Minimalist News

Trump Orders Approval For Mini 'Kei' Cars To Be Built In America President Donald Trump, intrigued by the tiny “kei” cars he saw in Japan, announced plans to allow their production and sale in the US, according to Bloomberg. These ultra-compact vehicles are currently barred from US manufacturing because they don’t meet federal standards. “They’re very small, they’re really cute, and I said ‘How would that do in this country?’” Trump said while revealing plans to loosen Biden-era fuel efficiency rules. He added that “we’re gonna approve those cars,” and said he has instructed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to authorize production. Kei cars

Model Collapse: The Entire Bubble Economy Is A Hallucination Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, The conclusion that soaring asset prices mean the economy is strong is a hallucination that goes unrecognized because the entire financial system is hallucinating. Consider the data that the financial sector bases conclusions / decisions on (i.e. the data that the financial sector "trains" on) in a Bubble Economy like the present. The Bubble Economy's core goal is to inflate the valuation of assets not by increasing utility-value or productivity but by artificially expanding credit and leverage. This benefits those who already own assets, as their collateral (i.e. "wealth") expands

Clandestine Campaign To Defund ZeroHedge, The Federalist & Breitbart Traced To Kier Starmer Operation Very early into the COVID-19 pandemic, ZeroHedge suggested that a little-known Chinese lab in Wuhan might know something about the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe. As a result, and as you know, we were subject to an intense demonetization / deplatforming campaign that included getting kicked off of Twitter, PayPal, Facebook and other platforms, dropped by our advertisers, and targeted by MSM hit pieces which colluded with foreign 'watchdogs' to inflict maximum damage.  These same groups also targeted outlets including The Federalist and Breitbart over various reporting, which suffered similar fates.  Now, thanks to a

Man Arrested In Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Case Identified As Brian Cole Update (1202ET): The man arrested in the Jan. 5, 2021 pipe bomb incident in DC has been identified as Brian Cole, according to Fox News.  > The current scene outside the J6 pipe bomber suspect Brian Cole’s Virginia homepic.twitter.com/3CptZpuxsD > > — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 4, 2025 > 🚨 BREAKING: The FBI has surrounded a home in Woodbridge, VA where alleged DC pipe bomber Brian Cole Jr., reportedly 33, was arrested this morning > > Cole seemingly has very little online presence, and has been described as an “anarchist” > > He’s expected to be arraigned

Police 'Will Not Cooperate With ICE Agents': Minneapolis Mayor Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times, As Minnesota anticipates more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in Minnesota—a state where many Somali immigrants are accused of defrauding welfare programs—Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city’s law enforcement will not work with federal agents. “Our police officers are not ICE agents; they will not cooperate with ICE agents,” Frey said at a Dec. 2 news conference. ICE has been conducting large-scale immigration enforcement operations in a number of cities, sometimes drawing opposition from protesters and from Democratic leaders.   At the news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief

Jensen To Rogan: "Next 6-7 Years You Will See A Bunch Of Small Nuclear Reactors" Jensen "sign my tit" Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA and the man picking and shoveling the AI boom, was recently on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast discussing a wide range of topics, when he gave the nuclear sector the ultimate tailwind: the AI revolution needs small modular reactors (SMRs), something we have been saying for over a year.  When the conversation turned to energy, and particularly new nuclear power, Huang spoke about the immense and growing power demands of AI data centers, which he dubbed as "gigawatt factories",

Maduro Describes 'Cordial' Trump Call As Senators Reintroduce War Powers Bill Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has very belatedly confirmed speaking with US President Donald Trump by phone late last month amid a huge US military buildup accompanied by Washington threatening war. The phone call was ten days prior, but Maduro on Wednesday said he decided to speak about his "cordial" call with Trump as he wished to avoid "microphone diplomacy" at a moment international reports are ripe with speculation over the contents of the call. US Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Source: Stars & Stripes US media, for example, has widely reported

USDA Will Withhold SNAP Funds From 21 States That Refused To Provide Data Via American Greatness, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says she will be moving to stop federal funding to 21 non-compliant states that have refused to provide data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In February, the Trump administration had asked all states to provide their SNAP data to the federal government as part of the administration’s efforts to root out waste and fraud in the welfare program. 29 mostly Republican-led states provided the data and revealed 500,000 cases of duplicate benefits as well as 186,000 deceased individuals’ Social Security

Dollar General Soars Most In Six Months As Cash-Strapped Consumers Flock To Value Dollar General shares jumped the most in six months following a quarterly earnings beat and an upward revision to full-year guidance, reflecting continued momentum from value-seeking, cash-strapped consumers. Dollar General posted a strong quarter, with third-quarter EPS of $1.28, beating last year's .89 cents and coming in well above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of .94 cents. Same-store sales rose 2.5%, also ahead of BBG expectations, driven entirely by higher traffic (+2.5%) while average ticket remained flat. Gains were broad-based across consumables, seasonal, home, and apparel. Here's a snapshot of the

In Case Of Emergency Break Rules By Michael Every of Rabobank Markets start the day mixed. Bad US ADP jobs data saw the old rule that this is bullish for rates, so stocks. By contrast, Australian household spending of 1.3% m-o-m (regardless of how many it covers) saw rate hike bets pick up, with the 3-year yield above 4% for the first time since January. This morning, China also set the daily reference rate for CNY significantly weaker than expected, underlining its rule remains that its currency goes where it wants, not markets – and it doesn’t want it too strong even

