you look around us today, I think a good description of 2026, culturally, economically, socially, politically , is that we are in a modern medieval world. Maybe we're progressive regressives, and I don't mean that just in the sense

El Nino Crushes Atlantic Hurricane Activity, Lowest Since 1941 The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season arrives next Thursday , yet by this point the basin would normally have produced multiple systems tracking through the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, and the open Atlantic. This year, however, a strengthening El Niño and record vertical wind shear are tearing apart disturbances before they can rapidly intensify . Bloomberg reports that only five short-lived tropical storms have formed this season, and none has intensified into a hurricane. The Atlantic has not recorded so little activity at this point in the season since

Asian Oil Buying Spree Sends Dubai Crude Toward $100 Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com , Stronger appetite for Middle Eastern crude grades from China and India has added upward pressure on prices for these grades , pushing the Dubai futures close to $100 per barrel, Bloomberg reported today, citing unnamed traders. Demand for Middle Eastern oil is especially strong from refining majors such as Indian Oil Corp. and PetroChina, as well as refiners in South Korea and Japan, the report said. This is despite the latest escalation between the United States and Iran, with Saudi Arabia's oil exports dropping

Vance Suggests Iran Conflict Could Drag Through Midterms, But At Least We're Not Calling It A War The White House has returned to its prior talking point that the war against Iran shouldn't be called a war. In earlier stages of the conflict President Trump had applied various monikers that stopped far short, from an "excursion" to a "little detour" to a "stopover" to a mere limited "military operation". A full five months ago he had proclaimed , "We had to take a little detour. Won’t be long." Various phrases like this have been repeated on a monthly basis, as

Brazilian Lift: Diplomats Accused Of Helping Fugitive 'Dr. Frankenstein' To Flee US Authored by Jonathan Turley via JonathanTurley.org , There is an intriguing story out of Brazil where Joao Arajuo, 57, a plastic surgeon known as " Dr. Frankenstein, " resurfaced after cutting an ankle monitor and fleeing the United States . The infamous plastic surgeon mocked the police and recounted how easy it was to flee the country. However, in detailing his escape, he implicated Brazilian diplomats in actively assisting the flight, making them accessories after the fact. Araujo was awaiting trial for a variety of crimes linked to

Excavation Work On Trump's Arch To Begin Over Next 2 Weeks, Burgum Says Excavation work on President Donald Trump's triumphal arch is scheduled to begin over the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sept. 3. "This will be one of the great pieces of American architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful capital in the world," Burgum said in a post on X. Burgum also included pictures of what the arch would look like. The proposed monument would include a mezzanine level at 166 feet, a 24-foot-high observation deck, and

States Must Report Illegal Immigrants To Feds Or Risk Losing Federal Welfare Funding: DOJ Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times , States must alert the federal government to known illegal immigrants when they opt into receiving certain federal welfare benefits, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday. The move withdraws a 1998 DOJ opinion and clarifies that under a 1996 welfare-reform law - the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act - all state agencies, including those that administer welfare funding, have the duty to report individuals unlawfully in the United States to the Department of Homeland Security

Missouri House Candidate Accused Of Plotting To Plant Cocaine On Primary Rival A Republican candidate for the Missouri state House is facing a federal charge after authorities accused him of orchestrating a plot to secretly place drugs on a political rival, CBS affiliate KOLR-TV reported. Thomas Ross, 37, who sought Missouri's House District 161 seat representing the Joplin area, was charged Wednesday in connection with the alleged scheme targeting primary opponent Louise Secker. Missouri House Candidate Thomas Ross Investigators have accused Ross of directing his former campaign manager to put cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill among Secker's belongings ,

Insurrection For Real Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Clusterfuck Nation , "The Democrat agenda is to legalize crime and criminalize the middle class." - Stephen Miller Not to put too fine a point on it: but whenever a lawfare ninja of the Democratic Party utters the phrase "our democracy," you must know that they are completely full of shit. For sure, they do not mean anything remotely related to an American commonweal, as understood by people of sound mind and good faith. What they mean by "our democracy" is the state as a racketeering operation run for the sole

Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior describes 2022 meeting in new book as ex-leader’s son vies with Lula for presidency The far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro was in his final days as Brazil’s president when, six weeks after losing the election and still refusing to recognise the result, he summoned the heads of the armed forces to a meeting. The defence minister, Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, took out a document from a plastic folder and handed copies to the commanders of the navy, army and air force. Continue reading...

