7 h. ago Israel calls up 40,000 reservists as military pushes ahead with ground operation in Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu is keen to accelerate a new Gaza offensive despite warnings from senior ranks

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38 h. ago Soldiers are doing landscaping in DC parks. I’m thrilled for them | Dave Schilling

They were deployed to fight crime. Instead, some are spreading mulch. It’s almost sweet – if you remove the contextIf soldiers are going to be deployed to your city, what would you prefer they do: point a rifle in your face or mow your grass? This is not a question I ever expected to have to consider in my days on this planet, but life is full of surprises. As part of Donald Trump’s military deployment to address Washington DC’s so-called “crime emergency”, national guard troops are being tasked with various groundskeeping duties around the United States capital. These duties include spreading mulch around cherry trees, picking up trash and general maintenance of public spaces. The president must have been too embarrassed to get Four Seasons Total Landscaping involved again, so he got the military to do it instead.It’s a real “swords into ploughshares” moment, or in this case, “M4 rifles into those grabber sticks you use to pick up plastic bottles full of piss.” It’s almost sweet, i...

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5 d. ago Tickets now on sale for The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2026

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has announced that tickets for its 2026 Show, A Call To Gather, are now on sale. Next year’s Show will run from 7-29 August 2026 and promises to bring audiences from across the globe together in a celebration of community, culture and creativity.

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6 d. ago Israel's military calls Gaza City evacuation ‘inevitable’ as Washington hosts talks on post

Israeli and American officials are preparing to meet in Washington to discuss postwar Gaza

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7 d. ago Charlie Kirk claims Taylor Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce is sign she’ll become ‘conservative’: ‘Submit to your husband’

MAGA mouthpiece Charlie Kirk offered a somewhat disingenuous congratulations to the pop megastar – who he has regularly criticized for being ‘woke’ – following the announcement

Politics

1 week ago Chilling update as bid to save woman stuck 22,000ft up Victory Peak abandoned

The rescue mission to save 47-year-old Natalia Nagovitsina has been called off after one fellow climber died from frostbite and a military helicopter later crashed into the side of Victory Peak

Politics

1 week ago ‘Shameful’: Democrats join call for closure of Texas immigration jail

Camp at Fort Bliss base on US-Mexico border described as ‘dangerous misuse of military land and resources’Prominent Democratic lawmakers and legal advocates have called for the new immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss military base to be shut down amid accusations of lack of external oversight and concerns over access to legal services.Camp East Montana began full operation last weekend as a sprawling tent facility across acres of military land in the eastern part of El Paso, on the US-Mexico border in west Texas, amid rapid expansion plans and much controversy. Continue reading...

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1 week ago Canada finally faces a basic question: how do we defend ourselves? | Stephen Marche

For centuries, Canada hasn’t needed to prioritize its military. But the US transformation calls for a Finland-style approachThe second Trump administration has been worse than Canada’s worst nightmare. The largest military force in the history of the world, across a largely undefended border, is suddenly under the command of a president who has called for our annexation. Canada could not be less prepared. The possibility of American aggression has been so remote, for so long, that the idea has not been seriously considered in living memory. Donald Trump has focused on economic rather than military pressure, but the new tone in Washington is finally forcing Canada to ask itself the most basic question: how do we defend ourselves?For most other countries in the world, self-defence is the key to national identity. Canada’s immense good fortune has been that we haven’t really needed a strong military to build our country. In the war of 1812, we were British, and the British kept us aliv...

Politics

1 week ago Israel to call up 50,000 reservists before planned offensive on Gaza City, says Israeli military official – Middle East crisis live

Call-up notices sent as Israeli plans to increase its offensive; Israel studies Hamas’ response to proposal for 60-day ceasefireGood afternoon, Israel will call up 50,000 reservists before a planned offensive to take Gaza City but most forces that would operate in the Gaza Strip’s largest urban centre would be active duty soldiers, an Israeli military official said on Wednesday. The call-up notices could be sent in the coming days, with reservists to report for duty in September, the military official said.“Most of the troops that will be mobilised in this new stage will be active duty and not reservists,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday that he treats leaders of other countries with respect after his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu attacked him over his decision to recognise a Palestinian state. “I don’t take these things personally, I engage with people diplomatically. He has had similar t...

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1 week ago Israeli military will call up 50,000 reservists as it plans new phase of war in Gaza

An Israeli military official says the country’s top generals have approved plans to begin a new phase of operations in some of Gaza’s most densely populated areas

Events

3 w. ago Trump’s military takeover of Washington DC is a sheer demonstration of power | Moira Dongan

No one believes that the deployment of troops to America’s most liberal, most racially diverse, and most culturally thriving cities is about solving a real problemPresident Trump imposed a military takeover of the nation’s capital on Monday, sending National Guard troops to Washington. He also seized control of the DC municipal police department, invoking an obscure section of the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act which allows the president to take control of local law enforcement in the district for a period of one month in times of emergency.That there is no emergency is irrelevant: Trump has declared one in order to exercise powers that are only available to him in a state of exception, which is, of course, what the whole country increasingly finds itself to be experiencing as the president expands the powers of his office from those of a constitutional executive into something more like the power of authoritarian control.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Charlie Kirk calls for ‘full military occupation’ of American cities ‘once we liberate DC’

‘We got to go hard. We gotta go big league. We're talking National Guard, tanks — every street, you need military,’ Charlie Kirk exclaimed on Monday.

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3 w. ago Charlie Kirk smokes Trump over push to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous drug: ‘Everything already smells like weed’

Kirk slammed the change in classification that Trump is reportedly considering, saying the drug shouldn’t be downgraded because it ruins public spaces.

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3 w. ago Myanmar military junta using European technology for drone attacks, report says

Junta obtained ‘anti-jamming’ product made in Europe through a Chinese company, research finds, triggering calls for tighter sanctionsMyanmar’s military is using advanced European technology to protect its drone fleet as it carries out brutal aerial campaigns, research suggests, prompting calls for sanctions against the junta to be tightened.Myanmar’s military, which has been widely condemned for its indiscriminate attacks against civilians, obtained “anti-jamming” technology made in Europe through a Chinese company, according to a report by Conflict Armament Research (Car). Continue reading...

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3 w. ago ‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians

Revealed: The Israeli military undertook an ambitious project to store a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls on Microsoft’s servers in EuropeOne afternoon in late 2021, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, met with the commander of Israel’s military surveillance agency, Unit 8200. On the spy chief’s agenda: moving vast amounts of top secret intelligence material into the US company’s cloud.Meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters near Seattle, a former chicken farm turned hi-tech campus, the spymaster, Yossi Sariel, won Nadella’s support for a plan that would grant Unit 8200 access to a customised and segregated area within Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Call for Nato action after Russian drone intrudes on Lithuania

Russia talking down Medvedev’s influence after nuclear threats; oligarch’s superyacht goes on sale with proceeds to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,260Lithuania has called for Nato help to boost its air defences after Russian military drones repeatedly violated its airspace. “Last Monday, a Russian military drone violated Lithuanian airspace,” said Kęstutis Budrys, the foreign minister in Vilnius. “This marks the second such incident in less than a month. Similar airspace violations have also been reported recently by other allies.”Budrys added that he and the defence minister, Dovilė Šakalienė, had asked the Nato secretary general for “immediate measures to enhance air defence capabilities in Lithuania and accelerate the full implementation of the rotational air defence model. Air defence is vital to allied security. Securing Nato’s eastern flank must remain a top priority for the alliance.”Amid the nuclear row between Donald Trump and Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin has moved to play ...

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