"We Must Protect Volodymyr": Leaked Call Shows European Leaders Conspiring Against Trump Peace Plan In a development that is not entirely surprising, European leaders are claiming that Washington is looking to "betray" Ukraine and President Zelensky during potential formal peace negotiations with Russia. "There is a possibility that the United States will abandon Ukraine on territorial questions without providing clarity on security guarantees," French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said according to a "leaked" phone call record with other European leaders. Likely this was an intentional leak and bit of strong signaling to the Trump administration, as Europe has not been on board

Why Tether Is Buying More Gold Than Many Central Banks, And What It Signals Authored by Dilip Kumar Patairya via CoinTelegraph.com, * Tether purchased 26 tons of gold in Q3 2025, a larger quarterly acquisition than any reporting central bank. Its total holdings reached 116 tons, placing it among the world’s top 30 gold holders. * Stablecoin issuers, sovereign wealth funds, corporations and tech firms are increasingly active in gold markets. This trend marks a structural shift in global demand once dominated by central banks. * Central banks added 220 tons of gold in Q3 2025, up 28% from Q2. Countries

US Durable Goods Orders Solid In September While 'soft' survey data has been a shitshow, 'hard' data has been stable (what little we actually had during the shutdown)... Source: Bloomberg Today we get more 'catch-up' data with Factory Orders and Durable Goods data for September. US Factory Orders disappointed, rising just 0.2% MoM (+0.3% exp) and slowing notably from the +1.3% MoM jump in August (and up 3.6% YoY)... Source: Bloomberg Core Factory Orders (ex-Transports) also rose 0.2% MoM, up notably from the downwardly revised 0.1% MoM decline in August (but remains up over 1% YoY)... Source: Bloomberg The final print for Durable Goods Orders were all in

Meta Shares Jump After Zuckerberg Prepares Deep Cuts To Metaverse Following Epic Flop Meta shares jumped the most in months after a Bloomberg report said Mark Zuckerberg is preparing deep cuts to the company's metaverse ambitions. The metaverse, once pitched by Zuckerberg as the "next chapter of the internet," has been nothing more than a colossal failure. According to Bloomberg, Meta executives have discussed slashing the metaverse budget by up to 30% for 2026, which includes the virtual-worlds product Meta Horizon Worlds and its Quest virtual-reality unit. These upcoming cuts to Reality Labs' VR operations will likely result in layoffs as early

Sam Altman Quietly Tried To Buy A Rocket Startup To Compete With Musk's SpaceX The relationship between the OpenAI cofounders, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, has devolved into X sparring and legal battles. As the conversation surrounding data center shifts to space, a new report specifies that Altman attempted to acquire a rocket company to compete with Musk's SpaceX. The Wall Street Journal reports that Altman explored acquiring or partnering with rocket startup Stoke Space. This move would've put him in direct competition with SpaceX, only suggesting the rivalry between the two billionaires has no limits. Those familiar with the Altman-Stoke Space talks

Treasury Boss Bessent Nukes NYT Hypocrisy Over Desperate Trump Health Smears Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a brutal takedown of legacy media frauds Wednesday, calling out The New York Times for their shameless double standard on presidential fitness. Fresh off a three-hour cabinet marathon with President Trump, Bessent faced down a Times hack at their own summit and laid bare the hypocrisy. The same outlet that buried Joe Biden’s dementia for years now peddles baseless panic about Trump’s vigor. It’s the latest desperate ploy from a press corps still seething over their 2024 election wipeout, desperate to undermine

'No Hire, No Fire' Economy Confirmed As US Jobless Claims & Hiring Plans Plummet With the spice flowing once again (post shutdown), initial jobless claims continue to signal no labor market pain at all... plummeting last week to 191k (the lowest since Sept 2022 and before that the lowest since 1969!!) Distortions around Thanksgiving likely skewed the reading, with California, Texas, and New York saw the largest drop in non-seasonally adjusted claims. The drops in both California and Texas are one of the largest weekly declines seen outside of the pandemic... It appears a lack of government firings is helping as the 'Deep Tristate' initial claims

Futures Rise, S&P Set For 8th Gain In 9 Days US equity futures rise, trading less than a percent away from a new record high amid signs of a leadership rotation with Big Tech not leading the bounce this time. As of 8:00am ET, S&P and Nasdaq 100 contracts are higher by about 0.1% after climbing in seven of the past eight sessions and extend on Wednesday's gains when bad news was good news as a soft ADP jobs report bolstered expectations for a Fed rate cut next week. Challenger job cuts data for November showed job cuts fell 53% to 71,321 last month

Ex-Pornhub Owner Interested In Purchasing Lukoil Assets By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com Austrian businessman Bernd Bergmair, former majority owner of Pornhub, has approached the U.S. Treasury about buying assets of Russian oil major Lukoil after the Trump administration sanctioned the company.  "Obviously Lukoil International GmbH would be a great investment and anybody would be fortunate to have the privilege of owning those assets,” Bergmair told Reuters. "I don’t comment on potential investments as a matter of course," he added. Last month, U.S. Treasury issued the greenlight for companies to begin talks with Lukoil for its foreign assets, with U.S. oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil

Goldman Warns Copper's Parabolic Breakout Lacks Stability Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange opened the week with a breakout to new record highs (see report). On Wednesday, we highlighted a Goldman note detailing the "circular melt-up" mechanics driving the move higher. By Thursday, a separate Goldman analyst was cautioning clients that the parabolic move above $11,000/ton is unlikely to last. At 6:30 ET, LME copper futures hit a fresh record at $11,575/ton, driven by a scramble to move metal into the US warehouses ahead of potential Trump-era import tariffs and a burst of demand from Asia. The combination has intensified global