US president suggests he might support his Argentinian acolyte’s drive to reclaim sovereignty of disputed islands Donald Trump has long embraced vengeance. “I am your retribution,” he declared to an admiring audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he commenced his march back to the White House. It is unlikely Argentina, and far-flung holdovers of the former British empire, were on the US president’s mind at the time. Continue reading...

Abelardo De La Espriella posts video of himself with rows of body bags as performative populism continues to sweep Americas Colombia’s hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 “neutralised” guerrillas. De La Espriella took power last month vowing “all-out war” against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge. Continue reading...

President cites Trump’s suggestion that he might reconsider US stance on British sovereignty and threatens swifter sanctions on UK oil interests President Javier Milei has said “winds of change” favourable to Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands are blowing around the world in a televised address, citing signs that Donald Trump may reconsider the US position on the islands’ sovereignty. “Recently, President Trump declared that the US is re-evaluating its historic position in relation to the Malvinas,” he said, using the Argentinian name for the islands. Continue reading...

Ed Miliband says Britain’s position remains ‘unwavering’ in response to remarks by Argentina’s president UK politics live – latest updates British ministers have hit back after the Argentinian president said “winds of change” favourable to his country’s claim to the Falklands were “blowing around the world”. The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, said the UK would “resolutely uphold” the self-determination of the islands after the Argentinian president, Javier Milei, said his country needed to take them back. Continue reading...

Seoul reportedly seeking parliamentary approval to send military assets to Middle East but president’s office plays down claims South Korea is reviewing a possible deployment of military assets to the strait of Hormuz amid pressure from Donald Trump over Seoul’s reluctance to provide support in the region, according to domestic media reports. Citing unnamed government and military sources, the reports published on Thursday and Friday said preparations were under way and that the government intended to seek parliamentary approval for a new deployment. The reports, which appeared in major South Korean outlets, said the exact scale and timing had not

Jump lifts currency to highest level against dollar in a month, while global markets remain jittery Business live – latest updates The Japanese yen has soared by more than 2% against the dollar amid speculation the Bank of Japan is set to raise interest rates. The latest jump on Thursday lifted the yen to its highest level against the dollar in a month, at 155.57, and followed a 0.9% move the previous day. Continue reading...

Oil consumption plummets and EV sales soar as analysts say demand may not fully return even if crude price falls China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1% after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran, thanks to a sharp reduction in oil consumption and a steady rise in the use of electric vehicles and public transport, analysis shows. The report reveals the role of clean energy in cushioning the price shocks caused by the strait of Hormuz crisis to the world’s biggest oil importer. It also reinforces hopes that China, which is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, may

Speed limit dropped from 60km/h for around 70% of general roads in the hope of making narrow streets of crowded cities safer Drivers on residential roads in Japan have been forced to take their foot off the accelerator, after the speed limit was slashed from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h in an attempt to reduce deaths and injuries among pedestrians on narrow urban streets. The new limit, which went into effect on Tuesday, applies to residential roads with no centre line or maximum speed signs, media reports said. Continue reading...

Wong, 29, is accused of urging foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades and other hostile measures against China Joshua Wong , one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to seek foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China, a national security charge that carries a maximum life sentence. Prosecutors have accused Wong, 29, of working with the exiled Hong Kong activist Nathan Law to urge foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against China. Continue reading...

A total fire ban is in place for greater Sydney with extreme fire danger exacerbated by hot and windy conditions Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Summer heat is due to arrive early across much of eastern Australia with potentially record early September temperatures predicted for Brisbane and Sydney, while snow was expected in southern New South Wales. Maximum temperatures in Sydney during the first days of September were on track to match the city’s midsummer average of 26.4C, warmer than any other start to spring since the city’s Observatory Hill station opened in

Cotality says prices have declined in most capital cities over winter. Search the data to see how they have changed in your area Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia’s property market is facing a rare price correction, as rising interest rates and less favourable tax settings for investors accelerate a downturn. Most capital cities recorded winter price falls, according to Cotality data, with Sydney leading the decline. That weakness is expected to continue, as higher inflation could lead to further interest rate hikes , denting demand. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Gut-wrenching’: Bowen to meet with Nepali community today Chris Bowen said he would meet members of the Nepali Australian community later today. Every person who’s been rescued or found is a relief to their family and to the broader Australian community. But of course, we still have 36 Australians who are missing and unaccounted for, which is just gut-wrenching for all Australians and for the Nepalese Australian community in particular, whom I’m spending time with later today. But all I can say is

