Canada Announces Major Retaliatory Measures Against the US– www.westernjournal.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Canada escalated its brewing trade conflict with the United States on Tuesday by issuing retaliatory tariffs that match America dollar for dollar, while also raising rates on steel products.
Minister of National Revenue of Canada François-Philippe Champagne announced the tariffs, saying, “Canada must respond, and today we are, in a proportionate, targeted, and strategic way. Today I’m announcing that Canada will match the United States’ tariffs, dollar for dollar, rate for rate.”
Minister of National Revenue of Canada François-Philippe Champagne announces retaliatory tariffs: “Canada must respond, and today we are…Canada will match the U.S. tariffs, dollar for dollar, rate for rate.” pic.twitter.com/EOxaAjGhEB
“Effective Sept. 8, Canada will impose counter-tariffs of up to 15, 25, or 50 percent on $27.6 billion in imports from the United States of America,” he added.
Canada’s Department of Finance said on its website that the tariffs will “focus on sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.”
CIA Director Made Secret Moscow Trip to Warn Putin Against Attacking NATO: Report– slaynews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s mysterious trip to Moscow this week was reportedly intended to deliver a direct warning to Russia against attacking a NATO country amid U.S. intelligence concerns that President Vladimir Putin could eventually test the alliance with a limited military assault.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Ratcliffe’s surprise mission was connected to recent U.S. intelligence assessments indicating that Putin could attempt an attack against an allied nation in the coming years to gauge whether NATO would respond.
President Donald Trump, however, offered a different account of the closely guarded mission, describing Ratcliffe’s trip as “sort of semi-routine.”
Asked by conservative radio host Glenn Beck whether the CIA director had traveled to Moscow to warn Russia about NATO, potential strikes involving England, or sanctions against Iran, Trump responded that it concerned “none of the above.”
“Something may come out of it,” Trump added, saying his administration was “working very hard to get that war ended,” referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ratcliffe’s visit nevertheless represented one of the highest-level contacts between Washington and Moscow in months.
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America amid Canada trade war – US politics live | US politics– www.theguardian.com News Source EXCERPT:
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’
Donald Trump summoned the press pool to the Oval Office to witness him signing an executive order that directs the Department of the Interior to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
This comes after trade talks between Canada collapsed over the weekend and led to a fray of tariffs between Washington and Ottawa.
Trump claimed the name change was something “I’ve been thinking about for a long time”.
“Canada treats us very badly,” the president said. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy. Canada, they are the worst, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”
A 50% tariff on several Canadian imports kicked in on Saturday, with Trump threatening another round of 50% duties on Canadian steel, trucks, cars and auto parts to take effect in the new year. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, hit back with 25-50% tariffs on hundreds of US goods.
This, of course, is not the first time the president has made renaming a body of water a priority. At the beginning of his second term in office he issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
Trump appeared to joke that there could be more to come: “We have a Gulf and we have a Lake – now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Key events
New York congressman denounces Trump’s Lake Ontario rebranding stunt
Among those deeply unimpressed by Donald Trump’s stunt to direct federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario and Lake America is Tim Kennedy, a Democratic congressman who represents a western New York district that borders Ontario and co-chairs the bipartisan House Northern Border Caucus on US-Canada affairs.
If Donald Trump spent half as much time trying to make life more affordable as he does trying to rename bodies of water, working families might actually be able to afford their rent, utility bills, and food costs. His pathetic proposal to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” proves what we already know him to be: a petty, vindictive, failed president.
By declaring economic war on Canada, our strongest ally and New York’s largest trading partner, President Trump is waging that same war on border communities like Western New York, and we have been paying the price. Canadian tourism to New York is down 26 percent and Canadian spending is down 28 percent.
After picking fights with our allies and losing illegal wars of choice with our adversaries, President Trump is cementing his place as the worst president in the history of our country.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”. This comes as the trade war between the US and Canada escalated in recent days, and has seen both countries levy tariffs on hundreds of each other’s imports. The renaming of bodies of geographic features to spite neighbors and exert national pride is a familiar play for Trump, who issued a similar order rebranding the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America” at the start of his second term.
Trump also told reporters that he’s had “good talks” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and insisted that “he’s not going to be attacking a Nato territory”. This comes after speculation continues to circulate around CIA director John Ratcliffe’s covert visit to Moscow this week, and reports that have emerged that say the spy chief’s trip was expressly to convince Putin to not take action against Nato allies.
Documents obtained by the Guardian and interviews with military leadership showthe war in Iran has depleted the US Navy’s budget. Consequently, the service branch has had to reallocate money intended for its payroll and from other reserves to fund combat operations. The financial strain comes after the protracted war has depleted US weapons stockpiles and led to counterattacks on bases throughout the region.
House Democrats have launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm,1798 Capital. The president’s son serves as a partner for the firm, and now Democrats on the judiciary committee are asking the company’s founders to turn over records to detail the firm’s “miraculous” recent success. But Democrats likely have little authority to enforce that request while they remain a minority in Congress. More here
Karoline Leavitt departs from her role as the White House press secretary. President Trump’s outgoing press secretary, who had been a key mouthpiece for the administration since the start of Trump’s second term, addressed reporters for perhaps the last time earlier today. Leavitt described the parting as “bittersweet” and told the press pool that she would “miss you guys.”
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr appears to have lied during congressional hearings last year. Newly obtained documents show that Kennedy lied to lawmakers last year about the intent of his 2019 visit to Samoa. In the hearings, ahead of his confirmation as the nation’s top health official, Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine crusader, told lawmakers that his trip to the island had “nothing to do with vaccines”. But the newly uncovered documents undermine that testimony, including one in which Kennedy told the Samoan prime minister that he wanted to study vaccination on the island. Kennedy’s visit came months ahead of a measles outbreak on the island that killed more than 80 people.
Donald Trump has left Washington for Houston, Texas to attend a Republican National Committee (RNC) fundraiser and campaign on behalf of attorney general Ken Paxton, who is vying to win the US Senate seat in the state.
