Minimalist News

Betting Against Ourselves: The Casino-ization Of America Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance Last month I wrote about something that had been building in my mind for years: the realization that active trading was doing more harm than good in my life. I wrote about how I had finally put systems in place to turn my trading and account management over to trusted parties who are far better and more disciplined at it than I am. I had to separate the fact that I feel great about often being an accurate prognosticator on my blog about market trends, but that executing

Kremlin Skeptical That US-Iran Peace Can Be Achieved: 'Rash' If there's a 'good cop, bad cop' routine happening at the Kremlin, mostly assuredly the role of bad cop always falls to Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev . In his maximalist and hyperbolic threats, he can be seen as the "John Bolton of the Kremlin". With Trump's decision to wage war on Iran, Medvedev's negativity and skepticism has proven right more often than wrong. He is the latest Kremlin top official to weigh in on the bad position Washington once again finds itself embroiled in - and by it's own 'choice'

Swiss Government Discusses Revoking Protections, Benefits For Military-Aged Ukrainians During the opening years of the Russia-Ukraine war European states were quite welcoming to Ukrainian refugees and anyone fleeing the carnage and chaos, but now in the conflict's fifth year the general sentiment among EU populations and governments is changing. Switzerland, once hailed as Europe's most neutral state - and among the most 'welcoming' countries for asylum seekers - is mulling a policy change which would exclude Ukrainian men of military age from protections granted to refugees. The Swiss Federal Council announced in a statement Friday that it has begun consultations

Windward Says "Zero AIS Transits" On Hormuz Chokepoint US-Iran technical talks are underway on Sunday, with Qatari mediators involved. Ahead of the talks, likely focused on Iran's nuclear program, Tehran attempted to reassert leverage over the Strait of Hormuz following renewed Israel-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon. Iran announced the closure of the strait on Saturday , framing the move as retaliation for alleged violations of the US-Iran interim peace deal. Early Sunday, maritime intelligence and risk analytics firm Windward wrote on X, " Hours after the IRGC's closure announcement, AIS traffic through the Strait of Hormuz suggested business as usual ."

Gabbard Drops Fauci COVID-19 Receipts On Last Day: He Funded The Research, Cooked The Cover Story, Then Lied To Congress Newly declassified documents released Thursday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard show that a U.S. national laboratory assessed the COVID-19 lab-origin hypothesis as a serious possibility as early as May 2020, as well as evidence of U.S.-funded coronavirus research that included planning for spike-protein modifications, receptor-adaptation experiments, and testing in humanized mice in collaboration with researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The documents also prove that Anthony Fauci lied under oath. Today, on my final day as Director

BBC Flagship Soap Being Used To Push Pro-Migrant Propaganda By Activist Infiltrators Authored by Steve Watson via modernity , A campaigner for "migration and racial justice" has been employed to shape storylines for EastEnders - Britain's long-running BBC flagship soap opera set in London's East End - featuring plots about exploited African migrants and racially motivated murders, it has been revealed. It is clear evidence of such activists operating inside the UK's national broadcaster. The revelation also fits a deepening pattern where institutions, from the BBC to schools to shadowy government units, work to reframe mass immigration as an unquestionable

Poland Revokes Top Award From Zelensky As Row Over Nazi Symbolism Deepens Poland and Ukraine's ties continue to fray, worsening an ongoing diplomatic crisis - despite Warsaw being an 'eastern flank' key NATO ally in the broader Western campaign against Russia. President ​Karol Nawrocki has just announced the country's highest state honor previously awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been revoked . "In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'Heroes of the UPA," ... I have decided to revoke the Order ⁠of ⁠the White Eagle from the

Britain's Greatest Betrayal: The Rape Gang Inquiry Report Authored by Celina via American Greatness , Rupert Lowe’s Rape Gang Inquiry Report opens with two quotations before a single piece of evidence is presented. The first is Albert Einstein’s observation: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. Human history has always contained violent and predatory men, every society has had to confront them, punish them, and do its best to protect the innocent from them. That is a perennial feature of

Vance 'Skeptical' That Iran Closed Hormuz Strait Again, Pentagon Declares Safe Passage Remains 'Intact Today' Summary Vance & CENTCOM push back against reports of Hormuz 'closure' by Iranians. Iran's Ghalibaf, Araghchi en route to US Talks in Switzerland, IRIB reports. Also Witkoff-headed US delegation still expected. Iran declares Strait 'closed' again over US failing to reign in Israeli action in Lebanon. Rising death toll in Lebanon, after over 50 new rockets fired on Israeli positions by Hezbollah. Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by end of June? Yes 8% · No 93% View full market & trade on Polymarket

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday: Report Keir Starmer's premiership appears to have entered its final act. Just over a week after Andy Burnham stormed back into Parliament with a crushing by-election win, the Prime Minister is - according to senior Labour figures cited by The Observer - preparing to set out a timetable for his own departure, with a "clear statement" possible as early as Monday. Peter Macdiarmid/Pool via REUTERS It would be a remarkable collapse. Starmer led Labour to a landslide less than two years ago. He now looks unable to command the confidence

Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth? Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness, When I call you up, your line’s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won’t see me . . . Time after time You refuse to even listen I wouldn’t mind If I knew what I was missing —The Beatles, “ You Won’t See Me ” As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and

'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister Via The Cradle Late this week Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Tel Aviv "will be at war with Syria sooner or later , " highlighting that the alliance between Damascus and Turkey poses a "strategic challenge" to his country. The Likud official said, "There is no way that a jihadist regime rooted in ISIS and Al-Qaeda, whose aspiration is the unification of Jerusalem, can live in peace alongside the State of Israel." In a separate interview with Kol

In Defense Of Entrepreneurs By Matthew J. Brouillette via RealClearPennsylvania , Like clockwork, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is again finding America's billionaires guilty by reason of existence , arguing the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world must donate more to the government via higher taxes. Her premise is that the wealthy don't pay their "fair share," leaving the non-wealthy to suffer in a zero-sum game. The problem is that Warren, and the many others in Congress like her, aren't simply attacking the wealthy; they are attacking the foundation of America's greatness - entrepreneurs. Remember, "entrepreneurs" founded this

Trump Reiterates Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8, Blasts Obama This isn't the first time that President Trump has said something like this, but he's newly explained in a wide-ranging fresh interview with Axios published Friday his view that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine likely would likely have been averted if Russia had remained a member of the then-Group of Eight (G8) . "You probably wouldn't have the war with Russia and Ukraine if they did," Trump told the publication, referring to the decision to expel Moscow, making the group the G7. The

How It Took Nine Months To Remove One Illegal Alien From Voter Rolls Submitted by Maryland Freedom Caucus , Nine months after the Maryland Freedom Caucus exposed that a noncitizen with a final order of deportation had been registered to vote in Maryland, Ian Roberts has finally—and quietly—been removed from the state's active voter registration list. There was no press conference. No public announcement. No admission that anything had gone wrong. The removal comes only after Roberts was convicted and sentenced on federal charges related to falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. For years, Roberts remained an active voter in Maryland despite

China's Caribbean Listening Post? Satellite Imagery Shows Cuba Spy Base Completed The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report using geospatial intelligence to show that construction of a circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba has been completed. CSIS states the circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba, just 240 miles miles from Miami, Florida, could be used to monitor or intercept radio transmissions across a wide range of frequencies in the region. The DC-based think tank added that the site may be linked to China and could be used to track sensitive U.S. military and communications activity across the

Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party To Move Further Left Ahead Of 2028 Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times , New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, issued one of his sharpest rebukes of the Democratic leadership Thursday night, saying that the party will lose the White House in 2028 if it does not fundamentally change course. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (R) gestures on stage with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York on June 18, 2026.

"It's That Bad": Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators For more than a year, residents living next to the Vantage Data Centers facility have endured what they describe as a constant, high-pitched whining or ringing sound coming from the site's massive backup generators - the facility's only source of electricity. An aerial view of the Vantage data center in Sterling, Va., which abuts a residential neighborhood. (NewsNation) Unlike most data centers connected to the power grid, this facility runs entirely on its own on-site power plant. What residents were told would be temporary generator testing has become

NY Pride Group Disbands After Drag Queen Founder - A School Board Member - Arrested On Child Sexting Charges A New York LGBTQ+ advocacy group has canceled a scheduled pride parade and disbanded after its founder was arrested on child-sexting charges . Travis J. Longo, 46, of Cazenovia - a drag queen and a member of the Cazenovia School District Board of Education (of course), was arrested on Thursday and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly sending sexually explicit communications to a child under the age of 12. In a now-deleted Facebook post,

Banning Hospitals' 'Certain Contracts' Could Save Americans $45 Billion, Report Finds Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times , A ban on certain contracts between hospital systems and health insurers could save Americans around $45 billio n, according to a report from White House analysts released on June 18. Lenox Health Greenwich Village Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, on Nov. 2, 2020. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times "The Council of Economic Advisers' findings reinforce that the Trump administration is delivering meaningful cost reductions for American patients," White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told The Epoch Times by email June

Frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups Ghost of far-right paramilitaries hovers over Colombia’s presidential runoff vote Colombians are going to the polls in a presidential runoff expected to trigger a dramatic shift in the country’s decades-long armed conflict, now at its most violent point since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Polls show the frontrunner is the Trump-admiring far-right lawyer and millionaire businessman Abelardo de la Espriella, who has vowed to abandon President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan

Advocates say the Safe Third Country Agreement forces immigrants to head to an unsafe country: the United States It was the threat of gang violence in Honduras that pushed Carlos and Antonia to flee their home. In 2021, with their toddler, Alejandro, and a handful of belongings, the married couple ventured north hoping to reach safety in the US. The journey, through Guatemala and Mexico , was filled with danger and uncertainty . Continue reading...

Bulldozers sent in to clear roadblocks that have stifled the country as farmers and Indigenous groups protest against conservative president Bolivia’s president declared a state of emergency on Saturday and deployed soldiers and bulldozers to raze anti-government roadblocks that have paralysed the country. For more than six weeks, unions, Indigenous groups and coca farmers have marched through cities and blocked roads across the country with rubble, logs and debris in protest against the conservative government. Continue reading...

