Minimalist News

Jeffries Calls On Half-Dozen Democratic States To Start 'Aggressive' Redistricting Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday named six Democratic states he wants to join New York in pursuing mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2028 election—a longer-term play as both parties have raced to redraw maps before the November 2026 midterms. “It’s going to be incredibly important that states like New York, New Jersey, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland and Illinois are aggressive in moving forward to ensure that there’s a fair national map, particularly in light of what the Supreme Court’s

"No More Nakedness": Spencer Pratt's L.A. Mayoral Plan To Restore Order 'In Weeks' Has Democrats In Panic Mode Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, whose social media team has been running circles around far-left incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and socialist Councilmember Nithya Raman in recent weeks, appears to be gaining momentum . Whether from his strong performance at last week's mayoral debate or his viral social media ads, the former reality TV star, made famous on MTV's The Hills , has reached an inflection point as a serious challenger to the Democratic queens and kings who rule L.A. City Hall.

California Mayor Indicted, Will Plead Guilty To Being CCP Agent In a significant development announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice, Arcadia, California Mayor Eileen Wang has been charged with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government - the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Wang, 58, has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. She resigned from her position as mayor and Arcadia City Council member this afternoon following the unsealing of the case. According to court filings and

Iran Executes Top Young Aerospace Scientist, Alleging CIA & Mossad Ties Iran has executed 29-year-old aerospace engineer Erfan Shakourzadeh on Monday on espionage charges despite his protestations that authorities tortured him into giving a false confession, according to a prison note published before his execution, as recounted in Western press reports. Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website announced and confirmed the execution, describing that he was hanged after being convicted for allegedly collaborating with the CIA and Israel's Mossad intelligence service . Various human rights organizations have rejected the validity of the charges, and have decried his execution, having for weeks

China's Car Sales Slump As Gasoline Demand Craters Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com, Chinese car sales in China fell by 21.5% in April, driven by lower demand for gasoline-powered vehicles amid higher fuel prices. EV demand failed to offset the drop in internal combustion engine vehicle sales, as well. According to Bloomberg data, total car sales in China last month hit 1.4 million. This was the lowest since 2022, when China was still in the grip of Covid lockdowns. Internal combustion engine car sales suffered a decline of over 30%, while EV and hybrid car sales fell by a

Trump Floats Making Venezuela The 51st State First Canada, then Greenland… and now Venezuela? President Donald Trump said Monday he is seriously considering annexing the South American nation as the 51st U.S. state, citing the country’s vast oil reserves and what he described as strong local support for his leadership. In a telephone interview with Fox News anchor John Roberts, Trump mused that he is weighing the move for a nation that holds an estimated $40 trillion in oil resources. NEW: President Trump tells @FoxNews colleague @johnrobertsFox in a phone call just now that he is “seriously considering making Venezuela

'Mediator' Pakistan Hosted Iranian Military Aircraft To Insulate Them From US Attacks, Graham Fumes At Islamabad Summary CBS reports Pakistan sheltered Iranian military planes , Sen. Graham outraged, calls for 'reevaluation'. US President blasts 'piece of garbage' Iran response, says ceasefire on 'life support', reportedly mulls renewed military action ; US Treasury imposes yet more sanctions . Trump mulls restarting Project Freedom in Hormuz and says forcibly retrieving 'nuclear dust' is still on the table , oil jumps on headline. Iran Foreign Ministry: "Everything we proposed in the text was reasonable and generous." However, US officials insist on their "unreasonable

US To Develop Small Modular Nuclear Reactors For Commercial Shipping Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The United States is seeking to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) for commercial vessels that would potentially bring down shipping costs, the Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a May 7 statement. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks at a press conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Oct. 28, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images The initiative, launched by DOT Secretary Sean P. Duffy and the Maritime Administration (MARAD), has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for this

Modi Urges Indians To Conserve Fuel As Oil Shock Spreads India’s Prime Minister called on the nation to work from home, travel less, and conserve fuel to help the government save foreign exchange, OilPrice reported . “In the current situation, we must place great emphasis on saving foreign exchange,” Narendra Modi said, as quoted by Reuters. The prime minister also urged Indians to stop buying gold, again to conserve foreign exchange. Modi also called on farmers to reduce their fertilizer use by as much as 50%. CNBC recalls that India spent $174.9 billion on crude oil and refined product imports

No, AI Won't Make Money Obsolete Authored by Peter Earle via the American Institute for Economic Research , The notion that artificial intelligence (AI) at full bloom might eliminate the need for money reflects a deep confusion about what money is and does. Money is not merely a barter-avoiding convenience layered onto an otherwise frictionless world. It is a solution to fundamental problems of exchange, profound difficulties in coordination, and comparison of alternatives under scarcity. Even in a hypothetical future defined by extraordinary productivity gains and broadly collapsing prices , those underlying problems do not disappear. Instead, they change form,

Billionaire Bucks Co-Owner Alleges $1 Billion Blackmail Plot After Affair With China-Born Entrepreneur Wesley Edens, billionaire investor and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, replied to a 2022 LinkedIn message from Changli Sophia Luo, a China-born founder of a small Manhattan nonprofit that produced interview videos. Their exchanges turned personal; by June 2023 they met at her apartment and had sex, according to the Wall Street Journal , citing prosectuors. What followed, authorities say, became an extortion case. Luo was indicted for allegedly trying to extract over $1 billion by threatening to release explicit images and videos . Prosecutors claim she

Netanyahu Says He Wants To End Annual US Military Support For Israel Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 10 that he hopes to wean Israel off U.S. military support within a decade. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Israel, on March 19, 2026. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters In 2016, under the Obama administration, the United States agreed to give Israel $38 billion in military assistance. The memorandum of understanding covered U.S. fiscal years 2019–2028. “ I want to draw down to zero the American financial support , the financial

Watch: Lockdown Architect Deborah Birx Smirks Over PCR Testing For Hantavirus The former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator who helped shape the 6-foot rule, extended lockdowns, school closures, and “15 Days to Slow the Spread” (that somehow became much longer) is once again on television recommending widespread PCR testing - this time for hantavirus. In recent appearances on mainstream outlets, Dr. Deborah Birx discussed a hantavirus situation linked to a cruise ship. She suggested offering PCR tests to passengers who had already disembarked and were scattered around the globe, calling it “21st-century technology” and arguing it would catch early or

Buckle Up For A Wild Week Authored by James Howard Kunstler, The Earth Moves Just a Bit “Operation Epic Fury was the loud one. Operation Economic Fury is the quiet one. . . . While the carriers were on television, Treasury was doing the actual demolition.” - Jesús Enrique Rosas on X Expect a consequential week. The Persian Gulf remains closed and colossal oil slicks leak out of Kharg Island while Iran blusters and stomps its feet. No one can even try to buy its oil anymore, not even China. The sanctions are too onerous. Iran’s wells must be shut

Chief Justice Roberts Has No Spine Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , He’s a judicial pimp who pragmatically defends the Establishment’s bottom line. I do not like Chief Justice John Roberts. I think his loyalties lie more with defending the entrenched powers of the political Establishment than with defending the Constitution of the United States. I find his jurisprudence squishy. Although his decisions could be described as advancing, more often than not, conservative viewpoints, Roberts does not seem to have a consistent philosophy guiding his opinions. Roberts is a pragmatist. He surveys the mood of the country and

Fire Erupts At HF Sinclair Refinery In Tulsa Local media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, report that the HF Sinclair refinery, which has a crude-processing capacity of 125,000 barrels per day, has suffered a fire. This comes just days after another refinery fire in the New Orleans area. Fox 23 News reports that the Tulsa Fire Department is currently on the scene after a fire broke out at the refinery in West Tulsa earlier today. The refinery is critical because it primarily processes sweet crude, can handle some sour Canadian crude, and markets refined products to the Mid-Continent states. Its products include

Hegseth: Senator Mark Kelly Revealed Classified Information On US Munitions Stockpiles Via American Greatness, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) voiced concerns Sunday about the state of US weapons stockpiles following the recent conflict involving Iran, describing the extent of depleted munitions reserves as “shocking” during an appearance on CBS News’s Face the Nation . “I think it’s fair to say it’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” Kelly said, arguing that the United States had exhausted significant amounts of military hardware without a clearly defined strategy. “Because of that, we’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means

Why Bernie Sanders Is Wrong About Gas Prices Authored by Robert Rapier via OilPrice.com, Gasoline prices can diverge sharply from crude oil prices due to refining and logistical constraints. Tight refinery capacity and geopolitical disruptions have created bottlenecks throughout the fuel supply chain. Policies that discourage energy infrastructure investment could worsen future fuel price volatility. When lawmakers propose solutions to complex economic problems, the first requirement should be a clear understanding of how those problems actually work. A recent Facebook post by Bernie Sanders comparing today’s oil and gasoline prices to those in 2011 suggests that oil companies are “ripping

Trump Wants To Slash Child Care Costs By Getting Government Out Of The Way Child care in America has become a significant financial burden. For many families, it now rivals rent, a mortgage, or student loan payments. Democrats have been framing child care as a key issue for them heading into the midterms. “Child care continues to get more expensive," said Jaelin O'Halloran, a DNC spokesperson. "While Trump and Republicans have offered no plans to follow through on their promises to lower costs, Democrats are focused on bringing down costs and making life more affordable for working families." "House Republicans

