Minimalist News

Here's Treasury's Plan To Take Down Somali Fraud Rings While we patiently await more nothingburgers from DOJ's next overdue round of redacted Epstein files, the Treasury Department is going after Somali fraud rings... On Friday, Secretary Scott Bessent announced a sweeping crackdown on government benefits fraud that has already cost Minnesota taxpayers billions. The initiatives aim to close the loopholes that have made the system rife with abuse and to increase oversight. “President Trump has instructed the administration to bring accountability for the hardworking people of Minnesota,” Bessent said while visiting the gopher state. “Under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, welfare fraud has spiraled out of control.

"We Won't Stop Until Heads Drop Like In 1793": Tens Of Thousands Take To Streets Of Minneapolis After ICE Shooting Authored by Joseph Lord and Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times, Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Minneapolis on Jan. 10 to protest the shooting of Renée Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, according to a Minneapolis Police Department estimate provided to The Epoch Times. > ANTI‑ICE PROTESTERS SWARM MINNEAPOLIS STREETS AFTER ICE KILLS RENEE GOOD https://t.co/98CgZ32PST pic.twitter.com/uobWhriy23 > > — RT (@RT_com) January 10, 2026 A protest organizer guessed that as many as 40,000 people attended

BRICS Flexes With China-Led Joint Naval Drills Soon After Maduro Ousting The multi-national "Will for Peace 2026" naval exercises began Saturday off the coast of Cape Town, hosted by South Africa, and is set to run for one week. It is widely being described as a BRICS and "BRICS+" naval drill and saw a Russian warship arrive off South Africa's primary naval base on Friday. The Russians joined Chinese and Iranian vessels for the drills, along with other BRICS members Indonesia, Ethiopia and Brazil - which participated as observers. The nation heading up the drill is China, and it's being seen as

UK Government Video Game Warns Kids They May Be Terrorists For Questioning Mass Migration Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, In a chilling move, the UK government has rolled out a taxpayer-funded video game that paints every curious teenager as a potential far-right extremist. The “Pathways” game, backed by the Home Office’s Prevent counter-terrorism program, threatens young players with referrals to anti-terror experts simply for questioning unchecked mass migration or engaging with online debates about British identity. This indoctrination tool assumes teens are one wrong click away from radicalisation, equating basic concerns over job competition or veteran housing with illegal hate groups. It’s

Minnesota's Most Notorious Somali Daycare At Center Of Fraud Scandal Abruptly Shuts Down The Quality Learing Center is no more.  The Minneapolis child care center thrust into the spotlight by a viral YouTube exposé on Minnesota's rampant day care fraud scheme has officially shut down. State records confirm Quality Learning Center requested its license closure, effective Tuesday.  Late last month, independent journalist Nick Shirley released a video in which he toured nearly a dozen centers, exposing them for pocketing public funds without delivering services. Quality Learning Center stood out for its sign bearing a glaring typo - “Learing” - that operators scrambled to

Africa's Pipeline Rejects Climate Dogma And Foreign Control Authored by Vijay Jayaraj via American Greatness, Political powers in the United Nations and European Union have spent decades lecturing Africa on climate “virtue.” Net-zero pledges, renewable targets, ESG frameworks, and more make up the ever-growing list of prescriptions for “healing the planet.” Having already industrialized through the use of fossil fuels and enjoying full bellies, stable power grids, and unprecedented luxury, the so-called elite of the developed world present a “low-carbon” economy as morally superior. African nations are pressured to use “sustainable” energy sources—mostly wind and solar technologies—to effectively prevent the development of the

It's Very Difficult To Believe China's Claim Of Mediating Between India & Pakistan Authored by Andrew Korybko, China is uniquely unqualified to mediate between them since it has territorial disputes with India and arms Pakistan to the teeth. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently claimed that his country mediated between India and Pakistan during last spring’s clashes, but it’s very difficult to believe that this actually happened. Trump has repeatedly claimed the same despite India’s denials, which greatly contributed to the deterioration of their ties over the past year. India’s half-century-long position since the 1972 Simla Agreement has been that its problems with Pakistan are bilateral, ergo why it’s always rejected

Healthy Diets Are Getting Pricier, Yet More Affordable A healthy diet is often discussed as a top public health issue, but affordability remains one of its biggest barriers. Over the past decade, food prices have climbed due to inflation, supply chain disruptions, and climate-related shocks. At the same time, incomes and food access have improved in many regions. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, highlights how these competing forces have shaped the global cost of eating well—and who is still being left behind. The data for this visualization comes from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. It tracks the average daily cost of

Escobar: How Trump's Oily Dreams May Collapse In A Venezuelan Dark Pit Authored by Pepe Escobar, So the Big Oil Picture in Venezuela is way more complex than the Trump 2.0 gang suspects... Let’s start with neo-Caligula’s new edicts on the imperial satrapy he says he now owns; not exactly edicts but outright threats directed to interim President Delcy Rodriguez: 1. Crack down on “drug trafficking flows”. Well, this should actually be directed to Colombian and Mexican smugglers in cahoots with big American buyers. 2. Expel Iranian, Cuban, and other “operatives hostile to Washington” – before Caracas is allowed to increase oil production.

These Are The World's Top Silver Producers Silver prices surged more than 5% in recent trading, breaking above $80 per ounce once again. The rally has been driven by China’s restrictions on silver exports, rising demand from green technologies like solar power, and renewed interest in safe-haven assets. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, highlights the world’s largest silver-producing countries and shows where global supply is most concentrated. The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025. It presents estimated silver mine production by country for 2024. MEXICO’S PRODUCTION DOMINANCE Total world silver production reached roughly 25,000 metric tons in 2024. Mexico remained

California's Billionaire Tax Is A Trojan Horse... Not A Solution Authored by Mollie Engelhart via The Epoch Times, California was my home for most of my adult life—long enough to know that what looks good in a campaign slogan can feel very different when you’re the one carrying the load. I built restaurants there. I employed people there. I signed permits, licenses, and applications like they were holiday cards. I navigated agencies that asked for more paperwork than profit statements. I paid into a system that always wanted one more filing, one more inspection, one more approval, one more fee. The joke was

Even Google's Founders Have Had Enough Of California, And Are Saying Adios Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin quietly began unwinding portions of their financial empires in California in the days leading up to Christmas, according to corporate filings reviewed by The New York Times, as progressive lawmakers consider a proposed billionaire wealth tax. This development confirms our earlier note that California is on an accelerated path toward self-destruction. Here are the new details from NYT's report that further confirm our previous reporting: > In the 10 days before Christmas, an entity connected to Mr. Brin, 52, terminated or moved 15 California

Amazon Is Ditching The United States Postal Service After nearly three decades of working together, Amazon is ending its delivery relationship with the United States Postal Service, a move that significantly alters how packages are moved across the country, according to MSN. The partnership once played a major role in Amazon’s rapid expansion while generating billions in yearly revenue for USPS. The decision comes as the Postal Service continues to struggle financially, including a reported $9.5 billion loss in its most recent fiscal year. For much of Amazon’s growth, USPS provided nationwide coverage, especially in rural and remote areas where private carriers often

DNC Signals Possible Legal Action Against 10 States Over Proposed DOJ Voter-List Agreement Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent warning letters to election officials in 10 states on Friday, saying proposed agreements with the Justice Department to share unredacted voter registration files and act on list maintenance concerns could violate federal election law. The letters went to election offices in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. In each, the DNC said the Justice Department indicated the state had entered or could soon enter a memorandum of understanding that

Wall Street's Crypto Debate Is Over As Banks Go All-In On BTC, Stablecoins, Tokenized Cash Authored by Sam Bourgi via CoinTelegraph.com, Big banks aren’t debating crypto anymore — they’re building it. From tokenized cash to ETFs, Wall Street is quietly going onchain. For years, major banks treated cryptocurrency primarily as a risk to be contained. That posture is now giving way to a more deliberate form of engagement. Rather than debating crypto’s legitimacy, banks are increasingly deciding how and where to integrate it, from regulated investment products to blockchain-based payment rails. This shift is on full display in this week’s Crypto Biz. JPMorgan is

"Uninvestable": Trump's $100 Billion Venezuela Gamble Meets Oil Industry Reality President Donald Trump’s push for U.S. oil companies to commit at least $100 billion toward rebuilding Venezuela’s energy industry is meeting significant resistance from the very executives he is courting, according to Bloomberg. Although the White House projects confidence, industry leaders are warning that Venezuela remains too unstable for major investment, with Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods describing the country bluntly as “uninvestable.” At a closed-door meeting Friday with roughly 20 energy executives, Trump said he expected an agreement “today or very shortly thereafter” to restart large-scale drilling in Venezuela following the removal

Not Worth A Continental Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com, In late-18th-century America, something of minimal value was often described as being “not worth a continental,” which referred to the continental dollar, the American currency at the time of the revolution. The continental was paper money. It had occurred to the colonists that, as their revolution was costing quite a bit to maintain, they could go into “temporary” debt to finance the war. Soon it became clear that the debt could not be repaid. Also, the printing of paper banknotes resulted in inflation. The solution? Print more of them. Further devaluation of the

Did Trump Accidentally Pardon Accused Jan 6 Pipe-Bomber? It took nearly five years for the FBI to finally arrest someone for planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, but the suspect may avoid serving a prison sentence thanks to the language in President Trump's sweeping pardon of those who participated in Jan. 6 mayhem. In that pardon issued on the day of his 2025 inauguration, Trump commuted the sentences of 14 people convicted of offenses springing from the Jan 6 demonstrations. Next, seeking to free some 1,500

Investor Lessons From 2025 For 2026 Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, BULLS REMAIN IN CONTROL The S&P 500’s close at 6,966 on Friday confirmed the market remains in a bullish uptrend, continuing the positive trajectory that began in mid‑2025. Price action this week gained traction and has been tracking the rising bullish trendline from the November lows, printing a new all-time high on Friday. Technical indicators remain bullish and not overbought with a momentum “buy signal” intact. However, weak money flows continue to suggest some caution below the surface. The price remains above its major moving averages, with the index trading above both the 20-day and 50-day

