Minimalist News

Trump Accuses BBC Of Harassing His Family In $10bn Lawsuit Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , President Donald Trump has accused the BBC of harassing his family after the state-funded broadcaster's lawyers tried to force his children and son-in-law to testify in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit. The corporation's legal team asked a Florida court for authorisation to serve subpoenas on Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Court filings show the BBC claims the three "have personal knowledge and likely have possession, custody, or control of records relevant to multiple elements" of the case. Attempts to

Copper Squeeze Deepens In London As Futs Near Record; Barclays Flags Top Mining Picks Copper prices in London have held above $14,000 a ton for nine consecutive sessions, with steep backwardation signaling that near-term demand is outstripping available supply. A confluence of bullish drivers is pushing prices toward record highs, while the key cash-to-three-month spread has widened to its highest level since the 2021 market squeeze. The spot price traded as much as $543.50 a ton above three-month contracts on the London Metal Exchange, a hallmark of steep backwardation that signals near-term demand is outstripping available supply. LME copper curve

Massachusetts Mayor Charged With Using COVID Loan For Election Campaign, Debt Payments Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, A Massachusetts mayor was arrested on Aug. 14 on allegations that he fraudulently secured more than $1.5 million in COVID-19 small-business loans to fund his election campaign and pay personal taxes and mortgages. Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña, 61, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering , according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. DePeña has been released from custody following his initial appearance in federal court

"July Was A Bad Month": Jane Street Lost $15 Billion In First Down Month In A Decade Back in February, just around the time gold and silver had peaked at prices that seemed impossible just a year earlier... ... we warned readers that with Jane Street emerging as the biggest holder of SLV with almost 21 million shares , it was time to get the hell out of the precious metal as this HFT shop, best known for spawning SBF, the 10am slam of bitcoin, and constant, unforgiving market momentum (ignition), would now reverse its accumulation of silver - which

Americans Are Falling Into The Socialist Trap By Blaming Capitalism For Damages Of Statism Authored by Daniel Lacalle , Americans are falling into the socialism trap by not realizing that solving big government problems with an even bigger one is dangerous. Many blame capitalism for their affordability problems, when the true cause is statism. Statism is the gradual replacement of civil society, markets, savings, and individual choice by political control, public spending, regulation, taxation, and monetary intervention. The predatory state that I discuss in my book The New Global Economic Order represents the extreme manifestation of statism. It is a

Swalwell Admitted To Fang-Banging 'Rusty Thumbs' Amid FBI Investigation Into Illegal Donations: Docs The FBI spent months trying to turn a suspected Chinese intelligence operative into a confidential informant, then shut the effort down and opened a criminal investigation into the California congressman she had been sleeping with. FBI files declassified by President Donald Trump and released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force detail the decade-old relationship between former Rep. Eric Swalwell and Christine Fang, known as Fang Fang (FBI codename 'Rusty Thumbs'), who the bureau assessed was likely operating on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security

Trump Hails Mecca Defense Pact As 'Big, Bold, Important First Step' Since the signing of a defense pact earlier this month by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan - which is being touted as having NATO level protections akin to an Article 5 style 'attack on one is an attack on all' - there's been much speculation on whether Washington would embrace or reject it. After all, it seems to put greater distance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and thus lessens the potential for Riyadh ever agreeing to join the US-backed Abraham accords, especially given that Turkey is an avowed enemy

For The American Left, Nothing Succeeds As Much As Failure Authored by Jonathan Turley, Below is my column in The Hill on the familiar bust-and-boom cycle of socialism, where failure is used to call for even more radical changes. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries this week reaffirmed that Democratic Socialists are part of the Democratic Party, radical figures are demonstrating how extreme this agenda is for some. For example, Socialist State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher has declared that stealing should be legal for those in need. If socialism takes hold in New York, many will indeed need five-finger discounts in

Kushner Holds Talks With Netanyahu On Gaza Peace Plan Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Aug. 17 as Washington sought Israel’s support for a 15-point roadmap aimed at advancing President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza. Monday’s discussions were expected to focus on dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities, transferring civilian and security control in Gaza to a new Palestinian administration, and the conditions for an Israeli withdrawal. The meeting follows Kushner’s talks on Sunday with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt, according to diplomatic

Key Events This Week: FOMC Minutes, PMIs, Industrial Data; WalMart And Home Depot Earnings While global equity indices are at or close to all-time highs, DB's Peter Sidorov writes that we’re seeing more challenging August crosswinds playing out in bond markets. Expectations for an imminent Fed rate hike have been pulled back, but this has been accompanied by a significant US curve steepening, with the backdrop of higher oil prices, elevated fiscal deficits, and demand for capital from the AI investment boom putting upward pressure on yields. The resulting long-end sell-off has also been a global affair, with 10yr OAT

