Trump out to squeeze Ukraine truce from Putin at talks
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SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Evening News Bulletin 17 August 2025
More than 340 killed in flooding in northern Pakistan... The Prime Minister says the meeting between Trump and Putin was a good thing but a ceasefire must be reached... Brisbane Broncos close in on the finals after beating the Dolphins... At least 340 people have have been killed in northern Pakistan after torrential rains and cloudbursts caused flash flooding. The deluge hit the remote mountainous region, with cloud bursts, flash floods, lightning strikes and landslides in the deadliest downpour of this year's monsoon season. Parts of neighbouring India and Nepal have also been hit hard by heavy rains, flooding and other rain-related incidents over the past week. Official expect the death toll to rise as search operations in the most severely hit regions continues. One of the emergency staff, Shahnawaz Khan, says it's been an incredibly difficult recovery job given the poor conditions. "We rescued as many people as we could. The speed of the flash floods then increased and then rescue teams started their operations and with the help of locals we rescued people." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says dialogue between the US and Russian presidents was 'a good thing', but warns Russia's invasion should not be rewarded. Speaking to ABC, Coalition M-P Tim Wilson has reaffirmed the coalition's view that any sort of ceasefire negotiation needs to involve Kyiv, after U-S President Donald Trump met in Alaska with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Ukraine and its European allies have criticised the meeting as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances. Mr Albanese says Australians want to see a ceasefire. "It's a good thing that people have dialogue. What we want to see is a ceasefire. What we want to see is an end to the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign state, because it's important as well for the international rule of law." Palestinian civil defence authorities say Israeli troops killed at least *40 Palestinian people on Saturday, as the military signals plans to force civilians out of Gaza City. After Israel's security cabinet approved plans to seize and occupy Gaza City, Israeli officials now say they will begin handing out tents and shelter equipment to the estimated 50,000 people living there. Nationals leader David Littleproud says Australia must embrace Artificial Intelligence as it seeks to boost productivity at the upcoming economic reform meeting in Canberra. The Productivity Commission released its fifth and final report ahead of the roundtable after being tasked with looking into economic resilience, clean energy and delivering care. Improving productivity in the care sector is seen as challenging because of the human nature of care. But the commission says A-I can reduce the time spent on reporting, while robots can perform routine tasks such as vitals monitoring and logistics. Mr Littleproud told Nine's Today Show that now that A-I is here, the technology must be seen as an opportunity for growth. "If we embrace this technology, yes, we should have safeguards and parameters around it, but there will be productivity gains. And what that does is means that those people whose jobs are impacted will go into other parts of the economy that will grow and create productivity for us. So, I think it's important we have the parameters, but not at any cost, because business and government can't afford that. We've got to appreciate it's here" Paleontologists have identified a rare, entirely new species after the chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach. Now officially named, Janjucetus dullardi the species was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter, Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach in Victoria. Researchers say findings like these can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved, and evolved. Erich Fitzgerald is a Senior Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Museum Victoria's Research Institute. He says the species is unlike any whales we see today. " It was, let's say, deceptively cute, Janjucetus dullardi and its kin. It might have looked for all the world like some kind, weird kind of mash up between a whale, a seal, and a Pokémon, but they were very much their own thing. And when they were alive, they were successful and diverse species." In NRL, the Brisbane Broncos are closing in on the finals, after beating rival Queensland team the Dolphins overnight The side beat the Dolphins 38 to 28, moving just win away from a top four spot in the league. The Redcliffe Peninsula-based Dolphins are now in ninth place and will have a tough fight to claw their way back to finals contention. Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf says he is disappointed by the result. "We put ourselves in a position where we probably could have won the game and that is why it becomes disappointing. But as I said at the start, I am very happy with the effort. I thought we turned up and a lot people didn't give us a chance before tonight, but we gave ourselves a chance."
