Minimalist News

The Odyssey And The Tiresome Woke War Against White Culture Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us We’ve all heard the argument for most of our lives: “White culture doesn’t exist.” It’s perhaps the most common racial refrain because it’s the most socially acceptable to repeat. If someone said “Black culture doesn’t exist because black people all herald from different tribes…” that person would be browbeaten as a bigot by the woke mob. When it comes to white culture, such claims are applauded. The question is, why is it okay to diminish or denigrate white culture while worshiping every other culture?

China Plans Planetary Defense Test By Slamming Mach 26 Spacecraft Into Asteroid A new paper under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration lays out an ambitious plan to crash a spacecraft at Mach 26, or 20,000 mph, into a near-Earth asteroid to test new planetary defenses. The South China Morning Post reports that a team led by Li Mingtao, chief scientist for planetary defense at the China National Space Administration, is planning a mission even more ambitious than NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). That mission would slam a spacecraft into 2015 XF261, an asteroid estimated

Will The Supreme Court Legalize Home Distilling? Authored by Andrew M. Grossman & Robert Alt via RealClearPolicy , Ohioan John Ream is an accomplished aerospace engineer and brewery owner. He would like to try his hand at making Bourbon. However, federal law prohibits distilling spirited beverages at home. On Monday, he filed a petition in the Supreme Court of the United States asking it to hear his case, which raises important questions about the limits of federal power. Home distilling is, of course, as American as apple pie, and certainly a lot older. George Washington's Mount Vernon estate featured a

Mapping Americans' Per Capita Health Care Spending By State Health care represents a major share of consumer spending in America, but the amount spent per resident varies considerably by location. New data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis highlights the differences in per-capita health care spending across the country in 2024. The map below, via Visual Capitalist's Srijaa Chatterjee, ranks every state using the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures by State data from the BEA. Figures are reported in current dollars and allocated according to residents’ state of residence. Which States Spend the Most on Health Care? Below is a

Waste Of The Day: Education Fraud Sweeps Nation Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations , Topline: Since 2019, school districts across 24 states and Puerto Rico have lost $225 million to fraud confirmed by the U.S. Department of Education inspector general's semiannual report to Congress. No more than $67 million has been recovered. Key facts: Open the Books and the State Financial Officers Foundation documented 74 instances of confirmed school fraud, averaging over $3 million each. There are far more that have gone unprosecuted or undetected. Florida and Illinois schools each had the most instances of fraud with 11. Indiana

India Targets Five Small Modular Reactors By 2033 India expects to build domestically five small modular reactors (SMRs) by 2033, India’s Atomic Energy Minister, Jitendra Singh, said. The five SMRs would be part of India’s push to accelerate nuclear power capacity installations over the next two decades, the minister told lawmakers in a written reply to questions as carried by local media . The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India’s premier nuclear research facility under the Department of Atomic Energy, is currently developing a 220-MW Bharat Small Modular Reactor, a 55-MW reactor, and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to produce

Behind America's Growing 'Food Freedom' Movement Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times , Joel Salatin wants to liberate Americans from over-regulation with neighbor-to-neighbor food commerce. Salatin, who runs Polyface Farm in the hills of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, is pitching the concept of a "Food Emancipation Proclamation." Chickens, turkeys, and cows at Polyface Farms, in Swoope, Va., and The Family Cow, in Chambersburg, Pa., in these file photos. The regenerative farms are part of a growing push for “food emancipation”—neighbors feeding neighbors. Courtesy of Polyface Farms, Courtesy of The Family Cow Through what he envisions as a federal declaration,

These Are The States Where Speeding Is Most Likely To Kill You Montana has the highest rate of speeding-related traffic deaths per capita in the United States, underscoring a reality that runs counter to how most people think about dangerous driving, according to a new study by Siegfried and Jensen . While speeding is often associated with crowded urban highways and aggressive commuters, the greatest danger appears to exist on long, open rural roads where higher speed limits, lighter traffic, and longer emergency response times can turn a single mistake into a deadly crash. Speeding claimed 11,288 lives across the

Authorities Arrest Fugitive Behind Alleged $547 Million Medicare Fraud Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, A man on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list, accused of a scheme to defraud Medicare of $547 million, was arrested by authorities on Monday. The foreign national, Khalid Satary, 54, owned and operated multiple diagnostic testing laboratories in the United States between 2016 and 2019 that billed Medicare for “expensive and medically unnecessary genetic tests,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a July 21 statement. Satary is accused of conspiring with several patient recruiters and telemarketing services to generate unnecessary cancer

Seven Pipeline Projects That Could Break Iran's Grip On Hormuz Chokepoint Brent crude futures topped $100 a barrel ( Read RBC note ) as disruption at the Strait of Hormuz spread to Bab el-Mandeb in the southern Red Sea. Combined with intensifying Black Sea fighting between Russia and Ukraine, the widening chokepoint crisis has put the energy complex and broader global commodities market on edge. "The curve on Brent and WTI is getting again very steep backwardated compared to when the diplomatic route to solve the Middle East conflict was on the table and seemed to be making progress," UBS