AI Pledge Allegiance To The Flag By Bas van Geffen, senior macro strategist at Rabobank As Bloomberg recounts that “ the ceasefire is set to expire today ,” there is little left of that truce to begin with. Negotiations have broken down. And over the weekend, Israel conducted new strikes in Lebanon , a bulk carrier that tried to leave the Strait of Hormuz was hit by a projectile, and Yemen’s port suspended operations after Houthi missile attacks. Both sides are evaluating their options in the current stalemate. Iran’s hardline leadership is reportedly planning to widen the war , as

China Economic Growth 'Downside Risk' Looms; Goldman Warns After July Macro-Miss-Fest China’s July activity data weakened from June, missing market expectations across the board, and signaling a soft start to Q3 amid continued divergence between resilient exports and subdued domestic demand. Originally slated for publication late last night (US time), the data release was delayed for five hours after the statistics agency revised its schedule in a break with recent practice. Industrial production (IP) growth slowed to 4.5% yoy in July from 5.3% yoy in June, reflecting slower export growth and weaker output growth in ferrous metals smelting, power generation

"US Can't Bomb Its Way To Victory": Scotiabank Maps Bessent's Coming Economic Hammer On Iran Brent crude futures ended last week near $88.50 a barrel as traders awaited details of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's planned escalation campaign of the economic war against Iran . Bessent said Friday that Washington would announce unprecedented economic-isolation measures next week , warning that the coming pressure campaign would be unlike anything " seen in the history of economic isolation on a country ." US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced upcoming unprecedented economic measures against Iran amid ongoing blockades of its ports pic.twitter.com/OV3etgd2k0 — Chay

Futures Rise On Fresh Push Higher In Tech Futures are higher again, just a few basis points away from a new all time high, led by Tech as the week starts with Semis / Memory / AI themes bid globally, as small-caps are fractionally in the red. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are 0.1% higher, while Nasdaq futures climb 0.5% after strong revenue growth at Anthropic helped boost optimism around artificial intelligence and bolstered the view that massive spending on artificial intelligence will be sustained. Semis, Memory, and Mag7 are all higher with Software down. Cyclicals are mixed with

Trump Says US To 'Substantially Reduce' Military Drills With S.Korea, Cites 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim President Trump revealed Sunday he has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with longtime close ally South Korea, surprisingly mentioning his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a motivating factor in the decision. Trump said in a Truth Social posts that exercises, due to start on Monday, are costly and "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said "has been unthreatening and respectful" during his time in office .

CXMT Becomes China's Most Valuable Company As UBS Calls Apple Sourcing Report A "Key Catalyst" Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) , China's top DRAM maker, surged 12% to a record 61.80 yuan on Monday, lifting its market capitalization to 4.13 trillion yuan. The upside is because reports that Apple is considering using CXMT memory chips, alongside continued momentum across chip stocks following last week's gains in SanDisk and Micron. UBS analyst Jason Milao, who covers CXMT (now China's most valuable company) with a "Buy" rating and a 70 yuan price target, wrote in a note earlier that CXMT's gains

GB News Host Forced From Home By Migrant Gang Death Threats Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , GB News presenter Patrick Christys was ordered by police to abandon his home in the middle of the night after a credible death threat from the Channel people-smuggling gangs he continues to expose in Calais. The threat-to-life notice from the Metropolitan Police left Christys and his heavily pregnant wife, fellow GB News presenter Emily Carver, packing bags and fleeing to a safe house. One of the men he confronted later turned up on a London street. A year on, the official

"Ballpark To Battlefield": Ondas' M&A Blitz Builds Drone And Ground Robotics Empire Our mid-June initiation, " How To Profit From the Asymmetric Warfare Boom ," identified the leading public and private companies positioned across the drone and counter-drone space. Our first single-name coverage focused on Unusual Machines on July 23 ( read here ). The stock has since surged nearly 77% ( read here ), signaling that Wall Street is beginning to reprice these defense names as the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the Gulf-area conflict have forever changed how warfare is conducted on the modern battlefield. As our asymmetric-warfare boom theme

Second Ceuta Border Invasion Attempt Underway As Military-Aged Migrants Mass Near Spanish Enclave Summary: Second Ceuta Border Invasion Attempt By Sub-Saharan Africans Ilegals Public Health Disaster Unfolds In Ceuta After First Invasion, Weeks Ago Hybrid Warfare Fears Mount As Migrant Flows Weaponized Italy's Schengen suspension with Spain will remain until security risks disappear Weaponized Migrant Flows: Spain's Ceuta Border Under Attack (Again) Multiple open-source reports indicate that thousands of illegal aliens are massing near Spain's Ceuta border , raising the prospect of coordinated attempts to breach the enclave for the second time. If verified, the invasion attempt comes just weeks

