Russia says security discussions without Moscow are 'road to nowhere'
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the comments two days after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukraine's president and European leaders for discussions about security guarantees for Ukraine that could help to end the war.
"We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work," Lavrov said.
"I am sure that in the West and above all in the United States they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia, it's a road to nowhere."
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Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
It is not just the state that is failing white kids, it is Labour
In an education system which has improved considerably over the previous 14 years of Conservative Government, Bridget Phillipson – Labour's Education Secretary – has been searching high and low for a figure she can use to make party political hay. Thanks to the reforms to the teaching of reading introduced by Michael Gove and I from 2010, England is now fourth in the world in the reading ability of our nine-and 10-year-olds according to the authoritative PIRLS study. And in maths England has risen from 27 th in 2009 to 11 th in the latest PISA survey of over 80 countries. These figures are challenging for a Labour politician who is keener on making partisan jibes than doing the hard work of raising academic standards in our schools. Labour have lighted upon one figure – the proportion of 'white working-class children' achieving a strong pass (Grade 5) in English and Maths GCSEs which they cite as 19 per cent compared to the overall figure of 46 per cent. I put that phrase in inverted commas, because the figure they quote is actually for white children eligible for free school meals, which is by no means the same as working-class, and Bridget Phillipson knows that, or should do. Nevertheless, I agree that the figure is too low. But let's look at those statistics when Labour were last in office and before our reforms to the education system were in place. The problem is the grading system of GCSEs was changed in 2017 from letters to numbers. The most accurate comparison is between a Grade 4 (known as a Good pass) and a Grade C in the old system. Back in 2010, 30.9 per cent of pupils eligible for Free School Meals achieved a C grade or better in their English and Maths GCSE. In 2024, some 43.6 per cent of pupils eligible for Free School Meals achieved a Grade 4 or higher in their English and Maths GCSEs. I wish I had the figure to compare a Grade 5 with the old grading system in 2010 but because the Grade 5 lies between an old B and a C that direct comparison isn't possible. But these show how much genuine progress was made amongst all children from disadvantaged backgrounds between 2010 and 2014. And Bridget Phillipson knows that or should do. These figures reflect the reality that there was significant improvement in standards in our state schools between 2010 and 2024, due to a real focus on phonics in the teaching of reading, better teaching of maths by the adoption of methods common in the highest performing countries in the world, particularly east Asia. It has been achieved through a stronger knowledge-rich curriculum and more support for schools to improve behaviour. The last Conservative Government gave schools more autonomy, to free them from the 'progressivist' ideology that was driving down standards when Labour were last in power. The UK fell from 7 th in reading in 2000 to 25 th by 2009 and from 8 th to 28 th in Maths, over those years of Labour government, a decline that we reversed through hard work and reform in the years after 2010. The autonomy we gave to schools through the Academies programme (combined with strong accountability), and which helped drive up standards, is now being undermined by the current Government through measures in their Schools Bill currently going through Parliament. The stronger curriculum we carefully introduced between 2013 and 2017, and which schools have adopted and are teaching well, is threatened by the Government's curriculum and assessment review that is still to produce its final report. Everything Bridget Phillipson has sought to do since becoming Education Secretary in 2024 has been to undo the reforms that successfully drove higher academic standards in our schools. Am I content that only 19 per cent of white children eligible for free school meals achieved a strong pass in English and Maths GCSE last year? Of course not. But our reforms were helping these children. Everything Labour is now doing will simply make the education system worse. Mercia School in Sheffield, a free school, the type of which Labour have refused to create more, achieves astonishing results in a disadvantaged part of that South Yorkshire city. At Mercia School 80.6 per cent of their pupils (of all ethnicities) eligible for free school meals achieve a grade 5 or better in their English and Maths GCSE. If the current government were serious about standards they would be learning from Mercia and similar schools and spreading that success across the school system as a whole. Instead, their Schools Bill removes many of the freedoms and much of the autonomy which have underpinned the success of schools like Mercia. The suggestion that the Conservative Party failed to deliver for schoolchildren – of any group – is absurd.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Fox News' Mark Levin defends Trump calling himself a ‘war hero': ‘Let me educate the truly stupid'
Shortly after Donald Trump brazenly declared himself a 'war hero' on Tuesday – despite famously never serving in the military – former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger derided the president's remarks before noting that 'his people are going to find a way to justify this.' It didn't take long for Mark Levin to answer that challenge. 'YES, TRUMP IS A WAR HERO,' the Fox News host – who also serves on the president's Homeland Security Advisory Council – tweeted on Wednesday. It was on Levin's radio show where the president delivered his self-declaration of heroism in battle, which was in the context of Trump and Levin – an outspoken supporter of Israel – lauding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Describing the Israeli leader as a 'good man' who is 'in there fighting,' Trump went on to praise Netanyahu as a 'war hero' before bestowing that title upon himself. 'He's a war hero, cause we worked together, he's a war hero,' Trump said while chuckling. 'I guess I am, too. Nobody cares, but I am, too. You know, I sent those planes.' The president was referring to the United States joining Israel in its military air campaign against Iran in June, which resulted in American bombers striking three critical nuclear enrichment facilities. Throughout the interview, the president grumbled that he hadn't been given enough credit for the airstrikes – which he's repeatedly claimed 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear capabilities – or other foreign policy accomplishments. 