Charles says claims by developer Jean Nassif in an intercepted phone call that ‘we’re reshuffling the government’ did not reflect promises allegedly made to Nassif Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The younger brother of Dominic Perrottet has denied asking his brother to appoint a cabinet minister to achieve outcomes for a property developer, a corruption inquiry has heard. Charles Perrottet told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Friday that claims made in an intercepted phone call featuring developer Jean Nassif days before his

‘Challenging’ weather conditions and lack of snowfall are being blamed after a winter that broke multiple heat records Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Major Australian alpine resorts are closing their ski operations up to a month early after a winter that broke multiple records for heat with limited snow falls being washed away by rain. Predictions in June that a building El Niño could combine with global heating for a challenging ski season came to pass , with seven resorts either already closed or announcing ski lifts will stop operating this

US envoys expected to meet Vladimir Putin before going to Kyiv, after peace efforts floundered in recent months The US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow to try to resuscitate a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as both sides said they would halt airstrikes for the visit. The envoys were met at the airport on Saturday by the Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a key interlocutor for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Ukraine-Russia war. The US outlet Axios reported that they were expected to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, later in

Security experts fear Putin may be winning hybrid war with the west amid rise of pro-Kremlin, far-right parties Defence planners working with Nato fear that if war broke out with Russia, Europe could not currently sustain a prolonged war of attrition owing to a public lack of war readiness, a conference on the future of European military coordination heard this week. The pessimism reflects concern that Russia may be winning a so-called hybrid war with Europe, weakening the options available to Nato war planners in the event of military conflict. Continue reading...

Scale of deportations made public for first time amid criticism of hardline approach to UK citizens Sweden has confirmed 458 British citizens have been deported or forcibly removed by police since Brexit. It is the first time the scale of the deportations of citizens who failed to secure residency in Sweden post-Brexit has been made public and comes amid mounting criticism of a cruel and hardline approach to Britons who had chosen to make the country their home before Brexit. Continue reading...

Irish boxer lauded for her tenacity and inspiration before her last fight in front of 80,000 people at Croke Park When Katie Taylor steps into the ring on Saturday night to defend her titles and once again enthral Ireland, there will be a bittersweet tinge. After a singular career that pioneered women’s boxing, the super-lightweight champion and Olympic gold medallist is bowing out. She is 40 and it is to be her final bout. “The end of an era, isn’t it?” said Trevor McMahon, her brother-in-law and founder of a gym where she trains. “It’ll be an amazing night but

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt Polls have suggested that the election on Sunday could yield Germany’s first-ever state government led by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), shattering a postwar taboo and leaving minorities’ fate in the hands of a party that has promised to launch deportations “from day one”. Continue reading...

Houthi rebel offensive against government forces on west coast leads to some of deadliest clashes in years Clashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement killed more than 60 people, including civilians, as the Houthis pushed forward with a military offensive on Yemen’s western coast. Twenty-six government troops and 31 Houthi fighters were killed during several hours of fighting in the country’s south-west on Saturday, medical and military sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A missile strike also killed six civilians and injured seven others travelling by bus in the city of Taiz. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic Death on the road to Rafah: the night the IDF targeted WCK aid workers Seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows. A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid

Anwar, who lives in Glasgow, says Home Office refused visa application despite Maryam having cancer A man living in the UK has said he believes his sister-in-law who died from cancer in Gaza would still be alive today if the Home Office had agreed to bring her and her family to Britain. Anwar, who lives in Glasgow, fled Gaza in 2020 and was granted refugee status in the UK in 2021. After the destruction of large areas of Gaza by Israeli forces following the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, he applied to bring his brother Hassan, Hassan’s wife,

The Israeli army had helped plan the delivery of food aid on 1 April 2024, but things went wrong from the beginning and ended in seven deaths • Exclusive: why seven international aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrike On the evening of 1 April 2024, a team of aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) stood on Gaza’s Mediterranean shore overseeing the unloading of a barge full of desperately needed food on a makeshift jetty made of sand and rubble. The Gaza war had been raging for six months and Israel’s closure of land crossings had left the whole

