Book Review: “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” by Charles Spencer

Four dead after powerful Typhoon Dujuan lashes Japan

The storm pulled away from Japan after bringing heavy rains and strong winds to Tokyo and surrounding areas.

UK backs Saudi Arabia with RAF Voyager refuelling support amid Houthi campaign

Iran must stop arming Houthis in Yemen, G7 says ahead of UN General Assembly

The G7 also condemns "in the strongest terms" Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying that the escalation in fighting in Yemen jeopardises global energy security.

Woman buys $15 flea-market necklace, later discovers it’s an Alexander Calder work worth $267,750

17-year-old Texas student takes air-quality project to 60 schools

Wall Street nears record as oil prices, bond yields ease

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are climbing with markets worldwide on Monday after oil prices and yields in the bond market gave back some of their jumps from last week. The S&P 500 rose 1 percent and pulled within 0.9 percent of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 193 points, or 0.4 percent, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6 percent higher. They got help from the price for a barrel of Brent oil falling 3.4 percent to $100.29. While that’s still much higher than its roughly $72 price from earlier this summer, it’s down from the nearly $110 it touched last week. Oil prices are swinging up and down as some crude from the Middle East is able to sail through the Strait of Hormuz , though nowhere nearly as much as the industry and customers would like because of the war with Iran. Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson said another leg higher in prices for oil, gasoline and other refined products is the main risk he sees in the near term that could keep the U.S. stock market from rising to his forecasted target for the year’s end

US networks halt Trump coverage over White House ban

WASHINGTON — Major American television networks on Monday suspended their involvement in a rotation of broadcasters covering President Donald Trump, as three leading news outlets went to court over being banned from the White House. Broadcasters CNN and MS NOW, along with news outlet Politico, filed suit after Trump last week ordered them to be barred from the presidential complex. "This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the organizations said in a court filing. Shortly afterward, the five major U.S. broadcasters said they were halting "pool" coverage of the White House in solidarity with CNN. CNN had been scheduled to serve Monday as the White House TV pool, a rotating assignment in which a broadcaster films on behalf of all television outlets for the day. "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said

AMD joins $1 trillion club as chipmakers rally on AI-driven demand

Advanced Micro Devices soared past $1 trillion in market capitalization for the first time on Monday, joining a small group of chipmakers to reach the milestone, as investors bet on its expanding role in AI computing. AMD shares were last up 9.6 percent at $613.31, scaling a record high. The milestone caps a stellar rally for the Santa Clara, California-based company, regarded as the closest rival to AI bellwether Nvidia for graphics processing units. It becomes only the fourth US chipmaker to top a $1 trillion valuation, after Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron. Nvidia crossed the mark in 2023 and is now the world's most valuable company, worth more than $5 trillion. "Money is moving back into the AI trade," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York. Enthusiasm for chipmakers cooled in recent months as markets scrutinized AI spending by hyperscalers. Higher oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict and expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates added to the pressure. But now investors believe AI is the only area that can work in a Federal Reserve-induced economic s

Google opens pre-orders for $899 Googlebook laptops built around Gemini AI

Alphabet's Google on Monday opened pre-orders for Googlebook, its new premium laptop category for Android users built around the company's Gemini AI tools. Starting at $899, initial models from Acer, Asus, Dell , HP and Lenovo will run on Intel or Qualcomm processors with up to 14 hours of battery life, the company said. The launch comes as Apple moves deeper into lower-priced laptops with its $699 MacBook Neo, adding competition in a market where Chromebook makers have long targeted students and budget-conscious consumers on affordability and simplicity. Googlebook extends that formula into premium laptops with more powerful hardware, AI features and tighter Android integration — Google's latest push for a flagship ChromeOS showcase after the Pixelbook in 2017 and Pixelbook Go in 2019. The lineup includes Gemini tools that can help users draft and organize text, ask questions about content on their screens and resume tasks from an Android phone. It is built on the Android technology stack paired with desktop foundations from ChromeOS, aiming to make switching between phones and compute

CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue over denied White House access, citing First Amendment

NEW YORK — CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday sued President Donald Trump’s administration after they were barred from covering the White House over the weekend, saying the selective ban was “a blatant violation” of the First Amendment. The administration’s announcement of the bans Friday and the White House’s subsequent actions over the weekend represented a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict news coverage he finds objectionable or, in his words, “fake news.” They were also the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States, where the government is constitutionally forbidden from restricting the press. The Constitution, the banned news outlets said in their lawsuit, “does not allow a president or any other government official to deprive the press of their First Amendment rights and liberty and property interests with no notice or process based solely on his dislike of the content of their reporting.” The three outlets filed the joint lawsuit two days after their repo

US lawmakers urge Trump to maintain ban on Chinese automakers

WASHINGTON — More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged President Donald Trump to keep in place a ban on Chinese automakers out of the U.S. market, ahead of his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping this week. "We urge you to maintain strong protections against Chinese automobiles and connected vehicle technologies and ensure that China does not gain access to our market through direct imports, local production, and other avenues of circumvention," said the 27 lawmakers led by Representative Debbie Dingell. Earlier this month, Trump told Fox News he would accept Chinese car companies building cars in the United States.

Global diesel prices hit record highs, further rises possible

LONDON — Diesel prices have rallied in Europe and the United States to record highs as wars in Iran and Ukraine sharply cut exports from some of the biggest producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with little options to prevent further gains. Diesel futures in Europe closed at an all-time high last week having more than double their level at the beginning of 2026, after supply disruptions spread to the Red Sea, where Saudi Arabia loads most of its diesel. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have damaged oil refineries in the region, and refineries elsewhere are working hard to make fuels. In the United States for example, refineries operated at the highest level in eight years in late August, according to the International Energy Agency. "A key issue is that many refineries around the world are already stretched to capacity," the International Energy Agency said in a newsletter on Monday. "This leaves few available options to prevent a further tightening of supplies and higher prices in the coming months." Middle East diesel exports halved from March to