Minimalist News

US, China Militaries Hold 'Candid' Deconfliction Talks In Hawaii As Trump Goes Quiet On Taiwan American and Chinese military officers have sat down for rare deconfliction talks in Hawaii , soon on the heels of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing last month. According to a late Monday statement from the Chinese Navy, the two superpowers held what they described as "candid and constructive" exchanges during a two-day closed-door meeting. It happened last week in Honolulu, reports have newly revealed. The sides came away agreeing that improved communication could successfully reduce tactical miscalculations and enhance professionalism in the highly contested waters

US Bill Would Prevent Chinese Connected Cars In Canada From Entering United States Authored by Olivia Gomm via The Epoch Times , Two U.S. lawmakers are set to introduce a bill aimed at preventing Chinese-connected vehicles from entering the United States via Canada and Mexico , amid growing concerns over Chinese-made electric vehicles entering the Canadian market. BYD electric cars waiting to be loaded on a ship are stacked at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port, in China's eastern Jiangsu Province on Sept. 11, 2023. AFP via Getty Images U.S. Representative Haley Stevens and Senator Elissa

Iran Sends Missiles, Drones Targeting Airbases Across Gulf After US Nighttime Attack On Qeshm Island Summary: Two bases come under fresh missile attack in Kuwait , Fars and Reuters report. Iran state media says retaliation for night US attack on Qeshm Island . Explosions & air raid sirens also being reported in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain . It seems that war is popping off once again. rump insists reports that Iran & US have not been talking for days is 'fake news' ; Rubio also tells Congress talks are ongoing, despite fresh Iranian denials, and even claims the nuclear

"The Value Didn't Arrive": Bain Finds Cost-Savings From AI Are Falling Far Short Of Projections Now that attention within the AI revolution has one again firmly turned toward the cost-benefit equation (i..e., ROI) of tokens (see " From Singularity To Tokenomics: The AI Narrative Just Hit A Serious Snag ") in particular, and the trillions behind the AI spending rollout in general, and we say once again because every few months we get some iteration of the following report from Goldman published almost two years ago today... ... we have more bad news: according to a global survey by Bain,

Dems Have A Voter Problem. Gerrymandering Was Never Going To Fix It Authored by Ryan Young via RealClearPolitics , In November 2024, 47% of Virginia voters cast ballots for Republican congressional candidates. Under the map Virginia Democrats tried to push through, those voters would have ended up with exactly one Republican district out of 11 . Going from a 6-5 to a 10-1 split was what Democrats called "restoring fairness." To get it done, Democrats bypassed a bipartisan redistricting commission that Virginia voters had specifically created in 2020 to end partisan map-drawing. They drafted the new map behind closed doors.

Woman Fatally Stabbed "Two Dozen Times" In Brazen Daytime Attack On Atlanta's MARTA Train A woman riding a MARTA train in Atlanta was killed in a brutal daytime attack Saturday, suffering nearly 20 stab wounds in what investigators say was a seemingly random act of violence, according to the NY Post. Police allege that 25-year-old John Elijah Matthews approached 66-year-old Margaret Swan after boarding the train Saturday morning. Surveillance video reportedly shows him lingering near Swan before pulling out a knife and attacking her. According to court documents, Swan cried out and attempted to get away, but the suspect allegedly

A Mass-Graves Myth Is Media Malpractice Authored by Daniel McCarthy via PJ Media , A hoax costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and appears to incite arson attacks against dozens of churches. No, this isn't the latest headline out of Minnesota - look a little further north. Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 In 2021, at a time when media throughout the Western world were still in a state of agitation after the killing of George Floyd, Canadian outlets picked up a story too sensational not to be true: Hundreds of indigenous First Nations children had

Permadrought: 75% Of Global Population Lives In A Country Affected By 'The Great Drying' Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, Our planet is drying out at a pace that is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Once massive lakes are rapidly shrinking, once mighty rivers are steadily dwindling, and colossal underground aquifers are being pumped dry all over the world. This is an absolutely enormous problem, because very soon we simply will not have enough fresh water to support 8 billion people. In fact, drought conditions are severely affecting global crop production in 2026. If current

DOGE Alumni Launch AI Startup To Target Waste On Main Street - And Already Have Their First Target Two alumni of the Department of Government Efficiency are bringing their cost-cutting experience from Washington to the private sector , launching Special, a startup that aims to harness artificial intelligence to wring inefficiencies out of what it describes as America's $10 trillion Main Street services economy. Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox spent much of 2025 at DOGE, where they spearheaded the Small Agencies team. Their government stint, under the high-profile effort led by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, contributed to approximately

Bamboozled Once Again... Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World “Narcissists are unstable and go through repeated cycles of self-destruction, with other people usually paying the heft

Venezuela Oil Exports Hit 7-Year High Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, Venezuela’s oil exports inched up from April to hit a fresh seven-year high in May as shipments to the United States and India continued to rise. Venezuela exported an estimated 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in May, up by 0.7% compared to April’s 1.23 million bpd exports and a massive 61% jump compared to May 2025, according to ship-tracking and vessel-loading data reviewed by Reuters . Venezuela has been steadily increasing its oil exports since the U.S. took control over its oil sales following the

Shake Shack Gets Smoked After Cutting Guidance Shake Shack plunged on Tuesday , hitting its lowest levels since November 2023, after the burger chain slashed second-quarter guidance only about a month after issuing it. Baird analyst David Tarantino said the new outlook is viewed as " incrementally negative " for Shake Shack. Tarantino noted that management had set an " unusually high bar" for 2Q comparable performance with its previous outlook, implying mid- to high-single-digit comps in May and June after -.6%. He added that the updated guidance ranges may be attributed to new CFO Michelle Hook , who started

Pentagon Restricts Press Office Access Over Privacy Concerns Via American Greatness, The Pentagon announced Monday that reporters will no longer have open access to the War Department’s public affairs office after the space was redesignated as a classified facility to accommodate staff handling sensitive material. The announcement marks the latest effort by the Pete Hegseth-led War Department to tighten operational security and reshape longstanding media access practices inside the Pentagon. Under the new policy, the Pentagon’s public affairs office has been converted into a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, commonly known as a SCIF. The office had previously allowed journalists to

HSBC Warns Of Commodity "Super-Squeeze" As Goldman Hikes Copper Forecasts Copper is inching closer to its mid-May all-time high of $14,153 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, trading around $13,832 on Tuesday morning, as Goldman raised its year-end price targets and HSBC warned that commodities face a "super-squeeze" with the Hormuz maritime chokepoint still largely shuttered in early June. Let's begin with HSBC analysts, who wrote in a note to clients that " metal prices are generally in an upswing, driven by supply disruptions for some commodities due to the Middle East conflict and strong structural demand ." They

State Department Issues Travel Advisory For Mexico Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, The State Department updated its travel advisory for Mexico on May 29, continuing to warn Americans who plan on visiting the country to be wary of terrorism and crimes. “Many violent crimes take place in Mexico. They include homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, sexual assault, and robbery. There is a risk of terrorist violence, including terrorist attacks and other activity in Mexico,” the advisory said. Overall, Mexico is categorized with a “Level 2—Exercise Increased Caution” designation for travelers. “The U.S. government has limited ability to help in

Short-Seller Andrew Left Found Guilty In High-Profile Market Manipulation Jury Trial Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research and a well-known figure in the short-selling community, was convicted on 13 of 17 counts following a three-week federal trial in Los Angeles , according to Bloomberg . Prosecutors alleged that between 2018 and 2023, Left used public stock recommendations and social media posts to influence market prices while privately trading in ways that contradicted his public statements. Authorities estimate the scheme generated more than $20 million in profits. Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office

Facebook Is Accused Of Fostering Ethnic Enclaves At Headquarters Authored by Jose Nino via Headline USA , Tech advocacy group blames visa programs for enabling corporate tribalism. A terminated software engineer is accusing Facebook parent company Meta of allowing Chinese migrants to take over entire departments while American employees face systematic exclusion and layoffs, Neil Munro of Breitbart News reported . Jeremy Bernier, who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2012, lost his software engineering job at the company and has gone public with allegations of widespread discrimination. " At Meta, 90% of my coworkers were Chinese, and non-Chinese were routinely

'Crypto Spring': StanChart Sees Ethereum Outperforming As Mt. Gox Moves $739M BTC From Cold Wallets “Over the past week, we acquired 26,497 ETH,” Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chair, Tom Lee, said in a statement on Monday. “In our view, ETH prices are not reflecting the strengthening of Ethereum fundamentals, but then again, this is not surprising given we are in the early stages of crypto spring .” As CoinTelegraph reports, Bitmine is the largest Ether treasury company with 5.4 million ETH worth more than $10.5 billion. It had slowed its pace of buying earlier this month after scooping up more than

Massachusetts Church Cancels Traditional July 4th Celebration "To Better Understand Our Own Whiteness" Authored by Jonathan Turley via JonathanTurley.org , In Nantucket, there is an interesting conflict between churches after the Nantucket Unitarian Universalists (NUU) canceled its traditional celebration . In a letter from the church and the Rev. Erin Splaine of the Second Congregational Meeting House Society , residents were told the traditional reading of the Declaration of Independence would be canceled to better focus on the "on-going process within the congregation to better understand our own whiteness." Across the country, July 4th celebrations are being canceled, and protests

Euro Area Inflation Tops 3.0% For First Time Since 2023, Cementing ECB Rate Hike Euro Area inflation topped 3% for the first time since September 2023, further cementing expectations for a rate hike when the ECB meets next week. Consumer prices rose 3.2% from a year ago in May, and up from 3% the previous month, in line expectations. But core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, jumped more than anticipated to 2.5% (technically 2.55%), while the closely watched services gauge jumped to 3.5%, the highest since last November, and non-energy industrial goods inflation printing at 0.87%YoY.

US claims world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in ‘unreasonable’ trade practices that ‘restrict US commerce’ Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil , charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable’’ and that “burden or restrict US commerce”. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he received the decision “with indignation”. The Brazil president also blamed the decision by the US administration on his rival in October’s elections, Flávio Bolsonaro , the senator who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of former

ICC’s decision comes amid growing concerns the team is being influenced by members of a notorious gang in India Cricket’s international governing body has suspended Canada over what it described as “serious breaches of its membership obligations”, dealing the latest blow to an organization that critics say has become a “laughing stock” within the sport. The suspension also comes amid growing concerns that one of Canada’s fastest-growing sports is being influenced by members of a notorious gang that operates with impunity from an Indian prison cell . Continue reading...

Exclusive: First shipwrecks found in Nassau harbour on New Providence, once the hideout of Blackbeard and Calico Jack The first shipwrecks linked to the real pirates of the Caribbean in the Bahamas have been discovered by an international team co-directed by a British marine archaeologist. Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham were among pirates who, between the 1690s and 1720s, turned Nassau on the island of New Providence into a hideout where they plotted their next heists on the high seas and divided up their plunder. Continue reading...

Teachers associated with CNTE union were marching toward Zócalo for salary raises and reversal of pension laws Riot police fired teargas at teachers who were marching toward Mexico City’s historic Zócalo plaza, just days before the square is expected to host the 2026 World Cup “Fan Fest”. The incident is the second time police have clashed with teachers in the past week, and more conflict is likely as Mexico City prepares to hold the opening game of the Fifa World Cup on 11 June. “This event will have to be suspended,” Filiberto Frausto, a union leader, told AFP, which witnessed

Success of far-right presidential candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, suggests some voters are ‘fed up with politics’ The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda have just under three weeks to compete for the roughly 3.6m votes that did not go to either of them in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election. That is no insignificant number, given that De la Espriella’s lead over Cepeda amounted to little more than 670,000 votes – 43.7% to 40.9%. Continue reading...

Powerful winds and rain expected in parts of Japan and Australia, while temperatures in Spain could hit 40C A powerful tropical storm is forecast to track near Okinawa, Japan, on Monday before moving towards the south-east of the country. Typhoon Jangmi (also known as Typhoon No 6) has formed within the monsoonal gyre over the Philippine Sea. A monsoonal gyre is a large, slow-rotating weather system that spawns typhoons through smaller vortices formed within it. This flow can intensify storms. Such typhoons are typically characterised by broad areas of low pressure and extensive wind fields, often without a distinct eye.

Shinjiro Koizumi says Japan valued as a ‘peace-loving’ nation while China expands military capabilities ‘without sufficient transparency’ Japan’s defence minister took a veiled swipe at China on Sunday, pledging to keep strengthening the military despite Beijing’s criticism of Tokyo’s increasingly muscular security stance. Under the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi , Japan has quickened its pivot to a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off – with US encouragement – its pacifist outlook in place since the end of the second world war. Continue reading...

Minister at Singapore defence summit also reveals Australia to buy only secondhand Aukus submarines from US Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said the “seabed is a battlefield” in a combative speech urging Beijing to be more transparent about its maritime operations, and taking aim at weak international controls over so-called “shadow-fleet” vessels. The warning came as the US, UK and Australia announced a new Aukus project to develop new underwater drone technology to protect undersea cables. Continue reading...

Two still missing as divers make their way deeper into cave through muddy water and sharp rocks to find them Four more miners who were trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for 10 days have been freed by divers, but two people are still missing as rescuers continue to crawl through narrow, deluged tunnels and sharp rocks to find them. The first of the party of seven men was rescued on Friday in a perilous rescue mission which has required teams to drain water from the cave and navigate collapse hazards. Continue reading...

Hong Qi, who orchestrated protest against Communist government, claims interpreter on 101 call launched political tirade A Chinese dissident who orchestrated an anti-government protest in China after fleeing to the UK has claimed that a “pro-regime” interpreter used by a British police force berated him when he sought help. Hong Qi, who made headlines last year after using a mobile phone while in the UK to remotely project anti-regime slogans on to a building in his home city, Chongqing, contacted police after discovering that his bank accounts had been frozen. Continue reading...

Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Chaney said: AI companies should be able to unlock the majority of global content with a handful of individual deals – in the same way that every other industry licenses copyrighted content. Government could further work to facilitate this process for the remainder of the copyrighted content, either directly or through a centralised mechanism. Continue reading...

Sydney crowd told to target National MPs as upper house prepares to vote on a bill outlawing sex-selective terminations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce has joined pro-life campaigners to pile pressure on Nationals MPs to vote to criminalise some abortions ahead of a tight vote in New South Wales. Anti-abortion activists have threatened to campaign for One Nation against major parties to force new limits on terminating pregnancies on the back of its polling surge. Continue reading...

Researchers observed unavailable female dolphins – those that were older, or with calves – did not show the same avoidant behaviour Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Female dolphins identify males by their unique calls and keep track of their past behaviour, choosing to avoid the most aggressive males during mating season, new research suggests. Bottlenose dolphin society is complex, and male and female dolphins often know each other for decades, said Prof Stephanie King, an expert in animal behaviour at the University of Bristol.

Consumer group makes ‘super’ complaint to ACCC after investigation found dangerous items on platforms including eBay, Amazon and AliExpress Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Cigarette lighters that look like toys, gel blasters, flick knives and fake tongue studs are among the “frightening” number of unsafe and potentially banned products being sold to Australians on online marketplaces, a Choice investigation has found. After identifying the products, Choice on Wednesday formally asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to take action against the retailers and begin

Finocchiaro government grants approval for up to 12 wells in Beetaloo basin Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Santos could begin new drilling for gas in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo basin within weeks after the Finocchiaro government granted approval for up to 12 wells. The decision , published late last month, has prompted calls from environment groups for the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, to use his powers to “call in” the development for an assessment of its potential effects on water and threatened species

Officials say law will improve migration management by allowing more deportations of undocumented people EU politicians have promised to increase deportations of undocumented migrants, under a new law that critics say mimics elements of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown. Finalising a key element of an overhauled EU asylum and migration system, politicians have agreed a regulation that will enable national authorities to raid people’s homes to enforce deportation orders. Continue reading...