Troops escort settlers into al-Mughayyir and raze village outside Hebron as ethnic cleansing of West Bank continues Israelis have shot dead two teenagers in a Palestinian village encircled by settlers, and Israeli troops have razed an entire village outside Hebron, in the latest attacks in a surge of Israeli terror and ethnic cleansing across the occupied West Bank. The shootings targeted Khalil Abu Alia, 16, who was about to start 11th grade at the al-Mughayyir boys school, and 19-year-old Omar al-Nassan, who graduated from the same institution with top marks this summer. Continue reading...

Chinese man at Trishuli hydropower project and Nepali woman in Nuwakot found 10 days into rescue operation Emergency responders rescued a Chinese man and a Nepali woman in two separate operations on Saturday, as authorities continued to search for thousands of people missing 10 days after massive floods hit Nepal. The Nepali military said a joint team comprising personnel from its army and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-metre (740ft) tunnel in the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Pictures showed him being evacuated by helicopter after being carried out

Officials say pair were rescued from Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal after being trapped at depth of 170 metres Two people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after deadly flash floods buried the projects in deep mud and left them trapped. The workers were rescued during an operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, a hydropower project in one of the areas worst affected by last week’s floods , according to the army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet. Continue reading...

About 46 people believed to be trapped in ‘room-like’ structure inside hydro plant tunnel on Nepal-Tibet border After the flood: human suffering on an unfathomable scale in Nepal’s worst-hit districts Nepal authorities have said they are “confident” that dozens of workers in Nepal’s Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant are still alive, more than a week after deadly flash floods left them trapped in an underground chamber. Authorities said that at least 639 workers were still missing from hydropower plants built along Nepal’s Bhote Koshi and Triushuli rivers. Continue reading...

Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage site Barclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India. Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant. Continue reading...

Several missing Australians have been found since Tuesday morning, bringing the total citizens unaccounted for to 38 Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far A total of five Australians missing after devastating floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week have been found. Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38. Continue reading...

Activist group behind protests says individual shown in widely-circulated video is considering police appeal for her to come forward No real mention by Anderson of the problems that overshadowed events yesterday. He ended his opening speech saying: "Yesterday was great. Today is going to be absolutely brilliant.” Laila Cunningham is speaking next. Continue reading...

MPs applaud PM’s ambition and optimism but John Healey has yet to show he can match leader’s radical perspective Until now, Andy Burnham has been a lucky prime minister. In office for just over six weeks, no major domestic crisis derailed his plans over the summer, Reform has been on the back foot , and he arrived back at Westminster with his personal approval ratings soaring and optimism undampened. But underneath the sense of relief that many Labour MPs are feeling that their high-stakes gamble of ousting Keir Starmer appears – for now – to have paid off, there is

Port authorities say access roads ‘free flowing’ again after large group forces road closures in both directions Dozens of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas blocked the road at the port of Dover in Kent, forcing closures in both directions on Saturday morning. Kent police said they were were in attendance and engaging with the protest, which the Port of Dover described as a “public order incident”. No arrests were made during the incident. Responsibility for the demonstration appears to have been claimed by an anti-immigration group with links to the far right. Continue reading...

Sector has avoided issue because of stigma fears, expert warns ahead of closure of Nottingham attacks inquiry Mental health organisations have “failed to acknowledge” the risk of violence from a minority of people with severe mental illnesses, the chief executive of Mind has said ahead of the closure of the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks. Dr Sarah Hughes, who has led mental health charity Mind for four years and has worked in the sector for almost four decades, said charities had shied away from addressing the risk of violence due to the fact it had increased the stigma and harassment

After bringing injured queen Phoebee home in July, Gilly McArthur expected her soon to die, but she’s bumbling on Fifty-two days ago, Phoebee was lying by the side of a road in the blistering sun with a broken wing. Today, she’s clambering up the arm of Gilly McArthur, around the nape of her neck and disappearing into her hair. “I couldn’t leave her by the roadside,” McArthur says. “So I bought her home and made her a bed of flowers. I thought she’d be dead in a day or so.” Continue reading...

