WATCH: James Talarico Denies Jesus Is the Only Way, Says Allah Leads to Same Truth– www.breitbart.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Democrat Texas Senate candidate James Talarico denied that Jesus Christ is the way to truth, saying Allah and other religious paths can lead people to the same divine truth.
In a newly resurfaced video, Talarico says Islam and Christianity are “equal pathways to truth,” rejecting the Christian teaching that Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation. Talarico said he views all religions as different paths leading to the same truth.
“I find that they’re all kind of equal pathways to truth. You know, that’s how I think, you know, I always think of all of the world’s faith traditions as like a circle with,” Talarico said. “That divine mystery of the universe in the middle. And we all have different names for that mystery.”
Talarico specifically included Allah, Nirvana, and the Great Spirit among the names he said people use for what he called the same “divine mystery.”
“Whether it’s God or Yahweh or Allah or Nirvana, the Great Spirit, whatever you call it, this is all, you know, different pathways to the same kind of fundamental truth of reality,” Talarico continued.
U.S. House passes bill to withhold federal aid from colleges that boycott Israel– www.thecollegefix.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Congressman warns the bill could violate free speech
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to withhold federal aid from colleges and universities that boycott Israel.
The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026 states that federally-funded institutions “will not engage in a nonexpressive commercial boycott of a major strategic partner of the United States.”
In addition, students cannot be “unreasonably obstructed from participating in academic programs in Israel,” the bill states.
The Republican-controlled chamber approved the measure by a 237–169 vote, with 33 Democrats supporting it and two Republicans opposing it, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The legislation will now head to the U.S. Senate.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who sponsored the bill, said, “No student, no professor should be shut out of research, study abroad opportunities, or academic partnerships, or feel unwelcome in the classroom because of where they’re from or what religion they practice.”
Merz Cancels Trump Call After Trump Hails AfD Victory and Slams Germany’s Globalist Mass Migration Policy * The Gateway Pundit * by Robert Semonsen– www.thegatewaypundit.com News Source EXCERPT:
President Donald J. Trump hosts a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Germany’s left-liberal, globalist Chancellor Friedrich Merz has postponed a planned telephone conversation with the US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, days after voters in Saxony-Anhalt handed the AfD a sweeping regional election victory and a major defeat to Merz’s CDU.
The German government offered no explanation for pulling the call, the German press reported. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said Berlin had requested the postponement and that officials hadn’t yet settled on another date.
Asked whether an ordinary scheduling conflict caused the change, Kornelius indicated that it wasn’t the issue. The unanswered questions quickly turned attention toward Trump’s public celebration of the AfD’s election result.
Trump had weighed in after the AfD stormed into first place in Saxony-Anhalt. Writing on Truth Social, he described the result as a “really big night” for Germany’s populist movement and linked its rise directly to public frustration over immigration.
The president said Germans had grown tired of immigration rules that, in his assessment, had inflicted serious damage on the country. He ended the message with “MGGA,” an apparent German variation of his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Merz’s spokesman refrained from saying whether those remarks prompted Wednesday’s decision. Instead, Kornelius pointed to the chancellor’s previous position that foreign governments shouldn’t intervene in or comment on Germany’s domestic politics, particularly elections.
The diplomatic friction arrived at an especially difficult moment for Merz. His CDU suffered a devastating setback in Sunday’s Saxony-Anhalt election as the AfD more than doubled its previous share of the vote.
Official results put the AfD at 43.8%, while the CDU collapsed to 17.2%. The AfD secured 39 seats in the 83-member state parliament, leaving it only three seats short of an outright majority.
The scale of the result transformed what had been a regional contest into a national political problem for Merz. His party had governed Saxony-Anhalt for more than two decades, but voters delivered the CDU one of its most punishing defeats there.
AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund said the result demonstrated that voters wanted fundamental change. He campaigned heavily on immigration and promised deportations of people residing illegally in Germany from the beginning of an AfD administration.
Migration wasn’t the election’s only issue. Germany’s exceedingly sluggish economy, dissatisfaction with the federal government and concerns about living standards also helped shape the vote, according to election analyses.
Still, immigration has become one of the sharpest dividing lines in German politics. The AfD advocates substantially tighter border and migration policies, while Trump has repeatedly argued that Germany and other European countries allowed immigration to reach damaging levels.
