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Is it a desperate lurch for relevance? Maybe something served up as “proof” that they do great journalism in need of public support? Or is it a desire to shame the administration that recently yanked its federal funding? Regardless of the motivation, National Public Radio has just shamed itself with what it was certain was an explosive exposé from the recent summit held between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
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NATO defense chiefs held a “candid discussion” Wednesday about what security guarantees they could offer Kyiv to help forge a peace agreement that ends Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine, a senior alliance official said.
Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO’s Military Committee, said that 32 defense chiefs from across the alliance held a video conference amid a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the fighting.
He said there was a “great, candid discussion” in the call. “I thanked everyone for their always proactive participation in these meetings: we are united, and that unity was truly tangible today, as always,” he wrote on social platform X without providing further details.
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President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska in a historic attempt to end the more than two-year war between Ukraine and Russia. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, tens of thousands have died, while millions have been displaced. The Alaska summit marked the first serious step toward direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
But for ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and the rest of the propaganda press, a Trump-negotiated peace itself was a problem. Instead of acknowledging the significance of Trump’s diplomacy, Raddatz spent her Sunday segment disparaging the president for daring to treat Putin like a foreign leader who can choose to keep the war going rather than a pariah.
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President Trump has set the record straight when it comes to possibly military intervention in Ukraine.
While being interviewed on Fox & Friends, Trump reassured Americans that he will not send U.S. troops to fight in the Ukraine-Russia war.
Trump did, however, note that two European nations are weighing in on the idea of sending soldiers to Ukraine for security assurances.
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European and NATO leaders are joining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Monday to present a united front in talks with President Donald Trump as US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday said Russia is open to the idea of the US and its European allies offering Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defence mandate.
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President Donald Trump seemed to crack on Truth Social Sunday as he condemned the media for reporting on his apparent pro-Russia stance following his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin.
Instead of pursuing a ceasefire agreement as originally planned, Trump said he would try to convince Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to concede land to the Kremlin in order to put an end to the more than three-year war.
Critics saw this outcome as an obvious bow to Putin, but the president disagreed.
“It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me. There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me.” Trump wrote on social media.
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Truly, this is a moment as important as it is unusual. History does not provide us a guide here.
Never before have we seen so many world leaders gather at such short notice for a meeting like this at the White House, and with a president as consequential as he is unpredictable.
The speed with which it has been organised is remarkable. A diplomatic source has framed the hasty gathering as “organic”; the obvious next step after the Alaska summit, the source said.
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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday called for stepped-up pressure on Russia, including more aid for Ukraine, to push Moscow into concessions toward a “just and lasting peace.”
Wadephul spoke in Tokyo as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The gathering follows Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
“It is probably not an exaggeration to say the whole world is looking to Washington,” he said at a press briefing alongside Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.
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The State Department just made clear that America will no longer aid or ignore foreign censorship, calling out threats to Americans and American companies.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce took a subtle jab at the Biden administration when on Aug. 12 she announced that new additions to the 2024 Human Rights Report, are “addressing abuses that had not previously been covered,” including the global free speech crisis developing in places like the United Kingdom (U.K.). Bruce criticized the previous administration’s approach to human rights, saying that this year’s report “Is responsive to the legislative mandates that underpin the report rather than an expansive list of politically biased demands and assertions.”
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As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders prepare for talks in the White House, Russia has continued to pound targets including a deadly strike on a residential building in Kharkiv.
Just hours before the talks with US President Donald Trump, the Kharkiv strike killed seven people, including two children, and injured at least 20 others.
“Among the dead are a 1.5-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy. The youngest injured is just 6 years old,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, declaring a citywide day of mourning.
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It promises to be a day unlike any other at the White House later, when world leaders make a rare collective visit for crunch talks on Ukraine.
What had been billed as a meeting between two presidents, Donald Trump and Volodomyr Zelensky, has now become more of a summit.
Leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the EU and Nato have dashed across the Atlantic to have their say on how the three-year-old war with Russia should end and on what terms.
Woman Investigated for Praying at Abortion Center Blasts Police: “Silent Prayer Can’t be a Crime” – lifenews.com
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English police are investigating pro-life advocate Isabel Vaughan-Spruce for a third time, accusing her of violating “buffer zones” outside an abortion facility by silently praying despite the fact that she has been acquitted twice of the same charges.