Canada drops US seafood from sweeping tariff list
While the US and Canada continue to escalate a tit-for-tat trade war, Canadian officials have opted to back down from tariffs on a particular American export: seafood.
In a social media post on Thursday, Canada’s Department of Finance said it would remove seafood and fish products from a slate of counter-tariffs prepared against the United States. Canadian officials said the move was intended to “protect against broader economic harms”, even as the nation retaliates against the new US duties.
After a tentative deal between the two nations fell apart last week, US tariffs against Canada took effect, and Canadian authorities responded in kind.
Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine facing a competitive re-election race this year, said in a social media post that she was grateful to the Canadians for pulling back from seafood tariffs. If imposed, she said, such a measure would have been devastating to her state’s lobster industry.
“I urge the US to respond to this show of good faith from our Canadian friends by returning to the negotiating table and working to amicably resolve this trade dispute,” Collins wrote.
Chuck Edwards, the North Carolina Republican facing a censure vote in Congress over allegations that he sexually harassed a pair of staffers,has issued a letter urging his colleagues to reject the disciplinary measure.
A report early this month by the House ethics committee recommended Edwards’ censure on the grounds that he’d engaged in inappropriate conduct toward a pair of young female staffers. That conduct, according to the committee, included sending lavish gifts and affectionate notes to the women, as well as inviting them to “intimate dinners and vacations”.
Edwards, in a letter dated earlier this week, said the committee –which argued the congressman’s actions made the women feel uncomfortable and pressured – overstepped in equating his conduct to misconduct or sexual harassment. “An affectionate friendship is not a sexual proposition,” Edwards wrote. “A gift is not sexual misconduct. A compliment is not sexual misconduct. Poetry is not sexual misconduct. Socializing with a colleague is not sexual misconduct. Caring deeply about someone with whom you have worked and come to know for years is not sexual misconduct.”
In light of the committee’s findings, Edwards abandoned his campaign for reelection earlier this month. North Carolina Republicans selected Jennifer Balkcom, a member of the state’s House of Representatives, as the party’s replacement nominee for the general election.
Trump insists that Putin will ‘not be attacking a Nato territory’ as speculation circulates after CIA director’s visit to Moscow
Donald Trump told reporters today that he’s had “good talks” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and insisted that “he’s not going to be attacking a Nato territory”.
This comes after speculation continues to circulate around CIA director John Ratcliffe’s covert visit to Moscow this week, and reports that have emerged that say the spy chief’s trip was expressly to convince Putin to not take action against Nato allies.
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’
Donald Trump summoned the press pool to the Oval Office to witness him signing an executive order that directs the Department of the Interior to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
This comes after trade talks between Canada collapsed over the weekend and led to a fray of tariffs between Washington and Ottawa.
Trump claimed the name change was something “I’ve been thinking about for a long time”.
“Canada treats us very badly,” the president said. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy. Canada, they are the worst, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”
A 50% tariff on several Canadian imports kicked in on Saturday, with Trump threatening another round of 50% duties on Canadian steel, trucks, cars and auto parts to take effect in the new year. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, hit back with 25-50% tariffs on hundreds of US goods.
This, of course, is not the first time the president has made renaming a body of water a priority. At the beginning of his second term in office he issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
Trump appeared to joke that there could be more to come: “We have a Gulf and we have a Lake – now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Trump administration officials are seeking to radically accelerate the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Haitians who were previously living in the US under the aegis of a humanitarian program, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
The Times reports that the administration is seeking to start deportation flights to Haiti weekly – as opposed to its previous pace of once a month. If put into effect, that could increase the number of Haitians flown out of the country by hundreds of people per month.
The Trump administration has deemed the island nation safe enough for those who fled it to return, even as the country remains mired in anarchy and gang conflict. The violence there has led the administration to reroute deportation flights away from the embattled Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, to a smaller city 120 miles away.
The more than 300,000 Haitians slated for removal from the country were previously allowed to work and reside in the US under Temporary Protected Status. But President Trump has taken aim at their inclusion in that program since early in his second term, and was able to terminate it for Haitians after a June supreme court ruling cleared the administration’s path.
Trump’s war on Iran is rapidly draining US navy budget, documents and interviews reveal
Aram Roston
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts.
The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military.
One Pentagon memo about navy funding seen by the Guardian warns that there are “shortfalls in payroll” accounts due to the department “raiding” them to fund combat operations.
Experts and former officials say the accounts are running dry. “The piggy bank is broken,” said Harlan Ullman, a retired naval officer. Ullman is a member of the National Commission for the Future of the Navy but he said he is not speaking on the commission’s behalf.
One official and one navy contractor said non-emergency maintenance on shore-based facilities has been deferred because of the cash crunch.
A navy official who was briefed on how the service is planning to address the shortfalls said money is shifted around in imaginative ways. “The money for payroll,” he said, “was robbed to pay for overseas contingencies and is being backfilled by money that hasn’t been spent. They are backfilling payroll so we get enough money in our paycheck.”
Read the full report here:
US facing ‘beyond critical’ shortage of Patriot missile stocks in Europe due to Iran war – report
The US military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by Donald Trump’s war against Iran, a US defense official in Europe and a Nato official have told the Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in Nato countries to a potential Russian attack.
The US defense official told the AP the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles.
In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, Nato could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth”, they said.
The Nato official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among US and Nato forces in Europe. The US military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots in Europe to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the US official added.
Though a Russian ballistic missile attack against Nato countries is not imminently expected, this report comes as CIA director JohnRatcliffe reportedly went to Moscow this week to dissuade Russia from attacking Nato members amid US intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance.
Trump has played down the significance of the rare and secretive trip, insisting it was “sort of semi-routine”.
European and Nato officials say Russia could be in a position to attack countries in the alliance by 2030. Patriot stockpiles are projected to rebound by then.
In the meantime, Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinder its ability to carry out any missile attack on Europe as it would be a challenge for Moscow to fight an air war on two fronts.
The state department said today that 90 Americans were missing after the devastating flash flooding in Nepal, adding no US deaths had been reported.