Merz, who is in a coalition government with the socialists, has promised tougher migration controls but has so far failed to implement any meaningful change.
The confrontation with AfD has become harder for Germany’s established parties to avoid after Sunday’s result. Despite winning almost 44% of the vote, the AfD still faces the longstanding “firewall” under which Germany’s mainstream parties refuse political cooperation with it.
Merz has shown no sign of abandoning that approach. Following his party’s defeat, he acknowledged mistakes but rejected suggestions that he should step aside and said surrendering wasn’t an option.
AfD leaders, meanwhile, have seized on the election as evidence that their political isolation is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Co-leader Alice Weidel used Wednesday’s Bundestag debate to attack Merz’s leadership and portray the Saxony-Anhalt result as a rejection of his government.
Trump’s social media posts added an international dimension to that battle. His administration and political allies have previously criticized the exclusion of national conservative parties in Europe, while prominent figures in Trump’s orbit have openly expressed sympathy for the AfD.
The postponed telephone conversation carried significance beyond the latest dispute. Merz and Trump had planned to speak in connection with the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, with Berlin emphasizing Germany’s continuing solidarity with the United States.
German officials claim the transatlantic relationship remains important despite disagreements between Berlin and Washington. Relations have nevertheless faced pressure over immigration, trade, Ukraine, and other foreign-policy questions since Trump returned to the White House.
For Merz, the immediate challenge remains at home. The AfD’s 43.8% showing against the CDU’s 17.2% has dramatically altered the political landscape in Saxony-Anhalt and intensified questions about the chancellor’s ability to reverse his party’s losses.
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Andy Burnham braced for Donald Trump clash as he prepares to hit Israel with sanctions– www.thesun.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
ANDY Burnham is bracing for a fresh row with Donald Trump as he prepares to unveil Israeli sanctions as soon as today.
The PM is expected to impose a punishment package on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over illegal West Bank settlements.
Andy Burnham is bracing for a fresh row with Donald Trump as he prepares to unveil Israeli sanctions Credit: GettyAmericans who are understood to be furious with Britain’s hardening approach against Israel Credit: Getty Images
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to make the announcement today as Labour seeks to win back pro-Gaza voters it has lost in recent years.
Treasury Department to buy back up to $6 billion in longer-term debt, triple the normal level– www.cnbc.com News Source EXCERPT:
The Treasury Department on Wednesday said it will buy back up to $6 billion of government debt in an operation aimed at keeping bond markets functioning.
The much-anticipated announcement triples the normal buyback operation and follows an announcement Aug. 19 from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the department would at least double the normal amount for already-issued securities.
Treasury also said future operations will be at least $4 billion.
Though the operation ostensibly is aimed at keeping government debt markets liquid — in this case for 10- and 20-year notes — the extraordinary measure also has been seen as an effort to put a lid on Treasury yields, which had hit highs not seen since prior to the global financial crisis in 2008.
Market reaction, however, was negative. Treasury yields rose further but were volatile with long-dated securities rising as much as 5 basis points each before easing.
The benchmark 10-year issue hit 4.841% around 11:30 a.m. ET. The 20-year climbed to 5.314% while the 30-year bond rose 5 basis points to also punch through what had been seen as the important 5.3% level, most recently yielding 5.307%. One basis point equals 0.01%.
“Hank Paulson’s bazooka this is not,” said bond fund manager Mark Spindel, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital, referring to the former Treasury secretary’s actions during the financial crisis. “And it took an act of Congress in that crisis.”
There had been speculation heading into Wednesday’s announcement that the buyback level could be many times the initial release, in which Treasury said the amount will “at least” double the normal $2 billion operation.
“Moving the sizes up to $6 billion would amount to tripling the size of the buybacks, which would be a meaningful escalation but would not be wildly out of line with the spirit of the ‘at least double’ language.,” Wrightson ICAP analysts wrote earlier this week.
“Quadrupling or even quintupling the size to the $8 billion to $10 billion range is not out of the question, but would represent a second major shift in the Treasury’s debt strategy in just two weeks,” they added. “It would be an admission that the Treasury hadn’t thought through its hasty August 19 announcement in the first place.”
The actual buybacks will happen Thursday in a 20-minute operation that will conclude at 2 p.m. ET.
Higher Treasury yields have come against a confluence of factors: Surging government debt that recently passed $40 trillion, elevated inflation fears from tariffs and the Iran war, and a corresponding resurgence in energy prices that saw crude oil top $100 a barrel Wednesday.
At the same time, the long end of the Treasury curve is the less active part of a market that is considered the deepest and most liquid in the world.
Treasury issuance this year has jumped 11.8% from 2025, and the $31.8 trillion in publicly held debt is up 8.2%.
“Treasury announced buybacks less than hoped for (or feared depending on your point of view),” Mizuho economist Alex Pelle said. “The risk is that the Treasury ratchets this up in some manner given the market’s reaction. However, I think the pressure to go against standard operating procedure will abate somewhat on the other side of the midterms.”
The accelerated buybacks have faced critics, with some questioning what impact the amount would have on such a massive market, as well as the move being a break from Treasury moving in a predictable manner on the process.
One prominent critic was Stanley Druckenmiller, head of Duquesne Family Office and a former mentor to Bessent.
“Once markets believe Treasury is defending a price, every rise in yields becomes a test of official resolve, and the operations must grow to survive the tests,” Druckenmiller wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
“Governments defending prices against fundamentals always lose. The only variable is how much they spend before conceding,” he added.
Germany’s Merz ‘shocked’ by far-right AfD state election victory – National– globalnews.ca News Source
EXCERPT:
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doubled down Monday on pushing through unpopular reforms to Europe’s largest economy after a far-right party surged to a landslide victory in a regional election, with a very good chance of forming the first far-right state government since the Nazi era.
Merz said his center-right Christian Democratic Union was “deeply shocked” by what he called “the most serious election defeat that the CDU has had for years, for decades.” But he indicated that he’s determined to stay at the helm and said that “giving up is not an option for me.”
The anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AfD, fell just short of a majority in Sunday’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a small eastern state that gained outsized prominence as AfD eyed power there. Its regional branch is one of several considered a proven right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
AfD’s victory is a major distraction for Germany and Merz at a time when Europe faces several challenges, including Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine, a suspected sabotage campaign targeting NATO countries, and difficult dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump threatens sales in US of Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier– www.channelnewsasia.com News Source
EXCERPT:
THREATS TO DECERTIFY
Back in January, furious over what he said was Canada’s refusal to grant certification to new models of US-made Gulfstream jets, the president threatened to decertify Bombardier planes in the United States and impose a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft.
Those threats apparently were never carried out, but Trump said Canada quickly certified Gulfstream planes the following month because of his intervention.
Trump’s social media post Monday signalled continued acrimony over Bombardier, amid a broiling bilateral tariff fight.
Even if Trump sought to follow through on his latest threat, it remained unclear how it would happen. The Federal Aviation Administration, not the White House, is the US agency that certifies or decertifies aircraft in the country.
Bombardier models remain US-certified, and the company is currently exempt from US tariffs.
Last month, as trade negotiations collapsed, Trump slapped 50 per cent tariffs on some US$20 billion worth of Canadian products ranging from hockey sticks to cement.
Canada announced it is imposing retaliatory tariffs on a similar amount of US products beginning early Tuesday.
The duties of 15 per cent, 25 per cent and 50 per cent will apply to imports from the United States covering steel and aluminium products as well as dairy goods like cheese.
Ceuta Schools Replace Pork with ‘Sharia Meat’ After Muslim Invasion– gellerreport.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Anywhere Western law and Islamic law conflict, it is Western law that must give way.
Muslims are the only immigrant group who come to the West with a ready made model of society they believe to be superior to Western law and they work furiously, by all means, to impose it. Under Islam, shariah (Islamic) law supersedes Western law. Anywhere Western law and Shariah law conflict, it is always Western law that must give way. What those of us working in defense of freedom did not expect, was the craven capitulation and cowardice by Western left elites to Islamic supremacy.
🇪🇸 A young woman from Ceuta breaks down in tears during yesterday’s demonstration against the invasion of illegal migrants:
“We don’t have a normal life anymore. The children can’t go out. […] They keep lying about the numbers, there aren’t 5,000, there are 20,000, and those… pic.twitter.com/sOEleDY8V6
German airport attack reveals escalating threat of hot conflict with Europe– www.washingtonexaminer.com News Source
EXCERPT:
In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieceshere.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was framed as a swift, precise operation that would bulldoze the government in Kyiv over the course of days. More than four years later, the Russian military is bogged down in a meat grinder with no clear path to an immediate victory.
