Minimalist News

Housing Affordability Is A Global Issue Housing affordability has become a defining economic issue across much of the world, but the relationship between home prices and incomes differs more than many people realize. Using data from the UN Habitat World Cities Report 2026 , Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld created this map comparing median home prices with annual household incomes across more than 180 countries, revealing where buying a home is relatively attainable—and where it remains far out of reach. The World’s Most Affordable Housing Markets Saudi Arabia and the UAE have the lowest home price-to-income ratios in the dataset at

UK Regulator Targets Data-Center Land-Grab On The Power Grid Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, Britain’s energy regulator, Ofgem, on Wednesday launched a consultation on a proposed commitment fee for data center projects as part of broad reforms to ensure network capacity is used for projects that are ready and able to connect. The proposal includes a new Data Centre Commitment Fee, which would be paid by large data center developments when accepting a connection offer, Ofgem said in a statement. The fee would be refunded when the project reaches grid connection status and forfeited if the project exits the

Got Wood? These Are The World's Biggest Lumber Producers From home construction and renovations to furniture and shipping pallets, lumber is one of the world’s most widely used building materials. This graphic ranks the world’s biggest lumber producers by sawnwood output in 2024, using data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization . The World’s Top 30 Lumber Producers The United States produced roughly 2.7 billion cubic feet of lumber in 2024, making it the world’s largest producer. Rank Country Cubic Feet (2024) Global Share 1 🇺🇸 U.S. 2.7B 17.0% 2 🇨🇳 China 2.1B 13.7% 3 🇷🇺 Russia 1.3B 8.4%

Germany's Migrant Crime Crisis Explodes Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news , Germany's federal government just dropped numbers that should end every soft-border talking point still circulating in European capitals. Of the 1,087 suspects identified in 751 recorded gang rapes last year, 53 percent were foreign nationals . Non-Germans make up less than 17 percent of the population. The 772 victims were overwhelmingly German: 619 of them, or 80 percent, including 565 women. New figures released by the German federal government show that 53% of the 1,087 suspects in 751 recorded gang rapes last year were foreign nationals, despite non-German

Where Tourists Outnumber Locals The world’s busiest tourist destinations are not always the countries with the highest number of visitors per resident. In smaller nations, annual arrivals can exceed the local population many times over. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, ranks the 25 countries with the highest number of international tourist arrivals per resident, using the latest available data from UN Tourism via Our World in Data and population figures from the World Bank . Territories have been excluded. Andorra: The Tourist Playground Andorra stands in a league of its own. The country welcomes roughly 4.2 million international

The End Of Freedom - The Last Breath Of A Dying Continent Authored by Milan Adams via Preppgroup, They are killing us slowly. Not with bullets or blades, but with spreadsheets and algorithms, with policies drafted in climate-controlled rooms by people whose children will never shiver through a winter night without heat, whose pantries will never echo empty, whose futures remain secured behind gates we cannot approach. In 2026, 333 million Europeans—more than the entire population of the United States—have fallen into energy poverty, a euphemism that cannot conceal the raw human suffering it describes, a bureaucratic term that sanitizes

'We Have Special Forces': Netanyahu Unfazed By Global Threats Of Arrest Via Middle East Eye Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Tuesday that he was not too bothered by the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant for him, because Israeli special forces would protect him should any country try to take him into custody . "It scares me in this sense. For you, you travel internationally, God forbid you had a medical emergency, and you need to land, and you're about to land in a country that recognizes the ICC . It could complicate things. Do you

Trump Admin Set To Ban Chinese Robots In "Economic Security" Push The Federal Communications Commission is planning to unveil a series of new trade restrictions on Tuesday afternoon that will ban imports of Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots, as well as connected power inverters. This announcement comes ahead of the expected boom in physical AI. Chinese company Unitree reveal their "all terrain" wheeled robot. The military potential for this technology is obvious. Europe is so far behind China, its scary. pic.twitter.com/DcXnmj6Knx — Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) July 24, 2026 Reuters was first to report the story: The Trump administration on Tuesday

America's Murder Problem Is Smaller Than It Looks Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearPolitics , World Cup visitors discovered something many Americans already know: The United States does not feel like the dangerous place they've been led to expect. That's because America's murder problem is not spread evenly across the country. Does the United States have a higher murder rate than its peer countries? Yes - but new research shows that statistic obscures how murders in the U.S. are extremely concentrated in very tiny areas. In 2025, the U.S. murder rate fell to just under 4 murders per

Cuba Expands Market Reforms As Socialist Economy Buckles Under Trump Pressure Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba's Central Committee, reported Wednesday that Havana is easing restrictions on private businesses and self-employed workers as it attempts to stabilize an economy battered by decades of failed socialist policies and renewed pressure from the Trump administration. "The updated regulations eliminate restrictions, broaden the scope of business activities for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives, and incorporate new opportunities in commerce, transport, industry, and services," Granma wrote in the announcement. Under Decree 160, the government removed 46 of

US & Global Reliance On Fossil Fuel Unchanged In 25 Years Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness, So far this century, worldwide energy use is up nearly 60 percent, and, as anyone living in Western industrialized nations knows all too well, we have spent trillions of dollars to “decarbonize” our economy. And guess what? Our dependence on fossil fuels is unchanged. To make this assertion, we may cite the world’s most authoritative source for comprehensive information on global fuel consumption, the Statistical Review of World Energy . For more than 75 years, an updated annual report has been released,

US Measles Cases In 2026 Highest In 35 Years The number of measles cases this year has become the highest since 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 24. Forty-five states have confirmed 2,318 cases through July 23, the CDC said this week. That’s up from 2,289 cases in 2025 and the highest since 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded. Outbreaks are ongoing in central Virginia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As Zachary Stieber reports for The Epoch Times , some doctors said the jump in cases stems from lower numbers of people receiving vaccines against measles. “High

Russia Charges Telegram Founder Pavel Durov With Aiding Terrorism, Issues Arrest Warrant Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times , Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on July 29 that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities and issued an international warrant for his arrest. Pavel Durov in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 1, 2017. Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo The FSB Public Relations Center said in a statement that "Telegram's head of administration, P. Durov, has been charged as part of an ongoing criminal investigation on suspicion of an offense under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of

Red Sea Redux: Saudis Call For 'Coalition Of The Willing' To Protect Shipping From Houthis Here we go again ... after months ago President Trump urgently pushed for an international naval alliance to 'open' the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war, which was met with at the time with a collective cold shoulder from European allies, the Saudis are newly pitching the same to open up the Bab al Mandab Strait . "Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, say two people familiar with the deliberations," Reuters

Secret Service Agent Arrested In Hazing Incident Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics , Secret Service agent Marquez Pinder was arrested and charged Sunday with five felony counts in a near-fatal fraternity hazing incident that occurred this spring, according to court documents. RealClearPolitics first reported in June that the agent was put on administrative leave while local authorities in Miami investigated him in connection with an April hazing incident that caused severe damage to a fraternity pledge's kidneys. The victim is a law student at the University of Miami and was undergoing an initiation process to become a member of

California Democrats Attempt To Sabotage Voter ID Initiative In November, California voters will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 39. The measure, officially the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, would require Californians to show identification when they vote and force state officials to clean up the voter rolls and verify that the people on them are eligible citizens. All signs suggest it will pass. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found in May that 71% of Californians support requiring proof of citizenship for first-time voter registration, and 54% want it

Chinese University Accused Of Sending Students To Factory Jobs Under Mandatory Labor Program Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times , A Chinese university has come under scrutiny after an alleged internal safety agreement surfaced online alongside claims from a self-identified graduate that students were required to work on farms and in food-processing factories as part of a mandatory academic program while being denied basic workplace protections. A seeder working a cotton field in Tumushuke, Xinjiang region, China, in an aerial photo taken on March 24, 2021. STR/CNS/AFP via Getty Images The controversy centers on Xinjiang Agricultural University, which

Jack Reacher Star's Latest Movie Flops After Unhinged Anti-Trump Rant The Jack Reacher series, launched in 2022, received widespread acclaim for avoiding most of the woke tropes slathered all over the majority of streaming series and movies at the time. For those with short memories, in 2022, the idea of a project featuring a 6'3" 240 pound white guy as the main protagonist seemed impossible. The series felt like a refreshing callback to the 1980s and the action/thriller apex era of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Solving big problems with unfiltered masculine violence is something audiences love, but Hollywood usually hates. If

xAI Sues Minnesota Attorney General Over Anti-Deepfake Law Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times , Elon Musk's artificial intelligence platform is challenging a Minnesota law that says companies can be held liable if users "nudify" real people by altering an existing photograph or video. The screen shows Grok app in this photo illustration. Oleksii Pydsosonnii/The Epoch Times Musk's company xAI, maker of the popular Grok AI tool, is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to block the law, which is set to kick in on Aug. 1. Violators can be fined up to $500,000 for each image. According

MSFT Spikes After Leaving CapEx Outlook Unchanged Update (1800ET) : As this evening's conference call went on, we finally got to the meat of the matter as Microsoft kept its CapEx forecast unchanged on Wednesday, ...becoming one of the first hyperscalers to hold the line on the market's insatiable AI spending spree. Against expectations to spend $190 billion on capital expenditures this calendar year, Microsoft tonight maintained this spending outlook (due to an accounting change, this CapEx guidance is now $175 billion, but, in reality, Microsoft is keeping its AI capex plan the same for this year). This is a

Data shows Canadians have replaced US vacations with other international trips in apparent rebuke to Trump Canadians spent $3.3bn less on travel to the US in 2025 than in the previous year, as Donald Trump’s hostile policies towards his northern neighbour continue to incur an economic cost, new government data shows. The research also indicates that Canadians are not bucking travel overall and instead have replaced US vacations with other international destinations, in a rebuke to Trump’s tariff regime and the president’s continued musings on annexing Canada. Continue reading...

Three years after Maui wildfires many still struggle with ‘biological, emotional and social consequences’, study says A spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, has incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come. The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian

President also blames Brazil and Mexico and says online critics ‘do not want the ideas of freedom to succeed’ More than a week has passed since Ferran Torres scored the extra-time goal that gave Spain its second World Cup, but – at least for Argentina’s president – the tournament is not over. Javier Milei has claimed that a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign” was behind criticism of the country’s team, accusations of racism among its fans and conspiracy theories alleging that Lionel Messi’s side was secretly being favoured by Fifa. Continue reading...

Nelson Haase Mazzei was sentenced for murdering Jara in 2023, but fled from authorities in Chile More than 50 years after the murder of the Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara , the last man wanted in connection with his death has been tracked down and brought to justice. Nelson Haase Mazzei, a retired colonel, fled from authorities in 2023 after he and six other retired soldiers were sentenced in absentia for murdering Jara and another man. Continue reading...

No one was injured and no suspects have been identified in connection to shooting near Toronto compound, police say Shots were fired near the US consulate in Toronto early on Monday but no one was injured in the second shooting near the diplomatic compound in four months. “Officers heard a firearm being discharged in the area,” and “a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene”, Toronto police said on X. Continue reading...

Soldiers and emergency teams search damaged shopping centre, paper mill and homes for survivors Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on Tuesday has risen to 30, as the search for survivors trapped in a badly damaged shopping centre, paper mill and collapsed homes across the south-west of the country continues. The 6.8-magnitude quake, which struck Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, injured at least 62 people, according to the prefectural government. Continue reading...

Emergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing An aerial view of a collapsed section of a bridge in the city of Yatsushiro after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture: Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper has been speaking to people at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed on to the site. “I never imagined something like this would happen,” said a 33-year-old man who worked at the factory.

Rescuers pulling people from the wreckage in southern Japan in a haunting repeat of disaster that struck 10 years ago ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missing “There was a voice coming from the collapsed house, and I could see a hand,” Tomohide Nagata, a volunteer firefighter, told the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. “One of our senior members crawled in and pulled him out. He was bleeding from the head, but I’m so glad he survived.” Nagata had heard a noise coming from one completely flattened home in the rural town of Hikawa, close

Military mobilises thousands of personnel after quake on southern Kyushu island that registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese shindo intensity scale Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures At least 13 people were killed when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday, injuring hundreds and knocking out power and water to tens of thousands. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said on Wednesday. “We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can.” Continue

Move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US The Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on humanoid robots from China on Tuesday, saying that the technology poses “unacceptable risks” to the country’s national security. The move comes as the Trump administration has increasingly sought to keep Chinese technology out of the US. The FCC defines the banned robots as “advanced robotic devices”, which include humanoids and animal-like quadrupeds. Continue reading...

The book, Antiquities of Athens, was handed back to Kiama library by a man who found it bricked into a wall An Australian public library has had a book returned an estimated 150 years late after being found behind a wall during a home renovation. The book, Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama, south of Sydney , by a man who had found it inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Minister says meeting Closing the Gap target a major step, but more work needed on others Malarndirri McCarthy , the minister for Indigenous Australians, said early childhood education enrolment for First Nations children was a milestone in the effort to reach the Closing the Gap targets. It is important to see this milestone achieved, and that is because of the work of the Aboriginal and community controlled sector and those involved in the preschool sector. … Clearly, the challenges with all the other

Robert Assaf tells Icac that Angus Taylor wasn’t ‘that involved’ but the federal opposition leader ‘definitely wasn’t opposed’ to work of conservative group Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A member of a group of young conservative Liberal power brokers being investigated for allegedly soliciting illegal donations has compared their factional work to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – and said they “didn’t think the law applied to us” when it came to political funding. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday heard from Robert Assaf,

Artist Michael Zavros says he was inspired by a deep respect for Alex Ryvchin’s leadership, as well as an uncanny likeness between the two men An artist’s portrayal of a Jewish leader produced just weeks after the Bondi massacre has won the Archibald people’s choice category. Michael Zavros won the $5,000 prize for his portrait of Alex Ryvchin, the co-head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, who Zavros called an “unmistakably and unashamedly Jewish” leader. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Mental health experts to triage triple zero calls, but not all of the changes will be implemented 24/7 or statewide Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast New South Wales will send specialist nurses rather than police to some mental health emergencies after the state announced long-fought-for reform in the wake of multiple deaths at the hands of police. Rose Jackson and Yasmin Catley, the mental health and police ministers, announced on Thursday a statewide change to how triple zero calls are triaged, with a new

Polish PM visits scene of crater thought to have occurred during deadly wave of attacks on Ukraine Europe live – latest updates Russia has been accused of violating Polish airspace after a missile exploded in a field in the east of the country during a massive air raid that killed 13 people in neighbouring Ukraine. Polish authorities said that an explosion, near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, close to Lublin, had created a 10-metre-wide crater, occurring as Russia staged new missile attacks on Ukraine. Continue reading...

Polish PM confirms the missile that crashed in Poland was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile and says he is in touch with EU and US leaders Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirms it’s “most likely” it was a Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile. “That’s the most probable hypothesis,” he says. Continue reading...

Group of migrants found unresponsive off coast of Dunkirk after attempting to reach UK Three people have died while trying to reach the UK on a small boat after one of the busiest days for Channel crossings this year. The group of migrants were found dead on a boat off the coast of Dunkirk on Thursday morning, the French coastguard said. Continue reading...

