Trump ally Steve Bannon told paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 he had influenced an omnipresent election advertising campaign by the mining billionaire.

US president accuses Seoul of ‘not living up to’ agreement struck with Washington last year

What would it actually take for Australia to ditch Aukus, dispense with the little America cloak and rethink the alliance? * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Once again on this divisive day of national celebration, Australia’s leaders can be expected to indulge in official monologues of self-congratulation based on assertions of who we supposedly are as a country and a people. Notwithstanding the perennial affront to many First Nations people’s sensibilities each 26 January, Australia will officially talk over the protests to cast itself as a tolerant, inclusive, egalitarian, self-sufficient, ruggedly individual nation of mates – always underpinned by a reverence for democracy and a hardy streak of anti-authoritarianism. Continue reading...

The US will also offer “more limited” support to US allies, according to a new national defence strategy document.

The US president and the Canadian PM’s speeches at Davos showed the contrast between bluster and leadership

The rules-based global order is rapidly disintegrating. It’s time for middle powers to stand together The French president Emmanuel Macron borrowed some lines from Hugh Grant about bullies at the World Economic Forum in Davos. His target was Donald Trump, who had leaked a conciliatory text message from Macron who, evidently, was trying to get the US president to the table to shore up the rapidly disintegrating global order. In the love-it-or-hate-it Christmas film, Love Actually, Grant – playing the foppish British prime minister of the day – confronts the US president, saying: “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend, and since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger.” Zoe Daniel is a three-time ABC foreign correspondent and the former independent member for Goldstein. She is the chair of Mental Health Victoria Continue reading...

In casting doubt on Nato’s reliability, US president references Afghanistan campaign – which involved 40,000 Australian troops and left 47 dead * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The head of Australia’s largest veteran organisation has categorically rejected Donald Trump’s claim that allied soldiers “stayed a little back” from the frontlines when they supported the US campaign in Afghanistan, calling the comments “unfathomable”. The US president made the comments on Fox News on Thursday, saying he was “not sure” Nato would meet the “ultimate test” of defending the US if it were under threat. Continue reading...

As Mark Carney, Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen decide ‘to live in truth’, what will it take for Starmer to call out Trump?

Thank you, Larry.It’s a pleasure – and a duty – to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world.Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story, and th...