Minimalist News

The Food Supply Chain Is Breaking... Again Authored by John Rubino, Spring has sprung, which means seeds that were planted in late winter are starting to germinate. They’re hungry and will only grow to their full nutritional potential if they’re well fed. But that, apparently, isn’t happening, as fertilizer supplies are interrupted by yet another pointless Middle East war. The result? Global food shortages that might dwarf the COVID-era Costco-hoarding mess of recent memory. Here’s an overview: > Shanaka Anslem Perera @shanaka86 > > BREAKING: The nitrogen trap just closed. Three locks snapped shut simultaneously. The planting window is closing behind them. And the food the world eats next year is now

US Senators Seek To Sanction Hungary Over Obstructing Ukraine Aid Because US Congress is perfectly functional, and all domestic issues have been resolved (one would very ironically think), the FT reports that a bipartisan pair of US senators are set to introduce legislation calling for sanctions to be imposed on senior Hungarian officials involved in obstructing aid to Ukraine. If passed, the Block Putin act would require President Trump to impose financial sanctions and visa bans on Hungarian government officials involved in the country’s purchases of Russian oil and gas, and who have sought to block support for Ukraine. The introduction of the

'The Era Of Deportations Has Begun!' - European Parliament Backs Remigration Efforts In Major Victory For The European Right Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, The European Parliament has taken a major step toward a far tougher migration regime, approving a new negotiating mandate for legislation designed to speed up the deportation of illegal migrants and tighten enforcement across the bloc. In a vote on Thursday, MEPs backed the so-called Returns Regulation by 389 votes to 206, with 32 abstentions, clearing the way for talks with the European Council on a new legal framework governing the removal of illegal migrants who have

Global Demand Destruction: Subsidies, Empty Gas Stations, Rationing, Flight Cancelations, Export Limits, Price Controls In the past two weeks we have discussed demand destruction as a result of soaring oil prices (here and here), and we are increasingly seeing anecdotal evidence of just that (here is a table from Goldman we showed previously, laying out where demand destruction is most acute). We start, as always, with Asia which has emerged as ground zero of the global energy crisis - as a reminder last week we first presented a map by JPMorgan's resident commodity expert who how the shockwave from the Iran war

Birthright Citizenship Is National Suicide Authored by Daniel Greenfield via The Gatestone Institute, Last year the Trump administration designated Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) as a terrorist group, allowing the military to carry out strikes against it and its leadership, but the massive drug cartel across the border understands the weaknesses of our system all too well. That's why its new leader has American citizenship. Law enforcement, intelligence agencies and the military will have to jump through all sorts of legal hoops to spy on, target or take out Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, who has a $5 million bounty on his head, but he has

LNG Crisis From Bad To Worse As Storm Damage Adds Weeks To Restart Of Chevron Wheatstone Plant The perfect storm surrounding the global LNG supply chain, which hit a brick wall two weeks ago when Iranian attacks shuttered 17% of Qatar's LNG output following devastating strikes on the Ras Laffan plant, the largest in the world, just went from metaphorical to literal after storm damage to Chevron’s Wheatstone gas plant in Western Australia is hampering efforts to restart operations and the facility won’t be back online fully for weeks, adding even more turmoil to the global LNG market. Wheatstone gas plant, Australia As Reuters

US To Let Russian Oil Tanker Deliver Fuel To Cuba: Report A week after Russian tankers loaded with fuel for Cuba were diverted due to a months-long US oil blockade, the US Coast Guard is permitting a Russian vessel carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil to reach Cuba, the NY Times reports, citing an official briefed on the matter. The tanker - Anatoly Kolodkin - owned by the Russian state-controlled shipping company Sovcomflot under U.S. sanctions since 2024 - left Primorsk, Russia on march 9, and is now expected to dock at the port of Matanzas as early as Monday night or Tuesday. This

Beyond Muscle: New Research Shows Creatine Powers The Brain - Fast Creatine is an amazing compound that our bodies make naturally. Long used in the gym for peak muscle performance, a flood of recent research shows that it has profound effects on brain metabolism, cognitive performance under stress (including sleep deprivation), memory, attention, and even mood support. It's also extremely safe for the vast majority of people.  Most people need 2-3 grams/day as a baseline - with our bodies making roughly 1g/day from amino acids in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. According to new studies, boosting creatine intake beyond baseline is extremely good for

Leading Democrat Calls For Reparations For Illegal Immigrants Authored by Jonathan Turley, As Chicago and other blue cities move toward reparations for African Americans, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D, Wa.) wants reparations for illegal immigrants for the trauma caused by immigration enforcement. At the same time, various Democrats are making clear that they want to entirely defund and eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So, after the Biden Administration allowed in millions over an open border, Democrats would eliminate ICE and some like Jayapal would pay illegal immigrants reparations. Rep. Jayapal declared on Friday: > “They need to be brought before us, and they need to be held account [sic] for

This Is What You Get When Commies Are Running NYC... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, New York City, already reeling from crime under years of radical leftist rule, now faces a proposal that sounds ripped straight from a communist energy-rationing handbook: mandatory blackouts every night. Manhattan Assemblywoman Deborah Glick is sponsoring the “Dark Skies Protection Act,” which would require businesses and residents to turn off non-essential lighting between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.  Critics are blasting it as a criminal’s dream come true in a city that already struggles with safety after dark. > New York City is proposing a World Economic Forum inspired law that would

"Green-Dot Sunday" Is Non-Negotiable: Oil Up, Stocks Down As War Begins 2nd Month As last week wore on, it felt increasingly like the market was transitioning from pricing inflation risk (from a 'brief' energy supply shock) to weighing a demand-shock-driven growth scare (from a longer lasting disruption) as bonds rallied in the face of higher oil and lower stocks (stagflation). Last week saw three attempts at unilateral de-escalation (5-day delay, 'ceasefire' proposal, 10-day delay) met with even more supply as the apparent 'Trump Put' or 'TACO' trade is losing its power. Simply put, as Goldman's Shreeti Kapa noted last week, the answer to everything

Sophisticated Drone Swarms Disrupt Operations At Barksdale Air Force Base Earlier this month, Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, faced an unprecedented threat from sophisticated drone swarms. These drones, operating in waves of 12 to 15 units each, loitered over the base for approximately four hours daily, disrupting critical operations and forcing the Air Force to halt activities and shelter personnel.  This marked the first time a U.S. air base was temporarily taken out of operation in wartime, a scenario that had never occurred even during World War II. “Barksdale is the headquarters of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, which

Bigger Isn't Better: A Case For Downsizing The Federal Reserve Authored by via Paul Mueller via the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), President Trump’s conflicts with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and with Board of Governors member Lisa Cook have obscured real shortcomings at the Federal Reserve and brought little useful change. These conflicts tend to focus on whether the Fed’s target interest rate is too high or too low. Meanwhile, institutional problems at the Fed have been largely overlooked. But there is an opportunity here with Trump’s nominee for Fed chair, Kevin Warsh. His first task will be navigating a hostile Senate. But

Iran Allowing 20 More Ships Through Strait Of Hormuz, Pakistan Says Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times, Iran has agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz unharmed, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced on March 28. Dar presented the announcement as a sign of good faith from Tehran, as Iranian forces continue to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has actively targeted shipping in the region as part of its retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks on the leadership and military of the Islamic regime for its nuclear program, which have continued since

Gamer Backlash Hits Sony After PlayStation Price Hike: "Older Stuff Should Get Cheaper, Not Expensive" Gamers, already upset over rising memory, CPU, and GPU prices, woke up to more bad news this morning. This time, Sony posted a new entry on the PlayStation Blog announcing price hikes for the PS5, PS5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal, blaming “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.” "We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide,” Isabelle Tomatis, Vice President of Global Marketing

From Market Economist To Military Strategist By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities Technically I’m not an economist, I just play one on TV (CNBC and Bloomberg TV from last Monday). While I am not a military strategist, everyone in the market and corporate America is being forced to be one, to some extent. Academy is in a unique position to offer unbiased, nonpolitical assessments of the conflict with our Geopolitical Intelligence Group (“GIG”). I’ve lost track of how many conversations I’ve had with our retired Generals, Admirals, and Intelligence officers this past week, let alone since the start of the conflict. We cover

DHS Shutdown Now The Longest In US History Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times, The partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) became the longest in U.S. history on March 29. The DHS shutdown reached its 44th day on Sunday, breaking the previous record set during the U.S. government shutdown in the fall of 2025. Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill have blamed each other for the standstill while tossing a dizzying array of proposals through the halls of Congress that have not successfully moved forward. Republicans criticized Democrats for not advancing their DHS spending bills as Democrats said they

"I'm Sorry, But The Fed Has Run Out Of Road"  Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance There is a special kind of denial that only financial markets can sustain. It is the quiet insistence that everything is fine because the S&P is only down about 10%, as if that number alone captures the health of an entire financial system. It is the belief that until equities are in full free fall, nothing truly serious can be happening underneath. But as we know, underneath, things are already starting to break. That is the part people are not fully appreciating. If a modest correction is enough to

Pentagon Eyes 'Weeks' Of Ground Operations In Iran As IRGC Threatens Tit-For-Tat Strikes On Universities SUMMARY * Report says Pentagon has been weeks in preparing ground operations as initial Marines arrive in region (WaPo). * Foreign ministers of regional countries seeking peace & offramp in Pakistan meeting on Sunday. * After two Iranian university campuses struck by attacks, IRGC issues warning for American university campuses in Middle East. * Not just 'damaged' but obliterated: images show destroyed US AWACS jet at Saudi Airbase.  *  *  * 'WEEKS' OF GROUND OPS UNDER PREPARATION: WAPO Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the man who many believe is

Subprime Crisis 2.0: Will Private Credit Be The Trigger? Via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, We have recently tackled the rising stress in the Private Credit markets. Here are a few of our previous warnings: * Fitzpatrick: Soros CEO & CIO Warns of a Reckoning * Private Credit Stress: Will The Fed Backstop Exuberance Again? – RIA * Is Private Equity A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing? After 30 years of watching credit cycles expand, distort, and collapse, I’ve learned one reliable rule: > “When enough people start drawing comparisons to 2008, it’s worth stopping to check whether the analogy holds up — or whether fear is doing the

US president says he has ‘no problem’ with countries sending some oil to Cuba, in potential lifeline to island nation * Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has signalled a new flexibility in allowing oil into Cuba, hours before a Russian oil tanker under US sanctions arrived in the Caribbean island amid a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington. Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, the US president said: “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.” Continue reading...

AI-generated footage depicts group of men performing a corrido, singing phrases including ‘return to your roots’ An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to “self-deport” has sparked disbelief and outrage online. The video posted this week on official embassy social media accounts depicts a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a kind of traditional Mexican ballad known as a corrido. Continue reading...

