Minimalist News

Unitree Founder Sees Humanoids Going "Mass Market" Within Decade As IPO Rally Fades Lower US long-end yields, a softer dollar, and SK Hynix's share buyback announcement stabilized sentiment across Asian markets. However, shares of Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree erased some of those massive 460% gains following Wednesday's blockbuster debut . Risk appetite was also tempered after President Trump declared " Economic D-Day " against Iran and threatened severe consequences for any country providing support to Tehran. Against that backdrop, investors may continue rotating toward safer (see here), higher-quality companies with limited exposure to geopolitical and macroeconomic shocks. Turning to

The 'Pindia Challenge': A Stark Warning To The West Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , A viral game on Google Maps has laid bare one of the most glaring cultural realities of the modern world. Drop a Street View pin anywhere in India and try to find a spot free of garbage, rubble, plastic waste or worse. The "Pindia Challenge" has taken off precisely because it is almost impossible to win. Mountains of trash, rivers of sludge, and streets buried under filth appear with depressing consistency. But what was once dismissed as a problem isolated to 'over there'

"Doom Loop" Engaged: US Debt Hits $40 Trillion As Treasury Enters The Endgame It took the US 200 years to reach its first $1 trillion in debt. It took 95 days to add its last. After several weeks of build up, today the Treasury announced that total public debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, after jumping by over $60 billion in one day, and has now surged by $1 trillion in just over three months, and by a third of the total in less than five years, as US lawmakers continue to ignore calls to contend with historically

African Stampede For Kentucky Fried Chicken Causes Pandemonium Kentucky Fried Chicken is running a once in a blue moon promotion to celebrate a 15 year franchise anniversary. The only problem is, they're doing it in West Africa in the country of Ghana where the poverty rate is 22% and the average yearly wage is $2630 USD. The one-day deal (one piece of chicken, two tenders, and a small fry for GH¢15, roughly equivalent to $1.35 US) ran from 9 AM to 5 PM at locations across Ghana. The event unexpectedly drew massive crowds with no police presence, which resulted in

Argentina's Monetary Policy Reveals Germany's Loss of Control Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Javier Milei is a politician who was trained along the lines of the Austrian School of Economics. For him, the maxim coined by Ludwig von Mises applies: inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. In other words: artificial expansion of the money supply leads to price increases – in different ways. Newly created, unbacked credit, as it is inherent in the fiat money system, can initially manifest itself in asset prices depending on the structure of an economy, for example in a rising gold price. Once this

"Economic D-Day": Trump Announces "Most Crushing Economic Operation Ever" Against Iran Summary: Trump's Economic War against Iran Begins Trump says " severe economic consequences" for any country that does businesses with Tehran Trump says " ECONOMIC D-DAY" begins against Iran UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington; Kpler Says US Navy Gaining Ground In Hormuz ​​​​​​​" ECONOMIC D-DAY" President Trump is out with a Truth Social post describing today as " ECONOMIC D-DAY " against Iran, declaring that his total economic war against Tehran will be the " MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY

The Cost To Retire Comfortably Around The World For Americans considering retirement abroad, the same savings can go dramatically different distances depending on the destination. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, maps the estimated cost for Americans to retire comfortably around the world, based on data from NetCredit and Numbeo. Estimates reflect a retirement of 14 years and 8.4 months, based on the average U.S. retirement age and life expectancy, and exclude taxes and healthcare costs. The U.S. Is One of the Most Expensive Places to Retire At an estimated $738,000, the U.S. ranks as the fifth-most expensive country

Ceuta Cops Claim Invaders Are Dragging Girls Into Mountains For Gang-Rapes Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , Spanish National Police officers and the majority union Jupol are sounding the alarm over a horrific pattern in the North African enclave of Ceuta: illegal Moroccan migrants, including unaccompanied minors and undocumented adults, are kidnapping girls and dragging them into the surrounding mountains to subject them to gang rape. According to agents on the ground and local residents, the attackers operate with near-impunity around the Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants (CETI) and the irregular settlements that have taken root on the

By 2050, The World's Most-Populous Cities Will All Be In Africa Or Asia Across 150 years, familiar urban giants rise, fall, and give way to a new generation of megacities. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, ranks the 15 most populous cities worldwide from 1950 to 2100 using population estimates from the European Commission’s JRC via Our World in Data . City boundaries were consistently defined based on satellite imagery and population data. The Transatlantic Era Tokyo led the 1950 ranking with 12.6 million people, followed by New York with 9.3 million. The Big Apple was not the only

The West African Pipeline Is Inherently Geopolitical Authored by Andrew Korybko, The West never does anything without some benefit to itself in mind. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) formally endorsed the offshore Nigerian-Moroccan Pipeline in late July. Construction on this $25 billion megaproject is expected to begin in 2028 and stretch over 4,000 kilometers along the West African coast for supplying the EU with 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year. Nigeria’s enhanced importance for the EU will place this official BRICS partner more firmly under Western influence and the same goes for the ECOWAS

Europe Scrambles For Innovation And Defense As US Decouples From "Global Order" For decades the European elites have pretended as if US integration into the progressive agenda is an afterthought on the way to a liberal Utopia. The EU has long criticized Americans as backwards in their principles and politics, while at the same time being desperately dependent on American consumers, American innovation and American military might. They simply never considered the possibility that the US might walk away from the old post-war arrangements. Well, now it's happening and the European establishment doesn't know what to do. ECB chief and

British Liberals Cheer Migrant Camps In Villages... As Long As It's Not Their Villages Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News , The same voices who demand "fairness" and insist every community must share the burden of mass illegal migration suddenly discover local democracy the moment the coaches might stop near their postcode. A Mail on Sunday poll has laid bare the gap between principle and practice. Just 15 percent of people are happy with the idea of more illegal migrants arriving in their own area. Fifty-seven percent actively oppose it. Yet many of those who back Prime Minister Andy

The Specter Of 'Economic Death' Looms Over All Of Us In Late-Stage Surveillance Capitalism Authored by Milan Adams via Preppgroup, I used to think the whole “debanking” panic was overblown. I really did. I’d roll my eyes at the Twitter threads and the think-pieces about how we’re all living in some dystopian soft-censorship nightmare. I’m a reasonable person, you know? I vote, I pay my taxes, I have a 401k that I check maybe twice a year when I’m feeling particularly masochistic. I thought the people screaming about being deplatformed or debanked were probably extremists, probably saying genuinely horrible stuff

US Airports Remain Busy Despite Surging Prices Following the historic slump in air travel during the Covid-19 pandemic , passenger volume at U.S. airports has gradually recovered, roughly matching pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and exceeding it in 2024 and 2025. In fact, 2025 was the busiest year ever at U.S. airports with an average of 2.48 million travelers passing through TSA checkpoints each day. Despite the latest surge in ticket prices – airline fares have risen 12.6% since January and more than 25 percent since July 2025, Statista's Felix Richter reports 2026 is on track to match or even exceed

Governments Don't Like It When We Gather Without Their Permission Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , Freedom of association is under attack... There are a number of ways in which Western governments are waging war against their citizens. The United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and leftists in the United States do not believe in free speech. These Western governments also spy on their citizens without warrants or probable cause. They have transformed their court systems into ideologically-partisan dictatorships that impose rulings based upon feelings and “political correctness,” rather than black-letter law and self-restraint. An

Arrest Warrants Issued For 6 DC Cops Accused In $440K Overtime Fraud A D.C. Superior Court judge signed arrest warrants on August 18, 2026, for six current and former members of the Metropolitan Police Department's Fifth District , accusing them of fraudulently claiming overtime and regular-duty hours they did not work in 2024. The warrants target Peter Sheldon, Frantz Fulcher, Thomas Krmenec, Bernadette Richardson, Dorrie Smith Cleere, and Johnnie Dyer. The six face charges of first-degree fraud, first-degree theft, forgery, and uttering (knowingly passing off a forged or fraudulent document as genuine). U.S. Attorney for the DC Jeanine Pirro announced

S.Korea Reaffirms Push For Military Independence After Trump Announced Scaled-Back Drills Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has reaffirmed his push for South Korea to regain independent control of its military from the US after President Trump announced the scaling back of joint US-South Korean military drills taking place this week. The US has had wartime operational control of South Korea’s military since the Korean War , which technically never ended. Combat was halted by a 1953 armistice, but the two sides never signed a formal peace treaty. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung,

Amazon 'Prime Air' To Expand Drone Delivery To Nearly 500 US Cities This Year Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery service, first teased by Jeff Bezos in a 2013 60 Minutes interview as a way to get packages under 5lbs to customers in 30 minutes or less, represents the broader push toward autonomous aerial last-mile logistics that could bypass traffic and cut delivery times dramatically. After years of regulatory hurdles with the FAA, technical iterations, and limited trials, the service has matured into a commercial offering using the MK30 drone, which hovers to drop packages. A major breakthrough came in 2024,

Trump Indicates Plans To Meet North Korea's Kim Jong-Un Later This Year President Trump on Wednesday issued some surprisingly positive statements regarding North Korea and its expanded nuclear modernization ambitions, while fielding questions from reporters. The comments come days after the Commander-in-Chief ordered scaled back US-South Korean joint military drills, which are happening this week and are now expected to end early. Getty Images Trump has indicated he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un later this year , after breakthrough face-to-face diplomacy with the autocrat during his first term at the White House. According to reports :

8 Examples That Demonstrate That The Islamization Of America Is Steadily Progressing Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream, In Islam, there is no separation between mosque and state. The goal is to use the state to make everyone submit to Islam. If you want to see what this looks like, just check out almost any country in the Middle East that has a Muslim majority. They don’t believe in freedom of speech or freedom of religion. Do you want to know how many churches there are in Saudi Arabia? The answer is zero, because churches

Fernando Cerimedo, 42, arrested on suspicion of ordering shooting of Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller A senior adviser to many of Latin America’s new wave of far-right leaders has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the attempted murder of his girlfriend. The businessman and political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, 42, had been working as an adviser to the Bolivian president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, and was one of the main strategists behind Javier Milei’s campaign in Argentina’s 2023 presidential election. Continue reading...

