Some cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. You can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Blocking some cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services it offers. Functional cookies enable the website's functionality and personalisation. Performance cookies count visits and traffic sources so we can improve the performance of the website.

Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student, has filed a lawsuit against conservative activist groups and several members of the Trump administration. The lawsuit accuses them of a conspiracy to deprive Khalil of his rights. Khalil has become the face of the administration’s push to weaponize the government against liberals.

A study assessed the level of exposure to pesticides using wristbands worn by farmers and citizens living close to fields. A total of 173 different pesticides/metabolites were detected on the wristbands. Many of these pesticides should have been banned long ago. The study confirms that pesticides are widespread in our environment and that farmers and people living near fields are particularly exposed.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expanded its Taiwan-focused outreach through various exchange programs. A summer exchange program titled “Cross-Strait Young Teachers’ Northern Xinjiang Tour’ invites Taiwanese teachers aged 45 and under to visit Xinjiang for an eight-day, seven-night trip. Participants are required to pay only their airfare and a registration fee of NT$4,000 (approximately US$135). All accommodation, meals, and local transportation are fully subsidized. Scholars argue that the initiative is aimed at those with the ability to shape ideology in educational settings.

The U.S. Treasury last year swelled with revenue from President Donald Trump’s double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on earth. The money dried up after the Supreme Court struck down the biggest and boldest of Trump's tariffs in February. The deadline to replace the lost revenue is approaching rapidly. Trump can use Section 301 of the 1974 trade law to impose tariffs and other sanctions against countries.

Pakistan and India are locked in a water dispute over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). India suspended the treaty after the April 2025 terror attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which it blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan’s National Security Committee warned that any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan would be considered an Act of War.

The war in Iran has hindered research and damaged educational facilities. Iran's nature, Iranian conservationists and Iranian researchers have been isolated for a long time. Conservationists are worried about extinction of conservationists. Iranian scientists also face persecution by their own government. An economics professor proposes a "humanitarian corridor for science" to provide fellowships, grants, and streamlined resource access to besieged researchers.

Chainlink CCIP Integrates U.S. Macroeconomic Data Onto Multiple L1 Chains is the main story for Chainlink today. The update is valuable because it adds reliable data point to a market that has been moving quickly and, at times, messily. Traders focus on price and liquidity, while builders care about the rule, integration, product, or infrastructure detail.

Ukraine has stepped up its drone campaign against strategic infrastructure in Crimea. Drones are severing the roads, railways and waterways that connect Crimea to Russia. Russia’s Black Sea fleet, normally based in Sevastopol, has been forced to relocate to more distant ports. Russia suspended shipping through the Sea of Azov, a vital waterway that handles a quarter of its grain exports.

The U.S. resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched a fourth day of strikes as the ceasefire collapsed. The Trump administration temporarily stopped most ICE vehicle stops nationwide after agents fatally shot two immigrants. Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett asked Congress for $14.6 million to expand their security details as threats against the court are expected to rise 38%. Darline Graham Nordone was sworn in to finish the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham, becoming the first woman to represent South Carolina in the chamber. E. Jean Carroll collected her $5 million from Trump after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. Trump reduced Bears Ears and

In Uzbekistan, a mahalla is a self-governing body, commonly known as the mahalla committee. It is the administrative institution closest to the local population. In the spring of 2026, the chairperson of the Tinchlik mahalla in the Uchkuprik district in Fergana Region in Uzbekistan decided to step down. Nearly 100 residents signed a petition in support of his candidacy. He has a university degree, many years’ experience in journalism and community work, and all the qualities necessary to stand for election to a position working on behalf of his community.

Sven Liebich, a right-wing extremist, will serve his sentence in a men's prison after being extradited from the Czech Republic on Wednesday. He was sentenced to one and a half years in prison in 2023 for incitement to hatred and other crimes. In 2025, he had his gender entry changed from male to female and he is now called Marla-Svenja. A decision is pending before the district court in Halle as to whether the change to the gender entry can be reversed.

The National Assembly has approved a bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. The bill was rejected three times by the conservative Senate. It will now be reviewed by the Constitutional Council. The Council will have to rule on the two-day reflection period before administering the lethal substance and whether adults under legal guardianship can give free and informed consent.

The U.S. and Iran traded heavier strikes Thursday as a weeklong escalation threatens to unravel last month's truce. The United States launched two waves of airstrikes Wednesday, mostly on targets near the coast in southern Iran. Iran responded with missiles and drones fired at military bases in neighboring countries, including a major barrage at a recently expanded air base in Jordan. Dena Karari, who had been held in Iran since December 2024 on bogus charges, was released and is traveling back to the United States.

North Korea is the latest nuclear-armed state to diversify its nuclear force’s basing modes. Cold War strategic culture has emphasized the importance of having a triad of intercontinental nuclear delivery systems with land, sea and air-based “legs” to maximize stability and assure retaliation. North Korea's nuclear force began in the early 1990s exclusively based on road-mobile short- and medium-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs and MRBMs). It has since grown to include road- mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles and theater-range land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs).

In August 1950 the Gaza Strip was cut off from the rest of Palestine by a ditch carved into the soil by a single-blade plough pulled by a Caterpillar model D6. Entire homesteads and farms fell within it. Palestinian farmers succeeded in shifting the line. Salman Abu Sitta had been expelled with his family from their village of Ma’in al-Ma'in on 14 May 1948. He is one of the most forceful advocates for Palestinian return.

The full economic impact of the Strait of Hormuz disruptions may not become clear until the second half of 2026, according to UNCTAD. Asia is by far the largest importer of Gulf crude and oil products. One-third of global seaborne fertilizer trade passes through the strait. Sudan receives 54 percent of its fertilizer imports from the Gulf.

Americans are waiting longer for disaster aid under President Donald Trump. Since taking office last year, Trump has approved about 65 requests for major disaster declarations and denied more than two dozen others from states, tribes or territories seeking federal financial assistance following hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, floods and fires. Trump has taken longer on average to approve disaster requests than any other president dating back to 1989. Trump approved 80% of the disaster requests from Republican governors but only about 60% from Democratic governors.

President Trump has made birthright citizenship reform a national priority. Texas is investigating a hospital accused of marketing "birth packages" to foreign nationals. Congress has a responsibility to clarify our nation's citizenship laws. The Birthright Citizenship Act would clarify the meaning of the 14th Amendment. It would clarify that automatic citizenship applies only when at least one parent is a United States citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident, or a lawful immigrant serving on active duty in the United States Armed Forces.

The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking commercial proposals to beam electrical power between spacecraft and from orbit to the ground in a demonstration within two years. Power beaming transmits electrical energy to a receiver through a directed beam of electromagnetic radiation. The Pentagon wants access to an operational space power-beaming capability by the end of the decade.

The US military fired missiles into a commercial tanker trying to reach Iran. The tanker was disabled and is no longer proceeding towards Kharg Island. Two other commercial vessels complied with instructions and were redirected during the first 24 hours after Washington reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports. The renewed escalation between the US and Iran is also scrambling tanker deployment.

Artificial intelligence is said to be the transformative technology of our time. It is underpinned by the need for hyperscale data centers, the large, energy-intensive sites that house servers and IT equipment. Many of these data centers are constructed in water-stressed regions, leading to widespread opposition among local residents. At the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), Indigenous leaders, government representatives and experts called for data center projects to comply with the principles of free, prior and informed consent.

An Israeli strike hit southern Lebanon as RT crew was preparing to go on air in Nabatieh province. The area has been heavily targeted by Israel over the past few weeks and subjected to daily bombardments and demolitions. The attack comes as Beirut and West Jerusalem just wrapped up a new round of US‑brokered talks in Rome. Lebanon and Israel agreed on the structure and guidelines for withdrawing Israeli forces from two 'pilot zones' in southern Lebanon.

