Minimalist News

Stock Futures Drop To Close Out August As Oil Jumps On Renewed Iran Hostilities US stock futures dropped in thin trading with most traders out as summer draws to a close, while oil prices jumped after the US and Iran exchanged attacks for first time in weeks. Brent futures rallied almost 4% topping $90-handle and WTI contracts rise above $86 a barrel. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures dropped about 0.2% and contracts on the Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.1% as most Mag 7 stocks drop while energy stocks rise (CVX +2%, XOM +2%) with as tensions resume in the Middle

Book-Sellers Alarmed As AI Giants Shred Millions Of Books Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times , Charlie Becker's family bookstore in Houston has been connecting people with literature for more than 30 years. Becker said the family has "seen a lot of changes" since his dad opened the used and rare book store in 1993. Charlie Becker, owner of Becker’s Books, in Houston on Aug. 8, 2026. Mark Felix for The Epoch Times When he was 12 years old, Becker remembers his dad making one of the store's first larger purchases. Another local business planned to get rid

24 States To Sue US Postal Service Over Mail-In Ballot Restrictions When did "election integrity" become such a contentious issue in the US? Perhaps it was election night in November 2020 when Joe Biden and the Democrats received an impressive "hockey stick" spike in votes after most Americans went to bed. Most of these votes came from absentee mail-in ballots, an event which inflated Joe Biden's numbers to 81.2 million - The greatest number of votes any candidate has ever received in US history. That's right, the candidate who was rarely seen for half of the campaign cycle and who

Bessent Convenes G20 Finance Chiefs To Confront China's $1.2 Trillion Trade Surplus Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors later today in Asheville, North Carolina, to discuss strategies for reviving economic growth, correcting global imbalances, reassessing trade relationships with China, and addressing the sovereign debt mess. The agenda today will also include plans to deepen Iran's economic isolation, Reuters reported, citing a senior US Treasury official. The discussions signal a continuation of the financial-pressure campaign Bessent unveiled last week ( read here ). " The world cannot have a China with a $1.2

China's Record Ship Swarm Around Taiwan Sends Decoupling Alarm To Wall Street One of our emerging investment themes (beyond nuclear , AI, and " Powering Up America ") is the accelerating US-China decoupling, with a particular focus on companies with robust ex-China supply chains as Beijing increasingly weaponizes exports of strategic materials, including tungsten and germanium . At the same time, the Trump administration's expanding sanctions campaign against Chinese entities linked to Iran is adding another friction point to an already deteriorating bilateral relationship . Looking toward 2027, one of the biggest geopolitical tail risks could be a Chinese blockade

Feds Arrest Foreign National In California On Voter Fraud Charges Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times , Federal officials on Aug. 28 arrested a foreign national living in California who they say illegally registered to vote and made false statements. Election workers conduct ballot tabulation at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California's state primary election in the City of Industry, Calif., on June 2, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, a Honduran national and lawful permanent resident living in Southern California, is accused by prosecutors of making felony false

Unitree's Blockbuster IPO Short Circuits Shares of Unitree Robotics have nearly halved since the Chinese company's blockbuster IPO almost two weeks ago, as concerns about a humanoid robotics bubble continue to mount . Not even China's World Humanoid Robot Games or World Robot Conference generated enough enthusiasm among retail or institutional investors to rekindle upward momentum. The warning signs were first visible from the opening bell in Shanghai. Unitree initially surged 629% when it began trading on Shanghai's Star Market, immediately transforming China's first publicly traded humanoid robot manufacturer into a real-time indicator of the industry. Unitree's valuation remains detached

One Every Minute: These Numbers Are Unsustainable... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , One migrant is now being granted settlement or citizenship in Britain every single minute, according to newly released Home Office figures. In the three months to June 2026, 140,122 foreign nationals were given indefinite leave to remain or British citizenship - 1.07 people every 60 seconds. Across the full year, nearly 200,000 were handed indefinite leave to remain (ILR), a 16-year record and a 24 per cent jump on the year before. Another 245,520 were granted citizenship. Applications to become British hit an all-time high

Google Retreats On 'Parasite SEO' Crackdown In Europe To Head Off EU Antitrust Fine Alphabet's Google said on Friday that it has changed how it enforces its spam rules in Europe , following concerns from EU regulators that the policy could unfairly hurt news publishers and other websites that carry content from commercial partners. The Google logo outside the company's offices in London on June 24, 2025. Carlos Jasso/Reuters The dispute centers on Google's policy against "site reputation abuse," a practice often called "parasite SEO." It occurs when a third party publishes content on a well-established website primarily to benefit

Pentagon Strikes Iranian Island Target, In First US Military Action In Weeks Update(1615ET) : Things have been quiet for many days and weeks on the military front when it comes to the Iran war, but on Sunday there are some emerging reports of new but limited US strikes. According to the latest late Sunday from Axios : Senior American official: Earlier today, American forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larzac Island . Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz. So despite the White House signaling a move away from military

