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  • Eight US sailors assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln attempted suicide, Navy says

    Eight US sailors assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln attempted suicide, Navy says

    A shocking disclosure from acting U.S. Navy Secretary Hung Cao has confirmed that eight crew members attached to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during one of the service’s longest recent deployments to the Middle East. The revelation came in a formal Tuesday response to New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who had pressed for answers after family members of deployed sailors raised urgent alarms over plummeting mental health and intolerable living conditions at sea amid the U.S. military campaign against Iran.

    The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which first departed its home port in California last November for an initial rotation to the South China Sea, was redirected to the Middle East ahead of planned U.S. strikes on Iran in February. What was scheduled to be a six-month deployment ending in May was repeatedly extended, leaving roughly 5,000 service members aboard at sea for a total of 250 days before the USS George Washington was dispatched to replace it in August. The crew is now en route back to the U.S., with their first stop on dry land in the Thai resort city of Pattaya, where scores of sailors have been seen frequenting local bars, shopping malls and beaches after months confined to the ship.

    In his letter, Cao clarified that the eight suicide attempts included sailors from across the entire strike group: core Abraham Lincoln crew, carrier airwing personnel, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, crews from escorting destroyers, and personnel from all embarked aviation squadrons. He noted that the ship carried five chaplains and multiple dedicated mental health clinicians to address the spiritual and emotional needs of the deployed crew. Cao pushed back against widespread reports of systemic broken plumbing and chronic fresh food shortages, acknowledging only temporary localized piping failures, intermittent issues with the ship’s reverse osmosis desalination units, and a short-term reduction in available meal options. The U.S. Navy has previously acknowledged minor supply challenges during the deployment but has consistently rejected claims of a widespread mental health crisis aboard the vessel. The BBC has reached out to the U.S. Navy for additional comment beyond the information contained in Cao’s letter.

    Gillibrand condemned the Trump administration’s earlier dismissals of the crew’s poor conditions, calling the treatment of U.S. service members “completely unacceptable.” In a Wednesday statement to the BBC, she said, “What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members. Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect.”

    The revelation of multiple suicide attempts comes amid a well-documented growing mental health crisis across the U.S. military. Data analyzed by USNI News confirms suicide is already the leading cause of death for active-duty U.S. Navy sailors and Marines, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that veterans face substantially higher suicide rates than civilians with no military service. A January 2025 peer-reviewed study of 956 active-duty U.S. sailors further reinforced these concerns, finding that naval personnel assigned to ships experience higher rates of serious psychological distress than service members in any other U.S. military branch. The study identified unique, chronic stressors of life at sea, including substandard living conditions, constant disruptive noise, and grueling operational schedules that leave troops with insufficient time for sleep and recovery.

    For anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health distress connected to the issues discussed in this report, support is available through BBC Action Line or the U.S. Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988.

  • In Amish country, nurses go door to door to stop deadly spread of measles

    In Amish country, nurses go door to door to stop deadly spread of measles

    Nearly five months after the United States’ deadliest measles outbreak in three decades began in rural Pennsylvania, public health workers are waging a targeted, on-the-ground campaign to curb transmission in one of the state’s most isolated populations: the Amish community.

    Home to roughly 90,000 Amish residents – the largest concentration of the devout Christian group in the country, who first settled in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County in the early 1700s – the region has become the epicenter of a public health crisis that has already claimed four lives. Unlike most modern communities, the Amish broadly reject many trappings of 21st-century life, from widespread technology use to regular engagement with conventional Western medical systems, creating unique barriers to routine immunization.

    Local health officials estimate that only around one in four Amish residents in the Lancaster area have received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, a gap that public health experts stress is not rooted in religious opposition. “A lot of people who haven’t gotten vaccinated, it’s not because they have a strong stance against getting vaccinated for measles. It’s just that they haven’t gotten around to it. It’s not convenient,” explained Braxton Mitchell, a genetic epidemiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who has long studied Amish communities in the region. Without easy access to transportation or regular primary care, routine immunization often falls by the wayside, and the community’s tight-knit, highly social structure means the highly contagious measles virus spreads rapidly once introduced.

    To reach this under-served population, Chester County – which borders outbreak epicenter Lancaster – has adapted its response, drawing on door-to-door outreach strategies honed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dale Weiser, a clinical supervisor and nurse with the Chester County Health Department, has spent months making daily house calls across the rural countryside, sometimes driving 30 miles or more each day to administer vaccines in private home settings, often at residents’ kitchen tables.

    Many Amish adults lack health insurance and have limited ongoing interaction with the formal healthcare system, Weiser explained, so building trust is the first critical step to increasing uptake. “When you start talking and you answer their questions, and build that trust, a lot of times they will make a different decision,” she said. To date, Weiser has personally vaccinated roughly 100 people, and the county has administered 538 total MMR vaccines, more than 60% of them in private, in-home settings to accommodate residents who cannot travel to clinics or prefer to keep their vaccination decision private.

    This boots-on-the-ground approach has also helped public health workers address persistent vaccine misinformation that has seeped even into this insulated, technology-limited community. Weiser says she regularly encounters common falsehoods spread by national anti-vaccine groups, from claims that vaccines contain heavy metals that cause magnetism to assertions that shots include microchips. While staunch anti-vaccine advocates remain largely unpersuaded, local officials note that many undecided Amish residents – especially new parents – have begun asking questions and seeking immunization after seeing neighbors and loved ones fall seriously ill.

    Statewide, the response has delivered measurable progress: since the outbreak began in late April, public health departments have administered nearly 4,300 MMR vaccines at pop-up clinics near the outbreak’s core. Even so, the outbreak has already become the deadliest the U.S. has experienced since 1992, with four confirmed deaths: two infants, one 18-year-old, and a 40-year-old woman. Experts warn that measles, which was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, has established sustained community transmission, and the upcoming school year risks accelerating spread even further. Weiser predicts the outbreak will continue for another six to 12 months.

    Beyond public health challenges, the crisis has ignited sharp political tensions between state and federal health leaders, centered on vaccine policy and misinformation. Federal Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longstanding vaccine skeptic, drew widespread condemnation after publicly disputing that one of the infant deaths was caused by measles complications. Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has publicly accused Kennedy of spreading harmful misinformation that worsens the outbreak. The county coroner, a Republican, initially stated one infant died from a ruptured spleen, but leading infectious disease experts note that measles causes spleen enlargement, directly increasing the risk of rupture, and contributed substantially to the child’s death.

    Public health experts also point to recent actions by the Trump administration that have amplified public doubt about MMR vaccine safety. Most recently, former President Trump issued an executive order calling for the combined MMR vaccine to be split into three separate doses – a change doctors universally agree is unnecessary, more costly, and does nothing to improve the shot’s proven safety record. “What he’s doing is casting doubt,” said Dr. William Moss, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “He basically said the vaccine could be dangerous in its current combined form.” For frontline workers working to build trust and curb transmission, these political divisions only add another layer of complexity to an already difficult fight against a fast-spreading, preventable disease.

  • How the oil capital of the US welcomed a solar power boom

    How the oil capital of the US welcomed a solar power boom

    For nearly 70 years, the Cargil family has worked the flat, arid plains outside Uvalde, a small community in southwest Texas. At 67, Steve Cargil, the third generation to tend the land, long expected one of his three children would carry on the legacy he inherited from his father. That certainty crumbled in 2018, when a devastating hailstorm wiped out an entire season of carefully tended cabbage and onion crops that Cargil and his son Ryan had nurtured for months.

    Shortly after the storm, Ryan told his father, “You do everything right, and we work so hard, and you come out one morning and it’s all gone.” With none of his children willing to take on full-time farming, Cargil faced the imminent end of his family’s agricultural legacy, and an uncertain retirement—one without a traditional pension, a common reality for American farmers.

    Then, an unexpected opportunity emerged. Cargil signed a 25-year lease with energy developer OCI Energy, granting the company access to 600 acres of his land—roughly a quarter of his total property—to build a utility-scale solar farm. Today, that agreement delivers Cargil $200,000 in guaranteed annual income, a windfall he never could have imagined. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a solar project would be on my farm,” Cargil says. “Looking back now, I call it a blessing.”

