The announcement by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that the Pentagon will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, marks a new stage in the descent of the American state into fascistic barbarism. The plan has provoked revulsion around the world.

Hegseth’s plan to livestream an execution and the fascist barbarism of the ruling class

BY Evan Blake

Pope Leo is tapping into public fears of artificial intelligence to distract people from the Catholic Church’s latent child sex abuse scandals, Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel has claimed. The gay US tech billionaire also accused former President Barack Obama of exploiting opposition to AI for political gain.

The remarks come as AI developers themselves warn that the technology could soon spiral beyond human control. OpenAI chief Sam Altman and xAI owner Elon Musk have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI models after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that rogue systems could seize control of vast swathes of the internet within months, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.

The warnings have fueled demand for the tougher oversight of AI, with rival tech giants calling for safeguards against a technology they fear could evade human control.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has delivered a blistering attack on open borders, globalism and the erosion of national sovereignty in Europe, warning from the ancient heart of Athens that the West risks sliding into “atrophy, servitude and decline.”

Speaking on Wednesday from the Pnyx, the ancient assembly site beneath the Acropolis, Rubio argued that Western governments had spent decades dismantling the very principles that had made their civilization successful.

“‘Nationalism’ became a dirty word,” Rubio said. “So we tore down our monuments, we condemned our own history, and in too many places we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.”

“In the process we opened our borders, and outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay,” he added.

Pillay is the world’s leading champion of the UN antisemitic hatefest known as the “Durban conference.” Here’s Pillay, Secretary-General of “Durban II” (the 2009 UN “Durban Review Conference”) in one of her attempts to enlist states to support Durban:

Sanae Takaichi has consolidated extraordinary political power, but the economic conditions that sustained the Abe era have changed and Japan’s fragmented opposition may not remain her only problem.

Satoshi Machidori

The German delegation passed through Paris without being hindered by the student strikes taking place on the streets of Paris. The motorcades moved through the French capital without disruption. Around the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees, however, traffic was at a standstill for hours. Due to the high-profile visit, the streets were cordoned off over a wide area.

• The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize goes to South African jurist and human rights pioneer Navi Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law.” Pillay played an integral part in the anti-apartheid movement and served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attended Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday party, the Kremlin said Thursday. 

Putin celebrated his 74th birthday in Moscow on Wednesday. The Kremlin said Putin learned that Schröder was on a business trip in the Russian capital via Russian media reports. 

"The president invited his old friend to his home," the Kremlin said, with the Russian government releasing pictures of Schröder and Putin smiling and clasping hands. 

The mountain cried as water fell

For the country was racing towards hell

My friend

You chose not to dream any more

And die at the time of your choosing

Avoiding lanes of rubbish-piles decomposing

And old factories being demolished

From leaky roof to the rotten floor

As small precious houses are vanished

To the glory of high rise with low ceilings

Office cabinets spew abandoned dealings

Replaced by the super intelligence haven

Of artificial data centres awakening

While the bus is filling up with old men

Awaiting departure to the underworld

The last station beyond our only end

The sugar mills pump steam and smoke

In the glorious Queensland blue air 

My friend

Promoting tooth decay with sweets for children

Israel failed to protect its people and demanded the world accept Gaza’s devastation as the price of their deaths. Andrew Brown.

October 7 has become Benjamin Netanyahu’s shield. Behind that shield sits a damning record: ignored intelligence, reported warnings to Netanyahu, catastrophic failures at Nova, Hannibal directives killing hostages, false atrocity stories and a reported opportunity to negotiate civilian hostage releases that Israel declined.

Three years later, his government still refuses an independent state commission of inquiry.

Manchester City may face severe punishment if its financial breaches are upheld on appeal. But the people who will live with the consequences had no say in the decisions that brought the club here.

Football fans: who amongst us hasn’t wished for untold success for our club? To lift countless trophies, win handsomely against the strongest opposition, sign the world’s best players, and achieve glory year after year? Whatever the challenge, the club will have the funds, influence and clout to put an elite 11 players on the field each week. Success will only ever be just around the corner.

Martyn Pearce

Brussels is steering Europe toward totalitarianism and a “Euro-Gestapo” while lecturing Russia on democracy, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha has warned.

Blaha made the remarks during a European Parliament debate on Tuesday, responding to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who denounced Russia’s recent parliamentary elections as undemocratic.

The politician questioned why Brussels was focusing on Russia while cracking down on dissent within the bloc.

He cited arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters in Germany and the imprisonment of Estonian opposition figures, who he claimed were jailed for opposing war with Russia.

“Are you going to set up the Euro-Gestapo here, Mrs. Kallas, and lock up everyone who wants peace?” he asked.

The Slovak lawmaker also questioned why Brussels was debating Russia’s elections while Europe faced mounting unrest.

News reports that next year’s U.S. military budget will top out at $1.5 trillion if President Donald Trump gets his way are misleading at best. The true total, if Trump’s proposal passes, could be at least $1 trillion higher.

A statue of US President Donald Trump was put on exhibit in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France.

The 2.5-meter satirical statue, by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, is called "Orange Plague," and it shows the US leader naked, holding a long gold club and sitting on the shoulders of a smaller man.

The artist said it is coated with 23-karat gold. The statue is also known by the name "King of Injustice."