US Debt Matters, But The Euro Area May Create The Next Crisis Authored by Daniel Lacalle via dlacalle.com , The US $40 trillion debt has dominated global headlines. However, although the US fiscal challenges are relevant, we must remember an important lesson. Fiscal policy is not about who wins but who loses first. According to official 2026 estimates, the present value of U.S. Social Security and Medicare financing gaps is about $95 trillion over 75 years, roughly 5% of the cumulative present value of projected GDP over that period, on top of federal debt held by the public, which is

Canadian Leftists Want To Use Great Lakes Seaway As A Weapon Against The US If anyone had any doubt that Canada is a predominantly far-left country, one only need look at polls in support of Market Carney's trade war rhetoric against the US. Over 70% of the Canadian population is currently in support of Carney's decision to dismiss trade negotiations with the Trump Administration. Much of the rhetoric online repeats leftist talking points, including the claim that America is now a "fascist" state and cutting a deal with Trump would be the same as "cutting a deal with the Third

No Whites Allowed, Britain's MI5 Tells Applicants Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Britain's domestic intelligence service is once again telling White university students they are not wanted. For the 2027 Summer Intelligence Internship, MI5 has confined applications to people from a "black, Asian, mixed heritage or ethnic minority background" who also come from a "socially or economically disadvantaged background." White British candidates - including those from the poorest homes - cannot even submit an application. The agency calls this a response to "underrepresentation." Critics call it what it is: racial exclusion. The rule sits on the official

The Telephone, Political Entrepreneurship, And Theodore M. Vail Authored by Joshua Mawhorter via Mises Institute , Originally, this article was intended to be an exploration as to how-after a period of initial patent monopoly and an all-too-brief episode of fre er market competition-cronyism reestablished a telephone monopoly that would last for decades . While such an article is worthwhile and hopefully forthcoming, I was struck by the influence of one man's leadership strategy as president of AT&T/the Bell System and how open he was about limiting competition in his industry, inviting regulation, and seeking a "middle ground" between a pure

Rise And Fall Of "Climate Crisis" Info War As Dems Urge Politicians To Avoid Global Warming Talk The "climate crisis" headlines forced down the throats of the American people only began to emerge when socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and unhinged leftist Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal in early 2019. That was the moment when global-warming headlines spiked and the NGO complex ramped up activist networks through protests and an informational war in the press, tricking the public into supporting climate bills intended to solve a made-up crisis . Fake News By March 2019, those climate-crisis headlines had

US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times , U.S. forces, on Aug. 28, sank a vessel in the eastern Pacific that the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said was serving as an at-sea refueling point for drug-trafficking boats. A vessel suspected of providing at-sea refueling for drug traffickers burns after being targeted by U.S. forces on Aug. 28, 2026. U.S. Southern Command SOUTHCOM, which oversees military operations in and around Central and South America, said U.S. forces worked in coordination with the government of Ecuador to track down the vessel.

These Are The World's Safest (And Least Safe) Cities Doha ranks as the safest major city in the world in 2026, while Caracas sits at the opposite end of the ranking. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, compares the world’s safest and least safe major cities using Numbeo’s 2026 Safety Index . Scores are based on five years of user submissions covering perceptions of crime, personal safety, property crime, and violent crime. They do not measure official crime rates or exposure to geopolitical conflict. The Cities With the Highest Perceived Safety Here are the 10 highest-scoring major cities with

Central Asia Resists US Pressure To Choose Sides In AI Race Authored by Eurasianet via OilPrice , Kazakhstan is continuing to expand AI cooperation with China even after joining the US-led Pax Silica initiative. Uzbekistan says it wants access to both cutting-edge American technology and lower-cost Chinese AI models rather than choosing between them. Their positions illustrate the difficulty Washington faces in persuading Central Asian governments to take sides in the intensifying US-China technology rivalry. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are tossing figurative darts at a US trial balloon connected to the intensifying race between the United States and China for leadership

Russia Hits Kiev Ammo Dump Next To Homes; Ukraine Admits 90% Of Retail Food Logistics Wrecked A Russian drone struck a Ukrainian Defense Forces ammunition storage site in the village of Myla Friday evening, just west of Kiev. The resulting fire and hours of secondary detonations killed at least 37 people , injured dozens more , damaged around 50 residential buildings and a care home for the elderly and disabled, and forced the evacuation of hundreds. Among the dead was the local community head who had gone to help. Here are some close-up shots from yesterday's explosion at an ammunition

Federal Court Rules Sexual AI Images Of Children Are Legal To Possess Perhaps sometimes it's best for judges to ignore technical loopholes and rigid legal precedent for the sake of doing the right thing? Maybe, in extreme cases where absolute evil is involved, our system could dismiss the "rights of artists" and enforce restrictions based on the potential long term damage to society as a whole? Yes, the constitutional conundrums are plenty, but can't we also simply use common sense? Because if we can't, these kinds of artistic "expressions" are going to inspire independent vigilantism and it will be the

Meanwhile, Trump posts video of himself kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with Lake America sign Donald Trump and Canada continued a verbal duel on Saturday over the US government’s administrative renaming of Lake Ontario, with the Ontario premier erecting a giant sign saying “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” – and the American president posting a video of him tearing down an avatar of that sign, erecting a replacement saying Lake America, and dancing to YMCA. Rhetoric over the naming of Lake Ontario is the public face of an escalating trade dispute between the US and its

Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves. Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”. Continue reading...

Fighters in legal limbo after accepting ‘total peace’ plan of Petro government just days before hardliner Abelardo De la Espriella took over In mid-June, 99 guerrilla fighters were flown by helicopter to a small settlement in a rural area of southern Colombia where they lined up and, one by one, handed their weapons to government officials: rifles, pistols, machine guns and grenade launchers. They also stripped off their heavy tactical vests, field packs and camouflage uniforms, which were each piled into a bonfire to mark the beginning of a new life away from an armed conflict that has claimed nearly

US president says US will have ‘majority’ control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves Donald Trump announced Friday a new US oil agreement with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, saying the US will have “majority” control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves. The terms of the agreement remain to be seen, but the US president said on his social-media platform that it had been brokered “through a partnership with ⁠private business” by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Continue reading...

Critics call move to gain long-term access to country’s massive energy reserves ‘predatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’ Reports that the US is preparing to claim a big stake in Venezuela’s massive energy reserves have sparked an outcry, with critics describing the move as “predatory” and a “rapacious” land grab. Several media outlets this week reported that the Trump administration – which abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, in January and has steered the South American country ever since – hopes to secure long-term access to its oil and gasfields. Continue reading...

Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 11 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods , ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said. The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 903, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. Nearly 5,000 are missing on the two sides of the border. Continue

Rights group claims 300 homes were destroyed in Tibet and number of missing people is ‘far higher’ than Beijing admits A Tibetan advocacy group says hundreds of homes were destroyed on the Tibetan side of the border in last week’s deadly floods, raising questions about Beijing’s official account of the scale of the disaster. Public discussion about the flash floods has been restricted, with security officials in Tibet announcing on Sunday that it had penalised at least 10 people for sharing “false disaster information”. There was no further information on the nature of the penalties. Continue reading...

More than 200mm of rain forecast in parts of South Korea, while parts of southern Europe to be 10C above average South Korea’s prime minister, Han Seong-sook, met officials to prepare for heavy rain expected this week, with rainfall totals across central and northern parts of the country forecast to exceed 200mm in some areas. South Korea was battered by heavy rainfall earlier this month and some areas were particularly hard hit. Over the weekend further thunderstorms pushed into the region and these are expected to cause disruption through Monday. This heavy rain is caused by a series of severe

This live blog is now closed ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? More now on the Nepali army’s rescue operation to save about 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flooding . “Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told AFP. Relief efforts are also under way

Federation says it fears death toll of nearly 600 will continue to rise as rescuers reach cut-off areas Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? The Red Cross has said at least 93,000 people may have been affected by Wednesday’s flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, which have killed nearly 600 people, left another 1,900 missing, and triggered a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Australian government is working with Russian officials in a bid to secure the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins , Matt Thistlethwaite says. Speaking to ABC news breakfast, the assistant minister for foreign affairs declined to answer whether a prisoner swap was on the table. Obviously, we try and negotiate as best we can on behalf of all Australians who find themselves in difficulties such as this. We obviously have to abide by international laws and we always uphold them. But the Australian

Police urge mother to attend hospital after baby’s body discovered in Harrow Road in Auburn Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast New South Wales police have appealed for information to find the mother of a newborn baby boy, whose body was discovered in a rubbish bin in Auburn in Sydney’s west on Monday morning. Police said emergency services responded to reports of the body of a baby located in a rubbish bin at a unit block along Harrow Road in Auburn at 11.20am, with officers

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman’s police statement Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend is unlikely to face a life sentence for her domestic violence murder, a crime which galvanised a national movement against gendered abuse. Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the New South Wales central-west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024. Continue reading...

As families await news after the catastrophe, community members appeal for compassion in the face of hateful rhetoric Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A slew of racist social media comments have been made towards Australians missing in the catastrophic Nepal-Tibet floods , prompting calls for greater accountability of major platforms to remove hateful rhetoric. On Monday, the total number of Australians missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas rose to 43, and the overall death toll was at

Perrottet disagrees when counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC claims brother of former NSW premier is not truthful and ‘constructing evidence’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A brother of former New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has told Icac he would lie to a property developer about delivering political outcomes “to keep him on side”, but Charles Perrottet has denied lying to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog. Charles Perrottet, who is among three Liberal figures alleged to have anticipated receiving $2m in prohibited political donations from

Berlin expected to outline response to incident this month widely speculated to have been coordinated by Russia The German government is imminently expected to announce who it believes was behind a suspected drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane earlier this month and to outline its response to the incident in coordination with its European and Nato partners. The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told the public broadcaster ARD in an interview on Sunday evening: “We are in the process of concluding the investigations; we have reached a broad agreement within the federal government on how we will respond, and we will

Jasmeet Wadhwa, who fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan, lost his life in April A British family is pleading with French authorities to release the body of a relative that officials have held for five months after he died in the Channel in April. Jasmeet Wadhwa, 32, died while attempting to reach the UK on a dinghy on 1 April with his mother, Harbans Kaur Wadhwa, after they fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan in January of this year. Continue reading...

Unions say ban will take time to enact, while president also wants under-15s social media ban as key legacy French high schools are rushing to put in place a ban on mobile phones this week as Emmanuel Macron pushes for children to spend less time in front of screens. Education unions warned that banning mobile phone use in lycées – where children are aged 15 to 18 – would be hard to implement quickly. Continue reading...

Divers join search teams scouring deep waters for ⁠any survivors, with eight people so far confirmed to have died Nearly 20 people are still missing after a ferry capsized ⁠off northern Cyprus , killing at least eight, as divers join search teams scouring deep waters for ⁠any survivors. The double-hulled ⁠ferry ​with 267 people onboard took in water and flipped over on Sunday just off the port city ⁠of Kyrenia, leaving survivors clinging to the upturned hull. They were rescued by passing vessels and members of the coastguard. Continue reading...

The long-running drama reaches Hitler’s rise to power in its final season as its creators reflect on the unsettling parallels between Weimar Germany and the present day It’s the global hit TV series that pulled audiences straight into the chaotic hedonism of 1920s Germany, dramatising the brilliance and brittleness of a newly built democratic system with unprecedented ambition. But in the 13 years that the German makers of Babylon Berlin have worked on the show, modern democracies from the US to Hungary to South Korea have come under pressure in ways the creators say they could never have imagined when

Iran responded to an assault on its Larak Island by targeting US bases in Jordan First US military attacks on Iran in a month prompt retaliation Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting , the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran. “The ‌EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good ‌faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through ​the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes

Trump’s Operation Economic Outcast is expected to push many Iranians into deeper poverty as food inflation soars For many Iranians, the new US sanctions campaign, called Operation Economic Outcast, seems superfluous given the grim economic situation in their country. Iranians are facing runaway food inflation, closed petrol stations and a seemingly never-ending depreciation of the nation’s currency caused by a lack of foreign exchange reserves. Continue reading...

US attacks Iranian rocket launchers on island in strait of Hormuz and Tehran targets US bases in Jordan and UAE The US has reverted to military attacks on Iran for the first time in a month, firing missiles and drones at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, prompting the Iranian military to attack US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. US Central Command said it acted late on Sunday after it detected the Iranians planning to fire fresh mines into the strait. Last week Donald Trump claimed the US navy had cleared

Matt Bradley and crew assaulted while interviewing woman who said settlers had driven family out of home A Palestinian woman and an NBC News team are reported to have been attacked and injured by masked Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, amid worsening confrontations in the area. Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters”. Continue reading...

Book was removed for review earlier this month following complaint but reinstated after petition and State Library letter to Waverley council Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has returned to its borrowing shelves a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide following a public campaign and an intervention from the State Library of New South Wales. Waverley library removed the book “for review ” earlier this month after the Jewish news outlet JWire reported it had approached the council.

Organisers say people must revive spiritual relationship with food amid double threat of climate crisis and conflict Mending the broken food system under the threat of climate-driven weather extremes will require more than economic fixes and intensive agriculture, according to the organisers of a pioneering summit this week, who say the world must revive its spiritual relationship with food. Delegates from more than 60 countries and the UN will gather for the next five days in Paro in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan for the world’s first “conscious food summit”, which will bring together governments and farmers, mindfulness experts

In today’s newsletter: As rescuers search for survivors after catastrophic floods, the disaster offers a stark warning about the climate risks facing the region, and the world Good morning. Over the weekend, rescue workers in Nepal and Tibet raced to find people who are still trapped in villages affected by catastrophic flash floods. As of this morning, the death toll stands at 903, and more than 4,000 people are missing. For those of you reading this in a place where life continues as usual, the scale of devastation is hard to fathom. In a matter of minutes, a torrent of

Total of 804 confirmed dead and more than 3,000 missing amid threat of fresh inundation ‘Their whole village has disappeared’: frantic hunt for survivors in Kathmandu hospital Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages. The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 804 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept

Rajendra Dawadi ordered students to higher ground with moments to spare after receiving warnings from upstream A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing. Rajendra Dawadi decided to halt classes and order children to higher ground after receiving warnings about the scale of the flooding heading their way. Continue reading...

Total number of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal at 48 as Beijing mobilises more than 2,100 rescue workers Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border. Continue reading...

Telecoms company to benefit from soaring prices for recycled metal recovered from full-fibre broadband rollout BT is on track for an estimated £2bn-plus windfall over the next decade from selling off old copper cabling, as it cashes in on soaring prices amid the AI market frenzy and switches the UK’s network to full-fibre broadband. Copper is one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything” , essential for the rapid growth of AI datacentres, electronics and the fast-growing renewable energy industry. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world Children need a better education in sniffing aromas, a leading historian of smells has said, noting it may improve their wellbeing and help them understand the world around them. Dr Will Tullett, of the University of York, said pollution had been found to impair people’s olfactory abilities, while many objects and substances today – from margarines to car interiors and even our own homes – were stripped of their original smells and “reodourised” with synthetic scents. Continue reading...

Tory leader expected to install Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary after sacking Mel Stride and Priti Patel Kemi Badenoch sacked her shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, and shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, in a sweeping Conservative reshuffle on Monday, replacing Stride with Andrew Griffith, and is expected to install Tom Tugendhat as Patel’s replacement. Stride, who has been the shadow chancellor since Badenoch became leader, was widely seen among Tories as failing to make an impression at a time when Labour has been under pressure over the economy. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour MPs believe SMC has become ineffective and its work ‘should be a core function of government’ Ministers are considering a shake-up of the government’s social mobility watchdog that could range from giving it more teeth to abolishing it outright. The move comes amid concerns that the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) – originally conceived under Gordon Brown’s government in 2010 – has become ineffective. Continue reading...

Clacton, funding, internal divisions – party prepares for annual conference next week after a season of missteps Senior Reform UK figures like to boast that the summer time – and parliament’s longest recess – is when the party makes hay. Supposedly, it is when Nigel Farage and co can muscle in on the news cycle with provocative statements and new policies, painting “establishment” opponents as workshy layabouts. Continue reading...

The US House is back after a five-week recess; government funding is guaranteed through 30 September Sign up for US Breaking News emails Chris Hippensteel We’re watching today as Scott Bessent , the US treasury secretary, and Kevin Warsh , the chair of the Federal Reserve, deliver their opening remarks at the G20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina. Continue reading...

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds ‘reasonable cause to believe’ tech firm subjected workers spoke up about Palestine to hostile work environment The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency tasked with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws, has found that Cisco, the global tech company, probably violated the civil rights of Middle Eastern, Muslim and other company employees. The determination, reached earlier this summer, is believed to be the first by the federal agency finding a major company at fault in connection to pro-Palestinian advocacy that swept campuses and workplaces in recent years. Continue reading...

After Lindsey Graham’s death, Democrat Annie Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race as she seeks to flip his Republican seat Annie Andrews was a dark horse Democrat challenging a five-term Republican in the US Senate when 314 Action, a political action fund devoted to electing scientists and doctors, first backed her. Now, after the unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race. Donald Trump persuaded South Carolina voters last week to select Graham’s sister, Darline , as the new Republican candidate. They will face off in November in an election still heavily

Donkey named HeeHaw was shot and killed as authorities reportedly looked on property in search of a missing person A police officer in the US state of Georgia was placed on leave after a family’s pet baby donkey was shot and killed during an early-morning search on their property. The animal’s owner, Hannah Israel, said officers were at her pasture without notification or permission at about 12.45am on Sunday, reportedly looking for a missing person when they encountered the small male donkey named HeeHaw. Continue reading...

National park officials say body of a man, 46, was recovered and about 15 others remain missing or unaccounted for The Grand Canyon area braced for more rain and thunderstorms on Monday after a flash flood that left one person dead and about 15 others missing or unaccounted for – with scores of visitors evacuated and the only water pipeline for tourists and residents destroyed. Emergency water restrictions that began on Monday prevented tourists from staying overnight at lodges and hotels within the park. Year-round residents were asked to conserve water. Continue reading...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. What Japan’s coming fighter jet deployment to India means for China Japan plans to deploy fighter jets in India for the first time next month, a decision experts say reflects Tokyo’s desire to strengthen security cooperation with “like-minded” countries in the Indo-Pacific region as it ramps up...

Google has updated its maps application to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the United States, reflecting a recent order by US President Donald Trump that changed the name of the lake, the global technology giant said. The Google Maps update comes days after Trump’s order amid an escalating trade war with Canada that has led both countries to impose billions of dollars in added tariffs on each other’s goods. It echoes what Google did in 2025 when Trump issued an order to rename...

At least one person was killed and around 15 others are missing after a flash flood at the Grand Canyon, one of the most popular tourist sites in the United States, the National Park Service said in a statement on Sunday. The floods hit the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area on Saturday, forcing dozens of people to evacuate and damaging the sole water pipeline serving the park. The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered on Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River in...

US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz in their first military action in a month on Sunday, breaking a lull in fighting during an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. Vowing to retaliate for what it called a deadly attack, Iran later said it had launched missiles at US sites in Jordan. Forces with the Revolutionary Guard Corps were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait, according to Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the US...

A prominent leader of the dissident factions of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who operated in a volatile area in the country’s southwest region was killed on Sunday during a military operation, said President Abelardo de la Espriella. The president said the death of a man known as “Felipe” or “Arcadio” was a “crushing blow” to the dissident faction led by a man who goes by “Ivan Mordisco”. De la Espriella posted a video on social media presumably showing a person in a body...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened a prominent NBC broadcast journalist with possible punishment by US media regulators as the Republican expressed disappointment with coverage of his candidate endorsements ahead of November’s midterm elections. Trump took to his Truth Social platform to attack Kristen Welker as the “unpopular ‘hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press” talk show. He objected to her having said the president had had “mixed results” on his endorsement of political...

Ukraine is preparing for a new round of talks with representatives of US President Donald Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, expressing hope that diplomacy can prevent open conflict from remaining the only path forward. “There will be more details tomorrow. We will do everything we can so that war does not remain the only option for how events unfold further,” Zelensky said in a televised address. “It is important that America shares many of our views on the situation”. US-led...

Iceland’s voters rejected restarting negotiations to join the European Union in a referendum that pitted concerns about geopolitical stability against keeping national control of Iceland’s prized fisheries, officials said on Sunday. Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8 per cent to 47.2 per cent, the National Electoral Commission said. The result puts the divisive issue to rest for now – more than a decade after a Eurosceptic government ended EU talks that had begun after the 2008...

A passenger ferry capsized and sank off Northern Cyprus Sunday, killing at least eight people and leaving more than a dozen missing, officials and media reports said, as police took the captain and seven crew members into custody. Several rescued passengers told local media a blast had gone off at the bow of the ferry before it rolled over, and said the boat had an insufficient supply of life-vests. The vessel capsized 6.5km (4 miles) off the coast of Cyprus, shortly after leaving a Northern...

Andy Burnham has enjoyed a honeymoon first month as UK prime minister, but the hard trade-offs involved in governing are about to get real as parliament returns from its summer break in the coming days. Since succeeding Keir Starmer on July 20, Burnham has pleased voters with several low-cost sweeteners, including cutting electricity bills and bus fares, while burnishing his casual man-of-the-people vibes. He has poured pints of beer with his finance minister, played guitar in Ukraine, and kept...

Earlier this month, when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened sanctions against any nation continuing to purchase Iranian crude oil, he did not name China. He did not need to. China, the Islamic Republic’s largest oil customer, is squarely in Washington’s crosshairs. The US has already unveiled new sanctions against 60 individuals, companies and vessels linked to Iranian trade, including some in mainland China and Hong Kong. Just three months after the May summit between President Xi...

Venezuelan hardliners and opposition forces alike criticised acting president Delcy Rodriguez for agreeing to grant the US exclusive access to the country’s valuable oil resources. She may be betting that the deal with US President Donald Trump is her ticket to a tighter grip on power. One potential advantage for Rodriguez is if the deal to give the US majority control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude hems in the Trump administration’s incentive to press for swift election. “I think...

Zurich, Aug 31, 2026 (AFP) -A 43-year-old Swiss man was arrested on Monday on “strong suspicion” of being behind a rare deadly gun attack at a rave in Switzerland, police said. Gunfire erupted in the early hours of Sunday morning as an annual rave was winding down at the racecourse in Aarau, capital of Switzerland’s northern canton of Aargau. The attack triggered an international manhunt for the shooter, who left an Italian woman dead and wounded five others, some seriously. “A 43-year-old Swiss...

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said he did not believe ⁠Russia would risk ⁠an attack against a Nato country, ⁠telling Germany’s Bild newspaper it would “make no sense” to test the resolve of the alliance. Western officials have warned of a growing risk of Russian hybrid operations, including cyberattacks, against European countries potentially leading to a direct ‌confrontation with the Nato alliance. German officials have said they assess Russia would be in a position to attack a Nato...

From trolling Canada about a lake to suddenly talking about Kim Jong-un, US President Donald Trump’s recent distractions speak louder than words. The former reality television star has long been known for his reliance upon a simple tactic: when you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation. But the 80-year-old’s recent stunts appear to be even more targeted than usual at wrestling the news away from the Iran war and the economy as difficult midterm elections loom in November. “This...

British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported back to the UK after his arrest by American immigration authorities, US officials said on Saturday. The US Department of Homeland Security said Yiannopoulos was returned to his home country on Friday after being accused of overstaying after entering the US legally in May 2019. An immigration judge had issued a final order of removal on July 22 after he failed to show up for an immigration hearing, a Homeland Security spokesman...

Scientists in South Africa are investigating why masses of sardines have washed up dead or dying along parts of the country’s west and south coast – and if a herpes virus detected in the fish is responsible. The mass mortality of sardines this month has so far stumped the country’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, though scientists have come to at least one conclusion: it is the first time that the virus in question – pilchard herpesvirus, or PHV – has been identified in...

Mutinying soldiers led armed clashes in Niger’s capital on Saturday, alarming residents, but the ruling junta said it had largely wrested back control after hours of heavy exchanges around some of its most sensitive sites. While the fighting had subsided later on Saturday, the rebel troops were said by a regional security source and an African diplomatic source to be holed up in an airbase near the capital’s airport. Niger’s ruling junta declared, in a statement read on state television, that it...

At least 37 people have died after a Russian drone struck a depot near Kyiv’s western suburbs overnight, sparking a huge fire and explosions, authorities said on Saturday. The depot, near the capital’s western suburbs, appeared to have been storing “explosive objects”, Ukrainian prosecutors said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested ammunition was to blame. “Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions... ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other...