Female named Rounder surrounded by family members when about to give birth to her second calf Scientists have managed to film a sperm whale giving birth while other female whales worked together to support the mother and her newborn. A team from Project Ceti, an international effort seeking to understand how whales communicate, was in a boat near a pod of 11 whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica on 8 July 2023. Continue reading...

Two convoy vessels that were supposed to get to Havana by Wednesday have made it to Cuba, says US Coast Guard Two sailing boats that went missing while carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba have safely reached the Caribbean island, the US Coast Guard said on Friday. Earlier in the day Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, had said his country would do everything it could to save the people on the two boats that disappeared while travelling to Cuba from Mexico. Continue reading...

Navy searching for two boats that left Isla Mujeres last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board Mexico’s navy said on Thursday it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana as scheduled. In a statement, the navy said the two boats left Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board. Continue reading...

Stock markets in Asia drop sharply, with investors nervous over escalation of Middle East conflict * Business live – latest news The price of oil has risen sharply to $116 a barrel after Donald Trump said he wanted to “take the oil in Iran”, sending Asian stock markets tumbling. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, rose by 2% in early trading on Monday, after Trump said that he could seize the Iranian export hub of Kharg Island. Continue reading...

The factories, which buy cheap crude and turn it into fuel, are struggling as higher oil prices threaten their razor-sharp margins The towns that are the bulwark of China’s energy security can, at a moment of global crisis, appear deceptively quiet. Trucks carrying oil trundle along wide-open highways that have little traffic, while a few boarded-up shops in crumbling low-rise buildings hint at a long-forgotten local buzz. A ramshackle noodle shop serving hand-pulled ribbons of dough was empty at lunchtime, save for a few construction workers and a teacher watching videos on Douyin, the social media platform, with his meal. Continue reading...

Malcolm Turnbull asks defence department official what Australia would do if the promised Virginia-class and Aukus-class submarines don’t arrive * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia will be left with no submarines if it abandons the Aukus deal with the US and UK, a senior defence official has warned, declining to publicly countenance an alternative plan if Australia’s promised nuclear-powered fleet does not arrive under Australian command. “Defence has been directed to pursue Aukus and we are pursuing Aukus and that’s our plan. I would not

US president says he will host Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit later this year * Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump will meet Xi Jinping in May during the US president’s first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip that had been postponed due to the Iran war. Trump was initially slated to travel next week, but will now visit Beijing on 14 and 15 May, he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump said he would host the Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Indonesia reports growing number of attempts by Chinese nationals to organise boat journeys, as Australian authorities refuse to reveal details * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian government has refused to reveal how many Chinese nationals have arrived in Australia by boat since 2024, saying that disclosing the figure may harm relations with other countries. However, reports by Indonesian police show that there has been a consistent trend of Chinese nationals attempting to reach Australia through Indonesia as an alternative to “zouxian”, or “walking

Victoria police commissioner Mike Bush said the shooting was ‘justified’ and brought closure to the families of two police officers allegedly killed by Freeman in Porepunkah in August * Who is Dezi Freeman? * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Fugitive Dezi Freeman, the man allegedly responsible for the shooting deaths of two officers at Porepunkah, has been killed after a seven-month manhunt in rural Victoria. The Victoria police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, confirmed a man was fatally shot by police shortly after 8.30am on Monday, after an hours-long standoff in which he failed to surrender peacefully

Request comes at the start of a two-week inquest into the death of Noongar man Jeffrey Winmar in Melbourne * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Eleven police officers called to give evidence into the death of an Aboriginal man in custody have sought certificates to protect themselves from self-incrimination. The request from the Victoria police chief commissioner came at the start of a two-week inquest into the death of Noongar man Jeffrey Winmar. Continue reading...

Dinesh Gourisetty ‘not welcome’ in party after revelations he provided court reference for a friend convicted of sexually assaulting a child * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Victorian Liberals will hold another preselection convention to elect a candidate for a top spot on the party’s upper house ticket, after it was revealed the man who replaced Moira Deeming wrote a court character reference for a friend who was convicted of grooming a 15-year-old girl. Dinesh Gourisetty, who defeated Deeming on Sunday in a preselection vote

This blog is now closed * Dezi Freeman shot dead by police after seven-month manhunt * Seven months ago, Dezi Freeman vanished in the mountain fog. Now he’s been shot dead – but many questions remain * Who is Dezi Freeman: what to know about the Australian fugitive * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The chief commissioner is asked about the fact that the most recent update from police regarding Dezi Freeman indicated that they believed Freeman was dead. He is asked if that was a genuine belief or a tactic. Bush responds: It’s a very good

Dry ground, iron-rich earth and strong winds combined to create an eerie dust storm that was filmed in Denham * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The skies of Shark Bay in Western Australia turned an eerie blood red before Tropical Cyclone Narelle made landfall, a phenomenon an expert said was caused by an iron-infused dust storm. Narelle crossed into WA on Friday, hitting the state roughly 900km north of Perth in the food bowl region. Continue reading...

Twenty-two defendants, including intelligence agents and police, accused of committing crimes on behalf of Freemason mafia Twenty-two people are to stand trial in France from Monday on charges of murder and other serious crimes centred on a masonic lodge accused of running hit squads. Seven defendants – including former intelligence agents, soldiers and businessmen – face possible life sentences. Prosecutors allege the group carried out murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy on behalf of a mafia network inside the Athanor lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux. Continue reading...

