Minimalist News

Bessent Keeps Running Tally Of China As "Unreliable Global Partner" - Count Now Stands At Three Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Tuesday that Beijing’s panic hoarding of crude and refined products, while refusing to join the rest of the world in releasing supplies to offset the Gulf energy shock, has now demonstrated for the third time in five years that China is an "unreliable global partner." "China has been an unreliable global partner three times in the past five years; once during COVID, when they hoarded healthcare products, second on rare earth," Bessent said, referring to Beijing's move last year to

Business Financial Distress Nears COVID Levels As Sole Trader Numbers Rise Authored by Rex Widerstrom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The volume of businesses struggling to pay their debts in Australia is on track to exceed the heights set during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two reports on the nation’s economic health. Australian dollar coins and banknotes in Melbourne, Australia on April 4, 2024. AAP Image/Joel Carrett Up to 13 percent of working-age Australians and 47 percent of secondary school students want to work for themselves or start a business, but that’s not translating into a pipeline of new enterprises, according to the

Major Israeli PAC Flips: Tel Aviv Should Pay Out-Of-Pocket If It Wants US Weapons via Middle East Eye The pro-Israel advocacy group J Street is now calling for an end to "direct" US military support to Israel, per a new policy document published this week. The group had previously backed Washington's continued provision of defensive weapons systems, such as the replenishment of Israel's Iron Dome, at no cost to Israelis.  Now, it says the US "should continue to sell" short-range air and ballistic missile defense capabilities to Israel, but Israel should use its own money to pay for them.  Source: Times of Israel "Israel faces real security challenges that

China's Unitree Unveils Robot With "Human-Like Physique" That Can Outrun Most People The race for bipedal humanoid robot intelligence has certainly been in the news, with robots receiving "AI brains" that have already brought them onto factory floors and will likely become more visible in the public world in the coming years (see UBS).  But there is another race that Chinese robot maker Unitree is simultaneously part of, and that is actual speed. In recent days, Unitree posted a video on X titled "Unitree Breaks the World Record Again," indicating that one of its humanoid robots now has the "physique of an ordinary person,

Waymo Partners With Waze To Use Self-Driving Cars To Track Potholes Authored by Dylan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Two Alphabet-owned companies, Waymo and Waze, announced on April 9 that they will team up to detect potholes and share that information with local government agencies to help get them filled more efficiently. A self-driving Waymo vehicle awaits passengers in Los Angeles on July 1, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times “Waymo is already making roads safer where we operate,“ said Arielle Fleisher, the company’s policy development and research manager, in a statement. ”We want to build on the safety benefits of our service

Build It, And They Will Come? Not The Case At Baltimore's Harbor East Luxury Tower The Four Seasons Private Residences in Harbor East, situated in crime-ridden Baltimore City and serving as a flagship luxury development project tied to the Inner Harbor's waterfront revitalization, was originally envisioned as an ultra-luxury tower designed to attract the rich and powerful. The premise for building the tower, which opened in 2017, was very simple: build it, and they will come. The Paterakis family, one of the most prominent business and real estate families in the Baltimore metro area, best known for their baking empire and for

Pentagon Accused Of Cover-Up After Missing Deadline On 46 Military UAP Videos Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The Pentagon has come under fire for failing to meet a congressional deadline to release dozens of military videos showing unidentified aerial phenomena, sparking fresh claims of a bureaucratic stall on one of the most sensitive national security issues in decades. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., had pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to deliver 46 specific clips by April 14. Whistleblowers had told her task force that the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) already possessed the records. Yet as the deadline passed with no delivery, critics

Do White People Even Play Golf? Nike has long been one of the most recognizable athletic brands in the world, but the sneaker and apparel company has suffered rapid brand deterioration amid its move to fully embrace woke corporate politics, with its stock collapsing roughly 75% from its peak during the Covid era, when the Marxist NGO Black Lives Matter gained traction across corporate America. > Nike’s stock has been a disaster and is trading at 2014 prices. Management just can’t figure out why. > > — Time Traveller (@802701AD) April 13, 2026 Even as the face of golf continues to change among the

Former Brazilian Intelligence Chief Detained By ICE In Florida Authored by Charis Summers via The Epoch Times, Alexandre Ramagem, a former chief of the Brazilian intelligence agency and a close ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Orlando, Florida. Ramagem was chief of the ABIN intelligence agency from 2019 until 2022, when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, representing Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party. In September 2025, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in an attempted coup in 2023 by Bolsonaro supporters. His congressional seat was later declared vacant.

