Minimalist News

China Has Officially Overtaken Tesla In The Global EV Race Chinese automakers, led by BYD, are rapidly reshaping the global electric-vehicle market and challenging long-established brands such as Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW—and even Tesla, according to the Wall Street Journal. Once dismissed by Western buyers, Chinese EVs are now gaining wide acceptance. “These Chinese cars look fantastic,” one shopper said while browsing a BYD model in London, reflecting a broader shift in perception. BYD has emerged as the most powerful symbol of China’s rise in electric vehicles. The company replaced Tesla as the world’s biggest EV seller and delivered more than one million vehicles

'Saving The Family' Should Start With Sound Money Authored by Jeffery L. Degner and Thomas Savidge via TheDailyEconomy.org, In the opening week of 2026, several scholars at the Heritage Foundation published a special report titled “Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years.” This 168-page document covers myriad policies that negatively impact the American family and proposes solutions to those problems. Some, largely the solutions that propose repealing and reforming existing systems, can help families. But the calls to subsidize traditional family life will come with a host of unintended consequences. The nation is indeed facing a demographic crisis,

The EU-US $800BN Postwar Ukraine 'Prosperity' Plan Which Should Outrage MAGA Ukraine is now begging the EU and US for $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years at a moment its prospects on the battlefield look no better than a year ago. This reportedly includes an ask of $800 billion for "reconstruction" and $700 billion for "military purposes". Politico is reporting Friday that EU leadership has circulated a confidential document to European heads of state outlining Ukraine's financial needs for the initial $800 billion for rebuilding the country - a figure which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said would be comparable to

AI-Induced Cultural Stagnation Is No Longer Speculation − It's Already Happening Authored by Ahmed Elgammal, via The Conversation Generative AI was trained on centuries of art and writing produced by humans. But scientists and critics have wondered what would happen once AI became widely adopted and started training on its outputs. A new study points to some answers. In January 2026, artificial intelligence researchers Arend Hintze, Frida Proschinger Åström and Jory Schossau published a study showing what happens when generative AI systems are allowed to run autonomously – generating and interpreting their own outputs without human intervention. The researchers linked a text-to-image system with an image-to-text system and let them iterate –

In Humiliating Retreat, Starmer Forced To Pull Chagos Bill After Trump Backlash Trump wins again - or rather, Europe caves again. On Friday UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced into an abrupt and humiliating retreat after his plan for the Chagos Islands detonated backlash in Washington. Starmer had been preparing to ram the controversial legislation through the House of Lords on Monday, only for the bill to be yanked late Friday on growing fears it could unravel a 60-year-old US-UK treaty, which is the foundational Cold War-era deal that allows the US to operate the Diego Garcia military base on the

With Control Of Virginia, Democrats Go Into A Tax And Regulatory Frenzy Authored by Jonathan Turley, In the last election, Democrats again campaigned as moderates, including Abigail Spanberger. Once in control of the Governor’s mansion and the legislature, however, Virginia Democrats have moved quickly to fulfill the worst stereotype of a tax-hungry, economy-crushing party. The Democrats introduced an array of new taxes on every aspect of life. At the same time, Spanberger moved to take control of Virginia universities and colleges after years of trying to move those schools to the center. Now, members are pushing rent control legislation and defining landlords as “gougers” if they

New Gig Economy Job: Train AI That Replaces You A Bay Area startup called Mercor has hired tens of thousands of white-collar contractors for temporary work, training artificial intelligence to perform the very jobs many of them once held, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. In effect, these white-collar workers are being paid to accelerate their own obsolescence by feeding and perfecting models for chatbot makers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic. What is marketed as short-term income increasingly looks like participation in a system that is not on "team humanity," but instead is perfecting AI's ability to hollow out even more

Crypto Takeaways From Davos: Politics And Money Collide Authored by Yohan Yun via CoinTelegraph.com, While geopolitical tensions and the Greenland standoff set the tone at Davos 2026, crypto resurfaced as a secondary but consequential theme. US President Donald Trump used a few minutes of his Davos speech to double down on his ambition to turn the US into the world’s crypto capital and voice support for crypto-friendly legislation. His tone was different from central banks. In a panel with crypto bigwigs, the governor of the Bank of France criticized private money and yield-bearing stablecoins while promoting central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Crypto executives debated money sovereignty with

Horton: "Zionism Ultimately Is The Achilles Heel In America First" Last night, ZeroHedge hosted Scott Horton and former Trump NSC chief of staff Fred Fleitz for a wide-ranging discussion on the question: How successful has President Trump's foreign policy agenda been so far in his second term? Much of the exchange revealed shared criticism of post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy’s belligerence towards Russia. Horton and Fleitz diverged as the theatres of conflict expanded, most notably in the Middle East and principally on the American government’s relationship to Israel. Here were the highlights for those who missed it, and check out David Rand’s Human

