Russian forces in Ukraine are suffering casualties at more than 400,000 per year — enough to pack the house at the world’s four largest stadiums. Losses like these have been fuel for simultaneous talk of inevitable Russian defeat or victory in the public conversation.
What should we make of this talk? Can Russian forces sustain similar losses in its ongoing war in Ukraine and rebuild to fight another day? The likely answer is “yes,” and it speaks to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approach toward negotiations to end the war. In refusing to agree to an unconditional ceasefire and skipping the latest peace talks in Turkey, Putin is playing for time — because time appears to be on his side.
While Russia could run out of quality recruits, force replenishment through 2024 was far more successful than many predicted. In April of that year, NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Gen. Christopher Cavoli observed that “Russia is reconstituting that force far faster than our initial estimates suggested. The army is actually now larger — by 15 percent — than it was when it invaded Ukraine.” Whether Russia can maintain its ability to reconstitute and even grow its forces as its war in Ukraine progresses remains uncertain. More certain is its advantage over Ukraine in terms of total population, with nearly four times as many people and roughly 18.9 million males aged 20–39 relative to Ukraine’s fewer than five million males of that age. Russia can lose three times as many troops as Ukraine and still suffer less in relative terms.
US President Donald Trump has unveiled a scheme to build a $175 billion (€154bn) missile defence system called the “Golden Dome”, claiming it could be “fully operational” by the end of his presidential term.
The announcement on Tuesday came roughly four months after Trump signed an executive order, instructing the Pentagon to draw up plans to defend the US against “catastrophic” aerial attacks.
Although the exact scope of the Golden Dome project remains unclear, Trump said the system would involve “next-generation” technologies, including space-based sensors and interceptors.
“Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space,” Trump claimed.
Nvidia and Foxconn Hon Hai Technology Group today announced they are deepening their longstanding partnership and are working with the Taiwan government to build an AI factory supercomputer that will deliver state-of-the-art Nvidia Blackwell infrastructure to researchers, startups and industries.
Foxconn will provide the AI infrastructure through its subsidiary Big Innovation Company as an Nvidia Cloud Partner. Featuring 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, the AI factory will significantly expand AI computing availability and fuel innovation for Taiwan researchers and enterprises.
The Taiwan National Science and Technology Council will use the Big Innovation Company supercomputer to provide AI cloud computing resources to the Taiwan technology ecosystem, accelerating AI development and adoption across sectors.
TSMC researchers plan to leverage the system to advance its research and development with orders-of-magnitude faster performance, compared with previous-generation systems.
“AI has ignited a new industrial revolution — science and industry will be transformed,” said Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia in a keynote talk at Computex 2025 in Taiwan. “We are delighted to partner with Foxconn and Taiwan to help build Taiwan’s AI infrastructure, and to support TSMC and other leading companies to advance innovation in the age of AI and robotics.”
The growing impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs is creating “tensions” among members of the G7 heading into a critical summit in Canada next month, the federal finance minister says.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem are chairing three days of meetings with top finance officials from the world’s largest economies in Banff, Alta., this week. The talks are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine and artificial intelligence, and how the G7 members can work together to grow the global economy.
However, Trump’s aggressive trade policies are likely to dominate the proceedings, and could even impact what members can feasibly agree to.
“There’s no doubt that around the table, you need to find unity, but at the same time, it’s true that the tariffs are creating tensions amongst the different partners,” Champagne told Global News in an interview from Calgary on Tuesday.
At least two members of Trump’s cabinet sold substantial stock holdings just before and on the day of the president’s surprise April 2 tariff announcement that shook global markets and triggered a $2.4 trillion sell-off. Attorney General Pam Bondi divested millions in assets on the day Trump announced the “Liberation Day” tariffs, while Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sold stocks on the days leading up to it, according to recently filed disclosures with the Office of Government Ethics.
China’s economy slows in April as trade war blues hit retail sales, housing and investment (Photo: AP)
China’s economy showed signs of slowing in April as President Donald Trump’s trade war took a toll, with retail sales, property and investment coming in weaker than economists had forecast. Industrial production slowed as Trump’s painfully high tariffs of up to 145 per cent, and 125 per cent retaliatory duties imposed by Beijing, took effect and shipments were curtailed. National Statistics Bureau spokesperson Fu Linghui said the general trend was positive though he pointed to “external shocks” that had gained intensity.
“It should also be noted that there are still many outside unstable and uncertain factors, and the foundation for the continued recovery and improvement of the national economy needs to be further consolidated,” Fu said. Here are a few key indicators reported Monday.
Retail sales Chinese consumers have been holding back after the shocks of a prolonged downturn in the housing market that is the source of much household wealth. Retail sales rose 5.1 per cent from a year earlier in April, below economists’ expectations for a 6 per cent increase. Fu said Beijing would continue to focus on supporting job creation and spurring more domestic demand.
President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa about claims of a white genocide by showing video footage in the Oval Office of alleged burial sites of white farmers.
“Turn the lights down and just put this on,” Trump said as he directed Ramaphosa to watch a video montage of political rallies with widespread chants of “kill the farmer!” and images of grave sites.
