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Trump Says US To 'Substantially Reduce' Military Drills With S.Korea, Cites 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim President Trump revealed Sunday he has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with longtime close ally South Korea, surprisingly mentioning his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a motivating factor in the decision. Trump said in a Truth Social posts that exercises, due to start on Monday, are costly and "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said "has been unthreatening and respectful" during his time in office .

CXMT Becomes China's Most Valuable Company As UBS Calls Apple Sourcing Report A "Key Catalyst" Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) , China's top DRAM maker, surged 12% to a record 61.80 yuan on Monday, lifting its market capitalization to 4.13 trillion yuan. The upside is because reports that Apple is considering using CXMT memory chips, alongside continued momentum across chip stocks following last week's gains in SanDisk and Micron. UBS analyst Jason Milao, who covers CXMT (now China's most valuable company) with a "Buy" rating and a 70 yuan price target, wrote in a note earlier that CXMT's gains

GB News Host Forced From Home By Migrant Gang Death Threats Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , GB News presenter Patrick Christys was ordered by police to abandon his home in the middle of the night after a credible death threat from the Channel people-smuggling gangs he continues to expose in Calais. The threat-to-life notice from the Metropolitan Police left Christys and his heavily pregnant wife, fellow GB News presenter Emily Carver, packing bags and fleeing to a safe house. One of the men he confronted later turned up on a London street. A year on, the official

"Ballpark To Battlefield": Ondas' M&A Blitz Builds Drone And Ground Robotics Empire Our mid-June initiation, " How To Profit From the Asymmetric Warfare Boom ," identified the leading public and private companies positioned across the drone and counter-drone space. Our first single-name coverage focused on Unusual Machines on July 23 ( read here ). The stock has since surged nearly 77% ( read here ), signaling that Wall Street is beginning to reprice these defense names as the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the Gulf-area conflict have forever changed how warfare is conducted on the modern battlefield. As our asymmetric-warfare boom theme

Second Ceuta Border Invasion Attempt Underway As Military-Aged Migrants Mass Near Spanish Enclave Summary: Second Ceuta Border Invasion Attempt By Sub-Saharan Africans Ilegals Public Health Disaster Unfolds In Ceuta After First Invasion, Weeks Ago Hybrid Warfare Fears Mount As Migrant Flows Weaponized Italy's Schengen suspension with Spain will remain until security risks disappear Weaponized Migrant Flows: Spain's Ceuta Border Under Attack (Again) Multiple open-source reports indicate that thousands of illegal aliens are massing near Spain's Ceuta border , raising the prospect of coordinated attempts to breach the enclave for the second time. If verified, the invasion attempt comes just weeks

Iran's Army Chief Offers $30K Reward For Kill Or Capture Of American Troops In the face for more White House threats against Iran, including Scott Bessent's latest unprecedented 'economic isolation' plan for the Islamic Republic, it remains clear that the Iranians aren't backing down. Instead, they are issuing some heightened threats and bluster of their own. The country's military in a surprise move announced Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers . Iranian Army commander Major General Amir Hatami, via IRNA What's more, and perhaps even more provocative, is that the

Fauci In Hiding As ABC Censorship Bombshell Explodes Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Dr. Anthony Fauci just refused a private transcribed interview with Sen. Ron Johnson's subcommittee. The same week, a former ABC News correspondent revealed that the network gutted a 2021 Wuhan lab leak investigation after the script was sent to Fauci for review. The pattern is unmistakable. Stonewall. Censor. Invoke privilege. Repeat. On Friday, Fauci's attorney notified Sen. Ron Johnson that the former NIAID director would not appear for a closed-door, transcribed interview as part of the ongoing investigation into the failed COVID response. ?

British Medical Journal Retracts Paper Linking COVID Shots To Millions Of Excess Deaths Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , A peer-reviewed study documenting millions of excess deaths across the West after the rollout of COVID measures and shots has been yanked by the British Medical Journal - not for bad data, but for the crime of asking inconvenient questions. The BMJ Public Health journal has formally retracted a 2024 paper that tracked more than three million excess deaths in 47 Western countries between 2020 and 2022. The study, which used official "Our World in Data" figures, noted that

U.S. Drafts Ultimatum for Allies Joining China's AI Bloc The United States is preparing to tell 35 countries they cannot belong to both the American and Chinese artificial intelligence coalitions , and that joining Beijing's framework will cost them their place in Washington's, according to an undated State Department draft letter reviewed by Reuters and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The letter is addressed to the signatories of an "AI Opportunity Statement" the United States circulated in June, a group that includes members of Pax Silica, the non-binding framework Washington launched last year to secure supply

