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THE drums of war are beating. Vladimir Putin is threatening to incinerate all of us in a nuclear conflagration. In response, the feeble, cash-strapped European Union is struggling to raise an army after decades of feasting on an ­imaginary peace dividend. 11 Donald Trump wants to turn the world order on its head Credit: Getty 11 Ukraine’s war is now unwinnable for President Volodymyr Zelensky Credit: Getty 11 Even Mad Vlad Putin is not mad enough to go nuclear Credit: Reuters Alarm bells are sounding for the first time since the Cold War as Ukraine unleashes UK and US missiles deep inside Russia, raising the risk of pan-European conflict. Scary times. But are we really facing World War Three? To quote Dad’s Army’s Lance Corporal Jones: “Don’t panic!” Read More on World News EMPTY THREAT Ukraine vows to SHOOT DOWN Vlad’s new missile that he's used to threaten UK ROCKET BLAST Moment Brit pilot films Russian ROCKET soar past his plane en route to space At least, not yet. Still, frontline states such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland are taking the threat seriously. Peacenik Germany has finally woken up to the Russian menace and invited 800,000 Nato troops to carry out war games on its soil. In America, you can buy “affordable bunkers to survive the apocalypse now — fallout shelters that won’t break the bank” — at $140,000 a pop. Most read in The Sun CASE RULING McGregor sexually assaulted rape accuser in Dublin hotel, civil case jury rules LIGHTS OFF Scots city cancels annual Christmas festival amid amber weather warning TAN CAM RAID Scots Turkish barbers raided after 'sunbed spy cam' discovered in shop SNATCH PLOT Shocking moment man escapes being bundled into white van by thugs in kidnap bid Here in Britain, an online newspaper captures the mood with survival tips such as: “How to stop your skin melting” and “Why you should keep your mouth open so your eardrums don’t burst . . .” One misstep away from global conflict Nothing sells better than a horror story. Watch explosive moment 'British Storm Shadow missiles strike inside Russia' The truth is that the world is paying dearly for the absurd 76-day power gap between Donald Trump’s election as US President on November 5 and his inauguration on January 20. The vacuum is being filled by sabre-rattling as both sides in the Ukraine conflict strive to make irreversible gains before Trump enters the White House . The crisis has been stoked by doddery Joe Biden, who belatedly handed Ukraine the long-range missiles it might have previously used to end the war. Instead, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attacks deep inside Russia have provoked the Kremlin into threatening nuclear retaliation. On Thursday, after hitting the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a nuke-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile, Putin declared the UK and US could now be targets for Russia. We need to calm down. Even Mad Vlad is not crazy enough to nuke the West. And if he were, China wouldn’t let him. Moscow and Beijing may be joined at the hip in seeking to hobble the mighty American colossus. But Beijing dictator Xi Jinping intends to achieve this by stealth and coercion — not by letting his junior partner unleash Apocalypse Now. This is not to understate the unnervingly sinister risk to world peace. We have learned from two ­catastrophic world wars — and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis — that we are always just one hideous misstep away from global conflict. Amid this crisis, we find ourselves in the hands of the most unpredictable and erratic world leader of modern times. Donald Trump has stoked tensions by threatening to turn the world’s economic, diplomatic and military order on its head. 11 11 Beijing dictator Xi Jinping wants to KO the US by stealth and coercion Credit: AFP 11 Doddery Joe Biden took too long to OK the missiles to Ukraine Credit: Getty 11 Why is Sir Keir Starmer axing defence projects? Credit: PA He is ready to crack heads together in the Middle East, sink China’s exports and launch trade wars with Europe. But first up, Ukraine. The 47th President-elect is ready to walk away from a European conflict which he insists has absolutely nothing to do with the US. Yet while European Union leaders have dithered and wrung their hands, American taxpayers forked out £140BILLION in aid and arms to Ukraine. Enough is enough, says Trump. This might be a bluff by the world’s biggest bluffer. But only a fool would call it. Which explains why Kyiv leader Zelensky is grabbing every weapon he can lay hands on to beat off the Russian bear while he still has time. They include the long-range American ATACMS and, thanks to PM Keir Starmer , Britain’s lethal Storm Shadow cruise missiles , already deployed with devastating effect this week. And yet, admirable as this may be in defence of brave Ukraine, it merely prolongs an unwinnable war. Putin, himself a formidable negotiator, has raised the stakes by insisting foreign-made weapons used against Russia are grounds for nuclear retaliation . This leaves the EU dangerously exposed. Despite the overlapping membership of Nato, the EU’s 27 member states have become flabbily impotent. For half a century, taxpayers’ trillions have been lavished on social-welfare spending while mere pennies have been set aside for the military. Armies are depleted while naval and air defences are running on fumes. In the face of the biggest threat to peace since World War Two, Europe today stands effectively defenceless. During his first term of office, President Trump put a bomb under EU leaders, making them cough up more cash for military spending. But not enough. Germany, which once armed its troops with broomsticks instead of rifles, is the worst culprit. Despite its role as the EU’s economic dynamo, the Ukraine conflict has shown it was totally dependent on Russian oil and gas. Now, with the heat on, Berlin is offering to host 800,000 Nato troops on its soil to defend the Fatherland if Russia invades Finland or the Baltic states. Under Article 51 of the Nato alliance, an attack on any of its 32 member nations is deemed an attack on all. Formerly pacifist regimes now understand the only way to preserve peace is to prepare for war. In 1960s, we practised diving under the table Late in the day, Europe’s liberal elites in countries such as Sweden and Holland have ordered industrial and agricultural interests to stockpile food, fuel and vital equipment including diesel generators. Which underscores the madness of Keir Starmer’s declaration of war on Britain’s hard-pressed farmers. We may soon need every acre to plant crops and dig for victory. Nor can Labour now justify its decision to mothball our coal, gas and oil resources at a time of soaring energy prices in pursuit of Ed Miliband’s insane Net Zero deadline. Voters will also ask why this Government is scrapping five Royal Navy warships, dozens of military helicopters and drones and perhaps even our two brand-new aircraft carriers. If our plodding PM has learned anything from his never-ending overseas meetings with world leaders, it is surely that socialism is no substitute for a proper defence policy. We have been through similar crises in the past, not least the decades-long Cold War when the Kremlin really did pose a nuclear threat to our survival. In the 1960s we lived with the possibility of imminent attack, heralded only by a “four-minute warning” on old war-time sirens. 11 Government advice booklets from the 1970s Credit: Alamy 11 A nuclear device known as The Badger, a 2,000-kiloton bomb, tiny by today’s standards, detonated at the US Defense Dept’s Nevada test site in 1953 Credit: Alamy 11 Zelensky is grabbing every weapon he can lay his hands on to beat off the Russian bear while he still has time including the long-range American ATACMS Credit: Alamy 11 Britain’s lethal Storm Shadow cruise missiles have already been deployed with devastating effect this week We practised diving under the dining room table, or standing in doorways which are more likely to survive a blast. The best-selling book On The Beach portrayed Aussies awaiting their “last days on Earth” after a nuclear war in the northern hemisphere. Peter Sellers made us laugh nervously in Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. Women protesting against Polaris missiles camped out for years at RAF Greenham Common, while “Red Ken” Livingstone fatuously declared London a “nuclear-free zone”. By the 1980s, East-West negotiations reached the basis for an uneasy truce. It was literally MAD — “Mutually Assured Destruction”. Press the red button and we all die. In my early days as The Sun’s Political Editor, I accompanied PM Margaret Thatcher to Moscow for various talks with Soviet leaders. I had a ringside seat at one of the most significant disarmament summits between Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev and American President Ronald Reagan . The superpower leaders agreed on huge, if symbolic, missile cuts, captured on Page One of The Sun by an image of nukes launched harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean. “We reaffirmed our solemn conviction that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” said the two world leaders in 1988. The Berlin Wall fell one year later, marking the so-called End Of History. But nuclear weapons cannot be disinvented. Mutually Assured Destruction remains the only bulwark against Armageddon. Luckily, Donald Trump is a master of The Art Of The Deal. Putin is desperate to be treated with respect on the world stage, not as a global pariah. For all his bombast, he knows his country has suffered disastrous losses in blood and treasure from his blundering assault on Ukraine. Tough call for so-called European superstate Sanctions have blocked Russia’s stagnant economy from Western advances in technology. A permanent ceasefire is negotiable, but only if Putin is not humiliated. There could be deals which revive Russia’s lucrative trade in oil and gas. Putin will want to be re-admitted to the top table of the world’s most powerful economies, making the G7 into the G8 once again. Brave Ukraine cannot fight on without allied support. Nor should it be abandoned to exist in a “frozen war”, perpetually intimidated by Russia. Which is where the European Union must step in. Ukraine is now Europe’s responsibility, not America’s. The EU’s member states must find the resources to guard their own borders. They can rely on Nato — which includes the US and UK — but only if they raise defence spending by billions. This is a tough call for the so-called European superstate, which has spent the past five decades effectively disarming. Read more on the Scottish Sun COMIC'S CASTLE Still Game star takes £150,000 hit to offload luxury £4m Scots castle HITTING THE HIGH NOTES Much-loved pub named best music bar in Scotland A failure of will at this crucial point would be disastrous. If Putin digs his heels in on Ukraine, we might yet find ourselves buying “affordable bunkers to survive the apocalypse”.Noneps4 hk 。

