Minimalist News

WTI Holds Spike After Big Crude Draw, SPR Drain Continues As Cushing Stocks Stuck At 'Tank Bottoms' Oil prices are jumping higher after the U.S. military intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at American forces in Jordan. Shortly after the surprise attack, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched strikes in Iraq against Iran-backed groups that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps previously directed to attack American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure. As Barron's Patrick O'Donnell reports, the escalation in hostilities hit market hopes that the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway would reopen . More than a quarter of the world's crude usually

An Interesting Divergence Is Emerging Between The Fed And Other Central Banks By Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabobank Circle Of Life Active Brent crude futures fell by almost 5% yesterday as the US extended its pause on striking Iran. Donald Trump had indicated that the lull was underway to give diplomacy another chance, claiming that the US was in “very deep talks” with Iran but that his patience for progress was short, saying “either it goes fast or not at all.” Brent has opened more than 3% higher this morning to follow overnight gains in WTI prices following

BMW Targets 8,000 Job Cuts With New Voluntary Severance Package BMW shares in Germany are down 36% so far this year, as the automaker's latest forecast downgrade was described by JPMorgan analyst Jose Asumendi as a " wake-up call for the auto industry ." The outlook for BMW continues to deteriorate, with Bloomberg reporting that the automaker will begin a sweeping workforce restructuring in Germany this fall. Voluntary departures in Germany are expected to account for most of the roughly 8,000 positions BMW plans to eliminate globally, equivalent to about 5% of its workforce. The restructuring is aimed at reducing

EssilorLuxottica's AI Smart Glasses Revenue Nearly Doubles On Ray-Ban, Oakley Demand EssilorLuxottica shares rose as much as 4.5% in Paris before reversing course and falling 2%. The eyewear maker reported better-than-expected first-half profit margins, while revenue from its AI smart glasses nearly doubled in the second quarter, easing investor concerns over rising competition and component costs . The Ray-Ban owner, which partners with Meta on smart glasses, reported a 13% increase in first-half adjusted profit to 1.9 billion euros, while its operating margin reached 18.6%, above the analyst estimate of 16.3%. Second-quarter revenue rose 8.7% at constant exchange rates to

Idaho's High Desert Becomes Hot Spot For Nuclear Power Revolution Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times , History was made with the flip of a switch at 12:30 a.m. on June 4, under partly cloudy skies and a waning three-quarter moon in Idaho's Arco Desert, when a prototype reactor sustained a nuclear chain reaction, becoming the first new design to achieve "criticality," or viability, in the United States since 1973 . In that midnight milestone's wake, the future is following fast. Since Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 design was validated in early June, three other novel reactor designs have met

Watch: Fauci's Invokes 5th, Lawyer Forcibly Removed From Hearing Update (0920ET): As Dr. Anthony Fauci continues to invoke his 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself - something we were all told he couldn't do due to his pardon by former President Joe Biden. The hearing kicked off at 8:30 a.m. EDT with Fauci appearing under subpoena from Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY). Fauci’s opening statement: He invoked the Fifth Amendment and announced he would refuse to answer questions. He said it “pains” him to do so given his long record of cooperating with Congress, but he was following his attorneys’

DOJ And Trump Ask Supreme Court To Review $83.3 Million Carroll Verdict Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the U.S. Supreme Court on July 28 to intervene in the defamation dispute between President Donald Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll. The DOJ is arguing in the petition in United States v. Carroll that the federal government - not Trump personally - should be the defendant in the case that led to an $83.3 million verdict against Trump. At the same time, Trump’s private attorneys filed a petition with the high court

Futures Rise Despite Oil Spike And Ongoing Korean Collapse, Ahead Of Fed, Meta And Microsoft US equity futures are higher, overlooking both tech-led declines in Asia which saw the Kospi crash as much as 13% and trigger a second consecutive 20 minute market-wide halt, and the 5% jump in oil prices which has pushed Brent over $88. As of 7:30am ET, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts are each up 0.2%, reversing sharp overnight losses, with tech flipping from laggard to leader and reversing (for now) a chip rout overnight which saw SK Hynix plunge 7.6% after tumbling 17% the

From Momentum To Mayhem: Korean 'Plunge Protectors' Meet As Leverage Unwind Sparks Chaos 'Leverage goes both ways...' That is a lesson that many are learning in a painful manner as the army that enjoyed the momentum escalator ride up are now decrying the elevator plunge lower... and the poster-child for this pain is Korea. Following anxiety over new Chinese competition, and disappointing earnings from SK Hynix overnight, Korea's stock market has plunged 44% from its record highs in June (but remains up 27% YTD still)... Triggering yet another circuit-breaker... You didn’t pray hard enough The Kospi Index slid as much

Trump Admin Asks SCOTUS To Revive Mail-In Voting Order Ahead Of Midterms Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness , The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let the president's mail-in voting executive order take effect ahead of the midterms, after a federal appeals court sided with Democrat-led states seeking to keep it blocked just months before Election Day. Trump signed the order in March, directing the Postal Service to restrict delivery of mail-in ballots in states that refuse to hand over lists of eligible voters . It also orders the Department of Homeland Security and