The Case Against Declaring Artificial General Intelligence Authored by Lewis Liu via CityAM.com, * Today’s AI systems fail badly in out-of-distribution scenarios, as shown by their inability to interpret real-world geopolitical crises. * Large language models reflect the ideological biases of their creators, undermining claims of neutral “general” intelligence. * The real economic opportunity lies in tightly governed artificial narrow intelligence, not in premature claims of AGI. “AGI is here, now.” That’s Sequoia Capital this week, one of Silicon Valley’s most legendary venture firms and a major OpenAI investor, declaring we’ve crossed the threshold into artificial general intelligence. Their post also proclaims, in big bold

"Sleeping On The Job": DC Opens Medicaid Investigation Following Nurse And Aide Neglect Claims D.C.’s inspector general has opened an investigation after complaints surfaced about home health nurses and aides allegedly sleeping while on duty, following a News4 I-Team report that included hours of video showing caregivers appearing to sleep overnight, according to NBC. The investigation stems from the account of Damon Brooks, a D.C. resident who shared his experience publicly in December. His story, viewed by more than half a million people online, described repeated instances where he said caregivers failed to respond when he needed assistance. NBC writes that Brooks, a paraplegic

DHS Says Mahmoud Khalil May Be Sent To Algeria Authored by Arjun Singh via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said on Jan. 21 that Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist at the center of the Trump administration’s deportation battles, may be removed to Algeria. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who leads the department’s Office of Public Affairs, made the announcement during an appearance on the NewsNation show “Katie Pavlich Tonight” in response to a question about Khalil. “It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a reminder for those

Watch: Convicted Minnesota Scammer Says Walz, Ellison Were Aware Of $250M Fraud The media has been giving quite a lot of attention to Aimee Bock, the head of a Minnesota nonprofit at the center of the largest pandemic relief fraud in the nation's history - which she now says Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison had to have known about. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, June 12, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) To review; Bock's organization, Feeding Our Future, fraudulently signed off on $250 million in federal

Davos Is Dead: Western Civ Has Suffered Enough... Authored by James Howard Kunstler, UP IN SMOKE > “This is how tyranny looks in the modern world. It arrives dressed as dialogue, consensus, and expertise. It is imposed by people who sincerely believe they are doing nothing at all.” > > - DataRepublican Davos — The World Economic Forum (WEF)— is toast. Trump, Bessent, and Lutnick exposed the wretched org of overcompensated squishes to too much light and heat and it flared into such a pathetic little smoldering cinder that its spoxpersons said the meeting might get moved out of Davos altogether next year to Dublin

Trump Says US 'Armada' Moving Towards Iran Via Middle East Eye US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is sending an "armada" towards Iran, threatening Tehran against resuming its nuclear program. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after returning from meetings with world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said Washington was closely monitoring Iran as US naval assets moved into the region. "We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case," Trump said. "I'd rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely." Source: @CopernicusEU satellite imagery He added: "We have an armada heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have

Here Come Humanoid Robots: Industry Makes Clear Pivot Toward "Dedicated-Purpose" Commercial Deployments Goldman analyst Jacqueline Du published her field trip notes after speaking with six C-level management teams at robotics companies across Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in recent days. The companies she met with include Unitree, Mechmind, Fourier, LimX Dynamics, UBTech, EngineAI, Paxini, and Orbbec. "Overall, we see the humanoid robot industry is experiencing a clear pivot towards 'dedicated-purpose' commercial deployments," Du told clients on Thursday morning. > Home humanoid robots are getting closer. > > Shenzhen MindOne Robotics is testing their robot brain on the Unitree G1, and it looks like the G1

Homeland Security Seeks To Restrict Immigrants From Relying On Welfare Authored by Sylvia Xu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking to change a rule that determines eligibility for permanent residency—commonly known as a green card—based on whether an applicant is considered a “public charge,” someone who is likely to depend primarily on public benefits. That rule—known as the public charge ground of inadmissibility—generally applies to green card applicants, with the exception of certain categories such as refugees and asylum seekers. In 2022, 54 percent of households headed by immigrants—naturalized, legal, and illegal—used one or more major

The Next 10 Days Of Winter: The Worst In 40 Years Across The US Submitted by @RyanMaue, A meteorologist's main purpose: keep you alive, and marked safe.✅ There is nothing we can do to stop this epic week of weather, and believe me, I have been trying to find silver linings or rays of sunlight. So, the best preparation is fresh, accurate, and expert information from trusted sources. While every new weather model run (alphabet soup of acronyms) shows slight adjustments in who gets the most freezing rain (ice) and snowfall❄️ there is little doubt about the aftermath of the massive ice storm: hazardous cold

Trump Touts "Total And Permanent" Access To Greenland, While Nobody Has Any Clue What's In The Deal Trump said on Thursday he had secured "total and permanent" US access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.  News of a framework deal came as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by force, bringing to an end what was brewing to be the biggest rupture in transatlantic ties in decades. Yet despite the optimism, details of any