Yet despite this ongoing and costly failure, European leaders remain intensely paranoid about the threat Moscow poses to their own continent. EU officials and NATO leaders characterize Russia as the West’s greatest threat, and this fear has inspired nations like Germany and France to begin revitalizing their militaries after decades of declining power.
Recent incidents have shown that this fear is not entirely unreasonable. A drone fitted with explosive devices was discovered last month at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany, forcing closures and suspended flights while the unmanned aerial vehicle was diffused. The German government this week pinned the incident on Russia, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt calling it a “new quality of danger” compared to previous hybrid attacks from Moscow.
“Drone sightings, drone threats including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,” he added. “That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.”
Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrive to a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, about the attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport last month with a drone loaded with explosives.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The Leipzig/Halle Airport incident is an inflection point for the continent. While “disinformation efforts, drone incursions, cyberwarfare, and other acts of sabotage” have become a well-documented threat from Moscow, the presence of explosives in a major European airport crossed a line — and leaders are now scrambling to prepare.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu Puts Political Survival Above Israel’s Security, Says Top Rival Gadi Eisenkot, Israeli politics– www.ndtv.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the sitting premier of looking merely after his own political survival and not the country’s security, at a rally in central Israel on Monday.
Unveiling the candidates of the Yashar party for the October 27 election, the former military commander said nothing about how he would handle the Palestinian question or the wars against Iran and Lebanon launched by Netanyahu, but accused him of ducking responsibility in the nearly three years since the massive Hamas attack.
A relative newcomer to politics, his party Yashar (Hebrew for “Upright”), founded a year ago, has surged in the polls in recent months, with many voters seeing him as a viable candidate to replace Netanyahu, thanks to his military background.
At Monday’s rally in a hall in the central Israeli city of Rosh Haayin, Eisenkot vowed to put an end to the divisions that have plagued the country since October 7, 2023 over Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza, where dozens of Israeli hostages were held, and on other fronts.
“In the face of the great rift that opened on October 7, and in the face of the immense challenges before the State of Israel, I believe we need a leadership that knows how to rise to the magnitude of the hour, that knows how to unite and bring unity around what we share, and to fundamentally restore the principles of stateliness and Zionism,” Eisenkot said.
Eisenkot also touched on other hot-button issue in the upcoming election, such as the exemptions and benefits granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow ‘held secret war games where soldiers defeated Nato and seized Swedish island’– www.independent.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
Live Updates: Iran says it will expand control in Strait of Hormuz as oil and gas prices continue to climb – CBS News– news.google.com News Source EXCERPT:
Serbia’s government proposes dissolving Parliament for early election– abcnews.com News Source EXCERPT:
BELGRADE, Serbia — The Serbian government on Monday proposed dissolving Parliament, setting in motion a procedure for scheduling an early parliamentary election that could see President Aleksandar Vucic switch to the post of prime minister.
The vote is seen as a test of Vucic’s tight rule in Serbia after over a year of mass street protests. It will be held in an atmosphere of heightened political tensions as ruling populists seek to hold on to power despite widespread popular discontent.
Vucic is expected to formally set the date later this week. He has said that the ballot likely will be held on Oct. 25.
Protests in Serbia started after a train station tragedy on Nov. 1, 2024, in northern Serbia’ killed 16 people. The protesters demanded accountability for the concrete canopy collapse in Novi Sad and an end to corruption they believed was the cause for bad renovation work.
More than a year of demonstrations sometimes drawing hundreds of thousands of people shook Vucic more than ever during his 14 years in power. The president and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have been accused of curbing democratic freedoms and of ties to organized crime, which he has denied. Serbia’s bid to join the European Union has stalled under Vucic, who has maintained close ties with both Russia and China.
Vucic has faced additional EU pressure in the past week over public homage to war criminal Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander, who was buried as a hero in Serbia on Monday despite a U.N. court conviction.
Vucic has said he would resign the post so he can join the campaign for the parliamentary vote. He cannot run for the presidency again after serving two almost full terms. An early presidential election will be held separately.
Vucic has pushed hard against the protesters, sparking international concern over police violence and arbitrary detentions. He has accused the students and professors behind the protests of an intention to “destroy the state.”
The student-backed election list for Parliament is expected to include university professors and experts.
The populists have gradually taken over Serbia’s institutions and mainstream media after coming to power in 2012.
Houthis launch attack on Saudi Arabia airbase where fighter fleet is located– www.mirror.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
A video shows smoke and balls of fire rising from trucks at a camp of the Saudi-backed government forces
The Houthis militant group have reportedly fired ballistic missiles and drones on Saudi Arabian oil facilities and an air base.
A drone was shot down in the overnight attack over Khamis Mushait at such a low altitude that the interception shattered windows, according to reports.
Iran-Backed Proxy Group Launches Ground Offensive Aimed At Further Disrupting Global Shipping– trendingpoliticsnews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Yemen’s Houthi militants — an Iran-backed group that has controlled large swaths of the country’s northwest for more than a decade — have launched a renewed offensive aimed at taking control of a vital Red Sea port.
Yemen has been divided by civil war since 2014, when Houthi forces from the country’s north seized the capital city of Sanaa. The Houthis, a Zaydi Shia movement that formed in the 1990s, now administer most of what was historically North Yemen. This includes Sanaa, the densely populated highlands, and the Red Sea port of Hodeidah.
This accounts for the majority of Yemen’s population.
The internationally recognized government, supported by Saudi Arabia and based mainly in the south, holds Aden, much of the east and south, and the oil-producing area around Marib. Taiz, one of Yemen’s largest cities, remains split. Front lines changed little after a 2022 nationwide truce until fighting intensified in 2026.
The Houthis’ current holdings give them a long coastline on the Red Sea and positions from which they can reach the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow passage connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier this month, the Houthis opened a ground offensive in western Taiz governorate. The operation targeted roads linking the city of Taiz to the government-held port of Mokha and sought to move closer to high ground overlooking approaches to Bab al-Mandab.
Clashes have been the heaviest in years, with more than 300 combatants and some civilians reported killed. Government forces later recaptured parts of Hays district in Hodeidah province and some heights west of Taiz, while Houthi units cut the Taiz–Mokha road at least temporarily.
Russia Orders Closures of German Consulate and Cultural Centers in Tit-for-Tat Move– www.themoscowtimes.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it was shuttering the German consulate in St. Petersburg and German cultural centers across the country.
The closures were announced in retaliation for Germany’s decision last week to close the Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin after its government blamed Moscow for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month.
Moscow gave diplomats and employees at the German Consulate General in St. Petersburg until Sept. 18 to cease operations and leave Russia.
Staff at Germany’s Goethe-Institut cultural center branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg were given until this Sunday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned Germany’s ambassador in Moscow to inform him about the retaliatory decisions.
“It was the German authorities who once again provoked a new spiral of escalation in bilateral relations. Full responsibility for the consequences lies entirely with the German government,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.
President Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in order to blame Moscow for the early August incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Berlin’s accusations against Moscow amounted to “an effective declaration of war against us.”
Lavrov said last week that Moscow would respond to the closure of its cultural center in Berlin by closing the Goethe-Institut cultural centers across Russia.
Russia’s first Goethe-Institut opened in Moscow in 1992, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Oil hits $100 for first time since July as chaos continues in Strait of Hormuz– www.independent.co.uk News Source EXCERPT:
The price of oil crossed the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since July as continued chaos in the Middle East spooked the market.
As the market opened on Wednesday, the price for Brent Crude – the benchmark for oil across the world – hit $100.19 at around 8.15am. It later dropped slightly to $99 shortly after.
The Middle East conflict escalated this week after Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen launched strikes on several Saudi cities, drawing a key US ally further into the war.
Meanwhile, the US military has said it’s destroyed five Iranian tankers carrying crude following attempts to strike a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles.
Iran claimed to have attacked two American vessels and eight oil tankers in the Gulf. Shipping crews near Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports were warned to abandon their vesels.
The latest attacks threaten to deepen disruptions to Middle East oil supplies, already strained by strikes on regional energy infrastructure and key shipping lanes.
Brent crude prices were last this high in late July.
Ukrainian army carries out 53 attacks on DPR in past day, kills civilian – Military & Defense– tass.com News Source EXCERPT:
DONETSK, September 9. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military carried out 53 attacks on the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day, killing one civilian and injuring 13 others, the regional government’s department for recording Ukraine’s war crimes said in a statement.