Justice Department Withdraws Subpoenas Of New York Times Journalists Authored by Timothy Frudd via The Epoch Times, The Justice Department has withdrawn subpoenas for three reporters from The New York Times following criticism from a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian indicated on July 23 that he would have granted the request from the newspaper to reject the subpoenas if the Justice Department had not withdrawn them. Subramanian said that the government was required to ensure that it could not obtain the information it sought from any other sources before subpoenaing journalists. “Subpoenas are not the first thing you

James Carville Calls On Democrats To Cave On Voter ID The SAVE America Act, which would mandate proof of citizenship along with valid ID for federal elections and tighten mail-in voting rules, remains stalled in Congress due to the Democrats' filibuster in the Senate , even though the underlying idea is among the most popular in American politics. Gallup found 84 percent of Americans favor requiring photo identification at the polling place, and 83 percent favor proof of citizenship for first-time registrants - including 98 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of independents, and 67 percent of Democrats. Pew Research Center

Trump Admin Weighing Military Intervention In Mali Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering conducting military action against an al-Qaeda affiliate in Mali , which, if carried out, would mark the eighth known country bombed by the US since President Trump returned to power last year. The report said there is disagreement among Trump officials over the potential military intervention, and named Sebastian Gorka, a British-born former radio host who currently serves as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, as a vocal advocate for military force

AI Debates Reveal A Deeper Shift In American Values Authored by Peter Earle via AmericanThinker.com, A survey finding that 70% of Americans support putting half the stock of major AI companies into a public wealth fund reveals a deeper cultural shift toward viewing wealth as zero-sum and favoring redistribution of innovation rewards, unlike the more market-accepting attitude during the internet era. Thirty years ago, the commercial internet burst onto the scene amid sweeping predictions. It would transform commerce, eliminate industries, reshape labor markets, and create fortunes on an unprecedented scale. It did all of those things. Yet there was not

Three Levers China Is Pulling To Weather Gulf Energy Shock; How Long Can Beijing Hold Out? The new troubling development is that maritime chokepoint chaos spread overnight from the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where Iran-backed Houthis targeted two Saudi Arabian tankers. The attacks expose yet another maritime chokepoint and risk further physical market tightening, forcing traders to price a larger war-risk premium into Brent crude futures and pushing the benchmark above $100 a barrel Thursday morning . Oil headed to Asia generally does not flow through both chokepoints. Persian Gulf exports pass through Hormuz and sail

California's Civil Rights Mafia Authored by Christopher F. Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp via City Journal , In 2018, two women filed a class-action suit against Riot Games, the video-game colossus responsible for League of Legends , Valorant , and other popular titles. They claimed that the company had denied them and other female employees "equal pay," favored men for promotions, and created a "hostile work environment." The women wanted Riot Games to pay out and to "cause social change." One year later, the parties agreed to a $10 million settlement. It was a massive sum, but not enough for California's

India Blocks Mobile Internet In Central Delhi As Youth Protests Escalate The Indian government has ordered telecom companies to disable ​mobile data services in central parts ‌of the capital Delhi, in and around the site of youth protests seeking the resignation ​of the education minister, two sources ​told Reuters on Thursday. The companies have ⁠complied with the order, Reuters sources ​said. There was ‌no ⁠mobile data connectivity in many parts of central Delhi on Thursday evening, Reuters journalists said. Vendors, shopkeepers and restaurants ​complained that ​they were ⁠unable to accept digital payments. India’s youth protesters have called for nationwide demonstrations

From Cash To Trash, Rinse And Repeat Authored by Frank Giustra, The Continental dollar, born in 1775, was meant to finance the colonies’ fight against Britain—the American Revolution. What it actually financed was a masterclass in how quickly a currency can evaporate when it has no anchor, no credible backing, and no one willing to stop the printing presses. Hundreds of millions of Continental notes were issued with nothing but the promise of future redemption in gold or silver—which the colonies did not possess in sufficient quantity. As wartime expenses mounted and the conflict dragged on, the colonies’ solution was

Intel Saves The Tech Day, Sees 15-Year High For Sales Growth, "Unprecedented Demand" After a dismal day that saw tech stocks wrecked on the shores of hyperscalers' CapEx and inferred from Alphabet's earnings, tonight sees Intel's Lip-Bu Tan ride to the rescue with better-than-expected second-quarter results on Thursday, notching its fastest revenue growth rate for any quarter since 2011 and issuing guidance that topped expectations . Beat on the top- and bottom-line: Earnings per share: 42 cents, adjusted, versus 21 cents expected Revenue: $16.1 billion, versus $14.42 billion expected Upped Guidance: For the current quarter, Intel said it expects adjusted

Four House Republicans Break Ranks To Help Democrats Pass Iran War Powers Resolution The House on Thursday approved a Democratic-led war powers resolution aimed at restricting President Trump's military operations in Iran, with four Republicans providing the decisive votes. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and forced to the floor with Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), passed 214-208. Joining every Democrat were Reps. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) - the same quartet that crossed the aisle on a similar resolution last month. It will not end the war, or slow it.