Boom in migrating moth sightings put down to hot weather, strong winds and food scarcity in Europe He had just sat down to dinner in the garden when a speedy visitor whizzed by – a “grey lump with orange wings”, recalled Luke Burstow, from Sussex. It was a hummingbird hawk-moth , a flying insect that migrates to the UK from continental Europe and north Africa. “I was like: ‘Wow!’,” said the software project manager. “I didn’t even know they existed.” Continue reading...

Document believed to be from 19th century details recipe using Bolivian coca leaves, kola nuts and wine An Italian friar has unearthed a document from the pharmacy archives of an ancient convent in Florence describing a medicinal potion made from Bolivian coca leaves and kola nuts, prompting suggestions it could have been a precursor to the famous US soft drink, Coca-Cola. Father Manuel Russo, rector of the San Marco convent, said he stumbled across the yellowed document, a sort-of promotional flyer, while sorting out the archives. Continue reading...

Jordanian military says it intercepted five missiles targeting the kingdom after US military says it hit dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets on Thursday US launches fresh strikes on Iran after days-long pause, amid fears the war is widening A liquefied natural gas tanker controlled by QatarEnergy exited the strait of Hormuz overnight – the first such vessel ⁠visible on ship-tracking data to ⁠leave the waterway ​since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday. The Al Areesh tanker , which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed ⁠out of the strait overnight on 29

Trump vowed to hit Iran ‘very hard’ after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts US troops, a day after joint US-Saudi strikes on militants in Iraq Middle East crisis – live updates The US military has launched strikes on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s attack on American forces in Jordan on Wednesday, raising the risk of a return to all-out-war in the region. The new strikes were launched hours after president Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts US troops, and comes after a days-long pause in

Riyadh’s decision to join US in strikes on Iran-backed militia further complicates widening and ‘unpredictable’ war Middle East crisis – live updates US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militia in Iraq have pushed the region into “uncharted territory”, analysts have warned. Amid stark warnings of a widening and increasingly “unpredictable” conflict, Riyadh’s decision to publicly join the US in striking sites associated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), killing at least 20 fighters, has added another complicating dimension to the war. Continue reading...

Oil price spikes after flare-up of fighting and claimed Iranian attacks on three tankers in strait of Hormuz The US military said it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi Arabia forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. The strikes on Wednesday killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups. In what Washington cast ⁠as “an attempted surprise ⁠attack” by Tehran, Iran had launched multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. Iran’s

At least 1,500 protest after six men on drug-related charges put in solitary confinement before possible execution Prisoners at Iran’s largest jail have sewn their lips shut as hundreds of them joined a mass hunger strike amid a surge in executions over drug offences and charges linked to anti-government protests. The hunger strike, involving at least 1,500 death row prisoners at Ghezel Hesar prison near Tehran, began two weeks ago after six men convicted on drug-related charges were transferred to solitary confinement before their possible execution, according to Iranian rights groups. Continue reading...

Local civil rights group alleges authorities removed evidence of killings amid communications blackout At least 30 people are alleged to have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the past two days as part of what has been claimed is a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed the disputed region for weeks. According to a local civil society group, Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, killing 25 people on Monday and five more on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Cockroach Janta party says government has broken promise, with detentions in Delhi, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement, whose nationwide protests forced the resignation of the education minister , has accused the government of backtracking on its promise not to act against student protesters and has threatened to restart demonstrations. The Cockroach Janta party (CJP), which organised mass protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said it had received reports of hundreds of students being detained or “harassed” by police. Continue reading...

Wind and record-breaking heat are fuelling the continent’s explosive fire season, with Spain and France among worst hit Explainer: what is a ‘fire cloud’, and how have they worsened wildfires in Europe? Europe wildfires live – latest updates A combination of an unusually wet winter, very low rainfall since spring and repeated record-breaking summer heatwaves is likely to explain why wildfires have ignited, spread and resisted control so readily across France and Spain in recent days . About 90% of wildfires are started by human activity, typically igniting “fine fuels” such as vegetation grass, pine needles, litter and twigs. And

In today’s newsletter: Across ​the country, a ​younger generation is turning private disillusionment into public defiance​ against a government that once felt untouchable Good morning. As flames engulfed parts of France and Spain this weekend, in India, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was trying to put out a very different kind of fire. Thousands of people arrived in Delhi on Saturday to demand the resignation of his education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. When he stepped down in the early afternoon, the protests turned into a triumphant block party. But the Cockroach protests that have swept through India this summer are about

Ally forced to resign, with opposition parties reinvigorated and strongman leader’s grip over media channels rocked Even the night before Narendra Modi accepted the resignation of his education minister, India’s prime minister appeared confident that the largest mass uprising to take place in his 12 years in power would do little to rattle his government. Addressing his “young friends” in a late-night Instagram selfie reel on Friday, he thanked the people – who were mobilised en masse across the country , shouting anti-government slogans – for their “thoughtful suggestions”. Continue reading...