Beto Coral held up banners in Florida warning fellow Colombians to not vote for Abelardo de la Espriella In the week before Colombia’s presidential election, Beto Coral, a well-known activist living in the United States, travelled to Florida to persuade fellow Colombians not to vote for the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. Coral held banners outside polling stations in Miami warning that the millionaire lawyer, whose candidacy was endorsed by Donald Trump, would “help deport all of you”. Continue reading...

US president delays 50% tariffs by three days, and says contentious oil project ‘may be awoken from the grave’ Canada has temporarily avoided a bruising 50% US tariff, reaching a Tuesday-evening agreement with Trump administration officials hours before a hike that would have affected $20bn worth of goods was set to take effect. Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Continue reading...

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

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

Hui Ka Yan also forfeits all his personal property and the company he set up is given hefty fines Business live – latest updates The founder of Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all of his personal property confiscated. Hui Ka Yan, 67 and once named by Forbes as China’s richest man, with a net worth of $42.5bn (£31.2bn) in 2017, pleaded guilty in April to eight charges. Continue reading...

Launches, detected by South Korea and Japan, came after US scaled back exercises with South Korea in apparent overture to Kim Jong-un North Korea has launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, South Korea’s military said, a day after Pyongyang shrugged off Donald Trump’s order to scale back US military drills with South Korea in an apparent attempt to resume diplomacy. The joint chiefs of staff said the missiles were launched from the region of Pyongyang at around 5pm (08.00 GMT) on Thursday towards North Korea’s eastern waters. Continue reading...

A landslide triggered by the quake had blocked access to the village where Paulina Pobi had lived, leaving her buried under the collapsed remains An 84-year-old woman has been discovered alive in the flattened remains of her home three days after a powerful earthquake hit eastern Indonesia, authorities have confirmed. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia’s Flores island on Saturday morning, killing at least 73 people, injuring more than 900 people and displacing nearly 60,000 others. Continue reading...

President says he plans to meet dictator this year but Kim Yo-jong says Washington remains Pyongyang’s enemy Donald Trump has said he is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un later this year, though the reclusive leader’s younger sister cast doubt on their communications and dampened hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between them. Trump, who also claimed North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, had suggested he and Kim were holding secret negotiations on Tuesday after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea, a US ally. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request

A weak yuan guarantees Beijing massive trade surplus even as the White House tries tamp down on Chinese imports Since China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets, the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating. After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024. Best to declare victory and call it a day. But the US hasn’t won this battle – and there’s strong evidence to show it’s too chicken to

Eleni Petinos tells inquiry her sacking as a minister in Dominic Perrottet’s government was potentially motivated by her reluctance to get rid of the building commissioner Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The former New South Wales fair trading minister Eleni Petinos has given evidence at a corruption inquiry that she may have been used by fellow Liberals to try to get rid of the building commissioner David Chandler, recounting numerous attempts in 2022 to persuade her he was “dodgy” and should be sacked. She has also told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac)

The 18-year-old’s body was found in Nattai national park on Thursday – but initial police messages indicated she was alive Teen hiker Lily Hooper found dead as NSW police apologise for miscommunication ‘born of elation’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Police have blamed dense bushland and radio confusion for wrongly reporting to 18-year-old Lily Hooper’s parents, the New South Wales premier and the media that the missing bushwalker had been found alive. Hooper had last been seen on 12 August after leaving home for a hike in the rugged bushland of Nattai national

Initial report from ‘thick and dense terrain’ where Hooper was located was she had been found alive but within 10 minutes a ‘more accurate account’ was relayed to police Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The body of missing 18-year-old bushwalker Lily Hooper has been found in a remote New South Wales national park more than a week after she set out on her hike. Police have apologised “unreservedly” for wrongly suggesting Hooper had been alive when she was found by SES search volunteers off the walking trail in the state’s southern highlands on

Prolonged detention of children, insufficient staffing and hazardous damage to buildings are among the ombudsman’s concerns Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Drugs are being openly dealt inside Villawood detention centre; makeshift weapons are being manufactured amid intimidation, standover tactics and a “culture of fear”; people are sleeping outside under CCTV cameras for their own safety; and children are being kept from going to school, a scathing report from the independent monitor has found. The commonwealth’s National Preventive Mechanism issued the report based on a

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas says there have still been no detections in poultry or livestock and no mass deaths involving mammals Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has declared a “significant escalation” in H5 bird flu in the state after the detection of three mass mortality events involving more than 1,000 greater crested terns. Malinauskas said the cause of the deaths was presumed to be H5 bird flu. Continue reading...

Device was near country’s Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black Sea Romania’s military has destroyed a marine drone spotted just “a few hundred meters” from the Neptun Deep platform, a major offshore gas project in the Black Sea. The drone, spotted just “a few hundreds of meters” from the gas extraction works at the Neptun Deep platform located some 80 miles east of the city of Constanța , was destroyed by a Romanian F-16 fighter jet. Continue reading...

Alessandro Rapinese denies he is waging personal vendetta against cyclists amid a public backlash The mayor of Como has set the wheels of controversy in motion for banning bikes in the walled historical centre of the lakeside city after being hit by one. Alessandro Rapinese’s ban, which comes into force in September, targets about 30 streets and means cyclists, whether on e-bikes or push bikes, will have to dismount and walk through those areas. Continue reading...

Missile and drone attack one of heaviest since war began, with children’s hospital and residential areas hit Europe live – latest updates A heavy Russian missile and drone bombardment has killed at least 15 people in and around Kyiv in one of the most intense aerial attacks on Ukraine’s capital since the start of the war. Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor, said homes, a school and a children’s medical centre were among the buildings damaged overnight in an attack that began at about midnight and was continuing into the early afternoon. Continue reading...

Improvements in fire management however could mitigate increases by more than 70%, study shows Wildfires are projected to burn 39% more of Europe by the end of the century even in the best-case scenario for stopping the planet from heating, a study has found , unless action is taken to manage them better. The increase in hot, dry and windy weather that leads to small fires turning into raging infernos is to engulf more of Europe as carbon pollution pushes temperatures higher. In the worst-case scenario the researchers modelled, which would see global heating reach 3.6C above preindustrial levels, the

A ‘capacity for despair’ forged by political oppression has long been considered a Magyar national trait. But after Orbán, writers in the country remind us that melancholy must not always be bleak A lone visitor looks for a garden outside an empty monastery. A morose housekeeper won’t let anyone behind the door of her own home. A retired general living alone on a crumbling estate waits 40 years to confront the only friend he ever had. Melancholy, an affinity with oblivion without a concrete cause, suffuses the Hungarian fiction translated for foreign audiences over the past 30 years, from the

Far-right minister says those convicted in military courts of terror offences will be executed after passing of death penalty law that does not apply to Jewish extremists Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a gloating video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offences – but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes – will be hanged. Ben-Givr, who has previously attracted international sanctions and condemnation for his activities, said the new execution site would be equipped with viewing booths for families of victims to watch the hangings. Continue reading...

US president pivots towards ‘crushing’ economic operation against Iran and its trading partners as military strikes fail to bring Tehran to the table Donald Trump has announced a new campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, threatening “tremendous economic consequences” on any country that helps or does business with Tehran, a move that could set up a fresh confrontation with China if implemented. “Today, I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran

Military orders criminal investigation into deaths of five-year-old and six family members in Gaza in 2024 The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing. The killing of Hind and her family was one of the most high profile of a series of incidents involving civilian casualties during the first months of the Gaza conflict which prompted international outrage. Continue reading...

Picture showing White Helmets volunteer unconscious and with bruises on his body went viral Syrians have protested over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces, sparking widespread anger at a practice thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. A crowd gathered in the city of Aleppo, demanding accountability for the security forces who are alleged to have carried out the torture, with participants holding signs and slogans such as: “Do not repeat the same oppression that we revolted against.” Protests were also planned to take place in front of Syria’s

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack. Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

The prime minister plans to bring in the National Crime Agency to tackle the gangs behind dumps Value being generated by student loans is “not what it should be”, Reform UK’s deputy leader said. Asked by reporters about the funding of the scheme by stopping foreign students accessing loans, Richard Tice said: Regarding the funding of this, cash is cash. Whether you think that it’s cash as a positive in a balance sheet or a bank account, or whether you’re borrowing it, it’s money. It’s cash. As Suella quite rightly said, the amount of money going into student loans, it’s

Prime minister wishes couple well in their move back from the US to a non-royal residence outside London • Harry and Meghan: key moments and controversies since US move Security funding for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they return to live in the UK this month is a “private matter”, Andy Burnham has said. News of Harry and Meghan’s planned return to Britain from the US came as a surprise to many on Wednesday night; King Charles was only informed three days earlier. Continue reading...

Joanna Boydell steps down after widespread criticism over company’s handling of guest safety issues Business live – latest updates The boss of Travelodge has resigned after a backlash over security failings at the hotel chain, including a case where a domestic abuser was given a key to a woman’s room before assaulting her. In a company statement on Thursday, Travelodge said Joanna Boydell had stepped down and been temporarily replaced by its finance chief, Ray Reidy. The company has launched a formal search for a permanent substitute. Continue reading...

Fashion site also broke rules on labelling by using terms ‘leather’ or ‘suede’ for synthetic products The British online fashion seller Boohoo has been fined €2.3m (£2m) by France’s consumer watchdog ⁠for deceptive ⁠practices ​such as offering fake discounts. The Manchester-based firm, whose parent company renamed itself Debenhams Group last year, was found to have exaggerated the discounts it was offering, giving shoppers a false impression ⁠of the savings they were making, ​according to the directorate-general for competition, ‌consumer affairs and ‌fraud control. Continue reading...