“We’re currently tracking 90 Americans who may be impacted by the flood, currently unaccounted for,” a spokesperson told AFP.
The state department said it could confirm three Americans had been rescued and it was not aware of any US deaths.
My colleague Tom Ambrose is covering the disaster:
House Democrats launch investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm
Democrats on the House judiciary committee have launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm.
Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital as a partner just days after his father won a second term in office in November 2024. In a letter by Congressman Jamie Raskin, the panel’s ranking member, has asked the president’s son to detail the firm’s recent success.
The Guardian previously reported that after Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital, its assets under management ballooned, going from a reported $150m in 2024, to $1b last August, to $2.7b at year’s end, to a reported $3.5b by May, according to SEC filings. A significant proportion of that capital came from foreign investors: according to CNN reporting and the Guardian’s review of SEC filings; 40% of assets under management were from overseas investors.
In a letter to the president’s son, and the founders of the firm – Omeed Malik and Christopher Buskirk – judiciary committee Democrats have asked for records that include companies that have receive investments from the firm and any communications with any US elected official or federal government officials by 9 September. However, in the minority, Democrats have little subpoena power without Republican support for their cause.
“Two years ago,” Raskin wrote, 1789 Capital was “a struggling venture capital firm that earned consistently disappointing results by serially investing in total market flops” but has since undergone a “miraculous transformation”.
“With Don Jr’s new leadership role, 1789 Capital has developed an uncanny ability to identify companies that are about to receive massive influxes of cash from the Trump administration or to benefit from significant changes in federal policies and regulations,” the top Democrat wrote. “They say there is no such thing as a sure thing in investing, but this is about as close as you can get.”
Raskin also said “it is now impossible to believe” that the firm’s “astonishing growth and success are due to anything other than insider political influence and thoroughgoing corruption”.
The ranking member outlined a series of reports chronicling recent investments by 1789 Capital that include millions of dollars in Vulcan Elements, a rare earth company, in August 2025. Prior to this, the manufacturer had reportedly touted several government contracts they had secured in the months prior. Raskin then notes that the Pentagon announced a $620m direct loan to Vulcan Elements in November last year. At the same time, Department of Commerce (DOC) provided the company with a $50m grant under the CHIPS and Science Act.
“This was an amazing turn of events when the Trump Administration decided to pump over half a billion dollars into an unproven startup company,” Raskin wrote.
He also pointed to a recent July interview with CNBC in which the president said that his children have “inside information” due to the fact his policies touch nearly every part of the economy.
“I tell my kids, ‘stay away,’” Trump said at the time. “But they also have a life. You know, they were doing business long before I ever thought of running for president.”
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Trump Jr said he only talks to his father, the president, “every few weeks”, and never discusses business with him and – as a private citizen – holds “no policy position and no role within the administration whatsoever”.
Raskin’s letter also cites reporting from the Guardian that Anduril Inudstries, a major military contractor founded by Trump ally and donor Palmer Lucky, has received billions in government contracts over the last year. 1789 Capital, the judiciary Democrats note, has acquired a stake in the company. Anduril says in Trump’s first year in office it doubled its revenue – a growth rate of 100%.
Earlier this month, the Guardian also reported that two appointments to the…
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America amid Canada trade war – US politics live | US politics– www.theguardian.com News Source EXCERPT:
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’
Donald Trump summoned the press pool to the Oval Office to witness him signing an executive order that directs the Department of the Interior to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
This comes after trade talks between Canada collapsed over the weekend and led to a fray of tariffs between Washington and Ottawa.
Trump claimed the name change was something “I’ve been thinking about for a long time”.
“Canada treats us very badly,” the president said. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy. Canada, they are the worst, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”
A 50% tariff on several Canadian imports kicked in on Saturday, with Trump threatening another round of 50% duties on Canadian steel, trucks, cars and auto parts to take effect in the new year. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, hit back with 25-50% tariffs on hundreds of US goods.
This, of course, is not the first time the president has made renaming a body of water a priority. At the beginning of his second term in office he issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
Trump appeared to joke that there could be more to come: “We have a Gulf and we have a Lake – now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Key events
New York congressman denounces Trump’s Lake Ontario rebranding stunt
Among those deeply unimpressed by Donald Trump’s stunt to direct federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario and Lake America is Tim Kennedy, a Democratic congressman who represents a western New York district that borders Ontario and co-chairs the bipartisan House Northern Border Caucus on US-Canada affairs.
If Donald Trump spent half as much time trying to make life more affordable as he does trying to rename bodies of water, working families might actually be able to afford their rent, utility bills, and food costs. His pathetic proposal to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” proves what we already know him to be: a petty, vindictive, failed president.
By declaring economic war on Canada, our strongest ally and New York’s largest trading partner, President Trump is waging that same war on border communities like Western New York, and we have been paying the price. Canadian tourism to New York is down 26 percent and Canadian spending is down 28 percent.
After picking fights with our allies and losing illegal wars of choice with our adversaries, President Trump is cementing his place as the worst president in the history of our country.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”. This comes as the trade war between the US and Canada escalated in recent days, and has seen both countries levy tariffs on hundreds of each other’s imports. The renaming of bodies of geographic features to spite neighbors and exert national pride is a familiar play for Trump, who issued a similar order rebranding the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America” at the start of his second term.
Trump also told reporters that he’s had “good talks” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and insisted that “he’s not going to be attacking a Nato territory”. This comes after speculation continues to circulate around CIA director John Ratcliffe’s covert visit to Moscow this week, and reports that have emerged that say the spy chief’s trip was expressly to convince Putin to not take action against Nato allies.
Documents obtained by the Guardian and interviews with military leadership showthe war in Iran has depleted the US Navy’s budget. Consequently, the service branch has had to reallocate money intended for its payroll and from other reserves to fund combat operations. The financial strain comes after the protracted war has depleted US weapons stockpiles and led to counterattacks on bases throughout the region.
House Democrats have launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm,1798 Capital. The president’s son serves as a partner for the firm, and now Democrats on the judiciary committee are asking the company’s founders to turn over records to detail the firm’s “miraculous” recent success. But Democrats likely have little authority to enforce that request while they remain a minority in Congress. More here
Karoline Leavitt departs from her role as the White House press secretary. President Trump’s outgoing press secretary, who had been a key mouthpiece for the administration since the start of Trump’s second term, addressed reporters for perhaps the last time earlier today. Leavitt described the parting as “bittersweet” and told the press pool that she would “miss you guys.”
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr appears to have lied during congressional hearings last year. Newly obtained documents show that Kennedy lied to lawmakers last year about the intent of his 2019 visit to Samoa. In the hearings, ahead of his confirmation as the nation’s top health official, Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine crusader, told lawmakers that his trip to the island had “nothing to do with vaccines”. But the newly uncovered documents undermine that testimony, including one in which Kennedy told the Samoan prime minister that he wanted to study vaccination on the island. Kennedy’s visit came months ahead of a measles outbreak on the island that killed more than 80 people.
Donald Trump has left Washington for Houston, Texas to attend a Republican National Committee (RNC) fundraiser and campaign on behalf of attorney general Ken Paxton, who is vying to win the US Senate seat in the state.
Canada drops US seafood from sweeping tariff list
While the US and Canada continue to escalate a tit-for-tat trade war, Canadian officials have opted to back down from tariffs on a particular American export: seafood.
In a social media post on Thursday, Canada’s Department of Finance said it would remove seafood and fish products from a slate of counter-tariffs prepared against the United States. Canadian officials said the move was intended to “protect against broader economic harms”, even as the nation retaliates against the new US duties.
After a tentative deal between the two nations fell apart last week, US tariffs against Canada took effect, and Canadian authorities responded in kind.
Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine facing a competitive re-election race this year, said in a social media post that she was grateful to the Canadians for pulling back from seafood tariffs. If imposed, she said, such a measure would have been devastating to her state’s lobster industry.
“I urge the US to respond to this show of good faith from our Canadian friends by returning to the negotiating table and working to amicably resolve this trade dispute,” Collins wrote.
Chuck Edwards, the North Carolina Republican facing a censure vote in Congress over allegations that he sexually harassed a pair of staffers,has issued a letter urging his colleagues to reject the disciplinary measure.
A report early this month by the House ethics committee recommended Edwards’ censure on the grounds that he’d engaged in inappropriate conduct toward a pair of young female staffers. That conduct, according to the committee, included sending lavish gifts and affectionate notes to the women, as well as inviting them to “intimate dinners and vacations”.
Edwards, in a letter dated earlier this week, said the committee –which argued the congressman’s actions made the women feel uncomfortable and pressured – overstepped in equating his conduct to misconduct or sexual harassment. “An affectionate friendship is not a sexual proposition,” Edwards wrote. “A gift is not sexual misconduct. A compliment is not sexual misconduct. Poetry is not sexual misconduct. Socializing with a colleague is not sexual misconduct. Caring deeply about someone with whom you have worked and come to know for years is not sexual misconduct.”
In light of the committee’s findings, Edwards abandoned his campaign for reelection earlier this month. North Carolina Republicans selected Jennifer Balkcom, a member of the state’s House of Representatives, as the party’s replacement nominee for the general election.
Trump insists that Putin will ‘not be attacking a Nato territory’ as speculation circulates after CIA director’s visit to Moscow
Donald Trump told reporters today that he’s had “good talks” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and insisted that “he’s not going to be attacking a Nato territory”.
This comes after speculation continues to circulate around CIA director John Ratcliffe’s covert visit to Moscow this week, and reports that have emerged that say the spy chief’s trip was expressly to convince Putin to not take action against Nato allies.
Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’
Donald Trump summoned the press pool to the Oval Office to witness him signing an executive order that directs the Department of the Interior to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
This comes after trade talks between Canada collapsed over the weekend and led to a fray of tariffs between Washington and Ottawa.
Trump claimed the name change was something “I’ve been thinking about for a long time”.
“Canada treats us very badly,” the president said. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy. Canada, they are the worst, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”
A 50% tariff on several Canadian imports kicked in on Saturday, with Trump threatening another round of 50% duties on Canadian steel, trucks, cars and auto parts to take effect in the new year. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, hit back with 25-50% tariffs on hundreds of US goods.
This, of course, is not the first time the president has made renaming a body of water a priority. At the beginning of his second term in office he issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
Trump appeared to joke that there could be more to come: “We have a Gulf and we have a Lake – now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Trump administration officials are seeking to radically accelerate the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Haitians who were previously living in the US under the aegis of a humanitarian program, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
The Times reports that the administration is seeking to start deportation flights to Haiti weekly – as opposed to its previous pace of once a month. If put into effect, that could increase the number of Haitians flown out of the country by hundreds of people per month.
The Trump administration has deemed the island nation safe enough for those who fled it to return, even as the country remains mired in anarchy and gang conflict. The violence there has led the administration to reroute deportation flights away from the embattled Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, to a smaller city 120 miles away.
The more than 300,000 Haitians slated for removal from the country were previously allowed to work and reside in the US under Temporary Protected Status. But President Trump has taken aim at their inclusion in that program since early in his second term, and was able to terminate it for Haitians after a June supreme court ruling cleared the administration’s path.
Trump’s war on Iran is rapidly draining US navy budget, documents and interviews reveal
Aram Roston
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts.
The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military.
One Pentagon memo about navy funding seen by the Guardian warns that there are “shortfalls in payroll” accounts due to the department “raiding” them to fund combat operations.
Experts and former officials say the accounts are running dry. “The piggy bank is broken,” said Harlan Ullman, a retired naval officer. Ullman is a member of the National Commission for the Future of the Navy but he said he is not speaking on the commission’s behalf.
One official and one navy contractor said non-emergency maintenance on shore-based facilities has been deferred because of the cash crunch.
