The Orthodox Church is very strict about the sin of schism. Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Likewise, Saint John Chrysostom wrote, “The sin of schism is not washed away even by the blood of martyrdom.” In this context, a recent event in Africa is of particular significance. While it may not attract the attention of secular people, it holds particular significance for devout Christians.

From Kiev to Nairobi: An unholy export

By letting Ukrainian schismatics serve Liturgy in Kenya, Alexandria forced its African flock into a grave canonical violation

By Priest George Maximov

Israel's plans to open up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank have sparked fresh condemnation by major Western powers.

In a joint statement, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada called the decision "unacceptable" and urged Israel to "retract the plans immediately".

All settlements are illegal under international law and, under international pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in E1 to the east of Jerusalem. 

The CSG is not legally police. Yet NSW Premier Chris Minns wants its armed guards patrolling public events despite senior police warning of favouritism and social fracture. One question exposes it all: would he ever permit an armed Muslim security force? Andrew Brown reports.

NSW Police examined this proposal and warned the Premier it would fracture the state. Chris Minns is doing it anyway.

An armed Jewish police force? Minns defies police and opens the door

by Andrew Brown

He is backing armed members of a private organisation formed to protect one community patrolling public events. He calls it a trial. In public, it would resemble an armed Jewish police force.

The United Nations has never appointed a woman Secretary-General. Four experienced women are now in the running, but the Security Council’s veto politics could still decide the outcome.

A 2026 Lowy poll from two months ago shows that 70 per cent of Australians say that “the United Nations remains important to Australia’s national interests.” One would think, therefore, that there would be significant interest in the appointment of the UN’s tenth Secretary-General, which is taking place at the moment.

Connie Peck

President Donald Trump rebuked world leaders for being overly concerned about climate change during a speech to the United Nations in which he called global warming a “con job.” 

Trump, who spoke for nearly an hour at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, argued that renewable energy such as wind and solar are a “scam” that should be eliminated. He urged nations instead to buy more American oil and gas, while also increasing nuclear energy.

‘Con,’ ‘scam,’ ‘hoax’: Trump’s UN speech on climate

By SCOTT WALDMAN | 09/23/2025

The president used a large chunk of his speech to world leaders to condemn climate science and clean energy policies.

“I’m really good at predicting things,” Trump said. “I don’t say that in a braggadocios way, but it’s true. I’ve been right about everything.”

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, England — Submarines appear before the town does.

They can be seen from the road next to the factory, where the BAE Systems yard dominates the landscape and workers in high-visibility jackets are a constant presence. Police keep watch for anyone who might threaten Britain’s national security.

On August 18, a federal trial opened in the US, organized by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general against Meta. Twenty-nine states brought the lawsuit – represented by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey at the trial. They consider that the company’s social media platforms, which they claim hook users, harvest their data, and hide their methods, are addictive to children and harm their mental health.

Whoever wins the Meta trial, the masses will remain willing slaves

The fight between social media and political authorities is really about one thing: who keeps the power of shaping a decaying society?

BY Matthieu Buge

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian economy ranks fourth in the world by purchasing power parity, with a shift toward the domestic market over the past five years, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday.

"Today, Russia is the fourth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity. At the same time, over the past five years, the structure of economic growth has changed: the share of net exports in the economy has decreased almost threefold, and the economy has essentially turned toward the domestic market," Novak said at a meeting the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects convened by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Finland, often known as the happiest country in the world, now has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, demand for food aid has exploded by more than 70%, and homelessness, which had been declining for more than ten years, has increased 34% in just two years. Conditions in the country are so bad that almost 20% of Finland’s population is now considered at risk of poverty,

The reported $2.2 billion in profits involving Donald Trump and his family during his first year back in office has prompted scrutiny of the president’s financial interests. The Democrats should make the scale of the gains more tangible and push for greater scrutiny of presidential conflicts of interest.

To House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer – your responses on 1 July 2026 to the reporting of the $2.2 billion profit personally reaped by President Donald Trump, while allegedly a public servant in 2025, were not specific enough.

Jeffries (NY) wrote on his social media account: “Donald Trump made more than $2 billion during his first year as President. Republicans are enriching themselves while making your life more expensive. We must crush the culture of corruption.”

US congressional lawyers are struggling with a flood of error-ridden AI-generated legislation, forcing them to spend increasingly more time rewriting proposals produced by chatbots, Politico reported on Monday.

Staffers and outside groups have more frequently turned to ChatGPT and Claude to produce legislative text, with error-ridden drafts regularly reaching the House Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC), according to eight current and former officials interviewed by the Axel Springer-owned outlet.

In some cases, lawyers spend “more time trying to fix AI-drafted legislation than it would take for them to draft it from scratch,” one person who advises congressional staff on the technology said.

A second suspect has been arrested in relation to the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in 2022, German prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Croatian police, acting on a European arrest warrant, detained a Ukrainian national in Pula.

"The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had Ukrainian Vladimir Z. arrested in Pula (Croatia) by local police forces," prosecutors said.

They said that the man, a trained scuba diver, "is strongly suspected of jointly causing explosions."

The prosecutors said they were pursuing the man's extradition from Croatia.

He is reported to have previously been detained in Poland in September 2025 but was released after an extradition request from Germany was turned down. 

Border Force (ABF) is confiscating the phones of returning Australian travellers but declines to confirm if it is using Israel tech group Cellebrite to extract information. What’s the scam?
Returning Australian travellers have had their phones confiscated without a warrant. We put these questions to Home Affairs (which runs ABF).

Customs confiscates travellers’ phones. Does Israeli tech firm clone them?

by Michael West

This is the response:

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for stepped-up airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and for Israel to kill “30 to 40” Palestinians a day, while also renewing calls to resettle Israelis in the Palestinian enclave at the expense of the indigenous population.

Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, made the remarks on the “October 8” podcast hosted by Rom Braslavski, a former Israeli prisoner of Hamas.

On Monday, the Jerusalem Post published excerpts from the interview, in which Ben-Gvir said Israel should not limit its attacks to those who “pose an immediate threat,” calling instead for far-ranging airstrikes across the entire Gaza Strip.

He said some people “aren’t worthy of life … they aren’t people at all.”

He also said Palestinians uninvolved in the fighting should not be exempt from Israeli attacks.