Nearly a quarter of girls’ entries received one of the higher grades against around a fifth of those from boys Almost one in four boys in England get top grades in maths Myles McGinley, managing director of the Cambridge OCR exam board, said more pupils are taking GCSE business studies than in previous years, describing this generation of young people as “increasingly entrepreneurial”. He said business studies entries are a third higher than five years ago, adding: “The founders of some of the next great unicorn businesses may well be among those achieving GCSEs in business studies today.” Continue reading...

Harp, a former One America News Network show host, has emerged as a key gatekeeper to the president Sign up for the US Breaking News email James Braid, the longest-serving legislative affairs director of Trump’s presidency, is leaving the White House ahead of the midterms. Braid navigated the cabinet confirmations of controversial appointees like that of Pete Hegseth at defense and Robert Kennedy Jr. at health and human services. He also shepherded the One Big Beautiful Bill Act through a congress with historically-tight margins for Republicans, while beating back war powers resolutions. Republican lawmakers are acknowledging his service as he

Avenal has been rocked by the council’s refusal to accept the results of a recall election – and the repercussions extend far beyond the Central Valley From the outside, the city of Avenal appears to embody every bit of its motto – an “oasis in the sun”. Approaching the community, passing through the dusty yellow hillsides of the Central Valley, Avenal emerges with a sudden burst of green on the horizon. Its small-town feel and quiet tree-lined streets offer respite from the bustling Interstate 5 some five miles away. But trouble is brewing here that has brought this lonesome city

Israeli military orders criminal investigation into deaths of Hind and six family members. Plus, FCC chair Brendan Carr’s close coordination with White House revealed Good morning. The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing. What prompted the investigation? The Israel Defense Forces repeatedly denied its troops had been in the area, but investigations by the media and others found evidence that strongly suggested nearby Israeli tanks were responsible. How significant is it?

The Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator says Dershowitz, who also defended Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, ‘only has himself to blame’ for being ostracised Larry David has opened up about the collapse of his friendship with Alan Dershowitz, saying that Dershowitz “made a deal with the devil” when he became Donald Trump’s lawyer. Dershowitz, a former Harvard University law professor, has been a member of legal teams for Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, OJ Simpson and Harvey Weinstein at various points in his career, and served on Trump’s defense team during the president’s first impeachment trial in 2020. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Sign up for the US Breaking News email Those unfamiliar with Alaska politics are likely raising an eyebrow at some repeated names. No, we’re not talking about Dan S Sullivan and Dan J Sullivan , two Republicans with the same name running for US Senate – an issue that went to the state supreme court earlier this summer. We’re talking about the Begiches. Nick Begich III , a Republican, is currently leading the race to represent Alaska in the US House of Representatives for a second term while Tom Begich , a Democrat, is advancing

Six years after stepping down as working royals, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are moving back to the UK, British press reported late on Wednesday. In a surprise move, the youngest son of King Charles, and his wife, “plan to leave the United States by the end of the month to settle in a private, non-royal residence, which is said to be located outside London”, The Telegraph said. Several UK news outlets including the BBC reported the couple’s two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess...

South Korea’s security strategy has rested for more than seven decades on a single pillar: its alliance with the United States. That pillar has absorbed one blow after another during Donald Trump’s second term as US president. This week brought a fresh signal that has strained the relationship. In a social media post, Trump criticised joint US-South Korea military exercises, calling them “costly” and saying they send an “inappropriate and hostile” message to a North Korea he described as...

Total US public debt surpassed US$40 trillion for the first time, and has now surged by a third in less than five years, as US lawmakers continue to shrug off calls to contend with historically wide financial deficits. Public debt outstanding stood at US$40.05 trillion as of the close of business on Tuesday, a US Treasury Department release on Wednesday showed. The crossing of the US$30 trillion mark only dates back to January 2022. And there is no end in sight. Republicans have long opposed...

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled plans on Wednesday to offer those sleeping rough a way off the streets by Christmas and vowed to donate part of his wages to help curb homelessness. “No one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station,” Burnham said in a statement announcing the new plans. It comes a month after Burnham replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister, and builds on his promise on his first day in office to end rough sleeping. His government is now setting out the...

France saw more than 7,300 excess deaths during heatwaves so far this year, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the country also endured a record number of hot days since mid-June, according to an Agence France-Presse analysis. France has been hit by three summer heatwaves in quick succession: a 14-day spell in June, 16 days in July and another lasting 22 days that began in late July and has yet to be officially declared over as of Tuesday. Together they mean the country – parts of which...

US pharmaceutical firms Merck and Moderna announced on Wednesday encouraging results from a trial of their experimental vaccine against melanoma, potentially clearing the way for approval. The vaccine, called intismeran autogene, showed “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements” for skin cancer patients when used with Merck’s Keytruda treatment, the companies said in a statement. Unlike conventional vaccines, so-called therapeutic vaccines like intismeran treat rather...

Ecuador’s intelligence chief and five US citizens died when a helicopter carrying tourists crashed in central Kenya on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board, officials said. The accident happened at 9.13am local time, in Samburu county, north of the capital, Nairobi, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), after the aircraft departed from the Loisaba wildlife reserve. Images shared by the Kenya Red Cross on social media in the afternoon showed a crash site in...

Israel’s military acknowledged on Wednesday that its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and her family members in Gaza in 2024 and said it had opened a criminal investigation, though rights groups say such probes rarely lead to convictions. Hind Rajab’s killing was one of the most high-profile incidents involving civilian deaths during Israel’s military assault ‌in Gaza, launched following the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. She died...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired one of his most senior officials on Wednesday as corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case. The stunning developments came a day after Ukraine’s recently fired defence minister demanded national elections, despite Russia’s more than four-year-old invasion. Zelensky has maintained that such a ballot is not allowed under wartime laws. Although Zelensky was not implicated in the...

Iran’s armed forces warned Gulf countries against assisting the US military on Wednesday, hours after the United Arab Emirates announced it was severing economic ties with Tehran following new attacks on shipping. The Gulf is dotted with US military installations, including in the UAE, which said on Tuesday that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at vessels off its coast. Despite a recent lull in hostilities between the United States and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz – which Tehran has blockaded...

Instead of celebrating her son’s birthday this month, Zimbabwean mother Rodwin Chitewere spent the day praying for his body to be brought home from Russia, where he was reportedly killed fighting Moscow’s war against Ukraine. In Botswana and South Africa, too, women are desperate for sons and husbands to return from a conflict many say they were duped into joining, as authorities warn recruiters are still active. Chitewere’s son, who would have turned 23, left with a cousin in April from a...

Japan is weighing how far to push back after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a disputed island last week, as analysts debate whether tougher measures would have much impact on Moscow. Some observers urged Japan to recall its ambassador, impose additional sanctions and deepen cooperation with Ukraine to show it would not be “bullied”, while others said Tokyo had little economic leverage left given already weak bilateral ties and its reliance on Russian natural gas. Putin made his...

The world knows that US President Donald Trump is angry with Iran. But he is not happy with the small country lying across the Strait of Hormuz from the Islamic Republic, either: Oman. Oman has played a relatively low profile role since the Iran war began, including as a mediator. But its geography has thrust the sultanate into the uncomfortable position of negotiating with Tehran over management of the strait while facing Trump’s threats. Trump this week told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that...

Japan’s most greying municipality has turned to its Peruvian sister city in search of a way to reverse its population decline and address the labour shortage that together threaten its survival. The mountain village of Nanmoku in Gunma prefecture, where 65.2 per cent of residents were aged 65 or older in the 2020 census, signed a sister-city agreement with Belen in northern Peru in November, hoping cultural exchanges under the framework will eventually bring young people to live and work in the...

Flight attendants and pilots are at the highest risk of dying from radiation-related cancers – even more than people who work with radioactive materials, according to a new study. Cosmic radiation comes from space. Only a small amount reaches the Earth’s surface, but exposure is greater for people flying at high altitudes. There has been limited evidence from small studies suggesting that the exposure translates to higher cancer death rates among people who fly often – particularly pilots and...

A close aide to Donald Trump is at the centre of an ugly clash between the White House and Senator Jon Ossoff, after the Democratic lawmaker drew the administration’s ire for highlighting the close nature of her relationship with the US president. Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old executive assistant to the president, is little known to the public but a constant presence at Trump’s side, both in the White House and during weekend trips to his golf properties. In her role, she is seen as a gatekeeper,...

The United Arab Emirates has said it is suspending all trade and financial dealings with Iran after reporting an Iranian missile attack directed at its ships. The announcement comes after a period of relative calm in the UAE, with no Iranian missiles aimed at the country since May after it bore the brunt of attacks in the early weeks of the Middle East war. Abu Dhabi has, however, accused Tehran of repeatedly targeting its tankers at sea in recent weeks. “In light of regional escalations … all...

A US Navy destroyer with about 300 sailors aboard suffered a major breakdown in the Pacific Ocean last month that left it without power for four days, the Navy confirmed in a statement. The USS Benfold “reported an engineering casualty involving its generators, causing a loss of power” on July 24, Navy spokesman Commander Matthew Comer said in the statement. The breakdown meant the crew went without drinking water, meals, functioning toilets and air conditioning for days aboard the ship, Comer...

Mexico is weighing plans to impose further trade restrictions on selected products from China and other countries while raising existing import taxes on others, according to four people familiar with the matter. The so-called anti-dumping measures would deepen Mexico’s alignment with Washington as President Claudia Sheinbaum pursues a multi-year extension of the North American trade pact known as the USMCA, while also supporting her push to grow domestic manufacturing at a time of lacklustre...

The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday on the International Criminal Court’s president and a senior trial lawyer at the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. The move is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against The Hague-based court, which was established ‌in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The US is not a member of the court. Rubio said in a statement that he was imposing sanctions on...