IMF Warns US Treasury Market Prone To "Sudden Repricing" Due To Soaring Debt, Overreliance On Bills The International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that the relentless US debt issuance is undermining the premium Treasuries have commanded from investors, with implications for government securities across the globe. “The increase in the US Treasury security supply is compressing the safety premium that US Treasuries have traditionally commanded — an erosion that pushes up borrowing costs globally,” the Washington-based IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report. The US has been selling large volumes of debt because its budget deficit has averaged roughly 6% of gross domestic

Treasury Secretary Says Order On Citizenship Proof For Banking Is 'In Process' Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday confirmed that an executive order mandating banks to collect citizenship information on customers is underway. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addresses journalists in Paris on March 16, 2026. Ludovic Marin / AFP via Getty Images “It’s in process. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable, because, why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?” he told Semafor in an April 13 interview, responding to whether the Trump administration was working on the banking order. “I have

Mullin Blasts Biden Admin After DHS Employee Killed By Naturalized Felon On Monday, Lauren Bullis, a 40-year-old Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee, was "brutally shot and stabbed to death" while walking her dog, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is blaming the Biden administration for her murder. Olaolukitan Adon Abel (left) and Lauren Bullis (Photos: DHS) Bullis, an auditor with the DHS Office of Inspector General, was found on Battle Forest Drive in DeKalb County, Georgia, around 6:50 a.m. Witnesses saw a man standing over her body before he fled. She was not the only victim. According to reports, a neighbor heard the

White House: 'Era Of Amnesty Is Over' Authored by Catherine Salgado via PJ Media, “No more activist judges shielding criminal illegals. No more endless delays. Only results.” The Trump White House is celebrating multiple massive immigration enforcement wins that signal the era of mass migration and mass amnesty is over. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert Since Donald Trump came back into office, federal authorities have removed three million illegal aliens from the United States through ICE deportations or voluntary deportations, which is the biggest reduction in illegal migration in modern history, according to a White House press release on April 9. This is exactly what the

Beige Book Confirms Uncertainty, Fuel Costs Surged On Iran War As Economy Grew At "Slight To Modest" Pace US economic activity continued to increase at a "slight-to-modest" pace across most regions as the war with Iran generated a new wave of uncertainty and higher energy costs, the Federal Reserve said. The just released Beige Book - which featured information compiled by the New York Fed and collected through April 6, capturing the early effects of the war on the US economy - was the first one to discuss the state of the US economy after the Iran war started, and came at time

Russia Vows To 'Fill China's Energy Resource Gap' Amid Hormuz Crisis In Lavrov-Xi Meeting At a moment it remains a serious open question over just how vulnerable China is to the Hormuz Strait crisis, and now with the US-imposed US naval blockade of the vital oil transit waterway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Beijing pledging energy support to China.  Lavrov met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, during which Xi urged China and Russia to "give full play to the advantages of geographic proximity and complementarity, deepen all-round cooperation and raise the resilience of each other's development." Russia remains China's top energy supplier. "Both

Tax Freedom Day Underestimates How Long You Work For The Government Authored by Jonathan Newman via The Mises Institute, Tax Freedom Day, calculated by the Tax Foundation, “represents how long Americans as a whole have to work in order to pay the nation’s tax burden.” It appears that they stopped publishing this in 2019, but others have picked up where they left off. The idea is that the income earned by taxpayers over a certain proportion of the year goes to Uncle Sam. In 2025, that date was April 16th. But the burden of government is much larger than the amount we pay in taxes. The government spends

Iran Halts All Petrochem Exports While Official Signals Compromise Strait Passage Opening, As Negotiators Cite 'Progress' SUMMARY * The Iran war is "very close to over" with authorities in Tehran eager to agree a peace deal, Trump says, adding: "We've beaten them militarily." Axios cites 'progress' toward framework to end war. Iran state media says halt to all petrochemical exports, RTRS cites possible compromise on strait passage. * AP/Bloomberg reporting the two sides have an "in principle agreement" to pursue further diplomacy; however, this is batted down as 'unconfirmed' by Tehran & a US official. * The Pentagon is sending thousands

Iran War Leads To Fluoride Shortages For Some US Water Utilities Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, Multiple water providers have lowered the amount of fluoride they add to water for millions of Americans, amid shortages stemming from the U.S.–Iran war. The Baltimore City Department of Public Works said on April 13 that it is reducing the level of fluoride from 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to 0.4 mg/L. The move, officials said, was driven by disruptions to the supply chain caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. A key Israeli supplier, specifically, has been struggling to meet demand. “This is

Iran Used Chinese Spy Satellite To Target US Bases During War, Outraged Beijing Denies Iran quietly secured a Chinese spy satellite in late 2024 and used it to track US military bases across the Middle East during the current war, the Financial Times has newly - an allegation Beijing has flatly and angrily denied. The TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by Chinese firm Earth Eye Co, was allegedly taken over by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Aerospace Force after launch from China, according to the report, which cites leaked Iranian military documents. Of course, the usual caveats must apply when it

Watch: Vance Pledges Probe Into Epstein 'Pizza' And 'Grape Soda' References Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Vice President JD Vance has publicly committed to investigating references in the Jeffrey Epstein files that he says evoked the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, citing emails mentioning “pizzas or grape sodas” in odd contexts. His remarks come as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche doubled down on the Department of Justice’s position that every relevant document has already been released, leaving critics to question whether the full truth about Epstein’s network will ever see daylight. In remarks at a Turning Point USA event, Vance described reviewing the files and

Wednesday’s strike brings the total of those killed in US military strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 177 Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced. US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post. Continue reading...

Sheinbaum has recently been taking a firmer stance with the US, defying pressures where other countries have caved The Mexican government has voiced concern about the deaths of its citizens in US custody, with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum also pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba. The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting US requests to crack down on cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and US military action against

Byelection wins and defections push Canada’s Liberals into majority government under the prime minister Mark Carney has said he will govern with “humility, determination and a clear understanding of what this moment demands” after his Liberals swept three byelections Monday evening, forging a parliamentary majority just more than a year after he took power. Carney has achieved only the third majority government in two decades – and has done so in a highly unusual fashion, cobbling together both ballot box wins and defections from rival parties. Continue reading...