US Homicide Rate Plummets To 125-Year Low, Group Reports Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, Crime rates continued to fall in 2025, with homicide rates expected to drop to about 4.0 per 100,000 residents, “the lowest rate recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900,” according to a new report published by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) on Jan. 22. Based on an analysis of crime trends in 40 large American cities, homicides are down 21 percent from 2024, and 44 percent from the recent peak of 2021, the CCJ said. Last year’s decline in criminal

Court says alleged abuse and trafficking offences occurred outside Spain, leaving it without jurisdiction Spanish prosecutors have shelved a complaint brought by two women who have accused the singer Julio Iglesias of sexual assault and human trafficking, arguing the country’s courts have no jurisdiction as the alleged offences took place outside Spain. Two female former employees who worked at Iglesias’s Caribbean mansions 10 days ago accused the veteran entertainer of sexual assault, saying they had been subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”. Continue reading...

Ryan Wedding turned himself in at US consulate in Mexico City and is due to appear in court in California on Monday Ryan Wedding, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, has been arrested after turning himself in at the US embassy in Mexico, law enforcement officials announced on Friday. Wedding, 44, had been sought by the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for his role in overseeing what the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, called the “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” in the world. Continue reading...

Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did not cooperate after capture of Maduro The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers. On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us”. Continue reading...

While leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on, Mark Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. Continue reading...

Vote on legislation falls just short of number needed for passage, showing Mike Johnson’s tenuous hold on majority The US House has rejected a resolution that would have prevented Donald Trump from sending US military forces to Venezuela, after a vote on the legislation fell just short of the majority needed for passage. The tied vote was the latest sign of House speaker Mike Johnson’s tenuous hold on the majority, as well as some of the growing pushback in the Republican-controlled Congress to the US president’s aggressions in the western hemisphere. A Senate vote on a similar resolution was also tied last

US policy document suggests South Korea take primary responsibility, as Pentagon prioritises defending US homeland The Pentagon foresees a “more limited” role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea taking primary responsibility for the task, a Pentagon policy document released on Friday said, in a move likely to raise concern in Seoul. South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defence against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defence budget by 7.5% for this year. Continue reading...

Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui site switch to recovery operation that police say could take several days Efforts to rescue six people buried by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended on Saturday, with police shifting into a recovery operation. Police Supt Tim Anderson said human remains had been uncovered on Friday night beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, adding that it could take several days to locate all of the victims due to the unstable ground. Continue reading...

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe. For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100

Search-and-rescue teams worked through the night at the campground, but there had been no progress in finding missing people, officials say New Zealand is ‘full of grief”, the prime minister has said, after landslides tore through a house and busy campground, leaving two dead and at least six victims still missing. Police said emergency crews were still searching for at least six people, including two teenagers, believed missing beneath the debris of a landslide which struck a Mount Maunganui campsite on Thursday morning. Police were attempting to contact another three people. Families enjoying the summer school holiday were among the campers. Recreational

Operator says it does not know when the problem at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province will be solved, after an alarm sounded during start-up The restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday just a day after it went online for the first time in about 14 years, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem will be solved. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but operations to relaunch it began on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator. Continue

In casting doubt on Nato’s reliability, US president references Afghanistan campaign – which involved 40,000 Australian troops and left 47 dead * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The head of Australia’s largest veteran organisation has categorically rejected Donald Trump’s claim that allied soldiers “stayed a little back” from the frontlines when they supported the US campaign in Afghanistan, calling the comments “unfathomable”. The US president made the comments on Fox News on Thursday, saying he was “not sure” Nato would meet the “ultimate test” of defending the US if it were under threat. Continue reading...

Family confirms boy has died almost a week after the attack, describing him as possessing the ‘most kind and generous spirit’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A 12-year-old boy has died in hospital after being mauled by a shark in Sydney Harbour last weekend, his family has confirmed. The boy, named as Nico Antic in an online fundraiser, had been fighting for his life after being bitten on both legs on 18 January at a harbour beach in Vaucluse, in Sydney’s east. Continue reading...

Police reveal Julian Ingram reported to local officers as part of his bail conditions hours before the shootings * Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Police have widened the search for a gunman suspected of killing his pregnant former partner and two others in remote New South Wales, as police explore whether the Lake Cargelligo local may be receiving help to evade authorities. Julian Ingram, 37, was last seen driving out of Lake Cargelligo, in the NSW central west, on Thursday. Police suspect he is

Exclusive: Comparison of online ‘per each’ price of 15 fruits and vegetables against price per kilogram found ‘completely arbitrary’ price variations * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Supermarkets are increasingly charging customers for fresh produce by the item, rather than by weight, in a strategy that is leading to “wild volatility” in pricing with some items more than 50% more expensive, new analysis shows. A Sydney-based data analyst who compared the “per each” price online with the actual “per kilo” shelf price of 15 fruits and vegetables at their local Woolworths store found the price variations

Canadian backpacker, 19, was found dead on K’gari island earlier this week surrounded by pack of wild dingoes The autopsy of Piper James, whose body was found on K’gari surrounded by a pack of dingoes, has found “physical evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with dingo bites”. The Canadian backpacker’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy when the 19-year-old was found dead on a beach on Monday on the world heritage-listed island formerly known as Fraser Island off the Queensland coast. Continue reading...

