Minimalist News

Don Lemon Arrested By Federal Authorities Over Minnesota Church Protest Update: 1535ET: Lemon has been charged with two counts, according to the unsealed grand jury indictment: COUNT 1: 18 U.S.C. § 241 - Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship COUNT 2: 18 U.S.C. § 248(a) (b), § §2(a) - FACE Act: Injure, Intimidate, and Interfere with Exercise of Right of Religious Freedom at a Place of Worship. > He is so cooked!!! pic.twitter.com/64eGmswZhr > > — Patriot (@_Patriot1776Q_) January 30, 2026 *  *  * Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal authorities late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law when he entered

Neil Young Encounters The Most Boomer Leftist Problem Imaginable Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.News, Aging rocker Neil Young has encountered perhaps the most boomer of leftist boomer issues, and of course it’s all President Trump’s fault. He can no longer use his ancient flip phone because orange man bad. In a rambling post on his website, Young details his epic struggle to ditch Verizon service, convinced that every dollar he spends fuels a “Trump Fascist regime.” > Neil Young seeks to boycott all Trump-supporting companies, calls out Apple and Verizonhttps://t.co/0AMWGjKZcp > > — Stereogum (@stereogum) January 28, 2026 It’s peak boomer leftist TDS paranoia, where everyday

Iran Hits Back At EU: Designates European Armies As 'Terrorist Entities' Iran is saying two can play at the West's game: on Friday the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council blasted the EU's decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist organization," warning that Europe's own militaries would now be viewed through the same lens. "The European Union certainly knows that… the armies of countries that have participated in the European Union's recent resolution against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are considered terrorist entities," Ali Larijani wrote in a post on X. He added bluntly: "Therefore, the consequences

Muslim Leaders In Italian City Demand Removal Of Plastic Pig From Deli Shop Window Via Remix News, A plastic pig displayed in the window of a newly opened delicatessen on the Piazza dei Signori in the Italian city of Padua has triggered a local controversy after a senior representative of the city’s Muslim community called for its removal, arguing that it is offensive and inappropriate. The pig, placed in the window of the deli Mortadella… e Non Solo, is used to advertise the shop’s sandwiches and cured meats, which are primarily made from pork. According to Il Giornale, Salim El Mauoed, the regional vice president

Ukraine Moves To Purge Dostoevsky & Tolstoy From Public Mention In the latest escalation of Ukraine's cultural purge and targeting of all things Russian, Ukraine's Institute of National Memory has this month formally branded the famed classic Russian authors Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy as vectors of "Russian imperial propaganda". This has included a call from the body which operates under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for all streets, monuments, and public institutions bearing their names be wiped from the map. Image via Union of Orthodox Journalist-Ukraine According to Interfax, commenting on the ruling, "the assignment of their names to geographical objects, names of

Next-Level Spying: How China Read The West's Wiretaps For Years Authored by Shanaka Anslem Perera via Substack, The four trillion dollars in institutional capital positioned for stable UK-China relations rests on an assumption that died in a Chengdu server room sometime around 2019. The assumption is that espionage between major powers operates within understood boundaries, that telecommunications infrastructure is contested but not compromised, that the surveillance systems Western governments built to watch their citizens cannot be turned around to watch them. The assumption has been falsified. What follows is the complete mechanism of how China’s Ministry of State Security achieved persistent access

Indian Christians Facing Rising Persecution Look To America For Help Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Amit recounted a familiar story for Christians in his region of India: pastors jailed; parishioners afraid to worship in public. The situation, Amit said, is getting worse “day by day.” Nuns from Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity community hold signs as they listen to a speaker during a demonstration against the tabling of the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion bill in Bengaluru, India, on Dec. 22, 2021.Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images Almost two millennia after St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to the subcontinent, believers

Thai Police Track Down 3 Children Suspected Of Lighting Homeless Man On Fire Authorities in Thailand have located three children, ages nine to 15, who are suspected of setting a homeless man on fire under a bridge in Bangkok and recording the attack. The victim, a 51-year-old man known as Karn, lives beneath the Ban Ma Bridge in the Prawet district, where he earns money by collecting recyclable materials. He said the incident happened while he was asleep, according to SCMP. “I was sleeping under the bridge when I felt cold liquid being poured on me before flames erupted on my body,” Karn

Seven Reasons Not To Bomb Iran Authored by Josiah Lippincott via American Greatness, By the time this piece publishes, the United States military might already have launched air strikes on Iran. Indeed, planes could be launching while I write this. Nevertheless, here is a list of seven reasons why our government should not intervene in the Middle East. 1) It has never gone well. That is unlikely to change now. In 1953, the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran to help the British more easily extract oil. We then installed the Shah, whom lots of Persians didn’t like. That problem came to

"Leader Turned Follower": Lululemon's See-Through Legging Fiasco Exposes Brand Drift Lululemon Athletica has drifted from its core strength in premium, high-quality yoga pants, chasing trends and fast product cycles. Competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori are quickly taking market share, while Lululemon has seen quality lapses, culminating in the botched launch of its "Get Low" tights earlier this month. Bloomberg reports that Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger told hundreds of employees at a meeting last week and in a video shared with staff worldwide that customers were not wearing the new $108 Get Low tights correctly. Neuburger said that