New agreement delayed amid home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s demands for more interceptions of dinghies A renewed deal between the UK and France to stop small boat Channel crossings has not yet been signed, with a day to go before the current one expires, raising questions about whether people smugglers will be able to act unimpeded from later this week. Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron announced the previous £468m deal on 10 March 2023, weeks before it came into force. The UK pays two-thirds of the cost of policing France’s northern border and the current agreement expires on Tuesday. Discussions on it began

Four masked men entered Magnani Rocca Foundation villa, near Parma in northern Italy, and made off with artworks Thieves stole paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse from a museum in Italy a week ago, police have said. Four masked men entered the villa of the Magnani Rocca Foundation, near Parma in northern Italy, and made off with the artworks on the night of 22 March, a police spokesperson said, confirming a report on the Rai television network. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia actively pursue regressive policies, watchdog finds ‘Assault on justice’: how far-right attacks are threatening rule of law in Europe Governments in five EU member states are “consistently and intentionally” eroding the rule of law, Europe’s leading civil liberties group has warned, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more, including historically strong democracies. Drawing on evidence from more than 40 NGOs in 22 countries, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) described the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia as “dismantlers” that were actively weakening the rule of law. Continue reading...

Weak and sick mammal has become stuck in shallow bays and experts say prognosis ‘doesn’t look good’ The fate of a humpback whale stuck in shallow bays off Germany’s Baltic coast hangs in the balance after it became stranded for a third time. The roughly 10-metre-long (33ft) mammal appeared weakened and sick on Sunday and was struggling to find a route back to the Atlantic when it ran into fresh difficulty. Continue reading...

US president tells Financial Times his ‘preference would be to take the oil’ but that ‘some stupid people back in the US say: “why are you doing that?”’ * Full report: Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks * Analysis: what the Houthis’ entry into the Iran war means for the conflict and the wider region Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing unnamed US officials. The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, the

This live blog has now closed. Our coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the wider crisis in the Middle East continues here Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has condemned Israel’s killing of three journalists in Lebanon on Saturday. On his Telegram, Araghchi said the killings amounted to “targeted assassination” and “flagrant violation of international law”. He said they were a way of silencing “the voices of those who tell the truth”. Continue reading...

Tehran says it will confront any land attack, as Trump says regime’s export hub on Kharg island could be taken ‘very easily’ * Middle East crisis – live updates Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month. In a message published to mark 30 days since the start of the war, the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The enemy

Younger conservatives say they are disappointed by Donald Trump’s decision to launch war against Iran. Key US politics stories from 29 March A generational divide over the Iran war has emerged between older attendees and their political heirs at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, as the group’s leaders pleaded for unity ahead of a challenging midterm election year for Republicans. Younger conservatives spoke of disappointment and even “betrayal” over Donald Trump’s launch of strikes against Iran, saying that the president’s actions run counter to his many pledges to oppose foreign entanglements. Continue reading...

Fresh attacks on Red Sea shipping would be devastating – but the Iranian proxy has reasons to be cautious * Middle East crisis – live updates The true significance of the long-awaited entry of Yemen’s Houthis into the Iran war depends on whether the Tehran-backed proxy group is intending to send a few missiles and drones from a distance towards Israel or will instead capitalise on its proximity to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait to effectively close off the Red Sea to shipping, just as Iran has in effect shut the strait of Hormuz. The combined effect of both waterways being shut

At least 77 people killed in anti-corruption youth uprising in September, which began over a brief social media ban Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli was arrested early on Saturday morning over his alleged role in the deaths of dozens of people who took part in the gen Z protest that toppled his government last year. Police detained the three-time former prime minister at his residence in the capital Kathmandu, and also arrested his former home affairs minister Ramesh Lekhak. Continue reading...

Balendra Shah, 35, is a symbol of change in country whose government was toppled last year in youth-led uprising Nepal’s rapper turned politician Balendra Shah, who is about to be sworn in as prime minister, has issued his first post-election message in the form of a rap urging unity. Hours before the release he swore an oath as a newly elected lawmaker, and he is due to become the Himalayan republic’s new prime minister on Friday. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio welcomes release of Dennis Coyle, who was detained in January last year for violating unspecified laws Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have released the American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s supreme court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient”. Continue reading...

From a shop owner in India to a community worker in New South Wales, rising fuel prices are forcing people to ration oil usage * Middle East crisis – live updates Alagesan, 35, needs liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to run his roadside drink and snack shop in Coimbatore, India, but with the fuel shortage since the US-Israel attacks on Iran, he worries his business could fold. “I am far away from the Middle East, but my life is affected,” he said. “The gas cylinder is not available because of the war. I don’t know what to do.” Continue reading...

At least 400 killed in Pakistan’s strike on drug rehab centre, Taliban say, with families searching unmarked mass graves Sohrab Faqiri spent Eid, the Muslim festival to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, looking for the grave of his brother, killed in a massive Pakistan airstrike on Kabul this week. Pakistan’s bombardment campaign, on what it says is terrorist and military infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan, appeared to have gone catastrophically wrong. A rehabilitation centre for drug addicts was hit on Monday night, according to the United Nations and the Afghan authorities. The UN’s preliminary death toll is 143 people,

Corporation announces departure of Radio 2 star who took over breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025 The BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills has been sacked by the BBC following allegations about his personal conduct. The corporation said that “while we do not comment on matters relating to individuals we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC”. Continue reading...