Qayyum Balogun chased and attacked after gig ended in Grafton Street area following clash between rival groups, police say A brawl in the heart of Dublin’s tourism district led to a nightclub promoter being chased and stabbed to death. It happened at about 3am on Monday after a gig ended in the Grafton Street area of the city centre that is popular with tourists. Continue reading...

At least 18 killed, dozens injured and others trapped under collapsed buildings after attacks on five Ukrainian cities Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked Donald Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine after a devastating Russian attack killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more. Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones at Ukraine overnight, according to the air force, including eight hypersonic Tsirkon missiles. The main targets were Kyiv, the central cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, and the eastern cities of Poltava and Kharkiv. Continue reading...

Social Democrat stays on for third consecutive term as PM and will outline key policies by the end of Tuesday Denmark’s new government is preparing to formally present its political programme after Mette Frederiksen negotiated a third consecutive term as prime minister, this time at the head of a four-party, left-leaning minority coalition. Announced late on Monday, the agreement between Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, the Green Left and the centrist Moderates ended two months of uncertainty after March elections in which 12 parties won seats in parliament. Continue reading...

Casting shifts to EU talent as paperwork delays and visa limits make hiring British crews less viable From blacklists for UK passport holders to being asked to work illegally while on holiday, the plethora of extra costs and red tape thrown up post-Brexit are restricting opportunities for British actors seeking work in the EU. Mainland Europe has always been a springboard for those in the creative industries, from gaining crucial first credits on a TV, film or theatre production to building a marketable resume and paying the bills while attempting to make it big in the UK or US. Continue

US military says it struck tanker and sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island and defended Kuwait and Bahrain from missile attacks The US and Iran have exchanged fresh missiles and drone strikes, further jeopardising efforts by Washington to secure a new ceasefire agreement with Tehran. US forces fired a Hellfire missile to disable a tanker attempting to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and later said they repelled Iranian reprisal attacks in the region and attacked sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island. Continue reading...

Politicians’ statements reflect difficulty facing pro-Israel Democrats as voter support for country falls Several prominent New York Democrats who participated in the city’s annual Israel Day parade on Sunday have condemned the participation of Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister and a leading figure in the Israeli settler movement, in the event. Smotrich was among several Israeli lawmakers and cabinet officials who marched in the parade on Sunday. His appearance marked his first trip to the US in more than a year , and came less than month after he said the international criminal court (ICC) was seeking an

Prime minister under pressure to show his campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran have brought results as he faces elections with his political survival at risk If there is to be a peace deal between the United States and Iran, it will have to go through a familiar obstacle: Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have become a sticking point in the talks for a potential opening of the strait of Hormuz – once again testing the volatile alliance between Donald Trump and Netanyahu . This time, the Israeli prime minister is under exceptional pressure to show that his

Warplanes carry out dozens of airstrikes and Israeli army issues evacuation warning for city of Nabatiyeh Israeli warplanes have launched dozens of strikes across southern Lebanon despite a new agreement supposedly brokered by Donald Trump aiming to bolster the tattered ceasefire in Lebanon. The US president said on Monday that he had stopped an imminent Israeli strike on Beirut and that he had spoken to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and representatives of Hezbollah and both agreed that “all shooting will stop”. Continue reading...

The US secretary of state added that Iran must also commit to specific negotiations on the disposition of highly-engaged uranium. Israel’s weapons exports has reached an all-time high for a fifth year running, according to the country’s defence ministry. In a statement, it said: “Israel’s all-time defence export record has been broken for the fifth consecutive year, with $19.2bn in 2025 – a nearly 30% surge compared to the previous year, more than doubling in five years and quadrupling in a decade.” Continue reading...

Truck was carrying Afghan families returning Pakistan when it overturned, official says A truck overturned in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 18 people on board including 10 children, a provincial official told Agence France-Presse. Deadly traffic crashes are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving and a lack of regulation. Continue reading...

New digital marking system is aimed at reducing human errors but many students say it has resulted in wrong grades A national outcry has erupted in India after more than 400,000 students requested copies of their answer sheets amid mounting complaints of errors in the marking of the country’s most important school-leaving examinations. Within days of the grade 12 exam results being issued, students began reporting marking discrepancies they linked to a new digital marking system. Continue reading...

Rare albino buffalo spared due to security concerns over unusual level of public interest in 700kg animal A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice after a last-minute government intervention, according to a home ministry official. The nearly 700kg (1,543lb) animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest before Thursday’s festival. Continue reading...

Lack of Pfas regulations raised in parliament after Guardian revealed former Miteni plant bought by Indian company Protests over the production of cancer-linked Pfas chemicals have spread across India, after an investigation revealed that an Italian factory shut down due to an environmental scandal was bought by an Indian company and partly rebuilt. At the end of last year, the Guardian revealed that the former Miteni plant in Vicenza had been acquired by the Indian company Laxmi Organic Industries. The factory produced Pfas and was shut down in 2018 after being linked to one of Italy’s worst environmental contamination scandals.