Texas Governor Issues Disaster Declaration Over Spread Of Parasitic Screwworm Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said he imposed a statewide disaster declaration to prevent the spread of a type of parasitic fly in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the media at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 22, 2025. AP Photo/Eric Gay The New World screwworm isn’t yet present in the United States or Texas, although officials say it has been spreading toward the U.S.–Mexico border. Abbot said it can cause potential problems for the U.S. livestock industry

Russia's Lukoil To Sell Bulk Of International Portfolio To US Carlyle Group Russia's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, has agreed to sell the bulk of its international assets - initially valued at $22 billion by analysts - to private equity heavyweight Carlyle, as Western sanctions continue to force a fire sale of Russian energy holdings abroad. This sanctions-induced fire sale was expected, as the company had first unveiled in late October: "Lukoil informs that owing to introduction of restrictive measures against the Company and its subsidiaries by some states the Company announces its intention to sell its international assets."  Via Harici The US sanctions on Lukoil

US Judge Grants Asylum To Chinese National Who Filmed China's Uyghur Prison Camps Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A pro-democracy activist who fled China after documenting what he described as concentration camps in the Xinjiang region was granted asylum on Jan. 28 by a New York state immigration judge, amid widespread concern about the risks he would face if deported. Guan Heng speaks in a YouTube video that documents his trip to China’s Xinjiang region in October 2020. Screenshot/The Epoch Times Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the United States illegally in 2021. He was living

Trump Sues US Treasury For $10 Billion Over Tax-Returns Leak In the latest sign that we're living in unusual times, the sitting president of the United States is suing the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service -- both housed in his executive branch -- and asking to be paid at least $10 billion in compensation for "reputational and financial harm," according to a complaint first publicized Thursday.   We're printing money willy-nilly -- so what's another $10 billion for Trump & Sons?  The suit springs from the IRS's failure to maintain the confidentiality of President Trump's tax returns. Between 2018 and 2020, then-IRS consultant Charles

Cold Weather Delays NASA Moon Launch At Least Two Days Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Humanity’s return to the Moon’s orbit will have to wait at least another two days. NASA’s Space Launch System Moon rocket prepares for launch ahead of Artemis II at Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026 (T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times). NASA said on Jan. 30 that the earliest launch date for the Artemis II mission—the first crewed mission to fly around the Moon in more than 50 years—was pushed back from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8 due

Americans Have Limited Trust In AI Search Results Using a search engine nowadays will inevitably render AI-generated results towards the top of the page. This means that not only the many people going straight to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for their queries, but everybody else as well, is seeing the conclusions of Large Language Model in their online searches. While most people are aware that LLM results can be wrong, tedious double-checking might be skipped when in a hurry or when the results are just what one was looking for and enthusiasm prevails. But how trustworthy is the average American of AI search results and does

Federal Judge Blocks DHS Policy To Reconsider Legal Status For Minnesota Refugees Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A federal judge on Jan. 28 blocked a Trump administration policy initiative to reconsider the legal status of the roughly 5,600 lawful refugees living in Minnesota. People hold a banner during a demonstration against the presence of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 28, 2026. Seth Herald/Reuters In a court order, Judge John Tunheim of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota temporarily granted a class action request to block the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy initiative dubbed

Senate Passes Package To Avoid Shutdown, Gives DHS Two Week Lifeline Update (1905ET): The Senate on Friday passed legislation to avert a partial government shutdown, while giving the Department of Homeland Security a two-week lifeline while lawmakers fight over ICE funding.  The package, which will fund non-DHS programs throughout Sept. 30, passed 71-29.  Next, Democrats will insist on various measures to rein in ICE, which falls under DHS, amid several incidents involving border enforcement personnel and individuals participating in highly organized and well funded protests.  So far Democrats are insisting that federal agents be barred from wearing masks, and requiring that they wear body cameras -

These Are The States Where Homes Take The Longest To Sell The U.S. housing market is growing more divided, with some homes still selling quickly while others remain listed for months. High mortgage rates, strained affordability, and cautious buyers have slowed demand in many regions, forcing sellers to wait far longer than they did just a few years ago. A new study by Premier Timber Frame Builders, based on Zillow’s “Days to Pending” data, highlights how uneven the market has become. The analysis shows that in several states, homes now take nearly three months—or longer—to go under contract, underscoring the widening gap

Victor Hanson Asks: Are We Slouching Towards Ford Sumter? Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness, In the months before the April 12, 1861, firing on Fort Sumter, there were lots of sharp divisions in the North about the proper reaction to the first seven Confederate states that had already left the Union. Not all Unionists believed that war was inevitable. Some, in fact, were happy to be done with the departing South and thus see their stain of slavery gone from the Union. Similarly, others agreed that the emerging Confederacy was not worth the trouble and costs of war, and the

Island country only has oil enough to last 15-20 days, and 12-hour blackouts have become commonplace Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has warned that Donald Trump’s move to slap new tariffs on countries sending oil to Cuba could trigger a humanitarian crisis on the island, which is already suffering from chronic fuel shortages and regular blackouts. The US president signed an executive order on Thursday declaring a national emergency and laying the groundwork for such tariffs, ratcheting up the pressure to topple the communist government in Havana. Continue reading...

