He's only been Prime Minister for a couple of hours, and already Andy Burnham is shaking things up.

The former Manchester mayor became the Prime Minister of Great Britain earlier today (20 Jul), weeks after outgoing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation.

Several EU member states have demanded exemptions from the bloc’s latest proposed Russia sanctions package, or blocked some of its measures outright, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing diplomats.

Greece, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Portugal all repordedly asked for changes, reflecting growing resistance to Brussels’ sanctions attempts, as more member states balk at measures they believe would damage their own national economies and corporate interests.

Several rounds of talks last week failed to produce agreement on the EU’s proposed 21st sanctions package targeting Russia’s energy, financial, crypto, trade, and fisheries sectors. It would also ban Russians who have served in the military since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 from entering the bloc.

In the second of a two-part series, Robin Brown and Nick Bogiatzis show how it is the politicians most loudly claiming to defend “Western values” who are among the most dedicated to undermining them.

Pauline Hanson stands on the myth of a monocultural Western civilisation under siege. So does Reform UK’s Nigel Farage. US Vice President JD Vance does too. The Liberal Party’s new president Tony Abbott has made a career out of it. These politicians share the political usefulness of invoking “Western values” to exclude, demean and restrict the rights of people outside their preferred cultural group. They are either ignorant of, or dishonest about, the values they claim to defend.

 

 

Evidence to the public inquiry into AUKUS is exposing risks around nuclear accidents, sovereignty, jobs, waste and Australia’s role as a US military base.

I have been watching and listening to the livestream broadcast of the Public Inquiry into AUKUS. Truthfully, I have been doing more than watching. As a board member of the Australian Peace and Security Forum, which is supporting the Inquiry, I have been hanging on every piece of evidence, every presentation, every media story.

 

The US and Iran are on the precipice of all out conflict, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with discussions in the While House. According to the paper’s sources, Washington is ramping up its air war assets in the Middle East.

 

US planning for wider war with Iran – WaPo

The White House is likely unaware it lacks the resources needed for an extended military campaign, an American official has told the paper

 

The warning comes as the Pentagon confirmed that at least four US service members had been killed after Iranian forces launched retaliatory strikes on American military facilities in the region. According to the New York Times, US forces were hit by Iranian missile and drone attacks several times over the past week, wounding dozens of troops and damaging several Black Hawk helicopters.

Britain has suffered the biggest fall in household wealth among high-income economies since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026.

The Swiss bank’s annual report measures household net wealth – the value of assets such as homes, savings, and investments, minus liabilities – across 56 markets representing more than 90% of global wealth.

 

Britain suffers biggest wealth slump since Covid-19 – UBS

The UK has recorded the steepest decline in household wealth, while Russia ranks among the strongest performers...

 

Barnaby Joyce says his party does not support the White Australia policy after Pauline Hanson blamed the end of the policy for Australia's migration issues.

Follow all the updates in our live blog. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/federal-politics-live-blog-one-nation/106934254

 

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says she does not regret being interviewed by far-right UK figure Tommy Robinson.

The question recently asked by a federal judge in Miami — can the president sue an entity in the executive branch of the federal government and benefit from the resolution of that lawsuit? — seems to beg the question. 

How could anyone sue an entity he controls and derive a benefit from the amicable resolution of such a lawsuit at the expense of others who are not parties to the lawsuit? 

 

Can Trump Sue Himself?

Had the U.S. president asked the IRS to shelve his case until he leaves office, he’d have had a real claim, writes Andrew P. Napolitano. Instead he jeopardized the careers of his eager-to-please lawyers.

By Andrew P. Napolitano

 

 

Nikita Zvezdov was just 15 years old when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He was drafted into the Russian military straight after his 18th birthday in April 2024. Shortly before that, he had been failed at a vocational school he was attending in Krasnoyarsk and he believes that his expulsion was deliberate.

Over the past few years there have been reports that Russian students were not only drafted into the army but also prevented from passing their exams or deliberately flunked, so their conscription could not be hindered. This information has not been verified.

In the second of a two-part series, Peter Briggs examines the decommissioning, dismantling and waste-disposal risks Australia will inherit from AUKUS reactors.

The political narrative surrounding the AUKUS submarine project has heavily prioritised the immediate advantages of acquiring a “sealed, life-of-type” reactor.

 

Peter Briggs

AUKUS leaves Australia with the long nuclear goodbye – part two

 

 

Israel's environment minister has reclassified crocodiles so that they can now be used for security purposes. Far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reportedly wants them to surround a jail holding Hamas militants.

Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman has given a new classification to crocodiles, in a move that may allow the reptiles to be deployed for security tasks, such as maintaining security at prisons.

 

Israel clears way for crocodiles to stop prison breaks

Timothy Jones

 

We are living in an age of climate collapse, which will most likely result in mass displacement and death, warns Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion in the United Kingdom on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report. . And while that reality is hard to accept, it is an honest assessment of what lies ahead that must be addressed as we decide how to navigate what Hallam calls humanity’s “darkest hour.”

 

Democracy Necessitates Resistance (w/ Roger Hallam) | The Chris Hedges Report

 

Johan Galtung, dr, dr hc mult, a professor of peace studies, was born in 1930 in Oslo, Norway. He is a mathematician, sociologist, political scientist and the founder of the discipline of peace studies. He founded the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (1959), the world's first academic research center focused on peace studies, as well as the influential Journal of Peace Research (1964). He has helped found dozens of other peace centers around the world.

 

Johan Galtung
Founder of TRANSCEND International

 

Responding to Special Envoy Jillian Segal’s claim of a “grossly inflated” death toll in Gaza, UN spokesperson for Secretary-General António Guterres backed the Gaza Ministry of Health. Aleta Moriarty reports.

The integrity of Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion depends on an accurate factual record. Public confidence in its findings relies on evidence being tested and claims being verified.

 

UN refutes Jillian Segal’s Gaza death toll claim before Royal Commission

by Aleta Moriarty