Young people are protesting across Germany on Saturday over the cost of living, underfunded education, and the possible reintroduction of military conscription. Organizers expect more than 170,000 participants, with demonstrations planned in 34 German cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Munich. 

The demonstrations continue last week’s unrest across Europe, where protesters clashed with riot police over rising living costs and government policies. In France, rallies that began in September with students demanding lower education costs, more teachers, and better school facilities have since escalated into broader anti-government protests across the continent. 

Delegations from 48 African countries, including 21 leaders, gathered in Moscow for the third Russia-Africa Summit under the motto “For Peace, Security and Development.” The gathering concluded on Thursday with a final declaration and a new cooperation plan. Organizers reported 146 documents signed across the Summit and its accompanying economic, humanitarian and media forums, comprising 92 agreements and 54 memorandums.

More than 3,500 participants from 74 countries attended, including over 1,200 business representatives from around 630 companies.The forum hosted more than 40 sessions.

The word ‘Gallipoli’ evokes memories of Britain’s greatest military disaster in the First World War. The objective was to clear the Dardenelles – the straight between the European and the Asian part of Turkey, South of the Sea of Marmara – to enable the Russian fleet to pass from the Black Sea to the Mediteranean. According to US author Richard Poe, in his book ‘How the British Invented Communism (And Blamed It on the Jews)’, “If the attack were successful, Constantinople would fall, and the Ottoman Empire with it. But the attack failed. Catastrophically“.

FROM TIME TO TIME, ONE NEEDS TO EXPOSE OUR — WELL NOT OURS [WE DON'T HAVE ANY], BUT THAT OF OUR GOVERNMENT[s] — HYPOCRISY... FOR EXAMPLE IF YOU NEED TO BE FED, LIKE THE DOG OF THE FABLE, YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED TO BE TIED UP TO POLICIES THAT ARE — LET'S BE FRANK — REVOLTING AND DEGRADING...

IN THE FABLE, THE LONE WOLF STARVES... IN THE WILD, THE WOLF IS INDEPENDENTLY SMART...

SO WHAT ARE THE POLICIES AUSTRALIA HAS TO BE TIED UP WITH?: AUKUS, AMERICA'S PRESIDENT LOONITUDE, ENGLAND'S KISSING OF ZELENSKY's BUTT... EUROPE's FASCSIM, ETC.

AMONGST ALL THIS, ARE TWO MAIN CONTRADICTIONS:

FIRST, CHINA IS OUR BEST CUSTOMER BUT WE HAVE TO HATE IT, TO PLEASE OUR US MASTERS...

Pope Leo XIV has become the first ever pontiff to vote in a United States general election after submitting a mail-in ballot ahead of November's midterms, the Vatican confirmed on Friday.

The 71-year-old US citizen, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, as Robert Francis Prevost, applied for a postal vote on October 3, according to US media.

The Holy See's press office said in a statement that the pope "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen" and has done so "whenever he was eligible to do so."

“The Soviets allowed reunification {of Germany} because the Allies had promised they would not expand NATO eastward, inside Germany or beyond,” Scott Horton explains near the beginning of “Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine,” his recently released diatribe [sic] on how the West, and especially the United States, precipitated the current situation in Ukraine. “Of course, the various administrations and their partisans have lied about it snice[sic], at times claiming this pledge either never happened, or that it only ever applied to NATO forces within Germany, but not the rest of Eastern Europe.”

‘Provoked’ a fascinating read for those into politics

Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2025

Regulation was once a dirty word in tech companies around the world. They argued that if people wanted better smartphones and flying cars, we had to look past dusty old laws dreamed up in the pre-internet era.

But something profound is afoot. First a whisper, and now a roar: the law is back.

Ed Husic, Australia’s federal minister responsible for tech policy, is leading a once-in-a-generation review of Australian law, asking Australians how our law should change for the AI era. He recently told the ABC, “I think the era of self-regulation is over.” 