UK PM to chair meeting on government’s response to economic consequences of Iran war later on Monday Starmer complained about other parties whipping up division, and he specifically criticised Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, for “complaining about Muslims praying in public”. Labour, by contrast, values bringing people together, he said. Continue reading...

Woman assaulted after man was given key card to her room criticises CEO Jo Boydell over cancelled meeting A woman who was sexually assaulted by a man who was handed a key card to her room at a Travelodge has said she was shocked to learn the hotel chain’s boss cancelled a meeting with a group of MPs seeking to discuss concerns about the case. More than 20 MPs had demanded the meeting this month to discuss the matter – including details of the chain’s security processes and procedures that led to it offering the victim an “insulting” £30 refund after the

US firm Eli Lilly, which is also pushing for end to rebate scheme, optimistic about talks with ministers * Business live – latest updates The US pharmaceutical group behind the Mounjaro weight-loss drug has said it will unpause its UK investments if ministers agree to regularly increase NHS drug prices and end a rebate scheme. Patrik Jonsson, the president of Eli Lilly’s international business, said the company was in talks with UK ministers and that he was optimistic about reaching an agreement this summer for Britain to pay more for its medicines. Continue reading...

Drivers planning nearly 21m leisure journeys from Thursday to Monday despite soaring fuel prices, say experts The four-day bank holiday weekend is expected to be the busiest Easter on the roads in four years, despite a surge in fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Drivers are planning nearly 21m leisure journeys between Thursday and Easter Monday, according to a study by the RAC and the traffic analytics specialists Inrix. Continue reading...

Trump has ordered pay be restored to TSA employees but it is unclear where money will come from and whether he has such legal powers * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Donald Trump is dispatching a so-called “God squad” of top officials to revoke protections for endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, purportedly to protect national security by expanding oil and gas industry operations. If successful, the administration may kill off dozens of protected species – from Rice’s whales and whooping cranes to sea turtles. Continue reading...

President is convening so-called ‘God squad’ to override provisions of Endangered Species Act for ‘national security’ Donald Trump is dispatching a so-called “God squad” of top officials to revoke protections for endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, purportedly to protect national security by expanding oil and gas industry operations. If successful, the administration may kill off dozens of protected species – from Rice’s whales and whooping cranes to sea turtles. Continue reading...

The actor and comedian, posting on X, said that ‘unlike in today’s universities’ the military would teach young people ‘how truly great their country is’ The actor and comedian Rob Schneider has urged the US to “restore the military draft for our nation’s young people” amid the ongoing war with Iran. Posting on X, Schneider, 62, who has not served in the military, wrote: Continue reading...

Review of Kai Schwemmer’s broadcasts undermines claim ‘process of growth’ had led him to abandon bigoted views The newly appointed College Republicans of America political director Kai Schwemmer has made racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist statements while espousing extremist rightwing views on abortion, a Guardian review of livestream recordings can reveal. Schwemmer said he would accept a world in which slavery was legal if abortion was criminalised, describes himself as “very much an anti universal suffrage guy” and accepts a supporter’s description of him as “our Mormon Nick Fuentes” – referring to the white nationalist influencer whose platform he streamed on for

The 93-year-old says Sweeney ‘looks sexy all the time’ and she ‘never approved’ Scandalous, drama about her romance with Sammy Davis Jr Kim Novak has voiced her disapproval of the casting of Sydney Sweeney as herself in an upcoming biopic, saying she is “totally wrong to play me”. Speaking to the Times, the 93-year-old actor said she would have “never approved” the biopic Scandalous, about her relationship with the musician Sammy Davis Jr. Continue reading...

The UN peacekeeping ⁠mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said ⁠a peacekeeper was killed when a ⁠projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday. Another peacekeeper was critically injured, it said in a statement early on Monday. Indonesia’s foreign ministry said on Monday the deceased peacekeeper was one of ‌its citizens and that three others were injured by indirect artillery fire in the vicinity of the Indonesian UNIFIL contingent’s position...

Heavy users of artificial intelligence have reported being overwhelmed by trying to keep up with and on top of the technology designed to make their lives easier. Too many lines of code to analyse, armies of AI assistants to wrangle and lengthy prompts to draft are among the laments by hard-core AI adopters. Consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have dubbed the phenomenon “AI brain fry”, a state of mental exhaustion stemming “from the excessive use or supervision of artificial...

Every violation of international law invites the next. From Afghanistan to Iran, and across Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela, the line between what is permitted and what is prohibited has been steadily blurred by the complicit inaction of the United Nations Security Council. Wielding the veto as both a shield and a weapon, its permanent members act without grounding in the UN Charter. They play with the fate of millions, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Until recently,...

Israel’s parliament approved the country’s 2026 budget early on Monday, providing for a significant increase in military spending as the country remains engaged in wars on multiple fronts. Lawmakers passed the budget with 62 votes in favour and 55 against. The vote averted an automatic government collapse and snap election that would have followed failure to pass the budget by March’s end, under Israeli law. The proposed total expenditure budget for 2026 amounts to around 850 billion Israeli...

Last week, a friend and I chatted about our children’s favourite art pieces after happening upon an auction house’s exhibition in a building in the heart of Hong Kong’s business district. We both recalled stopping to look at Yayoi Kusama’s Mount Fuji prints. “I pass by the space twice every day,” my friend said. She told me that my son’s pick – a piece by Sam Francis – was a new installation, replacing what had been a display of handbags. How often do we pause to notice art, or enjoy life in...

Planning to update your wardrobe this summer? Industry insiders have some advice: do it soon. By the time autumn collections hit the racks, the aftershocks of war on Iran may have quietly picked your pocket. Clothing manufacturers and industry analysts are warning consumers to budget for price increases of 10 to 15 per cent as South Asia’s US$50 billion garment export industry reels from a cascade of war-driven shocks. Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has choked natural gas supplies to...

US President Donald ⁠Trump signalled he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to Cuba on Sunday, saying he had “no problem” with any country sending in crude as a Russian tanker neared a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment. A sanctioned Russian vessel, part of the country’s “shadow fleet”, was just off the coast of eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to ship tracking data, and was expected to reach port on Monday, ‌a lifeline for the country’s economy that has nearly ground to a halt...

Four European countries have called on Israel to abandon a bill seeking to revive the death penalty for people convicted of acts of terrorism, a measure opponents say would target only Palestinians. In a joint statement on Sunday ahead of an anticipated final vote in the Knesset on Monday, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom expressed their “deep concern” about the bill. “The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring...

Professor Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University has repeatedly warned that the US dollar is approaching a crisis of legitimacy. Having written extensively on the global recession in the late 2000s, Rogoff has turned his focus to the US currency’s increasingly unstable place at the top of the world’s financial hierarchy. A former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and a chess grandmaster, he published Our Dollar, Your Problem in May last year. In this interview, Rogoff elaborates...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Monday convene senior government and military officials alongside energy, shipping, finance and insurance sector leaders to discuss the Middle East war, his office said late on Sunday. The round table meeting in Downing Street will examine the impact of Iran’s effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz, which has driven up oil prices and costs in various sectors around the world. Participants will include representatives from energy giants Shell,...

A man has been charged with stabbing his wife, daughter and son in the western German city of Witten, resulting in the death of the 13-year-old boy, prosecutors said on Sunday. A judge at the district court in the nearby city of Bochum issued an arrest warrant on suspicion of murder and the man has been remanded in custody. The suspect has made no statement, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office said. The 40-year-old German national was detained on Saturday. Police said an argument...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon. Netanyahu said Israel would expand what he called the “existing security strip” in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. “We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” he said on a visit to northern Israel, adding that “Hezbollah still has residual capability to fire rockets at us”. There were no immediate...

Hundreds of people were evacuated from a nightclub in southwest Germany after a fire broke out, police said on Sunday, with images from the scene showing the blaze raging on the building’s roof. Police said the fire began at around 3.45am in the nightclub in Kehl, which is on the border with France. The blaze went on to “spread over the whole building”, a police statement said. All of the roughly 750 people inside at the time were able to escape, with three people treated by emergency...

The Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate mass on the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday for the first time in centuries, the Latin Patriarchate said on Sunday. Jerusalem’s major holy sites, including the church, are closed because of the continuing war in Iran, as the city has come under frequent fire from Iranian missiles. The Catholic Church called the police decision “a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate...

A drone strike claimed by Ukraine triggered a fire at Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga as the regional governor on Sunday reported new damage at the major exporting hub hit for a second time in days. Ukraine has intensified retaliatory attacks on Russian infrastructure – including refineries, oil depots and ports – saying they are justified as part of the effort to cut revenues funding Russia’s offensive. “There is damage to the port of Ust-Luga. There were no casualties,” Russian regional...

The European Union (EU) is a bystander in the Iran war, but it might end up sustaining significant collateral damage. On one hand, public opinion across Europe is opposed to a conflict that circumvents the core principles of international law. On the other, the continent remains deeply reliant on the United States for its energy and security needs. A definitive anti-war stance risks alienating President Donald Trump, leaving Europe strategically exposed. Talk about being caught between a rock...

Aluminium Bahrain, which runs one of the world’s largest smelters, said on Sunday it was assessing the damage following Iranian strikes on the facility and another major aluminium producer in the United Arab Emirates. Two employees at Aluminium Bahrain were hurt in Saturday’s attack, the state-controlled company said, while regional peer Emirates Global Aluminium’s site sustained ‌significant damage from missile and drone strikes the same day. Most Gulf aluminium producers, which account for...

French anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into a suspected attack targeting Bank of America’s Paris headquarters after the reported overnight arrest of a man who allegedly tried to ignite an improvised explosive ‌device outside the US bank’s premises. In an emailed statement to reporters, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said the investigation involves the suspected attempted destruction by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a terrorist plot, as...

In January, a top Chinese AI researcher told an industry summit in Beijing there was less than a 20 per cent chance of any Chinese company surpassing a leading US artificial intelligence firm in the next three to five years. The remark by Lin Junyang, until recently a technical leader working on Qwen, one of China’s most capable open-source AI models under Alibaba (which owns the South China Morning Post), made headlines. But much of the commentary missed a more important question Lin posed:...

As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But instead of a helpful app, the link downloaded spyware giving hackers access to the device’s camera, location and all its data. The operation, attributed to Iran, showed sophisticated coordination and is just the latest tactic in a cyber conflict that pits the US and Israel against Iran and its digital proxies. As Iran and its supporters seek...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country had “undoubtedly changed the geopolitical situation” in the Middle East with a series of decade-long defence agreements with Gulf states being hit with Iranian drones and missiles. Has he? And how important are the agreements for Ukraine, more than four years into the Russian invasion and facing its own maelstrom of military, economic and diplomatic challenges? The Ukrainian leader has been on a whirlwind tour of the Gulf...

