China expels a third top leader as Xi's purge climbs into the ruling elite

World

Beijing removes a former Politburo member for corruption — the third since 2025 — while Trump's threatened 20% toll on the Strait of Hormuz drives oil to a one-month high, and nine European nations agree to build a missile shield around Ukraine.

Finance

A dozen state attorneys general moved to stop the year's biggest media merger on antitrust grounds, splitting from a federal government that had already waved it through — while oil, a possible Fed rate hike, and a chip-stock reversal kept markets on edge.

Tech

Chipmaker stocks sold off on doubts the AI boom is overbuilt, even as TSMC posts record revenue and Meta's data center crosses a quarter-trillion dollars.

Mind & body

Caffeine is the world's most-used drug, and almost everyone gets it wrong.

Climate

A two-week heat dome over Europe and the US is killing thousands, burning forests near Paris, and — in a twist most coverage misses — throttling the very nuclear plants meant to keep the lights on, because the rivers that cool them have grown too warm.

Space

Anil Menon launched to the space station on a Russian Soyuz this morning, a reminder that in orbit the US and Russia still keep each other alive — even as NASA drafts the rules for the private stations that will end the arrangement.

Biotech

A small trial of a cell therapy kept children with incurable brain tumours alive for years — a phase 1 result, not a cure.

Money

The number in a savings account can sit unchanged for years while the money quietly buys less each one.

Sports

A new finance report shows the world's richest league is bleeding money at record levels — and the rules built to enforce discipline are pushing clubs to sell their best young players just to stay legal.

Gaming

Steam is on course for its biggest-ever year while Microsoft, Ubisoft and others cut thousands of the people who make the games.

Food

A new study shows America's major crops have never paid for themselves on the open market; public programs quietly fill the gap every year.

Cyber

Europe imposed its first joint cyber sanctions on Russian intelligence officers the same day the US and a dozen allies warned that the same group is quietly living inside routers worldwide, exploiting weak passwords and flaws left unpatched since 2008.