Qatar Denies Holding Iranian Pilots As Tehran Demands Answers Over Missing Airmen Via The Cradle Qatar has denied that it is holding three Iranian pilots who Iran says were captured alive after their fighter jets crashed during the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic. On Saturday, Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Missing Persons Search Committee of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, stated that “Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after the Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the March attacks.” He identified the captured pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian. via Associated Press Iran is

Israel Threatens Return Of Lebanon War After Unleashing Deadliest Airstrikes Since Ceasefire Despite a June ceasefire technically being in effect, new weekend Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon mark the deadliest escalation since fighting largely came to a halt earlier this year . The Saturday attack saw eleven Lebanese killed - among them three children - and 19 injured after Israeli warplanes bombed several areas. It's by far the biggest mass casualty event since the ceasefire took effect, also in terms of extent of destruction. Flattened neighborhood in the southern Lebanese village of Deir al-Zahrani on August 15, via AFP "Israeli

English Villages In Fear Over 1,200 Male Migrants Moved Next To Schools Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , England's most peaceful villages are once again being turned into the front line of the migrant crisis. Up to 1,200 single adult male asylum seekers are earmarked for former military sites sitting within a mile of primary schools, nurseries and children's play areas, in direct tension with the Home Office's own recent guidance against housing near sensitive locations. The plan, revived and pressed forward under the current government, would drop large numbers of young men into high-trust, low-density rural communities

Fog Of War: A World Searching For An Exit Authored by Armstrong Williams via The Epoch Times, There are moments when the world seems to be moving toward peace and war simultaneously . This is one of them. President Donald Trump continues to express hope that the conflict with Iran can be brought to an end. Iran and Oman say negotiations over shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are progressing. That is encouraging, but the moment remains fragile. Iran has attached significant conditions to reopening the strait, including compensation for wartime damage and changes in American policy. So diplomats

"I've Never Heard Anything Like It": Was America's Top Secret Stealth Bomber Just Spotted Over Kansas? A video of a mysterious aircraft thundering over a U.S. military installation has set off a wave of speculation online , and the leading theories all point to aircraft the Pentagon would rather nobody photographed. The aircraft was captured flying over McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas. It is believed to be the B-21 Raider, a nuclear-capable stealth bomber carrying a unit price tag of roughly $700 million. That identification is unconfirmed. OutKick's David Hookstead, who first published the footage, wrote that a

Dallas Airport Shelves Muslim Washing Facilities After Texas Governor Threatens Airport Funding Authored by Jeremy Lott via The Epoch Times, The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport was mulling the installation of special washing rooms to facilitate prayers by its Muslim passengers. A DFW spokesman told The Epoch Times Saturday that the airport has shelved those plans after objections by the governor of Texas. The airport was “in the process of evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D” for international passengers, the spokesperson wrote in a statement. Terminal

The Democrats' Hasan Piker Problem Is Getting Worse The Democratic Party has so much going for it in the 2026 midterm election season, yet it looks like one man in particular might blow it for them. Hasan Piker, the 35-year-old left-wing influencer, is becoming a genuine electoral liability that could extend well beyond the races he's personally gotten involved in , and according to a report from the Wall Street Journal , Democrats are trying to do something about it. In Michigan, Piker has been campaigning alongside Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed despite warnings from party operatives who would

Oh, So This Is Why Luigi Mangione Pleaded Guilty... Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com, Luigi Mangione, the man whose assassination of a health insurance executive turned him into a folk hero to many on the left, shocked the country on Friday when he finally admitted to the killing and changed his plea to guilty. "I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan. I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death of bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal," Mangione told the judge. He admitted to stalking his victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in the

Military Contractor's Spy Aircraft Quietly Flying Southern Border On Mysterious Mission The Pentagon says it does not discuss contractor support to particular missions. The gear aboard mimics cell towers. Private military contractor Metrea has spent months quietly operating two surveillance-equipped aircraft along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Arizona Mirror . Via the Arizona Mirror The planes have traversed Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, circling at high altitude over border cities including Bisbee and Douglas in Arizona, and Laredo and El Paso in Texas. Metrea holds multiple contracts with the U.S. military, including a $5.7 million award to support training

'Dems Don't Give A Crap About The Country': Martin Armstrong Sees Very, Very Tight Midterm Election Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com , Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is out with a new report (more than 100 pages) that takes a deep dive on the “2026 Midterm Elections” i n November. Armstrong says, “ The computer is showing this is going to be a very, very tight election..." " It’s a 50/50 deal where we didn’t see either party coming in with a landslide. The bottom line looks like the Democrats can take the House, but not the Senate. So,

Apple Trains Custom AI Model For China With Alibaba's Help Apple has trained a custom large language model specifically for the Chinese market, utilizing technical support from Alibaba Group , according to Reuters . Chinese flags hang from a lamp post in front of an Apple Inc. store in Shanghai. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg This arrangement would make Apple the first foreign company cleared by Beijing to offer a proprietary AI model in China . The custom model is expected to power portions of Apple Intelligence when the AI suite rolls out to mainland China via an upcoming iOS update. This

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro ,

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills . Continue reading...