China and Pakistan: A common journey of building up climate resilience and justice

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A trio of top Republican Party of Guam representatives has joined a group of other Pacific leaders to offer joint recommendations of federal policy and key appointments to President-elect Donald J. Trump ahead of his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States on Jan 20, according to an announcement Friday. Guam Del. James Moylan, 38th Guam Legislature Speaker-elect Sen. Frank Blas Jr. and Republican Party of Guam Chairman and senator-elect Shawn Gumataotao were recruited for the Pacific Transition 47 Committee that also includes American Samoa Congresswoman Amata C. Radewagen, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Congresswoman-elect Kimberlynn King-Hinds. The committee was formed following a recommendation by incoming Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs James Braid, who is coordinating the process. “The purpose of this committee is for the three House members to join forces with senior political leaders in the American Pacific to offer joint recommendations to the incoming Trump-Vance Administration,” the announcement said. Braid said, “There have only been a handful of GOP trifectas since World War II. The transition team is looking forward to working with you to advance President Trump’s priorities on Capitol Hill during this historic opportunity to Make America Great Again. The transition welcomes the input of you and your team on personnel and policy.” According to the announcement, Radewagen stressed that job seekers should feel free to reach out to any committee member as well as submit a resume and letters of recommendation by email to PacificTransition47@gmail.com . “Committee members are not precluded from communicating directly with the Trump-Vance Transition to make policy and personnel recommendations,” Radewagen said. “But we expect that recommendations will be given greater weight if submitted by the committee, which consists of the most prominent senior Republican leaders in the American Pacific.” Gumataotao said the Guam group intends to submit recommendations for the positions of U.S. District Court of Guam/CNMI, U.S. attorney for Guam/CNMI, U.S. Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs assistant secretary or deputy assistant secretary. "We as a group discuss those potential appointments, and get resumes together, submit them and then work closely with them," Gumataotao said. Separately, CNMI Gov. Arnold Palacios and American Samoa Governor-elect Pulaalii Nikolao Pula on Thursday also announced they plan to join the Republican Party, according to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley. Coincidentally, Pula is the former head of the DOI Office of Insular Affairs. "We're taking this right now up until the (presidential inauguration) on the 20th ... but if some go beyond the 20th then we'll keep working until those positions are filled," Gumataotao said. Committee meetings and deliberations will be conducted by videoconference and a social media chat group, but the members also expect to meet on the sidelines of the inauguration when they travel to Washington, D.C. next month, according to the announcement. Rounding out the committee will be American Samoa territorial party chairman Taualapapa William Sword, and the CNMI Republican party chairman, pending election.Final farewell

SBA Strengthens Lending Network with New Public-Private PartnershipsCitius Oncology, Inc. Reports Fiscal Full Year 2024 Financial Results and Provides Business UpdateSimeon Boikov has been variously described as a misinformation spreader, serial pest and Russian pawn or signup to continue reading But he may prove a "useful idiot" for the Australian government in securing the freedom of captured Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins. Mr Boikov has been holed up in the Russian consulate in Sydney's eastern suburbs since December 2022, after being charged with assaulting an elderly man at a pro-Ukraine protest in Sydney's CBD. While the self-styled "Aussie Cossack" is seeking asylum with the Russians of his own accord and is not a prisoner of the Australian judicial system, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said he could be used in an exchange to secure Mr Jenkins' release. "If he potentially proves himself to be, shall I say, a useful idiot in terms of a possibility for a Christmas swap, well that is something for the government to consider as it looks at ways to potentially bring an Australian free and break him from Russian custody," Senator Birmingham told ABC Radio on Tuesday. Mr Boikov volunteered himself to be exchanged with Mr Jenkins in a video posted on social media platform Telegram. "I'm sure the Russians will be happy to accept," Mr Boikov said. "We should bring him home, he shouldn't have been in Ukraine. "Let's do a deal." In a video posted to Russian social media on Sunday, Mr Jenkins is repeatedly slapped and interrogated by a Russian-speaking man assumed to be his captor. The man asks Mr Jenkins how it was he came to be in Kramatorsk, a town 700km east of Kyiv in the Donbas region, near the Russian-Ukrainian frontline. Standing in a forest and dressed in army fatigues, Mr Jenkins tells the man he wanted to help Ukraine. The footage was disturbing, Senator Birmingham said. "Obviously, all Australians would want to see and have confidence that this Australian citizen is going to be treated humanely, fairly, in accordance with the type of rules that should apply to prisoners of war," he said. Parading prisoners of war on social media is a breach of the , which dictates that they must at all times be protected against insults and public curiosity. The Australian government was making representations to Russia about Mr Jenkins, acting foreign affairs minister Mark Dreyfus said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was yet to determine his whereabouts but was first made aware about concerns for Mr Jenkins' wellbeing in November, the ABC reported. People close to the 32-year-old have not known his whereabouts for months. "If that's the case, then what steps has Australia taken to try to ascertain his whereabouts and seek to ensure his well being?" Senator Birmingham said. While Mr Jenkins is believed to be the first Australian captured while fighting against Russia in Ukraine, at least seven Australians are believed to have died in the conflict. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Nationals leader David Littleproud have both implored Australians not to go over. "This isn't some great adventure," Mr Littleproud told Nine's Today Show. "I had to bring back the remains of a young man from my own electorate, Jed Danahay, who was over there as a medic helping Ukrainians in the war zone and was tragically killed. "I never forget the look and the anguish and the pain in his mother's eyes when I handed back his ashes to her." DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement Advertisement