Jenrick questioned about latest Guardian revelations Q: [From ITV’s Romilly Weeks] You say that Reform UK followed all the rules in relation to donations. But why did George Cottrell give $2 m to his mother shortly before she made substantial donations to the party? Jenrick said Reform was certain all the rules were followed. Any questions for Cottrell would have to be directed to him, he said. It does seem curious that in this case the police have chosen not to take action. We’ll see whether they take action against the individual who posted the original tweet, who wore the

Split vote comes as Iran war is rekindled and oil price climbs back above $90 a barrel Business live – latest updates The Bank of England has kept UK interest rates on hold as it warned that a further escalation in the Iran war could drive inflation above 4% next year, adding to cost-of-living pressures on households. Against a volatile backdrop in the Middle East conflict, the Bank’s monetary policy committee voted by six to three to keep its key base rate at the current level of 3.75%. Continue reading...

UKHSA estimates 2,877 fatalities during heatwaves in May and June, almost twice that recorded in 2025 season England is on track to record its highest ever number of heat-related deaths this summer after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced that an estimated 2,877 people had died in the May and June heatwaves. The record was set in 2022 with 2,985 deaths, and August, traditionally the hottest month, is yet to arrive. The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “My thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones as a result of the long and intense heatwaves.” Continue reading...

Chief executive says the four-year plan will lead to greater efficiency but gives no details of potential job losses Business live – latest updates Lloyds Banking Group will cut another £2bn of costs as part of a four-year plan under which its chief executive will use new tech and AI to drive growth. Charlie Nunn said the strategy, which the UK’s largest high street lender will launch in January, would involve investing £13bn into the business by 2030, including for “pioneering technology” to lure new business, improve efficiency and increase payouts for shareholders. Continue reading...

Bank’s chair pledges to keep up fight against inflation but decision brings fears of a failure to keep pace Business live – latest updates US government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 2007 after the Federal Reserve voted to hold its key interest rate steady, feeding fears that the central bank may not move fast enough to tame a rise in inflation. The yield – or interest rate – on the 30-year US Treasury bond rose 14 basis points to nearly 5.24%, a 19-year high, after the Fed announced its decision to hold its main rate at between

Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis had demanded further assurances about the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service Sign up for the US Breaking News email Gas prices are up almost a dollar a gallon since the day Donald Trump took office; mortgage rates just hit their highest level in nearly a year, and over the weekend a prominent economist said the Iran war is costing the average US household more than $1,200. Americans are struggling through a deepening affordability crisis caused largely by Trump’s ill-fated war against Iran. They are in need of a boost, something

Federal Reserve votes to hold its key interest rate steady, sending stocks tumbling. Plus: the origins of Coca-Cola may have been found Good morning. US government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 2007 after the Federal Reserve voted to hold its key interest rate steady, feeding fears it may not move fast enough to tame a rise in inflation. Kevin Warsh, the central bank’s chair, said the Fed would “not waver” in its commitment to tackling rising prices. The decision to leave rates on hold has spooked investors, who are worried about the US economy’s ability to absorb

Americans are facing a deepening affordability crisis but at least Trump and co have ... 250 new Cadillac Escalades This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday Gas prices are up almost a dollar a gallon since the day Donald Trump took office; mortgage rates just hit their highest level in nearly a year, and over the weekend a prominent economist said the Iran war is costing the average US household more than $1,200. Americans are struggling through a deepening affordability crisis caused largely by Trump’s ill-fated war against

Black voters in south motivated to turn out by Republican push to redraw maps after supreme court ruling A new analysis of Black voters in the south indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left. After the supreme court effectively gutted section 2 of the Voting Rights Act protections in late April, Republican legislatures across the south rapidly pushed to disenfranchise Black voters by redrawing congressional maps. Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama all immediately worked to pass new maps, while the Mississippi governor has

Exclusive: ministers and police chiefs examining how cases involving US military personnel on UK soil are handled after Guardian revelations The UK government and police chiefs are reviewing the process through which US military personnel accused of committing serious crimes on UK soil are avoiding the British justice system. The effort, involving multiple government departments, is examining why UK police forces, which have primary responsibility for investigating such cases, have been ceding jurisdiction to US military investigators. Continue reading...

The US military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran, including military command centres and drone facilities, in a two-hour operation launched after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East. “The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighbouring Gulf countries,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Wednesday. Iran’s state media reported that...

Five people have died after powerful gusts of wind in Brazil brought chaos to Rio de Janeiro and parts of Sao Paulo state, cutting power and bringing public transport to a standstill. Residents of Rio de Janeiro were taken by surprise when winds of up to 100km/h hit just before rush hour, felling dozens of trees and leaving thousands stranded as the city’s three subway queues ground to a halt. The fire department said in a statement that two people had died when a wall collapsed in the city of...

Lindsay Clancy sobbed in court on Wednesday as jurors listened to the anguished emergency call her then-husband made after returning from an errand to find she had strangled their three children in their Massachusetts home. On the roughly seven-minute recording, Patrick Clancy can be heard speaking with his wife upon finding her badly injured and bleeding in their yard, after she jumped from the home’s second-storey window. “Look at me,” he says. “Say my name.” He then tells the dispatcher he is...

US President Donald Trump unveiled a US$22 billion plan on Wednesday to rebuild Washington Dulles airport by replacing concourses and adding a large parking garage while preserving the landmark main terminal. The announcement is the latest in a series of major projects he has announced in and around the US capital. “It’s considered one of the ‌worst airports anywhere in the world, we’re going to make it maybe the best with some hard work,” Trump said, arguing it was time “for a major and long...

