As he boarded the night train to Ukraine, Boris Johnson had the usual entourage of aides and bodyguards – plus the man who had given him £1m.

Less than a year had passed since Johnson accepted what is thought to be the largest donation ever to an individual MP. It was from Christopher Harborne, one of the UK’s biggest and most private political donors.

 

The £1m man: why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?
Exclusive: Leaked files offer a glimpse of the ex-prime minister’s relationship with Christopher Harborne

In March 2023, the Australian Academy of the Humanities sounded the alarm on the decline in our understanding and knowledge of China through a report on “ Australia’s China Knowledge Capability”.

Several other journals, including this one, also expressed dismay at the decline of learning Chinese at Australia’s schools and universities since the first years of the 21st century, when the Howard Government cut off funds earlier allocated to funding Asian languages and studies at primary and secondary level. How could we allow understanding of so important a neighbour decline for so long without effective remedial action?

 

John Mearsheimer dismisses several Western accusations against Russia—such as jamming navigation systems, overflying Estonian territory, or flying drones over European airports—as either false or exaggerated. They argue that Russia is not deliberately provoking NATO; rather, it’s NATO that seems eager to escalate tensions because Russia is winning on the battlefield. Western leaders, particularly in Europe, are described as desperate to rally public and U.S. support against Russia but face diminishing military options and resources.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNTSA4BS3ls

JOHN MEARSHEIMER: NATO Picking a Fight w/Russia

 

What a difference a few months makes. The last time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump met at the White House in February, the two countries were riding high.

"We missed you; we missed you a lot," Trump said after receiving one of Modi's signature full-body bear hugs. He spoke of the "special bond" their countries share, and signed agreements to "deepen every aspect of our partnership and our friendship".

 

Trump's frustration with Modi over Russia ties misses the memo

By Karishma Vyas

 

Weeds are destroying brickworks

Ants have more chance of survival 

Than humans trying to improve 

Unsatisfied with their unfinished nature

In times of enduring friendship

The dead come back to honour his passing

I was so tired I could not sleep 

My scooter’s battery was empty 

The machine would not start at the gate

On my way to give treasures and junk 

Night fell 

It was too late to ride 

Alice explained her life at the moment 

I did not understand a word of her wisdom

I could not speak to justify my own existence 

My dead brother mentioned digital platforms 

I never heard of with wild horses names

His house where the gathering took place

Had been plastered to accomodate more bedrooms

Unfair criticism has often been levelled at the UN. None has been so gratuitously nasty than President Trump’s 23 September 2025 General Assembly address.

Media coverage highlighted Trump’s more outrageous comments, but did not provide deep and comprehensive analysis of the policy implications of his speech.

 

Ronald C. Keith

The UN in Trump’s world and the implications for Australia’s independence

 

 

On the sidelines of the recent World Public Summit held in Moscow in September, New Eastern Outlook spoke with Sabena Johannes, the President and CEO of Afritrack Angola. The talk turned out to be quite emotional and highly relevant.

 

Sabena Yohannes: “We must become a single force”    BY Yuliya Novitskaya

 

We touched upon her “The Voice of Reason” appeal, written on the eve of the summit, about her expectations and whether they were fulfilled.

 

 

 

The contemporary world order is in the throes of multiple convulsions—from the East and South China Seas to the proxy war in Ukraine, from African territories in resistance to the inflamed Middle East to the tensions between Caracas and Washington. Everywhere, the same imperial logic is reproduced: conquer, control, exploit. European provocations against Russia, supported by institutional lies from Brussels to London, from Paris to Berlin, and from Warsaw to Helsinki, are merely an extension of this strategy of hegemony.

 

Colonization without a flag: how the United States and Its Allies plundered the Southern States in the name of progress

Mohamed Lamine KABA

A new trailer has landed for “Australia: A History”, the upcoming three-part documentary series fronted by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, set to air on Sky News Australia next week. The series promises to chart the nation’s journey from its ancient Indigenous beginnings to its status as a modern democracy—through the eyes of one of its most divisive former leaders.

The former PM's perspective

Scheduled to premiere over three consecutive nights from Monday, October 13, at 7.30pm AEDT, the series positions Abbott not just as presenter but as interpreter and guide, bringing a “deeply personal” view to the key events that shaped the country. The timing is notable: in a year marked by national debates over identity and history, a series led by a former Prime Minister is bound to attract attention—and, no doubt, contention.

Democrats have said they will not agree to end the US government shutdown unless Republicans meet their demands, with one senior aide telling CNN it would take an airline catastrophe for the party to back down.

The federal government shut down on October 1 after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a spending bill in the Senate. The impasse has left hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay as the standoff enters its second week.

 

US Democrats won’t end shutdown unless ‘planes fall out of the sky’ – CNN
Over 9,000 flights have already been canceled or delayed due to a shortage of air traffic controllers across the country

 

 

Western surveillance and censorship is eroding digital freedom and is turning the internet into a “tool of control,”Telegram founder Pavel Durov has warned.

The Russian-born billionaire has long portrayed Telegram as an outpost for free speech and privacy, contrasting it with what he describes as authoritarian censorship efforts by Western governments.

 

West turning internet into ‘tool of control’ – Telegram founder

Pavel Durov has used his birthday message to sound the alarm on digital freedom....

 

“Our generation is running out of time to save the free Internet built for us by our fathers,” Durov said in a statement on Telegram on Friday, marking his 41st birthday.

France's political crisis shows no sign of abating. The resignation of Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister this week, after just 27 days in office, means the country is set to have an eighth prime minister in the space of five years.

Although President Emmanuel Macron now looks set to name another prime minister before the week is over — potentially fending off the need for new elections — the political turmoil comes with major consequences for the EU's second-largest economy.

 

Top Hamas official announces end to Gaza war
The organization has received “guarantees” from the US that the hostilities will not continue, Khalil al-Hayya has said

The Gaza war is over, a senior Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, has said, adding that the peace plan put forth by US President Donald Trump would mark the start of a “permanent ceasefire.”

The militant group received some “guarantees” from Washington and other mediators that the hostilities would not continue, he told Gaza residents in a televised address on Thursday.

https://www.rt.com/news/626156-hamas-leader-end-gaza-war/

 

 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Wednesday accused Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk of “defending terrorists,” over comments about the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. 

Tusk had claimed the day before in a post on X that “the problem with North Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.”

The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas to Germany along the Baltic Sea floor, were blown up soon after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. 

Szijjarto condemned the Polish prime ministers post in a reply, asking what else the Polish prime minister could find “forgivable or even praiseworthy.”

“According to Donald Tusk, blowing up a gas pipeline is acceptable,” he wrote.