Colombians will choose on Sunday between two men whose lives have been very differently shaped by the militias, and whose visions for the country are poles apart Whoever wins Sunday’s presidential runoff vote in Colombia, the country’s next leader will have a personal history intertwined with one of the criminal forces at the heart of a decades-long armed conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives. The lives of Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella have, in very different ways, been shaped by their relationship with Colombia’s paramilitaries – private armies originally established by rightwing landowners, drug traffickers, businessmen,

Review reveals rise in users and rates of psychosis in countries where cannabis is sold commercially Decriminalising the possession of cannabis or strictly regulating access to the drug do not appear to drive up usage, but when the drug is sold commercially the number of users increases and more mental health problems are seen, a review has found. An international team analysed the dramatic shift in policies on cannabis between 2000 and 2025, including how the numbers of people taking the drug, its potency, and rates of psychosis changed after new rules came in. Continue reading...

Rob Jetten acknowledges grief and pain of Moluccan families as crowdfunded monument unveiled in Rotterdam The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, has formally apologised for the “heartless” mistreatment of thousands of Moluccan soldiers who fought for the Dutch colonial army during Indonesia’s struggle for independence. About 12,500 men from a group of Indonesian islands who served in the Royal Dutch East Indies army came with their families to the Netherlands in 1951, many having been given no choice. They thought it would be a temporary evacuation after Indonesia had won independence. Continue reading...

Strong winds and heavy rain batter Slovenia, while France experiences atypical heatwave Severe thunderstorms swept across the Balkans last week, bringing widespread destruction to parts of the region. The storms developed as unstable hot air lingered over the Adriatic Sea while a cold front plunged south-eastward. The front began its journey on 10 June in Slovenia, where the Slovenian Environment Agency recorded 65mph gusts at Ljubljana airport. Heavy rain also fell widely across the region with 23mm reported in Kranj. Continue reading...

Online uproar follows Canadian brand’s use of taiko drum at sponsored festival held to celebrate Chinese culture The activewear brand Lululemon has apologised after a promotional event held on the Great Wall of China appeared to mistakenly feature a Japanese drum, prompting an uproar. The Canadian-headquartered company, known for its upmarket leggings, has been growing rapidly in China and arranged for a yoga festival to take place in late May on a section of the wall near Beijing. Continue reading...

Major operation launched after spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local media Police in Vietnam have rescued more than 400 cats in a bust of a cat meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media reports. More than 40 cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but several dozen of those rescued have died due to the harsh conditions in which they were found, the groups said. Continue reading...

Fashion house pays tribute to Chinese style with its 75th anniversary catwalk show in Shanghai “New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down.” For the British designer Ian Griffiths, who encountered this line in the New Yorker, it summed up why China’s biggest city was the right place to celebrate Max Mara’s 75th anniversary. “Max Mara is a product for metropolitan women, and it would be patronising to assume that a metropolitan wardrobe should be western-centric,” Griffiths said. Continue reading...

Albanese government under pressure to wind back fuel tax credit scheme for multinational miners as analysis shows cost to budget Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Coal companies could receive an extra $6.2bn in taxpayer refunds for the diesel they use if the Albanese government greenlights just half the mine developments up for approval. The finding, in an analysis released by activist group Lock the Gate, comes as the government faces an internal campaign before next month’s Labor party national conference to commit to winding back a fuel tax credit scheme for multinational miners.

Thanks to rushed deadlines, financial pressure and overworked staff, titles are going to market before they’re ready – and then sliding from view immediately A Sydney author – I’ll call her Rebecca – vowed never to write another book after the deranging experience of publishing her first. She’s using a pseudonym because one day she might change her mind; the notoriously small Australian publishing industry does not tend to look with favour on authors who complain. When Rebecca was proofing her debut – a work of nonfiction published by one of the big five – she discovered that a pivotal

This blog has now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Ted O’Brien distanced himself from Pauline Hanson ’s suggestion that Australia shouldn’t give aid to Pacific countries that also take aid from China. He said it was a legitimate concern, but her solution was “completely wrong” for the Pacific and not in Australia’s national interest. The idea that you effectively hold a gun to the head of our Pacific neighbours – that’s not what a friend does, that’s not a way of building trust, you don’t basically create an ultimatum. You certainly don’t

One Nation leader appears to suggest women should not be paid by employers while on maternity leave and calls for family income splitting Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation could wind back the clock by decades for working mothers, damage productivity and worsen gender inequality, economists have warned. In a controversial address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Pauline Hanson seemed to suggest women should not get paid by their employers while on maternity leave. She also hinted at major changes to

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to use International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition for ‘regulatory work’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia’s health watchdog has adopted a contested definition of antisemitism to guide its regulatory work. The move has been welcomed by the nation’s peak Jewish body while the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan) has warned it could silence health professionals from criticising Israel’s human rights record. Continue reading...