    The steady lease income has already reshaped Cargil’s life and the future of his farm. Amid a years-long crippling drought across the American Southwest, he has been able to redirect all his allocated irrigation water to the 1,800 acres he continues to cultivate, eliminating the constant financial stress of volatile diesel and fertilizer prices that have pushed many small American farms to bankruptcy. “It’s changed my life,” he says.

    Cargil’s story is at the center of a historic energy shift unfolding across Texas. Long known as the heart of American oil production, Texas surpassed California earlier this year to become the nation’s top producer of solar-generated electricity. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, last March marked the first time Texas produced more electricity from solar power than from coal. On hot summer afternoons, when demand for electricity peaks to power millions of air conditioning systems, solar regularly meets roughly one-third of the state’s total power needs, according to Mark Stover, executive director of the Texas Solar and Storage Association.

    Stover explains the state’s unprecedented solar boom is driven by two core factors. First, Texas operates its own independent power grid, making it far faster and cheaper to connect new solar farms to the system than in other parts of the country. Second, Texas is one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S., with its population surging 15.8% between 2015 and 2025, creating explosive demand for new, affordable electricity generation. “We need a whole lot of power in Texas, and we need it quickly,” Stover says.

    Decades of incremental manufacturing improvements have also driven down the cost of solar technology to the point that it is now the cheapest form of power generation in the state, according to James Scott, vice president of project development at OCI Energy. “No one would have believed that 20 years ago,” Scott says. Once a solar farm is constructed, the cost of its output can be locked in for decades, because its fuel—sunlight—is free. OCI sells power at $40 per megawatt-hour for 25-year contracts to large corporate buyers including Apple and Amazon, which prioritize long-term price stability. By comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports new coal plants produce power at nearly $90 per megawatt-hour.

    For this boom to continue, developers rely on rural landowners like Cargil, because utility-scale solar requires large, flat plots of open land. In exchange, leases—typically 25 to 30 years with annual incremental increases—provide stable, multigenerational income for farm families, allowing many to retire comfortably, set up long-term family trusts, or keep struggling operations solvent. Stover adds that the land footprint of solar development across Texas is far smaller than critics claim, noting that “the industry is utilizing less than 0.15% of Texas land.”

    Despite the economic and energy benefits, solar expansion has sparked significant pushback in some rural communities. In northeast Texas’s Franklin County, a small group of long-time local residents has fought new utility-scale solar projects for years. BF Hicks, a local lawyer whose family has owned land in the county since the 1800s, says he became an opponent after watching neighbors sign long-term leases that allowed developers to clear centuries-old oak forests for new installations, and burn the cleared vegetation, leaving smoke hanging over the town for weeks. The issue became personal for Hicks when a solar farm was built adjacent to his family’s 200-year-old cemetery.

    David Truesdale, a retired federal law enforcement officer who moved to Franklin County to escape urban density, joined the opposition after a proposed solar project was sited near his home. He notes that under current Texas law, large solar projects do not require mandatory environmental review, and raises safety concerns about the lithium-ion battery storage units paired with most large solar farms, warning that a single battery fire can trigger a cascading chain reaction that destroys large swathes of surrounding land. “We’re destroying the world as we’re trying to save it,” Truesdale says of the widespread land clearing he has witnessed.

    While both Hicks and Truesdale emphasize their opposition is not rooted in partisan politics, their concerns reflect broader rural anxieties about solar development, including negative impacts on scenic views, altered water runoff patterns after land clearing, and the risk of battery fires. Former President Donald Trump has attacked wind and solar power as “farmer destroying” and moved to roll back federal tax credits for renewable energy projects. Yet polling from Fabrizio Lee and Associates—Trump’s own polling firm—found in February that 68% of Republican voters believe the U.S. needs “all forms of electricity generation, including utility solar” to keep energy costs low. Stover adds that solar development has broad support in Texas’s Republican-controlled state legislature, where policymakers accept that “these technologies bring reliability benefits to the grid.”