A navy official who was briefed on how the service is planning to address the shortfalls said money is shifted around in imaginative ways. “The money for payroll,” he said, “was robbed to pay for overseas contingencies and is being backfilled by money that hasn’t been spent. They are backfilling payroll so we get enough money in our paycheck.”
Read the full report here:
US facing ‘beyond critical’ shortage of Patriot missile stocks in Europe due to Iran war – report
The US military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by Donald Trump’s war against Iran, a US defense official in Europe and a Nato official have told the Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in Nato countries to a potential Russian attack.
The US defense official told the AP the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles.
In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, Nato could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth”, they said.
The Nato official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among US and Nato forces in Europe. The US military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots in Europe to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the US official added.
Though a Russian ballistic missile attack against Nato countries is not imminently expected, this report comes as CIA director JohnRatcliffe reportedly went to Moscow this week to dissuade Russia from attacking Nato members amid US intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance.
Trump has played down the significance of the rare and secretive trip, insisting it was “sort of semi-routine”.
European and Nato officials say Russia could be in a position to attack countries in the alliance by 2030. Patriot stockpiles are projected to rebound by then.
In the meantime, Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinder its ability to carry out any missile attack on Europe as it would be a challenge for Moscow to fight an air war on two fronts.
The state department said today that 90 Americans were missing after the devastating flash flooding in Nepal, adding no US deaths had been reported.
“We’re currently tracking 90 Americans who may be impacted by the flood, currently unaccounted for,” a spokesperson told AFP.
The state department said it could confirm three Americans had been rescued and it was not aware of any US deaths.
My colleague Tom Ambrose is covering the disaster:
House Democrats launch investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm
Democrats on the House judiciary committee have launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm.
Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital as a partner just days after his father won a second term in office in November 2024. In a letter by Congressman Jamie Raskin, the panel’s ranking member, has asked the president’s son to detail the firm’s recent success.
The Guardian previously reported that after Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital, its assets under management ballooned, going from a reported $150m in 2024, to $1b last August, to $2.7b at year’s end, to a reported $3.5b by May, according to SEC filings. A significant proportion of that capital came from foreign investors: according to CNN reporting and the Guardian’s review of SEC filings; 40% of assets under management were from overseas investors.
In a letter to the president’s son, and the founders of the firm – Omeed Malik and Christopher Buskirk – judiciary committee Democrats have asked for records that include companies that have receive investments from the firm and any communications with any US elected official or federal government officials by 9 September. However, in the minority, Democrats have little subpoena power without Republican support for their cause.
“Two years ago,” Raskin wrote, 1789 Capital was “a struggling venture capital firm that earned consistently disappointing results by serially investing in total market flops” but has since undergone a “miraculous transformation”.
“With Don Jr’s new leadership role, 1789 Capital has developed an uncanny ability to identify companies that are about to receive massive influxes of cash from the Trump administration or to benefit from significant changes in federal policies and regulations,” the top Democrat wrote. “They say there is no such thing as a sure thing in investing, but this is about as close as you can get.”
Raskin also said “it is now impossible to believe” that the firm’s “astonishing growth and success are due to anything other than insider political influence and thoroughgoing corruption”.
The ranking member outlined a series of reports chronicling recent investments by 1789 Capital that include millions of dollars in Vulcan Elements, a rare earth company, in August 2025. Prior to this, the manufacturer had reportedly touted several government contracts they had secured in the months prior. Raskin then notes that the Pentagon announced a $620m direct loan to Vulcan Elements in November last year. At the same time, Department of Commerce (DOC) provided the company with a $50m grant under the CHIPS and Science Act.
“This was an amazing turn of events when the Trump Administration decided to pump over half a billion dollars into an unproven startup company,” Raskin wrote.
He also pointed to a recent July interview with CNBC in which the president said that his children have “inside information” due to the fact his policies touch nearly every part of the economy.
“I tell my kids, ‘stay away,’” Trump said at the time. “But they also have a life. You know, they were doing business long before I ever thought of running for president.”
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Trump Jr said he only talks to his father, the president, “every few weeks”, and never discusses business with him and – as a private citizen – holds “no policy position and no role within the administration whatsoever”.
Raskin’s letter also cites reporting from the Guardian that Anduril Inudstries, a major military contractor founded by Trump ally and donor Palmer Lucky, has received billions in government contracts over the last year. 1789 Capital, the judiciary Democrats note, has acquired a stake in the company. Anduril says in Trump’s first year in office it doubled its revenue – a growth rate of 100%.
Earlier this month, the Guardian also reported that two appointments to the…
CIA Director Made Secret Moscow Trip to Warn Putin Against Attacking NATO: Report– slaynews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s mysterious trip to Moscow this week was reportedly intended to deliver a direct warning to Russia against attacking a NATO country amid U.S. intelligence concerns that President Vladimir Putin could eventually test the alliance with a limited military assault.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Ratcliffe’s surprise mission was connected to recent U.S. intelligence assessments indicating that Putin could attempt an attack against an allied nation in the coming years to gauge whether NATO would respond.
President Donald Trump, however, offered a different account of the closely guarded mission, describing Ratcliffe’s trip as “sort of semi-routine.”
Asked by conservative radio host Glenn Beck whether the CIA director had traveled to Moscow to warn Russia about NATO, potential strikes involving England, or sanctions against Iran, Trump responded that it concerned “none of the above.”
“Something may come out of it,” Trump added, saying his administration was “working very hard to get that war ended,” referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ratcliffe’s visit nevertheless represented one of the highest-level contacts between Washington and Moscow in months.
Canada Announces Major Retaliatory Measures Against the US– www.westernjournal.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Canada escalated its brewing trade conflict with the United States on Tuesday by issuing retaliatory tariffs that match America dollar for dollar, while also raising rates on steel products.
Minister of National Revenue of Canada François-Philippe Champagne announced the tariffs, saying, “Canada must respond, and today we are, in a proportionate, targeted, and strategic way. Today I’m announcing that Canada will match the United States’ tariffs, dollar for dollar, rate for rate.”
