When Lars Werner of the "Last Generation" climate activist group glued himself to the road four years ago to protest for greater climate action, Germany had not yet seen 12,500 heat-related deaths (the 2026 toll, so far), or record temperatures across Western Europe, and fully loaded ships were still navigating the Rhine without difficulty.

In Germany, record heat meets climate action fatigue

BY Oliver Pieper

Climate action does not seem to be a priority for the German government — despite record temperatures, heat-related deaths and drought. Why aren't more people taking to the streets in protest?

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States spent $21 trillion on its military between 2001 and 2024 (in constant 2024 dollars), equal to the combined military spending of the next 18 countries. 

Iran barely made that list at all, spending only 2 percent of what the U.S. did, and SIPRI estimated Iran’s 2025 military budget at only $7.5 billion. So how is Iran holding its own against the multi-trillion-dollar U.S. war machine?

Except for the unfortunate victims of Western information blackouts and propaganda, it has long been obvious that Ukraine under its leader-beyond-elections Vladimir Zelensky is not a democracy, even by the real world’s low standards. Zelensky’s regime is extremely corrupt, authoritarian, and lethally vicious.

Concentration Camp Ukraine? In a comedian’s dictatorship, a pop singer tells the truth

A rare celebrity outburst has pierced Kiev’s climate of fear, exposing forced abductions, repression and a regime terrified of truth

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

The planned transfer of US-made missiles and other weapons from Türkiye to Ukraine will “inevitably undermine mutual trust” with both Washington and Ankara, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned.

The US State Department notified Congress earlier this month that it was prepared to authorize the re-export of weapons from Turkish stocks to Ukraine. The package reportedly includes 70 M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, 12 M270 multiple-launch rocket systems, more than 2,500 M26 rockets with cluster warheads, and 47,000 203mm cluster artillery shells.

The total value of the proposed transfers is estimated at around $280 million.

Former ambassador Yamagami Shingo is again shaping Australian political debate. His nationalist commentary, partisan interventions and revisionist views deserve scrutiny before his attacks are treated as the voice of Japan.

Yamagami Shingo, once Japanese Ambassador to Australia and now energetic right-wing vlogger, must be laughing up his sleeve. That’s the sleeve where, as he reveals in a recent podcast, he wears a cufflink decorated with the Japanese military flag.

Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Tired of woke luxuries like port calls, hot water, clean laundry, deodorant and knowing when you're coming home?

Then have we got the vacation for you!

Inspired by reports from families of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Newberger’s AI Funnies proudly presents the cruise where 260+ days at sea isn't a problem—it's a feature.

Endless days at sea!
The exclusive Hegseth Meal Plan!
Invigorating cold showers!
Yesterday’s uniform—today!
Freedom from distracting care packages!
And absolutely no pesky shore leave getting in the way of your vacation!

Plus, the whole experience comes with the enthusiastic support of your Commander in Chief.

No return date. No accountability. No hot water. You know—the woke stuff.

Welcome aboard the PETE HEGSETH GETAWAY CRUISE.
(WARNING: THIS IS SATIRE BASED ON REPORTED NEWS)

From a handwritten response in 1911 to the largest single census category today, “no religion” charts a profound shift in Australian identity – shaped by secularisation, migration and changing social attitudes.

When I sat down to fill in my first Australian census in 2026, one question was a familiar one. Back home in India, “What is your religion?” was never really a question – although it is asked in the census.

Afzal Azeem Chowdhary

Last September I made a short video that was by far the most viral piece of content I’ve ever put out.

I can’t trace all the views, but at least a million people watched it across Instagram and TikTok, and possibly elsewhere. Neighbors in Athens, Greece told me they’d come across my face in their feed; Chinese accounts captioned the video and reposted it. I felt like I’d made a dent in the universe and — I’m not going to lie — a little bit special.

It’s Time For Movements To Rethink Social Media

"Until there is convincing evidence that such activity can be undertaken without causing serious or irreversible harm, prudence calls us to exercise great caution."

The Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) expressed this in a pastoral statement issued on Aug. 10 on deep-sea mining, signed by the Conference's President, Archbishop Ryan P. Jimenez of Agaña, Guam, who also serves as President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO).

Bishops of the Pacific urge caution over deep-sea mining

Some 500 years ago, Jakob Fugger was the richest man alive. The German financed emperors and popes, and reshaped global trade and banking to set the economic course for the modern world.

For Greg Steinmetz, the Augsburg, Germany-born Jakob Fugger was "the first person to conduct trade on a truly global scale."

Steinmetz, a former correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, profiled Fugger in the 2015 biography The Richest Man Who Ever Lived.

How the world's first global trader, Jakob Fugger, got rich

BY Thomas Kohlmann

Charles Dickens often created characters whose physical appearance reflected their personal values. Barnaby Joyce, the Akubra-wearing, tomato-red champion of mining and agricultural capital, could have emerged from a Dickens novel set in the VIP section of the horse races. Joyce’s long career in Australian politics is full of scandals and gaffes, including when he was filmed sprawling, drunk, on a Canberra footpath in 2024, or most recently screaming at his dog mid-interview with the ABC. But Joyce is no mere buffoon; he is a calculating politician with strong ties to Australia’s right-wing establishment and some of its most powerful capitalists. 

“The AUKUS Inquiry reports on 30 October. Its demand is simple. A real parliamentary inquiry. A published threat assessment.” Andrew Brown.

Australians passed a hat around to scrutinise a $368 billion defence deal. The largest procurement in our history, and the only formal examination of it is a crowdfunded citizens’ inquiry chaired by Peter Garrett, denied a committee room and subpoena powers by both major parties. 

Yet look who fronted it. A former Liberal prime minister. Two former Labor foreign ministers. A former Chief of the Defence Force, Chris Barrie, on the commission with former WA premier Carmen Lawrence. More than 500 submissions, including from former defence ministers Linda Reynolds and Christopher Pyne. 

At the Moscow offices of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the corridors are silent.

There is an overwhelming sense of emptiness.

"There is no newspaper anymore," former chief editor Dmitry Muratov tells me in an exclusive interview, published on the BBC News YouTube channel.