Sports and nationwide music festival affected, with temperatures for some expected to reach 42C from Monday Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C. Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under

Former party leaders reflect on the turbulence that followed the referendum in which most Scottish voters backed the losing side The decision to quit the EU bolstered support for Scottish independence, which a decade after the Brexit referendum is at near record levels, according to Scottish Labour’s former leader Kezia Dugdale. Dugdale said the Brexit vote “creates a frame around fairness” for many in Scotland because, unlike England, Scottish voters comprehensively backed remain in 2016, by 62% to 38%, yet found their country taken out of Europe. Continue reading...

Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the country PhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists. From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena Continue reading...

Poll also finds three quarters of people in Britain want closer ties, with majority accepting free movement Two-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found. Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) , a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries said they either “strongly supported” or “tended to support” UK

Italian house’s catwalk emphasised the brand’s ‘molto sexy’ look with flamboyant, sometimes revealing outfits Dolce & Gabbana leaned heavily into the art of theatrical misdirection on the second day of Milan fashion week as it aimed to draw attention away from its debt issues, catwalk controversies and management reshuffles. On the catwalk its signature “molto sexy” Italian aesthetic that comes served with a generous scoop of la dolce vita was in full swing. This was Euro summer on steroids. There were clingy muscle vests and micro shorts that made short shorts look modest while some models simply went topless. Jeans

US president tells Iran to stop Hezbollah ‘causing trouble’, while Tehran continues to demand full ceasefire in Lebanon Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran again unless it stops Hezbollah “causing trouble”, as direct talks took place in Switzerland with the Iranian demand for a full ceasefire in Lebanon at the top of the agenda. Iran said it had remounted its blockade in the strait of Hormuz in protest at the continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon and said Trump was allowing Israel to breach the memorandum of understanding signed by the US president and

US president says in social media post ‘we’ll hit Iran very hard again’ if it does not stop its ‘proxies in Lebanon’ US-Iran talks in Switzerland to get under way as strait of Hormuz remains closed There ⁠was and is ‘no restriction’ on ⁠Israeli ⁠soldiers ​to act to eliminate ⁠threats in Lebanon, and that troops would not withdraw from the security zone, ‌Israeli defence minister ‌Israel Katz said in a statement on Sunday, according to Reuters. Israeli strikes killed at ‌least 20 people in Lebanon ​on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported, ⁠a day after a ​ceasefire with ​Iran-backed

Former negotiating team member gives shock interview claiming supreme leader’s instructions were not followed Middle East crisis – live updates A former member of Iran’s negotiating team in the previous round of talks with the US in Islamabad is facing the threat of prosecution and dismissal from parliament after he went on the main state broadcaster to reveal what he claimed were confidential letters from the country’s supreme leader. The interview with Mahmoud Nabavian, the deputy chair of Iran’s national security council, was eventually cut off, but only after he said he had seen secret correspondence written by Mojtaba Khamenei

A secretive investigation into the attack that killed at least 175 has concluded, reports suggest. Will its findings ever see the light of day? The attack on a girl’s elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab was one of the US military’s deadliest civilian bombings in decades. But nearly four months on, the Pentagon has produced no answers about why the military fired a Tomahawk cruise missile into a school on the first day of the war, killing at least 175 people, mostly children. Some critics doubt that the Pentagon ever will, or will bury the results under classifications

Unclear if threat has been carried out or if move will jeopardise talks with US scheduled for Sunday Middle East latest updates Iran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to

Directive aimed at government workers, but reports of wider implementation spark warnings of future Afghanistan-wide prohibition The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions. In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’ Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges. Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax. Continue reading...

Relations at lowest ebb in years after Washington refuses to apologise for deaths in strait of Hormuz Fury has continued to mount in India over the US’s refusal to apologise for the deaths of Indian sailors killed in strikes in the strait of Hormuz, further straining relations between the two countries as their leaders meet at the G7 summit in France this week. Last week, three Indian seafarers, who were working on board commercial oil tankers, were killed when the US launched missile strikes on the vessel as it sailed through the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...

Arrest of Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, comes just month after Trump visit to Beijing China has arrested a US scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy on suspicion of spying. Min Zin was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, said on Friday. Continue reading...

Relatives of those killed on flight AI171 are still struggling to obtain answers about what happened When Sagar Patel’s mother boarded Air India flight AI171 on 12 June last year, she called her son as she always did before takeoff. The flight was due to leave Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport in Ahmedabad, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, and was destined for Gatwick. “We always had a little traditional thing,” said Patel, a business manager from London. “Once she got on the flight, she would sit down and call me. She’d tell me: ‘Yep, I’m on the flight. See

New leader could be chosen unchallenged or after a quick contest while outgoing PM has time to finalise his legacy UK politics live – latest updates If the predictions are proved correct and Keir Starmer does announce a timetable for an autumn departure from Downing Street, the machinery of government will again kick into gear for a handover of power – but one that will be, by UK standards, relatively leisurely. While many democracies build in lengthy transition periods – a defeated or retiring US president serves for nearly three months after their successor has been picked – the UK

Family of Shaun Burton, 60, say they are ‘devastated by his loss’ and their thoughts are ‘also with those affected’ Does Bedford train crash raise wider questions about safety? Police have named the driver killed in the Bedford train crash on Friday, as his family paid tribute to him. British Transport police said Shaun Burton, 60, was the East Midlands Railway driver killed in the collision on the line between Bedford and Luton that also left 100 people injured. Continue reading...

PM said to be reflecting on ‘political realities’, as president Trump joins in criticism of his leadership saying he has ‘failed badly’ Keir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on Monday Some commentators have said Andy Burnham is a better communicator than Keir Starmer, but have questioned how different he is on policy. The Guardian’s policy editor, Kiran Stacey, has helpfully looked at the political projects a Burnham government would likely pursue in this useful explainer: Continue reading...

Exclusive: Productive State policy paper envisages state regaining control of basics to make life affordable, in fleshing out of Manchesterism Andy Burnham’s government should reverse 40 years of privatisation with a long-term plan to take over failing utilities in administration, issuing “bonds for shares” and setting up state competitors, according to a new blueprint for “Manchesterism”. The policy paper – The Productive State – is released on Monday as Burnham arrives in Westminster to be sworn in as the MP for Makerfield. He widely expected to seek to enter No 10 to replace Keir Starmer in a matter of weeks.

Prison officers’ union calls for immediate end to practice at HMYOI Wetherby over fears for child and animal welfare Pet ferrets kept as therapy animals at the UK’s largest children’s prison have been co-opted by managers to kill rats, resulting in a bloody incident and concerns over child and animal welfare. The unorthodox method of vermin control was waved through last month at HMYOI Wetherby in West Yorkshire following a surge in rat numbers in prison offices and grounds. Continue reading...

Crews struggle to contain stubborn fire that has raged for days and continues to spew smoke across the metro area California’s governor has declared a state of emergency for the city of Los Angeles, as firefighters struggle to contain a stubborn warehouse blaze that has raged for days and continues to spew smoke across the metro area. The state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Saturday that he was directing state agencies to provide “additional assistance and resources” to help battle the fire, located in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights in east Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Groups say new directive fails to respect Native sovereignty amid complicated history of Indigenous child removals One morning early last July, Micha Bitsinnie arrived at work to an onslaught of messages from confused families. New Mexico’s governor Michelle Lujan Grisham had just issued a directive mandating the state’s child welfare department seek custody of all newborns who had been exposed to drugs and alcohol in utero. Some parents wondered whether medications that they were taking for addiction recovery, such as methadone, would flag their cases. Healthcare providers wondered whether the fentanyl in an epidural counted as a drug exposure. Continue

Officers find man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an ‘elevated position’ A 51-year-old man fell to his death during a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday night, police said. Officers responding to a 911 emergency call around 9.51pm found the man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an “elevated position”, New York City Police said in a statement. Continue reading...

New College of Florida to acquire USF Sarasota-Manatee in deal that leading Democratic lawmaker says ‘reeks of grift’ A liberal arts college seized by Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, and transformed into a model for conservative higher education is to triple in size after state Republicans engineered a hostile takeover of a rival university’s campus. New College of Florida, which is controlled by DeSantis’s hand-picked board of trustees, will acquire the Sarasota-Manatee campus of the University of South Florida (USF) next month in a deal described by a leading Florida Democrat as “a grift”. Continue reading...

Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket operating in areas with limited resources for people with gambling problems Public health resources across the US are failing to keep pace with the rapid growth of online gambling, problem health advocates warned, after Donald Trump endorsed the controversial nationwide surge of prediction markets. Prediction market platforms, where users can wager on everything from Tony Award winners to World Cup goals, have pushed betting even further into American life. Continue reading...

Al Jazeera on Sunday rejected Israeli accusations that one of its journalists, killed in Gaza a day earlier, was a Hamas operative, as family and colleagues mourned the cameraman in the Palestinian territory. The Qatar-based network said in a statement that it “condemns the Israeli occupation army’s baseless accusations, which seek to justify its crimes against Al Jazeera journalists and cameramen in Gaza, most recently the killing of cameraman Ahmed Wishah”. The Israeli military said in a...

A deeply divided electorate will choose Colombia’s next president in a run-off on Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of renewed internal conflict in the country. Voters will choose between businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31...

Three fully laden India-linked supertankers have re-emerged in the Gulf of Oman, adding to increased reports of traffic moving both ways across the northern and southern routes of the Strait of Hormuz, while conflicting narratives over the status of transits persist. The Desh Vibhor, Desh Vaibhav and Sanmar Herald were observed in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea on Sunday, after having been last seen signalling their attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz late on Friday, according to...

A new round of negotiations over the Middle East war was set to kick off on Sunday as Iranian negotiators and US Vice-President J.D. Vance arrived in the Swiss host city, even as Tehran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz again over Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Before boarding his flight to Europe, Vance told reporters he hoped to “make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we’re going to be focused...

US Donald Trump has sparred with most of his fellow Group of Seven leaders at some point. But Italy’s Giorgia Meloni this week did something none of them dared: she escalated. Unlike Spanish Socialist Pedro Sanchez, one of the few leaders in Europe who has made political capital of being berated by Trump, the Italian prime minister had stood out as one of the few Europeans he actually liked: an outspoken conservative at ease talking Maga. But Meloni has also transitioned from a populist...