Minneapolis City Officials Dismantle 'No-Go Zone' Set Up By Anti-ICE Agitators Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness, Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived  “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement. The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area. On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, after she had accelerated her Honda Pilot toward the officer, hitting and injuring him. Leftwing operatives immediately seized on the incident to incite disorder

No more Venezuelan oil or money will flow to the communist-run island after Maduro’s fall, says US president Donald Trump has told Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island that has been a US foe for decades. As Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela and major beneficiary of its oil, braced for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as the South American nation’s leader, the US president ramped up his threatening language on Sunday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Before Randall Gamboa Esquivel died, his health had deteriorated badly while he was in ICE custody * Costa Rican family demands answers after ICE deportation and death: ‘Have you ever smelled a cadaver?’ The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers from the authorities about what happened to him while he was in detention. Randall Gamboa Esquivel had left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the United States-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his

State department says armed ‘colectivos’ appear to be setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for Americans The United States has urged its citizens to leave Venezuela immediately amid reports that armed paramilitaries are trying to track down US citizens, one week after the capture of the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. In a security alert sent out on Saturday, the state department said there were reports of armed members of pro-regime militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence that the occupants were US citizens or supporters of the country. Continue reading...

Human rights groups say ‘at least 60 arbitrary arrests’ have occurred for celebrating the US military operation Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges. Continue reading...

Trump’s attack on Venezuela suggests expansionism is under way but some argue it is simply standard US foreign policy stripped of hypocrisy The attack on Venezuela and the seizure of its president was a shocking enough start to 2026, but it was only the next day, when the smoke had dispersed and Donald Trump was flying from Florida to Washington DC in triumph, that it became clear the world had entered a new era. The US president was leaning on a bulkhead on Air Force One, in a charcoal suit and gold tie, regaling reporters with inside details of the abduction of

Early Rain pastor said to be among those held in sweep that followed arrests of members of other unregistered churches Leaders of a prominent underground church have been detained in south-west China, according to a church statement, the latest blow in what appears to be a sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christian groups in the country. On Tuesday, Li Yingqiang, the leader of the Early Rain Covenant Church, was taken by police from his home in Deyang, a small city in Sichuan province, according to the statement. Li’s wife, Zhang Xinyue, has also been detained, along with two other church members: Dai Zhichao,

Move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI tool and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Continue reading...

Chen founded multinational conglomerate Prince Group that US says is front for multibillion-dollar fraud operation Chinese television has shown footage of the US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive “scam centre” network. Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the US says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad Swat officers, with the state broadcaster CCTV describing him

In mid-December PNG said the company did not have a licence to operate in the country and ordered it to halt operations Frustration is growing in Papua New Guinea weeks after the government ordered Starlink to shut down operations in the country as businesses, health providers and communities struggle without access to internet services. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet company that provides internet to remote places. In mid-December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) ordered the company to halt operations because it was not licensed in PNG. Continue reading...

Perception that Chinese-made weapons could not stop a ‘decapitation strike’ may give Beijing pause for thought The sight of a hostile regional superpower launching an overnight raid to depose the leader of a smaller neighbouring country could easily have sent pulses in Taiwan racing. The US on Saturday revealed the details of a surprise raid to capture Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was whisked away to the US, where he was frogmarched into a court in New York on Monday. Continue reading...

Survey by online health directory Cleanbill finds more than 1,000 clinics switched from private or mixed billing to full bulk billing since start of 2025 * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast GP bulk-billing rates have rebounded following incentives introduced by the federal government in November, analysis by the online health directory Cleanbill shows. The national analysis, published on Monday, found the proportion of fully bulk-billing clinics almost doubled to 40.2% by the end of 2025, from 20.7% the year before. Continue reading...

Resignations follow withdrawal of more than 70 participants in writers’ week after Palestinian Australian author disinvited * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Adelaide festival is facing an unprecedented leadership crisis after three board members resigned this weekend. The journalist Daniela Ritorto, the Adelaide businesswoman Donny Walford and the lawyer Nick Linke stepped down at an extraordinary board meeting on Saturday following the board’s controversial decision to dump the Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 writers’ week program. Continue reading...

Almost a dozen emergency warnings remain in place across Victoria, with state premier saying ‘we are not through the worst of this by a long way’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian authorities are assessing the damage after one of the worst heatwaves in years resulted in bushfires igniting across the country’s south-east, with one person dead, hundreds of homes and structures lost, thousands of hectares burned and entire towns evacuated. A state of disaster remained in place across much of Victoria on Sunday as

Palestinian academic rejects accusations of hypocrisy, saying board resisted attempts to remove Thomas Friedman, while cancelling her invitation this year * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Adelaide festival board did not dump a Jewish columnist from its 2024 lineup at Adelaide writers’ week, despite being lobbied by a group of 10 academics – including Randa Abdel-Fattah – to do so. On Saturday South Australia’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, claimed that the board had dumped the New York Times pro-Israel columnist Thomas Friedman in 2024, and reiterated

Exclusive: Chris Bowen says key to next UN climate summit will be ‘engagement, engagement, engagement’ with countries such as Saudi Arabia * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Chris Bowen wants to use his stint as the world’s chief climate negotiator to lobby Saudi Arabia and others to stop resisting progress at UN summits, heeding calls for a “hard-nosed” approach in dealing with big emitters obstructing the transition. Appointed “president of negotiations” for Cop31 under the deal that handed Turkey hosting rights for the conference, Australia’s climate

Health minister Nina Warken says Robert F Kennedy Jr’s assertions that German doctors are facing legal action are unfounded The German government has sharply rejected claims by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, that doctors in Germany have faced legal action for issuing vaccine and mask exemptions during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The statements made by the US secretary of health are completely unfounded, factually incorrect, and must be rejected,” Germany’s health minister, Nina Warken, said in a strongly worded statement released late on Saturday. Continue reading...

Danish prime minister says country is at a crossroads and accuses US of turning its back on Nato Mette Frederiksen has said that Denmark is at a “fateful moment” amid Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, accusing the US of potentially turning its back on Nato. Speaking at a party leader debate at a political rally on Sunday, the Danish prime minister said her country was “at a crossroads”. Continue reading...

* 55-year-old worker died during overnight shift * Temperatures plunged to -12C in Cortina d’Ampezzo A guard at a construction site near a 2026 Winter Olympic venue in the mountain resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo died during a freezing overnight shift, authorities have confirmed. Italy’s infrastructure minister, Matteo Salvini, called for a full investigation into the circumstances of the 55-year-old worker’s death. Italian media reported that the death occurred on Thursday while the worker was on duty at a construction site near Cortina’s ice arena. Temperatures that night plunged to -12C (10.4F). Continue reading...

Move would mean Brussels would receive compensation if future government reneged on deal Starmer is negotiating The EU is reportedly demanding guarantees the UK will compensate the bloc if a future government reneges on the Brexit “reset” agreement Keir Starmer is currently negotiating. The termination clause is a stark reminder of the painful and costly divorce in which the EU set up a colossal €5.4bn (£4.7bn) fund to help its member states cope with the disruption caused by the UK’s exit in 2020. Continue reading...

Jacques Moretti, who is in custody, told Swiss prosecutor’s office he forced door open and found people lying behind it The French owner of the Swiss bar where 40 people died in a fire during new year celebrations has told investigators a service door had been locked from the inside. Jacques Moretti, co-owner of the Constellation bar in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, was taken into custody on Friday, as prosecutors investigated the tragedy. Continue reading...

Tehran issues warning after Donald Trump says all options are on the table amid crackdown on demonstrations Iran warned the US not to attack over protests that have rocked the country, as Donald Trump weighed all options for a response from Washington, with the reported death toll from the demonstrations soaring to the hundreds. More than 500 people have now been killed in the violence surrounding demonstrations, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRNA), including 490 protesters. The group reported that more than 10,600 people were arrested by Iranian authorities. The regime has not supplied its own figures and

Three hundred Kurds detained and further 400 evacuated following clashes in Aleppo Syrian government forces have detained 300 Kurds and evacuated more than 400 Kurdish fighters after clashes in Aleppo, the interior ministry has said, as US and allied forces carried out separate “large-scale” strikes against Islamic State targets. An interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse that about 360 Kurdish fighters and 60 wounded had been bussed to the Kurds’ de facto autonomous zone in the north-east from the Sheikh Maqsoud district, the last area of Aleppo to fall to the army. Continue reading...

Videos emerging despite internet and mobile phone blackout show demonstrations continuing despite reports of escalating crackdown Demonstrators have continued to take to the streets of Iran, defying an escalating crackdown by authorities against the growing protest movement. An internet shutdown imposed by the authorities on Thursday has largely cut the protesters off from the rest of the world, but videos that trickled out of the country showed thousands of people demonstrating in Tehran overnight into Saturday morning. They chanted: “Death to Khamenei,” in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and: “Long live the shah.” Continue reading...

Military says it targeted the jihadist group throughout Syria in response to attack on US and Syrian troops in Palmyra US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead. Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the 13 December attack in Palmyra, which killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter. The area is home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and was once controlled by jihadist fighters. Continue reading...

Experts note the blackout is unprecedented in its extent but also selective, allowing some government communications Iran’s internet shutdown, now in place for 36 hours as the authorities seek to quell escalating anti-government protests, represents a “new high-water mark” in terms of its sophistication and severity, say experts – and could last a long time. As the blackout kicked in, 90% of internet traffic to Iran evaporated. International calls to the country appeared blocked and domestic mobile phones had no service, said Amir Rashidi, an Iranian digital rights expert. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

The fate of the woman who left the UK at 15 in search of Islamic State raises wider questions about citizenship While many aspects of UK political polling have shifted drastically since 2019, the public’s view on Shamima Begum has remained largely fixed: a big majority do not want the now 26-year-old woman back in the UK. In 2019, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, stripped the Londoner of her UK citizenship on the grounds that she was a security threat, having travelled as a schoolgirl with two friends to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. At the time, 76% of

Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years. Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures. Continue reading...