Do we need a new law for AI? Sure – but first we could try enforcing the laws we already have

THE CONVERSATION

France will deploy some 70,000 police officers in Paris and other cities ahead of a new round of nationwide protests on Saturday, with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warning of "very high risk of public disorder". The minister pledged an "extremely firm" response after mass protests on October 17 degenerated into rioting and looting.

French minister warns of 'very high' violence risk as country braces for Halloween protests

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has canceled a planned trip to Senegal and is returning to Poland after Prime Minister Donald Tusk ordered a raid on the country’s top court. The court has described the raid as a “coup.”

Riot police surrounded the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday night, and judges Bogdan Swieczkowski – the court’s president – and Bartlomiej Sochanski were suspended and had their profiles scrubbed from the court’s website.

Shortly after officers cordoned off the building, the court’s official X account claimed that the website had been subjected to an “unlawful takeover,” and that the two justices had been wrongfully removed. “All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état,” the court stated.

Too often, the Global South is portrayed through crisis and through outsiders’ eyes. In this speech to the Belt and Road Journalists Forum, Gordon Joseph details how stronger media partnerships and fairer access to technology could put local voices in control.

Gordon Joseph
The Global South doesn't lack stories. It lacks the power to tell them

Let me begin with a question.

Who has the right to tell our stories?

Who decides which suffering deserves international attention? Whose tears make the headlines? Whose voices are trusted to explain a crisis, a conflict, a struggle for human rights or the everyday realities of ordinary people?

Atlanta: The US was forced to cancel the traditional “family photo” of foreign ministers at the G20 in Atlanta after diplomats from around the world refused to appear alongside Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, who is attending at the invitation of the American hosts.

The photo had been scheduled for 10am Friday (Atlanta time) but did not take place. There was no statement from the US about the cancellation, but an official said they did not want the issue to become a distraction.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong made it known she would not participate in a photograph with Lavrov, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Reuters reported Canada also objected, citing a diplomat familiar with the situation. Wong was contacted for comment.

There is a certain kind of travel itinerary you learn to recognize after a career in the intelligence business. A politician under criminal investigation, ordered by his country’s Supreme Court to surrender his passport, slips across a border at night. Within forty minutes he is aboard a private jet with a colorful ownership history. The jet avoids his home country’s airspace, refuels in a third country and lands at an airfield in Miami with a long and storied past. By the time anyone in Brasília has finished drafting a press release, he is in Florida, holding a fresh immigration status and promising to lead his nation from exile.

Flávio Bolsonaro’s Great Escape, Brought to You by the Usual Suspects

by Larry C. Johnson

The German pharmaceutical giant Bayer won a trial on Thursday over claims the Roundup weedkiller, manufactured by subsidiary Monsanto, caused cancer in three women.

The Missouri jury sided unanimously with Bayer. It's the first trial since a US Supreme Court ruling that limits complaints over the product.

It’s been said that truth is the first casualty of war. What about the Ukraine war? I’ve followed the news closely, and have found ample evidence in headlines and storylines that the old adage holds true today. Too often the Ukraine news stories we see are misleading instead of informative.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Ukraine News

by William Dunkerley

For instance, in March 2014 CNN reported that Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution was “standing up on behalf of democracy.” A month earlier, The Week cited many pundits and policymakers also characterizing events as a victory for democracy. It was a clear and compelling news theme.

The most pervasive form of discrimination against Jewish Australians comes from progressives motivated by social justice who give antisemitism a “respectable veneer”, argues a new report from Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism (ASECA).

The report describes this mainstream group as combining the hostility of Islamist extremism with far-left ideology delivered through a progressive lens, singling them out for making antisemitism acceptable and even fashionable.

ASECA Priorities, a new road map report to be released on Friday, identifies evolving threats and progress in tackling antisemitism, with envoy Jillian Segal also levelling heavy criticism at universities and the ABC.

It includes recommendations for reforms across society, from health and the arts to migration and the digital world.