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President Donald Trump repeatedly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by the wrong name at a NATO summit press conference Wednesday."You have a question for President Putin?" Trump asked reporters.He then tried to put out the fire with a baffling rephrasing of his remark.Noting the press reaction that included some laughs, he attempted, “Do you have a question for President Putin, not Zelenskyy,” once again pointing at his counterpart.He then added, "What do you want to ask him because I am going to ask that question.”Trump repeatedly refers to Zelenskyy as "President Putin" pic.twitter.com/zbTzfMc5EI— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 8, 2026

This blog is now closedTelstra outage: Telco apologises for major time-keeping issue that hit mobiles, trains and triple-zero callsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTelstra outage reported to be cause of Victoria train stoppageThere is a long list of cancelled trains on the official V/line site, but the TL/DR is that Victoria’s regional train network has ground to a halt.Due to a radio network fault affecting the network, services are currently unable to operate …Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible. Continue reading...

A military expert is warning about the path ahead for the U.S. as it begins new strikes on Iran.Retired Admiral James Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said during a Tuesday appearance on CNN that the U.S. "launched pretty significant strikes here," and cautioned, "This is the last turn before the tunnel for the Iranians in terms of Trump's patience."Stavridis suggested that the strikes came after the Trump administration "just got tired" of Iranian attacks on merchant shipping, which must have been "a bridge too far." He described the Trump administration's retaliation as "a pretty strong set of strikes for this stage" in negotiations for a ceasefire, but Stavridis held out hope."Let's hope the Iranians kind of get the signal here and stand down from striking merchant shipping," Stavridis said. "Bottom line, the ceasefire can still be salvaged."However, Stavridis described the ceasefire as being on "life support."Former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger, who appeared on CNN alongside Stavridis, agreed with Stavridis, even though "this has kind of been the way from the first so-called ceasefire." Kinzinger argued the first ceasefire only gave the U.S. time to negotiate the memorandum of understanding that was meant to stop hostilities."Now, the Trump administration has a decision to make," Kinzinger said. "And that decision is simply, you have to basically escalate to try to compel some answer or some negotiation that actually works out, or do you just walk away and give Iran the Strait [of Hormuz]? Basically walk away from the nuclear material?"

A former U.S. diplomat went off on President Donald Trump and the way he's dealing with American NATO allies.During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Nick Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and China, discussed Trump's relationship with NATO and how he ignores what concerns them the most, which is the threat of Russia."NATO is important for the United States, and the threat now is Putin and Russia," Burns said. "So when the president says somehow the Atlantic Ocean is going to protect us in the 21st century from Russia, he's just badly mistaken."Burns was responding to comments made on Tuesday by Trump in which he said he wasn't concerned about the threat of Russia because “we have a thing called the ocean in between us.""He's living in some other century," Burns said, reacting to Trump's comments. "But not the century we're living in."CNN anchor Erin Burnett noted "how easy it is to get drones off the coast" and how the world has seen warfare change."The world has changed dramatically," Burnett said. "So has warfare even in recent months. We've seen that."Burns also talked about how Trump doesn't talk about how European NATO countries have increased spending on their military infrastructure, and in dealing with NATO, "it's as if he's talking about a Europe of three or four or five years ago, not the Europe of today."However, when speaking about Trump's feuds and bickering with NATO leaders like the Italian prime minister, Burns suggested Trump should be like the American presidents of the previous century."You catalog the abusive comments he's made, the sarcastic comments, the critical comments personally about a number of NATO leaders; we've never had an American president do that," Burns said. "Can you imagine Truman or Eisenhower or John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan criticizing, in personal terms, the Italian prime minister, the French president, the German chancellor, the British prime minister?"

Following Donald Trump dismissing questions about the Iran war quagmire the U.S. is stuck in during a press availability preceding NATO talks in Turkey, retired United States Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling pounced on the president for parroting Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.After live coverage of the question and answer period concluded on MS NOW, host Stephanie Ruhle noted, “General, let's start right there with the president's comments with regard to the war with Iran; he said, it is ‘not even a war, it's just a military operation.’”“I think he called it a ‘special military operation,' which sounds eerily familiar to what President Putin was calling the invasion in Ukraine,” Hertling shot back.“It is a war, Stephanie,” he continued. “I mean, it meets every definition of war that I've ever read in history books or doctrine or military theory. So it's just a canard that he's throwing out there to say, ‘yeah, this is no big deal, we won, everything's fine.”“But last night we saw more ships being struck by Ukrainian drones or, excuse me, Iranian drones. It's just a mishmash of information that he’s passing off to the press,” he accused. - YouTube youtu.be

NATO allies admitted they will tiptoe around Donald Trump at this week's summit in Ankara, and they're not even trying to hide it, according to a report from Politico.European diplomats are pulling out all the stops to prevent a Trump "blow-up," using what one called "Trump management." Speaking with Politico, diplomats were upfront about tactics to be used: lavish praise on defense spending increases, avoid divisive topics, and signal "unwavering" support on Iran policy. In other words: whatever it takes to keep Trump satisfied."There's no alternative how to approach him but to be diplomatic and not to extremely offend him and saying that we're stepping up," Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken told Politico. "That's what we need to do and that's what we're doing."One senior NATO diplomat bluntly added, "The aim is to keep one person happy and satisfied"The problem is that Trump has a reputation for being fundamentally unpredictable. Grievances over defense spending, U.S. base access, defense funding, and the volatile Iran ceasefire could all ignite an explosion at any moment. "If this conflict flares up again — which can't be ruled out — and then Trump again puts [out] statements that Europeans should step up," explained Gerlinde Niehus, a security expert and longtime NATO official, "then that topic would of course overshadow everything else."Last week, Trump again attacked European allies over their defense commitments by writing on Truth Social: "Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal."Even worse, German officials are now bracing for Trump to potentially derail the entire summit by demanding Europe contribute to a purported €300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran. That demand alone could explode the fragile consensus NATO has been working to maintain, Politico is reporting.

Thousands of women are killed in dowry disputes each year, despite the practice being banned in 1961Dowry deaths in India no longer provoke the public anger they once did, despite thousands of women’s lives still being lost every year, according to new research.The killings – women who are murdered or driven to suicide following dowry disputes between families – have also faded from political debate, despite an increase in cases. Continue reading...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to escalate the controversy over President Donald Trump's intervention in a U.S, soccer player's suspension by using an upcoming NATO summit to focus on it.While meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna on Monday, Rubio was asked about Belgium's appeal of FIFA's decision to reverse U.S. player Folarin Balogun's suspension ahead of the World Cup match with Belgium."It was a bad decision," Rubio said of the suspension. "I think it was the right decision to reverse it.""And if you're Belgium, why would you want to play a game and win a match, and then you win this match, and then everyone will argue you didn't really win it because their best player, leading scorer, was not on the pitch during that — during the match?" he continued. "You want the other side to be at its best so that your victory is not tainted in that way."The U.S. Secretary of State went on to claim that Belgium might be "trying to get an international incident.""I don't know; maybe we'll bring it up at NATO tomorrow when we're there with the Belgians and everybody else," he warned. "But I just hope the match will go on, everyone will be at full strength, and the winner will be the winner."