Norway’s new King Haakon VIII on Saturday addressed Norwegians for the first time since taking the throne, paying tribute to his 89-year-old father who died the day before. “Above all, you were a person who always stayed true to your values and commitments,” Haakon said of the late King Harald V in a televised speech. The new regent said it had been a “powerful and moving experience” to see the thousands of Norwegians who had gathered since Friday outside the Royal Palace in Oslo with “flowers,...

Mukti Patel has huddled with family and friends at her parents’ Richmond, Virginia, home since her dad, sister and two other relatives went missing in the catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-China border. She knows the hotel they were staying in was swept away. But as she shared memories of them on Friday, she caught herself. “I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet,” she said. “We don’t know anything.” As rescuers continued pulling survivors from the mud, family members of some of the more...

Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the United States, with the supreme leader calling on the government to address the hardship while the president reported foreign trade has shrunk 35 per cent due to the American sanctions and blockade. The warnings came even as other leaders threaten the US with military retaliation and declarations that the Iranian navy maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway giving Iran ‌leverage through its ability to...

A former White House teleprompter operator accused of using inside knowledge to make bets on the prediction market Kalshi has been ordered to turn over more than US$100,000 in profits and pay a US$65,000 fine as part of a settlement with federal authorities. The settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced on Friday, also dealt Gabriel Perez a three-year trading ban. Perez was placed on unpaid leave from his job at the White House after reports emerged that he used his...

In contemporary discourse, the bogeyman of “debt traps” is almost exclusively tied to Beijing. Western media, think tanks, NGOs and policymakers from Washington to Brussels frequently warn developing nations of the perils of bilateral loans from China. Yet, Grenada’s debt dispute from a decade ago and St Vincent and the Grenadines’ (SVG) current troubles offer a starkly different, and often ignored, counter-narrative: the weaponisation of debt by Taiwan. For years, Grenada has grappled with...

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering giving a section of the renowned Yosemite National Park to a private developer, a lawyer for the company confirmed on Friday. The National Park Service had been holding talks with Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital to build an access road from a 33-hectare (83-acre) private property just outside the park to Yosemite’s entrance, in exchange for land elsewhere, lawyer Lanny Davis said. The news was first reported by NOTUS on Friday. The...

President Donald Trump on Friday said the US had entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country’s oil reserves. Trump in a social media post announced the agreement he said was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez. “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!”...

US immigration officials arrested controversial British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday in New Orleans, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration officials announced on Friday that Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accused him of overstaying after entering the United States legally in May 2019 through New York. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to show...

Artificial intelligence (AI) poses risks that do not respect national borders, from cyberattacks and misinformation to system malfunction and potentially dangerous misuse. In a geopolitically charged world, does greater incompatibility between countries make AI safer? UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres offered a clear answer at the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance: “When countries align on how to test systems, measure risk and assign responsibility, safety travels with the...

US President Donald Trump on Friday announced the creation of a “Space Academy” to train future civilian and military recruits for an arena where the United States faces rivalry with China. Speaking at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Trump said the institution would be modelled on the famed US military academy at West Point. “It’s called the US Space Academy. That’s a big deal,” Trump said as he signed an executive order creating the new school. “It’ll serve both the United States Space...

President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the US-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks. The war is not over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy. And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to...

The US central bank will “have work to do” if policymakers are not confident that underlying inflation is returning to its 2 per cent target, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Friday in remarks that acknowledged financial conditions do not appear restrictive and marked the closest he has come to acknowledging interest rate hikes may be needed to ease price pressures. “Here is my standard: We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at...

One of the two people killed in an attack at a school near Berlin was a 30-year-old nursery worker, police said on Friday. It had previously been reported that the man who was killed in Thursday’s attack was the caretaker. A woman and a man were killed in the violent incident at a school in the small community of Gosen-Neu Zittau on the southeastern edge of the German capital. The school site houses a primary and secondary school, as well as a nursery. A 19-year-old German man was detained and...

With the end of the 60-day US-Iran memorandum of understanding, tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have flared again. The crisis in the strait highlights how the security and stability of key international waterways are becoming an increasingly urgent global concern. Over the past decade, major maritime routes have been affected by regional armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions and growing security risks. These disruptions have exposed a vulnerability in the global trading system: a key...

An 81-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the murder of an American tourist more than 30 years ago, the presiding judge at Koblenz Regional Court, Rupert Stehlin, announced on Friday. The court also found that the offence was of a particularly serious nature. In doing so, the bench concurred with the unanimous assessments of the prosecution, the representatives of the joint plaintiffs and the defence counsel. The defendant had admitted to the offence in general...

A Dutch court on Friday handed a life sentence to a 66-year-old man for his role in the massacre of 3,000 Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. During the violence that took place in April 1994, terrified victims sought refuge in a football stadium in Mbazi, southern Rwanda, only to be systematically slaughtered. The judge said that the man, identified as Eugene N., prevented Tutsis from escaping the stadium and threw a grenade into the crowd. The court said he was also involved in attacks...