Grifols, which runs private chain of clinics, to temporarily stop taking donations after new government investigation A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices. Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs 17 clinics in Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Move will be one of first large-scale foreign investments in country since US ousted leader Nicolás Maduro in January BP has answered Donald Trump’s call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a large offshore gasfield. BP will partner with two oil firms with close links to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield, in one of the first large-scale foreign investments in Venezuela since the US ousted its leader Nicolás Maduro in January. Continue reading...

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity. Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week , is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night

President says he ‘gets along great’ with dictator but US officials say Ukraine war is boosting North’s capabilities Donald Trump has said he is scaling back joint US military drills with South Korea aimed at deterring North Korea, despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un’s regime is learning new battlefield tactics from the Ukraine war. The drills under Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two major annual exercises held by South Korea and the US, start on Monday and run until 27 August. Continue reading...

Discussions to focus on Australia’s acquisition of Mogami-class frigates as Japan plays down Albanese’s podcast comments Japan’s defence minister will visit Canberra this week, the highest level engagement with Australia after controversy over Anthony Albanese’s comments about a gift of melons from prime minister Sanae Takaichi. The defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, will meet his counterpart and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, on Tuesday, with discussions focused on Australia’s acquisition of Japan’s Mogami-class frigates and enhanced security cooperation. Continue reading...

Searchers dig through collapsed buildings and debris after 7.7 magnitude quake killed at least 53 people Rescue crews dug through collapsed buildings and landslide debris in eastern Indonesia on Sunday as they searched for bodies and possible survivors a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 53 people, injured more than 100 and displaced thousands. At least 24 people died in Manggarai regency and 17 in neighbouring East Manggarai, with additional fatalities reported in Sikka, Ngada and Ende regencies, the national disaster management agency said. Rescuers were still searching for people feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake

Quake struck Flores region early on Saturday, prompting thousands to seek higher ground for fear of a tsunami A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia has killed at least 47 people, causing widespread panic and collapsing buildings and homes in a region prone to deadly seismic events. Rescuers have yet to reach Nagekeo, the area closest to the epicentre, because roads were blocked by landslides and communications disrupted. Continue reading...

Evacuation orders issued for 400,000 after flooding, landslide warnings and power outages in Chiba prefecture At least five people have died in eastern Japan after “unprecedented” heavy rain that left nearly 7,000 stranded at Tokyo’s Narita airport and forced thousands to take refuge in government buildings. The torrential rains hit Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday night, triggering landslide warnings and power outages. Evacuation orders were issued for more than 400,000 people in Chiba and other areas, and about 45,000 homes lost power, as 115mm of rain fell hourly, approximately the same amount usually recorded for the whole month

Coalition leader tells Anthony Albanese that delaying change to budget measure is ‘unconscionable’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Angus Taylor says the Coalition will only support the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of the NDIS if it first removes the “widow tax” loophole from its changes to taxing investment properties. The warning comes as the Albanese government hopes to land a deal with the opposition this week in order to pass the bill in the Senate after the Greens ruled out supporting changes to the scheme that are expected to boost the federal budget’s

The new measure falls short of calls for gambling ads to move to an opt-in model, or for an outright ban Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Labor government has pledged a new single-service opt-out register for gambling ads – an idea similar to the Do Not Call register for spam calls – as part of amendments to its wagering ad bill, as well as restrictions on inducements and limiting commissions for agents. The communications minister, Anika Wells, has also confirmed gambling companies will

This blog is now closed Labor pledges opt-out register for online gambling ads akin to Do Not Call register for spam calls Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Hume says housing the ‘best indicator of economic security’ in retirement over super The deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume says the Coalition will reconsider whether Australians should be able to access more of their superannuation balance early after Pauline Hanson called on Sunday for super rules to be “lightened up a bit” and allow workers to their money in times of crisis. It’s something that we

The leftwing commentator has been invited to appear on the Planet America program on Monday night The ABC is set to air the return of its Planet America program on Monday night as the US midterm elections gain steam, with a new episode featuring the leftwing commentator Hasan Piker. Host John Barron said the episode will focus on the “rise of Democratic socialists and the populist left”, with Piker speaking about “what it’s like in the eye of a political storm”. But the appearance quickly sparked the ire of conservatives in Australia. Continue reading...

