‘Purge Palantir!’: Union nurses warn Big Tech and Big Brother are invading our healthcare system
“Palantir has no place in our hospitals, no place in our community… Nurses are advocates first. We’re trained to advocate and to speak up when something is wrong, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Sept 14 (Reuters) – Large technology companies, including Palantir Technologies, Nvidia and Booz Allen Hamilton, could restrict or cease to use advanced AI models unless Anthropic and OpenAI guarantee not misusing their intellectual property, the Information reported on Monday.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is capitalizing on such concerns by pitching isolated cloud environments and its own AI offerings to draw clients, according to the report that cited people familiar with the matter.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called for AI companies to slow the pace of frontier model development, warning that capabilities are advancing faster than researchers can understand or control — a position quickly endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk.
But a number of former Palantir employees tell WIRED they believe the public still largely misunderstands what the company actually does and how its software works. Some people think it’s a data broker that buys information from private companies and resells it to the government. Others think it’s a data miner, constantly scanning the internet for unique insights it can collect and market to customers. Still others think it maintains a giant, centralized database of information collected from all of its clients. In reality, Palantir does none of these things, but the misconceptions continue to persist.
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A version of this logic pervades the internal culture at Palantir. When asked what distinguishes it from other tech companies, former employees consistently mentioned its “flat” staffing structure. Engineers can laterally move to more prestigious or challenging projects if they prove worthy based on their skills and connections. One former staffer tells WIRED that this made the company feel like a meritocracy where the best people, and the best ideas, naturally rise to the top.
Some former employees say that Palantir’s meritocratic culture helped cultivate a sense of loyalty among staff. But they also believe that this can make it difficult to speak out against the company or its business decisions. (Gordon said that Palantir “prides itself on a culture of fierce internal dialog and disagreement on difficult issues related to our work.”)
On 17 May 2026, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern for an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Background
Ebola disease (EBOD) is a severe disease caused by orthoebolaviruses, members of the filoviridae family, which occurs in humans and other primates. The disease was identified in 1976, in almost simultaneous outbreaks in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)) and Sudan (now South Sudan).
Between 1979 and 1994, no human cases or outbreaks were detected. However, since 1994, outbreaks have been recognised with increasing frequency.
Until 2014, outbreaks of EBOD were primarily reported from remote villages close to tropical rainforests in Central and West Africa. Most confirmed cases were reported from the DRC, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Uganda. In 2014, an EBOD outbreak was reported for the first time in West Africa, involving Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. During this outbreak, which was ongoing between 2014 and 2016, there was intense transmission in urban areas, resulting in over 28,000 reported cases. Multiple countries including Italy, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, the UK and the US reported imported EBOD cases associated with this outbreak.
Four species of orthoebolavirus are known to cause disease in humans:
Tai Forest (formerly Ivory Coast) virus (orthoebolavirus taiense, TAFV)
Reston virus (orthoebolavirus restonense, RESTV), was first detected in 1989 in Reston, Virginia (US), in a colony of monkeys imported from the Philippines. It had caused severe illness outbreaks in non-human primates linked to imported animals. Several research workers became infected with the virus during these outbreaks but did not become ill. In 2008, RESTV was isolated from sick pigs in the Philippines. Several animal facility workers developed antibodies, but none reported any symptoms.
A sixth species of Ebola virus was discovered in bats in Sierra Leone in 2018 and named Bombali virus (orthoebolavirus bombaliense, BOMV). It is not yet known if this species is pathogenic to humans.
The Ebola virus is not airborne and is not transmitted by mosquito or contact with food or water. It spreads by direct contact and an exchange of fluid. But the bodies of Ebola victims are highly infectious, with the virus remaining active in bodily fluids.
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Health officials have struggled to persuade community members to abandon traditional burial practices. When officials refused to release the body of a suspected Ebola victim to his family, outraged community members overran and burned a health center in eastern Congo on May 21.
Caritas Congo, Father Makimba said, was placing particular emphasis on awareness-raising and community engagement: “The objective is to provide reliable information, reassure the population and promote appropriate behaviors, ensuring that vigilance does not spiral into panic but instead contributes to an effective and solidarity-driven response.”
Among current acute needs in the communities served by Caritas Congo, Father Makimba said, are personal protective equipment for health workers (several have already fallen ill and died after caring for Ebola victims); hygiene kits; and the installation of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. Rebuilding communal relationships and restoring the capacity of health services will be among the challenges to contend with once Ebola’s immediate threat to life has been addressed, Father Makimba said.
Miliband says late mother shaped his decision to call out Gaza
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said the memory of his late mother, a Jewish refugee, shaped his decision to speak out on the treatment of Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said the memory of his late mother, a Jewish refugee who died at the end of May, shaped his decision to speak out more forcefully on the treatment of Palestinians, in an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast.
Miliband told presenters Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart that he had wrestled with the language he should use and how far he should go, particularly over the terms “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes”.
He said his mother had lost her father and 60 relatives in the concentration camps, and had spent 20 years of her life focused on the situation of the Palestinians.
“I thought a lot about, as I wrestled with this statement and what I should say and what I shouldn’t say and how far I should go, I wrestled a lot with what she would say. And she’d say: look at what is happening to Palestinians. Look at what is happening to these poor people. It’s wrong, and you’ve got to call it out,” he said.
Sanctions and Gaza
Miliband defended the Government’s new sanctions targeting settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. According to a House of Commons Library briefing, the measures announced this month include an import ban on goods from illegal settlements, restrictions on services supporting settlement expansion and a ban on settlement advertising in the UK. The briefing says the Government planned to implement the new trade legislation within six to nine months, and that France and Canada announced similar measures.
Asked whether the sanctions would work, Miliband said: “And will it definitely succeed? I can’t say it’ll definitely succeed. Does it have a chance of succeeding, particularly with other international partners acting? Maybe it does. And that’s the whole intention behind it.”
He said people “the world over” were “deeply disturbed by what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza”, adding: “I think the Israeli government is losing friends. I mean, it’s not gaining allies; it’s lost allies. It’s losing allies all over.”
On Gaza, Miliband described the humanitarian situation as “unspeakable and appalling”. He said restrictions on so-called dual-use goods meant “very, very innocent goods” were being stopped from entering, and that “it seems like absolutely a deliberate strategy”.
He said Israeli ministers “have made comments that would be suggestive of wanting to not just kill Hamas terrorists, but at least push out and displace all residents of Gaza”.
“All of us condemn in the strongest terms the murder that Hamas did on October the 7th, but nothing can justify what has unfolded in Gaza since then,” he said, adding that 1,200 Palestinians had been killed since what he called “the so-called ceasefire”.
Miliband said Gaza had “mobilised a whole generation of people, but those people were right, not wrong”. He said a number of people, including from the Global South, had contacted him since he made the statement.
US relations and Hormuz
Pressed by Campbell and Stewart on how the UK should respond to a changing relationship with the United States, Miliband said: “Our alliance with the US matters, but if what you’re saying is we need to recognise the world has changed, particularly regarding our relationship with Europe and the importance of our relationship with the European Union, but also working with middle-sized powers beyond that, a hundred percent, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Miliband said his immediate diplomatic focus was reopening the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure had stranded $125bn of ships and cargo by June, according to insurer Allianz.
“My job as Foreign Secretary is to help the British people with the terrible cost-of-living crisis they face. And one of the biggest contributors to that is the fact that the Strait is closed,” he said.
“So my job is not to say what should have happened at the beginning. My job is to say: okay, what can we do now to get out of the mess we’re in? And that is absolutely what my diplomatic focus is on.”
A female-led movement campaigning against asylum seeker accommodation gains national attention amid wider tensions over immigration policy
A grassroots movement known as the “Pink Ladies” has become a visible and contentious presence in Britain’s ongoing anti-immigration protests, mobilising predominantly women in demonstrations against the use of hotels and other sites to house asylum seekers.
Recognisable by their bright pink attire and Union Jack flags, the Pink Ladies have staged rallies from Westminster and Canary Wharf to towns such as Chelmsford, articulating concerns about community safety, border control and the perceived impact of migration on local life.
This mobilisation reflects broader public anxieties over immigration policy and the strain on services as crossings across the English Channel remain elevated this year.