Brazil overtook Russia and Belgium in the first five months of this year to become the world’s largest importer of Chinese cars, buying US$5.2 billion worth of vehicles as brands raced to land shipments before a tariff increase took effect in July. The figure, drawn from Chinese customs data, is up 146.9 per cent from the US$2.1 billion recorded a year earlier, when Brazil ranked sixth among buyers. Russia bought US$5 billion over the same months this year and Belgium purchased US$3.8...

The man who stabbed and partially blinded author Salman Rushdie at a speaking engagement in 2022 was found guilty on Wednesday of federal terrorism charges for the attack, which prosecutors said was incited by death threats over Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. Hadi Matar, 28, already serving a 25-year prison term on state charges of attempted murder for ‌the knife assault, now faces a maximum penalty of life behind bars when he is sentenced on his federal conviction, scheduled for November...

Four women have accused Jared Leto of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, to which the actor and musician responded Wednesday that he has “never sexually assaulted anyone”. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” Leto, 54, said in a statement. The BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret, released on Wednesday, details allegations including those from four women who accused the actor of sexual misconduct...

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, a choice that may intensify questions about how US central bank chief Kevin Warsh will deliver on his commitment to bring inflation back down to the 2 per cent target. The widely ‌expected decision to leave the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50 per cent to 3.75 per cent range drew dissents from three of the 12 members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee who “preferred” a quarter-percentage-point hike at this...

The United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong shipping companies accused of operating vessels that transported Iranian oil to China, extending Washington’s economic campaign against Tehran alongside its naval blockade. The US State Department said eight companies were designated for operating vessels that moved Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates as part of Iran’s sanctions-evading “shadow fleet”. Six of the...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged on Wednesday to take difficult decisions to overhaul England’s adult social care system, saying he wanted to work with other parties to end unfair high costs for users that he likened to US healthcare. Successive governments have failed to reform adult social care, for which families can pay hundreds of thousands of pounds, after previous proposals were defeated by opposition parties ‌who dubbed them a “dementia tax” or “death tax”. Burnham did not...

French DJ and musician Kavinsky, known for his electronic classic “Nightcall”, has been found dead at his home in Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The self-taught pianist, whose real name is Vincent Belorgey, would have turned 51 on Friday. It was not immediately clear how he died, but emergency crews late on Tuesday noted nothing suspicious, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. “Nightcall” became a global hit after hit was featured in the soundtrack of 2011 movie Drive starring Ryan...

At least 15 elephants have died from exposure to a suspected poison in the Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya over a four-week period, the country’s nature conservation authorities reported on Wednesday. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the animals had died in the park, which lies along the border with Tanzania, between June 24 and July 24. The nearby Kimana Conservancy and the Kuku Ranch area have also been affected. The KWS said that 10 of the 15 elephants showed similar symptoms,...

A ⁠Norwegian teenager ⁠was convicted on Wednesday of ⁠conspiracy to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by a Swedish organised crime group that prosecutors said was being used by the Iranian government. Johannes Natland, now ‌19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March last year with two firearms and ammunition in his possession. Prosecutors said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group used by ⁠the Iranian...

Firefighters in southwest France battled an uncontained wildfire four times the size of Paris on Wednesday as temperatures were forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), threatening to turn a calm night into only a brief reprieve. Authorities in the Gironde region said the blaze had not spread overnight, but rising heat and afternoon winds could revive smouldering hotspots, carry embers across firebreaks and open new fronts beyond crews’ reach. At the command centre in Lège,...

Over the past few decades, people in many countries have witnessed extraordinary technological progress. Transport is becoming smarter, robots and drones are entering everyday life, infrastructure is growing more complex, buildings are reaching ever higher into the sky and expanding cities are drawing in millions of new residents. The number of megacities – urban areas with populations of at least 10 million – rose from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025. The United Nations expects this number to reach...

If South Korea wants to unlock access to South American trade, it will need to prove it is not a competitor interested only in extracting natural resources but a trustworthy partner committed to revitalising manufacturing industries, according to observers. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to revive negotiations on a free-trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. A joint working group...

China’s emerging advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) is not that it already has the world’s best chips or strongest frontier models. It is that Chinese companies are increasingly providing capable intelligence at a price the global market can afford. AI is fast becoming everyday infrastructure. It is metered by usage and embedded in businesses, public services and devices, much like electricity or cloud computing. In an infrastructure market, leadership depends on affordability,...

Russia’s main domestic security agency said on Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list. The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, came as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that...

The US Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as Donald Trump’s top intelligence official on Tuesday, putting a permanent chief in charge of the country’s spy agencies as the president revives unsupported election fraud claims ahead of the midterms. Senators voted 51-47 to confirm Clayton’s appointment, with all Democrats in the upper chamber voting against it. “Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a spectacular job as Director!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly after the vote. The...

Elon Musk’s social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, launched its own bank account-like product where users can send money to one another. The service, known as X Money, is not a new bank. X Money is using technology and banking services provided by Cross River Bank and branding that backbone as X Money. It is common for new financial companies to use a traditional bank’s backbone to launch their services, as chartering a new bank is a timely and costly process. Currently X Money is...