Brian Hooker told police that Lynette Hooker fell overboard and that strong currents carried her away Police in the Bahamas have released without charges a Michigan man who said his wife disappeared after falling overboard from a small boat in waters off the Caribbean island country, authorities said on Monday. Brian Hooker, of Onsted in southern Michigan, had been in police custody since 8 April – five days – after being questioned by authorities. Continue reading...

Carney’s Liberals will now be able to pass legislation without the support of opposition parties – and govern until 2029 The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has secured a parliamentary majority for his Liberal government, CBC News reported. The victory will help him push through a legislative agenda he says is needed for an increasingly divided geopolitical world. Three byelections were held on Monday in Ontario and Quebec, with two in districts – known as ridings – that have long voted Liberal. Continue reading...

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month. “Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.” Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people were in shelters across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as Sinlaku moved away * Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Super Typhoon Sinlaku hammered the Northern Mariana Islands, flipping over cars, toppling utility poles and ripping away tin roofs. Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by the typhoon, which first hit the islands on Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rains for hours on Wednesday. So far, there have been no reports of deaths. Continue reading...

Beijing may be reaping some diplomatic benefit but Trump’s war holds risks for its energy security and economy Two months ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, promised it would be a “big year” for China-US relations. He was right, but perhaps not in the way he expected. Wang was speaking before a planned visit by the US president to Beijing in March, which would have been Donald Trump’s first trip to China since 2017. But the trip, and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was kicked back by several weeks after Trump decided to launch strikes with Israel against Iran,

Pyongyang making ‘very serious’ progress on producing weapons, with rapid rise in activity at main nuclear complex North Korea has made “very serious” progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said, in another sign that the regime is seeking to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure its survival. North Korea is thought to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, although some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them so they can be attached to long-range ballistic missiles. Continue reading...

Passengers can book a four-hour session in the bunk beds from May for Auckland-New York flights but airline cautions against smuggling in children Economy passengers on Air New Zealand’s ultra-long-haul flight between Auckland and New York can book a spot in the airline’s bunk-bed style sleeping pods from May, which will take to skies in late 2026. In what the airline says is a world first, six full-length, lie-flat sleeping pods, are squeezed into the aisle of the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The pods, known as “Skynest”, will include fresh bedding, a privacy curtain, ambient lighting and kit with eye-masks, skincare, earplugs

Follow the latest updates live * Full report: Geelong oil refinery fire * Geelong oil refinery fire: what we know so far * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Fire officer says officials haven’t detected any contaminants spreading from blaze Earlier this morning, Fire Rescue Victoria assistant chief fire officer, Mick McGuinness, provided an update to ABC Radio Melbourne. Shortly before 7am, he said about 50 firefighting vehicles were continuing to fight the blaze in the Mogas (motor gasoline) plant section of the refinery. This fire has been quite large overnight. It is still burning at the moment,

Some petrol stations may see short-term fuel outages as refinery output slows, but national supplies should not be affected * Full report: Geelong oil refinery fire * Geelong oil refinery fire: what we know so far * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Victorian motorists are being warned to brace for a spike in petrol prices of up to 20c a litre due to a huge blaze at Viva Energy’s oil refinery in Geelong, but oil and supply chain experts say the effects should be short-lived. Viva’s

Petrol production affected and full extent of damage unknown after ‘unprecedented’ fire at Viva refinery in Corio * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Geelong oil refinery fire: what we know so far * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An explosive fire at a Geelong oil refinery – which supplies half of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of the nation’s – has been extinguished, though petrol production continues to be affected and authorities warn the full extent of the damage is still unknown. The blaze at the Viva Energy facility in Corio –

Exclusive: John Sidoti wins cheers and applause at re-election fundraiser for his successor * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A former New South Wales minister found by Icac to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct has been feted as one of the “esteemed luminaries of the Liberal party” at an election fundraiser headlined by the state opposition leader, Kellie Sloane. John Sidoti, a former Liberal minister and state member for Drummoyne who left the party in 2021 amid an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption,

How much fuel does Australia have left today, and when could we run out? Track how much petrol and diesel prices have risen near you in Sydney, Melbourne and across the country. * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The federal government has released fuel reserves, cut fuel excise taxes and rolled out a national fuel security plan as Australia battles a fuel crisis. While we know there have been outages and price increases, it can be difficult to get a full picture of what is happening – this is partly due to the thousands of independent

Two killed, including a child, in Kyiv with another death in the city of Dnipro amid strikes across the country Russian forces attacked Kyiv and other cities early on Thursday, killing three people, including a 12-year-old child, injuring more than 20 and badly damaging buildings, officials said. Moscow has fired hundreds of drones on its neighbour almost nightly since the beginning of the four-year war, and recently expanded daytime strikes. Continue reading...

Agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHS The French government is pressing the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the 86-year-old French widow of a military veteran from immigration custody after she was detained earlier this month. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHS. Ross is now being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Continue reading...

