Minimalist News

Rise And Fall Of "Climate Crisis" Info War As Dems Urge Politicians To Avoid Global Warming Talk The "climate crisis" headlines forced down the throats of the American people only began to emerge when socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and unhinged leftist Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal in early 2019. That was the moment when global-warming headlines spiked and the NGO complex ramped up activist networks through protests and an informational war in the press, tricking the public into supporting climate bills intended to solve a made-up crisis . Fake News By March 2019, those climate-crisis headlines had

US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times , U.S. forces, on Aug. 28, sank a vessel in the eastern Pacific that the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said was serving as an at-sea refueling point for drug-trafficking boats. A vessel suspected of providing at-sea refueling for drug traffickers burns after being targeted by U.S. forces on Aug. 28, 2026. U.S. Southern Command SOUTHCOM, which oversees military operations in and around Central and South America, said U.S. forces worked in coordination with the government of Ecuador to track down the vessel.

These Are The World's Safest (And Least Safe) Cities Doha ranks as the safest major city in the world in 2026, while Caracas sits at the opposite end of the ranking. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, compares the world’s safest and least safe major cities using Numbeo’s 2026 Safety Index . Scores are based on five years of user submissions covering perceptions of crime, personal safety, property crime, and violent crime. They do not measure official crime rates or exposure to geopolitical conflict. The Cities With the Highest Perceived Safety Here are the 10 highest-scoring major cities with

Central Asia Resists US Pressure To Choose Sides In AI Race Authored by Eurasianet via OilPrice , Kazakhstan is continuing to expand AI cooperation with China even after joining the US-led Pax Silica initiative. Uzbekistan says it wants access to both cutting-edge American technology and lower-cost Chinese AI models rather than choosing between them. Their positions illustrate the difficulty Washington faces in persuading Central Asian governments to take sides in the intensifying US-China technology rivalry. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are tossing figurative darts at a US trial balloon connected to the intensifying race between the United States and China for leadership

Russia Hits Kiev Ammo Dump Next To Homes; Ukraine Admits 90% Of Retail Food Logistics Wrecked A Russian drone struck a Ukrainian Defense Forces ammunition storage site in the village of Myla Friday evening, just west of Kiev. The resulting fire and hours of secondary detonations killed at least 37 people , injured dozens more , damaged around 50 residential buildings and a care home for the elderly and disabled, and forced the evacuation of hundreds. Among the dead was the local community head who had gone to help. Here are some close-up shots from yesterday's explosion at an ammunition

Federal Court Rules Sexual AI Images Of Children Are Legal To Possess Perhaps sometimes it's best for judges to ignore technical loopholes and rigid legal precedent for the sake of doing the right thing? Maybe, in extreme cases where absolute evil is involved, our system could dismiss the "rights of artists" and enforce restrictions based on the potential long term damage to society as a whole? Yes, the constitutional conundrums are plenty, but can't we also simply use common sense? Because if we can't, these kinds of artistic "expressions" are going to inspire independent vigilantism and it will be the

What Do "Capitalism" And "Socialism" Really Mean? Authored by Vincent Cook via Mises Institute , The old debate between socialism and capitalism is back . It wasn't that long ago when socialist economics had been repudiated even by former Soviet insiders , businesses like Wendy's and Miller ran clever television advertisements poking fun at the once-mighty but by then grossly dysfunctional Soviet Union, and the remaining leftist political parties in Western countries pivoted to focusing on promoting welfare statism while admitting that government controls over the means of production is a losing proposition. Back in the day, even people lacking

Pentagon Grabs 35% Equity Stake In Venezuelan Oil As Trump Vows To "Fill Up" The SPR Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez on Saturday evening unveiled further details of the grand US oil deal that was announced by President Trump on Friday, detailing that her country will receive about $19 per barrel of oil produced under the long-term energy deal. Rodriguez, who was Maduro's #2 as VP before the former president's overthrow by invading US forces less than a year ago, hailed the "historic" agreement as an avenue for boosting crude output while bringing economic benefits. "The agreement is based on a

Opportunity Lost? Gained? Squandered? Submitted by Peter Tchir of Academy Securities Another week with so many competing narratives driving markets. The information flow was coming so fast and furious that it is difficult to believe that Economic D-Day kicked off the week (it already seems longer than that). Today, we will take a quick romp through how things seem to be playing out. Opportunities Lost? As anyone reading recent T-Reports knows, I was hopeful Warsh would take the stage on Friday and try to “shake things up.” Try to drive home some new (and in my view, much needed) paradigms.

State Department Revokes Visa Of Iraqi National On FBI Terror Watchlist Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times , The State Department has revoked the visa of an Iraqi national who was placed on the FBI's Terror Watchlist, ending her ability to enter the United States years after she received a high-profile award from the Biden administration. The U.S. Department of State in Washington on March 28, 2025.Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi is no longer present in the United States, according to a statement released Friday by Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson. The revocation followed her

The Mother Of All Mean Reversions: Commodities Have Never Been This Cheap Versus Stocks Across Wall Street, from Barclays and UBS to HSBC, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, a common view is taking shape: physical scarcity is emerging across multiple commodity classes, driving prices sharply higher and signaling a broader hard-asset squeeze. Last week, UBS strategist Sagar Khandelwal issued a similar call heard across Wall Street, telling clients to “ position for a commodity upcycle .” On Saturday, Christopher LaFemina, who heads Jefferies’ global metals and mining research and is one of Wall Street’s veteran commodity experts, told clients that commodities

Pentagon Strikes Iranian Island Target, In First US Military Action In Weeks Update(1615ET) : Things have been quiet for many days and weeks on the military front when it comes to the Iran war, but on Sunday there are some emerging reports of new but limited US strikes. According to the latest late Sunday from Axios : Senior American official: Earlier today, American forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larzac Island . Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz. So despite the White House signaling a move away from military

AI's China Syndrome: Who Will Control The World's Newest Energy? Authored by J.T. Young via Substack , Ceding leadership in AI to China's Chinese Communist Party (CCP), what could go wrong? Just about everything. Yet that is precisely what some here in the U.S.-and all in Beijing-want to occur. America is currently being swept by misguided attempts to curtail AI's development and the development of the data centers on which AI's development will depend. Some of these stem from legitimate concerns (though often inaccurate ) about what AI can and will do. Some stem from concerns about what data center

'No End In Sight': Democrats Make Trump Foreign Policy A Central Issue After 6-Months Of Iran War Via Middle East Eye US Democrats on Friday slammed the Trump administration for dragging out the war on Iran to its six month anniversary, warning Republicans would pay the price in the upcoming midterm elections . The joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, beginning on February 28, was initially meant to last a few weeks, by President Donald Trump's own estimates. H alf a year later, the war has seen the US lose at least 18 of its troops and cost $100bn in military

"Profound Game-Changer": Musk Launching New Turbine Blade Factory To Solve Shortage Threatening AI Boom SpaceX is making an aggressive push into the power generation market, with The Information reporting that Elon Musk is preparing to address one of the most critical bottlenecks threatening America's data-center buildout: the shortage of advanced gas turbine components, particularly the blades and vanes needed to power massive data center campuses. SpaceX is laying the groundwork for a new factory in Bastrop, Texas, that would manufacture high-temperature blades and vanes for industrial gas turbines . The move could allow Musk to circumvent the severe turbine blade

Iceland Voters Reject Reopening Talks To Join European Union Iceland voters on Saturday rejected a proposal to reopen negotiations to join the European Union , after the island nation of some 400,000 people chose to maintain independence after shelving its membership bid more than a decade ago. Supporters of the 'No' campaign wave Icelandic flags during a rally against reopening Iceland's European Union accession negotiations in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Aug. 27, 2026, two days ahead of a national referendum. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images Heading into the vote, the "yes" camp was ahead by just 2.6 points - however opponents

Druckenmiller Warning: The Bond Market Already Priced It Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Recently, Stanley Druckenmiller wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. The “Druckenmiller warning” hit on August 24, and within a day, the financial press turned it into a soap opera. Some of the headlines were “Mentor scolds protégé,” and “Billionaire slams the Treasury Secretary.” Then, the revelation that he wrote it with the help of AI somehow became its own headline. However, while the media was busy making headlines, the argument was lost. Stanley Druckenmiller did not forecast a debt crisis, nor pitch a

CIA Director Pushed Trump-Putin-Zelensky Summit During Moscow Visit: Report Yet another take has been issued, and more alleged details, on CIA Director John Ratcliffe's Tuesday trip to Moscow, which took place amid great secrecy and still even days later has only been subject of immense speculation. Axios is reporting over the weekend that the CIA chief proposed a trilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - when he met with top Kremlin intelligence officials but was not granted a direct meeting with Putin himself. NBC/Getty Images: CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left,

Fly British Flags In UK And Face Jail... But Pakistan And Palestine Flags Get A Pass Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Britain's largest local authority has spent a year treating the Union Flag and the St George's Cross as a public-order problem. On Saturday the picture sharpened again: the legal squeeze now circulating around Birmingham's flag war is being described as a ban aimed at England and the United Kingdom, while other national colours keep their place in the city's official life. Birmingham City Council has gone to the High Court to stop "unauthorised attachments" on the

El Nino Fuels Atlantic Hurricane Drought As Dolly Eyes Florida The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season has yet to produce its first hurricane, putting the Atlantic Basin within reach of its latest start on record. There's a big reason for this: The intensifying El Niño is largely responsible for the strong wind shear that disrupts tropical system development. Four named tropical storms have formed through late August, including Tropical Storm Dolly, but none has strengthened into a hurricane during the season's first three months as peak hurricane season nears, around Sept. 10. Focusing on Tropical Storm Dolly, the National Hurricane Center's

Meanwhile, Trump posts video of himself kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with Lake America sign Donald Trump and Canada continued a verbal duel on Saturday over the US government’s administrative renaming of Lake Ontario, with the Ontario premier erecting a giant sign saying “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” – and the American president posting a video of him tearing down an avatar of that sign, erecting a replacement saying Lake America, and dancing to YMCA. Rhetoric over the naming of Lake Ontario is the public face of an escalating trade dispute between the US and its

Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves. Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”. Continue reading...

Fighters in legal limbo after accepting ‘total peace’ plan of Petro government just days before hardliner Abelardo De la Espriella took over In mid-June, 99 guerrilla fighters were flown by helicopter to a small settlement in a rural area of southern Colombia where they lined up and, one by one, handed their weapons to government officials: rifles, pistols, machine guns and grenade launchers. They also stripped off their heavy tactical vests, field packs and camouflage uniforms, which were each piled into a bonfire to mark the beginning of a new life away from an armed conflict that has claimed nearly

US president says US will have ‘majority’ control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves Donald Trump announced Friday a new US oil agreement with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, saying the US will have “majority” control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves. The terms of the agreement remain to be seen, but the US president said on his social-media platform that it had been brokered “through a partnership with ⁠private business” by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Continue reading...

Critics call move to gain long-term access to country’s massive energy reserves ‘predatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’ Reports that the US is preparing to claim a big stake in Venezuela’s massive energy reserves have sparked an outcry, with critics describing the move as “predatory” and a “rapacious” land grab. Several media outlets this week reported that the Trump administration – which abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, in January and has steered the South American country ever since – hopes to secure long-term access to its oil and gasfields. Continue reading...

More than 200mm of rain forecast in parts of South Korea, while parts of southern Europe to be 10C above average South Korea’s prime minister, Han Seong-sook, met officials to prepare for heavy rain expected this week, with rainfall totals across central and northern parts of the country forecast to exceed 200mm in some areas. South Korea was battered by heavy rainfall earlier this month and some areas were particularly hard hit. Over the weekend further thunderstorms pushed into the region and these are expected to cause disruption through Monday. This heavy rain is caused by a series of severe

This live blog is now closed ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? More now on the Nepali army’s rescue operation to save about 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flooding . “Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told AFP. Relief efforts are also under way

Federation says it fears death toll of nearly 600 will continue to rise as rescuers reach cut-off areas Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? The Red Cross has said at least 93,000 people may have been affected by Wednesday’s flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, which have killed nearly 600 people, left another 1,900 missing, and triggered a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s

Desperate relatives trying to reach loved ones last seen in area where entire villages have been swept away Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods? Families are rushing to Nepal to search for the 33 British nationals who are still missing, as fears mount over the risk of a second wave of flooding in the region. The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday , thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 538 people, while more

Thai navy says ‘routine’ visit’ will allow personnel to rest and recuperate amid reports of poor conditions onboard The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is set to make a temporary stop in Thailand next week as it heads back to the United States, Thai navy officials said, after spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea supporting US operations against Iran amid recent reports of poor living conditions and low morale onboard the vessel. The Lincoln left the Middle East several days ago after being relieved by the USS George Washington , and is now heading home to San Diego.

This blog is now closed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Australian government is working with Russian officials in a bid to secure the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins , Matt Thistlethwaite says. Speaking to ABC news breakfast, the assistant minister for foreign affairs declined to answer whether a prisoner swap was on the table. Obviously, we try and negotiate as best we can on behalf of all Australians who find themselves in difficulties such as this. We obviously have to abide by international laws and we always uphold them. But the Australian

Police urge mother to attend hospital after baby’s body discovered in Harrow Road in Auburn Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast New South Wales police have appealed for information to find the mother of a newborn baby boy, whose body was discovered in a rubbish bin in Auburn in Sydney’s south-west on Monday morning. Police said emergency services responded to reports of the body of a baby located in a rubbish bin at a unit block along Harrow Road in Auburn at 11.20am, with officers

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman’s police statement Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend is unlikely to face a life sentence for her domestic violence murder, a crime which galvanised a national movement against gendered abuse. Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the New South Wales central-west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024. Continue reading...

As families await news after the catastrophe, community members appeal for compassion in the face of hateful rhetoric Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A slew of racist social media comments have been made towards Australians missing in the catastrophic Nepal-Tibet floods , prompting calls for greater accountability of major platforms to remove hateful rhetoric. On Monday, the total number of Australians missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas rose to 43, and the overall death toll was at

Perrottet disagrees when counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC claims brother of former NSW premier is not truthful and ‘constructing evidence’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A brother of former New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has told Icac he would lie to a property developer about delivering political outcomes “to keep him on side”, but Charles Perrottet has denied lying to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog. Charles Perrottet, who is among three Liberal figures alleged to have anticipated receiving $2m in prohibited political donations from

The long-running drama reaches Hitler’s rise to power in its final season as its creators reflect on the unsettling parallels between Weimar Germany and the present day It’s the global hit TV series that pulled audiences straight into the chaotic hedonism of 1920s Germany, dramatising the brilliance and brittleness of a newly built democratic system with unprecedented ambition. But in the 13 years that the German makers of Babylon Berlin have worked on the show, modern democracies from the US to Hungary to South Korea have come under pressure in ways the creators say they could never have imagined when

As Russia hits another ammunition warehouse, killing at least 38, locals put blame on poorly placed depots It is a day and a half since a Russian jet-powered drone smashed into an ammunition dump in Myla , a village 15 miles outside central Kyiv. Volodymyr, 61, a security guard, leads visitors from his family’s badly damaged home, its roof blown off, back windows shattered, through the garden towards the impact site 300 metres away. The garden, like so many in Ukraine’s villages and suburbs, is a sizeable allotment. But today the greenhouse is shattered, a vegetable patch is blackened and

Will the UK ever rejoin the EU? Who is funding Andy Burnham? And will the bedroom tax be scrapped? In a special episode, Kiran Stacey and Peter Walker answer some of your questions Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran at politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com Continue reading...

An estimated 237 people have been rescued but 18 are missing after accident off the coast of northern Cyprus Fatalities after ferry carrying nearly 270 capsizes off northern Cyprus Republican Turkish party MP Sami Ozuslu told the Guardian late on Sunday that the death toll had risen. “Sadly we are now hearing that there are nine or ten dead,” he said. The families of passengers were converging on hospitals in Nicosia, Kyrenia and elsewhere, desperate for news of loved ones, he added. Continue reading...

Nathan Cofnas told by Ghent University to work remotely as US ambassador claims credit for lifting of suspension Prof Jason Arday’s accuser Nathan Cofnas has been barred from teaching on Ghent University campus for three months but has been allowed to continue his research position. Cofnas, an American academic, was suspended from his postdoctoral research position at the Belgian institution earlier this month pending a “preliminary investigation” launched after Arday’s death. Continue reading...

US targets Iran’s Larak Island in first exchange of fire in more than a month, sparking reprisals against US forces in Jordan and UAE US strikes Iranian launchers in strait of Hormuz, prompting Iranian retaliatory attacks Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post – featuring an AI video showing oil infrastructure exploding – that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg island was being “blown to smithereens”, without any supporting evidence. Hamid Bovard, ⁠CEO of ⁠the ​National Iranian Oil Company, mocked Trump’s post, saying that oil operations there are continuing. Iran’s supreme leader called

US says it attacked Larak Island to prevent launch of sea mines, prompting reprisals against airbases used by US forces, with tanker fire also reported in strait Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on airbases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates after the US attacked Iranian rocket launchers in the strait of Hormuz, the first such hostilities in a month. Hours later, Iranian state TV later reported that a supertanker had caught fire after hitting two naval mines while attempting to pass through the southern side of the strait. It ‌did not identify the vessel or provide information ​about its

Matt Bradley and crew assaulted while interviewing woman who said settlers had driven family out of home A Palestinian woman and an NBC News team are reported to have been attacked and injured by masked Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, amid worsening confrontations in the area. Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters”. Continue reading...

Book was removed for review earlier this month following complaint but reinstated after petition and State Library letter to Waverley council Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has returned to its borrowing shelves a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide following a public campaign and an intervention from the State Library of New South Wales. Waverley library removed the book “for review ” earlier this month after the Jewish news outlet JWire reported it had approached the council.

President denies visit was to gain support for Iran sanctions or due to fears that Putin plans to ‘test Nato resolve’ Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip. Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland. Continue reading...

Organisers say world must revive its spiritual relationship with food as climate crisis and conflict disrupt food security Mending the broken food system under the threat of climate-driven weather extremes will require more than economic fixes and intensive agriculture, and the world must revive its spiritual relationship with food, according to the organisers of a pioneering summit this week. Delegates from more than 60 countries and the UN will gather for the next five days in Paro, in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan, for the world’s first “conscious food summit”, which will bring together governments and farmers, mindfulness experts

In today’s newsletter: As rescuers search for survivors after catastrophic floods, the disaster offers a stark warning about the climate risks facing the region, and the world Good morning. Over the weekend, rescue workers in Nepal and Tibet raced to find people who are still trapped in villages affected by catastrophic flash floods. As of this morning, the death toll stands at 903, and more than 4,000 people are missing. For those of you reading this in a place where life continues as usual, the scale of devastation is hard to fathom. In a matter of minutes, a torrent of

Total of 804 confirmed dead and more than 3,000 missing amid threat of fresh inundation ‘Their whole village has disappeared’: frantic hunt for survivors in Kathmandu hospital Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages. The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 804 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept

Rajendra Dawadi ordered students to higher ground with moments to spare after receiving warnings from upstream A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing. Rajendra Dawadi decided to halt classes and order children to higher ground after receiving warnings about the scale of the flooding heading their way. Continue reading...

Total number of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal at 48 as Beijing mobilises more than 2,100 rescue workers Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border. Continue reading...

Checks at pharmacies for people aged 40 to 84 are aimed at identifying those at risk of heart attack or stroke The NHS in England is to offer free finger-prick blood tests for cholesterol on the high street for the first time under plans to reduce heart disease and stroke deaths by a quarter within the next decade. The seven-minute tests will be available at participating pharmacies as part of a national rollout to spot “ticking timebombs” earlier. Continue reading...

Nationwide research also shows average 14% premium for housing in national landscapes of England and Wales Housebuyers are paying a premium of almost a quarter to own a property located within a UK national park, with the New Forest the most expensive national park to live in, according to Britain’s biggest building society. Nationwide found that a property located within a national park cost 24% more on average than a similar property elsewhere, while buyers were also stumping up a 6% premium for homes within three miles of a national park. Continue reading...

Critics say the move, which will keep PC Harper’s killers in jail, leaves number of prison spaces ‘too close to the bone’ PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain behind bars after a critical intervention by Andy Burnham , but the move has led to warnings that overcrowded prisons will be left “one major event away from disaster”. Announcing a U-turn on the early release scheme after weeks of intense pressure, Burnham said he understood “how strongly people feel about this issue”. Continue reading...

Robert Guanco, 41, a pastor at Jesus Living Water church in Eastbourne, described as having ‘touched many lives’ A 41-year-old man who died after a large wooden sign fell at a Christian festival on Friday has been named as Robert Guanco, a pastor at a church in Eastbourne, East Sussex. A tribute from his church on Sunday described him as a respected pastor who was a “loving husband” and “a devoted and caring father”. Continue reading...

‘Alt-right’ agitator and former Trump backer deported from US is said also to be too extreme for Reform As he arrives back in the UK after being deported from the US by the Trump administration, the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos may be wondering what lies ahead for him in his native country. The “alt-right” agitator, 41, made his name in the US by promoting Donald Trump and associating with his allies before the 2016 election. Continue reading...

Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gas Turkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough. Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact,

Dozens evacuated after flash-flood event near Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch, officials say One person died and about 15 people were missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon national park in Arizona on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Park Service. The flash-flood event occurred in the area of Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch, where park staff and the Arizona department of public safety had evacuated more than 60 people as of Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Trump officials shuttering three projects on foodborne parasite, two defunded by Congress, Politico reports The Trump administration is shuttering ⁠two of the three US Department of Agriculture research projects studying cyclospora after the foodborne parasite has ⁠sickened tens of thousands of Americans during the summer, Politico reported on Sunday. The two projects were defunded by Congress earlier in the year, while the third is ⁠due to be moved in coming months from Maryland to Iowa as part of a broader USDA reorganization, according to the ⁠report. Continue reading...

Los Angeles were already Super Bowl favorites Defensive tackle was 10-time Pro Bowler with Rams 35-year-old aiming to win second Super Bowl in LA Aaron Donald, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history , is coming out of retirement to rejoin his only professional team, the Los Angeles Rams. During a 10-season career with the Rams, who drafted him with the 13th overall pick in 2014, Donald was a three-time defensive player of the year and an eight-time first team All-Pro. He won a Super Bowl with the Rams at the end of the 2021 season before announcing

Tom Homan denies British far-right commentator, who was deported one day after arrest, got preferential treatment The White House “border czar,” Tom Homan, denied on Sunday that deporting British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos just a day after being arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amounted to preferential treatment. Homan said it was his understanding that Yiannopoulos, 41, had overstayed what he believed to be a visitor visa, had not appeared at an immigration hearing and was issued a final order of removal on 22 July. Continue reading...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened a prominent NBC broadcast journalist with possible punishment by US media regulators as the Republican expressed disappointment with coverage of his candidate endorsements ahead of November’s midterm elections. Trump took to his Truth Social platform to attack Kristen Welker as the “unpopular ‘hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press” talk show. He objected to her having said the president had had “mixed results” on his endorsement of political...

Ukraine is preparing for a new round of talks with representatives of US President Donald Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, expressing hope that diplomacy can prevent open conflict from remaining the only path forward. “There will be more details tomorrow. We will do everything we can so that war does not remain the only option for how events unfold further,” Zelensky said in a televised address. “It is important that America shares many of our views on the situation”. US-led...

Iceland’s voters rejected restarting negotiations to join the European Union in a referendum that pitted concerns about geopolitical stability against keeping national control of Iceland’s prized fisheries, officials said on Sunday. Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8 per cent to 47.2 per cent, the National Electoral Commission said. The result puts the divisive issue to rest for now – more than a decade after a Eurosceptic government ended EU talks that had begun after the 2008...

A passenger ferry capsized and sank off Northern Cyprus Sunday, killing at least eight people and leaving more than a dozen missing, officials and media reports said, as police took the captain and seven crew members into custody. Several rescued passengers told local media a blast had gone off at the bow of the ferry before it rolled over, and said the boat had an insufficient supply of life-vests. The vessel capsized 6.5km (4 miles) off the coast of Cyprus, shortly after leaving a Northern...

Andy Burnham has enjoyed a honeymoon first month as UK prime minister, but the hard trade-offs involved in governing are about to get real as parliament returns from its summer break in the coming days. Since succeeding Keir Starmer on July 20, Burnham has pleased voters with several low-cost sweeteners, including cutting electricity bills and bus fares, while burnishing his casual man-of-the-people vibes. He has poured pints of beer with his finance minister, played guitar in Ukraine, and kept...

Earlier this month, when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened sanctions against any nation continuing to purchase Iranian crude oil, he did not name China. He did not need to. China, the Islamic Republic’s largest oil customer, is squarely in Washington’s crosshairs. The US has already unveiled new sanctions against 60 individuals, companies and vessels linked to Iranian trade, including some in mainland China and Hong Kong. Just three months after the May summit between President Xi...

Venezuelan hardliners and opposition forces alike criticised acting president Delcy Rodriguez for agreeing to grant the US exclusive access to the country’s valuable oil resources. She may be betting that the deal with US President Donald Trump is her ticket to a tighter grip on power. One potential advantage for Rodriguez is if the deal to give the US majority control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude hems in the Trump administration’s incentive to press for swift election. “I think...

Swiss police were on Sunday hunting at least one gunman who opened fire at a rave, killing an Italian woman and wounding five other people, some of them seriously. The shooting, which happened in the early hours in Aarau, near Zurich, and sent party-goers running for cover, is a rare event in the Alpine nation, despite widespread gun ownership. The last major shooting occurred in 2001, when 14 members of the parliament and local government of the canton of Zug, near Lucerne, were killed by a...

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said he did not believe ⁠Russia would risk ⁠an attack against a Nato country, ⁠telling Germany’s Bild newspaper it would “make no sense” to test the resolve of the alliance. Western officials have warned of a growing risk of Russian hybrid operations, including cyberattacks, against European countries potentially leading to a direct ‌confrontation with the Nato alliance. German officials have said they assess Russia would be in a position to attack a Nato...

From trolling Canada about a lake to suddenly talking about Kim Jong-un, US President Donald Trump’s recent distractions speak louder than words. The former reality television star has long been known for his reliance upon a simple tactic: when you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation. But the 80-year-old’s recent stunts appear to be even more targeted than usual at wrestling the news away from the Iran war and the economy as difficult midterm elections loom in November. “This...

British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported back to the UK after his arrest by American immigration authorities, US officials said on Saturday. The US Department of Homeland Security said Yiannopoulos was returned to his home country on Friday after being accused of overstaying after entering the US legally in May 2019. An immigration judge had issued a final order of removal on July 22 after he failed to show up for an immigration hearing, a Homeland Security spokesman...

Scientists in South Africa are investigating why masses of sardines have washed up dead or dying along parts of the country’s west and south coast – and if a herpes virus detected in the fish is responsible. The mass mortality of sardines this month has so far stumped the country’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, though scientists have come to at least one conclusion: it is the first time that the virus in question – pilchard herpesvirus, or PHV – has been identified in...

Mutinying soldiers led armed clashes in Niger’s capital on Saturday, alarming residents, but the ruling junta said it had largely wrested back control after hours of heavy exchanges around some of its most sensitive sites. While the fighting had subsided later on Saturday, the rebel troops were said by a regional security source and an African diplomatic source to be holed up in an airbase near the capital’s airport. Niger’s ruling junta declared, in a statement read on state television, that it...

At least 37 people have died after a Russian drone struck a depot near Kyiv’s western suburbs overnight, sparking a huge fire and explosions, authorities said on Saturday. The depot, near the capital’s western suburbs, appeared to have been storing “explosive objects”, Ukrainian prosecutors said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested ammunition was to blame. “Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions... ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other...

Norway’s new King Haakon VIII on Saturday addressed Norwegians for the first time since taking the throne, paying tribute to his 89-year-old father who died the day before. “Above all, you were a person who always stayed true to your values and commitments,” Haakon said of the late King Harald V in a televised speech. The new regent said it had been a “powerful and moving experience” to see the thousands of Norwegians who had gathered since Friday outside the Royal Palace in Oslo with “flowers,...

Mukti Patel has huddled with family and friends at her parents’ Richmond, Virginia, home since her dad, sister and two other relatives went missing in the catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-China border. She knows the hotel they were staying in was swept away. But as she shared memories of them on Friday, she caught herself. “I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet,” she said. “We don’t know anything.” As rescuers continued pulling survivors from the mud, family members of some of the more...

Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the United States, with the supreme leader calling on the government to address the hardship while the president reported foreign trade has shrunk 35 per cent due to the American sanctions and blockade. The warnings came even as other leaders threaten the US with military retaliation and declarations that the Iranian navy maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway giving Iran ‌leverage through its ability to...

A former White House teleprompter operator accused of using inside knowledge to make bets on the prediction market Kalshi has been ordered to turn over more than US$100,000 in profits and pay a US$65,000 fine as part of a settlement with federal authorities. The settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced on Friday, also dealt Gabriel Perez a three-year trading ban. Perez was placed on unpaid leave from his job at the White House after reports emerged that he used his...

In contemporary discourse, the bogeyman of “debt traps” is almost exclusively tied to Beijing. Western media, think tanks, NGOs and policymakers from Washington to Brussels frequently warn developing nations of the perils of bilateral loans from China. Yet, Grenada’s debt dispute from a decade ago and St Vincent and the Grenadines’ (SVG) current troubles offer a starkly different, and often ignored, counter-narrative: the weaponisation of debt by Taiwan. For years, Grenada has grappled with...

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering giving a section of the renowned Yosemite National Park to a private developer, a lawyer for the company confirmed on Friday. The National Park Service had been holding talks with Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital to build an access road from a 33-hectare (83-acre) private property just outside the park to Yosemite’s entrance, in exchange for land elsewhere, lawyer Lanny Davis said. The news was first reported by NOTUS on Friday. The...

President Donald Trump on Friday said the US had entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country’s oil reserves. Trump in a social media post announced the agreement he said was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez. “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!”...

US immigration officials arrested controversial British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday in New Orleans, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration officials announced on Friday that Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accused him of overstaying after entering the United States legally in May 2019 through New York. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to show...

Artificial intelligence (AI) poses risks that do not respect national borders, from cyberattacks and misinformation to system malfunction and potentially dangerous misuse. In a geopolitically charged world, does greater incompatibility between countries make AI safer? UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres offered a clear answer at the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance: “When countries align on how to test systems, measure risk and assign responsibility, safety travels with the...

US President Donald Trump on Friday announced the creation of a “Space Academy” to train future civilian and military recruits for an arena where the United States faces rivalry with China. Speaking at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Trump said the institution would be modelled on the famed US military academy at West Point. “It’s called the US Space Academy. That’s a big deal,” Trump said as he signed an executive order creating the new school. “It’ll serve both the United States Space...

President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the US-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks. The war is not over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy. And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to...

The US central bank will “have work to do” if policymakers are not confident that underlying inflation is returning to its 2 per cent target, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Friday in remarks that acknowledged financial conditions do not appear restrictive and marked the closest he has come to acknowledging interest rate hikes may be needed to ease price pressures. “Here is my standard: We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at...

One of the two people killed in an attack at a school near Berlin was a 30-year-old nursery worker, police said on Friday. It had previously been reported that the man who was killed in Thursday’s attack was the caretaker. A woman and a man were killed in the violent incident at a school in the small community of Gosen-Neu Zittau on the southeastern edge of the German capital. The school site houses a primary and secondary school, as well as a nursery. A 19-year-old German man was detained and...

With the end of the 60-day US-Iran memorandum of understanding, tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have flared again. The crisis in the strait highlights how the security and stability of key international waterways are becoming an increasingly urgent global concern. Over the past decade, major maritime routes have been affected by regional armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions and growing security risks. These disruptions have exposed a vulnerability in the global trading system: a key...

An 81-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the murder of an American tourist more than 30 years ago, the presiding judge at Koblenz Regional Court, Rupert Stehlin, announced on Friday. The court also found that the offence was of a particularly serious nature. In doing so, the bench concurred with the unanimous assessments of the prosecution, the representatives of the joint plaintiffs and the defence counsel. The defendant had admitted to the offence in general...

A Dutch court on Friday handed a life sentence to a 66-year-old man for his role in the massacre of 3,000 Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. During the violence that took place in April 1994, terrified victims sought refuge in a football stadium in Mbazi, southern Rwanda, only to be systematically slaughtered. The judge said that the man, identified as Eugene N., prevented Tutsis from escaping the stadium and threw a grenade into the crowd. The court said he was also involved in attacks...

Crown Prince Haakon became Norway’s king on Friday after the death of his father Harald. Here are some ⁠facts about the new 53-year-old monarch. Early years The new king was born Haakon Magnus on July ⁠20, 1973, and went to a state primary school, as is expected of royals in the egalitarian Scandinavian nation – though his secondary school was private. He joined the navy before studying politics at the University of California, Berkeley and, later, development studies at the London School of...

Norway’s King Harald has died aged 89, the palace said on Friday, his 53-year-old son Crown Prince Haakon automatically succeeding him on the throne. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6.35am,” it said in a statement. The flag at the royal palace in Oslo was lowered to half mast. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said he had received the news with “deep...

