Minimalist News

US Looks To Revive 'Prize Courts' For Iranian Oil Seizures The US government is exploring an unusual legal route for dealing with Iranian oil and ships captured as part of its blockade: bringing back a wartime maritime system that has barely been used for generations, according to Bloomberg . The Justice Department, working with the Pentagon, is preparing to use prize law , which historically allowed courts to decide whether vessels and cargo captured during armed conflict could legally become property of the United States. The mechanism was once commonplace in naval warfare but largely disappeared from American practice after

China Ousts 4 Senior Military Commanders In Widening Purges Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times , China has removed two top generals from its highest military command body and expelled two other senior commanders from a Communist Party-controlled legislature , as turbulence continues within the upper echelon of the country's armed forces. Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks at the opening of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao, China, on April 22, 2024. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Once China's No. 1 general, Zhang Youxia, has been removed from the national Central Military Commission

Brazil's Socialist President Sees Lead Disappear As Bolsonaro Heir Turns Presidential Election Into Coin Toss Brazilian socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro are virtually tied as August comes to a close, according to UBS analysts citing new polling data, turning October's presidential election into a potential coin toss. A Bolsonaro victory would accelerate the eradication of left-wing rule across South America as the continent undergoes a once-in-a-generation rightward political realignment. That shift may also offer an early signal of Europe's upcoming 18-month election cycle, in which right-wing parties and candidates are gaining momentum across

The War Hawks' Predictions Have Aged Like Milk Authored by Nolan Denaro via Antiwar.com , When Donald Trump launched the Iran War on February 28, the usual suspects were in full support. From the moment the conflict ignited, many couldn't help but immediately express admiration for the president, saying that only a brave, noble, and strong leader would've had the courage to do what Trump did here. For weeks, we heard that this war was essential, that we would be better off as a result, and that to be unsupportive was to be siding with the IRGC. Alex Brandon/AP As

Study Finds Gender Ideology Fuels Support For Left-Wing Political Violence The Department of Health and Human Services commissioned a study that found a measurable link between accepting transgender ideology and supporting left-wing political violence. Surveillance footage provided in court filings shows Nicholas Roske at a gun shop on May 23, 2022 before attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (Photo: Justice Department) Researchers at Rutgers University, the Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute produced the report, called "Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian Psychology?" which was obtained by the New York

A Trillion Dollar Budget But Military Can't 'Afford' To Attack Mold On Bases? Authored by Stavroula Pabst via Responsible Statecraft , A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that the maintenance backlog for military installations has ballooned to more than $285 billion - leaving many facilities in disrepair, while risking readiness and service members' quality of life. This figure is a jump up from 2022, when the maintenance backlog was about $137 billion. But the backlog continues to grow, because the services only request about 80% of the funds they need for installation repairs and maintenance. "By requesting less

First Secondary Sanctions Applied: US Blocks Egyptian Bank From Accessing Dollars Over 'Iran Ties' The US Treasury Department on Friday unveiled its first 'secondary' Iran sanctions related to Trump's 'Economic D-Day' against Iran, on Friday naming an Egyptian bank in the UAE. Ironically both of these latter countries are close American allies, and this comes at a moment the White House has failed to confirm whether the US will actually go after China for the same trade violations . Via britannica.com The UAE branches of Egypt's Banque Misr are being newly sanctioned over their business dealings with Iran, cutting off

Republicans Pitch Plan To Protect Investments From 'Inflation Tax': What To Know Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times , As inflation ticks upward, Republican lawmakers are pushing for capital gains taxes to be indexed to inflation , which could translate into a significant tax cut for American investors, homeowners, and savers. However, critics say it could put the government further in the red. A stack of individual income tax forms at the Des Plaines Public Library in Des Plaines, Ill., on March 23, 2006. Tim Boyle/Getty Images Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) sponsored the Capital Gains Inflation Relief Act

Trump Strikes "Biggest Oil Deal In History": US To Take Majority Stake In Over 65BN Barrels Of Venezuela Reserves Summary: Trump announced "biggest oil deal in history" Caracas Mulls OPEC Exit U.S. is Nears Deal For 17 Venezuelan Oil Fields under 100-year Leases Operated by U.S. oil companies Trump Close To 'Massive' Deal For Seizing Stake In Venezuela's Vast Oil Fields Trump announces deal with Venezuela: 65+ billion barrels of oil reserves President Trump has made it official with a late in the day Friday Truth Social Post, announcing a deal has been struck with Venezuela for a US majority