American Bankers Attempt Last Ditch Effort To Kill Crypto Market Structure Bill Regarding Stablecoins American Bankers Association (ABA) CEO Rob Nichols sent an emergency Sunday letter to every bank CEO in the country, urging “immediate engagement” against what he called a stablecoin yield loophole in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act , days before a Senate Banking Committee markup scheduled for Thursday. The letter, dated May 11 — Mother’s Day — and addressed to ABA member bank CEOs, asked bank leaders to contact their senators and mobilize their employees to do the same before the committee convenes for a scheduled

Violence in Guerrero state has driven as many as 1,000 households from their homes, rights group says Hundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico by intense attacks from a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday . A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they started to intensify last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress said, forcing between 800 to 1,000 families to flee to

Discovery was made by Union Pacific employee inspecting stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Rail workers in Texas found six people dead inside a boxcar at a yard close to the Mexican border on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The discovery was made by a Union Pacific employee inspecting the stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north, a spokesperson for the Laredo police department said, citing the railroad freight company. Continue reading...

Kevin González, 18-year-old who had terminal colon cancer, died shortly after reuniting with his parents in Mexico A Chicago-born teen who advocated for his parents’ release from US immigration authorities’ custody while fighting terminal cancer has died shortly after reuniting with them in Mexico, his family has told media outlets. The parents of 18-year-old Kevin González had been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) custody in Arizona in mid-April after they crossed the US border from Mexico without permission in an attempt to see him in Chicago as his health waned. González since then traveled to be

Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of study Levels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective. Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals’ use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell. Continue reading...

Debates over secession overshadowed by revelations separatist-linked group gained access to list of electors The illegal use of voter information by rightwing separatists in the province of Alberta has raised fresh fears over Canada’s electoral integrity by making valuable and “incredibly confidential” personal data easily accessible to malicious actors, security experts have warned. The data breach, one of the largest in Canadian history, has prompted warnings of a “truly terrifying” new battleground over information, persuasion and foreign interference in already weakened democratic systems. Continue reading...

Taiwan, tariffs and the strait of Hormuz are on the meeting’s agenda for Beijing – but will the US president be forced to ask for help in ending his war with Iran? On 20 February, a White House official confirmed that US president Donald Trump would be travelling to Beijing the following month to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Top of the agenda: the US-China trade war. One week later, Trump approved joint strikes with Israel against Iran, starting a new war in the Middle East. Its ramifications have spread far beyond the region and caused alarm in Beijing.

Vice-president is accused of misusing public funds and threatening the lives of President Marcos Jr and his wife The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has been impeached over allegations she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, in a case that could complicate her presidential ambitions. Duterte, the daughter of the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, was impeached by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos. Continue reading...

US leader enters talks with superpower rival from vulnerable position, but will be hoping for economic wins amid turbulent backdrop If all goes to plan over the next few days – and that is a big if – Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a highly anticipated summit with Xi Jinping , China’s leader. The trip will mark the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade. The last visit was also made by Trump , during his first term, in 2017. Continue reading...

Woman recovered after volcanic eruption on remote island, while operation to find two missing Singaporeans goes on Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said. Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre (4,445ft) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 6 miles (10km) into the air. Continue reading...

Carmaker gives one of biggest warnings yet of conflict’s impact on businesses while Trump tariffs also take toll Toyota has reported a £3bn hit from costs from the war in Iran, as prices of parts and materials soared and sales dropped. The world’s biggest carmaker said profits declined in its financial year to March as it was “likely unable to absorb newly added impact from the Middle East”, in one of the largest warnings yet of the war’s impact on businesses. Continue reading...

Treasurer says housing market ‘isn’t working’ and tax system around it is ‘out of whack’. Follow the latest updates Federal budget 2026: what we know so far See all our Australia budget 2026 coverage Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Let’s build more houses … not start taxing them’, shadow finance minister says Claire Chandler , the shadow minister for finance, spoke a moment ago. You don’t make more of something by increasing taxes on it. Taxes are inherently a disincentive to create more of something. If we need more houses in this country,

Seventeen-year-old, previously charged over alleged extremist material, now faces additional charges relating to allegedly preparing for an attack Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Canberra teenager has become the first person to be charged with planning a terrorist act in the ACT. On 5 November last year, the 17-year-old was arrested and charged after alleged violent extremist material was located during a search warrant. He has been remanded in custody since his arrest. Continue reading...

Marat Ganiev will instead be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over death of 19-year-old whose body was found in tip Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Prosecutors have withdrawn a manslaughter charge against a man who had been accused of killing a 19-year-old woman and hiding her body in a fridge. Marat Ganiev, 55, was accused of killing Isla Bell in the early hours of 7 October 2024, before hiding her body in a fridge. Continue reading...

Farrer byelection win casts shadow over 2026 federal budget as government signals it’s alive to populist rightwing threat Federal budget 2026 LIVE updates: Australia government budget announcement and speech – latest news Explore all of our 2026 Australia federal budget coverage Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation has cast a shadow over the federal budget and influenced decisions to reform negative gearing and taxes, with Jim Chalmers admitting many Australians are feeling economic anxieties that are “driving them to consider” rightwing populist parties. The treasurer and Anthony Albanese have conceded that many

Defence department says another ADF soldier was injured on Monday evening, but didn’t require hospitalisation Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast An experienced paratrooper has died after a mid-air collision during training above Jervis Bay airfield, Defence has announced. The Special Air Service regiment warrant officer Lachlan Muddle, 50, died following the collision with another paratrooper after their parachutes had deployed. Continue reading...

Since the start of the current conflict, more than 20,500 Ukrainian children have been taken by Russia It looks like a typical teenager’s bedroom: football shirts on the wall, crumpled clothes on the floor, exercise books open on the desk. But it is a work of political art, intended to evoke the empty rooms of more than 20,500 Ukrainian children unlawfully taken to Russia. The work was on display on Monday at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, as delegates from 63 countries and international organisations gathered to discuss how to bring Ukraine’s children home. “It’s essentially a

Anti-graft agencies say Andriy Yermak suspected of participating in criminal group that laundered $10.5m in housing project, which he denies ownership in Ukrainian authorities have named Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful former chief of staff as a suspect in a major corruption investigation, a move likely to pile pressure on the president’s office at a sensitive moment in the war with Russia. Kyiv’s political class was rocked by a wide-ranging probe last year that had fuelled public anger and prompted the ex-top adviser and Zelenskyy’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, to resign . Continue reading...

Absence of big US films heralds renewed focus on international cinema that underpins festival’s reputation For decades, Cannes has occupied a unique place in the cultural imagination – not just as the world’s most prestigious film festival, but as Hollywood’s most glamorous overseas outpost. From Grace Kelly on the Croisette, Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman at the Pulp Fiction premiere, Julia Roberts walking barefoot up the red carpet, to Tom Cruise shutting down the Riviera with fighter jets overhead, Hollywood has made its mark on Cannes. Continue reading...

Trump reportedly involved in securing visa for Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted in Warsaw on criminal charges Poland has said it expects Washington to extradite a former justice minister wanted on criminal charges after reports emerged that he had fled to the US from Hungary, where the former prime minister Viktor Orbán had granted him asylum. “You can’t hide these days. You can flee, you can delay it for a while, but eventually your options run out,” Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said on Monday in reference to Zbigniew Ziobro. Continue reading...

The bloc’s foreign policy chief said recent remarks from the Russian leader suggested the war may be coming to an end Russian affairs reporter The EU on Monday dismissed Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. See full report: Trump calls Iran’s response to peace plan ‘totally unacceptable’ as ceasefire frays Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, will visit Qatar later today for talks on the war, its impact on the region and efforts to ensure navigational safety in the strait of Hormuz is resumed, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency. Turkey, which neighbours Iran, has been in close contact with the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the conflict. It condemnded the US and Israel for launching the war, widely seen to have been done

US president says he is considering restarting naval escorts in strait of Hormuz in attempt to end Iranian blockade Donald Trump has said the ceasefire with Iran is on “life support” and that he is considering restarting US navy military escorts of ships through the strait of Hormuz in an attempt to end the Iranian blockade of the vital waterway. The US president dismissed Iran’s peace proposals as stupid, and denied he was under any domestic pressure to reach a deal. Continue reading...

IDF says two soldiers will spend weeks in military prison over incident it said was viewed with great severity Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to be denounced as anti-Christian. Continue reading...

US president expresses ire at Tehran’s reported demands, as drones strike Gulf nations and Israel warns war ‘not over’ Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian response to a US peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”, on a day the month-old ceasefire showed signs of fraying as drone strikes were reported around the region and Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over”. The Iranian counter-proposal was passed to Washington through Pakistani mediators. Continue reading...

Writing by Narges Mohammadi, arrested 14 times for activism, offers a disturbing insight into treatment Read an exclusive excerpt here: ‘Blindfolded, I sat down slowly. Then the interrogation began’ In an exclusive extract of writing smuggled from prison in Iran, the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has described the “torture” of solitary confinement, and her systematic medical neglect by the prison system. The writing from the past decade will be part of a soon to be published memoir, A Woman Never Stops Fighting, that gives a rare and alarming insight into the treatment of Mohammadi, who is in critical

Stone being paid $50,000 a month to ‘rebuild’ relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government The US lobbyist Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of Donald Trump, has been condemned for accepting $50,000 a month to “rebuild” relations between Washington and Myanmar’s military-backed government. Myanmar’s leaders have been internationally isolated since seizing power in a coup in 2021 , and have repeatedly been accused of atrocities that may amount to war crimes . Activists say the military rulers, which recently held widely condemned “sham” elections , are now trying to reassert themselves abroad. Continue reading...

Turmoil and violence rocks state after prime minister Narendra Modi’s party claimed victory in legislative election Tensions have been high in the Indian state of West Bengal after a top political aide from Narendra Modi’s party was shot dead in the street and hundreds were arrested as violence broke out following elections this week. The prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) claimed victory in the West Bengal elections on Monday , defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had ruled over the state legislature for 15 years. Continue reading...

Mamata Banerjee says Narendra Modi’s party ‘forcefully captured’ election that ended her party’s 15 years in power A political showdown is taking place in the Indian state of West Bengal as the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, India’s most powerful female politician, has refused to resign after she lost elections to the prime minister’s party this week. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) won an overwhelming victory on Monday in state elections in West Bengal, where Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party (TMC) have been in power for 15 years. Continue reading...

Result in key Indian state is set to have significant implications for the country’s political landscape Narendra Modi’s party has won a resounding election victory in West Bengal, a state which had been a rare opposition stronghold, expanding his unrivalled consolidation of power across the country. It is the first time that the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has won assembly elections in West Bengal, a large and politically significant state in eastern India. Continue reading...

Jitu Munda says he was refused access to money in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracy The sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India. Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...

Health secretary’s soft-right credentials put him at a disadvantage even with reduced membership under Starmer UK politics live – latest updates “Country first, party second” is a mantra Keir Starmer and his cabinet have repeated since being in opposition, seeking to draw a dividing line between Labour and their Conservative predecessors’ inclination for self-destruction. But party members do matter in politics – and a key problem for Wes Streeting, one of those with ambitions to succeed Keir Starmer, is that many of Labour’s do not like him. Continue reading...

Hundreds of four-year-olds among ‘extremely overweight’ patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021 More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal. NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis. Continue reading...

Aditya Chakrabortty on the Labour leader’s predicament – and if he may be the last prime minister of the two-party system In these highly polarised times, dunking on the prime minister – and this PM in particular – is the one thing that seems to unite people in fury, disappointment and loathing. So as he rolled his sleeves up to address the nation on Monday morning, after one of the worst election results in Labour’s history, Keir Starmer had quite the job on his hands. The Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty was watching – and wincing. “There are times when I

Dip in credit card spending in April, particularly on travel, suggests Britons preparing for harder times amid Iran war fallout Households cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 18 months, as the conflict in the Middle East provoked fears of another cost of living crisis, a report from one of the UK’s biggest banks has suggested. Barclays, which processes nearly 40% of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, said its data showed there had been a 0.1% fall in card spending last month compared with a year earlier. This was the first year-on-year fall

Research from UCL suggests visiting art galleries or museums, singing and painting can help improve health outcomes Singing, painting or visiting a gallery or museum helps people age more slowly, according to the latest study to link taking an active interest in art and culture with improved health. The findings are the first to show that both participating in arts activities and attending events, such as viewing an exhibition, lead to people staying biologically younger. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. Sign up for the Breaking News US email Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump reiterated that Iran’s peace proposal was “just unacceptable”. The president went on to insist that he had a “very simple plan”, and maintained that Tehran could not have a nuclear weapon, without elaborating on the next negotiating steps. Continue reading...

Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice department Eileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China. Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison. Continue reading...

Move comes as administration seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land The interior department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as Donald Trump’s administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land. The 2024 rule adopted under former president Joe Biden was meant to refocus the interior department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the US. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. Continue

The British political strategist drew swift criticism in a state where tacos are practically the official dish Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Polls have shown California voters have been largely disengaged from the upcoming election for governor, but over the weekend one candidate managed to capture the public’s attention – and ire. Steve Hilton, the British political strategist seeking the state’s top office, drew derision after posting a video outside a southern California location of the fast food chain Del Taco while holding the hard-shell tortilla concoction that he referred to as a “street taco”. Continue

The trial has exposed even more details about OpenAI’s fractious corporate past than previously documented OpenAI, despite its name, is usually extremely secretive about its operations. It promotes a carefully crafted image to the world. Over the course of Elon Musk’s case against the startup and its CEO Sam Altman, however, the artificial intelligence firm has been forced to publicly contend with some of the messiest parts of its rise to power in public. The Musk v OpenAI trial , which on Monday entered its third week, has featured a who’s who of Silicon Valley testifying about OpenAI’s past and

The Treasury Department wants US banks and other financial institutions to monitor for suspected Iranian money-laundering networks that use their funds to smuggle sanctioned oil through shell companies and cryptocurrency networks. The move, which effectively deputises the global financial system to help disrupt Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure, comes as the US and Iran reached another impasse over how to end their war while their ceasefire has grown increasingly shaky. US President Donald...

Two South Florida police officers claim Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s recent action thriller The Rip used too many real-life details in its fictionalised narrative, causing harm to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to a defamation lawsuit. Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit in Miami federal court earlier this month against Artists Equity, a film-production company owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings...

With the war in the Middle East entering its third month, questions have surfaced over its geopolitical ramifications in the region and beyond. An entity that has drawn particular scrutiny is Brics. The 10-member grouping is defined less by a clear set of common values and more by contingently overlapping interests. It does not and cannot speak with one voice on the conflict. Two Brics members, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are at loggerheads: Tehran has launched missile and drone...

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faced down calls to resign on Monday over a scandal in which thieves stole bundles of cash in foreign currency hidden in a sofa on his ranch. In a televised address to the nation, Ramaphosa said he respected a constitutional court ruling that revived impeachment proceedings against him ‌last week but pledged to defend himself. “While there have been calls in some circles that I should resign, nothing in the Constitutional Court judgment compels me to...

The widow of a man killed in last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University is suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI, blaming the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot for giving advice on how to carry out the rampage. The lawsuit comes after state authorities disclosed that ChatGPT gave information to the shooter about what time and location would maximise victims on campus, as well as the type of gun and ammunition to use. Authorities say he was also told that an attack can get more media...

Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces to be denounced as anti-Christian in southern Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this year to target the...

A Bolivian court on Monday reissued a warrant for the arrest of former president Evo Morales on charges of trafficking a minor after he failed to show up for the start of his trial. Bolivia’s first Indigenous president is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office. The parents of the teen are accused of consenting to the relationship in exchange for favours from Morales. The former socialist leader, who governed from 2006 to 2019, rejects the accusations. Morales did...

Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people thought to be immigrants found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail yard near the border with Mexico in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday as a “potential human smuggling event”. A Union Pacific employee found the bodies of six people inside a shipping container Sunday afternoon, said Jose Baeza, the Laredo Police Department public information officer. Dr Corinne Stern, the Webb County medical examiner, is conducting autopsies and...

Britain on Monday announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s “information warfare campaigns” over its full-scale Ukraine invasion, alongside those behind the alleged forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. The sanctions package hits 85 people and entities, two-thirds of them related to alleged Russian propaganda operations, including what London said were recent attempts to interfere in coming Armenian elections. Among them were 49 individuals working for the Social Design...

The ⁠man accused of attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a White House reporters’ gala last month pleaded not guilty ‌to all charges on Monday. Cole Allen, 31, of California, did not speak in court as his lawyer Tezira Abe entered the plea on his behalf. The charges include attempted assassination of the president, assault on ⁠a federal officer and firearms offences. Prosecutors allege Allen fired ‌a shotgun at a US Secret Service agent and stormed a security checkpoint ‌in a...

Chinese technology companies and researchers turned out in force at a leading global artificial intelligence conference, despite mounting questions over whether they might avoid the event as a consequence of tense relations between Beijing and Washington. Papers with contributors from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for over 51 per cent of accepted submissions, compared with just under 32 per cent from the United States, according to statistics compiled from the listed affiliations for...

A former Polish justice minister sought in his homeland for alleged abuse of power says he has travelled from Hungary to the US, prompting prosecutors in Poland to say on Monday that they are investigating whether he was assisted in evading liability. Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. That administration established political control over key judicial institutions by stacking higher...

Beijing’s position in Latin America is far from collapsing, looking at the number of countries in the region that have switched diplomatic ties to it from Taipei. But in parts of the continent, governments are increasingly reassessing what their relationships with Beijing are delivering economically and politically. The shift is becoming visible in countries such as Honduras, Venezuela and Cuba, where economic strain, energy instability and geopolitical pressure are exposing the limits of...

Keir Starmer ⁠came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister’s resignation after his appeal for another chance seemingly fell on deaf ears. At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a leadership contest he said would only bring chaos, but his speech appeared to do little to stem the...

A report from Canada’s spy agency that identifies Khalistani extremism as a national security threat may accelerate a diplomatic reset with India, even as analysts say allegations of interference by New Delhi continue to cloud the relationship. Delhi has long complained that a small number of Sikh separatist extremists have used Canadian soil to organise, raise funds and support violence connected to the push for “Khalistan”, a proposed independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab. The report by the...

A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said on Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued. The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive”, said Health Minister Stephanie Rist. One of 17 American passengers repatriated from the...

British paratroopers landed on a “golf course covered in rocks” to supply medical personnel and oxygen to Britain’s most remote overseas territory as it deals with a suspected hantavirus case, an army commander said on Sunday. The UK Health Security Agency confirmed on Friday that a British national had disembarked from the cruise ship MV Hondius to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where they live, with a suspected case of hantavirus. Six paratroopers, a Royal Air Force (RAF)...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Could omega-3 supplements hurt the brain? Chinese military study flags risks 2. Hong Kong schools record net student rise for 2 years straight 3. Trump heads to China weakened as Xi gains leverage ahead of summit 4. ‘Foreigner won’: Filipinos divided over pageant winner’s US roots 5. Singapore...