Iran's Army Chief Offers $30K Reward For Kill Or Capture Of American Troops In the face for more White House threats against Iran, including Scott Bessent's latest unprecedented 'economic isolation' plan for the Islamic Republic, it remains clear that the Iranians aren't backing down. Instead, they are issuing some heightened threats and bluster of their own. The country's military in a surprise move announced Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers . Iranian Army commander Major General Amir Hatami, via IRNA What's more, and perhaps even more provocative, is that the

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro ,

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills . Continue reading...

Grifols, which runs private chain of clinics, to temporarily stop taking donations after new government investigation A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices. Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs 17 clinics in Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Move will be one of first large-scale foreign investments in country since US ousted leader Nicolás Maduro in January BP has answered Donald Trump’s call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a large offshore gasfield. BP will partner with two oil firms with close links to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield, in one of the first large-scale foreign investments in Venezuela since the US ousted its leader Nicolás Maduro in January. Continue reading...

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity. Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week , is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night

US president’s abrupt order to scale back joint exercises with Seoul is meant to ‘flatter’ North Korea’s dictator, top Democrat says US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump’s move to gut Washington’s 73-year-old military alliance with Seoul has been called “inane” and “shortsighted” as lawmakers warned it risked strengthening Russia’s hand in Ukraine. The US president abruptly ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles, justifying the decision by citing his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong-Un, the nuclear-armed dictator such exercises exist to deter. Continue reading...

Industrial output and retail sales slump in July after one of the country’s weakest quarterly growth rates ever China’s economy is showing signs of extending a slowdown with a slump in industrial output and retail sales in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to intervene with measures to support activity. After the world’s second largest economy posted one of its lowest quarterly growth readings on record in the three months to June, the latest figures suggest it continued to falter in July. Continue reading...

President says he ‘gets along great’ with dictator but officials say Ukraine war is boosting North’s capabilities Donald Trump has said he is scaling back joint US military drills with South Korea aimed at deterring North Korea, despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un’s regime is learning new battlefield tactics from the Ukraine war. The drills under Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two main annual exercises held by South Korea and the US, start on Monday and run until 27 August. Continue reading...

Discussions to focus on Australia’s acquisition of Mogami-class frigates as Japan plays down Albanese’s podcast comments Japan’s defence minister will visit Canberra this week, the highest level engagement with Australia after controversy over Anthony Albanese’s comments about a gift of melons from prime minister Sanae Takaichi. The defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, will meet his counterpart and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, on Tuesday, with discussions focused on Australia’s acquisition of Japan’s Mogami-class frigates and enhanced security cooperation. Continue reading...

Searchers dig through collapsed buildings and debris after 7.7 magnitude quake killed at least 53 people Rescue crews dug through collapsed buildings and landslide debris in eastern Indonesia on Sunday as they searched for bodies and possible survivors a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 53 people, injured more than 100 and displaced thousands. At least 24 people died in Manggarai regency and 17 in neighbouring East Manggarai, with additional fatalities reported in Sikka, Ngada and Ende regencies, the national disaster management agency said. Rescuers were still searching for people feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake

Exclusive: federal government court filings claim internal company documents included warnings about products being toxic Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Manufacturing company 3M knew more than 50 years ago that its firefighting products – including components in Pfas “forever chemicals” – could be hazardous to the health of humans and animals and damage the environment, the federal government has claimed in court documents. In filings as part of its $2bn lawsuit against the multinational company, commonwealth lawyers said products sold to Australia were known to stay present in water and soil, were persistent

Spending on aged pension will be stable for decades to come, experts argue, despite claims by Bragg and Hanson Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Is Australia’s superannuation system “one of the biggest policy failures since federation”? Is “the whole system broken”? Australia’s $4.4tn compulsory super regime is generally considered among the best in the world, yet conservative politicians such as Andrew Bragg, the Coalition’s putative shadow housing minister, and Pauline Hanson, One Nation’s leader, seem to hate it. Continue reading...

Supermarkets say they are exploring ways to keep people safe, but experts claim the tech is ‘normalising surveillance’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Consumer privacy advocates have responded with alarm after Coles and Woolworths confirmed they were testing facial recognition technology that they could use in their Australian supermarkets to record shoppers’ personal biometric data. The supermarket giants on Monday confirmed they had tested the technology and said they were considering installing it in their Australian stores to crack down on retail crime including aggression towards staff. Continue reading...

