The heads of six Australian states will miss a reception for King Charles III when he arrives Down Under, while the British monarch has said he would not oppose the former prison colony declaring itself a republic.

While Australia has been fully independent since 1986, its titular head of state is still the British monarch. A 1999 referendum to declare a republic failed, in part due to the popularity of Queen Elizabeth II at the time.

Charles is due to arrive in Australia later this week. On Monday, the premiers of six federal states informed Canberra they would not be able to attend the reception for the monarch, citing prior commitments.

Funding cuts to the BBC World Service have allowed Russian and Chinese media outlets to spread “unchallenged propaganda” across the Global South, the director-general of the British state media giant has complained.

The BBC World Service broadcasts in around 40 languages to an audience of 320 million people per week. Two years ago, the network cut more than 380 jobs and stopped radio broadcasts in ten languages, including Arabic and Persian.

In a speech in London on Monday afternoon, Davie is expected to argue that “when the World Service retreats, state-funded media operators move in to take advantage,”according to remarks shared with British media outlets in advance.

A third attempt on the life of Donald Trump was prevented on Saturday when law enforcement officers arrested an armed man with fake press passes outside the former US president’s rally in Coachella, California, a local sheriff has said.

Vem Miller, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident, was arrested at a checkpoint outside the rally venue on Saturday with an illegally owned shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Sunday.  

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told local media that Miller had presented fake VIP and press passes at the checkpoint.  

“They were different enough to cause the deputies alarm,” Bianco told the Press-Enterprise. “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.” 

Alex Salmond collapsed 'all of a sudden' - conference organiser
A youth conference organiser who witnessed Alex Salmond collapse at a leadership event in North Macedonia said "time stood still".
Mark Donfried of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy said the former first minister was caught by a fellow delegate as he collapsed at a lunch event.
Speaking from the city of Ohrid in the Balkan country, Mr Donfried said the event was cancelled as paramedics tried in vain to resuscitate Salmond.
"We are all still in a state of shock and that is not something we can easily move forward from."

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cwyl0qp0qg8o

The White House has published a letter from Vice President Kamala Harris’s doctor, describing her physical and mental condition as “excellent.” Her campaign immediately used the report to question whether former President Donald Trump is “hiding” something about his health.

The two-page document, written by Dr. Joshua Simmons and released on Saturday, stated that Harris is “a healthy 59-year-old female with a medical history notable for seasonal allergies and urticaria.” The report noted she has never experienced severe symptoms and that her most recent physical exam in April 2024 was otherwise “unremarkable.”

$1 TRILLION DEAL: Big US Banks Enjoy Billions in Profit as Depositors Are Taken Advantage Of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exyk98RI0RE

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

40 nations 'strongly condemn' attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

The UK is among 40 nations to "strongly condemn" attacks on United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Lebanon.

There was a time when Netanyahu’s tactics would go unquestioned. That time helps explain those who continue to give Israel unqualified and unquestioning support and ties in with the “hard man” image Peter Dutton wants to own, writes Michael Pascoe.

Cullin-la-Ringo, near Springsure in central Queensland, is the site of Australia’s biggest single massacre of colonists in the Frontier War – also known as the Wills tragedy. Gayiri warriors armed with nulla nullas killed 19 men, women and children camped in preparation for establishing a station on 260 square kilometres of Gayiri land.x

In the way of such things, the attack was in revenge for the murder of Gayiri men by a neighbouring squatter who falsely accused them of stealing cattle.

...this “consensus”, which was never actually a consensus, was decided in January 1993, an American scholar tells us, between “15th Street and 19th Street in Washington among the United States Treasury, the IMF and the World Bank, as well as some influential think tanks, a prominent majority of academics along with assorted editorialists and, most importantly, business interests.”

According to Canadian author Naomi Klein, in her seminal work The Shock Doctrine (Metropolitan, 2007), many of the powerful masterminds in Washington saw Russia’s economic collapse as a geopolitical victory — the decisive one that secured the United States’ supremacy. “With the end of the Soviet empire”, she wrote, “the market now had a global monopoly”.

On 6 October, the head of the president of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine said Israel has been bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut using banned bombs with uranium warheads and called for collecting samples from the bombed sites to send to the UN as part of an international investigation.

President of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine Raif Reda called for “collecting samples from the bombing sites and sending reports to the United Nations so the world can witness the bloody, criminal history of the Zionist enemy,” according to statements reported by the National News Agency (NNA).

Over the years I’ve learnt to chew and walk at the same time. It’s taken a while, but I think I’ve mastered it. Being able and willing to condemn the actions of Hamas, and criticising Iran while also condemning the callousness of Israel’s incursions into Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon is something I think most reasonable people can and should do.

NATO planning new Russia strategy – Politico
The bloc’s current policy towards Moscow was developed in a “different era” and needs to be changed, a US official has said

NATO’s defense ministers will meet in Brussels next week to start rethinking the bloc’s decades-old strategy on relations with Russia, Politico has reported

Despite ties between NATO and Russia hitting “rock bottom” after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the ‘Founding Act’ with Moscow remains in force within the US-led alliance, the outlet noted in an article on Friday.

The 1997 document, which states that NATO and Russia share a common goal to “build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe,” does not reflect the current situation, Politico wrote.

The Indian government on Wednesday gave long-awaited clearance for a project to build two nuclear-powered attack submarines, national media have reported, citing sources. The project cost is estimated at around 450 billion rupees ($5.4 billion).

New Delhi has also cleared a deal to acquire 31 weaponized MQ-9B Predator drones from the US for an additional $4 billion, as part of a long-term plan to counter China in the region, sources told the Times of India. The article noted that both platforms will be able to “quietly gather intelligence, track enemy targets at extended ranges, and then destroy them if required.”

A source told the paper that it will take 10 to 12 years to commission the vessel, termed an SSN – meaning ‘ship submersible, nuclear’ – which will have a 190 MW pressurized light-water reactor and displacement of almost 10,000 tons. 

Biden warns Iran against going after Trump – WaPo
Washington would consider an attack on the former US president an act of war, the outlet has reported

US president Joe Biden has told the White House National Security Council to warn Iran against trying to assassinate Donald Trump, the Washington Post has reported.

The message that the US president wanted to be relayed to Tehran was that Washington would treat any attempt on the life of his predecessor, or on that of any other former American official, as an act of war, the paper wrote on Friday.

Australia’s mainstream media continues to push the unfounded October 7 narrative of “babies beheaded” and “mass rapes” which gave rise to Israel’s extreme “collective punishment” in Gaza. Michael West reports.

As recently as last week, in the wake of the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Australia’s media persisted with its narrative of “babies beheaded” and “mass rapes”. 

In a story in Rupert Murdoch’s Herald Sun by former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg 5 days ago, the claims were repeated again despite a lack of evidence, in fact despite the claims being debunked by a number of independent sources and even