Lawyer for the entertainment industry and AFL figure says his career is ‘destroyed’ following conviction Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Entertainment industry and AFL figure Ralph Carr says he is in “living hell” and has been “destroyed” after being convicted of rape, a Victorian court has heard. Carr was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault after a trial in the county court of Victoria last month. Continue reading...

Belgium wildfire creeps closer to German border, as 104 firefighters and 36 vehicles from France help with Spain wildfire effort As flagged earlier, Belgium’s King Philippe is now visiting the emergency coordination centre looking after the firefighters tackling the major fire in the eastern part of the country ( 9:39 ). The European Commission has deployed assistance to Belgium and Spain as part of the bloc’s civil protection mechanism. Continue reading...

Temperatures could drop by more than 15C compared with last Thursday as cold front moves in Relief from the unrelenting heat is finally arriving this week across western Europe, with more unsettled conditions bringing the chance of rain. Temperatures are expected to fall back towards the seasonal norm, with some parts of the UK even falling about 3C below normal by Thursday. After such a scorching summer, and with a temperature drop of more than 15C compared with last Thursday’s heat, it may feel surprisingly chilly. There are signs that some substantial rain could be on the cards for the

Andrei Klepach of VEB said Russia’s economy was falling behind China, US and ‘in some respects Ukraine’ Europe live – latest updates The chief economist at Russia’s second-largest bank has been fired after a series of critical comments about the state of the economy, including warnings that Moscow would not win a prolonged economic war with Ukraine. Andrei Klepach, who had served in the role at the state-controlled development bank VEB since 2014, was fired days after Russian media reported on a scathing speech he had delivered to fellow economists in May. Continue reading...

Operator wins track access approval for up to 20 daily return trains through tunnel to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam in 2030 Business live – latest updates Virgin Trains has been granted track access by the rail regulator to run new services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030, moving forward its plans to break’s Eurostar’s passenger monopoly on the cross-Channel route. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said it had granted approval for Sir Richard Branson’s company to run up to 20 new daily return services through the Channel tunnel. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: The Spanish prime minister has remade himself as Europe’s leading leftwing standard-bearer. Could his success offer the UK’s PM a route forward? Good morning. To international onlookers, Pedro Sánchez appears to have achieved the impossible. Where other European leftist and left-ish premiers have flopped and flailed, the Spanish PM has endured. Since June 2018, Sánchez has ruled from Madrid, implementing a raft of progressive policies. More recently, he has emerged as a leading, and often lone, left-wing European voice on the global stage, striking a defiant tone on everything from the Trump administration’s war in Iran (“the

US president makes threat in comments to Fox News, as his son-in-law meets the Israeli leader in Jerusalem in effort to push Gaza peace plan Jared Kushner meets with Hamas ahead of talks with Netanyahu on Gaza The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen , urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale conflict,” Volker Türk said in a statement, as renewed fighting between the Houthi rebels

Trump’s son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefire Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner , held a rare meeting with Hamas ’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt , in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map. The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war . Continue reading...

Rescue services search for survivors and bodies after airstrikes hit homes in Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani Eleven people have been killed, including three children, and 19 injured in two Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, the worst toll since deals in June brought a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli warplanes bombed a home on the outskirts of the village of Ansar, killing seven people and flattening the building early on Saturday morning. Rescue services were working at the site to try to find survivors and locate bodies. Continue reading...

Seriousness of remark made in New York on Friday, and whether it signaled new policy ​position, not clear Donald Trump has threatened to declare the strait of Hormuz as “a territory of the United States” as his administration struggles to conclude the war with Iran. During a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, on Friday, the US president said he would “pretty soon” designate the waterway – a crucial chokepoint for global trade, through which about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies typically pass – a US territory. Continue reading...

Palestine’s vice-president calls plan ‘flagrant violation of international law’ and a step towards full Israeli annexation Israel’s defence minister wants to transfer law enforcement powers for Israelis in the occupied West Bank over to the police, a plan that Palestine’s vice-president described as a “flagrant violation of international law” and step towards full Israeli annexation. Israel Katz announced that he had ordered the military to draw up plans for the handover of responsibility for policing Israeli settlers amid domestic and international criticism of the army’s failure to tackle militants besieging three Palestinian families . Continue reading...

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power , an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his home Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021. Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years

An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome back to This Is India. For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a

Party’s ‘welfare to work’ policy would force long-term claimants to do community work or face losing benefits Robert Jenrick went on to say that long-term benefits claimants will be made to clean up their local high street and do charity work or face having their benefits taken away. He said as part of the party’s “welfare to work” policy, long-term claimants, who are fit to work, will be forced to do 20-hours of work a week in the community. They’ll work to clean up high streets and parks, to beautify neglected places, to carry out minor repairs, to staff libraries

Campaigners demand greater transparency into water companies’ plans not made public due to ‘security reasons’ The UK government has been accused of a lack of transparency and of acting irresponsibly for refusing to publish the emergency drought plans that are produced by water companies. Water firms are required to publish statutory drought plans every five years to detail the actions needed to ensure public water supply is maintained and the environment is protected during drought. Continue reading...