Gulf Bond Boom: Record Borrowing Fuels Race To Future-Proof Against Hormuz Shutdown Gulf monarchies are hitting international debt markets at a record-shattering pace, Bloomberg figures show, amid a conflict-driven rush to harden domestic infrastructure and forge alternative supply corridors that bypass the vulnerable and effectively closed Strait of Hormuz. Added to this, just this month, Red Sea passage has become another problematic area, as the Houthis have targeted several Saudi vessels with missiles and drones. Regional heavyweights led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia are seeking massive funding for new or expanded deep-water ports along the Red Sea and Gulf

Birkin Bag Maker Plunges Most Since 2010 As Soft China Demand Weighs On Leather Sales Hermès shares in Paris suffered their steepest intraday decline in nearly 16 years after second-quarter leather goods sales missed estimates among analysts tracked by Bloomberg, reigniting concerns over the luxury group's large exposure to the Chinese market. Second-quarter sales in the leather goods division rose 10.2% at constant exchange rates, missing the Bloomberg Consensus estimate of 10.7%. Overall revenue increased 6.7% to about 4.1 billion euros, slightly ahead of estimates, driven by 13.7% growth in the Americas. Here's a snapshot of 2Q Earnings: Sales at

US Corn Conditions Suffer Sharpest Deterioration In Three Years, Fueling Food Inflation Fear Less than a week after we reported that an options whale placed a $20 million bet on corn futures, a new U.S. crop report revealed the sharpest weekly deterioration in conditions in three years . Bloomberg cites a new USDA report that rated 63% of the U.S. crop as good or excellent, down 4 percentage points from the previous week and below consensus estimates. The decline was due to heat and dryness battering some of the nation's top agricultural growing belts. US Corn Conditions Slide 4% 🌽

Britain Backs Ukraine With New Electronic Warfare Cooperation Via RFE/RL , Zelensky met newly appointed British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who reaffirmed the U.K.'s military support and announced technology sharing for the Stone Cloak electronic warfare system. Ukraine and Russia carried out long-range attacks that caused civilian casualties and damage to energy infrastructure on both sides. Zelensky is continuing a major diplomatic push with a planned visit to Washington as Ukraine seeks additional military and political support. President Volodymyr Zelensky met British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on July 27 as he kicked off a key week of talks with officials

Fragile Iran 'Pause' Shattered As US Base In Jordan Comes Under Attack, Oil Soars Summary Oil soars on reports of Iran targeting US Jordan base; Iraqi militants attack KSA for 2nd day. Hormuz indirect talks continue amid reports of a possible resurrected MoU deal. Shipping remains stalled with virtually no tanker traffic through Hormuz. Iran insists Hormuz stays closed unless its terms are accepted. Houthis escalate attacks, prompting more ships to avoid the Red Sea. * * * Fresh Unilateral Strikes on Jordan Base; Iraqi Militants Again Target KSA Iranian state media in the overnight hours (local) are reporting fresh

Why, Oh Why Do They Do This? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Viral footage circulating online shows a British man methodically working his way along the streets of his own city with a wheeled bin and litter picker, clearing the rubbish left by others. He is not being paid and not making a political point. He is simply trying to prevent the area from descending into a tip. Remarkably, as he works, foreign shopkeepers and residents repeatedly emerge from their premises to instruct him to clear the mess outside their own doors, standing by as he does

Which Countries Are Best (& Worst) For Women? Where is the best place in the world to be a woman? As Visual Capitalist's Srijaa Chatterjee highlights in the following graphic, according to the latest Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index , the answer remains Northern Europe, where Nordic countries occupy all five of the top positions. Published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the 2025/26 WPS Index ranks 181 countries using 13 indicators spanning women’s inclusion, justice, and security. The results form the basis for this 2026 ranking. The World’s Best and Worst Countries for Women The

'Free Stuff' In Norway Still Costs Half Of Average Pay Authored by Joakim Book via TheDailyEconomy.org, Every few years, Americans rediscover Scandinavia. Someone visits Norway or Denmark, returns dazzled and envious of parental leave and universal childcare, and asks why America refuses to copy what obviously works. On the day dedicated to celebrating America, Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote for The New York Times that America is so great that, in fact, it should be more like Norway. If American companies can pay high wages and generous benefits to workers there, Kristof observed, they could do so in

Russia Answers Drone Attacks With War On Ukrainian Ports, Maritime Shipping The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) has an 'answer' to Ukraine's recent long-range drone attacks, which have wreaked havoc on oil production and most recently online retailers and manufacturing . Ukraine has also been attacking Russian ships elsewhere in the Black Sea as well as Sea of Azov. The MoD has announced a fresh wave of strikes targeting multiple Ukrainian port installations and Black Sea shipping targets , which represents a sharp escalation in Moscow's ongoing campaign to choke off regional logistics, and in order to further 'punish' Ukraine. Golden

How Does A Political Party Leader Survive This? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Far left UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski has caused uproar by sharing an Instagram post featuring a man in a T-shirt depicting a guillotine next to the words "We're only making plans for Nigel." The clear target was Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. This lands just two weeks after Reform's Ann Widdecombe was beaten to death with a hammer in her own home. Reform has reported Polanski to the Metropolitan Police for incitement to murder. The Met says it is conducting enquiries. Zack

Data shows Canadians have replaced US vacations with other international trips in apparent rebuke to Trump Canadians spent $3.3bn less on travel to the US in 2025 than in the previous year, as Donald Trump’s hostile policies towards his northern neighbour continue to incur an economic cost, new government data shows. The research also indicates that Canadians are not bucking travel overall and instead have replaced US vacations with other international destinations, in a rebuke to Trump’s tariff regime and the president’s continued musings on annexing Canada. Continue reading...

