Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Syrsky, has said Kiev must mobilize 30,000 soldiers every month to sustain resistance against the Russian army. He also highlighted the growing disparity between the military capabilities of the two countries.

In an interview published on Wednesday by the Ukrainian outlet lb.ua, Syrsky claimed that Russia can mobilize up to 5 million trained and experienced troops, with a total potential force of 20 million. He emphasized this gap to underscore the urgency of continued mobilization by Ukraine amid the mounting battlefield pressure.

US Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has called on Congress to investigate President Donald Trump for possible insider trading and market manipulation following his abrupt trade policy U-turn. Global stocks soared after the president paused the imposition of tariffs on a multitude of countries this week.

On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against US trade partners, lowering duties to a flat 10% rate. The only exception was China, which he hit with an increase to 125% following Beijing’s tariff hike on US goods to 84%. Immediately after the announcement, US stock markets posted near-record gains after a week-long slump.

The Zionist Federation of Australia has filed a legal action with the Federal Court of Australia against renowned Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis relating to a complaint it first raised with the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2024, claiming posts she made on social media platform X were antisemitic in nature.

 

Paul Gregoire

Zionist Federation lodges Federal Court complaint against journalist Mary Kostakidis

 

The Great Trump Toddler Tariff Tantrum that we have all been living through is so very Trump – blunt like a baseball bat, burn-it-down-first-figure-out-the-consequences-later reckless, and attention-grabbing like Kim Kardashian – that it is easy to forget that Donald Trump is merely human, too.  

 

Lessons Trump could learn from the last Soviet leader
Trying to salvage and empower an empire in decline, only to end up hastening its demise – we’ve seen that somewhere before

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

 

Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. I’m not here to defend President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But I do want to push back against the way the conversation around them often unfolds – dismissing them offhand with a smug “well, that’s just dumb,” without any regard for the broader economic context, either at home or globally.

 

What if Trump’s tariffs actually make sense?
They’re messy, risky, and unpopular – but they might be part of a bigger, smarter plan
By Igor Makarov

 

Yes, Trump often shoots from the hip. He lies outright, makes rookie mistakes in his speeches, and fumbles the details. But behind the bluster is a surprisingly coherent strategy – one that wasn’t cobbled together by fools. You don’t have to agree with it to at least try to understand what it is.

The federal Coalition has left open the possibility it could leave the Paris climate accord, if it determines that meeting climate targets would do too much damage to the economy.

The Coalition has previously said it will dump Australia's current climate target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

 Federal election 2025 live: Stay across the latest updates from the campaign trail 

After the 2008 financial crisis, US money managers took control of big banks and industries across Europe. Former Russian ambassador to the UK and Rossiya Segodnya deputy chief Alexander Yakovenko reveals how.

 

What Are Mega-Funds?

US asset managers BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, State Street, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase control a combined $36.4T+ in wealth.

That's MASSIVE power to consolidate control in systemically important industries worldwide — including Europe.

Mega-funds enjoy strong patronage from the US government, which uses the Fed, courts, sanctions and scandals to deal blows to foreign competitors before US capital swoops in to buy them out.

THE "ARTICLE" BELOW BY BARB DADD (a 74 year old mother and grandmother living in regional Western Australia, driven by a lifelong pursuit of truth and justice) IS SOMEWHAT NAIVE... YES ASSAD WAS NOT THE PERFECT LEADER, BUT HE HAD A LOT "ON HIS PLATE"... THE WESTERN MEDIA ALSO PAINTED HIM BLACKER THAN THE DEVIL — ALL UNDER THE CIA PROPAGANDA... OBAMA WAS ACTUALLY FAR WORSE AS A DANGEROUS DESPOT THAN ASSAD — OR TRUMP SO FAR...

  

Ten men, some wearing camouflage, others in vests loaded with ammunition for their AR-15 rifles, gathered under the morning shade of oak trees in Central Florida last month. They were there to learn marksmanship tactics common among Special Operation forces and elite law enforcement units.

Their instructor, Christopher Eric Roscher, an Air Force veteran, introduced himself and then led the group in prayer.

“Lord, you would use them as assets, to be protectors in this world, in a world that’s full of evil,” he prayed.

Kyiv, UkraineCNN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian army have been taken prisoner in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces fighting in the Donetsk region obtained the Chinese nationals’ documents, bank cards and personal data.

Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its seizing of their land is the worst example of genocide since the horrors of the genocides of Darfur in Sudan in 2003 and Rwanda in the 1990s.

Candidates running in the 2025 federal election, particularly those in marginal seats, must be held accountable for their actions and attitudes concerning the conduct of one of Australia’s closest allies.

 

Greg Barns

Federal election: Time to hold MPs accountable for stance on genocide

 

US President Donald Trump has raised the tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% in response to retaliatory measures imposed by Beijing earlier on Wednesday.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that “based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.” 

He expressed hope that Beijing would realize that “ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

The move came hours after China’s Finance Ministry announced a tariff hike of its own, which brought tariffs levied on American imports to a total of 84%, thus mirroring Washington’s previous increase by 50%.

European countries have once again “taken up arms” against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, commenting on the increasingly hostile stance of many governments toward Moscow.

Addressing the constant calls to prepare for a presumed Russian attack – a notion which Moscow has dismissed as baseless – Lavrov said all previous global conflicts were sparked by similar aggressive actions from Europe.

“We are witnessing another wave in which Europe is taking up arms against Russia, and by the looks on some faces, even growling at Russia. After all... all global tragedies began with aggressive actions by Europeans: The Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II,” he said in an interview for the TASS Children project released on Wednesday.

In the US, the freshly installed administration of President Donald Trump is attempting to drastically reshape science. Here we focus on interventions that are relevant to epidemiology and public health.

These include: (i) restricting or eliminating access to health data; (ii) dictating what kinds of research can be conducted; (iii) cutting ties with international health bodies; and (iv) firing early-career researchers.

 

Alistair Woodward and Stephen Leeder

Making science great again – or not

 

 

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday and reaffirmed their desire for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, both claiming that there are other countries willing to take in the Palestinian population.

 

Trump and Netanyahu Reaffirm Their Vision for the Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza

Trump called Gaza an 'incredible piece of real estate' and suggested the US could be a 'peace force' there