Senior lawyers call on prime minister to request Indian prosecutors drop charges that would breach double jeopardy rule Four senior lawyers, including the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against the British national Jagtar Singh Johal on the basis that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule which prevents someone being tried twice for the same offence. Johal has been held in an Indian jail for eight years, and in March last year was acquitted of the terrorist charges laid against him

NHS bosses giving evidence to public accounts committee admit current position is unacceptable GPs in England are so “overloaded” that they cannot help older people who are at risk of falling in what NHS bosses accept is an unacceptable failure of care, the House of Commons’ public accounts committee has said. Pressure on GPs’ time has intensified as a result of the government’s decision to give patients online access to their services, according to a report by the influential cross-party group of MPs. Continue reading...

Bank of England says updated imagery will celebrate native wildlife while bolstering anti-counterfeit features Puffins, dolphins and bumblebees are among the wildlife that could feature on new banknotes in the UK as the Bank of England announces its shortlist. There has been controversy over the decision, with figures including Nigel Farage criticising the Bank for, he claimed, wanting to replace Winston Churchill with a beaver. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said it was “a silly thing to do”, and Reform UK’s Farage called it “absolutely crackers”. In the end, no beaver appeared on the shortlist. Mammal options include bottlenose dolphins

Patients with knee arthritis who took medications for at least three years at reduced risk of needing surgery Taking weight-loss drugs for at least three years could prevent thousands of knee replacements a year, research suggests. Globally, more than 500 million people have osteoarthritis. Knee arthritis is the most common form, affecting about 14 million people in the US and more than 5 million in the UK . Many will require knee surgery. In the UK more than 120,000 knee replacements are carried out every year. Continue reading...

Demonstration follows family’s plea for death not to be used to create division Hundreds of people gathered outside a Southampton police station to protest against the murder of Henry Nowak and dozens clashed with police close to the home of his killer, Vickrum Digwa. The far-right activist Tommy Robinson was among speakers who addressed the crowd outside Southampton central police station at the “Justice for Henry Nowak” protest. Continue reading...

Prime minister echoes family’s plea that case should not be used to target communities Politicians and community leaders have called for calm amid fears that the populist right is using the murder of Henry Nowak by a Sikh man to whip up racist resentment against minority ethnic Britons. After Nigel Farage called for the public to respond with “pure, cold rage”, Keir Starmer condemned the Reform UK leader, saying Nowak’s family had explicitly asked that the case not be used to target particular communities. Continue reading...

All the latest results and updates as New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico and Montana also vote in primaries California elections: governor, LA mayor and Congress at stake Sign up for the Breaking News US email Voters in Maine won’t head to the polls until next week, but the state’s primary election has been shaken up by recent news about Senate hopeful Graham Platner. According to information his wife shared with his campaign last year, Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women during his marriage, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported, and which the Guardian

Move comes after meeting in which Pelley said network chief Bari Weiss was ‘murdering’ news show Scott Pelley, one of the most well-known and respected journalists in broadcast journalism, has been fired by CBS News after clashing with network brass over last week’s severe round of cuts at 60 Minutes , the show he has worked on since 2004, the Guardian confirmed. While changes were long expected at 60 Minutes , CBS News management shocked staffers last week by firing the network’s executive producer, executive editor and two correspondents, Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, without giving a specific reason for

Police say one hostage has been safely surrendered with the rest ‘in good health’ as people urged to avoid downtown A man barricaded himself inside a bank in the southern California city of Bakersfield with an unknown number of people, police said on Tuesday. The unidentified man had a bomb strapped to his body, according to Bakersfield Now . Continue reading...

Court decision that represents win for Republicans comes after lengthy battle over state’s congressional map Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in this year’s midterm elections, the US supreme court ruled in a 6-3 decision on Tuesday, another major blow to Black voters and a win for Republicans. The court’s emergency ruling is the most consequential decision it had issued since its landmark ruling in late April that struck down a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act. In that case,

Two-time Grammy winner was best known for songs from Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin Peabo Bryson, the R&B singer best known as the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney film duets Beauty and the Beast with Celine Dion, and A Whole New World with Regina Belle from Aladdin, has died. He was 75. His family said in a statement that Bryson, who won two Grammy awards, died Tuesday, days after having a stroke. Continue reading...

They went to war together against Iran, but Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship is under strain after the US president reportedly called the Israeli premier “crazy”. Trump unleashed a profane tirade over the phone at Netanyahu over Israel’s threats to bomb the Lebanese capital Beirut, fearing it would undermine talks with Tehran, the Axios news outlet and ABC News reported. It underscored the increasingly shaky ties between two right-wing allies with lots to lose politically from...

In a move that could rattle global grain markets, China and neighbouring Kazakhstan – Central Asia’s largest grain producer and a key Belt and Road Initiative partner – agreed last week to establish a joint grain-trading platform during talks in Astana. The two sides also discussed long-term supply contracts, logistics hubs, dry ports and technology cooperation in storage and processing. Although full details remain limited, reports indicate the platform will be modelled on China’s state-managed...

Brazil has won wider access to the world’s biggest beef market after China recognised the entire country as free of foot-and-mouth disease, though a new quota will still cap prices. The decision was announced on Tuesday by China’s General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and was communicated during Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira’s visit to Beijing. After a risk analysis, Beijing lifted the restriction on northern Brazil and recognised the...

US President Donald Trump will attend ⁠the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on July 24, he said in a social media post on Tuesday, after the annual event was postponed following a shooting. The black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in Washington was postponed after a ‌suspect stormed a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the event on April 25, with Trump present. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were safely rushed out of the dinner. In a...

There is an 80 per cent chance of the warming El Nino phenomenon developing between June and August, increasing the risk of extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. “Fuelled by unusually warm ocean waters in the tropical Pacific, El Nino conditions are developing and are set to influence global temperature and rainfall patterns,” the United Nations’ WMO weather and climate agency said. Forecasts from the WMO global network “indicate a pronounced shift...

The Trump administration has proposed a new punitive tariff of 25 per cent on many imports from Brazil, after deciding its practices were unfair on a range of issues from digital trade to illegal deforestation, top trade official Jamieson Greer said late on Monday. The measures, under the Section 301 trade statute, cover areas such as electronic payment services, preferential tariffs, intellectual property protection and ethanol market access as well, the Office of the United States Trade...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Brussels agrees on tougher China trade policy, as Beijing vows retaliation The European Commission agreed on a tough new approach to trade relations with China in May, at a rare Beijing-focused debate among Brussels’ leadership. The trade-focused orientation debate is seen internally as the...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin American relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US casts Cuba as China-linked security threat while still pushing for talks One day after the United States brought criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro over the 1996 shooting down of two civilian aircraft, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio...

A surge in gang-related shootings and bombings over the last decade, dozens of which were carried out by minors, has set Sweden apart from its European peers and left authorities an urgent problem: what to do with children who kill. The government, in power since 2022 and heading into a tight election in September where crime is a key issue, says the softly-softly approach of the past has failed and it is time to get ‌tough by sending children aged under 15 to prison rather than into social...

Places well-endowed with natural resources don’t usually become great powers or world-conquering empires. If anything, many suffer from the “resource curse”, which corrupts the domestic elite and invites foreign intervention, exploitation or outright colonisation. Like people, communities or nations that have fought to overcome adversity and disadvantages often become the most successful. Challenges – whether natural, geographical, social or military – make them fighters and winners. New...

The wide-ranging geopolitical rivalry between Beijing and Washington could soon expand into biotechnology, raising the prospect of fresh tensions even as American pharmaceutical firms have turned to China’s fast-growing industry for new drug candidates. Biotech in the world’s second-largest economy has long been viewed as a predominantly low-cost manufacturing base with opportunities arising from its vast domestic market. But years of sustained investment, cost advantages and faster development...

A Kenyan court blocked on Tuesday for another three weeks a proposed US Ebola quarantine facility that has triggered protests killing two people and ordered the government to disclose its agreement with Washington. The proposed 50-bed unit on an air force base in central Kenya for Americans exposed to the virus in Democratic Republic of Congo or Uganda ‌has angered many Kenyans. They accuse the US of offloading the health risk of caring for patients. A Kenyan court last week temporarily...

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday concluded his visit to Democratic Republic of Congo by briefing the president on the response to the Ebola outbreak, which an aid agency warned was likely much larger than official figures show. The outbreak, already the third-largest on record, persisted for weeks undetected, say health officials, who were behind the curve and ‌struggling to bring it under control. Arriving in DR Congo last week, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus...

Russia pounded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles early on Tuesday, killing 23 people and wounding 130, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow could launch a new assault for the second night in a row. The strikes on cities including Kyiv and Dnipro followed Russian warnings of “systematic” attacks on the capital after a drone attack on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held region of Luhansk last month. Kyiv denies targeting the dormitory. It was the third heavy assault...

Denmark’s Social Democratic leader ⁠Mette Frederiksen said on Monday ⁠she has agreed to form a centre-left coalition government, maintaining her grip on power amid a crisis in ties with US President Donald Trump over the future of Greenland. The deal to form a minority cabinet gives Frederiksen a third ‌consecutive term as prime minister, ending months of uncertainty after a March election in which 12 parties won seats in the Danish parliament. “I have been to see His Majesty the King and...

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim on Monday slammed the Trump administration for potentially allowing advanced American AI chips to ‌be sent to overseas units of Chinese firms, and called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify to Congress on the issue, according to a statement. In a surprise move, the Department of ⁠Commerce, which oversees US exports, on Sunday issued guidance to ‌close a potential loophole that may have led companies to export the world’s most advanced...

China’s top diplomat said on Monday that Beijing and Brasilia should “jointly repel external challenges”, as the two countries opened a high-level strategic dialogue in Beijing. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remark during a visit by his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, who arrived in the Chinese capital this weekend for the fifth Global Strategic Dialogue between the two governments. “Practical cooperation in all areas has been steadily enhanced, and the two peoples have never been so...

“You have absolutely no idea of what you’re talking about. The whole point of Pax Silica is to partner with countries who are good at doing different things because everyone wins from a secure supply chain,” wrote US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg on a social media website in response to an online critic of the US strategic initiative with the Philippines. The spirited exchange came after Manila’s reported rejection of a request to extend diplomatic immunity to US...

US President Donald Trump’s nearly US$1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of alleged government “weaponisation” has been put on hold after the White House faced fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress, three sources familiar with the plan said on Monday. The rare rebuke of Trump demonstrated some Republicans’ increased willingness to flex their political power against the president, particularly after his endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John...

China’s SAIC Motor plans to set ⁠up a car ⁠factory in Spain’s ⁠northwestern region of Galicia that would be its first production facility in the European Union, the regional government said on Monday. Galicia’s leader Alfonso Rueda said his administration ‌had given strategic priority to the project, with an initial investment envisaged at around €200 million (US$232 million). The project, which includes a logistics hub, still requires the central government’s approval for foreign direct...

The US decision to classify two Brazilian gangs as terrorist organisations is a political one aimed at boosting an ally of US President Donald Trump, the son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, politicians and analysts say. The gangs join eight other Latin American organised crime groups designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations. But unlike the rest, they do not operate in the United States. The listing of First Capital Command, known as PCC, and Red Command, or CV,...

US President Donald Trump has suffered a partial legal setback in his push to exclude transgender people from the military. The Trump administration may not remove the plaintiffs who brought the case from active military service, a federal appeals court in Washington said on Monday. The wider ban remains in place for now, however, giving the administration time to appeal. The ruling partly upheld a lower court decision that found the exclusion of transgender people from military service violated...

The US State Department plans to drastically slash the number of US embassies and consulates in Africa that can process visas for foreigners seeking to go to the United States. The almost 50 US embassies and consulates that are processing visa applications will be reduced to 20 in the coming weeks, according to three US officials and an internal memo obtained by Associated Press. There is not yet a set date for the change, but it is expected in June, according to the officials, who were not...

Efforts to negotiate an end to war in the Middle East appeared in limbo on Tuesday, after Iran-linked media reported that Tehran had suspended contact with Washington over Israel’s expanding offensive in Lebanon, even as US President Donald Trump insisted talks were continuing “at a rapid pace” and claimed to have helped broker a halt to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The conflicting accounts highlighted the fragile state of negotiations aimed at ending more than three months of...

US rapper Travis Scott angered fans in Istanbul after a performance that barely lasted 20 minutes, with the audience booing as he left the stage early on Monday, footage on social media showed. On his first tour of Turkey, the 35-year-old hip-hop star made his Istanbul debut late on Sunday and was to hold another event in the western Izmir resort on Monday. The Istanbul event was billed as “a performance that goes beyond a classic concert” with a limited audience of just 2,500 fans, according to...

A UK court on Monday jailed a British Sikh man for life for killing a university student in a case that sparked anger after police handcuffed the dying victim following a false claim of racial abuse. A judge at Southampton Crown Court sentenced Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old local resident, to life in prison with an obligation to spend at least 21 years in jail for the killing of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak on December 3. A jury on Friday found Digwa guilty of murdering the accountancy and...

Reporters and the public will be allowed to attend a key coming hearing for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, after a Utah judge on Monday denied a defence request to restrict access. Tyler Robinson’s defence team had asked Judge Tony Graf to close portions of the preliminary hearing on July 6–10, when prosecutors must show they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. It will mark the most significant presentation of evidence to date in a case that has so far focused on matters of media...

Six people were stabbed in the hours after the Arsenal victory parade, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed, with a total of 24 arrests during the event. Thousands of Arsenal fans lined the streets around the Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday as the team embarked on their Premier League trophy parade. The Met deployed more than 500 officers to police the event, which saw 10 suspects arrested on suspicion of assaulting the police, one of whom allegedly threw racist abuse. One officer...

Peter Mandelson assured the British government it would “never regret” appointing him as ambassador to the United States, according to documents released on Monday, a pledge that was dramatically proven wrong within months. More than 1,500 pages of files relating to the appointment of Mandelson, a friend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as envoy to Washington at the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term, were released by the government to comply with a demand by...

China’s contribution to global growth is underestimated while the yuan is positioned to emerge as a fundamentally strong global currency, according to a new study from a prominent Beijing-based think tank. Researchers from the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) – comprising senior regulators and financial experts – said the country’s investment scale could be as much as 3.4 times that of the United States when measured by the volume of physical investment. The analysis, published in a note on Sunday,...

Hundreds of youths in Kenya’s central town of Nanyuki on Monday showed against the establishment at the Laikipia Air Base of an Ebola quarantine centre for American citizens exposed to the virus. The protests come two days after Kenya’s High Court suspended the establishment of the facility and the arrival of any foreign patients pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog. The two organisations cited Kenya’s fragile health system as the reason...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ⁠ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, signalling further escalation of a war that has complicated mediation towards resolving the US-Iran conflict. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Monday that Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors causing a delay to the diplomatic process to end the US-Iran war, reiterating that a Lebanon ceasefire was an integral part of any...

The US said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday it had targeted a US base in response, the latest exchange of attacks amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war. The US and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes ‌since their ceasefire took effect in early April as diplomacy aimed at a more durable agreement drags on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in near-identical terms by both sides. The weekend US...

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. Chinese archaeologist who discovered 5,000-year-old city pleads guilty to corruption 2. Hong Kong body took action after teacher carried female student like bride 3. ‘Clear-eyed’ on China: the takeaways from Pete Hegseth’s Shangri-La speech 4. Rising costs in Singapore spur business migration as...

Former US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honouring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank “the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy” and argued that the Fed’s independence was a “priceless asset” that must be...

It’s that time of the year again – tax season, so don’t forget to fill out your return. It’s also the time of the year when the Hong Kong government decides on pay rises for its civil service staff of over 170,000. There’s a well-established system for deciding on pay rises. It includes the pay trend survey submitted to the government last week. Its preliminary results indicate that civil servants are in line for wage increases of 4.12 per cent for senior civil servants, 2.64 per cent for...