    Back in Uvalde, Cargil says the steady income from his solar lease has given him renewed optimism that his family’s farm will survive to see a fifth generation of Cargil stewards, even as he has no immediate plans to retire. Echoing advice his father passed down to him decades ago, Cargil says, “You’re better off being lucky than being smart. And this was one of those cases where I was just lucky.”

  • A red carpet and military flyover – How Trump welcomed Xi

    A red carpet and military flyover – How Trump welcomed Xi

    When former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States, the welcoming ceremony included two key ceremonial displays that drew widespread attention: a formal red carpet procession and a dramatic military flyover conducted by the U.S. armed forces. The aircraft selected for this aerial tribute were two B-1 Lancer bombers, combat-tested aircraft that hold a central position in the United States’ long-range strike arsenal. Beyond their military capabilities, these bombers are widely recognized for the deafening, thunderous roar they generate as they pass over populated areas, a sound that leaves a lasting impression on all who witness it. This ceremonial welcome was crafted to showcase diplomatic protocol while highlighting elements of U.S. military capacity during a high-stakes bilateral meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies. The combination of traditional diplomatic pageantry and the powerful military overflight reflected the complex nature of the U.S.-China relationship at the time, blending gestures of diplomatic respect with subtle demonstrations of national strength.

  • FBI investigates apparent theft of its personnel data by hackers

    FBI investigates apparent theft of its personnel data by hackers

    A high-stakes cyber conflict has emerged after notorious hacking collective ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for a massive breach of multiple U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation systems, threatening to leak sensitive personal and operational data if the agency does not reverse a damaging public characterization of the group.

    The international hacking crew, which first gained notoriety for a string of high-profile breaches against major corporations and public platforms over the past year, says it exfiltrated confidential records for roughly 38,000 current and former FBI personnel, along with every individual who has submitted a job application to the bureau. According to the group’s claims, the stolen dataset includes granular personal information: full names, official job roles, government badge numbers, home addresses, personal contact numbers, and even family details such as the names of employees’ spouses. Beyond personnel records, the hackers assert they accessed systems that store sensitive investigative information, employee and applicant background check data, and agents’ confidential medical records.

    ShinyHunters says it exploited an unpatched security flaw in the Oracle cloud storage infrastructure that the FBI uses to host multiple internal and public-facing platforms. Among the compromised systems are public-facing hiring portal FBIJOBS, background check system FBI BEAST, medical record repository FBI MedLink, and investigation management tool FBI BICS. The breach is alleged to have taken place on the night of Monday this week, with the group reaching out to multiple news outlets starting Tuesday to share sample data and screenshots as proof of the intrusion. Reporters from the BBC have verified a small subset of the released data, which appears to be authentic. Reporting from Reuters also notes that some of the leaked samples include details of sensitive FBI operational assignments, including work targeting Chinese intelligence operatives, Russian spy networks, and transnational drug cartels.

    Unlike most criminal hacking groups that target government and corporate systems for financial extortion, ShinyHunters says this breach was not carried out for profit. Instead, the collective says it launched the attack in retaliation for an FBI public service advisory that labeled the group as malicious “threat actors” and detailed its pattern of stealing sensitive personal data to extort payments from targeted organizations. The hackers say they were offended by the bureau’s characterization of their operations, and have issued a one-week ultimatum: the FBI must retract or correct the “false allegations” in the advisory, or the full stolen dataset will be published publicly on the dark web.

    In an official statement posted to the social platform X shortly after the claims emerged, the FBI confirmed it is aware of ShinyHunters’ assertions and is “actively and aggressively investigating the matter.” The agency added that it is still working to determine whether the breach targeted FBI-owned systems or a third-party service provider, noting it is collaborating closely with vendors that support the FBIJobs.gov hiring portal to mitigate potential risks. The FBI declined to issue any additional comment in response to multiple requests from the BBC.

    Cybersecurity analysts say the incident marks a significant escalation in the group’s activities, and highlights that even the most well-resourced U.S. law enforcement agencies are not immune to advanced criminal hacking operations. William Wright, a cybersecurity expert at Closed Door Security, described the incident as a deliberate retaliation attack, noting that the group’s core goal is to control public narrative around its activities and protect its reputation among cybercrime circles. “This demonstrates that no organization, no matter how advanced its security posture, is safe from this group when they set a target,” Wright explained.

    ShinyHunters is a loosely organized international hacking collective that is believed to have originated in France. The group has built a reputation over the past year for high-profile intrusions against high-value targets: in April 2024, it claimed responsibility for a major breach of game developer Rockstar Games, and in May it carried out a disruptive hack against popular global education learning platform Canvas.

  • Watch: What messages did the US and Iran send about the war?

    Watch: What messages did the US and Iran send about the war?

    In the high-stakes arena of the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York, a rare appearance by Iran’s newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian has turned heads across global diplomatic circles. BBC correspondent Tom Bateman has delved deep into the tightly choreographed interactions and public statements that emerged from the visit, unpacking what both Washington and Tehran sought to communicate to the international community amid ongoing regional conflict and long-strained bilateral relations.

    Pezeshkian’s trip marked the first time an Iranian head of state has traveled to New York for the UN General Assembly in nearly a decade, a detail that alone added weight to every remark and meeting held during his stay. For Iran, observers note, the visit was an opportunity to push back against Western narratives surrounding its involvement in regional conflicts, particularly the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas that has roiled the Middle East. Pezeshkian used his platform at the UN to reiterate Iran’s longstanding positions on Palestinian statehood, while also signaling a tentative openness to limited diplomatic engagement with the United States, according to Bateman’s analysis.

    For the United States, the gathering offered a low-profile space to convey its own red lines without escalating tensions. Senior U.S. diplomats emphasized their commitment to preventing the conflict from spreading across the region, while making clear that any Iranian escalation against U.S. allies or personnel would be met with a swift response. Unlike high-stakes formal negotiations that have failed in past years, both sides appeared to use the UNGA gathering to send calibrated messages rather than push for immediate breakthroughs.

    Bateman’s breakdown also highlights the broader context that shapes this exchange: years of severed diplomatic ties, crippling economic sanctions on Iran, and growing international pressure to contain the regional conflict. This rare face-to-face proximity at the UN, analysts argue, created an opening for quiet communication that has been largely absent from U.S.-Iran relations for years, even as core disagreements remain fully intact.

  • UK survivor of Canadian poison seller says he exploited her despair

    UK survivor of Canadian poison seller says he exploited her despair

    In an emotional Ontario courtroom this week, survivors and grieving relatives from Canada and the United Kingdom have confronted former chef Kenneth Law, a man who built a global network selling toxic substances to vulnerable people he connected with in online suicide forums. The four-day sentencing hearing has opened a raw window into the widespread harm caused by Law’s illegal trade, which has been linked to nearly 80 deaths in the UK alone.

    Elisabeth Belien, a 23-year-old British survivor who had never been publicly identified as one of Law’s customers before Wednesday, delivered a harrowing impact statement describing how Law exploited her deepest mental health despair. When Belien was at her lowest point in January 2023, Law sold her lethal toxic chemicals. Medics successfully administered an antidote that saved her life, allowing her to recover physically, but she told the court the psychological damage remains permanent.

    “I continue to struggle with intrusive thoughts and flashbacks of that day,” Belien said, addressing Law directly as he sat in the glass‑panelled dock. She opened up about the crippling survivor’s guilt she carries, after learning from investigators that dozens of other customers who bought toxins from Law died. “I feel guilty for surviving. I feel like my vulnerability was exploited. I still feel a lot of shame about what happened,” she added. “I also feel guilty that by purchasing from him, I enabled him to continue supplying other vulnerable people just like me.”

    Belien noted that while she is slowly learning to hope for the future, the trauma of her encounter with Law has not faded. “Being here today reminds me how easily it could have been my parents standing here talking about me, instead of me speaking for myself,” she said. “The gratitude I feel for being alive doesn’t take away from the trauma of what happened.”