Fires remain out of control in Northwest Territories and Ontario, while Argentina endures record night-time heat Recent hot, dry weather in Canada has triggered hundreds of wildfires across the country. As of Wednesday, more than 900 were burning, scorching about 3m hectares of land. While fires have broken out in several provinces, the greatest concern is in the Northwest Territories and Ontario , where several remain out of control. Poor air quality has been reported across affected regions, with wildfire smoke carried by winds into the US and even across the Atlantic to northern Europe. The risk of further blazes

Valentín Lavín Romero is the 14th mayor to be murdered since Claudia Sheinbaum became president in 2024 A mayor was shot dead on Wednesday in the Mexican state of Morelos after having survived a previous assassination attempt earlier this year. He is the 14th mayor to be murdered since Claudia Sheinbaum became president in October 2024. Valentín Lavín Romero, who was from the Green party, an ally of the ruling leftwing Morena party, was wounded at the end of January when hitmen shot him at a petrol station on a motorway. Continue reading...

Trump’s 50% tariff threat means there will be no ribbon-cutting celebration of Gordie Howe International Bridge A planned joint US-Canada ceremony on Friday celebrating the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is no longer expected to take place after Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on most Canadian goods. In announcing the tariffs, the president accused Canada of unfairly discriminating against US automobiles, alcohol and dairy products, escalating tensions with one of the United States’ closest allies. Continue reading...

US secretary of state says international community should ‘join forces’ against authoritarian Ortega regime Nicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections. The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongside his wife , Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”. Continue reading...

Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was close Sperm whales produce a specific pattern of clicking noises when they hear the noise of boats, researchers have found. The pattern is so distinct that the scientists who identified it said they can now use it to predict when ships are nearby. Researchers from Project Ceti (the Cetacean Translation Initiative), a non-profit research organisation working to decode sperm whale communication, spent four years tuning in on the calls of 15 sperm whales off the coast of Dominica. Continue reading...

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years. At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged

Isabel Rose, 26, sentenced to six years for blackmail and perverting course of public justice over her allegations against British man A British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice. Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London, travelled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Penny Wong will deliver speech criticising China’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Penny Wong will warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations will not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, after its involvement in another “destabilising and dangerous” incident this week. The foreign affairs minister – who will deliver the address on Thursday in the Philippines, where the 59th Asean foreign minister’s meeting is being held – will also caution world leaders against placing a toll on the strait of Hormuz after both

Prosecutors seek a one-year sentence and heavy fine after chef garnished dish with insects not approved for consumption Prosecutors in South Korea have asked a court to sentence the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant to one year in prison for serving a dessert topped with ants, an insect not approved for consumption under local food safety law. The request, made on Monday, also sought a 20m won (£10,108) fine for the company that runs the restaurant, Yonhap news agency reported . Continue reading...

In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common. The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture,

Inquiry’s focus this week is on security for the Jewish community, with the MP telling the commissioner his son is afraid to attend synagogues and events Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The shadow education minister, Julian Leeser, has called for universities to undertake an audit of any classes that teach about the Jewish community, Israel or Palestine. Appearing before the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Friday, Leeser said he had been “very concerned” about antisemitism on university campuses and was not satisfied with how vice-chancellors had addressed the issue after

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australian exports sent to the US will be hit with a 12.5% tariff as the US president imposes levies on more than 80 nations. The Trump administration unveiled the latest tranche of tariffs for countries over their “failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”. This, in our view, makes no sense. Forced labour is definitely something which needs to be combated around the world, so we support that objective. We absolutely need to

Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, says tariff regime is unjustified and inconsistent with free trade agreement with US Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Donald Trump has hit Australian exports with new trade tariffs, claiming the country is not doing enough to combat forced labour, but the Albanese government has demanded he remove them immediately. The United States announced on Friday morning (AEST) that many Australian exports now attract a new 12.5% tariff as part of a broader regime affecting dozens of countries. However the

TGA says product information for some diabetes and weight loss drugs updated with warning of NAION disorder Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia’s medicines regulator has issued warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related treatments – including Ozempic and Mounjaro – over the potential to cause a “rare but severe” eye disorder that could lead to blindness. The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) warning came after several GLP-1 RA medicines marketed in Australia as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, among other products, were linked to

Digital billboards from environmental groups, targeting Labor MPs attending national conference, cancelled with airport stating they are ‘too political’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Conservation groups have questioned why their advertisements targeting Labor politicians were pulled by Adelaide airport for breaking rules on political advertising while others promoting gas and mining kept running. Labor politicians including the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, have been arriving through the airport for this week’s ALP national conference from Thursday to Saturday. Continue reading...

Evacuees have been told to leave using hundreds of mobilised boats or the only road linking the area with the mainland Over in France, it’s not just the south-west that gets affected, but the country’s south-east regions are also being hard hit, AFP noted. Dozens of fires flared up and are being fanned by the mistral wind around the historic village of Cotignac – officials saying around 25 houses had been destroyed since Tuesday. Continue reading...