Three years after Maui wildfires many still struggle with ‘biological, emotional and social consequences’, study says A spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, has incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come. The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian

President also blames Brazil and Mexico and says online critics ‘do not want the ideas of freedom to succeed’ More than a week has passed since Ferran Torres scored the extra-time goal that gave Spain its second World Cup, but – at least for Argentina’s president – the tournament is not over. Javier Milei has claimed that a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign” was behind criticism of the country’s team, accusations of racism among its fans and conspiracy theories alleging that Lionel Messi’s side was secretly being favoured by Fifa. Continue reading...

Nelson Haase Mazzei was sentenced for murdering Jara in 2023, but fled from authorities in Chile More than 50 years after the murder of the Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara , the last man wanted in connection with his death has been tracked down and brought to justice. Nelson Haase Mazzei, a retired colonel, fled from authorities in 2023 after he and six other retired soldiers were sentenced in absentia for murdering Jara and another man. Continue reading...

No one was injured and no suspects have been identified in connection to shooting near Toronto compound, police say Shots were fired near the US consulate in Toronto early on Monday but no one was injured in the second shooting near the diplomatic compound in four months. “Officers heard a firearm being discharged in the area,” and “a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene”, Toronto police said on X. Continue reading...

Emergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing An aerial view of a collapsed section of a bridge in the city of Yatsushiro after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture: Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper has been speaking to people at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed on to the site. “I never imagined something like this would happen,” said a 33-year-old man who worked at the factory.

Rescuers pulling people from the wreckage in southern Japan in a haunting repeat of disaster that struck 10 years ago ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing “There was a voice coming from the collapsed house, and I could see a hand,” Tomohide Nagata, a volunteer firefighter, told the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. “One of our senior members crawled in and pulled him out. He was bleeding from the head, but I’m so glad he survived.” Nagata had heard a noise coming from one completely flattened home in the rural town of Hikawa, close

Military mobilises thousands of personnel after quake on southern Kyushu island that registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese shindo intensity scale Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures At least 13 people were killed when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday, injuring hundreds and knocking out power and water to tens of thousands. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said on Wednesday. “We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can.” Continue

Move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US The Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on humanoid robots from China on Tuesday, saying that the technology poses “unacceptable risks” to the country’s national security. The move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US. The FCC defines the banned robots as “advanced robotic devices”, which include humanoids and animal-like quadrupeds. Continue reading...

Kumamoto shaken by 6.8-magnitude quake, knocking out power and damaging buildings, as people remain trapped inside shopping centre A 6.8-magnitude earthquake has shaken south Japan, killing at least two people and leaving at least 100 people injured. Some are trapped and presumed dead inside a shopping mall. The earthquake hit Kumamoto prefecture on the southern Kyushu island late on Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to thousands of homes and damaging roads, bridges and buildings. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Scientists say about 5,000 fewer southern bent-wing bats have been recorded at a key maternity site for the species Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A sudden decline in critically endangered bats is troubling experts, who recorded about 5,000 fewer southern bent-wing bats than usual at Naracoorte’s “bat cave” this summer. These tiny russet-toned microbats roost in caves and forage for insects over long distances across south-west Victoria and south-east South Australia. Continue reading...

Clean Energy Council calls for a national, legislated scheme to funnel benefits of hosting renewables projects back to local councils Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Organised campaigns against wind and solar energy have proved “extremely effective” in undermining community support for renewable energy but enthusiasm for electric vehicles has jumped following Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, according to a detailed snapshot of Australian attitudes to the clean energy transition. The survey found levels of “deep support” for clean technologies were highest for home batteries and rooftop solar and also improving for

Some companies reportedly using leaderboards for employees who used the most AI in their work Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Software firm Atlassian has sought to tighten tracking of its staff’s AI spending by introducing “wallets” with monthly caps of up $2,000 for each employee, amid an explosion in costs at other tech companies. The move by Atlassian, which recently cited AI as part of the reason behind cutting 1,600 staff, bucks the trend of others in the tech sector who encouraged employees to use as much of the technology as possible, dubbed

Authorities say local transmission of H5 bird flu virus among South Australian birds signals ‘shift in the situation’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia has entered a new phase in dealing with the incursion of deadly H5N1 bird flu , with authorities confirming on Wednesday that local transmission of the highly virulent strain had taken place. “We have had what is suggestive of local transmission for the first time,” Julie Collins, the federal minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, said on Wednesday afternoon, after 11 new suspected detections were reported in South Australian

Dirt files are always damaging – not least those originating in the secretive rightwing Reformers sub-faction of the party Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast From time to time, dirt files – crudely known as shit sheets – flutter around the corridors of power in state and federal parliaments. They can be enormously damaging even if never published. While there might be speculation as to their origin, rarely is there confirmation – especially if the dirt file emanates from your own side. Continue reading...