Crown Prince Haakon became Norway’s king on Friday after the death of his father Harald. Here are some ⁠facts about the new 53-year-old monarch. Early years The new king was born Haakon Magnus on July ⁠20, 1973, and went to a state primary school, as is expected of royals in the egalitarian Scandinavian nation – though his secondary school was private. He joined the navy before studying politics at the University of California, Berkeley and, later, development studies at the London School of...

Norway’s King Harald has died aged 89, the palace said on Friday, his 53-year-old son Crown Prince Haakon automatically succeeding him on the throne. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6.35am,” it said in a statement. The flag at the royal palace in Oslo was lowered to half mast. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said he had received the news with “deep...

Six months after the air strikes that began the war and propelled ⁠a badly wounded Mojtaba Khamenei into the role of Iran’s supreme leader, he remains entirely unseen and unheard by Iranians – a vacuum at the heart of his country’s leadership. Questions over his condition and role are growing increasingly fraught, with Iran facing critical decisions over a war that has set the Middle East aflame while trashing the country’s already fragile economy. Iranian officials and other senior sources in...

A diplomatic push by Oman, Pakistan and Qatar is widely expected to yield another pause in the Iran conflict, but there remains little prospect of a stop to what analysts fear has already become a “forever war”. On Monday, Iran and Oman agreed in principle to a temporary maritime route for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. This could lead to the easing of the tit-for-tat blockades imposed by Iran and the US if President Donald Trump’s administration accepts it. Regional mediators...

South Korea supports US President Donald Trump’s efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, ‌but aims to ensure its security posture is not weakened and that Seoul is not sidelined, according to South Korea’s national security adviser. Seoul believed the resumption of talks between the US and North Korea should focus on progress on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue and must not undermine the country’s security readiness, Wi Sung-lac told reporters on Friday. “One point to keep in mind is...

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. The path to America is narrowing. Here’s what that means for legal immigrants US green card interviews are on hold worldwide, student and work visas are subject to new restrictions, and citizenship is under fresh scrutiny. The SCMP...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a US$16.7 million contract to purchase 6,000 pairs of gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, saying officers would use them to control detainees and protesters who resist. ICE moved forward with the purchase despite opposition from civil rights advocates and Democratic members of Congress, who said ICE officers cannot be trusted to use them appropriately. A notice published in a federal database Thursday said ICE entered into a no-bid...

South Korea said on Friday it would hold joint military exercises with the United States and Japan in September, after Washington scaled back annual drills with Seoul in an apparent bid to encourage dialogue with North Korea. The three countries would conduct the North Korea-focused Freedom Edge exercise from September 7 to 11 in international waters east and south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. “This exercise is a defensive drill conducted annually by...

Trita Parsi is co-founder and executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has written four books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. Born in Iran, Parsi moved to Sweden with his family as a child and then to the United States as an adult. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions...

A US federal judge on Thursday blocked the US Postal Service from implementing core parts of a new rule it adopted at President Donald Trump’s direction that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the November congressional elections. US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a temporary restraining order ‌at the behest of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups after the US Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that led to the lifting of earlier injunctions blocking...

Given access to email, A.I. agents have started reaching out to the philosophers and researchers exploring deep questions about them.

Technologies like CRISPR are giving us new ways to create the dogs of our dreams — and a reason to reckon with our past mistakes.

A growing number of former Israeli generals, intelligence officials and prime ministers are accusing settlers in the West Bank of committing ethnic cleansing with government support. “Once a society behaves this way,” one said, “that society is doomed.”

The renewed attacks were the latest sign that the war that began six months ago appears far from over.

The two-day summit of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan shows the limits of U.S. economic warfare.

Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights unit, has extracted flashy agreements and personnel moves from big universities and sought to force states to turn over confidential voter data.

The administration has revoked funding for bike paths, and encouraged removing some. A cycling advocate said it is playing on the idea of “that dork on a bike.”

After a glacial flood last year, Chinese officials strengthened defenses at a border crossing with Nepal. But last week’s “cascade of hazards” overwhelmed them.

The authorities in Nepal and Tibet said that more than 4,400 people were missing since a deadly Himalayan landslide and glacial collapse. Rescuers are searching for survivors.

Rajendra Dawadi had less than 15 minutes to act on a warning of approaching floodwaters. His swift evacuation plan saved hundreds of lives.

Francis Fukuyama’s famous take on the post-Cold War world was widely misunderstood. In a new memoir, he tries to set the record straight.

At least 62 people were evacuated on Saturday after flooding destroyed footbridges and damaged a campground and cabins near Bright Angel Creek in Arizona, the National Park Service said.

Phantom Ranch, the only lodge within the Grand Canyon, has drawn adventurers and dignitaries, including Theodore Roosevelt, for more than a century.

As the search for missing visitors continues, the National Park has shut down hotels and much of its terrain, but visitors can still enter.

Three fourths of Americans oppose data centers. Why?

The party that capitulated to Trump has the most to answer for

The nearly constant air raids, a shift from years of largely overnight attacks, have left residents exhausted and on edge.