Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has bought a $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) stake in SpaceX, the biggest investment outside iron ore in the private miner’s history and a bet on Elon Musk days after his rocket and satellite company staged the largest float on record.

SpaceX raised $US75 billion in its Nasdaq listing on June 12, the biggest initial public offering ever, and closed its first session up 19.2 per cent and worth about $US2.1 trillion. The debut made Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, said the investment reflected Hancock’s confidence in Musk and “the need for the West to keep investing in technology and innovation”.

2026 marks the Semiquincentennial of the United States, the 250th birthday of the nation.

(Or does it? The niggling historian might note that 250 years from 1776 marks the Declaration of Independence as the start of the United States, but, of course, in 1776 there was no United States. Or in 1786, for that matter. The Constitution, which created the legal framework for the nation, was written in 1787 and wasn’t finally ratified until 1788.)

But never mind. 1776 it is, and so on with the Semiquincentennial celebrations!

Happy 250th Birthday America!

By Steven Conn

Gaza requires urgent international attention.

What is happening in the besieged and devastated strip at the moment by far exceeds an unfolding humanitarian disaster; it is a calculated geopolitical reshaping. Israel is actively executing a plan to permanently occupy the vast majority of Gaza, with consequences that require little elaboration considering what we already know about the ongoing genocide.

Israel’s Designs on Gaza

Netanyahu has been explicit about having no intention of following any peace road map, planning instead for the permanent incremental takeover of Gaza, writes Ramzy Baroud.

Currently, much of the international debate centers on a single official: Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov.

Over recent weeks, the slogan “ditch the witch” has been featured alongside AI-generated photos of Victorian premier Jacinta Allan. She’s depicted in a dusty and distressed witch’s hat, a fake wart on her chin, on billboards and trucks around Melbourne in the lead up to the state election this November. 

Instead of critiquing her policies or governance, the campaign attacked her gender. The brothel owner who partly funded the campaign says the slogan is not sexist.

It’s not the first time the phrase has been used that way. In 2011, then-opposition leader Tony Abbott stood before protest placards that read “ditch the witch”, targeted on that occasion toward our first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Studying archaeology, alongside Greek and Roman Civilization, for my bachelor’s degree has given me a pessimistic outlook on the world. At least that’s what my dad told me in June 2001 on a drive from Istanbul to Dublin. Yet he’s to blame for my studying the science after bringing me to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the cinema. The romantic career turned quickly into something different, when learning about ‘panem et circenses’ [bread and circuses] and standing knee deep in medieval human waste in the middle of an Irish bog.

Make Rome fall again

Trump’s UFC spectacle turns America’s birthday into a bloodsport metaphor for imperial decline

BY Alan Moore

PUTIN IS TOO SOFT…. This is one of the criticisms made by a small but growing number of Russians… In Russia, some young people are also unhappy about websites and some APPS, such as Youtube, being blocked… [in Australia, by law, access to the internet is very limited for under 16 years of age]. Meanwhile, inflation and sanctions are hurting some businesses. As well, the limited success of the Kiev Regime sending drones deep into Russia is starting to “scare a few people”… Despite all this, Putin still enjoys nearly 80 percent support from the people.

A dissertation by Gus Leonisky... 

Followed by an interview with Vladimir Fedorovski

The Kiev regime is under the control of MI6, on behalf of Washington and Brussels... So what is Putin to do?  

Will there be a shakedown at the next election between One Nation, backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart, and fellow mining magnate Clive Palmer's United Australia Party? Trying to outflank the Hard-Right from the Right is an ambitious exercise, writes investigation editor Ross Jones.

ONANISM is on the rise.

According to The Australian of 7 June:

Will it one day be possible for climate-neutral planes to fly without leaving contrails*? What does the rover that will be used to drill a two-meter-deep hole in Phobos, one of moons that orbits planet Mars, look like? These are just two of the questions being explored at the ILA in the German capital, one of the biggest air shows in Europe.

Gold rush atmosphere at Berlin's military air trade show

Nina Werkhäuser | Sabine Kinkartz

This year's ILA Berlin Air Show is breaking records, primarily because of the booming defense sector, which is reaping billions in contracts as a result of wars and crises.

New York: Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after shares of his rocket company, SpaceX, soared in Wall Street’s biggest initial public offering of stock.

Shares in SpaceX closed more than 19 per cent higher after opening for trading at noon on Friday (Saturday morning AEST), a sign that investors are looking past the billions the company is losing and instead betting that its massive investments in satellites, orbital data centres and artificial intelligence will pay off in the future.

You can’t argue with a man observing the obvious: We are living in unusually perilous times. In the Middle East, for instance, the Israeli-American infernal duo have been on a rampage of war, state terror, all-purpose devastation, and genocide that, as a bonus, has also brought the world economy to the verge of cardiac arrest by clogging one of its vital fossil fuel arteries. Indeed, that particular risk is so obvious that even Germany’s less than brilliant Friedrich Merz has long spotted it.

Puffy Putin peril: The West’s latest attempt to scare itself

Headlines about the Russian president’s looks and ‘erratic’ behavior are a symptom of terminal Russophrenia

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

Many ABC journalists are close to journalists of the left wing The Guardian Australia and activists at the avowedly leftist Australia Institute. Amy Remeikis is the author of the error-ridden book Where It All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard. (Simon & Schuster, 2026 – this is reviewed by Gerard Henderson in the current issue of The Sydney Institute Review Online.).

Can You Bear It?

The Australia Institute’s Amy Remeikis makes a false claim about Tony Abbott

Washington – Since US President Donald Trump threatened to launch extensive strikes against Iranian infrastructure, from bridges to power plants, for the sixth time after similar threats were repeatedly withdrawn, the scene appeared to be an expression of anger at the stalled negotiation process due to Iran’s refusal to meet demands that Trump believes he cannot concede on, without having a clear plan to employ the threat in the context of a military resolution to the war or in the context of improving the negotiating position with Iran.

DOTS ON THE LETTERS: TRUMP BUYS STRATEGIC FAILURE

BY Nehme Hamie

For many years, I [Johnny Vedmore] have been unwittingly preparing to write this piece and a bulk of my previous investigations will intersect with this article. For those who aren’t aware, I have written extensively about Jeffrey Epstein’s influence on leading politicians and scientists;

Nearly 60 percent of retired senior British military officers now working in the defence industry have appeared as expert commentators in UK media without any disclosure of their commercial ties, a conflict research charity has found.

The London-based group Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) examined a decade of UK media appearances by former British senior military figures.