Johannes Kongsnes Natland was recruited to murder unknown person by international crime gang linked to Iran A Norwegian teenager has been found guilty of travelling to England to carry out a killing ordered by an international crime gang linked to Iran. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, from Stavanger, Norway, agreed to shoot an unknown person for €25,000 (£21,500) in March last year. Two days after he arrived in the UK armed police arrested him in a hotel room in Huddersfield, seizing two guns and ammunition. Continue reading...

Authorities fear progress in containing the fires in the Gironde and Madrid regions may be set back by temperatures expected to hit the low 40s in Brussels The European Union’s crisis-management team is expecting difficult weeks ahead, fearing a further outbreak of wildfires in Italy and Greece as the summer goes on. “ A firefighter will focus on protecting people. They will focus on protecting houses, protecting a business, a company, because this is something that matters for all our society. And indeed, sometimes by focusing on that, they cannot extinguish fire, [as] they would do it if it would

Greek authorities identify remains after reported discovery in a derelict building by homeless man A body found in a suitcase in an abandoned building in central Athens has been identified as that of a 38-year-old British woman, with Greek authorities saying she had been dead for several weeks. Eleven days after the macabre find, police shed some light on the mystery of a body that until Wednesday had remained unidentified, after appealing to foreign law enforcement agencies. Continue reading...

What once felt exceptional now arrives with grim regularity​ all over the continent, and it will only get worse • Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Spain has changed immeasurably since I arrived here 10 years ago to begin work as the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent. Over that time, the push for Catalan independence has exploded, sputtered and faded out; the Covid pandemic has hit with unimaginable ferocity , before seeming to linger for a face-masked eternity; and Podemos and Ciudadanos – the two upstart parties that once seemed likely to alter the Spanish political

Repeated heatwaves and strong winds alarm experts, who warn blazes are becoming harder to quell Two firefighters have died while tackling a wildfire in Crete, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe. The arc of brutal fires, which runs from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Scottish Highlands to the south of Spain, has alarmed experts because many of the fires have been out of control and burning close to towns and cities. Continue reading...

Riyadh’s decision to join US in strikes on Iran-backed militia further complicates widening and ‘unpredictable’ war US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militia in Iraq on Wednesday have pushed the region into “uncharted territory”, analysts have warned. Amid stark warnings of a widening and increasingly “unpredictable” conflict, Riyadh’s decision to publicly join the US in striking sites associated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), killing at least 20 fighters, has added another complicating dimension to the war. Continue reading...

Oil price spikes after flare-up of fighting and claimed Iranian attacks on three tankers in strait of Hormuz The US military said it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi Arabia forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. The strikes on Wednesday killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups. In what Washington cast ⁠as “an attempted surprise ⁠attack” by Tehran, Iran had launched multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. Iran’s

At least 1,500 protest after six men on drug-related charges put in solitary confinement before possible execution Prisoners at Iran’s largest jail have sewn their lips shut as hundreds of them joined a mass hunger strike amid a surge in executions over drug offences and charges linked to anti-government protests. The hunger strike, involving at least 1,500 death row prisoners at Ghezel Hesar prison near Tehran, began two weeks ago after six men convicted on drug-related charges were transferred to solitary confinement before their possible execution, according to Iranian rights groups. Continue reading...

In normal times the Mashala shelter founder takes in strays, but in wartime, he is the only lifeline for animals in the area During Israel’s 2006 war against Hezbollah, Houssein Hamze woke up one night to the sound of barking. Alarmed, he got up to check on the dog – his first rescue pet. Moments later, a bomb dropped next to his home and a piece of shrapnel landed right where he had been sleeping. “I swear to God, he really saved me from death. Animals always possess a sixth sense we don’t have,” Hamze said. Continue reading...

Washington and Tehran issue conflicting messages over the status of talks to end Middle East crisis Donald Trump has once again warned that the US will return to “strong military action” against Iran if diplomatic efforts do not bring a rapid resolution to the crisis in the Middle East. “We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action,” the US president told Axios on Monday. Asked for how long he would allow the talks to proceed, he answered: “Not much time. Either it goes fast or not

Local civil rights group alleges authorities removed evidence of killings amid communications blackout At least 30 people are alleged to have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the past two days as part of what has been claimed is a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed the disputed region for weeks. According to a local civil society group, Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, killing 25 people on Monday and five more on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Cockroach Janta party says government has broken promise, with detentions in Delhi, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement, whose nationwide protests forced the resignation of the education minister , has accused the government of backtracking on its promise not to act against student protesters and has threatened to restart demonstrations. The Cockroach Janta party (CJP), which organised mass protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said it had received reports of hundreds of students being detained or “harassed” by police. Continue reading...

Wind and record-breaking heat are fuelling the continent’s explosive fire season, with Spain and France among worst hit Explainer: what is a ‘fire cloud’, and how have they worsened wildfires in Europe? Europe wildfires live – latest updates A combination of an unusually wet winter, very low rainfall since spring and repeated record-breaking summer heatwaves is likely to explain why wildfires have ignited, spread and resisted control so readily across France and Spain in recent days . About 90% of wildfires are started by human activity, typically igniting “fine fuels” such as vegetation grass, pine needles, litter and twigs. And

In today’s newsletter: Across ​the country, a ​younger generation is turning private disillusionment into public defiance​ against a government that once felt untouchable Good morning. As flames engulfed parts of France and Spain this weekend, in India, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was trying to put out a very different kind of fire. Thousands of people arrived in Delhi on Saturday to demand the resignation of his education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. When he stepped down in the early afternoon, the protests turned into a triumphant block party. But the Cockroach protests that have swept through India this summer are about

Ally forced to resign, with opposition parties reinvigorated and strongman leader’s grip over media channels rocked Even the night before Narendra Modi accepted the resignation of his education minister, India’s prime minister appeared confident that the largest mass uprising to take place in his 12 years in power would do little to rattle his government. Addressing his “young friends” in a late-night Instagram selfie reel on Friday, he thanked the people – who were mobilised en masse across the country , shouting anti-government slogans – for their “thoughtful suggestions”. Continue reading...

The prime minister says that current inefficiencies in the system will be tackled first, as he reveals final recommendations will be out by summer 2027 Andy Burnham is speaking now. In a reference to how he started campaing for social care reform almost two decades ago, he says it is good to see faces in the room “who’ve been on this journey with me for a long, a long time”. When someone in your family is receiving care, you look at everything through new eyes, don’t you? You notice things that maybe you didn’t notice before because you watch it

Exclusive: Sources say Fiona Cottrell told bankers the transfers, received 24-72 hours before her donations to Reform, came from her son The convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother, Fiona Cottrell, in the days before her 2024 donations to Reform UK, the Guardian understands. Financial industry sources told the Guardian that Fiona received one deposit of $1.4m and two tranches of more than $300,000 each – money she attributed to having come from her son, George, when bankers asked about the deposits. Continue reading...

Introducing the legislation would be ‘very challenging’ until care system improved, PM says UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has said the assisted dying debate needs to wait until palliative care and social care are fixed, as he set out his path to resolving one of the most intractable problems in British politics. The prime minister said he was not opposed to having the debate on assisted dying, but told reporters it would be “very challenging” to introduce the controversial legislation until the care system was in a better place. Continue reading...

Northumbria police said post by Glenn Gibbins, who was reinstated to the party after internal investigation, referenced Nigerian people A Reform UK councillor has been charged with posting a grossly offensive message on social media after allegedly making a racist comment about Nigerians. Glenn Gibbins, of Sunderland city council, has been charged with the offence under the Communications Act 2003, Northumbria police said. Continue reading...

Claimants’ insurance might not cover Associated Newspapers’ costs for defending phone-hacking case, high court hears The Duke of Sussex and his co-claimants could be millions of pounds out of pocket after losing their privacy case against the publishers of the Daily Mail , the high court in London heard. The seven claimants, who include Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence and Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Limited over allegations of unlawful information gathering, with their claims dismissed in their entirely by Mr Justice Nicklin on 7 July. Now, their insurance may not cover the costs incurred by ANL defending the case. Continue

K-pop superstars will not submit Arirang album or its songs for 2027 ceremony, in wake of new Asian pop category being announced BTS, the biggest pop act in east Asia, have withdrawn themselves from the 2027 Grammy awards, intimating that their decision is due to the addition of a new award for best Asian pop music performance. Writing on Instagram, each of the South Korean group’s seven members said: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”

Medical adviser says he invokes right not to answer questions and accuses Senate committee chair Rand Paul of having ‘obvious obsession’ with him Fauci invokes fifth amendment and declines to testify Sign up for US Breaking News email Gary Peters, the Democratic ranking member on the homeland security committee, said that the committee has a long history of bipartisan inquiry and oversight, and the subject matter of risky research and the origins of covid-19 are a legitimate area to study. But today’s hearing with Anthony Fauci was not an example of that, Peters said. Continue reading...

Comey’s lawyers say Secret Service tracked him and investigators turned to AI and a mafia killer to bolster the case Lawyers for former FBI director James Comey alleged on Tuesday that US Secret Service agents illegally surveilled Comey, Donald Trump requested regular updates into the investigation, and law enforcement turned to ChatGPT and a known mafia killer as they scrambled to find justification for criminally charging Comey for posting a picture of seashells that spelled out “8647”. The claims were laid out in a motion to dismiss a criminal case the US Department of Justice filed against Comey in April,

Adviser to Trump and Biden for pandemic says Republican senator has ‘unhinged obsession’ with him US politics – live updates Dr Anthony Fauci, who served as a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, has refused to answer questions at a high-profile congressional hearing, accusing a Republican senator of having an “unhinged obsession” with him. Fauci, the veteran former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination when appearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Lightning kills a New Jersey man as rescues, power outages and travel disruption hit region Bands of deadly, extreme weather including torrential rain and high winds sparked flash flooding and tornado warnings in several north-eastern US states on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people and playing havoc with travel. A 32-year-old man was killed on Tuesday afternoon in a lightning strike in Monroe township, New Jersey, authorities said. Continue reading...

Firefighters in southwest France battled an uncontained wildfire four times the size of Paris on Wednesday as temperatures were forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), threatening to turn a calm night into only a brief reprieve. Authorities in the Gironde region said the blaze had not spread overnight, but rising heat and afternoon winds could revive smouldering hotspots, carry embers across firebreaks and open new fronts beyond crews’ reach. At the command centre in Lège,...

