Johann Wadephul, the new German Foreign Minister, has arrived in Ukraine for his first visit on 9 May.

Source: European Pravda; Tagesschau, a German television news service

Details: Wadepful arrived in Lviv, where an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers will take place on 9 May. He posted a short video on his X feed on the evening of 8 May confirming his arrival in Ukraine.

Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States has been picked to be  the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church; he will be known as Pope Leo XIV.

Attention now turns to what vision the first US pope will bring.

Dennis Doyle

Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt lost his parliamentary seat Thursday, as final counting from the recent general election concluded and voters showed the arch left-wing politician the door.

His party fared no better as the Greens have secured no seats so far, though one is still considered too close to call.

They had four seats in the previous parliament.

Bandt, 53, said he had called his Labor Party rival for the seat, Sarah Witty, to congratulate her and “wish her all the best”.

Leftist Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party won re-election in a landslide Saturday, with partial results putting it on course for at least 92 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, as Breitbart News reported.

Tariff war is not an episode of economic relations; it is a new world emerging. Trump wants to create the conditions inside the U.S. to bring back distributed economic assets—especially industrial ones—from abroad.  The goal is to restore economic sovereignty and generate momentum for inner development.

Alexander Dugin

Liberal MPs will meet in coming days to elect a replacement for the defeated opposition leader Peter Dutton after the party’s historic drubbing in the federal election.

The deputy leader, Sussan Ley, the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, and the shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, are among the leading contenders for the role. The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, ruled himself out of the race on Monday afternoon.

Bill Gates has pledged to give away 99 per cent of his remaining fortune to his charitable foundation over the next 20 years.

The 69-year-old billionaire co-founder of Microsoft also lashed out at Elon Musk, accusing the world's richest man of "killing the world's poorest children" through huge cuts to the US foreign aid budget.

Mr Gates said he was speeding up his plans to donate $US200 billion ($312 billion) to the Gates Foundation — a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world — and would close the foundation on December 31, 2045, years earlier than previously planned.

It seems that, ever since taking office, Donald Trump and his Republican administration have been continuously berating Europe. But now, a different kind of US representative is visiting Germany: the Orchestra NOW (TŌN), a graduate program of Bard College, in the state of New York.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping signed a series of documents and delivered statements to the press following their May 8 talks, outlining the further development of bilateral relations and cooperation on the international stage.

Key Agreements Signed

Joint statement on deepening comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, marking a new era.

Joint statement on strategic stability.

Memorandum on cooperation to combat infectious diseases.

Agreement on promoting and mutually protecting investments.

Memorandum on cooperation between "Movement of the First" and the All-China Youth Federation.

Eighty years is a long time. Over such a span, the world changes almost beyond recognition, and events that once felt close fade into legend. Yet while history may become distant, its imprint remains. The Second World War created a political order that shaped global affairs for decades – an order many assumed was permanent.

Fyodor Lukyanov: The West is dismantling the foundations of 1945
Why the cracks in the World War II settlement threaten global stability

But today, the world is shifting rapidly and irreversibly. The events of the first half of the 20th century are no less significant, but their role in contemporary politics is no longer the same.

A new Pope has been elected by the conclave of cardinals at the Vatican. A US-born prelate, Robert Francis Prevost, has been named as the new pontiff. He is the first American Pope in history.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Prevost, 69, has taken the name Leo XIV. He spent much of his church career as a missionary in Latin America and worked for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, before becoming bishop of the Peruvian city of Chicalayo.

Prevost was made a cardinal in 2023 and was appointed head of the Congregation for Bishops by the late Pope Francis the same year. The Congregation for Bishops is a powerful department within the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church that oversees the selection of most new bishops. The appointment elevated Prevost’s status to a potential papal candidate.

In 25 years, Russia rose from the ruins of the '90s to a global power with a $6.94 trillion economy.

"We set a goal to become one of the world’s top four economies. And by the way, according to some data — including assessments by the World Bank — just last week they released updated figures placing Russia in fourth place. We’ve now moved ahead of Japan."

Vladimir Putin, 2024

Fight Against Terror

Putin crushed terrorism in the North Caucasus, where CIA-backed militants once threatened Russia’s territorial integrity.

Terrorist leaders were eliminated, governance was reformed, and attacks dropped tenfold.

Russia’s intervention in Syria dealt a heavy blow to ISIS*.

Today, the North Caucasus draws tens of thousands of tourists.

Critical thinking, a skill deeply rooted in the philosophical traditions of the West, has been the bedrock of innovation, democracy, and progress for centuries. Yet, as we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, this once-prized capability seems to be losing its grip on the collective consciousness. From the classrooms to the boardrooms, the ability to reason, analyse, and question is often overshadowed by knee-jerk reactions, misinformation, and groupthink.

Acting Liberal leader Sussan Ley has offered frontbench positions to MPs in return for their support in the party’s leadership contest, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

MPs allegedly promised jobs include the leader of her centre-right faction, Alex Hawke, communications spokesperson Melissa McIntosh, multicultural affairs spokesman Jason Wood, and Queensland backbencher Scott Buchholz. Sources close to all four denied they received offers.

This one stings. When asked how the EU might dodge US President Donald Trump’s tariff hammer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replied, “My observation... goes all the way back to [former US Secretary of State] Henry Kissinger’s statement: ‘When I call Europe, who do I call?’ So, we’re negotiating with a lot of different interests.” Translation: You can’t sit with us until you stop fighting at your own lunch table.

Who der Leyen: The EU has a major, unfixable problem with its foreign policy

It must be quite a burn for Brussels elites when Washington says their most vaunted quality is not as good as they try to make it look

BY Rachel Marsden

Australia’s  mainstream media have ignored and distorted the genocide in Palestine. A recent Australians for Humanity forum, chaired by former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis, and featuring Margaret Reynolds, Stuart Rees and Peter Slezak, tackled the issues and discussed what needs to be done.

Pearls and Irritations

The ABC has let us down badly – former parliamentarian and national president of Friends of the ABC, Margaret Reynolds

If we’re going to rely on [independent journalists’] work we’ve got to … support them – journalist and former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis