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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has tightened her control over the EU’s executive branch to the point where the bloc’s leaders and diplomats now view her as too powerful, according to a Bloomberg report. Von der Leyen’s power grab angers EU officials – Bloomberg In power since 2019, von der Leyen has rebuilt the European Commission in her image and become “the face of Europe,” Bloomberg wrote on Tuesday. She has spearheaded…

At least 70 Labour MPs are demanding that Prime Minister Keir Starmer resign, Sky News reported on Monday. This comes after last week’s local elections in which the party came out as the biggest loser, relinquishing more than 1,300 council seats across the country. In addition to dozens of lawmakers calling for Starmer to go, at least three junior members of his government have resigned from their positions, Sky News reports. · Under Labour…

Russia successfully tests the Sarmat Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. · The weapon surpasses all Western analogues and can bypass all air defence systems. · A residential building is hit by a Ukrainian drone in Central Russia after the Victory Day ceasefire proposed by Moscow ends. · Chancellor Friedrich Merz gets jeered as he warns Germans to brace for further social cuts. That's as his approval rating reaches rock-bottom amid Berlin's…

By Andrew Korybko · This could precede Russia and the US cutting a deal over Ukraine, in which case the US would no longer retain this role in terms of Russia’s threat perception, ergo the possible need to recalibrate perceptions ahead of time by having Germany and the EU as a whole replace the US’ traditional role. · It was assessed in late April that “France’s Planned Nuclear Drills With Poland Just Made It Russia’s Top Adversary In Europe”…

By Andrew Korybko · Unless they all get on the same page, and soon, the West risks dividing-and-ruling the SCO. · Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov described the threats facing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) during his speech at the group’s Defense Ministers’ meeting in Bishkek in late April. He began by sharing the backdrop: “In order to maintain global dominance, the United States and the collective West are destroying the…

!Rams fighting · Source: Kiwibank Economics · Kiwibank economists are warning that New Zealand is being squeezed between two dangerous economic forces at once: · rising fuel and energy costs, and a weakening domestic economy. · The result, they argue, is a growing risk of stagflation — the difficult combination of weak growth, rising prices and deteriorating economic conditions. · According to the report, Brent Crude oil prices have…

A new interview released by Tucker Carlson is generating major international controversy after former Ukrainian presidential press secretary Iuliia Mendel made a series of explosive allegations about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the conduct of the Ukraine war, corruption inside the Ukrainian government, and the role of Western media. · Mendel, who served as Zelensky’s press secretary between 2019 and 2021, told Carlson she believed…

The OECD says New Zealand has “no future in gas.” · That may sound visionary inside policy circles and international climate forums. · But there is a major problem. · Modern New Zealand still runs on carbon fuels. · Not hypothetically. Not ideologically. Physically. · Every single day New Zealand consumes approximately 23 million litres of liquid fuels across transport, freight, aviation, shipping, agriculture, heavy machinery, construction…

The Marlborough Sounds, where the pair were last seen. New Year’s Eve, 1997. Hundreds gathered in the Marlborough Sounds for celebrations on the water. Among them were two young New Zealanders: Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. By morning, both were gone. · The final journey · Witnesses reported that the pair had boarded a water taxi in the early hours. From there, accounts suggest they transferred to a yacht belonging to an unknown man. ·…

Putin's Victory Day remarks naming China, India, and the U.S. as Russia's “partners and friends” have rattled the Obama–Soros network — who convened in Mark Carney's Toronto to launch a “Principled Pragmatism” rebrand and declare Trump's presidency an “interregnum.” By Susan Kokinda · As President Trump prepares to travel to China, this episode argues that Putin's remarks about Russia's “partners and friends” (China, India, and the U.S.) reveal…