Lelia Doolan, who finished 220km trek at parliament gates, says use of Shannon airport violates Irish neutrality A 91-year-old peace activist has crossed Ireland on foot and arrived in Dublin to petition the government to bar US military flights. Lelia Doolan completed a two-week, 220km (138 mile) trek on Wednesday, ending at the gates of parliament accompanied by throngs of supporters. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Meanwhile, Nato chief Mark Rutte urged members of the military alliance not to “lose sight” of the Ukraine conflict, and to boost their backing for Kyiv to $60bn in 2026, AFP reported. His comments came at the start of a meeting in Berlin of defence ministers from Ukraine’s key supporters, including Germany and Britain, with the conflict against Russia now in its fifth year. Continue reading...

Airport body has asked for power to suspend EES checks requiring personal information and biometrics Travellers going through some European airports are reportedly waiting up to three hours at border checks because of the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES). Passengers in airports in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece are waiting several hours at border checks, the Airports Council International (ACI) body has said. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Our latest full report is here: US and Iran in indirect talks to extend two-week ceasefire Donald Trump said the “special relationship” between the US and UK was in a poor state but that it will not have impact on King Charle’s upcoming state visit to America. In an interview with Sky News, the US president once again criticised Keir Starmer over his policies, particularly on energy and immigration, and reiterated his disappointment that the UK and other Nato allies had not joined his war against Iran when the US “needed them”. Continue reading...

Journalist Will Coldwell tells the story of how a British businessman was imprisoned in Dubai – and how his family finally got him home When Albert Douglas found out he was facing a long prison sentence in Dubai, he tried to escape the UAE … and failed. What followed was years of court proceedings, time in prison and even, Douglas says, beatings and torture. In recent years, scores of business owners, unsuspecting tourists and influencers have been detained in Dubai – caught up in an opaque legal system, charged with breaking laws they may not even have been aware of. Continue reading...

US president will need to show heavy costs of war were worthwhile while Iran must choose between instant and delayed gratification * Middle East crisis – live updates If talks between Iran and the US reconvene within the next few days in Islamabad, Donald Trump will have two major political hurdles to overcome – first showing that any deal he secures is better than the one signed by Barack Obama in 2015 and from which he withdraw in 2018, and secondly proving the deal is more favourable than the one on offer in Geneva in February before he launched his war. Otherwise

‘Palestine’s Mandela’ suffers three recent attacks including assault where prison guards set a dog on him, lawyer says The jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is at immediate risk in Israeli jails, where he has been attacked three times in as many weeks, including in one assault last month where prison guards set a dog on the 66-year-old, his lawyer has said. Barghouti is often called Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. He is respected across otherwise feuding Palestinian factions, has broad popular support across occupied Palestine, repeatedly engaged with Israeli officials before his detention and long backed a two-state solution. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed. You can read the latest on the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran here South Korean president Lee Jae Myung has said rising tensions around the strait of Hormuz make it hard to be optimistic about the fallout from the Iran war, warning that high oil prices and supply-chain strains are likely to persist for some time. Lee told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday the government should treat prolonged disruption in global energy and raw materials markets as a given and reinforce its emergency response system. For the time being, difficulties in global energy and raw materials

Two-time Grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood cinema and whose career spanned almost eight decades, has died in Mumbai at the age of 92. Bhosle, who recorded more than 12,000 songs, became her country’s pre-eminent exponent of playback singing – recording tracks that were then lip-synced on film by actors. She also boldly embraced cabaret and western-influenced melodies to forge a distinctive musical identity. Continue reading...

In Pakistan’s capital, the army has been deployed, a public holiday has been declared and the streets are eerily empty * Middle East crisis – live updates The streets of Islamabad were on strict lockdown as Pakistan’s capital prepared to play host to historic negotiations between Iran and the US that have dangled the promise of an end to war that has devastated the Middle East. Even as the US-Iran ceasefire looked increasingly precarious, amid Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and disputes over the terms of the talks, Pakistani officials insisted that the make-or-break peace negotiations would be going ahead over the

Israeli PM says he will continue to attack Hezbollah ‘with full force’ after attacks that killed more than 300 people * Middle East crisis – live updates Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is “no ceasefire in Lebanon” and Israel would continue “to strike Hezbollah with full force” as the country’s military launched fresh strikes. The Israeli prime minister’s remarks and latest attacks on what the IDF called “Hezbollah launch sites” came shortly after Donald Trump said he had asked Netanyahu to be more “low-key” in Lebanon. Later on Friday, a US state department official said Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington

Analysts say Pakistani officials’ efforts led to breakthrough that has helped avert catastrophe, at least for now * Middle East crisis – live updates Pakistan’s leaders had almost lost hope. After more than two weeks of frantic negotiations, phonecalls and diplomatic summits to try to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, it looked like the conflict might instead be escalating into Islamabad’s worst nightmare. In a cabinet meeting held at about 5pm on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was morose. “We should brace ourselves for the impact of the war,” he told his cabinet ministers. “The situation has really become very

Two-week ceasefire comes after Trump spoke to Pakistan’s leaders, with China also believed to be exerting influence over Tehran * Middle East crisis – live updates * US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire with Tehran saying it will reopen strait of Hormuz The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday barely an hour before Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate Iran was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the strait of Hormuz. Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. As Trump announced he was suspending his plans to escalate attacks across Iran, the

Company has received about £8.7bn in renewable energy subsidies since 2012, despite claims wood pellets are not sourced sustainably The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire received record subsidies of almost £1bn for burning trees to generate electricity in 2025, a climate thinktank has calculated. The company was paid £999m last year for generating about 4.5% of Great Britain’s electricity from its biomass plant, costing each household £13 a year, according to analysts at Ember. Continue reading...

Scheme cutting bills by up to 25% expanded to cover 10,000 firms, but they will not be paid until next year Rachel Reeves has announced an expansion of support for the most energy-intensive UK businesses, as they face soaring bills as a result of the Middle East conflict. The chancellor said the long-promised British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) would be expanded to cover 10,000 companies, up from the 7,000 originally announced. Continue reading...

Lack of funding leaving police forces failing to keep pace with two-thirds annual increase in referrals, says report Child victims of online sexual abuse are being inadequately protected from further harm because police forces are struggling to cope with an increase in this crime, his majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary has warned. Michelle Skeer said: “Without investment and coordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.” Continue reading...

Woman, 47, and man, 46, held on suspicion of arson endangering life after attempted Finchley attack A 47-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life after an attempted attack on a synagogue in Finchley, north London, as part of an investigation into what the Metropolitan police described as an “antisemitic hate crime”. The force said the woman was arrested at an address in Watford just after 4.45pm on Wednesday, while the man was arrested at 7.15pm in the Watford area. Both suspects remain in police custody. Continue reading...

Commons rejects proposal by 256 to 150 to side with government on plan to tackle online harms affecting children MPs have rejected a proposal to ban under-16s from using social media for the second time, as the prime minister summoned tech bosses to demand tougher action on internet safety. The House of Commons sided with the government against a Lords amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that imposed a new age limit on using social media platforms, amid pressure from parents and campaign groups for greater urgency in tackling online harms. Continue reading...

Accusations refer to attack on Iran without congressional authorization and strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense security of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts. The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. * Trump news at a glance: president renews threats against federal reserve chair, pushes his replacement * Sign up for the Breaking News US email At a Turning Point USA event in Georgia on Tuesday, vice-president JD Vance was heckled by a protester who seemed to criticized the conflicts in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza. “Jesus Christ does not support genocide,” the audience member shouted. The vice-president addressed the demonstrator and agreed with their statement, before responding to further comments from the heckler who appeared to say that the administration “supports a genocide

In a spilling of the court’s divisions in public, Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh over a dissenting ruling on ICE raids Sonia Sotomayor, a US supreme court justice, issued an apology on Wednesday for her recent criticism of fellow justice Brett Kavanaugh, an unusual public mea culpa that underscores the continuing divisions within the nation’s top judicial body over its direction and actions in high-profile cases. Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh at an event in Kansas last week for an opinion he wrote in September concurring with the court’s decision backing roving immigration raids in California. Kavanaugh is one of the court’s six conservative

Senator’s fourth attempt for resolutions fails, but votes show growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits Bernie Sanders on Wednesday led a failed effort to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, but the votes revealed a growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits on US weapons transfers to a longtime US ally. It was the fourth time Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, had forced consideration of resolutions cutting off military aid for Israel in the Senate, all of which have been rejected by the chamber’s Republican majority, and many Democrats. Continue reading...

Killings of Lauren Bullis and woman not yet identified in ‘random’ Monday attacks draw attention of Trump officials An Atlanta man has been charged in a string of attacks over a matter of hours that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administration’s attention after one of the victims was identified as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee who was walking her dog. The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led the homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the

Newly released video shows a high school principal in Oklahoma tackling and disarming a former student who entered the lobby of the school and began firing a pistol. Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore was shot in the leg during the April 7 attack but managed to wrestle the suspect onto a bench, disarm him and remain on top of him until law enforcement officers arrived, according to court records. The video, released by the school district in response to an Open Records Act request,...

The White House on Wednesday dismissed as untrue reports that the US had sought to extend a ceasefire with Iran, while confirming that discussions over a second round of in-person negotiations were under way after marathon talks in Islamabad last week ended without a breakthrough. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that discussions were under way about a further round of talks with Tehran but “nothing is official”, adding that the negotiations would “very likely” be held...

US President Donald Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him on Wednesday, as a war of words between his administration and the pope showed little sign of abating. The image, reposted to Trump’s Truth Social account, shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post ‌had a caption that included the words: “God might be playing his Trump card!” Trump’s repost...

Israel’s security cabinet ⁠will convene on Wednesday to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official has said, more than five weeks into a war with Hezbollah that spiralled out of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet would meet ‌at 8pm local time, the official said. Senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters that diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional states could produce a ceasefire soon, saying...

Pope Leo has said the world needs to hear a message of peace and coexistence, after US President Donald Trump attacked him for a second time this week on social media. Speaking on Wednesday during his flight from Algeria to Cameroon for the second leg of a whirlwind 10-day ‌Africa tour, the first US pontiff urged respect for all people and said his travels so far had shown the importance of pursuing dialogue between different communities. “Although we have different beliefs, we have different...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added. In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain...

US President Donald Trump has said he will fire Jerome Powell if the Federal Reserve chair does not step down “in time”, adding that he will not drop the Justice Department investigation into the central bank leader. “I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time. I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “I want to be uncontroversial. But he will be fired,” he said in the interview taped on...