Meta Platforms intentionally sought to ⁠addict children to its Facebook and Instagram platforms, a lawyer for California said on Tuesday at the start of a trial that could reshape some of the most popular apps on the planet. A bipartisan group of 29 US states is suing Meta, seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to how Meta does business. Four lead states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – accuse Meta of designing Facebook and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow ⁠on Tuesday with ⁠Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president, Min Aung ⁠Hlaing, discussing a wide range of issues including prospective energy deals. Russia is the first non-neighbouring country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming Myanmar’s president in April, a sign of the two countries’ ‌deepening ties in the face of pressure from the West. In remarks after the meeting, Putin described Min Aung Hlaing as a friend of Russia and said the...

US President Donald Trump paused the planned roll-out of punishing new tariffs on Canadian goods late on Tuesday, as both sides indicated they were close to a broader trade agreement after weeks of talks. Trump announced the three-day reprieve from 50 per cent duties on select goods mere hours before a midnight deadline. The delay was “based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalisation of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump said on social media. Canadian Prime Minister Mark...

US President Donald Trump said that Tuesday that no talks with Iran were under way or scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution. Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than any previous epidemic of the disease and risks spreading to more countries, the head of the World Health Organization has warned. “We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting on the outbreak on Tuesday. “It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.” His comment came after the DR Congo on Monday said the outbreak...

Some women who entered Spain’s ⁠North African enclave of Ceuta on July 30 as part of a mass migrant crossing say the ⁠hardships of sleeping rough as they wait to be registered are compounded by the threat and fear of sexual harassment. More than a dozen women have set up camp on a wooded roadside running up to the barbed wire fencing that surrounds the government-run migrant reception centre, near the urban beach of El Trampolin. The facility is sheltering about 700 people, 200 more than...

The Israeli military is touted as the most powerful in the Middle East, striking targets deep into enemy territory. But for more than a week, Israeli troops have somehow failed to evict a small group of settlers sitting on rocks in the occupied West Bank. Experts say the military has long shown inertia when its task is stopping surging violence against Palestinians, due to government backing for the settlement movement and the increasing influence of settler ideology within the army’s...

As the Iran war spills over into the Red Sea – a crucial chokepoint for Asia-Europe trade – China has marked a milestone by launching its first regular service through the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route (NSR), a development welcomed by Russia. The route, which runs along Russia’s northern Arctic coast, slashes travel time compared with alternative paths. A journey from Ningbo city on China’s southeast coast to Felixstowe in the United Kingdom takes just 20 days – about half the time required for...

A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage. The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers in March last year to Ukraine. The plan was aimed at scoping out possibilities for “disrupting transport and infrastructure” and was ultimately directed by a...

A Syrian court on Tuesday handed a death sentence to Wassim al-Assad who appeared in the dock, a cousin of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad who was himself sentenced to death in absentia last week. The 46-year-old relative of Assad was convicted over atrocities committed under the autocrat’s rule during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Assad’s cousin was convicted of multiple murders and “murder accompanied by torture and brutality … classified as crimes...

The Milky Way, a ⁠large and spiral-shaped galaxy that is home to hundreds of billions of stars including our sun, has taken a long and complicated path to achieve its current dimensions, as illustrated by new research documenting a milestone event early in its history. Scientists observing clusters of stars congregated near the Milky Way’s centre have discovered evidence that our galaxy swallowed a smaller galaxy roughly 11.8 billion years ago, when the universe was less ‌than 15 per cent of its...

A Russian attack on a village in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine killed 10 people, Kyiv said on Tuesday, vowing to respond. The strike comes amid a surge in civilian deaths in the four-and-a-half-year war. Russian forces “carried out a rocket strike on Pechenihy”, a village around 40km (25 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on social media. “According to preliminary information, 10 people were killed,” he added, with 17 people wounded. Ukrainian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian leader seeks an economic reboot for his war-ravaged country and fresh supplies of fertiliser, oil and weapons. A pariah to much of the West over his 2021 coup and role as army chief during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, Min Aung Hlaing has nonetheless found friends in Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok over recent months. That followed a heavily criticised election won...

Peace prospects in the Middle East faded, with US President Donald Trump ruling out a renewed ceasefire deal with Iran and more fighting breaking out in Lebanon. Trump said “no” when asked whether he wanted a new Iran accord to replace a 60-day agreement that expired on Monday. “They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of deal that I feel is necessary,” he told reporters at the White House. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose above US$91 per barrel, having gained...

Aboard his boat moored along the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian fisherman Mohammad Amin mended a torn fishing net after a long day in waters that have long sustained his livelihood, but are now shadowed by the threat of death. It has been less than a month since the 47-year-old resumed his routine of waking before dawn, heading out to sea and returning hours later with the day’s catch – a routine he had to put on hold during months of fighting between Iran and the United States in and around the...

US President Donald Trump cited India’s election system as a model for the US, bringing the world’s largest democracy into a contentious American debate over voter access and election security. Trump said the identification requirements make elections secure and pressed Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to vote. The measure has stalled in the Senate as Trump and his Republican allies push for...