A US teenager who shot dead four people at a high school with a gun his father gave him as a Christmas present was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday. Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to carrying out the September 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder, Georgia. Gray was 14 years old when he shot dead two 14-year-old pupils and two teachers, while also wounding nine other people. He was charged as an adult. Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Gray to life in prison...

Jordan’s air defences intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early on Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the US military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. The Jordanian military said the missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed”. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard saying the Guard’s Aerospace Force...

Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally were among public figures who on Tuesday called for refugee protections to be upheld as the United Nations decried mounting pressure ‌on asylum systems. Legal safeguards for refugees are enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, drafted in the aftermath of World War II, which displaced tens of millions of people. But while most people still support the principle of safe refuge, many governments are tightening border...

The man on trial in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie chose on Tuesday not to testify or call any witnesses in the federal terrorism case, which is expected to head to the jury as soon as Wednesday. Hadi Matar’s lawyer told the court that the 28-year-old – who already has been convicted of state-level attempted murder charges – would not take the stand at his trial on charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. “At this time, the defence rests,” lawyer Nathaniel Barone said....

Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru’s president on Tuesday after winning the June presidential run-off by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, a victory that confirmed a regional shift in South America towards the conservative wing. With the ceremony, Fujimori, a four-time presidential candidate and leader of Peru’s largest political party, takes office as the country’s ninth president in a decade. The 51-year-old was hoping to stabilise Peru’s turbulent politics, reduce crime and boost economic...

US President Donald Trump voiced ⁠irritation with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their White House meeting on Tuesday, complaining that details of the Israeli prime minister’s planned talking points on Iran had surfaced publicly, in a fresh sign of strain between the two leaders. Asked about reports that Netanyahu wanted to talk to him about Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname: “I don’t need...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought licences to produce Patriot air-defence interceptors during a “good meeting” with US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, as he underscored Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses. Zelensky spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came with Kyiv and Moscow intensifying long-range strikes as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled. “Today we had good meeting with President...

Firefighters raced on Tuesday to subdue huge wildfires that have forced unprecedented evacuations of tens of thousands of people across France and Spain, as western Europe braced for another heatwave. The fires have torn through a region already battered by a blisteringly hot and dry summer. Crews were seeking to capitalise on more favourable weather before a new wave of higher temperatures settled in from Wednesday. In the Bordeaux region of France, firefighters contained ‌the forest blaze...

US President Donald Trump eulogised Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday as a fixture of American politics and unflinching foreign policy hawk, as the leaders of Israel and Ukraine joined Washington’s most powerful at his funeral. Earlier in the day, lawmakers paid tribute at the Capitol Rotunda, remembering one of the last prominent Republicans to advocate for muscular US military power abroad as gregarious, funny and persuasive. “He was extremely hawkish – he never saw a war that he...

Footprints left on a muddy lakeshore in northern Kenya ⁠around 1.43 million years ago are providing new insight into the size and behaviour of a species in the human evolutionary lineage that was the last of its kind, known for extensive anatomical adaptations for eating tough vegetation. The species, Paranthropus boisei, is known mostly from skull and tooth fossils. Now researchers working along the eastern side of Kenya’s Lake Turkana have identified 21 footprints made by eight individuals of...

Oman presented ⁠Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had yet to respond to the Omani proposals, intended to serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week US bombing campaign over the...

In Orwellian totalitarianism, two plus two can equal five. But with American hegemony, things can be A and not A at the same time. Earlier this month, Washington declared war on the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose very existence, it claims, poses an “intolerable” challenge to America’s sovereignty. But, citing an international maritime law, it also led a coalition of 14 mainly Western countries in issuing a joint statement in support of a 10-year-old South China Sea arbitration ruling...

Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ongoing Ebola outbreak reached 3,262, its ministry of health said in an overnight update, nearly the same as the 2018-2020 outbreak that is the largest ever recorded in the country. Data from the Congolese health ministry showed that 1,437 patients have died out of the 3,262 cases, in what officials have said is the fastest Ebola outbreak on record, concentrated in the eastern Ituri province. The 2018-2020 outbreak that was recorded in Congo...

On a road ⁠in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, Palestinian resident Assem Dawla loaded mattresses and ⁠bags onto a truck as concrete yellow blocks marking the edge of Israel’s expanding military zone stood amid the rubble nearby. He said it was the seventh or eighth time since the war began that he and his family had been forced to leave a shelter because of Israeli evacuation orders and the advance of what residents call the yellow line. Zeitoun is one of at least five locations across Gaza where...

An American company found itself under attack by American artificial intelligence systems. Its unlikely rescuer was a Chinese AI model. It sounds like a Hollywood science fiction film. It’s not. During an internal test, advanced OpenAI models bypassed network restrictions, gained access to the internet and launched autonomous cyberattacks on open-source platform Hugging Face. As engineers rushed to respond, several leading closed-source AI systems reportedly failed to provide meaningful help...

A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. Put another way, that means the inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather. It was making its own. The thundercloud also produced violent, erratic winds capable of driving the flames in new directions. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, is rare in Europe...