Though high-level officials in Washington have accused China of undermining global energy security by “hoarding” oil during the US-Israeli war on Iran, import and inventory data suggest Beijing is facing its own supply pressures as the conflict drags on. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday labelled China an “unreliable global partner,” alleging that Beijing has prioritised stockpiling crude over easing global shortages triggered by the war, according to a Reuters report. He also...

A 14-year-old armed with five guns opened fire at a Turkish school on Wednesday, killing nine people, wounding 13 and sparking scenes of mayhem as students jumped out of windows to escape. The attack in the southern province of Kahramanmaras was Turkey’s second such incident in as many days, shocking a country where school shootings are a rare occurrence. Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed nine deaths, with 13 wounded – six in intensive care, three of them in a critical condition. The...

The US-Israeli war on Iran and the current Iranian and American blockades of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are likely to overshadow China’s first-quarter economic performance, analysts said, with questions looming large about how the world’s second-largest economy will handle their impact. Many observers said they expect the leadership in Beijing will adopt a wait-and-see approach, with little likelihood of an immediate stimulus to guarantee the country’s annual economic target is...

The fraying of the ceasefire in the US-Israel war against Iran reflects grim patterns of history. Truces are often doomed because they focus on stopping battle-related violence and rarely begin to address the underlying struggles that ignited hostilities. A pause without a shared common endgame often resets the battlefield as reasons harden for prolonging warfare. Viable political solutions seldom follow and take hold for peace to endure. Over the past decade, we’ve seen the perils. The Minsk...

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that an EU-developed age-verification app was ready to go, as the bloc pushes to better protect children from online harm. Brussels has been under pressure to come up with more stringent measures to safeguard children online as several EU capitals move ahead with plans to ban social media under a certain age. To that end, five EU countries including France and Italy last year started testing an age-check app that von der Leyen said on...

Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that is being called an “abandoned crisis” as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes. Sudan has been described as the world’s largest humanitarian challenge, notably in terms of displacement and hunger. There is no end in sight to the fighting between the military and the paramilitary...

China’s leading steelmakers are stepping up coordinated efforts to adjust export strategies, compliance systems and pricing models in response to this year’s full implementation of the EU’s tariff-like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which imposes direct carbon-linked costs on imports. “China’s indirect steel exports to the EU are substantial, and a significant portion consists of high value-added products,” said Jiang Wei, vice-chairman and secretary general of the China Iron and...

As Islamabad prepares to host a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran, Pakistani mediators are seeking ways to extricate the Gulf monarchies from the conflict, according to a well-placed diplomatic source. While the success of those efforts depends largely on the outcome of talks that US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday could resume by the end of the week, Pakistan’s mediation has produced a second confidence-building phone call in a week between the Iranian and...

Russia can help China and other nations weather energy supply disruptions stemming from the war in Iran, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. “Russia can, without a doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen”, Lavrov told reporters in response to a question about the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that Chinese-Russian ties are “unshakeable in the face of any storms”. Lavrov confirmed that Russian...

Hungary’s election winner Peter Magyar said on Wednesday he will suspend state media news broadcasts, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under Viktor Orban, ‌and restore media freedoms after his cabinet takes power. Magyar’s TISZA (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, ending Orban’s 16-year rule that became a prototype for “illiberal” conservative rulers across the Western world. “Every Hungarian deserves a public service media...

A leaked plan to grant the US military sweeping overflight access to Indonesia’s airspace has triggered a domestic backlash over concerns that Jakarta is “colluding with the aggressor” amid Washington’s war on Iran. Analysts say the defence document, first reported by New Delhi-based newspaper the Sunday Guardian, raises concerns that President Prabowo Subianto may be trading away Indonesia’s strategic independence. The proposal, which reportedly emerged following a meeting in February between...

Israel’s spy chief has pledged more covert efforts to try to topple Iran’s government, a tacit acknowledgment the countries’ conflict would continue even as the US pursued a new round of peace negotiations with the Islamic Republic. David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, said Israel had not expected that its bombardment of Iranian military, nuclear and infrastructure sites, waged in concert with the United States, would be enough to end Iran’s 47-year-old clerical-led rule. “Our mission has yet...

Britain’s King Charles will have tea and a private meeting with ⁠President Donald Trump during his US state visit later this month, as the UK government hopes his “soft power” can heal a damaging rift between the allies caused by the Iran war. The monarch and his wife Queen Camilla head across the Atlantic on April 27, a four-day trip ostensibly to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain but one that now has far greater significance amid a growing spat between Trump and ‌Prime...

The US military said on Tuesday that four people had been killed in a strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fourth such deadly attack in as many days. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike – just as the previous three – occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It posted aerial video on social media showing a vessel bobbing in the water before being struck by a projectile and exploding. The four new fatalities raise the total death toll of the...

Taiwan’s political pendulum is reversing. The government led by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai Ching-te is increasingly discredited, not least for selling out the jewel of its semiconductor industry to the United States under pressure from President Donald Trump. The Legislative Yuan is controlled by the opposition led by the Kuomintang (KMT). Party politics is now institutionalised into a sustained confrontation between the island’s presidency and its legislature. Now, budgets...

As the US imposes its own blockade on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of talks with Iran at the weekend, we take a look at how major economies in Asia and Europe could be affected by further restrictions on passage through one of the world’s most critical choke points for energy supplies. Who is most vulnerable in this energy crisis? According to a recent report by Japanese investment bank Nomura, the regions most exposed to the tensions in the Persian Gulf are Asian...

The retrial of disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein on a rape charge on which a jury was previously deadlocked started on Tuesday, although he will remain imprisoned for other offences regardless of the verdict. Weinstein is accused of the third-degree rape of Jessica Mann, who starred in the 2015 romantic comedy This Isn’t Funny. The judge declared a mistrial last June after the jury foreman refused to return to deliberate the case amid a jury-room feud. Weinstein is being retried on that...

Russia and China’s top envoys met in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss the Iran war, Ukraine and Taiwan as Beijing stepped up its Iran war diplomacy and tensions with Washington increased. In a jab at Washington and US President Donald Trump that did not mention either by name, a Chinese readout of the meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov noted that the world is increasingly marked by turmoil and instability. The two top diplomats also discussed plans...

A Parisian man could not believe his luck on Tuesday when he found out he had won a Pablo Picasso painting worth US$1 million with a US$117 raffle ticket. “How do I check that it’s not a hoax?” said Ari Hodara, 58, after organisers called him following the draw at Christie’s auction house in the French capital. Hodara described himself as an art amateur fond of Picasso and said he bought his ticket over the weekend after finding out about the charity raffle by chance during a meal in a...

New research suggests that gifted men are less conservative in their political views than men of average cognitive ability. A study conducted in Germany found that men with higher IQs are less inclined to traditional values, but the lead author, psychologist and intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University said the researchers did not find these differences among women. The study was based on the Marburg Giftedness Project, for which more than 7,000 children in primary school...

US President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump and his wife, Lara, will accompany the president on his trip next month to China, a spokeswoman for the family organisation said on Tuesday. Two sources earlier said members of Trump’s family, including Eric, were ‌considering joining Trump on his highly anticipated May 14-15 visit, potentially to contribute to US-China business relations. The spokeswoman said that Eric, who manages his father’s business empire, would go in a personal capacity. “Eric...

Brazil will require foreign partners to process rare earth minerals domestically as a condition for access to its reserves, a senior government official said this week, setting terms that could reshape how Chinese and Western firms compete for resources the country has long exported raw. “Our doors of Brazil to foreign investment are open, but our position has matured,” Leonardo Durans, a senior official at Brazil’s industry ministry, said at a press conference with international media on...

A German court on Tuesday sentenced a 28-year-old Chinese student to 11 years and three months in jail for repeatedly drugging and raping his girlfriend and filming the abuse. In a case reminiscent of that of France’s Gisele Pelicot, the Munich court said the defendant, named only as Zhongyi J., had assaulted his girlfriend while she was unconscious at least seven times. Zhongyi J. filmed the abuse each time and stored the videos on a hard drive, the court said. In one case, the assault lasted...

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held rare face-to-face talks, facilitated by Washington, on Tuesday, with all sides agreeing to launch “direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue”. “Israel expressed its commitment to engage in direct negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues and achieve a durable peace that will strengthen security, stability and prosperity in the region,” as per a readout issued by the US State Department. The statement said that Lebanon called for a...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni lacks courage and has let Washington down, US President Donald Trump told an Italian newspaper on Tuesday, delivering a blunt public rebuke to one of his closest European allies. Meloni had been a vociferous supporter of Trump, but she distanced herself from him after he went to war with Iran ‌in February, and on Monday she openly criticised him for lashing out at Pope Leo, saying his verbal assault was “unacceptable”. Trump responded in an interview with...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global economic growth forecast, including for China, citing shocks from the US-Israeli war in Iran. In its flagship World Economic Outlook published on Tuesday, the IMF projected worldwide gross domestic product growth at 3.1 per cent this year, down 0.2 percentage points from its January estimate. China – the world’s second-largest economy – is now expected to expand by 4.4 per cent this year. That would miss the IMF’s January estimate by...

The conventional indictment runs like this: blinded by ideology and captured by special interests, the US and Israel have blundered into a region they never understood, sowing instability they neither anticipated nor desired. It is a damning argument. It also happens to be, in one important respect, too generous. The more unsettling possibility, supported by two decades of observable behaviour, is that these policies produce not disorder as a side effect but something far more useful: a conflict...

France’s interior minister is seeking to block US rapper Kanye West from performing in the southern city of Marseille in June due to his antisemitic remarks, a source close to the minister said on Tuesday. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is “highly determined” to ban the June 11 concert at Marseille’s Velodrome stadium and is exploring “all possibilities”, the source said. West, 48, has been heavily criticised for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Britain has...

Washington’s naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is threatening to tip Asia into its worst energy crisis in living memory, with peace talks on the Iran war stalled and no clear timeline for when oil flows might resume. The United States moved to seize control of the flashpoint waterway on Monday night, with US President Donald Trump framing the move as a way to force Iran to open the strait and accept a deal to end the war. Iran responded by threatening all ports in the Persian Gulf and the...

A leading sovereign wealth fund from Central Asia has cast a vote of confidence in Chinese debt and the country’s currency by becoming the first institution from the region to sell yuan-denominated debt, known as panda bonds, in China’s onshore market. The decision by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, to sell 3 billion yuan (US$440 million) in China’s interbank market comes as global investors are looking for safe havens amid geopolitical uncertainties such as the Iran war. The...