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Organisers describe the Pink Ladies as mothers, grandmothers and local women acting to protect their families and communities, framing their activism as rooted in maternal concern rather than explicit political ideology.
At demonstrations, participants have voiced fears about “unfettered men rocking up on our shores” and urged stronger state action on border security and asylum accommodation practices.
The movement has tapped into anxieties over reported incidents near migrant hotels and the placement of asylum seekers without extensive local consultation, drawing participants from as far north as Inverness to the Kent coast.
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Political figures and commentators have debated the movement’s place in the wider political landscape
Some senior national politicians, including a leading Conservative representative on the London Assembly, have publicly supported the presence of the Pink Ladies at protests, dismissing the notion that their activism constitutes hate speech.
However, critics and anti-racism organisations argue that the movement’s framing can blend community concern with exclusionary rhetoric and has provided a platform that far-right actors and groups have sought to leverage.
Links with established anti-immigration parties and affiliated organisations have drawn scrutiny, even as the Pink Ladies insist they are not extremist and are simply advocating for stronger immigration controls and community safety.
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The Pink Ladies have featured in the wider wave of anti-immigration protests that have taken place across the UK since mid-2025, frequently centred around government plans to use hotels and former military sites to accommodate asylum seekers.
These demonstrations encompass a mix of local residents, grassroots activists and political influencers, with responses ranging from peaceful protest to clashes requiring police intervention.
Opposition groups have also organised counter-rallies emphasising solidarity with refugees and challenging xenophobic narratives.
The evolving dynamics of the Pink Ladies movement continue to highlight divisions within British public discourse on immigration, border policy and national identity.
Who is Tommy Robinson and why does Elon Musk want him freed from jail?
Robinson is serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court, a charge stemming from a libelous video in which he falsely claimed a refugee teenager was a violent thug.
Tommy Robinson leaves the Old Bailey in London, in October 2018. Jack Taylor / Getty Images file
LONDON —A convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, Tommy Robinson is well known as the leader of the English far right, inspiring rallies of mostly white, mostly male followers shouting soccer-style chants against Islam and immigration.
It has been jarring then, for many Britons to see Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — become the latest cause championed by the richest person on the planet, Elon Musk.
“Free Tommy Robinson!” the billionaire entrepreneur and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump posted to his X social media network Thursday.
Robinson, 42, is serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court, a charge stemming from a libelous video in which he falsely claimed a Syrian refugee teenager was a violent thug.
“But he will become less fringe if people adopt him — and that’s the risk you have here,” according to Scott Lucas, a University College Dublin professor specializing in British and American politics. “Tommy’s an icon for certain far-right groups — and Musk knows that.”
This is far from Musk’s first intervention in European politics, and he has increasingly opined on the subject since backing Trump’s election win in November. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has largely supported far-right nationalists, most recently in Germany. Their rise on the continent has coincided with Trump’s second term, teeing up the prospect of transatlantic cooperation among this former political fringe.
It is in Britain, however, where Musk has focused most attention.
Restore Britain activists are coming after me – they’ll need to join the queue, behind the far left
Rupert Lowe denied his party is neo-Nazi and said he detests ethno-nationalism, but prominent supporters have suggested that Jews control the country’s politics and don’t belong here
September 4, 2026 13:44
Restore Britain co-founder Charlie Downes (YouTube/NextGenerationPodcast)
Restore Britain activists don’t like me. They’ll need to join the queue, behind the far left, who got there first. It is now so long that it must be snaking down streets and out of town. If anything it is encouraging.
The two ends of the queue have more in common than either would admit. Neither can take criticism. Both descend on their critics en masse. And when their own words are put back to them, neither disowns them. They reach instead for a devious Jewish plot, and complain that they are the ones who have been betrayed.
Restore’s activists were sufficiently upset that an entire episode of the Lotus Eaters podcast was given over to defending the party and attacking the journalists responsible, most of them Jewish. Lotus Eaters was founded by Carl Benjamin, a YouTuber with a history of racist slurs, and rape “jokes” about Labour MP Jess Phillips. It is not a fringe operation. It is one of the biggest political podcasts in Britain, with more listeners than many shows with established brands behind them.
Wearing an ill-fitting suit, the presenter Connor Tomlinson read out my entire quote from the front page of the Telegraph, where I described Restore as a home for the far right. The Telegraph has now joined what Tomlinson calls the “enemy outlets”. Critics, he says, are guilty of “stochastic terrorism”.
Tomlinson called me an “ethnic” partisan. I plead guilty. I am partisan when it comes to neo-Nazis who want to “remigrate” me and wish to appear respectable. He was cross that I had blocked a merger between Reform and Restore. I would love to take the credit but the damage was done by Restore’s own racists. Even Reform kept its distance
Two Minutes Hate from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Party members are gathered to watch the face of the enemy of the state, Emmanuel Goldstein, and let the hatred out. Orwell gave that face a Jewish name on purpose, four years after Belsen.
Then the episode turned to Israel, and reminded me of the other thing the far left and the far right agree on. Both are convinced Israel is a racist, ethnically pure state. The difference is that the left hates it for that and the right would like to build one here – while, for the most part, still despising the original.
Pink Ladies in crisis as leader Orla Minihane provokes revolt
The Pink Ladies are tearing themselves apart over American mother Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three children, as supporters accuse founder Orla Minihane of bullying and intimidation
Orla Minihane – support for Lindsay Clancy has thrown Pink Ladies into crisis
The Pink Ladies are tearing themselves apart over their founder Orla Minihane, exposing deep fissures inside the women-led anti-immigration movement just days after she quit her leadership role in Rupert Lowe’s increasingly fractious Restore Britain.
Minihane’s handling of the case of American child killer Lindsay Clancy has triggered a furious row among supporters, with some former allies turning on her, others scrambling to defend her, and serious allegations being traded on X.
Flashpoint
The immediate flashpoint is Clancy, the Massachusetts mother whose trial for killing her three children ended in a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict. Her defence centred on postpartum psychosis and severe mental illness.
Lindsay Clancy – killed her three children
Minihane’s comments have been interpreted by some Pink Ladies supporters as an argument that women suffering from postpartum psychosis need urgent recognition and treatment. Others have accused her of expressing support for a woman who killed her children.
The row exploded when the main Pink Ladies X account responded to a post stating “Your leader supports Lindsay Clancy” with: “So do we.. you arsehole.”
Mali: Russian mercenaries suffer major military blow
Mouhamadou Kane | Wendy Bashi07/30/2024July 30, 2024
The Wagner Group has suffered one of its heaviest losses in Mali after Tuareg separatist militants reportedly killed or captured several dozen fighters from the Russian mercenary group.
Dozens of Russian mercenaries have apparently been killed in Mali by Tuareg separatistsImage: French Army/AP/picture alliance
JNIM, Al-Qaeda, and the Tuareg FLA: Captured Malian Soldiers as Bargaining Chips
Disclaimer: “The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here.” Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.
In Mali, Tuareg rebels and the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group JNIM attacked a convoy of mercenaries from the Russian Defense Ministry’s “African Corps,” along with Malian soldiers, AFP and Reuters reported.
The convoy escorting more than 200 Russian fighters and more than 100 Malian soldiers was heading toward the northern town of Anefis, according to Reuters. A contingent of Russian mercenaries and Malian troops continues to hold a military base in the rebel-held town.
Anefis is critical to holding the strategically important city of Kidal, located roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) away and controlled by Tuareg groups, AFP said.
Russia’s “African Corps,” run by the Defense Ministry, supports Mali’s armed forces in their fight against Tuareg rebel groups, which have long sought to establish their own state in the north of the country.
Tuareg, Berber-speaking pastoralists who inhabit an area in North and West Africa ranging from Touat, Algeria, and Ghadames, Libya, to northern Nigeria and from Fezzan, Libya, to Timbuktu, Mali. Their political organizations extend across national boundaries. In the 2010s there were estimated to be more than two million Tuareg.
The northern Tuareg live mainly in true desert country, whereas the southerners live primarily in steppe and savanna. The Tuareg consist of confederations including the Ahaggar (Hoggar) and Azjer (Ajjer) in the north and the Asben (Aïr Tuareg), Ifora, Itesen (Kel Geres), Aulliminden, and Kel Tademaket in the south. The southerners breed zebu cattle and camels, some of which are sold to the northern Tuareg. Raiding of caravans and travelers was important in pre-European times, as was caravan trading, which declined with the introduction of motor vehicles. Droughts across southern Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), and Chad in the 1970s and ’80s both reduced the numbers of the southern Tuareg and eroded their traditional pastoral way of life.
July 21, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan said on Tuesday that the Yemeni Houthi group’s declaration of a naval blockade on Saudi ports poses a direct threat to Red Sea navigation, expressing full support for any security measures taken by Riyadh.
The Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday that they forced six ships in the Red Sea to turn back after threatening to target vessels that fail to comply with their announced maritime ban against Saudi Arabia.
Houthi-run media quoted a military source saying six vessels turned around over the past 24 hours following warnings issued by the group amid escalating regional tensions.
Reuters reported that two oil tankers carrying Saudi cargoes bound for Asia altered course in the Red Sea on Tuesday following Houthi threats and headed toward the Suez Canal.
Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the government is “deeply concerned regarding statements issued by the Houthi militia regarding the imposition of a naval blockade on Saudi ports, which poses a direct threat to Red Sea maritime navigation and harms the security and economic interests of coastal states.”
The statement reaffirmed Sudan’s full backing for Riyadh’s right to take all necessary security measures to ensure the safety and operation of its ports and safeguard Saudi national security.
The foreign ministry noted that the Houthi militia’s actions undermine security and stability in the Gulf region and Red Sea coastal states, carrying dangerous implications for broader regional security.
Sudan called on the Houthi movement to refrain from any actions targeting Saudi ports or other Red Sea coastal facilities.
It urged the regional and international community to exert further pressure and implement measures to combat and eliminate the activities of terrorist militias across the region.
The Red Sea is one of the world’s most vital maritime corridors, accounting for 10% to 15% of global sea trade alongside significant container and oil traffic, making disruptions a direct risk to international trade and energy markets.
Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large group of other Russian guests.
She is the daughter of two well-known philanthropists
Anderson was born in December 1986 to entrepreneur Harry Loy Anderson Jr. and philanthropist Inger Anderson. She grew up in Palm Beach, where she continues to reside today.
Her father became the youngest bank president in the U.S. when he started leading Worth Avenue National Bank at 26 years old. Together, he and Inger became well-known as a philanthropic couple, with Harry serving as a board member on the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and the national board of governors for the American Red Cross, per his obituary in the Palm Beach Daily News.
“My mom has always been an inspiration to me,” Anderson told Fashion Week Daily in March 2022.
Harry and Inger welcomed five children in addition to Anderson: daughters Mea Stone, Bebe McCranels and Kristina McPherson, and sons Harry Loy III and Kent.
Anderson is a model and socialite
Anderson attended Columbia University, graduating in 2009 with a degree in art history, criticism and conservation, per her LinkedIn. She often posts photos of herself modeling on her Instagram, including shots of herself on the cover of Quest magazine in 2020 and a photo shoot with Hamilton Jewelers that same year.
She was also featured in a story in Palm Beach Illustrated in 2021, with the outlet describing her as a “local influencer.”
With 700 islands, the most pristine waters, and award-winning beaches, the Bahamas is a tropical haven like none other.
Celebrities like Jay Z and Johnny Depp even own private islands in the Bahamas. Talk about a star-studded location.
However, the country is world-renowned for one other reason – it’s financial services sector.
With over two hundred financial institutions including licensed banks and trust companies, the Bahamas’ financial sector is second only to its tourism sector in terms of GNP contribution.
Moreover, the Bahamas’ GNP is one of the highest in the region, owing to the stable political and economic environment.
The name the Bahamas still invokes notions of a classic tax haven from the jet-set era. Sure, once upon a time Americans would come to the Bahamas with sacks full of cash and deposit it into the Bahamian banks. Those days, however, are long gone.
The Bahamas today is a premier offshore banking jurisdiction. However, the country has strict regulations and legal frameworks to avoid money laundering and shady financial activities.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look into the Bahamian banking system and its pros and cons. We’ll also discuss how to open a bank account in the Bahamas.
Donald Trump Jr. met model Vanessa Haydon at a fashion show in 2003. They married at the Trump Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005, and went on to have five children. In March 2018, Vanessa filed for divorce after 12 years of marriage.