According to a news release from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, Vaughan-Spruce only learned of the third investigation when she submitted a formal complaint to the West Midlands police force, stating that police repeatedly harass and interrogate her as she silently prays every week outside an abortion facility. She also reminded the police that courts and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have already declared that she cannot be charged with violating the buffer zone ordinance.
ADF International reported that the police denied her complaint due to the fact that the investigation against her is ongoing. She had not been informed of the new action against her.
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Incredible reports coming out of Alaska after the Trump/Putin summit has wrapped up.
There’s no deal yet, mainly because Ukraine will have to also agree to all points, but Trump and Putin announced many points are now agreed to.
Watch here:
BREAKING: President Trump on meeting with Putin: “We had an extremely productive meeting.” pic.twitter.com/SdXTjoRXsr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 15, 2025
Putin actually made the opening remarks:
🚨 BREAKING: AGREEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED between Presidents Trump and Putin.
Holy smokes, it’s happening…is Trump really doing it?
“I’d like to hope the agreement we reached together…will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine.”
DEALMAKER IN CHIEF, IN ACTION. pic.twitter.com/PrlGHneSnZ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 15, 2025
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London on Thursday, a day before a critical U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.
“Yesterday, together with all partners, today in a bilateral format, we discussed expectations from the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post after the meeting. “We also discussed in detail security guarantees that can make peace truly sustainable if the United States still manages to pressure Russia to stop the killings and engage in real meaningful diplomacy. It is important that we can all work together within a coalition of those willing to achieve effective formats for security work.”
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised President Donald Trump during a gathering of European leaders ahead of the U.S.-Russia meeting in Alaska.
Starmer, who has maintained a tense but friendly relationship with the White House, championed Trump for arranging the meeting in Anchorage on Friday.
“For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near … a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer said. “Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the president has put in.”
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Excerpt:The current line of contact should be the starting point in any talks, the German chancellor has said
Kiev is ready to discuss “territorial issues” with Moscow, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday after a video conference with US President Donald Trump and European leaders.
The virtual meeting, which involved the leaders of Germany, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, and the EU, as well as Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, focused on the upcoming summit between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Kiev’s backers in Europe were determined to ensure the security interests of Ukraine and the EU are “safeguarded in Alaska,” Merz told journalists, adding that they relayed a message to that effect to Trump. The group put forth five “key points,” according to the chancellor.
One of them stated that Kiev is “willing to negotiate on territorial issues” but only if the current line of contact is used as the starting point. “Legal recognition” of Russia’s new regions by the Western nations is “not up for debate,” Merz stated.
Months of protests in Serbia reached a new intensity Wednesday night as riot police intervened to separate rival demonstrations of anti-government protesters and supporters of President Aleksandar Vucic. The president once again accused unnamed foreign powers of orchestrating the protests, which first began after the deadly collapse of a subway station sparked accusations of widespread government corruption.
Supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) threw flares and firecrackers at anti-government protesters in Novi Sad on Wednesday evening, prompting police to intervene to end the standoff, a major escalation of nine-month-long protests in Serbia.
The student-led protests in Serbia first started in November after a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people and triggering accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.
Protests have since drawn hundreds of thousands of people, shaking President Aleksandar Vucic’s firm grip on power. His supporters have recently started organising counter-demonstrations, fuelling fears of possible violence.
Italy arrests 13 people in nationwide raids against Chinese mafia groups – The Straits Times
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Italy arrests 13 people in nationwide raids against Chinese mafia groups The Straits Times
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The bloc’s economy is weakening due to reduced cooperation with Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has said
The EU’s decision to reduce energy and trade cooperation with Moscow over the Ukraine conflict has cost the bloc more than €1 trillion ($1.15 trillion), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has said.
In an interview with Izvestia on Monday, Grushko said the figure is based on various expert estimates of the economic consequences of the EU’s decision to impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia, adding that it accounts for lost profits from energy and trade cooperation.