Democrat Jim Himes calls footage ‘one of the most troubling scenes’ he’s observed in public service * Analysis: Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had not ordered the military to “kill them all” in a deadly attack on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean, but differed over whether the strike was appropriate. The allegation that Hegseth ordered the killing of survivors sparked bipartisan concern in Washington that he or others involved may have

Any Lucia López Belloza, 19, was detained at Boston airport while on the way to see family in Austin for a surprise trip Any Lucia López Belloza had not seen her parents and two little sisters since starting her first semester at Babson College, near Boston in August. A family friend gave her plane tickets so she could fly home to Austin and surprise them for Thanksgiving. The 19-year-old business student was already at the boarding gate at Boston airport when she was told there was an “error” with her boarding pass; when she reached customer service, she was handcuffed and arrested

Pentagon’s Law of War manual clearly prohibits attack, but justification for whole campaign also faces tough questions Graphic depictions of two survivors being killed by a second US military strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug ferrying boat have provoked outrage where previously there was none – or at least relatively little. A firestorm of controversy has greeted a recent Washington Post report which suggested that a deadly attack on a vessel carrying 11 people in the Caribbean was followed with a second assault after the initial strike failed to kill everybody onboard. Continue reading...

Images and videos taken in 2020, a year after he died in jail, show the late sex offender’s home * US politics – live updates House Democrats released photos and videos from Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island on Wednesday, offering a rare glimpse into a secretive place where Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls. The new images and videos show Epstein’s home, including bedrooms, a telephone, what appears to be an office or library, and a chalkboard on which the words “fin”, “intellectual”, “deception” and “power” are written. Several photos show a room with a dentist chair and masks hanging

Gustavo Petro responded to intimations by US president of military strikes on Colombian soil to fight drug trafficking Colombia’s president has warned Donald Trump that he risked “waking the jaguar” after the US leader suggested that any country he believed was making illegal drugs destined for the US was liable to a military attack. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the US president said that military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela would “start very soon”. Trump also warned that any country producing narcotics was a potential target, singling out Colombia, which has long been a close ally in Washington’s “war on

Prohibited from working, people sent to the island by Australia say they are struggling to survive because food is so expensive * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Asylum seekers sent to Nauru by Australia say they are going hungry on the island, prohibited from working to support themselves and given insufficient money to buy enough food. Others say they fear the Nauru government will deport them to their home countries, from where they say they have fled persecution and violence. Continue reading...

Seizures and warrants involve Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, who heads US-sanctioned Prince Group, and Cambodians Kok An and Yim Leak Thailand has seized assets worth more than $300m, including shares in a major regional energy company, and issued arrest warrants for 42 people in a high-profile push against regional scam networks, officials said on Wednesday. Parts of south-east Asia, including the border areas between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud, with criminal networks earning billions from illegal compounds where trafficking victims are often forced to work. Continue reading...

Police say number of dead may still be revised as ‘suspected human bones’ found during search require forensic testing Hong Kong and Beijing officials have warned against what they claim are “external forces” threatening to exploit last week’s deadly apartment complex fire for political disruption, as rescuers say at least 159 people have been confirmed dead. The fire at the Wang Fuk Court in northern Hong Kong is the city’s worst disaster in 75 years, and the world’s most fatal residential building fire since 1980. The eight-tower complex – home to nearly 5,000 people – was under extensive renovations that have since

Commission unveils €3bn strategy to de-risk and diversify supply chains for critical rare earth metals and elements * Business live – latest updates The EU is considering legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China to insulate Europe from future hostile acts, the industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, says. He made his remarks as the European Commission unveiled a €3bn (£2.63bn) strategy to reduce its dependency on China for critical raw materials amid a global scramble caused by Beijing’s “weaponisation” of supplies of everything from chips to rare earths. Continue reading...

Questions raised about permanency of 76-year-old’s appointment and ‘leadership stability at critical juncture for bank’ * Business live – latest updates HSBC has appointed the former KPMG partner Brendan Nelson as its chair after a prolonged search process that left one of the world’s biggest banks without a permanent executive in the top role for months. The decision to appoint Nelson, who has been serving as interim chair, came as a surprise, after a protracted hunt for a permanent successor for Mark Tucker which involved courting external candidates including the former chancellor George Osborne and the head of Goldman Sachs’s Asia-Pacific division,

Temperatures expected to exceed 40C in parts of New South Wales’ east. Follow today’s news live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sydney’s M4 tunnel has reopened in both directions after overnight emergency repairs, Transport for NSW says. As we reported yesterday, fears the tunnel’s concrete roof might collapse led to all westbound lanes being closed from early yesterday morning until the afternoon. After a very difficult 24 hours for Sydney motorists, I’m advised the M4 tunnel has now fully reopened. While we’re relieved to see traffic moving again, this incident is yet another reminder of what

Australian Workers’ Union calls for ‘simple, workable’ model that applies to existing projects, not just future ones * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Blue-collar workers and manufacturers want the Albanese government to stare down the gas giants as it designs a new gas reservation scheme, warning the industry’s preferred approach would fail to quickly contain prices. The federal government is expected to unveil plans for an east coast gas reserve as soon as next week after a six-month review of the gas market. Continue reading...

Rodney Burton says in Maryland district court memorandum he acted in good faith when promoting scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of US$1.89bn, but Lee calls claims ‘baseless’ A key promoter of an alleged global $3bn Ponzi scheme claims in newly filed US court documents he was trapped by an “elaborate” fraud orchestrated by Australian Sam Lee, and should be released from custody. Rodney Burton – known as Bitcoin Rodney – was charged in the US in early 2024 for his alleged part in the HyperVerse scheme, which swept the globe from 2020 and allegedly defrauded investors of US$1.89bn (A$2.9bn at current rates). Continue

Late-night decision on the 23,000-seat roofed venue paves the way for Tasmania Devils to enter AFL and AFLW * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A contentious $1.13bn AFL stadium has been given the official tick of approval by Tasmania’s parliament to pave the way for the Devils to enter the AFL and AFLW. The 23,000-seat roofed venue at Macquarie Point was voted through the island state’s upper house of parliament at 11pm on Thursday after two days of debate. Continue reading...

Administrative review tribunal no longer authorised to alter a person’s plan or reinstate funding, agency confirms * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Participants in the national disability insurance scheme will in most cases no longer be able to appeal against their total amount of funding support to any external review body, executives have confirmed. The minister for disability and the NDIS, Jenny McAllister, and National Disability Insurance Agency bosses were peppered with questions at Senate estimates on Thursday about changes to the way NDIS support plans will be generated under a new planning model coming into

Latest effort to control communications comes as regulator claims apps being used to ‘conduct terrorist activities’ Russian authorities blocked access to Snapchat and imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online, according to state-run news agencies and the country’s communications regulator. State internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that both apps were being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on the territory of the country, to recruit perpetrators (and) commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens.” Apple did not respond to an emailed request

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands pull out after decision not to hold vote on Israel’s participation Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza. No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the competition. Continue reading...

Delhi visit gives Russian leader a chance to reduce Moscow’s isolation but both countries need each other to negotiate Trump’s US and a powerful China When Vladimir Putin last set foot in India almost exactly four years ago, the world order looked materially different. At that visit – lasting just five hours due to the Covid pandemic – Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, discussed economic and military cooperation and reaffirmed their special relationship. Three months later, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would turn him into a global pariah, isolating the Kremlin from the world and restricting Putin’s international travel. Continue

Former EU foreign policy chief to also stand down as head of diplomatic academy at centre of investigation The EU’s former foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has resigned from her role as head of the elite College of Europe after being indicted in a corruption investigation. In a statement sent to college staff on Thursday, Mogherini announced that “in line with the utmost rigour and fairness with which I always carried out my duties, today I decided to resign as rector of the College of Europe”. Continue reading...

Der Spiegel quotes leaked call in which European leaders voice doubts about Washington’s approach to peace talks Emmanuel Macron has reportedly warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy that “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory, without clarity on security guarantees”, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported, quoting a leaked note from a recent call with several European leaders. Der Spiegel said it had obtained an English summary of Monday’s call, featuring what it said were direct quotations from European heads of government in which they expressed fundamental doubts about Washington’s approach to the talks. Continue reading...

Death of commander of Popular Forces is blow to Israel’s efforts to confront Hamas through proxy groups The leader of an Israeli-backed militia in Gaza has been killed, dealing a major blow to Israel’s efforts to build up its own Palestinian proxies to confront Hamas. Yasser abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader based in the Israeli-held zone of the devastated territory, is thought to have died from wounds sustained in a violent clash with powerful and well-armed local families, according to local media and sources in Gaza. Continue reading...

Agency says missile struck citizens in Khan Younis, as Israel reports targeting ‘Hamas terrorist’ after clash with militants An Israeli strike on Palestinian territory has killed five people including two children, Gaza’s civil defence agency told AFP on Wednesday. “Five citizens, including two children, killed and others injured, some seriously, as a result of an Israeli missile strike,” in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. Continue reading...

Group including Margaret Atwood, Ian McKellen and Richard Branson sign open letter to free Marwan Barghouti More than 200 leading cultural figures have come together to call for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Palestinian leader seen as capable of uniting factions and bringing the best hope to the stalled mission of creating a Palestinian state. The prestigious and diverse group calling for his release in an open letter includes a variety of prominent names, including the writers Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor and Mark Ruffalo, and

Iranian film-maker won Cannes film festival’s Palme D’Or prize earlier this year for It Was Just an Accident Iran has sentenced the Palme d’Or-winning film-maker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a travel ban over “propaganda activities” against the country. The sentence includes a two-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibition of Panahi from membership of any political or social groups, his lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that they would file an appeal. Continue reading...

Group beaten in early hours of morning in village where they volunteered to help protect Palestinians from settler violence Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence. Continue reading...

Inaugural prize expected to be handed to Donald Trump but ‘process’ for choosing future winners to be proposed by controversial tycoon’s committee It was the timing that set off the first alarm bells. With Donald Trump brooding over missing out on the Nobel peace prize, and shortly before Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was due to meet the US president in Miami, an announcement was made. In a press release and a post on his personal Instagram account last month, Infantino said Fifa would launch its very own peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals

Apple among big tech companies reportedly refusing to install Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on their devices A political outcry has erupted in India after the government mandated large technology companies to install a state-owned app on smartphones that has led to surveillance fears among opposition MPs and activists. Manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and Xiomi have 90 days to comply with the order to preload the government’s Sanchar Saathi, or Communication Partner, on every phone in India. Continue reading...

About 3.2 million people on Sumatra island have been affected, 2,600 have been injured and 504 are missing The number of people killed by floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island rose to 708 on Tuesday, the country’s disaster agency said, with 504 people missing. The toll was a sharp increase from the 604 dead reported by the agency on Monday. Continue reading...

Many uncertain about the future after losing everything in the country’s deadliest natural disaster for years When the rains began, Layani Rasika Niroshani was not worried. The 36-year-old mother of two was used to the heavy monsoon showers that drench Sri Lanka’s hilly central region of Badulla every year. But as it kept pounding down without stopping, the family started to feel jittery. Some relocated to a relative’s house, but her brother and his wife decided to stay behind to collect the valuables. As they were inside, a landslide hit the family home. Continue reading...

Critics voice concern as government says its Sanchar Saathi app combats cybersecurity threats for 1.2bn telecom users India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cybersecurity app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to antagonise Apple and privacy advocates. In tackling a recent surge of cybercrime and hacking, India is joining authorities worldwide, most recently in Russia, to frame rules blocking the use of stolen phones for fraud or promoting state-backed government service apps. Continue reading...

Reform leader suggests he would boycott BBC, saying he has had letter from Dulwich pupils defending him Nigel Farage has turned on broadcasters for questioning him about his alleged teenage racism and antisemitism as the number of school contemporaries who recalled such behaviour to the Guardian reached 28. In an angry performance at a press conference in London, the Reform leader suggested he would boycott the BBC and said ITV had its own case to answer, as he repeatedly shouted “Bernard Manning”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dawn Sturgess’s father pleased inquiry made it clear she was blameless victim after Skripal attack in 2018 * Novichok poisonings, Russia’s role and UK response: key questions of inquiry The family of Dawn Sturgess have said they will finally be able to lay her to rest seven years after she was killed in the Wiltshire nerve agent poisonings, after an inquiry concluded she was the innocent victim of an attack by Vladimir Putin. Stan Sturgess, Dawn’s father, said he was pleased the inquiry into her death had made it clear she was blameless but expressed concern that lessons may not have

Lawyer for parents say allegations included children coming home injured and claims about how Vincent Chan treated toddlers More claims have emerged that parents’ concerns about the nursery worker Vincent Chan were not acted on before he was unmasked as a paedophile, as the government vowed to improve child safety after the scandal. Chan worked at a north London branch of the Bright Horizons nursery chain from 2017 until his arrest in June 2024. He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 26 offences including sexual assaults against girls aged two to four who were in his care, some carried out as children slept

Some users jump generations in expanded Wrapped review while Taylor Swift tops UK streams for third year It has given some in middle age dubious hope that they have their finger on the cultural pulse. Meanwhile, some younger users have been told their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement. Spotify has confected a wave of intrigue over what our musical preferences suggest about our vintage, with its “your listening age” feature causing delight and consternation. Continue reading...

‘Information-dense’ AI responses are most persuasive but these tend to be less accurate, says security report Chatbots can sway people’s political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver “substantial” amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government’s AI security body. Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models. Continue reading...

Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, comments on briefing by navy admiral Frank Bradley * Experts urge release of boat strike video as US admiral denies ‘kill them all’ order * Hegseth broke rules in sharing Yemen strike details on Signal, report finds Among the beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations, there is a group that legal experts and political scientists see as some of the clearest evidence of how such actions undermine the rule of law: those who were released from prison and again arrested for different alleged crimes. During his first term, Trump issued

Eric Adams signed orders relating to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, and protests near houses of worship New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, has issued two executive orders he says are meant to combat antisemitism, less than a month before he hands over the keys to the mayoralty to Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel. The first order prohibits city agency heads and staff from engaging in “any policy that discriminates against the state of Israel, Israeli citizens based on their national origin, or individuals or entities based on their association with Israel”. It also prohibits officials overseeing the city

Bombs were placed near Republican and Democratic party HQs in Washington night before US Capitol attack US authorities on Thursday made an arrest in connection with pipe bombs that were planted outside the headquarters of both the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington DC on the eve of 6 January 2021. Explosive devices were placed at night and then, on the afternoon of 6 January, the US Capitol attack occurred, when a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading...

An investigation found defense secretary put US forces at risk, triggering fresh demands for his resignation The Department of Defense’s inspector general released the much-anticipated unclassified report on Thursday about Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of plans for military airstrikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat earlier this year. It found that Hegseth violated departmental policies when he shared information in the chat, and that if a foreign enemy force intercepted that information it could have endangered the lives of US troops, as the Guardian reported on Wednesday. “Using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through

From 1990 to 2019, reported cases of acute hepatitis B among kids declined by 99% due to infant immunization After a contentious meeting, vaccine advisers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted on Thursday to delay a vote on restricting hepatitis B vaccination for infants until Friday. The meeting of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) turned confrontational at times before one member introduced a motion to delay the vote, which passed by six to three, to give advisers time to examine the wording before taking a vote. Continue reading...

The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly five-year-old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in 2021. The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed police, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is the violent Capitol siege. The arrest took place on Thursday morning and...

The New York Times sued the US Department of Defence and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy, the latest attempt by a US news organisation to reclaim access to government spaces. The press policy, enacted last month, requires journalists to acknowledge that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types...

Iraq will remove Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis from an asset-freeze list, officials said on Thursday, after the Iran-aligned groups were mistakenly included in an earlier government publication, prompting confusion and criticism. The Justice Ministry’s official gazette last month published a list of groups and entities whose funds would be blocked, naming both militant groups, a move that would likely have been welcomed in Washington and increased pressure on Tehran. A letter from the...

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Chinese companies to invest in France and transfer know-how in emerging sectors like batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels – highlighting growing concerns over the widening technological gap between the two countries. “We want to welcome more Chinese investment through projects and re-industrialisation strategies, and this is what will allow us to break the cycle we’re currently in,” he said on Thursday in Beijing, where he attended a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin must have ordered the Novichok nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018, in a “reckless” display of power that led to the death of an innocent woman, a UK public inquiry concluded on Thursday. Skripal was found along with his daughter Yulia slumped unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March 2018 after Novichok was applied to the front door handle of his nearby home. About four months later,...

Italian prosecutors on Thursday named Gucci, Prada, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent as among 13 luxury brands suspected of using subcontractors who exploited migrant workers in Italy, as part of a growing investigation into sweatshop conditions. Milan prosecutor Paolo Storari issued requests for information about alleged abuses by the brands, although they are not yet under formal investigation. It is the biggest expansion to date of a probe launched last year into the luxury sector, which has...

A dating platform in Brazil that markets paid encounters with Korean men styled as K-drama “oppa” is under investigation for sexual exploitation, with the South Korean consulate in Sao Paulo appealing for potential victims to come forward. KDramaDate advertises itself as a service that lets women “relive the magic of K-dramas”, offering curated outings with Korean men at cafes, barbecue restaurants and popular city landmarks. One package includes what the site describes as an “intimate...

We have selected seven Lifestyle stories from the past seven days that resonated with our readers. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. British film about Hong Kong immigrants showed grim reality of their new lives Founded in 1982 as an offshoot of Channel 4, Film4 was committed to reinvigorating British cinema by platforming new voices and exploring complex, contemporary subjects. The 1988 immigration drama Soursweet is a prime example. 2. One final...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed on Wednesday that he had a “cordial” phone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump 10 days ago amid a US military build-up in Latin America. “I spoke with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. I can say that the conversation was respectful, and I can even say that it was cordial,” Maduro told state television. “If this call means that steps are being taken toward a respectful dialogue - state to state, country to country - then we...

This article was first published on December 5, 1970 By Staff reporters A red letter day for Hong Kong Catholics The 73-year-old pontiff, looking fit in spite of his strenuous Asian tour, responded warmly. At times he stretched out his arms in a symbol of loving embrace, at others he blessed the crowds gathered to see him. He seemed especially pleased by the spontaneous gaiety of the greeting which 20,000 Catholic children gave him at the Happy Valley Racecourse to which he was taken by...

A Kenyan parliamentary inquiry has denounced a “disturbing trend of sexual misconduct” at a British Army base in the east African country “marked by rape, assault, and abandonment of children fathered by soldiers”. Since Kenya’s independence in 1963, the former colonial power has maintained the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) on the outskirts of Nanyuki, about 200km (130 miles) north of the capital Nairobi. The inquiry by the Kenyan parliament’s Defence Committee said there was little...

The Trump administration has renamed the US Institute of Peace after President Donald Trump and has planted the president’s name on the organisation’s headquarters despite an ongoing fight over the institute’s control. It was the latest twist in a see-saw court battle over who controls the US Institute of Peace, a non-profit think tank that focuses on peace initiatives. It was an early target of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) this year. On Wednesday, the State Department said it...

ByteDance’s TikTok will invest more than 200 billion reais (US$37.7 billion) to build a data centre in Brazil, marking its first project in Latin America. TikTok would partner with data centre developer Omnia and Casa dos Ventos, one of Brazil’s leading renewable energy providers, in a data centre in the northeastern state of Ceara, Monica Guise, head of public policy at TikTok Brazil, said on Wednesday. The project, which would be developed near the industrial port of Pecém, would fully rely on...

China’s pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of enormous growth and transformation. In just a few years, it has moved on from being the world’s cheapest source of active pharmaceutical ingredients to becoming a major hub for pharmaceutical innovation – a place where new, more effective drugs are born. It is now the second-largest developer of drugs, trailing only the United States. In the global drug development pipeline, China’s growth rate is phenomenal, leaping from 3 per cent in 2013 to...

Public opinion in Japan is souring towards the United States, as US President Donald Trump’s strong-arm trade tactics and divisive domestic policies test the bonds of an alliance that has endured for eight decades. The Cabinet Office’s latest annual survey, released on Friday, revealed that 70.8 per cent of Japanese respondents viewed Japan-US relations as “good” or “quite good”, tumbling 14.7 percentage points from a year earlier. It marked the second-lowest reading since the question was...

The path ahead for Ukraine peace talks is unclear, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, after what he called “reasonably good” talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoys. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and was prepared to keep working to find a compromise. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner spent hours at the Kremlin, departing in the early hours of...

Witnesses at a US trade agency hearing are pushing officials to put economic security high on the agenda to counter China ahead of a high-stakes review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The hearing convened by the Office of the US Trade Representative on Wednesday – the first public session before next July’s joint review of the free trade deal – kicks off three days of testimony from more than 140 representatives from business, think tanks, academia and advocacy groups. “One...

Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he was unsure whether China would accept the company’s H200 artificial intelligence chips should the United States relax restrictions on sales of the processors, following a meeting Wednesday with US President Donald Trump. Addressing reporters at the US Capitol, Huang said he and Trump talked about export controls but declined to offer specifics. The Nvidia chief’s meeting with the president comes after Trump administration officials discussed...

A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death was sentenced to 2½ years in prison on Wednesday. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. The judge emphasised that Plasencia did not provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him: “You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to...

The Pentagon’s watchdog found that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put US personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said on Wednesday. Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to...