Politicians on the right and left are pushing back against Flock as more Americans voice opposition to the tech Growing factions from both sides of the political aisle in the US are pushing back against surveillance cameras made by a single company, a rare response in a sharply divided country with a president pushing an unwaveringly pro-tech agenda. The bipartisan backlash against Flock Safety cameras resembles nationwide rage toward the construction of large datacenters that power artificial intelligence. Polling shows roughly 75% of Americans oppose new datacenter construction in their areas. Continue reading...

District attorney must decide whether to retry case after jury’s failure to reach verdict despite hours of deliberation Lindsay Clancy, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the judge and millions watching on are back where they started after her five-week trial over the murder of her three children ended in a mistrial. America’s saddest case has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over, and a second trial could now be on the horizon, prolonging and repeating an agonizing spectacle that has gripped America and the world. Continue reading...

Atlanta’s Bradley Carlisle first played Kris Kringle for kids with Down’s syndrome and has now completed elite Santa Academy After recently gaining recognition as the first professional Santa Claus with Down’s syndrome in the US, Bradley Carlisle has already gotten a lot more than the traditional serving of milk and cookies that is usually left out for Father Christmas each year. That is because the 37-year-old community theater actor from suburban Atlanta landed an honorary induction into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame upon completing one of the largest Christmas performer schools in the US in late August –

The US defense secretary faces internal dissent and discord at the Pentagon, accused of focusing on culture war issues and his own political ambitions as the Iran war drags on In a different Washington, under a different president, a return to the well-worn playbook of all-out sanctions to counter Iran might have been the signal for a publicity-hungry US secretary of defense to adopt a lower profile. But these are no ordinary times. And Pete Hegseth is no ordinary defense secretary. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. Sign up for US Breaking News emails President Trump threatened in a social media post on Friday to stop trade with some countries unless the US Federal Reserve moves to cut interest rates. Trump cited August’s strong jobs report as sufficient justification to lower rates, and warned that, if the central bank didn’t go along, he’d halt trade between the US and any nations with which it maintains a trade deficit. Continue reading...

At least two people were killed and dozens injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the ‌Bolivian municipality of Viacha, about 30km (20 miles) from La Paz, Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said. His ministry said in a statement that 14 people were missing. The blast occurred at around 2.30pm in an area used to ⁠store pyrotechnic material, authorities said. While the cause has yet to ‌be established, officials said the blast originated from the defence ministry’s...

Tetris said on Friday that it did not give permission for the White House to use the game’s iconic imagery for a controversial online arcade that the Trump administration released on Thursday. “The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall and did not authorise or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game,” Tetris said in a statement. “We are currently reviewing the matter,” the statement continued. A block-stacking game called Build the Wall included...

One by one, Tesla Model Y Ls roll out of the company’s end-of-line inspection bays, gleaming in black, white and gold. They are a mix of left-hand and right-hand drive – one of many signs the electric vehicles (EVs) produced here are destined for ports around the world. The company touts a total assembly time of less than 40 seconds at its sprawling Gigafactory in Lingang, a coastal area on the far southeastern edge of Shanghai. From there, Tesla says, a finished car can reach the port and be...

A judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Friday after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three young children. The mistrial, on the seventh day of deliberations, leaves the case unresolved and allows prosecutors to take the 36-year-old former labour and delivery nurse to trial again. Neither Clancy, her family nor the jury showed any emotion as the judge announced the mistrial. The deliberations...

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the US voted against it and six other states abstained. The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of...

President Donald Trump intensified pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, threatening to cut off trade with certain economies with which the US has a deficit if the central bank does not act. Trump issued his demands on Friday in a lengthy social media post after a stronger-than-expected August jobs report, which could bolster the case for Fed officials to raise rates at their next policy meeting starting September 15. In his post, the president exhorted his hand-picked Fed...

Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed on Friday on a model for “return hubs” in non-EU nations and hope to begin sending migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, an official said. The announcement, made after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, is the latest development in an effort by EU states to send people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc. “We are moving forward towards what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common...

The US job market rebounded in August as employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.1 per cent. The jobs report, issued by the Labour Department on Friday, could be good news for President Donald Trump two months before midterm elections in which the health of the economy is weighing on voters’ minds. Hiring far exceeded the 65,000 forecasters had expected, according to a poll by FactSet. Labour Department revisions also looked good, adding 55,000 to June...