“Fifty-three attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces were recorded. One civilian was reported dead, and 13 others were injured,” the statement reads.
The attacks damaged five residential buildings, several diesel locomotives and cars, as well as public transport vehicles and trucks, and six civilian infrastructure facilities.
In addition, the department also received further information about two civilians killed and seven injured on August 25, September 4 and 7.
Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump Discussed Potential Trilateral Meeting With Xi Jinping: Kremlin– www.ndtv.com News Source EXCERPT:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed the idea of holding a trilateral meeting with China’s Xi Jinping at an upcoming summit in November, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is scheduled to hold a summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen between November 18-19.
Russia has indicated Putin will attend, although the White House has not yet announced whether Trump will be there.
Asked whether Trump and Putin discussed the idea of a trilateral meeting in Shenzhen during their phone call on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Undoubtedly.”
“This potential possibility has been mentioned before, and there will be such an opportunity,” Peskov told reporters, including AFP.
APEC is an intergovernmental forum that dates to the 1980s.
The group, which includes Russia, China and the United States, is among the most important forums for economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific.
The November summit comes as Washington pushes Russia for an end to the Ukraine war, and amid deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing.
US envoys visited both Moscow and Kyiv last week, but did not announce a breakthrough in talks to end the war in Ukraine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
German far-right party taunts chancellor after its election triumph. He says it won’t win a majority– abcnews.com News Source EXCERPT:
BERLIN — A leader of Alternative for Germany taunted Chancellor Friedrich Merz in parliament Wednesday after it thrashed his party in a regional election. The German leader countered that the far-right party won’t win a majority in the country, assailing its stance toward Ukraine and rhetoric on migration.
Merz is under pressure after Alternative for Germany, or AfD, surged to its biggest win yet in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, while the chancellor’s center-right Christian Democratic Union lost about half its support in the election.
The result underlined AfD’s skill in harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its core theme of curbing immigration as an unpopular national government struggles to turn around a stubbornly sluggish economy.
Two more states are scheduled to hold elections on Sept. 20: Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an eastern state where AfD is strong but Merz’s CDU has long been weak.
AfD’s national co-leader, Alice Weidel, told Merz as she opened the annual budget debate in parliament that “in Saxony-Anhalt, people didn’t just punish you, they pulverized your party.”
“You haven’t understood the message that voters in Saxony-Anhalt sent you on Sunday,” she said. “But that isn’t relevant because your time has run out anyway. Citizens want a change of policy and they will get it.”
Weidel predicted future elections will produce “a clear mandate to govern” for her party.
A combative Merz responded that AfD’s state election result was “remarkable” but noted the party said during the campaign it would only govern with an absolute majority and then missed that target.
Voters “gave us, me as well, a clear message. But you don’t have the absolute majority, and you won’t achieve it in Germany. You won’t get majorities anywhere in Germany with these policies,” Merz said. “You are, and remain, Ms. Weidel, a destructive force.”
Merz pointed toward Weidel’s comments on Ukraine. AfD opposes aid to the country and advocates lifting sanctions against Russia.
“While the U.S. is making another attempt to end the murderous Ukraine war, you are stepping up the war propaganda and the confrontation with Russia, and burning the last bridges to distract from your own disastrous political record,” Weidel told Merz.
The chancellor vowed Germany will continue supporting Ukraine, and told AfD lawmakers that “your reactions only show that you obviously intend to continue the downright grotesque inversion of perpetrator and victim.”
He said “you clearly continue to stand by Russia when it comes to defending our freedom,” and noted Weidel didn’t mention an attempted drone attack at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airport, which the government last week blamed on Russia.
Merz, whose government has moved to toughen migration policy, also attacked AfD’s use of the politically charged term “remigration” while pushing for more deportations.
“The word ‘remigration’ is nothing but a synonym for ethnic cleansing according to origin and skin color,” Merz told lawmakers, contending that implementing it would mean hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and many businesses would be unable to work.
“That we must deport more is a consensus in the (governing) coalition,” Merz said, but it differentiates between people who work and are welcome in Germany and those who don’t have a right to residence.
AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt was applauded by far-right parties across Europe. It also caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Tuesday.
“They finally got tired of the absolutely horrible Immigration rules and regulations which have hurt Germany so badly,” Trump added, without mentioning the party by name. “THEY ARE ON THE RISE, and not going to take it anymore!”