A prominent US evangelist has claimed that government officials held a secret briefing for pastors and urged them to prepare their congregations for the imminent release of information about alien life and unidentified spacecraft, which could shatter Christian faith.

Perry Stone, a Tennessee-based Pentecostal preacher and founder of the Voice of Evangelism ministry, made the remarks in a podcast last week, which gained traction only recently.

Citing an unidentified friend, Stone said that “there were a large number of pastors who had been invited to go to a certain state to hear some men in the United States government and others share with them a concern that they had”.

President Donald Trump has signed a new US national counterterrorism strategy that describes Western Europe as both a target and an “incubator of terror threats,” while also singling out drug cartels and violent left-wing extremists as major dangers to America.

US blasts ‘wealthy NATO allies’ as terror incubators
President Trump’s new national counterterrorism strategy accuses the EU of letting hostile groups “exploit open borders and related globalist ideals”

Yellow and blue smoke rose, and out of it appeared a pair of breasts with “RUSSIA KILLS” written across bare skin. The performance was optimized for the press preview circuit, providing free self-pleasuring material for the Ukrainian-flags-in-bio crowd and their patriarchy-fighting-for-easy-body-access comrades alike.

Nudity for NATO: The OnlyFans strategy for saving Ukraine

Pussy Riot and FEMEN’s Venice Biennale protest showed the version of Ukraine the EU knows how to consume: obedient and stripped for export

By Valeriya Kovalenko

Spain urges EU to resist Trump’s sanctions
PM Pedro Sanchez has called on Brussels to shield the International Criminal Court from US pressure over its war crimes case against Israel....

The European Union should shield the International Criminal Court from US sanctions linked to its case against Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said.

In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged atrocities against Palestinians in the enclave by the Israel Defense Forces.

The ICC’s jurisdiction is currently recognized by 125 countries. However, the US and Israel are not signatories to the Rome Statute.

Cheaper and more effective ways of waging war are emerging, but then there’s the American (and Australian) way that still sees the waste of horrendously expensive equipment.

Alison Broinowski

[1 MAY 2026] Comrades, workers, youth, friends and supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International gathered today across every continent: We open this May Day rally with a declaration of solidarity with all those who today stand in the front lines of resistance against imperialist violence and capitalist reaction.

Capitalist crisis, war and the international class struggle

David North

Clover Moore capitulates to Murdoch media and Minns, cancels today’s Sydney debate on ‘Globalise the Intifada’. Andrew Brown writes on the impact of cancel culture.

There is a particular kind of cowardice that wears the mask of governance. It does not arrive announcing itself. It arrives incrementally, each step dressed in the language of safety, of balance, of community cohesion, of protecting the vulnerable. 

Clover Moore capitulates, cancels ‘Globalise the Intifada’ debate

by Andrew Brown

By the time the architecture is visible, it is nearly complete. Australia is very nearly there.

I honestly do not know what Trump is going to do. I can only tell you what I am being told. A friend of mine who happens to live in the UAE, reached out to me late last night with info he had received from an Emirati official who is plugged into the UAE defense establishment. That official told my friend that the US would attack Iran on 7 May… That is Thursday.

Ball of Confusion… Trump’s Mixed Signals on Iran

by Larry C. Johnson

Given the source’s access, I find the information credible. Then Trump releases this around 6 pm eastern:

As widely expected, the Reserve Bank raised its interest rate by another 0.25% points today, just in time for Jim Chalmers’ next budget. Michael Pascoe reports.

The headline is the RBA’s third rate hike in a row, the board voting eight-to-one this time, while business is shouting that the economy is cooling, but the story is the little extra pressure the bank is placing on next week’s Federal budget.

Just don’t be fooled into thinking the Albanese Government is responding with anything bold or game-changing. I’ll come back to that.

“You are the smartest people. I’m late to the party.” – former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the Ron Paul Spring Conference audience

“You have been right for so long. You have been awake longer than most Americans.” – former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent to the Ron Paul Spring Conference audience

No Appetite for War at the Ron Paul Spring Conference

by Ginny Garner

The global economy is no longer wobbling — it’s splintering. In a sweeping, unsparing conversation, economist Jeffrey Sachs describes a world pushed to the edge by Washington’s wars with Iran and Russia, its economic confrontation with China, and its attempt to reassert dominance across the Western Hemisphere.

Sachs on U.S. Power in Freefall: “The Most Dangerous Country in the World”

The pillars that held the global system together for decades — stable trade routes, energy flows, technological exchange, and financial integration — are being weaponized or dismantled outright. Europe, Sachs argues, has “cut itself off from its main natural resource provider” and is now “completely adrift economically,” while Asia accelerates toward deeper integration and long‑term advantage.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 17 people on Monday, Lebanon's health ministry says - marking one of the deadliest few days there since a ceasefire began just over two weeks ago.

It brings the number of those killed since Thursday to 110 , according to the ministry. Israel says it is targeting the armed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah.

Israeli attacks kill dozens within days in Lebanon despite ceasefire

Samantha Granville [BBC]

The Lebanese casualty figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, two of the dead and 14 of the injured are children.

Our media has been full of praise for King Charles and his handling of President Trump on the recent state visit. His mention of AUKUS has been hailed as a great moment for Australia.

On the contrary, the King’s visit merely underlined our strange constitutional arrangements, essentially a Clayton’s monarchy [or, as the advertisements said, “the drink you have when you’re not having a drink”].

Dennis Altman

Unless TACO Trump is bluffing, the US appears poised to unleash a new series of attacks on Iran using the Strait of Hormuz as an excuse. On Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the US will begin guiding foreign ships out of the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday under “Project Freedom,” calling it a humanitarian effort to assist neutral vessels stranded by the conflict. Trump warned that any interference with the operation would be met with force.

Prior to this, President Trump on Truth Social said that Iran has not yet paid a ‘big enough price’ for ‘what they’ve done to humanity’: