Minimalist News

Yields Hit Session Highs After Poor, Tailing 2Y Auction Sees Lowest Foreign Demand Since 2023 It's the last treasury auction week of the year, and due to upcoming holidays, we are running on an accelerated scheduled which means the 2Y auction which usually takes placed on Tuesday, is Monday's business instead. It was a subpar auction with modest demand; overall grade - not great, not terrible. The auction of $69BN in 2Y paper stopped at a high yield of 3.499%, up 1bp from last month's 3.489%, and tailed the When Issued by 0.3bps, the biggest tail for the short-end since April's 0.6bps

A Christmas Carol For The Markets, 2025 Edition By Elwin de Groot, Head of Macro Strategy at Rabobank As the year draws to a close, Ebenezer “Macro” Scrooge looks back on an eventful 2025. Sitting alone in his glass-walled office on Christmas Eve, the city below twinkling like a Bloomberg terminal in night mode. His screens glowed with charts: yield curves steepening, equities hitting all-time highs, and a lonely alert blinking – “Critical raw materials shortage: nutmeg unavailable.” “Bah, tariffs!” he grumbled, stabbing at his keyboard. “Christmas is inefficient. If only people understood the beauty of a well-balanced trade account.” The year had been brutal on

House Republicans Setting Up Early 2026 Vote On Stock Trading Ban House Republicans are teeing up a vote in early 2026 on legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stock, however Democrats are insisting that it be expanded to cover the president, vice president, and their spouses.  Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., leaves a news conference as Republicans struggle with a plan to address growing health care costs, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. On Thursday a group of House Republicans met to hash out the framework for an intraparty compromise that will only place restrictions

Silver Just Called The COMEX's Bluff Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold, December means many things: A year coming to an end, a time for reflection, a time for looking ahead. A time for family and friends, and of course, a time for holiday belly-expansion. However, what many may have missed this December is that it was the month the paper markets in silver had yet another near-death experience. HIDING IN PLAIN SITE As usual, this critical turning point in metals, as well as its neon-flashing signal of a globally debt-sick financial and currency system, went largely unnoticed. In financial markets, the daily buzz remained forever

Atmospheric Rivers Pound US West Coast, Raising Bomb Cyclone Threat Ahead Of Christmas Powerful atmospheric rivers continue to hammer Washington and Northern California, extending into Central California, dumping inches of rain, with some low-elevation areas seeing double-digit totals, while higher elevations are getting buried under heavy snowfall. Here is this week's forecast via The Weather Channel: > Atmospheric rivers continue to soak the West, bringing heavy rainfall, gusty winds and mountain snowfall. The latest event is ramping up for Northern and Central California this weekend and is expected to last into the week. Flood watches are in effect through the next several days,

Democratic Despotism: The American Left Moves From Censored To Compelled Speech Authored by Jonathan Turley, More than five years ago, I wrote in these pages of a growing trend on the left toward compelled speech - the forcing of citizens to repeat approved views and values. It is an all-too-familiar pattern. Once a faction assumes power, it will often first seek to censor opposing views and then compel the endorsement of approved views. This week, some of those efforts faced setbacks and challenges in blue states like Washington and Illinois. In Washington state, many have developed what seems a certain appetite for compelled speech.  For example, Democrats recently pushed

Trump Admin Tests New Medicare Drug Pricing Pilot Programs Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two pilot programs on Dec. 19, as the Trump administration tests new ways to lower out-of-pocket drug costs for Americans on Medicare. An employee is seen at a Florida pharmacy in this file photo. Joe Raedle/Getty Images The first pilot program, Guarding U.S. Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs (GUARD), would apply an alternative approach to calculating prescription drugs for people on Medicare. GUARD will examine drug prices

Russian General Killed By Car Bomb In Moscow, Marks 3rd Top Officer Assassinated In A Year A Russian general was killed early Monday after a bomb detonated beneath his car in southern Moscow, Russian law enforcement officials have announced. The hugely provocative act, which was likely either carried out by Ukrainian operatives or allied Western intelligence (or both) marks the third killing of a high-ranking defense official over the past year. The slain senior officer has been identified Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, who headed the General Staff's operational training department. He initially survived the blast but soon after succumbed to his injuries. Investigators

The US Economy Is Stronger After One Year Of The Trump Administration Authored by Daniel Lacalle, One year into Donald Trump’s new presidency, the verdict from the data is clear: the apocalyptic consensus forecasts have failed, and the United States stands as the only major developed economy combining strong growth, controlled inflation and fiscal consolidation. The same analysts and institutions that applauded massive stimulus, monetary excess and regulatory excess under the previous The same analysts and institutions that applauded massive stimulus, monetary excess, and regulatory excess under the previous administration now struggle to explain why the U.S. economy, which they expected to sink

Macron Seeks New Talks With Putin, Forcing 'Alternative' Path To Stalled US Negotiations Suddenly French President Emmanuel Macron is deciding to revive his diplomacy with Moscow and is stepping in and "stealing the show" - as Politico has newly put it - at a moment US-Russia negotiations have been 'constructive' but largely slow and even stalled. There's been no breakthroughs in Miami this weekend involving White House envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev, who sat across from Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov. Macron's office has said, coming just off a European Council summit which saw a controversial Russian assets confiscation