Minister of National Revenue of Canada François-Philippe Champagne announces retaliatory tariffs: “Canada must respond, and today we are…Canada will match the U.S. tariffs, dollar for dollar, rate for rate.” pic.twitter.com/EOxaAjGhEB
“Effective Sept. 8, Canada will impose counter-tariffs of up to 15, 25, or 50 percent on $27.6 billion in imports from the United States of America,” he added.
Canada’s Department of Finance said on its website that the tariffs will “focus on sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.”
Major flash floods from a glacial collapse devastated parts of Tibet and Nepal, with Nepal being the hardest hit. The flash floods removed whole villages, hitting them with 30-plus-foot high walls. The alleged current death toll stands at around 500, with 1,300 reported missing. The true death toll may be much higher. There were scores of foreigners among the dead. They were there to make Hindu pilgrimages.
Catastrophic Nepal, Tibet flood death toll soars as 25 Canadians still missing – National– globalnews.ca News Source
EXCERPT:
Catastrophic flash floods in a border area of Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China, have killed at least 353 and left more than 1,300 people missing as of Thursday. Many were foreigners in the area for trekking, guided tours or a pilgrimage to a sacred Hindu site.
The number of missing from Wednesday’s disaster may vary across agencies because of differences in how they collected data, when it was reported and how it was verified, as well as gaps in coordination between those assembling data and those conducting rescue efforts in the affected area.
Police reported at least 353 dead and 826 missing. Local reports cited the National Emergency Operation Center as saying Thursday the missing included 113 Nepali tourists, 85 security personnel from the army and police as well as 161 residents from the Rasuwa district and one from the Nuwakot district.
Iran War Updates: Trump says U.S. “achieving a very big victory,” war “will continue for as long as necessary”– www.cbsnews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Long lines formed at gas stations in Tehran Tuesday after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into submission.
Washington has turned to pulling economic levers six months into a war on Iran that has ground to a stalemate militarily, with peace talks stalled and most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz blocked.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday laid out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, saying the “objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime.”
Though Iran’s leaders have shrugged off the tough talk, having already endured sanctions for decades, some residents of the capital feared that they would feel the pinch.
“Naturally, sanctions affect people’s lives,” realtor Mehdi Yazdian, 55, who urged the authorities to control prices, told the AFP news agency. “People are being hurt, both those who are financially well-off and those who are financially weak.”
“Yes, these sanctions are having an effect,” he said. “But naturally, our people are resilient. These sanctions have been in place for 47 years.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has made it clear he has no intentions of hold elections during the war with Russia. He claimed election in wartime would put the country at risk. A trip by CIA Chief Scott Bessent to Moscow was triggered by Russia’s preparation to launch an attack on NATO, unnamed sources claim.
Holding election in wartime would risk destroying Ukraine, says Zelenskyy – The Guardian– news.google.com News Source EXCERPT:
The Strait of Hormuz appears to be mostly opened, but not fully safe. The Trump administration has ended all negotiations with Iran, demanding total surrender. The U.S. has switched to economic warfare against Iran, of a scale never seen before. They’ve warned their allies that any refusal to go along with the U.S. plan will result in them being removed from the U.S. dollar system.
DOJ Moves to Confiscate Iran Oil As Legal War Prize – RedState– redstate.com News Source
EXCERPT:
During the Revolutionary War and before, war at sea was fought with some very different presumptions. The crews of warships were often as not paid in part by prize money, money earned from the ships and cargoes they captured. This process was handled by something called a maritime prize court. These courts would adjudicate the legality of any ship and cargo seizures under existing maritime law; they could also order the sale of ships and cargoes, with the proceeds going to the ship’s company.
The recipients of prize money weren’t always regular navy forces, either. Governments, including the newly formed United States government, would, in those times, issue something called a letter of marque, authorizing privately owned warships to hunt enemy ships on the high seas; these ships and their companies were called privateers. And, yes, the unfortunate side effect of that was that some of the privateers, when the war they were authorized to help fight ended, turned to piracy.
Now, though, the Department of Justice may be reactivating the maritime prize courts, something the United States has not done since our Civil War.
The Justice Department is preparing to activate a long-dormant maritime war court to streamline military capture of Iranian oil tankers as US prizes, according to three people familiar with the plans.
Reviving prize courts, which is expected to face legal challenges, is intended to strengthen the blockade of Iran and offset the cost of the conflict.
Aaron Reitz, the Houston-based US attorney whose office is partnering with department headquarters on the initiative, confirmed DOJ is “now reviving” prize courts, which he described as an “ancient body of maritime law.”
The unfinalized plans, if adopted, would offer a faster path for federal prosecutors to claim oil and other cargo taken from enemy or neutral vessels as US property. The seized goods would then be sold with proceeds transferred to the treasury.
Trump Bombshell: More Than 100 UN Terror Employees Referred for Taking Part in Hamas’ October 7 Atrocities– gellerreport.com News Source
EXCERPT:
President Trump dropped this bombshell: A report from USAID confirms that over 100 United Nations ‘ UNRWA employees have been referred for participating in October 7th Hamas atrocities.
The UN is an arm of the global jihad.
🚨 WOW! President Trump dropped this bombshell: A report from USAID confirms that over 100 United Nations pro-Palestine employees have been referred for participating in October 7th Hamas atrocities
USAID report finds more than 100 UNRWA employees participated in Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7
The agency referred a former United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees school teacher and Hamas operative for debarment for allegedly receiving and holding civilian hostages beginning on October 7, 2023.
The United States’ Agency for International Development’s Inspector General’s office announced Wednesday that it has referred more than 100 current or former employees of a United Nations relief agency to the State Department over their participation in the October 7 terror attacks in Israel.
The referrals include three people they suggested be debarred by the department, including a former United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees school teacher and Hamas operative who allegedly received and held civilian hostages beginning on October 7, 2023.
The agency did not give a full number of employees it referred, but said its investigation has resulted in one total debarment so far, after the individual was found to have coordinated communications with other suspected Hamas members during the terror attacks while serving as an UNRWA school principal.