Geothermal Power Is Emerging As An AI Energy Source For The Trump Administration A little-used corner of the clean-energy market is getting a potentially decisive trial in Utah. At a government-backed research site, engineers are testing whether equipment and expertise developed during America’s shale boom can turn deeply buried heat into a dependable source of electricity, according to Bloomberg . Conventional geothermal power works only where heat, permeable rock and underground water happen to occur together. The newer approach tries to manufacture those conditions. Wells are drilled several miles down, water is sent through cracks in hot rock and the

The Iran War Has Turned VLCCs Into $650,000-A-Day Assets Authored by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com , More Gulf oil is moving again. Getting it out now costs a fortune. Earnings on the benchmark Saudi Arabia-to-China supertanker route surged to a record $647,000 per day on Thursday, according to Baltic Exchange data cited by Bloomberg. That is more than ten times the rate a year ago-and nearly 27% above the $510,000 reached just ten days earlier. The spike comes as Persian Gulf producers increase crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz despite the continuing Iran war. That should, in theory, ease

Bessent's War On Left-Wing NGOs May Strip Soros Network, SPLC, And CAIR Of Tax-Exempt Status: Report A new report from the New York Post maps out a multi-agency Treasury task force that could soon pursue a broad review that could strip tax-exempt status from George Soros' far-left Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations . Treasury officials are drafting a framework to audit NGOs suspected of exploiting their 501(c)(3) status for political activity, illegal conduct or support of radical groups , the Post reported, citing three people familiar with the internal deliberations. One

China's Solar Boom Hits A Wall As Industry Losses Mount Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com , Three of China's top solar market players reported deepening losses over the first half of the year, reflecting weakening demand for solar in the world's top manufacturer and generator. Jinko Solar, JA Solar Technology, and Tongwei all reported six-month losses as overcapacity in the sector meets weakening demand, not only at home but also abroad, Bloomberg reported , citing statements made by the companies at their financial results releases. The report noted new solar power capacity additions in China had shrunk to 72.07

Milo Yiannopoulos Detained by ICE After Overstaying Visa, Faces Deportation The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested conservative political pundit Milo Yiannopoulos for overstaying his visa and that the British commentator will soon be deported from the United States back to Britain. Federal agents took Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart News editor, into custody Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the U.S. on May 14, 2019, then overstayed his visa. A federal immigration judge issued a final deportation order against him on July 22 after he

FDA Approves 3 New COVID-19 Vaccines Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times , The Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 27 approved COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Sanofi. A nurse prepares to give a COVID-19 vaccine to a child in Denver, Colo., on Nov. 3, 2021. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) The new shots from Pfizer and Moderna use the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) platform and target the XFG strain, a subvariant of the JN.1 variant. Regulators also cleared a COVID-19 vaccine shot from Sanofi that targets the XFG strain and does not use mRNA technology. The approval is

US Military Shoots Down 3 Mexican Cartel Drones With Laser Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times , A laser system was used to shoot down three drug cartel drones in southern Texas, close to the Mexican border, the U.S. military said on Aug. 27. A so-called hunter drone in front of a mobile sensor unit for drone detection using optical systems and lasers at the National Test Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems of the German Aerospace Center in Cochstedt, Germany, on Oct. 8, 2025. Jens Schlueter /AFP via Getty Images The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S.

Topless Sydney Sweeney Bakes A Cake In New 'Birday Boobs' Lingerie Ad With western birthrates circling the drain, Sydney Sweeney and her ' perfect titties ' are once again fighting the good fight for humanity - this time appearing in a new ad for her new lingerie brand , Syrn, entitled "Birthday Boobs." The 28-year-old posted the racy new ad to her Instagram page, in which she can be seen in the kitchen baking a cake - which ends up being the only thing covering her up top at one point . At one point in the baking process, Sweeney

Welcome To FAFOland Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Clusterfuck Nation , ". . . the worse they become, the more they blame you for it." - El Gato Malo on the Lefty-left As the Democratic Party pulls out all the stops to make itself ridiculous, their proxy warriors in the federal judiciary play chicken with the executive branch on sane, uniform standards for mail-in ballots. The Democrats don't want sane, uniform standards for mail-in ballots because they are insane. They want to "defend Democracy " with mail-in ballot chaos. Democracy is their flabby rubric for any artifice or subterfuge