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
Putin has eliminated truth. If nothing is true, anything is possible
Starting with red carpets, military fly-overs and shared limo rides and ending with a stage-managed media appearance next to a fawning Donald Trump, the Alaskan summit was, regrettably, a victory for the world's leading autocrat, Vladimir Putin, and a loss for democracy. As a result, whether it's to defend their ally, Ukraine, or their own place in the world, the leaders of the West, including Australia, now have no choice but to act for democratic values. If Putin had a wishlist, Russia's 21st century tsar can now check off a list of desired items: an elevated place on the world stage and recognition as a global player, an end to years of isolation of the Russian Federation, photo-ops fully curated for his propaganda, withdrawal of the threat of more sanctions, deflection of responsibility for the war onto Ukraine. Not a bad outing for an indicted war criminal who has systematically waged war on a small neighbour for more than 10 years, destroyed thousands of its schools and hospitals, reduced some of its towns and cities into urban deserts of ruin and rubble and kidnapped 20,000 of its children (for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant). Loading And, perhaps, most importantly from his perspective, Putin flew back to Moscow without any commitment to end his unilateral, illegal and brutal war against Ukraine. Quite the contrary, he was given a spotlit stage on which to repeat – without objection or even comment from Trump – his hegemonic demands that Ukraine basically surrender by giving up substantial amounts of its own sovereign territory, fully disarming, swearing off NATO participation, and dumping its democratically elected government and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. While Trump recently made a few frankly inconsequential and pathetic noises of complaint about recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, his lips were sealed in Anchorage. As silence is assent, this gives Putin a de facto green light to continue his savage campaign to destroy Ukrainian society, identity and statehood. In this respect, as reported by Al Jazeera, the average number of missiles and drones fired by the Kremlin at Ukrainian civilians has increased in recent months by nearly 1000 per cent to 5000 deadly projectiles per month. If one Alaskan hope was Trump pushing Putin closer to a negotiated peace, the exact opposite has occurred. Putin's violence has been vindicated, his brutality legitimised and his evil enabled. Peace was put on hold; Putin's agenda was advanced. Putin will now continue to send hundreds of thousands of Russian troops to their deaths to gain, in 2025, the equivalent Ukrainian area of greater Launceston. Territory, though, is less important to Putin, a former KGB colonel, than another key aspect of his overall agenda. Namely, he aims to alter public discourse into an alternative reality. In its Orwellian scope, Putin's Way sees propaganda take primacy over factuality, aggression become fully acceptable, and rules become entirely of one's own design and liking. As British author Peter Pomerantzev has written, 'It is so important for Moscow to do away with truth. If nothing is true, then anything is possible... We're rendered stunned, spun and flummoxed by the Kremlin's weaponisation of absurdity and unreality.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Putin has eliminated truth. If nothing is true, anything is possible
Starting with red carpets, military fly-overs, and shared limo rides and ending with a stage-managed media appearance next to a fawning Donald Trump, the Alaskan summit was, regrettably, a victory for the world's leading autocrat, Vladimir Putin, and a loss for democracy. As a result, whether it's to defend their ally, Ukraine, or their own place in the world, the leaders of the West, including Australia, now have no choice but to act for democratic values. If Putin had a wish list, Russia's 21st century tsar can now check off a list of desired items: an elevated place on the world stage and recognition as a global player; an end to years of isolation of the Russian Federation; photo-ops fully curated for his propaganda; withdrawal of the threat of more sanctions; deflection of responsibility for the war onto Ukraine. Not a bad outing for an indicted war criminal who has systematically waged war on a small neighbour for more than 10 years, destroyed thousands of its schools and hospitals, reduced some of its towns and cities into urban deserts of ruin and rubble, and kidnapped 20,000 of its children (for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant). Loading And, perhaps, most importantly from his perspective, Putin flew back to Moscow without any commitment to end his unilateral, illegal and brutal war against Ukraine. Quite the contrary, he was given a spotlit stage on which to repeat – without objection or even comment from Trump – his hegemonic demands that Ukraine basically surrender by giving up substantial amounts of its own sovereign territory, fully disarming, swearing off NATO participation, and dumping its democratically-elected government and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. While Trump recently made a few – frankly inconsequential and pathetic – noises of complaint about recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, his lips were sealed in Anchorage. As silence is assent, this gives Putin a de facto green light to continue his savage campaign to destroy Ukrainian society, identity and statehood. In this respect, as reported by Al Jazeera, the average number of missiles and drones fired by the Kremlin at Ukrainian civilians has increased in recent months by nearly 1000 per cent to 5000 deadly projectiles per month. If one Alaskan hope was Trump pushing Putin closer to a negotiated peace, the exact opposite has occurred. Putin's violence has been vindicated; his brutality legitimised and his evil enabled. Peace was put on hold; Putin's agenda was advanced. Putin will now continue to send hundreds of thousands of Russian troops to their deaths in order to gain, in 2025, the equivalent Ukrainian area of greater Launceston. Territory, though, is less important to Putin, a former KGB colonel, than another key aspect of his overall agenda. Namely, he aims to alter public discourse into an alternative reality. In its Orwellian scope, Putin's Way sees: propaganda take primacy over factuality, aggression become fully acceptable, and rules become entirely of one's own design and liking. As British author Peter Pomerantzev has written, 'It is so important for Moscow to do away with truth. If nothing is true, then anything is possible... We're rendered stunned, spun, and flummoxed by the Kremlin's weaponisation of absurdity and unreality.'