Preliminary report suggests fracture could have existed before high-speed train derailed in Andalucía Experts investigating the deadly rail collision in southern Spain, which killed 45 people and left dozens more injured, believe the accident may have happened after one of the trains passed over a damaged section of rail. The disaster occurred near the Andalucían town of Adamuz on Sunday, when a high-speed train operated by Iryo, a private company, derailed and collided with an oncoming high-speed train operated by the state rail company, Renfe. Continue reading...

Moscow repeats call for Ukraine to leave Donbas before first trilateral talks since start of invasion in February 2022 Ukraine, Russia and the US have begun three-way talks for the first time since Russia’s full-scale military invasion began in February 2022, but with the Kremlin maintaining its maximalist demands for Ukrainian territory, it is unclear whether Donald Trump will be able to broker a ceasefire even by putting heavy pressure on Kyiv. The talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday are the highest-level known summit between the three sides since the beginning of the war, and come as Trump’s demands to take over

Nord and Pas-de-Calais prefecture aims to stop anti-migrant groups travelling for ‘Operation Overlord’ protest French authorities have announced a sweeping ban on British far-right activists planning to take part in a “stop the boats” protest against asylum seekers hoping to cross the Channel to the UK. Friday’s announcement by the prefecture in northern France goes further than a previous ban by the French interior ministry on 10 unnamed far-right activists associated with the organisation Raise the Colours for “having carried out actions on French soil”. Continue reading...

Two days of rare trilateral discussions have begun but hopes are low amid continued territorial demands by Russia The European Commission has offered a bit more detail on the deployment of 447 emergency generators from EU reserves to Ukraine, mentioned in the earlier post (12:33). “The generators – mobilised from rescEU strategic reserves hosted in Poland – will be distributed by the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most affected communities. The EU will not let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission and will continue helping Ukrainians get through this winter.” They are

Kanaan, a symbol of dining across religious and political divides, will shut its doors ‘probably in March’, say owners An Israeli-Palestinian restaurant in Berlin conceived as an “island of peace” will close in the spring, but its Jewish and Arab owners say their dream will live on in a television series based on their unlikely partnership. Kanaan, a decade-old casual eatery in the Prenzlauer Berg district of the German capital, gained an international profile for its message of “unity over hate” after the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas and the outbreak of the Gaza war. Continue reading...

US president says ‘we have a lot of ships’ going in that direction and that Washington is watching Iran closely Donald Trump has said an American “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002. Speaking on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight, he said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada …

Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry The United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel. The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part

Judge shelves inquiry into use of Israeli-made software to target ministers’ phones citing chronic lack of cooperation Spain’s highest criminal court has again shelved its investigation into the use of Israeli-made Pegasus software to target the mobile phones of senior Spanish ministers, including the prime minister, citing a chronic lack of cooperation from the Israeli authorities that has violated “the principle of good faith” between countries. The investigation began in May 2022 after the Spanish government revealed that the phones of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the defence minister, Margarita Robles, had been infected the previous year with the spyware, which,

Blueprint presented by Jared Kushner shows unified Gaza run by Palestinians, with Rafah crossing to open next week Amid the hullabaloo and self-congratulation of Donald Trump’s “board of peace” launch in Davos, his administration laid out specific plans for the short- and long-term future of Gaza, aimed at a lasting peace. The blueprint set out on Thursday was extremely ambitious. It envisages a unified Palestinian-run Gaza, which represents a rebuff to the aims of Israeli extremists, including some in the governing coalition, who have sought the deportation of Gaza’s population and the building of Israeli settlements in its place. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says Britain supports president’s Gaza plan but there are concerns around involvement of Putin * UK politics live – latest updates * Davos live – latest updates Britain will not join Donald Trump’s “board of peace” on Thursday, Yvette Cooper has said, citing concerns about Russian involvement. The foreign secretary said the UK strongly supported the US president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which he is seeking to draw attention to at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

Home Office to set targets for response times and victim satisfaction as home secretary takes powers to intervene directly Police forces will face new targets for crime fighting and those performing poorly will be named and shamed under government plans to take sweeping powers over law enforcement. The new plans come as part of changes to policing in England and Wales to be announced on Monday by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood. The Home Office claims the reforms are the biggest in two centuries. Continue reading...