Supermarket chain says ‘human error’, not its Facewatch technology, to blame for ejecting a customer Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop. “I was embarrassed, mortified even, and felt quite humiliated and powerless,” Matt Arnold, 46, said of his ordeal. Continue reading...

Social media footage this weekend revealed the cast of Sam Mendes’ four-film band biopic on the zebra crossing near the studio, posing for the famous image The production team behind the forthcoming four-film Beatles biopic, directed by Sam Mendes, has been spotted filming outside Abbey Road studios in London. Inevitably, this includes a recreation of the celebrated Abbey Road album cover, for which the band was photographed on the nearby pedestrian crossing – now a popular tourist landmark. Footage posted on social media on Sunday shows the actors playing the Beatles lining up on the kerb and walking across the

Billionaire CEO of world’s biggest bank says any windfall tax on sector’s bumper profits could harm jobs in City Business live – latest updates Jamie Dimon, the boss of the US bank JP Morgan, has urged John Healey not to use his first budget as chancellor to increase taxes on banks’ bumper profits. Speculation has been growing that a windfall tax could be imposed on UK lenders to fund Andy Burnham’s cost of living agenda, with campaigners estimating such a move could raise £19bn. Continue reading...

President orders Pentagon to scale back ‘inappropriate and hostile’ exercises with South Korea Sign up for the Breaking News US email US Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia described his Republican opponent Mike Collins as a “bigot congressman surrounded at work and at home by neo-Nazis and white nationalists” and a “scandal piñata” at a rally on Sunday in Atlanta. Ossoff was referencing reports that Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, is a white nationalist and social media influencer with a history of sharing antisemitic material and sentiment and Nazi imagery on the internet. Scheer is registered to vote at a

Lala was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm Sunday, but could become a hurricane again by Wednesday Clean-up efforts started on Hawaii after Hurricane Lala rolled past the Big Island and dumped heavy rain across the US Pacific state. Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it grazed the islands, but it brought heavy rains and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island. Continue reading...

President issues threat to ‘bomb the shit out of them’ after previously threatening Gulf ally in May Donald Trump has again threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the US-Israel war on Iran . “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News on Monday, the second time he has directed such a threat at Muscat, a longtime US strategic partner that has traditionally served as a key backchannel between Washington and Tehran. Continue reading...

Italian firefighters say a man, 29, was killed by a lightning strike on the Sicily volcano while hiking in a restricted area A tourist from the US was killed by a lightning strike on Sicily’s Mount Etna while hiking in an area that was closed to visitors due to recent volcanic activity, Italian firefighters said on Monday. The 29-year-old man from Kansas was rescued by helicopter after being struck Sunday evening in an exposed area above the tree line. He was later declared dead by medical personnel. His name was not released. Continue reading...

Sixteen-year-old dead and four others wounded including two children at community celebration in Lexington Authorities in Kentucky charged an 18-year-old man with murder and several counts of assault after a shooting in Lexington park left a teenager dead and four others injured – one of multiple similar cases around the US over the weekend. Jametrius Griffin was arrested less than 24 hours after Saturday night’s mass shooting at Charles Young Park in the city’s downtown. According to the Lexington police department, officers responded to reports of gunfire in the park at about 7pm and found five people shot, including two

Hayden Panettiere, star of popular television series including Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36. Panettiere’s father, Skip, announced the actress’ death in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” his statement said. No cause of death was...

An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media. Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticised Israel’s recent...

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. Why Chinese youth are turning to an 84-year-old Cambridge professor for support 2. Chinese officials rattled by White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi-Trump summit 3. How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region 4. Hong Kong policewoman facing probe over viral video of her...

“Horrific, horrendous, unbearable, unsafe.” That is how medical professionals describe the impact of this year’s heatwaves on Britain’s healthcare system, in response to a survey by the Doctors’ Association UK. In hospitals built for a cooler climate, staff are now dealing with patients too sweaty to receive intravenous drips, medication at risk of degrading in high temperatures and colleagues collapsing on the job with heat fatigue. The past few months have revealed the extent to which...

A top US military commander said mental health was a valid concern after meeting crew deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where conditions aboard the aircraft carrier have led to complaints during its long deployment in the Iran war. Admiral Brad Cooper’s visit to the carrier in the Arabian Sea followed outrage among family members about reports of food shortages, water contamination, mouldy showers and long shifts in wartime aboard the vessel, which has been deployed without a port call for...