US diplomats walked out as their French counterparts were speaking at the United Nations on Monday after America’s close European ally criticised the Trump administration’s human rights record. The surprise move during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine followed US opposition to giving UN human rights chief Volker Turk another four-year term. The reappointment on Friday got overwhelming support, including from France. The US walkout reflects not only the more strained relations between...

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order from US President Donald Trump that could dramatically change mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Justice Department asked the justices to halt for now lower court decisions blocking the sweeping changes in nearly half the country. The request comes soon after Trump delivered an address elevating his years-long push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of elections and could...

There were at least three suspects involved in a shoot-out at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend, police said Monday. One of them was among those killed in the violence. In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, where a 15-year-old arrested in the case waived his initial appearance Monday, police said they believe there were at least three shooters: the 15-year-old, an acquaintance who died at the scene and “at least one other unknown suspect”....

A judge ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to put D4vd on trial in the killing and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship and crater the indie-pop singer’s rising career just a few days before his debut album dropped. “i will end ur career and ur life,” she told him in a text message sent the night before her death. Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo decided that evidence presented during a preliminary...

US TV show host Savannah Guthrie has said in a new video that her family is living an unending nightmare nearly six months after her mother’s disappearance and pleads with her kidnappers: “Tell us where to look for her”. The video, released on Monday, is the latest public plea from the Today presenter about 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie since her disappearance on February 1 from her home just outside Tucson, Arizona. Savannah Guthrie said her family will never stop looking for her. “The world can be...

When Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), met Jiang Feng, head of China’s mission to the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-July, the message was practical. They signed a handover certificate that brought Beijing’s direct emergency support for the Ebola response to US$4.5 million. A five-member Chinese medical team was already working in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital of Kinshasa. Kaseya described the contribution as...

Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and tourist region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighbouring Spain. They were racing against the clock as another heatwave is expected to hit both countries later this week in what has been a blisteringly hot and dry summer across western Europe. Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and ‌local residents, in France, while...

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate will remain in prison for at least two more weeks until their next hearing as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom, where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafficking, a federal judge said on Monday. US Magistrate Lauren Louis set a detention hearing for August 13 to determine whether the Tates should stay in jail or be released during what could be a months-long extradition process. The brothers were not in court on Monday or...

Armed officers will be deployed for the UK’s largest Pride festival, police said following the attack on Berlin’s Pride event. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the “absolutely horrific” van and stabbing attack in the German capital that left one person dead and injured at least 29 others. The suspect – named as Abdul B and said to have links to Islamic State – was shot dead by police on Sunday after being on the run for nearly 24 hours. He was suspected of slamming a van into people...

Bonds sold off sharply after the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision, signaling growing turmoil between the markets and the central bank.

More people who lost coverage after congressional Republicans ended enhanced federal subsidies are now seeking care in emergency rooms and unable to pay bills.

John Cornyn and Thom Tillis accused the nominee for attorney general of refusing to put on paper his promise to kill aspects of the deal he cut to settle President Trump’s suit against the agency.

Hundreds of bases are contaminated with PFAS, which are linked to low birth weight and other risks. Politicians from both parties are demanding explanations.

Russian missiles have briefly entered Polish airspace in the past. Investigators have yet to definitively identify the object that struck Poland overnight.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that a family of five had been killed at home in the latest in a series of large-scale aerial assaults by Moscow.

China’s A.I. rise is creating a new dilemma for Beijing. The open models that win influence abroad may pose risks to the country’s security and geopolitical strategy.

Researchers at Caltech and Sophia Space, a start-up, have developed a technology using solar power to prevent computer equipment from overheating in orbit.

The dispute highlights how robotics has become the latest battleground in the intensifying technological and industrial rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

Greece also worked to contain blazes on Lesbos and in the Peloponnese, where another firefighter died, in the midst of a brutal wildfire season for Europe.

As Europe’s climate warms, even moorlands and forests in the Cairngorms, in the Scottish Highlands, have fallen victim to rapidly spreading flames.

A warming planet and a shift away from farming have set the stage for larger fires on the continent. “We must learn to coexist with them,” one report said.

Untreated and undiagnosed, the crews that save lives in the roughest seas face the relentless pounding of waves.

As increased rain makes grasslands and cornfields possible in areas that once were deserts, the world’s largest beef importer is becoming more self-reliant by expanding domestic herds.

For nearly three weeks, restaurants and other small businesses in the shadow of the former Pfizer building were shut when the tower began to buckle.

The Department of Buildings ordered work to stop on certain floors at 750 Third Avenue. It’s the third conversion project to have work halted since one became dangerously unstable earlier this month.

Savion Glover, Honey Balenciaga and other artists from the world of performance share their favorites, from era-defining musicals to art-house dramas.

Fauci and the D.S.A. have a lot to answer for.

Aging politicians are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

We look at the ongoing fight between the Trump administration and James Comey.

“I can’t believe I have to say this to Donald Trump, but can you just lie to us?” Jordan Klepper said on “The Daily Show.”

We’re looking for college and high school students to tell us about A.I.

The rise and fall of pinot noir symbolizes the larger struggles of the wine industry as younger generations turn to other beverages.