Panama’s president says strategic waterway will operate as normal after ruling that advances US policy aims Panama’s president said ports at each end of the Panama canal would operate as usual after the country’s supreme court ruled the concession held by a subsidiary of a Chinese company was unconstitutional. The court’s decision on Thursday, which helps US attempts to block any Chinese influence over the strategic waterway, immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Continue reading...

Law will give private companies more control but experts unsure whether changes go far enough for US Venezuela’s acting president has signed into law a bill making significant changes to the country’s oil sector after pressure from the US to open it up to foreign private investment. The new hydrocarbons law promises to give private companies control over oil production and sales, ease taxes and allow for independent arbitration of disputes, while largely maintaining state control over oil production. Continue reading...

Millions told to stay home in US and more than a million are left without power, while Australia faces record heatwave Cold weather across a vast swathe of the eastern US has been the likely cause of at least 49 deaths in the past week. At one point, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warnings, affecting areas from New Mexico to New England – a spread of about 2,000 miles (3,200km). Millions were told to stay at home, and at one point there were more than a million people without power. As of Wednesday night, there were

White House cites Cuba’s ties to hostile powers as order ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple its government Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday laying the groundwork to slap tariffs on goods from countries that provide oil to Cuba, the White House said. The order, which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy

PM flies out after courting world’s second biggest economy aware of difficult balance of risks and potential rewards The last British prime minister to visit China was Theresa May in 2018. Before the visit, she and her team were advised to get dressed under the covers because of the risk of hidden cameras having been placed in their hotel rooms to record compromising material. Keir Starmer, in Beijing this week, was more sanguine about his privacy, even though the security risks have, if anything, increased since the former Tory prime minister was in town. Continue reading...

Prime minister suggests US president was ‘talking more about Canada’ when asked for reaction to Beijing visit Prominent Hong Kong and Uyghur activists living in exile in the UK have accused Starmer of seeking China’s desperate approval, after the prime minister visited Beijing for the first time in eight years this week. Pro-democracy campaigner and prominent critic of the Communist Party, Finn Lau said the Hong Kong community is disappointed by Starmer’s visit, but unsurprised by the government’s “short sightedness”. “While British citizen Jimmy Lai remains imprisoned and Uyghurs continue to suffer atrocity crimes, we take no comfort in this decision and will

Starmer confirms immediate removal, but it is unclear if sanctions remain on former MP, academic and barrister China has lifted the sanctions it imposed on serving British MPs and peers in a significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer travelled to Beijing for landmark talks with Xi Jinping. Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community. Continue reading...

US president warns against closer ties with China during British PM’s trip to secure lower tariffs and better market access Donald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing. The US president said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister’s three-hour talks with Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations. Continue reading...

A plan to resettle third-country nationals from the US to the Pacific nation faces an uncertain future amid unease over the deal A controversial Trump administration deal to relocate deportees from the US to the small Pacific nation of Palau faces an uncertain future, after the senate voted to block the deal as concern about the agreement grows. The deal, which allows up to 75 third-country migrants facing removal from the US to live and work in Palau, was signed by president Surangel Whipps Jr in December. Palau’s lower house now has to consider the deal, and the final decision rests with

Men – both aged 28 – found at a home in Glenorie on Saturday, New South Wales police say * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two 28-year-old men have been found dead at a property in Sydney’s north-west in an incident police are treating as not suspicious. In a statement, New South Wales police said emergency services were called at about 8.40am on Saturday to a home on Harrisons Lane, Glenorie, 40km north-west of the Sydney CBD, following reports of a concern for welfare. Continue reading...

The BoM forecasts parts of inland NSW will exceed 45C on Saturday, with Thargomindah in Queensland to reach 46C, Mildura 45C and Canberra 41C * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A cool change this weekend is expected to bring an end to eight consecutive days of blistering temperatures above 40C in Australia’s south-east. But before it does, the heat continued on Saturday. Heatwave warnings remained in place for parts of every state and territory excluding Tasmania, with Canberra forecast to reach a top of 41C and parts of inland New South Wales, including Broken Hill, expected

Change comes after 100-day review that found domestic violence case management was not ‘core’ police business * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Queensland police service plans to disband a specialist unit that provided statewide support for domestic and family violence cases, prompting concern from frontline workers that the loss of an “important resource” would place women at greater risk. The QPS confirmed to Guardian Australia on Friday it would scrap the DFV and vulnerable persons command “operational support unit” and redeploy its officers to local districts. Continue reading...