    Law, a former Canadian chef, has accepted responsibility for 14 counts of aiding suicide in Canada, as part of a plea deal reached with Canadian authorities. Under the terms of the agreement, Law will not face any additional charges in the United Kingdom, even though investigators have linked approximately 80 British deaths to his illegal operations. Despite this arrangement, the court is allowing families of British victims to submit and read impact statements during the sentencing proceeding to share how their lives have been forever altered.

    International law enforcement authorities estimate that Law sold roughly 1,200 packages of toxic substances to customers across 40 countries, with roughly 25% of those shipments destined for addresses in the UK. He was arrested in May 2023, following a sprawling, multi‑national investigation that coordinated the work of at least 11 law enforcement agencies from more than a dozen countries, including the UK, Italy, and the United States.

    Among the grieving family members who shared their pain this week was David Parfett, whose 20‑something son Tom died after purchasing poison from Law in October 2021. Parfett told the court that he has never been able to fully process his son’s death, and that his entire personality has shifted since the tragedy. “I was previously gregarious and outgoing, but five years later, I still cannot fully process what happened,” he said. Parfett explained that he delayed his own grieving to push for accountability and to expose how unregulated online platforms allowed Law to operate his deadly trade undetected.

    The parents of 14‑year‑old Henry Tucker, another British victim who died in 2021, also shared their devastating story. The couple explained that their son had been misdiagnosed with autism, when he actually suffered from a treatable neurological condition that could have been managed with antibiotics. “The realisation that his suffering and death could have been prevented is a weight that is impossible to bear,” they said in their read statement. “The death of a child under these circumstances is a burden we will carry for the rest of our lives.”

    Norson Harris, father of British victim Ashleigh Harris, appeared in person to describe the agony of losing his daughter. “Rather than offer her the help she desperately needed, Kenneth Law sold her the chemical she used to end her life,” Harris said. “We all feel we should have been able to prevent her death. I still hope that over time, Mr Law will come to recognize that he should have told all the vulnerable people who reached out to him that they were loved, and that help was available.”

    Canadian families also delivered searing testimony. Stephen Mitchell Sr., whose son Stephen Mitchell Jr. died in March 2023 after purchasing toxins from Law, told the court his son was ill and seeking help, and Law robbed him of any chance to recover. Addressing Law directly, Mitchell Sr. said he accepts that Law may have experienced moments of despair and worthlessness during his incarceration — the exact same feelings his son had before buying the lethal chemicals. “When my son was well, he would have gladly helped Law work through his depressive thoughts, because he believed in the value of every person,” Mitchell said.

    Sandra Scott, whose 25‑year‑old daughter Amara Scott died in February 2022 while her family was actively helping her through a mental health crisis, said their efforts were cut short by Law. “In her most vulnerable state, she made contact with the accused,” Scott said. “The day my friends and I found Amara, the way she died — it broke my heart. It was a blessing and an honour to be Amara’s mother.”

    The sentencing hearing is ongoing. For anyone affected by issues of mental health or suicide raised in this reporting, support resources are available through BBC Action Line in the UK and local mental health services in Canada.

  • Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault

    Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault

    Nearly a year after a New York jury found former Hollywood powerhouse Harvey Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act against his ex-assistant Miriam Haley, the disgraced entertainment mogul has been formally sentenced to an additional 15 years behind bars. The sentencing hearing, held in June 2026, brought forward searing testimony from the survivor, who laid bare the long-term harm inflicted by the assault. In her emotional victim impact statement delivered directly to the court, Haley explained the violence has left a permanent, devastating mark on her daily life and her fundamental sense of personal safety that may never fully heal. Wheelchair-bound during the court proceedings, Weinstein repeated his longstanding denial of the allegations against him, but offered a vague apology to “anyone I may have hurt by my actions”. This new sentence stacks on top of a 23-year prison term Weinstein is already serving for separate rape and sexual assault convictions in another high-profile criminal case, extending his total expected time in custody by more than a decade. The conviction and sentencing mark another major milestone in the reckoning over sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry that sparked the global #MeToo movement, holding one of the most high-profile accused perpetrators accountable for additional offenses.