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday that its joint military exercise with the United States had started after President Donald Trump’s announcement it would be scaled back. “The UFS exercise is proceeding as planned,” the ministry said in a brief statement to reporters, referring to the annual drill named Ulchi Freedom Shield. As always, North Korea has reacted sharply to the annual exercise involving about 18,000 South Korean military personnel. The 11-day joint drill is scheduled to...

In 2022, Ukraine asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to activate Starlink coverage around Sevastopol to support an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. He refused, saying SpaceX would become “explicitly complicit in a major act of war”; he later also cited US sanctions covering Crimea. At the moment that mattered, one private actor had the final say. It exposed a question hidden inside every chokepoint. We usually ask where dependence is concentrated: a strait, mineral, technology, network. But three...

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said ⁠on Sunday that ⁠he backs top Washington prosecutor ⁠Jeanine Pirro, who was criticised by US President Donald Trump for the way she handled a case of alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I absolutely support US Attorney Pirro, as does President Trump,” Blanche said ‌on NBC’s Meet the Press programme. The Trump administration fast-tracked a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s Fourth of July...

Five teenagers have died and four others have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a highway in Ireland, police said. Commissioner Justin Kelly described the head-on collision between two cars on the M9 as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” cars are being driven on the wrong side of highways for social media likes. Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash at junction 3 at about 3am on Sunday. One of those seriously...

Thieves stole four works attributed to Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina worth millions of euros from the regional museum in the city of Messina in Sicily while crowds gathered across town for the traditional Assumption holiday celebrations, cultural officials and Italian media said on Sunday. The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems on Saturday evening at the MuMe museum, making off with three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated to 1473, as well as...

US negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet Israel’s prime minister on Monday. The talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, US-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and the reconstruction of the...

A passenger bus travelling on a highway in Hungary early on Sunday went off the road and into a ditch where it overturned, killing 12 and injuring others, police said. The bus, which was carrying a group of Polish tourists, was travelling on eastbound lanes near the town of Mezokeresztes when it overturned on the M3 motorway around 140km (87 miles) east of Hungary’s capital, Budapest, at around 1am on Sunday. In a statement, police said it was likely that the driver fell asleep, causing the...

Iran’s military announced on Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to US$30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman. Army chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following a “large number of requests” to take part, according to the IRNA state news agency. There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, with the exception of a rescue mission in April for a downed American...

Britain’s BBC asked a US court for help in getting documents and testimony from members of US President Donald Trump’s family in connection with his US$10-billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, a court document showed. Lawyers for the BBC argued that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jnr have “personal knowledge” and are likely to have records relevant to elements of Trump’s claims against the broadcaster, according to a filing on Friday in federal...

Russia carried out a wave of air strikes on Ukraine overnight, killing two people at a steel plant, and Kyiv launched a heavy drone attack on the Moscow region that killed one person and set ablaze a warehouse ‌used by Russia’s leading e-commerce retailer. Romania, which borders Ukraine, said an F-18 fighter on a Nato air policing mission had shot down a drone that breached its airspace during the latest attacks. It did not specify the origin of the drone, which entered from Moldova, but a...

More than 700 trucks carrying international humanitarian aid arrived in Afghanistan via Pakistan despite a near-total closure of the land border between the two countries following clashes in October, the United Nations said on Sunday. The convoy was carrying “food and other critical humanitarian items,” Olga Cherevko, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, told reporters. United Nations Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan...

Firefighters battling Belgium’s largest modern-day wildfire were counting on crucial air support on Sunday to help tame the blaze in a hard-to-access nature reserve, after it doubled in size over the previous 24 hours. More than 250 firefighters and emergency personnel were mobilised through the night, according to a Sunday morning update from the regional government which warned conditions in the High Fens park near the German border “remain challenging”. From 80 hectares burned on Friday, the...

Whether he is pulling a pint, tossing a builder’s helmet in the air or running with Olympic medallist Mo Farah, the UK’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has embraced social media with a deft touch. As well as putting out videos on his own accounts on X and TikTok, he has sought to broaden his audience by appearing on entertainment channels run by creators with large followings. Compared with predecessor Keir Starmer, “Burnham has a far more astute communications team around him” with a “better...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is getting ready to squeeze Iran with unprecedented economic pressure, a claim critics greeted with scepticism given the country is already subject to a naval blockade and thousands of sanctions. While the Trump administration has not said what it is planning to do, there are still pressure points that Bessent’s Treasury Department could hit. The main challenge is that targeting the remaining options risks blowback on the US economy. “Unless the...

Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella on Saturday called on his US counterpart Donald Trump to suspend tariffs currently targeting the South American nation, which is reeling after a deadly earthquake. US tariffs on Colombian products rose from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent in late July, with a few exceptions including coffee and oil. “I asked him to consider to temporarily suspend the high tariffs that are affecting Colombian products, in order to give some relief to our business...