Around that time, Trump Jr. began dating former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Along with his responsibilities for the family business, Trump Jr. has hosted the business show 21st Century Television and been involved with the medical charity Operation Smile. He has long held a love for the outdoors and counts hunting and fishing among his personal interests.
In November 2019, Trump Jr. published his first book, Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us. In September 2020, he self-published his second book, Liberal Privilege: Joe Biden and the Democrats’ Defense of the Indefensible.
Photographs from a controversial hunting expedition taken by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in Africa last year have recently resurfaced, igniting a fresh wave of debate over the ethics of trophy hunting. These images, posted by the hunting tour company on their website, show the Trump brothers posing with various dead animals, including an elephant, buffalo, crocodile, and a large leopard. The pictures have triggered outrage among conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts globally, highlighting ongoing tensions around trophy hunting practices.
The Hunting Trip and Its Fallout, among the images, one particularly striking photograph depicts Donald Trump Jr. grinning while holding the severed tail of a dead elephant, knife in hand. This display of triumph has been met with significant criticism from those who argue that such actions undermine conservation efforts and ethical hunting practices.
In response to the backlash, the Trump brothers issued a statement defending their actions. They describe themselves as “avid outdoorsmen,” emphasizing their upbringing in a family tradition of hunting and fishing. They assert, “We were brought up hunting and fishing with our Grandfather who taught us that nothing should ever be taken for granted or wasted. We have the utmost respect for nature and have always hunted in accordance with local laws and regulations… We love traveling and being in the woods—at the end of the day, we are outdoorsmen at heart.”
The brothers further defended their actions by claiming that all the meat from their kills was donated to local villagers who were “incredibly grateful.” This point attempts to frame their hunting as not only a personal pastime but also a form of charitable contribution.
Critics argue that the Trump brothers’ high-profile hunting exploits amplify ethical concerns about trophy hunting. The hunting company involved in this trip has tried to mitigate public concern by stating that they only allow the hunting of “old & mature male animals, which are beyond their prime productive time.” They also claim that their operations create jobs and support local communities. However, the assertion that this type of hunting contributes positively to conservation and local economies remains contested.
Vulcan Elements, which aims to shore up U.S. access to key materials for high technology, has gone from a $200 million valuation to a potential $2 billion one, according to a Bloomberg analysis.
The Trump administration, which watched as rare-earth minerals became a bargaining chip in tariff negotiations with Beijing, soon followed, offering the company a record-breaking $620 million Defense Department loan, as well as $50 million in CHIPS Act incentives, securing the Commerce Department an equity stake in the company.
The investments deepened ties between 1789 and the administration. In 2019, 1789 co-founder Chris Buskirk founded the Rockbridge Network, an influential group of conservative donors, alongside Vice President JD Vance.
The Trump administration has poured millions of dollars into support into Vulcan Elements, a start-up backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, reportedly sending its valuation skyrocketing (Getty)
Umar Kremlev, the Russian oligarch at the centre of reports that he helped pay for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding in the Bahamas, has spent the past decade moving through some of Russia’s most politically connected circles.
Born in 1982 in Serpukhov, an industrial town about 60 miles south of Moscow, he has said he boxed until the age of 19 but never turned professional, blaming what he later called a lack of discipline.
In the years that followed, he accumulated a criminal record – convictions for extortion in 2004 and assault in 2007 – before resurfacing by the mid-2010s as a little-known boxing promoter. His outfit, Patriot, counted the former American world champion Roy Jones Jr among its roster. Jones was later granted Russian citizenship.
By then, Kremlev had also shed his birth name, swapping Lutfulloyev for the more Russian-sounding Kremlev – a surname that bears an obvious resemblance to the Kremlin, and one that also put further distance between him and his earlier crimes.
It was in these same years that he began building ties to figures close to Putin.
Kremlev started attending gatherings of the Night Wolves, an ultranationalist biker club whose leaders have long enjoyed close links to the Kremlin, the Russian investigative outlet Proekt wrote in a profile of the businessman.
At one of the bikers’ meetings, he met Alexei Rubezhny, a powerful major general in Russia’s federal protective service, which guards top officials.