A former student opened fire at a high school in southeastern Turkey on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people, before killing himself, an official said. The 18-year-old attacker, armed with a shotgun, fired randomly inside a vocational high school in Siverek, Sanliurfa province. He later killed himself with the same shotgun after being “cornered by police”, Governor Hasan Sildak said. The attack left 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer hurt, Sildak said. While most...

The world is undergoing a transformation of historic proportions. Geopolitical rivalry, economic restructuring and technological acceleration are converging to reshape the global order. These changes transcend the logic of any single nation, industry or moment in time, exerting profound influence on international politics, geoeconomics, industrial structures, capital flows and investment strategies. For Hong Kong, this “great change unseen in a century” is not an abstraction. It is a pressing...

With millions of Indonesians at risk of being pushed into poverty amid a deepening global energy crisis, President Prabowo Subianto arrived in Moscow this week seeking something straightforward but increasingly scarce: cheap oil. Prabowo’s trip, which got under way on Monday, comes at a moment of acute regional anxiety. Global oil prices have skyrocketed since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran more than six weeks ago amid the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The...

J.D. Vance had two jobs last week: get an Iran deal and keep Hungary’s Viktor Orban in power. Neither happened for the US vice-president. The 41-year-old Vance looked exhausted as he left Pakistan on Sunday after 21 hours that failed to produce an agreement with Tehran to end a war he had never wanted to begin with. At a terse press conference in Islamabad, Vance delivered the “bad news” and took just three questions before getting on a plane for the long flight back home. But just before...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney returns to Parliament on Tuesday with more power after he secured a majority government by sweeping three special elections. Carney’s Liberals now have 174 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons and won’t need support from opposition parties to pass legislation after winning three districts that became vacant after last year’s election. It would also likely mean Carney, who took office with no political experience and has earned global praise for his efforts...

US President Donald Trump on Monday defended his now deleted social media post that appeared to depict himself as Jesus Christ, contending that it was meant to portray him as “a doctor” after right-wing figures continued a recent trend of pushing back on the president’s recent comments. “Well, it wasn’t a depiction. It was me, I did post it. And I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross,” Trump said during an impromptu event at the White House. “There was a Red Cross worker...

A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of a Hmong-American man by federal officers that was captured on video as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials said on Monday. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news conference they are pursuing information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they need for their investigation into the arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, on January 18. Ramsey County includes the...

US congressman Eric Swalwell said on Monday he will resign from the House of Representatives, bowing to pressure from both Democrats and Republicans to leave Congress or face expulsion following sexual misconduct allegations that upended his campaign for governor. The California Democrat vowed to fight the allegations but said ‌he must also “take responsibility and ownership” of his mistakes. “Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong,”...

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was once considered one of President Trump’s closest European allies. Their friendship now appears in danger.

President Trump’s attack on Pope Leo has touched off an argument about a framework for determining when war is justified.

Fresh off a two-week break, lawmakers returned to turmoil in the House, where legislation to reopen the Department of Homeland Security is stalled and the G.O.P. is struggling to keep its agenda on track.

Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer asked staff members to bring wine to her hotel room, and to keep in touch with her husband and father.

As artificial intelligence makes many tasks easier, the human work of cajoling, arm-twisting and reassuring appears to be rising in importance.

A.I. has always been compared to human intelligence, but that may not be the right way to think about it. What it does well can help predict what jobs it may replace.

In confirming the precise location of William Shakespeare’s Blackfriars house, a British scholar raises fresh questions about what he intended to do with it.

Investors appear to be treating an end to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as a foregone conclusion, as the S&P 500 closes above 7,000.

The story of how President Trump quadrupled the size of the original proposal for the arch follows a now-familiar pattern.

The Saudi league, established in 2022, attracted some of the sport’s biggest stars with huge contracts.

A 10-member committee offered a brutal assessment of academia’s role in creating the forces challenging American colleges and universities.

Amid calls from the left to tax the rich, a tax proposal on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City, backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, seems to have better odds of passing than in years past.

Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to tax second homes in New York City that are worth $5 million or more. Here’s how the proposal might work.

The review said a certain class of drugs had little clinical benefit, but many Alzheimer’s experts criticized the analysis, saying it unfairly lumped failed drugs with two recently approved treatments.

Anthony Griffin was a popular battle rapper who turned toward religious rhetoric. The police say he slashed three people with a machete before they killed him.

Reporting on the people who upend life and those whose lives are upended can bring surprising and uncomfortable details to light.

Your pet is (probably) not a genius, and that’s OK.

In the race to patch up cybersecurity holes found by the newest A.I. models, we risk leaving too many people to fend for themselves.

The California Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision that said Mr. Eastman, had violated the rules of professional ethics.

At the University of Kansas School of Law last week, she criticized her colleague while discussing his views in an immigration-related case.

A lifelong New Yorker and longtime City Council member, she opposed Robert Moses’s wrecking ball, championed historic preservation and fought for women’s and gay rights.

Rama Duwaji apologized for using what she said was “harmful” language as a teenager, in her first interview since her husband, Zohran Mamdani, took office.