Minimalist News

Blue States Are Still Facing A Mass Taxpayer Exodus Long After COVID Remember when blues state Democrats tried to enforce sweeping pandemic mandates for years after it became clear that covid was not the "mass killer" that the supposed experts claimed it would be?  Remember when they called for people to be jailed for publicly speaking about scientific facts that contradicted the narrative?  Remember when they called for people's children to be taken away if they refused to vaccinate?  Remember how millions of people left blue states in response to the far-left madness?  Well, Democrats are now pretending that none of that

Beyond Cheap Fish Oil: How A 5:1 DHA Ratio Powers Brain Health & Vision Omega-3s are an amazing family of fats that our bodies can't make efficiently on their own. Long used for general heart and inflammation support, research shows that when formulated with a heavy emphasis on DHA plus targeted eye nutrients, they can support brain structure, cognitive performance, memory, attention, and eye/retinal health.  Most people get very little DHA from their modern diet, especially with high intake of processed seed oils that compete with omega-3s. Studies suggest that boosting DHA intake with a targeted formula can support brain function in

Trump Signs Executive Order To Crack Down On 'Legendary' Cheating With Lists For Mail-In Voting President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that establishes a list of voters eligible to vote by mail in an effort to crack down on cheating.  "The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what has been going on," said Trump, adding "If you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have, really, a nation."  > 🚨 BREAKING: By stroke of pen, President Trump signs landmark executive order that CRACKS DOWN on mass mail-in voting and ensures citizenship > > "That's a BIG DEAL." > > The order: > - Requires DHS

Federal Judges Rule Against White House Ballroom, Defunding NPR And PBS Another week, another couple of activist judges ruling against the Trump administration. Architect Shalom Baranes shows a site plan for the White House ballroom during a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington on Jan. 8, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images On Tuesday, federal judges issued orders blocking the ongoing ballroom construction at the White House, and halted federal agencies from pulling funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. On the Ballroom: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the president of the United States “is the steward of the White House

DOJ Sues Minnesota Over Rules For Girls Sports Authored by Brett Rowland via The Center Square, The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit Monday against Minnesota, alleging the state's sports policies violate federal civil rights laws that protect against sex-based discrimination. Title IX, the landmark federal law enacted in 1972, prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. The Justice Department's lawsuit marks a new legal fight in the ongoing national debate over transgender student participation in school sports, challenging Minnesota’s policies as a violation of federal protections against sex-based discrimination. The lawsuit contends that the Minnesota Department

Bush Carrier Begins Scheduled Deployment Across Atlantic, With USS Ford Down For Repairs In Croatia The aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush departed its homeport in Virginia on Tuesday to begin operations for its scheduled deployment, at a moment the Iran war has shown signs of escalation - even as the White House signals it's ready to find an offramp. The new carrier group could add a big further US force injection, assuming that's the purpose. The Bush carrier just launched from Naval Station Norfolk, the Navy confirmed. The full George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group includes Carrier Air Wing 7 over 5,000

4 Things To Know About SCOTUS Case That Could End Birthright Citizenship Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Supreme Court is set to consider a landmark case challenging President Donald Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court in Washington on Feb. 21, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times The case, known as Trump v. Barbara, is set for oral argument on April 1. Upon entering office, Trump signed an order barring the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States from securing citizenship. It also applies to mothers on temporary U.S. visas who give birth in the country. The

Asia Burns More Coal As Middle East War Sends LNG Prices to 3-Year Highs Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com, Coal is back with a bang in Asia’s power generation, as countries scramble to contain the LNG supply shortage due to the war in the Middle East. Coal hasn’t really left most Asian economies, which rely on the fuel for much of their power generation. Amid the squeeze of natural gas supply due to the de facto closed Strait of Hormuz and the sky-rocketing LNG prices that few buyers in Asia can afford, nations are scrapping previous restraints to the use of coal-fired

Idaho Passes Strictest Law In The US For Transgenders Using Incorrect Bathrooms The transgender movement is widely regarded as a political insurgency rather than a civil rights movement, and for good reason.  Leftist activists often declare themselves to be "trans" as a political statement, even when they don't actually suffer from gender dysphoria, a rare mental illness that has little to do with gay rights or "social justice".  Children, by extension, are easily manipulated by such activists in the form of parents and teachers, and they tend to declare they are trans in order to please the brainwashing lunatics in their lives.   The

'Something Dark Is Going On': Nine Top-Level Scientists Die Or Go Missing In Past Year Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness, In the span of nine months, nine top-level scientists in the United States have died or vanished without a trace. Seven of them were connected to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) or the institutions it directly funds. AFRL develops and transitions the most sensitive aerospace technologies in the United States’ defense arsenal. 1) Monica Jacinto Reza vanished June 22, 2025 while hiking with friends in the Angeles National Forest in California. She was last seen waving to a hiking companion approximately 30 feet behind the group.

RFK Jr. Says Hospitals Must Serve Healthier Food Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), U.S. health officials on March 30 informed hospitals they must provide patients with more nutritious food. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated in a memorandum to hospitals across the country that they must comply with certain conditions to receive federal funding, including making sure that menus and diets meet the nutritional needs of patients. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington on Jan. 29, 2026. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Officials noted the January release of new dietary guidelines, which emphasize limiting ultra-processed foods, refined

Bullet Used in Charlie Kirk Murder Doesn't Match The Alleged Weapon, Defense Claims There’s a new wrinkle in the case against Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old charged with assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Defense attorneys revealed last week that federal ballistic analysis cannot link the bullet that killed Kirk to the rifle prosecutors say Robinson used. Robinson faces charges of aggravated murder, along with multiple felony counts, for the September 10, 2025, killing of Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The case seemed, from the outside, fairly straightforward: Robinson reportedly confessed to his father, who

One Man Thinks He Knows "Why Everything Sucks" Authored by Matt Van Swol via X, I think I know why everything sucks... ...and it's because everything is fake We are getting fake college degrees that cost 4 years and six figures that teach you fake education and get you fake jobs. We are eating fake food, with fake ingredients, funded by fake research. We are scrolling through fake lives, with fake relationships, who take fake, curated vacations to promote brands that make fake products. We are voting for fake candidates, who run on fake promises, inside a fake system that was never designed to fix anything. We are

Iran Says 'Prepared To End War' If Security Guarantees Offered, But Still No Direct Negotiations - Just 'Messages' SUMMARY * President Pezeshkian: prepared to end war with guarantees against further attacks. * IRGC warns it will hit 18 US tech companies in region, says Siemens in Israel already attack * China, Pakistan issue broad five-point framework for peace (document below); France, Italy begin to block airspace for Iran-related US ops * WarSec Hegseth saw "upcoming days will be decisive", strikes will continues without any deal - says "regime fragmenting" * President Trump signals off-ramp, tells world "go get your own oil", says Iran

American Journalist Shelly Kittleson Kidnapped In Baghdad American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson, who reports primarily on Middle Eastern and Afghan affairs, was kidnapped in Baghdad earlier today. She has written for outlets including Al-Monitor, Foreign Policy, BBC News, Politico, and others. Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst and former senior Pentagon official under former President Barack Obama, confirmed on X that Kittleson was "abducted and may have been taken hostage in Baghdad by Kataib Hezbollah." > 🚨🚨🚨 I can confirm that my friend Shelly Kittleson was abducted and may have taken hostage in Baghdad by Khatib Hezbollah. Whereabouts and condition unknown. I

Gearing Up For Artemis II: NASA's High-Stakes Test Run Around the Moon NASA is gearing up for Artemis II, its first crewed mission to the moon since the Apollo era—but this one is more of a high-speed dress rehearsal than a landing, according to KSL.com. Four astronauts will take a roughly 10-day trip that loops around the moon and comes straight back, with no orbiting or moonwalks. The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—marks a few firsts: the first woman, first person of color, and first non-American assigned to a lunar mission. Koch already holds the record for the

New Restrictions On SNAP Purchases To Take Effect In More States In April Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Food stamp recipients in Florida, Texas, and West Virginia will face restrictions on buying certain kinds of less nutritious items such as soda and candy, some starting in April. A sign on the window of a grocery store in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Oct. 30, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images West Virginia’s restrictions became effective on Jan. 1, but retailers have until April 1 to be fully compliant. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

In Revolutionary Statement, Fidel Castro's Grandson Embraces "Capitalism With Sovereignty" What is awkward for Democrats and their left-wing activist network of politicians and dark-money funded nonprofits is that the latest CNN interview with Fidel Castro's grandson shattered years of left-wing America's weird obsession with Cuban communism.  Sandro Castro told CNN's Patrick Oppmann that he would welcome a deal with President Trump and said many on the island want "capitalism with sovereignty," a remarkable admission from deep inside the Castro family that Cuba's failed economic model is no longer the pathway for the Carribean island nation suffering from decades of economic collapse, and

Another Greek Tanker Sneaks Through Strait Of Hormuz Another Greek-controlled oil tanker has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, despite Iran's declaration that only "friendly" vessels will be allowed to make the transit, marking the fourth such voyage since hostilities in the Middle East began. The suezmax Pola, which switched off its tracking system in the Persian Gulf on March 10, was detected again on Monday by the Automatic Identification System: it was located several thousand miles away.  The ship was sailing in the eastern Indian Ocean near the maritime corridor off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, according to vessel tracking data compiled by

Stock Market Breadth: Warning Or Opportunity? Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, The S&P 500 is down roughly 7% from its January 27 all-time high. Unsurprisingly, the media is full of “red” headlines discussing the seemingly “endless” correction we are in. Unsurprisingly, previously complacent investors are now anxious, as nothing seems to be working. But that index-level headline conceals something far more alarming: stock market breadth has collapsed. According to Morgan Stanley, approximately 42% of S&P 500 members are already down 20% or more from their 52-week highs. More than 200 companies are in their own private bear markets, even as the index itself is not. This

Lewis was the father of Avi Lewis, who was elected leader of the progressive New Democratic party one day before his father died Stephen Lewis, the Canadian diplomat, politician and human rights advocate, who spent decades tirelessly working to focus global attention on the HIV/Aids epidemic, has died of cancer. Lewis, who served as the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, as well as the head of Ontario’s New Democratic party (NDP), was 88. Continue reading...

Critics say exemption for fossil fuels exploits White House’s ‘self-made gas crisis’, and could doom the rare Rice’s whale * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox A US government panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move which critics say could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life. The Endangered Species Committee – which had not convened in more than three decades – voted to approve the request for the ESA exemption at the request of the

Clowns in Bolivia are upset by mandate that stops schools hosting events from which they earn a living Dozens of clowns have marched through the streets of Bolivia’s capital to protest against a government decree that limits extracurricular activities in schools, threatening their livelihoods. Wearing full face paint and their signature red noses, the clowns gathered on Monday in front of the ministry of education in La Paz to oppose a decree published in February. The new mandate says schools must comply with 200 days of lessons each year – in effect banning them from hosting the special events where the entertainers

Nearly 6,000 people forced to flee, human rights group says, as it criticises ‘abandonment’ from authorities At least 70 people have been killed and 30 injured during an attack in Haiti’s breadbasket Artibonite region, significantly more than official estimates, a human rights group has said. Police initially reported 16 dead and 10 injured, while a preliminary report from civil protection authorities suggested 17 had died and 19 were wounded. Continue reading...

Ex-TV host pledged to centre party around equity, with higher wealth taxes, green energy and tuition-free education * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Canada’s embattled New Democratic party (NDP) has elected the former broadcaster and self-proclaimed socialist Avi Lewis as its new leader, as it looks to rebuild following a devastating federal election last year that saw it lose official party status. A record number of members voted in the three-day NDP leadership convention, giving Lewis a first-ballot win that underscored widespread support. Lewis pledged to convert the “tremendous momentum” of the

South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plants Governments across Asia are ramping up their use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as they try to cover huge energy shortfalls triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran. The move has triggered warnings from climate experts who point to coal’s devastating environmental impact, and say the energy crisis should be a wake up call for governments to invest in renewables, which can offer a more stable supply that is not exposed to price shocks. Continue reading...

A rescue mission involving volunteer helicopter crew and public donations ended in joy after Molly was located and brought home A spot of furry black and white appears among the jagged rocks of New Zealand’s alpine backcountry. It is Molly the border collie, sitting near the foot of a waterfall where she had been separated from her owner one week earlier. Molly was rescued on Tuesday after an avalanche of donations from the public funded a volunteer team made up of former helicopter pilots and crew to mount a search in the wilderness. Continue reading...

The new rules are the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century Divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children from Wednesday, in the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century. Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take custody of their children when they divorce. Continue reading...

Foreign ministers Ishaq Dar and Wang Yi met in Beijing as Pakistan pushes for peacemaker role * Middle East crisis – live updates Pakistan and China have released a joint five-part proposal for peace in the Middle East, after Pakistan’s foreign minister flew to Beijing on Tuesday to seek Chinese support for the country’s faltering efforts to negotiate an end to end the war. The one-day meeting between Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, came as Pakistan continues to push for the role of peacemaker between the United States and Iran, even as the war shows little sign of relenting. Continue

Spin-off launched with 10 nations, as original event remains mired in protests and boycotts over Israel’s involvement Eurovision is seeking to expand into the Asian market by hosting a version of its song contest in Bangkok this year, just as the original annual event is being buffeted by discord and boycotts on the eve of its 70th anniversary edition. The grand final of the inaugural Eurovision song contest Asia will take place in Thailand’s capital on Saturday 14 November, the Switzerland-based organisation announced on Tuesday. Broadcasters from 10 countries have confirmed their participation. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s address broadcast across all TV and radio networks simultaneously. Follow live * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The makers of Claude.ai will become the first company to sign on to Australia’s national AI plan after a meeting with Anthony Albanese this morning. Anthropic, one of the world’s largest AI companies, will meet with the prime minister, science minister, Tim Ayres, and assistant science minister, Andrew Charlton, to sign a memorandum of understanding. The Australian government and Anthropic are working together to harness AI responsibly – securing investment into Australia’s energy grid, driving economic resilience and

Prime minister says months ahead ‘may not be easy’ and urges Australians to ‘think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries’ * Australian PMs have addressed the nation only a handful of times. Anthony Albanese will join their ranks * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast My fellow Australians. By nature, we’re an optimistic country. But I understand that right now it’s hard to be positive. Continue reading...

Two-thirds of teenagers are still on social media platforms included in the ban, according to the eSafety commissioner * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast When the age assurance technology trial released its final report before Australia’s under-16s social media ban came into effect last year, its first finding was: age assurance can be done privately, efficiently and effectively. Four months since the ban came into effect, we can say that was – to paraphrase Yes Minister – a courageous statement. Continue reading...

Adelaide has the biggest price decline, with unleaded down 24.9 cents and diesel down 21.3 cents * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Fuel prices started to fall immediately across Australia after the government’s fuel excise cut, unexpectedly accelerating the delivery of cost-of-living relief. Prices in capital cities paused then plummeted on Wednesday, after the prime minister announced that tax on petrol and diesel would be halved to 26.3 cents a litre. Continue reading...

Potential challengers given only 36 hours to prepare for a rerun after the winner was deemed ineligible * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Moira Deeming could secure the top spot on a Victorian Liberal ticket – if she still wants it – after potential challengers were given only 36 hours to prepare nominations for a rerun preselection ballot, in what some insiders call a “stitch up”. It came after Deeming was on Sunday ousted from the number one spot for the western metropolitan region by Dinesh

Ukrainian president says he hopes for ‘results’ as he sits down with negotiators later today Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone manufacturers are meeting Romanian defence ministry and army officials in Bucharest this week to discuss potential joint production under a new European Union rearmament funding mechanism, the ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters. Romania, an EU and Nato state, shares a 650-km land border with Ukraine and has had drones breach its airspace and fragments fall on its territory repeatedly since Russia began attacking Kyiv’s ports located across the Danube from Romania. Continue reading...

Many countries in Europe have called the conflict illegal, with some blocking Israeli and US planes from moving weapons through their airspace * Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has launched a tirade against European countries that refused to join his war against Iran, calling out the UK and France, as transatlantic relations soured from the spiralling conflict that has wreaked havoc on the global economy. On his Truth Social website, the US president told governments worried about fuel prices to “go get your own oil” by force from the Gulf, comments that sent oil prices even higher. Continue reading...

Two-month arrangement aimed at preventing small-boat crossings comes as existing deal expires The UK will pay France an extra £16.2m to keep police patrolling Channel beaches and prevent a surge in small-boat crossings after negotiators failed to agree a permanent deal before a midnight deadline. The stopgap arrangement, which will last for two months, comes after French negotiators refused to agree to UK demands for further interventions and patrols to stop asylum seekers from reaching the UK via the Channel. Continue reading...

The German chancellor has drawn condemnation from NGOs and members of his own government Friedrich Merz has drawn condemnation from NGOs and members of his own government after he called for the vast majority of Syrians living in Germany to “go back to their homeland”. The German chancellor, who was elected last year after promising a tough line on immigration in a bid to beat the far right, made the remarks during a visit to Berlin on Monday by the interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Continue reading...

Donald Tusk and Micheál Martin say reported phone call with Moscow on sanctions confirms Hungary ‘doing the bidding for Russia’ within EU Back to Iran and the perceived lack of support from European Nato allies, US president Donald Trump has now turned to criticising France in his latest outburst on social media. In a post on Truth Social, he said: “The Country of France wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory. France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the “Butcher of Iran,” who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!! President DJT” Continue reading...

US president to address the nation later today; Houthis say attack was a joint operation with Iran and Hezbollah * ‘Get your own oil’: Trump launches tirade against Europe for not joining Iran war Houthi forces in Yemen have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on southern Israel this morning, saying it was a joint operation with Iran and Hezbollah. In a statement, the Houthi movement said it carried out its third missile attack in the conflict “in conjunction with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon”. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: As conflict engulfs Iran, shifting global alliances and soaring energy prices are reshaping the existing power balances that could redefine the next stage of international security Good morning. So far, there is only one clear winner from the war in Iran: Russia. Before the US and Israel attacked Tehran in late February, Moscow was preparing deep budget cuts to education and healthcare funding to pay for its invasion of Ukraine, which has now entered its fifth year. In just over a month of the fighting in Iran, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has experienced a dramatic reversal in fortunes. The global

This blog is closed. Follow our new liveblog here. Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has said it has intercepted and destroyed ten drones over the past hours, and eight missiles launched towards the Riyadh area and the country’s eastern region. Early this morning Kuwait said its air defences were responding to hostile missile and drone attacks. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Kuwait said where the drones or missiles came from. Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai. Local authorities later said response teams contained the incident with no oil leakage and that no injuries had been reported Donald Trump warned

Volker Türk says bill, which applies to Palestinians convicted of terror charges but not Jewish extremists, must be repealed A new Israeli law that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, would constitute a war crime if enacted, according to one of the UN’s most senior human rights officials. Speaking amid mounting international condemnation of the bill, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, described the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life”. He added that

John Healey says extra deployment is defensive response to ‘expanding threat’ from Iran * Middle East crisis – live updates * UK politics live – latest updates The UK is sending more military support to the Gulf, taking the total deployment to 1,000 troops, amid more jibes from Donald Trump about Britain’s refusal to get involved in offensive operations against Iran. Speaking from Qatar where he met UK troops, the defence secretary, John Healey, said the extra deployment was in response to an “expanding threat” from Iran. Continue reading...

At least 77 people killed in anti-corruption youth uprising in September, which began over a brief social media ban Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli was arrested early on Saturday morning over his alleged role in the deaths of dozens of people who took part in the gen Z protest that toppled his government last year. Police detained the three-time former prime minister at his residence in the capital Kathmandu, and also arrested his former home affairs minister Ramesh Lekhak. Continue reading...

Balendra Shah, 35, is a symbol of change in country whose government was toppled last year in youth-led uprising Nepal’s rapper turned politician Balendra Shah, who is about to be sworn in as prime minister, has issued his first post-election message in the form of a rap urging unity. Hours before the release he swore an oath as a newly elected lawmaker, and he is due to become the Himalayan republic’s new prime minister on Friday. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio welcomes release of Dennis Coyle, who was detained in January last year for violating unspecified laws Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have released the American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s supreme court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient”. Continue reading...

From a shop owner in India to a community worker in New South Wales, rising fuel prices are forcing people to ration oil usage * Middle East crisis – live updates Alagesan, 35, needs liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to run his roadside drink and snack shop in Coimbatore, India, but with the fuel shortage since the US-Israel attacks on Iran, he worries his business could fold. “I am far away from the Middle East, but my life is affected,” he said. “The gas cylinder is not available because of the war. I don’t know what to do.” Continue reading...

At least 400 killed in Pakistan’s strike on drug rehab centre, Taliban say, with families searching unmarked mass graves Sohrab Faqiri spent Eid, the Muslim festival to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, looking for the grave of his brother, killed in a massive Pakistan airstrike on Kabul this week. Pakistan’s bombardment campaign, on what it says is terrorist and military infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan, appeared to have gone catastrophically wrong. A rehabilitation centre for drug addicts was hit on Monday night, according to the United Nations and the Afghan authorities. The UN’s preliminary death toll is 143 people,

Even if cargo route of strait of Hormuz reopens soon, Food and Drink Federation almost triples earlier forecast * Business live – latest updates Food inflation could hit 9% in the UK this year, even if the strait of Hormuz opens within the next few weeks, figures suggest, as the war in Iran pushes up energy prices. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents 12,000 food and drink manufacturers, has predicted that prices will rise by “at least” 9% the end of 2026, almost tripling a forecast made before the conflict of 3.2%. Continue reading...

Chancellor says the government is looking at ways they can support people based on household income Good morning. Keir Starmer is giving a press conference this morning where, according to No 10, he will discuss the Iran war, and how the government is supporting people at home. Now we are in April, the new financial year is starting, and the government is highlighting measures it has introduced that will help people with the cost of living. The Conservatives have an alternative list, and they are claiming this morning that “Keir Starmer and his chancellor have piled on extra costs leaving families

Government keen to avoid panic as oil price surges, but perhaps households need advice on reducing consumption Labour ministers sent out in recent days to respond to the looming energy crisis sparked by the Iran war have essentially stuck to that reassuring wartime slogan: keep calm and carry on. “I think people should go about their lives as normal, knowing that the government is taking action to bring energy bills down,” James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Review finds no ‘meaningful impact’ five years after race action plan launched, amid calls for government to step in Promises by police chiefs to tackle racial bias failed owing to “a lack of clear national leadership”, an independent police report has found. The promises were made five years ago in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and led police bosses in England and Wales to launch a race action plan promising to tackle the “stigmatising and humiliating” experiences of Black people at the hands of officers. Continue reading...

From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher’s viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 pieces Some of the UK’s smallest public murals are on bollards in Shrewsbury while one of the biggest is on a 1960s 16-storey block of flats in Gosport. Perhaps the funniest though is in Cardiff. Ahead of last summer’s Oasis concerts it was a straightforward copy of Liam Gallagher’s viral post on X declaring: “Because Cardiff is the bollox.” Continue reading...

Fully crewed rocket will head to moon from Florida – first time since 1972 that humans will have left lower Earth orbit A little more than an hour before sunset on Florida’s space coast, up to 400,000 people packed on beaches and causeways will look to the heavens on Wednesday to witness a fiery spectacle not seen in almost 54 years: a fully crewed Nasa rocket heading back to the moon. The launch of Artemis II, scheduled for 6.24pm ET if weather and any late technical gremlins grant their consent, marks the first time since the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972

Critics say ‘election integrity’ plan to compile national voter list is unconstitutional and will be blocked by the courts Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting and compile a national voter list in a move that is unprecedented and likely unconstitutional. The order directs the administration to establish a federal list of confirmed citizens that can legally vote in each state, and orders the postal service to send mail-in ballots only to those on the list. During a press conference at the White House, Trump said the administration would like to require voter ID and proof

This live blog is now closed. * Sign up for the Breaking News US email Donald Trump confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla, will travel to the US for a state visit from 27 to 30 April. The president said that the trip will include a banquet dinner at the White House on 28 April. “I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect. It will be TERRIFIC!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Continue reading...

Announcement part of controversial shakeup described by critics as administration attack on ‘science and scientists’ The Trump administration will move the US Forest Service headquarters from Washington DC to Salt Lake City and shut down its regional offices, the agriculture department has announced. The announcement sets in motion a controversial reorganization for the country’s second-largest federal land management agency that Trump officials have planned since last year. The move, which the USDA touted as a “commonsense approach”, recalls the first Trump administration’s chaotic attempt to relocate the Bureau of Land Management from Washington DC to Colorado, first announced in 2019. The agency

Pentagon chief’s remarks come after US army said crews suspended amid investigation into incident in Tennessee Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the crews of two US army AH-64 Apache helicopters that hovered next to the singer Kid Rock’s swimming pool while he clapped and saluted on Saturday are no longer suspended. “No punishment. No investigation,” Hegseth wrote on social media. “Carry on, patriots.” Continue reading...

Why didn’t China develop its own scientific and industrial revolutions when it made so many discoveries and advances over millennia? That is often called “Needham’s question”, named after the historian of Chinese science and tech Joseph Needham. Why didn’t China develop capitalism during the Song dynasty when it was so close to achieving a breakthrough with trade, commerce, currency and semi-industrialisation, and an emerging merchant class? The Hungarian-French sinologist Etienne Balazs, among...

A ⁠Russian An-26 ⁠military transport plane ⁠crashed into a cliff in Crimea, killing 29 people on board, due to a possible technical malfunction, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Wednesday, according to news agencies. Tass news agency, quoting the ministry, said communication with the aircraft was lost at about 6pm local time on Tuesday on a planned flight over Crimea. The peninsula, covered in sweeping mountains leading down to the coast of the Black Sea, was annexed by Russia from...

President ⁠Donald Trump said the United States could end its military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks and Tehran did not have to make a deal as a prerequisite for the conflict to wind down. The remarks underscored the shifting and at times contradictory statements from Washington about how the war, now in its fifth week, might end. “We’ll be leaving very soon,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, saying the exit could take place “within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe...

Almost three years ago, New York City joined governments across the country in banning TikTok from its phones over security concerns about the Chinese social media site. On Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a bona fide social media star, took to the app to announce a reversal: “TikTok, we’re back.” The city will now allow agencies to start posting again on the short-form social media site as long as departments follow a set of security precautions, according to a memo from city cybersecurity...

As with any conflict, the war in Iran has driven people to choose sides and adopt partisan positions. This includes the view that, despite the acts of aggression by the US and Israel, the Islamic Republic somehow “deserves” the attacks due to years of regional instability caused by its Axis of Resistance. This is not to suggest that the Iranian regime has always been a victim. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ transgressions through the Quds Force have been well documented. But let’s be...

A US judge blocked Donald Trump on Tuesday from proceeding with construction of a US$400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, halting for now one of the Republican president’s most visible efforts to reshape the seat of American power. US District Judge Richard ‌Leon granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organisation that brought a lawsuit alleging Trump exceeded his authority when he razed...

Iran has the “necessary will” to end the war with the US and Israel, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday, stressing that Tehran was seeking guarantees the conflict would not flare up again. The comment by the head of state – which boosted markets in the US – came after a day of heavy strikes on Iran and followed a tough warning from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guards threatened to retaliate against leading US tech firms such as Google, Meta and Apple from...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that they would target leading US technology firms like Apple, Google and Meta if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations”. “These companies, starting from 8pm Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1, should expect the destruction of their relevant units in exchange for every assassination in Iran,” the Guards said in a statement listing the names of 18 companies it alleged were complicit in the killing of officials. “We advise the...

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice. An 8-1 High Court majority sided with a Christian counsellor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the...

King Charles III will visit the United States in late April, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday, despite some calls for the trip to be cancelled or delayed amid the Iran war. Confirmation of the monarch’s first state visit to the US comes at a rocky time for the so-called US-UK “special relationship”, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly criticising Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s reticence over the US-Israel war against Tehran. The trip by the king and Queen Camilla would “celebrate the...

President ⁠Donald Trump on Tuesday urged countries that did not help in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran to buy American oil and go to ‌the Strait of Hormuz and “just TAKE it”. Trump singled out Britain and France as unhelpful in the month-long war that has roiled global markets, driven up energy prices and seen Iran effectively close oil ⁠tanker traffic through the Strait. “All of those countries that can’t ‌get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which ‌refused...

As global energy supplies are put under strain by Iranian disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, state-owned Chinese oil giant PetroChina has said its overall operations remain stable because most of its imports do not pass through the strait. However, the company’s investment operations in the Middle East had been “impacted to varying degrees”, as crude oil and natural gas imported through the strait accounted for about 10 per cent of its total operating volume, PetroChina...

A woman was bitten by a wolf in a shopping centre in the German city of Hamburg, the city’s deputy mayor said Tuesday, in the first such attack in modern times. The wolf entered the complex in the northern city’s Altona area on Monday evening after being repeatedly spotted in different parts of Hamburg over several days, Katharina Fegebank told journalists. The incident is the first of its kind since the species began returning to Germany almost 30 years ago, according to the Federal Agency for...

Geopolitical competition has long been understood in territorial terms. Power was measured by control over land, resources and populations. Rivalry was expressed through military confrontation, alliance formation and the defence of borders. As economic interdependence deepened in the 20th century, globalisation was seen as an arena within which states competed, but not itself the object of competition. That assumption no longer holds. Increasingly, the infrastructure of globalisation is becoming...

China’s military mouthpiece accused Japan of “dangerously expanding” its defence industry – in capacity, technology and international engagement – and said it had “crossed the red line”. In a rare full-page report on Monday, PLA Daily claimed Japan possessed an “astonishing” stockpile of nuclear materials and that it had the technology to produce nuclear weapons. It said 44.4 tonnes of plutonium had already been separated by the end of 2024 – enough to make about 5,500 nuclear warheads. The...

European governments breathed a sigh of relief in October when the US and China sealed a fragile trade truce that paused more sweeping Chinese rare earth restrictions and papered over a Sino-Dutch row over chipmaker Nexperia. Now, however, the European Union is being urged to come up with a battle plan should the ceasefire fail or expire. A spike in superpower tensions could expose the EU to Chinese export controls, potentially pulverising its military support for Ukraine, its own efforts to...

Emmanuel Macron touched down in Tokyo on Tuesday with a packed agenda and a receptive audience in a Japanese government anxious about a choked oil route and looking for support amid its diplomatic falling-out with Beijing. The French president’s three-day visit, before he heads to South Korea later in the week, comes as Japan looks to Europe for solidarity amid a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz that has sent oil prices soaring. The backdrop to Macron’s meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae...

Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran has not been weakened enough by the month-long US-led bombing campaign, according to US, Gulf and Israeli officials. After private grumbling at the start of the war that they were not given adequate advance notice of the US-Israeli attack and complaining the US had ignored their warnings that the war would have...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US may need to reassess its relationship with Nato after the Iran war is finished, calling the military alliance’s alleged lack of support during the Middle East conflict “very disappointing”. Rubio assailed Nato members for denying access to military bases, following prior criticism from US President Donald Trump that partners in the security bloc are “cowards” and that the alliance is a “paper tiger”. “The president and our country will have to...

Iran is pushing the Houthis to prepare for a renewed campaign against Red Sea shipping, contingent upon any further escalation by the US in its war on the Islamic Republic, according to European officials familiar with the matter. Leaders of the Yemen-based Houthis, a militant group backed by Iran, are weighing options for more aggressive action after launching ballistic missiles at Israel, the people said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters. There are divisions within the...