Column: Brady Corbet’s epic movie ‘The Brutalist’ came close to crashing down more than once

49ers vs. Packers injury report: Purdy briefly throws before exiting practice; Still no Williams, BosaSPRINGFIELD — The smell of raw cannabis is grounds for police to search a vehicle, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The decision runs counter to the court’s previous ruling that the smell of burnt cannabis by itself is not sufficient reason for a vehicle search. The two rulings create a situation in which, though it is illegal to smoke pot in a vehicle, drivers are protected from a search based only on the smell of burnt cannabis, but are not protected from a search based on the smell of raw marijuana. The ruling came in the case of Vincent Molina, of Moline, who was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by a state trooper for speeding on I-88 in Whiteside County, near the Iowa border, in December 2020. After the trooper said he smelled raw cannabis coming from the open window of the car, he searched it and found several marijuana joints in the center console, and cannabis in a sealed box in the glove compartment. Molina was charged with misdemeanor possession because he wasn’t transporting the cannabis in the proper container. The trial court ruled the search was not justified because possession of small amounts of marijuana has been legal in Illinois since the beginning of 2020. The appeals court reversed the ruling. The case was combined at a high court hearing with the case of Ryan Redmond, in which the court ruled that the smell of burnt cannabis by itself was not grounds for a search . While it’s illegal to smoke pot in a private vehicle, the court suggested that the smell of burnt cannabis could come from smoking before getting into the car. “In short, while cannabis is legal to possess generally, it is illegal to possess in a vehicle on an Illinois highway unless in an odor-proof container,” the court wrote in the Molina case. “The odor of raw cannabis strongly suggests that the cannabis is not being possessed within the parameters of Illinois law. And, unlike the odor of burnt cannabis, the odor of raw cannabis coming from a vehicle reliably points to when, where, and how the cannabis is possessed — namely, currently, in the vehicle, and not in an odor-proof container.” Justice Mary K. O’Brien, joined by Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, wrote a strong objection to the 4-2 ruling. Justice Lisa Holder White did not take part in the vote. “I dissent from the majority opinion simply to point out the absurdity of this inconsistency,” O’Brien wrote. “It makes no sense to treat raw cannabis as more probative when the odor of burnt cannabis may suggest recent use, whereas the odor of raw cannabis does not suggest consumption. If the crime suggested by the odor of burnt cannabis is not sufficient for probable cause, then certainly the crime suggested by the odor of raw cannabis cannot be either.” Defense attorney James Mertes said he would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. “This means that the privacy rights of motorists in Illinois have been turned over to the police officer’s sense of smell,” Mertes said. “While we certainly respect the decision of the court, we share the view of the dissenters that this creates a constitutional absurdity.” State lawmakers previously removed the requirement for storing pot in an odor-proof container in a vehicle from the law legalizing weed , but they did not remove that requirement from the vehicle code. The state Supreme Court suggested that those laws should be made consistent. “I have always understood that the issues at stake are much more important than just my case,” Molina said in a statement through his lawyer. “I am discouraged by the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision, but I am encouraged to now ask that this matter be decided by the United States Supreme Court.”

Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct. But can he do the same for his nominees?

Tilly's (NYSE:TLYS) Posts Better-Than-Expected Sales In Q3 But Quarterly Revenue Guidance Significantly Misses Expectations