Arizona Border Wall Construction Begins, Targets Smuggling Corridor Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times , The Trump administration has begun work on a project to build a stretch of border wall in southern Arizona. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on Aug. 25 that the wall project is located along "one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border." The wall segment is part of a $46.6 billion effort by the Trump administration to fill the border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop illegal immigration. A federal

Trump Takes A Cleaver To "Big Meat" Monopoly, Moves To Let Mom-And-Pop Ranchers Process Own Meat President Trump's move to dismantle what Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has called the " modern-day monopoly " in U.S. beef processing reflects growing concern that industry concentration has become a food-security vulnerability. Four corporations, JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef, dominate cattle purchasing and processing, creating single points of failure across the nation's beef supply chain. This consolidation has reduced local processing capacity, weakened regional food supply chains and shifted pricing power away from independent ranchers and farmers. Now, President Trump is changing

‘Total peace’ plan of previous government led only 99 of Colombia’s 30,000 armed combatants to disarm, but new president Abelardo De la Espriella opposes peace agreements 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

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...

Remnants from tropical storm could cause heavy rainfall on Leeward Islands and affect Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola Remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly, which has been downgraded to an “open tropical wave”, were moving still across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Leeward Islands, and could bring heavy rainfall to parts of the Caribbean this weekend, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday.. Dolly, which formed on Thursday, had maximum sustained winds of near 40mph (65km/h) with higher gusts on Friday morning. Later on Friday, forecasters said that Dolly was no longer a Tropical Storm, and had “become

Unpopular new policy comes as midterms loom and control of Congress could be decided by several Michigan races Every day $1bn worth of goods crosses the river dividing Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, two largely blue-collar US and Canadian cities that have come to act as one in the creation of North America’s auto industry. News this week of Donald Trump’s escalating trade spat with Canada has everyone worried. Political and economic leaders and observers labeled the move an act of “hubris” , blamed Trump’s “ego”, and called the escalation “insanity”. Continue reading...

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

Desperate relatives trying to reach loved ones last seen in area where entire villages have been swept away Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? Families are rushing to Nepal to search for the 33 British nationals who are still missing, as fears mount over the risk of a second wave of flooding in the region. The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday , thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 538 people, while more

Thai navy says ‘routine’ visit’ will allow personnel to rest and recuperate amid reports of poor conditions onboard The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is set to make a temporary stop in Thailand next week as it heads back to the United States, Thai navy officials said, after spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea supporting US operations against Iran amid recent reports of poor living conditions and low morale onboard the vessel. The Lincoln left the Middle East several days ago after being relieved by the USS George Washington , and is now heading home to San Diego.

Risk of fresh flooding had forced rescue teams to withdraw as residents rushed up hills to escape possible river surge Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? Rescuers searching for survivors of deadly flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have resumed their efforts after suspending operations when a debris dam burst its bank on Friday, increasing the risk of fresh flooding. Residents in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, on the border with Tibet, were seen rushing up hillsides ⁠on Friday to escape a possible surge in

Australian-led trial finds low risk of side effects from common cholesterol-lowering medication for otherwise healthy older people Taking a common cholesterol-lowering medication can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke for people aged over 70, with a low risk of serious side effects, a world-first clinical trial led by Australian researchers has found. Statins are already commonly prescribed to people under the age of 75 who meet certain risk criteria, such as having diabetes and high cholesterol, to prevent them from having a major heart event such as a heart attack, stroke, or from requiring heart surgery. Continue

A plug-in solar kit that costs about $1,000 ‘pays for itself in three years’, one expert says Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Millions of Australians could be saving up to $370 a year on energy bills and doing their bit for the climate crisis if Labor followed the UK’s lead in legalising plug-in solar panels, an advocacy group has said. Plug-in solar refers to small standalone solar units that could be attached to balconies or used in back yards and plugged into power points, offsetting the energy used by household appliances. Continue reading...

More than 40 Australians are among several thousand people unaccounted for after catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-Tibet border How the deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – a visual guide Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast An 11-year-old child, an ADF member and many other pilgrims and trekkers have been named among the Australians missing after deadly flash floods and landslides tore through valleys on the Nepal-Tibet border. As of Saturday there were 41 Australians among almost 2,500 people reported missing in the disaster, including at least 777 foreigners. At least 93,000 people

The $134,000 cost of the statue of the former Victorian premier has been heavily criticised by the Liberal opposition Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Carroll government in Victoria has cancelled controversial plans for a statue of former Labor premier Daniel Andrews. Work began in May on the statue commemorating the former premier’s more than 3,000 days in office, as part of a 1999 policy recognising long-serving Victorian premiers. Continue reading...

There are now 41 Australians missing, and four rapid response team members are expected to arrive in Kathmandu At least 93,000 ‘in great need’ after Nepal-Tibet flash floods How the deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – a visual guide Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The number of Australians who were reported missing in the catastrophic Nepal flooding disaster has risen to 41, as one family celebrates after an unaccounted-for woman made contact with them yesterday. It means three additional Australians were confirmed missing overnight – up from 38 who remained unaccounted

Attack on business apparently storing ‘explosive objects’ sparks huge fire, damaging residential buildings At least 37 people have been killed after a Russian drone struck a warehouse near Kyiv’s western suburbs which appears to have been storing “explosive objects”. The attack damaged at least 50 residential buildings, including a care home for elderly and disabled people, and sparked a huge fire and explosions in the Bucha district of the Ukrainian capital. The regional governor, Tymur Tkachenko, said a further 42 people, including four children, had been injured after the Russian drone strike. Continue reading...

Grammy award-winning American artist selected as 13th person to submit written work to Oslo-based project The next manuscript by the American artist Laurie Anderson will remain unseen for 88 years, as she becomes the 13th figure to contribute to the Future Library project. Anderson joins Margaret Atwood, Han Kang, Ocean Vuong and other prominent authors who have written secret manuscripts, which have been locked away until 2114. Continue reading...

As one of Europe’s biggest consumers of gas the UK may be particularly exposed to heightened price volatility Europe is on course to enter the cooler months with gas stores at their lowest level in 13 years, which has triggered “winter panic” among energy traders, experts have warned. The EU’s gas stocks were 63% full in the last week of August, well below the 80% average for late August over recent years and among the lowest levels ever recorded for this time of year. Continue reading...

Former PM believes Northern Ireland will leave UK in the long term – but remains opposed to Scottish independence ‘I don’t want to be a backseat driver’: Gordon Brown on Burnham, billionaires – and his vision for a better Britain The former prime minister Gordon Brown has said it is inevitable that Ireland will become united at some point in the future, in a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian. While he added that any union would necessarily be “a long process” and based on mutual agreement, Brown’s comments are notable both because of his vehement opposition to Scottish independence, but

Architect of Srebrenica genocide is dead but those scarred by his atrocities say his ideology is still shockingly pervasive To most of the world, he was and will always be the “Butcher of Bosnia”, a grim epithet but one that still fails to fully convey the evil and horror inflicted on its people by Gen Ratko Mladić, who died in prison on Thursday . As commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, Mladić was responsible for the killing of an estimated 100,000 men, women and children during the savage breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He was most notoriously the architect

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.

President denies visit was to gain support for Iran sanctions or due to fears that Putin plans to ‘test Nato resolve’ Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip. Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland. Continue reading...

Efforts to rebuild domestic food production face severe challenges and have come at deadly cost As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive. With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly. Continue reading...

As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”. For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests . Continue reading...

Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions? It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world

Nepali minister says cost of rebuilding likely to be billions of dollars as death toll rises to 669, with seven confirmed dead in Tibet ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal Chinese rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’ at border crossing as Nepal seeks help to ID and store the dead Outside the army camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, people run their fingers down the sheets of paper pinned to the wall, scanning the growing list of those reported missing for news of loved ones. Nepali authorities said nearly 3,000

Nepal and China continue arduous search and rescue operations in flood-hit Himalayas Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates A Chinese rescue team has reached the all-but-obliterated Gyirong border crossing complex for the first time and found “nothing but ruins” as Nepal and China continue their arduous rescue operations in the flood-hit Himalayas. Surveillance camera footage from the worst-hit Gyirong border crossing complex showed huge torrents of water and debris on Wednesday engulfing buildings and people trying to flee. Only ⁠on Friday were rescuers able to reach the area. Continue reading...

