Bitcoin leaps above $US120,000 ahead of ‘huge' crypto week
Republican legislators have dubbed this week 'crypto week'. They will push forwards three bills in the House of Representatives to clear up ambiguity in cryptocurrency regulation, promote the use of stablecoins, which are digital currencies pegged to another asset, such as one US dollar, and prevent the establishment of central bank digital coins on privacy grounds.
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The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Trump says he has struck a trade deal with Indonesia
US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade deal with Indonesia. "Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with their highly respected President. DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had threatened the southeast Asian country with a 32 per cent tariff rate effective August 1 in a letter sent to its president last week. Trump sent similar letters to about two dozen trading partners this month, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20 per cent up to 50 per cent as well as a 50 per cent tariff on copper. The August 1 deadline gives the targeted countries time to negotiate agreements that could lower the threatened tariffs. Some investors and economists have also noted Trump's pattern of backing off his tariff threats. Since launching his tariff policy, Trump has reached trade agreements with three other countries: China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade deal with Indonesia. "Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with their highly respected President. DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had threatened the southeast Asian country with a 32 per cent tariff rate effective August 1 in a letter sent to its president last week. Trump sent similar letters to about two dozen trading partners this month, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20 per cent up to 50 per cent as well as a 50 per cent tariff on copper. The August 1 deadline gives the targeted countries time to negotiate agreements that could lower the threatened tariffs. Some investors and economists have also noted Trump's pattern of backing off his tariff threats. Since launching his tariff policy, Trump has reached trade agreements with three other countries: China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade deal with Indonesia. "Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with their highly respected President. DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had threatened the southeast Asian country with a 32 per cent tariff rate effective August 1 in a letter sent to its president last week. Trump sent similar letters to about two dozen trading partners this month, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20 per cent up to 50 per cent as well as a 50 per cent tariff on copper. The August 1 deadline gives the targeted countries time to negotiate agreements that could lower the threatened tariffs. Some investors and economists have also noted Trump's pattern of backing off his tariff threats. Since launching his tariff policy, Trump has reached trade agreements with three other countries: China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade deal with Indonesia. "Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with their highly respected President. DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump had threatened the southeast Asian country with a 32 per cent tariff rate effective August 1 in a letter sent to its president last week. Trump sent similar letters to about two dozen trading partners this month, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20 per cent up to 50 per cent as well as a 50 per cent tariff on copper. The August 1 deadline gives the targeted countries time to negotiate agreements that could lower the threatened tariffs. Some investors and economists have also noted Trump's pattern of backing off his tariff threats. Since launching his tariff policy, Trump has reached trade agreements with three other countries: China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Kremlin reacts icily to Trump warnings over Ukraine
Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. "The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times in 2025, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. "The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times in 2025, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. "The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times in 2025, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. "The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times in 2025, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Prosecutor asks Brazil's Supreme Court to find Bolsonaro guilty of coup
A prosecutor asked Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday to find ex-president Jair Bolsonaro guilty of plotting a coup, in closing arguments after a trial that saw US President Donald Trump try to intervene on behalf of his right-wing ally. Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election won by his left-wing opponent, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The prosecution told the court that former army officer Bolsonaro and seven others were guilty of participating in "armed criminal association" and had sought to "violently overthrow the democratic order." The case now goes to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. If found guilty, Bolsonaro and his co-defendants could face up to 40 years in prison. Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019-2023 before Lula replaced him, says he is the victim of a political persecution. Prosecutors say Bolsonaro tried to overturn his 2022 loss in a plot that only failed because the military did not side with him. Violent supporters then rioted, rampaging through government buildings in the capital Brasilia in scenes that echoed the assault on the US Capitol by Trump's supporters after the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. The trial has attracted attention from Trump, who returned to power in the 2024 election and continues to claim -- despite this being rejected repeatedly by the courts -- that he won in 2020. Trump has repeatedly called on social media for Bolsonaro's trial to be stopped, accusing the authorities in Brazil of mounting a "witch hunt" and a "disgrace." On July 9, he took his campaign to extraordinary new levels by announcing plans to tariff Brazilian imports to the United States at 50 percent. Unlike the tariffs Trump is slapping on countries around much of the world, including top US allies, the measures against Brazil -- which are set to take effect August 1 -- were announced in openly political terms. Trump cited "Brazil's insidious attacks on Free Elections" among other issues, warning of further escalation if the country retaliated -- something Lula indicated would happen. On Friday, Trump reiterated his claim that Bolsonaro was being unfairly treated. "They're treating President Bolsonaro very unfairly," Trump told reporters, calling him "a good man." "I know the honest ones, and I know the crooked ones," he added. Lula has hit back at Trump's "interference," insisting that "no one is above the law."