Iranian authorities revealed on Saturday that three of Tehran’s pilots who went down early in the Middle East war were still being held in Qatar, calling on the Gulf state to release them. Iran had previously reported one pilot killed and others missing after a sortie to Qatar in March, but news of their alleged capture was not publicised at the time. “Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the war,” said General Mohammad...

Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20. Lebanon’s health ministry and state news agency said an air strike that targeted a home on the edge of Ansar village killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement”...

Police in Virginia have arrested a 19-year-old in connection with a shooting on Saturday that left five people injured. No one died in the shooting, though one victim sustained critical injuries. Chesterfield county police announced the arrest of Camron Harris of Henrico, Virginia. They found him hiding in a wardrobe on campus on Saturday afternoon. He was not a student at the university, authorities said. Police said they obtained eight felony warrants for his arrest including malicious...

The US is readying unprecedented economic measures against Iran, as President Donald Trump seeks to intensify efforts to force Tehran to capitulate after almost six months of war. The president said in a brief interview with Fox News that the US was planning to hit Iran’s economy hard, and that he did not care if the conflict were to end before the November US midterm elections, which would hinge on voter perceptions of the economy. Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp to the war, which has...

Russia is confounding expectations that its influence in the Middle East would drastically decline after the downfall of Syria’s Assad regime in 2024. At the time, Moscow operated about 100 military facilities in the war-torn country, following its intervention in the Syrian civil conflict from 2015 to prop up then president Bashar al-Assad in alliance with Iran and its regional proxies. When Assad was forced to flee to Moscow, and control of most of Syria was seized by Islamist rebels led by...

Thirty lions and tigers that were kept alive – barely – for years in cramped concrete cages at a closed Argentine zoo began entering jumbo-size transport crates on Friday as they embarked on ambitious journeys to wildlife sanctuaries halfway across the world in South Africa and the United States. The cats are being rescued from the former Lujan Zoo, about 70km (43 miles) northwest of Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, after years of uncertainty over their fate. Four Paws, the international...

President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated – pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in Garden City, New York. “It’s true,” he added. It was unclear how seriously Trump intended the remark or whether it represented a new policy...

UK academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, the prestigious British institution confirmed. Arday, 41, was found unresponsive on Friday afternoon at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person discovered. “We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge...

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns on Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran, while confirming the ship would soon rotate out. Asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump said “no, they’re not”. Trump also rejected the idea that the ship – now at sea for nine months – had been deployed for too long. “No, no, no, not nearly enough,” he said. The...

Italian authorities recovered three artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said on Friday. A statement from the Italian Carabinieri’s art recovery squad said the artworks were discovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, but no details were given. The investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Brazilian police said late on Thursday that they had located eight stolen works by...

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to fatally shooting US health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and ‌he died,” Mangione said. The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with health...

Li, a woman in her late twenties from southwestern China, is anxious about her coming interview for a 10-year US visa. She has big plans for her travels – a weeks-long stay next year that would be her first visit to the country – followed by a planned return trip in two years while pregnant so her child can attain American citizenship. But those plans have been thrown into doubt. Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to end “birth tourism”, tightening scrutiny on...

A helicopter pilot has died after crashing in a forest in eastern Germany while carrying out liming work, the police directorate in the city of Chemnitz said on Friday. Workers managed to pull the man from the helicopter after the impact, police said. Despite immediate first aid administered at the scene, the man died from his injuries. The helicopter had no other people on board. Police did not provide information on the identity of the pilot or the cause of the accident near the small town of...

A drone entered Latvian airspace and was shot down by Italian Eurofighter jets, the military said on Friday. The decision to shoot it down was taken to avert a threat to Latvia’s population, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis said. An air alert was lifted after the drone was intercepted, Latvia’s military said on social media, after authorities had urged people across the Baltic state to avoid going outside and seek shelter. A spokeswoman for Latvia’s military said the drone was shot down over a...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage won his self-triggered by-election in southern England on Friday, but saw his strategy to silence critics backfire when his main rival, Count Binface, a comedian dressed as a trash can, took more than a quarter of the vote. In a highly unusual move, Farage, one of Britain’s leading Brexit campaigners, did not turn up at the vote count in the southern English seaside resort of Clacton because, he said, ‌the police had advised him there was a campaign to disrupt the...

The top US priority now in the Iran war is no longer its nuclear programme but to bring petrol prices down for American consumers, the vice-president said on Thursday, with the treasury secretary adding that new economic punishment to wear down Tehran is imminent. The comments by Vice-President J.D. Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent illustrate the powerful leverage Tehran has gained by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – consistently...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China completes milestone test of US$10.8 billion canal link to Southeast Asia Chinese authorities have conducted the first full transit test along a 134.2km (83.4-mile) canal megaproject linking a vast inland region with Southeast...