PM joins veterans in condemning claim that troops avoided frontlines and suggests US president should apologise Keir Starmer has issued an unprecedented rebuke to Donald Trump for his “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about British troops in Afghanistanand suggested he should apologise. After a week of fractious relations with the White House, Starmer said he was not surprised that relatives of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan were hurt by Trump claiming they avoided the frontline. Continue reading...

Alleged attacks took place in Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire against two prominent supporters of jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan Three men have been charged after a series of “highly targeted” attacks against two Pakistani dissidents living in Britain. Police carried out a series of seven raids and arrests this week in London, Essex and the Midlands after four attacks, which began on Christmas Eve. Continue reading...

Judge described Nick Gratwick’s crimes – which included plotting to rape children as young as six – as ‘the stuff of nightmares’ A “dangerous” paedophile who had worked as a police informer spying on environmental and animal rights activists has been jailed for life. Nick Gratwick had been found guilty of 38 offences, including arranging to rape children as young as six in the UK and abroad. Continue reading...

Angela Rayner is expected to urge PM to let Greater Manchester mayor stand in Gorton and Denton byelection Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure not to block Andy Burnham from making a comeback to parliament, with Angela Rayner planning to urge No 10 to let him stand in a forthcoming byelection. The prime minister’s allies have been trying to prevent Burnham’s return as a candidate in the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton, amid fears he could challenge the leadership. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. Talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States have begun in Abu Dhabi, according to the United Arab Emirates’ ministry of foreign affairs. The UAE is hosting a rare set of trilateral talks, bringing together negotiators from Russia, Ukraine, and the US. The talks have started today, and are scheduled to continue over the next two days. Continue reading...

DHS detain a toddler and her father on Thursday and fly them to Texas before returning child on judge’s order Federal immigration agents detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis on Thursday and transported them to Texas, according to court records and the family’s lawyers. The father, identified in court filings as Elvis Joel TE, and his daughter were stopped and detained by officers around 1pm when they were returning home from the store. By the evening, a federal judge had ordered the girl be released by 9.30pm. But federal officials instead put both of them on a plane heading

Release of third activist, William Kelly, also involved in the demonstrations was also ordered by a judge Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, who were arrested and charged for their role in an anti-ICE demonstration that disrupted Sunday church services in St Paul, Minnesota, have been released. Video of the two women posted online showed them emerging from detention on Friday, raising their fists and embracing their loved ones. “Thank you all for being here,” Levy Armstrong said. “Glory to God!” Continue reading...

The detention of Liam Conejo Ramos, age five, marks the turbocharging of a policy discontinued five years ago This week, ICE’s detention of a five-year-old boy wearing a Spider Man backpack in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights quickly became a defining image of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement. Furious critics, including many local politicians, seized on Liam Ramos’s ordeal as glaring evidence that Trump’s mass deportation campaign has little to do with crime and a lot to do with terrorizing children and their families. A homeland security spokesperson said ICE officers took the boy into custody only after his father

Since September, military has carried out more than 30 strikes against boats that it alleges smuggle drugs The US military said on Friday that it carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command said in a statement. Continue reading...

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met ‌in Abu Dhabi on Friday to tackle the vital issue of territory, with no sign of a compromise, as Russian air strikes plunged Ukraine into its worst ‍energy crisis of the nearly four-year war. Kyiv is under mounting US pressure to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky...

Having studied and lived in North America in my youth and now middle age, one thing I have come to realise is that there is not one Canada but several, not one United States but many. Another is the contrasting national sentiments about equality – a fundamental Canadian value enshrined in its constitution – and inequality, which is not only tolerated or ignored but even celebrated in many powerful circles in the US, including the current White House. Canadians are generally proud of their...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call late on Thursday, during which both leaders stressed the need to defend the authority of the United Nations (UN) and to strengthen cooperation across the Global South, according to official readouts. The call, confirmed by both governments on Friday, took place amid heightened geopolitical tension that has strained the multilateral system and produced new frictions in Latin America and...

US President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed out a Commerce Department official whose office effectively barred ‍nearly all Chinese cars from the US market for national security reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. Elizabeth “Liz” Cannon has resigned as executive director for Information and Communications Technology and Services, an office created in 2022 to investigate threats to the supply chain from foreign adversaries, the people said. News of Cannon’s impending...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called US President Donald Trump’s comments about European troops staying off the front lines in Afghanistan ‍insulting and appalling, joining a chorus of criticism from other European officials and veterans. “I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling, and I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt for the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” Starmer told reporters. When asked whether he would demand an apology from...

Valentino, Italy’s haute couture “emperor”, was laid to rest in Rome on Friday, with the distinctive red ‌he championed in his collections echoed in splashes of crimson among the black-clad mourners. The biggest ‍names in fashion – including Donatella Versace, Tom Ford and Maria Grazia Chiuri – gathered in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, a church designed by Michelangelo and built on the ruins of ancient Roman baths. Valentino’s co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti, dressed ⁠in a sharply...

Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who was among the FBI’s top fugitives and faces charges related to multinational drug trafficking and the killing of a federal witness, was arrested on Friday, two people familiar with the matter told Associated Press. Wedding, 44, is accused of running a drug trafficking operation and officials say he orchestrated several killings to further the drug crimes. He was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and authorities had offered a US$15 million...

Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering ‌Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter ‍said ahead of the border’s expected opening next week. The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, announced on Thursday that the Rafah Border Crossing – effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million...

Despite a slowing economy, recurring trade frictions and intensifying price competition, the value of China’s exports rose in 2025 by 6.1 per cent, year on year, to a record 26.98 trillion yuan (US$3.87 trillion) – cementing its position as the world’s largest trading nation. Behind that growth, China’s export machine is increasingly being shaped by coastal concentration and industrial upgrading, with market diversification cushioning external shocks at the cost of weaker prices and thinner...

An investigation into last weekend’s high-speed train collision in Spain that killed 45 people suggests the track was cracked before the catastrophe, according to a preliminary report published on Friday. The shell-shocked country is searching for answers to one of Europe’s deadliest such accidents this century, which has raised doubts about the safety of the world’s second-largest high-speed rail network. The disaster struck in the southern region of Andalusia on Sunday evening when a train run...

US President Donald Trump stole the show at the World Economic Forum in Davos, but he may have also made the annual gabfest of the global elite relevant again – at least for a week. The relevance of the gathering of CEOs and political leaders in the Swiss Alps is regularly questioned by critics who deride it as an out-of-touch echo chamber where little gets done. But all eyes were on this year’s Davos as Trump barrelled into town with a geopolitical storm hanging over the picturesque ski resort,...

A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family’s lawyer said, making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb to be detained by immigration officers in recent weeks. Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family’s driveway Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters on Wednesday. The...

In a week marked by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration as US president and a Davos-based melodrama over his ambitions to own Greenland, it is perhaps timely to review this first year of Trump 2.0 and look into the second. First, one has to be in awe of the frenetic energy of Trump, who celebrates his 80th birthday in June. Whatever one makes of his meandering, insulting, overbearing and frequently inaccurate address in Davos, made right off his flights from Washington,...

The economic benefits of China’s abundant and cheap supply of electricity were recognised by US tech billionaire Elon Musk and other speakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. As the United States and the European Union contemplate how to catch up, Tesla CEO Musk said the artificial intelligence (AI) industry was facing an energy bottleneck around the globe – with AI chips being produced rapidly and electricity output struggling to keep up – apart from the notable...

US President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join ‌his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s about-face follows Canadian Prime ‍Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its ⁠invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what...

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with US President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon overnight talks, and the Kremlin insisted that the territorial issue needs to be resolved to reach a peace deal. The Kremlin meeting, which lasted past 3am on Friday, came hours after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticised his European allies on Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response to Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Baby bust: China births plunge 17% in 2025 to historic low as population shrinks China’s birth count plummeted to a record low last year, falling by about 10 million from its 2016 peak and slashing the total by more than half in less...

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday said he was not surprised the Trump administration blocked his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland the day before, saying it was another example of the US president trying to stifle dissent. “Is it surprising the Trump administration didn’t like my commentary and wanted to make sure that I was not allowed to speak? No,” said Newsom, who is weighing a 2028 presidential run. “It’s consistent with this administration and their...

US President Donald ‌Trump said on Thursday that the United States has an “armada” heading towards Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as ‍he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear programme. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers would arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. One official said additional air-defence systems were also being eyed for...

The recent drama surrounding US action in Venezuela, its renewed interest in Greenland and tariff threats on governments that object, along with comments on Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, appear disjointed – part diplomacy, part law enforcement, part political theatre. Like many observers, I rely on the news to try to make sense of the policy logic and what it may mean for those who have to live with its consequences. Washington’s rationale for its actions in Venezuela was initially framed as law...

Photographs of fresh bruising on Donald Trump’s hand raised eyebrows on Thursday, but the 79-year-old US president dismissed renewed speculation over his health, saying he had simply hit a table. Trump has been seen with frequent bruising on his right hand since returning to the White House last year, often concealing it with bandages and make-up. The White House has said it is due to a combination of frequent handshaking and the aspirin he takes for his cardiovascular health, which can lead to...

China will closely monitor developments in Greenland as it seeks to become an important player in Arctic affairs. Still, Beijing is unlikely to respond with any major action in the near future to counter US President Donald Trump’s bid to annex the island, analysts said. “The Arctic is certainly a central matter for policy for China, and they know it’s going to be important in the future, especially with climate change,” said Eurasia Group’s China practice head, David Meale. In his escalated...