‘Intense and highly unpredictable’ blaze forces more than 40,000 people to flee popular holiday spot Europe live – latest updates Authorities in south-western France have ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast by land and sea as an “intense and highly unpredictable” wildfire advances on one of the country’s best-known holiday spots. The fire had burned more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) by Friday morning, the French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said, with 40,000 people already or about to be evacuated, including thousands of tourists from campsites and rental homes. Continue reading...

Irish politicians concerned about Daniel Tatlow-Devally’s treatment in jail want Micheál Martin to send observers to Ulm 5 trial A cross-party delegation of Irish politicians has urged Dublin to send observers to a high-security trial of pro-Palestinian activists in Germany and to raise concerns about the Irish defendant’s detention when the German chancellor visits next week. Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin, a member of the seven-member delegation, said she and her colleagues had attended the hearing in Stuttgart on Wednesday of the so-called Ulm 5 activists, who are facing charges over an attack on an Israeli arms company. Continue reading...

France asks EU for help while Spain declares national emergency around Madrid, as marine heatwave sees parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normal Brutal heat torching southern Europe has forced about 30,000 people to flee wildfires in France and Spain as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that “Dantesque” scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen. France has requested assistance from ⁠the European Union to help it deal ⁠with a ⁠major ​wildfire near the country’s Atlantic coast, while Spain has declared a national emergency in the Madrid region and in the province of Avila, because

Mykhailo Fedorov says only in his former post could he ‘combat procurement corruption and complete the army’s transformation’ EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has offered a bit more detail on the new package of sanctions , saying they are “the largest round in four years,” and will “hit Putin where it hurts most.” In a statement, she said : “We have agreed on the 21st sanctions package against Russia. It delivers sweeping measures targeting Moscow’s financial system, its military-industrial complex and energy sector, that keep Russia’s war economy running. Continue reading...

This live blog has not closed, you can read our latest story from the region here Earlier in the US day, before Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump issued this threat on his Truth Social platform : From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to,

IRGC claims base in south-west England was used by US to launch bombing missions, making it ‘legitimate target’ The government has said the UK is “ready to defend itself” after Iran’s military warned that any bases being used by the US were “legitimate targets”. The UK has allowed the US to launch “defensive” operations from British bases hosting American planes since the start of its war on Iran but has refused to help in offensive operations. Continue reading...

President’s remarks follow Houthi strikes on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and oil prices rising past $100 a barrel again Donald Trump has said he is close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict with Tehran. Speaking to the Axios news site, the US president said: “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.” Continue reading...

Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was among thousands who gathered at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday. Escorted by armed police, they prayed, waved the Israeli flag and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power. Continue reading...

Sharp rise in oil price reflects fears Houthi militias could strangle Saudi exports as US-Iran fighting intensifies How the Bab al-Mandab blockade threat pushed oil back above $100 The oil price broke above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months as a fresh escalation of the Middle East conflict threatens to compound disruption to global oil supplies. The benchmark oil price rose sharply on Thursday, from $95 the day before, amid fears that Yemen’s Houthi militia could strangle Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea while US-Iran tensions over oil flows through the strait of Hormuz intensify.

Sonam Wangchuk halted strike amid concerns about ‘possible violence’ in India as protest movement urges demonstrations across country on Friday over police brutality The Indian “cockroach” activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a 26-day hunger strike over an exam paper scandal that has spiralled into a wide ranging, youth-led wave of demonstrations against Narendra Modi’s government. Supporters meanwhile have called a nationwide day of protest on Friday. Continue reading...

South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen on the Cockroach movement – and the students driving India’s biggest protests in years ‘I’ve never seen this many young people out on the streets,’ says Hannah Ellis-Petersen . For days, tens of thousands of Indians have been marching under the banner of the Cockroach Janta party. Continue reading...

PM says ‘those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared’ as scandal spirals into widespread anger Narendra Modi has vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up the punishment of officials accused of leaking examination papers, as the Indian prime minister seeks to quell a youth-led “cockroach” protest movement that has rocked Delhi and posed one of the biggest challenges to his government. In his first public remarks on the movement, Modi posted on X: “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm

Proceedings suspended as politicians call for Modi government to address police violence and education scandals India’s opposition parties have shut down parliament in a protest calling for the resignation of the education minister, in solidarity with the new youth-led “cockroach” movement . Opposition politicians, led by the Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, gathered outside the parliament building in Delhi on Wednesday, many dressed in black and waving placards calling on Dharmendra Pradhan to quit. Continue reading...

Thousands of people again on the streets of Delhi calling for education reforms despite police violence on Monday Taru had come to the protest prepared this time. In one hand was an anti-government poster and in the other was a bicycle helmet. “We need to have protection in case Delhi police beat us up again,” said the 25-year-old, who stood among her friends. “We are not scared of them and we won’t run away, no matter what they do. We’ll stay here till they listen.” On Tuesday, central Delhi still thronged with thousands of protesters, as an unprecedented expression of

PM will chair the inaugural meeting of the national economic council that will aim to shift economic decision-making away ‌from London The Welsh first minister said he has a “Celtic alliance” with his counterpart in Scotland, as he visited Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, PA reports. Rhun ap Iorwerth said Plaid Cymru worked closely with John Swinney’s SNP, and that he was “optimistic” after meeting prime minister Andy Burnham yesterday. Continue reading...

Hot weather and World Cup fever help defy analyst expectations of decline, with sales volumes up 1% in June Online sales accounted for the highest level of retail sales in five years last month as record hot weather spurred a rush for air conditioning, outdoor products and clothing. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the volume of retail sales in Great Britain grew 1% month on month in June, as the hot weather and a World Cup retail rush defied analyst expectations of a 0.3% decline. Continue reading...

Burnham says ‘no one in government loses when power is shared’ as he revives Brown-era national economic council It’s not just a No 10 in the north, it’s an engine for growth throughout the whole UK | Andy Burnham Regional mayors are to be given a leading role in the UK’s economic policy, Andy Burnham has said, as he called the opening of No 10 North “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”. The new prime minister has revived the national economic council [NEC], first set up by Gordon Brown to put the government on a war footing

Landlords say high costs of running hospitality business outweigh potential savings of business rates discount One of Andy Burnham’s first policy measures as prime minister is a 20% reduction in business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. The policy, announced on Thursday, is part of a broader agenda to support the high street and will cost £100m. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Westminster survey finds one in two staffers experiencing clinical levels of psychological distress Staff employed by MPs are calling for urgently tightened security after reports of some being physically attacked and hundreds receiving threatening calls and messages. A survey of more than 500 MPs’ staff members found that 78% had received threatening communication and nearly one in three fear for their own safety or that of colleagues. Continue reading...

Measures effectively replace blanket 10% tariffs Trump imposed in February that were struck down by US supreme court Donald Trump has once again inspired anger and confusion in US allies and trading partners as he imposed a wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries, replacing an expiring global duty introduced earlier this year. The new measures effectively replace blanket 10% tariffs that Trump imposed in February. The US supreme court ruled many of those were illegal. The new levies come in at between 10% and 12.5% on countries including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the 27

This live blog is now closed. Trump to impose fresh wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries Sign up for the Breaking News US email By a vote of 214-208 lawmakers in the House passed a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military action in Iran, ahead of the lower chamber’s August reccess. Four Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Warren Davidson, Tom Barrett and Thomas Massie , voted yes, alongside all Democrats. Continue reading...

Tariffs ranging from 10%-12.5%, taking effect on Friday, are US president’s latest effort to circumvent Congress Just before a temporary levy on global imports was set to expire, the Trump administration issued a fresh wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries late on Thursday, ranging from 10% to 12.5%. The new tariffs take effect Friday morning. It’s Donald Trump’s latest effort to continue imposing global levies without congressional approval, despite the supreme court ruling in February that found the US president had illegally used his executive power to implement his global trade policies. Trump has long maintained that the

New York Times reports that list of those killed changed from 18 on Wednesday to 14 on Thursday The Pentagon’s official online list of service members killed in the ongoing Iran war does not include the four soldiers who died during renewed fighting over the weekend, despite the fact that their names were included in a Pentagon press release on the formal transfer of their remains back to the United States on Wednesday. A review of the current list on the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System website shows that, despite having been last updated on Wednesday, the number of US

Defense attorneys question LAPD criminalist on third day of hearing to decide whether singer will stand trial Blood stains on objects recovered from singer D4vd’s former Los Angeles residence probably came from Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old whose decomposed body was found in his Tesla last fall, according to testimony heard in court on Thursday. Prosecutors say D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, fatally stabbed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez last year to prevent her from exposing the sexual nature of their relationship amid his rising profile in the music world. Continue reading...

The six candidates vying to lead the United Nations stressed the importance of restoring the credibility of an organisation in crisis during a restrained debate Thursday, one week before the selection process formally starts. With the campaign struggling to generate real enthusiasm for a front-runner, the hopefuls faced nearly two hours of questions from diplomats, UN employees and civil society representatives at an event in the huge General Assembly Hall, broadcast by Bloomberg. Chile’s...

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. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies The United States imposed late on Thursday a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union...

Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport more than five decades ago, died on Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time. Okamoto, who made rare public appearances since he settled in Lebanon after being released from...

Simon Johnson is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he won a joint Nobel Prize for economics in 2024 for his research into how institutions shape national prosperity. On June 8, the British government announced Johnson as chair of its new AI Economics Institute. In this interview, conducted on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, Johnson discussed the...

Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of US President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington. Loomer had spent years minimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart. “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine....

Officials talking about artificial intelligence (AI) often speak in terms of the next industrial revolution or existential risks. Such rhetoric ultimately does little to capture how AI filters into the ordinary workings of a city like Hong Kong. The geopolitics of AI are no longer abstract. They are beginning to shape who can use which tools – and on what terms. Over the past few months, two major international banks in the city have reportedly felt the impact. Anthropic’s Claude, a generative...

The White House threw a US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal into question on Thursday, a day after it was signed, emphasising that it depended on the oil-rich Gulf country recognising Israel under a 2020 diplomatic initiative. “The Civil Nuclear Deal … will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding that the deal would not include enrichment and involve only non-military use of...

Mid-July should have been a moment of quiet satisfaction in Beijing. Fresh data showed China’s favourability surpassing that of the United States in 25 of 37 nations surveyed by Pew Research Centre, including key European countries. Domestically, the second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 4.3 per cent, while softer than the first financial quarter, kept the annual target within reach. The logic was simple: with the US distracted by Donald Trump’s erratic trade wars and isolationist...

Donald Trump’s Justice Department will withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns about the president flying on a Qatari-donated Air Force ‌One, a prosecutor said at a court hearing on Thursday. The subpoenas issued by Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton on July 10 are the latest instance of the Trump administration seeking to force journalists to divulge their sources, part of what critics describe as the president’s broader pressure campaign against...

The Houthi militia in Yemen appears to be allowing some ships to pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, despite its blockade of shipping to Saudi Arabia, experts said on Thursday. A Chinese oil tanker, Cosco Shipping’s VLCC Xin Long Yang, has been granted permission to pass through the waterway, according to the trade publication Lloyd’s List. It said Chinese tankers returning from the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea may be able to negotiate passage with the...

US President Donald Trump promised “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni ⁠fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint. Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 per cent, piercing the level of US$100 a barrel for the first time since May. Two weeks since the...

Greece on Thursday approved the multibillion-dollar purchase of Israeli anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone weaponry to set up an “Achilles Shield” protective dome, a defence ministry source said. Around €3 billion of a broader €4.2 billion (US$4.8 billion) spending spree will go towards Israeli-made systems for the new shield, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Greece has entered a new era, a new reality,” Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on social media, confirming...

The EU has watered down its latest round of sanctions on Moscow after concluding that banning Greek companies from transporting Russian gas to third countries could hand strategically important shipping assets to China. To remove a Greek veto against the 21st package of measures aimed at hobbling Russia’s war machine, the bloc’s member states agreed to allow EU operators to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third countries for one year. Officials explained that China’s...

German police on Thursday detained a 20-year-old man after he fatally stabbed another man inside a bank branch in the southern city of Regensburg, in an incident that initially raised fears of a hostage-taking. Special forces officers detained the German national inside the building about three hours after the incident was reported, a police statement said. Paramedics had earlier managed to administer first aid to the victim before he was transferred to hospital, where he died. It remains...

A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a UK court on Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him. Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a mosque in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police. His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence...

One soldier died and four were injured on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the Czech Republic, the army said. “A Venom helicopter has crashed at the 22nd helicopter base in Namest nad Oslavou. Five soldiers were on board. Emergency services are currently deployed at the scene,” the army wrote on social media. In a later post, it added that one soldier was killed and four injured in the crash. “Our absolute priority now is to provide all possible care and support to the injured...

Anthropomorphising artificial intelligence – that is, treating AI systems as though they possess human emotions, intentions, consciousness or moral judgment – is both an ethical and a practical problem. While attributing human qualities to AI systems may make interactions more approachable, it also risks clouding users’ perceptions of the technology’s true nature and limitations. Call a spade a spade. The so-called hallucinations that generative AI systems produce are nothing more than errors...

Beijing and Washington are actively soliciting industry feedback on potential bilateral tariff reductions under the newly established board of trade, according to China’s commerce ministry. “The Chinese side is widely soliciting views from stakeholders – including domestic firms, business associations, local governments as well as American firms and business associations – on relevant tariff reduction arrangements,” Meng Huating, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Foreign...

The UK government on Thursday announced a tax cut for struggling pubs, clubs and live music venues as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham aims to ease the cost of living crisis. The 20 per cent cut to business rates – a local tax paid by firms – is the third policy announcement since Burnham became prime minister on Monday, including a planned cap on most bus fares in England and the removal of value added tax on household electricity bills. The latest tax cut is expected to save some 32,000...

The European Union on Thursday slapped Google with fines worth €890 million (US$1 billion) in a move that risks escalating tensions with the United States. The EU fined the US giant €460 million for illegally favouring the company’s own services – for example, Google Flights or Google Hotels – over rivals in search results. The second fine worth €430 million was because Google did not allow app developers to show consumers offers, free of charge, outside its Google Play store, the European...

For the most dramatic change in a benchmark index in financial markets in recent years, look no further than the stock markets of developing economies. Just over a year ago, mainland China and India had a combined weight of 50 per cent in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Fast forward to today, and it is South Korea and Taiwan that account for over half of the gauge. At the end of last month, the weight of South Korea in the index stood at nearly 24 per cent, four percentage points more than that...

Wildfires raged on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, having claimed the lives of three firefighters and sparked thousands of evacuations. Temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius and gusts of hot wind fanned the flames in the southern Italian island, where wildfires have been raging for several days. Around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials were deployed to battle the flames with the help of water-bombing aircraft, the head of the region,...