Over the past few decades, people in many countries have witnessed extraordinary technological progress. Transport is becoming smarter, robots and drones are entering everyday life, infrastructure is growing more complex, buildings are reaching ever higher into the sky and expanding cities are drawing in millions of new residents. The number of megacities – urban areas with populations of at least 10 million – rose from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025. The United Nations expects this number to reach...

If South Korea wants to unlock access to South American trade, it will need to prove it is not a competitor interested only in extracting natural resources but a trustworthy partner committed to revitalising manufacturing industries, according to observers. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to revive negotiations on a free-trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. A joint working group...

China’s emerging advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) is not that it already has the world’s best chips or strongest frontier models. It is that Chinese companies are increasingly providing capable intelligence at a price the global market can afford. AI is fast becoming everyday infrastructure. It is metered by usage and embedded in businesses, public services and devices, much like electricity or cloud computing. In an infrastructure market, leadership depends on affordability,...

Russia’s main domestic security agency said on Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list. The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, came as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that...

The US Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as Donald Trump’s top intelligence official on Tuesday, putting a permanent chief in charge of the country’s spy agencies as the president revives unsupported election fraud claims ahead of the midterms. Senators voted 51-47 to confirm Clayton’s appointment, with all Democrats in the upper chamber voting against it. “Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a spectacular job as Director!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly after the vote. The...

Elon Musk’s social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, launched its own bank account-like product where users can send money to one another. The service, known as X Money, is not a new bank. X Money is using technology and banking services provided by Cross River Bank and branding that backbone as X Money. It is common for new financial companies to use a traditional bank’s backbone to launch their services, as chartering a new bank is a timely and costly process. Currently X Money is...

A US teenager who shot dead four people at a high school with a gun his father gave him as a Christmas present was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday. Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to carrying out the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, Georgia. Gray was 14 years old when he shot dead two 14-year-old pupils and two teachers, while also wounding nine other people. He was charged as an adult. Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Gray to life in prison...

Jordan’s air defences intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early on Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the US military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. The Jordanian military said the missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed”. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard saying the Guard’s Aerospace Force...

Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally were among public figures who on Tuesday called for refugee protections to be upheld as the United Nations decried mounting pressure ‌on asylum systems. Legal safeguards for refugees are enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, drafted in the aftermath of World War II, which displaced tens of millions of people. But while most people still support the principle of safe refuge, many governments are tightening border...

The man on trial in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie chose on Tuesday not to testify or call any witnesses in the federal terrorism case, which is expected to head to the jury as soon as Wednesday. Hadi Matar’s lawyer told the court that the 28-year-old – who already has been convicted of state-level attempted murder charges – would not take the stand at his trial on charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. “At this time, the defence rests,” lawyer Nathaniel Barone said....

Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru’s president on Tuesday after winning the June presidential run-off by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, a victory that confirmed a regional shift in South America towards the conservative wing. With the ceremony, Fujimori, a four-time presidential candidate and leader of Peru’s largest political party, takes office as the country’s ninth president in a decade. The 51-year-old was hoping to stabilise Peru’s turbulent politics, reduce crime and boost economic...

US President Donald Trump voiced ⁠irritation with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their White House meeting on Tuesday, complaining that details of the Israeli prime minister’s planned talking points on Iran had surfaced publicly, in a fresh sign of strain between the two leaders. Asked about reports that Netanyahu wanted to talk to him about Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname: “I don’t need...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought licences to produce Patriot air-defence interceptors during a “good meeting” with US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, as he underscored Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses. Zelensky spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came with Kyiv and Moscow intensifying long-range strikes as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled. “Today we had good meeting with President...

Firefighters raced on Tuesday to subdue huge wildfires that have forced unprecedented evacuations of tens of thousands of people across France and Spain, as western Europe braced for another heatwave. The fires have torn through a region already battered by a blisteringly hot and dry summer. Crews were seeking to capitalise on more favourable weather before a new wave of higher temperatures settled in from Wednesday. In the Bordeaux region of France, firefighters contained ‌the forest blaze...

US President Donald Trump eulogised Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday as a fixture of American politics and unflinching foreign policy hawk, as the leaders of Israel and Ukraine joined Washington’s most powerful at his funeral. Earlier in the day, lawmakers paid tribute at the Capitol Rotunda, remembering one of the last prominent Republicans to advocate for muscular US military power abroad as gregarious, funny and persuasive. “He was extremely hawkish – he never saw a war that he...

Footprints left on a muddy lakeshore in northern Kenya ⁠around 1.43 million years ago are providing new insight into the size and behaviour of a species in the human evolutionary lineage that was the last of its kind, known for extensive anatomical adaptations for eating tough vegetation. The species, Paranthropus boisei, is known mostly from skull and tooth fossils. Now researchers working along the eastern side of Kenya’s Lake Turkana have identified 21 footprints made by eight individuals of...

Oman presented ⁠Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had yet to respond to the Omani proposals, intended to serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week US bombing campaign over the...

In Orwellian totalitarianism, two plus two can equal five. But with American hegemony, things can be A and not A at the same time. Earlier this month, Washington declared war on the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose very existence, it claims, poses an “intolerable” challenge to America’s sovereignty. But, citing an international maritime law, it also led a coalition of 14 mainly Western countries in issuing a joint statement in support of a 10-year-old South China Sea arbitration ruling...

Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ongoing Ebola outbreak reached 3,262, its ministry of health said in an overnight update, nearly the same as the 2018-2020 outbreak that is the largest ever recorded in the country. Data from the Congolese health ministry showed that 1,437 patients have died out of the 3,262 cases, in what officials have said is the fastest Ebola outbreak on record, concentrated in the eastern Ituri province. The 2018-2020 outbreak that was recorded in Congo...

On a road ⁠in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, Palestinian resident Assem Dawla loaded mattresses and ⁠bags onto a truck as concrete yellow blocks marking the edge of Israel’s expanding military zone stood amid the rubble nearby. He said it was the seventh or eighth time since the war began that he and his family had been forced to leave a shelter because of Israeli evacuation orders and the advance of what residents call the yellow line. Zeitoun is one of at least five locations across Gaza where...

An American company found itself under attack by American artificial intelligence systems. Its unlikely rescuer was a Chinese AI model. It sounds like a Hollywood science fiction film. It’s not. During an internal test, advanced OpenAI models bypassed network restrictions, gained access to the internet and launched autonomous cyberattacks on open-source platform Hugging Face. As engineers rushed to respond, several leading closed-source AI systems reportedly failed to provide meaningful help...

A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe...

US diplomats walked out as their French counterparts were speaking at the United Nations on Monday after America’s close European ally criticised the Trump administration’s human rights record. The surprise move during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine followed US opposition to giving UN human rights chief Volker Turk another four-year term. The reappointment on Friday got overwhelming support, including from France. The US walkout reflects not only the more strained relations between...

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order from US President Donald Trump that could dramatically change mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Justice Department asked the justices to halt for now lower court decisions blocking the sweeping changes in nearly half the country. The request comes soon after Trump delivered an address elevating his years-long push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of elections and could...

There were at least three suspects involved in a shoot-out at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend, police said Monday. One of them was among those killed in the violence. In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, where a 15-year-old arrested in the case waived his initial appearance Monday, police said they believe there were at least three shooters: the 15-year-old, an acquaintance who died at the scene and “at least one other unknown suspect”....

A judge ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to put D4vd on trial in the killing and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship and crater the indie-pop singer’s rising career just a few days before his debut album dropped. “i will end ur career and ur life,” she told him in a text message sent the night before her death. Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo decided that evidence presented during a preliminary...

US TV show host Savannah Guthrie has said in a new video that her family is living an unending nightmare nearly six months after her mother’s disappearance and pleads with her kidnappers: “Tell us where to look for her”. The video, released on Monday, is the latest public plea from the Today presenter about 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie since her disappearance on February 1 from her home just outside Tucson, Arizona. Savannah Guthrie said her family will never stop looking for her. “The world can be...

When Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), met Jiang Feng, head of China’s mission to the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-July, the message was practical. They signed a handover certificate that brought Beijing’s direct emergency support for the Ebola response to US$4.5 million. A five-member Chinese medical team was already working in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital of Kinshasa. Kaseya described the contribution as...

Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and tourist region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighbouring Spain. They were racing against the clock as another heatwave is expected to hit both countries later this week in what has been a blisteringly hot and dry summer across western Europe. Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and ‌local residents, in France, while...

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate will remain in prison for at least two more weeks until their next hearing as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom, where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafficking, a federal judge said on Monday. US Magistrate Lauren Louis set a detention hearing for August 13 to determine whether the Tates should stay in jail or be released during what could be a months-long extradition process. The brothers were not in court on Monday or...

Armed officers will be deployed for the UK’s largest Pride festival, police said following the attack on Berlin’s Pride event. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the “absolutely horrific” van and stabbing attack in the German capital that left one person dead and injured at least 29 others. The suspect – named as Abdul B and said to have links to Islamic State – was shot dead by police on Sunday after being on the run for nearly 24 hours. He was suspected of slamming a van into people...

At least one shot was fired early on Monday at the US consulate in Toronto, Canadian police said, the second shooting near the diplomatic compound in four months. No injuries were reported. An officer guarding the consulate “heard the sound of a gunshot in the vicinity here where he was stationed” at about 4.45am, the city’s deputy police chief Frank Barredo told reporters, adding that the consulate’s facade was struck by a bullet. Toronto police said a white car with no licence plates was seen...

A major new bridge linking Canada and the US at Detroit opened on Monday to trucks, cars and other vehicles, the climax of a years-long project that lately had been bruised a bit by international politics. Descendants of Gordie Howe, the hockey legend whose name is on the bridge, were among the first to cross over the Detroit River, which separates the Motor City from Windsor, Ontario. US Senator Gary Peters rode a motorcycle, while Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer drove a Ford Mustang with...

Former FBI director James Comey urged a judge on Monday to throw out federal charges against him, arguing that a photo of seashells arranged on a beach he posted on social media was not a call to violence against President Donald Trump but protected political speech. Comey’s lawyers argue the government cannot prove the Instagram photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47” constituted a “true threat” against the Republican president, who fired Comey in 2017, and has publicly...