This summer, David Chen, a Chinese national living in Japan, got an unexpected lesson in global industrial supply chains – delivered through a bag of potato chips. When popular Japanese snack brand Calbee replaced its signature colourful packaging with monochrome designs, Chen initially assumed it was a marketing gimmick. “Then news reports explained the switch stemmed from a naphtha supply crunch. I even looked up the word,” Chen said. Naphtha, a flammable liquid processed from crude oil, might...

When China’s trade with Latin America reached a record US$518.4 billion in 2024, it marked a fundamental shift in hemispheric economics. Beijing is now the largest bilateral creditor and second largest trading partner of Latin America and the Caribbean, with President Xi Jinping pledging a new credit line of 66 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion) at the 2025 China-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) forum. Chinese investment has evolved from extractive industries towards clean...

Britain’s populist Reform UK said two senior advisers to leader Nigel Farage stepped down on Friday after an undercover investigation alleged the party had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling. Reform denied any wrongdoing and said it had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by climate activists. The governing Labour Party wrote to the police asking them to investigate possible criminal offences, including an alleged proposal to channel a larger...

US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run - an updated version of the game Snake - features a digital version of US border tsar Tom Homan...

Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic’s body arrived in Serbia on Thursday, where it was received with military honours. The casket, draped in the Serbian flag, was carried from the plane by six soldiers after arriving from The Hague, accompanied by Mladic’s son Darko and Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic. The body was then driven from the airport under police escort, reportedly to a Belgrade military hospital. Mladic died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a...

Argentine President Javier Milei escalated his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands on Thursday, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising US President Donald Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty. Milei cast Trump’s comments as proof that his close relationship with the US president – criticised by political opponents as overly deferential – was paying dividends. “The...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance said that the United States ⁠was investigating a deadly strike on an Iranian wedding earlier this week that an analysis published by Reuters showed likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition. An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target, according to an analysis on Thursday by weapons experts who reviewed images and video verified by...

France is facing pressure to consent to the International Court of Justice taking up a decades-old territorial feud with Vanuatu, after Paris firmly reasserted its sovereignty over two strategically vital Pacific islands. Vanuatu filed an application with the UN’s top court earlier this week seeking recognition of its claim over the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter islands. However, the case cannot proceed without French consent, prompting Vanuatu to warn it would seek a UN General Assembly...

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to let it enforce a new US Postal Service rule tightening the use of mail-in ballots, moving swiftly after a judge temporarily blocked the regulation ahead of November’s midterm elections. In an emergency request, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to lift Boston-based US District ‌Judge Indira Talwani’s order temporarily preventing the USPS from enforcing the new rule, which it adopted following an executive...

Former Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno and a former Chinese ambassador to Quito asked the country’s highest court on Thursday to spare them the five-year sentences handed down last week over a US$76 million bribery scheme. Moreno was convicted of bribery by a three-judge panel of the National Court of Justice over contracts for Ecuador’s largest hydroelectric project secured by a Chinese state contractor. The judges found unanimously that he had used his position as vice-president, held from...

A single juror in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is preventing the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict, her lawyer said in court on Thursday, after deliberations stretched into a sixth day over whether to convict the Massachusetts woman of killing her three young children. Defence lawyer Kevin ‌Reddington made that statement shortly after the jury sent Judge William Sullivan in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a note that prompted him to reinstruct jurors on what would constitute “reasonable...

Ten research teams were honoured on Thursday at a satirical science awards ceremony that was hosted outside the US for the first time due to travel concerns. Researchers who studied milk from cockroaches and analysed soil health using underwear received Ig Nobel prizes celebrating unusual and imaginative contributions to science. The awards organised by a digital magazine called the Annals of Improbable Research shifted to Europe after 35 years in the US over concerns about attendees being able...

Federal prosecutors have charged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with lying to investigators about the events leading up to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorised to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said Christian Castro, the officer who authorities say shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in...

Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system’s smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet. The linked European and Japanese spacecraft separated as planned from their cruiser, but controllers had to wait two anxious hours to receive confirmation via radio signals. The crucial operation was broadcast from the European Space Agency’s control centre in Germany, more than 200 million km (124...