“These are burial sites right here…. Over a thousand of white farmers,” Trump pointed out to the president, who had denied claims of genocide, saying murder and crime are not unique to white farmers.
Following the video’s conclusion, Trump showed printouts of news articles on persecution as Ramaphosa urged a calm dialogue on the subject.
“What you saw, the speeches that were being made, one that is not government policy,” Ramaphosa told Trump of those calling for killings. “We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies. And in many cases, or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
Sharing the costs of hosting U.S. troops in allied countries has been a favorite topic of U.S. President Donald Trump since his first term in the White House.
But as more countries try to eke out a deal to escape the spectre of tariffs in his second term, Trump is making his own moves: bundling negotiations on trade, tariffs, and defense cost-sharing into a single comprehensive deal, which he called “one-stop shopping.”
One such country in his sights is South Korea, which is home to about 28,500 U.S. troops known as U.S. Forces Korea. On April 8, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had discussed “payment for the big time Military Protection we provide to South Korea,” among other issues, with then-acting president Han Duck-soo.
“We are bringing up other subjects that are not covered by Trade and Tariffs, and getting them negotiated also. “ONE STOP SHOPPING” is a beautiful and efficient process!!!” Trump wrote.
Democrats continue to mindlessly oppose everything President Donald Trump does, even policies they have rabidly supported for years.
Normally extreme supporters of open borders and immigration without limitation, Democrats suddenly oppose Trump’s executive order giving Afrikaners refugee status.
Their bigoted objection? The color of the refugees’ skin. Afrikaners, a persecuted minority ethnic group, are white South Africans with Dutch ancestry and an old European culture.
The government of South Africa has made it legal to take Afrikaners’ farmland without compensation. Trump’s order offers “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination” refugee resettlement in the United States.
But their suffering can never compare, apparently, to the millions of other people with darker skin who are persecuted around the globe. Democrats believe they all should be given unfettered entrance into the U.S.
Fewer than 1 per cent German soldiers harbor “consistent right-wing-extremist attitudes,” according to a new study conducted by the military’s own Bundeswehr Center of Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBw).The study found that only 0.4 per cent of soldiers show right-wing-extremist attitudes. Among the military’s civilian personnel, the proportion is 0.8 per cent, much less than the 5.4 per cent measured in the general German population, the authors said.The report did, however, find other problematic views among the soldiers: 6.4 per cent have “consistent chauvinist attitudes,” and 3.5 per cent have “consistent xenophobic attitudes.”In general, the study appears to be positive news, especially as the Bundeswehr has been dogged in recent years with well-documented stories of far-right networks and terrorist plots involving members of the military.In 2022, a Bundeswehr lieutenant named Franco A. was convicted of planning to carry out an act “threatening the security of the state” while posing as a Syrian refugee. In 2017, a nationwide network of armed preppers suspected of planning a military coup was found to include several current and former soldiers. Some German media outlets have even spoken of a “shadow army” within the Bundeswehr that has been ignored by the military’s intelligence service, the MAD.
President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a video of South African communists calling for the murder of white farmers.
Just watch. You’ll notice Ramaphosa sometimes just listening to the video, not watching it.
Now this is very bad. These are burial sites right here. Burial sites — over a thousand — of White farmers. And those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there is approximately a thousand of them.
They’re all White farmers. The family of White farmers. And those cars aren’t, driving, they are stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed. And it’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it. On both sides of the road, you have crosses. Those people are all killed.
WATCH: @POTUS shows South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a video compilation of what’s taking place against white farmers in South Africa pic.twitter.com/80rQqiT2qi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 21, 2025
The latest back-and-forth on a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran hinges on enrichment, and the question may put nails in the coffin of any new agreement.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday, after weeks of mixed messages, that no future accord can allow Iran the right to enrich uranium.
“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment,” Witkoff told ABC’s This Week anchor Jonathan Karl. “We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability.”
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday denounced Witkoff’s remarks, describing calls for the Islamic Republic to give up enrichment entirely as “nonsense.”
In March, President Donald Trump announced a full halt to U.S. foreign aid to South Africa, citing the government’s racially charged abuse of white Afrikaner farmers. He blasted the regime for orchestrated land seizures and escalating violence, calling the country “a bad place to be right now.” At the same time, he offered a fast track to U.S. citizenship for South African farmers and their families seeking safety from persecution.
The black-led South African government has flatly denied any campaign of anti-white violence, brushing off the attacks as fiction and painting any criticism as offensive. But the facts on the ground — brutal murders, farm invasions, and open calls for land expropriation — tell a different story.
On Wednesday, in a high-stakes Oval Office meeting, Trump directly challenged South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with hard evidence of racially motivated violence. While the media works overtime to downplay the confrontation, Trump once again cut through the diplomatic spin and forced an uncomfortable truth into the open.
President Trump on Wednesday held a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa amid the genocide of White Afrikaner farmers.
During the meeting, Trump played a compilation of Africans calling for the genocide of White Afrikaners after Ramaphosa told reporters that President Trump is wrong about the genocide and needs to “listen” to South Africans. .
The Gateway Pundit has reported extensively on the White genocide in South Africa.
Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, Julius Malema, has infamously led chants and songs calling for White farmers to be murdered. The video that Trump played featured a compilation of Malema, calling to “shoot to kill” and “kill the boer, the farmer,” and others calling for White farmer genocide in South Africa.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke over the weekend, reiterating Iran’s commitment to dialogue and desire for a civilian nuclear program.
The Iranian leader addressed navy officials in Bandar Abbas, discussing the ongoing negotiations for a deal with the United States.
“We are not seeking war, we favor negotiation and dialogue, but we are not afraid of threats either, and we will in no way retreat from our legal rights,” Pezeshkian said.
Compared to previous Iranian presidents, Pezeshkian has emerged as a more level-headed and reformist leader, aiming to reach new understandings with the West, according to Politico.
Due to France’s drug trafficking crisis, a large majority of French are in favor of the army being deployed into disadvantaged neighborhoods in problematic neighborhoods in France, including 80 percent of women.
According to a CSA poll conducted for CNews, Europe 1 and JDD, 76 percent of French people overall want the army called in to battle drug trafficking in “disadvantaged neighborhoods.”
In fact, women are more supportive of troops being deployed than men, with 80 percent of women saying yes to the question: “Should the army be called in to combat drug trafficking in troubled neighborhoods?” In turn, only 72 percent of men supported such an action.
🇫🇷 Marseilles. France
The French port city is now a major narcotics hub for Europe.
Last year, a 15-year-old was stabbed 50 times and burned alive in the drug violence as murders hit record highs.
Joe Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer before last week and previously had a blood test for the disease 11 years ago, a spokesperson for the former US president said Tuesday.
The statement came after Biden’s successor, President Donald Trump, fueled claims of a cover-up by saying that he was “surprised” the public was not told about the cancer earlier.
Biden’s office announced on Sunday that the 82-year-old had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, a few days after a nodule was found on the gland.
“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014,” a Biden spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.
“Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
US immigration officials have started deporting about 12 South Asian migrants to South Sudan, a Tuesday court filing and reports said. Lawyers argue the move violates a prior order, citing a May 7 emergency motion after reports of planned deportations to Libya and Saudi Arabia.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told European Union lawmakers on Tuesday that Berlin is open to raising military spending to 5% of its GDP, an amount President Trump demanded to get NATO allies to pay their “fair share” for defense.
Israel’s military encircled two of the last functioning hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, staff and aid groups say, as the World Health Organization is warning that the activity is “stretching the health system beyond the breaking point.”
The development comes as an Israeli military spokesperson said Wednesday that “We are entering a new phase, different in size and strength, to achieve the war’s objectives of returning the kidnapped soldiers and defeating the terrorist [group] Hamas.
“Forces from the 401st Brigade and the Givati Brigade, under the command of the 162nd Division, began operating in the northern Gaza Strip, where they identified and destroyed suspicious buildings in the area and eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists,” IDF Col. Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
The Indonesian hospital and al-Awda hospital are among northern Gaza’s only surviving medical centers, according to the Associated Press.
South Africa doesn’t have the funds to cover the over $430 million shortfall caused by the Trump administration’s cuts in foreign aid, the country’s finance minister said Wednesday.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana spoke to Parliament while presenting an updated budget — one without the value-added tax increases that had sparked public outcry and fierce disagreement among parties in the ruling coalition.
Without that tax revenue, he said, South Africa doesn’t have enough money to make up for the cuts that have threatened the vast network of support for one of the world’s largest HIV-positive populations.
The country runs the largest treatment network in the world.
Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday accused Russia of playing for time in peace talks over Ukraine rather than being genuinely interested in a ceasefire.
Pistorius told reporters in Brussels that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “only talking about a ceasefire on his terms”, which including blocking Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO and Kyiv’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
“Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace,” the German defence minister said.
“This is my assessment. There is no timetable,” Pistorius added of the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, in which the Kremlin has repeatedly refused to agree to a US-proposed 30 day ceasefire agreement.
National Party and Liberal Party part ways after more than 60-year alliance following election defeat.
Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and following a resounding loss in the national elections this month.
“It’s time to have a break,” the National leader, David Littleproud, told reporters on Tuesday.
The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against United States President Donald Trump’s policies.
Under the longstanding partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power in governments, with the Nationals broadly representing the interests of rural communities and the Liberals contesting city seats.
“We will not be re-entering a coalition agreement with the Liberal Party after this election,” Littleproud said, citing policy differences.
LISBON — Portugal’s third general election in three years has failed to deliver the result that could break the worst spell of political instability for decades in the European Union country of 10.6 million people.
Sunday’s vote delivered another minority government for the center-right Democratic Alliance, which will be at the mercy of opposition parties. The significant rise in support for the hard-right populist party Chega (Enough) adds more uncertainty.
The Democratic Alliance, led by the Social Democratic Party, lost a vote of confidence in parliament in March as opposition lawmakers teamed up against it. That triggered an election, which had been due in 2028.
The confidence vote was sparked by a political storm around potential conflicts of interest in the business dealings of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s family law firm. Montenegro, who is poised to become prime minister again, has denied any wrongdoing.