According to Grushko, trade between the EU and Russia dropped from €417 billion ($482 billion) in 2013 to €60 billion ($69 billion) in 2023 and is now “approaching zero.” He added that Europe’s economy has subsequently taken a hit and is losing competitiveness.
“Natural gas in Europe is four to five times more expensive than in the US, and electricity is two to three times higher,” he said. “That is the price Europe has to pay for ending all economic contacts with Russia.”
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that refusing Russian gas supplies had cost EU countries around €200 billion ($231 billion). In late 2024, Russian officials also estimated that total EU losses tied to sanctions against Russia had reached $1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, Moscow has said it has acquired a “certain immunity” to Western sanctions.
Grushko’s comments come after the EU agreed a trade deal with the US, which commits the bloc to purchasing large volumes of American energy – which Moscow says will come at a much steeper cost than that provided by Russia – and imposes 15% tariffs on key EU exports. Numerous EU politicians have described the agreement as lopsided and damaging to the bloc’s interests.
Commenting on the US-EU deal, Putin claimed that the EU had essentially lost its political sovereignty, and that this directly leads to losing economic independence.
The EU began imposing sanctions on Russia in 2014, following the start of the Ukraine crisis, and expanded them drastically in 2022. Measures have targeted banking, energy exports, and other industries. Moscow considers the sanctions illegal, saying they violate international trade rules and harm global economic stability.
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The Kremlin has warned that everyone should be careful about nuclear rhetoric, after Donald Trump ordered a repositioning of US nuclear submarines.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down the significance of Mr Trump’s announcement last Friday that he had ordered two submarines to be moved to “the appropriate regions”.
The move came after former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made remarks about the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.
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I didn’t expect myself to suggest emulating Elon Musk this week, but X has a possible solution for age verification that Xbox should copy. One of the ways X verifies age is checking the age of an account. If an account was created before 2012, the site assumes you’re an adult now.
It’s not a perfect solution, since someone could have lied about their age back in 2012 and still be under 18 today. But I doubt any reasonable verification method will be perfect.
X has run into some issues with age verification, which Musk says are being addressed. “We are working on this,” said Musk in a post replying to a UK user who cannot verify their age on X. The Xbox team may want to copy Musk’s general idea but execute it better.
Where Microsoft and the Xbox team draw their line could be different than what X decided. Since a five-year-old is more likely to have played Xbox in the past, it’s probably worth having different rules.
But any account old enough to legally drink in the UK should be verified automatically.
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Since Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left coalition collapsed over budget squabbles and a lost confidence vote on 16 December 2024, Germany has entered an unusually tense campaign ahead of snap elections on 23 February 2025.1 The country’s political arena has moved away from long-standing centrism toward heightened polarization — a shift that is also felt in the streets. Just weeks before the elections, hundreds of thousands protested nationwide after the center-right Christian Democratic Union party’s Friedrich Merz — the likely next chancellor according to polls — relied on support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to push a parliamentary motion for tougher migration laws.2 Although the bill was ultimately rejected and Merz ruled out any coalition with the far right, it nonetheless breached a post-war norm observed by Germany’s mainstream parties referred to as the ‘firewall,’ whereby collaboration with far-right forces was consistently avoided.3
Long seen as Europe’s engine of stability and growth, Germany is grappling with mounting challenges. A sluggish post-pandemic recovery, rising populism, and entrenched urban-rural and East-West divides have fueled discontent and polarization. Meanwhile, infighting among members of the ruling coalition and reignited debates over energy, immigration, and foreign policy have sparked street activism and bolstered the opposition.4 The AfD, in particular, is gaining ground, with polls projecting it as the second-strongest parliamentary force in the upcoming elections.5
Amid such polarization, national vote season appears to be an increasingly perilous time for German politicians. The 2024 European Parliament election campaign offered a worrying preview, as it was marred by a spate of aggressions against local centrist party officials, candidates, and campaign volunteers, while revealing a larger pattern of violence targeting politicians across the spectrum.6 Looking at both last year’s European vote and the high-stakes federal election on 23 February, this piece explores how rising polarization has intensified street activism in the form of demonstrations, both against far-right parties and government policies; it also considers whether polarization is contributing to an uptick in political violence, particularly amid the mounting tensions surrounding national elections.