Georgia Power Gets Green Light To Dramatically Grow Grid To Draw Data Centers Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Georgia Public Service Commission will allow the state’s largest electric utility to proceed with its $15 billion plan to build nearly 10,000 megawatts of new generation—two-thirds of its present capacity—within a decade to accommodate “large load” demand from data centers. The Vogtle Unit 3, being constructed by primary contractor Westinghouse, a business unit of Toshiba, near Waynesboro, Ga., in this photo taken in March 2017. Georgia Power/Handout via Reuters The five-member commission on Dec. 19 unanimously approved a “stipulated agreement”

Key Events This Shortened Week: GDP And Durables On Deck As 2025 Closes For those traders who are still "out there" instead of the slopes of Chamonix mingling with freshly embezzled US tax dollars by way of Kiev, DB's Jim Reid reminds that we’re now entering a very quiet spell for markets before Christmas, with data releases and other headline announcements almost completely drying up. Indeed, there’s only two-and-a-half days left to go for many places, as the US and several European markets are closing early on Christmas Eve, and this week usually sees some of the lowest volumes of the

Journo Freaks Out After Bari Weiss Spikes '60 Minutes' Segment On El Salvador Prison CBS News' new editor in chief Bari Weiss pulled a planned "60 Minutes" segment on an El Salvador maximum-security prison where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants - apparently because the journalist behind the piece failed to obtain comment from the Trump administration.  Bari Weiss backstage at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, September 13, 2023.Francine Orr/Getty Images. The 11th hour decision prompted outrage from a high-profile network correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, who said that Weiss "spiked our story," and characterized the move as a political decision rather

Leases For Five Offshore Wind Projects Suspended Over Radar-Related National Security Concerns U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business that the Trump administration will suspend leases for five wind farms under construction off the U.S. East Coast, citing national security concerns related to radar interference. "Well, today we're sending notifications to the five large offshore wind projects that are under construction that their leases will be suspended due to national security concerns. During this time of suspension, we'll work with the companies to try and find a mitigation. But we've completed the work President

Irony Alert: Google Suddenly Champions Free Speech As UK Crushes Online Expression Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, In a stunning reversal, Google has slammed the UK for threatening to stifle free speech through its aggressive online regulations. This from the company infamous for its own censorship crusades against conservative voices and inconvenient truths. If even Google is raising the alarm, you know the situation in Britain has hit rock bottom. The move signals a broader culture shift in Big Tech, where woke agendas are crumbling under pressure from free speech advocates. It’s no coincidence this comes after Elon Musk turned Twitter into

Futures Rise, Japanese Yields Surge, Gold And Silver Soar As we previewed late last week, the Santa Rally is back all right, and US equity futures are trading near session highs with the Nasdaq 100 poised to wipe out December’s losses as revived appetite for technology stocks powered gains across equity markets. As of 8:15am ET, S&P futures are 0.4% higher after the benchmark climbed 0.9% on Friday, the most in close to a month; Nasdaq futures rise 0.6% set to build on Friday’s jump as NVDA jumped 2% on a Reuters report the company sees H200 shipments to China starting by mid-February;

Nvidia Prepares To Ship H200 AI Chips To China By Mid-February Nvidia shares rose slightly in premarket trading in New York after Reuters reported that the US chipmaker has informed customers it plans to ship its second-most powerful AI chip, the H200, to China before the Lunar New Year in mid-February. Sources familiar with the shipment say Nvidia plans to deliver about 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules, equivalent to 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips, to China in the coming months. Those same sources noted that the chipmaker plans to expand H200 production capacity in the new year, with orders for that capacity scheduled to open in

'Rather Brilliantly Evil': Life In The Fast Lane With Robinhood Markets Authored by Eric Salzman via Racket News, (emphasis ours) By just about any metric it has been a blowout year for the retail brokerage company Robinhood Markets. The company’s stock (HOOD) price is up about 220% in 2025, revenues and account growth have shot higher, and founder Vlad Tenev has become a multi-billionaire. Robinhood was founded in 2013 but really burst onto the scene in 2020, changing the face of the retail brokerage industry. After a near-death experience in 2021 with the infamous GameStop episode, the company has become a phoenix, rising from the ashes,

Denmark Furious After Trump Names Special Envoy To Greenland President Donald Trump announced late Sunday on Truth Social that he is appointing Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland. The move prompted Denmark's Foreign Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, to summon the U.S. ambassador, saying the appointment suggests continued American interest in the resource-rich island. "I am pleased to announce that I am appointing the GREAT Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as the United States Special Envoy to Greenland. Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our national security and will strongly advance our country's interests for

Pump Baby, Pump! EIA Thinks OPEC Can Produce Far More Than Anyone Expected Authored by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com, The U.S. Energy Information Administration quietly rewrote a key assumption about the global oil market this week: OPEC can produce more oil than previously thought. In its December Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA updated how it defines and estimates OPEC crude oil production capacity. The result was a material upward revision. The agency now estimates OPEC’s effective production capacity was higher by about 220,000 barrels per day in 2024, 370,000 bpd in 2025, and 310,000 bpd in 2026 compared with its earlier assessments. The change didn’t come

Controversially appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss says: ‘I held that story and I held it because it wasn’t ready’ CBS News was dealing with internal and external uproar on Monday after it pulled at the last minute an investigation for its flagship 60 Minutes show into the harsh prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans from the US earlier this year. The episode about the Cecot mega-prison was due to air on Sunday night. However, in an “editor’s note” posted on X late that afternoon, the broadcaster’s official account announced that “the lineup for tonight’s edition of 60

Long sentences in case of Afro-Ecuadorian ‘Guayaquil Four’ focuses attention on president’s crackdown on crime A court in Ecuador has sentenced 11 air force personnel to decades in prison over the forced disappearance” of four Afro-Ecuadorian boys aged between 11 and 15 during security operations in the country’s largest city last year. The case of the “Guayaquil Four” is widely seen as the starkest example of human rights abuses under the iron-fist security policy pursued by the rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, who placed the armed forces at the centre of the fight against drug trafficking. Continue reading...

Backlash after broadcaster announces investigation, due to air on Sunday night, ‘needs additional reporting’ CBS News is facing a backlash, including from one of its own correspondents, after it cancelled a 60 Minutes investigation into a brutal prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants. The episode of its flagship program about the Cecot mega-prison was due to air on Sunday night. However, in an “editor’s note” posted on X, the broadcaster’s official account announced that “the lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside Cecot’ will air in a future broadcast.” Continue

Attorney general’s office also says 10 people received prison terms from 463 to 958 years amid crackdown on gangs under state of emergency El Salvador has announced prison sentences for hundreds of gang members, with some of the convicted receiving terms of hundreds of years. The attorney general’s office posted on X that 248 members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang had received “exemplary sentences” for 43 homicides and 42 disappearances, among other crimes. Continue reading...

Official indicates vessel is subject to sanctions after Trump’s ‘blockade’ on sanctioned tankers in and out of Venezuela US Coast Guard officials said on Sunday they were tracking an oil tanker in international waters close to Venezuela, multiple unnamed US officials have told US media, marking the second such action over the weekend – and the third within the past week. What officials described as an “active pursuit” in the Caribbean Sea took place a day after the coast guard seized another vessel off the coast of Venezuela, as Washington ramps up its pressure campaign targeting the South American country’s vital oil

Move made after first phase of anti-subsidy investigation widely seen as retaliation for bloc’s EV tariffs China will impose provisional duties of up to 42.7% on certain dairy products imported from the EU from Tuesday after concluding the first phase of an anti-subsidy investigation widely seen as retaliation for the bloc’s electric vehicle tariffs. The tariffs will range from 21.9% to 42.7% – although most companies will pay about 30% – and target products such as milk and cheese, including protected origin brands such as French roquefort and Italian gorgonzola. Continue reading...

MPs vote to investigate crash amid accusations from victims’ relatives of cover-ups and delays South Korea’s parliament has launched an independent inquiry into the deadliest air disaster on its soil amid accusations of investigation delays and cover-ups of last year’s Jeju Air crash. On 29 December 2024 all but two of the 181 people onboard a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 died when it crashed at Muan international airport, 288km south of Seoul, after reporting a bird strike during landing. Continue reading...

Six absurdist signs resembling official city council information boards have popped up across New Zealand’s second-largest city Outside an abandoned building in New Zealand’s second-biggest city, a sign reads “slightly haunted but manageable”. In the middle of a busy shopping strip, pedestrians are warned to keep to a 2.83km/h walking speed. In another part of Christchurch, one piece of signage declares simply “don’t”. The baffling boards are not an overzealous new council initiative, but a piece of art designed to “play with the way we take authority and signage so seriously”. Continue reading...

Unexpected arrival is a boon for birdlife in New Zealand, where there are only 500 takahē left A pair of rare native New Zealand takahē birds who were believed infertile have stunned staff at the world’s largest urban eco-sanctuary, after hatching a “miracle” chick. The roughly seven-week old chick was discovered inside Zealandia, a fully fenced eco-sanctuary 10 minutes from Wellington’s city centre, in November, but its arrival has been a closely guarded secret to ensure its safety. Continue reading...

Man, 27, from northern Taiwan reported to have fallen to his death in police chase after rampage through capital At least four people have died in a rare mass stabbing incident in central Taipei after an attacker used smoke grenades to cause chaos as he went on a violent rampage through Taiwan’s capital. Several people were also injured. The suspected assailant is among the dead after he fell from a building during a police chase through a busy shopping district on Friday evening. Continue reading...

The Liberals voted with Labor to pass the legislation last night, while the Nationals opposed the bill. Follow live updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Shareholders have overwhelmingly thrown their support behind a deal to create an Australian media giant spanning television, radio, print and digital, Australian Associated Press reports. Shareholders in the company that owns Seven Network and the West Australian yesterday approved its merger with the group that owns Triple M and the Hit Network radio stations. The combination of these two great companies will bring together the best content creators in the country

The 79-year-old Vietnam war veteran and founding member of the Central Land Council ‘believed deeply in service’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Warning: This article contains images of and references to Indigenous Australians who have died One of Central Australia’s most highly respected Aboriginal leaders and Vietnam war veteran has died. Kaytetye and Arrernte man, Geoffrey Shaw OAM, was born in the dry Todd riverbed in 1945 and began his military career at 18 in 1964, serving until the early 1970s before returning home to devote himself to his community in Alice Springs. Continue reading...

Proposed changes to gun laws and protest rights in NSW need to be approached with forensic clarity – taking a pause might be wiser * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast It is understandable that the Minns Labor government wants to rush new restrictions about guns and protests into law. A tragedy like the Bondi massacre demands action – and the unpredictable political wave of public feeling after a disaster can either wipe you out or see you riding high. The risks are obvious in Anthony Albanese’s

Rabbi calls for good deeds in memory of Dan Elkayam and other victims of attack at Jewish event * ‘Left an immeasurable void’: Holocaust survivors, community heroes and ‘spirited child’ among victims of Bondi terror attack Like many friendships, Jesse Singer and Dan Elkayam’s had its own rituals. “Whenever it was a sunny day, we’d message each other throughout the day to see if we could finish work as early as possible and get down to the beach to play football.” Continue reading...

Heavy rain and mountain snow forecast for northern and central parts, with river and flooding likely in Los Angeles After prolonged heavy rainfall and devastating flooding across the Pacific north-west in the past few weeks, further flood watches have been issued across California through this week. With 50-75mm (2-3in) of rainfall already reported across northern California this weekend, a series of atmospheric rivers will continue to bring periods of heavy rain and mountain snow across the northern and central parts of the state, with flood watches extending until Friday. Continue reading...

Russia’s Investigative Committee says it is looking into whether Ukraine intelligence services were behind attack A Russian general has been killed after an explosive device detonated beneath his car in what Moscow described as a likely assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services. Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, the head of the operational training directorate of the Russian armed forces’ general staff, died of his injuries, a spokesperson for Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement. Continue reading...

Wes Streeting’s wish for deeper trade relations to help fight against Farage is shared by growing number of MPs When Keir Starmer stood on the Labour conference stage in 2018 and defied Jeremy Corbyn to call for a second Brexit referendum with remain as an option, it put him in pole position to become the next Labour leader. Starmer must now feel a sense of deja vu watching Wes Streeting, the most out-and-out pretender for the leadership, follow a similar playbook. In an interview over the weekend, the health secretary strayed from the official government line to call for “a deeper trading

La Poste’s websites, apps and banking service affected by a DDoS incident, which is also delaying postal deliveries The websites and apps of France’s national post office and its banking service have been hit by a suspected cyber-attack, disrupting deliveries and hampering online payments and transfers at the busiest time of the year. Three days before Christmas, La Poste said on Monday that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, had “rendered its online services inaccessible”. Customer data was safe, it said, but mail distribution, including parcels, had been slowed. Continue reading...

Lisbon court rules the posters could incite hatred and tells party leader Andre Ventura to remove them within 24 hours The leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega party has been ordered to remove street posters attacking the Roma community, after a Lisbon court ruled they were discriminatory and could incite hatred. Judge Ana Barao said the posters’ wording “attacks an ethnic minority” and she gave Andre Ventura 24 hours to remove them or face a daily fine of €2,500 (£2,200) per poster. Continue reading...

Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen demand respect for borders after US appoints Greenland envoy The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control. “We have said it very clearly before. Now we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law … You cannot annex other countries,” Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement. Continue reading...

Justice secretary urged to ‘show a bit of humanity’ with protesters severely ill after refusing food for weeks * Who are the Palestine Action hunger strikers and what are the health risks? Families and supporters of Palestine Action-affiliated hunger strikers have pleaded with David Lammy to meet them in an attempt to end the impasse over the protest that has left some of them severely unwell. On Monday, as the protest reached a dangerous stage, lawyers for the hunger strikers sent a legal letter claiming that by refusing a meeting the justice secretary had failed to comply with the Ministry of Justice’s

Decision takes the total number of new settlements to 69 in past few years as construction binge continues Israel has approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge in the territory that poses a further threat to the possibility of a Palestinian state. It brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, a new record, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank. The latest include two that were previously evacuated

Attack brings total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since October ceasefire took effect The Israeli military killed six Palestinians, including a baby, who were in a school that sheltered displaced people in Gaza City on Friday, hospital officials have said. The attack brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since the October ceasefire took effect. Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line which they have withdrawn to, killing the Palestinians and wounding a number more, the Palestinian civil defence said in a statement. It added that it was only able to recover the bodies after coordinating

Monitor says almost one in eight people face food shortages as flooding and cold exacerbate humanitarian emergency The famine in Gaza has ended as a result of increased humanitarian aid deliveries into the territory, the UN said on Friday, though it warned that levels of hunger and the humanitarian situation remained critical. Almost one in eight people in Gaza still faced food shortages, the UN said, adding that persistent hunger had been made worse by winter flooding and the colder weather. Most people in Gaza live in tents or other substandard accommodation as Israel destroyed much of the housing and civilian infrastructure

Manar al-Houbi’s family had been denied entry despite a scholarship covering their living costs, but other students remain stranded The UK government has finally evacuated Manar al-Houbi, the Gaza student who won a fully funded scholarship to pursue her PhD at the University of Glasgow, along with her family from the war-ravaged territory this week. In October, the Guardian highlighted Houbi’s desperate battle to get her family evacuated after they were denied entry to the UK, despite her scholarship and visa permitting her to bring them. Continue reading...

Group of 120 experts including Joseph Stiglitz urge fresh debt restructuring plan given scale of destruction A group of the world’s top economists – including the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz – have called for Sri Lanka’s debt payments to be suspended as it tackles the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah. More than 600 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed across the island, in what Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, called the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”. Continue reading...

UN body to study possibility of integrating centuries-old practices into mainstream healthcare From herbalists in Africa gathering plants to use as poultices to acupuncturists in China using needles to cure migraines, or Indian yogis practising meditation, traditional remedies have increasingly being shown to work, and deserve more attention and research, according to a World Health Organization official. A historical lack of evidence, which has seen traditional practices dismissed by many, could change with more investment and the use of modern technology, according to Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, who leads the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre. Continue reading...

Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humans A group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos. Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but are thought to be used as a mode of communication, according to Rajkumar K P, a Zoological Society of London fellow and researcher. Continue reading...

British Indian Ocean Territory commissioner’s appeal against decision last year rejected by judges in London Appeal court judges have backed a decision that dozens of asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on one of the world’s most remote islands, rejecting an appeal on Tuesday by the commissioner for the territory. Exactly a year ago, on 16 December 2024, a judge ruled that Tamils who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, a UK and US military base, after a shipwreck while they were trying to reach Canada to seek asylum, were unlawfully detained there for three years in conditions described as “hell on

Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government. An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades. Continue reading...

Major incident declared as 50-metre-long breach opens up in waterway previously flagged as ‘amber risk’ A man has told of his narrow escape after waking up just in time to raise the alarm as his canal boat and those of others were swallowed by a fast-appearing giant hole. Emergency services declared a major incident after the 50-metre-long crater – initially described by emergency services and other agencies as a sinkhole – breached the Llangollen canal in England’s West Midlands, leaving boats teetering on the edge of a steep drop or stuck at the bottom of the cavity. Continue reading...

Seven prisoners have been taken to hospital since starting their strikes, with some claiming a lack of medical attention * Families of Palestine Action hunger strikers seek urgent meeting with Lammy Eight prisoners have been on hunger strike while awaiting trial for alleged offences relating to Palestine Action before the group was banned under terrorism legislation. What do we know about the activists and their demands? Continue reading...

Move is part of a long-awaited Labour strategy including outlawing hen cages and ending puppy farming Boiling lobsters alive will be banned under proposals to improve animal welfare in England. Government ministers say that “live boiling is not an acceptable killing method” for crustaceans and alternative guidance will be published. Continue reading...

Artist confirms image in Bayswater is by him, but gives no indication about another outside Centre Point tower A new Banksy mural that shows two children lying down and looking at the sky has appeared in west London. The artist revealed he was behind the artwork above a row of garages on Queen’s Mews in Bayswater by posting a photo of it to his Instagram account on Monday afternoon. Continue reading...

Philip Young, 49, is accused of 56 sexual offences, including drugging and raping his now ex-wife A man has been charged with drugging and raping his then wife over a period of 13 years, with five other men also charged with sexual offences against her. Philip Young, 49, formerly from Swindon but now living in Enfield in north London, has been charged with 56 sexual offences. Continue reading...

The statement says the release was ‘a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation’ * Schumer to ask Senate to back legal action over partial Epstein files release CNN reports that some CBS staffers are “threatening to quit” over the controversial cancellation of a 60 Minutes investigation into the brutal CECOT prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants. Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’s decision to pull the story – taken last night three hours before broadcast - has been blasted by members of Congress and the veteran

Top Democrat to introduce resolution after Department of Justice misses deadline for all files linked to sex offender * US politics – live updates The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, announced on Monday he will introduce a resolution directing the Senate to take legal action against the justice department over its incomplete release of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “I am introducing a resolution directing the Senate to initiate legal action against DoJ for its blatant disregard of the law in its refusal to release the complete Epstein files,” Schumer said in a statement on social media. “The

Game developer, who was also involved in Medal of Honor and Titanfall, reportedly killed in a car crash Vince Zampella, the co-creator of the Call of Duty video game series, has died aged 55. The head of the video game developer Respawn Entertainment and the co-founder of Infinity Ward, was killed in a car crash in California, NBC Los Angeles reported. Continue reading...

Governor calls accusations that students with disabilities may have been confined in boxes ‘highly disturbing’ A school district board in upstate New York is investigating school officials amid accusations that the district may have confined elementary school students inside wooden “timeout” boxes. Images of the boxes, which resemble tiny padded cells, first spread on social media last week, after a former member of the Salmon River school district school board accused officials of building them to seclude children with disabilities. The images unleashed an immediate uproar in the small district, which teaches about 1,300 children and lies on the border between New

ICE held more than 68,400 people as of 14 December, breaking previous high set at beginning of December The number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high according to data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data, which comes out every two weeks, shows that as of 14 December 2025, ICE held more than 68,400 people. This many people in immigration detention is a new record, breaking the previous high set at the beginning of December. Continue reading...

British singer Chris Rea, whose songs include the festive hit “Driving Home For Christmas”, has died at the age of 74, a spokesperson for his family said on Monday. The Middlesbrough-born musician was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had his pancreas removed in 2001, and in 2016 he suffered a stroke. Rea found fame in the late 1970s and 1980s with hits such as “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”, “Let’s Dance” and “The Road to Hell”. A statement from his family to the Press Association said:...

Oracle tech tycoon Larry Ellison is offering a US$40.4 billion personal guarantee to back Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery, deepening a bidding war with Netflix, a statement said on Monday. The amended proposal, worth a total US$108 billion from the company run by Ellison’s son David, addresses concerns raised by Warner Bros’ board, which saw the Paramount bid as too risky and asked shareholders to accept a competing buyout offer from Netflix. Netflix shocked the industry on...

The Nigerian government on Monday said its recent diplomatic dust-up with the United States, in which President Donald Trump threatened military intervention over the alleged killing of Christians, “has been largely resolved”. Trump unexpectedly tore into the west African nation in October and November, saying that Christians there faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide” amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts. The diplomatic offensive was welcomed by some but interpreted by...

The Trump administration has tripled its stipend offer to migrants who choose to voluntarily “self-deport” ‌from the United States to US$3,000, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ‍said on Monday. The stipend would be given to people in the US illegally who sign up to leave the country by the end of the ⁠year, DHS said. The offer would include a free flight back to their home countries, it said. “Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we...

CBS News pulled a 60 Minutes report on El Salvador’s CECOT prison just hours before its ‍scheduled Sunday broadcast, saying it would air at a future time. “The broadcast line-up for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated,” the programme posted on social media. “Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” the programme posted on social media three hours before it was slated to air. A CBS News spokesperson said in ⁠an email that the segment “needed additional reporting”....

The British university system is facing a steep decline, a crisis in the making for over a decade. In the last year, universities have announced over 12,000 job cuts. A report by the Office for Students warns that 40 per cent of England’s universities are facing budget deficits this year, with courses and departments at risk of closure. A great deal of uncertainty has now gripped the university sector. Several factors account for this degradation. Historically, the university sector was funded...

The Danish foreign minister said on Monday he will summon the US ambassador, insisting that everyone – including the United States – must respect “the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” after US President Donald Trump announced the appointment of Louisiana’s governor as the US ‌special envoy to Greenland. During his presidential transition and early second term, Trump repeatedly pushed for US control over Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, and has not ruled out using...

China’s exports of permanent magnets to the European Union saw a sharp rebound in November, as Beijing confirmed last week it has begun granting general licences with lengthier terms for overseas shipments of the materials, which contain valuable rare earth elements and are essential components in numerous hi-tech products. Last month’s total export volume of the magnets to the EU increased 59.5 per cent year on year to 2,568.8 tonnes, according to figures released on Saturday by China’s General...

A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow on Monday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head of the Russian General Staff’s training department, was killed when the bomb, which had been placed under his parked car, detonated in a residential quarter of southern Moscow. “Investigators are...

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. Mexico’s 50% tariff shock shuts Asia’s North American trade bypass 2. China warns India: ‘don’t even think about stealing our sixth Dalai Lama’ 3. Hong Kong district officer apologises over outfit choice at firefighter’s funeral 4. Thailand’s tourism crown slips as troubles in paradise mount 5....

US and Ukrainian envoys issued a joint statement on Sunday that hailed “productive and constructive” talks in Miami but did not announce any apparent breakthrough in efforts to end the war with Russia. Top representatives from both Ukraine and Russia, as well as Kyiv’s European allies, have been in southern Florida over the past several days for a series of separate talks hosted by US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The meetings were the latest in a weeks-long diplomatic...

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Sunday for Jews in Western countries to move to Israel to escape rising antisemitism, one week after 15 were shot dead at a Jewish event in Sydney. “Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience. “Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Saar said at a public candle lighting marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. “Today I call...

Thousands of people cheered and danced around Stonehenge as the sun rose over the prehistoric stone circle on Sunday, the winter solstice. The crowds, many dressed as druids and pagans, had gathered before dawn, waiting patiently in the dark, cold field in Wiltshire, southwest England. Some sang and beat drums while others took time to reflect among the huge stone pillars. Many make the pilgrimage to the stone circle every summer and winter and consider it a spiritual experience. The ancient...

Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school in November, a presidential spokesman said on Sunday, after 100 were freed earlier this month. “Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity,” Sunday Dare said in a post on X. In late November, hundreds of students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state. The attack came as the country buckled...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed efforts to achieve a “just ‌and lasting end” to the war in Ukraine on Sunday with US President Donald Trump, Starmer’s Downing Street office said in a statement, after talks between officials in Florida. “The two leaders began by reflecting ⁠on the war in Ukraine,” Starmer’s office said in a readout of the call, adding they had discussed the work of the so-called Coalition of the Willing countries that have pledged to support Ukraine. “The prime...

US Justice Department officials on Sunday denied redacting the Epstein files to protect US President Donald Trump, as criticism mounted over the partial and heavily censored release of documents. Victims of Jeffrey Epstein have expressed anger after a cache of records from cases against the late sex offender were released Friday with many pages blacked out and photos censored. US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the release by the Justice Department, telling NBC’s Meet the...

Three men will stand trial next year after a silver steward employed at the official residence of the French president was arrested last week for the theft of items of silverware and table service worth thousands of euros, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The Elysee Palace’s head steward reported the disappearance, with the estimated loss ranging between €15,000 and €40,000 (US$17,500-US$47,000). The Sevres Manufactory – which supplied most of the furnishings – identified several of the...

The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday, in what would be ‍the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful. “The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a US official said. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.” Another official said the tanker was under...

A drone attack on a busy market in Sudan’s North Darfur state killed 10 people over the weekend, first responders said, without saying who was responsible. The attack comes as fighting intensified elsewhere in the country, leading aid workers to be evacuated on Sunday from Kadugli, a besieged, famine-hit city in the south. Since April 2023, Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12...

Roche’s Chief Executive an interview with Swiss media published on Sunday called for Switzerland to pay more for new drugs, to bring prices in line with those paid by Washington. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant’s US subsidiary Genentech figures among 14 pharmaceutical companies which have so far signed on to US President Donald Trump’s push to cut some US drug prices. Companies have been making these voluntary deals after Trump sent a letter to 17 major companies over the summer threatening...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday he had given the official go-ahead to replace his country’s flagship, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. That vessel, the only nuclear-powered carrier outside the US Navy, entered service in 2001 following more than a decade of construction. “In line with the last two military programming laws, and after a thorough and comprehensive review, I have decided to equip France with a new aircraft carrier,” Macron said, speaking...

Nine people have died and at least 10 others were wounded after a group of gunmen carried out a shooting at a South African pub during the early hours of Sunday, authorities said. The incident took place just before 1am in the township of Bekkersdal, which is located 46km (28 miles) west of Johannesburg. It is the second mass shooting to happen in South Africa in three weeks. About 12 unknown suspects in a white minibus and a silver car opened fire at pub customers at KwaNoxolo tavern, in the...

Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom’s experiment in liberalisation. There has been no official announcement of the decision, but word has got out, and long queues of cars and people can now be seen at the discreet, unmarked store in the Diplomatic Quarter of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The store opened in January 2024 for non-Muslim diplomats. The new...

Power has been restored in San Francisco to most of the 130,000 homes and businesses impacted by a massive outage for several hours, the main local utility provider said Sunday. Pacific Gas & Electric Company said in a statement on X that by 7.30am power had been restored to about 110,000 customers, with efforts being made to reconnect the remaining 21,000. The blackout was caused by a fire at a substation, according to city officials. “The damage from the fire in our substation was significant...

Vladimir Putin is ready to talk to France’s Emmanuel Macron over the war in Ukraine, the Russian president’s spokesman said in an interview published on Sunday. Putin has “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron”, Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti. “Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively.” Macron said this week he believed Europe should reach back out to Putin over ending the war. “I believe that it’s in our interest...

Extensive redactions and the limited number of documents released related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein angered some Republicans and did little to defuse a scandal threatening the party ahead of the 2026 midterm election. The Trump administration touted this week’s release of a cache of Epstein-related files as a show of transparency, but a handful of Republican lawmakers and right-wing media figures joined Democrats in ‍blasting Friday’s disclosures as inadequate and possibly in...

Public calls are growing for the FBI to give its promised US$50,000 reward to a homeless man who provided information essential to leading authorities to the gunman they say killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor. Authorities say they received a tip from an anonymous source on Tuesday about a Reddit post on the Providence subreddit, according to a law enforcement affidavit from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office. That post eventually led investigators to a New...

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, including a photograph showing US President Donald Trump – less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public. The missing files, which were available on Friday and no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In...

Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday expressed anger after a long-awaited cache of records from cases against him were released with many pages blacked out and photos censored. The trove of material released by the US Justice Department included photographs of former president Bill Clinton and other luminaries in Epstein’s wealthy social circle including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. But blackouts across many of the documents – combined with tight control over the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the United States to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, as diplomats converged on Miami for fresh talks. Zelensky also said that Washington had proposed the first face-to-face negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in half a year, but later expressed scepticism that that would help. Zelensky said that only the US was capable of persuading Russia to end the war, and he called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow to...

The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed on Saturday, a move that comes ‍just days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. It is the second time in recent weeks that the US has gone after a tanker near Venezuela amid a large US military build-up in the region. “The United States will continue to pursue the illicit...

A paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers on Saturday, leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high. Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair user in space, launching from West Texas with Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin. She was accompanied by a retired SpaceX executive also born in Germany, Hans Koenigsmann, who helped organise...

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been urged to bring influencer Andrew Tate back to the United Kingdom to face rape charges, as he is due to appear at a celebrity boxing match in Dubai. The 39-year-old self-described misogynist is due to fight in the Misfits Mania bout against American Chase DeMoor in Dubai on Saturday night. He and his brother Tristan are facing a series of 21 charges in the UK, including rape, assault, human trafficking, and controlling prostitution. Bedfordshire Police has...

An obsession with “security” can create increasing insecurity. This paradox is being amply demonstrated as advanced nations, including the United States and Japan, take or contemplate joint action aimed at bolstering economic security but which could erode global economic growth and prosperity – or even result in physical conflict. How might such threats crystallise? Strengthening security, whether economic or military, suggests increased defence spending to, for example, secure sea lanes and...

At midnight on Christmas Eve, the words of the traditional hymn “The Night of Christmas” will ring out in the tiny grotto in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born. “On the night of Christmas, war is buried, On the night of Christmas, love is born,” a local choir sings each year during the midnight service. As they rehearsed ahead of this year’s service, many choir members said the words echoed with deeper meaning following the...

Iran executed a man convicted of spying for the Israeli intelligence and army on Saturday, state media reported. State TV identified the executed man as Aghil Keshavarz, saying he had “close intelligence cooperation” with Mossad and took photos of Iranian military and security areas. Keshavarz was arrested while taking pictures of a military headquarters in the northwestern city of Urmia, some 600km (370 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran in May. He was accused of carrying out more than 200...

US President Donald Trump began a rally on Friday night in North Carolina talking about crime and then highlighted his efforts to combat economic uncertainty – while also steering clear of addressing new disclosures involving the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In front of hundreds of people at Rocky Mount Event Centre in eastern North Carolina, Trump cited a high-profile crime that galvanised his base and went through recent consumer price index data, recounting stories of threatening...

A Burkinabe teenager who used artificial intelligence to post fake news of a French coup on social media got more than he bargained for. As well as millions of views and tens of thousands of “likes”, he also acquired a certain notoriety – and French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, was not amused. And what he had planned as a moneymaking scheme netted him only €7 (US$8), he said. But he has no regrets. “Coup d’etat in France,” declared the video posted by the 17-year-old, showing what...

The US Justice Department released thousands of heavily redacted documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday that made scant reference to President Donald Trump but extensively featured Democratic former president Bill Clinton. The absence of references to Trump was notable given that pictures and documents related to him have trickled out of previous Epstein releases for years. Trump’s name appeared in flight manifests listing passengers on...

Donald Trump’s administration launched the military strikes on Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State (Isis) group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago. At least five Isis members, including a cell leader, were killed in the overnight strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A US official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday promised not to force Ukraine into any agreement to end Russia’s invasion as European allies joined fresh talks in Miami. The weekend talks come as Russian President Vladimir Putin in an annual news conference vowed to press ahead with his military offensive in Ukraine, hailing battlefield gains nearly four years into his war. US President Donald Trump’s envoys have pressed a plan in which the United States would offer security guarantees to Ukraine,...

Officials in the US state of Rhode Island have denounced misinformation that they said complicated their multi-day search for the gunman who killed two students and wounded others at Brown University. Law enforcement identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national who attended the Ivy League institution decades ago. They said he acted alone and was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage unit. But throughout the week, anonymous and...

Tourists who want to get close to Rome’s Trevi Fountain will soon have to pay a €2 (US$2.34) fee, the city ‌mayor said on Friday, as authorities look to profit more handsomely from Italy’s ‍many attractions. Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told reporters the new payment system would start on February 1, adding that the measure was expected to raise €6.5 million (US$7.6 million) a year. “Two euros isn’t very much … and it will lead to ⁠less chaotic tourist flows,” Gualtieri said, stressing that citizens...

A French court on Friday rejected the state’s request to suspend Shein’s site in France as “disproportionate” after the e-commerce giant removed illicit products sold on its platform. French authorities had requested the ultra-fast-fashion giant’s site be blocked for three months after weapons, banned medications and childlike sex dolls were found on the platform. The authorities asked that the Chinese online platform only be reopened if it applied strict new measures to prevent a repeat of the...

Satan owns a Bernedoodle. A great big fluffy one that likes to sit in Satan’s lap. That’s if by “Satan” you mean Kristin Cabot, aka the woman from the Coldplay kiss cam scandal, who just gave her first interview about the ever-so-brief moment in mid-July that entertained the internet – and trashed her life completely. The video was an instant classic for those attending the concert: “Ohhh, look at these two,” singer Chris Martin said as the band’s kiss cam spotlighted her wrapped in the arms of...

Sharyn Alfonsi, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, criticized the network’s decision to remove her reporting from Sunday’s edition of the show.

The bourbon giant is closing its flagship distilling operation for all of 2026.

President Javier Milei is eliminating barriers to what had been a closed-off economy, moving in the opposite direction of his main political ally, President Trump.

A feared recession didn’t materialize, but unemployment rose, wage growth slowed and affordability challenges are mounting.

Robert Redford, Roberta Flack, Diane Keaton and Brian Wilson are among the cultural luminaries who died this year.

The 29-year-old woman who created the “MyBoyfriendIsAI” community on Reddit isn’t dating (or sexting) her A.I. boyfriend anymore. She found something more fulfilling.

A 28-year-old woman with a busy social life spends hours on end talking to her A.I. boyfriend for advice and consolation. And yes, they do have sex.

A Venezuela-bound vessel fled after rebuffing an attempt by the Coast Guard to seize it, the latest twist in the escalating U.S. pressure campaign against the Maduro government.

The Justice Department came under scrutiny for its handling of the documents and deletions online of some material. It said it would not remove mentions of Donald Trump from the files as they are released.

A historical review shows lawmakers without certain familial records went unchallenged as citizens when the 14th Amendment was adopted. The finding appeared to undercut the president’s claims on birthright citizenship.

Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, has long been a target of racist insults by the president. Now her whole community faces an immigration crackdown.

America’s ability to make precision-guided missiles was threatened during Trump’s tariff war. But experienced players have rescued the supply chain, for now.

With his producing partner, Jeffry Katz, he made lightweight ditties like “Yummy Yummy Yummy” that soared up the charts in the late 1960s.

The trees have become a sought-after backdrop for social media posts, holiday cards and even marriage proposals.

For centuries, nobody has known who built the Florence Baptistery. Could A.I. crack the mystery?

Mr. Sanders, a democratic socialist senator from Vermont, has supported New York City’s mayor-elect since the Democratic primary.

JPMorgan has had to pay tens of millions in legal costs for the convicted fraudster. It wants the public to see a newly unredacted list of itemized expenses.

The “Mandy” and “Copacabana” singer said he would undergo surgery to remove a cancerous spot on his left lung, and he postponed several concert dates.