Rubezhny became one of Kremlev’s most important patrons, helping him gain access to senior officials and lobby his interests through the government. The two are also related: Proekt reported that Kremlev is married to Rubezhny’s sister.
Kremlev’s rise through boxing came soon afterwards. In 2017, he was made secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation, which under his tenure grew closely tied to powerful members of the Russian elite.
Rubezhny headed its supervisory board, while Igor Sechin, the chief executive of the state oil company Rosneft and one of Putin’s longest-serving allies, has also served on it.
Kremlev’s reach soon went global. In 2020 he was elected president of AIBA, later renamed the International Boxing Association, putting a Russian official with strong Kremlin ties at the head of the sport’s international governing body.
Mr. Fugazy calls himself the “director general” for a syndicate, headed by attorney Roy M. Cohn, which plans to stage the rematch between Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson at the Polo Grounds in late June…
Mr. Fugazy told The Voice last week that the rematch was “bought for a pretty good price” from Vincent J. Velella, an East Harlem Republican politician who is now under indictment for perjury, and Bill Rosensohn, whose matchmaker’s license has been suspended.
Mr. Fugazy’s group is known as Cohn’s Feature Sports, Inc. Mr. Cohn used to to make news as the more vocal half of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Communist-ferreting, super-sleuth team of Cohn and Shine during the days of the Un-American Activities Committee…
Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne: Who are the Sheffield-born crypto-billionaires who have donated £72m to Reform?
Story by Chris Burn
• 2h
Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne have hit the headlines this weekend for donating a combined £72m to Reform.
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage has hailed the twin donations from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
The donations, amounting to £36 million from each man, are the largest in British political history and together are equivalent to three-quarters of the money spent at the 2024 general election by all parties combined
A man stands in the rubble of the World Trade Center and calls out, asking if anyone needs help on Sept. 11, 2001. Photo by Doug Kanter/AFP via Getty Images
Melania and Donald Trump’s closest friend for over three decades, and Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, is facing what he claims are multiple criminal complaints against him. This is one.
Jeffrey Epstein wrote that about Paolo Zampolli on February 15, 2011, in an email the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Fifteen years later, a woman named Victoria Drake put the line in a federal complaint and, beneath it, described what she says the trouble looked like.
Drake filed the suit on the night of September 3 in the Southern District of New York. It runs eleven pages, names one defendant, and asks a jury to find that Zampolli — Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Global Partnerships, the man who by his own account introduced Trump to Melania Knauss in 1998 — drugged and raped her in the basement of his townhouse at 119 East 17th Street on October 7, 2023. Judge Ronnie Abrams has the case. Summons went out September 4. Zampolli has not yet answered.
Narativ has spent most of this year on Zampolli. On June 12, Amanda Ungaro — his partner of two decades and the mother of his son — sat with me live, in her first interview since ICE took her into custody last June, held her for months, and put her on a plane. Four days later we published “Melania’s Shadow,” tracing what Ungaro’s documents showed: a Russian-cultivated network run for years out of the United Nations. On July 11, “The Spy at the First Lady’s Side” laid out the rest — the modeling agencies, the 2004 auction bid for Elite alongside Epstein, the 2013 nonprofit with Ghislaine Maxwell, the ambassador-rank title from Trump with no Senate vote and no security clearance behind it.
Sixteen days after that piece ran, Melania Trump’s lawyer sent me a letter. It demanded that Ungaro and I “immediately retract the false, malicious, and defamatory statements” and compensate the First Lady for “overwhelming financial and reputational harm.” I read it on air on July 27 and declined. No suit has been filed. What arrived instead, five weeks later, was Drake’s.
Her lawyers, Jesse Weinstein and Max Bracero of Arcé Law Group, have now put our pattern into a court filing, under penalty of Rule 11, with Bates numbers. A plaintiff’s complaint is one side of a story. But this one cites the government’s own Epstein documents by page — EFTA00173834, where a correspondent calls Zampolli “sleazy”; EFTA02618736, a list the filing describes as purported “killers” with his name on it; EFTA01836539, the “trouble” email — and it names Ungaro’s deportation, in paragraph 3, as an act of a presidential appointee using his office against the mother of his child. Nobody has sworn to that in a federal pleading before.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said it had intercepted and captured an American unmanned underwater vehicle at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz following what it described as a “complex intelligence and operational action”. Iranian state media released photographs of the vehicle and portrayed it as a sophisticated piece of American military technology.
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The Dive-LD is roughly 5.8 metres long, about two metres in diameter and weighs around three tonnes. It is designed to operate without a crew inside it and can undertake extended underwater missions. Naval News, which analysed the photographs released by Iran, said several physical features appeared to match the Dive-LD design.
The US, however, has sought to significantly reduce the importance of the incident. According to reports, the Pentagon confirmed that an underwater drone had malfunctioned during regional operations more than a day before Iran announced its capture. US officials described the vehicle as an older system and said it did not contain classified equipment. Anduril also confirmed the loss, pointing out that such systems are designed to operate in high-risk environments where losing a vehicle is an accepted possibility.
For Tehran, the incident is evidence that Iran can detect and seize sophisticated American technology operating in waters it regards as strategically vital. For Washington, it was essentially the loss of an expendable, malfunctioning unmanned platform rather than the capture of a sensitive US submarine.
What Does The ‘Robot Submarine’ Do?
Calling the Dive-LD a “submarine” can be slightly misleading. Unlike a conventional submarine, it does not carry a crew. It is an autonomous underwater vehicle, meaning it can navigate underwater and perform programmed missions without sailors physically operating it from inside.
That makes systems such as the Dive-LD attractive to militaries because they can perform dangerous missions without putting human crews directly in harm’s way.
The platform can be used for several types of missions, including mine countermeasures, seabed mapping, intelligence and surveillance, and inspection of underwater infrastructure. It can reportedly dive to depths of up to 6,000 metres and remain operational for as long as 10 days, according to reports. Each vehicle costs roughly $2.5 million.
The mine-hunting capability is particularly relevant in the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Any military mine placed along shipping routes can force commercial vessels to slow down, reroute or wait for clearance.
The US has been conducting a high-risk mine-clearing operation around Hormuz involving Navy SEALs, robotic boats and underwater systems. The operation has involved detecting and neutralising mines in and around shipping lanes.
That means an autonomous underwater vehicle operating in the region can have an important role even if it never fires a weapon. It can map the seabed, look for mines, monitor underwater activity and potentially gather information about maritime infrastructure
The price of oil has risen above $100 a barrel for the first time since July as the escalating conflict in the Middle East threatens further disruption to global supplies.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 2.1% past the milestone after tensions increased in the Gulf amid the latest tit-for-tat exchange of fire between the US and Iran.
On Tuesday the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, said the latest rise in oil prices was putting pressure on inflation and interest rates.
“The risks, I’m afraid, are on the upside,” he told MPs. “And that’s really the risks coming from energy prices.”
The oil price has jumped by a quarter since early August as hopes for a permanent resolution to the six-month-old war faded and as fighting flared again.
The climb in costs has hit UK motorists, with petrol at the pump reaching an average of 166.2p a litre on Tuesday, the highest level in four years, according to the motoring body the AA.
The AA said diesel hit an average of 187.7p, a price it last reached in May. Prices per litre of petrol have risen 4.4p since the August bank holiday, with diesel up 4.1p.
Brent is up more than 60% this year, and has risen above the $100 mark for three periods so far in 2026.
China, the world’s largest importer of crude, has increased purchases in recent days, after a hiatus that had been a factor keeping oil prices somewhat in check in the early part of the conflict.
“For the direction of crude prices, we are also monitoring Chinese crude imports as a key indicator,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note.
“Chinese crude imports recovered to nearly 9m barrels per day in August, up from the June low of 7.15m, but still lower compared to the [pre-conflict] February imports of 12.6m. It looks like the recovery trend could continue.”
Goldman, Bank of America and HSBC have all raised their crude forecasts in the past few days, and the IEA already expects global oil supply to fall by 4.3 million barrels a day this year, about 4%, even with the United States, Canada, Argentina pumping more.
Merchant News, Substack
The Conversation:
Iran’s threat to cut undersea cables in Strait of Hormuz poses a serious threat to Gulf states
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