Six months after the air strikes that began the war and propelled ⁠a badly wounded Mojtaba Khamenei into the role of Iran’s supreme leader, he remains entirely unseen and unheard by Iranians – a vacuum at the heart of his country’s leadership. Questions over his condition and role are growing increasingly fraught, with Iran facing critical decisions over a war that has set the Middle East aflame while trashing the country’s already fragile economy. Iranian officials and other senior sources in...

A diplomatic push by Oman, Pakistan and Qatar is widely expected to yield another pause in the Iran conflict, but there remains little prospect of a stop to what analysts fear has already become a “forever war”. On Monday, Iran and Oman agreed in principle to a temporary maritime route for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. This could lead to the easing of the tit-for-tat blockades imposed by Iran and the US if President Donald Trump’s administration accepts it. Regional mediators...

South Korea supports US President Donald Trump’s efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, ‌but aims to ensure its security posture is not weakened and that Seoul is not sidelined, according to South Korea’s national security adviser. Seoul believed the resumption of talks between the US and North Korea should focus on progress on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue and must not undermine the country’s security readiness, Wi Sung-lac told reporters on Friday. “One point to keep in mind is...

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. The path to America is narrowing. Here’s what that means for legal immigrants US green card interviews are on hold worldwide, student and work visas are subject to new restrictions, and citizenship is under fresh scrutiny. The SCMP...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a US$16.7 million contract to purchase 6,000 pairs of gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, saying officers would use them to control detainees and protesters who resist. ICE moved forward with the purchase despite opposition from civil rights advocates and Democratic members of Congress, who said ICE officers cannot be trusted to use them appropriately. A notice published in a federal database Thursday said ICE entered into a no-bid...

South Korea said on Friday it would hold joint military exercises with the United States and Japan in September, after Washington scaled back annual drills with Seoul in an apparent bid to encourage dialogue with North Korea. The three countries would conduct the North Korea-focused Freedom Edge exercise from September 7 to 11 in international waters east and south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. “This exercise is a defensive drill conducted annually by...

Trita Parsi is co-founder and executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has written four books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. Born in Iran, Parsi moved to Sweden with his family as a child and then to the United States as an adult. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions...

A US federal judge on Thursday blocked the US Postal Service from implementing core parts of a new rule it adopted at President Donald Trump’s direction that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the November congressional elections. US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a temporary restraining order ‌at the behest of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups after the US Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that led to the lifting of earlier injunctions blocking...

Construction work at the White House was a factor in the US presidential helicopter passing too close to a passenger plane in the skies over Washington earlier this month, investigators said Thursday. The close pass happened on August 4 after President Donald Trump took off on Marine One from a temporary site on the Ellipse, outside the grounds of the White House, during the construction of a permanent helipad inside the grounds. The White House and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)...

Peter Cullen, a prolific voice actor who enlivened scores of television series, specials and films, including Optimus Prime in the syndicated 1984 series Transformers and Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh cartoon franchise, has died. He was 85. His agent, Kevin Motley, said Cullen died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. “His family asks that you honour his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong...

In arguably his most important foreign trip, Elbridge Colby, US undersecretary for defence policy, visited key Southeast Asian capitals this month. In a speech in Manila, the Pentagon policy chief extolled America’s “flexible realism”, which he said serves “the practical, concrete interests of regular Americans” and echoes Southeast Asian nations’ commitment to “pragmatism, an openness to dialogue, respect for counterparts, proud nationalism, and a focus on economic prosperity”. Amid the United...

The US Federal Aviation Administration is taking steps to fire two air traffic controllers determined to have left their shifts early before an Air Canada Express plane collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in March, according to people familiar with the matter. The moves are in keeping with a broader push by the Trump administration to crack down on controllers leaving shifts early or abusing sick leave, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the information...

Canada has awarded 64 global scholars with C$504 million (US$362 million) in funding to relocate their work to Canadian universities and advance projects in areas such as health and artificial intelligence. Some 48 of the researchers were poached from the US, including from elite institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The other 16 researchers are coming from 12 other countries, including the UK, Germany, China and Japan. “While certain countries...

At least 62 people were evacuated on Saturday after flooding destroyed footbridges and damaged a campground and cabins near Bright Angel Creek in Arizona, the National Park Service said.

A New York Times analysis shows that the pace of office-to-residential conversions like the former Pfizer building, where two steel columns buckled in July, has quickened sharply.

For many Americans, Ms. Parton represented an idealized style of faith: one centered in small rural congregations that prize community over ideology.

Dolly Parton met Carl Dean outside a Nashville laundromat in 1964. For decades, she was as protective of her marriage as he was fiercely private.

The Kremlin is redefining what it means to be a writer in Russia.

Being a successful self-starter doesn’t mean pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

Using a metal detector, Jeff Arnett honored a request from his father, who lost his band while washing his car more than 40 years ago.