Live Updates: Helicopters Rescue Nepal Flood Survivors, With More Than 1,000 Still Missing– www.nytimes.com News Source
EXCERPT: Officials said hundreds were killed in Nepal and Tibet. New York Times reporters flew with rescuers to remote Himalayan areas, where shocked survivors described a torrent of mud sweeping away villages.
Iranians ‘shopping with a smile’ despite US sanctions – RT reports from Tehran (VIDEO) — RT World News– www.rt.com News Source EXCERPT:
Shops are cutting prices and offering installment payments as household budgets shrink, RT reports from the ground in Tehran
Iranian businesses are increasingly turning to discounts and installment payments to keep customers shopping, as sanctions and the economic fallout from the US-Israeli war squeeze household budgets, RT’s Salman Khujuri reports.
The trend comes nearly six months after the US and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February. Large-scale fighting has subsided under a series of temporary agreements, but efforts to reach a lasting settlement have stalled as Washington ramps up economic pressure on Tehran.
Businesses in the Iranian capital are adapting to soaring prices and falling purchasing power, with some allowing customers to spread purchases over several payments.
Bobak Shirpour, who runs a large clothing retail business in Tehran, told RT on Thursday that worsening economic conditions after the war and years of sanctions prompted his company to seek suppliers offering better prices and quality. With many larger families unable to pay in cash, the retailer also introduced discounts and installment plans.
“People have welcomed it, they come in with a smile and leave with a smile,” Shirpour said, adding that despite the narrower profit margins, business remains steady.
Shoppers interviewed by RT said installment plans have become increasingly useful as household budgets come under pressure. “They allow people to buy things they can’t afford to pay for in cash and pay in four installments instead. It gives people some peace of mind and helps them meet some of their basic needs despite these difficult circumstances,” one customer said.
Iranian households have been cutting spending on food and other essentials as inflation and the falling rial erode purchasing power, according to recent media reports. Installment shopping has also expanded to Iranian companies offering deferred-payment services as consumers struggle with the rising cost of living, the Financial Times reported earlier this month.
This summer, America played host to one of the biggest international events on the planet, the World Cup, drawing millions of foreigners to our cities and towns, our stadiums and our national parks, where many of them had never been before.
The consensus was, America is awesome — visitors from Bolivia, Scotland, Uzbekistan and everywhere in between marveled at the sheer size of our great nation, the diversity of our topography, the deliciousness of our foodstuffs and, perhaps most importantly, the kindness of our people. (Not to mention, our eighth wonder of the world — Buc-ee’s.)
What a difference a month makes.
Despite our friends in far-flung places singing our praises, now, to hear our closest neighbors tell it, America is nothing but a “ bully” and a “ thug.”
After trade negotiations with Canada collapsed this week, and President Donald Trump announced a whopping 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods — including Canadian whiskey and hockey sticks — it’s no surprise our friends to the north are less than pleased with their downstairs neighbors.
In our defense, not all of us are responsible for electing the bully and thug in question — and if polls are any indication, most Americans agree with Canada that Trump is doing a terrible job. But still, it’s hard to hear.
In Sumy, strikes hit a residential area, sparking fires that damaged homes and commercial buildings. Emergency crews were deployed to three locations as residents surveyed the damage.
In Odesa, firefighters tackled several fires after what regional officials described as a large-scale attack lasting more than seven hours. A 16-storey residential building was among the structures damaged, along with a private house, garage, educational facilities, vehicles and a grain elevator.
Ukraine’s Air Force said its defences had shot down or suppressed 233 Russian targets during the overnight barrage, including 258 attack drones, two Oniks anti-ship missiles and several Iskander-M and KN-23 ballistic missiles. The force said around a third of the drones were jet-powered, while others included Shahed-type, Gerbera and Banderol systems, as well as decoys.
The attacks also caused damage in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia regions. In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people were injured, with two taken to hospital, after falling drone debris and fires hit several districts.
At least than 550 missing in Tibet floods, hundreds missing in Nepal– www.washingtontimes.com News Source
EXCERPT:
UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal — China’s Xinhua News Agency said mudslides Wednesday caused by a glacial collapse in Tibet have left 558 people missing, while police in Nepal reported Thursday morning that at least 162 were killed after massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing after suddenly sweeping through communities and halting travel in some areas.
Drone footage showed roads destroyed and buildings buried by thundering water the color of wet cement.
The region’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors but are precarious when disaster strikes. Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.
After President Trump announced new tariffs targeting Canada, Mark Carney’s administration has responded by meeting Trump’s tariffs with similar ones of his own. U.S. progressive state media has reported on the trade war decidedly from a pro-Canadian perspective.
During the trade war, Alberta continues to go forward with a referendum to secede from Canada. Canada’s progressive state press have now taken to refuse to refer to 9/11 as a terrorist act, telegraphing open hostility to America.
Canadian Broadcasting Instructs Staff Not to Refer to the 9/11 Attacks As ‘Terrorism’ – PJ Media– pjmedia.com News Source
EXCERPT:
The Canadian left went woke while the American left was still pulling up its britches. Ever since rock-star politician Pierre Trudeau appeared on the scene in the late 1960s, Canada has been hopelessly, wildly, self-consciously hard-left-wing.
He made Canada a bilingual nation in 1969 and declared a policy of “multiculturalism” in 1971. He decriminalized homosexuality in 1967, long before American leftists made gays a kind of mascot for their agenda.
Like JFK in the U.S., Pierre Trudeau attracted a lot of female worship: “Trudeaumania,” they called it. Politics as entertainment wasn’t born in Canada, but the radical left saw Trudeau’s mass appeal as a means to an end.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Basem Boshra, who is the Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News, sent out a memo recently, instructing its news staff how to report on the upcoming 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” Mr. Boshra wrote, “all in bold letters, italicized, as if to emphasize the point,” according to Warren Kinsella of the Toronto Star, who saw the memo.
EXPOSED: Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups influenced Canadian elections, launched ‘Vote Palestine’ initiative: report | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Qatar is singled out as a particularly significant source of foreign funding and institutional relationships.