On March 1, after Israel and the United States initiated attacks against Iran, Amazon Web Services reported drone strikes against data centre facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The strikes caused structural damage to the company’s infrastructure, impairing cloud services for those countries. Iran warned that US tech companies with Israeli links, including Google, Microsoft, Palantir, Nvidia and Oracle, were on Tehran’s list of “legitimate targets” for countermeasures. Strikes on...

The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli has arrived in the Middle East, US Central Command said on Saturday, as speculation soared about the possible deployment of US ground troops in Iran. The ship arrived in the region on Friday, CENTCOM said in a social media post, noting that the vessel is the flagship for a contingent of “about 3,500” Marines and sailors. The group also includes “transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets”, it said. The post...

A huge shipment of KitKat chocolate bars has been stolen in Europe, the brand said, warning that the heist risked causing shortages in stores right before Easter. KitKat, owned by Swiss food giant Nestlé, confirmed in a statement on Saturday that “a truck transporting 413,793 units of its new chocolate range has been stolen during transit in Europe”. The shipment, weighing around 12 tonnes (13.2 tons), disappeared last week while heading between production and distribution locations, it...

French police stopped an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris early on Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, officials and sources close to the case said. The incident occurred around 3.30am in front of a Bank of America building in the chic 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets from the Champs-Elysees. Police grabbed the man just after he placed a device, made of five litres of liquid (1.3 gallons), believed to be fuel, and an ignition...

Huge crowds rallied on Saturday against US President Donald Trump from coast to coast, venting their fury over what they see as his authoritarian style of governing, his hardline immigration policies and the war with Iran. It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grass-roots movement called “No Kings”, the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025. Organisers say they expect millions...

The threat to employment posed by artificial intelligence was not a “robot apocalypse” that would steal jobs, but “algorithmic collusion” that could quietly erode wages and workplace safety, Ekkehard Ernst, the International Labour Organization’s chief macroeconomist, warned in Beijing on Tuesday. While public anxiety frequently centred on the potential for AI to trigger a mass wave of unemployment, Ernst said its disruptive potential had been overestimated. “I don’t think that we are anywhere...

The law of unintended consequences, a theory popularised by American sociologist Robert K Merton, has rarely been more applicable to any situation than to US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. Those consequences will be far greater than generally imagined. Their impact will fall heavily on Asia, the world’s most energy-import-dependent region and will almost certainly hurt US ally Japan more than it will the US’ main rival, China. Indeed, China may even emerge from the crisis with an...

A month after the US and Israel launched the war with Iran, nothing seems to be going according to President Donald Trump’s plan for a conflict lasting four to six weeks. Despite the assassinations of most of the Islamic Republic’s political and military leaders, the regime shows no signs of collapse. Similarly, wave after wave of US and Israeli air strikes may have degraded Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities, but they still look set to remain a potent threat to the region for the...

Pope Leo on Saturday denounced the widening gap between the haves and have-nots as he visited Monaco, a millionaires’ playground that is the surprise pick for the first Western European trip of his papacy. Arriving by helicopter from Rome, the Pope was greeted by Monaco’s ruler Prince Albert II and his wife Princess Charlene at Monte Carlo’s heliport under radiant sunshine. Just after his arrival at the tiny principality on the French Riviera, Leo condemned what he termed the widening “chasms...

Bank of America has agreed to pay US$72.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the bank facilitated a sex-trafficking ring orchestrated by Jeffrey Epstein, court documents showed on Friday. Bank of America said separately that while it continued to deny supporting Epstein’s crimes, “this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs”. The suit, filed by an unidentified woman on behalf of herself and other alleged victims,...

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday he believed Iran would hold talks with Washington “this week” as the US-Israeli war against Tehran entered its second month. The war began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched air strikes across Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sending shock waves across the globe. A month later the conflict showed no sign of ending, with US-Israeli strikes hitting two Iranian nuclear facilities on...

The way Stephen Selby tells it, Guiguzi (鬼谷子) sounds like the ancient Chinese version of Dale Carnegie’s enduring self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Given its contents and message, it should have been a text for the ages. After all, whether ancient, modern, postmodern, Eastern or Western, many of us still need to kiss up to wayward bosses and stroke their egos if we want to advance our careers – not to mention ancient despots who could chop off your head for saying the...

Henry Lee, the famed forensic scientist who helped bring modern crime scene investigation into the public spotlight through his involvement in high-profile cases like the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 87. Lee “passed away peacefully” on Friday at his home in Henderson, Nevada, following a brief illness, according to a statement from his family and the University of New Haven, where he taught for more than 50 years. Lee rose to fame after his testimony in Simpson’s 1995 trial, in...

An Iranian missile attack on Friday left at least 10 US service members wounded and damaged several planes at a military base in Saudi Arabia, according to two US officials familiar with the situation. The attack on Prince Sultan Air Base damaged several US refuelling aircraft, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. One of the officials said two of the troops were seriously wounded. Satellite imagery that appeared to show the damage to the...

Amid turmoil in the Middle East, including the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil passes, Beijing is pressing ahead with its Zhuri (sun-chasing) project to build solar power stations in space. Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and senior rocket scientist Long Lehao likened this space-based solar power programme to putting the Three Gorges Dam into geostationary orbit, underscoring its extraordinary scale and ambition....