A cabinet secretary fretting about his daughter’s university choice might once have been considered a private family matter. In Donald Trump’s America, it has become official content. US transport secretary Sean Duffy recently appeared with his family in a road trip series carried on the department’s YouTube page. In one episode, his daughter, Paloma, said if she were admitted to Harvard University, she would probably urge her parents to let her attend. Duffy, however, warned the university had...

Norway had seized a Russian ship in the Arctic to enforce a US$4.22 billion compensation claim won by Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz over Moscow’s seizure of its assets when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, officials said late on Wednesday. The vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized off the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to Covington, the US law firm representing Naftogaz. The Russian state news agency TASS quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying the Norwegian...

Iran attacked US military bases in Kuwait on Thursday, despite US President Donald Trump threatening further strikes in a fresh flare-up six months into the war. Trump said his military was prepared to attack Iran “any time we want” after extensive US bombardment of sites across the country left at least 19 Iranians dead. Tehran retaliated by hitting US military targets across the Middle East, including in Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan...

A Maltese court on Wednesday acquitted tycoon Yorgen Fenech of orchestrating the car-bomb killing of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, sparking outrage from her family and media freedom advocates. The wealthy businessman had stood accused of masterminding the 2017 assassination of 53-year-old Caruana Galizia, which sparked unprecedented protests and brought down a government. Caruana Galizia’s family said in a statement that Fenech’s acquittal was “denying her the justice she...

Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro urged a US judge on Wednesday to dismiss criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country. The charges, filed in Manhattan federal court, formed the basis for the US military’s raid on Caracas and capture of Maduro on January 3. The Venezuelan leader, who has been held ‌in a Brooklyn federal jail since his seizure, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial on June...

A low-altitude flyover by two Airlink passenger jets before a rugby match at Cape Town’s DHL Stadium is being reviewed by South African aviation authorities after it drew safety concerns, officials said on Wednesday. The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) said it had obtained flight data recordings and requested additional information from regional carrier Airlink as part of its assessment. A full report with recommendations would be issued once the review was complete. “It is...

A US missile hit a home in southern Iran where dozens were gathered to celebrate the wedding of a fisherman’s daughter, according to a rights group and Iranian media. Iranian state media said four people – two women and two children – were killed and more than 60 were wounded. The rights group said one of the children, a teenager, was killed by another strike on a nearby communications tower. Heavy explosions shook the coastal town of Kuhestak on the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and security...

US President Donald Trump will now speak on both nights of the Republican Party’s unusual midterm convention next week, a party official said on Wednesday, an expanded role that will compete for ‌viewers with the start of the NFL season. Trump had originally been scheduled to deliver an address on Thursday to close out the September 9-10 convention in Dallas, but now will deliver the keynote speech on Wednesday and speak after US Vice-President J.D. Vance on Thursday evening as well, the party...

US President ⁠Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was “happy” Prince Harry and his family left the US and relocated back to Britain. “I am happy about it. I was not a fan,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked about the recent decision ‌by Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to leave California after six years. The family arrived back in Britain at the end of August. The couple stepped down from official royal duties in 2020 when they moved to the US. “I thought they treated...

The Dutch central bank said Wednesday it had moved 86 tonnes of its gold reserves out of the US and Canada to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest”. The DNB bank said gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa. “This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation,” the bank said in a statement. “With this step, we have improved the deployability of the gold reserves. We assume that we will never need to deploy the...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as “Trump Strait” despite ongoing clashes with Iran – then hours later implied he wasn’t serious. Trump has made a series of geographical name changes to international bodies of water in his second term, at least partly with the aim of trolling other countries. The latest suggestion came as Trump insisted the US had full control of the crucial waterway, even as fresh clashes raged there with Iran. “Now that we have it...

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, said on Wednesday that an Iranian ‌attack on an oil tanker owned by its national shipping company had killed two Filipino seafarers. Sidr, owned by Bahri, was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi oil reported to have been hit late on Monday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has threatened tankers attempting ⁠to sail through the narrow waterway without authorisation, impeding energy exports from neighbouring ‌oil-rich Gulf...

Israel has plans ready to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip but is waiting for the United States to figure out where to take them, the defence minister has said. “There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration,” Defence Minister Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday. The Israeli government “is organised and prepared to get them out – by sea, by air, by every way possible”, he said. The US embassy...

Oil giant Chevron confirmed that it would expand operations in Venezuela after US President Donald Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation’s oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits. Chevron, the only US oil company with a major presence in Venezuela, said on Wednesday that it had been assigned additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where it has active operations. The company plans to invest more than US$7 billion over the next five years, with the goal of more...

China is beginning to match its economic presence abroad with the military reach required to operate across it. The clearest evidence came from Egypt. Chinese J-16 fighters flew there recently, supported by YU-20 tankers that refuelled them in the air. The Chinese jets are taking part in Egypt’s “Eagles of Civilisation” alongside Egyptian Rafales and MiG-29s. This is the first time China has sent the jets to Africa, providing experience in moving a combat force across continents and operating...

Ireland needs to be prepared for a vote on whether to reunify with the UK’s Northern Ireland region, Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee has said. “I do believe that there will be a border poll at some stage,” McEntee told reporters in Wicklow, Ireland, ahead of a European Union foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday. “It is for the people of Northern Ireland to decide this and it is only where there’s a view that there may be a majority that we should move forward on this.” Her comments came...

For the first time in recent history, Danish ⁠conscripts have been deployed to ⁠Greenland, as Denmark moves to ⁠bolster its presence in the Arctic after US demands to acquire the territory. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish island, citing national security concerns and accusing Copenhagen of neglecting Arctic defence. Denmark and ‌Greenland have firmly rejected the idea. The conscripts are part of the first cohort under Denmark’s new extended...

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was born 25 years ago as a modest mechanism for managing borders between China, Russia and four Central Asian states. At its anniversary summit in Bishkek this week, it looks more consequential – and harder for the United States to dismiss. The timing is important. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains unresolved, while the war between Iran and the US has turned the Persian Gulf into another theatre of strategic competition, with energy markets again...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused security officials on Tuesday of intentionally failing to wake him on the morning of Hamas’ October 7 attacks, a day after his wife claimed an opposition figure knew of the onslaught in advance. Netanyahu is heading into close-fought elections later this year, and has come in for sustained criticism in the national debate over who is responsible for the failures that led to the October 7, 2023 security fiasco. The prime minister has alleged in...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that his country’s drones would make Russia’s airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war, drawing accusations of “state terrorism” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Both sides have intensified long-range attacks in recent months and diplomatic efforts led by the United States remain stalled more than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion. “Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer...

The murder case against the Utah man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year is headed for trial, and the defendant could face the death penalty if he is convicted. Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with prosecutors who said they had “overwhelming” evidence that suspect Tyler Robinson shot Kirk once in the neck as the ally of US President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of thousands last September in Orem, Utah. One of Robinson’s lawyers entered a...

China has spent years articulating its preferred principles for the world order. In June, it went a step further, bringing many of them together in a white paper on global governance and setting out how its Global Governance Initiative should translate principles into practice. Two ambitions sat side by side: an “equal and orderly multipolar world” and a “universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation”. The timing is telling. World leaders will gather in New York this month for the...

As the fear of a possible mobilization becomes a fixture of daily life across Russia, many men are deciding whether to flee, hide or sit tight.

Even as a jury failed to reach a verdict in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, her future is unlikely to include freedom, at least for a long time. But Americans have been divided over the goal of her confinement.

Hung juries are not common, but the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy was emotionally wrenching and uniquely complicated.

The network this week took Maria Bartiromo off the air, pulling one of the last hosts whose coverage of Dominion Voting Systems drew an expensive defamation lawsuit.

The governors of Texas and Florida have taken steps to curtail the use of license-plate readers, even as the police say they help with solving crime.

Data from Gallup shows that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have their largest advantage over Republicans since 2008.

Missouri’s Supreme Court said a map redrawn to help Republicans could not be used in November and said voters should decide on the new boundaries.

At the U.S. Open she is playing a whole new style game.

Even a very successful thriller writer fights self-doubt. His new tough-talking writing guide doubles as a memoir that explains why, and how to beat it.

Alumni have varying opinions about the school’s deal with the personal finance company SoFi to advertise on Notre Dame athletic uniforms.

Courting authoritarianism with a rapacious Trump.

The season’s new releases give us a cultural road map, but the most rewarding reading, listening and watching comes from the detours.

The feminist icon insisted that women were not a niche audience — and proved it in 1971 with the start of an influential publication owned and operated by them.