Scale of devastation emerges in Nepal as reporters reach disaster area, but Chinese state media focus more on rescue efforts Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates In the days since an enormous glacier in the Himalayas snapped away from a mountaintop and cascaded into the valley below, the true scale of the devastation caused by the flash floods in Nepal and Tibet is still unfolding. But the picture is emerging far more quickly in Nepal than in China, where strict controls on the flow of information from one of its most sensitive regions are hampering the public’s understanding of events.

Flash floods have killed at least 469 people while homes and infrastructure have been swept away Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet? The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake ⁠formed at the ⁠site ⁠where the ​deadly torrents occurred ⁠was rising and ⁠at risk ​of ‌bursting. The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 469 people and left more than 1,300 missing. Continue

This live blog has now closed – but our coverage continues at a new blog here Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border , with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port. “Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn around, so we could only reverse,” the woman, surnamed Fang, told Xiaoxiang Morning News . I was really scared. My whole body was

Former Duchess of York moved to Swiss chalet during fallout over her friendship with convicted child sex offender Sarah Ferguson is set to return to the UK after relocating to a Swiss chalet amid the fallout over her and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports. The scandal over the pair’s relationship with Epstein saw them both lose their royal titles earlier last year. According to the Sun, the former Duchess of York, 66, is renting a six-bedroom gated property in the home counties. Continue reading...

Six more people hospitalised after incident at Big Church festival near Steyning A 41-year-old man has died and at least six other people have been injured after a large sign fell at a Christian festival in West Sussex, police have said. The man, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was pronounced dead at the scene after the incident at the Big Church festival near Steyning on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...

In move that could generate millions, Exeter academics to deliver MA at National Defense University in Riyadh The University of Exeter has approved plans for a “formal partnership” with Saudi Arabia to train senior military officers and government officials, despite long-held concerns about the Saudi government’s human rights record, the Guardian has learned. In a deal that could generate millions of pounds for the Russell Group university, Exeter academics will deliver an MA in applied security and strategy (also known as an MStrat) to a cohort at the National Defense University (NDU) in Riyadh. Continue reading...

Country star came to South Yorkshire town in 2007 for UK launch of the Imagination Library, her book donation scheme Shane Jarman was up a ladder decorating a Christmas tree at the school where he was deputy headteacher when he got a call asking him to come to Rotherham hospital ASAP. It was December 2007 and Jarman’s wife, Claire, had given birth the previous day to their first child, a girl called Emma, so of course he rushed to the phone. All was well, he was told, but that “everything would become clear” when he got to the hospital. Once

Moving tariffs will cushion the blow from the October price cap rise and the increase widely predicted for January With higher energy bills looming and warnings of worse to come in the new year, many households could save up to £173 a year by switching to a fixed deal. Millions of households in Great Britain will face the highest energy charges in three years after it was announced that the government’s price cap will rise again in October. This will be the second increase in three months. Continue reading...

Recent deadly water-related incidents amid heatwave leads National Park Service to issue water-safety reminders As a heatwave continues to bake the western and central US, officials are urging swimmers to be cautious when seeking respite from the summer heat, especially amid a score of recent deadly water-related incidents. Each year, from April to September, drowning deaths rise nationwide, according to 2018-24 data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Continue reading...

Looking for an alternative to fast fashion, Eve Ogden Schaub decided to create a garment from homegrown flax From crop tops to shorts and brightly patterned dresses, many of today’s clothes are the result of fast fashion. But one woman is taking a radical approach to challenging this trend by growing her own dress. Eve Ogden Schaub is in the midst of a project to create a linen garment made from flax she is growing at home, documenting the process in videos shared on her Instagram account . Continue reading...

Searching for exoplanets and clues on planet formation, the Roman telescope will lift off Sunday morning in Florida A $4.3bn space telescope that Donald Trump tried to kill is set to lift off from Florida early on Sunday as Nasa embarks on the next stage of its quest to unlock the secrets of the universe. The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope survived two rounds of proposed White House budget cuts, and will embark on a million-mile journey into deep space from a launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center at 7.26am ET, barring late technical issues or intervention from Florida’s notoriously