There are more than 3,000 data centers in the U.S. and another 1,500 in development. 7 in 10 Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers, citing higher utility bills, pollution, noise and the loss of green space. Data centers hold computer servers that process words, images and lines of code for large language models. They also use high amounts of water and electricity. There is growing opposition to the infrastructure surrounding them, especially the transmission lines needed to power them, which often must cross land belonging to private citizens. The government can take private land without consent if the seizure is for “public use” and if the landowner is given “just

About a dozen states offer "medically tailored meals" to people with diet-linked conditions who get their insurance through Medicaid. Such programs significantly improve the health of the people in them, according to a new study. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has championed the "food as medicine" movement.

DNC officers asked to sign NDAs amid financial woes. Donald Trump is set to deliver a prime-time address tonight. Report on El-Sayed’s Psychiatrist Wife is ‘devastating’ for Progressives. China is building replicas of US warships, fighter jets, naval bases, and Taiwanese presidential buildings deep in the Taklamakan Desert. US drivers are again paying more than $5 a Gallon for diesel.

There are 55,794 AI safety papers accepted at ICLR, ICML and NeurIPS conferences from 2019 through 2026. 4.2% of them are safety papers. The number of accepted papers per year increased by 100 times from 2019 to 2026, and the share of safety papers among all the acceptances increased by 25 times.

Beijing expanded its zero-tariff policy across Africa in May. China's imports from Africa soared by 21.1% and 40.2% year on year in May and June. The increase was partly driven by China’s growing hunger for critical minerals. China invests heavily in clean energy, semiconductors and data centres to power its fast-growing artificial intelligence industry. Imports of unwrought copper from Africa increased by more than 110% in May from a year earlier to US$1.65 billion, while purchases of strategic minerals such as platinum and spodumene rose sharply.

Saronic has selected Brownsville, Texas, as the site of a planned $3 billion shipyard. The facility, dubbed Port Alpha, is expected to begin construction later this year and open in 2028. It is designed to produce large autonomous vessels while incorporating advanced manufacturing, robotics and software-driven production systems. It's expected to create up to 10,000 direct jobs over the next decade. The announcement aligns with the Trump administration’s push to rebuild domestic shipbuilding capacity.

Jude Pare, 77, didn't know he owed $28.80 for three months of unpaid premiums for his Medicare drug plan. He and his partner, Diane Tix, took refuge in Arizona for the winter, so they didn't receive the notice that his monthly premium was about to increase. He can't enroll in a new plan until the fall, for coverage beginning in 2027. Wellcare terminated coverage for 140,000 Value Script beneficiaries in April.

Kalshi, one of the world's largest prediction market exchanges, will start taking bets on clinical trials and regulatory approvals starting with a small number of markets chosen in collaboration with its partner, AppliedXL, a tech company that monitors and predicts the outcomes of clinical trials.

Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., is introducing a bill that would require health insurance companies that provide transgender procedures to also pay for detransitions and adverse effects. The bill is unlikely to become law over Democratic opposition in the Senate. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a similar bill into law last year.

Greystar Worldwide manages more than 1.1 million apartments nationwide. The Housing Rights Initiative filed complaints this week alleging 114 violations of state fair housing laws by Greystar. The complaints are based on an undercover investigation in which testers posing as prospective renters called Greystar properties and asked if they could use federal Housing Choice Vouchers to help pay their rent. In Michigan, employees at properties in Ann Arbor, Lansing, East Lansing and Rochester repeatedly told testers that vouchers were not accepted or imposed conditions that the watchdog says violate state law.

Yemen's Houthi movement is preparing to close the Red Sea oil route through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, according to Reuters reports. This poses a significant new threat to global energy supplies.  

Smoke from Canadian wildfires is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states. Detroit has the worst air quality in the world on IQAir’s global rankings, followed by Toronto, and then Minneapolis and Chicago. New York extended the city's heat emergency plan operations, including opening of hundreds of cooling centers.

Austin Lockwood, 23, died in a crash while riding with an impaired driver on June 10, 2018. His mother, Sheila, is pushing for implementation of a federal law requiring impairment-detection technology in new vehicles. It's estimated that drunk driving kills about 32 Americans every day. Lawmakers and consumer privacy experts are concerned about the privacy implications of the law.