Mark Rutte has expressed concern regarding Russia’s space capabilities and warned that Russia might be trying to send nuclear weapons in space. Also, Bundeswehr Inspector General Carsten Breuer has stated that Russia might be ready to attack NATO by 2029 and he urged the Bundeswehr to prepare.

Mr. Steve Witkoff has had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin where they have discussed the war in Ukraine. After the meeting, Mr. Witkoff stated that the fastest way to secure a ceasefire is for the West to make territorial concessions to Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Er3f2tshxU

MOSCOW (Sputnik) On April 2, Trump signed an executive order introducing "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from other countries. The baseline rate was set at 10%, while dozens of countries were hit with higher rates. The duties on most countries were reversed to 10% days later to allow for trade negotiations, while those on China were hiked to 145%.

The United States and China have started "soft" communications on tariffs and other trade issues through intermediaries, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday.

"I think we have had soft — the way I would say this is soft entrees, you know, through intermediaries," Lutnick told ABC News when asked about whether Washington and China had recently had any contacts regarding their trade relations.

Meeting privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Pope Francis congratulated the pair for their 20 years together. Despite having canceled their official state visit to the Holy See citing Pope Francis’ ill health and need for recovery, the king and queen nevertheless met privately with the Pontiff Wednesday afternoon.

According to a statement from Buckingham Palace, Francis issued an invitation to the pair which was confirmed Wednesday morning after his assistants were happy with his medical state. No details emerged about the contents of the 20-minute meeting apart from the fact that Francis and King Charles exchanged reciprocal good wishes for each other’s recovery.

A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.

It aims to ease traffic to the city, which will host more than 50,000 people - including world leaders - at the conference in November.

The state government touts the highway's "sustainable" credentials, but some locals and conservationists are outraged at the environmental impact.

The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit.

There were very few cicadas around this year... No Greengocers, but some of these highly decorated types, strangely quieter — unless the pitch of their call was too high to be heard.... 

Floury Baker Cicada
Scientific name: Abricta curvicosta

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

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

Washington: Australia has been warned Donald Trump’s tariffs could push up the cost of submarines due to be acquired under the AUKUS defence pact, as Trump tasks Elon Musk’s team with improving the US capacity to build the boats.

Advocates of the agreement also say the second pillar of the pact, under which Australia, the US and the UK share military data and technology, lacks focus, should be narrowed to more manageable initiatives, and that politicians need to do more to champion AUKUS to sceptical voters.

President Donald Trump has prolonged US sanctions on Russia for another year, based on the supposition that Moscow still poses a serious threat to the country’s national security.

Washington placed punitive restrictions on Russia after it absorbed Crimea following a referendum held in 2014, and later over Moscow’s alleged meddling in American elections. The sanctions were drastically expanded following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

The latest extension approved by Trump and dated April 10, 2025, has been posted to the Federal Register’s website, announcing the “Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation.”

Imagine living in a world where every worker contributed the same amount, every problem was equally important, and every product was equally popular with users. Planning would be so simple. In reality, however, the distribution is quite skewed. In most people’s everyday routines, low-impact chores hijack a lot of their day.

IN 2012, CRIKEY POSTED A SOMEWHAT PESSIMISTIC ARTICLE ON THE IRANIAN URANIUM DEAL:... 

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front. Many observers seem to be gripped by a deep pessimism — a feeling that Israel and the US are locked on a trajectory towards war with Iran, which everyone accepts would be a disaster but nobody seems to know how to stop.

Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.

IN 2012, CRIKEY POSTED A SOMEWHAT PESSIMISTIC ARTICLE ON THE IRANIAN URANIUM DEAL:... 

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front. Many observers seem to be gripped by a deep pessimism — a feeling that Israel and the US are locked on a trajectory towards war with Iran, which everyone accepts would be a disaster but nobody seems to know how to stop.

Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.

CHARLES RICHARDSON

IN 2012, CRIKEY POSTED A SOMEWHAT PESSIMISTIC ARTICLE ON THE IRANIAN URANIUM DEAL:... 

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front. Many observers seem to be gripped by a deep pessimism — a feeling that Israel and the US are locked on a trajectory towards war with Iran, which everyone accepts would be a disaster but nobody seems to know how to stop.

Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.

CHARLES RICHARDSON

IN 2012, CRIKEY POSTED A SOMEWHAT PESSIMISTIC ARTICLE ON THE IRANIAN URANIUM DEAL:... 

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front. Many observers seem to be gripped by a deep pessimism — a feeling that Israel and the US are locked on a trajectory towards war with Iran, which everyone accepts would be a disaster but nobody seems to know how to stop.

Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.

IN 2012, CRIKEY POSTED A SOMEWHAT PESSIMISTIC ARTICLE ON THE IRANIAN URANIUM DEAL... 

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front. Many observers seem to be gripped by a deep pessimism — a feeling that Israel and the US are locked on a trajectory towards war with Iran, which everyone accepts would be a disaster but nobody seems to know how to stop.

Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes

For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.

The United Nations on Friday said its analysis of 36 recent Israeli strikes in Gaza showed only women and children were killed and decried the human cost of the war.

The UN rights office also warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders were resulting in the “forcible transfer” of people into ever-shrinking spaces in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

36 Israeli strikes in Gaza killed ‘only women and children,’ UN finds

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday as Donald Trump urged the Russian president to "get moving" on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the meeting lasted for more than four hours and focused on "aspects of a Ukrainian settlement". The talks, Witkoff's third with Putin this year, were described by special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as "productive". 

Trump has expressed frustration with Putin over the state of talks. On Friday, he wrote on social media: "Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war."