Soaring temperatures, heat at altitude and hot summer nights combine to create one of south-eastern Australia’s ‘most significant’ heatwaves * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Heatwaves and hot days during an Australian summer may seem unremarkable. Days spent at the beach, sunburn and mosquitoes are part of the national psyche, along with outback pubs serving crisp lager as relief from searing afternoon heat. But when the opal mining town of Andamooka (population 262) in the far north of South Australia reached 50 degrees on Thursday, it was only the eighth time in recorded history anywhere in

Solar met the majority of electricity demand between 9am and 6pm in the past week as much of the country cranked air conditioners * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s power grid is changing rapidly – so rapidly that it can feel difficult to keep up. This week, as an oppressive heatwave in the country’s south-east rewrote temperature records, there was also plenty of evidence demonstrating just how fast long-held assumptions about the electricity system are being overturned. Continue reading...

Nato chief has glibly dismissed prospect of coping without US support, but in the age of Trump the case for autonomy is growing The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, was typically blunt when he met members of the European parliament this week. From the dais of the blond-wood committee room in Brussels, he was clear: “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.” And if Europe wanted to supplant the US nuclear deterrent, existing spending commitments would have to double, he added – “so hey,

Putin critic says plants in China, India and Turkey are funnelling up to $1bn a day to Kremlin Bill Browder’s fight against Vladimir Putin has seen him face threats, lawsuits, false accusations of murder and Interpol arrest warrants. A disinformation-laden film was even made about him. But 16 years after the death of his friend and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at the hands of Putin’s regime, Browder is unrelenting in his fight for justice. It is an endeavour that, by his estimation, has cost Putin and his cronies billions of dollars already, via asset freezes and sanctions. Hence the considerable risk to his

Thousands set to gather in Budapest after János Lázár’s remarks captured on video Thousands of people are set to gather in Budapest to demand the resignation of a senior Hungarian politician, for making a racist remark against Roma people earlier this month. János Lázár told attendees at a political forum that migration was not the solution to the country’s labour shortage. “Since there are no migrants, and someone has to clean the bathrooms on the InterCity trains,” Lázár said Roma people would do the job, using an offensive slur in his speech. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says he wants to ‘go further’ in relations with Brussels as ministers look to restart stalled negotiations The UK and the EU are exploring the prospect of new talks on closer defence cooperation, as Keir Starmer stressed on Friday that he wanted to “go further” in the UK’s relationship with Brussels. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, is due in London for talks next week, with trade, energy and fisheries on the agenda. But diplomatic sources said the UK is keen to discuss restarting negotiations on defence as soon as it can. Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn

Revelation that subsidiary of Capgemini is to help trace and expel migrants in US provokes outrage in France French lawmakers have demanded an explanation after one of the country’s biggest tech companies signed a multimillion dollar contract to help the US enforcement agency ICE trace and expel migrants. The revelation that a subsidiary of Capgemini, a multinational digital services firm listed on the Paris stock exchange, had agreed to provide “skip tracing” – a technique for locating targeted people – with big bonuses if successful, has provoked outrage in France. Continue reading...

Deadly attacks launched day before border crossing due to open as part of ceasefire deal Israel has carried out some of its deadliest airstrikes on Gaza in months, killing at least 30 Palestinians, some of whom were sheltering in tent cities for displaced people. Despite a nominal ceasefire, the Israeli military struck a police station in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 officers and detainees, the civil defence said. It indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies. Continue reading...

US president declines to say whether he plans Venezuela-like operation, after Tehran signalled it was ready for talks * Killing Khamenei? Hitting military sites? It is unclear what a US attack on Iran would achieve Donald Trump has said he believes Tehran wants to make a deal to head off a regional conflict, as he claimed the US “armada” near Iran was bigger than the taskforce deployed to topple Venezuela’s leader. “We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now, even larger than what we had in Venezuela,” the US president told reporters on Friday. Continue

Israeli military’s U-turn in accepting official figures comes after years of attacking data as ‘Hamas propaganda’ Israel’s military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data. A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing. Continue reading...

Tehran’s nuclear ambitions date back to the shah and the 1970s and remains undimmed despite the damage caused by sanctions A desperate effort to avert war between the US and Iran is once again under way, but trying to locate common ground between the two countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme has been made more difficult by escalating US demands, and by Iran’s ideological, deeply nationalist attachment to the right to enrich uranium. Iran’s ambitions to run its own nuclear programme pre-date the arrival of the theocratic state in 1979, and can be traced back to the mid-1970s when the shah announced plans

Milestone appears to resolve escalating tensions over the question of Kurdish autonomy in north-east Syria The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces have reached an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire into a permanent truce, laying a framework for integrating Kurdish forces into the state and ending nearly a month of fighting. The agreement on Friday appeared to resolve escalating tensions between the two sides over the question of Kurdish autonomy in north-east Syria and paved a way for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to join Syria’s new army through negotiations, rather than battle. Continue reading...

* Concern raised over politicisation of sport * Bangladesh pulled out of men’s World T20 after row Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the men’s T20 World Cup could have implications for India’s 2036 Olympic bid amid concern at the International Olympic Committee over the potential politicisation of sport. Bangladesh pulled out of next month’s tournament last weekend after the International Cricket Council declined a request to move their group matches from India to the co-hosts Sri Lanka, after a long-running political row triggered by Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to remove the Bangladeshi bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their Indian Premier League squad. Continue reading...

Human rights groups and some western countries have denounced the election, the first held since the 2021 coup, describing it as neither free nor fair Myanmar’s military-backed party has completed a sweeping victory in the country’s three-phase general election, state media said, cementing an outcome long expected after a tightly controlled political process held during civil war and widespread repression. The Union and Solidarity Party (USDP) dominated all phases of the vote, winning an overwhelming majority in the two legislative chambers in Myanmar. It secured 232 of the 263 seats up for grabs in the lower Pyithu Hluttaw house and 109 of

Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power. The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Elon Musk and former UK ambassador to US Peter Mandelson among those named in newly released documents * What have we learned from the newly released Epstein files? According to one file, Mountbatten-Windsor was said to be “very focused” on financier Harlan Peltz’s girlfriend during a dinner with Maxwell. The apparent FBI document details a 2020 interview with Peltz in which he provided information to agents about Maxwell. Peltz was at a dinner with Maxwell and Prince Andrew and Peltz’s then girlfriend. Prince Andrew was very focused on Peltz’s girlfriend. Maxwell would sometimes mention Prince Andrew’s name and that they were friends. Maxwell would

Party picks ward councillor Angeliki Stogia to defend seat as PM and colleagues argue only Labour can beat Reform Keir Starmer has said the byelection in Gorton and Denton will be a referendum on “true patriotism” saying Labour is the only party that can defeat the “poisonous division” of Reform. The prime minister, during his visit to Japan, said he saw the vote as a two-way contest between Labour and Reform UK, as he criticised Nigel Farage’s party. Continue reading...

The veteran activist called his arrest at Palestine solidarity rally in London an ‘attack on free speech’ Peter Tatchell, the activist and campaigner, has been arrested for holding a placard which displayed the phrase “globalise the intifada” at a pro-Palestine march in London. Tatchell, who attended a Palestine solidarity march in London on Saturday afternoon, held a sign that read: “Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.” Continue reading...

Emails between former prince and financier revealed in latest tranche of released documents • Epstein files – latest updates Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor invited Jeffrey Epstein to meet him at Buckingham Palace after the child sex offender was released from house arrest, new documents show. The latest tranche of releases from the US Department of Justice include an email exchange in 2010 between the financier and the then prince. Continue reading...

Despite repair problems, its admirers say Thomas Telford’s Menai Bridge is good for another two centuries When Ian Evans’s grandfather opened a hardware shop on Anglesey in the 1930s, the Menai Bridge was instrumental in ensuring its success. The wrought-iron chains from the early 19th century had just been replaced with tensile steel, making the suspension bridge stronger and wider. This allowed it to carry heavier freight and the Evans family was able to order bottled gas from the newly established Calor Gas company, bringing widespread energy access to rural Anglesey (Ynys Môn). Continue reading...

US president reportedly eyes plot near Memorial Bridge for a large-scale structure named the Independence Arch Donald Trump reportedly wants the arch he is planning to build in Washington DC to dwarf the Lincoln Memorial. The US president envision the planned arch to be a height of 250ft, or significantly taller than the 100ft-tall Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. It would also be significantly taller than Paris’s 164ft-tall Arc de Triomphe – but less than half the height than the Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri, the world’s tallest arch. Continue reading...

About 190,000 are still without power in the south-east as states scramble to prepare for more winter weather Dozens of people have died in the teeth of a severe winter storm across the US south, with further freezing temperatures, snow and blizzards set to assail the east coast on Saturday. At least 85 people have died across multiple states, according to an Associated Press tally, with frigid conditions and icy roads causing car crashes, hypothermia and other fatal incidents. Continue reading...

Fate of the Lily Jean, out of Gloucester with crew of seven, remains unknown after empty life boat and debris field discovered There wasn’t a mayday call from the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean on Friday morning as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on its way home to Gloucester, Massachusetts, the US’s oldest fishing port. The coast guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water. When rescuers arrived they found one person dead, floating in the water, along with a debris field and an empty life boat. Six people remain missing. Continue reading...

A lawsuit filed last week alleges tech firm ‘can access virtually all’ private communications, a claim the company has denied US authorities have reportedly investigated claims that Meta can read users’ encrypted chats on the WhatsApp messaging platform, which it owns. The reports follow a lawsuit filed last week, which claimed Meta “can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications”. Continue reading...

Flowers and candles laid by VA building in Washington as killing reverberates through nursing community For Nolan Lee, it felt like Minnesota in Washington DC on Wednesday night. Despite the most extreme cold in 150 years, about a thousand people gathered in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) headquarters, a block from the White House, to remember Alex Pretti and demand an end to funding for US immigration and border agencies. The killings by federal agents of Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a veterans hospital, and Renee Good, a poet and mother of three, rocked Minneapolis and reverberated throughout

Labubu toymaker Pop Mart plans to establish its European headquarters in London, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met the company’s founder during a high-profile China visit aimed at rebuilding Britain’s economic ties with the world’s second largest economy. That plan was revealed at a closed-door CEO round table on Friday during the UK-China Business Forum, where Starmer met a group of Chinese business leaders that included Pop Mart founder and CEO Wang Ning. “London stands at the heart of the...

Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children on Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire, a day after Israel accused Hamas of new truce violations. The strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, said officials at hospitals that received the bodies. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. Another airstrike hit a...

The leaders of Japan and Britain agreed on Saturday on the urgent need for their countries and like-minded partners to cooperate in strengthening supply chains of critical minerals, as Tokyo seeks to align more closely with London in the face of China’s growing clout. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a joint press event with her British counterpart Keir Starmer after their meeting in Tokyo that they affirmed the two nations will strategically promote cybersecurity cooperation and set up a new...

A landslide earlier this week collapsed several mines at a major coltan mining site in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaving at least 200 people dead, rebel authorities said on Saturday. The collapse took place on Wednesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebels, said Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesman for the rebel-appointed governor of North Kivu province. He said the landslide was caused by heavy rains. “For now, there are more than 200 dead, some of whom...

Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of chipmaker Nexperia, is expected to post a loss of between 9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) and 13.5 billion yuan in 2025, owing to the Dutch government’s takeover of the semiconductor firm, the Shanghai-listed company said in a statement on Friday. Wingtech said that its authority over the chipmaker continues to be “temporarily restricted” since the October 7 ruling of the Dutch Enterprise Chamber, a special division of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal,...

A Nevada jury on Friday convicted Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting indigenous women and girls in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country. The jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty of 13 of the 21 charges he faced. Most of the guilty verdicts centred on Chasing Horse’s conduct with a victim who was 14 years old when he began assaulting her. He was acquitted of some sexual assault charges when the main victim was older and lived with him and...

There was no mayday call from the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on Friday morning on its way home to Gloucester, Massachusetts, America’s oldest fishing port. The US Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water. When rescuers arrived they found one person dead, floating in the water, along with a debris field and an empty lifeboat. Six people remain missing. The fate of the Lily Jean, a 22-metre (72-foot) fishing...

The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totalling US$6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth US$9 billion. The State Department announced the sales to America’s allies in the Middle East late on Friday as tensions rise in the region over the possibility of US military strikes on Iran. They were made public after the department notified Congress of its approval of the sales earlier in the day. The sales also come as President Donald Trump pushes ahead...

This year started with a bang – from the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and the investigation opened against US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to US President Donald Trump’s renewed claims on Greenland and the potential for US action following instability in Iran. Amid these crises, gold prices are now over US$5,500 per ounce, up over 27 per cent from the price on January 1. This comes after the price of gold jumped by 65 per cent in 2025 after soaring by 27 per cent in...

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez ‌on Friday announced a proposed “amnesty law” for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention centre in the capital Caracas, which rights groups have long denounced as the site of prisoner abuse, would be converted into a centre for sport and social services. “May it be a law that serves to heal the wounds left by political confrontation, violence and extremism. May it serve to restore justice in our country and...

The man who dumped a five-year-old girl in the Everglades – leaving her to be killed by alligators – had his life spared by a jury on Friday afternoon in a Miami-Dade courtroom. Harrel Braddy, 76, sat quietly when the verdict was read, briefly putting down his head before looking up at the ceiling. His eyes appeared to water. Braddy hugged his lawyers as the jury walked out of the courtroom. The girl’s mother, who testified about the horrific details of Braddy’s attack, was not in the...

Former Google software engineer Ding Linwei was convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco ‌on Thursday of stealing AI trade secrets from the US tech ‍giant to benefit two Chinese companies he was secretly working for, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday. Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was found guilty after an 11-day trial ⁠of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing thousands of pages of confidential information. Each...

Three news items caught my eye over the past few days. The European Union is finally ready to totally ban the import of Russian natural gas. (You mean they have still been buying Russian gas?) The new National Defence Strategy put out by the Pentagon says the United States will de-prioritise Europe – which must address its own regional security needs – and focus on deterring China. And former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder wrote a piece in a newspaper that ended up drawing a lot of flak for...

Washington on Friday welcomed a Panamanian court ruling cancelling a contract held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to operate two ports along the Panama Canal, a decision seen as a boost to the United States’ efforts to counter Chinese influence in the western hemisphere. The reaction came as Panama’s government sought to reassure workers and investors on the ground that trade and jobs would not be affected. “The United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian...

Catherine O’Hara, a gifted Canadian-born comic actress and SCTV alum who starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two Home Alone films and won an Emmy as the dramatically ditsy wealthy matriarch Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek died on Friday. She was 71. O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness”, according to a statement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency. Further details were not immediately available. O’Hara’s career was launched at the Second City in Toronto...

The US Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident killed by Border Patrol officers on January 24, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday. “We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said during a news conference. Blanche did not explain why the DOJ decided to open an investigation into Pretti’s killing,...

The World Trade Organization has faulted the United States in a dispute brought by China over US green energy subsidies introduced under former US president Joe Biden, according to a ruling issued on Friday. The global trade body’s dispute panel said that large tax credits granted under Biden’s landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), were “inconsistent” with several WTO agreements and should be withdrawn. That law, which was signed by Biden in 2022, was the largest climate...