'Let me educate the truly stupid in the grotesquely moronic media and their crackpot surrogates, since President Trump made the war hero comments on my radio show last evening,' Levin posted on X amid criticism of Trump's claiming to be a war hero. Levin, who privately advised Trump to take military action against Iran and raged against MAGA critics of the airstrikes, went on to justify his position by citing past presidents and their achievements as commander-in-chief. 'There are lots of presidents who are war heroes who did not actually fight in a war. Reagan defeated the Soviet Union,' the conservative pundit continued. 'War hero. FDR defeated the Axis powers. War hero. Lincoln won the Civil War. War hero. Trump destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities and everything with them -- which Bush 41 and 43, Clinton, Obama, and Biden said they would prevent, but failed to do. Trump stopped Iran's nuclear threat to the United States in its tracks. He gave the order. He is the commander-in-chief. War hero.' Additionally, Levin also defended the president's description of Netanyahu as a 'war hero.' Unlike Trump, who never served in uniform, Netanyahu was a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces who fought in both the Yom Kippur War and the 1967-1970 War of Attrition, and was injured several times in combat. 'AND congratulations to President Trump for also recognizing Prime Minister Netanyahu as a war hero. He most certainly is,' Levin blared on X. 'Now, back to the quislings and Hamas/Iran mouthpieces in the media and their crackpot surrogates.' The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has accused Netanyahu of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, issuing an arrest warrant for him and Israel's former defense minister Yoav Gallant last November. Israel has slammed those allegations, and the United States has backed Netanyahu by imposing sanctions on several of the court's judges in retaliation. As for Trump's self-annointing himself as a war hero, Kinzinger – who served in the Air National Guard and flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan – pointed out that the president declined the opportunity to don the uniform when he had the chance. 'You can like what he's done. That's fine. I hope he gets a resolution in Ukraine,' Kinzinger said Tuesday night during a CNN interview. 'But to put himself on the same level of people that have actually gone out and served this country, not claimed bone spurs, is an offense to anybody who served.' Kinzinger was referencing the multiple deferments that Trump received during the Vietnam War, one of which was for having 'bone spurs' while the others were for attending college. 'And frankly, you just take somebody that served, calling themselves a war hero, even that would be inappropriate. For a guy that never served to say it, it's nuts,' he added. 'But somebody, they'll defend it, they'll find a way.' Beyond that, early in Trump's first campaign for president, he infamously mocked the late Sen. John McCain's service during the Vietnam War, which saw the former Navy pilot held captive and tortured for nearly six years in the notorious prison camp known as the 'Hanoi Hilton.' 'He's not a hero,' Trump exclaimed in 2015, sparking intense backlash at the time. 'He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you that.' During his first term, Trump also came under fire after The Atlantic reported that during a 2018 trip to France, he scrapped plans to attend the commemoration for the 100th anniversary of World War I at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, fearing his hair would be mussed because of expected rain. 'Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers,' Trump reportedly said, adding later that Marines who died in battle were 'suckers.' While the president has repeatedly denied he said that, calling it 'disinformation' and 'fake news,' his then-chief of staff John Kelly – a former commander of U.S. Southern Command who lost his son in Afghanistan – insisted Trump did make those remarks.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump buys more than $100 million in bonds since inauguration, disclosure shows
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has bought more than $100 million in company, state and municipal bonds since taking office in January, according to new disclosures which shed further light on the vast holdings of America's billionaire president. The forms, posted online on Tuesday, show the Republican former real estate mogul made more than 600 financial purchases since January 21, the day after he was inaugurated for his second term in the White House. The August 12 filing from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics does not list exact amounts for each purchase, only giving a broad range. They include corporate bonds from Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab, and Wells Fargo (WFC.N), opens new tab, as well as Meta (META.O), opens new tab, Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab, The Home Depot (HD.N), opens new tab, T-Mobile USA (TMUS.O), opens new tab and UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N), opens new tab. Other debt purchases include various bonds issued by cities, states, counties and school districts as well as gas districts, and other issuers. The holdings cover sectors that could benefit from U.S. policy shifts under his administration, such as financial deregulation. A senior White House official said Trump continued to file mandatory disclosures about his investment portfolio but that neither he nor his family had a role in managing or selecting the bonds, which are managed by a third-party financial institution. Federal ethics officials certified the reports, which are in compliance with applicable laws, according to the official, who declined to be named. Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, has said he has put his companies into a trust managed by his children. 'President Trump's net worth has increased substantially, with much of that concentrated in crypto holdings and Trump Media. Given that, there is no evidence currently that his bond purchases are anything other than a prudent diversification within his billions of dollars in assets,' said John Canavan, lead US analyst at Oxford Economics. 'It seems like he was primarily purchasing corporate and municipal bonds and others that are high quality and highly rated, so it's just a way to take a little bit of risk off the table," he said. Trump's annual disclosure form filed in June showed his income from various sources still ultimately accrues to the president - something that has opened him up to accusations of conflicts of interest. In that disclosure, which appeared to cover the 2024 calendar year, Trump reported more than $600 million in income from cryptocurrencies, golf properties, licensing and other ventures. It also showed the president's push into crypto had added substantially to his wealth. Overall, the president reported assets worth at least $1.6 billion, according to a Reuters calculation at the time.
