If the reign of quantity inspires you, then Chongqing will delight you. It is the city of excess and superlatives. 2,500 years old, the largest city in China, the largest city in the world by area (equal to that of Austria with 32 million permanent residents), with 2,200 towers...

 

Chongqing, the global city the world prefers to ignore

by Guy Mettan*

 

A friendly interview over a couple of beers turned into a social media success for Anthony Albanese when the prime minister walked into a pub during the election campaign to talk to Ozzy Man, a Perth comedian – real name Ethan Marrell – whose videos go nuts on YouTube. Over 45 minutes, he gave Albanese a chance to slip in some key talking points about tax cuts and two budget surpluses.

 

With the Coalition in disarray, Albanese’s on a collision course with the ‘real’ opposition

BY David Crowe

 

Mark Rutte EXPOSES NATO's Involvement In The War In Ukraine

Donald Trump has stated that it’s hard to get Vladimir Putin to end the war because he thinks Russia is winning the war in Ukraine. The European leaders have all stated that their share the same position and are surprised that Donald Trump hasn’t increased the sanctions pressure on Russia.

Friedrich Merz has stated that the end of the war is some distance away and it won’t end quickly. NATO’s Secretary General, Mark Rutte has stated that Ukraine will be a topic of conversation during NATO’s Hague summit and that NATO will support Ukraine until a peace deal is reached.

Boris Pistorius has stated that Trump has misjudged his leverage over Vladimir Putin and has made a negotiating mistake, by renouncing Ukraine’s NATO membership before the negotiations even began.

Donald Trump has confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over violence inflicted on white farmers in his country, in another tense televised White House meeting.

The Oval Office talks produced extraordinary scenes comparable to February's stoush with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The US president ordered the lights be dimmed in the Oval Office so his staff could play video clips on a large TV, including one of a far-left South African politician chanting a song with the lyrics "kill the farmer".

And as he leafed through news articles on the topic, he said white Afrikaner farmers had faced "death, death, death, horrible death".

Knowing that Trump has sexual dirt on Macron, considering that a trio of pretty boys from Yuckraine have set two of Keir Starmer's homes and a former car on fire, and that MERZ is doing Hitler's impression by launching a new German army in Lithuania — and not forgetting that Trump was a dedicated "pussy-grabber" — we should be proud of the state of the Western World leadership.

It you feel that shit floats — especially after the Joe Biden sudden revelations he had not had a PSA test since 1914, and that his mental acuity was 120 per cent till that famous "Joe, you did very well, you answered all the questions" debate with Donald — you would be wrong, or right. It does not matter. 

President Donald Trump made the dismantling of the "American Empire" the initial objective of his first term. He appointed General Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor [1] and immediately eliminated the permanent seats of the CIA Director and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the National Security Council [2].

 

The administration of the previous US president, Joe Biden, acted irresponsibly by effectively shutting off communication with Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, the diplomat said that Russia possesses the “largest strategic weapon stockpile in the world and one of the largest [in] tactical nuclear weapons.”

With this in mind, “there has to be some level of communication between the United States and Moscow,”irrespective of Ukraine, he insisted.

The administration of the previous US president, Joe Biden, acted irresponsibly by effectively shutting off communication with Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, the diplomat said that Russia possesses the “largest strategic weapon stockpile in the world and one of the largest [in] tactical nuclear weapons.”

With this in mind, “there has to be some level of communication between the United States and Moscow,”irrespective of Ukraine, he insisted.

It started about 18 months ago. It was shocking then and is even more so now. 

Listeners, viewers, friends, colleagues and family started to contact me, all with roughly the same question, then and now:

"Is this ad I've seen with you in it real? And should I buy the product?"

What they had seen was a video or article, via Facebook or Instagram, which featured me flogging supplements or weight loss products purporting to treat heart disease, diabetes or obesity. 

 

Deepfake videos of Norman Swan are tricking people into buying unproven supplements at a risk to their own health

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-22/deepfake-norman-swan-videos-spruiking-unproven-medicines/105038482

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has said that the United States' export controls on artificial intelligence chips to China were "a failure," as companies were turning to locally-developed cutting-edge technology.

"I think, all in all, the export control was a failure," he said, underpinning that companies would use the "second best" option if they couldn't get chips from the American AI leader.

Political developments over the past few weeks in Australia suggest that we may be witnessing the embryonic emergence of a new populist party in this country.

The conservative Liberal/National party coalition suffered a devastating and catastrophic loss at the recent Australian federal election. The incumbent Labor party government won 93 seats in the House of Representatives, while the coalition managed to win only 43.

 

Is a new populist force about to emerge?
As mainstream Australian conservatives become indistinguishable from their Labor opponents, a split in the coalition may give them hope
By Graham Hryce

 

Then this week, in an extraordinary development, the National party refused to renew its coalition agreement with the Liberals that has been in place for decades.

The European Union is providing €;5.5 million ($6.2 million) to support Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after the broadcaster lost US public funding.

US President Donald Trump's administration suspended funding to the 75-year-old broadcaster in March, accusing it of promoting a news agenda with liberal bias.

But on Tuesday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc is releasing the emergency funding as a "safety net for independent journalism."

Australian politicians will go to extraordinary lengths to obfuscate, excuse and lie about their country’s arms trade with Israel but recent investigations by human rights groups, independent media and the Australian Greens reveal that Australia is in breach of every international law prohibiting the sale of arms to countries committing war crimes.

 

Nothing to See Here: Australia’s Hidden Arms Trade With Israel

       By Stefan Moore / Consortium News

 

 

Mark Halperin describes the first time he noticed the beginning Biden’s cognitive decline back in 2017 and Joe Scarborough tells Mark when he realized that the Biden family’s tragic events were starting to take a toll. They also debate whether his public missteps prior to the 2020 election and after he assumed office, were signs of decline or just Biden’s classic gaffes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8Wlt6_9WE

 

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From October 2, 1919 and for some weeks afterwards, First Lady Edith Wilson (October 15, 1872 — December 28, 1961) unofficially ran the U.S. government following her husband’s (then President Woodrow Wilson’s) life-changing stroke.

Keir Starmer has vowed his EU reset deal will deliver cheaper food and energy for British people, heralding a “win-win” as he sealed the high-stakes agreement with concessions on youth visas and fishing.

“Britain is back on the world stage,” the prime minister said after shaking hands on the deal with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen in London. “It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country … all while sticking to the red lines in our manifesto.”