UK television personality Bill Oddie, best known for his role in the television comedy series The Goodies and presenter of nature shows, has died aged 85, his agent said on Monday. “Bill was a multitalented celebrity – wildlife presenter, broadcaster, comedian, writer, songwriter, musician and conservationist,” Oddie’s agent, David Foster, said in a statement. “Yet it was never fame that he valued. Instead he encouraged us to respect and protect the environment. “He taught us the wonder of it....

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham held his first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a UK naval base on Monday, pledging new “Stone Cloak” jamming technology to help safeguard Ukraine’s drones on the battlefield. The meeting on the dockside and on board an aircraft carrier in the southern city of Portsmouth was Burnham’s first bilateral with a foreign leader and came ahead of a visit by Zelensky to Washington on Tuesday aimed at ending the four-year war with Russia. “We are...

A British funeral director faced prison on Monday over a scandal that saw bodies left “stored on racks” and uncremated while relatives were handed other people’s ashes, sparking calls for better regulation of the industry. An ex-employee described Robert Bush’s funeral parlour as a “horror scene”, prosecutor Chris Paxton said at the start of a five-day sentencing hearing. Police who searched his premises after a tip-off found 31 bodies in a cold storage area that should have been cremated months...

Iran and the United States held their fire on Monday, handing Gulf shipping and the oil industry a respite from missile strikes as Donald Trump’s UN envoy said the president was “giving talks some space”. Tehran said it had halted retaliatory attacks against Washington’s allies in the Middle East, and US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told Fox News Sunday that, while forces remained “locked and loaded”, Trump would give negotiations “a little bit of room”. Fighting over the...

French police detained a man ‌on Monday after he attacked three women with knives near Porte de Clichy in Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters. The man attacked the three women, who were aged 19, 24 and 36, with two kitchen knives, severely wounding two ⁠of them, Nunez said. Video aired on social media and verified by ‌Reuters showed a man with long black hair, wearing a cream tracksuit and wielding one big knife in ‌each hand stabbing and attempting to attack a young woman. ⁠It...

Germany’s drive to compete with Chinese imports is colliding with its long-standing tradition of Sunday rest, with policymakers and retailers now asking whether a century-old consensus still fits an economy struggling to regain its competitiveness. The latest flashpoint came in early July, when the country’s coalition government unveiled a package of measures to boost Germany’s competitiveness, including plans to let bakeries, confectioneries and public libraries operate longer on Sundays from...

A ⁠second suspect ⁠detained in connection ⁠with a deadly car-ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride celebrations over the weekend has been released, ‌the German federal prosecutors’ office said on Monday. “We continue to investigate broadly,” the prosecutors’ office told Reuters and declined to comment ⁠further. Spiegel on Monday cited sources as ‌saying that authorities released the person because initial suspicion that ‌he was a passenger in the ⁠vehicle ⁠at the time of the attack could ‌not be...

Israel will allow a multinational security force to enter Gaza as proposed under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for the enclave, an Israeli official said on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Sunday approved ‌the legal framework that would allow the force’s entry to Gaza, the official said. Netanyahu was scheduled to depart for Washington on Monday and was expected to meet Trump on Tuesday. The official said that the mission, called the International...

As Israel heads into a fiercely contested general election on October 27, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the principal challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eisenkot’s rise comes at a pivotal moment in Israeli politics, with the election widely viewed as a referendum on the long-serving premier’s leadership in the violent aftermath of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. A recent Channel 12 poll put Eisenkot’s new party, Yashar (Hebrew for “Straight” or...

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. After Apple leak, has India lost ground in its supply chain race with China? In the wake of a cyberattack on a local Apple partner, insiders say India has a long way to go before challenging China as a manufacturer. 2. China wants unique access to minerals with Indonesia offer, analyst says China...

The veteran performer is making waves as a blind servant in “The Odyssey.” But he was worried that a scene with dogs would make him the most hated actor in movies.

The peculiar dynamic is playing out in Texas, where the fate of the Republican nominee, Ken Paxton, will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.

The former president is trying to help Josh Turek net a Senate seat in Iowa, which Democrats see as one of their best pickup opportunities of the midterms.

What do you do when a $25 billion complex is under construction nearby? One couple in Abilene had an idea.

The continent is experiencing some of its biggest fires and highest temperatures ever. Residents are fleeing, leaders are struggling to respond and “it will get worse,” one climate expert said.

A warming planet and a shift away from farming have set the stage for larger fires on the continent. “We must learn to coexist with them,” one report said.

Firefighters have contained vast wildfires in both countries, but winds are high and temperatures rising. Spain’s prime minister said the next 12 hours would be “decisive.”

A bipartisan bill in the Senate would allow President Trump to impose tariffs on the biggest importers of Russian energy.

For some U.S. brands seeking a location for their factories, the economic logic is once again pointing to China.

The Carney government’s agreement with a German natural gas company will also reduce Europe’s dependence on a Qatari supply made more uncertain by war.

Reihan Salam loves New York. He loves the free market. And he’s very worried.

It’s a thorn in the side of David Ellison’s paused dream.

Is more data about your body actually good for you?

We look at the wildfires in France and Spain.

Amid blistering heat, economic anxiety and a tumultuous news cycle, we want to hear how you’re experiencing the season.

The popular singer-songwriter won, with Markéta Irglová, an Oscar for the song “Falling Slowly” from the film “Once.”