One year after President Donald Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the World Health Organization, the process was formally completed on Thursday, though the nation is leaving behind unpaid debt of roughly US$260 million. All funding to the health agency has been terminated and people working with the WHO have been recalled from all offices and its headquarters, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday. The US has also ended all participation in WHO-sponsored leadership...

The Trump administration is allowing ‌China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at “unfair, undercut” prices at which ‍Caracas sold the crude before the US removed President Nicolas Maduro, a US official said on Thursday. While the oil will be sold in the global marketplace, the administration has required that the majority be ⁠sold to the United States, the administration official said on condition of anonymity. The US says it will control Venezuela’s oil sales indefinitely after seizing Maduro...

The United States’ abrupt withdrawal earlier this month from dozens of international institutions, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was more than another episode of diplomatic retrenchment. It was a reminder that the post-war architecture of global governance, particularly in environmental affairs, is under strain. Against this backdrop, China’s decision to nominate Xiamen as the host city for the secretariat of the new High Seas Treaty should not be read as a quest for...

Look for the US and Canada to move farther apart on China policy, even in areas where they were previously aligned, analysts say, days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a multifaceted deal with Beijing. In recent years, Washington and Ottawa had drawn closer together when it came to dealing with Beijing, from electric vehicle tariffs and research security to investment screening. But that convergence is now fraying, analysts say, as Canada signals a greater willingness to...

President Jose Jeri of Peru has vowed not to resign despite rising pressure over a widening scandal involving undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen, as opposition lawmakers say the affair has damaged public trust and senior officials insist no illegal acts took place. The controversy, known in Peruvian media as “Chifagate”, a reference to Chinese-Peruvian cuisine, centres on late-night encounters at a Chinese restaurant and a wholesale shop in Lima. The meetings were not recorded on the...

US President Donald Trump has filed a US$5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase on accusations of debanking, according to a complaint posted ‌on the CNBC website. Trump said JPMorgan violated its own policies by singling him out, in a bid to ride ‍the “political tide”, and terminating several of his accounts. He said the bank “unabashedly” boasted for 225 years it served customers with respect, and worked diligently to uphold its core values. “Despite claiming to hold these principles dear,...

Greenland’s prime minister said on Thursday that he was not aware of the contents of a framework agreement about the Danish autonomous territory that US President Donald Trump announced after a meeting with Nato’s chief, but stressed no deal could be made without involving the island. “Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a press conference. “We have...

After back-to-back fatal train crashes sent shock waves through Spain, some good news arrived on Thursday: Boro, the missing dog, was found. Days earlier, Boro’s owner Ana Garcia issued a desperate plea to help find him after the dog bolted on Sunday in the aftermath of the high-speed train crash in southern Spain that killed at least 43 people. Garcia, 26, and her pregnant sister were travelling with Boro on the train that derailed. On Thursday, forest firefighters in southern Spain found the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, during a fiery address criticising some of Kyiv’s top allies at the World Economic Forum. The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Zelensky had met with US President Donald Trump, a conversation which he said brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like. Zelensky did not say what the security guarantees...

Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his prosecution of Donald Trump on Thursday with Republican critics in the US Congress, citing overwhelming evidence that he led a “criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Although Smith, who led two failed prosecutions against Trump, never got his day in court, the televised hearing before the House Judiciary Committee provided the opportunity he has long sought to make his case to the American public. A veteran federal...

US President Donald Trump said his message to Russian leader Vladimir Putin was that the war in Ukraine has to end, ‍after what he said were “good” talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Davos on Thursday. US and Ukrainian officials have spent weeks in frenetic shuttle diplomacy as Kyiv faces pressure from Trump to secure peace in the nearly four-year-old war, despite few signs Moscow wants to stop fighting. After a meeting with the Ukrainian leader that lasted around an hour,...

A small number of Chinese satellites and space debris forced SpaceX’s Starlink fleet to execute a large number of collision avoidance manoeuvres last year, as both sides complained of safety challenges from rival internet megaconstellations. The largest culprit was Hongqing Technology’s Honghu-2 satellite, which accounted for 1,143 such manoeuvres. The experimental satellite was launched aboard LandSpace’s Zhuque 2 Y-3 rocket in December 2023. Such manoeuvres consume fuel and shorten a...

Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic Sinners led all films with 16 nominations to the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a record for the most in Oscar history. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters showered Sinners with more nominations than they had ever bestowed before, breaking the 14-nomination mark set by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land. Along with best picture, Coogler was nominated for best director and best screnplay, and double-duty star Michael B. Jordan...

‌A commuter train collided with a crane arm that ‍swung into its path in southeastern Spain on Thursday, the transport minister said, in the country’s fourth rail accident in less than a week. Six people suffered ⁠minor injuries after the arm hit the passing train’s windows, close to the port city of Cartagena in Murcia region, authorities added. The incident - which did not derail the train but briefly disrupted traffic ‍on the line - came four days after a high-speed train collision in ‍the...

A deadly storm this week dumped nearly six months of rain on the Greek capital, Athens, in less than a day, one of the country’s top weather experts said on Thursday. Wednesday’s storm lashed the country and left two dead, with disaster crews spending Thursday cleaning up debris. Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory in Athens, said the “extreme” weather phenomenon had dumped up to 170 mm (6.7 inches) of rain on the capital. That amounted to “about 40 per cent of the...

After a year of Trump 2.0, China has much to be thankful for. This is not an endorsement of US hegemony but an expression of confidence in China’s increased resilience – and an acknowledgement of the US policies that pushed China there. The Chinese government’s stance towards Trump 2.0 remains the same: to adhere to its own principles, respond rationally and look to turn any crisis into an opportunity. For a start, Trump 2.0’s tariff war on China has backfired. All it did was force China to...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday inaugurated his “Board of Peace” to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, insisting that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations – despite many US allies opting not to participate. In a speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump sought to create momentum for a project to map out a future for the war-torn Gaza Strip that has been overshadowed this week, first by his threats to seize...

Israeli forces on Wednesday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two 13-year-old boys, three journalists and a woman, hospitals said, on one of the war-battered enclave’s deadliest days since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in October. The United States is trying to push the deal forward and implement its challenging second phase. Among the dead were three Palestinian journalists who were killed while filming near a displacement camp in central Gaza, a camp...

US President Donald Trump showcased his new “Board of Peace” on Thursday, a day after backing off his own threats against Greenland. Trump abruptly announced on Wednesday that he was scrapping tariffs against Europe and ruling out military action to take Greenland from Denmark, partially defusing a crisis which has shaken the meeting of global elites. On his second day at the Swiss ski resort, Trump sought to promote the “Board of Peace”, his controversial body for resolving international...

The Golden Raspberry Awards on Wednesday released the nominees for the 2026 Razzies, “honouring” last year’s most dubious achievements in film. Among the biggest losers was Disney’s Snow White, which was nominated for worst picture and worst remake. The 2025 adaptation of the Disney classic also netted a worst director nomination for Mark Webb and a worst supporting actor nod for “All Seven Artificial Dwarfs”, who also got a nod for worst screen combo. The 46th Golden Raspberry Awards will crown...

US President Donald Trump announced a framework for a Greenland agreement and ditched threats to invade the Arctic island after a row with Nato allies partly over how to respond to growing Chinese and Russian activity in the region. “This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” Trump posted on social media on Wednesday. He also said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he was dropping plans to hit eight European...

It’s been one year since US President Donald Trump began his second term. Few analysts and investors doubted Trump 2.0 would be more confrontational and disruptive. Still, the ferocity of Trump’s attacks on the rule of law, institutions and US allies have far exceeded the worst fears of his sternest critics. That a supposed ally is using economic coercion to seize the sovereign territory of a fellow member of Nato shows how fast the unthinkable has become real. At the World Economic Forum in...

The trip by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to the Danish territory came amid pressure from President Trump and appeared to have been meant as reassurance to Greenlanders.

If the United States under President Trump starts acting as if it’s Russia, where does that leave President Vladimir V. Putin?

The U.S. once maintained more than a dozen. Now it has one. President Trump wants more.

At the March for Life, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged “a fear that some of you have that not enough progress has been made.”

The soprano, who previously resigned as an artistic adviser, was scheduled to sing with the National Symphony Orchestra in May.

The U.S. Southern Command said it had asked the Coast Guard to search for one survivor.

The repressive Taliban government is suspicious of the internet. But a start-up in the country is building blockchain-based tools to transform humanitarian aid.

After a monthslong review, investigators have concluded that “all speculative theories could not be substantiated.”

The changes came after the app’s Chinese parent company spun out an American entity to run TikTok in the United States.

Ryan Wedding, 44, who competed in snowboarding in the 2002 Winter Olympics, has been charged with murder and smuggling cocaine into the United States.

The police said the attack was part of a plot to kill Judge Steven Meyer to halt a trial he was to conduct. He and his wife were injured but are recovering.

The longtime San Francisco star endured years of frustration before emerging as the N.F.L.’s most valuable player.

It’s the biggest snowfall the Kamchatka Peninsula has experienced in nearly 60 years.

The columnist Jamelle Bouie argues that the Trump administration’s immigration policy has more in common with ethnic cleansing than actual immigration enforcement.

Events are being propelled by one man’s damaged psyche.

Anonymous Content, a production company whose top investor is Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective, has named Darren Walker as president and chief executive.

The University of Colorado, Boulder, denied liability in the civil rights lawsuit, which the couple filed after a comment about a dish that one of them was heating in an office microwave.

The designer Valentino Garavani, who died on Monday at 93, was celebrated in Rome, a city that he “embodied,” according to its mayor.