Women working in US President Donald Trump’s White House were not surprised that press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced last week she was leaving her job – and they do not think it was just because she wants to spend time with her young children. In an interview with the Daily Mail, several anonymous White House employees spoke of the pressure that Leavitt, executive assistant Natalie Harper and other female staff are under to adhere daily to a “Maga perfect” standard of beauty that requires...

China cut its holdings of US Treasuries to a nearly 18-year low in June, as Beijing continued to diversify its foreign exchange reserves amid heightened geopolitical tensions and growing uncertainty over the policy outlook in the United States. Holdings fell to US$633.4 billion in June from US$659.3 billion in May, data released by the Treasury Department of the United States showed on Monday. The amount in June marked the lowest level since September 2008, when holdings fell to US$618.2 billion...

President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea does not just slight a long-time ally but raises broader concerns about the security interests of the United States in Asia and elsewhere. Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator Kim Jong-un, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined...

Colombia’s new housing minister has come under fire after it emerged that he took his family on a Caribbean holiday while the country was reeling from a devastating earthquake that left thousands homeless. The August 10 earthquake, which killed nearly 300 people in western Colombia, struck just three days after right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella took office. The 7.4-magnitude tremor was the most powerful in Colombia in nearly half a century. Over the weekend, photos and videos emerged...

The US diesel crack, a key measure of refining profitability, hit an all-time high of US$102.20 a barrel on Monday as global supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine run into peak agricultural consumption season. Measured as the premium ‌of US diesel futures over US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, the US diesel crack was trading at US$99.82 a barrel, up 2.4 per cent from Friday. The crack has hit new intraday record highs in five of the last six sessions, reflecting...

Moscow said on Monday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador after Tokyo condemned President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Russia’s far-eastern Kuril Islands, which are also claimed by Japan. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Putin, 73, travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, prompting Japan to summon Russia’s ambassador in...

Thousands of people gathered in central London late on Monday to hold a vigil for black academic Jason Arday, blaming racism and relentless media pressure for his death last week. The vigil in central Trafalgar Square came as the head of Cambridge University on Monday condemned a “racist feeding frenzy” prompted by plagiarism claims against Arday. Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead on Friday aged 41, after mounting accusations he...

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans ‌concerned the US war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday. Just 33 per cent of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, while 64 per cent disapproved. Trump’s approval rating, down from 35 per cent in a poll that closed earlier this month and lower...

Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of gang revenge ordered by a mobster who later boasted of it, jurors heard on Monday, as one of America’s most anticipated trials got under way, 30 years after the murder. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, one of a patchwork of gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, ordered the killing after his nephew had been beaten by a rival mob, prosecutor Binu Pilal told a Las Vegas court. “On September 7, 1996,...

The United Arab Emirates, Iran’s most important regional trading partner, announced a total embargo on transactions with Tehran on Tuesday.

Werner Kalecinski is a social media sensation among young Germans. How did he go from heartbroken widower to partying on a yacht?

President Trump’s promises to restore fiscal order and reduce the amount of America’s debt burden have been undercut by spending on the Iran war, tax cuts and tariff refunds.

Bond markets remained volatile, as investors assessed the geopolitical turmoil.

Walmart and other big U.S. retailers have warned that consumers were being cautious, even if personal balance sheets seemed healthy.

The Treasury Department’s plan for bond interventions has calmed markets. But Wall Street is worried about the fallout for inflation and more.

Just last year, Prince Harry said he couldn’t imagine ever bringing his family back to Britain.

The couple are moving back after six years in the United States. What they will do, and much else, are still unclear.

A legal loophole allows the government to sell mustangs on the cheap, stripping them of protections and clearing their path to destruction.

The company’s fortunes cratered as demand for Covid-19 vaccines plummeted. But it was busy working on something else.

The pen Mr. Paxton pocketed more than a decade ago has resurfaced as a campaign issue.

A series of recent losses has eroded the president’s winning record, raising new questions about his hold over the party’s voters.

The decision was a win for Republicans, who have been pushing for the new map in an effort to help maintain the party’s narrow control in the U.S. House in November.

Moscow is taking advantage of Ukraine’s depleted stock of interceptors and is intensifying attacks, worsening the civilian death toll.

After years of pounding power plants and cities, Russia’s air war has taken aim at Ukraine’s supermarket warehouses.

In the fast-growing field of data annotation, workers in a small city in south India train A.I. to improve how it performs tasks traditionally done by people.

Gen Z-ers are forming after-school clubs, speaking at community meetings — and sometimes wrestling with their own dependence on the technology.

How “lore” turns fact into fiction — and vice versa.

More Republicans and Democrats are seeing reality for what it is. Does it matter?

We look at a new study about Americans’ use of cannabis.

“Man, you know you’re depressed when you’re texting an old hookup from seven years ago,” Fallon said of the president and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

The actress spoke candidly about her drug use and “the downfall of addiction.” The local police have said there is no evidence of foul play in her death.