About a third of practicing American Christians say the spiritual advice they get from artificial intelligence is just as good as that from a pastor, with practicing Christians more likely to agree with this notion than non-practicing Christians and non-Christians, according to new research from the Barna Group.

A third of Christians trust spiritual advice from AI as much as pastor: study

By Leonardo Blair

The Alberta electricity company Capital Power, which is developing a large new AI data centre in the province powered by natural gas, lobbied the federal Mark Carney government dozens of times last year to eliminate clean energy regulations, DeSmog has learned.

Carney Allowed Gas-powered AI Data Centres After Lobbying From Alberta Energy Company

The Alberta gas giant Capital Power lobbied the government 37 times in the lead-up to an accord suspending clean energy regulations, federal records show.

These regulations were subsequently dropped from a fossil fuel accord that the prime minister signed with the government of Alberta last November, allowing large new data centres fuelled by gas turbines to proceed.

Four years ago, Russia’s decision to launch a military operation in Ukraine stunned almost everyone, including supporters and critics alike. Few believed Moscow would take such a drastic step. For decades, the prevailing assumption in global politics had been that force was no longer a legitimate way to resolve disputes. When military action did occur, it was wrapped in euphemisms such as humanitarian intervention and the defense of human rights.

Fyodor Lukyanov: After Ukraine, the world stops pretending
The Ukraine conflict hasn’t changed the world, just exposed what was already breaking....

In practice, this meant that military power was considered acceptable only when used to reinforce the existing international order, the liberal world order, and therefore only by its architects, above all the United States.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says she will push for a referendum to create a right to free speech that would make it harder for her widely condemned remarks about Muslims to fall foul of the law.

The anti-immigrant populist party has used online posts recently to falsely claim Labor’s post-Bondi hate crimes laws were being used by “political elites” to jail her over her statement that there were no “good” Muslims, directing supporters to a web page to sign up as One Nation members.

During a speech to global elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, US President Donald Trump announced that while China sold windmills to "stupid people that buy them," it did not use wind power itself.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cuba’s Interior Ministry has released new findings from its investigation into the deadly gunfight between Cuban border guards and a US‑flagged speedboat, saying the vessel was carrying ten armed men who allegedly intended to execute a “terrorist infiltration.”

Havana said the clash erupted on Wednesday when border guards approached a Florida‑registered vessel, FL7726SH, operating roughly one nautical mile off the northern coast of Villa Clara province for an identification check. The individuals aboard the boat allegedly opened fire first, wounding the commander of a Cuban patrol craft before guards returned fire, killing four people and injuring six others.

Anyone naive enough to believe that the United States wants to establish democracy in Iran should look into the current maneuvers of the United States to sabotage democracy in Iraq.

President Trump threatened vehemently to cut off Iraq's oil revenues if that country allowed the return to power of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, that his administration considers too favorable to Iran.

US President Donald Trump delivered his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, touting increased economic output and reduced immigration numbers, and praising National Guard deployments and the US men's ice hockey team.

In a record-long speech focused largely on domestic issues, Trump told Congress that "our nation is back" with an economy "roaring like never before."

He claimed that "American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day" and that "natural gas production is at an all-time high because I kept my promise to drill, baby, drill," applauded at regular intervals by Republican lawmakers.

Sixty years on from the Vietnam War marches, Australian union bosses are mostly MIA when it comes to protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Andrew Gardiner reports.

The genocide in Gaza, and moves to muzzle talking about it in universities and schools, have rank-and-file unionists up in arms. But union officials have barely lifted a finger on Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, or on schemes to stop us talking about it. Instead, we’re seeing a timid, tepid response from union bosses.

Spearheaded by Israel backers Jillian Segal and David Gonski, moves by the Anti-Semitism Education Taskforce threaten to “chill” Middle East debate in our seats of learning and elsewhere. To the dismay of rank-and-file members, many union execs seem ambivalent.

The Epstein affair is shaking all developed nations. Let’s summarize the facts: billionaire Jeffrey Epstein organized a network of informants for Mossad and the Franco-Swiss branch of the Rothschilds. To gain leverage over them, he gradually drew his targets (scientists, financiers, and politicians) into a series of increasingly atrocious games. Initially, he offered them extramarital affairs, then relationships with progressively younger partners, and finally, he involved them in torture, murder, and cannibalism.

Epstein, Yermak, and Zelensky

by Thierry Meyssan

The White House and Congress can and should provide relief to American families who bore the costs of illegal tariffs. The administration has the responsibility to design such relief.

President Trump, your tariff regime was illegal, unfair, and detrimental to the American people. You also grossly misrepresented the facts to the American people by claiming that foreign countries were paying. They were not. American families paid.

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Abigail Spanberger, the first female governor in Virginia's history, attacked President Donald Trump's economic and immigration policies during Democrats' response to the State of the Union address.

She questioned whether the president was working to make life more affordable and safer for Americans, while criticising Trump's immigration crackdown in US cities and tariffs on imports.

While top bureaucrats are now earning one million a year, the tribunal that decides who gets what is doing its best to keep its decisions secret. Rex Patrick reports.

The head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet gets over $1 million a year, and the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence and Home Affairs are not far behind at $960,000. In fact, only two departmental heads earn less than $900,000.

These are extremely generous salaries and entitlements by international standards.

US Government Department Secretaries, who head up much larger agencies with much bigger budgets, get less than half those salaries. They are limited to US$250,000, around $400,000.