British business minister Peter Kyle said Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reflecting on the “political realities” after party rival Andy Burnham was elected to Parliament, setting up a potential leadership challenge. Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday, Kyle said he ‌had no reason to believe Starmer was planning to announce his resignation on Monday, but that it would be “delusional” not to think his position was under threat. “Today, as in every other day I’ve ever known Keir, he is out there...

⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ⁠on Saturday that Ukrainian drones had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Tyumen Region in western Siberia, more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) from Ukraine. He also said Ukraine had ‌developed new long-range drones capable of operating over more than 3,000 km. Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelensky offered thanks to the Ukrainian military’s special operations which “have reached Tyumen Region in Russia, including an oil refining facility. More...

US President ⁠Donald Trump said on Saturday that much of the water at the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington “probably” has to be drained for repairs following what he called “vandalism” of the site. “We met with ‌contractors today, will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible,” Trump wrote in a post on social media. Several alleged vandals have been arrested,...

Claude Guillemot, who ⁠co-founded French video-game ⁠publisher Ubisoft with ⁠his brothers in 1986, has died, the company said on Saturday. “Ubisoft was deeply saddened to learn of the death of ‌Claude Guillemot, co-founder of the group and chairman of Guillemot Corp, in an accident,” the statement said. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time. No further statements ⁠will be made at this time,” it added. Guillemot, 69, died ‌on Friday in a plane crash in La...

One of Iceland’s two remaining whaling ships set out this week to hunt the giant mammals after a two-year hiatus, local media and campaigners reported on Saturday. Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan – despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organisations. A protester chained himself to the mast of the vessel before it left the port of Reykjavik on Friday. He climbed down in the evening and was escorted...

Iran on Saturday said that it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that while negotiators were going to Switzerland for talks with the US on their interim agreement, not much likely will happen if the fighting does not stop. US President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to impose US tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran is not reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries...

US President Donald Trump escalated a diplomatic row with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him and linking the dispute to tensions over Iran and Nato. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7...

A Spanish court has ordered the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Begona Gomez, to stand trial by jury for corruption and banned her from leaving the country, according to a court order released on Saturday. The case is one of several corruption affairs that have embroiled the Socialist leader’s family and former allies, threatening to topple his minority coalition government. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado ordered Gomez to hand in her passport and to appear before the court twice a month until a...

At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, with some confirmed to have died from Ebola in a sign the disease could be spreading fast there. It was not possible to confirm the causes of all the deaths because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia – the epicentre of the Ebola ‌outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo – had until Thursday refused testing, a...

One person died after two freight trains collided on a bridge in Munich overnight, causing loaded cars to plunge to the road below, police said on Saturday. Two cars of one train fell about 5 metres (16 ft) from a bridge and came to rest at round 1.40am, according to a spokeswoman. It was unclear what caused the collision on the bridge, which caused one of the trains to derail. The nature of the cargo was initially unclear, however police stated it was not hazardous material and that there was...

Led by Japan, East Asia seems to be setting off along a road to nowhere – beyond tension and maybe eventual conflict. This may seem a harsh indictment yet consecutive Japanese leaders have shown a lack of vision on the constructive role their country could play in achieving regional peace and economic integration. The latest manifestation of this is Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s proposal this past week to G7 leaders in France to coordinate the stockpiling of critical minerals,...

Bolivia’s crisis intensified on Saturday as President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency, enabling wider military ‌deployment to clear blockades and restore order after protests brought the economy to a halt over the past 50 days. The emergency declaration gives Paz broader constitutional tools to restore order, such as sending armed forces to clear blockades. While the order goes into effect immediately, the president must notify Congress of the state of emergency within 24 hours of...

US ⁠envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi were both headed to Switzerland for ⁠talks, Axios said on Friday, as a ceasefire in Lebanon appeared to revive efforts to turn an interim Iran war pact into a lasting regional deal. Switzerland ⁠continues ⁠to provide a “discreet and reliable setting” ‌at Burgenstock to facilitate discussions on implementing a memorandum of ⁠understanding between the US ‌and Iran, the Swiss ‌foreign ministry said ⁠on Saturday. It ⁠added in ‌a...

Carl Jung was a big fan of the I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes. He was also a close friend of Richard Wilhelm, whose German translation was probably the most influential Western version of the ancient Chinese text in the last century. But over the years, I have become convinced that the great Jung didn’t really get it. A red flag is that he thinks it is very difficult for the Western mind to grasp what I will call the Chinese spirit of the I Ching, which he claims is completely...

Norway is imposing a near ban on the ⁠use of generative ⁠AI tools by junior ⁠school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learning, the country’s prime minister has said. Facing a broad decline in education test ‌scores, the government in 2024 banned smartphones from schools and has given teachers back more powers to enforce discipline in the classroom. Using artificial intelligence increased the risk that young children skip...