Beijing has lifted sanctions on British peers and lawmakers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This has been a cause of concern in parliament and for parliamentarians for some time and that is why I raised it on this visit,” Starmer told ITV News in Shanghai. “And the response from the Chinese is that the restrictions no longer apply and President Xi has told me that that means that all parliamentarians are welcome to visit,” he...

Federal prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled on Friday, foiling the Trump administration’s bid to see him executed for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”. US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding that it was technically flawed. She wrote that she did so to...

The US Justice Department on Friday published millions of ‌new files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including emails that show Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch years after he claimed to have cut off ties. Todd ‍Blanche, the US deputy attorney general, said Friday’s massive batch of documents marked the end of the Trump administration’s planned releases under a law passed in November that...

Spanish police have detained a 38-year-old Chinese national who owned a ‌hair salon near Barcelona on suspicion of financing ‍the militant group Hamas through about €600,000 (US$715,000) in cryptocurrency transfers, regional police said on Friday. Investigators traced at least 31 crypto transactions ⁠from virtual wallets controlled by the suspect to addresses that are suspected of being linked to an entity used by the Islamist group, whose attack on Israel on October 7, ‍2023, triggered a...

The Islamic State extremist group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack in Niger on an air force base in the capital that wounded four soldiers and damaged an aircraft. The claim of responsibility was contained in a statement on Amaq News Agency, the group’s propaganda wing, that said it was “a surprise and coordinated attack” that inflicted heavy losses. State television reported that Niger’s forces responded quickly to the assault early on Thursday, killing 20 of the attackers and...

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been arrested after he entered a Minnesota church and recorded anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a service in an incident that increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, his lawyer said on Friday. Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, Abbe Lowell said. It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon is facing in the January 18 protest. The arrest came...

Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in both directions over the weekend, marking an important step forward for US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that starting on Sunday a “limited movement of people only” would be allowed through the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world. The announcement followed...

China and the United Kingdom are expected to sign more business deals as the British delegation, which comprises 54 companies, heads to Shanghai from Beijing as part of Keir Starmer’s visit, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018. The UK delegation will attend a reception in Shanghai on Friday evening, according to Peter Burnett, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council. A business forum will be held, followed by lunch on Saturday before the group departs the country. “I think...

US Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire shortages of food and medical aid. Three months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in gruesome detail scenes observed by United Nations staff who visited the area on a two-part humanitarian fact-finding mission in January...

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Mike Campbell described how he went bankrupt: “Gradually, and then suddenly.” Over the past weeks, there is a feeling that US President Donald Trump and his administration have reached the “suddenly” bit. First, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney captivated a World Economic Forum audience when he described the “rupture” in the rules-based order, a “bargain” that “no longer works”: leaving middle countries like Canada with no choice but to dilute their...

“Assemble!” someone bellowed in the prison corridor, cutting through the silence. Murmurs began echoing off the white walls, and the stairwells filled with people from all over the world: Egyptians, Chinese, Cameroonians, Kenyans, an Italian - all soldiers captured fighting for Russia, now held in a Ukrainian jail. Some joined the Russian military in search of a better life or to escape their home countries, while others were persuaded by Russia’s war aims. Some say they were tricked or forced...

US President Donald Trump sued the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for at least US$10 billion over an unauthorised disclosure of his tax returns to the press during his first term in office, potentially putting American taxpayers on the hook for a massive payout. The suit was filed on Thursday in Miami federal court by Trump, his sons Donald Jnr and Eric, and the Trump Organization, which manages the president’s real estate holdings. Trump had long criticised the IRS for allegedly...

Plain clothes Iranian security forces have rounded up thousands of people in a campaign of mass arrests and intimidation to deter further protests after crushing the bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sources told Reuters. Modest ‍protests that began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardship unleashed long-suppressed wider grievances and swiftly escalated into the gravest existential threat to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in nearly five decades, with protesters...

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 close to opening US$10 billion canal linking heartlands to Southeast Asia China is expected to finish construction on the landmark Pinglu Canal before the end of this year, taking just four years to complete the 72.7 billion...

Niger’s military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani on Thursday blamed the French, Benin and Ivory Coast presidents for sponsoring an attack on Niamey international airport, an accusation he made without offering any evidence. Gunfire and ‍loud explosions echoed around Niger’s international airport in Niamey shortly before midnight in what two security sources described as a “terrorist attack”, before calm returned to the capital on Thursday morning. Tiani accused French President Emmanuel Macron,...

Top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees called on Thursday for US President Donald Trump’s chief spy to brief their panels on why she was ‍present at an FBI raid on an election facility in Georgia. Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Jim Himes told Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a letter that they were deeply concerned with her presence at Wednesday’s FBI operation, saying that the US intelligence community “should be focused on foreign threats”. “When...

The notion that China is flooding the world with excess industrial capacity is usually based on its massive surplus in goods trade, now standing at nearly US$1.2 trillion. That number is real, but treating it as proof of systemic overcapacity is not entirely correct. Goods trade is only one slice of China’s external balance, and it is increasingly offset by large outflows such as import of services and investment income payments. Moreover, China’s total current account surplus is US$657 billion...

US Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday as Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country. Democrats struck a rare deal with US President Donald Trump Thursday to separate funding for the Homeland Security Department from a broad government spending bill and fund it for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The...

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatisation, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. The reform will undoubtedly be her government’s signature policy as it positions the oil sector – Venezuela’s engine – to lure the foreign investment needed to revamp a long-crippled industry. Rodriguez enacted the measure less than a month after the brazen...

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Alberta separatists who have sought help from Washington in their quest to gain independence from Canada are carrying out an act of immense disloyalty. “To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” said Eby, the leader of Canada’s westernmost province, which is Alberta’s neighbour. The Financial Times reported that officials in the Trump administration have...

Today, double-digit tariffs imposed by the United States are the new baseline. Breaking decades of low single digits norms, the US rolled out a “reciprocal tariff” framework in April 2025, setting a 10 per cent baseline and layering on higher rates for specific countries. Embedded in the US’ national security strategy, this reorientation leaves little scope for a full rollback and turns global trade into a test of power: of whether World Trade Organization (WTO) rules still bind or leverage now...

A man claiming to be an FBI agent showed up to a federal jail in New York City on Wednesday night and told officers he had a court order to release Luigi Mangione, authorities said. He is now locked up there too. Mark Anderson, a 36-year-old Minnesota native who has a history of drug and other arrests and disclosed last year in court papers that he suffered from mental illness, was arrested and charged with impersonating a federal officer in a foiled bid to free Mangione from the Metropolitan...

The mayor of Greenland’s capital on Thursday called on media professionals and content creators to act responsibly after a failed attempt by a German comedian to hoist the US flag. Bavarian comedian Maxi Schafroth, 41, attempted to run up the Stars and Stripes on a flagpole near the cultural centre in Nuuk before he was confronted by angry passers-by. When questioned, he claimed to be a US official before leaving to disapproving looks from locals, according to a journalist at the scene. He was...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had informed Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, and Americans would soon be able to visit Trump said he instructed his transport secretary, Sean Duffy, and US military leaders to take steps to open Venezuelan airspace for travel by the end of the day. “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” the Republican president...

Ukraine will halt long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities if Russia does the same, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks released on Friday, after Donald Trump raised hopes for a pause in attacks during freezing temperatures. Trump said on Thursday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to halt attacks on Kyiv and other cities because of a cold snap across Ukraine. The Kremlin said on Friday the US president had asked for a halt until February 1. Recent Russian strikes...

The US trade deficit sharply widened in November as imports picked up, according to government data released Thursday, reversing an unexpectedly big pullback in the prior month lauded by US President Donald Trump. The trade gap surged by 94.6 per cent in November to US$56.8 billion, Commerce Department data showed, bringing it close to levels seen in June and August last year. The shift reflected fluctuations in goods like gold and pharmaceuticals, in a year already marked by major swings in...

The European Union has listed Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc’s top diplomat said in a post on social media on Thursday. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working towards its own demise,” she said. “This will put them on the same footing with al-Qaeda, Hamas, Daesh,”...

The number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota could be reduced, but only if state and local officials cooperate, US President Donald Trump’s border tsar said on Thursday, noting he had “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities. Tom Homan addressed reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis following last weekend’s fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti. The news conference comes...

The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to avoid providing President Trump with a clear recommendation to lead the central bank.

Kevin A. Hassett had been seen as the front-runner in the Fed race, but his deep ties to the president raised questions about his independence.

Investors are increasingly souring on the United States, as illustrated by the declining dollar, the stalled stock market and rising government borrowing costs.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche signaled that this would be the last major release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Since President Trump made threats about Greenland, the continent’s leaders have debated the rapid deterioration of U.S. ties in policy papers and at dinner.

In the latest anti-American gathering in Denmark, veterans who went to war alongside U.S. troops took to the streets of Copenhagen.

The announcement that the second family is expecting a fourth child has turned Ms. Vance into a symbol of success for proponents of conservative family values.

Lawyers have filed a rush of lawsuits against corporations, law firms, health care companies, art groups and nonprofits. And they are mostly winning.

A local health official said at least 26 people had been killed in the attacks, which the Israeli military said had targeted Hamas commanders.

Thousands of Palestinians are waiting to be evacuated for medical treatment as the border between Gaza and Egypt looks set to reopen in the coming days.

Four actors discuss the evolution of their young clinician characters on “The Pitt.” In Season 2 they are a little older, a little wiser and still soaked in fake blood.

Letters from students living in fear.

Melania’s movie, not exactly boffo box office.

Let’s talk about the new and old shows we’ll be watching this winter.

A team hopes to place instruments in the waters beneath the colossal Thwaites Glacier, with the help of a drill that uses hot water to punch through ice.

The Emmy-winning actress was especially adept at playing women who had been cast off but maintained an inflated sense of self, always with a great comedic payoff.

The new reality has forced the Kremlin to raise taxes and increase debt, and hovers over peace talks with Ukraine.

Wealthy buyers and tourism entrepreneurs are acquiring abandoned European villages — school, church and bar included.