Zia’s archrivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh whose long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation, has died aged 80. Zia was one of the most significant and divisive political figures in the country since Bangladesh independence 50 years ago. Her death was announced on Tuesday morning by the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lord chancellor urges MPs to back judge-only trials in thousands of criminal cases in England and Wales The backlog of nearly 80,000 trials clogging up the court system could be cleared within a decade if parliament agrees to slash the number of jury trials, David Lammy, the lord chancellor, has claimed. In an interview with the Guardian, the deputy prime minister, who is facing a backbench rebellion over the proposals, has urged Labour MPs and the public to back a version of Canada’s judge-only trials in thousands of criminal cases in England and Wales. Continue reading...

Labour Greater Manchester mayor says he agrees with Kemi Badenoch about need to protect under 16s No 10 is facing renewed pressure to ban social media for under-16s after the Conservatives and the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, supported limits to prevent harm to children. The government is understood to have no plans for a “blanket ban” on social media use by under 16s. However, sources said it was closely monitoring the impact of moves taken to prevent children setting up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch. Continue reading...

Boy born in Bow would go on to play the devoted father and taxi driver in the BBC One soap between 2000 and 2011 Derek Martin, who starred as Charlie Slater in EastEnders, has died aged 92. Martin played the devoted father and taxi driver on the BBC One soap between 2000 and 2011, and continued making guest appearances until his departure in 2016. Continue reading...

Campaign groups argue online transactions ‘present real risks to our democracy’ as it is hard to trace their true source Downing Street has been urged to ban political donations in cryptocurrency by seven senior Labour MPs who chair parliamentary committees. The committee chairs – Liam Byrne, Emily Thornberry, Tan Dhesi, Florence Eshalomi, Andy Slaughter, Chi Onwurah and Matt Western – called on the government to introduce a full ban in the forthcoming elections bill amid concern that cryptocurrency could be used by foreign states to influence politics. Continue reading...

In first TV interview since he was sacked as UK ambassador to US, Mandelson says association with Epstein was ‘terrible mistake’ but adds: ‘I was not culpable’ Laura Kuenssberg asks Peter Mandelson if he liked Donald Trump when he was the UK ambassador to Washington. Mandelson says he did like Trump, listing off numerous reasons why, but said he did not like all of his “language”. I like him, yes, I liked his humour, his graciousness… I liked his directness. You knew exactly what he was thinking and where you stood and what he wanted. And how he was proposing to engage, with you.

Stars from Andy Cohen to Brandi Carlile remember rock band co-founder as ‘beautiful human’ after his death at 78 The death of Bob Weir, the Grateful Dead co-founder, rhythm guitarist, vocalist and writer of much of the legendary psychedelic rock band’s songs, drew a chorus of tributes from fellow musicians and fans who described him as a “musical guru” and “the last actual hippie”. Weir recently survived cancer but died from “underlying lung issues”, according to a statement posted on Saturday on Instagram. Continue reading...

Demonstrators took to cities including Salt Lake City and LA to voice outrage over ICE’s fatal shooting of Renee Good Thousands of people took to the streets across the US this weekend to express their outrage over the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an immigration officer, even as the head of homeland security, Kristi Noem, pledged on Sunday to send “hundreds more” federal agents to the city. Demonstrators in Minneapolis marched toward the residential street where Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen and mother of three, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Wednesday while

Shots to prevent respiratory syncytial virus recommended only for high-risk babies even as experts hail jabs’ success As US officials move to restrict vaccines, including the shots to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), more evidence is emerging to confirm how dramatically the jabs reduce hospitalizations. Announced last week as part of new restrictions on one-third of all routine childhood vaccines, RSV shots are now recommended only for high-risk babies, instead of all infants. The Trump administration announcement was led by prominent vaccine critic and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Continue reading...

National Portrait Gallery removes text on new portrait of Trump standing in Oval Office with a scowl and fists on desk The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC has removed a placard that referred to Donald Trump’s two impeachments and his supporters’ January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to multiple news reports. The museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, removed the text when it replaced an old portrait of Trump with a new image of him standing in the Oval Office with a scowl and his fists on the desk. Continue reading...

Michael Steele argues law firms, universities and media capitulated with startling speed and voters want accountability The biggest surprise of Donald Trump’s first year back in office is how quickly America’s institutions capitulated to “the bully”, said Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) turned arch critic. But with the midterm elections for Congress looming, Steele predicts a resounding Democratic victory amid a hunger among voters to hold the president and his allies accountable for threatening democracy. Continue reading...

At a high-level conference in Washington last month, the US State Department unveiled an “America first” aid strategy that ties development dollars directly to the commercial and security goals of the world’s largest economy. This shift away from decades of framing the United States’ foreign assistance as a moral undertaking is a reflection, analysts say, of the Trump administration’s view that foreign assistance should advance America’s national interest above all else. Officials at the...

Tehran threatened on Sunday to retaliate against Israel and US military bases ‍in the event of US strikes on Iran, issuing the warning as Israeli sources said Israel was on high alert for the possibility of any US intervention. With Iran’s clerical establishment facing the biggest anti-government protests since 2022, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in recent days, warning Iranian leaders against using force against demonstrators. On Saturday, Trump said the US...

Elon Musk accused the UK government of being “fascist” after it stepped up threats to block X over sexualised images of women and children produced by his artificial intelligence tool Grok. Responding to a chart claiming to show the UK had the highest arrests for social media comments in the world, Musk posted: “Why is the UK government so fascist?” In separate posts hours earlier, Musk said the UK wanted to “suppress free speech” and referred to the country as a “prison island”. X, formerly...

The Norwegian Nobel Institute said the Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred, ‌shared, or revoked, following remarks by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria ‍Corina Machado suggesting she might give her 2025 award to US President Donald Trump. In a statement, the institute said the decision to award a Nobel Prize is final and ⁠permanent, citing the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, which do not allow appeals. The organisation also noted that committees awarding the prizes do not comment on the...

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on a Minneapolis street served in a multitude of law enforcement roles during a two-decade career that also included military service. Federal court records show Jonathan Ross’ career includes US military experience and mostly high-level federal law enforcement positions. The details of his tenure are revealed in a federal criminal case against a driver who seriously injured Ross after dragging him 100 metres...

US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead. Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the December 13 attack in Palmyra – home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by jihadist fighters – that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter. “The strikes today targeted ISIS...

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, after the ousting of Nicolas Maduro, the White House said. In an order signed on Friday, Trump – who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ousting of Maduro – is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives”, the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order. The action follows a meeting Friday in Washington where Trump...

The global artificial intelligence (AI) race remains one of the most hotly contested spheres of international competition. Few would bet today on an eventual winner, but current trends point to three possible scenarios that we should consider. In the first scenario, the AI world is dominated by the US and China. While the US still has the technological edge, China is closing in fast and vies with the US for leadership on many of the key dimensions of AI prowess. According to Stanford...

For months, many Canadians hoped Donald Trump had lost interest in making their country the 51st US state – his plate full with turning Washington and the global trading system upside down. Those hopes are fading. The shock capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Trump’s ramped-up talk of seizing Greenland have rattled Canada, forcing citizens to take seriously the US president’s past threats to Canadian sovereignty. The administration’s declaration that “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” makes...

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Saturday urged demonstrators protesting the fatal shooting of a ‍motorist by a US immigration agent to stay peaceful, saying that any unlawful actions would play into US President Donald Trump’s hands. Frey, a Democrat, cautioned them as civil liberties and migrant rights groups prepared nationwide rallies to protest the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday. Minnesota and US officials have offered...

Authorities have charged a 24-year-old man with murder after six people – including a child – were killed in a series of shootings in northeast Mississippi. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said the victims – four family members related to the suspect and two other adults – were shot at three separate locations late on Friday. The youngest victim was a cousin of the suspect. “I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a seven-year-old,” Scott said at a press conference on...

Thousands of Irish farmers protested on Saturday against the European Union’s trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, a day after EU states approved the treaty despite opposition from Ireland and France. Tractors streamed into the roads of Athlone, in central Ireland, for the demonstration, displaying signs including “Stop EU-Mercosur” and ones with the European Union flag emblazoned with the words “sell out”. Farmers on Friday also marched in Poland and blocked roads in France and...

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown increasingly is sparking violent confrontations with both migrants and American citizens, a development grimly underscored by an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week. Under ‌Trump’s orders to ramp up deportations, masked immigration officers have surged into Democratic-led cities, sprayed tear gas in residential streets, tackled people in car parks and pointed guns at bystanders trying to film them. A federal...

A man was killed after a tree fell on a caravan in England after record winds brought by Storm Goretti, as 100,000 homes in France were still without power on Saturday. Some 15 people have died in weather-related accidents this week across Europe as gale-force winds and storms caused travel mayhem, shut schools, and cut power to hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures. The storm barrelled through southwestern Cornwall and parts of Wales overnight Thursday to Friday, with gusts of up to...

Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic republic, as activists on Saturday expressed fear authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under cover of an internet blackout. The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United...

When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns. For these members of the colectivos – armed loyalists of the leftist leadership – the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge yet. “We’re not used to it – it was like a bestseller, like something out of a film,” said Suarez, in black sunglasses and a cap bearing the slogan: “Doubt is treason.” “We took...

Demonstrations broke out in Iran on December 28 and have spread nationwide as protesters vent their increasing discontent over the Islamic Republic’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands arrested as the daily protests have grown and the government seeks to contain them. While the initial focus had been on issues like spikes in the prices of food staples and the country’s staggering annual inflation rate, protesters have now begun...

Expectations of change at the top of Iran’s Islamic Republic are growing as nationwide protests over surging living costs unite an unusually broad swathe of society – from pro-regime merchants and the conservative rural poor to the cosmopolitan urban middle class – for the first time since the 1979 revolution. Fuelled by the rial’s dramatic collapse following Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June, the unrest has become a lightning rod for public anger at corruption,...

Greenland’s political parties on Friday expressed unity in response to US President Donald Trump’s claims to the Danish territory. “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” said a joint statement signed by the five parties in the Greenlandic parliament, Inatsisartut. The parties called on the United States to end its “disdain for our country” and emphasised that “the future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.” Trump had...

Critics of X “want any excuse for censorship”, Elon Musk has claimed, as his website faces the threat of being shut down in Britain over deepfake pornography and child abuse images. The billionaire appeared defiant on Friday night despite the outcry over reports X’s AI chatbot Grok was creating sexualised images of people, including children, at users’ request. Pointing to claims other AI programmes created non-sexualised images of women in bikinis, he posted on X: “They want any excuse for...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran, faced with major protests, was in “big trouble” and again warned he could order military strikes. “Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said. Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living that is now marked by calls for the end of the clerical system that has...

The White House on Friday reposted on social media a new video taken ‌from the cellphone of the immigration officer who fatally shot a Minnesota woman in her car this week, adding to the documentation of an incident that has sparked days of nationwide protests. The 47-second video shows 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good ‍telling the officer, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” moments before he opens fire after Good puts the car in gear in an apparent effort to pull back into the street. The...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist his administration has long belittled, will visit the White House next month as he voiced optimism for ties. Trump just days ago had threatened Petro in the wake of the US attack that removed Venezuela’s leader, but Trump appeared to have a change of heart after the two spoke by telephone on Wednesday. “I look forward to having a meeting with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, in the White House,...

Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the 40 people who died in an Alpine bar fire during a New Year’s Eve celebration, as prosecutors requested that one of the managers be placed in pre-trial detention. Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement the detention of the man was needed to avoid a “risk of flight”. The man’s wife and co-manager will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said. A Swiss business register lists French couple...

A German juvenile court started the so-called “White Tiger” trial on Friday in which a man is accused of multiple sadistic online crimes including coercing a 13-year-old to take his own life. The 21-year-old German-Iranian defendant was attacked on Thursday by other detainees shouting “White Tiger” while he was being transferred for the trial, his lawyer Christiane Yueksel told reporters outside the courtroom in Hamburg. The defendant has been only partially identified as Shahriar J, in line...

US President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric over Greenland on Friday, saying he was willing to secure the territory “the hard way” if authorities were unwilling to cut a deal for the US to take over the island. “I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump told reporters Friday at the White House. While Trump has long mused about making Greenland a part of the US, claiming the Danish territory as a...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that Argentina has fully repaid an emergency currency loan that generated “tens of millions” in profit for American taxpayers while stabilising a key regional ally. In a social media post, Bessent praised Argentinian President Javier Milei’s economic reforms and said the successful intervention showed that US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Through Economic Strength” policy was at work in Latin America. Argentina faced a severe liquidity...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he called off a second wave of attacks on Venezuela after the government, whose leftist president was removed by Washington, began releasing prisoners. Trump made the comments as he prepared to meet major oil corporations that he said will invest at least US$100 billion in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Trump was implicitly making clear he is ready again to use force to get his way in Venezuela, which he has vowed to force to...

US job growth slowed more than expected in December amid business caution about hiring because of import tariffs and rising artificial intelligence ‌investment, but the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 per cent, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged ‍this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 56,000 in November, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday. Economists...

A majority of European Union countries gave the go-ahead on Friday for the bloc to sign the Mercosur free trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay after decades of negotiations. At a meeting of representatives from the 27 EU countries in Brussels, a sufficient number of participants agreed to the planned signing of the deal, diplomatic sources said. The new free-trade zone, with more than 700 million inhabitants, will be the largest of its kind in the world, according to the...

The US took control of its fifth oil vessel in recent weeks on Friday in the latest move tied to the Donald Trump administration’s effort to control Venezuelan oil exports. Friday’s operation came ahead of a meeting between Trump and American oil executives where the US president sought to convince them to commit to an investment pledge in Venezuela. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” he said on social media...

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth was in a belligerently high mood after the Pentagon’s successful operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in the dead of night. After all, the guy managed not to leak the US war plan in unsecure chat groups before the raid in Caracas, as he did with the US bombing of Houthi militias in Yemen in March. Remember that one? Maybe I have a warped sense of humour, but I still find this passage from the chief editor of the Atlantic,...

Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding, is stepping up its overseas push with a new service crossing the US-Mexico border. The cross-border logistics service, a first for Cainiao in the Americas, was designed to handle parcel flow between the two countries, which was one of the region’s high-traffic corridors, the Alibaba unit said on Friday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The service was expected to reach 99 per cent of the Mexico market and would be priced at around 60...

Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at Ukraine near the EU border overnight, in what ‌Kyiv called a new threat to European security that demanded a global response. Moscow said it had fired the Oreshnik missile in response ‍to what it has described as an attempted drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences last month, which Ukraine has denied and the United States has said did not happen. It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid...