The US Department of Commerce on Sunday moved to close a year-old potential loophole it had created that may have led companies to export ‌the world’s most advanced chips – such as Nvidia’s most sophisticated Rubin and Blackwell processors, as well as AMD’s MI350x – to Chinese entities located outside China. The unexpected guidance suggests the United States’ best artificial intelligence chips may have been making their way to the subsidiaries of Chinese AI firms based in places such as Malaysia...

Syrian President ⁠Ahmed al-Sharaa held a phone ⁠call with US President Donald Trump in which they discussed supporting the Syrian economy and the latest regional developments, the Syrian presidency said ‌on Sunday. During the call, Sharaa said lifting the remaining US sanctions on Syria was essential to reviving the economy and attracting investments, according to the statement. The United States says some sanctions remain in ⁠place despite dismantling most of its Syria sanctions regime and...

A family of four from Massachusetts were killed when a bus crashed into multiple vehicles in Virginia as they were travelling to a wedding. The family wedding will go forward on Sunday in South Carolina but it also will be a time to mourn the loss of Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, a relative said Saturday. “A son, a father – the whole family – everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik said. The Doncevs were killed when a coach caused a...

Iran’s chief negotiator warned on Sunday the United States was not to be trusted, saying Tehran would not agree to any deal with Washington unless it fully secured Iranian rights. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s remarks came as reports emerged that US President Donald Trump had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Iran, and underlined the rift that the parties still need to close. Any tweaks to the draft could further delay an agreement to formally end the Middle East war and reopen the Strait of...

A museum in eastern France on Sunday reported to police the theft of a banana that forms a core part of a multimillion-dollar artwork by Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan. The missing fruit – which was taped to a wall to form the provocative work by Cattelan called Comedian – was noticed by a guard on Saturday to have gone missing. An iteration of the artwork was bought by Chinese-born cryptocurrency founder Justin Sun in 2024. He forked out US$6.2 million for the work, then days later ate...

A concert by the US rapper Kanye West, who was supposed to perform on July 18 in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, has been banned on public safety grounds, the authorities said. The prefect of the province, Salvatore Angieri, said the decision was made following requests from bodies including the local Jewish community. They had “expressed reservations” about the appearance of the rapper as part of the Pulse of Gaia Festival, the statement released on Friday evening said. Another concert by the...

Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in the deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter-century, the military said on Sunday. The taking of Beaufort castle, near the city of Nabatiyeh, followed days of air strikes and intense fighting in nearby villages between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants. The capture marked a major Israeli advance in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2, when...

A United Airlines flight bound for Spain from Newark Liberty International Airport turned around mid-flight on Saturday due to a possible security threat. The flight departed at around 6pm local time for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but landed back at Newark at 9.37pm, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airline said there were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on the Boeing 767 aircraft. According to air traffic control audio, security came to inspect the aircraft...

French police detained 780 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted on Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League title. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station. Nuñez said at a news conference on Sunday that “the situation has been largely brought under...

In the first major case since the justices narrowed the Voting Rights Act, the court cleared the way for Alabama to use a map preferred by Republicans that eliminates a majority-Black district.

Mr. Platner, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, met in Washington with several senators. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, dodged questions about his confidence in Mr. Platner.

Jane Nelson, the Texas secretary of state, was appointed to the role overseeing statewide elections in 2023 by Gov. Greg Abbott.

As negotiations to end the war in Iran drag on, our reporter David E. Sanger describes the factors that are complicating any agreement.

Over the past two decades, Iran repeatedly threatened to close down the waterway. President Trump underestimated Iran’s ability to do so.

A homeless chess hustler, a scholar and an aging recluse found hope in a trashed apartment by Central Park.

Mr. Pelley, a longtime correspondent and former “Evening News” anchor, harshly criticized the show’s leadership in an extraordinary exchange during a staff meeting on Monday.

A new proposal would allow the administration to block grants if they do not satisfy President Trump’s agenda or support what it calls “anti-American” values.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated in pointed testimony to senators that he was reclaiming control of the U.S. relationship with Gavi, an international vaccine alliance.

The claim that their loved ones’ deaths and disappearances are linked is almost certainly false — but the loss remains real.

To Brazilians, the ubiquitous caramel-colored mutts are a national icon. But a Mexican state has adopted them as its own homegrown symbol.

Researchers at the University of Toronto showed how hackers could use artificial intelligence to create a program that could target any known flaw in the world’s computers.

The former first lady’s new book reflects an insular White House where loyalty was prized and President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s feelings were prioritized over health concerns.

Beyond a few pointed digs at her husband’s successor, “View From the East Wing” largely sticks to the head-spinning details of first lady-hood.

He was admired for impassioned duets with singers like Roberta Flack and Celine Dion and for the Disney hits “Beauty and the Beast” and “A Whole New World.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments followed calls for action from Jewish organizations and after a government report found that antisemitism had surged in Canada in recent years.

After a musician fell ill during a live performance of the score from “La La Land,” the composer Justin Hurwitz asked for a sight reader. A 21-year-old student stepped up.

Trump has failed to unite the country while at war and instead is seeking personal gain.

Look on his works and despair.