Over two months from Inauguration Day, the Trump team has apparently taken its first steps toward making good on the candidate's promise to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, with a WSJ report outlining options for freezing the crisis. The purported peace plan is a good first step, but would need tweaks to become acceptable to Russia, an observer says.

Citing informed sources, including members of Trump's inner circle, the Wall Street Journal's report outlines a proposal to freeze the Ukrainian front and set up a demilitarized zone along its length, force Kiev to abandon its pursuit of NATO membership for at least 20 years, but continue deliveries of arms to Zelensky.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed pressing global issues at Sochi’s annual Valdai Club forum on Thursday. Interviewed by renowned foreign affairs expert and RT contributor Fyodor Lukyanov, Putin delved into topics ranging from NATO and international security to the ideological roots of current global tensions, openly challenging Western policies and proposing a multipolar vision for the future. Here are the major takeaways from Putin’s remarks.

Putin congratulates ‘courageous’ Trump and expresses willingness to engage with him

Putin addressed Donald Trump’s sensational US election victory, calling him a “courageous”politician who has shown resilience despite apparent assassination attempts and legal challenges. Putin said he is “ready to talk” with the American president-elect.

ONE SHOULD NOT DO THIS BUT WE WILL MAKE A WILD (PROBABLY WRONG) PREDICTION NONETHELESS... THE 48TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (2028) SHOULD BE A WOMAN... OF COURSE.

AND WHAT BETTER CONTEST COULD BE THAN THAT BETWEEN TULSI AND NANCY.... TULSI WILL BE 47 IN 2028 AND NANCY WILL BE 86... YOUTH VERSUS OLD WISDOM.... KAMALA (HARRIS) WILL BE PUT BACK IN THE HARD BASKET, UNLESS NANCY GOES GAGA BEFOREHAND. TRUMP WON'T BE ALLOWED TO STAND AGAIN, UNLESS THEY CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION ALLOWING DITHERING OLD MEN TO RULE FOREVER. MIND YOU THEY HAD TO REMOVE OLD JOE FROM THE BALLOT THIS TIME BECAUSE HIS WALKING AWKWARDNESS WAS REMINISCENT TO THAT OF A LAME DUCK.

TRANS-BLOKES WON'T BE ALLOWED TO APPLY FOR THE JOB OF WOMAN-IN-CHIEF, THOUGH THEY WILL BE INVITED TO ENTER THE SWIMSUIT SPECTACULAR AT THE FROLICKPICS.

Any doubt that Americans were willing to “go back” to Trump, as the Democrats cast it, was dispelled early on. After that, it was only a question of who would prevail in a clearly close race.

Officials projected confidence early, saying the momentum was with the former president despite many commentators feeling Kamala Harris surged in the campaign’s final days. As for the persistent gender gap in the polls, senior Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski said: “Women do not vote only on their gender … It’s a fallacy.”

Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has admitted she failed to declare 16 flight upgrades over several years.

The shadow transport minister's admission comes a week after she claimed to have never received any complimentary airline upgrades, amid a wider debate about political travel perks.

The senator has now disclosed she was upgraded to business class on three domestic Qantas flights this year and last year, upgraded five times on Qantas flights between Australia and New Zealand between 2016 and 2018, and on eight more flights between 2015 and 2019 with both Qantas and Virgin.

In a statement, Senator McKenzie apologised for her error.

THERE ARE RUMORS THAT AUSTIN THE THIRD IS GOING BACK TO HIS ALL JOBS... THIS IS WHEN HE QUIT THE DIRECTORSHIP:

Retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, whom President-elect Biden has nominated to serve as defense secretary, today pledged to recuse himself for a period of four years from all matters involving Raytheon Technologies, where he previously served on the board of directors.

Austin had pledged to recuse himself from Raytheon-related matters for one year as required by law, but today told the Senate Armed Services Committee he would go "above and beyond" to ensure the "public has no reason to question my impartiality."

Austin detailed the extension when questioned by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who praised his decision.

John Menadue asked me what I thought Trump 2.0 could mean for Australia, but there are two similar, easier questions: what should and what will Trump mean for Australia?

The last is the easiest to answer – nobody, including Donald J. Trump, knows. The fickle and feckless nature of the next US president, let alone that of the oddballs jockeying for cabinet positions, has removed any idea of certainty about US policy.

IN ANOTHER LIFETIME, I WOULD BE ASHAMED OF HAVING DONE THE CRAPPY CARTOON MISCHIEF ABOVE. YET, THE POST-ELECTION COMMENTS FROM THE DEMOCRATS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS HAVE CONFIRMED WHAT THE SWINGING AMERICAN AVERAGE VOTER SAW: THE DEMOCRATS ARE FASCISTS, POSSIBLY MORE THAN DONALD (TRUMP) AND THE DEMOCRATS' HYPOCRISY IS TAKING THEM INTO UNFRIENDLY TOTALITARIAN TERRITORY AND THEY SUCK MORE AT ECONOMIC MATTERS....

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT DONALD (TRUMP) IS THE ULTIMATE SAINT OF POLITICAL RITUALS... MEANWHILE JOE BIDEN'S ADMINISTRATION, WITH HIM IN LALALAND, IS "TRUMP-PROOFING" THE PRESIDENCY OF THE DEMOCRATS' WARMONGERING BY MAKING DEALS WITH THEIR CROOKED FRIENDS IN EUROPE. WE SHALL INVESTIGATE...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNDB1cS4yR8

AS THE INTERCEPT, LIKE MOST LEGACY MEDIA, FOAMS AT THE MOUTH AT THE ELECTION OF A "lawless authoritarian AND AN adjudicated rapist" FOR PRESIDENT OF THE USA (AKA OF "THE FREE WORLD" — A EUPHEMISM FOR DECEITFUL COLONIALISM OF THE WEST [AND OF THE PLANET] BY EMPIRE AMERICA), WE CAN'T ANALYSE A MILLION VIEWS BY A MILLION ANALYSTS AS TO WHAT WENT WRONG FOR SOME, ESPECIALLY SHRIEKING WOMEN OF THE LEFT, AND WHAT WENT GOOD FOR OTHERS — INCLUDING SHRIEKING MAGA WOMEN.....

... A COUPLE OF STORIES COULD EXPLAIN:

FIRST, WE WERE TOLD THAT THE YOUTH (POOR PETALS — THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW WE PUSHED THROUGH MOUNTAINS OF SHIT INCLUDING WORLD WARS, AS TODAY'S YOUTH COULD THINK THAT POPPIES WERE ALL THERE WAS ABOUT WARS) WERE FLOCKING TO KAMALA (HARRIS) BUT PERCEPTIONS WERE MIXED:

Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential race, prompting a meltdown in the Kamala Harris camp and the US corporate media – who are struggling to understand what went wrong.

Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel gives the top three reasons behind Trump's victory:

Abject Failure of “Bidenomics” Despite Borrowing and Spending Trillions of Dollars: "Americans vote thinking first about their economic welfare and prospects," Ortel told Sputnik. "The only beneficiaries of the Biden-Harris administration were connected political donors and insiders. Wages after taxes and inflation for private sector workers – the core slice – are way down and under continuing threat."

There is something rather like irony for both parties in this omnishambles US election: whichever one loses, it will be all their own fault. Michael Pascoe.

If the Republicans had chosen Nikki Haley instead of Trump, the election would be as good as over. She would have creamed it, tapping into voter dissatisfaction without stirring voter fear. 

Trump has been the best thing going for Harris. In a tight race coming down to a relative handful of votes in an actual handful of states, it has been the dislike/fear/revulsion sparked by Trump that will make the difference for a Harris win. 

Former president Donald Trump has taken to the stage in Florida to claim victory in the US election.

It is expected that he has secured enough votes to win the electoral college, with JD Vance as his vice president. 

"This is the greatest political movement of all time," Trump told supporters at his West Palm Beach election night event.

"Now it is going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal."

It is only the second time a US president has won non-successive terms, after Grover Cleveland did the same in 1884.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is to spend election night with Donald Trump in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort, he said on X/Twitter. 

Mr Musk, the owner of Tesla and X, has been aggressively campaigning for the Republican candidate in swing states across the country.

Trump's campaign is hosting watch parties including at his Mar-a-Lago home and also Palm Beach Convention Center for thousands of supporters.

The tech billionaire has emerged as one of the most important backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.

Ever since 25 July 1945, the U.S. Government has had, as its #1 objective, to take control ultimately over all other countries (“hegemony”); and its main targets to conquer have been the world’s largest country, which is Russia, and then the world’s most populous country, which has been China. In order to do this, the U.S. regime needed to deceive their public to believe that ‘freedom and democracy’ were what they spread around the world by their coups and invasions, ...

The federal government has quietly delayed plans to introduce local content requirements for major streaming platforms, with no indication of when it might return to work on the policy.

Local content quotas were a centrepiece of Labor's major arts policy, which was aimed at rejuvenating the local industry after the pandemic and released nearly two years ago.