Five-day showcase reveals leaps Beijing has made in humanoid tech, but also its limitations as US rivals come up from the rear With exploding pelvises, enough comic pratfalls for a Buster Keaton show reel and the odd moment of ruthless violence, the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing gripped the world this week with an unsettling mixture of hilarity, trepidation and relief. The five-day showcase staked out China’s claim to undisputed leadership in humanoid robotics as android martial artists landed knockout roundhouse kicks and robot teams marched into the arena heralded by flag-waving captains astride giant robotic dogs. The games’

This live blog is now closed. Trump arch will alter sightlines of many Washington DC landmarks, report says Sign up for the US Breaking News email A reminder that we are covering the latest out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Kevin Warsh – the new chair of the Federal Reserve – will deliver his first speech as the head of the US central bank at the annual economic policy symposium. As my colleagues note, Warsh is under pressure to provide clarity on how the Federal Reserve should handle with inflation if price pressures don’t abate. Continue reading...

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...

Construction work at the White House was a factor in the US presidential helicopter passing too close to a passenger plane in the skies over Washington earlier this month, investigators said Thursday. The close pass happened on August 4 after President Donald Trump took off on Marine One from a temporary site on the Ellipse, outside the grounds of the White House, during the construction of a permanent helipad inside the grounds. The White House and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)...

Peter Cullen, a prolific voice actor who enlivened scores of television series, specials and films, including Optimus Prime in the syndicated 1984 series Transformers and Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh cartoon franchise, has died. He was 85. His agent, Kevin Motley, said Cullen died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. “His family asks that you honour his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong...

In arguably his most important foreign trip, Elbridge Colby, US undersecretary for defence policy, visited key Southeast Asian capitals this month. In a speech in Manila, the Pentagon policy chief extolled America’s “flexible realism”, which he said serves “the practical, concrete interests of regular Americans” and echoes Southeast Asian nations’ commitment to “pragmatism, an openness to dialogue, respect for counterparts, proud nationalism, and a focus on economic prosperity”. Amid the United...

The US Federal Aviation Administration is taking steps to fire two air traffic controllers determined to have left their shifts early before an Air Canada Express plane collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in March, according to people familiar with the matter. The moves are in keeping with a broader push by the Trump administration to crack down on controllers leaving shifts early or abusing sick leave, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the information...

Canada has awarded 64 global scholars with C$504 million (US$362 million) in funding to relocate their work to Canadian universities and advance projects in areas such as health and artificial intelligence. Some 48 of the researchers were poached from the US, including from elite institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The other 16 researchers are coming from 12 other countries, including the UK, Germany, China and Japan. “While certain countries...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States, as he escalated his trade war with Canada. The Republican president signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the US geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow along, however. Trump has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the US announced it was imposing 50 per cent tariffs on...

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate stood in the witness box in federal court on Thursday and said they could not adequately defend themselves from criminal sex charges if they had to remain in a Miami jail while fighting extradition to the UK. During nearly two hours in a Miami courtroom, the Tates, in shackles and tan jail jumpsuits, denied under oath criminal accusations across multiple countries, blasted their critics and described their brash online personas that exude wealth...

Brazil will not be able to make rare earth magnets from its own raw materials before 2032, the coordinator of the country’s main magnet pilot plant said on Wednesday, leaving China’s near monopoly on the technology intact for years to come. Andre Luis Pimenta de Faria, who runs the plant for Senai, the research and training arm of Brazil’s national industry confederation, told a public policy panel at Exposibram, the country’s largest mining congress, that first batches could come by the end of...

The US military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, an American defence official in Europe and a Nato official said, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in Nato countries to a potential Russian attack. The US defence official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The Nato official...

The United Kingdom has seen a spike in the number of migrants applying for citizenship and permanent settlement ahead of a planned government clampdown. Government data shows what appears to be a rush to secure residency rights in response to changes announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that would force migrants to wait longer before they can gain them. The Home Office said 199,628 people were granted settlement, giving them the right to live, work and study in the UK permanently, in the...

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has died, Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported on Thursday. Mladic, 84, who had suffered several strokes in recent months, was serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity after overseeing the Srebrenica slaughter, Europe’s worst act of bloodshed since second world war. Serbian state officials and Mladic’s family had...

Two years ago, the prospect of a trade war between the United States and Canada, two of the world’s most closely integrated economies, would have been unthinkable. However, US President Donald Trump’s recklessness and capriciousness know no bounds. Last week’s breakdown in negotiations between the North American neighbours, which triggered the imposition of US tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian goods, showed the degree to which Trump’s trade policies are vindictive, politicised...