You can’t buy happiness, they say. But we “buy” dopamine fixes all the time. Just whip out the smartphone and we easily go down that rabbit hole of endless doom scrolling, falling into the addictive trap of instant gratification, chasing likes, shares, comments and followers as rewards. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in our experience of pleasure, focus, reward and motivation. It propels us to put in effort, devote time and feel good about our achievements. Before the...

Israel’s next election campaign is well under way, with political defections, fractious coalition-building and naked appeals to ethnic exclusion marking its opening salvoes as a crowded field of challengers queues up to try Benjamin Netanyahu for the security catastrophe of October 7, 2023 and the wars that followed. The vote, constitutionally set for this October, is shaping up as a referendum on the prime minister’s central claim to power: that only he can keep Israel safe. But after two and a...

Nobel Peace laureate and activist Narges Mohammadi has been transferred to a Tehran hospital more than a week after collapsing in prison, her foundation said on Sunday. Her transfer comes after days of pleading by her family and others who described her condition as critical. Her foundation said she has been granted a prison sentence suspension on bail. It was not clear for how long her sentence is suspended, the foundation said. Mohammadi had been imprisoned since December in Zanjan prison. She...

On April 28, the United Arab Emirates informed the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) it was leaving. Three days’ notice. No call to Riyadh beforehand, apparently. The grievance about production quotas was years old: Abu Dhabi had threatened to quit in 2021. What’s changed has nothing to do with the barrel count. It is about who underwrites Abu Dhabi’s security when it acts on a decision Riyadh opposes. After Iran struck UAE infrastructure, Abu Dhabi sent only a foreign...

Iran sent its response to the latest US proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but US President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” – the latest setback to efforts to resolve the stand-off in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring. Iranian state television reported that Tehran rejected the US proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the US, full Iranian...

Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of breaking a US-brokered ceasefire on Sunday, with both sides claiming to have suffered casualties in drone and artillery strikes over the past 24 hours. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was neither observing the truce nor “even particularly trying to”, adding there had been no calm in front-line areas despite a lull in large-scale attacks and pledged that Ukraine would retaliate for any aggression shown by Moscow. “Yesterday and...

One of five French people flown back to France on Sunday from the cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is showing symptoms of the illness, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. “On of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane,” he posted on social media. “These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice. “They are getting medical treatment and will have tests and a medical check-up,” he added. Lecornu also said he would issue...

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium must be “taken out” before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an American broadcaster Sunday. “It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes. “You go in and you take it out,” the Israeli leader said when asked how the...

When US President Donald Trump announced that 5,000 US troops would leave Germany, the immediate reading in Western capitals was political: another round in Trump’s running quarrel with European allies, triggered by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of Washington’s handling of the war with Iran. For Beijing, the more interesting reading is structural. The drawdown coincides with a period in which Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spent much of 2026 cultivating a “partners not rivals”...

Israel deported two activists on Sunday after being detained near Greece for slightly over a week for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The two, Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila, were among dozens of activists intercepted by the Israeli navy off the coast of Crete. Both are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s steering committee, whose mission is to break Israel’s naval...

Tired of petrol shortages and skyrocketing prices, Simón Huanca took matters into his own hands. The 53-year-old Indigenous artisan imported a Chinese electric car to navigate El Alto, Bolivia’s highest city, using the vehicle to transport both his family and the alpaca wool for his weaving workshop. He also installed a dedicated charger in his own garage, mainly for convenience, but also because there are only three public charging stations serving the vast metropolitan area of El Alto and...

Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to begin peace talks to end the war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, as two carriers were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The response, sent to mediator Pakistan, focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, and on the safety of shipping through the strait, Iranian state television said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen. It followed a US proposal to end fighting before...

More than 100 people aboard a cruise ship that departed from Fort Lauderdale in Florida last month have fallen ill from norovirus, according to the US Centres for Disease Control. The Caribbean Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, departed from Port Everglades on April 28 for an 11-day voyage, according to Cruise Mapper. But on Thursday, the CDC announced that 102 passengers and 13 crew members were sick and had been isolated. There are more than 4,000 people on board, according to the CDC. The...

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours earlier. None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius have shown symptoms of the virus, Spain’s health ministry, the World Health...

