"This week’s news that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died after allegedly ingesting poison from a South American frog while imprisoned in the Arctic is a reminder that Russia also has a long history of assassinating critics of the regime."

.....

This sentence buried in an article in The Conversation about political assassinations is cleverly using the word “allegedly”. If you believe that Navalny was poisoned with a dart frog thingy, you would also believe that my grandmother was a professional cyclist circumnavigating the moon on Michelin tyres. 

In Australia, a child of ten can go to prison for shoplifting, while an executive engaged in multimillion-dollar bribery gets away with a fine. Aleta Moriarty with the story.

On an average night in 2025, there were approximately 884 young people in detention and over the course of a single year, 4,578 children passed through detention.

Juvenile Justice. Caging children while corporate criminals go free

by Aleta Moriarty

Welcome to Scheer Intelligence, in this episode, Robert Scheer sits down with media scholar Nolan Higdon to dissect the explosive revelations emerging from the Epstein Files — newly exposed documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

At nearly 90 years old, Scheer says he has never seen anything like this.

Techno-Fascism Exposed: The Epstein Files and the Naked Ruling Class

SHEERPOST

Your home for independent journalism

This isn’t gossip. It isn’t tabloid scandal. It’s a rare, unfiltered look into how power actually operates in America.

US President Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see Russia and China join his ‘Board of Peace’, established to guide the stabilization of Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war. Moscow earlier signaled that it was contemplating the idea, while China has declined, citing commitments to the UN.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, Trump said many countries had already joined the board, and that “we have a lot that are going through the process of getting on.”

“I would love to have China and Russia,” he said. “They’ve been invited. You need both. You need all persuasions. No discrimination.”

BRICS News: India balances, Russia negotiates, China builds—and the bloc evolves in real time. In this Think BRICS analysis, we break down BRICS 2026 strategy behind the latest global power shift.

In this episode of BRICS News, we at Think BRICS, break down BRICS 2026 developments shaping a multipolar world.

This BRICS News analysis explores what mainstream headlines call “fracture” but what may actually be strategic construction. We examine Russia BRICS strategy and the reported Russia dollar negotiations, asking whether Moscow’s tactical engagement with the dollar signals retreat—or leverage. At the same time, China yuan global currency ambitions accelerate, reinforcing de dollarization through expanding trade settlements and financial infrastructure.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. has been gathering the most air power seen in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion in 2003. 

CNN says the U.S. military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend. 

London: The British government has signalled plans to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the royal line of succession following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, as police launched further inquiries into his former security team.

The proposal will depend on the outcome of the police investigation but it represents a dramatic reversal on the government stance last year, as new polling shows strong public support for the official act to ensure the former prince could never become king.

Russia and Japan are not holding any negotiations on concluding a long-elusive peace treaty, as bilateral relations have hit rock bottom over Tokyo’s “unfriendly” stance towards Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peskov weighed in on remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during her policy speech to the parliament. She acknowledged that while Russia-Japan relations are in “a tough spot,” “the Japanese government’s position remains unchanged, aiming to resolve the territorial issue and conclude a peace treaty.”

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Friday called the recent Supreme Court ruling against his global tariffs a "disgrace" and said he has a backup plan in mind, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the remarks.

The comments were made during a working breakfast with US governors.

Earlier in the day, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump is not authorized to impose global tariffs.

"Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] does not authorize the President to impose tariffs," the court's opinion published on Friday said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20260220/supreme-court-blocks-trumps-global-tariffs-president-calls-ruling-a-disgrace-1123666436.html

As predictable as Pauline Hanson’s racism, the commentariat leapt on Thursday’s labour market figures as more evidence of fiscal doom and monetary policy gloom. Michael Pascoe worries that the RBA will too.

Isn’t it great to have an economy where unemployment is low without causing an inflationary wages breakout? 

Beware the wages bogeyman – it’s the housing, stupid

by Michael Pascoe

Apparently not, according to the main fishwrappers that greeted the unemployment rate remaining steady at 4.1 per cent in January as a bad 

bad thing requiring higher interest rates forthwith.

The head of the sports division of Italian state broadcaster RAI has stepped down after a gaffe-filled commentary during the Olympics opening ceremony, the company announced on Thursday.

Paulo Petrecca has faced anger from the network's journalists even before the latest embarrassment due to his reported close ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had already been accused of turning news channels into “TeleMeloni.”

Meloni ally quits state TV job following Olympic gaffes

RAI Sport chief Paolo Petrecca had faced criticism from network journalists even before his recent televised blunders

Ever since the end of the Cold War, the West came to believe that with the demise of their strongest foe — the Soviet Union — the world would be shaped by them in the manner of their own choosing. This manifested itself in the era of globalization, which saw Western financial and political institutions dominating the global politico-economic discourse.

The Great Doctrinal Discord

Pranay Kumar Shome

The West has failed to understand Russia ever since the end of the Cold War. The reason, however, lies in the universalistic pretensions of the West’s worldview.

20 February 2022: A French modelling agent and close associate of the late US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in his prison cell in Paris.

Jean-Luc Brunel was found hanged in his cell in La Santé prison at 01:00 on Saturday, prosecutors told the BBC.

US President Donald Trump, citing "tremendous interest," said he was directing the Pentagon and other government agencies to release files related to extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

He said the agencies should include "any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters."

He made the announcement on social media on Thursday, hours after accusing former President Barack Obama of disclosing "classified information" when he suggested in a podcast interview that aliens were real.