  • Iran’s president tells Trump it will never ‘bend the knee’

    Iran’s president tells Trump it will never ‘bend the knee’

    Seven months into open conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel, Iran’s newly inaugurated President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant yet open message to the global community from the floor of the United Nations General Assembly this week. Reaffirming Iran’s unyielding stance in the face of intensifying pressure from Washington, Pezeshkian declared that the Islamic Republic would never “bend the knee” — but stressed that Tehran remains committed to pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing hostilities.

    His address came in direct response to a recent threat from U.S. President Donald Trump, who warned that he would “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a new negotiated deal was not reached in short order. Pushing back against this rhetoric, Pezeshkian emphasized that U.S. strategy of escalating sanctions, pressure campaigns, and international bullying would only strengthen Iranian public resolve. “He must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying,” Pezeshkian told the assembled delegates.

    The Iranian president laid out non-negotiable conditions for any lasting agreement, chief among them a full end to the U.S. naval and economic blockade of Iranian ports and shipping. Pezeshkian argued that Iran could not accept a deal that locks its commercial vessels out of key regional waterways while other nations benefit unimpeded. “It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access,” he said.

    The strategic Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries roughly 20% of the world’s annual oil and natural gas shipments, has been effectively closed to commercial navigation since the outbreak of hostilities in late February. The closure stems from two overlapping factors: Iranian drone and missile attacks on transiting commercial vessels, and the U.S. naval blockade imposed in response.

    This is not the first attempt at diplomacy to de-escalate the crisis. A preliminary agreement to end hostilities and reopen the strait was reached between U.S. and Iranian negotiators in June, but the deal collapsed within weeks. After Iran resumed attacks on commercial shipping, the United States reimposed its full blockade.

    Even so, diplomatic efforts have resumed on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly in New York. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect talks mediated by Qatari brokers. This meeting marked the first formal diplomatic contact between the two sides since the June agreement collapsed.

    Witkoff struck an optimistic note following the discussions, telling reporters he hoped the talks would “prove constructive and promising” and confirming that Qatari mediators would continue their work to bridge the gap between the two parties. But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai struck a more cautious tone, describing the discussions as “not anything new” and confirming that Araghchi had held firm to Iran’s core preconditions: an end to the U.S. blockade, and the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets held abroad.

    The renewed diplomatic push comes amid growing global concern over the economic impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure, which has sent ripples through global energy markets and raised fears of a broader regional conflict that could draw in additional powers.

  • Trump reveals millions of dollars’ worth of share deals in big tech and AI

    Trump reveals millions of dollars’ worth of share deals in big tech and AI

    Newly released public financial filings have revealed that former and current U.S. President Donald Trump carried out millions of dollars in stock market transactions across July 2025, with positions in high-profile companies ranging from Elon Musk-led aerospace and technology firm SpaceX to major artificial intelligence leaders including Microsoft and Nvidia.

    Per the official disclosure documents, third-party managers overseeing Trump’s investment portfolio executed sales of Microsoft stock valued between $6.5 million and $31 million during the month, while also purchasing additional Microsoft shares worth between $165,000 and $400,000. In total, more than 1,000 separate trades were recorded across the month, encompassing buy and sell orders for Nvidia, the global leading AI chip manufacturer, and Palantir Technologies, a private software contractor that holds major government contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

    The filings also confirm that Trump’s portfolio carried out transactions for two of Musk’s highest-profile public companies: SpaceX, which listed its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in June 2025, and Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle and clean energy firm. Since its public debut, SpaceX has seen volatile share performance: the stock dropped sharply through July and August, but as of the latest trading data, it holds a 14% gain over its initial IPO offering price.

    A spokesperson for the White House pushed back against potential ethics concerns, emphasizing that all of Trump’s stock and bond holdings are managed independently by external third-party investment professionals. Speaking to BBC, the spokesperson stated: “Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold. There are no conflicts of interest.”

    This round of disclosures marks the latest in a series of public trade reports from Trump, who has published regular details of his portfolio activity since returning to the White House in January 2025.