Foreign affairs are not a series of disconnected episodes. They are a test of whether nations learn from history and act with foresight. The United States has often failed that test. It forgets that unchecked aggression leads to wider wars and that removing governments without building new authority invites chaos. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran’s destabilising role in the Middle East and the collapse of Libya and Afghanistan all testify to what happens when those lessons are ignored. China,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe ‌and that his preferred negotiating partner...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reeling from a crushing local election defeat, faced a new setback to his leadership on Saturday when a former minister said she would challenge him for the top job if no one else stepped forward. Starmer’s Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in municipal polls since 1995, prompting a growing number of his ‌own lawmakers to call on him to quit. To try to shore up his position in the party earlier on Saturday, he named two influential...

UK health authorities are gearing up to receive about 24 people from a virus-hit cruise ship, who will be isolated in a hospital once used for Covid-19 patients, NHS officials said Saturday. They are currently on board the Dutch ship, the MV Hondius, due to anchor off Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. Most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home to their home countries after weeks at sea, in a carefully prepared repatriation effort. Among them are about 24 British...

A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during take-off, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate. The plane, en route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday”, according to a post on the airport’s official social media account. A spokesman for the...

Hungary’s Peter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country’s new prime minister, ending Viktor Orban’s 16 years of autocratic rule. Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party defeated Orban’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history. The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orban a...

⁠The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire, while a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could withstand a naval blockade for months. Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed ‌attack on Friday. Washington has been awaiting Tehran’s response to a US...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Security was tight as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not...

In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations. China subsequently emerged as a prime example of state-led development, but Japan is now leaning again towards a more dirigiste model under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, not only in...

Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently possible complicity in the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. Responding to a post on the...

South Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country’s petroleum reserve bases, the world’s sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said. The strait’s closure in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up...

You can perhaps judge the rise and decline of a society by the quality of its public intellectuals. In the last century, the United States had some genuinely great thinkers such as Walter Lippmann and Hannah Arendt who addressed a literate public while producing enduring works that can still be read today with great benefit. Now you have people like Francis Fukuyama and Sam Harris who may be studied in the future more as a symptom of their society. A podcast between the two last month went viral...

In an extraordinary break from the diplomatic restraint typical of central banks, a dozen leaders of the world’s foremost monetary institutions issued a joint statement in January declaring their “full solidarity” with the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chair, Jerome Powell. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve,” they wrote. The move was intended to shore up the separation of monetary...

Black residents, who make up 25 percent of Fayette County, Tenn., won a new electoral map last year to change an all-white board of commissioners. They worry the Supreme Court’s ruling could threaten that.

State officials asked the justices to overturn a Virginia Supreme Court decision that struck down a congressional map, a major defeat for Democrats.

The G.O.P. has seized an edge on redistricting thanks to two court rulings, and it has more room to maneuver for extra seats before the midterms.

Dozens of Labour Party leaders called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to leave office, and several government aides announced their resignations.

Critics raised concerns over press freedom after The Journal disclosed receiving subpoenas related to an article on deliberations on the risks of military action in Iran.

The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial pool late last week.

Ms. Lake tried and failed to fire hundreds of Voice of America journalists and to cut funding for other federally funded news groups like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

President Trump said the fragile cease-fire was on “life support,” and India’s leader urged residents to cut back on purchases and travel.

Congress would have to agree to any suspension, and dropping federal taxes would not make up for the steep increase in prices since the war began.

President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a string of allies who will remain in critical state positions after next year’s presidential election, and who could thwart a far-right successor.

A book by the world’s most famous survivor of sexual violence has been read as a manifesto or a cry of pain. What she wrote is far more complicated.

Parliament passed a new law that paves the way for military trials for hundreds of Palestinians suspected of taking part in the 2023 attack that ignited the two-year war in Gaza.

Rom Braslavski, who said he had endured starvation, torture and sexual abuse during two-year captivity, demanded that members “take responsibility and get out of our lives.”

Michal Gatchalian dared to speak out against sexual abuse by a priest in the devoutly Catholic Philippines. He’s now a lawyer helping other victims.

The Russian leader is walking a tightrope: acknowledging public discontent while offering no indication that he might give up on his demands.

With peace talks on ice and Ukraine now more self-reliant, President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to be stepping away from the United States.

Ukrainian news outlets named the suspect as Andriy Yermak, who resigned last year amid a sweeping scandal.

Thélyson Orélien, a Haitian-born, previously unknown writer, submitted an unsolicited manuscript. Its rights were sold in 23 countries before publication.

Pedro Sánchez has established an alternative governing philosophy to Trumpism.

Maureen Galindo’s rise demonstrates how even justified rage and despair can curdle into hateful paranoia.

Eileen Wang, who resigned Monday as the mayor of Arcadia, Calif., published propaganda on a purported news site under direction from Chinese officials, prosecutors said.

Free child care is one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top goals. Now the Bezos Foundation is giving Robin Hood, a favorite philanthropy of wealthy New Yorkers, big money for early childhood education.