Democrats in the US Congress released photos and videos on Wednesday showing the luxury island home where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly forced underage girls into sex with powerful men. The images of Epstein’s former Caribbean hideaway shed little new light on the complex scandal. However, they could add pressure on the Trump administration to comply with a requirement to release all the investigative files compiled during years of probes into Epstein’s activities – with...

Honduran TV presenter Salvador Nasralla widened a narrow lead on Wednesday over Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura as the counting of votes cast in a weekend presidential election dragged into a third day. With nearly 80 per cent of the count from Sunday’s voting completed, Nasralla was leading fellow right-winger Asfura with 40.23 per cent to 39.68 per cent, according to the CNE election council. The result was still too early to call. The CNE has come under fire from US President Donald Trump...

Israel received a body that Hamas said was one of the last two deceased hostages in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israel said it would allow Gaza’s gateway to Egypt to open once all hostages were returned. A body has been transferred by the Red Cross to the Israeli military and will undergo forensic identification, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said. Hamas also handed over remains on Tuesday, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said were not of any...

A majority of Australians, Japanese and Indians believe US President Donald Trump’s second term has been bad for their countries, and more Australians see the US as harmful than helpful in Asia, a survey of people in the four countries reported on Thursday. The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney polled 1,000 people in each of the four Quad nations: Australia, Japan, India, and the US. It found the region has been shaken by disruptive US developments but still backs...

Cuba has begun to restore power after a partial collapse of its electrical grid on Wednesday that left capital Havana and much of western Cuba in the dark, the latest incident in an energy crisis that has left millions suffering from prolonged blackouts for months. Top energy official Lazaro Guerra said a main transmission line connecting Havana with the country’s largest power plant in Matanzas failed around 5am, but that workers had begun restoring power by midmorning. “We already have a...

Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades on Wednesday under the auspices of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism, though Lebanon’s premier cautioned the new diplomatic contact did not amount to broader peace discussions. The two sides met at the UN peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Lebanon’s Naqura near the border with Israel, where the guarantors of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah regularly convene. Lebanon and...

A high-profile case against two British men accused of spying for China collapsed because of “systemic failures” and not a government conspiracy, a UK parliamentary inquiry concluded on Wednesday. The handling of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry was at times “shambolic” and reforms are needed to prevent “similar issues” happening again, the cross-party committee of MPs and members of the House of Lords said in its report. Ex-parliamentary researcher Cash and China-based...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Beijing for his three-day visit to China on Wednesday – and he is not coming alone. Alongside his wife Brigitte, the French leader is bringing a delegation of more than 80 people, including multiple ministers and nearly 40 CEOs from across the corporate world. Despite rising trade tensions between China and Europe, the long guestlist signals that Macron is travelling to Beijing looking to do business – and hints at France’s likely priorities. From...

A 13-year-old boy executed a man found guilty of killing his family in front of a cheering crowd in Afghanistan, in a chilling detail revealed after the event. The public execution, echoing the worst days of Taliban rule, was of a man who the Supreme Court ruled had killed 13 members of the same family, including nine children and their mother. About 80,000 people, including relatives of the victims, attended the execution in the sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost on Tuesday. The...

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it paused all immigration applications, including green card and US citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public safety. The pause applies to people from 19 countries that were already subjected to a partial travel ban in June, placing further restrictions on immigration – a core feature of US President Donald Trump’s political platform. The list of countries includes...

Once, when pop diva Faye Wong was seen reading on a plane, the book reportedly on her lap was the perennial local bestseller Art of Thinking by Lee Tien-ming. Food critic, columnist and media personality Benny Li Shun-Yan reportedly said that after learning of her interest, he introduced Wong to Lee, arguably Hong Kong’s most famous philosopher, who passed away last week at the age of 80. I remember that some were surprised by Wong’s philosophical interests. Actually, mainland entertainers often...

US President Donald Trump and his administration on Tuesday seized on China’s recent ban on select Brazilian soybean shipments, touting it as proof they had won Beijing back over to US suppliers even though official data shows China has only resumed American purchases modestly. At a lengthy, end-of-year cabinet meeting, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that “just a couple of days ago, China announced that they were going to halt all purchases from Brazil because they had found some...

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday he had watched the first US strike in September on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in real time but did not see survivors in the water or the second lethal strike that he described as being carried out in the “fog of war”. Hegseth, speaking at a cabinet meeting alongside US President Donald Trump, defended the follow-up strike that has drawn bipartisan scrutiny from Congress and concerns about the legality of the administration’s moves. The...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said any country trafficking illegal drugs into the United States could be attacked. “Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House, after raising the issue of cocaine from Colombia. Colombian President Gustavo Petro shot back at Trump in a social media post, arguing the South American nation destroys a drug-producing laboratory every 40 minutes – “without...

The suspect accused of shooting two National Guard members in an ambush in downtown Washington last week was charged on Tuesday with murder and other offences as he made his first court appearance, appearing remotely from a hospital bed. A judge ordered Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, held in custody without bond, citing the “sheer terror” of the shooting blocks from the White House that killed one member of the National Guard and critically injured a second. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty to all...

With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. China, known as the “world’s factory” after decades spent manufacturing and shipping much of the world’s consumer goods, is now going a step further: as a number of...

A rare crystal and diamond Faberge egg crafted for Russia’s ruling family before it was toppled by revolution shattered records on Tuesday as it sold at auction for £22.9 million (US$30.2 million). The Winter Egg, which was compared to the iconic Mona Lisa, was just one of seven of the opulent ovoids remaining in private hands, Christie’s London auction house said. The 10cm (four-inch) tall egg is made from finely carved rock crystal, covered in a delicate snowflake motif wrought in platinum and...

