Treasury chief Bessent says President Trump handed Zelensky "a royal flush" with the US-Ukraine mineral deal which he can use in negotiations with Russia, signalling that there's "no daylight between the Ukrainian people, the American people, between our goals." There's just one problem, experts say: the entire deal looks like a propaganda stunt.

The Trump administration desperately needs a foreign policy victory amid the chaos and uncertainty surrounding it, hence its officials’ boasting about the minerals deal in “a typical case of speculative promotion,” veteran French geopolitical analyst Come Carpentier de Gourdon told Sputnik.

As for Zelensky, he can now claim the deal will ‘save Ukraine’, hoping “that Trump’s America will now be bound to support his regime militarily in exchange for a monopoly on the exploitation of some valuable Ukrainian natural resources.”

Germany's spy agency BfV has labeled the entirety of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an extremist entity.

The BfV, which is in charge of safeguarding Germany's constitutional order, said Friday's announcement came after an "intense and comprehensive" examination.

The designation gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party, with measures such as intercepting phone calls and using undercover agents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2eYVI3M6lA

President Trump has made another idiotic move, announcing on Truth Social that anyone who buys oil from Iran will be banned from "doing business" with the U.S. "in any way, shape, or form."

The problem? China is Iran's largest oil customer, buying 1.8 million barrels per day! Is China going to stop buying oil from Iran after Trump's threat? Absolutely not.

So is Trump man enough to stand by his word and ban all China trade?

Also today, we hit the streets of Shanghai to find out what Americans living in China think of Trump's tariff tantrums.

Today, we'll go behind the propaganda.

The Trump administration is prepared to dedicate another 100 days to mediating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, US Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News in an interview published on Wednesday. He said the US has made progress by getting both sides to present their ideas for resolving the conflict.

“We’ve got this first step,” the vice president said, reflecting on the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term.

“We’ve got the peace proposal out there and issued, and we’re going to work very hard over the next 100 days to try to bring these guys together.”

After months of tense negotiations, Ukraine and the US ink a minerals deal. 

Washington has long demanded compensation for the billions in aid it's given to Kyiv. 

Now, the Trump administration has secured preferential access to Ukraine's mineral resources, and an equal share with Ukraine's government in exploiting them. The US says the deal is a message to Russia.

Ex-GOP Senator and Republican Jewish Coalition chair Norm Coleman proclaimed with a straight face that Jews control the world during a Jerusalem conference featuring a speech by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Former US Senator Norm Coleman has raised eyebrows by declaring that “the masters of the universe are Jews” at a major Zionist lobby event in Jerusalem. In an address to a summit hosted by the Adelson-funded Jewish News Syndicate on April 27, Coleman pointed to various major technology firms founded by Jews, suggesting the shared religion of the companies’ creators should translate into a greater zeal for censoring criticism of Israel.

“The masters of the universe are Jews,” former US Senator declares in Israel
BY WYATT REED

US President Donald Trump has forced Kiev to sell off Ukraine’s mineral wealth for continued military aid, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

Washington and Kiev signed a long-anticipated deal on the joint extraction of Ukrainian natural resources on Wednesday, after months of contentious negotiations. Trump has advertised the agreement as a way to get back the roughly $350 billion he claims Washington has spent on support for Kiev in the conflict with Russia.

The agreement does not mention security guarantees, which Ukraine previously insisted on. Instead, it focuses on future US aid, rather than paying back assistance provided to Ukraine in the past.

If I were attorney-general of the Commonwealth after Saturday’s election there is one person I would seek to emulate, the Whitlam era’s Lionel Murphy.

Murphy, the most reformist attorney-general in Australian history. Think legal aid, the Family Law Act, trade practices legislation and an attempt to pass a human rights act. His brief period in office, 1972 to early 1975, when he took up a seat on the High Court, was impressive in its scope.

Greg Barns

Since Murphy, attorneys-general have been, at best, implementers of incremental reform, devoid of big-picture vision.

Yet there is so much to be done.

New record temperature of 29.3C in London, Met Office confirms

A temperature of 29.3C has been recorded at Kew Gardens in London, just over 1C higher than the record-beating temperature recorded there earlier today, the Met Office confirms. 

The highest temperature recorded in Wales was 27.4C at Cardiff Bute Park.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cwy0mwvx04lt

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BY TONY BLAIR

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has been fired, Fox News reported on Thursday, citing its sources. The White House has not made any public comments on the issue.

Waltz was among the National Security Council’s “other staffers,” who got caught in the latest “purge,” the broadcaster said, adding that his deputy, Alex Wong, had been fired as well. The media outlet did not name the exact reason for the move but pointed to the criticism the national security adviser faced over his role in the so-called ‘Signalgate’ scandal in March.

Canada’s April 28 federal election was dominated by Trump’s global trade war and his vow to use “economic force” to transform Canada into America’s 51st state. 

After a campaign in which all the parties trumpeted bellicose Canadian nationalism, the Liberals, under their recently-minted leader, the former central banker and blue-chip corporate executive Mark Carney, were able to retain power.

They did so by riding on a wave of popular hostility to the fascist would-be dictator Trump.

Prior to Trump’s barrage of trade war measures and annexation threats and the forced resignation of Justin Trudeau as prime minister in early January, the Liberal government was a dead man walking. For well over a year, opinion polls had indicated that the Conservatives under their far-right leader, Pierre Poilievre, would romp to power in the coming election. 

A Liberal Party campaign truck has crashed into an early voting centre in western Sydney, causing significant damage and forcing voting at the centre to be delayed for several days.

The truck was wrapped in campaign material advertising Liberal candidate for Greenway Rattan Virk when it smashed into a portico at Quakers Hill Community Centre yesterday.

Video footage shows a man hastily removing Virk's signage from the truck following the accident.

The UK has begun to support the US in attacking Yemen’s Houthi militia. The British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday its forces had conducted joint airstrikes against what it claimed was a Houthi-controlled military facility.

The development came against the backdrop of Houthi-linked reports stating that another US attack hit a migrant detention center, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths. At least 68 African migrants were killed in the strike on the facility on Monday, the militia’s Al Masirah TV Channel reported, adding that 47 people were injured. A US defense official said that the nation’s military were aware of the claims about civilian casualties.

US President Donald Trump launched a large-scale air and naval strike campaign against Yemen-based Houthi targets last month to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.

I cannot compete with chosen mediocrity

Mutters my friend who has not entered the prizes

Where for the first time in human history

The director and the curator being shemales

More women than men have been represented

Proudly chosen as the website emphasises

(The commentary may be conjuring lesbian trails)

For the best and worst portraits in the gallery

And for the best meaningless landscapes 

Plus all the dull social smoke dystopia escapes

Where for the last time hopefully in history

Art is going down the chute at warp speed

Provided by mushy simple minds full of weed

Rubbish tip beckons or a cleansing fire

Not being there makes you a winner

Says my/he/she/them in a lemon voice bitter

And the critics full of self-important ire

Know art-beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Media freedom is deteriorating in a number of EU countries, according to a recent report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties). The group has claimed that pluralism and freedom of speech are “under attack” as media companies become increasingly controlled by governments and wealthy owners.

In the Media Freedom 2025 report, the authors have outlined a range of pressures facing journalists and independent outlets, including legal and physical threats, declining ownership transparency, and political interference in public broadcasting.

The group has warned that these factors have had a significant impact on the work of the media, limiting the diversity of opinions and the independence of publications, reducing public trust in content.