Pop megastar Taylor Swift was sued by ⁠a Las Vegas ⁠performer on Monday who said ⁠Swift’s latest hit album The Life of a Showgirl violates her trademark rights. Maren Wade said in the complaint that marketing for Swift’s album threatened to “drown out” her long-running Confessions of a Showgirl stage show and ‌asked the court to block Swift from creating confusion with her album title. Representatives for Swift and her label Universal Music Group, also a defendant, did not immediately respond to...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced confidence on Monday that Iran’s Islamic republic would eventually fall, though he again said that was not the objective of the US-Israeli war on the country. “I think this regime will collapse internally. But at the moment, right now, what we’re doing is just degrading their military capacity, degrading their missile capacity, degrading their nuclear capacity and also weakening them from the inside,” Netanyahu told conservative US broadcaster...

Nasa began the countdown on Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years. The 32-storey Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast-off on Wednesday evening with four astronauts. After a day in orbit around Earth, the Orion capsule will propel the astronauts to the moon and back. There are no stops – just a quick U-turn around the moon. The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific. Managers said the rocket is doing well following the latest round of repairs....

As tensions simmer along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier – fuelled by disputes over the contested Durand Line, recurring cross-border strikes and the persistent threat of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters operating from Afghan soil – a subtle but consequential geopolitical shift is under way. India is quietly but steadily stepping up its engagement with the Taliban. The urgency of this recalibration was underscored on March 16, when Pakistani military forces carried out one of the...

A man who crashed his pickup truck into a Detroit-area synagogue earlier in March was carrying out an attack inspired by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah and had sought to inflict as much damage as possible, the FBI said on Monday. Ayman Ghazali made a video before the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, saying he wanted to “kill as many of them as I possibly can”, said Jennifer Runyan, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Detroit, who announced new information more...

The US ⁠military is upgrading White House facilities for the new East Wing, the administration said on Monday, after US President Donald Trump said the ballroom would be built atop a “massive” fortified complex. “The military is making some upgrades ‌to their facilities here at the White House and I’m not privy to provide any more details on that,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing. Leavitt’s comments followed Trump’s own update on the US$400 million White House...

The United States has formally reopened its embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, after the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country following the Trump administration’s removal of then-president Nicolas Maduro in early January. The State Department announced on Monday that it had resumed normal operations at the embassy in Caracas – which had been in need of significant repair, including remediation from mould – after a seven-year closure that began during US President...

Two Chinese container ships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday on their second attempt to leave the Gulf after turning back on Friday, ship-tracking data showed. The critical waterway has effectively been shut since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28. The vessels ‌sailed in close formation out of the strait and into open waters, data on the MarineTraffic platform showed. “Both vessels successfully crossed on a second attempt today, marking the first container vessels to...

Israel’s parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. The bill’s passage marked a major victory for Israel’s far-right, which has pushed hard for the measure. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the chamber to vote yes in person. The law makes the death penalty – by hanging – the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted for nationalistic killings. The law also gives Israeli courts the authority to impose...

The Pentagon has flouted a court order blocking it from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Defence Department’s headquarters, a lawyer for The New York Times asserted on Monday in urging a federal judge to compel the government’s compliance with the 10-day-old order. US District Judge Paul Friedman did not immediately rule from the bench after hearing a second round of arguments from lawyers for the newspaper and the Trump administration. The New York Times claims Pentagon...

A French court on Monday issued an arrest warrant and a one-year prison sentence against the Chinese captain of a suspected Russian “shadow fleet” tanker over failing to comply with orders to stop his ship. Chen Zhangjie, 39, was sentenced in absentia after the French navy boarded the Boracay tanker in September before releasing the vessel and its crew days later, in what Russian leader Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy”. The court in the western city of Brest also ordered Chen to pay a...

French authorities are investigating a suspected link to Iran after thwarting a bomb attack outside a Bank of America building in Paris at the weekend, the interior minister said on Monday. The authorities suspect a link to Iran due to similarities to other recent attempted attacks in Europe which a pro-Iran group claimed responsibility for, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. On Saturday morning, Paris police officers spotted two suspects carrying a shopping bag near the Bank of...

The world is bracing for an aluminium supply shock after two major Middle Eastern smelters were damaged in Iranian attacks over the weekend, a disruption likely to push more production to China in the near term and potentially for years to come, analysts said. Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), a leading regional producer, reported “significant damage” at its Abu Dhabi site following strikes by Iranian missiles and drones, while Aluminium Bahrain said it was assessing the extent of damage at its...

The Israeli military has suspended a battalion whose soldiers assaulted a CNN crew in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a rare case of punishment for soldier misconduct. The army announced on Monday it was suspending the Netzah Yehuda battalion after soldiers were filmed assaulting the CNN crew last week. Netzah Yehuda is a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers that has been linked to abuses of Palestinian civilians in the past, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his...

A Swedish prosecutor on Monday charged a man, suspected of selling his wife’s sexual services to over 120 men, with aggravated pimping, several rapes and assault. The man, 62, was arrested in late October after his wife reported him to police in northern Sweden. He has been held in custody since then. According to the charge sheet, the man had for years benefited financially from pressuring his wife “to perform and submit to sexual acts”. The man was accused of creating ads online, setting up...

Russia said on Monday that an oil tanker carrying ‌100,000 tonnes of crude oil had arrived in Cuba and that Moscow would stand by its friends by working on further supplies despite a US blockade of the Communist-run island. The US cut off Venezuela’s oil exports to Cuba after toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, and US President Donald Trump threatened to slap punishing ⁠tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba. But Trump on Sunday signalled he ‌was reversing...

Gunmen killed at least a dozen people in Jos, the capital of Nigeria’s restive Plateau state, sparking retaliation from a mob that killed 10 more, locals said on Monday. Plateau state, in central Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, experiences recurring violence in the countryside, mostly linked to land disputes between farmers and herders. Jos has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past, but deadly, mass casualty attacks in the crowded city have been rare in recent years. At least 12 people were...

Israel said on Monday it was striking military targets across Tehran, a day after US President Donald Trump insisted a deal could “soon” be reached, while not ruling out ground operations. Iran also launched fresh strikes on Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after its electrical facilities came under attack at the weekend, cutting power to parts of Tehran and surrounding areas. Trump also threatened on Monday to destroy Kharg Island, Iran’s oil wells and power plants if it does not agree soon to a...

Wars, including a widening conflict in the Middle East, are heightening risks for aviation as flight corridors are squeezed and drones become more widespread, Europe’s top aviation safety regulator has said. The month-old Iran war is reshaping airspace across the Middle East and increasing disruption to flights, including clogging routes between Asia and Europe that previously transited or ‌flew over the region. On top of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict and fighting between Pakistan and...

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. Why are smugglers swarming East Africa for ants to send to China and Europe? 2. How a Tang dynasty tablet became a test for China-Japan restitution 3. Hong Kong passengers caught off guard by new airport limit of 2 power banks 4. Jiang Xueqin, the viral ‘prophet’ predicting the world’s fate from...

Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in ⁠southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medical staff were killed in Israeli strikes. Two peacekeepers were killed on Monday after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast. Earlier, another Indonesian soldier...

Heavy users of artificial intelligence have reported being overwhelmed by trying to keep up with and on top of the technology designed to make their lives easier. Too many lines of code to analyse, armies of AI assistants to wrangle and lengthy prompts to draft are among the laments by hard-core AI adopters. Consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have dubbed the phenomenon “AI brain fry”, a state of mental exhaustion stemming “from the excessive use or supervision of artificial...

Every violation of international law invites the next. From Afghanistan to Iran, and across Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela, the line between what is permitted and what is prohibited has been steadily blurred by the complicit inaction of the United Nations Security Council. Wielding the veto as both a shield and a weapon, its permanent members act without grounding in the UN Charter. They play with the fate of millions, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Until recently,...

Israel’s parliament approved the country’s 2026 budget early on Monday, providing for a significant increase in military spending as the country remains engaged in wars on multiple fronts. Lawmakers passed the budget with 62 votes in favour and 55 against. The vote averted an automatic government collapse and snap election that would have followed failure to pass the budget by March’s end, under Israeli law. The proposed total expenditure budget for 2026 amounts to around 850 billion Israeli...

Last week, a friend and I chatted about our children’s favourite art pieces after happening upon an auction house’s exhibition in a building in the heart of Hong Kong’s business district. We both recalled stopping to look at Yayoi Kusama’s Mount Fuji prints. “I pass by the space twice every day,” my friend said. She told me that my son’s pick – a piece by Sam Francis – was a new installation, replacing what had been a display of handbags. How often do we pause to notice art, or enjoy life in...

President Trump and his aides have made contradictory statements on whether the United States and Israel have transformed the Iranian government through violence.

Thousands of civilian sailors have been stranded for more than a month in waters surrounded by a conflict zone because of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

An emerging Republican plan to skirt a Democratic filibuster and fund an entire department without congressional appropriations would be the latest example of surrendering power to the White House.

At least 120,000 law enforcement officers who work for the agency have continued to collect paychecks throughout the funding lapse. But tens of thousands of workers have gone without pay.

In the tiny town of Castlewood, S.D., where everyone knows the Noems, the prevailing sense was that people can’t help but feel bad for Bryon Noem after a tabloid photo leak.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s aides said that their online insults were meant to ridicule figures on the right. But some critics say they are homophobic.

Conservatives had expected a victory in the case after the I.R.S. agreed to a settlement that allowed churches to voice support for candidates.

A shortage of affordable housing in the coastal city in South Africa has forced many people to live far outside the city center, while tourists occupy prime real estate.

The state and more than 20 others restrict therapists from trying to change the gender identity or sexual orientation of clients under 18.

After lawmakers left Washington for a two-week spring break with the Department of Homeland Security shut down, the Hollywood tabloid began publishing photographs of them living it up around the country.

Decades-old prison buildings were designed to be secure from the ground but not the air. Experts say that makes a lucrative smuggling trade hard to tackle.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the 19th Amendment have been added to the Archives’s rotunda, the first permanent changes there in nearly 75 years.

Even opponents of the conflict should want to see Iran defanged and defeated.

President Trump wants to take away a fundamental American promise.

The “Late Show” host joked that “Trump attacked Iran” after ABC scrapped the reality show’s latest season.

Six people, including a camp counselor, were thrown into the water on July 28 when their sailboat was struck by a barge that was being pushed by a tugboat, the authorities said.

Despite once being valued at $4 billion, the company that made sneakers from Merino wool struggled to capture a wide customer base and turn a profit.

A Russian-born director, he created a film about New Wave models and killer aliens in 1980s New York, helping to reshape independent filmmaking in America.