Russia and the US did not reach a compromise on a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine after a five-hour Kremlin meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s top envoys, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Trump has repeatedly complained that ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II has been one of the elusive foreign policy aims of his presidency. The US president has at times scolded both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Talks in Moscow between...

Pope Leo urged US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday not to try to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro using military force. Leo, the first US pope, said it would be better to attempt dialogue or impose economic pressure on Venezuela if Washington wants to pursue change there. The Trump administration has been weighing options to combat what it has portrayed as Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans. The socialist Venezuelan president has denied...

The EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has been charged along with two others in a probe into “fraud and corruption” over contracts to train future European diplomats. “The three individuals were formally notified of the accusations against them,” said a statement Wednesday from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) a day after their detention in Brussels. “The accusations concern procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional...

US President Donald Trump, who has cast himself as a relentless foe of illegal drugs, has pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, freeing him from a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import tonnes of cocaine into the United States. Trump’s extraordinary move risked weakening US credibility in Latin America, could embolden corrupt actors, and is likely to draw criticism that he is undercutting decades of US efforts to fight transnational drug networks. Trump told reporters at...

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sweeping effort to modernise Saudi Arabia’s economy draws direct inspiration from the Singapore model pioneered by Lee Kuan Yew, a senior Saudi political adviser has said. Mohammed Khalid Alyahya, an adviser to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, described the late Singaporean leader’s pragmatic and results-driven governance as a template for Riyadh’s ambitions. “We have studied [Singapore] for 50 years – the way the country has invested in...

A US admiral acting under the authority of US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a “double-tap” military operation that targeted survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat, the White House said on Monday. The legality of the Trump administration’s deadly strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific has already been questioned, and reports of the follow-up attack on survivors have triggered further accusations of a possible war crime. A total...

A Brazilian teenager was mauled to death by a lioness in full view of zoo visitors after scaling a six-metre wall and safety fencing and shimmying down a tree into the enclosure, authorities said. Gerson de Melo Machado, 19, struggled with severe mental health issues and dreamed of being a lion tamer, according to those who knew him. The municipal government of the northeastern coastal city of Joao Pessoa said Machado had “deliberately invaded the lioness’s enclosure” at the Arruda Camara...

Lebanon is bracing for intensified Israeli attacks in the new year, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration set a December 31 deadline for Hezbollah to disarm, following its assassination of the group’s military commander. Rather than heralding another land invasion like a year ago, however, analysts say the military ultimatum issued by Defence Minister Israel Katz last week aims to further diminish the role of Hezbollah – and its creator Iran – in Lebanon’s national...

The suspect was described as a 30-year-old man from Prince William County, Va. His arrest could ultimately provide an answer to one of the mysteries arising from the Jan. 6. attack.

The health secretary has walled himself off from government scientists and empowered fellow activists to pursue his vaccine agenda.

The advisory committee delayed the vote until Friday morning after heated disagreements. It was the third time the vote has been postponed.

Many of the year’s best series seemed to be in conversation with one another, including “Severance,” “The Pitt,” “Andor,” “Pluribus,” “The Lowdown” and others.

Democrats won an agreement for a floor showdown after the shutdown, but consensus still eludes the Senate. Will Republicans pay a political price?

Hearings that began Wednesday in Washington reflected anxiety over the future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact and whether the president could end up scrapping it.

Republicans and Democrats released a two-year plan to scale back and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, but it faces long odds in the G.O.P.-led House.

Just three days after President Trump pardoned the former Honduran president, Midence Oqueli Martinez Turcios, a former congressman and drug trafficker, got nearly 22 years.

Cornelia Foss, better known as a confidante to other artists than as an artist herself, has put aside landscape painting for something far more visceral.

The Netherlands and Slovenia also said they would not take part in next year’s contest, meant to be its celebratory 70th edition.

Meta plans to direct its investments to focus on wearables like its augmented reality glasses but does not plan to abandon building the metaverse.

Investors are deciding within 15 minutes whether to shovel millions into A.I. start-ups and taking entrepreneurs weight lifting and rock climbing to get deals done.

As President Emmanuel Macron of France visited China, its leader, Xi Jinping, said his country would play a constructive role in ending the fighting.

The 2018 death of a British woman from exposure to a rare, military-grade nerve agent was the result of a botched assassination attempt on a former Russian spy, an official report said on Thursday.

The Trump administration, which crippled Russia’s oil sales to India with sanctions, will be watching Mr. Putin’s talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Israeli government authorized 22 settlements in May, the largest expansion in decades, and Palestinian families are now being forced from their homes.

Israel launched a military strike after it said Hamas militants attacked its soldiers, the latest clashes in the two months since a truce was signed.

Yasser Abu Shabab, a Bedouin man in his 30s, was at the center of an Israeli project in Gaza to build up anti-Hamas militias.

Attacks on Somali Americans are a cruel distraction.

Bret Stephens, Frank Bruni and Aaron Retica on the gap between the president’s interests and what matters to Americans.

But a papal commission examining the question said further study was required, and advised that women should be given other leadership roles in the Catholic Church.

As a 19-year-old medic, he won a Silver Star for his service during D-Day. Later, in the Korean War, he earned a Bronze Star.

The United States Geological Survey quickly deleted the alert, saying it had been sent in error. “This isn’t a good look,” one earthquake expert said.

The recommendation comes after the first at-home test, a self-swab, received federal approval earlier this year.