Tiger Woods was released on bail on Friday, hours after his Land Rover clipped a truck, rolled onto its side and the golfer was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, officials said. Christine Weiss, a spokeswoman for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, said Woods, who was not injured in the crash, was released late on Friday. Florida law required that he spend at least eight hours in jail before he could post bail. Woods had been travelling at “high speeds” on a residential road...

China denied on Friday that it had intensified inspections of Panama-flagged vessels in retaliation for Panama’s decision to strip a Hong Kong-based conglomerate of port concessions at both ends of the Panama Canal, accusing Washington of seeking to seize control of the strategic waterway. During the daily press briefing at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, spokesman Lin Jian charged that the US had made “repeated wrongful allegations” about the inspections that exposed...

The astronaut who prompted Nasa’s first medical evacuation earlier this year said on Friday that doctors still do not know why he suddenly fell sick at the International Space Station. Four-time space flier Mike Fincke said he was eating dinner on January 7 after prepping for a spacewalk the next day when it happened. He could not talk and remembers no pain, but his anxious crewmates jumped into action after seeing him in distress and requested help from flight surgeons on the ground. “It was...

Two aid boats bound for Cuba that were feared missing after they set sail from Mexico have “safely transited” to the island, the US coastguard said on Friday. The Mexican Navy had reported on Thursday that it launched a search and rescue mission after losing communication with the vessels, which had left from Isla Mujeres in southeast Mexico on March 20 with nine people aboard. The US coastguard, which was not involved in the search efforts, said on Friday it had received a report at 10.36am...

A pro-Iranian hacking group claimed Friday to have hacked an account of FBI Director Kash Patel and has posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work résumé and other personal documents. Many of those records appeared to be more than a decade old. “Kash Patel, the current head of the FBI, who once saw his name displayed with pride on the agency’s headquarters, will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims,” said a message posted on Friday...

Vladimir Putin is expected to visit China soon after Donald Trump’s trip in May in a diplomatic double-header that would be the first time Beijing has hosted the leaders of the US and Russia in the same month outside a multilateral event. According to Chinese analysts, the back-to-back visits highlight Beijing’s strategic effort to manage relations with both major powers amid rising global turbulence. Trump’s long-planned trip to Beijing was expected to take place from May 14 to 15, the White...

China’s market regulator has told companies including electric vehicle maker BYD and battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) to compete healthily when expanding overseas, amid mounting accusations of unfair competition, subsidies and dumping levelled at Chinese companies in global markets. Chinese firms should standardise their competitive behaviour and “build a healthy competition ecosystem” in their overseas expansion, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in an...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Group of Seven counterparts traded barbs over the wars in Iran and Ukraine, casting doubt on Europe bowing to Donald Trump’s demand for military help in the Gulf. “The United States is constantly being asked to help in a war,” Rubio said referring to Ukraine, before taking off for the Friday conclusion of a G7 gathering outside Paris. “But when the US had a need, he didn’t get positive responses,” he added. The Europeans have rebuffed Trump’s bid for...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports “belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies”. “This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities … were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy,” the Guards said on their...

Markwayne Mullin, the incoming D.H.S. secretary, faces a difficult balance: a public reset of the agency while delivering on President Trump’s deportation agenda.

Plans for a wall in Big Bend National Park prompted public protests and behind-the-scenes lobbying to sway the Trump administration to stop.

Transportation Security Agency officers have called out of work or quit after weeks of not getting paid during a partial government shutdown. ICE agents have begun to fill their roles.

Before President Trump’s order to limit birthright citizenship, there was widespread agreement that the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship for U.S.-born babies.

Inside one Kyiv neighborhood as it braved the harshest conditions since World War II.

Super Mario Bros. and Minecraft became movie blockbusters, and Call of Duty and Legend of Zelda adaptations are on the way. Fans of the video games are watching closely.

The first crewed mission around the moon in more than 50 years is coming up. Here’s how to see it at sites in and around the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — spoke from a prelaunch quarantine ahead of their scheduled Wednesday mission.

Joseph Kabila, the former president, faces the death penalty after the government convicted him of treason last year. He says the charges are bogus.

From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s food pyramid to online influencers, beef has become more than just a source of protein.

A University of North Carolina program was intended to promote civil discourse and ideological diversity. Some of its early conservative supporters say it is doing the opposite.

Members of President Trump’s circle, working in plain sight, have caught the eye of Denmark’s intelligence services for trying to make friends and cut deals on the Danish territory.

Eddie Murphy, Snoop Dogg and Bill Clinton (naturally) show up in his gossipy new memoir. He isn’t very sentimental.

Epstein flourished by helping elite men reconcile their private desires with their public appearances.

It might be time to ditch some common assumptions about Republicans.

Times reporters answer reader questions about the war, the economy and more.

The planned visit by Cheng Li-wun appears designed to show Beijing’s influence and convey a benign message ahead of the summit with President Trump.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his former Republican opponent recorded a skit on cat adoption for the Inner Circle, an annual press corps roast. Some politicians weren’t laughing.

The bill is broadly popular and expected to pass. Critics say it would strip away many of the safeguards intended to preserve due process, including the possibility of a pardon.

Nicole Daedone, the former leader of OneTaste, is set to be sentenced after being convicted of forced labor conspiracy last year. But she is still finding ways to spread her message from behind bars.