Adolf Hitler’s birthplace in Austria was officially inaugurated as a police station on Wednesday in an effort to destroy the building’s appeal as a site of pilgrimage for people who glorify the Nazi dictator. A memorial stone is to remain in place outside the house in Braunau am Inn near the German border with the inscription: “For freedom, democracy and liberty. Never again fascism. Millions of dead remind us”. Hitler was born in the building on April 20, 1889. His family moved to another...

In the past week, one regulation has forced many people in China to say goodbye to long-standing “relationships”. As of July 15, the government placed artificial intelligence (AI) companions under tight supervision. It comes as automated companions have experienced something of a boom over the past few years. According to the rules, AI-human interactions should not encourage violence or harm users’ physical and psychological well-being. Moreover, AI bots should not lure users into sharing...

The ⁠Iranian-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening to create a second chokepoint on global oil supplies alongside Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the US military launched another nightly round of air strikes on Iran, prompting Iran to fire at neighbouring Arab countries that house US bases. US Secretary of State Marco...

The US on Wednesday announced a landmark deal with Saudi Arabia that would establish a civilian nuclear programme in the Gulf country, with Washington insisting the agreement includes safeguards against non-proliferation. The move comes as the US under President Donald Trump fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns with Tehran’s nuclear programme – an issue that remains a key point of contention during now-stalled peace talks. Two agreements – one on “peaceful nuclear...

Chile wants to widen the group of countries buying its copper and attract about US$100 billion in mining investment over the next decade, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, in the most explicit move yet by the new government in Santiago to reduce its exposure to Chinese demand. “The market is highly concentrated and we need to broaden the number of places that buy our copper,” Francisco Perez Mackenna said at a Bloomberg summit in Singapore, part of a tour through the Asia-Pacific. He said...

Washington is still not receiving sufficient critical mineral exports from China, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday, even as top American and Chinese officials met to finalise key economic deliverables for President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the White House. “We are getting a flow of critical minerals from China. It’s not as much as we would want. It’s not at the pace we would want, but we are getting them,” Greer said during his testimony before the Senate Finance...

The man convicted of trying to kill Salman Rushdie spent years researching the writer’s whereabouts before stabbing him on a lecture stage, federal prosecutors said Wednesday at the opening of his federal terrorism trial. It is a second trial for Hadi Matar, who was found guilty in a New York state attempted murder case last year. The federal terror charges focus more on Matar’s alleged motive for the attack on the renowned author and free-speech advocate in 2022. Prosecutors started working on...

A French modelling scout with close ties to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home outside Paris, prosecutors and his lawyer said on Wednesday. Under investigation in France, Daniel Siad, 69, was one of several French men accused of aiding the US financier to traffic and abuse women. Siad had not yet been questioned by investigators, but had denied the allegations. “An investigation to determine the cause of death was opened on Monday evening following the...

⁠From humble origins as a family business run out of an ⁠apartment near Moscow, Wildberries has grown in under two decades into Russia’s top online retailer and a key economic driver in the country. It has now become a target of strikes by Ukraine. Ukraine has attacked four Wildberries warehouses over the last week in a widening campaign of drone strikes against a company at the heart of Russia’s consumer economy, bringing the war closer to millions of ordinary Russians. In towns across Russia,...

US President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant each time Tehran attacks a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating Washington’s response as the conflict spread across the region and placed another major shipping route at risk. The warning came hours before Trump was due to attend the return of four US service members killed in Iranian attacks and related operations in Jordan and Iraq. “From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran...

Why haven’t Ukraine’s drone and missile attacks on Russia triggered Moscow’s use of tactical nuclear weapons, as it has threatened? When Russia is attacked time and again, one wonders what purpose it serves to have the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. The Ukraine war is at a stalemate. Though roughly 90 per cent of the territory in East Donbas is under Russian control, its ground advances have slowed to less than 100 metres a day, according to a July 1 report by the Centre for Strategic...

More than 1,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Africa’s top health body, a grim toll in the fastest Ebola outbreak in history, as conflict, community resistance and an uneven response fuel its spread. Speaking at a health summit in Ghana on Wednesday, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said 1,031 deaths have been confirmed. “These are people dying. They are dying because we don’t...

A judge on Wednesday set a June 1, 2027, trial date for ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on US drug-trafficking charges, while a defence lawyer vowed to seek dismissal of the case on the grounds that Maduro is immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign state. Maduro and his wife, wearing beige prison garb, appeared during a hearing lasting about ‌20 minutes in Manhattan federal court before District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in one of the most...

On July 9, a fire burned through a shoe factory in Jinjiang, Fujian province, killing at least 28 people. The accident signals a larger problem: firms operating under financial pressure often cut costs by compromising safety. China’s low-cost business model needs reform, but why has change been so difficult? The plant that burned employed hundreds of workers, yet company filings for 2025 indicate that only a handful of them were enrolled in pension and medical insurance plans. A fire-safety...

After US strikes on Iran’s largest nuclear facilities last year, both US President Donald Trump and the White House were adamant that the Middle East nation’s nuclear programme had been destroyed. “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” Trump wrote on social media. “Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated – and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News,” the White House wrote in a press release. A year later,...

Searchers have found the wreckage from a Pan Am flight that plunged into the ocean off Puerto Rico in 1952, an accident that killed 52 and led to requirements for the passenger safety briefings given on every commercial flight. The plane, the Clipper Endeavor, made a hard landing after losing engine power shortly after take-off. The 17 passengers and crew who survived told investigators everyone lived through the landing, but panic set in as many passengers struggled to find life vests and the...

US President Donald Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could potentially provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear programme, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people, who were not authorised to comment publicly about the yet to be formally announced decision, said the agreement was expected to be announced publicly as early as Wednesday. The deal was expected to last 30 years and was also expected to involve US firms...

The cost of the United States’ war in Iran has risen to US$37.5 billion so far, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, as he faced sceptical lawmakers for the first time since heavy bombings resumed to seek urgent funding for the unpopular conflict. With just six months before midterm elections in which US President Donald Trump’s Republicans may face an uphill battle to keep their House of ‌Representatives and Senate majorities, Democrats are riding high in public opinion polls as...

Over the past year, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has seen rapid development in Central Asia. This has been evidenced by the launch of several railway and road routes connecting China’s industrial and economic centres to logistics hubs in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. China’s improved transport to the region reflects two interrelated trends: growing trade momentum and Central Asia’s strengthening position in continental logistics. Last year, China became the largest trading partner...

US President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to help Lebanon “a lot” as its president, Joseph Aoun, sought Washington’s backing for a fragile effort to disarm Hezbollah and forge a path to peace with Israel. Aoun, the first Lebanese president invited to Washington since 2009, asked Trump for political support and continued backing for the Lebanese army, which has begun deploying in southern areas under a US-backed framework agreement with Israel. “We need to support the LAF,” Aoun said, referring...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday sacked his Soviet-trained army chief Oleksandr Syrsky following a political crisis triggered by the removal of a popular, young and tech-savvy defence minister. The Ukrainian leader announced he was appointing joint forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty in his place. Syrsky, 60, had served in the role since 2024 and was among Kyiv’s most experienced commanders, having led the defence of Kyiv at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. His...

France’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill banning social media access for children under 15, making France the first European country to bar children from apps such as TikTok. President Emmanuel Macron has championed the ban as a flagship reform of his final term in office and pledged to enforce it by September. “France is leading the way in Europe when it comes to protecting our children and teenagers,” Macron said in a video posted on social media, hailing “a major step forward”. He...

US President Donald Trump’s administration is using another tariff threat to put fresh pressure on Canadian provinces to end their boycotts of American alcohol. But provincial leaders are not backing off. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would not lift his province’s ban on the sale of American wine and spirits in government-run stores unless the US removes sectoral tariffs on cars and steel. “We have to negotiate through strength, not weakness. And we need to throw everything on the table,” he...

Three military officials and a Pentagon spokesman gave conflicting explanations for why the number of Americans killed in the Iran war had changed.

Stocks in Asia were down following a sell-off in the U.S. markets over soaring oil prices, rising borrowing costs and worries about the technology industry.

The president’s new condition could create a roadblock to the agreement his administration announced this week.

Host cities, hotels, tourism boards and more had lofty expectations for the World Cup, but some struck gold, while some fizzled. Here’s the breakdown.

A White House spokeswoman said President Trump’s patience was running thin. The top Senate Republican said she should try finding the votes.

The House Democratic campaign arm has stepped up its interventions in high-profile contested primaries. But this week, it suffered its third primary defeat in two months.

A man was arrested after the daylight attacks in a Manhattan neighborhood bordering Central Park. The police were investigating whether the stabbings were hate crimes.

A new protest movement is spreading across India, and the video of a woman blocking a police van has captured the resolve of the young people leading it.

The activist, Sonam Wangchuk, said that he had broken his fast “after long negotiations” with officials and “in view of possible violence in the country.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy trying to put out other fires when a student movement suddenly exploded. There are no easy solutions to the problems behind it.

After Andrew and Tristan Tate, prominent leaders of the so-called manosphere, were arrested in Miami, many of their onetime allies on the American right pulled back support.

The influencer, accused of human trafficking and rape, is under investigation in three countries along with his brother, Tristan. They were arrested in Miami last week.

Los Angeles had an increase in homeless residents between early 2025 and early 2026. The rise could hurt Mayor Karen Bass, as she runs for re-election.

Quinn Brown, a 19-year-old thrifter from Portland, Ore., bought a warm-up jacket worn by Wilt Chamberlain for $3.07. Six months later, Sotheby’s auctioned it off for $89,600.

We need to hold accountable the web of accomplices who enabled his crimes.

Morris Katz helped Zohran Mamdani win, and then tried to do the same for Graham Platner. What has he learned?

“You got to give Trump credit: He misspeaks in ways nobody ever thought possible,” Fallon said of the president’s calling the famous man-child character “Pinky,” instead of “Pee-wee,” Herman.

The animal’s plight alarmed onlookers and highlighted the drought conditions that are forcing wild bears closer to where people live in search of food.