Iran’s supreme leader signalled on Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters after they screamed from windows and marched through the streets overnight, directly challenging US President Donald Trump’s pledge to support those peacefully demonstrating. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television. Protesters are “ruining their own...

Kurdish fighters rejected a call to leave Syria’s Aleppo on Friday after the government announced a truce in deadly fighting that forced thousands of civilians to flee. Since Tuesday, government forces had been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, the country’s second city. The violence killed 21 people and was the latest challenge for a country still struggling to forge a new path after Islamist authorities ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad just over...

A former UN Middle East envoy has been chosen to direct US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel’s prime minister said on Thursday, as at least eight more deaths from Israeli strikes were reported there. The appointment of Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov marks an important step forward for Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which has moved slowly since delivering an October ceasefire ending more than two years of fighting between Israel and...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China’s Hurricane 3000 microwave weapon can ‘sweep and kill’ drone swarms at 3km The truck-mounted Hurricane 3000 was showcased during China’s huge military parade in September. This week its developer – state-owned defence contractor...

Nasa will conduct a medical evacuation in the coming days of an astronaut suffering an undisclosed ailment aboard the International Space Station, agency officials said. The early return would mark the first time in Nasa’s history that the agency has cut short a crewed mission already in space for medical reasons. “The astronaut is absolutely stable,” James Polk, Nasa’s chief health and medical officer, told reporters on Thursday. “We’re not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut...

Tensions over US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown ‌rose across the United States on Thursday after the second shooting involving immigration officers in two days, deepening rifts between state and federal officials over how and why the shootings occurred. Protests intensified in Minnesota following Wednesday’s fatal ‍shooting of a 37-year-old mother by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Minnesota and US officials offered starkly different accounts of the shooting, and...

US lawmakers voted on Thursday to revive health insurance subsidies that expired at the end of last year, offering hope to millions of Americans facing steep premium hikes – and pressuring the Senate to follow suit. The bill, which passed with Democratic support and backing from a small bloc of Republicans defying their own leadership, would extend enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act – widely known as Obamacare – for three years. Those subsidies lower monthly insurance costs for...

Venezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists - both citizens and foreigners - on Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former president Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces to face drug-trafficking charges. US President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring Maduro allies now leading the country to fold to his vision for the future of the oil-rich nation, said the releases came at...

The US removal of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from power has reverberated far beyond Latin America. In Pyongyang, where regime survival is the paramount concern and every US action is scrutinised for hostile intent, the deposing of a sitting head of state sends an unmistakable message: dialogue with Washington is a dangerous gamble, and only nuclear weapons guarantee survival. The Venezuela operation may have killed the prospects for meaningful US-North Korea diplomacy in 2026 before they even...

There are a few special words that will perk the ears of many a dog – “hungry”, “park” and of course, “T-R-E-A-T”. But a choice group of gifted canines appear to have a remarkable capacity for learning human vocabulary, to the point that they acquire language by eavesdropping the way young toddlers do. That’s according to a new study published on Thursday in the journal Science, which shows that some “gifted word learner” dogs already known to be capable of learning toy names through training...

US President Donald Trump’s White House trade adviser predicted American industrial breakthroughs would help boost domestic production and eliminate China’s market dominance of rare earths. “China has been flexing its muscles now in Europe, in India, in the United States saying, basically, we’re gonna do what we want, and if you try to stop us, we’re gonna take away your critical minerals,” Peter Navarro said in an interview on Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show. “Because they have, they think...

President Claudia Sheinbaum and her inner circle have been grappling with the right tone to strike in the country’s response to the Venezuela strike for fear of antagonizing the White House.

President Trump urged Cuba to “make a deal, before it’s too late” in a social media post, but it was unclear what he meant. Cuba’s president responded with defiance.

The songwriter, guitarist and singer, who died at 78, animated the Grateful Dead from within.

His songwriting and rhythm guitar playing helped shape the San Francisco band’s sound as it became an American institution.

The guitarist, singer and songwriter, who died at 78, cut his own path among his elders in the Grateful Dead, and beyond.

The Brazilian star of “The Secret Agent” is a major Oscar contender, though some at home turned against him for criticizing the right-wing government.

The movies and TV series competing for the 83rd Golden Globes. The ceremony will air on Jan. 11.

Nikki Glaser is back as host, there’s a new podcast category and “One Battle After Another” looks to have a big night.

As a journalist, I thought I’d never join the ranks of obsessive superfans — until I suddenly became one.

The Opinion columnist M. Gessen examines how the president governs through spectacle, and the message his displays of force are meant to send.

We bring you some good news about schools in a place you might not expect.

A suspect is in custody and has been charged with arson for setting the Saturday morning fire. It’s not the first time the Beth Israel house of worship has been attacked.

The prison has outlasted the war in Afghanistan, has employed tens of thousands of temporary troops and holds six men charged but not yet tried in death penalty cases.

More large donations from wealthy Silicon Valley figures are expected as they try to marshal opposition to a proposed ballot measure that would impose a new tax on billionaires.

In his first week as mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani tried to bridge the political theater of his campaign with the much harder work of governing.