For much of the 20th century, many were accustomed to thinking of people as an ever-expanding resource. As the number of people grew, so did labour markets, consumer markets, scientific communities, production systems and armies. In 1950, the world’s population was about 2.5 billion. In 2026, it is reaching 8.3 billion. In just 75 years, the population has increased more than 3.3 times. In this sense, the current human population may turn out not to be a permanent norm, but a historical anomaly...

Nine people were in critical condition on Saturday after a collision between two passenger trains in central England the night before killed the driver of one of the locomotives, police said. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said more than 80 people were treated in hospitals after the crash late Friday afternoon, and 28 remained hospitalised a day later. Buckingham Palace said King Charles “is greatly saddened” by the crash. It said “his thoughts and sympathies are with the...

A new Air Force One gifted by Qatar as a replacement aircraft for ferrying US presidents was unveiled on Friday by the US Air Force. “The Air Force’s VC-25B Bridge aircraft has officially arrived at the Presidential Airlift Group and will commence its initial commissioning flights, marking the successful delivery of a secure, modified executive platform,” the Air Force said. “The workmanship of this plane is, when you see it, you won’t believe it,” Trump said from inside the massive Andrews Air...

Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki announced on Friday he was stripping Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky of the country’s top award, escalating a row between the neighbours and allies over World War II massacres. Relations between Warsaw and Kyiv have been tense for days over Zelensky’s naming of a Ukrainian army unit after a WWII nationalist insurgent army that took part in massacres against Poles. Nawrocki’s decision landed days before Poland is due to host the annual Ukraine Recovery...

A clear majority of Keir Starmer’s cabinet believe it is now inevitable Andy Burnham will take over as prime minister, according to people familiar with the thinking of more than 15 cabinet ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday. However, as of late in the afternoon, most remained unwilling to do anything about it. Most the cabinet was still not ready to tell Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure, the people said, preferring to wait and see how developments...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a week ⁠should be enough ⁠for Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to ⁠remove equipment from his country used by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine, adding a threat of Ukrainian action if Lukashenko did not do so. Zelensky said signal relay stations were located in two Belarusian regions bordering ‌Ukraine that were used by Russian forces to help with steering during attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Reuters could not verify his claims...

Iran sought to assert control over Strait of Hormuz by saying that ships need its permission and mandatory insurance to cross, even as the US said that 20 ships sailed through overnight via a route it recommends along Oman’s coast. The conflicting signals come as the shipping industry tries to assess whether it is safe to transit the world’s most important energy chokepoint and what sort of system will emerge after the US and Tehran reached an interim peace deal to reopen the strait. The number...

In the Moscow district of Maryino on Friday, shopkeeper Andrei Kondratyev braced for more Ukrainian attacks and possible petrol shortages, saying Russians needed to “get used to” a new reality. A day earlier, Kyiv set an oil refinery ablaze in the nearby Kapotnya area in its biggest drone attack on Moscow in years, engulfing the Russian capital in smoke. Such scenes were unthinkable when Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022, but have in recent months become part of...

A British court sent two men to prison on Friday for setting fire to property linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a plot orchestrated by a mysterious Russian-speaking figure. Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Romanian citizen, were jailed for seven years and two years, respectively, after being found guilty of conspiracy to damage property by fire. The men targeted a car and two properties linked to Starmer over three nights in May 2025 on the...

We’ve never had it so good. The S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 have hit record highs this month. SpaceX had its spectacular initial public offering, the largest in history. The company raised an eye-popping US$75 billion and saw a sharp rise in its share price to a mind-blowing valuation of US$2.5 trillion in two days. The US-Iran deal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz caused petrol prices to drop back to below US$4 per gallon. Global stock markets are creating seemingly unstoppable wealth for...

Italy’s foreign minister on Friday cancelled a visit to the United States over reported comments by US President Donald Trump that appeared to mock Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “The grave and offensive words of President Trump … offend the whole of Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who had been due to visit the US on Sunday and Monday, said on social media. Meloni said she was “stunned” by Trump’s comments to Italian channel La7 in which, according to a transcript provided by the...

⁠Iran’s ⁠Strait of ⁠Hormuz body said on Friday it would waive planned fees to use ‌the strait during a 60-day negotiation period under the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States ⁠this week. Ships seeking passage through ‌the strait while the interim agreement was in ‌force must submit transit requests ⁠at ⁠least 48 hours before arrival, ‌Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said ‌in a ‌notice. Iran will waive ‌fees for security, safety, ⁠environmental services and related...

A Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan by Donald Trump’s administration under its controversial third-country deportation programme was repatriated to Vietnam on Friday after spending more than a year in detention. South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a press briefing on Friday. “We are grateful that while in our custody Mr Phan was very disciplined, joyful, and importantly, he remained healthy,” spokesman Agok Anyar said. Phan...

After two wars in the space of a year, diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme has come back to much the same place it was before the fighting began. The memorandum of understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday sets up talks that non-proliferation experts said would largely resume the US-Iran diplomatic track Washington broke off in February. That track had built on Oman-mediated talks – part of a wider Gulf diplomatic effort...

Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, after deadly exchanges between the two sides in Lebanon put a deal to end the Middle East war under strain less than two days after it was signed. Talks that were scheduled for Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to take the deal to the next stage were postponed amid the fighting, with no new date announced. Tehran’s top negotiator warned it would not bend on its red lines and that its finger was still “on the...

Visitors to the Acropolis can now see the Parthenon’s western side looking whole for the first time in about 220 years. Officially unveiled Thursday, restorers have slotted two new marble blocks into long-empty gaps high on the temple’s western end – the view visitors see when they first enter the ancient monument in Athens. The 25-century-old monument overlooking the Greek capital attracted about 4.6 million visitors last year. Long-term restoration projects address damage caused by war,...

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. Iran and US sign peace deal, Strait of Hormuz to immediately reopen: Pakistan Iran and the US have signed a peace deal that will take immediate effect, with Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the US lifting its naval blockade,...

Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path on Friday to ousting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, potentially ushering in a new bout of political instability, by decisively winning a parliamentary seat in northern England. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 54.8 per cent of the vote, beating the candidate for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, on 34.5 per cent. The scale of Burnham’s ‌victory in what...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10km (6 miles) from the border. The remarks were his first comment since the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the militant Hezbollah group. It was unclear what that US-Iran deal means in practice. Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the...

Cuban lawmakers on Thursday adopted nearly 200 historic free-market reforms aimed at rescuing the communist island from a severe crisis aggravated by a US oil blockade. In a landmark speech to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero unveiled 176 measures aimed at rolling back the state’s role in the economy and attracting investment in everything from banking to tourism and agriculture. Under the reforms, foreign investors were no longer required to form joint ventures with the...

Alex Doran, a 28-year-old corporate strategist, is cheering for the US national team and was pleasantly surprised by the size of its initial win against Paraguay last week, while acknowledging that his team is unlikely to go all the way. While he does not expect to attend a match in person involving tickets costing thousands of US dollars, he has been watching avidly online and hopes to see some matches at fan zones set up around Washington. “I’m a little uncomfortable with large crowds because...

Under Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s leadership, Hong Kong is drawing up its first five-year plan to complement Beijing’s 2026-30 blueprint. A two-month public consultation exercise has just started. But what is the nation’s 15th five-year plan, why is it important and what’s Hong Kong’s role? China’s five-year plan responds to “great changes unseen in a century”, prescient words used by President Xi Jinping since 2018. Chinese policymakers have anticipated headwinds in the world system,...

Vice-President J.D. Vance went on the offensive on Thursday to defend the “win-win” US-Iran agreement as critics slammed its vague provisions, even as others welcomed the apparent end to an expensive and unpopular war, no matter how potentially flawed the deal might be. “We have all the cards,” Vance told reporters at the White House. “Have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States. The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s...

An autopsy has shown that an 11-year-old girl who went missing in France was raped before she died, an informed source said on Thursday, confirming suspicions in a case that has sparked public outrage. The girl, named as Lyhanna, went missing on May 29 in the southwestern town of Fleurance and her body was found in an abandoned silo almost a week later. Anger grew after it emerged that the main suspect, the 41-year-old father of a school friend, had twice before been formally accused of raping a...

Is it goodbye Air Force One, hello Qatar Force One? White House officials bade farewell on Thursday to one of the two jets that have been used to transport US presidents for more than 30 years. The goodbye messages fuelled speculation that a Boeing 747 controversially gifted to President Donald Trump by the Gulf emirate of Qatar was due to enter service. “‘Well done, good and faithful servant. ‘The Last Ride,’” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a post on X with a picture of...

In a battle of symbols, the Catholics of Las Cruces, N.M., argue that religious freedom should stop the wall from scarring a mountain that has attracted pilgrims for nearly a century.

The pool has taken on clouds of algae after a hasty renovation. A three-time Olympian was charged with destroying government property after he says he touched one of the strands of blue paint peeling off the pool’s bottom.

The strength of the mayor’s political brand will be tested on Tuesday, when his slate of leftist congressional candidates takes aim at Democratic incumbents.

Democrats say the president started an economically painful war that resulted in nothing positive. Republicans are more divided, even as they show some signs of relief at falling gas prices.

A possible referendum in Oregon on animal rights would end fishing, hunting, even pest control, just when Democrats are trying really hard not to be seen as “weirdos again.”

An ally of Keir Starmer’s told the BBC on Sunday that Mr. Starmer was “taking the time to think through what the political realities are today compared to last week.”

Lovers’ quarrels on sidewalks, acts of kindness on public transportation, friendships forged under awnings in the rain and so much more of the city’s daily poetry.

Some notable friends of Metropolitan Diary, including the actors Andrew Rannells and Tony Danza, share their stories in the first of a special series of columns marking the feature’s 50th anniversary.

A landscaper’s difficult life and lonely death reveal the human cost behind the Hamptons’ manicured landscape.

Even the most powerful state in the world is not all that powerful when it decides to go it alone.

I asked the vice president what is Christian about this White House.

We catch up with The Times’s restaurant critics.

As the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn approaches, relatives of the two men still grapple with the legacy of a contentious moment in U.S. history.