Some sailors have reportedly tried throwing themselves into the sea, basic supplies can run short and sanitation is going awry: life on America’s giant Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is increasingly difficult as the Iran war drags on. The ship – now in its ninth month of deployment – is expected to be replaced in the Middle East by another carrier, the George Washington, in a move sure to be welcomed by the Lincoln’s crew and their loved ones. But concerns about conditions on the Lincoln have...

In every civilisation, certain stories capture the psyche so profoundly that they are retold across centuries. In the West, Homer’s Odyssey is the one. Countless adaptations have emerged over millennia, inspiring literary giants from Dante Alighieri to James Joyce. Christopher Nolan’s cinematic adaptation is merely the latest. While it reflects the British-American filmmaker’s personal vision, it also offers a glimpse into the anxieties and self-reflections of today’s Western elite. Homer’s...

President Donald Trump ordered the US Navy to return to using steam catapults to launch planes off of aircraft carriers, acting on a long-time complaint despite opposition from many naval officers. In a presidential memorandum, Trump ordered US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to come up with a plan within 60 days on what would be needed to use hydraulic catapults in the next Gerald Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The planned USS Doris Miller will be the fourth ship in the six-vessel...

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty on Friday to resolve federal charges relating to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, and prosecutors will recommend he serve life in prison, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The plea would come at a Friday hearing that US District Judge Margaret Garnett set after federal prosecutors and defence lawyers jointly requested one. Court records did not identify the purpose of the hearing, and it is possible...

When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca defence agreement, they executed a structural overhaul of the Middle East’s security architecture. The pact codifies a defence commitment, where an armed attack on one is treated as an assault on all. Building upon September’s Saudi-Pakistan defence agreement, this tripartite arrangement bridges the financial capital of the Gulf, the...

⁠Bird remains were found ⁠in the engine of a Ryanair Boeing 737 NG plane where a passenger was partially sucked through a broken window shortly after take-off from Greece in July, the US National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. The NTSB ‌is investigating the incident where a piece of the engine broke off the plane and smashed the window. The plane, headed to Germany, lost pressure and was forced to make an emergency landing. The NTSB said in its preliminary report into the July 10...

The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading towards the Middle East, according to Navy statements and open source information on the ship’s movements. This comes as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose long deployment to the Middle East in support of the Iran war includes a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. The USS George Washington left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week,...

The Kennedy Centre board voted on Thursday to add US President Donald Trump’s name to the facade of the performing arts venue and move forward with a two-year closure, according to congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a trustee through her position in Congress, and her lawyers. A representative for the Kennedy Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The moves set up a test of US District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that letters affixed to the building and spelling out...

President Trump wants to curtail military exercises with South Korea, saying they were hostile to North Korea. But under Mr. Kim, the North has become increasingly belligerent toward the South.

President Trump appointed his former personal lawyer Will Scharf as White House counsel. Maggie Haberman, our White House correspondent, explains how Scharf might help the president avoid congressional oversight at a critical time.

The new head of the Justice Department said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the president had never asked him to prosecute specific people — and never would.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the difficulty of the carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment but said mental health issues were lower than on other vessels.

In May, she published a memoir after a tumultuous decade that involved depression, substance abuse, losing custody of her daughter and stints in rehab.

Her mother put her on TV at 11 months old. She lost custody of her own daughter. The “Nashville” star has a lot to reckon with in her new memoir.

Aimee Lee learned to make hanji with Korean masters. Now she practices their traditional technique in the United States.

Three primaries for the House and the Senate on Tuesday pose a fresh test for the left, this time in a conservative-leaning state where socialism is often seen as a dirty word.

Muslim communities have been growing for decades, particularly around Dallas. Now, conservatives want to roll up the welcome mat.

Educators are worried that many students can no longer write essays without A.I. And it’s costing more than just grammar skills.

After decades of notoriously high murder totals, Baltimore and the people whose work entails dealing with the city’s most violent crimes are adjusting to a new reality.

Ukrainian drone teams have a powerful new tool: near real-time information on troop movements and locations.

Prosecutors say Duane Davis and three other men who are now deceased were involved in the fatal confrontation in 1996.

Duane Davis’s book boasted of his role in the killing of Tupac Shakur. The memoir, which he now disavows, has become prime evidence in his murder trial, which starts this week.

Silicon Valley was never pacifist; it just followed the customers.

We explain the climate phenomenon.

The New York Times is examining how public health is changing in the state, from the whooping cough outbreak to vaccine policies, and we want to hear from you.