A sweeping new report from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) alleges that Muslim Brotherhood-aligned networks have established influence across the Canadian government, electoral politics, charities, civil society, and universities, while exploiting gaps in government oversight and foreign-funding transparency.
“Canada’s challenge is not simply the presence of individual extremist voices or isolated institutional weakness. The report maps how interconnected ideological networks acquire legitimacy, institutional access, public funding, political influence, and protection from scrutiny,” ISGAP Executive Director Dr. Charles Asher Small said in announcing the report.
“Canadian democracy is built on openness, robust notions of citizenship, pluralism, civil liberties, and public trust,” Small added. “These principles must not be exploited to shield foreign influence, ideological entryism, antisemitism, or efforts to weaken democratic accountability.”
Australian Social Media Ban Flops Badly, as Teens Are Returning to TikTok ‘En Masse’ * The Gateway Pundit * by Paul Serran– www.thegatewaypundit.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Albanese’s tricks have misfired.
There’s perhaps no more pristine example of a Globalist leader than Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: the guy checks all the boxes.
He is obsessed with Net-zero and Paris-aligned climate targets, of course.
During the COVID crisis, we saw him angling to cede health-policy control to an unelected international body – and in fact, he seems to want to give up sovereignty altogether in favor of a ‘UN-centric multilateralism’.
Albanese has maintained a sustained high level of migration, and is big on ‘identity politics’.
And then, we come to his online-control ideas, which, of course, center around the nefarious ‘Digital-ID’, and have, as a first experiment, his ‘groundbreaking’ under-16 social-media ban.
We all understand Albanese’s online plans to be nothing but attempts at back-door surveillance, and a revival of the rejected and dropped ‘misinformation laws’.
The good news is that the ban is turning out to be a total flop.
JUST IN: Study reveals that despite Australia’s under 16 social media ban, TikTok use among 13-15 y/o’s is nearly back to pre-ban levels.
“According to a report by parental-control tool company Qustodio, the Australian social media ban has been impressively ineffective.
[…] Some 26% of children between the ages of 13 and 15 were on TikTok as of last month, just one percentage point below the rate prior to Australia’s groundbreaking rules coming into effect, the parental control software maker said. The rate for children between the ages of 10 and 12 is higher now than before the ban, according to the data.
What Qustodio found across Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat use, there was a distinct drop in use among 10-12 year olds and 13-15 year olds for a few weeks right when the ban started in December 2025. But after a few months, kids steadily got back on, nearing or matching pre-ban levels.”
Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s despite world-leading ban.
The use of apps TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat among 10-12 year olds and 13 to 15-year olds is on the rise, data from parental control app Qustodio showshttps://t.co/qzrEpXUYHfpic.twitter.com/4lurpNEgxf
Urgent Warning Issued As Two Tankers Are Struck In Strait Of Hormuz– trendingpoliticsnews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Another oil tanker was blasted by a mystery projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the vessel ablaze as Iran tightens its grip on one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations issued a warning Thursday after local authorities reported that the tanker had been struck near Oman. The attack itself was reported Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. UTC.
“Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished,” the organization wrote in its warning.
“All crew are reported as safe and accounted for and there has been no report of environmental impact,” the warning continued.
No country or military group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The identity of the vessel was not disclosed, and officials did not reveal what type of projectile struck it.
“Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO,” the message concluded.
Islam’s Quiet Takeover: How Britain’s Prisons Became Dawa Centers * The Gateway Pundit * by Peter McIlvenna– www.thegatewaypundit.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Nick Timothy MP, Britain’s shadow justice secretary, just put numbers on something that’s been muttered about for years. Ministry of Justice data shows one in five Muslim prisoners in England and Wales is white. That’s nearly four times the rate in the general population. White Muslim inmates went from 2,767 in 2022 to 3,218 by June 2025. Overall, Muslim numbers in prison rose from 14,037 to 16,051 in the same stretch. They’re now about 18 percent of the prison population in a country where Muslims are only 6.5 percent of everyone else.
Timothy says the gap “raises serious questions.” Experts have been warning for a long time about Muslim gangs pushing conversions behind bars. He wants the Labour government to look into it properly. The Ministry of Justice’s answer is the usual line: they don’t tolerate intimidation or faith-based coercion. Okay. That still doesn’t explain the figures.
Not every conversion is forced, of course. Some guys convert for the structure, the food, or just to have people watching their back. Some white Muslims grew up in the faith. Fair enough. It still doesn’t account for the size of the shift.
Jonathan Hall KC, who reviews terrorism legislation, found Muslims running parts of prisons as self-styled “emirs.” They pull in lonely or vulnerable inmates with food, advice, small gifts — and sometimes the threat of violence.
A senior Chinese Communist Party official has somehow been allowed to purchase historic property in Washington D.C. That property is only 650 feet away from the White House’s northeast grounds. The man, Qiu Feili (who goes by Philip Qiu in America) is also a trained sniper. The property cost $8.4 million.
NEW: Senior Chinese Official Buys Building Steps From White House– trendingpoliticsnews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
A senior Chinese Communist Party official with documented ties to intelligence and state security organizations has acquired a historic commercial property located approximately 650 feet northeast of the White House grounds in Washington, D.C.
According to an investigative report from the Daily Caller, the 100-year-old Securities Building at 729 15th Street NW was purchased on July 21, 2026, for $8.4 million by the Philip Qiu and Family Foundation. District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds filings confirm the transaction details and the foundation’s role as buyer.
The new owner is identified as Philip Qiu, also known by his Chinese name Qiu Feili. Public records and translations of Chinese government announcements reviewed by the Daily Caller indicate that Qiu has held multiple positions connected to Chinese intelligence and state security entities.
His career began as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Team of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, a local unit under the Ministry of Public Security. By 2011, while enrolled in a master’s program at Shanghai Jiaotong University, he had completed special forces training. University announcements from that period describe him participating in a training exercise in which he served as a commander and recorded the best individual sniper performance, using 42 shots to eliminate a significant portion of opposing forces.