The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate. Six months after US and Israeli ⁠forces attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and maiming his son and successor, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power and believes it has time on its side. A threat by US President Donald Trump to impose crippling new sanctions on Iran faces a fundamental problem: Tehran is betting he will not take the final step to break the stalemate – aggressively enforcing...

Russian ⁠foreign ⁠ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ⁠said on Thursday that Russia could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine ‌in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russia using British missiles. Zakharova called on Britain to back off what she called London’s hostile ⁠stance on Ukraine, which she said ‌risked taking the conflict to an entirely new level. She ‌had told the same Moscow ⁠news ⁠briefing earlier that Britain and France were “playing with ‌fire” by supplying...

Colombia’s new hard-right government wants to use prison ships adrift at sea to lock up people it considers highly dangerous criminals, a defence ministry source said on Wednesday. President Abelardo de la Espriella took office earlier this month, vowing to come down hard on armed groups in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer. The US-backed millionaire campaigned on a pledge to bomb guerrillas and build so-called “mega prisons” in the style of El Salvador’s leader, Nayib...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iran even as the unpopular and costly war drags on with no end in sight and no sign that the US is close to achieving any of the lofty goals he set for the conflict. Trump posted an image of himself along with Iran’s slain former supreme leader Ali Khamenei against a stylised landscape background of punishing US air and missile attacks. “Mission Accomplished 2026”, a caption reads. The slogan evokes former president George...

Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died from malaria after being infected by mosquitoes believed to have arrived in Germany on aircraft from malaria-endemic regions, airport operator Fraport and city health authorities said on Wednesday. The first death occurred in early July, the Frankfurt city health authority said, adding that the cause was established only after the patient died. The second death occurred in August, it said. The health authority said a total of six workers had been...

Tim Curry, the baritone-voiced British actor who pranced to movie fame as a singing, lingerie-clad “sweet transvestite” in the 1975 ⁠cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died at ⁠the age of 80, his manager said on Wednesday. A cause of ⁠death was not immediately given, but Curry had been in ill health for some time. He died peacefully on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, his manager said. Curry appeared in numerous films, often as a hammy villain, was nominated three times for a...

Brazil has not answered two American proposals to formalise cooperation on critical minerals, a senior US diplomat said at Latin America’s largest mining fair, leaving Washington without a bilateral deal as it races to build rare earth supply chains outside China. Matthew Lowe, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Brasilia, said Washington invited Brazil years ago to join the Minerals Security Partnership, a US-led grouping that coordinates investment in mineral supply chains, but never...

Meta agreed to pay a coalition of US states as much as US$16.7 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, according to a court filing on Wednesday that ends a landmark trial in California. The settlement, which a federal judge quickly approved, resolves claims by 29 states that Meta deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13. Texas reached a separate...

Their videos have proliferated on social media, but the payments are frequently hidden from viewers.

Senator Jon Ossoff, the youngest sitting senator and the only Democrat seeking re-election this year in a state President Trump won in 2024, hasn’t moderated his message in his critical race.

Candidates’ attacks are focused on illegal immigration, faith and stock trading.

To win in 2024, the president promised an economic course correction. Almost two years later, his agenda has made that fight even harder.

As rescue efforts entered their fourth day, the scale of destruction came into focus, signaling a daunting recovery for the vulnerable nation.

The loss of power-generating capacity has raised questions about an ambitious expansion of renewable energy in one of the world’s most hazard-prone mountain regions.

The remains of hundreds of people have washed downstream after devastating floods.

The strike, on a warehouse near Ukraine’s capital, came after days of attacks that strained air defenses and struck fear in civilians.

Drawings obtained by The New York Times and reviewed by engineers show insufficient reinforcements on eight more steel columns than previously known at a Manhattan building.

At 78, the cookbook author and Food Network host knows what she likes, knows what she wants and isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Instead of rallying around their candidates, Democrats are falling out among themselves.

With their departure, can America please shake off its obsession with royalty?

How do we balance our desire for modern conveniences with our nostalgia for the uncomplicated felicity of our pre-internet past?

Galliano, a fashion industry giant championed by Anna Wintour, was found guilty of a hate crime for his antisemitic outbursts in 2011.