Coalition leader tells Anthony Albanese that delaying change to budget measure is ‘unconscionable’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Angus Taylor says the Coalition will only support the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of the NDIS if it first removes the “widow tax” loophole from its changes to taxing investment properties. The warning comes as the Albanese government hopes to land a deal with the opposition this week in order to pass the bill in the Senate after the Greens ruled out supporting changes to the scheme that are expected to boost the federal budget’s

The new measure falls short of calls for gambling ads to move to an opt-in model, or for an outright ban Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Labor government has pledged a new single-service opt-out register for gambling ads – an idea similar to the Do Not Call register for spam calls – as part of amendments to its wagering ad bill, as well as restrictions on inducements and limiting commissions for agents. The communications minister, Anika Wells, has also confirmed gambling companies will

Operator granted UK track access for as many as 20 daily return trains to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030 Business live – latest updates Virgin Trains has been granted track access by the rail regulator to enable it to run services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030, in a key step towards breaking Eurostar’s monopoly on the cross-Channel passenger route. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said it had given approval for Richard Branson’s company to run as many as 20 daily return services using the High Speed 1 line that runs between London St

Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide drought Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests. French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes. Continue reading...

Belgium wildfire creeps closer to German border, as 104 firefighters and 36 vehicles from France help with Spain wildfire effort As flagged earlier, Belgium’s King Philippe is now visiting the emergency coordination centre looking after the firefighters tackling the major fire in the eastern part of the country ( 9:39 ). The European Commission has deployed assistance to Belgium and Spain as part of the bloc’s civil protection mechanism. Continue reading...

Mother and son Olga and Nikita Belov say they were facing jail and potential torture after asylum case was rejected A Russian family who were on the brink of being deported from Finland after repeatedly being denied asylum – despite the threat of arrest, imprisonment and torture for their pro-Ukrainian activism – have won a court appeal and will have their case reconsidered. Nikita Belov and his mother, Olga Belov, fled their homeland for Finland in 2022 after attracting the attention of Russian authorities – including a military summons, threatening messages and attempts to locate them – for expressing opposition

Temperatures could drop by more than 15C compared with last Thursday as cold front moves in Relief from the unrelenting heat is finally arriving this week across western Europe, with more unsettled conditions bringing the chance of rain. Temperatures are expected to fall back towards the seasonal norm, with some parts of the UK even falling about 3C below normal by Thursday. After such a scorching summer, and with a temperature drop of more than 15C compared with last Thursday’s heat, it may feel surprisingly chilly. There are signs that some substantial rain could be on the cards for the

Likud’s depiction of Zohran Mamdani is latest move in spat between Israel’s prime minister and New York’s mayor Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has compared the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani to the leaders of Iran and Hezbollah on a campaign billboard. The billboard in central Tel Aviv depicts Mamdani alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and the chief of the militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. Continue reading...

US president makes threat in comments to Fox News, as his son-in-law meets the Israeli leader in Jerusalem in effort to push Gaza peace plan Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of ending Iran war Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen , urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms. An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza. Continue reading...

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is on a diplomatic mission in the Middle East to meet Hamas officials and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in an attempt to salvage a ceasefire in Gaza. The talks come after Netanyahu rejected the US-backed 15-point peace plan for the territory in a rare public break with the Trump administration this month. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to global editor Devika Bhat – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Trump’s son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefire Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner , held a rare meeting with Hamas ’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt , in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map. The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war . Continue reading...

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power , an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his home Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021. Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years

An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome back to This Is India. For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a

Party wants to cut £50bn from UK welfare bill but charity says proposals would cause ‘horrific levels of destitution’ Hundreds of thousands of children would be tipped into poverty and destitution under plans unveiled by Reform UK to slash £50bn a year from the UK benefits bill, campaigners have warned. The warnings came after Reform published plans to drastically reduce disability payments, ban non-UK citizens from claiming benefits and introduce compulsory 20 hours a week unpaid workfare for thousands of long-term unemployed people. Continue reading...

Revelation about security leak follows person pretending to be senior White House aide contacting prime minister At least three UK cabinet ministers have had their personal mobile phone numbers published online, amid mounting concern over the security of senior politicians after Andy Burnham was targeted by an impersonation scam. The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, the justice secretary, Alex Norris, and the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Bryant, had their numbers available online with their names. Continue reading...

Nurses, medical experts and green campaigners reject party deputy leader’s dismissal of efforts to reach net zero Reform’s deputy leader has been accused of spreading misinformation after he dismissed efforts to tackle the climate crisis and urged British people to enjoy the warmth of the recent heatwaves. Richard Tice prompted a backlash from nurses, medical experts and green campaigners on Monday after he told a press conference he believed it was “arrogant” to try to stop the climate emergency, while encouraging people to focus on upsides such as better English wine. Additional reporting by Denis Campbell and Ajit Niranjan Continue

Exclusive: Research also finds stark ethnic disparities, and 40% of deaths among group classed as avoidable People living with severe intellectual disabilities are dying 24 years younger on average than the wider population, a study has found, with 40% of such deaths being avoidable. The study also found that within this group, people from minority ethnic backgrounds were dying 14 years younger than their white counterparts. Continue reading...

Government concedes ‘significant opposition’ requires new approach on quotas for medium-sized development sites Ministers have dropped plans to relax affordable housing rules for developers in England after a backlash from housing experts who warned it could drastically cut the number of cheaper homes available in rural areas. The government said on Monday it would not go ahead with proposals to end affordable housing quotas for private builders on sites containing between 10 and 49 houses after a consultation triggered an overwhelmingly negative response. Continue reading...

Controversial project has faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it mars pristine environmental area in Texas Construction on a US-Mexico border project in Big Bend national park has halted, the Trump administration said Monday, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) evaluates the controversial project in Texas. “CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,” CBP’s head, Rodney Scott, wrote in a social media post. Continue reading...

Trump also claims he’s ‘actually making it much safer’ for South Korea by scaling back joint military drills just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles Sign up for the Breaking News US email Republican senator Thom Tillis deplored Trump’s decision to cut US military drills with South Korea , which comes despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un ’s regime is learning new battlefield expertise, including new drone tactics, from assisting Russia with its war in Ukraine . Tillis wrote on X: South Korea has been a solid military ally for over 70 years that possesses

Prosecutors allege Duane Davis was ‘on-site commander’ in murder of Shakur who died after drive-by shooting in 1996 What we know about Tupac Shakur’s death The trial of a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac Shakur began in a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday, featuring testimony from a witness to the shooting and a former police officer. Duane “Keffe D” Davis is on trial for murder for his alleged role in the shooting of Shakur, who died after a drive-by shooting. Prosecutors allege Davis was the “on-the-ground, on-site commander of the effort to

President hosts Nathanial Rai and lifeguard Ryder Williams at White House after video of California rescue went viral Nathanial Rai had been swept off his feet along the California coast, was rescued by a 16-year-old lifeguard – and was now sitting in the Oval Office with Donald Trump. Of the rescuer, Ryder Williams , Trump said to Rai: “He’s a real hero. I don’t know if I’d do it. Continue reading...

USS Benfold lost power after ‘engineering casualty’ leaving sailors without galley services, toilets and air conditioning A US guided-missile destroyer reportedly spent four days adrift and without power in the South China Sea in July, furthering concerns about strain being placed on deployed military members. The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer which had been sailing with the George Washington carrier strike group, was reported to have been towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to the US Naval Institute News, an independent military publication. Continue reading...

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone posing as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, several media outlets reported on Monday. According to Politico, which broke the story quoting anonymous sources, the British leader sent a “few messages” via an unspecified communication channel to a person he believed to be Wiles before becoming suspicious. The incident was deemed serious enough for the British embassy in Washington to raise the matter with the White...

Since Chinese container ships began plying the Northern Sea Route three years ago, the Arctic shipping lane has gained global importance. Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea later that year disrupted traffic through the Suez Canal – the fastest route between Europe and Asia – in what was the most serious conflict-driven disruption since the Arab-Israeli war nearly six decades earlier. The 5,600km (3,480-mile) Northern Sea Route spans Russia’s Arctic coast, from the Barents Sea to...

Three people have been shot dead in a suspected revenge attack linked to the drug trade in southwestern Spain, the authorities in the Andalusia region said on Monday. The three victims were a pregnant woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, a 62-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy. The unborn child also did not survive, the authorities said, adding that two other people were injured in the attack. According to official statements, the attack took place in Isla Cristina, a town of 21,000...

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of an American deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, and called for Iran to surrender. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks. Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements...

The US Supreme Court on Monday again rebuffed President Donald Trump’s push to throw out a jury’s US$5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The Republican president’s lawyers had asked the justices to reconsider their refusal to hear his appeal. It is unusual – although not unheard of – for the court to grant such requests. Trump paid the judgment shortly after the court declined to take up...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US-China ‘Board of Investment’ stalls before expected Trump-Xi meeting The US-China Board of Investment, one of the key outcomes of the May summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is unlikely to be among the deliverables for their expected meeting next month...

Last month, two Chinese companies released artificial intelligence models most people outside the industry know little about: Kimi K3 by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-Max by Alibaba Group Holding (which owns the South China Morning Post). The markets reacted even before publicly auditable evidence about the performance claims – detailed benchmark table, model card and licence – was made fully available. In the weeks that followed, global chip stocks shed about US$3 trillion in market value. That...

The European Union intends to significantly expand sanctions against Russia in the coming months over its war in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told a ‌German newspaper. “EU sanctions have already cost Russia dearly, depriving Russia’s war machine of over €1 trillion (US$1.16 trillion) and for autumn I am putting forward the most far-reaching sanctions listings since the start of the war,” she told Die Welt. “Once adopted, they would immediately raise the total number of...

Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday wrapped up two days of meetings with Israeli and Hamas leaders to break a stalemate over the US president’s Gaza plan, but no breakthrough appeared imminent as both sides dug in. Kushner met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, a day after meeting Hamas’ political leader in Egypt to revive the plan, which has ‌stalled as Israel has carried out air strikes and grabbed more territory in Gaza despite an October ceasefire, while...

Hayden Panettiere, star of popular television series including Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36. Panettiere’s father, Skip, announced the actress’ death in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” his statement said. No cause of death was...

An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media. Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticised Israel’s recent...

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 Chinese youth are turning to an 84-year-old Cambridge professor for support 2. Chinese officials rattled by White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi-Trump summit 3. How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region 4. Hong Kong policewoman facing probe over viral video of her...

“Horrific, horrendous, unbearable, unsafe.” That is how medical professionals describe the impact of this year’s heatwaves on Britain’s healthcare system, in response to a survey by the Doctors’ Association UK. In hospitals built for a cooler climate, staff are now dealing with patients too sweaty to receive intravenous drips, medication at risk of degrading in high temperatures and colleagues collapsing on the job with heat fatigue. The past few months have revealed the extent to which...

A top US military commander said mental health was a valid concern after meeting crew deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where conditions aboard the aircraft carrier have led to complaints during its long deployment in the Iran war. Admiral Brad Cooper’s visit to the carrier in the Arabian Sea followed outrage among family members about reports of food shortages, water contamination, mouldy showers and long shifts in wartime aboard the vessel, which has been deployed without a port call for...

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday that its joint military exercise with the United States had started after President Donald Trump’s announcement it would be scaled back. “The UFS exercise is proceeding as planned,” the ministry said in a brief statement to reporters, referring to the annual drill named Ulchi Freedom Shield. As always, North Korea has reacted sharply to the annual exercise involving about 18,000 South Korean military personnel. The 11-day joint drill is scheduled to...

In 2022, Ukraine asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to activate Starlink coverage around Sevastopol to support an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. He refused, saying SpaceX would become “explicitly complicit in a major act of war”; he later also cited US sanctions covering Crimea. At the moment that mattered, one private actor had the final say. It exposed a question hidden inside every chokepoint. We usually ask where dependence is concentrated: a strait, mineral, technology, network. But three...

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said ⁠on Sunday that ⁠he backs top Washington prosecutor ⁠Jeanine Pirro, who was criticised by US President Donald Trump for the way she handled a case of alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I absolutely support US Attorney Pirro, as does President Trump,” Blanche said ‌on NBC’s Meet the Press programme. The Trump administration fast-tracked a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s Fourth of July...

Five teenagers have died and four others have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a highway in Ireland, police said. Commissioner Justin Kelly described the head-on collision between two cars on the M9 as “horrific” and warned that “in some cases” cars are being driven on the wrong side of highways for social media likes. Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash at junction 3 at about 3am on Sunday. One of those seriously...

Thieves stole four works attributed to Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina worth millions of euros from the regional museum in the city of Messina in Sicily while crowds gathered across town for the traditional Assumption holiday celebrations, cultural officials and Italian media said on Sunday. The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems on Saturday evening at the MuMe museum, making off with three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated to 1473, as well as...

US negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet Israel’s prime minister on Monday. The talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, US-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and the reconstruction of the...

A passenger bus travelling on a highway in Hungary early on Sunday went off the road and into a ditch where it overturned, killing 12 and injuring others, police said. The bus, which was carrying a group of Polish tourists, was travelling on eastbound lanes near the town of Mezokeresztes when it overturned on the M3 motorway around 140km (87 miles) east of Hungary’s capital, Budapest, at around 1am on Sunday. In a statement, police said it was likely that the driver fell asleep, causing the...

Iran’s military announced on Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to US$30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman. Army chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following a “large number of requests” to take part, according to the IRNA state news agency. There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, with the exception of a rescue mission in April for a downed American...

Britain’s BBC asked a US court for help in getting documents and testimony from members of US President Donald Trump’s family in connection with his US$10-billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, a court document showed. Lawyers for the BBC argued that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jnr have “personal knowledge” and are likely to have records relevant to elements of Trump’s claims against the broadcaster, according to a filing on Friday in federal...

Russia carried out a wave of air strikes on Ukraine overnight, killing two people at a steel plant, and Kyiv launched a heavy drone attack on the Moscow region that killed one person and set ablaze a warehouse ‌used by Russia’s leading e-commerce retailer. Romania, which borders Ukraine, said an F-18 fighter on a Nato air policing mission had shot down a drone that breached its airspace during the latest attacks. It did not specify the origin of the drone, which entered from Moldova, but a...

More than 700 trucks carrying international humanitarian aid arrived in Afghanistan via Pakistan despite a near-total closure of the land border between the two countries following clashes in October, the United Nations said on Sunday. The convoy was carrying “food and other critical humanitarian items,” Olga Cherevko, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, told reporters. United Nations Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan...

Firefighters battling Belgium’s largest modern-day wildfire were counting on crucial air support on Sunday to help tame the blaze in a hard-to-access nature reserve, after it doubled in size over the previous 24 hours. More than 250 firefighters and emergency personnel were mobilised through the night, according to a Sunday morning update from the regional government which warned conditions in the High Fens park near the German border “remain challenging”. From 80 hectares burned on Friday, the...

Whether he is pulling a pint, tossing a builder’s helmet in the air or running with Olympic medallist Mo Farah, the UK’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has embraced social media with a deft touch. As well as putting out videos on his own accounts on X and TikTok, he has sought to broaden his audience by appearing on entertainment channels run by creators with large followings. Compared with predecessor Keir Starmer, “Burnham has a far more astute communications team around him” with a “better...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is getting ready to squeeze Iran with unprecedented economic pressure, a claim critics greeted with scepticism given the country is already subject to a naval blockade and thousands of sanctions. While the Trump administration has not said what it is planning to do, there are still pressure points that Bessent’s Treasury Department could hit. The main challenge is that targeting the remaining options risks blowback on the US economy. “Unless the...

Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella on Saturday called on his US counterpart Donald Trump to suspend tariffs currently targeting the South American nation, which is reeling after a deadly earthquake. US tariffs on Colombian products rose from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent in late July, with a few exceptions including coffee and oil. “I asked him to consider to temporarily suspend the high tariffs that are affecting Colombian products, in order to give some relief to our business...

Iranian authorities revealed on Saturday that three of Tehran’s pilots who went down early in the Middle East war were still being held in Qatar, calling on the Gulf state to release them. Iran had previously reported one pilot killed and others missing after a sortie to Qatar in March, but news of their alleged capture was not publicised at the time. “Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the war,” said General Mohammad...

Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20. Lebanon’s health ministry and state news agency said an air strike that targeted a home on the edge of Ansar village killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement”...

Police in Virginia have arrested a 19-year-old in connection with a shooting on Saturday that left five people injured. No one died in the shooting, though one victim sustained critical injuries. Chesterfield county police announced the arrest of Camron Harris of Henrico, Virginia. They found him hiding in a wardrobe on campus on Saturday afternoon. He was not a student at the university, authorities said. Police said they obtained eight felony warrants for his arrest including malicious...

The US is readying unprecedented economic measures against Iran, as President Donald Trump seeks to intensify efforts to force Tehran to capitulate after almost six months of war. The president said in a brief interview with Fox News that the US was planning to hit Iran’s economy hard, and that he did not care if the conflict were to end before the November US midterm elections, which would hinge on voter perceptions of the economy. Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp to the war, which has...

Russia is confounding expectations that its influence in the Middle East would drastically decline after the downfall of Syria’s Assad regime in 2024. At the time, Moscow operated about 100 military facilities in the war-torn country, following its intervention in the Syrian civil conflict from 2015 to prop up then president Bashar al-Assad in alliance with Iran and its regional proxies. When Assad was forced to flee to Moscow, and control of most of Syria was seized by Islamist rebels led by...

Thirty lions and tigers that were kept alive – barely – for years in cramped concrete cages at a closed Argentine zoo began entering jumbo-size transport crates on Friday as they embarked on ambitious journeys to wildlife sanctuaries halfway across the world in South Africa and the United States. The cats are being rescued from the former Lujan Zoo, about 70km (43 miles) northwest of Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, after years of uncertainty over their fate. Four Paws, the international...

President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated – pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in Garden City, New York. “It’s true,” he added. It was unclear how seriously Trump intended the remark or whether it represented a new policy...

UK academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, the prestigious British institution confirmed. Arday, 41, was found unresponsive on Friday afternoon at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person discovered. “We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge...

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns on Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran, while confirming the ship would soon rotate out. Asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump said “no, they’re not”. Trump also rejected the idea that the ship – now at sea for nine months – had been deployed for too long. “No, no, no, not nearly enough,” he said. The...

Italian authorities recovered three artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said on Friday. A statement from the Italian Carabinieri’s art recovery squad said the artworks were discovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, but no details were given. The investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Brazilian police said late on Thursday that they had located eight stolen works by...

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to fatally shooting US health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and ‌he died,” Mangione said. The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with health...

Li, a woman in her late twenties from southwestern China, is anxious about her coming interview for a 10-year US visa. She has big plans for her travels – a weeks-long stay next year that would be her first visit to the country – followed by a planned return trip in two years while pregnant so her child can attain American citizenship. But those plans have been thrown into doubt. Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to end “birth tourism”, tightening scrutiny on...

A helicopter pilot has died after crashing in a forest in eastern Germany while carrying out liming work, the police directorate in the city of Chemnitz said on Friday. Workers managed to pull the man from the helicopter after the impact, police said. Despite immediate first aid administered at the scene, the man died from his injuries. The helicopter had no other people on board. Police did not provide information on the identity of the pilot or the cause of the accident near the small town of...

A drone entered Latvian airspace and was shot down by Italian Eurofighter jets, the military said on Friday. The decision to shoot it down was taken to avert a threat to Latvia’s population, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis said. An air alert was lifted after the drone was intercepted, Latvia’s military said on social media, after authorities had urged people across the Baltic state to avoid going outside and seek shelter. A spokeswoman for Latvia’s military said the drone was shot down over a...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage won his self-triggered by-election in southern England on Friday, but saw his strategy to silence critics backfire when his main rival, Count Binface, a comedian dressed as a trash can, took more than a quarter of the vote. In a highly unusual move, Farage, one of Britain’s leading Brexit campaigners, did not turn up at the vote count in the southern English seaside resort of Clacton because, he said, ‌the police had advised him there was a campaign to disrupt the...

The top US priority now in the Iran war is no longer its nuclear programme but to bring petrol prices down for American consumers, the vice-president said on Thursday, with the treasury secretary adding that new economic punishment to wear down Tehran is imminent. The comments by Vice-President J.D. Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent illustrate the powerful leverage Tehran has gained by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – consistently...

The court declined President Trump’s long-shot request that it reconsider his appeal. He has separately asked the court to overturn a much larger 2024 award.

President Trump wants to curtail military exercises with South Korea, saying they were hostile to North Korea. But under Mr. Kim, the North has become increasingly belligerent toward the South.

In May, she published a memoir after a tumultuous decade that involved depression, substance abuse, losing custody of her daughter and stints in rehab.

After the authorities responded to a 911 call in Greenville, S.C., an initial police investigation found no evidence of “foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

The actress was a child star who went on to become a fixture of network TV dramas in the 2000s.

The actress was a staple of two popular network TV dramas and had memorable early-career roles in film.

Through sheer determination, Neena Nizar has become the first patient in a clinical trial testing a treatment for her disease — one so rare it affects just 30 people worldwide.

Spotify, LinkedIn and others are trying to dig out of a digital sewage heap full of low-quality content made with artificial intelligence.

The data center, one of the world’s largest, could cost as much as $500 billion and will be leased by OpenAI.

Muslim communities have been growing for decades, particularly around Dallas. Now, conservatives want to roll up the welcome mat.

Paramount’s $111 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery has been postponed until the conclusion of a trial, scheduled for March.

The delay comes after Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to stalking that led to the death of Brian Thompson, a health care executive.

Ukrainian drone teams have a powerful new tool: near real-time information on troop movements and locations.

The spotlight on the country’s only antiwar party has brought a spark to what had looked like another dull, tightly controlled election campaign.

Educators are worried that many students can no longer write essays without A.I. And it’s costing more than just grammar skills.

Her abduction as a child became a national story. In a new true crime podcast, Smart speaks to survivors of violent crimes about what they endured and the lifelong process of healing.

A new early calendar will upend how Democrats select their 2028 champion.

After decades of notoriously high murder totals, Baltimore and the people whose work entails dealing with the city’s most violent crimes are adjusting to a new reality.